Basicly, I spent over an hour trying to fix my wiki and broke it many times. I wanted to remove all the www redircts and remove the google sites hosted page as I replaced it with a self hosted and nicer page. Look at that in https://taerel.com
Google sites is ugly after all and I had to work with ChatGPT and Google Gemini to get a nice landing page how I wanted it. I wanted it to look like my wiki after all, but still have the same layout as the google sites page.
Removing the www and getting MediaWiki's short URLs to work again was a nightmare of trying tons of diffant configs and non works. Google gemini was useless in this. Turns out after ages and a load of prompting, ChatGPT-5 Mini knew.
I have added ChatGPT 5-o Mini's answer here in case someone wants to do the same setup. Ubuntu version: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS MediaWiki version: 1.43.3 PHP version: 8.3.6 (apache2handler) MariaDB version: 10.11.13-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 ChatGPT's answer:
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non official.
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The Taerel world building wiki has a new feature, just finished today. Introducing: Writer Profiles, an category just for each writers' work and with a nice profile, links section and infobox. This category is on all the pages of each writer.
It contains a short 25-50 word bio for each writer. It has an infobox listing their name, pseudonyms, location, languages, and for Taerel, their writer type, lore areas pages written, and words written. It also has links to all their outside pages.
The categories are named "[name's] contributions". It will help you find info on each writer, lead to their outside pages and let you read all pages by them. Perhaps you may like their work enough to commission them for your own work.
This feature took over 4 days to roll out as I had to categorize all pages by writer, write writer bios, and make the infoboxes. But, it is done, now. I hope you enjoy this new feature I worked hard on bringing for you. Stevie Lambert
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non official.
The groups of Taerel have gotten a overhaul in their category systems. Gone are the large, flat categories such as "kin'toni clans in the Twilight Age" , "zu'aan tribes in the twilight age and "zu'aan cities in the Twilight age"
Now, all kin'toni clans, zu'aan tribes and zu'aan cites have a date of founding. These groups are now categorized by their century of founding and type. Categories are such as "Category:2nd-century Twilight Age kin'toni clans" and "Category:3rd-century Twilight Age zu'aan cities"
The categories are categorized in a logical tree along date: (eg "4th-century Twilight Age Groups" and type: eg "Zu'aan tribes established in the Twilight Age by century". There is a category tree to make it easier to use.
This is a step forward in categorization as it makes the wiki more easy and less overwhelming to use. There are plans to categorize groups also by province and places by province as well.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non official.
Xarte Kin'toni Clan The Xarte Kin'toni Clan were children when they was turned in the overrun city. From the city also came the Parakk Kin'toni Clan, Vlakia Kin'toni Clan and the Yergha Kin'toni Clan. These kin'toni decided to make their base in the Xerte school and named the clan after the school. As children, they were weaker then the other kin'toni and therefore had to rely on stealth to survive.
The clan's role in their early days was as scouts and scavengers. They were seen as an curiosity; children rarely survive turning into kin'toni. The clan heared rumors of an Jalka Kin'toni Clan, living far from the city in the Ia Kelp Forest. They heard that they lived as an independent clan. Following this rumbor, the clan left the city behind to journey on to the Ia Kelp Forest.
Months later, the clan arrived at the Imech Dunes, near the coast. This coast was also home to the Ia Kelp Forest. Seeking kinship with the Jalka Kin'toni Clan, they met. The clans debated for days over the terms of their alliance. Upon the dusk of the fifth day, the leaders emerged. The debate had led to a choice, decided by a game of hop-stones. The winners of the game were the Xarte.
with the win, the alliance was declared. The Xarte settled in the Imech Dunes. The clan built dome-shaped shelters out of driftwood and woven kelp to protect themselves from the sun. Their alliance with the Jalka protected them from local packs and bands of kin'toni. To defend their land, they built pit traps and camouflaged their camp. The final defense is walls of driftwood, woven kelp mats and sand. These walls are topped with sharp shells and coral.
The clan had to deal with a local band. The Iush band wished to kill these new people near their lands. The Xarte and Jalka used ambush and traps to wear down the adult sized Iush. It took weeks, but the Iush slowly dwindled in number. The final attack by the Jalka and Xarte slaughtered the rest. Their body parts were used to decorate the Dunes and the coast near by the Kelp Forest.
In the Shattering, the clan had to deal with more bands of kin'toni. These bands were drawn by the promise of the ocean's food. The bands, such as the Loa'ak were worn down with traps and then ambushed. One band, the Maui had to be tracked back to their underground lair. The location of the lair was found by their Jalka allies. Once the Xarte found the lair, they smoked the Loa'ak out. The Loa'ak were burned to death by the sun.
As of 4E 500, the clan has noticed the increase of rival groups of kin'toni coming to their region. These groups were drawn by the bounty of the sea. The Jalka and Xerte dug and built more traps. The Xerte had negotiated with the Jalka to split any blood they get half each. The kin'toni stragglers grew in number day by day. The Jalka and Xerte also had a pact for retreating to the sea if all esle fails.
This item of lore is a DRAFT item of lore. It is not canon yet.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non official.
I have updated all place pages so that the controllers templates are moved the controllers from the infobox to a dropdown just above the nearby places box. This iso that the infobox is not so long.TAEREL JOB
This update is part of the Taerel setting. All Rights Reserved.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non-official.
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I deleted about 227,000 words of lore from the Taerel Wiki on the 20th of May, 2026
So instend of 500 words for all history, it is 500 words per era for all 14 eras (~7000 words total)
This is to allow new place histories to be written that fits the new 14 ages timeline better, as the old place history was written before that was added.
think of it as scrapping a large amount of a draft of a story you wrote as you wanted to make the plot and OCs deeper and more complex, but the old draft got in the way
The kin'toni are driven by the remnants of their super-soldier programming and their primal hunger. Their society is composed of fluid structures. The groups vary greatly in size, internal dynamics, and the threat posed to the dwindling zu'aan population.
Solitary Hunters / Lone Wanderers
- Size: 1 Kin'toni
- Description: Loners are kin'toni who operate alone. Some are outcasts, some are survivors of a shattered group, and some are just cunning, highly independent, and prefer solitude. Some have mutations or mental health issues that make it hard to live in a group.
- Complexity: None. They only survive due to stealth, their own prowess, and the instincts of a predator.
- Purpose: The lone only cares about survival, hunting zu'aan and fauna when they can, scavenging for resources, and avoidance of larger kin'toni groups and dangerous zu'aan territories.
- Threat to zu'aan: Medium: Even a loner is a silent, relentless predator. A loner is skilled at ambushes, picking off stragglers, and stealth.
- Lair/Habitat: The lair of a loner is a concealed and very temporary place. A loner will use natural crevices, collapsed sections of buildings, abandoned vehicles, or dense overgrowth for shelter. Most of the time, the lair is nothing more than a hidden sleeping spot. Often, the loner changes their lair each night and leaves minimal traces. They rely on their stealth and ability to blend into their environment.
## Packs
- Size: 2–10 Kin'toni
- Description: A pack is a small and highly cohesive unit of kin'toni and often formed by those with similar or complementary mutations. Often, they have strong primal bounds or even consider themselves a family in a twisted sense. A pack has a strong sense of unity and shared purpose and relies on coordinated tactics.
- Complexity: Very Low. A pack is often led by the Alpha, the strongest, fastest, or most cunning kin'toni in the pack. The decisions are instinctual and immediate, driven by hunger and opportunity. A pack has a fluid hierarchy based on dominance.
- Purpose: The purpose of a pack is efficient hunting of larger prey, often small zu'aan groups, and mutual protection against rival kin'toni. They establish temporary, mobile lairs.
- Threat to Zu'aan: High: If a pack is well coordinated, they can be devastating to zu'aan foraging parties or patrols or even small outposts. Together, the pack's combined strength and tactics make them far more dangerous than a lone Kin'toni.
- Lair/Habitat: The lair of a pack is established more than a lone wanderer's, but it is still temporary. Often, packs occupy places such as a small, defensible ruin, a section of a collapsed tunnel, or a dense thicket. The dens are crude, marked by zu'aan and animal bones, scavenged debris, and the distinct, feral stench of the kin'toni. A den is a central point for resting, feeding on prey, and planning hunts, but is abandoned if needed. Dens are often abandoned due to the pack being threatened or prey becoming rare in the area.
Bands
- Size: 11–100 Kin'toni
- Description: A band is a significant aggregation of Kin'toni. Bands are often coalitions of several successful Packs. Many are large nomadic groups that have not yet established a permanent territory.
- Complexity: Low to Medium. A band tends to have a recognized leader, a council of the strongest pack Alphas or similar. With bands, coordination is more formal than a pack and always less rigid than a clan. In a band, disputes are common, but most disputes are resolved quickly to maintain group cohesion for hunting.
- Purpose: The purpose of a band is large-scale hunting expeditions, sustained raiding of zu'aan trade routes and smaller settlements, and defending against rival Kin'toni Clans.
- Threat to Zu'aan: Very High. Bands are able to overwhelm most zu'aan patrols and pose a threat to a smaller walled settlement. Bands are a serious force of kin'toni and often require a coordinated defense or a strategic retreat. A band is a clear and present danger across wider regions.
- Lair/Habitat: The lair of a band is a temporary but often fortified encampment. A band will take over and crudely reinforce a defensible ruin, a large underground chamber, or a natural stronghold. Defenses are often made of scavenged debris, twisted metal, and piled rubble. Often, a lair will have rudimentary barricades and choke points and is messy, filled with discarded bones, scavenged goods, and the stench of the kin'toni. Their lairs are designed for short-to-medium term occupation while the band carries out its raiding campaign or exploits a rich hunting ground.
