Blind Burrowers

Blind burrowers are a group of mammalian shifters that are characterized by their rounded body shapes, extremely poor eyesight, and burrowing habitats.
The blind burrower group includes shrews, solenodons, and moles.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Blind burrowers are small, round-bodied animals with small eyes and therefore poor eyesight. They rely on their strong foreclaws to dig into the earth as well as their keen hearing, sensitive noses, and whiskers to navigate. Their fur is often thick to protect them from rocks and other underground debris. They may have short or long, naked tails. The solendon and some species of shrew carry venom which is delivered by biting via grooves in their teeth. Their feet are not covered in fur, and they have very small or no external ears.
When shapeshifted, the legs and arms lengthen to provide an upright habitus and better dexterity. They stand between 2.5-3 feet tall, having some of the smallest stature of any shifter. This form is not nearly as adept at burrowing, but can be more efficient at hunting or raising food via animal husbandry. While only a few species are truly blind, all blind burrowers have difficulty seeing in bright light conditions and are extremely nearsighted. Their echolocation is weaker than that of bats, if present, and is used to give the burrower broad information about the environment. While shapeshifted, a blind burrower will often cover their eyes with a blindfold or smoked glasses.
Shrews are sometimes mistaken for mice, something that is highly offensive to them.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Blind burrowers eat insects, worms, other small invertebrates, and sometimes small vertebrates. They are active hunters and pursue prey by tunneling or foraging through leaf litter. Moles are less active hunters, preferring to dig burrows and wait for prey to fall into them, while shrews and solendons have extremely high metabolism and must consume a large amount of food daily. As blind burrower society advanced, raising salamanders and frogs became a popular form of animal husbandry, providing shrews with a more constant source of food and requiring less energy spent on active foraging.

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

With a small minority of truly blind species and a majority of species for whom sight is a tertiary sense at best, visual markers of beauty are not typical among blind burrowers. The first hallmark of an attractive burrower are strong front claws, a necessity for all members of the species. Quality of teeth is another important factor, especially for shrews, who only have one set of teeth for their entire lives. A healthy, well-groomed coat is next in consideration. These physical factors are determined by touch, and communicating through touch is a frequent occurrence among blind burrowers, who live in close underground quarters.

Gender Ideals

Female blind burrowers are larger than males, and tend to be fiercer and more aggressive. Females are less tolerant of intrusion into their territory and are regarded as protectors and fighters. Most family groups are ruled by a matriarch, and inheritence is matriarchal among shrews in particular. Physical size, strength of claws, and hunting prowess or scars from battle are ideal traits for an attractive female.
Males are judged on their skills and abilities less than their physical prowess. Male blind burrowers are primarily responsible for tending to the frogs or salamanders raised by the settlement for meat, foraging for insects, conducting diplomatic relations and trades, and constructing new tunnels. The quality of a male's claws is therefore equally important as a females, although for different reasons - a female is often expected to use her claws in a fight, while a male's must be well-maintained for skillful digging.
Male and female blind burrowers share equal responsibility for navigation, both inside the tunnel network and on the surface. With their poor eyesight, navigating by the stars is out of the question, so the judicious application of scent markers and trail signs is a skill every blind burrower must have before they venture aboveground.

Courtship Ideals

Both males and females will initiate courtship, and the traditions are the same regardless of who initiates. Courtship is often opened with a gift, the nature of which indicates the seriousness of the giver. Food or transient surface items like flowers are considered casual declarations of interest, but to initiate a serious courtship, a rarer and more well-thought-out gift is required.
With their keen senses of smell, blind burrowers prize perfumes and incenses, but are extremely particular about scents. Compared to some other species with dull senses of smell, scents can be overwhelming to blind burrowers, and can cover up key information like navigation markers. The selection of a tasteful scent that will not overpower the receiver's nose is one of the most common steps of serious blind burrower courtship and indicates the pursuit of a long-term relationship.
The intimate phases of courtship almost always include grooming. Blind burrowers have extremely dense fur that requires long grooming sessions. Allowing a potential partner to groom one's fur is a clear sign of interest. Claws are extremely personal to every blind burrower, and it is the highest sign of trust to allow another to handle, file, or sharpen one's claws.
Since blind burrowers have so many young, familial lines can become tangled. For this reason, each bloodline's matriarch maintains extensive records of family relations. Interested burrowers must approach the matriarch to ensure that their relationship is not consanguinous - different litters of pups are not raised together and may not even know their half-siblings, cousins, or other relations scattered throughout the community, so this final check before agreeing to have children is necessary to prevent health problems in the community.

