Chuck Tingle

XELPREX - TIMELINE #76210896

Added 2024-02-13 14:48:05 +0000 UTC

(Timeline Tuesday #133)

Xelprex are an enormous species of predatory, carnivorous insect. As adults they stand approximately twenty-five feet tall, and are covered in a hard, protective carapace. Their bodies are long and slender, featuring a long tail that extends behind the creature and is often used to spear and whip their prey. The creatures legs have barbed claws, and their arms extend into similar hooks that serve to tear and slash. The head of a xelprex is flat and rounded with a large, sharp mandible. They have six eyes, which are small and red.

The most formidable part of a xelprex, however, is its long, lashing tongue. The creature uses this in a similar way to its tail, although the tongue can extend even farther and be launched at incredible speeds from within the creature’s mouth.

The only fortunate thing about xelprex physiology is that even mild heat will damage their body. They must remain extremely cold at all times, and on this timeline they can only thrive an exist in the farthest reaches of the north and south pole. It’s hear they hunt for polar bears or whales, although the creatures require very little sustenance to survive. Because of this, they rarely encounter humans.

Unfortunately, the few xelprex that have somehow wandered onto this timeline are deeply troubling for scientific expeditions. What was already a difficult landscape to navigate has become deadly unless any nearby xelprex are hunted down, a dangerous process that has caused the cost of arctic research to bloom out of control.