Queshiks

## Society

#### ***General***

Queshiks do not wear clothes when in the water, though on land will often find some thick wool clothing, essentially a large extra-long sweater or poncho-like material, to find some comfort and to also not upset the other species which consider such things improper. The Queshiks don't really understand propriety of clothing, having no concept of sight.

Their society has largely remained unchanged since the First Age. They most prefer to build their homes around coral reefs and carve their ways into rich and raised structures in the seas. They also take up many old wrecks along the ocean floor. They live in close-knit families until just shy of maturity, where the youths will travel out to explore, hunt, and find a spouse most often. A married pair will typically return to the birthplace of the woman to raise their own. They have very little central government, living in small clans dotting places dense of fish with a heavily dispersed population. When another territory is settled by the men of a tribe and women make travel it is almost always quite distant from the first and there is only the loosest of bonds between a new settlement and the old. The mothers are the ones who make most of the decisions dealing with trade and family maters for the tribe, their positions are determined largely by number of young they have and seniority of age. Young girls gather the various plants which make up a small amount of diet, as well as helping to improve and work on the settled structures. There are occasions where they go on hunts but such is more rare and most will not be taken when hunting for large prey. The men primarily hunt, seek out places to establish new colonies when population begins to swell, and make almost all military or forceful decisions with the strongest and most dominant becoming the leader in this regard. They are not strongly territorial to any specific piece of a reef or other structure regularly altering which part they take shelter within, but will become extremely hostile if threat is made to the overall structure.

## Biology

#### *Appearance & Movement*

Queshiks have a humanoid quadrupedal shape with plates of chitin not unlike that of crabs along the spine and top of the head. The skin is made of shark-like scales with the texture of sandpaper. They have long limbs with four-fingered claws on both sets, the hind being webbed, and a long tail used for navigating waters and assisting in maintaining balance in impressive, though slow, climbing skills on land. There are thin, retractable fins on the thighs and forearms while the tail has strong, shark-like fins. On land they move like a combination of lizards and cats in a serpentine pattern, typically quite slowly and deliberate in their movements. They can stand bipedally, but any form of walking would be very awkward and uncomfortable. Their tails are prehensile and can be used to manipulate tools but primarily rely on the forelimbs. They cannot use bows, two-handed weapons will typically be manipulated by a combination of the tail and a forelimb, using the claw to drive the weapon and the tail as the leverage point. They largely prefer to focus on grappling and their own claws.

While in the water most tend to stay near the floor, they use their tails as the primary mobilizing for most of the time but will also quite often crawl and use the webbed hind legs to kick off a sudden adjustment. The front limbs are primarily for when traveling against a surface, digging out fish that hide in crevices, and attacking other creatures.

Typical colors are darker greens, black, and sandy or muddy yellows and browns, females sometimes have vibrant blue, pink, or red similar to a coral reef (the blue looks much like a blue lobster in coloration). On rare occasion a female queshik will have a solid white coloration with occasional specks. In some queshik tribes the males tend to have pale blue-white pattern similar to the deeper sea sharks, these tend to be located among more barren areas requiring much longer distance hunting patterns.

#### *Senses*

Queshiks lack eyes, instead they rely on electrical senses and the extremely developed sense of smell on a snake-like tongue. They also have exceptional hearing in water and air. They have a highly advanced control of their own scents as well, using pheromonal releases for the primary method of communications. They have a form of clicking and hissing language that has spread throughout the mothers in order to talk to other species, taught to those who are leaving the tribe at a young age. There are a few regional dialectical differences, but it seems to be consistent across all Queshiks. They have difficulty perceiving on land at extended distance or in great detail, but are extremely capable at underwater senses and are not affected by darkness.

#### *Size*

The typical size of both of the sexes of the species is about 3'8" at the head with a similarly long body at 3'9" without the tail or limbs being included. The tail is typically around 5'4" bringing the total length to 9'1". Women of the species, especially the more fertile mothers, can grow up to 4' tall at the shoulder, with the head usually resting at 4'5", and the body 4'7" in length not including the tail which often adds another 7' to the total length. Men of this size are much rarer, but not unheard of. Those of such sizes are typically older and unlikely to leave the tribe grounds unless threatened directly.