Relationship Ideals

Blind burrowers do not often form lifelong relationships. Courtship is for the purpose of producing children, and partnerships typically dissolve not long after a pregnancy is confirmed. Burrowers who have produced children together will remain friendly, and males will check in on their children periodically as they grow, but fathers have little involvement in child-rearing. Blind burrowers raise their children communally, and expecting mothers or those with young pups will congregate together to assist one another in birthing, nursing, and childcare.
As one of the few species to give birth to large litters, communal child-raising ensures the survival of the greatest number of pups. It is the role of the society's males and females who are not currently caring for children to supply food to the nursing mothers and ensure the pups grow strong and healthy. Once they begin to venture out of the nursery and into the broader tunnel network, all blind burrowers in a community are expected to keep an ear out for lost pups, who may not yet understand the scent signals used for navigation in the tunnels.
Although they are willing to live cooperatively, blind burrowers still largely retain their solitary and territorial natures from their simple beast cousins. Once pups are grown, mothers leave the nursery to return to their own residences, and the newly adult burrowers will establish their own living spaces. They may have little contact with their parents from then on, and even less contact with subsequent cohorts of siblings. They are not driven to form pack or pair bonds, and are perfectly content leading solitary lives in parallel with others within the community.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Blind burrowers have developed several different written or non-vocalized dialects of communication. The first is wallscript, a common shorthand language in blind burrower communities. Wallscript is carved into the junctions of tunnels and is used as a navigational aid. It typically indicates the distance and direction of major features within the community, as well as the distance and direction to the nearest surface exit. Wallscript can also be used to warn of unstable tunnels or gas ahead, preventing burrowers from venturing into danger.
Drumming is a form of distance communication used by nearly all blind burrower communities. The system is similar to morse code, with different rhythms indicating different messages. It is a simplistic language meant to quickly communicate vital information over long distances through the tunnels. Messages will end with the signal to "relay" - meaning the receiver is meant to stop what they are doing and repeat the signal on the tunnel walls, boosting its traveling distance - or "stop," indicating that the message is localized and there is no need to pass it further.

Common Etiquette Rules

As a solitary species that spends their lives in close quarters, politeness is of utmost importance. Physical contact is common and not considered rude, as bumping into one another in the tunnels is an everyday occurrence for burrowers. However, if someone bumps into someone else in a tunnel, it is polite for both parties to wait until some distance has been put between them before attempting to move again. It is also common for a burrower to give the common greeting "Just going the same way" if they happen to be traveling down the same tunnel in the same direction as another burrower. This is meant to assuage the instinctive paranoia of being followed to one's private residence.
Because sound is an important part of communication in tunnel communities, creating excessive noise is inconsiderate. Wearing noisemaking jewelry, such as several bangles that clink together or clacking beads, is a rude distraction to the other blind burrowers. Chimes, bells, and other noisemaking decorations are avoided in burrower communities.

