Turikasuul Anatomy & Physiology

From Carpe Chaos

Contents 1 Size and Shape of Body 2 Spike & Feet Detail 3 Range Of Motion & Flexibility 4 Bone and Carapace 4.1 Coloring 5 Bone Spikes & Heartbone 6 The Head 7 Sensing 8 Physical Gender Differences 9 Development & Aging 10 Regeneration 11 Sleep 12 Internal Systems 12.1 Muscular System 12.2 Circulatory System & Nervous System 12.3 Respiratory System 12.4 Digestive System 12.5 Sex & Reproduction 13 References

Size and Shape of Body

Average Turikasuul range from 7 to 8 feet tall, though some can be taller or shorter. Height is clan-themed, which is to say certain clans are taller or shorter than other clans, on average. Individuals in a single clan usually don't vary in height by more than about six inches (again, with exceptions).

Turikasuul are bipedal creatures. At a distance they would look humanoid, with a head atop shoulders, two arms extending to the sides from the top corners of the torso, and two legs supporting the entire creature. The head is hairless and of average size, with a humanoid range of motion. They have shoulders, elbows, hips, and a neck. They do not have hands, rather, their arms taper to a sharp point after the elbow (their arms are very mobile bone spikes).

Their torso is wide at the shoulders, narrow at the waist, and wide again at the hips. Their legs have a hip joint that works in a humanoid fashion (but with more strength and a greater range of motion), a knee that is again similar to that of humans, a backward ankle right behind the knee, and a second, final ankle just above the foot.

Spike & Feet Detail

The arm spikes each have a thumb that protrudes from the inside of each spike that can be completely retracted. These thumbs allow for a limited gripping ability. Each thumb is almost halfway down the spike from the elbow, and has two joints. The first enables them to simply fold out a small amount, and the second joint allows the thumb to extend and wrap around this objects like sticks, poles, and rope.

Their feet are similar to a bird's in structure—three toes forward, one toe back—but they are much thicker, stronger, and have no nails or claws. The feet are the Turikasuul's primary means of manipulating their environment.

Their knee and upper ankle joints can fold (opposing each other) to force the leg to become short and rigid. They can then use their legs (while sitting, or a single leg while standing on the other) as humans would use their arms, and their feet as humans would use their hands, with comparable dexterity.

Range Of Motion & Flexibility

At the shoulders, Turikasuul can move their arms just as humans can. Their elbows also move and bend like human elbows.

Their hips have an especially large range of motion. Whether or not their legs are in the "short and rigid" position, they have excellent fine motor skills with their hips (and lower ankles). At the hip, they can point their legs behind them at a angle perpendicular to their body, and in the other direction they can touch the tops of their feet to their chest. They can (and often do) stand on one leg while they use the other for some precise task.

Their limber hip joints are most evident when they run. Their high-speed gait shows just how quickly and easily their hips can move their legs from straight in front of them to nearly straight behind them, and back again. Despite the hard carapace covering most of a Turikasuul's body, the elbows, shoulders, hips, upper ankles, lower ankles, and (to a lesser degree) the neck are covered in a softer carapace that allow for such natural agility.

Bone and Carapace

The Turikasuul have a bone endoskeleton and a (mostly) carapace exoskeleton that do as much to armor them as to structure them. Their bones are solid, hard, and much stronger than one might expect; they are incredibly difficult to chip, crack, shatter, or snap. The carapace is divided into three parts. The plates (covering the chest, thighs, butt, shins, and parts of the waist) are slick and hard. These are called primary carapace. Primary carapace is not flexible—it is hardened and glossy. More mobile parts of the body consist of a softer but still quite tough type of carapace (covering the arms, back, sides, and parts of the head and hips), called secondary carapace. Secondary carapace is fairly flexible but still solid, and will break instead of tear. Around joints and sensitive areas (the elbows, neck, shoulders, hip joints, ankles, inner thumbs, eye area, most of the feet, and parts of the waist) the carapace is thinner and more flexible. This carapace is called tertiary carapace. Tertiary carapace varies in flexibility; some of it is similar to secondary carapace, and some of it is nearly as flexible as skin would be (e.g. the lips). Secondary carapace and tertiary carapace are visually indistinguishable from one another, and flow into one another seamlessly. Turikasuul lose their carapace covering in much the same way as a snake sheds its skin, only they do so slowly and in small pieces. All parts of their carapace chip off when new carapace has grown underneath (to replace it). These carapace chips vary from the size of a quarter to the size of a CD, or roughly between one and five inches in diameter.

