Content:Vacillus
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Template:CreatureCreationInfobox
[edit] Description
The Vacillus (plural Vacillora) is a small round creature shaped much like a ball. From across its surface hang many tentacles which dangle up to half a metre below its body. It hangs from the roofs of caves using these tentacles which it sticks to the rock using gecko-like cetae. A Vacillus can contract and shoot out these tentacles in one direction whilst detaching those on the opposite side, allowing it to travel across the ceiling.
Internally, the Vacillus has no skeletal system and only a basic nervous system. The body is held together with tensile fibres much like the external tentacles. Each tentacle has a dedicated section on the outer part of the body. Sensors on the outer skin can detect through air pressure whether the Vacillus is near to walls, stalactites or other Vacillora.
Each tentacle essentially acts as a digestive and respiratory system. A small creature stuck to a dangling tentacle will slowly be digested and absorbed by the Vacillus and the nutrients distributed throughout the creature. A tentacle can double as both a feeding system and a motive system.
[edit] Environment
The Vacillus sticks to the roofs of caves, dangling its tentacles to trap unwary passers by. The creature is almost colourless from the lack of light in its environment. A Vacillus will move slowly around the roof of a cave into a more open space where there are fewer obstructions or other Vacillora, so as to maximise its feeding potential.
[edit] Reproduction and Life Cycle
A Vacillus reproduces by releasing spores into the air. Hermaphroditic, these spores are caught and absorbed by the tentacles of other Vacillora where they germinate and eventually grow to the point where the tentacle falls off, together with a supply of nutrients that the parent Vacillus pumps into the tentacle. The fallen tentacle will quickly develop into an immature Vacillus, which will attempt to move towards the nearest wall and climb it. During the period of climbing it will start to grow tentacles of its own. These will be fully grown by the time the now-mature Vacillus exhausts its parent-given food supply.
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