The Chiroa

## Chiroa

The Chiroa are a group of mammalian creatures living miles under the surface of the planet Kanoonin. They closely resemble bats in appearance.

## Evolution

There once was a single race of individuals living on the planet of Kanoonin. These creatures were mammalian with beautiful wings of iridescent colors. Like most creatures, they created caste systems and divided up riches for themselves and the benefits of their families. There were two such families who were richest in the land and the fathers of each households were brothers. One day, the younger brother found a rich deposit of Shavva, a beautiful medicinal herb, and wanted to share in his riches with his older brother. When the older brother was told about his brother's find he was filled with jealousy and stole the entire deposit. The younger brother, having felt betrayed and hurt by his older brother, swore he would never share in his riches again and fled with his entire family into the cave by which he discovered the Shavva. Legends were told thereafter how the family were eaten alive by Choocha, but this was not the case. The older, greedier brother remained above ground and founded the Voon Kingdom along with it's more feathery inhabitants. The younger, more resilient brother founded the Chiroa clan who, after thousands of years, evolved to adapt their underground situation.

## Biology

Chiroa can vary in appearances greatly from one to the next. They can range in height anywhere from 1.5 to 3 meters, sometimes more or less in rarer situations. Their skin color usually is very muted and almost greyish in tone varying from blue hues to green, to red, to brown and anything in between. Their hair will always mimic their skin tone but much darker, almost black. Their knees are double bent backwards with five clawed toes and fingers.

They are capable of using their claws for many purposes: digging, attacking, cutting Shavva, and surprisingly climbing. They can climb the rocky cave walls of their home very easily, often hanging upside-down on the ceiling. Their wings, which vary in length, are often useless for flying. Instead they will use their wings for carrying supplies and children, or keeping warm as a makeshift blanket. In some rare cases, they can learn to glide if their wings are long enough. They also have a tail with two wings protruding from it that supposedly help with direction when gliding.

The Chiroa are capable of great feats of strength depending on their size and determination. Through thousands of years underground they've developed the knowledge to hunt and eat the Choocha of which they remain a harmonious relationship. The Choocha provide food and housing by digging underground and creating the large tunnels by which the Chiroa live. They've developed a way by which to lead the Choocha through the tunnels, luring them with Shavva, then killing them for meat either with their bare claws or spears made from the legs of other Choocha.

Their signature large, red eyes can see clearly in darkness. Their ears are very sensitive to sound. They can hear for miles underground by emitting high-pitched screeches. They can easily create other noises too such as purrs, growls, and snarls. They use these noises to speak and indicate to others how they're feeling, although they do have a completely separate speaking language.

When a Chiroa is born they are usually covered head to toe in dark fur all save for their wings and tail. The older they grow, the more fur they lose until eventually they are left with nothing but their head of hair. Sometimes, however, certain Chiroa will retain their fur in specific areas (like shoulders, legs, chest, etc). They will develop sharp incisors at an early age and will retain them throughout their entire adult life.

They breed like all mammals, but are more prone to twins or triplets. It is unknown if they can produce children with other none Chiroa.

## Sociology

Chiroa are intelligent, social, affectionate creatures that like to live in very close quarters to one another. They are very brash, to say the least, and open about physical and mental boundaries. They live in a clan with the eldest as leader. Their diet consists of Choocha, fish, bugs, and Shavva which grows in abundance underground.

The clan consist of three groups of individuals, the hunters, the gatherers, and the babysitters. Hunters obviously hunt for food, usually Choocha because it's the most abundant and plentiful; the gatherers take care of the Shavva crops and do most of the cooking and making of clothes; and the babysitters are just that. There is no specific reason or rhyme as to the choosing of these individuals, just that you desire or are good at a specific job. Gender plays no role in the choosing, although females tend to prefer being gatherers and babysitters, while males prefer being hunters, but there is no law against such jobs in the clan. Also, any one person from a group can and will share jobs at any time if other individuals are unavailable, the only except being hunters who must be trained for the dangerous job.

They have many names for relationships and jobs, of which they take very seriously. When they choose a mate they will pursue that individual until they either return the affection, mate with another, or either one dies. They will often attach themselves to a parent figure even if that individual is not their biological parent, or their real parent is still living. In this case, they can have many parental figures.

They are unafraid (and seemingly unaware) of personal boundaries. Many of the tribe, whatever age or gender, will never wear clothes their whole lives. They will sleep in giant piles for warmth and comfort. Even individuals who are disliked will be accepted into sleeping piles simply because it would be a great dishonor and shameful to not allow anyone into the pile. Their signature greeting is a simple kiss on the lips.

There are not many rules to be broken in the tribe, except the touching of another's mate and murder. When either rule is crossed the usual punishment is banishment which is seen as the worst form of torture. In rare cases, if the individual is extremely violent or disrespectful then they are to be killed. If the individual harmed or killed someone and another who is close to the victim kills the individual, then this is socially acceptable and the Chiroa who killed in revenge is seen as guiltless.

## Trivia

* They closely resemble the characters from the Disney Channel show *Gargoyles*. I'm sorry. It was unintentional.
* They were at first going to be mole people who dug their own tunnels and had retractable shovel-claws in their arms, but that didn't work out.
* The creator has accidentally drawn these characters many times with only eight toes. She had to touch-up on these pics to give them two more toes.