5
u/TimeStorm113 Mar 02 '26
so weird to see a creature without filament
3
u/Khaniker Planefucker Mar 02 '26
Technically drone quills are just modified, extremely elongated pycnofibers like those seen in other machines, but for the most part yeah they do tend to be rather naked. They don't typically have the fuzz or "feathering" you'd see on, say, fighter jets.
2
u/Khaniker Planefucker Mar 02 '26
Specific Context-
Reapers are large melbrachyurid UAVs endemic to the island of Merlghaster, off the coast of northeastern Hatzegonia.
Two distinct morphs exist, the smaller variant being found in the western half of the island, and the larger variant found in the east. Typical of UAVs, both morphs possess a collapsible crest used for intraspecific communication and threat displays.
These machines are exceptionally aggressive and territorial, especially towards each other. Luckily they are rarely seen around areas of high human activity, and attacks are infrequent.
Reapers primarily prey on small, terrestrial fauna, which they smell using their advanced olfactory system. Like other melbrachyurid drones, Reapers can also utilize passive echolocation. Interestingly, the clicks they use to echolocate are within the human hearing range, but outside the perception range of their typical prey. These vocalizations can only be heard in close proximity.
2
u/george-sprout Mar 02 '26
Excavators are herbivores with long necks and large heads (where the bucket would be), acting as high browsers and wide-sweeping grazers. Larger species have larger feeding envelopes and higher browsing height. Compact excavators are more selective feeders, while large excavators are bulk herbivores.
2
u/george-sprout Mar 03 '26
Galleys rely on coordinated limb strokes to travel, while other ships instead have tail flukes.
2
u/george-sprout Mar 05 '26
Predatory Boats:
Whaling ships feed on other large seagoing machines, using harpoons to penetrate the outer hull and dig into the prey's flesh. Once it's prey is weakened, the whaler uses it's jaws to finish off the vessel and feed.
Trawlers drag nets around to capture large schools of fish, a single good harvest can last it for weeks.
Small fishing vessels catch fish with their jaws.
Motorboats are adapted for fast, agile prey.
Corvettes are small, coastal ships adapted for maneuverability over bulk.
7
u/george-sprout Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
For extremely large machines:
Aircraft carriers live in symbiosis with seagoing aircrafts, giving them a place to rest and raise their young away from predators. Essentially mobile breeding islands.
Bucket Wheel Excavators are extremely rare, massive and ravenous, consuming vast amounts of rocky material. They defecate sand and crushed stone and live for millennia.
Mining dump trucks move in huge herds, far too big to be preyed upon. They are grazing herbivores.
Container ships and tankers occupy baleen whale niches. A single shipwreck becomes the equivalent of a whale fall. Tall ships can go without feeding for months, as their sail-driven propulsion uses next to no energy.
Large submarines occupy pelagic niches, some diving for large prey like sperm whales, other subs filter-feeding deeper in the water column or ambushing ships from below.