Esimantumi
Iristo is a large, watery world with a high gravity and thick, murky
atmosphere. Its single super-continent is predominantly jungle and
forest that fades to grassy steppes in the north. It has a highly competitive and evolved
food web. Due to the high gravity, most
life has developed at low altitudes. The sun is hot and large. The
collision of inner planets two and three has left the system full of asteroids in a
wide gravitational belt. The planet has numerous small moons that cause
a complex set of tidal cycles and provide shielding from the debris that
clutters the system.
Physical Description
The Esimantumi are thick-skinned, ten-legged centipede-like marsupials.
Their front four legs
have developed opposing digits which they can use as hands by rearing up
vertically. They are flat-bodied and
low-slung, capable of enormous leaps and fantastic speed, particularly
on the lower gravities so common off their homeworld. Their large,
sharp-toothed mouths are mounted on the frontal underside of their body,
as their primitive ancestors evolved to over-run prey and drop on them.
They have two antennae which pick up the direction and intensity of sound and smell.
They have no eyes, due in large part to the murkiness of their habitat, instead
relying on echolocation using a forward-facing organ that emits sound
through a membrane located between their antennae. Their rear 6 legs
have multiple pads on them through which they detect the presence and
direction of vibrations through the ground. They are covered in tiny
bristles that are sensitive to the chemical processes of carbon-based life forms,
like breathing and the emission of body heat.
Personality
The Esimantumi seem almost emotionless and incomprehensible from a Human
point of view,
receiving predominantly chemical cues and responses from one another
rather than the "body language" common in many other species. They are
familial and are fierce fighters when their homes of planets are
threatened.
While not common off their homeworld, the
Esimantumi are well spread and can be found virtually throughout the
civilized galaxy, traveling individually or in small groups.
Language
The Esimantumi have an incredibly complex language. They think and
communicate in pure concepts rather than words. Their language is built
around their echo-location organs so that rather than nouns being words
that represent things, they broadcast an almost literal picture of the
thing they are referring to. They are capable of portraying extremely complex
concepts almost instantly using a combination of objects, motions, and qualifiers.
Aptitudes
The Esimantumi are intelligent, scientific, and mathematically capable.
They are stoic and very ergonomically and
functionally oriented. Trade has always served to unite the race's scattered
hives, so their culture has a strong focus on formal trade trips
involving significant members from multiple families . They are good fighters in a group as they
subconsciously release
chemicals that trigger increased energy levels and morale in one another.
Culture/Political
Breeding
Three unattached Neuters will meet and form a family bond. Chemicals are
exchanged in regular grooming and sleeping rituals which determine the
most genetically ideal sexes for each member of the familial Triad. The
three neuters take about a year to develop into a Father, Mother, and
Husband. The Father begins to generate sperm and fertilizes the Mother
by depositing it into her embryonic pouch. Once the Mother has been
impregnated, the Father becomes extremely
aggressive and hunts and eats incessantly, growing yolk in a partially
developed embryonic pouch which it regularly deposits into the Mother's
embryonic sac. The Husband then becomes extremely protective of the
Mother, providing food and a constant source of protection for her until
the birth of the babies. The Mother develops a set of 4 or 5 embryos that develop
in a belly pouch near her posterior. They feed off the placental yolk until
emerging as babies, which share a close life-long bond. If at any time the
familial Triad is broken up, all three revert to Neuter until another
Triad is formed.
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