Although space lures countless explorers to the heavens with its wonder and mystery, the watery realms of many worlds have much to offer those who would explore their silent depths. It’s here, in the undersea majesty of the merciless, aquatic kingdom, that the sustari seek to evade those who would feed upon them as they fight a never ending battle for survival. Those that live through the perils of their native environment are rewarded with the right to renew their species; the cycle of life is renewed through their brood.

Typical Sustari

Agility 1D: brawling 2D
Strength 2D: stamina 3D, swim 4D
Mechanical 1D: navigation: undersea 1D+2
Knowledge 2D: survival: ocean 3D
Perception 5D: hide: self only 4D, search 3D+2, sneak 4D
Technical OD
Strength Damage: 1D
Move: 6 {swimming)
Fate Points: 0
Body Points: 16
Character Points: 0
Wound Levels: 3

Natural Abilities: bite (damage + 2; +5 to combat difficulty); seismic sense (will flee an area hours before a quake occurs, even if it means leaving food); resistance to sonic injury (+1D to damage resistance rolls against relevant attacks); able to survive in deep waters; breathes water; small size (scale value 6)

The sustari are propelled through the water by manipulating two fleshy skirts that ring their bodies. When they are not fleeing predators or slaking their incredible hunger, they prefer to rest amid tall ocean grass while hovering with their mouths wide open toward the ocean. This allows the current to efficiently saturate their gills. The stripes along their body help the sustari blend in with the plant life around them. Oceanographers who have observed these creatures in their natural habitat claim they are difficult to see once nestled among tall undersea grass.

Their diet of choice is oceanic grasses, which are consumed in vast quantities by frenzied feeding surges. It’s not uncommon for a single creature to eat a fourth of its body weight in a single sitting.

Though they’re herbivores, many make the mistake of thinking of the sustari as peaceful creatures. Unfortunately, although they do not directly attack other denizens of the deep, their tendency to overgraze an area once a food source has been located can be devastating to the local ecosystem. Left unchecked, they can strip their chosen feeding ground of plane life in a matter of days. For ocean communities, the loss of plant life could mean starvation or the erosion of their city’s foundation. For treasure hunters, the benefit of this is that they can quickly uncover hidden structures without harming the objects.

Some scientists have noted promising results with extracts made from the sustari’s fleshy skirts, strengthening some immune systems and enabling them to fight some illnesses or even keep the patient from being infected in the first place. Research is still preliminary, but the promise of a potential cure-all might prove revolutionary to medicine someday. As a result, some economists suspect the demand for sustari specimens could skyrocket, and ecologists worry that wide-scale hunting of these creatures might prove devastating to biospheres.

The sustari’s voracious appetite forces them to migrate in order to survive. This often takes them into harm’s way, and many fall prey to the hunters of the deep that gladly make a meal of the slow-moving, docile creatures. Thus, they fill their niche in the food chain and their passing provides life for others. Fortunately for the species’ survival, the plant eaters are prolific breeders and mature rapidly. This enables their species to survive the perils of the ocean and ensures food for future generations of predators.