Formids

Formids

Common names in English:

Formids, skullcrawlers, skullants, nightmares

Binomial name:

Xenosapiens Sp. (Wise aliens)

X. tescacolonus (tundra settler wise aliens)

X. tescaperegrinus (tundra wanderer wise aliens)

X. hesperomons (western mountain wise aliens)

X. orientomons (eastern mountain wise aliens)

X. tescagigans (tundra giant wise aliens)

X. silvagigans (forest giant wise aliens)

X. campusincola (plains dwelling wise aliens)

X. boreasilva (northern forest wise aliens)

X. notosilva (southern forest wise aliens)

X. insula (island wise aliens)

X. hesperosilva (western forest wise aliens)

X. orientosilva (eastern forest wise aliens)

Description:

Formids are a genus of centauric hexapods and were the first alien sophonts encountered by Terrans.

They posses an endoskeleton primarily consisting of sodium chloride, with a pair of vertebrae-like structures each containing a notochord. Each limb girdle is made up of three bones holding the first segment of the limb and attached to the twin spines. Beneath each girdle is a trio of large plates derived from osteoderms, serving as both protection for the organs and structural support. Each limb is made up of four segments, with a ball and socket joint at the base of a single bones followed by two pairs of parallel bones which in turn connect to three wrist bones. Four digits attach to the wrist, with 3 internal bones, four external bones and a claw in each finger. The hands represent the more basal zygodactyl structure of their ancestors, where as the feet have become digitigrade to better support movement on the ground.

The skull is made up of a solid block containing the brain to which 18 jaws are attached. In the digestive system, two ancestral pairs have fused into the dorsal and ventral primary jaws, two pairs evolved into the masticatory jaws used to help break up food and push it down the throat and a pair into molar jaws used to crush and grind food. Food then passes into a stomach within the rib cage of the second limb girdle before passing into an intestine-like absorption structure. The respiratory system is made up of their iconic through-lung with an anterior and posterior air intake and a hind air vent. Taking in air through a nostril on the outside of the dorsal primary jaw it then flows into the olfactory chamber containing the olfactory jaw before being drawn past the anterior valve jaw into the cephalic lung by the diaphragm jaw. It is then pumped primary anterior lung before either being expelled from the posterior air intake through a voice-box like structure or transferred to the secondary anterior lung, where it is drawn into the posterior lung before being expelled from the respiratory vent. The other jaws of the skull are made up by the two pair of eyes, two pairs of eyelids, a pair of structures similar to the mammalian inner ear, a pair of antennae, two pairs of stridulatory jaws and a pair of tridactyl cephalic limbs, with each digit being derived from an ancestral tooth.

Formids have two circulatory systems. The primary circulatory system is pumped by a single heart in the rib cage of the first limb girdle and transports oxygen carrying blood cells, most immune cells, inorganic ions and hormones dissolved in water. The secondary circulatory system is pumped by a trio of hearts in the rib cage of the third limb girdle and transports simple sugars, amino acids, lipids and immune cells dissolved in water.

Formids also posses a series of kidney-like structures in the rib cage of the third limb girdle closely resembling the malpighian tubules of Terran invertabrates whilst a pair of liver-like manufactory organs between the second and third limb girdles.

They are covered in a thin layer of translucent, mildly iridescent keratinous structures analogous to mammalian fur and derived from ancestral osteoderms, allowing the colour of the skin to be seen underneath. This was key in ancestral collumacephala to both allow them to retain heat but also for their chromatophores to be visible through their integument. In formids and their relatives many of these chromatophores have been lost alongside much of their UV vision in a burrowing ancestor, in addition the development of iridescence common in fossorial species. In modern formids functional chromatophores remain solely on the skull where they are used to convey emotions, although the introduction of ink into the vestigial chromatophores of the body has been and continues to be used as a for, of self expression through fluid tattoos, however it is a very delicate process and the tattoos fade as the cells die. Most emphasised in species from the southern continent but common to all formids is the development of a winter coat should below average temperatures be encountered for a long enough period, being shed should the temperatures warm.

Like a majority of cetocnidarians formids are hermaphrodites. Typically a single infant is born from each parent, typically in early spring, clinging to the back where it feeds on a specialised organ developed from the ancestral secondary circulatory system. Born blind and furless, they feed from this organ for roughly half a year before developing fur and being weaned, however they still cling to their parents fur. After another half year of their eyes have opened fully and they under grow a rapid stage of development, being fully capable runners two months, however their brains are still far below adult capacity and are highly instinctual. After another year they undergo a second growth spurt where they rapidly gain cognitive abilities equivalent to a human child. Typical formids are most often considered mature in the modern day by sixteen years old and independent from parents at around twenty, however the tundra species are often a year or two behind their northern relatives and the two giant species may not be considered mature until their early twenties. Despite their neotenic features, Xenosapiens insula has a similar rate of development to its mainland relatives.

Ancestrally formids typically lived in clans made up of immediate family, members from neighbouring clans and wandering individuals. Despite the sedentary nature of many of these communities (the most major exclusion being two tundra species and many clans from the two plains species), these wanderers maintained connections between clans and allowed the spread of genetics and ideas, hence how almost all modern species of Xenosapiens can still produce fertile offspring, although this comparative isolation and long timespan has lead to significantly greater variation than amongst Homo.

Despite having entered space shortly before humanity, Xenosapiens is a much older clade than genus Homo, with some estimates placing their common ancestor as far back as six million years ago, with some modern species existing as far back as two million years ago. For the majority of their history, formids have been isolated to the twin southern continents and some surrounding islands, though a small population of appears to have reached the westernmost island of the shattered continent after their ships got caught in the westerly current upon which they survived for a minimum of several hundred years before seemingly going locally extinct, although reports of shipwrecked sailors and wild men joining later colonies have been thought be some to represent the last of this distinct culture. Throughout their history formids have used a variety of complex tools constructed from wood, stone and bones, independently domesticating a variety of fauna and flora and living as nomads or agricultural communities as slowly trades of raw materials and manufactured goods developed across the continent, only becoming global a short few hundred years before the first formids flung themselves into the stars to land upon their twin moons.

The first sophonts the formids encountered were the Terrans, when two scientific missions to study an unusual solar system encountered each other. Following this formids joined the Terrans (and unknowingly a number of other sophont species) in the Great War, the conclusion of which lead to the formation of the USS (Union of Sophont Species).