Zaithandi
By Heron
Singular: Zaithand
Plural: Zaithandi Group: Cove of Zaithandi Communication - Mindspeech; choppy and poor grammar Size Ranges – By Rank, Colorations – By Rank Naming Convention -- None |
General Information
The first settlers of Teragaia never knew quite what to make of the Zaithandi. Were they great hunting cats? Fish? Both? The initial response to the amphibious felinoids was fear, at least until the settlers discovered that the Zaithandi eat fish almost exclusively and never prey upon people. After being assured that they were not on the menu, the settlers did the next sensible thing and set out to try and Impress the creatures. For the most part, they even succeeded. Unbeknownst to the settlers, they were not the first to charm Zaithandi, as the Zaithandi have long been the hunting-cats of the merfolk deep beneath the surface of the ocean. Structurally, Zaithandi are almost jaguar-like. They have the same raw bones, at least, though Zaithandi have less fur than they do deceptively smooth-looking skin, which is actually quite coarse to the touch. Their ears are disproportionately small for the size of their heads, like a jaguar’s, easily pressed flat to aid in swimming. The inner ear itself is shielded by a tympanic membrane to keep water out of the delicate inner workings. Zaithandi paws are large and webbed, and they have fluted ridges of fin webbing down their spines, almost like wings except to steady them in water instead of air. Their tails begin cat-like, but end in shark tail fins at the end to aid in steering while they swim. Zaithandi have three rows of small but razor-sharp teeth in their mouths, and their teeth grow back rapidly to compensate for being easily shed. All Zaithandi have horns upon their faces, though how many differs by sex. Females have a single horn with a slight backwards curve. Males have two horns, a smaller, straighter horn growing just beneath the curved one. They can all breathe air and water equally well. Freshwater Zaithandi and saltwater Zaithandi are equally capable of swimming in any water, but they become uncomfortable if mismatched to their environments. While intelligent enough for mindspeech, Zaithandi are no scholars of language. Their sentences are choppy, their grammar is atrocious, and they tend to fast become frustrated if anyone attempts to correct them. They augment their speech with vague emotional impressions and a great deal of body language, however, so they are generally easily understood no matter how poor their syntax. It is intrinsic to Zaithandi culture to gift teeth to creatures and people that a Zaithand has come to hold in some personal regard. Zaithand teeth shed easily and grow back quickly, which makes them ideal tokens of affection. Merfolk and Hippocampi are most often seen wearing Zaithand-tooth necklace charms, though a good number of more land-bound people have also been sighted with such favors. Mating Information When a Zaithand is ready to mate, it unleashes a wild screech to catch the attention of any nearby potential suitors, and then waits at the shoreline of a chosen body of water. Freshwater Zaithandi prefer rivers and lakes, while saltwater Zaithandi will typically find seaside coastlines. When enough suitors arrive, the chase is on! The initiator will lead the suitors on a wild race through the water, splashing through shallows, diving through depths, even leaping out of the water if there’s enough room. Whichever suitor most impresses the initiator becomes the chosen one, and the two will then sink to the bottom of the body of water for the privacy to mate. Fertile females will lay their eggs close to the shore after mating, submerged but close enough to the surface for humanoids to stake out the nests and know roughly when to show up with food to feed the hatchlings. Bonding Information Zaithandi are not, typically, difficult to impress. Youngsters enjoy bribes of dried fish, while older Zaithandi look more for personalities they happen to like. Some Zaithandi are violent, others genial, some charming, some not. It’s suggested that hopeful candidates interact with the available Zaithandi at a bonding to see which ones they get along best with. Bringing fish never hurts, though. Ranks Ocean 5* Stately and regal, the Ocean is the queen of the Zaithandi. While not the largest, she is very strong and even the most fractious of the Cove will bend to her rule eventually. It’s for the best that they do, as the Ocean is among the smartest of her species, not grammatically, but strategically. She knows the currents, she knows the tides, she knows the fish. Under her direction, a Cove can prosper without ever over-fishing and laying waste to their prey population. She plans for every eventuality, has contingencies for every possible disaster, and is willing to do just about anything to protect her Cove. The Ocean typically comes in shades of deep, steely blues and greys. She can lay between fifteen and twenty eggs, and most of them will even be viable. Delta 4* The only Zaithand equally comfortable in fresh and saltwater, the Delta is the junior queen of the species. She is nearly as intelligent as her senior, although her grasp of strategy leans more towards combat than community survival. The Delta ensures the well-being of the Cove by eliminating dangers. Poachers, natural predators, anything thinking of making a meal out of Zaithandi young, if it poses a threat and she can kill it, she will do so. She’s quiet, the Delta, rarely speaking and only in short answers when she does. Her colors tend towards blue-green and teal down her