Gastrointestinal tract
The small intestine begins at the duodenum and is a tubular structure, usually between 6 and 7 m long. Its mucosal area in an adult human is about 30 m. Its main function is to absorb the products of digestion (including carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and vitamins) into the bloodstream. There are three major divisions:
Draeden
A draeden's rarely-seen true appearance is a cluster of about forty tubular strands, all symmetrically attached at a central node. Each strand has a mouth at its end, and opens upon a digestive passage that leads to the central node. The node is spherical and ridged, resembling a human brain, and is the creature's equivalent of a stomach. It contains several boulders to aid digestion. A draeden's nervous system spans its entire body. The creatures's total length varies from 19 to 38 miles, tip to tip. The central node usually comprises one-tenth of the creature's total diameter. Draeden usually appear to other creatures as the most deadly thing imaginable to those creatures.