[GZG] SG house rules for the Ixx.

Technically, the Ixx might be better described as arthropods (includes
insects, spiders, scorpions, crabs, lobsters etc.) rather than "insectoids".
Not everything that has its skeleton on the outside is an insect, even on
Earth.

The advantages in combat of having your "bones" on the outside instead of the
inside might be questionable. On the one hand, chitin is quite tough
(especially if mineralised) and could probably shrug off the sort of impacts
that might cause cuts, bruises and minor
wounds to squishy-on-the-outside folk like us. On the other, any hit
that did penetrate the exoskeleton would be the equivalent of a bone-
shattering impact, with possible spalling and splinters to complicate the
wound to the squishy inside.

I'm afraid that I don't know anything about healing mechanisms in arthropods,
but I have visions of Ixxian medics slapping epoxy resin and fibreglass tape
over a crack before clicking the equivalent of "Next!". Alan Dean Foster's
"Humanx Commonwealth" stories, feature a race of intelligent arthropods called
the Thranx. Commentators and reviewers often refer to them as "insectoid"
although they actually have eight limbs, making them closer to arachnids, but
I recall that any crack or hole in their exoskeletons was a big deal.

If I recall correctly, isn't an arthropod's xo-skeleton a very crucial
moisture seal and pressure barrier keeping the fluid pressure of their motive
systems intact.

-Eli