The Shskle: Species Tidbits
Jul. 26th, 2014 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plaindealingvillainThe aliens are called (until I come up with a better name) the Shskle. Pronounce it as though there were very abrupt schwas in it and you were pretending to be a snake; that will be about right.
When humans meet Shskle for the first time, their impression is 'intelligent velociraptor'. By which they actually mean 'intelligent Deinonychus', since Shskle are not less than two feet tall, but that's not important right now. It isn't far off. Shskle are distinctly reptilian, bipedal with a balancing tail and two arms with claws. The claws have four approximately identical fingers and a fifth set below them with more range of motion (the thumb). At rest, the fingers are in a horizontal line, but when extended (i.e. to attack), they form an X shape (except the thumb). The toes are less symmetrical; rather than a thumb, a wider, shorter toe sticks directly forward and the nearest two are swept out further to the sides than the rear two. All fingers and toes have significant claws that grow constantly, and faster when damaged; these are used for writing.
Note: To attack prey or a rival, the Shskle instinct is to spread their claws out as wide as possible to prepare a better grip. This means the 'hey look, I'm tough and I'm calling you out' gesture, for Shskle, is approximately jazz hands. Note to all humans: DO NOT MAKE JAZZ HANDS TO SHSKLE.
Shskle are largely carnivorous, but like bears, they can eat berries and nuts. Modern Shskle also eat dairy products. Farming was a fairly late invention for Shskle civilization, but herding was fairly early, and was the basis of their equivalent of the Agricultural Revolution.
Most shskle, like most humans, count on their fingers. However, they consider the thumbs obviously not fingers and do not use them; their number system is base 4.
Shskle have three levels of communication. The highest register, hishest-status method is writing (even higher is poetry, which artfully arranging the forking branches of complex thoughts into aesthetically-pleasing patterns). Civilized adults are expected to communicate using writing exclusively outside of family and very close friends.
The second tier is signing. This is the primary communication for families, close friends, and teenager-equivalents. Express a sentence more complex than "If the weather's good tomorrow I'm going to skip school" gets unwieldy in sign pretty quickly, but in principle any written thought can be expressed in sign.
The lowest is speech. Shskle don't have terribly developed vocal cords and spoken language is mostly a group of instinctive 'phrases' used by hunters, soldiers, and small children. Cursing, shouting for help, and war cries are all spoken, but subtlety and gradations of meaning cannot be.
The word for 'barbarian' is Shskle is more accurately translated "Those who speak."
Shskle are largely crepuscular, a moist-level unpleasant word meaning that they are neither noctural nor diurnal, but rather are active mainly at dusk and dawn. Primitive Shskle hunted at these times exclusively; civilized Shskle are more flexible.
Up next: I might scan some words to show you, or ramble about the grammar of Shskle, or splat words onto the page trying to figure out what was important to early Shskle so that I can create logographic etymologies for words.
When humans meet Shskle for the first time, their impression is 'intelligent velociraptor'. By which they actually mean 'intelligent Deinonychus', since Shskle are not less than two feet tall, but that's not important right now. It isn't far off. Shskle are distinctly reptilian, bipedal with a balancing tail and two arms with claws. The claws have four approximately identical fingers and a fifth set below them with more range of motion (the thumb). At rest, the fingers are in a horizontal line, but when extended (i.e. to attack), they form an X shape (except the thumb). The toes are less symmetrical; rather than a thumb, a wider, shorter toe sticks directly forward and the nearest two are swept out further to the sides than the rear two. All fingers and toes have significant claws that grow constantly, and faster when damaged; these are used for writing.
Note: To attack prey or a rival, the Shskle instinct is to spread their claws out as wide as possible to prepare a better grip. This means the 'hey look, I'm tough and I'm calling you out' gesture, for Shskle, is approximately jazz hands. Note to all humans: DO NOT MAKE JAZZ HANDS TO SHSKLE.
Shskle are largely carnivorous, but like bears, they can eat berries and nuts. Modern Shskle also eat dairy products. Farming was a fairly late invention for Shskle civilization, but herding was fairly early, and was the basis of their equivalent of the Agricultural Revolution.
Most shskle, like most humans, count on their fingers. However, they consider the thumbs obviously not fingers and do not use them; their number system is base 4.
Shskle have three levels of communication. The highest register, hishest-status method is writing (even higher is poetry, which artfully arranging the forking branches of complex thoughts into aesthetically-pleasing patterns). Civilized adults are expected to communicate using writing exclusively outside of family and very close friends.
The second tier is signing. This is the primary communication for families, close friends, and teenager-equivalents. Express a sentence more complex than "If the weather's good tomorrow I'm going to skip school" gets unwieldy in sign pretty quickly, but in principle any written thought can be expressed in sign.
The lowest is speech. Shskle don't have terribly developed vocal cords and spoken language is mostly a group of instinctive 'phrases' used by hunters, soldiers, and small children. Cursing, shouting for help, and war cries are all spoken, but subtlety and gradations of meaning cannot be.
The word for 'barbarian' is Shskle is more accurately translated "Those who speak."
Shskle are largely crepuscular, a moist-level unpleasant word meaning that they are neither noctural nor diurnal, but rather are active mainly at dusk and dawn. Primitive Shskle hunted at these times exclusively; civilized Shskle are more flexible.
Up next: I might scan some words to show you, or ramble about the grammar of Shskle, or splat words onto the page trying to figure out what was important to early Shskle so that I can create logographic etymologies for words.
Fingers?
Date: 2014-07-29 10:41 pm (UTC)