The Turikasuul have bone coverings in two notable places (excluding their protruding bone spikes). First, both Turikasuul forearms are bone, and while the cores of these arm spikes are not bone, the bone covering that makes up each spike is very thick. Second, each Turikasuul has a "heartbone" on its chest directly above its primary carapace chest plate. This varies in size according to gender (see Physical Gender Differences below).

The Turikasuul's coverings are smooth and do not change shape or expose bulging veins (their eye area being the only exception to this). Turikasuul do not grow hair. For simplicity (and since they are visually indistinguishable), secondary and tertiary carapace are collectively referred to as skin in the Coloring section below.

Coloring

The skin, primary carapace, and bone are all consistent in their coloration throughout a Turikasuul, but they are not all always the same color (e.g. dark red skin, darker red primary carapace, and dark gray bone; dark blue skin, dark gold primary carapace, and bright white bone). While the skin and carapace colors span the spectrum, the bone is always somewhere on the grayscale (including the extremes); skin and carapace are always dark. Skin color (and only skin color) can change between two colors on a single Turikasuul (making his skin multicolored), but these color schemes are always understated. Turikasuul colors are never bright, save for those with white bone. Each Turikasuul clan has distinctive coloring, which varies from individual to individual (see Turikasuul Clans for more information about clan color themes).

Bone Spikes & Heartbone

While Turikasuul have an internal skeleton of bone, they also have a number of bone spikes that protrude from their body in certain areas. Discounting their teeth (which are similar to bone), the two most obvious examples that all Turikasuul share are what each Turikasuul forearm comprises: a long, narrowing cone-shaped bone with a pointed end. They are not carapace. They're essentially natural weapons on the order of teeth and claws, and they serve little other purpose. While these are more or less standard, all other bone spikes vary from Turikasuul to Turikasuul.

Apart from the arm spikes, a Turikasuul's bone spike arrangement depends on several factors. There is (more or less) random variation with the smaller spikes, while the larger spikes are consistent amongst groups (clans) of Turikasuul (see Turikasuul Clans for more information about clan bone spike themes), with some slight variation. Turikasuul do not grow bone spikes from much of their tertiary or primary carapace (while bone spikes can protrude from the outer edges of a primary carapace plate, these spikes are never as large as others); the latter is usually too hard, and the former lacks the internal structure to support these spikes. Nor do bone spikes appear in any place that would constrict a Turikasuul's range of motion or mating (which is face to face). This leaves a few specific areas of primary and secondary carapace able to support these bone spikes. Turikasuul bone spikes may grow on most areas of the head, the back of the neck, most of the back, the shoulders, areas of the arms above the elbow, around the tip of the knee (typically smaller spikes here), the back of the lower leg segment (typically smaller spikes here), the bottom of the lower leg segment (typically very small spikes here), and a small spot on the top of each foot.

Each Turikasuul also has a "heartbone" directly above their primary carapace chest plate. The female version is much larger than the male version, but they are colored the same as any other bone on the Turikasuul. The large female heartbone is used in reproduction, while the smaller male version serves no obvious purpose. This heartbone is not nearly as hard as all other Turikasuul bone, and instead is about as solid as secondary carapace (still tough, but soft enough for baby Turikasuul to break through during birth. This process is described below in Sex & Reproduction). All bone, including teeth, arm spikes, other bone spikes, the heartbone, and all internal bones are the same color on a given Turikasuul.

The Head

The Turikasuul head is not shaped too differently from a human head; the most notable differences are the thick neck and pronounced jaw. The neck's range of motion is limited; it cannot turn the head more than ninety degrees in either direction. The Turikasuul have no eyes or ears. Where one might expect eyes, the Turikasuul have a patch of sensitive skin (covering large veins) that serves as their most acute sensory organ. All Turikasuul teeth are sharp and fang-like, but Turikasuul usually have a few missing tips. The teeth will grow back when missing, but chipped and otherwise damaged teeth will stay chipped and otherwise damaged until forcibly removed.

