Somarinoa's Zhivysh

Another Sagan-ese. Welcome! ;D

Great to see you here, Soma.

Awesomeness!

Reminds me of those jumping snails from t"The Future Is Wild!
"

By the way, how do they rub their eyes? Do they use their tongues? If so, do they employ saliva or a similar substance for lubrication?



Same here! ;D

This update will entail a diagram showcasing several of the Zhivyshi features. Portions are described going left to right, up to down along the diagram.


Cap Support Structure: This structure is a hardened structure that holds the two large cap plates together. It spans the rim's circumference along the edge of the cap just before an organic structure pulls underneath to form the underside of the cap, and extends through the radius from "front" to "back". Within this structure is housed the multipurpose vent and the hypacroid eyes.

Hypacroid Eyes: The hypacroid eyes are large structures that initially evolved to allow the Zhivyshi ancestors to keep track of local weather patterns, as they are incapable of bending their trunk to look upwards and bending using their tonguefeet could cause them to fall over, thereby meaning that their typical eyes could not do this for them. Since sapience, these eyes have allowed them to view the stars above them as well, and to ponder about them; this actually led to their focus on traversing the galaxy. The eyes see into the ultraviolet, and can be used during war to peek over a structure that it might be hiding behind without revealing a large amount of its body.

Multipurpose Vent: The multipurpose vent is a very important object of the Zhivysh's personality. It is the main organ used to vocalize, by passing air from the pneumonic organs and out, passing a larynx-equivalent organ and then out through the vent. Sounds produced through the vent make a hissing sound, and is used to pronounce their species name, Zhivysh. The flesh within this vent is also sensitive, and is used to smell. There is a diaphram-like organ that is used to suck air into the vent and push it back out. A small tracheal tube leads into the pneumonic areas, allowing the species to not have to necessarily breathe by extending their pneumonic extensions, but then they must deal with low atmosphere as they are evolved to diffuse better directly.

Cap Plate: Two large keratinoid-silica plates are thick and useful as armor, with the organic keratinoid bits latching onto the fewer silica bits to create a sort of natural alloy structuring. They often used these plates to glance off blows during more technologically-low eras. During modern times, many suits now use the area taken up by the plate as a type of shield to deflect weapon blasts. These plates help allow rain not to drip onto the main eyes, lowering their need to be wiped clean, but also are pocked on a microscopic level. These pocks are filled with magnetite, allowing the Zhivysh a powerful sense of magnetoception. As such, they naturally know where they are exactly when on their homeworld, and can often find their way around other worlds, especially if they are accustomed to its magnetic field through multiple arrivals on-world.

Calcite Eyes: The calcite eyes are the main eyes for the body. They are made of calcite, calcium phosphate, and eudialyte, which may act as a sort of catalyst in the initial formation of the eye, in a similar manner to how a grain of sand is needed to start a pearl. Unlike the planet Terra, eudialyte is fairly common on the Zhivyshi homeworld, and so is not hard for organic species to obtain and utilize in their structure. Like the hypacroid eyes, the calcite eyes also see into the ultraviolet. There are many of these eyes, and they completely encircle the upper portion of the trunk.

Pneumonic Extensions: The pneumonic extensions are the lung-equivalents for the Zhivysh and similar species on their homeplanet. They can be inverted and plopped out of the body to directly diffuse atmospheric molecules, and periodically pull them back into the body.

Birthing Sacs: The birthing sacs is where the young of the Zhivysh are perpetually stored. Before they become impregnated, the organ doubles as a bellow sac, allowing them to produce infrasounds, which is how the "vrrrmraug" is pronounced in the name of their planet, Zhvrrrmraug. The longer these sacs go with filling up with larvae, the less bellowing they can do, and the name of the homeworld is therefore all but impossible to say amongst the eldest of their kind. The birthing sacs are strange as they must be ruptured to release the young...

Deathtongs: The deathtongs are the natural weapons of their species, and "clack" together to slice foes in half with the leading edges of each tong. There are two sets of tongs. A hollow lattice-work allows them to be quite lightweight for their size and strength.

Barbel: The barbels are long, thin tendrils that write to and fro constantly in order to taste the local environment. This is the Zhivysh's only way to taste their environment. They are often wrapped around foes when bringing them towards the deathtongs to taste them and also make sure that they are not poisonous to consume.

Tonguefoot: The tonguefeet extend from the oral orifice, but extend from outside of the beak itself, allowing the creatures to feed without severing their mobility. They used to be able to taste but in their species and many of their close relatives and ancestors this taste has disappeared and be regulated to the barbels. They are capable of incredible manipulation in a similar manner to the tentacle-arms of cephalopoid.

Toe Pad: The toe pads allow the Zhivyshes to keep themselves balanced and allow for somewhat-finer manipulation by closing over an object with the four toe pads on each foot. They possess a form of setae, which is mostly useful in larval stages, as at their adult height they cannot certainly easily cling and support their entire body weight in such a way. However, the setae of the adult form can make it difficult for struggling foes or prey to work their way into a proper escape before the deathtongs come clacking down along their middle.

I aim to please.

Next update involves the cap, including how a Zhivysh wipes those pretty little eyes of theirs...although I'm in a pretty gruff mood right now so I'm breaking until tomorrow for the artwork.

Don't mind me, I've been working hard trying to figure out whether I ought to fill up the "empty spaces" under the cap with something or just post as-is.

Well that, plus the dire need to find me a job has kept me rather busy, too, unfortunately.

If I decide to simply up and post, it'll be up tomorrow (or technically, today).