Khorikoim

Disclaimer: The Khorikoim is a fictional animal from Keenan Taylor's Tales of Kaimere.

Videos on the Subject:

* Elephants of Kaimere Episode VI: The Manephaunt, Sophist Elephant-Folk of the Hidden Islands
* Convergent Minds: Nonhuman Beings of Sophont Intelligence in Kaimere

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Earth Ancestor: Gomphotherium sp.\*

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Proboscidea

Family: Gomphotheriidae

Genus: Unknown

Species: Unknown

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Synonyms: Chugaith, Chuga, Manephaunt, Hru

### Description

Khorikoim are a small neotenic species of gomphothere found on a now classified archipelago beyond the known world. they are sophont, having a complex language, tool culture, and even competent sea faring ability. Despite being secluded to an archipelago, they are surprisingly genetically diverse, having the same range of hair colors and skin tones we see in humans. They around 1 meter at the shoulder in the tallest individuals and typically weigh between a hundred twenty and two hundred and fifty pounds. Interestingly, Khorikoim are the only proboscidean to exhibit regular omnivory, regularly eating seafood harvested from the surrounding waters alongside grass, kelp, seaweed, as well as a highly nutritious mushroom in which they cultivate.

### Phylogeny

Khorikoim are from a clade of gomphotheres harvested from North America around 14.2mya, right after the Dynastic Extinction event. From the ancestors of these gomphotheres came prairie oliphaunts, some of the only successful grassland proboscideans (aside from the Koga of Kairul), they eventually went extinct in Ni'Khar but were successful for a time due to prolonged coevolution with large theropods, better social adaptations, and higher intelligence. The only living ancestors of the prairie oliphaunts are the Lunar Oliphaunt, the largest known proboscidean, and their closest relative the Khorikoim, the smallest of the proboscideans. It is debated whether this species evolved on the mainland or an archipelago.

### Ontogeny

Juvenile Khorikoim are known as Kinderphaunts, and despite their small stature, kinderphaunts take around fifteen years to reach maturity typical of proboscideans. This prolonged childhood gives their high intelligence plenty of time to mature. Unlike the build of most insular dwarf proboscideans, their traits have more in common with neoteny, and overall look quite like juvenile elephants.

### Sexual Dimorphism

Unlike most proboscideans, Khorikoim exhibit fairly minimal sexual dimorphism, with both males (Werephaunt) and females (Wifphaunt) both having tusks, although males do have slightly larger tusks and a generally larger and more robust build.

### Culture

According to the interview the Assembly held with Skiru, to say a thing such as "I'm hungry" is considered childish, as (for a Manephaunt) the smell of hunger would already be readily apparent.

Manephaunt have a complex and developed tool culture, having a wide variety of tools for different tasks, most notable to the Assembly being a plow which they would push and pull with their jaws on their agricultural land. They have quite a strong and adept trunk despite neotenic features, which allows them surprising precision in the creation of tools and manipulation of objects.

Manephaunt wear rudimentary clothing, especially during the colder months, they are often made up of stable fiber textiles which they weave in loom like contraptions. Their clothes are already functional in aesthetic, and they do not usually utilize dyes, originally thought to be a result of color blindness, poor vision, or an indication of cultural humility, this was quickly disproven by Skiru, who explained that the sophistication of their clothing comes less from sight, but smell. Manephaunt use a variety of complementary and conflicting scents on their clothing and adornments, most of which are too subtle for the human nose to detect.

Auditory adornments are a symbol of status, while an anklet of shells might seem to be for visual appeal, it is more for the sound that the shells make when walking that appeals to Khorikoim. In Manephaunt, the olfactory and auditory senses are where true beauty lies, with the notion of physical beauty being quite a foreign concept for them.

