Selacine

The Selacine are more of an entire species then a character, I have yet to make any personal individual characters of this species, but all the same I am comfortable playing as them. The Selacine species as a whole are very loyal to Revika their Empress and queen, particularly the ones sporting the white and black coloration, though the others follow Revika closely too. Aside from the white and blacks (Whom are referred to as the Rho breed, and actually mothered by Revika) there is the standard breed, sporting a mix of yellow and black, with some white highlights, mostly similar to the white’s patterns known as the Io breed. Additionally there is an Azure and black breed known as the Lapis breed, and a crimson and black with blue highlights known as the Teth breed.

As a whole Selacine can be found ranging from 16’ right up to 60’ or so, depending on the breed and the age of the individual, the average is about 32’ across most breeds. Selacine are a very long lived race, some individuals living for hundreds, or even thousands of years, this is thanks to their constant growth over time and lack of a true aging process. Selacine are highly social creatures, not just with their own, but with any whom are considered part of their colony, soldiers are highly protective of anyone imperially aligned, viewing them as their brethren directly.

Although the Selacine have a Queen, individuals are allowed to breed, possessing the same genetics as their queen Selacine within the same colony will breed similar results to their queen anyway. Selacine incubate their young within their bodies until they are nearly mature, in most cases the entire larval stage will take place inside the womb or stomachs of the parent, giving the impression of live birth inside a smooth leathery egg sack. It is quite possible for Selacine to forgo their live birth though, since their larval stage can survive outside the parent’s body just fine.

The larval stage for Selacine lasts about 2 years and is the equivalent of infancy for other species, after their change Selacine enter adolescence directly (approximately the equivalent of a 10 year old in human terms) adolescence lasts for 10-20 years depending on breed before the individual matures and becomes a young adult, sexual maturity comes at a much younger age then growing into full adult size. During Adulthood Selacine continue to grow if well fed, shedding their skin twice a year as they grow by up to 4% in size annually.

Both ‘male’ and ‘female’ Selacine have both sets of bits, and can actively reproduce as either gender, the main reason behind these gender archetypes are different social roles. Male Selacine act as soldiers and guardians to the whole, while females are commonly caregivers and foragers, their large bellies providing ample storage space for food to bring home. Males and Females work together during hunting, the males usually capturing food and feeding the females, who process it for the others and feed it to them.

Most Selacine are very comfortable going around entirely naked, but do war standard imperial clothing, modified for their body type and armours, the Rho breed in particular wears ornate crimson armour like their Empress. Due to their large tails and extra limbs, among other unique anatomical traits, Selacine armours are harder to produce then most bipedal species, they have to factor in for the Selacine’s ability to walk on all six, their wings and antennae, while providing protection from trauma and space. Selacine are prized as Imperial soldiers, their physiology letting them independently weild and target multiple weapons with ease if trained.

TBA

TBA

Selacine anatomy is very unique, despite being insectoids and having a tough exoskeleton, Selacine also have a durable and flexible endo skeleton as well, making them incredibly durable. The exoskeleton of Selacine is both structural and protective, but flexible over much of its surface, giving them a pleasing feel not unlike scaled creatures like dragons or reptiles. Selacines are endothermic, and have a pleasingly high body temperature, hovering around 50c (122f).

Selacine possess 7 major senses, in addition to the normal 5 their antennae have a wide range of uses, from feeling air pressure, vibrations and smelling, to picking up on temperature differences. Their other sense is an innate sense they share with each other, seeming able to communicate without words or even body language, just pheromones and causing short range neuron induction in the brains of their kind, a sort of telepathy, however weak it is. Selacine notably have a tubule along their tongue, making it work like a proboscis, the opening is small and easy to miss, just on the underside of the tongue tip, primarily Selacine use it for slurping nectar from large flowers that have adapted alongside them, offering large pods of sweet nectar so the Selacine cultivate them widely.

The fur on Selacine’s bodies is very fine and down like, making it great for keeping sensitive bits warm and wonderful to snuggle into.  When nesting Selacine shed their hair to line their nests, regrowing it within a couple of days after, younger Selacine tend to be extra fluffy to better keep warm. Selacine Hierarchy is usually decided by the age and experience, the eldest often having the most sway in their social groups, and females in particular tend to have a fair bit of sway on the males due to being seen as the ones who provide most of the food.

Selacine are designed to live socially, and as such a good part of their physiology is focused around producing food for oneanother, Their main source of this is in sharing processed and fermented food from their guts, not the most appealing to most due to the potent scent and taste, but it’s not particularly foul, fermented food is usually shared via the rump or tail opening, but occasionally via mouth. Selacine will eagerly share food with other imperials or friends due to their nature.

When it coems to digestion, Selacine take it more slowly, using mostly bacteria and enzymes to soften the food, fermenting it for long periods in their guts (usually the job of females), their foreguts serve as a small intestine and place to mix food with enzymes and bacteria to process and ferment them, while their second gut which spans from their belly to tail both stores extra food and helps to process it with its scaled walls shredding and rasping softened food into a pulpy slurry. Depending on the selacine’s diet they can produce various types of food or simply feed the mulch directly to others in their colony.

Selacine also consume large quantities of fruit or other sugary foods (even nectar) and produce honey, the most prized produced by females in their mammary glands, naturally purified in the body to make thick, sweet and rather intoxicating honey that can readily be milked out and shared. Males and females can produce a thick sweet and musky food from their bits, not like the honey due to the murkiness, but some find it pleasing none the less.

When it comes to actual disposal of wastes, it’s seemingly rare for Selacine, though not everything is useable for them. Selacine generally pass their waste into reas of their colony where it can be composted further and reused to grow crops. Given their guts are already designed for ferment and process food efficiently, there’s not much actual waste once all is said and done ,though one might mistake them pushing out processed food that is still food for dumping, due to it coming from their rump.

Taken from the TOTV D-20 Encyclopedia of species:

Currently, Selacine are a clsoed species, so please do not just make a character of one, I may open the species in limited nsubmers once I have gotten the entire information on them written out in great detail.

Since there’s no character as of yet ,when I’m playing on my insect species, I guess you can either call me by Thanotalgos, Kai or Selacine’s player, since there’s no character here to address :x

Selacine species, TOTV D-20 and other mentions belong to Thanotalgos

Art by FSmaverik, comissioend specifically by and for Thanotalgos and its alts.