Tickkings

Tickkings are balls of ticks (Ixodida sp.) ranging in size from a few centimeters to 1.5 meters in diameter. Tickkings are formed when a scarcity of food forces ticks to parasitize other ticks. Eventually, due to the ticks each sucking the blood of another tick, the mass will form a sphere. Because the blood is largely cycling through the tickking, tickkings need to ingest very little food to stay alive. Additionally, due to the round nature of tickkings, they are able to actively pursue prey by rolling. With a top speed of 65 kph on flat ground, tickkings are formidable predators. They will chase after any landbound organism with blood, rolling after it until the prey is overcome. Upon reaching something with blood, a tickking will temporarily break apart in order to suck it dry. Tickkings are unable to climb steep surfaces or swim without breaking apart.

Because of the loud, regular ticking that tickkings make, they were used in clocks until the mid-17th century when pendulum clocks were invented. Tickking clocks also fell out of fashion due to the ease at which someone could be assassinated by sabotaging their clock, allowing the tickking to escape.