The Weyr

Sandworms

   

      The life of a sandworm is solitary andfilled with danger. A sandworm, when first hatched, must contend withits siblings for survival. Only one survives unless by chance. Assoon as all of the young have been devoured by the most outstandinghatchling, this singular worm will find itself in the breeding groundof the sandworms; the Graveyard.

      The young from every clutch of eggswill grow and eat and attempt to surive in the isolated graveyard.There is usually nothing for them to feed on but each other and theimmortal flesh of the gods. By the time a sandworm reached adulthood,it will have eaten all the other sandworms in the vicinity. This iswhy only one sandworm is usually seen at a time. The sandworms areasexual, meaning that they need not mate to reproduce. This isfortunate for the ever hungering monster.

      As soon as it reaches maturity, thesandworm will lay three or four dozen clutches of eggs in thegraveyard. Each clutch contains four to six thousand eggs. As theseare far too small to consume, the worm will then be forced to ventureout in search of food.

      In the vast expanse of sand, it iseasy to get lost. On many occasions, the sandworm will die withoutbeing able to find a meal. However, the sandworms are usually able tomake its way to one of the three water sources that dragon-kinfrequent.

      And that is where they are knownbetter as DragonBane. The sandworm hunts through vibration. Thetiniest footstep or even the wing beats of a dragon flying high abovethe sands can all be detected by the sandworm. And all but theheat-seeing fire dragons would have no idea of death lurking justbelow.

      Of course, a big sized weyr can, withdifficulty, take down an attacking worm. And due to being blind, thesandworms can get trapped by the deep reaching roots of the treesthat grow around the ponds. And should a fire dragon happen to spotthe sandworm, then the dragon-kin can easily scatter in alldirections to keep themselves safe.

      Yes, the life of a sandworm isdifficult. It is no surprise, then, that later generations of theworms have begun to get clever. They started to recognize thedifferent sounds the dragon-kin made and their meanings. While themonstrous creature cannot mimic, the sounds it can use the dragonsthemselves to lure their kin to it for easy hunting.

      Dragon-kin kits and pups arenotoriously curious. A non-aggressive sandworm is a thing of dreamsfor little terrors such as Lady. While for some young, the worm is anightmare not matter what, most are brave and naught and would likenothing more than to be around the feared worms. The young were fartoo little to be a good meal for the worms anyway. A worried adultdragon, on the other hand, was far more satisfying. A friendly dragonor two would draw a group. A group meant more food.

       With the DragonBane worms learningmore and more, they became only more dangerous, more unpredictable.And, occasionally, a sandworm trying these tactics might make amistake. They might find themselves becoming familiar with specificdragons. Becoming fond ofthose dragons. Before the worm knows what is happening, it might bereceiving a name-usually Spookie for fun loving worms or Pookie forthe more defensive ones. And if they are not careful, the worm mayfind itself becoming fully integrated into a weyr, where they loveand are loved as family.

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AN:

I made up this entire thing. None of this is canon. This is just based on my imagination and how various people play as Pookie.