#altuyur

2026 reference for Morang (part 1) work clothes worn when collecting animals the sea side rocks and tide pools.

Whale ticks will wash up in bulks. And maanul children have been prone to picking them up because of their large size and somewhat "funny" orb appearance. Unless they're washed up dead, the whale tick will flap its flippers when disturbed, usually creating a slight slapping sound as it hits itself due to how engorged they are, as well as flashing the yellow underside of said flippers. It is usually enough to scare off predators, or the sophonts fledglings into at least dropping them.

The opposite may occur, where the children will bother the Oiwi more, because they want to see it react and do its thing again. It may result in death by exhaustion if they're relentless enough.

2026- More lasso pen work practice. Human maintenance radio tower maintenance worker and their silicon-based assistant. They're on break together. :-) Although they're not an sophont AI, people will very often anthropomorphise them and treat them like so, on account of humans being a very social species. Some built-in mannerisms are meant to make them more appealing and endearing, thus easier to project human aspects onto them. Since it also makes people who work with the silicon-based assistants very attentive to their care. It's not uncommon for people to argue they're alive in one way or another, even though the code says the opposite; the love given towards them makes them people on a social level.

2026 - oc work, Sulfur storyline

2026 - yes! It used to be a temp name, since the overall idea is the sme, but I never found something better, plus it is fun to see who notices it or not.

Mierthri's natural range was all around Pando. At least the largest population, Xiwit, resided and still resides there. They are not within the biome but build their homes around its perimeters, every year they have to deal spring's spore season coming from pando, causing infrastructural damage when not dealt with. The easiest methods being controled fires, for when the spores landed in their crop fields. For spores landing on infrastructure, homes or radio towers for example, then manual removal it will be. With proper attire and tools to reduce risk of harm like allergic reactions.

A few smaller groups reside deeper within Pando and Xiniat, the homes are built in the layers of interlocking tube "branches," soil within panda is very poor, so most groups do not participate in agriculture that requires fertile soil, but they do cultivate and manually aid in breeding the sessile organisms that act as pando's "flora". Xiniat population end up being bright pinks and reds to blend in better. Though they are never close to what would be the core/center of that area.

The mierthri groups that would traditionally build into and onto the large clay side of hills, Ziet, are not within Pando either, they reside within the perimeter of it too, like Xiwit.

Pando isn't a single individual member of its species, but it is the largest cluster of oragnism on Altuyur

2026 - Their upright locomotion and height, and how maanuls are from open areas with low vegetation, do not require their pouch to be at the rear to prevent debris from getting in like thylacines do. To prevent water from entering their pouch, maanuls have a strong ring of muscle, a sphincter, to make it water-tight. Like a water possums!

It is at their lower stomach because they also need easy access to it, for grabbing their young in and out, and other basic social interaction between the parent and the fledgling for bonding. But most importantly, they need easy access for egg transfer.

The biological family the sophonts of altuyur are a part of, lies a soft, basically a meat egg / amniotic sac, onto their hands before rapidly transferring it into their pouches. If the egg is not transferred, it dries up, or other damage happen because of the sun's UVs, causing death for the embryos. The transfer triggers "gestation," where the pouch itself seals, not through muscle sealing as it would cause strain during extended periods of time, but through the growth of tissues at the entrance, and all around the egg sac. The membrane is pierced by the hatclings or cut by the parent if the baby is unable to do it themselves once gestation is over. The pouch is basically an external womb first, then later becomes a transport pouch for the striped fledglings. (Though I say they lay into their hands, this isn't possible for mierthri's anatomy. They require external help from entourage/direct family to do so. Out of the 3, theirs is pretty difficult, while maanul probably has it the "easiest".)

Maanuls pouch is still positioned much lower than what the other two sophonts have; Mierthri has it at the highest because interactions are mainly with their jaws and not their hands, which are not very good at being manipulators. Maanuls and kyhuines will sit on their rear in order to access their pouches easily, though they are capable of bending their bodies around to do so (more flexible than you think!), it is not the most comfortable and safe way to do so.

Now, why does the biological family have this complicated cycle that involves extra steps instead of just having a full gestation internally? Millions of years ago, before any of the sophont's recent ancestors were even a possibility yet, they used to be specialised in brood parasitising a now extinct family of distantly related species. As the species they preyed upon became rarer, individuals developed temporary pouches of folded skin, similar to what echidnas do, to carry the egg before they eventually found their target. This turned into a permanent, all-year-round pouch that they rely on as they had to abandon the parasiting as the targets went extinct. There was a split in the family where some just kept the egg inside the body until it hatched, while others became pouch reliant. The sophonts of Altuyur, are a part of the pouched group. Non-worldbuilding-related talk under the cut ->