Clans
- Size: 101–1,000 Kin'toni
- Description: The clan is the primary stable and territorial social unit for the Kin'toni. Each clan controls a significant, often fortified, region-sized territory. Only 10% of kin'toni are in clans, the rest are in bands, packs, or are loners. There are some "nations" made of alliances of clans, such as the Ashat and Tharis.
- Complexity: Medium. Clans have a clear chain of command. They have their own unique histories, psychologies, biologies, cultures, governments, militaries, and religions. They have defined hierarchies, structures, goals, and members.
- Purpose: A clan's purpose is defending against rival clans, maintaining and expanding territory, and preparing for larger conflicts.
- Threat to Zu'aan: Extreme. A clan is able to launch sustained sieges against zu'aan cities, control a whole region and its vital resource points, and a clan poses an existential threat to regional Zu'aan populations. A clan is a major, organized adversary.
- Lair/Habitat: A clan has a permanent, heavily fortified "Nest" or "Stronghold." Such nests include abandoned industrial complexes, deep sections of subway tunnels, or even a cluster of collapsed skyscrapers. A nest is fortified with extensive defenses such as barricades, traps, and watch points. Often, they are made of scavenged concrete, wood, metal, and debris. Inside, there are designated areas for sleeping, storing scavenged goods (often piles of junk), and "turning dens." These lairs echo with the sounds of the kin'toni and the turning zu'aan prisoners.
Hordes
- Size: 1,000+ Kin'toni (potentially tens of thousands)
- Description: A horde is a grand, but truly cataclysmic aggregation of multiple kin'toni clans, bands, packs, and loners. Often, the leader is a "warlord" or "grand alpha." A horde is a temporary and unstable formation and is driven by a singular, overwhelming objective such as the complete destruction of a major Zu'aan city, or a vast war against another horde. A horde is a force of pure, unbridled destruction.
- Complexity: Medium to High, but fragile. In a horde, the Warlord's rule is absolute during the Horde's existence but inter-clan/band/pack internal rivalries are constant. Any logistics are primitive, as the horde just moves and consumes. If the objective is met or resources deplete, the horde fractures back into its constituent clans, packs, and bands.
- Purpose: A horde's purpose is to take out a large zu'aan population like a walled city, conquer vast new territory, or engaging in massive, devastating wars for ultimate dominance.
- Threat to Zu'aan: Apocalyptic. The horde is an unstoppable tide of destruction. It is able to raze an entire walled zu'aan city or even over-hunt an area bare. The horde's appearance is the sign of a period of immense suffering for the zu'aan.
- Lair/Habitat: A horde does not have a fixed lair, instead its lair is a vast moving encampment that is a temporarily devastated zone. A horde gathering for an assault may occupy a wide, defensible plain or a large, ruined city district. Such a place becomes a large, chaotic, temporary staging ground. A horde's camp is a scene of utter desolation.
Shelters are made crudely from scavenged materials, there are huge piles of bones and other refuse, and the horrific smell of vast amounts of kin'toni feces and urine. Once the assault is finished, the lair is but a devastated ruin of the territory, picked clean. The horde then soon disperses or moves on.
Lore by Stevie Lambert (Introduction) and LogicalPremise (core biology)
This item of lore is a DRAFT item of lore. It is not canon yet.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non official.
Owing to their scholastic descent, the Rakylt have kept relatively immaculate records of their history. They can state with pride that they are scions of the Empire’s academic class; professors, doctors, theologians, scientists, and students from the now age-long defunct Imperial Academy of Higher Education (IAHE).
The Rakylt, as such, maintained and preserved many historical documents, each with a verifiable date and author, that can be traced to even the earliest days of the Academy’s Pre-Awakening period.
“What can be said about us? Perhaps our most basic yet fecund characteristic is the lack of that horrid presupposition that haunts most other tribals. That obtuse, obscure mystery, a nigh esoteric tapestry woven from threadbare strands of ostensibility. We are not mere savages who wallow in the self-pity of some mist-shrouded past.
No, we are free of such a mythology, for our ancestors have kept meticulous records of the who, what, why, where, and when of the Rakylt’s founding. If one could forgive the poignant preamble, we, the Rakylt, are descended from the academic class of exiles of the esteemed IAHE…”
-Dean Alster Fedwin, Dated 4E 226
The earliest years of the Rakylt’s existence are thus linked, innately, to that of the Academy. Despite the tribe’s impeccable maintenance of its history, the same cannot be said of records pertaining to the IAHE. As with any zu’aan material linked to the old Empire, much of the surviving evidence exists in a fragmentary and oral nature, the latter of which is usually distorted through a superstitious tribal lens.
However, a brief history of the Academy can be deduced using existing Rakylt texts in conjunction with external sources. Utilizing the existing sources, it can be postulated that the IAHE was founded between the latter portion of the Second Era. While exact dateage is unclear, most prominent scholars propose the years of 2E 2600-700 as the Academy’s nascent formation.
This 300/400-year lifespan seems to fit into the waning of the Empire’s power and subsequent vampyre outbreak of 2E 3000. The final centuries of the Second Era saw the Imperials battling for supremacy with their many rivals. The resulting centuries-long conflicts produced a need not only for martial refinement but for an evolution of thinkers as well.
“Development. Refinement. Growth. I warned the Emperor that his enemies were not only expanding their armies in this manner. They were producing knowledge at such an alarming rate, expediting the evolution of divisions beyond the martial scope. The power of zu’aan thought was a weapon to be harnessed, to be swung like a glaive or fired like a shell.
Our existing academia is bogged down in such deep rhetorical misalignment that they bicker far worse than any of the noble families. It is thus integral that we synthesize them into something else. They must be broken down and amalgamated into a single think tank capable of outwitting our rivals…”
-Author Unknown, Dated 2E 2630/2730
This article is written by ImperiousKiwi Copyright 2026 ImperiousKiwi. All rights reserved.
This work is part of the Taerel setting. All Rights Reserved.
This item of lore is a SCRAPPED FORMER DRAFT item of lore. It is has never been canon, and never will be.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non-official.
“Like many other vampyre clans, the Cheard’s history is an amalgam of dynamic parts, most of which are left to speculation. Were they members of a former beleaguered populace? A stranded military unit? Perhaps refugees ambushed on the road? In truth, we can never be certain. However, what we can be certain of, at least for the Cheard, is that their history is linked to a single zu’aan-turned-vampyre: Izam Cheard.”
-Author Unknown, The Adaptive Gene: A Sectional Treatise on the Biological Variance of Kin’toni Clans, Dated 4E 400
The nomenclature of the Cheard is derived eponymously. Their ‘founder’, Izam Cheard, is believed to have been a zu’aan of either Imperial or Kaa’oran origin. While his exact citizenship is unknown, the detail is rendered null by what appears be a seemingly solitary existence. Following the plundering of the Umund Rich Fen by Imperial forces, a trove of fragmentary documents was secured.
These manuscripts, manifests, and logs were found within a large, hollowed-out rock carved, rather crudely, in the shape of a zu’aan head. It is believed that the rock, situated in the central marshes of the fen, was of some religious significance to the Cheard, who venerate their ‘patriarch’ in a pseudo-theological fashion.
The captured documents reveal the erstwhile mystery of Izam Cheard, who, up until that period, was believed to be mythological in nature. With supporting evidence, the story of the Cheard’s founder can be sketched. The earliest mention of his name comes in the form of a simple transmission.
A transcript of a radio communique between a patrol and a border post (either Imperial or Kaa’oran):
“P you there?
[B] Yeah, we hear you.
[P] It’s that kid again. The one I told you about last week. [B] Cheard’s boy? [P] Yeah, that one. Please advise.
[B] Ignore him. Cheard’s a lunatic. The last thing we want is for that psycho to hunt you down in the bogs.
[P] He’s ex special forces, right?
[B] Who?
[P] Cheard.
[B] Yeah. And his wife could blow out your skull from three miles out. Ignore the kid.
[P] We’ll try. He keeps following us, though.
[B] Ignore him…”
-Unknown Radio Transcript, Dated 2E 2950
The boy in question is none other than a young Izam. Believed to have been born in 2E 2943, Izam Cheard was the son of two unique individuals. According to surviving records, Izam’s parents were a pair of reclusive iconoclasts, zu’aan who had grown disillusioned with the decadence of Imperial/Kaa’oran life. They appear to have fled an unknown city following a terse yet illustrious military career, one steeped in highly specialized ‘black’ operations. The exact reason behind their self-imposed exile remains unclear.
The few experts in Umund Fen history postulate several theories. The first, and most plausible, pertains to the general belief around their immigration into the wild. Put in the simplest terms, the Cheards disdained the corruption and anathemic opulence that was festering in their city. Between the many wars and the influx of civil distractions (carnivals, theatres, and other ‘multi-media’ escapism), the disgruntled couple could not stand the state of the Empire/Kingdom. They opted to leave, deciding that it was far better to live in the hinterlands of what we presently know as the Umund Rich Fen.
A second plausible hypothesis holds that a rift between Imperial/Kaa’oran military leadership and the Cheards led to their immigration. While there exist no records directly supporting this theory, it can be reached by way of deduction. Scholars who support this reason argue that it is clear that the Cheards displayed a hyperactive lethality often displayed in shunned martial exiles. Based on transmission transcripts, logs, and a few journal entries, the Cheards were, for lack of a more poignant term, ‘lunatics’. Near the end of the second era, multiple patrols, border posts, recon units, and military survey teams reported that they were attacked by the Cheard couple. Several fragmentary logs even suggest that the pair managed to eliminate several smaller units, slaughtering them and making off with their supplies.
