Mantoids and Sexual Cannibalism

Mantoids are a rare race of giant tauric creatures, appearing to have an upper human torso with a lower body of that of a praying mantis. Some other mantis features are also prominent on their human half- most notably the spines covering their two human forearms and antennae protruding from the top of their head. Their mantis portions has a total of four legs and lack the two sickle arms of a mantis, combined with their human arms this is a total of six limbs. While there are some cases of truly giant mantoids, they are for the most part slightly smaller than other giant predators. An encounter with one of these beings is extremely rare, as they are very difficult to find unless they desire to be found themselves.

As infants they are swarm hunters, and devour prey much like a school of piranhas would. A mature giant mantoid however is a solitary predator. While they their feeding habits do include humanoids, they also tend to feed on larger prey than themselves, notably Harpies and even more so Dridders for their natural choices. Their arm spines and great speed are very capable of dispatching of larger predators and some Mantoids are known to even have some forms of venom at their disposal; they possess very sharp fangs to eat their larger prey.

They are extremely agile and stealthy creatures, and are fully capable of leaping out from a concealed hiding place to grapple even a Harpy cleanly out of the sky to become their next meal. Mantoids are known to hunt by blending in perfectly with the cover of the foliage throughout Felarya, and they even mimic the movement of wind with the leaves around them as ambush predators- giving them the nickname of ‘wind dancers’ by swaying from side to side slightly. Some can even change their coloration to even further blend into their environment.

Mantoid families consist of a mother and her many children which are all female as well- no males are birthed by the mother. Male mantoids are capable of reproducing via budding, although the exact means are unknown as to how this occurs. The father of such a family usually devoured by the mate soon after mating to help give her the necessary nutrition she will need while pregnant and unable to hunt; although there is the rare occasion where the female spares the male, sometimes staying together and finding other means to get by. Mantoids will sometimes migrate and will wander around until they find a location they deem suitable for living in or raising a family and then remain within that territory. As a general note, mantoids can be considered more aggressive and bolder than some other predators- mostly born out of their feeding habits.