back and belly with sandy shades of brown on her sides and down her limbs. She mates more rarely than her senior, and lays between ten and fifteen eggs. A bit over half of them will likely be viable. Sea 3* The saltwater lord of the Zaithandi, the Sea is a hulking brute, easily looming over both of his queens and out-sizing them in sheer muscle. He’s broad and dense, a slow swimmer but a powerful force when he gets charging at something. He has a temper, too, the kind of unpredictable temper that will have him gregarious and engaging one minute and affronted and violent the next. He’s volatile, but not generally cruel, and can usually be calmed down eventually. However, do something to truly earn his grudge, and he will carry that grudge forever, although the same can be said of his loyalty. Earn that, and you’ve a friend for life who will take the world on for you if you’re ever in need. The Sea’s colors tend towards a lighter series of blues than the Ocean’s, with some green-blues mixed in. River 3* The freshwater lord of the Zaithandi, the River is a tall, lean, wiry creature. Though he lacks substantial bulk, the River is an incredibly fast swimmer, and runner for that matter, easily the fastest of his entire species. His body tends to be colored in shades of grey with the occasional tinge of pastel blue or metallic pewters and silvers. Far more colorful than his body is his mercurial personality, which appears far more chaotic than it is. He’s tricky and subversive, the River, constantly hiding his true thoughts and feelings behind layers of smoke and mirrors so that he can evaluate situations and react appropriately without ever becoming predictable. Just when you think you’ve figured him out, he’ll zag when you think he should zig, and you’ll have to learn him all over again...right before he changes his patterns again and forces you to start from the beginning. Trench 2* Uncommon females, the Trench is a rare sight to anyone or anything that dwells on land, as she rarely surfaces from the depths of whatever ocean or sea she has claimed for her own. Easily the largest of all Zaithandi kind, her body is splotched in shades of blacks and purples and she towers over even the Sea, being both broader and taller than the large lord. Her body is a lumbering brute of a thing, not at all dainty or graceful. Her neck is thick, her head heavy, her eye sockets sealed shut by design. The Trench has no eyes, for hers is a domain where they would be a liability. She can deep-sea dive to depths that would crush others of her species to death under the sheer pressure. She relies on sonar instead of sight, given that her hearing is also pretty terrible. While theoretically capable of mindspeech, the Trench never says a word, likely because she is far too accustomed to solitude. The Trench mates infrequently, but can lay up to five eggs when she does. Lake 1* The largest of the commons, Lakes are the most contemplative of the Zaithandi and also certainly the most stable, personality-wise. They are calm and quiet, and the least likely to take offense when their grammar is corrected. Actually, they’re the least likely to take offense at a lot, being such placid sorts, although they can and will snap if they’re definitively pushed too far, and when they finally do lose their tempers, it’s a sight to behold. Their colors touch on the pale blue range but are mostly in all the shades of green. Lakes can be either male or female. Estuary 1* Typically hot-headed and stubborn, Estuaries are brash Zaithandi, prone to charging into things without thinking them through to the end and jumping to conclusions without first checking all of their facts. This can be a frustrating habit, but it is also an amusing one, under the right circumstances, because Estuaries take this bold impatience to everything about their lives. Mating, bonding, adventures. They’ll leap to their conclusions and take off running, and the consequences will catch up to them in short order. Sometimes these consequences are dire. Sometimes they’re hilarious. Estuaries are in shades of pale blue and the entire spectrum of yellows and oranges, often in random and chaotic patterns. Estuaries can be either male or female. Shore 1* By far the most curious and adventurous of the Zaithand species, Shores like to poke their be-horned noses into everything. What is that? Why does that happen? Where are we going? Shores are full of endless questions about the world and how it works, eyes alight with zeal for life and living, the joy of discovery, and also a fine glimmer of humor. Unable and unwilling to take life too seriously, they strive to ensure that nobody else does either. Folks who take things too seriously are boring, after all! As bright in body as they are in curiosity and personality, Shores tend to be patterned in all shades of reds and purples. Shores can be either male or female. Tributary 1* No two Tributaries are exactly alike. Their personalities vary from painfully shy to incredibly bold and outspoken, some being cold and cynical and others being optimistic romantics at heart. Some say that this extremely broad spectrum of personalities with little to no obvious trending in any one direction is as a result of their low rank on the proverbial food chain, that because they have so little expected of them that they defy expectation. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn’t. One can always tell a Tributary from the rest of the Cove, however, as they come exclusively in the autumnal range, primarily the brown-range with occasional highlights of gold and russet. |