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Description

Digestors are a species of genetically engineered terraforming utility organisms. Growing up to 3 meters long and weighing up to 2 tonnes, these large twelve legged three eyed caterpillar like beasts can thrive in a variety of marginal life supporting environments and they exist to eat and poop in late stage operations. More specifically, these creatures are released onto terraformed planets which have been seeded with various strains of algae and moss-like plants after said vanguard lifeforms have taken hold. That goal achieved, terraforming stations will gestate a few Digestors in exowombs and release them into the enviroment. Once released, their sucker mouths will proceed to hoover up any bit of plant matter they can find, as well as rocks and gravel. Both of which are processed in an extensive digestive system, leaving behind solid waste as it goes. Said excrement is nitrated soil. Each Adult Digestor is also host to a number of Sower mites, small bug like creatures which draw nutrients from the Digestor while collecting and sowing seeds for various forms of more complex terraforming flora.

Digestors don't mind the presence of sower mites and their lives are dominated by the need to eat, drink and breed. Digestors are hermaphroditic and their fertility is based around how well they're fed. If starved, their sex drives shut down. If food is abundant, they can produce a new pup every ten days or so and these reach full size in about nine months. Their stubby limbs can not carry Digestors quickly, but they're more than enough to let them traverse a wide variety of terrain in search of sustenance. Soon enough, a small founder population of digestors can become vast herds. In there wake, the leave behind pockets of dark sludge, which soon explodes with new flora. They can comparatively quickly spread over a continent and facilitate terraforming on a grand scale, though their population will be subject to periodic spikes and crashes.

Digestors are not very smart creatures. Their eyes are fairly basic as their purpose is to help them navigate their immediate surroundings and identify food. Digestors will not eat their own waste and are repelled by it's smell. If a Digestor in a herd dies, it's corpse will soon enough be consumed by it's fellows. Digestors will release a flatulent call from their spiracles when they find an area with food and are attracted, leading their fellows to greener pastures. They are fearful of sharp falls and jagged rocks, but they have no fear of other mobile organisms. After topsoil levels are acceptably developed, macroflora is florishing and conditions have improved considerably Digestors have one last role to play: food for the founding population of the finalized ecology. The last thing that the last generation of Digestors employed by a terraforming operation will see is a carnivore casually approaching it's rotund mass before casually dispatching it.

Description

Digestors are a species of genetically engineered terraforming utility organisms. Growing up to 3 meters long and weighing up to 2 tonnes, these large twelve legged three eyed caterpillar like beasts can thrive in a variety of marginal life supporting environments and they exist to eat and poop in late stage operations. More specifically, these creatures are released onto terraformed planets which have been seeded with various strains of algae and moss-like plants after said vanguard lifeforms have taken hold. That goal achieved, terraforming stations will gestate a few Digestors in exowombs and release them into the enviroment. Once released, their sucker mouths will proceed to hoover up any bit of plant matter they can find, as well as rocks and gravel. Both of which are processed in an extensive digestive system, leaving behind solid waste as it goes. Said excrement is nitrated soil. Each Adult Digestor is also host to a number of Sower mites, small bug like creatures which draw nutrients from the Digestor while collecting and sowing seeds for various forms of more complex terraforming flora.

Digestors don't mind the presence of sower mites and their lives are dominated by the need to eat, drink and breed. Digestors are hermaphroditic and their fertility is based around how well they're fed. If starved, their sex drives shut down. If food is abundant, they can produce a new pup every ten days or so and these reach full size in about nine months. Their stubby limbs can not carry Digestors quickly, but they're more than enough to let them traverse a wide variety of terrain in search of sustenance. Soon enough, a small founder population of digestors can become vast herds. In there wake, the leave behind pockets of dark sludge, which soon explodes with new flora. They can comparatively quickly spread over a continent and facilitate terraforming on a grand scale, though their population will be subject to periodic spikes and crashes.

Digestors are not very smart creatures. Their eyes are fairly basic as their purpose is to help them navigate their immediate surroundings and identify food. Digestors will not eat their own waste and are repelled by it's smell. If a Digestor in a herd dies, it's corpse will soon enough be consumed by it's fellows. Digestors will release a flatulent call from their spiracles when they find an area with food and are attracted, leading their fellows to greener pastures. They are fearful of sharp falls and jagged rocks, but they have no fear of other mobile organisms. After topsoil levels are acceptably developed, macroflora is florishing and conditions have improved considerably Digestors have one last role to play: food for the founding population of the finalized ecology. The last thing that the last generation of Digestors employed by a terraforming operation will see is a carnivore casually approaching it's rotund mass before casually dispatching it.