Dravidian

Dravidian
Biological type:	Insectoid
Place of origin:	Dravidia, Ganymede Antares
Notable individuals:	Mantis (Hive Captain)
Appearances:	TDL: The Planet of Oblivion

The Dravidians were an insect race from the Dravidian Star Cluster of Ganymede Antares. They were a race of scavengers and asset strippers, who took wealth and technology wherever they found it. They were an ambitious race, keen to establish their own empire.

Biology

The Dravidians looked like gigantic grasshoppers, with long bodies and thin spindly, forelimbs, wide heads and huge, segmented eyes. Two sharp mandibles emerged from their mouths and they spoke in chittering sounds. Like true insects, their yellow blood did not carry oxygen through their bodies; instead, they absorbed oxygen through spiracles. Because of their size, they needed oxygen-rich environments to survive; otherwise they would become sluggish. (TDL: The Planet of Oblivion)

Hives

Dravidian colonies were transported in Hive Ships, large spacecraft with organic interiors,. They held thousands of Younglings in conical, honeycomb-filled chambers, each with a protective membrane. The application of heat would wake them and accelerate their growth when they were ready to hatch. (TDL: The Planet of Oblivion)

Other references

• Mehendri Solon rescued Condo, his manservant, from a Dravidian starship that had crashed on Karn. (DW: The Brain of Morbius)

• The Carrionites knew of the Dravidian race, and in the Carrionite-inspired play Love's Labour's Won there was a pair of lines which stated that:

"The light of Shadmoch's hollow moon doth shine

Onto a point in space betwixt Dravidian Shores"

(DW: The Shakespeare Code)

• The Remote had a Drahvidian battleskimmer on Anathema; this may refer to the same culture as the Dravidians discussed here.