“Another recon group got offed in the bogs. That’s been the fourth attack this month and the second, second!, that resulted in a complete wipe of a unit. It’s those damn Cheards. I don’t understand why [ILLEGIBLE] won’t let us carpet bomb this forsaken place. The two of them are more trouble than a force of [ILLEGIBLE]. Command keeps telling us to ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. How the hell are we supposed to ignore a pair of crazies with black ops training? Worse is, they have a kid now… a boy. The last thing we need is for him to grow up and terrorize us, too. I swear, when I get my hands on them… I’m not an evil man, but I’m going to take Cheard’s wife and boy limb from limb and make him watch…”
-Author Unknown, Dated 2E 2952
The lethality the Cheards displayed towards their presumably former comrades is evidence of some deep rift. Academics utilize their attacks on military personnel as a framework for establishing, in theory, a clearer image of the Cheard’s exile. With their highly specialized martial training, it is already factually established that they were a part of several ‘black’ operations. As to what these extremely sensitive missions entailed, certainty cannot be validated in full. However, it can be stated with some confidence that these operations were in fact so grotesque that they left the Cheards completely disillusioned with their commanding officers.
The Cheards supposed lethal discontentment with command often presents itself as credence for a third yet thoroughly unsubstantiated posulation. A few scholars theorize that Cheards were part of a team that infiltrated the heart of the Empire’s labs. It was there, in the darkness of the Imperial’s subterranean facilities, that the origin of the vampyre plague was discovered. So vile was this discovery that the Cheards disavowed themselves of any national loyalty. Amongst the minority of academia who support this theory is also a subset that expands in a superfluous manner:
“It does hold, in any logical manner, that a simple discovery would shake the hearts and minds of these killers. For that was that they were. Killers. Izam Cheard’s father and mother were ‘black’ operatives, specialists trained to kill without question. At this point in their lives, nothing could have been able to deter them so easily. No, it is more likely then that the Cheards did not only come face to face with the origins of the vampyre, they were also directly exposed to its nascent pathogenic form. Be it viral, bacterial, or otherwise, the Cheards were infected. And such an infection could only bring about one symptom: an insatiable bloodlust.”
-Zevdon Rudrach, A Complete History of Known Kin’toni Founders, Dated 4E 338
Regardless of what brought the Cheards to the marshlands, it is clear they operated as a familial force hostile to any and all. And it is within this rogue martial environment that a young Izam was raised. His mention in Imperial/Kaa’oran records follows an exponential growth in terms of his apparent threat to military forces. While the first few incidents of his appearance seem mundane, they quickly escalate into a hyper-lethality shared with his parents. From what can be deduced from the records, Izam earned his ‘first blood’ in approximately the year 2E 2953. The log that captures this event is sadly fragmented to near-illegible degrees. However, scholars have picked out the details through the obfuscation and have been able to reconstruct an acceptable narrative. One night in 2E 2953, an Imperial/Kaa’oran patrol was making a routine sweep of the bogs. Their commander, one Captain Kellarn, halted the unit near a copse of trees to investigate an unusual find. There, they had stumbled across a collection of bones neatly arranged to resemble an arrow. As Captain Kellarn was transmitting the appearance of the ossuary to his commanders, his head ‘exploded in a dense red mist’. Stunned by the sudden, grisly death of their superior, the remaining soldiers failed to notice a small figure descending upon them from the canopy. The figure, most definitely a child, proceeded to scatter a collection of ‘improvised explosives’ amongst the formation. Before any of the shellshocked zu’aan could respond, the ordnance detonated, leaving most of the patrol killed or terribly maimed. A trio of survivors managed to escape, fleeing with all haste.
Many subsequent occurrences of a similar description would unfold. The slow passing of the years would only drastically evolve Izam’s methods into more violent and macabre showings. Undoubtedly, as he grew from childhood into adolescence, his newfound strength enabled him to act as his parents did. 2E 2961 produced the first direct instance of Izam’s own records. Presumably, 13/14 at this time, the young Cheard compiled several thoughts regarding multiple subjects:
“Another recon unit today. [ILLEGIBLE]. Eleven of them. Mother tailed them for a while. She thinks they’re veterans pulled from the warfront. The [ILLEGIBLE] are getting desperate now. I went with father to confront them. Same plan. Mother pops the CO’s head, father and I deal with the rest up close. [ILLEGIBLE]. Went back to the [ILLEGIBLE]. Mother and father argued again about [ILLEGIBLE]. It’s a weakness. We can’t be weak like the [ILLEGIBLE]. [ILLEGIBLE]. Sometimes I wonder what comes next. Mother said it’s only a matter of a few decades before all hell breaks loose. I don’t know what she means. Father scoffed at her. He said hell is already here…”
-Izam Cheard, Dated 2E 2961 (possible fabrication)
Between 2E 2961-2965, Izam and his parents launched a series of isolated raids against Imperial/Kaa’oran positions. The motive behind these attacks is unknown, as it appears very few supplies were plundered. The goal then could only be that of terrorism, carnage wrought for the sole purpose of inflicting fear. One instance of an attack on a border post highlights this bloodlust, as well as shines a brighter light on Izam’s growth as a rogue killer. In 2E 2963, a post along the southern edge of modern Rich Fen was subjected to a night raid by the Cheards. Any guards manning the reported four towers were dispatched by Izam’s mother. This allowed Izam and his father to approach the post unnoticed. And under the cover of night, they proceeded to clandestinely murder the detachment of soldiers stationed there. According to both Izam’s own journals and logs of Imperial’Kaa’oran patrols, most of the unfortunate victims were hamstrung and garrotted by ‘blades of a jagged make’. Those found deceased in their bunks suffered a worse fate. With cushions stuffed over their faces, the sleeping soldiers were slowly and crudely disembowelled.
“The brutality of this attack, and many other like it serves, to this very day, as the template for the Cheard’s military. The great patriarch of the vampyre clan seemed to favour a particular method of execution. Izam targeted the back of his victim’s knees or heels, hamstringing them or cutting their Achilles tendon. He would then proceed to cut their throats to the bone, ensuring each stroke was done using a sawing motion. For those he found asleep in their beds, Izam employed a rather cruel tactic. He would first asphyxiate them with anything he could find. This throttling often brought the victim to consciousness, and as they awoke in shock, Izam drove his saw-like weapon into their abdomens. This thrust was followed shortly by a starkly painful disembowelling…”
-Zevdon Rudrach, A Complete History of Known Kin’toni Founders, Dated 4E 338
The terror generated by these raids was enough to elicit a response. The Imperial/Kaa’oran military, which had been mysteriously lax in countering the Cheards, opted to engage them as they would any existential threat. In 2E 2967, manifests indicate that several detachments from various regiments were redirected to the boglands. Among them were multiple squadrons of artillery, demolition, and scouting specialists, a medley that could only indicate a scorched earth policy directed at the ever-elusive Cheards. And as 2E 2968 settled in, the Imperial/Kaa’oran units began a relentless bombardment and demolition campaign.
Entire swaths of the marshes of the Umund Rich Fen were blasted to oblivion. High-explosive shells of the most destructive calibre were utilized in this effort. As indicated by transcribed transmissions, ordnance known colloquially as ‘craterers’ was deployed. While the exact tonnage and capability of this shell are unknown, it can be surmised that its generated blast and impact were significant enough to alter the landscape itself. This position is supported by the current geographical survey of the Fen, which is pockmarked by deep, crater-like marshes. Supplementing the Imperial/Kaa’oran explosives were myriad other variants of incendiary and chemical weapons. Sizeable tracts of bogland trees were burned away, and much of the pre-Awakening flora and fauna suffered from Awakening levels of elimination. The sheer, wanton scale of the campaign waged against the Cheards has led many scholars to hypothesize that they were more than a simple family of three. Rudrach, in his Complete History of Known Kin’toni Founders, approaches this theory with caution.
“Ultimately, the evidence does not suggest that Izam Cheard was part of any more than a small family unit. Certainly, every shred of supporting document dated to his pre-Awakening life indicates just that. However, it is difficult for any scholar of note to examine the manifests, logs, journals, and transcriptions and come away with something of a malaise. Surely, a family of three could not possibly have wreaked so much havoc on their own. Even if the Cheards received intensive military training, their prolonged hostility towards Imperial/Kaa’oran forces and the subsequent retaliation appear more in line with an insurgency/counter-insurgency campaign. If this could be the case, then the Cheards were, theoretically, a trio amongst a larger insurgent force…”
-Zevdon Rudrach, A Complete History of Known Kin’toni Founders, Dated 4E 338
Regardless of their composition, the Cheards and the operation against them extended for at least a decade. Between 2E 2968 and 2978, Imperial/Kaa’oran forces surrounded and annihilated approximately 46.7% of the boglands. During the course of this ‘isolated war’, it is believed that Izam’s mother was killed. Her death cannot be entirely verified through the surviving evidence, however. Instead, this conclusion is drawn from two divergences from the norm. The first is her sudden disappearance from records dated after 2E 2974. The second comes from Izam’s observations about his father:
“He went off alone again. Didn’t see him until well after dark. I did not ask. No point. He’s always angry these days, more so than he has ever been. He snaps at everything. Every mistake I make, every little error. He nearly broke my arm after a successful raid. I didn’t kill the CO fast enough… clean enough. I think his shouting is becoming a liability. I think he’s becoming a liability.”
