Chollawalker
A chollawalker is a genetically engineered guard beast derived from the cholla cactus. It looks like a bipedal cactus plant, with a dark, tough body that branches at the neck into a pale green, tree-top head, each head branch bristling with shimmery barbed spines that it can eject as a thrown weapon.
Chollawalkers have a strong territorial instinct and a drive to guard gardens. They can be taught to fight off animals and people, but instinctively fight against other plantoids outside their family group and uproot natural cacti that grow in their territory. Desert communities value the chollawalkers for their protective abilities and some communities have traditions gifting new adults their own chollawalker bud when they create their first home garden.
Basic Information
Ecology and Habitats
Chollawalkers live in true desert, thriving on hot sun, low humidity, and sandy soils. They're exclusively found in and around settlements, guarding and tending the local gardens. Although rumors of feral chollawalkers have cropped up in stories of abandoned settlements, their mindlessness makes them ill-suited to survival without overseers.
Biological Cycle
Chollawalkers are created from grafting natural cholla buds onto an existing walker for several months, until the bud either withers, grows into a new appendage, or rolls off in a fit of independence. Only about one tenth of grafted buds ever make the transition into mobile chollawalker buds. After a couple weeks in the rolling bud stage, the little walkers set out roots in a second sessile stage. Over the next year, they'll grow to an adult size and shape, quickly growing and branching from the initial bud into a true bipedal, plantoid shape. After a year, they separate from their roots and transition to their final ambulatory stage, pacing their garden tending their crops. Although they are mobile, chollawalkers are driven to return to their roots in the evening or when they need healing. If they're moved from their garden and can't return, or if their roots are eradicated, the walkers will slowly waste away.
by Steven Lek & Cathy Burkholder
Lifespan
30 years
Average Height
7'
Average Weight
200 lbs
Average Length
3' to 4' wide at the crown
Geographic Distribution
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