Kaean Anatomy & Physiology

From Carpe Chaos

Contents 1 Size and Shape of Body 1.1 Different Stances 2 Limbs & Extremities 2.1 Arms & Hands 2.2 Legs & Feet 3 Range Of Motion & Flexibility 4 Outer Shell 5 The Head and Face 5.1 Speaking and Hearing 6 Physical Gender Differences 7 Individual Variation 7.1 Coloring 8 Development & Aging 9 Internal Systems 9.1 Muscular System 9.2 Circulatory System 9.3 Nervous System 9.4 Respiratory System 9.5 Digestive System 9.6 Sex & Reproduction 10 References

Size and Shape of Body

Average Kaeans range from 4–5 feet tall when standing on their four hind legs, and can reach heights of over 6 feet when standing on only their two hindmost legs. Some can be taller or shorter. They have eight limbs: four arms and four legs. Since they live on the ring of a planet in near-zero gravity, it is important for them to grip the different rocks that make up that ring. So, they have sharp extremities that allow them to cling to almost any surface without worry of coming loose. Their fingers and toes are sharp and hard, and they have a long, slightly curved blade protruding from two of their wrists that they can plunge into dirt and ice to hold themselves in place. The lowermost segment of each of their four legs has a jagged ridge running vertically along the back, and these tough protrusions can help a slipping Kaean steady and right itself when losing traction with the ground. All of these specializations help Kaeans gain and hold solid footing—because losing their grip could mean floating away into space or toward their giant planet, and either case is fatal.

The Kaean body is wide and flat. A Kaean looks about half as wide when viewed from the side as when viewed from the front. They are widest at the top of their body; the distances between their rear hips, between their front hips, and between their lower shoulders are about equal, while the distance between their upper shoulders is greater.

The Kaeans possess several humanoid characteristics, including one pair of 5-fingered hands, a neck expanding into broad shoulders, a nose, a mouth with lips, and comparable sexual anatomy. They do not have soft skin or hair; their outer covering is hard, thick, and brittle.

Different Stances

They are most comfortable standing on their four hind legs, but their body is flexible enough to allow them to stand on only their two hindmost legs, or their four legs together with their two larger arms (this is their crawling position). When crawling, their lower pair of arms are not used. When on their two hindmost legs, they stand between 5.25 and 6.25 feet tall. They rarely stand this way outside of low-gravity environments, because they do not balance well on only two legs.

Their most natural stance is on their four feet, leaning forward. In environments with enough gravity to matter, they have little trouble leaning back some to maintain their balance. While they cannot lean to the side much at all, they can lean forward and backward with considerable flexibility.

Limbs & Extremities

The eight Kaean limbs are divided into two groups: arms and legs.

Arms & Hands

Kaeans have two pairs of arms, an upper pair and a lower pair. The upper pair of arms are larger, stronger, and used much more often than the lower pair. The lower pair of arms are shorter, less capable, and serve mostly to support the main, upper pair of arms. Because they are weaker, in environments with considerable gravity, the lower arms are less useful and thus less used, but this disadvantage is not as significant in microgravity, where having an extra set of arms to keep something from floating away is immensely useful. Kaeans are equally adept at using all of their arms and hands. The upper and lower arms do not have the same shell patterns (see image), and furthermore, these shell patterns vary from Kaean to Kaean (though the basic shapes are the same).

The two upper arms are connected to the Kaean body at the shoulders near the neck, and the lower arms protrude from the sides of the torso less than a foot below the upper arms. Each arm has a shoulder, elbow, and wrist. One long, slender blade grows out from the outer or lower part of each of the the two upper wrists; these blades are extraordinarily strong, reasonably sharp, and used for balance and climbing on their homeworld of Bairyth's Belt. When standing on all four feet, Kaeans can easily lean forward and rest on their two wrist blades by holding their upper arms out in front of them.

