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A Zurchin, also known as a star urchin or space porcupine, is an echinoderm-like creature native to wildspace in the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1]

Overview[]

Zurchin resemble aquatic echinoderms similar to sea urchins, and can be found throughout wildspace inhabiting asteroid fields where they scavenge organic matter, dust, and wood.[1]

Description[]

A zurchin resembles a sea urchin, with a spherical hard shell covered in a myriad of radial spines, and moving slowly using a muscular belly-foot for propulsion. Individual creatures display a variety of bright colors, including red and yellow, and purple and blue, though striped varieties are not uncommon. They typically range in size from 6-inches to a foot in diameter.[1]

Combat[]

A zurchin normally only attacks when disturbed, shooting poisonous hollow spines using gas pressure great enough to reach ranges equivalent to a bow. A zurchin can fire up to 4 hollow spines per minute, impaling a human-sized target with deadly accuracy. Each spine is the equivalent of a dart, and a zurchin typically has hundreds of spines.

The poison within the hollow spine is released on impact, expelled from a small sac located within the spine. The poison paralyzes the victim's heart and breathing, and can kill within 12 hours. Those victim's who survive the poison usually suffer from a mild fever accompanied by nausea, though they subsequently develop some form of immunity to a zurchin's poison.[1]

Habitat[]

Zurchins inhabit asteroid fields scavenging organic matter, dust, and wood, and frequently lair among colonies of mortiss. Zurchins are peaceful scavengers with a complex mouth structure on their undersides that extrude hard, sharp bony teeth. Given hours or days, these teeth can excavate holes in wood, rock, and even iron, which the zurchin use to hide or as mating areas.

Up to 20 of a female zurchin's darts each contain thousands of microscopic eggs. If a victim is struck by an egg-laden dart and implanted with eggs, they are unaffected by any immediate ill effects (except impact damage). However, over the course of a week (7 days), the victim will lose their appetite, become confused, and begin to itch uncontrollably. Unless a cure disease spell is cast on the victim, they become paralyzed by the end of the week and eventually die of suffocation. The microscopic eggs implanted within them will hatch, releasing thousands of tiny larval zurchin which will feed on their host as well as their fellow hatchlings.

A zurchin's egg-laden dart may also lodge in a wooden or some other organic spelljammer hull. The incubation time increase to two weeks, meaning that the spelljammer is typically far away from the original asteroid field when the crew discover a sudden, major zurchin infestation. Even worse, the infestation may not be noticed until it is too late. More than one dragonfly's small crew have been surprised when their ship suddenly collapses, leaving nothing but the helm and a few hundred zurchin.[1]

Uses[]

Zurchin is a particularly prized delicacy among wealthy and decadent neogi. Specialist chefs, known as “white sashes” for their characteristic garb, prepare the zurchin meat (ordinarily deadly to the neogi) in a secret process that neutralizes the poison — usually. The resulting dish attracts wealthy neogi diners less for its exotic taste than for the implicit danger - occasionally a diner fails to survive the evening.

The specialist neogi chefs belong to a caste of familial dynasties who engage in cutthroat competition to gain one another's trade secrets. All white-sash neogi will pay handsomely for zurchin meat, so hard-up spelljammer crews will often risk their lives to harvest the unassuming creatures.[1]

Besides the neogi, other spacefaring predators, such as firebirds consider zurchin meat to be quite tasty.[1]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Newton Ewell, MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Zurchin entry
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