Desert colossus

Desert colossi, also known as Dune goliaths, are a Humanoid race located primarily in the southern deserts of Haven they are known for their tall heights, averaging the heights of 8 to 9 feet tall, however some individuals have been recorded as reaching heights of even 12 feet tall. Other than their heights, they are noted for having wrinkly, aged looking faces by the standards of other humanoid races with squinted eyes that feature decently long eyelashes and black sclera's with irises that vary in colour, their body's are also noted for being muscular and appearing to have little to no fat on them as if their skin was just stretched on top of their muscles directly, and finally they are noted for their prehensile feet which appear to resemble those of other primates such as gorillas or chimpanzees.

## Biology

### Myology

The muscles of a desert colossus are noted for having a pinkish pale colour akin to that of a chickens as compared to a humans dark red muscle colouration. There are two main reasons for this colouration: the large amount of fast twitch muscle fibres found within their body's and the large amount of intramuscular fat found within their muscles.

The large presence of fast twitch muscle fibres means that desert colossi are able to demonstrate insane levels of strength and sprinting speed with some induvial being noted as puncturing steel with their fingers or being able to sprint faster then a sprinting horse. However due to how their muscles work desert colossi are only able to keep keep up these sprinting speeds for up to 25 seconds and the recovery time afterwards can take up to 20 minutes for a desert colossi to fully recover from a sprint like this. However they appear to able to fight in close distances for much longer then the can sprint for with non lethal martial arts fights lasting 2 hours between to two opponents alone.

As for their high levels of intramuscular fat it is believed that this adaptation evolved in the desert colossus to store fat more effectively. Because storing fat in this manner means that their body's would not have large belly's or humps meaning that they are both able to move efficiently and store large quantities of fat on them which would prove useful in their desert environments where in food is hard to find.

### Facial Structure

Desert colossi are noted for their wrinkly faces and squinted eyes with the wrinkling of the face developing at the ages of 20 years old. Their point of maturity with their eyes being squinted from birth. The squinting of the eye is believed to have developed in the race for two primary reasons the first being that the combination of squinted eyes and long eyelashes would keep sand out of their eyes protecting them from things such as sandstorms and the second is protecting their eyes from the large amount of sunlight reflected of of the ground in the day time as the squinted eyes would limit the amount of sunlight that could enter their eyes.

As for their wrinkled faces it is believed that these wrinkles help keep them cool and preserve water by keeping the moisture from sweet in the divots of their facial wrinkles. This same feature may apply to the lines on their body's caused by their muscles helping them cool off even further in their hot environment. It also may help with emoting to others since their eyes tend to stay squinted in most facial expressions the wrinkles can help them make more distinctive faces.

### Prehensile feet

other then their heights desert colossi are known for their prehensile feet meaning that their feet has the ability to grasp things akin to a persons hand. unique factors of the foot as compared to humans are elongated finger like toes and an opposable big toe which contains insanely strong muscles within it being able to penetrate steel easily which is notable as a desert colossus would normally have to train their body's in martial arts to achieve a feat like this with other parts of their body. these feet have many adaptations which prove to be useful to the colossi in their desert environment. the toes can be splayed out to increase their foots surface area making walking on sand easier, the toes may also cup when they sprint too dig and then push themselves off of the sand allowing them to move quicker and of course the feet can grab and manoeuvre objects.

## Culture

### Food and Cuisine

The cuisine of the Desert Colossi can be mainly split into two groups; traditional cuisine and modern cuisine which are differentiated primarily by the exclusion of ingredients inedible to humans and the inclusions of foreign spices. Colossi are also noted to eat their meals with their hands primarily, except when it comes to soups and stews where in they will use ramen forks to consume said meals.

#### Traditional Cuisine

The traditional cuisine of desert colossi would include ingredients inedible to humans either because they where poisonous, painful to eat or indigestible by humans. these ingredients would involve things like cactuses with the pines still on them, nuts within shells and meat with broken bones within them which colossi can chew but humans could not. the way colossi manage to do this is due to their strong cheek muscles and tough mouths akin to those of camels.

The old cuisine would involve the meat from rabbits and chickens primarily which would normally be prepared by breaking and ripping off parts from the carcass, using their hands, and then using these parts to make their meals. The cuisine would also involve two other ingredients: silphium, which is harvested from the sides of nullarian rivers, and yeast, which the colossi cultivate. bellow are some example dishes of traditional colossus cuisine.

shattered rabbit stew

a stew made with broken rabbit parts cooked in a yeast stock with silphium and walnuts in the shells added. this is served alongside bread.

whole rabbit stew

a stew made with a whole gutted rabbit cooked in a yeast stock and with cactus leaves added to it.

splayed chicken and cactus fruit jam

this dish includes a flattened silphium grilled chicken and jammed cactus fruit which would normally have spines within them. served along side boiled cactus leaves

jolqi" tea [fire tea]

is a tea made by colossi using jolqi"baji"p, cactus fruit tea and milk . it is made out of a plant that is similar to the yerba mate except it is described as having a spicy cinnamon taste to it as well. colossi are able to consume this tea leisurely with the only effects to them being akin to a really caffeinated coffee however if consumed in a high quantity by other humanoid races it runs the risk of killing them due to the tea containing chemicals the other races can consume.