The upper pair of hands have four segmented fingers and a single segmented opposable thumb that stick out from the inward side of each of the hands (each segment can be considered a phalanx, but Kaeans have no endoskeleton). The thumb has four segments and thus four knuckles, as do each of the four fingers. The thumbs are shorter than all of the fingers, and the fingers have a small variance in length (similar to Human hands, see image). These fingers are also strong and sharp, allowing Kaeans to shear through soft materials without tools.

The lower pair of hands have only two smaller fingers and one smaller thumb, but the fingers and thumbs of the lower arms still each have exactly four segments; the base segments of the fingers and thumbs of the lower hands are the most pronounced. The two fingers of each lower hand are on either side of each lower hand, leaving a noticeable gap between them. The thumb on each of the two lower hands extends outward from the center of the base of the palm, opposing not only the two fingers but the palm itself. The thumb is shorter than the fingers, which are the same length as each other.

It is worth noting that Kaeans have especially good hand-eye coordination because their sense of touch is limited by their hard, airtight shell (see Outer Shell below).

Legs & Feet

The four Kaean legs are powerful, and the Kaean can jump great distances even in environments with some gravity (though they cannot jump in environments with a gravitational acceleration of 10 m/s² or greater). Along the back of the lower segment of each Kaean leg is a rough, serrated edge consisting of three sharp points. These small, hooked spikes can be used to help Kaeans stabilize themselves when landing from jumps, as well as to help secure a firm hold when navigating uneven terrain. All of the legs have one knee joint and one ankle joint each; even though the lower section of each back leg may appear to have a second, upper ankle near the knee due to its curvature, there is no additional joint.

Each Kaean foot has three three-segment toes and a notably small sole. The soles are small because in their native, near-zero gravity environment Kaeans do not need large feet to distribute their weight over a wider area. The three toes are at rough right angles to one another, forming a T shape when viewed from above or below. The back feet are similar to the front feet, but reversed: the center toe points squarely backward, while the center toe of the front feet points forward. All 12 Kaean toes are especially strong and are even able to pierce softer rock when needed.

Range Of Motion & Flexibility

The Kaean outer shell is hard and inflexible, and Kaeans can only move at their joints or other points of articulation. These include their eyes, eyelids, mouths, necks, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, hips, knees, ankles, toes, and complex waist. Their torso is plated in such a way as to allow turning to the left and right, leaning back, bending forward, and bending only slightly to either side. Their neck is equally flexible, and they can move their head to face up, down, left, and right; they can tilt their head to one side up to about 30° in either direction. Still, their plated waist and neck remain completely protected regardless of position.

Both pairs of arms have ball-and-socket shoulder joints and hinge elbows. The upper wrists have limited control over the position of the arm blades attached to them, which nonetheless always remain at an angle to their respective forearms (see diagram). With respect to the lower pair of hands, while the thumb is shorter than the fingers, the thumb can meet each of the two fingers at their respective tips because the palm is so short and stubby.

Their four hip joints are not too flexible. They cannot do the splits in any direction with any two of their four legs, but all four feet can be made to touch one another without much strain. Their legs are built for distance jumping and clinging to rock; despite their limited range of motion, Kaeans can propel themselves great distances even in environments with some gravity (see Legs & Feet above), and in environments with negligible gravity they rely on their feet to keep them from floating away from the ground.

Outer Shell

The Kaean outer shell is so hard and impermeable that, when in a vacuum, it requires no additional bodily protection (only respiratory aid). All parts of a Kaean are completely covered by their outer shell except for their eyes (though their eyes have protective, transparent eyelids, see The Head and Face below). The shell is not very sensitive, limiting the Kaean sense of touch; Kaeans often need to watch their hands when performing fine or precise tasks. When a Kaean loses some of his or her shell (e.g. when injured), the missing shell will regenerate quickly without leaving more than a faint scar.

The outer shell can vary in color from Kaean to Kaean (see Individual Variation below), but it is always very dark and often completely black.

As the atmosphere of Bairyth's Belt does not provide the protection typical of significant planetary atmospheres, Kaean shells shield Kaeans from harmful cosmic and solar radiation.

