Soldier Crab (Basic Lore)

Soldier Crab (CR 5)
True Evil - Large - Magical Beast (Water)
Soldier Crabs are very big crabs, measuring somewhere around 12 feet wide and up to 7 feet high. They feature eight legs, and two claws, for a total of 10 limbs. Their hardened carapace makes them challenging foes to face, as most common weapons will have a difficult time penetrating their shells. Their fearsome claws can cleave a humanoid in twain with little effort. Soldier crabs require water to breathe, but have been known to hold their breath above-ground for up to several days before suffering negative effects from doing so. Soldier Crabs are social creatures, tending to form large colonies among their own kind. However, they are fiercely territorial, and have little tolerance for any creature so bold as to come near their colony. It is a very rare thing to find crab soldiers in small numbers; they often travel in large packs. Luckily, they make their homes in out of the way places deep under the seas, often in submerged caves or deep cravasses, so only adventerous folk are likely to stumble upon such a colony. That said, it is a rare few who can survive such an experience. Soldier crabs are not often seen on land. The most common means by which folk spot these dreaded monsters is when the male population of the soldier crab colony marches out of their home colony to lay claim to some resource, or emerge to avenge some perceived slight. While soldier crabs can't be called brilliant, they aren't simple animals, and they do have feelings and can hold a grudge as well as any humanoid (well, almost as well, anyway). As a curious aside, when the male population of a colony leaves for some expedition, and fails to return, the remaining females can designate some among their number to transform into males, a process which takes no more than a few days. Indeed, a desprate colony can transform all of its members except its queen into males to defend its territory, if driven to extremes. Another somewhat common reason that land-dwelling folks might lay eyes upon soldier crabs is when they are subborned or recruited by a more powerful intelligence (or simply a more clever one!). Soldier crabs are, after all, prone to marshalling in great numbers to assault land-based locations, and some races have found a means of exploiting this behavior to their own ends. In such cases, the soldier crabs will typically be segregated into their own units, separated from any other non-soldier-crab units that might also be present. While the solider crabs can be cajoled into behaving around other races, it is no small task to keep them in line, so giving them a little space of their own is just good sense.