Column Creature

Column Creatures are enormous stone-based organisms native to the planet Pyrovillia. Their common name is derived from their thick, sturdy legs, which are likened to the columns of buildings.

Physiology
Like many native Pyrovillians, Column Creatures feed themselves solely by absorbing the heat produced by volcanoes. They breathe a combination of several toxic fumes, including carbon monoxide. While they largely submerge themselves in lava pools, they keep their breathing orifices on the top of their bodies. Six thick, column-like legs hold the ellipsoid-shaped creatures just barely out of the lava, allowing breath. A smaller trio of columns emerge from the top of the creature, sporting crystalline eyes they use to spot predators.

At full size, Column Creatures tend to be twenty feet tall and weigh somewhere in the vicinity of eight tons.

Habitat
These massive animals are often found wading in lava lakes on their homeworld.

Behavior
Too large to be harmed by most predators, Column Creatures have a generally slow and harmless disposition. However, females pass into an aggressive state shortly after laying eggs, and will charge and kill anything of a different species. Despite this--or perhaps partially because of it--the eggs of Column Creatures, laid in craters and submerged in lava, are common targets of poachers, worth hundreds of credits at black markets galaxy-wide.