The Head and Face

The Kaean head is roughly shaped like a cylinder, with axis perpendicular to the ground. At the top of the head two thick antennae protrude rearward, and they possess a very limited range of movement; some Kaeans can consciously wiggle them, though they often move slowly independent of conscious control. These antennae are not sensitive and serve no biological purpose, though culturally they can be used to convey sexual attraction or arousal (see Kaean Culture). Each antenna has either five, six, or seven segments (this number varies by individual, is hereditary, and does not affect the antenna length much). The bottom of the head tapers down to a pointed chin in the front, which drops down well below the point at which the head connects to the Kaean neck (the whole of the Kaean mouth is below this point). Kaeans can look up, down, and over either shoulder with relative ease (the neck's exterior is plated for smooth head movement despite its inflexible shell).

Kaeans have six eyes in two aligned, vertical columns, one on each side of their nose. The eyes themselves are a cyan color, while the pupils are a deep black. The irises are dark green in the example shown to the left, but these vary and can be dark blue, dark orange, dark purple, dark brown, and black (though all six irises of a single Kaean will always match one another). Each eye has two eyelids: the exterior eyelid made from the same tough shell that covers the rest of their body and a thinner, softer, lens-like, transparent red eyelid that usually remains hidden. Kaeans close their eyes with their external eyelids when they sleep, but they use their red eyelids to protect their eyes when looking in the direction of Bairyth's bright sun, when in hazardous environments (e.g. a vacuum, a cloud of harmful gas) or when their eyes are at risk of being damaged (e.g. when welding, when firing guns, when hunting dangerous animals). The red eyelids do not obstruct vision beyond gently tinting everything a darker shade of red, and many of the consequential benefits and effects resemble those provided by sunglasses (including reducing glare, protecting the eyes from ultraviolet light, and preventing eye contact). Kaeans control each horizontal set of outer eyelids independently with moderate ease, and nearly all Kaeans can learn to wink with individual outer eyelids, but they can usually only extend all six red, secondary eyelids at once. Kaeans do not experience any discomfort when extending either type of eyelid over any of their eyes.

The nose divides the head along the center on the front of the face, starting from between the two uppermost eyes and ending just above the mouth. It is hard, immobile, and has two nostrils; all Kaean gas exchange occurs through the nose (see Respiratory System below) except when exhaling though the mouth to speak. Kaeans do not have tongues (see Digestive System below), and their teeth are fully retractable.

Kaean faces are expressive and flexible, notwithstanding the physical toughness of their shell.

Speaking and Hearing

Kaeans hear with the two semicircle protrusions on the back of their heads, highlighted in the image of the left. They have especially sensitive hearing because their native atmosphere is so thin. On Bairyth's Belt, their great (when compared to the other races) hearing still only allows them to communicate over short distances. However, when placed in environments with a greater pressure, Kaeans hear extremely well.

Kaeans speak by exhaling through their mouths (they inhale only through their noses, see Respiratory System below), forming words with their lips, mouth cavity, and occasionally teeth (though more often Kaean teeth are retracted when speaking). They have no tongue and thus cannot produce the alveolar consonants (N, T, D, S, Z, and L), though their especially muscled and articulated mouth and throat allow them a wide range of guttural sounds. Their lips are especially prehensile, which helps them eat in negligible-gravity environments and form complex sounds in speaking. The lips are the softest exposed part of the Kaean body, softer even than their eyes (though less sensitive). They can also whistle, but the Kaean version of whistling sounds more like a high-pitch whine than human whistling.

Physical Gender Differences

The following is a comprehensive list of external gender differences. For reproduction information, see below.

Height

Males are taller.

Head Shape

Male heads are more square, while female heads are generally thinner and more pointed. Female faces are also softer.

Eye Shape

Male eyes are large and round when compared to female eyes, which are curved; female eyes are often shaped like crescents, and others like that of a sideways S.