-Izam Cheard, Dated 2E 2976 (possible fabrication)
The supposed death of Izam’s mother and the destruction of nearly half the boglands marked the beginning of a pseudo-truce. The Imperial/Kaa’oran campaign against the Cheards appears to have sputtered out. The Cheards themselves, Izam and his father, went ‘underground’, opting to lie dormant against any potential return of hostilities. Yet apart from the sparse attack or sighting of Izam, records indicate no events of major significance. The year 2E 2980 saw a gradual withdrawal of specialist military units from the Fen area and their redeployment to other ‘hotzones’. The uneasy, unsettling ‘peace’ that once existed between the Cheards and the Imperials/Kaa’orans resurfaced. And according to most logs, the ‘inter-regnum’ demarcating the final years of the Second Era from the Third passed in relative quiet.
Lore by JS117
This work is part of the Taerel setting. All Rights Reserved.
This item of lore is a SCRAPPED FORMER DRAFT item of lore. It is has never been canon, and never will be.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non-official.
"Once they walked under sun fair,
Now they burn under sun glare,
Once they was one of kindred,
Now they are the ones we dread,"
Zu'aan city children's rhyme
The kin'toni are our great existential threat. Their bloodthirsty and greedy ways have lead our downnfall. They ravage our green jewl of a world, and turn our kindred into their monsterus kind. But, we zu'aan created them long ago in the "labs" of the Xerea Empire. Our people, our empire was shattered by our own shortsightedness.
Curse the names of whatever army leaders that can up with the project that made those beasts. The wildfire spread they must of not seen. Their eyes, must of been blind. The kin'toni, thankfully are broken into many warring clans, each with their own biology, culture, religious beliefs and so on. To cleanse Taerel of the kin'toni, we must know about them.
This file will talk about the biology of those beasts, so we can better deal with them.
Kin'toni Core Biology
The kin'toni of the Clans are living beings infected with a complex parasitic organism that is in some ways like a virus, and in other ways like a malformed prion. The infection is derived from highly refined nanotech-altered conventional hantavirus packets, loaded with specifically altered prion packages as well as RNA designed to override most cellular data.
In return, the mutated cells produced by the viral component are shifted to allow the prion to link and interface with them. This is known as tetramutagenic parasymbosis, Folklore has always stated kin'toni have specific weaknesses—running water, stakes, holy symbols, etc. As with most folklore this is completely incorrect and is based mostly on cultural distaste for such things as well as practicality.
kin'toni have low buoyancy due to the changes in their bodies and thus most clans dislike large bodies of water. (although since they no longer need to breathe this is somewhat moot, and some clans have adapted to water living). The main weakness of a kin'toni'ati creature is sunlight, or more specifically, high intensity UV radiation.
UV radiation is capable of penetrating far enough into a kin'toni body to break protein bonds and denature the RNA fragments that convert living cells to kin'toni'ati ones—resulting in the body rejecting its own tissue. The effect looks similar to burning and blackening, with heavy pus-filled blisters rapidly forming on exposed skin.
Left in full, direct sunlight long enough a kin'toni can be destroyed in short order. The prion-modified cells of the kin'toni are irrevocably altered on a mitochondrial level. The skin of a kin'toni is converted to allow oxygen to pass into the bloodstream, without respiration, even in water. Prions also cause swelling of various blood vessels while the RNA packets rewriting the body drive additional calcium and iron to bones and ligaments.
The RNA packets also begin to convert many of the body's cells back into totipotent stem cells.
This wis why the Clans vary so much as these stem cells allow for conversion to body types best suited for their environment. The process takes some time to fully convert but ends up resulting in a supernaturally tough and strong creature.
The number of programmed RNA alterations is six hundred forty seven, including but not limited to:
Tripled rod and cone count in the eyes, leading to near perfect night vision and hawk-like normal daytime vision.
Increased cochlea production in the inner ear, with some of the sinuses being co-opted for this purpose. This allows vastly increased hearing ranges as well as a sense of balance and direction that is hyper-accurate.
Smell amplification using basal stem cells normally locked into one form during early childhood to mimic the more sensitive noses of bloodhounds (although this can be problematic, as very strong scents can be disorienting for a kin'toni).
Most kin'toni possess vastly increased strength, due to rapid cellular regeneration, stem cell rejuvenation and a mix of altered hormonal production and adrenaline stimulation. Enhanced mitochondrial activity means every cell is more powerful, has more energy and greater potential. While not invincible or indestructible, kin'toni are difficult to kill.
Certainly they are far hardier than most living beings. Regeneration is large scale, due to the stem cells, with most minor wounds closing within a few hours. Cuts, stabs, and bullet wounds are particularly pointless. This is given the small cross section of actual damage done, most bullet hydrostatic shock has no immediate effects on a kin'toni body, but larger caliber weapons can shock and disorient.
Severing limbs is not fatal in most cases but is immediately disabling. Such wounds heal in (relatively) quickly, in a manner of days. Heavy burns, electrical damage and crushing damage linger longer, and are the most effective method of disabling or destroying a kin'toni. However, unless such an attack vaporizes the cells entirely, they will eventually regenerate, although this may take weeks. Even lost limbs can be regenerated in a handful of months.
kin'toni body changes aren't merely cellular. The skin becomes somewhat leathery to touch (but not to casual glance) and is fire-resistant. The teeth all become canine-indented, with capillary channels at the tip of each running through the roots and directly into the bloodstream of the Vampire. The rest of the digestive tract is highly atrophied, mostly a series of lymphatic filters, hemoglobin recycling glands, and iron-binding.
They can eat a small amount of 'conventional food' but it provides no nutrients as they must absorb all such things through blood intake. The closer the blood is to high order creatures the more easily it is assimilated. kin'toni-ti blood vessels thicken considerably and contain multiple valves and contraction-points to prevent massive blood loss.
Other modifications to the body aside from all of the above are a large number of protein-like substances that prevent cellular freezing, hepatic 'cell clots' that absorb foreign matter from the bloodstream and break it down into base components, and other such fixtures. Given the huge range of changes forced on the body by the conversion.
It should come as no surprise that being converted into a kin'toni is highly stressful and not always survivable. At ages under sixteen the body's stem cells are simply not differentiated enough to keep up with the changes and past sixty to sixty-five the glandular changes and prion alterations are likely to kill from systemic shock alone.
Kin'toni can engaged in sexual activity but it cannot produce offspring—female internal reproductive organs are cannibalized in the conversion process for required proteins. The blood of a kin'toni containing the hantavirus/prion pair can infect those it bites and chooses to inject with said blood, which will turn a victim into a kin'toni in four to six weeks.
The various clans live in highly striated environments, each specifically suited for their anatomy. kin'toni can be killed many of the ways you can kill a zu'aan, but they can not freeze to death or drown for example. They are completely exothermic and do not generate internal body heat, much like lizards. Adaptation to various environments puts additional stresses on the kin'toni's body.
The more outre the environment the weaker the kin'toni tends to be since more of its power is focused on changing the body to survive rather than grow powerful.
Kin'toni Transformation:
The kin'toni transformation works via targeting the ahaar organ. The zu'aan already have a built it abilty to alter its own biology using the ahaar and so, all the kin'toni virus has to do is rewire it using its injected hantavirus/prion package. This way, it can force the ahaar to turn the zu'aan into a kin'toni, not even having to start from scratch.
The process takes around four to six weeks depending on how extreme the new clan-morph is. Some clans, such as those living in very hot environments like our allies in the A'vorlad, in the very cold environments such as the far away Vyrithri for instance tend to take longer then clans such as the forest dwelling Cael or the hill dwelling ones.
Stage 1,
Starting with the bite, the hantavirus/prion package travels to the ahaar, integrates itself and makes it corrupted RNA instructions at a catastrophic rate. Using the ahaar, the body is flooded with the mutated totipotent stem cells via the lymphatic system. This stage is marked by weakness and tiredness due to the virus beginning focing the ahaar into overdrive.
It also leads to sore, itchy skin, nosebleeds due to damage to small blood vessels and in the latter end, loosening nails. The virus drives the host to deep caves, basements and other areas of darkness where other infected are in order to protect the host, The host is also driven to remove all clothing by the means of a fever. This stage takes about a week to finish.
Stage 2
The zu'aan's skin starts to first, a clear mucus in order to disinfect the skin. About six hours later, it changes into an dense, nutrient-rich, hydrophobic lipid-mucus (derived from their natural environmental skin defenses) needed to form the flesh pod. The host often scratches at their skin maddenly, tearing away layers of skin.
The host is then made to curl into a tight ball, while the mucus reacts to air, and hardens into a thick, veiny flesh pod around the zu'aan. The host also vomits a yellow-ish fluid inside that fills the lungs and is used to carry oxygen. The pod anchors itself with tendon like flesh to dark, undisturbed structures or cave walls. This makes sure the changing zu'aan is procted.
Stage 3
Inside the pod, the host is alive, but in an a deep, hypothermic coma. The body is taken apart and remade. The digestive tract adapted for an tough, toxic plant diet is fully destroyed. The liver is changed to become a simple thing of hepatic "cell clots" and hemoglobin recycling glands. The body's veins and arteries are also heavily altered.
The counter-current heat exchangers are changed from shifting of heat to a thicken, valved thing adapted to protect from blood loss and as an exothermic, cold-blooded system. The teeth fallout, as new fangs linked to the capillary channels in the gums form and the kin'toni is shaped by its environment to its first clan-morph.
The last weeks are about finalizing the morph and hardening the bones and ligaments using the iron and calcium reserves stripped from the old digestive system. The vocal membranes are altered to produce the growls, hisses, shrieks and whistles of the clans. This stage take about four to six weeks.
Stage 5
When the process is finished, the kin'toni breaks out of its flesh pod, dried due to a lack of heat from the host. Not all zu'aan make it though the transformation, such as the very young, unheathy or old. But for those who do, the new kin'toni sloughs off its nest, what becomes its first meal in order to reclaim nutrants and energy and then it is ready to join its new kindred in a clan.
