Species 18462 Ichnarna Tank

A large, mech-like purposed organism designed for war.

(note: Despite the name of the article its not really a tank)

This creature has heavy armour and uses its 6 large legs to walk. Featuring a large plasma cannon on its back, it excels at sniping enemy positions from long range and can also serve an assault role very effectively. It is somewhat weakly defended from enemy air forces though, and relied on friendly AA purposed organisms for its defence. It still comes equipped with a number of small laser cannons on its roof though. Its secondary armament comes in the form of some 30mm machine cannons which cover every angle around the creature except down. It is mostly undefended from any threats from underneath it, but it has fairly thick armour in most locations under its body, and its leg joints are also well armoured and protected. If the creature detects a threat under it, it might try to crush it with its legs or body.

In the current state of the world, these creatures are forced to fight on their own most of the time. The current world resembles a large ecosystem, and as such these creatures are forced to hunt other purposed organisms for food, most of which are also designed for war. Despite this, these creatures are one of the key predators, especially after forming tribes with others of its kind and other species which can protect it from air forces and other counters.

Its thick armour and legs are designed to insulate heat, preserving warmth for the creature inside such a cold environment. Thermal imaging devices are very effective on this planet too, allowing it and any tribe member species to detect and fire accurately at any prey detected. This does mean that they are also detected from significantly longer distances too, which gives prey time to hide and predators time to plan. For the harkas, though, these creatures have become a terrifying existence and they will only engage them if the harkas are very well equipped. The harkas and their purposed organisms can be a prime food source for these creatures. Though the harkas are not as well-purposed as any other organism in their star system, they have the advantage of being the species that originally created all the others and can control some organisms to an extent.

Its mouth is located on the front. It has a fairly long tongue to grab nearby food items with, but it usually needs to crouch to get close enough for the tongue to have enough range. It was designed to eat a large number of smaller food items as it produced less strain on logistics and as such it has no teeth, though some subspecies might grow teeth. Though it was designed to eat small food items, they have since evolved to swallow larger objects and can now swallow species like harkas by grabbing them with its tongue. Its stomach is large and can expand significantly, allowing it to store a lot of food for long missions. A completely full stomach can last several days for the creature and they were designed to process food quite efficiently. They are mostly carnivorous. The respiratory tract was designed in a way to transfer the smallest amount of heat from the body to the environment as possible, to reduce its thermal signature and improve its heat retention abilities. Cold air is pumped through a series of thin channels located near the rear of the body which absorb air. This air is filtered to prevent ingress of larger objects and sometimes the motors reverse for short periods of time to clean the filters. Its brain is located near the center of mass of the creature, where it is far less vulnerable, and its heart is directly above the brain. These 2 organs are in their own armoured compartments and further protected with fat layers. This species is sentient, though like virtually all creatures in the system, they are forced to fight to survive.

It also has a number of antennae in various locations of the body allowing it to detect sound and nearby objects within close range. Further range hearing is achieved on its weapon turret, its ears are able to swivel in many directions as it detects sound from long distances and obtain fairly accurate bearings. It has a pair of eyes on the main turret, a 2nd pair on the body and several smaller pairs around the body which are not as focused. It can see any creatures that might try to flank it. The turret and frontal eyes both have a way to switch to thermal imaging detection. All eyes are armoured with a clear material which allows light and heat through (allowing it to detect thermal signatures).

Though its body is mostly round, it is notably longer than wide; its body is about twice as long as its width. This allows it to have a smaller profile from the front where the threat is greater, and its armour is very well sloped. Upon creation, they are normally purple but they become white with age. This makes for excellent camouflage especially if the creature allows a small amount of snow to accumulate on their body. Snow can also help to hide their thermal signature, mainly by spreading it over a wider area, so sometimes they might entrench themselves. This way, they could resemble small hills and some prey creatures might cross paths with them.