| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Anchored |
| Category | Tunics |
| Species | Arthrotunic goetiachira |
| Attitude | Passive |
| Biome | Overgrown Ruins |
| Scan Tool | Bioscanner |
The Witch Hand is a lifeform that appears in the caves beneath the Overgrown Ruins.
Appearance
The witch hand resembles thick, brown roots. It can be divided into three parts:
- Bulb: Connects to a surface, partially open in some places, showing an icy green-cyan colouration.
- Stem: Connected to the bulb, featuring an icy-green cyan underbelly.
- Palm Structure: Expands from the stem, round and smooth overall with a cyan underbelly. Attached to this “palm” are four crooked finger-like structures.
The “fingers” are arranged in a specific pattern: two stick out forwards, while the other two stick out sideways. All “fingers” have a cyan underbelly, and both the fingers and palm are striped dark brown.
Databank Entry
Arthrotunic goetiachira, the witch hand. A colonial tunicate with a tough, flexible outer shell that has adapted to constant twisting and breakage by an outside force.
1. Tunicate origin
Like the titan rockbore, the witch hand is a colonial tunicate, built from many tiny zooids which cooperate to build a shared structure. The exterior tunic is a polyproteovinyl plastic, similar to that found in some raions and shootroots, but some areas of the hand are left exposed for feeding.
2. Filter feeder
A heart at the base of each limb draws water into the witch hand's feeding pores.
3. Tormented structure
The knobby joints in the witch hand's structure are designed to flex under sudden gripping or tearing pressure. There is a tightly coupled relationship between the failure point of each joint and the strength of the witch hand's holdfast to the seafloor. Upper limbs can be torn away and lost as a sacrifice, but in other cases (such as lower joints) the witch hand prefers to be plucked whole. Once detached from the seafloor, the witch hand's twisted, thorny body plan may help it avoid being swallowed.
Assessment: a sign of large, grasping predators in the ecosystem.
Source: Scan a Witch Hand
Gallery
  