Even after this transformation, a kin'toni can adapt to an new environment.Over time, an kin'toni in another environment will be mutated by its totipotent stem cells into an morph more fitting to its new environment over four to six weeks. This can be done as many times as needed over akin'toni's lifespan with no known limits to this.
Sometimes, the transformation fails. Due to the transformation being so voiolent, on such compex beings, many of those who die is due to the prone to severe structural glitches related to the zu'aan moprhs.
Ahaar Rejection Syndrome
Sometimes, when an zu'aan from an highly extreme morph by zu'aan standards is infected, the ahaar was already working at maximum capacity.. This is due to their extreme environments that it was keeping them alive in. Sometimes, what happens is that the organ sometimes leads to failure under stress of the kin'toni pathogen.
What happens then is the totipotent stem cells lose their programming and become a form of biological grey goo that only affects organic matter that carry on dissolving tissue without rebuilding it.The result of this is a puddle of fluid that later begins to grow into a mass of cancer cells, sticking to the environment around it.
Vascular Inversion Failure
Sometimes, the vascular system fails to reverse. Often seen in zu'aan from hot environments, whom often have an vascular system designed to hyper-dilate surface blood vessels in order to let the wind cool them. It can happen to those from other environments, but most common in hot environment morphs. If it happens, the blood vessels remain locked in this "reverse" state.
These kin'toni often quickly loose loses what little ambient warmth they have and end up with their hepatic cell clots freezing in cold environments or even night time heat drops. The result of this is internal hemorrhaging and sudden, systemic vascular collapse.
Note:
If you want to grow your clan, please do check your local environment first. Rainforest morphs often lead to natural hydrophobic oils in the skin making it so the pod skin does not cure properly due to being too slippery. Keep those away from water. Also, snow morph pods are often prone to freezing so plan a way to keep the pod warm such as a fire.
Lore by Stevie Lambert (Introduction) and LogicalPremise (core biology)
This item of lore is a DRAFT item of lore. It is not canon yet.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non official.
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"Once our kind ruled Taerel, and was posed to reach for the stars. Once, our kin waged war wit fire and built to the sky. Now, we squabble aover land and food as we are hunted by monsters that where once our kin." - Tayr Ja'ha, Empire historian.
Us kin'toni are the genetic destiny of the zu'aan, but to fight them better, we have to learn more about them. The zu'aan are a queer race of beings, but we need their ever dwindling numbers. We may be cursed to crave their blood, but we can resist as they make better turning stock then food. The cities may hide behind their walls and the tribes in their forests, but not from us.
The zu'aan evolved millions of years ago on Taerel, with the ability to adapt to their environment. This is due how how varied Taerel's environments are. Us kin'toni have a perfected version of that ability. There are many morphs of zu'aan, just like how us kin'toni have varying morphs, but theirs are less adapted their ours. In a way, when I look in a puddle, they reflect me.
I have written this file in order to aid our kindred, however shattered and divided we are, to hunt down and turn all those upstart zu'aan so we can face the ice age as one kind.
Core Biology:
The zu'aan are tall, slender humanoids, known for their ability to adapt to their environment. This due to large totipotent stem cells in the body being able to adapt the body. The kin'toni have a hyper-active version of this ability, hence the greater changes in the kin'toni body.
Hair, eye and skin colours also change according to their environments., not by their genetics. For example, plains-morph zu'aan are have light green skin wit brown striped patterns, and desert-morph zu'aan have sandy-yellow skin. Zu'aan in hotter environments tend to have less hair then those in colder environments. The hair varies from super thick and coarse to super fine, and almost silk like.
The eyes of a zu'aan are large and wide set compered to a human, with a greater sense of sight, but no dark vision. There is a notable lack of eyebrow ridges. The ears are long, pointed and mobile. Zu'aan are able to hear quieter noises then humans. The mouth is filled with omnivorous teeth, but the canines are longer then the human ones.
The zu'aan sense of taste is roughly human standard, with a marked like for spicy food. The nose is smoother then that of humans, with a roughly human level sense of smell. Zu'aan tend to have high, angled cheekbones. Zu'aan females stand from five feet, five inches tall to six feet, tall and males are a foot taller. The limbs are long and thin, with six digits on each hand and foot.
The legs are digitigrade, with large claws on the big toes in plains-morph zu'aan and with finger-like toes in forest-morph zu'aan. The fingers are human-like, with claws instend of nails. The skeletal system is double-jointed, with thin, lightweight bones. The zu'aan are about as strong as a human. The zu'aan are mammals, and reproduce sexually.
The lungs are segmented into a chain of thin air sacs to allow for a large surface area for gas exchange inside the tight, narrow ribs. Inside their chests, they have secondary vocal membrane. These allow zu'aan to produce hums and clicks to communicate over long distances across open terrain. These take less air to produce.
The heart of the zu'aan is long, thin and multi chambered and acts like an two stage, inline pump. It has an upper stage that collects the blood from the respiratory system, and then the hyper-muscular lower stage produces the force needed to send the blood down their long bodies. The blood vessels are adapted to have counter-current heat exchangers.
These arteries next to the returning veins stop their thin limbs from freezing and overheating as they make the temperatures of internal organs more stable. The digestive system also differs. The stomach is able to produce highly concentrated, corrosive enzymes in order to break down the tough, fibrous wilderness vegetation and raw proteins.
The liver is larger then a human versus body side, and is able to neutralize volatile plant toxins and heavy alkaloids such as those found in Taerel's many biomes. The carving for spices is an biological trigger that makes the liver to speed its cellular flushing process due its chemical compounds. They also have an central organ that manufactures, stores, and instructs the totipotent stem cellls.
This organ sits between the lungs and the liver, and is called the "ahaar" in zu'aan languages. This organ is an a genetic command center. Using the skin's nerves system, it watches for external inputs (UV levels, ambient temperature, humidity) . If a zu'aan speeds an long time in a new environment, it floods the lymphatic system with the totipotent stem cellls with RNA instructions.
These can alter the body’s morph over several weeks to their new environment. When someone is infected, it targets this organ, and forces it to violently converts the entire host body into a kin'toni. The nervous system is altered, as the main nerve cords do not sit by the bones, they sit inside an fluid-filled, highly elastic sheath that loops though the joints.
These means when a ling bends completely backward or rotates, the nerve is able to slid effortlessly inside its sheath, incited of stretching or compressing. The feet have specialized nerve endings located around the ankles and toes to act as an sensory organ. This allows for them to balance well on thin branches and uneven ground, even without looking down.
Zu'aan urinate and defecate like all living things, also adapted to their environment. In dry environments, feces are hard, dark and small, and urine is concentrated to save water. In wet environments the feces are liquid and urine , heavily diluted in order to shed water. The digest system is adapted to hang onto needed nutrients unless there is excess.
The gestational period takes around twelve months, and puberty onset of roughly twenty years of age. A zu'aan is born as an helpless infant that feeds on its mothers milk from nipples on the chest. Zu'aan females do not have breasts. These infants feed on milk until they are about 2-3 years old, and then ween onto mushy food, and then once they are 5-6, solid food.
Zu'aan become children at eight-nine years old, and at this age they are expected to work in light duties. At this stage, they are around four-five feet tall (former for females and latter for males). At around fourteen-fifteen they enter pubary, and are teenagers. At this stage, they reach their adult size and are expected to take an job as an adult.
By the time the reach eighteen, they are fertile and are expected to begin having children. At the age of twenty, they are considered an adult for all purposes. The zu'aan middle age, and end of fertility is around sixty-seventy years of age for females and seventy-eighty for males. After this stage, they are considered elders until the end of their lifespan.
The lifespans of a zu'aan is about one hundred years for males and one hundred and ten for females. In the genetic age, the high point of their technology, lifespans of 300 years were not unknown.
Sample Common Zu'aan Morphs
Very cold Climate Bands
Ice Plains:
The skin of the ice plains zu'aan is altered by the ahaar to have an tightly packed microscopic lipid layer. This allows the skin to seal in moisture and acts as a biological windbreake. Due to this, the skin takes on a matte-white or icy-gray look, along with the hair and eyes. This allows them to blend with the landscape.
The hair becomes thick, coarse and tubular, most heavly on the neck, spine and head to protect the heart and the brain from the extreme ambient drops. The six digits on their feet flatten, with the big toe claws growing wideer and spade like. This allows them to spreead their weight on the snow, to act as a pair of snow shoes.
The eyes mutate to have a semi-transparent third eyelid, along with extra pigment. This allows the eyes to block harsh light and ultraviolet rays.
Ice Caves
The zu'aan of the ice caves are adapted to survive subterranean freeze-traps. Using the counter-current heat exchangers, working as strongly as possible, the warmth is pulled into the chest. This allows the vital organs to stay warm, while the arms, and legs are cool to the touch. Without this, they would be strongly prone to freezing to death.
They grow fine, silk-like white over their bodies. The fine texture allows the fut to trap air near the skin, but stops the ice crystals from sticking to their bodies in high-humidity caves. The eyes are adapted to have an highly reflective, pale blue or silver tint. This allows them to see even the faintest bioluminescent or mineral reflections bouncing off the ice walls.
Cold Climate Bands
Cold Forest:
The cold forest zu'aan have skin that has a dull olive-colored or slate grey tone, with dark vertical bands on the limbs as to mimic tree bark and shadows. This acts as camouflage. The hair becomes black, dark grey or dark brown for the same reason.The feet are adapted to be finger like, with short, tough claws for gripping frost-slicked branches and climbing trees without the claws breaking.
The ears are adapted to be wider at the base in order to track the muffled snaps of predators or prey through dense, snow-heavy canopies.