Common Dress Code

Most blind burrowers own at least one set of goggles with smoked lenses, which they wear when they need to venture to the surface in daylight. It is therefore common to see a burrower wearing their goggles on top of their head as a daily accessory. Bandanas are often worn around the neck, so they can be pulled up to cover the nose and mouth in the event of an unstable tunnel dropping dust or dirt.
Fingerless gloves that leave a burrower's claws bare are a common garment worn by miners and construction workers, to protect their unfurred hands. Aside from these handful of garments and practical tool belts, blind burrowers rarely wear textlies. The tunnels are kept warm by either the presence of natural geothermal vents or strategically placed fires with ventilation shafts, and in the rare case that a burrower ventures aboveground in the winter, heavy fur coats and thick leather boots are worn to protect against the cold. Otherwise, clothes snag on rocks, roots, and other underground debris, and their dense fur provides them with more adequate protection.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The deity primarily worshiped by blind burrowers is a figure known as the Deep One, revered as the god of dark places and the deep earth. There is a shrine to the Deep One at the entrance of every burrower community, with offerings of fragrant oils, polished stones, and burning incense. The Deep One is a mysterious and sometimes vengeful god. Suddenly collapsing tunnels are often blamed on failure to appease the Deep One, and deaths to tunnel gas are referred to as the Deep One stealing breath.
The creator spirit is also revered, but with less direct worship. Blind burrowers view the creator spirit as a benevolent parent that they do not have to worry about, while the Deep One requires frequent offerings for her to permit tunneling in the secret places of the earth.
Blind burrowers have dozens of words for darkness of varying quality. The near-dark of a night lit by a sliver moon has a different word than the total darkness of a deep tunnel, and the darkness of shadows cast by a fire has yet another different word.
Obsidian and hematite are particularly prized stones in blind burrower culture. They are considered treasures of the deep earth, gifts from the Deep One and signs of her favor. Obsidian is crafted into knives, daggers, and carving tools, while hematite is considered a protective stone and is often embedded in doorways or the entrances to newly-broken tunnels.
Artistic expression among blind burrowers has significant emphasis on sound and texture. Aside from wallscript, tunnels are often decorated with carvings inset with stones of various texture, or planted with bioluminescent lichens. Geometric sculptures meant to be enjoyed by touch are a popular art form, and artistic horticulture with low-light, scented plants is common around private homes.
Blind burrowers gravitate toward percussive music. Complex polyrhythmic drums are the traditional background for folk tales or oral histories. Melodies can be layered on top using mallet-struck instruments like xylophones, standing bells, or upright tubular chimes. Tamborines, rhythm sticks, guiros, hand pands, and castinets are other commonly found instruments in blind burrower culture.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

A blind burrower becomes a full member of their community when they undergo the Trials. Although great efforts are made to ensure that groups that venture above the surface stick together and return to the tunnels, there is always a chance that a burrower may be left behind, unable to find their way back. This is of particular concern in rainy weather, which can wash away all-important scent markers the burrowers use as trail signs. For this reason, a young burrower must undergo and pass a solitary trial before being considered a full adult. The trial begins with an offering to the Deep One as the young burrower ventures to the surface. Equipped with their goggles and a hematite stone for spiritual protection, the young burrower must strike out away from the den. Once the sun has reached its zenith, the young burrower must now find their way back to the community - underground. They will dig their own return tunnel and are responsible for selecting a junction site that is sturdy and will not cause collapse. These temporary entrance tunnels produced during Trials are then carefully collapsed so there are no unmonitored paths to the surface. Once the young burrower emerges back into the community, they are celebrated and gifted with a tool - steel clawtips, a pickaxe, a shovel, or similar.
The Spawning Festival takes place during the spring. While their major food source is invertebrates, blind burrower livestock includes caecilians, spotted salamanders, and spade-foot toads for a varied diet. Both the eggs and adult animals are consumed. However, the earthen pens where these beasts are kept are not suitable for an amphibians aquatic breeding cycle. Therefore, when the first snows melt, the community begins preparting for the festival by forming communal assembly lines to create hundreds of reed baskets that are then waterproofed with pitch. Tunnel cleaning also commences at this time, where debris that accumulated over the winter are cleaned out, tunnels are inspected and repaired, and any ventilation shafts that became covered are re-opened. Burrower pups are a key part of the Spawning Festival, as they are turned loose in the pens and encouraged to have fun catching salamanders, toads, and caecilians and gathering them into their baskets. The pup who manages to catch the most livestock is awarded a prize, usually a sweet treat or juicy grub. The procession then assembles at the junction of the community's main tunnel. Fierce warriors lead the way to protect against surface dangers, followed by the community's musicians, who lead the pups with drumming and chanting out of the tunnels to the nearby water source. The rest of the community's adults follow behind, ensuring the safety of the pups as they travel. When they reach the designated hatching grounds, a prayer is given to the creator spirit, thanking them for the endless cycle of life and the return of spring's warmth. The pups are then encouraged to release their captured livestock into the water, where they can begin the spawning cycle. A feast is then held on the edge of the water before the pups and the majority of the community are escorted back into the tunnels. Until the eggs hatch, several surface guards will take turns protecting the hatchery to ensure the stock survives to the tadpole stage. Then, the unhached eggs, tadpoles, and adult specimens are gathered up and sorted into baskets. Livestock that has reached the end of its breeding usefulness will be placed into a designated basket for the kitchens along with any eggs that failed to hatch, while the rest will be returned to their underground pens. The pitch-sealed baskets keep the tadpoles separated into small groups that can be cared for under the watchful eye of burrower farmers.
The Long Dark is celebrated at midwinter, the longest night of the year. During this time, blind burrowers believe that the Deep One emerges from the dark places of the world to the surface and blankets the world in welcoming darkness before retreating back underground in the face of the sun. Seed bugs emerge during this time to lay their eggs in fallen conifer cones, and the seed bug harvest is critical to ensure a supply of food that will last through the winter. Cricket-catching parties are also dispatched to replenish the cricket breeding stock. However, aside from the organized hunting parties, this is considered a deeply spiritual time for blind burrowers. As soon as the sun sets and the Long Dark begins, the community congregates around the shrine to the Deep One that is located near the main entrance of every tunnel system. Sacrifice to appease the Deep One and ensure the community's safety during the winter is performed by selecting the largest and healthiest of the amphibians kept as livestock. The animal is bled and then stuffed with crickets, earthworms, and other insects and placed on the Deep One's altar. Elders anoint the altar with scented oils, and the carcass is left to decay and be consumed by the insects, a sign of the cycle of life. Even after they have finished their work, it is not permitted to take any of the insects from the altar to consume them - they must be left alone to wander back into the tunnels (and perhaps be hunted and eaten later, but not while in proximity of the altar). The entire community bears witness to the annual sacrifice, including the pups, who learn at this time about the importance of the Deep One and how she will only protect them if they show her enough respect. Cautionary tales of communities lost to flooding or earthquakes are told to demonstrate the consequences of inadequate respect for the Deep One. Once the light of dawn begins to brush the horizon, the quiet solemnity of the Long Dark gives way to drumming, music, and community chants to call down blessings for the winter and welcome the Deep One back into her home beneath the earth.