The Turikasuul use their tongue to smell, taste, and (in the case of the males) reproduce. Male Turikasuul ejaculate their genetic material from their tongue, and the females receive it in their throat. Otherwise, the two genders' tongues are identical, and more prehensile than an average human tongue. The tongue cannot protrude more than nine inches from a Turikasuul's mouth. A Turikasuul may stick out its tongue to smell the air, but it can gain a general sense of an odor by simply opening its mouth. The tongue, while hard, is not especially thin or thick, and its end rounds off (it is not pointed); its color ranges from a deep purple to a lighter, almost sky-blue purple with purple-pink highlights. The Turikasuul upper lip can almost completely cover the mouth, and it can bend away from the mouth, upward, to reveal the upper teeth. The lower lip is not as flexible, and is mostly used to form a complete seal with the upper lip when the mouth is closed.

Sensing

The Turikasuul have no eyes. They cannot sense the "visible" spectrum of light in the way other species do. Instead, their brow is covered in a soft and sensitive skin that can accurately sense electromagnetic fields (at close range, the Turikasuul can use their field to sense any object, not just those that emit an EM field of their own). As such, they are considered electroreceptive. They cannot see much detail; in fact, most of their field of view is usually empty since most electromagnetic fields are very weak. They can more easily sense motion because they are slightly more sensitive to changes in electromagnetic fields than they are to the fields themselves. The skin on their forehead is beset with a network of exposed veins (exposed in the sense that they are under the softest tertiary carapace and therefore more vulnerable than any other part of the Turikasuul body), the pattern of which is unique for each Turikasuul. When this area of a Turikasuul is damaged, the subsequent healing regeneration can change its pattern. Most of their electromagnetic sensors are concentrated on their forehead, though their entire body is covered with them. (Technically, the sensors are directly under all carapace, but the sensors beneath the thicker secondary and primary carapace cannot sense as much as the ones covered by only a thin layer of tertiary carapace.) Objects which emit significant electromagnetic fields (e.g. generators, electromagnetically-lit buttons and panels, other Turikasuul, Xotron, etc.) are detectable by non-forehead sensors, but the forehead is the main vision center for the Turikasuul. This means they have the equivalent of peripheral vision in all directions.

Their brow is also their center for hearing, which makes it the most sensitive spot on their body. Their hearing is directional, and though they can hear sounds all around them, facing a sound's source helps them hear more clearly. The Turikasuul rely heavily on their sense of hearing.

The Turikasuul also rely on their sense of smell far more than other species. They can use it to identify and track other people or objects, and can even sense more subtle details like the amount of sweat on another creature's skin by smell alone.

The Turikasuul have an additional sense which is similar to both touch and hearing; the surface of their carapace is sensitive to vibrations in the air and, like hearing, they can sense the position of the source of the vibration. This sense is tuned to very subtle vibrations and cannot detect louder sounds. Instead it is most useful for detecting the movement of air caused by objects moving quickly through it. While this sense is not entirely reliable (even rain running down their carapace can mute the sounds detected by it), it is very helpful in determining the position of nearby creatures, especially when they are moving quickly (e.g. when hunting, or fighting).

Physical Gender Differences

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

Head

Females have a smaller jaw and relatively finer features in their face.

Neck

Males have a thicker, more powerful neck; while the female neck is less developed, both genders are subject to the same limited range of motion which is 90° in either direction (see above).

Shoulders & Arms

The female shoulders are much more massive, though male shoulders are much stronger. The female shoulders are weaker because the larger shoulders include muscles and other internal mechanics related to pregnancy and childbirth. Female Turikasuul also have shorter arms and arm spikes. While comparatively weaker in the arms the females are by no means weak, and their shorter arms give them an agility advantage over males.

Heartbone

The female heartbone is large, divides the entire primary carapace chest plate down the middle, and protects the birth canal; the male heartbone has no practical use and does not interfere with the growth of his primary carapace chest plate.

