Scale Mimic

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Revision as of 18:09, 6 September 2023 by Keileon (talk | contribs)
Scale Mimic

FRIC Number

Grouping

Arthropod
Elemental — Earth

Location

Great Plume

Rarity

Common

Standard Variant

Obsidian

Time Per Stage

19 Hours

Delves

Weaknesses

Resistances

Basic Attacks

Jump At
Sting

Special

Scraps

Scrap Resistances

Release Date

September 4, 2023

Artist

Keileon


The Scale Mimic is a Common creature released on Protochroma. It is found only in the Great Plume by excavating. It has not yet appeared in any Delve. Its standard variant is Obsidian.

Descriptions

Baby

This tiny egg is perfectly spherical, but also heavier than it looks, with a texture like corroded metal. It's hard not to feel as if one has seen a material like this before, but it's hard to tell with all the metallic creatures on this planet.

Juvenile

The spherical egg hatched into a disconcerting-looking, eight-legged worm-like creature. Its main body is white and segmented, but its head and legs are a deep blue which seems just as familiar as the egg it emerged from. The larva mostly seems to eat vegetation scrap it's given, especially leafy greens, but care must be taken to keep it away from metal.

Adult

The Scale Mimic is, as its name suggests, a tiny parasitic arthropod that mimics the scales of a Fulminifer. Though these creatures are herbivores as larvae, once they reach adulthood they exclusively parasitize the dragons whose scales they mimic, feeding off the same metals which would otherwise reach the Fulminifer's outer armor. Because of this, the adult Scale Mimic takes on the colour scheme of the host, to better blend in with its surrounding neighbors and avoid notice by the dragon.

Scale Mimics are able to fly long distances in search of a suitable host. When it finds one, it nestles in between the Fulminifer's scales and works away at the root of one scale in particular, trying to loosen it. When the scale is finally shed and falls away, the parasite takes position at the follicle, burying its proboscis in the empty space to feed on the oil that coats the Fulminifer's scales with metal and pigment. The dragon may experience minor irritation in the area for a time, but as the Mimic settles in, this fades. Most wild adult Fulminifers carry at least a few Scale Mimics, which are naturally weaker than real scales but otherwise almost indistinguishable.

Additional Lore

Delving

Images

Image Type Images
Baby
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Juvenile
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Common
Adult
Rare
Adult

Trivia

  • Scale Mimic is the first creature to be obtained via Great Plume through excavating.