A Pip On A Trip

This is going to be a post dump on my cragmite headcanons and some OC lore

1) WARRIORS & HUNTERS

Ok so for those who didn’t read “Carved” (which is like… everyone… though for very valid reasons) I imagine that hunters and warriors can’t reproduce easily with one another, because hunters and warriors’ eggs have different incubation temps. I imagine that the eggs are EXTREMELY sensitive to temperature, and even seconds of extreme exposure to cold can cause them to be stunted like Percy (otherwise known as a “misincubate”) which are tiny upon hatching and thus disposed of for being defective. Hunters are more likely to produce cragmites that remain hunters, but about 1/5 of the time they later become warriors. Warriors are more likely to produce ones that become warriors, but 1/4 of the time they remain hunters.

2) BIOLOGY & GENDER

I believe all cragmites are true hermaphrodites. They look identical— some carry cragpoles and some do not, but there’s no distinguishing the ones that do and don’t. I feel it makes the most sense that there aren’t male or female, but they’re all one sex. Because of this, there’s very little, if any, gender-based things in their society. Though most commonly, cragmites refer to themselves with male pronouns, as while not in their own culture, some more primitive races see femininity with a lense of inferiority. And they want EVERYONE to see them as powerful and dominant, so often avoid female pronouns so there’s no chance of others seeing them as weak in any way. Certain cragmites however, the ones that are more “emotionally adept” are comfortable with gender-neutral pronouns, or in rare cases, female pronouns. Cragmites that use female pronouns are not seen as weaker than others, but rather more confident. But I think SOME of cragmites’ thirst for galactic domination could also be based on having a sense of insecurity, so for a cragmite to be secure enough with their own image to openly identify with female pronouns is seen as admirable.

3) EMOTIONS & INTELLIGENCE

Okay so while cragmites are definitely brutish, I still believe they have to be intelligent to an extent. They can’t just be “dumb” if they conquered a whole galaxy and served as the sole threat to the lombaxes, which are portrayed as exceptionally intelligent time and time again (except Alister. He’s a dumb bitch) so while I believe they have decent general intelligence, I think they lack EMOTIONAL intelligence and understanding. Empathy does not come naturally to them; It’s something they have to learn, which they are never really taught. They are also known for mental instability and extreme disregulation, which they channel into killing and conquering as they’re told to. (Or in other much darker ways that the BFL readers are aware of)

4) SOCIETY & PROPAGANDA

It’s most likely that cragmites’ fixation on galactic tyranny is rooted in generations of propaganda that not only makes empathy with other races almost nonexistent in their society, but also teaches them that every other species is beneath them. The lombaxes aren’t people to them, they’re just spacerat vermin; An infestation. Cragmites lack emotional intelligence to begin with, so to be fed propaganda that further instills an “Us vs Them” mentality is a recipe for a violent and unhinged race that blindly commits galactic genocide— because it’s all they know. They don’t question what they see as absolute, and the few that do question their ways or, The Plumber forbid, begin to feel empathy, get the fuck outta dodge before they die for a cause that they no longer believe in.

5) ADDITIONAL OC LORE

For those of you interested in my cragmite OCs’ lore (though one of them was originally my best friend’s character that she relinquished to me), they are the two only “successful” hatchlings of the Hybrid Experiment. The goal of the hybrid experiment was to produce cragmites that have the agility of hunters as well as the strength of warriors— so rather than evolving into warriors, they basically turned into Hunters+, causing them to be much larger than the average hunter and instead of shifting into a warrior form they grew additional fronds, antennae and coloration. They also have somewhat longer tails. Techneztha Parsec, my OC and first ever fancharacter, fled the war after her best friend, a warrior named Drelpian Parallax (who is also Percy’s mom), told her to get away from it as her dying wish, so she fled to the Maenalus Galaxy and became a successful and notorious mercenary (and occasional assassin). However, her brother, Zyriphian, was captured in the war, interrogated for knowledge about their race, and killed by the lombaxes. Techneztha spent years trying to track down exactly who killed him, and is finally given answers in the sequel to BFL, where she makes her first cragmite-form appearance in 15 years.