Kaldane
Kaldane is a species that features in John Carter of Mars.
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History
The Kaldanes operated as an ancient, highly evolved species of sentient brain-like entities who natively inhabited the subterranean warrens of the Valley of Bantoom on the planet Barsoom. Seeking to achieve a state of absolute pure intellect detached from the physical limitations of animal biology, the species systematically bred and engineered a separate, symbiotic race of headless humanoid beasts known as Rykors to serve as their physical mounts. The entities encountered a major external disruption to their isolationist society when a cataclysmic Martian tempest swept the flier of Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter, directly into their valley. The local clan captured the Red Martian princess to use her as a dynamic specimen of lower emotional life, establishing their primary objective to protect their hidden breeding caverns from foreign discovery while siphoning the physical utility of captured outsiders to sustain their supreme intellectual empire.
Overview
In appearance, the Kaldanes were a multi-gendered alien race of subterranean entities whose true physical forms were giant, monstrous, and completely non-humanoid head structures that possessed a highly specialized arachnoid physiology. They completely lacked traditional humanoid torsos, necks, or bipedal limbs, appearing instead as an independent, oversized skull mass measuring roughly ninety percent of their total biological volume. Their faces sported two wide-set, unblinking dark eyes that possessed a highly pronounced hypnotic gaze, a flattened nasal structure, and a broad mouth cavity containing two sharp chelae pincers that functioned as cutting mandibles. From the base of their bulbous main brain-chassis extended six short, jointed spider-like legs that they utilized for skittering locomotion along the cavern floors or for clamping tightly onto the necks of their headless Rykor mounts. The entities did not wear traditional manufactured garments or physical armor pieces, completely eschewing clothing to expose their raw, leathery hides, which featured a yellowish hue on standard workers and a distinct blue-tinted coloration on their larger, egg-laying clan kings.
The Kaldanes were a sentient tissue-based race of brain-like entities, which naturally granted its collective membership the basic biological traits of profound longevity, absolute freedom from physical bodily fatigue, and an advanced cellular structure capable of surviving with minimal internal vital organs. Their unique, skull-centric anatomy offered individual entities an absolute immunity to standard somatic human diseases, though they did not possess independent telepathic flight or natural physical strength, remaining entirely dependent on riding their engineered Rykor hosts to interact with the material world on a heavy physical level. The creatures possessed an exceptionally high logical and calculating intellect, mastering absolute telepathic control over their headless slaves and using a specialized vocal apparatus to perfectly mimic human languages. Their primary capabilities allowed the species to maintain a completely self-sustaining subterranean civilization, project a powerful hypnotic force to paralyze the willpower of encroaching rivals, and produce thousands of clan eggs to ensure the generational continuity of their hyper-intelligent hive network.
Members
- Luud :
- Ghek :
Notes
- The Kaldane were created by Edgar Rice Burroughs where they featured in the setting of the Barsoom universe.
Appearances
- Chessmen of Mars (1922)
External Links
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