Being descended from highly cooperative ancestors, manephaunt do not practice warfare. However, there are many dangers, and many orders of warriors have arisen with various combat and naval specialties. Unlike most of their clothing, which is visually drab because they are much more impressed by and reliant upon scent, their armor is more for intimidation than function. They will use more colors than they themselves can see, as they have records of people, pterosaurs, and theropods being intimidated by bright colors. Barugru is their word not only for the warriors, but also the face shield which is their most important piece of kit. With hard leather stretched over a wide frame, the barugru shield is primarily a visual display, though it can offer appreciable defense against attacks from above.

Origins of the Manephaunt are unknown even to themselves, as some claim in an Origin myth that they descend from a voyaging tribe from an island closer to the mainland near the tropics, while others claim they are native. The former seems more likely to the Assembly as it would explain how the elephants got to an island 50km away from the mainland surrounded by deep water, answer why they need clothes during the colder months, and gives explanation to the non native mushrooms which they cultivate.

### Language

The language of the Manephaunt is quite sophisticated, and vocalization is only a minor component. They are unable to make many of the infrasonic sounds of other proboscideans, they do use a range of sound to form the basis of an auditory component of their language. Their sense of smell is impeccable and used to interpret basic emotional experiences of other nearby Manephaunt. There is also an important visual component to their language, with the position of the ears and trunk often adding subtle nuance that can wildly change the meaning or context of a statement. At their core, however, most of their language is done through scent, with vocal or visual ques only being used for nuance, politeness, disability accommodation, or clarification. Manephaunt are able to replicate human speech, but it is quite difficult for them, with many Manephaunt Assembly agents requiring a translator, although there are select members who are fluent in human speech.

### Human Relations

In the legends of many peoples of the known world, Chugaith or Manephaunt are little elephant men who could sail, speak, and make a wide range of tools. They are among the most popular characters in Free-States folklore. For most recent history, they were assumed to be little more than legend.

In the late 1910’s, Assembly naturalists conducted a routine survey of a now-classified island chain isolated by unusually deep waters on all sides. There was evidence of boats and settlements, so as is Assembly procedure, noninvasive surveys were conducted. Although kaimerans were the anticipated inhabitants, it did not take long to realize these islanders were, in fact, miniature proboscideans.

   A Kentarim consultant was contacted and informed the team that, according to the stories he was told as a boy before his own islands were conquered by the Qajarith, the Kentarim had promised these islanders their location would remain a secret. Out of respect for this old treaty, the consultant was called in to advise.

   Before he could arrive, however, the agents were discovered by the islanders, and the agents conducting a survey were captured. Evidently a witch of the elephant-folk named Skiru managed to use magic to communicate with a captured witch of the Assembly, and they were able to explain themselves. By the time their consultant reached the Assembly vessel, the witches of both parties had come to an understanding. As the islanders rarely use vocal language, and the approximate word Hru means more than just their people, Skiru expressed indifference as to the term used to describe her people, so the Assembly defers to manephaunt, the term in older treatises, which is Archaic English for person and elephant. Out of concerns for disease, their contact was minimal, but Skiru consented to a brief study and series of interviews in exchange for information and luxury goods.

During the peak of the Manephaunt's trading with the Kentarim, they received many metal tusk caps, which sparked Manephaunt to begin the search for ores to craft their tusk caps, which has lead to a competent smithing workforce which produces as much as one third of Barugru tusk caps

Due to a history of exploitation by not only Kaimerans but also the First Children, Khorikoim hold humans in fairly low regard.

Nearby the home of the Khorikoim, their are documented clans of Khalorim, they were unengaged and Skiru was unwilling to reflect on their relationship, though some have assumed they may be defenders of the island from shallow water predators, supported by a legend of 'heroes of the past' culling large clawed seals which fed on their people.

Like other Sophonts, Manephaunt have legends of the First Children, describing them as 'Great Insects', which abducted their people, returning them to their original islands, and slaughtering any who stood against them.

### Redesigns

The Khorikoim has had 1 redesign, of which it was interpreted as a close relative of the Asian Elephant of Earth, which gained its' intellect through prolonged consumption of fungi, and was an insular dwarf rather than a neotenic species.