Rikally

Native to the planet Orochi, Rikally are considered one of the most peculiar forms of life known. Each Rikally is a communal organism made up of 30 creatures all linked together to form a single, individual consciousness. Their heads resemble a cross between a humanoid shark with some squid features, like between six to ten short tentacles which act as short manipulators and look something like whiskers when not in use- some Rikally like to keep them folded and coiled in such a fashion as to resemble 'beards' because they find it stylish- these tentacles have no suction cups but they do have little 'clubs' like a squid that help with manipulation. Rikally bodies are two meters long, most of their body being made up of a long, sinuous, snake-like body from the waist-down with dolphin-like flukes at the end. They have dorsal fins along the back of their heads, as well as highly flexible fins sticking out of either arm. Their arms end in five fingered hands with short, sharp nails. Despite the sharkish appearance of their faces, they do not have gills- but they can hold their breath for substantial amounts of time.

Rikally used to look MUCH different than they do now, but upon meeting the other races of the Galactic State they began actively directing their evolution to look more humanoid, finding these new creatures fascinating. Rikally do not possess gender naturally, only in the last few centuries have some of them decided to evolve sexual characteristics beyond their natural asexually hermaphroditic method of self-communal reproduction. They also evolved arms, hands, and dextrous fingers, after seeing how useful the things were, as well as expressive faces and the ability to speak in humanoid languages. Each Rikally is theoretically immortal as an individual, so long as they have access to the homeworld and Birthing Reefs where each communal organism grows and waits for the day it can become part of a whole. In practice, most Rikally do not live past a few centuries, due to the incredible violence of the homeworld's deep oceans. Rikally do not have any major native culture because it was only within the last few thousand years they understood what culture was. Each Reef acts as a settlement now, and each settlement tends to ape whatever culture of other races it finds most fascinating and intriguing. They have little fear of death and are known for doing extremely rash and dangerous things simply because it will be cool, as they are often confident enough pieces of their body will survive that new pieces can be incorporated to replace anything that gets killed. The closest thing they have to religion is reverence of The Great Rika- the oldest known Rikally, several millennia old, treated with demigodal reverence. It is a wise creature, also ponderously huge.

Rikally have a natural swim speed of 15 meters per round. If killed by something other than Heavy Weapons, 2d10 pieces of them can be saved and stored to be given new 'parts' which will resurrect them within about a week. They can drink fresh or salt water with equal ease, and can stay underwater for a number of hours equal to their Con score. However, when not having access to regular full submersion, Rikally require Condensuits to avoid drying out in a matter of Con/2 days.

Rikally do not have a native tongue, instead picking up whatever languages are around them the most.

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