Bandrupo, Bandurpo
Carbon based, Union Member Species - TL 5 (before membership) AL 7
Represented
Bandrupo are the largest sentient carbon based NiOx breathers known to the the Science Council of the United Stars of the Galaxies.[1]
Bandrupos grow to 1500 - 1600 meters. They are the largest mobile planet bound member species of the Union and due to their size severely limited in actual participation. Several Bandrupo Passenger ships exist (Converted Gulliver transporters).
There were only 20,000 Bandrupos alive, as their planet does not support many more and their life span is counted in millennia. The oldest Bandrupo[2] being approximately 60,000 years old and the youngest about 8,000 years. The race does have two genders and reproduction is quite standard and creates house sized fertilized eggs. These eggs are first development stage of a long and development and growth period. The eggs hatch after about 300 years and give birth to a 500 - 600 meter Bandrupo child. It stays non sentient for 2-3000 years. The Bandrupo only reproduce if a Bandrupo dies. Only after membership to the Union, they decided to double their numbers. It is estimated that about 120,000 Bandrupo join the Union by 5500 . (Union Science found ways to accelerate the the growth rate).
The Bandrupo share their world with the Bando-bons, a sentient species of bipedals only slightly larger than an average human. As enormous as the different is, they are genetically related. The Bando-Bons decided to join the Union separately. The Bandrupo had no technology of their own, but used the technological advances of the Bando-Bons (TL 5 before Union Membership.)
Avatar technology enables the Bandrupo to partake in Union Social life indirectly. In 5050 Agu Mar, the member representative of the Bandrupo lamented that they could not actively serve in the Armed forces and help directly in the war effort. They had very limited ways to serve their 22 month and did not have special talents like the Bellebee or the Lyrharm.
Admiral Stahl proposed a solution that was taken with great enthusiasm. The age old Mega Man program was to be revived but with Quasimodo Battle suits fitted to a Bandrupo and with Long range ISAH engines, 14,000 Bandrupo immediately signed up. The challenge to build a suit that big was not easy and each suit was more expensive than two brand new battle ships. But the result was as scary as it was successful and scared the living daylight of more than one GC Thrall species. The Bandrupo in such a suit can travel and be serviced at most Space Ports. It received the nickname "Wearable Battleship"
[1] There are larger life forms but not carbon based
[2] Met Husa
[Note] While the Bandrupo Suits are sometimes called Living Battleships, they are not.