Ice Worm

The Ice Worm is an aggressive leviathan class fauna species that burrows beneath the surface of the ice. They appear to be ambush predators, drawn towards vibrations above them. Ice Worms are exclusively subterranean creatures and do not swim.

Ice Worms can be avoided through the use of a Thumper.

Appearance
The Ice Worm has a very long body, the top side of which is completely covered by a thick segmented exoskeleton. Beneath these plates are another set of triangular plates that stick out horizontally, each with a backwards facing spike. The underside of the creature is bare and unprotected, lacking any protective plating. The underside is grey in color and has two rows of small spikes running parallel down the body.

The head is mainly comprised by a single huge plate which tapers into a long, thick horn sticking straight out from the head. This horn is super-heated and allows the Ice Worm to melt through ice in order to burrow. Below the horn, the creature's four mouth-parts can be seen. Each is long and curved with a solid black exterior and fleshy red interior. The inside of the upper and lower pair is lined with black spines. The tail ends with a pair of long and thin spines.

Behavior
The Ice Worm travels about just below the surface of the ice, producing a distinct trail of pushed-up snow accompanied by a jet of steam. It is attracted to noise and vibration, and will surface to attack whatever produces these things.

Once it is above ground, it will do a loud roar before doing an attack. If the player or Thumper is a reasonable distance from the Ice Worm, the Ice Worm will lunge at the target. After it has lunged at the player, it will either emerge back out of the ground to do another attack or it will poke at the player from underground with its horn. If it is closer to the target it will do one of many close-range attacks.

While tunneling, it can dash at the player, and if it catches them, it will spear them, and then fling them into the air, before swallowing them whole.

When an Ice Worm enters hunt mode, they begin to rapidly attack the player, using dive attacks, pokes, spear attacks, and whip attacks.

If there is a Snow Stalker in the Arctic Spires, the Ice Worm will eat it.

Design
The Ice Worm's design draws heavily on the real-life bobbit worm. Though far greater in size, the Ice Worm shares the hard parapodia running down the body and an ambush-reliant lifestyle.

The tail spines of the Ice Worm are similar to the distinctive cerci seen on the rears of earwigs. They also bear a slight resemblance to the tail fin of a Reaper Leviathan.

Inspiration also may have been taken from the larvae of Platerodrilus species, otherwise known as trilobite beetles. The dorsal side of the Ice Worm's body shares many similarities in shape and colour with the larva of these beetles.

The Ice Worm's head bears a striking resemblance to this image of a deep-sea tubeworm and was likely based on it.

The concept of a worm- or centipede-like arctic monster with red-hot spines may be taken from the remorhaz of Dungeons and Dragons.

The concept of the Ice Worm's behaviour is heavily based upon that of the Sandworms from the Dune novels.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * The Ice Worm is the only known non-extinct land-based leviathan on Planet 4546B.
 * The Ice Worm shares its name with a real animal that lives in glacial ice.