Mountain
The mountain zu'aan are adapted to the thin air and rocky crags. The skin takes on a greyish color, along with the hair. The body grows thick hair in order to stay warm at the high altitude peaks. The eyes are often a shade of grey. The feet and fingers grow rough, calloused leathery pads to act as high-friction climbing rubber against hard rock.
Inside, the vertical chain of air sacs in their segmented lungs grows larger in volume,. These are for better gas-exchange efficiency to compensate for the lower oxygen density. The bones are denser, with a trabecular structure to survive the high impacts of jumping between the rocks.
Neither hot, nor cold bands
Cave
Cave zu'aan are notable for their translucent and alabaster, or faint pinkish-gray skin. This is due to the ahaar stopping melanin production, and also leading to faintly visible blood vessels. The eyes are blind, having become useless in the dark. These eyes are often pale blue or pale pink in color. They lack most body hair, besides long, fine sensor hairs.
These hairs are long, fine, and very sensitive. They grow on the cheekbones and the forearms, aiding in detection of even the finest shift in underground air currents. The secondary vocal membranes are optimized for deep, resonant hums. These are able to bounce off the cave ways and are used as a form of low pitched echolocation.
Forest
In forest environments, the zu'aan have skin with a detailed, organically patterned skin of rich browns and forest greens, acting as camouflage by breaking up their silhouette in the dappled light of the forests. Their hair is fine, silky and adapted for protecting the head and joints from the thick bushes and thorns of the forests.
Their hands and feet are adapted to have elongated, highly flexible digits. These are used for semi-brachiating movement though the tree tops.
Hot Climate Bands
Badlands
The badlands morph is known for its hardened, clay-red or deep copper skin, golden or red eyes and red or black hair. The skin contains a large amount of protective pigments in order to protect the cells from large amounts of solar radiation and silt. The eyes are adapted to have a clear "second eyelid" for the same reason.
The hair has been almost entirely suppressed, all that is left is a fine peach fuzz of hair to allow sweat and heat to evaporate instantly. The digestive tracts has a large amount of advanced water-reclamation cells. These turn the waste into small, dry, water less pellets in order to save on water,
Tropical Rain forest
The rainforest morph has striking, light green skin with dark, chaotic striped or mottled patterns. These help hide in the light of a jungle floor. The skin is adapted also to have an , natural hydrophobic oil in order to protect the skin from fungal infections f by making the rain and humidily to bead up and roll off the skin.
The eyes are a dark green or gold color, and the hair is dark green, or brown. The toes are long, with a wide gap between the first two toes for a powerful, clamp-like grip. These allow the zu'aan to climb over the slippery vines and muddy root networks of the rainforest.
Very Hot Climate Bands
Volcanic Plains
The volcanic plains morph is known for its dark, charcoal-black or obsidian-gray skin. This skin is highly keratinized and dense to protect them from minor abrasions caused by sharp volcanic glass (obsidian). The eyes are bright red, orange or yellow in color. The hair is often black, or dark grey. The feet have thickened, multi-layered, heat-resistant callousing.
This allows them to run across the t across sun-baked basalt and warm ash beds with little damage. The liver is adapted to operates at maximum metabolic capacity and to neutralize quickly toxic deposits. This is due to the volcanic water sources being heavily contaminated with sulfur, ash, and heavy minerals.
Scorched Desert
The scorched desert morph has an sandy yellow, or pale cream skin tone, adapted to reflect maximum solar radiation away from the body. The eyes are often yellow, reddish-brown or brown in color, with thick, hooded, muscled upper eye lids to act as sun visors. The hair is often a shade of blond, ranging from almost white to a middle blond color.
The counter-current vascular systems are in reverse. With the blood vessels running along the surface being hyper dilated so that the desert wind can cool their blood before it cycles back inside the core.
Lore by Stevie Lambert
This work is part of the Taerel setting. All Rights Reserved.
This item of lore is a DRAFT item of lore. It is not canon yet.
Only content on the Official Wiki is considered an canon, official part of the Taerel Worldbuilding Project's lore. Content outside should be considered non-canon and non-official.
A Sectional Treatise on the Biological Variance of Kin’toni Clans
Author Unknown
Foreword
There is no single greater cataclysm in the history of Taerel than the kin’toni outbreak. To begin this piece with such an outright statement of fact may seem counterintuitive to the work of any scholar. However, given the laxity perpetuated by the fat, pompous fools who adorn the cities, this treatise is a necessity. Despite years of borderline extinction, some of the ‘luxuriant’ ne’er-do-wells who fancy themselves “city zu’aan” still refuse to acknowledge the vampyres for what they are:
Beasts of the highest adaptive order whose biological variance and adaptability are abjectly frightening.
The kin’toni are the bane of the zu’aan that has nigh driven us to the end of our species. They steal our essence and transfigure it into a nightmarish monstrosity of hemophilic drive, unlike anything we have ever observed. The rate at which they can mutate is astounding, producing a plethora of phenotypes that demarcate clan from clan. While we have, miraculously, remained relatively unchanged by centuries of environmental upheaval, our vampyric counterparts have become uncannily heterogeneous.
Indeed, there now exists an abundance of varying biological composition amongst the clans that many of my colleagues now insist on their delineation as different species.
Yet such a proposition is absurd. The kin’toni remain to this day the vampyre, and the vampyre the kin’toni. And, most harrowing to the concern of the remaining cities, this horror seems to fly over the head of the ostentatious bureaucrats whose lineage is nothing but fruit and silk. Having brought this to the attention of [NAME ILLEGIBLE], the warning was met with sardonic grins.
The oral gesture is no doubt something encoded in their blood. It was their ancestors who ignored the warning signs, after all. And it was those same patriarchs and matriarchs who sat comfortably in safehouses and bunkers while countless millions across Taeral suffered during the bygone Awakening.
I have thus taken it upon myself to compose this compilation. Within, the reader shall procure a trove of collected biological information, organized alphabetically, about the 279 documented kin’toni clans. I have gone through arduous research, combing archives, travelling when possible, even going so far as contacting the numerous zu’aan tribes that dot the continents. The task was not simple. Resultingly, verifiable facts are occasionally sparse, and many of the detailed descriptors have been permeated through unknown sources and tribal traditions.
Regardless of veracity, knowledge is a tool integral to survival. Understanding the biological variance of the clans is important if we as a species ever wish to win back our world. That dream is often scoffed at, for any sense of racial unity died all those countless centuries ago. I still believe in its reality, however. Be it 100 years or 1000, the scouring of the vampyre from Taerel is possible. But again, the first step, our primary concern, must deal with compiling knowledge as it pertains to their being. To know one’s enemy is to beat one’s enemy. And although they may have become as scattered as we are, they are still out there, blood-crazed and hellbent on turning every last one of us into their wretched kind.
-Author Unknown
The Adaptive Gene:
A Sectional Treatise on the Biological Variance of Kin’toni Clans
Shoot them, burn them, blow them limb from limb. It mattered little in the end. The sad, terrible reality dawned on every zu’aan in the field: They could replenish their numbers by taking ours.
-Unknown, dated 3E 23
Forum A
The A’voreld Kin’toni Clan
Often cited as the ‘demons’ of the Rinfenus Volcano, these vampyres are unique marvels of thermic adaptation. Their skin is possessive of a dark crimson hue, often mistaken for black, and is patterned like reptilian scales. This epidermal layer has developed into a safeguard against intense heat, providing superb protection against thermal vapours, smoke, steam, and indirect exposure to lava and fire.
It should be noted, however, that their skin is not impervious to high temperatures. There have been recorded observed cases of A’voreld clan members perishing due to direct contact with volcanic substances. The exact biological mechanism through which their skin achieves such resiliency remains speculative. The most commonly accepted theory revolves around the production of special enzymes that regulate body temperature, particularly that of their epidermal ‘scales’.
Due to the nature of the environment, it is believed that A’voreld clan members possess high metabolic capabilities. In addition to the enzyme produced for temperature regulation, more bodily chemicals can be assumed to support their organ systems. Clan members are known to subsist for extended periods devoid of nutrition, primarily the blood of the Rinfenus’ wildlife.
In this state, they are neither dormant nor lethargic and are well-documented to be able to ‘mobilize’ stored energy swiftly to hunt or fight. This supposed metabolic conservation is what is believed to cause the ‘spasmodic’ manner in which these vampyres locomote.
A’voreld kin’toni are often thick-jointed, with multiple knotted rings of skin growing about the knees, fingers, and knuckles. The dermal bands around their knees act as support, allowing the members of this clan to squat on their haunches indefinitely.
This squatting posture is the norm for hunting, social gatherings, and otherwise lounging moments an A’voreld may find themselves in. Their fingers, usually jagged, rest in a ‘grasping’ motion, allowing them to quickly take hold of objects, usually make-shift weaponry, or the necks of their prey. Their extended lives within the depths of the Rinfenus have also marked them by way of facial protrusions. Called ‘horns’ by the tribals, these oblique growths vary from vampyre to vampyre, and have been known to appear in singles, doubles, and triples.
It is currently unknown what purpose these protrusions serve, though postulations range from hunting means to signifiers of age. Furthermore, their eyes are grotesquely rotund, typically black in colour and festooned by noticeable venous bulges. It is undoubtable that their discus oculars contribute to an enhanced vision, both of clarity and certain levels of nocturnal sight.
The Aerch Kin’toni Clan
Aquatic adaptations.
The Aerch’s method of operation coincides symbiotically with their genetic features. They are natural chameleons, with a dermal layer capable of shifting hues to correspond to the environment. This is believed to be achieved via a neural-epidermal pathway composed of a network of highly specialized nerve endings.
