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Create a watercolor and ink plate showing a sentient warrior species loosely based on the PRAYING MANTIS, done in inks and watercolors by a naturalist in a xenobiology journal: The Proportions: It would show a towering creature, easily eight feet tall. The main stance is vertical, but the lower body has a wide, heavy four-legged base. The Chitin Plating: The naturalist would have sketched detailed cross-sections of the exoskeleton, drawing it not like a smooth insect shell, but like heavy, dull-grey overlapping plates resembling biological slate armor or a tactical vest. The Upper Limbs: The top two limbs would be drawn with heavy muscle definition, terminating in a thick, calloused palm with two powerful thumbs anchoring a grip. The Mid-Limbs: The middle pair of limbs would be sketched out to the side, showing heavy joint structures built to lock into place like hydraulic stabilizers when the creature stands firm. The Head: The head would be drawn low and wide, tucked tightly between the armored shoulders to eliminate a weak neck joint, with small, slit-like compound eyes deeply shadowed by a heavy brow plate.
A 'Runner' : Hard-Wired Ultra-Light Infantry, Rah'Yai-Krah Manufactured Species 9-R (with backstory)
The Rah'Yai-Krah (lit., 'factory-grown') of Series 9 are fully sentient but are neurologically and psychologically programmed to voluntarily cede their free will to others, although they are proud to be fully sentient when most 'factory-grown' are not (the 9-R configuration combines medium armor with strong survivability and long-range mobility). As their nickname implies, they typically run into battle, although antigrav tech allows them to leap great distances. Their sentience, developed as they are grown, allows them to perform with precision in a way that shock troops cannot. Their sentience means they cannot leap around in the machine-coordinated patterns using the less sentient. Their armor has generators for broad-spectrum EW, but the Runners themselves choose when to use it and when to practice stealth instead (EW makes it obvious to communicators that some enemy is keeping them from communicating). Sacrificing aggression in favor of speed, they only make their initial attack when they can engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. However, they are programmed with consummate skill in every weapon known in the galaxy, so they frequently seize enemy weapons and turn them on their erstwhile owners. They are also able to examine weapons (and everything else) for booby-traps, and they can quickly come up with a means of disarming or disposing of the trap. Although they are sentient, in battle they cannot be reasoned with or even really communicated with, although their C and C can communicate with them and through them.
Technical staff will notice that the four line drawings surrounding the Jumper are all rather crude attempts at disinformation, e.g., there is no armor capable of materializing weapons tubes, as we see in the drawing on the upper right - this drawing also depicts a severely distorted armor configuration.
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Part of my unnumbered series "Manufactured Species."
"A 'Runner' : Hard-Wired Ultra-Light Infantry, Rah'Yai-Krah Manufactured Species 9-R" © 2026 A.J. Jones. All rights reserved.
Accompanying text is ©2026 A.J. Jones. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions.
A.J. Jones hereby asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work and all accompanying text.
