The Space Wurms are indigenous to the asteroid belts in the Severna star system and have two species – a rock boring version and an opportunist predator.
The Rock-Eating Wurms live by burrowing into the asteroids and eating certain minerals and elements in the rock. They leave behind them an excretion that is incredibly valuable in making SupaCrete – the main building material for large structures. Over time they have riddled out the larger asteroids until they are just a network of tunnels and fallen in rock caves. Being Wurms, they get larger with age but generally just grow longer and longer once they are full sized.
Once the asteroid is fully riddled out, they set out to the next one, drifting across space in the hope that they will manage to reach one. They do have spiracles that can eject a blast of digestive gases allowing some course correction and the Severna asteroid belts are particularly dense allowing them to reach their destination relatively safely. The really old wurms can almost reach the next asteroid when fully stretched out.
The miners have learnt to avoid the wurms as, although not predatory, they will eat everything in their path and equipment is a light snack for them. They are notoriously hard to kill with their thick exteriors coated with a metallic shield. Vacuum is not an issue and they run exceptionally hot as they consume the rocks so normal weapons barely affect them. Thankfully, there are plenty of hollowed out empty mines but sometimes the miners try to co-exist…
The Wurm models come in two types – the first is the Severna Wurm with its rock eating mouth:
The second is carnivorous and comes out the top of the asteroid looking for a tasty treat!
They share the same bodies which are modular. The largest ones are based on 3″ segments and the smallest ones on 1.5″ segments. They feature curves to go around corners and up and down pieces. If stretch goals allow, I will add an extra hump so they can have a motion like a caterpillar. I can see so many places I will use these and they are great fun to add as a barrier in your tunnels – either side on blocking a tunnel or with the mouth coming towards you ready to ingest all in its path!
Adult Rock-Eating Space Wurm
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Brawn | Agility | Intellect | Cunning | Willpower | Presence |
| 7 | 40 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Soak Value | Wound Threshold | Strain Threshold | Melee Defense | Ranged Defense | |
| Skills: | Brawl 3, Ranged (Light) 3, Resilience 3. | ||||
| Talents: | Toughened 2 (increases wound threshold by two per rank of Toughened) | ||||
| Abilities: | Supacrete Plating: Melee and ranged attacks targeting it gain 2 setback die due to its armoured carapace (included in Defence rating); characters may aim to hit weak spots and ignore 1 Soak. Awkward: While they have great physical strength their bulk imposes severe limitations in flexibility and agility; they add 3 setback dice to all Brawl, Melee, and Coordination checks they’re required to make. Ponderous: Can never spend more than one manoeuvre moving per turn. | ||||
| Equipment: | Space Wurm Roll (Brawl); Damage 7; Critical 5; Knockdown. Space Wurm Spit (Ranged: Light); Damage 6; Critical 5; Blast 5; Burn 1. | ||||
Knockdown: The target is knocked prone. Knockdown requires 2 Advantages to trigger plus one per point of Silhouette of the target beyond 1.
Blast: The target is knocked prone. Knockdown requires 2 Advantages to trigger plus one per point of Silhouette of the target beyond 1.
Burn: If the attack is successful, the target continues to take the weapon’s base damage for a number of rounds equal to the weapon’s Burn rating.