The camouflage is not a passive ability, however. Captured Aerch clan members have confessed that they must actively ‘think’ of the pattern they are touching to conform with it. The process is hypothesized to be at least two steps. First, the Aerch vampyre must be touching a patterned surface with their hands or feet. Second, by visualizing the pattern, messages are exchanged along the neural-epidermal pathway, which in turn triggers the camouflage response.
The exact method by which their skin changes colour is currently unknown. Several theories exist, none of which have proven adequate. Interestingly, the most widely accepted hypothesis pertains to their laboratory origin:
“The Aerch are perhaps one the few kin’toni clans that can accurately trace their vampyric ‘lineage’. They are chronic boasters, and those members captured in battle have proven most talkative despite their clandestine nature. According to several century-old accounts, the Aerch are the result of the unhallowed melding between zu’aan and ‘machine’. Imperial records seem to indicate the testing of ‘stealth’ technology deployed in specialist units.
One such contingent, the ‘Phantoms’, were ostensibly outfitted with ‘ghillie links’, an unknown technological advent derived from a scaled creature capable of camouflage. The unit, however, went missing in action during the height of the kin’toni outbreak. Though the historical documentation is unclear, a small group of ‘fearsome vampyres capable of blending in with their surroundings’ were reported to terrorize even the most fortified cities…”
-Exploring the Yaenit, attributed to Zevdon Rutarch (possible fabrication), dated 4E 348
When not camouflaged, Aerch clan members are coloured a light purple. Their skin, semi-translucent, displays an impressive array of nerves with connections and sub-connections to a prominent spinal column. Their enlarged spines contribute to a ‘hunched’ appearance. Their necks droop below the cervical bones of the neural column, leading to many observers noting that they resemble certain carrion fliers. This common observation is further exacerbated by the Aerch’s large, curved ‘snouts’ and red-tinged eyes housing vertically slit pupils.
Tribal zu’aan have reported that these vampyres are incapable of producing sweat. This claim has not been individually verified as of the latest of the Fourth Era. Speculative hypotheses propose that this similarly stems from the Aerchs’s supposed laboratory origin, though surviving records make no mention of the phenomenon.
The Aere Kin’toni Clan
“It couldn’t have been more than 70 years since (Name Illegible) fell. I was only a boy then, but the images of the nobility are still engraved in my mind: cunning smiles, haughty pomp, and all the scorn in the world for the ‘peasantry’. So, when Halia and I stumbled across those monsters in the forest, we were both certain what they were.
The cunning smiles, the haughty pomp, the scorn. All now twisted by whatever festering, bloodthirsty evil had crawled out of the Empire’s labs.
The damned nobles had been turned.”
-Unknown Zu’aan, dated late 3E / early 4E
The long years and harsh environs of the Keltin Dry River have twisted the once-regal beauty of these erstwhile aristocrats. The earliest surviving records indicate that the Aere’s initial turning was a source of ‘misplaced’ pride. Various accounts such as the aforementioned quote support the sparse documents. However, it is also a concurrent opinion that any sense of ostentation regarding their vampyrism is merely fanciful, self-fulfilling conjecture:
“There is no scholarly-sound way of phrasing the truth. The Aere are abhorrent, grotesquely deformed kin’toni whose adaptation, while biologically fruitful, has destroyed the vestiges of their former grace. From their thin limbs, lipless ‘grins’, and jaundiced eyes, the Aere are ‘monsters’ in every sense of the word. Intriguingly, accounts of these vampyres captured in battle seem to indicate that they are either ignorant of their appearance or have obfuscated reality through psychological means. For the Aere, they are still the paragons of beauty resplendent and the heirs of the Old Age…”
- Zevdon Rudarch, Fallen Nobility: On the Turned Bloodlines of Taerel, Dated 4E 340
Due to the aridity of the Keltin Rry River, organisms possessive of larger biomass have all but died out, leading to mutation amongst its inhabitants to favour ‘slighter’ phenotypes. The Aere are certainly no exception to this. They are characterized by their thin appearance, often described as ‘willowy’, with limbs adapted for long, single strides suited for exhaustive travel. Their skin, ‘parchment brown’ in hue, consists of several dermal layers, not all of which all well understood.
The epidermal sheath is unlike the skin of typical zu’aan or even kin’toni, being coated in a waxy substance similar to the cuticles of spiked florae. This wax substance, secreted by epidermal glands, is believed to aid the Aere in the preservation of moisture. It achieves this by trapping any secretions such as sweat and ‘recycling’ them in various other bodily functions.
Perhaps more distinctive than their diminution and dermal coatings is what tribals call the Aere’s ‘eternal grin’. Habituating the Keltin Dry River has produced in these vampyres a lack of visible lips. Their resulting appearance is rather grisly, with exposed oral cavities extended to grotesque proportions. Zevdon Rudarch explores both tribal superstition and the accepted scholarly rationale behind this mutation in his work on turned nobility:
“Referred to as the ‘Eternal Grin’ by the tribals of the Keltin, the Aere’s lipless mouths are what heraldry was to their lost nobility. Devoid of any proper means of studying the creatures, the region’s tribes explain the mutation via superstition. They believe that the seemingly perpetual grin of the Aere kin’toni is a curse, some malediction consequent of their indulgence in zu’aan blood. While such vapidity may be suited to the tribal masses, the rigours of preserved civil society have posited otherwise.
The simplest explanation is therefore the most correct. To possess lips in an environment as dry as the Keltin would be anathema to survival. Hence, the Aere, being highly adaptive kin’toni, saw their labium ori mutate into a lack thereof for the purpose of maximizing moisture retention.”
- Zevdon Rudarch, Fallen Nobility: On the Turned Bloodlines of Taerel, Dated 4E 340
As postulated by Rudarch and others, the Aere’s lipless nature is due to the aridity of their environment. However, as to the horizontal hyperextension of their mouths, there exists little to no accepted hypotheses. The most common among these scant positions pertains to the Aere’s method of feeding. It has been ostensibly observed that the Aere clan, being voracious feeders, extricate ‘chunks’ of flesh from their prey using their mouths.
They will then proceed to ‘chew’, ingesting blood and water before spitting out the pulped biomass. Because victims (zu’aan or faunal) may be difficult to come across, this method of nourishment is speculated to have evolved for maximizing nutrient intake. Conversely, the rapidly changing environs and sudden plunge in temperatures have rendered any conclusive analysis of this explanation impossible.
The Ahe Kin’toni Clan
Toweringly tall, lean, warriors, live in a cold tundra. Rough arms? Natural shields? Padded, tufted feet? Paws?
Lore by JS117
This work is part of the Taerel setting. All Rights Reserved.
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The Yoush are adapted to the limestone steps, high altitudes and slot canyons of the Toras Terrace. They are laterally flattened and highly compressed of build, as to allow them to slid though even narrow fissures and cracks. This also means they are prone to crushing damage. The skin is white, translucent and devoid of melanin. This skin show even the dark vessels underneath. The skin is hypersensitive to UV radiation, with even dawn and dusk rays causing burns and blisters. The skin has a layer of long, translucent sensory hairs.
These act as a vibrating system to allow them to map out the rock shapes, even in total darkness. The hairs are delicate and long enough that they cannot wear much clothing or armor without it catching, tearing out the hair and leaving small, painful open wounds. The eyes are blind and milky white in color, as in the caves, sight is less needed. The ears are very large, funnel shaped and outward facing, adapted to locate even the smallest acoustic echoes. This hearing is easy to overwhelm, forcing them away from loud noise.
The nose has an star-shaped nasal cluster of soft tactile flesh. This acts as an biological radar system along with their hair to feel for air currents moving through rock tunnels. The teeth are long, needle sharped and inwards facing, adapted for small prey. These teeth are poor at gnawing, making even leather armor hard to deal with. The claws are long, pincer like and made of dense chitin. These claws are adapted to act as climbing pitons. The claws are poor for moving over smooth, polished rock races and walls.
The feet are low, narrow and heel less, adapted to have highly flexible, independent toes. These aid their clinbing on narrow stone ridges and stalagmites. Walking over flat, horizontal surfaces is painful due to severe skeletal strain. Inside, the blood contains specialized chemical inhibitors. These are able to slow the destruction of their modified prions if exposed to radiation. The lower spine has elongated into a long, strong and nerve filled tail. This tail allows a firth anchor point when climbing.
This tail is full of nerves and sensitive, meaning, that if it is trapped or even stepped on, it is very painful. Under the skin, there are large storage pockets adapted to trap and isolate histamines from environmental stress. Those pockets are prone to rupture from heavy enough physical impact. If this happens, this leads to an sudden rush of histamines and lethal anaphylactic shock. Inside their chests, they have an organ with mechanical baroreceptors, able to sense subtle air pressure drops.
These warn them if a storm is to come, and therefore to retreat deeper into the caves. Inside the brain is an massive cerebellum, using up part of their sinus cavities. With this, they can create an three-dimensional mental map of the tunnels. The brain is hungry though, and it requires twice as much blood as normal to sustain it. They have hepatic cell clots that isolate, crystallize, encapsulate and excrete the toxic minerals of the caves. These crystals appear in their fecal matter when they leave the body.
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The Wyta are adapted to the coastal cliffs, tidal currents, saltwater spray, and sea caves of the Qan'Haar Isle. They are streamlined, with an low profile torso and an highly compressed, dense skeleton. The limbs are powerful and shortened. This build allows them to dive and navigate heavy undercurrents well. Being compact, heavy, and with short limbs also means they are slow and clumsy on land. The skin is smooth, rubbery, hydrophobic and is a mottled slate blue and pale grey with countershading.
