Stormwal
Details
- Diet
- ~1,000–1,500 kg/day of aeroplankton, kiami, and small "floaters".
- Habitat
- Gas-giant cloud layers of Crusader (Stanton II), Stanton system; in-fiction viewing at the Stormwal Sanctuary near Orison.
AI Overview
Compiled by AI from community sources — may be incomplete or inaccurate; verify before relying on it.
A roughly 100-metre, four-eyed "space whale" that lives in the cloud layers of the gas giant Crusader (Stanton II) — the largest known flying animal in the 'verse, prized by poachers for a valuable resource; still concept-only in the live game but deeply woven into Orison's culture and Crusader Industries' branding.
Appearance
Adult stormwals reach around 100 metres in length, which makes them the largest known animal capable of flight. They have a rosy-grey body with iridescent red fins (a deep-blue colour variant has also been observed), four eyes, and a spade-shaped snout. Sensory barbels along the head let them detect electrical fields. Designers internally nicknamed the creature the "Space Whale."
Behavior & temperament
Stormwals are social and travel in pods. They hunt cooperatively, circling to herd prey into the centre of an air vortex so the pod can feed efficiently. They communicate using electromagnetic pulses — locating food, finding mates, and keeping the pod's social bonds intact. There is no indication they are aggressive toward players; the danger framing in the lore is reversed, with humans hunting them rather than the other way around.
Sources:robertsspaceindustries.com
Where to find
Native to the atmosphere of Crusader (Stanton II), living within its cloud layers. Lore describes the species as adapted to the atmospheres of gas giants, with the ability to survive briefly in open space. In-fiction, the best place to reliably see them is the Stormwal Sanctuary, a protected viewing area associated with the floating city of Orison. Note: as of the latest live patches the creature is not actually spawnable/huntable in-game — this is the intended/lore location, not a current gameplay one.
Diet
Each stormwal eats roughly 1,000–1,500 kg of food per day, feeding on aeroplankton, kiami, and small "floaters" drifting in the gas-giant atmosphere.
Sources:robertsspaceindustries.com
Anatomy & flight
Flight is biological rather than aerodynamic. The stormwal has six nostrils on each side of its snout plus two large cavities just behind the head; specialised organs process incoming air to extract helium and hydrogen, which inflate internal flight bladders for sustained lift. This lighter-than-air system is what keeps a 100-metre animal aloft.
Sources:robertsspaceindustries.com
Reproduction & variants
Stormwals give birth to live young called "squalls." Nursing mothers depend on other pod members to catch the newborn and protect it during a vulnerable early period lasting up to two Standard Earth Years (SEY). The main recorded colour morphs are the typical rosy-grey/iridescent-red form and a rarer deep-blue variant.
Sources:robertsspaceindustries.com
Loot, hunting & conservation
Stormwals are hunted (and poached) because their bodies yield a highly valuable resource — a concept carcass is cited at roughly 100 metres long, implying a large harvest. No concrete in-game item drops or aUEC values exist yet because the creature isn't huntable in the live build. In the lore the species is protected: conservation posters at Security Post Kareah state that "Crusader is dedicated to the conservation of the Stormwals and their natural habitat," and Crusader Security increases patrols to deter poaching inside sanctuary boundaries, suggesting the stormwal may be endangered.
Lore & discovery
The stormwal currently exists only as concept; its eventual implementation was confirmed on 2020-04-06 by CIG writer Dave Haddock. The creature received a notable showing at CitizenCon 2953 (October 2023) as part of CIG's "Space Whale" material. It is a warm-blooded vertebrate native to Crusader and a recurring fixture of Stanton lore long before it becomes playable.
Sources:starcitizen.toolsyoutube.com
Cultural significance & trivia
- The stormwal is effectively the symbol of Orison and the mascot animal of Crusader Industries. Its two named mascots are Finley and Francis the Stormwal. - A large stormwal sculpture titled "Until Then," created by artist Bipasha Zhu, sits in Orison's Cloudview Center. - Visitors to Orison can buy Stormwal merchandise — plushies (Finley and Francis), a bath float, and a mug — and may encounter people in stormwal costumes. - "Finley the Stormwal" exists as collectible plushie items in the game's merchandise lineup.
Sources:starcitizen.toolsstarcitizen.toolsstarcitizen.toolsartstation.com
Some data from starcitizen.tools (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).