The Forest Eaters

Today's Forest Eater

The Forest Eaters are large cattle used on a few worlds to control fast-growing forests.  Their use is strictly regulated due to their tremendous appetites and extremely long life spans.  Released into a slow-growth biosphere, the Forest Eaters would likely strip the entire planet of large-growth vegetation in quick order.

Only three corporations have been granted permission by the Terrec'Qek Empire to raise, farm out, slaughter, and sell the meat of this gigantic life form.  Since they were first discovered on the Zinnic IV outworld, the site of the Bennis' Skey Uprising, the Forest Eaters have become a prized delicacy, sought after by those who seek the most sublime, but potentially deadliest feast.

Forest Eater flesh is considered by many to be the greatest meat available in the know universe.  Unfortunately, it is also one of the riskiest meals in which one can partake.  The acid that allows the Forest Eaters to quickly digest large amounts of vegetation at such a fast pace is also completely fatal if consumed by most carbon-base life forms.  Even the most skilled chef cannot guarantee that the meat he serves is free of the deadly substance, as the acid travels throughout a Forest Eater's body in no discernible pattern.  Luckily, if one consumes a steak so tainted, they would first experience an extremely high level of euphoria before their mind was consumed and their body dissolved into a gelatinous sludge.

A Forest Eater, circa 1978

What the %*@&! is the "Forever War"?

Since I've chosen to fit these beasties into the framework of my graphic novel, Terran Sandz, it occured to me that some background might be helpful, especially regarding the numerously mentioned "Forever War".

Here is part of the introduction on the inside front cover of the graphic novel.  Hopefully, it'll spread some light on the universe within which all this takes place.

If you have any questions, ask away.


The spark that began the Forever War had long faded into antiquity.  the Terrec'Qek Empire and the Breed were the warring factions, and even they had forgotten the origins of their seething hatreds.


Each side "recruited" new fodder for their war machines by indoctrinating the inhabitants of newly discovered worlds.  if the newly-recruited were battle-ready, they were shipped to the front lines.  were they viewed as deficient at making war, the recruits were sent to special planets where they were retrofitted, via forced mutation and involuntary surgical enhancements, into fierce warriors.


The forever war was a fact of life to the millions of involved worlds.  no one anticipated an end to the stalemate.


Then the Terrec'Qek Empire chanced upon the earth, which had been a paradise of peace and harmony for over 200 years.  thus the Terran Warriors, as the earth's inhabitants became known, were recruited into the war without end.


In just one hundred years, however, the terran warriors single-handedly ended the forever war.  the Breed and all who supported them were annihilated.  so ferocious and deadly were the terrans that all fled at the very mention of their arrival.