Hello, I'm Kroll, a Krikoki student of intergalactic natural, unnatural and supernatural history.

As you might have guessed, this memory log will serve as a record of my research on the universe's secrets, mysteries and their truths.

So since we're already at it, I might as well start with myself and by extension my world and people.

I will mostly be using human standard units since the vast majority of sapients amongst the stars are humans anyways.

My homeworld of Iakrikach (translation from Krikoki standard: lands of the wandering rocks) is what would be classified as a rank 13 deathworld, as such we had a hard time making our way to the stars.

High gravity with 12,56m/s² of downwards acceleration, seismic activity, storms and 22 times higher than galactic average background radiation (meaning a barely strong enough magnetosphere to keep an atmosphere intact).

Poisonous and venomous flora and fauna.

Deadly viruses and many other dangers call my world their home.

One of the most simplified, yet accurate descriptions for my kind comes yet again from the humans.

"Fullmetal-Mirelurks", was the description used during our first contact with them, which was originally interpreted as an insult, but thanks to the efforts of the ICEAs (Intergalactic Cultural Exchange Agencies) it was quickly dismissed as a misinterpretation.

After extensive review we found that "Mirelurk" was not an insult meant to degrade us as mere animals, but our physical appearance did in fact show a remarkable amount of similarities to the creatures from the now more than 300 year old video game series, which still enjoys an ever growing fan base across the stars.

When asked why such ancient games were still played and enjoyed as though they were the newest, a fellow student simply stated," Classics never go out of style…" and "These modern hyper realistic battle simulators aren't games meant to be played for fun…they are traumatizing."

But once again I digress, the only major differences from the Mirelurks of the games and my kind would be our metallic exoskeleton, bioluminescent eyestalks for communication amongst our kind, six instead of two or four legs to move on, and that our back carapaces are made of two plates that grow towards each other forming a continuously growing ridge along our spine, some of our elders possess carapaces more reminiscent of an axehead than a shell.

For a Krikoki early life means little more than competition, as just like most crustaceans we lay our eggs in water, though unlike any others we lay them in the waters of geothermal ponds close to geysers and other volcanic waterways.

There the young zoea will use filter feeding to gain both mass as well as store the metals necessary for their developing protective carapace, which they soon be in great need of. As once they reach the megalopae stage of their life cycle they develop their claws and mandibles and the actual competition starts.

Yes, during the megalopae stage they (/we) are cannibalistic in nature and considering that a krikoki female lays about 2000-3000 eggs at once that's fine or at least acceptable.

A great many species had previously stated that it was wrong and barbaric to allow our offspring to hunt each other, but well there is nothing I can write here that would make them understand so I will simply leave it with yet another human idiom,"Nature is a cruel mistress."

The survivors of the megalopae stage reach the juvenile stage of their life, it is within this stage where the individual starts developing higher brain functions similar to human toddlers. In the early months of this stage they will be picked up and adopted by an adult Krikoki, by whom they will be named, raised and educated. This can take anywhere from 3 to 10 years until the parent is satisfied with the juveniles physical and mental development, to allow them into public education where they learn more in depth social skills and start laying the foundation for their own future.

The jump from juvenile to adult is mostly imaginary as a Krikoki is often only referred to as an adult once they have finished their higher education, rather than reaching sexual maturity and an adult is physically nothing more than a bigger juvenile. However the elders are a different story in this regard, as not only do us Krikoki grow continuously throughout our lifespan, but we also do not have a maximum age. Which in the old times would have meant to live until your exoskeletons lost its battle against the high gravity of our homeworld.

These days the elders remain upon the diplomatic stations circling our world working as respected advisors to the council leading our people.

Though very few non-Krikoki have ever had the honor of interacting with them directly, most humans that have, stated it to be like talking to a being from a different age that with their mere presence commanded respect and admiration. Surely it has nothing to do with the fact that the smallest of the elders start at a height of about 5 metres, whilst the largest and by extension oldest living elder-Krikoki, Sentinel Kriakakoll (translation from Krikoki standard: wandering fortress) towered at a mind boggling height of 12 metres.

Elders are neither elected nor chosen by someone else, being regarded as an elder was simply a sign of respect towards those who have outlived their reproductive capabilities and wished to have their centuries of life experience be used in service of the Krikoki people.

Other than going into architecture and a more detailed breakdown of our history, there is little more of interest to the average galactic citizen.

Well I hope that my logs will find their use within the scientific and scholarly community.

So if you have any comments and annotations you know where to put these.

Till next time

Kroll out