Collar

The female shell protrusions around the neck (shaped similarly to human collarbones, though Kaeans do not have any internal skeletal structure) are more curved and protrude further outward.

Chest Pattern

The male chest pattern is tighter and leaves less space between protruding plates, whereas the female chest pattern is more rounded and the lowest chest plate is divided in the middle. These differences are largely to accommodate chest and abdomen expansion during pregnancy in females (see Sex & Reproduction below).

Arms

Female arms are thinner, and the curves of the arms are more gentle.

Body Shape

Males are wider at the upper shoulders. Female waists are thinner, and their hips and behind are wider and thicker.

Legs

Female thighs are wider and rounder on all four of their legs, and their four calves are thicker.

Individual Variation

Kaeans are all the same basic shape (4 arms, 4 legs, 6 eyes, etc.) and have many constants, including (and not limited to) the following:

• Red eyelids are always the same shade of red
• Eyes are always cyan with black centers
• Limbs and wrist spikes are always the same length relative to the body
• Shell patterns can vary in size and style but always include the same number of lines and plates arranged in the same ways

Similar features and traits among Kaeans usually follow family and ethnic lines, but they are diverse as a species. Kaeans can be fat and thin, short and tall, light-shelled and dark-shelled, stocky and lanky. What follows is a list of Kaean features that frequently vary:

Coloring

Kaeans are not all the same color (see the Coloring section below).

Height

When standing on all four legs, most Kaeans range from between 4 and 5 feet tall. When standing on only their two hindmost legs, they usually vary between 5.25 and 6.25 feet.

Antennae

The antennae vary by shape and thickness, but no more than a few inches in length. Some Kaeans have 5-segment antennae, some have 6-segment antennae, and some have 7-segment antennae.

Head

Kaean heads vary in shape, with some taller, some wider, some thinner, and some more pointed than others. The ear on the back of the head can also vary, as can the two protrusions below and behind the eyes; the protrusions can be straight or curved, pointed or dull, and they can stick out from the face or back behind it.

Face

The shape and structure of Kaean faces varies greatly, as in humans.

Eyes

Kaean eyeballs are always round, but the portions that are exposed when the eyes are open can vary. While Kaean eyes look distinctly different between the sexes, their exposed area can further vary by individual. For example, some female Kaeans have eyes that curve only once (in a crescent shape) while other females have eyes that curve twice (in a gentle S shape). The irises vary in color and can be dark green, dark blue, dark orange, dark purple, dark brown, and black (though all six irises of a single Kaean will always match one another).

Chin and Nose

These vary by size and shape. Noses can be wide or thin and they can be flush with the face or protrude along the ridge or at the bottom. Kaean chins are all pointed in the same way and their variations (including the degree to which they taper) are usually in line with the shape of the face.

Mouth and Lip

Mouths and lips vary by size and shape. Most mouths expand to both edges of the face, and whether they curve up, down, or not at all varies between Kaeans. Lips are generally thin, but the lower lip can be larger depending on the Kaean.

Neck

Kaean necks vary by length. Their thickness is generally uniform and any minor variations in this area are usually determined by head and body shape.

Body Thickness

Kaean bodies are wide and flat as a rule, but some are more thin (from front to back) than others.

Chest Plates

Chest plates are always arranged in one of two ways, determined by gender. The size and shape of each individual plate (including the plates that resemble human collarbones) varies slightly. Again, the two possible patterns are consistent among Kaeans.

Limbs

Kaean limbs vary by thickness, but the length of the limbs do not vary as their lengths are directly determined by body length. The number of lines and general curvature of the pattern on each of the four Kaean forearms is constant, but the degree of curvature and exact positioning of these lines can vary greatly (though they are far from unique among Kaeans). Kaean wrist spikes do not vary much.

Hands and Feet

The degree to which the shell segments covering the knuckles of the fingers and toes jut out from the hands and feet varies, and generally increases with age. The overall size of the hands and feet varies as well. Otherwise, hands and feet do not vary much, even between the two genders.

