Terachnoid

General information
Species	Terachnoid
Members	Pollyx G'Narlax Frahm Mac Mackeroy Jarvis Dr. Vrax Brumar Lab Assistant Gorthax Fleebar Snuttleblast Filgram Splendleforg
Homeworld	Terachnos
Location	Breegus System Axiom City, Terachnos Hall of Knowledge, Kortog Agorian Battleplex Nefarious Space Station

Terachnoids are a species in A Crack in Time, the comic series, Before the Nexus, and Into the Nexus, after first being mentioned in Tools of Destruction, and then Quest for Booty. Terachnoids are hyper-intelligent cephalopod-like beings, native to Terachnos. Their intelligence has made them brilliant inventors and scientists but also made them arrogant.

Many terachnoids are employees of the Terachnos-based corporation, Pollyx Industries, led by a terachnoid named Pollyx. Pollyx Industries has developed weapons and conducted research into Zoni technology, and allied with Dr. Nefarious during his reign in the Breegus System. After Igliak was abducted using the Helios Project by Artemis Zogg and taken to his Artemis Galaxy, a number of terachnoids worked for the Polaris government from their temporary command post at the Apogee Space Station. Several terachnoid scientists from Pollyx Industries were later kidnapped by the twin crime team, Vendra and Neftin Prog, and forced to build transdimensional portal technology, so that the nethers could escape the Netherverse.

History

Terachnoids' intelligence earned them the Polaris Galaxy's "Brainiest Race" award for 3,000 years in a row. Similarly, their lack of physical prowess won their homeworld of Terachnos the "Weakest Planet in the Universe" for 4,000 years in a row.

At some point, a terachnoid businessman and scientist named Pollyx founded Pollyx Industries to locate and study Zoni technology. Dr. Nefarious then hired them for their extensive knowledge, bringing Terachnos under Nefarious' control, with his forces ostensibly protecting Axiom City's citizens.

Terachnoids became known for providing tech support to the entire galaxy. Terachnoid sages have been known to spend time deducing riddles of the universe, including Chaos Theory and the trillionth digit of Pi. The Terachnoid Consortium of Statisticians also did work at the behest of the Agorian Battleplex, leading them to deem a challenge impossible.

Aside from Pollyx, famed terachnoids included a geneticist named Dr. Vrax Brummer who studied the fongoids; G'Narlax Frahm, the smartest terachnoid on record who was born with seven-and-a-half brains; and Filgram Splendleforg, a terachnoid sage who engineered Terachnoid Armor to protect himself from galactic wedgies.

Beyond technology, terachnoids appeared to be skilled with magic, as Captain Darkwater used an ancient terachnoid incantation to forever bind his soul to his body in order to protect the Fulcrum Star.

Characteristics

Biology

A terachnoid sage

Terachnoids are a highly intelligent race of cephalopod-like creatures. They possess features of various sea creatures, including crustaceans and octopuses, namely their multiple brains held in their large, bulbous heads, and tentacle-like appendages for arms. In contrast to their intelligence, they are physically weak and averse to physical activity. Several terachnoids carried portable consoles with them, and some wore glasses.

It was said that 170 terachnoid sages combined had the IQ of 3 billion (equaling the IRIS Supercomputer), while terachnoids with an IQ under 7,000 were considered mentally stupid.

Society

The terachnoids have no known government or military affiliations, though they have multiple organizations, including Pollyx Industries, and the Terachnoid Consortium of Statisticians.

Terachnoids are known for spending time on RLCMMORPGs, ridiculously life-consuming massively multiplayer online role-playing games (inspired by real-world MMORPGs), over the holo-net. This is taken seriously in their culture to the point where a terachnoid attempted to intimidate Ratchet by bragging about his RLCMMORPG character's level and class. A number of terachnoids, including Jarvis, had holonet girlfriends, including those whom they had met over RLCMMORPG.

Mac's hologram overseeing a lobby with terachnoids and agorians playing arcade games.

The terachnoid Mac Mackeroy is a known comedian, implying comedy is a part of their culture. His subjects include politics, relationships, and observational humor. When he performed at the Agorian Battleplex, however, he struggled to find an audience and had to host his show for free entry.

Terachnoids are averse to physical activity to the point where they are incapable of making a citizen's arrest. Despite this, they did play hoverball.

Behavior

Terachnoids are proud of their intelligence. This leads to many of them bragging about it, and sometimes deliberately using complex speech to sound smarter. It also leads to them looking down on and insulting others for their relative lack of intelligence.

Technology

Terachnoids have their own ships named "brain ships". These resemble trucks used by cable companies or computer techs in the real world. They had strange mechanized robotic arms, a cockpit to the side, and engines in the back. The ships appeared to function as repair ships or some sort of maintenance. The ships lacked any sort of defense weapons, making them an easy target for agorians, Nefarious Troopers, space pirates, or valkyries.

Much terachnoid technology was developed as a form of protection. Pollyx Industries' Dynamo of Doom was developed to protect from space pirates, and the Terachnoid Armor developed by Filgram Splendleforg was designed to protect him from galactic wedgies. Exceptions existed, such as the Hypernova Defense Laser, developed at the behest of Dr. Nefarious for his Nefarious Space Station, built and developed by Pollyx Industries.

Terachnoid technology is known to be incredibly and unnecessarily complex. The terachnoid juice maker was said to have 3.1 trillion moving parts, making it the third-most complicated piece of machinery in the known universe behind the Great Clock at 4.3 trillion parts and the IRIS Supercomputer at 3.2 trillion.

Concept art.

Terachnoids did studies into Zoni technology but often misused it. Notably, after discovering the Time Bomb in the Corvus Sector, terachnoids launched an investigation into mass-producing them, listed in project file 1171-Zeta. The terachnoid sages instead used the samples to stop their mother-in-laws from coming home in time for the holidays, thus terminating the project.

Terachnoids also serve as tech support for the entire universe, including under Pollyx's Pollyx OmniTech service. They are notorious for insulting the users when providing support, however.

References

• Insomniac Games (2007). Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
• Insomniac Games (2009). Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
• (2013). Ratchet & Clank: Before the Nexus [Game].
• Insomniac Games (2013). Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.