Chest Plate

The female primary carapace chest plate layers are more rounded and angled differently, whereas the male chest plate is more streamlined.

Hips

Female hips are wider than male hips, mostly to better support a large upper body when pregnant.

Thighs

Male Turikasuul have much smaller thighs than female Turikasuul; this too is due to extra chest-level weight in females during pregnancy.

Primary Carapace

Male primary carapace is much more rough and textured. Secondary and tertiary carapace look exactly the same.

Development & Aging

A female Turikasuul carries a baby Turikasuul in her chest until birth (see Sex & Reproduction below). Once born, a baby Turikasuul is able walk immediately. It is also readily able to eat the same foods as an adult and in fact the bits of its mother's flesh that stick to its mother's sloughed heartbone serve as its first meal. Baby Turikasuul are tiny and dull; save their teeth, they have no sharp points anywhere on their body. Their secondary and tertiary carapace has not fully hardened, their underlying muscular structure is less defined, their arm spikes are not yet sharp, and they have no other bone spikes on their body. Their heads are not overly large because they have no large brain in their head (see Circulatory System & Nervous System below). The sensory veins on their forehead are also less pronounced.

As a baby Turikasuul develops, the arm spikes sharpen quickly. As the baby grows, it slowly gains muscular definition in its secondary carapace. The Turikasuul's main bone spikes begin to appear at adolescence. Turikasuul at this stage of development appear as mature Turikasuul, but are not quite full grown and lack the secondary bone spikes that help differentiate one clan member from another. Mature Turikasuul are fully developed, with their secondary bone spikes fully recognizable and in proper place.

Elderly Turikasuul do not diminish in size or stature. They often appear scarred and discolored, and areas of their tertiary carapace begin to sag (especially around their foreheads, legs, and feet). A Turikasuul's biological lifespan (discounting their violent lifestyle) is around 50 years.

Regeneration

Turikasuul have the ability to regenerate any lost part of their body, provided they do not die from their injury. Even a hole through their main heart is survivable, given enough medical technology and attention. Any lost part of a Turikasuul will grow back on its own, as long as the Turikasuul is alive. Small wounds heal quickly, but amputations can take years to completely recover without medical attention.

Because their nervous system is so decentralized, if a Turikasuul loses more than a limb, the Turikasuul may not be the same person after it recovers. It risks losing memories, personality traits, and more. While their nervous system is redundant enough to mostly recover from losing small amounts of developed nerve or brain matter, regenerating a Turikasuul from less than two thirds of its body is less like healing and more like cloning; the genetic material will be the same, but it will not necessarily develop in the same way (personality, exact bone spike patterns, etc.). It is also important to note that removing a Turikasuul's head will not kill it immediately (though the Turikasuul would be unable to breath, eat, mate, or see clearly, and would likely drown in its own blood), and with the proper medical technology it could actually survive.

Sleep

Turikasuul sleep during about a quarter of their life, but the time they spend sleeping need not be according to any schedule or habit. Because night is not distinctly different from day on Suulmalla (and the Turikasuul can't see the faint lighting-level differences), they do not sleep according to a regular schedule. At maximum they can go a week without more than an hour of sleep, but they carry a sleep debt and must sleep more afterward to make up for the strain on their bodies. Turikasuul generally sleep less during the dry season and more during the wet season, but they do not go so far as to hibernate though Turikasuul can sleep more than three days at a time when needed. Most of their sleep is for longer-term bodily maintenance, but short-term rest is also important and Turikasuul rarely sleep less than 3 hours in a given 24-hour period.

For the Turikasuul, initiating the act of sleeping is a very conscious process. They can plan when they sleep, they fall asleep easily, and they usually wake up when they intend to.

Internal Systems

Aside from their bone endoskeleton, the Turikasuul have a basic muscular system, circulatory system, nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, and reproductive system (among others).

Muscular System

The Turikasuul muscular system is fully contained beneath the external bones and carapace. The muscles are attached to bone, carapace, or both, depending on the muscle group. While the muscles change in shape between flexing and relaxing, the carapace for the most part does not, meaning the Turikasuul's outer coverings leave enough room for internal muscle movement. This also means that one cannot tell which muscles are flexed by looking at the shape of the carapace; the Turikasuul silhouette gives the impression that all muscles are taut even though that's rarely the case.