Coloring

Kaean shells are black, usually, but some are lighter and thus dark gray. Some also have a very slight blueish hue that is visible if their shell is lighter than solid black. Kaean shells are the same color from their fingers to their backs to the top of their heads. The exceptions are the undersides of Kaean feet, which are often lighter than the rest of their shell.

Culturally, Kaeans wear clothing in public and do not walk around naked.

Development & Aging

A female Kaean carries a baby Kaean in the lower part of her chest until birth (see Sex & Reproduction below). Once born, a baby Kaean is able to crawl, walk, and jump (in low gravity environments) immediately; baby Kaeans are energetic and must be prevented from jumping off into space when born outdoors on the Kaeans' home ring. Newborn Kaeans are soft, small, pale, and have flat, featureless faces. Their eyes are nearly all pupil and their antennae are underdeveloped. The upper arm forearms and lower leg segments of all four legs are oversized and appear fat. Baby Kaeans are born without any wrist blades at all.

As they get older, their limbs lengthen, their head becomes less round, their nose begins to protrude from their face, their antennae grow longer, and their wrist spikes begin to develop. Their coloring darkens, their shell becomes harder, and the patterns of plates on their chests becomes more pronounced. All of their features become sharper and more distinct, and at adolescence their body becomes fully mature. Kaeans still grow in size after maturing (see the aging line above), but adolescents possess otherwise fully-developed bodies. Kaean reach maturity as adolescents at age 15.

Old Kaeans do not become shorter, but their bodies become much thinner. They slowly lose the color in their shells, leaving them a darker gray. Older Kaeans are more frail, and when their shells begin to lose their color, so too do they lose their durability—the less color present, the more brittle the Kaean shell. Old Kaeans lose much of their strength which, while not very important in their native low-gravity environment, makes them significantly less mobile in consequential gravity.

Kaeans live to be 80 years old, on average. There is no significant different between the way male and female Kaeans age, and statistically neither group lives longer than the other.

Internal Systems

Kaeans have a basic muscular system, circulatory system, nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, and reproductive system (among others).

Muscular System

Kaeans have no skeletal system, only an exoskeleton. Their muscles are all internal, and are all attached to the inside of their exoskeleton. This means "skinning" a Kaean would render it unable to move, though death would be the more significant consequence.

Circulatory System

Kaeans have a complex circulatory system that works much like the circulatory system of mammals on Earth; a heart circulates blood, carrying nutrients from digestion and gases from respiration, to all of the tissues in the Kaean body. The circulatory veins do not extend to the hard outer shell.

Kaeans have less blood than one might expect; liquid water is relatively scarce on Bairyth's Belt and their circulatory system is specialized to function with a lower liquid-to-bodyweight ratio than (by comparison) the Turikasuul or Porgs. When a Kaean body is wounded deeply enough to bleed, their body begins healing by quickly forming a hard, airtight seal over the wound, thus minimizing the loss of vital bodily fluids. Kaean blood is dark pink.

Nervous System

The central nervous system is completed with two large, thick bundles of nerves (like two parallel spinal cords) that travel up the Kaean body and connect the brain with everything else. Specifically, the left nerve cord affords Kaeans the fine control of their four left limbs, and the right nerve cord allows Kaeans to use their four right limbs. They merge into a single cord in the neck, and interface with the Kaean brain through a single brain stem. Kaeans have a central nerve cluster, or brain, behind their eyes and above their mouth.

Kaean sleep five out of every 30 hours, but this varies slightly by individual, and changes in mood and levels of exercise.

Severing a Kaean's head from its body is immediately fatal (unless the Kaean has taken surgical measures to prevent this, see Brain Boxes).

Respiratory System

Kaeans breathe gases present in their dominantly oxygen (O₂) atmosphere, including ammonia (NH₃), through their nostrils with lungs. They can exhale through their mouths, and do so when speaking, but they can only inhale through their nose. Their lungs perform gas exchange at a pressure higher than that of the rest of their body. Kaeans can hold their breath by closing their noses, but this is an internal function that is not externally visible.

