The Volucris

Thought to have been created many millennia ago as a weapon in an ancient interstellar war, the volucris rove the starlanes in search of prey. The builders have informed us that they believe that the only reason that there aren’t many times more of them is that something in their design limited their numbers to keep them from destroying their creators. Whatever the case, they can at least replace any losses with the biological mass that they consume from their prey, and every attempt to eradicate the volucris from the galaxy has failed.

(above) Volucris Anklebiter - approx. 0.4-0.6m tall and 15-25kg

The volucris vary greatly in size, from that of a small dog all the way up to a small freighter class starship. No one is sure of their true motivations, or even if they have any, perhaps just following the commands of their long vanished creators like some sort of massive biological machine.

(above) Volucris Basher - approx. 2.1-2.3m tall and 2,200-3,400kg

What is known is that any sort of warp emissions seem to draw them, occasionally even following such emissions to a station, which is one of the main reasons why all starships are designed to keep such emissions to a minimum. However, the builders claim that not having any emissions would be impossible, as such emissions are how ships maintain a hold on our reality. Whatever the case, volucris are drawn to warp emissions, and they’re also one of the main reasons that the builders like having marine garrisons on any of their ships going on anything more than a short run through the starlanes.

(above) Volucris Slasher - approx. 1.2-1.4m tall and 40-55kg