CLASS: BIOCONSTRUCT
BIOLOGY: Despite an ungainly appearance, this monster's cartilaginous shell is mostly hollow and extremely light, housing many small, metallic coils suspended in delicate webs of muscle through which the monster may channel its stores of electricity. These biological electromagnets allow the Fragnetic to repel or attract certain metals with extreme force, especially its own thorny, caltrops-like defensive nodules. Employing its magnetic fields to hunt down appropriate materials, it swallows small stones and scraps of metal whole to be broken down and repurposed, excreting a solution of finely powdered magnetic ore with a slimy fecal resin which hardens instantaneously on contact with air. It is through this process by which the monster produces not only its deadly nodules but a limitless variety of metal objects ranging from simple blades, shields and cables to complex nesting structures. After mating, a female Fragnetic collects a single, roughly human-sized prey organism and entombs it alive in a secreted metal sphere, leaving a small opening into which she will directly birth a number of limbless, shell-less juveniles. BEHAVIOR: A Fragnetic is a timid hunter, easily spooked even by its own prey and quick to startle at the first unexpected sound or movement. Only its love of collecting small, metal items can eclipse its fear of danger, though it will quickly lose interest in items that do not react to magnetism. Able to taste the subtlest differences in metal compounds, the average Fragnetic is by necessity an expert geologist. APPLIANCE: A Fragnetic's ability to "print" simple, small metallic objects on demand is versatile enough, but its powerful magnetic fields are all the more impressive. The creature's own nodules and any other small enough objects can be "fired" from its shell in virtually any direction, embedding deep in the flesh of prey only to be called back with equally destructive force. The creature may also launch itself to and from any larger, heavier magnetic surface, practically "flying" through cities, scrapyards and mining tunnels. When particularly frightened, a Fragnetic retreats into its shell and charges its entire magnetic web in alternating positive and negative currents, effectively generating a magnetic "whirlwind." Obviously, creatures foolish enough to penetrate a Fragnetic's shell with their own weaponry risk a significant electrical shock. METAL SECRETION: the Fragnetic defecates a tough resin saturated with metal, allowing it to quickly excrete incredibly strong three-dimensional objects. MAGNETIC FIELD: the Fragnetic's entire shell is an electromagnet capable of attracting or repelling magnetic ores with great strength. ELECTROCUTION: if all else fails, a wounded Fragnetic can simply electrocute attackers.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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