User:Impurest Cheese/Granchio Drummer


 * Granchio Drummers apart from maintain rhythm within the Granchio Armed Forces also act in a Heavy Support role, in a similar fashion to the Covenant Hunters, due to their massive size and enhanced stamina. Drummers are also used as part of the Granchio psychological warfare to increase the chance of the enemy routing out of fear.

Appearance

 * The Drummer caste had the standardized biology of the smaller military castes but magnified it to a size approaching two and half meters tall. As such the Drummers had massively powerful arms and legs even with water to support their body weight. Other minor differences were visible between the Soliders and the Drummers. The first was the Drummers reduce armor possibly to keep their weight down giving the Drummer a more leathery appearance then the other castes. The drummers also had recessed eyes while the Soldiers had them mounted on turrets, much like modern day shrimps, in order to protect them from damage. The final difference was the reducing of the defensive skewer to a small five inch thumb like digit used for grasping instead of battle. Coupled with the drummer’s strength it could cause fatal tissue despite its small size so in a pinch it could be used as a weapon.


 * The sensory and cognitive abilities of the drummer caste are different to the other castes although like all Granchio they have exceptional senses of smell to detect pheromones produced by the Queen. The eye sight of the Drummer is less developed then some military castes but still has the trinoculer vision shared by all Granchio giving them exceptional targeting abilities allowing them to work efficiently as heavy weapon engineers. What the Drummer excels in is analyzing vibrations in the water allowing them to interpret distance, speed and tempo of the source. This sense of rhythm allows them to influence the rest of the Granchio and their enemies with the Drummer caste spending most of its larval training learning to interpret and create rhythms. Despite their size the Drummer Granchio are highly tactical and have well developed brains although they generally remain mute and let others do the talking. As such they gained the reputation of being brainless and dumb despite their skills by both the Covenant and the UNSC.

Specialized Sub Caste Features

 * Due to genetic manipulation the specialized sub castes of each Granchio Caste all have different features allowing specialization in different fields. The Drummer Granchio are split into four sub castes; the army drummer, berserker drummer, drummer grenadiers and drummer dart gunners all of which drum as well as perform in other roles. The grenadier uses the Tier B Smooth Barrel Launcher in combat and as such has developed thinner more flexible digits to pull the trigger and work the reload mechanism. The dart gunner utilizes the Rotary Dart Launcher, which is notorious for its tendency to walk upward, and has stronger arms and legs to help fight the effects of recoil. The berserker who uses a Tier D Anchor, which consists of a chain and heavy bladed flail, has thicker chest and face armor to protect it from their own weapon. Finally the army drummer acts as a sub commander under the Commander Granchio and has the ability to produce a pheromone, thanks to a specialized hormone in the diet, to spread information through the ranks of lower Granchio.

Role

 * Due to their large size the Granchio Drummer has many roles, both on the battlefield and in civilian life. They are the only military caste that is not able to be promoted to a Commander rank possibly due to their involvement in all the Granchio Civil Wars on the side of the Granchio Conservancy Council. They are trusted enough to be the main heavy weapons operators as well as act as sub commanders due to their intellect and understanding of tactics.

Civilian Roles

 * Like on the battlefield the large size of the drummer comes in useful with several members of this caste working on colonization construction teams with Granchio Gardners and Sapper Granchio due to their immense strength. Drummers also act as sound analysts due to their ability to recognize vibrations and sounds with ease. As such Drummers can be found at Listening Posts to act as security and as intelligence operatives and may participate in the maintenance and construction of the station itself.


 * In times of peace and during parades Granchio Drummers display their drumming skills practically during coronations or days of celebration. One unit the 78th Thunder Drummers are well known, both on and off the battle, for their musical ability and are considered the elite troops from this caste. As such they often display their skills and have even been known to incorporate Granchio from other castes and Colonial Irregulars into the unit. During the rebuilding of Paciffica after Operation BLUESEA the thunder drummers worked with the UNSC as a sign of respect from the Granchio on Clax to rebuild the city of Pacific Bay.

Combat Roles

 * When on the battlefield the drummers have a different function, they enforce the morale and maintain the beat of the army and inspire fear into the opposing force. Traditionally the drummers mimicked the footsteps of the Giant Faustepod, a centipede like predator with thick armor plating, which could cause panic to spread through the enemy ranks. To reassure allied forces the drummer would emit a pheromone to spread information that the footsteps were simulated, and is possibly where their role of sub-commander originated from. Even against the UNSC and Covenant which had well trained and organized armies the drummers could cause troops to rout by using their war drums to amplify the amount of footsteps making the army seem much stronger then it was.


 * Within their own sub roles the drummers acted very differently due to specialized training they had received. Army drummers often led or flanked formations to enforce training and reduce enemy morale while berserkers would charge in to break up enemy formations. In addition to this they would also use their flails to try and pin enemy vehicles using the blades on the flail to hook parts of the armor or chassis. In comparison dart gunners and grenadiers stood and used their weapons to damage infantry and cause further collapse of formations until the enemy was dispersed and thus decreasing their ability to fight effectively.