Each Kaean inhales air through the left nostril, and exhales through the right (although a minority of Kaean are naturally the opposite); in high pressure (greater than about 3/5ths of a bar) environments, the direction of the airflow reverses. Their noses do not provide a continuous stream of air to their lungs but instead force air through their respiratory tract in a manner similar to their digestive system. Muscle contractions force pockets of air captured from one nostril, through their nose and neck, through both of their lungs, and the same system pushes the depleted air out through their other nostril. The respiratory system maintains many airtight barriers between the Kaean lungs and the outside air and acts as a series of airlocks that regulate internal gas pressure. The two nostrils function interdependently, and whenever one is contracting, the other is expanding. Breathing Kaeans' chests do not rise and fall because they do not take breaths—Kaean breathing is the slow and steady movement of air through one nostril and out the other.

Kaeans have two specialized lungs that are separated by a thick, porous, blood-filled membrane. Inhaled air passes through both, one at a time, before it is exhaled. Most gas exchange happens via the barrier membrane: oxygen and other necessary gases are mostly absorbed by the right lung portion of the membrane and waste gases are likewise mostly released by the left lung portion. This forces all inhaled air to travel through the Kaean bloodstream and results in a very high oxygen retention rate (other needed gases are retained equally well). Gases which are not needed (such as nitrogen) pass through both lungs (and the membrane separating them) before being exhaled with the waste gases.

Gaseous byproducts of their respiration include carbon dioxide (CO₂) and several trace gases.

Digestive System

Kaeans are omnivores, and eat several meals each day. Kaeans do not have stomachs or other larger chambers for digestion; they move their food through a uniform, gastrointestinal tract beginning at their mouth and ending at their anus-like point of excretion. The tract is heavily muscled, and rolling contractions move food along while it is digested. They do not have a tongue; a Kaean's strong mouth and throat swallows food using the same mechanisms as the rest of the tract. The mouth also maintains an airtight seal throughout the act of swallowing, allowing Kaeans to hold an internal pressure higher than that of the surrounding atmosphere (which they must do to remain alive).

A Kaean usually works a piece of food through its system in about a day. As surface water is often frozen on Bairytrh's Belt, the Kaean digestive tract is specialized to remove nearly all moisture from ingested food. Once the food has been relieved of its energy, nutrients, and water, it is excreted as a dry, powdery dust through a hole on a Kaean's underside, between its hindmost legs. This point of exit also maintains an airtight seal.

Sex & Reproduction

Kaeans are divided into two genders: male and female. The males offer genetic material to females, and with it, females are able to conceive a new Kaean.

Kaeans mate face-to-face. Males have a hard but flexible penis that emerges from their shell, between their two front legs, when sexually aroused. Females have a similar area in their shell that opens when they are prepared to receive a male, revealing their vagina. The male penis ejaculates genetic material into the female with the aim of fertilizing an internal egg and, if fertilization is successful, the female will carry the developing embryo (and eventually, fetus) in her lower chest. In the later stages of pregnancy, a female's chest will bulge outward in the manner illustrated in the image to the right. When the gestation is complete and the baby Kaean is ready to be born, it is pushed downward (relative to the birthing Kaean) through the female's vagina. The shell around the vagina opens wide enough to evacuate the baby, but newborn Kaeans are very soft and are able to (more or less) squeeze through when pushed by a mother's internal muscles.

Kaean pregnancies are not uniform in length and vary by about a month; the Kaean gestation period is between 7.5 and 8.5 months. A Kaean of either gender becomes sexually mature at age 15 and while males are always fertile post-puberty, females often become infertile at about 40 (though some females remain fertile well into their 50s). Kaean females are not capable of conceiving more than one baby Kaean at a time.

References

1. ↑ Jailing Fortune, Page 10, http://carpechaos.com/node/415/pageflip/mz3-viewer#/14