Name: Scrav (Scrav'at)

  Scrav are huge, crab-like, burrowing Ber that are used for long term excavation and earthworks tasks.

  A large, roughly hemispheric carapace, covered with actual stone from the local geography for camouflage, with two proportionally large frontal claws.

  Scrav scuttle capably in any direction with equivalent ease, while keeping their claws between themselves and prey or threats.

  Due to these long periods of inactivity and inclusion of local rock into their shells, it can be impossible to identify burrowed scrav.

  Their large claws can consist of 20% of their body mass or more. They unfold, rather than open and close, allowing for use as a scoop or temporary barrier. Their claws are built for leverage, not impact, so hard stone is an impediment.

  Their shells are partially comprised of collected material — they do not ‘stick’ material to it, but rather directly incorporate whole consumed stone pieces into their shells, which are then extruded.

  As ambush hunters, they are capable of moving at extreme speeds for short periods, tiring quickly and returning to dormancy once the prey is disabled or threat is neutralized.

  Scrav progress slowly though their growth cycle, as they grow from a third of meter — weighing just a few tens of kilos at hatching, to upwards of three meters tall, weighing in excess of ten tons at full adult size.

  Scrav are natural burrowers, and will colonize any suitable dirt or soft rock region, preferring organic-laced sedimentary features.

  Metamorphic and igneous rock is not generally considered suitable, due to impediments to effective excavation and lack of sufficient organic material for passive feeding. Sand and other soft, low-organic material is also considered suboptimal, but is tolerated by increasing active hunting activity.

  As ground-based dirt and stone excavators, they are located anywhere a suitable environment is available, preferring temperate zones with hill or cliff features.

  Extremes of both soft and hard ground are not typically preferable to scrav, and they will avoid sand, bedrock, or hard stone areas like mountains.

  While capable of underwater and low-atmosphere operations with supporting Ber, they will not attempt to colonize those areas.

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  Scrav are solitary by nature, but adults will typically interact with courteous Ber'Duun to trade rare or nutrient-dense foods for excavation or earth-works tasks, even without awakening. Sophonts displaying communication patterns will not typically be ambushed.

  Scrav are both passive omnivores, digesting anything found in their excavations, and opportunistic ambush hunters that will consume larger prey in order to sustain higher growth rates. They are voracious eaters when active, whereas when passive, they will simply slowly digest ground-based organisms without emerging for decades or centuries.

  Scrav are a relatively recent addition to the Ber ranks, dating only 3.5 billion years in age. They have largely replaced other excavators for large scale terraformation efforts due to their capability to perform continuously at high output levels with sufficient nutrition.

  Upon hatching, young scrav will immediately head away from the hatching area — almost always occupied by the laying adult — and head off to find soft soil to burrow into, fully obscuring itself, while it feeds from subterranean organisms until it reaches adolescence. This secondary growth phase is marked by active migration — sometimes shifting position every few weeks — and aggressive trapping or opportunistic hunting.

  Once young adulthood is reached, which is nutrition available based, rather than chronological time, the scrav will become more docile. Migratory activity will reduce to intervals of several years, lengthening to decades as they age into middle adulthood.

  Older adults become voluntarily sessile, and enter an egg laying reproductive phase towards the end of their life cycle, which may last centuries.

  Scrav have not been observed to mate, and hatch from single eggs that are almost always laid by a voluntarily sessile adult — one that has ceased any migration activity or consumption for growth. Egg laying is sporadic, based on factors unknown, though nutritional availability is assumed to factor significantly.

  Scrav can live into the low thousands of years, and do not display senescence behaviors or physical degradation.

  Scrav burrow when not actively traversing the surface, and are most commonly encountered submerged, at which point one, or both claws are presented aboveground.

  Scrav passively ambush fauna which stray into their claws — identified by the twin standing stone appearance — when the main body is submerged, a common resting behavior. They are otherwise solitary, and do not engage or react to most stimuli, as few things can threaten even a juvenile scrav.

  Scrav are of mid to high intelligence as Ber. Few recorded instances of Ber'Duun exist, but they are said to be ponderous, deep thinkers capable of extraordinary feats of working memory.

  Scrav are aetherically insensitive, likely due to their sheer mass and stone coverage, and thus tolerate and colonize schism zones at distances that would be actively harmful to many Ber.

  Scrav meat is prized, as it has some of the highest aethonic density available due to long filter-feeding periods.

  Scrav are dangerous at all phases of their lifecycle, due to the force they can exert with claws, temperament as juveniles, and high likelihood of incident with any interaction with their exposed claws.

  It is important to note that scrav in low-organic regions are considerably more active as hunters. Scrav encountered in high desert, polar, or volcanic regions should be approached with caution, and only as necessary.