Demnoph Nature and Wildlife

Most of the native wildlife of Demnoph has died off, as it could not adapt to the rapid urbanization of the planet. Everything that lives now on Demnoph is either grown for agricultural purposes or has adjusted to grow in the sewer system.

Demnophi Harvest Bug 

A hold over from the days when Demnoph had vast fields for agricultural production, the Harvest Bug is a black fly-like parasite that bred in the refuse of the animals that ate the local flora. They consumed mostly the soft tissue matter of small to medium animals. They usually fed on corpses, though it was not entirely uncommon for a Harvest Bug to attack the living if no option for an easy meal presented itself.

Pictures and videos now purport to show a blackened, enlarged version of these insects flying around the under-city, thriving in the waste dumps and recycling centers, bleeding into nearby residential blocks, terrorizing locals who live in an improperly sealed domicile. These reports describe as a locust crossed with a mosquito, with the mandibles of a wasp. They can grow to be up to 10cm long. Their bite has been described as like “the force of a standard-grade ACRE 3 hole punch with the accompanying feeling of a several jagged forks being plunged into you and moved around”.

The Demnoph Psiball team was originally going to use the Harvester Bug as its mascot, but A.C.R.E officials vetoed the proposal, noting that this would admit to the possibility of there being a pest problem in the lower sectors of the planet.

Demnophi Ink Demon 

Named for its oily appearance, the Demnophi Ink Demon is one of the most infamous forms of plant life a local might encounter. While the actual biological designation of this plant is tenuous, that knowledge has been lost in the deep memory vaults of the Houses and A.C.R.E The plant is known for its hardy nature. It can survive in any environment by living off of any ambient moisture and taking energy from any source it can creep onto. It can be found in puddles, growing off of a dead dog, or most notably in the lungs of the unfortunate souls that experience with a breakout in their domicile. It is a parasitic fungus-like growth that would be indistinguishable from the black backdrop of Demnoph if not for the glowing lines of yellow biomass that circulates within it.

The Demnophi Land Eel (Electroanguilla Heinz)

Upon the removal of Director Roger Heinz from The Board of Directors, after he was found to have drunkenly leaked classified information to a Lyran songstress, the facilities of the Department of Animal Cruelty and Recombinant Engineering where shut-down. However, in a final moment of spite the indignant Ex-Director had the enclosures in which he kept his biological electricity experiments opened, causing millions of genetically engineered electric eels to slither from their tanks and infest every corner of Demnoph.

The Demnophi Land Eel is roughly 2.5 meters in length and weighs an average of 15 kg. These creatures bare much resemblance to the Electric eels of Earth, however there are several germ-line genetic mutations which make them distinct. Firstly due to Director Heinz’s annoyance at the Electric eel in fact being a Knifefish, and baring little actual genetic relationships to eels, he engineered these creatures to be true eels while retaining their electricity generating capabilities. Secondly, not only where these capabilities retained but actually enhanced, allowing the eel to deliver painful electric currents through up to 3 meters of air if irritated. Directly touching the creature can be deadly. Thirdly, as the name suggests, the Demnophi Land Eel is a terrestrial creature, though they have been known to infest liquid sewage and water plants when possible. Their primary means of locomotion is sliding across the ground using their abundant mucus production to aid their propulsion (no-one knows why Heinz added those Hagfish genes).

Though frightening on paper in reality these creatures serve as only a nuisance to the people of Demnoph, creating slippery pools of mucus and jamming machinery. The tell-tail clicking sound their electrical glands make prevent most from straying too close and their calm demeanor leads to very few fatal encounters, although Demnophi superstition suggest that accidentally treading on one is a sign of exceptional good luck. Primarily enjoying quiet and dark environments they mainly stay away from residential districts, preferring sewers and other less frequented areas though they are thought to exist in every corner of Demnoph. Due to their hermaphroditic nature, reclusiveness, and genetically engineered high reproduction rate it is difficult to estimate their exact numbers while the dietary habits of these creatures is also unknown, though experiments show they have a fondness for Fizzy Cheese.

Demnophi Vermyte

The Demnophi Vermyte is sometimes erroneously called the ratroach, believed to have been the hybridization of the sewer rat and the cockroach. It is in fact a closer descendant to the moth and the termite. It has a long and sleek black arrow-head shaped body, covered in a fine bristle of hair. This gives it the initial appearance of a furry cockroach, however closer examination reveals a large pair of claw-like mandibles capable of gnawing on metal.

It has a concealed pair of moth-like wings, though narrower and more angular. They beat rapidly allowing for tighter turns, if ultimately shorter bursts of flight within the tighter confines of sewers. Large furry antennae secrete a corrosive oil which softens both a material and lubricates mastication.

Vermytes tend to prefer dark and humid subterranean environments rich in sources of protein. Therefore they nest almost exclusively in and around sewer tunnels, feeding on waste and transforming it into a hardened carbon silicate. Infested areas will be porous with hundreds of chewed tunnels, but surprisingly stable, reinforced by the Vermytes’ own carbonate excretions.

This so-called Vermyte Iron (despite having little to no iron within) was once harvested in large quantities. It was used to supplement any constructions requiring light-weight yet resilient material, such as body armour or grav-car siding. When entire hab-blocks worth of city structure began collapsing due to an unstable foundation, this practice slowly diminished. It still took a long time for people to accept the correlation between sewer mining and their urban devastation.

While not a uniform infestation under all of Demnoph, Vermyte networks are webbed together on the macro-scale. This has been a surprising boon, allowing for construction to rise abnormally high relative to its mass, supported upon the micro-carbonized sub-strata. The cost to this, is that the removal of too many Vermytes or their nests could devastate the modern skyline.

Vermytus Comminus averages one-inch in length, and tends to be the most numerous subspecies. There is a Gigantis strain which averages between six-inches and a foot in length, but is dependent upon a hyper-nutrient environment. A rare breed Vermytus Minalis was said to have been introduced off world, minuscule in size and used to secure unstable terrain for habitation. Rumours of an experimental mega-species bred by director P. Lerato on one of the moons, has since been forcefully debunked.