Common Taboos

Blind burrowers are acutely aware that they live in the Deep One's domain, and consider respect for the goddess to be of paramount importance. Burrowers who speak disrespectfully about the goddess or who are casual or lax in their offerings are shunned, lest the bad luck they call upon themselves wear off on the rest of the community.
New tunnels must be approved by the elders of a community, who are deeply knowledgeable about the stability of the community and where new tunnels can be laid without compromising existing structures. Unauthorized tunneling, except in the strictest of emergencies, is forbidden. In severe cases, dangerous unauthorized tunneling can result in expulsion from the community. Defacing or destroying wallscript is also a high crime that can often result in exile.
Creating excessive noise - speaking too loudly, wearing noisy jewelry, or even practicing one's drumming in an echoing space - is considered not only rude, but dangerous. It can prevent other burrowers from hearing emergency signals in the tunnels or warning signs that a tunnel is about to collapse. Offenders are frequently tasked with cleaning out the rubbish for several days until they learn to control their volume.
Blind burrower communities are private and secretive. While surface dwellers are permitted up to a certain point, all burrower communities have wallscript marking the point beyond which outsiders are not permitted to venture. Bringing an outsider beyond this point is a violation of the community's privacy and secrets, and can have the offender labeled a "sunshiner" - a burrower who is not true to their own nature and prefers to consort with surface-dwellers.

History

Blind burrowers are one of the species groups that was left uncontacted for some time after the Gift. As a group, they largely avoided the Year of Blood and kept to themselves, gravitating toward one another to find out why they had been changed. Although their simple beast counterparts are intensely solitary and frequently territorial, the pressure of sudden change forced communities of shrews, moles, and solendons in closer proximity with one another and began the development of a more unified culture.
First contact between blind burrowers and other shifter species was made with bats, another nocturnal species who went unnoticed in the initial aftermath of the Gift. It was bats who first carried the news to the blind burrower communities of the war going on aboveground, and it was bats who brought word that the war had ended and a dragon king now claimed the kingdom. No burrower species has ever been ennobled, and the burrowers seem to prefer it that way, keeping to themeselves. Moles often find work as miners, but shrews and solendons continue to prefer their isolated way of life and have little contact with other shifter species.

Scientific Name

Eulipotyphla

Geographic Distribution

• Amara