Circulatory System & Nervous System

The Turikasuul circulatory system and nervous system are intertwined throughout the body. Both systems are somewhat decentralized, and each has a central mass of tissue directly behind the lower section of the primary carapace chest plate.

The circulatory system has a large main heart in the chest, and several smaller auxiliary hearts in the shoulders, head, and thighs. They all work in unison to ensure blood flow to all of the Turikasuul. Turikasuul blood is a pale yellow-gray color and syrupy; the smaller hearts work to offset the blood's high viscosity. The nervous system is distributed similarly. A Turikasuul has a small brain loosely distributed around its main heart that is responsible for coordinating the majority of conscious thought and reasoning. All other brain functions (instincts, reflexes, motor skills, chemical management, subconscious muscle management, etc.) are even more physically scattered, and utilize each of the brain cell clusters that surround each of the auxiliary hearts. Arteries, veins, and nerve cells are scattered throughout the Turikasuul body.

If a Turikasuul is stabbed or otherwise hurt near one of the secondary heart and brain cluster groups, that Turikasuul may experience reduced circulation and mobility near the affected area (in addition to bleeding), but, due to neurological redundancy, other bodily functions will continue largely unaffected. Damage to the main brain cluster or main heart is more serious.

Respiratory System

The Turikasuul breathe gases present in their dominantly nitrogen (N₂) and ammonia (NH₃) atmosphere. They slowly inhale and exhale large volumes of air through their mouth; all gas exchange is performed internally in a body cavity not unlike a lung. Turikasuul are able to exert themselves in non-nitrogen-based environments for a short time, but they cannot survive long.

Gaseous byproducts include nitrogen gas (N₂) and other chemicals. The specific makeup of exhalations vary based on a given Turikasuul's diet. Sufficient quantities of arsenic (As) in any form are poisonous to the Turikasuul.

Digestive System

The Turikasuul eat large meals once every day or two; they exclusively eat meat. Their stomach cavity is large and wrinkled; it holds food for over a day while digestion occurs. Once the food has been divested of nutritional value, it is excreted in large, moist, garlic-bulb-sized globules through a hole in the Turukasuul bottom, between the legs.

Sex & Reproduction

The Turikasuul species comprises two genders, male and female. The male gives his genetic material to the female, and together with her genetic material, the female gestates the new Turikasuul.

Sex is oral for the Turikasuul; the male ejaculates genetic material with his tongue into the female's mouth, which she then receives via an organ in her throat. (Turikasuul do not grow bone spikes on the front of the face or chest that would interfere with this direct, mouth-to-mouth contact.) If fertilization is successful, the female will carry a Turikasuul fetus in her chest, directly behind the protective primary carapace chest plate. In the later stages of pregnancy, her chest plate will bulge outward, stressing her heartbone as its middle seam (the heartbone will grow to accommodate this). Once the baby Turikasuul is ready, it will forcefully burst out of the female's chest plate (outward and upward), splitting the chest plate at the center (along the heartbone) and eating it until it creates a hole in the mother's chest large enough to fit through. The mother's chest closes after birth, and she regrows her heartbone in a few weeks' time. She is able to conceive another Turikasuul once her heartbone has completely regenerated.

The Turikasuul gestation period is 8 months. A Turikasuul of either gender becomes sexually mature at age 14 and while males are always fertile post-puberty, females often become infertile at about 45 (though some females remain fertile well into their 50s). Turikasuul are capable of having twins, but this situation is very rare and often results in the death of the mother. They are held in the chest with above the other, so the upper Turikasuul must be born first. If the lower Turikasuul is not birthed quickly enough it will begin to tear at the mother's insides, usually killing her.

These videos demonstrate the Turikasuul gestation process and birthing, respectively:

• A video describing how a Turikasuul chest expands during pregnancy
• A video describing how a Turikasuul gives birth

References

1. ↑ Hard Lessons, Page 13, http://carpechaos.com/node/194/pageflip/mz3-viewer#/16