Under the skin, is a thick, high-density layer of fat, to keep their bodies warm in the freezing temperatures of the deep sea. This also makes them prone to overheating on dry land and in warm environments. On the skin are modified, light-emitting skin cells, that they can control with thought, allowing them to "talk" even in the pitch black. On the chest and abdomen, they have rough, microscopic dermal denticles to allow for dragging themselves on the slick, plant coated underwater rocks.
This skin has a layer of thick lipids that are adapted to stop saltwater corrosion. Due to having this coating, any ambient UV radiation is trapped, making sunlight twice as deadly. They lack all hair, in replacement having a system of flexible, subdermal ridges that are adapted to reduce hydrodynamic drag in the water. The lack of hair, also does not help with their sunlight weakness. The brow bones have been heavily reinforced with thick keratin plates that curve downwards and are adapted to shield their eyes from waves, sharp coral and sharp rocks.
The eyes are adapted to be black in color, with spherical lenses and an hyper-developed tapetum lucidum. These eyes allow them to see well in coastal waters. Above the water, these underwater lenses cannot see well, being blurry and highly nearsighted. The ears are just an pair of small openings, containing an dense, wax-secreting gland. This wax is able to become a hard, water proof plug when exposed to water. Being reliant on bone conduction means they lack the enhanced hearing of other clans.
The nose is just a single slit like nostril located on the upper nasal bridge. It has a powerful sphincter muscle that can close the nose tightly underwater. The teeth are backwards hooked, and with grooved enamel for stopping even the most slippery of their marine prey escaping. The claws are short, heavily curved and blade sharp. The fingers are long and with thick, leathery interdigital webbing. The feet are long, wide and fan like, the toes long and thickly webbed for swimming. The feet are not adapted for walking on land, forcing them to waddle in a way that is tiring.
Inside, the muscle tissues have a large amount of myoglobin, leading to near black tissues. This also means they are prone to kidney failure when the muscle is damaged, forcing rest to heal. They have hepatic cell clots adapted to isolate and extract the large amounts of salt that they absorb though their skin while swimming. To purge this, they have specialized sublingual ducts. This also means they are prone to severe internal dehydration without fresh water or blood.
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The Wor'ardi are adapted to the grasslands, intense solar radiation seasonal droughts and winds of the Kalem Savanna Plateau. They are very tall, slender, long limbed and gracile of build. The tendons being hyper extended and acting as spings for the high speed, energy-efficient running needed on the plains. This also means their bones have a structural cross-section. Due to this, these bones are easy to fracture, such as by impacts or falls. The skin is ultra dense, leathery and sandy ochre in color.
This skin contains a large amount of reflective purine crystals to act as a way to deal with the ambient heat and light just after sunset. Being very dense with purine crystals makes their skin less permeable, making their cutaneous oxygen absorption slower. The hair is a thick, coarse mane, straw like and white in color. It runs down the spin and coats the skull in order to deflect heat and channel the cooling wind over the body. The hair is rigid enough to be easy to break, making the skin exposed if broken.
The eyes are pale yellow in color, with oversized, horizontally elongated pupils. The eyes also have an highly developed tapetum lucidum in order to catch what light they can on moonless nights. These ears are adapted to wide vision and so lack vertical field of vision. This means that they cannot see well threats or prey above them on trees or cliffs. The ears are large, long and highly mobile, and containing an large amount of line blood vessels for radiating away large amounts of heat.
This also lets them track even the smallest rustle of grass. The nose has short, wide nasal passages, with high-surface-area turbinate bones. These act as a moisture condensing system to keep the water they breathe as much as possible. The teeth are long, narrow, and like blades, with serrated capillary edges. These edges are adpated or slicing cleanly though though hide and muscle. Being adapted for slicing means they chip and snap if bones are bitten on. The claws are short, straight and retractable.
These claws act as running cleats. The claws are poor at grasping, holding and climbing due to the lack of curvature and sharpness. The feet are digitigrade, and the metatarsals are fused and elongated. The digital pad is very calloused as an adaption to running. These feet are narrow enough that wet environments ten to bog them down. Inside, they have modified lymphatic systems, adapted to retain urea in the blood. This allows them to keep the osmotic pressure high in order to keep water into the body.
Being hyertonic also means they have heavy physiological stress and being prone to cellular dehydration if they go without blood or water. The spleen is very enlarged, muscular and it acts as a way to store the oxygen-rich red blood cells. During sprints, it can release this cells for a boast of energy. They have a system of massive reserves of glycogen in their hepatic cell clots. If triggered by adrenaline, it can be converted into glucose. These two systems lead to severe metabolic exhaustion after they are exhausted.
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The Wan'rila are adapted for the volcanic ash, obsidian terrain and toxic gasses of the Ward'ent Volcanic Stones Plains. They are elongated, lean and with an high surface-area-to-mass ratio. Along with the heavily vascularized ectomorphic shape, this allows them to shed as much heat as possible, as the plains are scorching hot. This also means they are prone to blunt force damage and crushing, lacking the dense muscular padding that absorbing impacts needs. The skin is ask grey, and with heavy callous and deep fissures.
These hides have dark melanin, along with heat-reflective keratin scales. The hair, both body and scalp is gone, replaced with overlapping keratin scales for stopping the ash buildup and to protect the hair from airborne embers. Lacking the insulation layer of hair means that if the temperature drops, they freeze. The eyes have obsidian-black sclerae with hazard-orange irises. These eyes have a heat filtering lenses and pair of nictitating membranes for sweeping away any abrasive particulate matter.
The ears are just flat, recessed slits. These ears have a system of muscular, valved skin flaps. These flaps seal when there is an ash storm, forcing them to use internal bone conduction for hearing. The lack of outer ears, comes with the downside of having severely impaired directional hearing, and an lessened sense of high-frequency sound localization. The nose contains an intricate, moisture-recycling labyrinth made of vascularized mucous membranes. This can cool the incoming air before it reaches the lungs or internal tissues.
The nostrils are wide and slit like, and the teeth contain a form of dense, dark iron-phosphate enamel to avoid the heat from cracking the teeth. These teeth are prone to shattering if they are hit hard or if the kin'toni bites down too hard on hard materials like armor. The claws are spade like, blunt and adapted for digging in order to dig out shelters in the compacted volcanic ash and tuff. These claws, being blunt, are poor for slashing, for grasping prey or for climbing. The feet have wide, splayed and hoof like soles.
These soles, made from a thick, semi flexible pad of corn tissue, are adapted to protect them from superheated stones. These rigid soles also mean they lack tactile feedback, meaning they are clumsy and loud on loose soil/sand/rocks and on forest floors. Inside, they have a secondary sulfur-binding protein. This allows them to isolate any inhaled or absorbed toxic gasses from the region's volcanoes, to stop them from contaminating the primary hemoglobin cycle. In the limbs is a counter current heat exchange system.
This is an network of interwoven arterial and venous loops that is adapted to cool blood that returns from the limbs before it can reach the organs. In cold air, it is an downside, as due to running close to environmental temperatures, in cold environments, they become sluggish or even fall into torpor. The cells have a latge amount of chaperonin proteins for folding and stabilizing the cellular structures, making the cells unable to denature in hot temperatures, but prone to denaturing in cold environments.
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The Ustsulunt are adapted to the claustrophobic, pitch-black, multi-tiered forest canopy of the Risold Dark Grove. They are extremely elongated, gracile, and light-boned of build. The spine is highly flexible, the limbs hyper-extensible. They are adapted for leaping and swinging in the dense tree branches. This hollow boned, hyper light skeletal structure leads to be a very low impact resistance, meaning if they fall and hit the floor or if they are hit by an blunt attack, their bones will shatter.
They have skin that is an matte, light-absorbing obsidian black in color. This skin has irregular, velvet-textured patches adapted to mimic tree bark and damp patches. Having soft, velvety skin also means they lack dense keratin protection, making the skin easy to tear from rocks or blades. The hair is deep, shadow-maroon in color and it grows in long, ultra-fine, silk-like strands. The hair grows down the spine and acts as sensitive wind-current detectors, allowing them to navigate the dense foliage in the dark.
The eyes are immensely large, with pitch black irises and an ultra-wide pupil dilation capacity. These eyes have a highly developed tapetum lucidum to allow for sights even in the darkness. Like other dark adapted clans, they are sensitive to light and go into neural shock if exposed to light. The ears are long, pointed and very mobile, able to rotate interdependently. These ears act as a form of sonar via tracking the sounds of the clicks they make. The nose contains hyper-developed chemoreceptors inside wide, flared nostrils.
These are able to detect the smell of blood, even in decaying forest vegetation. The teeth are long, slender, and curved backward. These teeth are adapted for the fast prey of the canopy. Being thin and curved, they lack the strength and cross section in order to crush bone, meaning they rely on cutting into the blood vessels. The claws are long, deeply hooked and adapted to act as natural climbing irons. These claws can pierce and lock into the bark of the giant trees. The claws are so hooked though, they cannot close their hands fully.
This means they cannot use wield traditional tools and weapons. The feet are adapted to be highly prehensile. These feet have opposable big toes and rough, high-friction leather pads. These allow them to walk on the tree limbs and grasp branches well, but making flat ground prone to twisting their joints, and them clumsy and slow due to an lack of lateral ankle stability. Inside, they have lymphatic filters containing large amounts of heavy-capacity cell clots. These are able to isolate, encapsulate, and break down the common toxic spores they breathe in.
The blood vessels are adapted to have responsive contraction valves for moving the blood quickly to the brain and core, such as while they descend quickly up or down. These also leas to localized blood pooling and deep tissue bruising if they stay still for too long, requiring them to keep moving to for the blood to flow properly. They also are able to run on highly efficient anaerobic pathways, used for healing themselves while hidden under leaf litter or in hollow tree trunks.
This item of lore is a DRAFT item of lore. It is not canon yet.
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