| abstract
| - Abinyshi were bipedal ungulates with slender frames and supple limbs. Each arm had a hand with an opposable thumb and three fingers, while their tetradactyly feet were dominated by a single forward-facing talon. Their tails were forked, with two prehensile extensions used for grasping low-lying tree branches which extended over the flowing rivers of their homeworld. Flat-faced with two pupil-less eyes, the Abinyshi had evolved two nose slits above their mouths and two tympanic membranes on either side of their head. Oxygen breathers, they had excellent underwater vision; though their eyes could not see well in harsh industrial lighting and they often were forced to wear protective eye gear when offworld. A large crustacean, the Aganof were cave-dwellers that thrived in dark, moist places. Androgynous and asexual, Aganof reproduce using both their male and female aspects, fertilizing eggs which they lay in damp spawning caves. Their underside consisted of over a dozen leg-feelers and several dozen touch-sensitive pink tentacles that provided them with sensory information from the world around them as they did not evolve eyes. Absorbing moisture through these small feelers, their four mouths were located on their carapace beneath heat-dissipating flaps lined with digestive acids. Luring in small cave-dwelling animals to the warmth absorbed by their flaps, their prey would get stuck on the sticky acids that lined the flap and slowly digest as they were pushed into one of four mouths. While preying on small mammals and fish, Aganof also enjoyed infectious fungi that they scrubbed off of cave walls. Farther down their back, Aganof had several olfactory organs atop long stalks that interacted with molecules in the air to relay the sense of smell. At either end of an Aganof's body were a single, long jointed limb that terminated in a massive, shelled claw. Used for burrowing and defense, the claw was also vital to Aganof communication. Using the claw to create vibrations, a specialized organ within the claw known as the sender translates the vibrations into speech. Icon-based, Aganof receive images in their minds instead of words, using their sensory perception of the world to make up for their lack of eyes.
|