Woolly Cave Caterpillar

Description

The woolly cave caterpillar is type of massive insect which dwells in the mountains of the Northern Threshold. The creature is as long as a Yeddim and as tall as a full-grown human, with two barbed horns and a number of spiny legs. It is covered in a coat of woolly hair, light lavender in colour, over an expanding fatty layer.

Habitat & Diet

The woolly cave caterpillar dwells in caves and tunnels, where it lies in wait sheltered from the snow and wind, head facing the interior and tail towards the entrance. As it waits, it enters a state similar to hibernation, becoming very still and lessening its need for food. It is an endotherm, producing ample heat, and its fur is soft and inviting... people and creatures caught in the open often stumble, disoriented, into caterpillar caves, and are drawn to snuggle up to the warm creature. When its hairs sense such an approach, the caterpillar suddenly spasms, its upper body twisting back so its legs can grasp and grapple its victim, its horns releasing a paralytic poison that can disable even a Mammoth. The caterpillar then enjoys its victim at its leisure, slowly consuming it. When food is more scarce, caterpillars have also been known to leave their caves and conceal themselves beneath the snow, so that creatures who pass over their hiding places can be seized and dragged back to a sheltered place for eating... while creatures of their size have few natural predators, Great Eagles have been known to swoop down and seize them, dragging them over cliff faces to their deaths after which they can be scavenged at leisure.

Even when one is ready for battle with a woolly cave caterpillar, there is great risk: their furry, fatty bodies can absorb significant damage, and cover over a powerful frame capable of sudden and powerful movements. Each pair of legs is strong enough to grapple a full-grown human, and together they have been seen to pin down and crush Bears and other larger predators.

Reproduction

The woolly cave caterpillar does not pupate into a moth as do its smaller cousins… some savants muse this is because it cannot accumulate sufficient mass in its fat body, others that it is an entirely different sort of creature with only superficial similarities to true caterpillars. The caterpillar does, however, reproduce, an event occurring when two caterpillars encounter each other: on calm nights, the caterpillars will sometimes move to the mouths of their caves and begin to whistle calls to each other, males attracted to traverse the snows to reach the caves of females. Here, the caterpillars entwine and eggs are fertilized, each encased in a silken cocoon. These cocoons are attatched to the male’s fur, and he departs the next evening, carrying his young on a long journey, visiting caves and crevasses and areas where signs of plentiful food are found (the tracks of mammoth herds, or roads and caravan routes) over several days before finding a new cave to inhabit. Often, whatever circumstances motivate one woolly cave caterpillar to seek a mate move others to do the same, so the old caves of males become homes to other mated males or to new young.

After a few days, young caterpillars eat their containing cocoons and emerge, settling into their new homes or seeking out their first meals. The hair of these caterpillars is bristly and sharp, coated with their paralytic poison, allowing them to pounce on prey and build their bulk before settling into a more permanent home.

Cultural Significance

Woolly cave caterpillars are hunted by humans within their range, particularly under the auspices of The Guild. The Guild favours hunting the young, with trackers employed to tail male caterpillars and capture cocoons before they are opened. The undeveloped larvae within are plentiful in paralytic poison (useful on the market and in slave control) and the silk is of high quality, renowned particularly for the purity of its white colour and its durability.

Others hunt the more dangerous adults for their fur, which is popular for fashioning wraps and coats amongst Creation’s nobility, particularly Dynasts of House Ledaal. Its popularity waxes and wanes in the Realm over the decades, the height of the last craze in RY754, though those who track such things at court note that it is again on the rise given the increase in chill breezes along the coasts of the Blessed Isle since the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress.

Source: Article about a DnD giant caterpillar in an early White Dwarf magazine, Master Chef Junior episode one.