Page 0137

  << First  < Page 136  /  Main Plot  \  Page 138 >  Last >>  

This content is not published under a Creative Commons license! Text and images are used in this wiki only with permission of the author. The content should stay true to the original.
Follow this link to get to the original: http://www.drivecomic.com/archive/140519.html

http://cdn.drivecomic.com/strips/main/140519_1401142276.png

Transcript

Encyclopedia Xenobiología

• 2245.4787.7697.3454.5678.1121.9032.3348.8878.1304.6673.7878.9944.1714.9056.4823.9143.4458.7823.6829.1115
• 39,462
  

• Página 39,462 | Imprimátur del Imperio
  

• Species: Trankin (aka "Fekk Dragons")
• Homeworld: Tin. (But frequently captured and transported, at great expense, by Setts to the Six Moons of Slaugher.)
• Size: 10m height, 50,000kg weight
• Color & Markings: Vast, scaly, armored beasts, Trankins are best known for their size and destructive power. Mottled gray in color and slow-moving in physique, Trankins are not particularly good hunters, but their sheer size make up for any lack of technique or cunning. It is virtually impossible to stop a riled-up Trankin without heavy weaponry or large quantities of anesthetics: Their stupidity allows them to take an incredible amount of physical damage before they'll willingly end a fight.
• Reproduction & Development: Trankins are solitary animals both by nature and by dietary need (i.e., they consume most of the caloric production of the area they inhabit). They once roamed the continent-wide forests of Tin as the unquestioned alpha-predator. The breeding act is rare, as male and female Trankins copulate only if they cross paths at a specific point in their hibernation cycles. One offspring results, after a 22-month gestation period.
  
  When the Grasskan Empire discovered the mineralogical resources on Tin and began one of the galaxy's largest strip-mining operations, the unending seas of forest were reduced to only a few hundred thousand square miles. The Trankin population was reduced in kind: It's assumed only a few thousand still exist in the wild.
• Diet: Voracious omnivore for 24 months, followed by 6 months of hibernation
• Lifespan: 30-40 years
• Language: While Trankins do have the ability to mime and sometimes independently use 15-30 monosyllabic words, they are profoundly stupid creatures. If taught the word "food," for example, they will absent-mindedly mumble "food" for the rest of their adult life.
• Social Structure: No social structure of note.
• Intelligence Rating: Beta-Charlie. But there is dispute in neurobiological circles as to whether Trankins should even be classified that high on the Chatterjee Scale. (Excitedy for xenobiologists, though, Trankins feature that mist famous of dinasaur myths, a "sacral brain": A secondary brain located above the hip-bone. Unfortunately for Trankins, that brain is exceedingly stupid, as well.)
• Interaction with Humans: The brutal use of Trankins on the captured human cruiser Triunfo was widely reported in the Empire, thanks to a seemingly endless stream of execution videos the Sett transmitted to Madrid. The most famous of these videos became a viral hit on Slaughter, featuring the 2-hour "battle" between Vice Admiral Colin O'Reilly and an aging Trankin. In it, the highly educated, highly decorated O'Reilly is clearly seen to lose his mind when faced with the 50,000kg beast, and proceeds to run around the ring of the coliseum in endless loops, shouting "Fekk! Dragon! Fekk! Dragon!"
  
  Among the sadism of Slaughter, this was made all the funnier when the pursuing Trankin learned and repeated the phrase.

Trivia

• This page is called "Trankins"
• The battle cruiser Triunfo has been mentioned before, in the encyclopaedic entry on Astina on Page 0131.
• This wiki has a page on Trankins.
• This is the first time the Chatterjee Scale is named.
• According to a comment, it originally said 5,000kg instead of 50,000kg, adding some information and detailed calculation why it was wrong. Dave Kellett admitted this was a scripting error and fixed it afterwards.
• Drive's update day was moved to Monday the day of this page.