Crysfortress Walker

Splitting from its ancestor, the crysfortress walker has spread further throughout the central and southern boundaries of the continent of drake. Environmental pressures have encouraged this species to grow much smaller both to conserve energy and, by extent, reduce the size and thus weight of their crystal flora symbiotes. Said symbiote, the Crysfortress Shell, lives in a mutually beneficial relationship with its host - the walker gains protection and aid in its own respiration, while the shell receives excess nutrients from its host as well as a level of mobility unheard of in most crystal flora. This mutualism has allowed both species to flourish, and has given them a significant edge over most other similarly sized fauna such as the Minikruggs.

Due to how cold the winters can get in Drake, in preparation for these colder months, this walker species will construct a burrow utilizing their specialized front limbs. Once they have created one of sufficient depth, typically about half a foot or so into the soil, they will wedge themselves with their symbiotic partner facing out. To most species, it would resemble any other species of crystal flora, thus it is camouflaged from hungry predators during the winter. The burrow is typically slanted just enough to prevent water from pooling directly beneath the walker - potentially drowning it - in case of an early thaw or unusually warm day were to melt the surrounding snow. Throughout this period, the walker enters a state of torpor and weathers out the coldest parts of the year, relying on stores of starches and its own small supplies of fat to keep it sustained until spring returns, upon which they will slowly free themselves from their winter homes and rise once more back onto the soil proper.

Diet
While its ancestor relied upon the sap of its own symbiotic parter to survive, such a relationship was somewhat inefficient - if either partner became sickly, the other would suffer for it, which in turn would worsen the other. Such a feedback loop would often lead to the death of both partners, so to get around this, the crysfortress walker has evolved to instead feed upon the inner fluids of other crystal flora, which it detects via smells. Utilizing its mandibles, it bores a tiny hole into their sides near ground level, and it will then gorge upon their fluids until satiated. As they digest their prize, a portion of the nutrients obtained will be shared with their symbiotic shell, thus sustaining it as well. Besides this diet, the walker will also readily feed on small bits of detritus as well as scavenge off of any corpses it can find, which supply it with necessary proteins for egg development.

Reproduction
Breeding behaviors typically start to occur somewhat late in the spring - right when the crysfortress walker’s fare options are at their most abundant and the climate is already fairly warm. Following a fresh molt, a time when its exoskeleton is still soft and has yet to harden, it will seek out member of the opposite sex that has also undergone this process. Pheromones' released in preparation to the molt help to facilitate this, thus reducing the chance of a missed opportunity. Once a mate has been discovered, both walkers will inspect one another, paying special attention to the size of both their partner and the health of their shell symbiote. Should they find each other acceptable, the mating process will begin. The male will leave a sperm packet, which the female will then walk over and collect. While the male walker will carry on as normal from this point forward, the female will begin to produce dozens upon dozens of sticky eggs which begin to amass along her underside - with aid from her hindmost limbs - where they will then be fertilized and carried until hatching, though this can take a day's worth of preparation, thus is typically done in a secluded, secure area. During this period, when the female is preparing to fertilize the eggs, the crystal symbiote itself will have already preemptively begun to release its own mobile spores - zoospores - which will make their way along the contours of the walker's exoskeleton following chemical trails until they reach the developing eggs. A similar process was undergone with the sperm package of the male, which is also coated in the zoospores of its symbiotic shell. Taking advantage of this brief opening when the otherwise impermeable eggshell has yet to develop, both zoospores unite and go on to "impregnate" themselves into the eggs, after which the egg will continue its development and await for the actual fertilization process to occur.

This cycle ensures that each juvenile walker has its symbiotic partner from birth, as opposed to their ancestors which relied on an eggshell coated in a layer in spores. Now that the spores are already present and developing within the egg, leeching off some of the excess reserves of nutrition intended for the developing newborn - though never enough to cause any serious harm - they can already begin to develop the future shell the walker will rely on. Aside from carrying the developing eggs with her rearmost legs, the mother walker invests no parental care otherwise, making both her and her shell r-strategists - producing numerous, usually independent offspring per breeding. The offspring crysfortress complexes will then part their own ways into a world teeming with beasts seeking to eat them, and conditions which will turn hostile in a matter of months. Of a single clutch of a hundred crysfortress complex eggs, few will survive to adulthood.

Once these egg hatch, typically after a few weeks, the tiny walker and its equally tiny crystal symbiote will begin their lives together. United via their ancestrally shared fungal-like growths, which in the walker extends from a specially formed seam between the chitinous segments of the exoskeleton, they will immediately begin to seek out nourishment. Provided with a level of protection greater than that of any of its distant, non-symbiotic cousins at this stage of development, they are able to deter all but the most determined of would-be predators. This extends even to when they must molt, as the crystal keeps them secure during those delicate few days of exposure, where else other distantly related species would need to seek out shelter. This advantage allows them to be active throughout most of warmer months, allowing them to fully exploit the natural resources they need in preparation for winter.