#juggernauts

A broad and ancient clade, Juggernauts are some of the oldest and most diverse dagnyds found across the Jacantese world. From the well-rounded workhorse Appletop (pictured), to the highly specialized Funeralworm, from the gentle utility of the Waterbearer to the fearsome showmanship of the Antlerjaw, Juggernauts take many forms and are employed to many ends. As a clade, Juggernauts are unified by a strange species of symbiosis, and the modifications such entails. Without the ability to accept a Sister-pilot, a dagnyd cannot be rightly considered a Juggernaut.

The skull of a Juggernaut is heavily modified to accomodate the presence of a Sister-clade “Pilot”, to facilitate her comfort and safety, and to allow her direct access to the central nervous system, which she may control and modify at will. While a Juggernaut is, on its own, an intelligent, autonomous entity, the control of a Sister-pilot is necessary to realize full potential. Some say the intelligence of the Sister is required to supplement the dull-minded Juggernaut’s brawn, and give to it direction which need cross no gulf of ambiguity to be understood. They say Sisters are more pliable, more given to following direction, and by allowing the Sister to impart her will upon the Juggernaut, she transfers to it her own native docility. Some say it is an allusion made manifest, a living institution enshrining the parable of the cricket who learned to drive oxen with her song, who’s cleverness elevated her station beyond the fragility of her body. Whether any of these reasons explain the origins of the relationship, or simply seek to find some retroactive justification, is a topic of long debate. However it came to be, that it is entrenched is irrefutable.

In modern Juggernauts, the modifications which facilitate the housing of Sister-pilots are extensive and extreme. In lieu of a flexible neck, the massive, bulbous skull is attatched rigidly to the spine, supported by a muscular hump. Many, though not all, Juggernauts posses stalked eyes to compensate for a head which cannot be turned. Sisters enter the skull by way of the operculum, a mask-like plate situated beneath the eyestalks. The operculum can be retracted to prevent damage.

In Juggernauts, the nasal cavity forms a very large, hollow space, occasionally encorperating the eyesockets in cases when they are not otherwise necessary, where the Sister-pilot is secured for connection by a pocketlike rampart. Mucus remains an essential adaptation for the collection and removal of foreign matter, considering the ease with which dirt, dust and pollen may be introduced into the relatively open space.

The twin pairs of ‘antennae’ sported by Sisters serve very different roles than the structures for which they are named. While the ‘key-antennae’ do have some chemosensory function, they are primarily designed as a male component, slotting into a complementary pair of orifices. The unique shape of each Sister’s key-antennae comes to be recognized by the juggernaut during the initial process of imprinting, the ‘first ride’. Once established, the unique pressure-print established by the key-antennae is required to relax the muscular orifices which secure the basal apertures, through which the Sister-pilot connects her own nervous system to the Juggernaut’s cerebellum via her smaller pair of ‘lock-antennae”. While secured, the key antennae secrete hormones to be absorbed by the membranous tissue of the pressure-lock. In this way the Sister’s body is able to more effectively communicates her physical and psychological state through the induction of mirror responses.

To accommodate this mode of connection, the Juggernaut brain is often modified into strange shapes. In the Appletop, the brain is twisted upside down, with the cerebellum - the joining-point - lying on top, and the brainstem running down through the center.

Sister-pilots can, in theory, remain connected to their Juggernauts for several days at a time, but in practice control-sessions generally last several hours. A modified salivary gland provides coupled Sister-pilots with a temporary source of nutrition in the form of a thick, sweet fluid which is almost entirely sugar. What liquid waste is passed by Pilots while coupled is drained alongside excess or fouled mucus.

Back in the day as empires made haste

To colonize, to claim, to control, and contain

Funeralworms comprise a genus of Juggernaut characterized by a heavily-built, serpentine form, the absence of eyes, a single pair of broad, paddle-like forelimbs, and a prominent array of individually articulated, crushing jaws. They are employed in the disposal of organic materials, the production of high quality fertilizer, and the reclamation of Ibis tissue from corpses. The latter function earning them a central role in Bibat funeral rites, hence the name.

In Bibat, it is believed that Ibis tissue, while a powerful creative force in life, is equally capable of corruption, especially when touched by death. It is therefor not adequate to bury the Ibistouched, since Ibis tissue, if allowed to decompose, has the potential to render the earth fallow and breed illness. By consuming the Ibistouched dead, Funeralworms collect the Ibis tissue from the flesh, freeing it from corruption, purifying it, and accumulating it in their bodies to be returned to the Oracle System. It is mandatory that the corpses of all dagnyds, Sansin, Thrones and Throne-children both headless and unbodied alike, be fed to the Funeralworm. This is not a necessary funeral rite for those who are not Ibistouched, but the devout often choose to have it preformed upon their death. If a funeralworm is not available, cremation is an acceptable alternative.

Funeralworms are semi-aquatic dagnyds that reside entirely in special pools (bymūt)constructed for their housing. At their least elaborate, bymūt are little more than shallow ponds dug into clay soil, but they are often encircled by a low, stone fence with an offering platform at one end, and a chamber for dung collection at the other. These pools are usually located several kilometers from areas of habitation, although many larger cities have grown to encircle bymūt that were originally constructed a more acceptable distance away. These tend to be the most elaborate of their kind, ending up with bespoke temple complexes erected around them. As the functions of the Funeralworm are deeply linked to Bibat customs, their husbandry is entirely handled by Sansin, though the service they offer is a public one.

The design of the bymūt is necessary for the survival of fully mature funeralworms, who are not only so large as to be incapable of freely moving over dry land, but risk being crushed beneath their own weight without the support of water. Newborn funeralworms, at about a meter and a half in length, are the most mobile of their kind, and often attempt to escape their bymūt to explore. This is usually permitted (with supervision), as such young individuals have limited processing capacity, and rarely exist in a context where the sole burden of waste management relies on them. Many Sansin are sympathetic to the plight of the Funeralworm, and see little purpose in restricting the movement of a creature which never approaches agile at any age, and for most of its decades long life will be confined to a single small pool.