TSE-RIKI

Basic Information

Anatomy

Tse-Riki are bipedal insect-adjacent humanoids. Tse-Riki possess four eyes, have chitinous backs with emerging spinal knobs, and can have up to four arms (though two arms are the most common with regards to external visibility).
Tse-Riki possess two internal 'pouches'. The first of these is located along the chest, and this pouch contains up to thirty sharp-edged tendrils that the Tsi-Riki can control with muscle movements upon opening the chest pouch. The second pouch contains the Tse-Riki's method of reproduction and is located inside the throat: an ovipositor lays flat against the back wall of a second, specialized passageway that extends from the mouth but does not lead to the lungs.
Tse-Riki possess bifurcated faces, with mandibles instead of lips. Ridges often decorate the forehead, and what appears to be hair varies in density between actually being hair and actually being wispy down akin to that of a juvenile bird or a bee's coat.

Biological Traits

Tse-Riki-hle are heavier than their Tse-Riki kin by a good hundred or two hundred pounds, and the shortest Tse-Riki-hle is approximately six feet and ten inches tall. The largest of them have come in at eight feet tall. 
Male-identifying Tse-Riki slowly gain large antennae-like ears with feathered patches of down along the underside of these ears. If the Tse-Riki-hle's self-designation changes at any point, they slowly lose these ears, gaining the large 'spade' ears of all other Tse-Riki.

Genetics and Reproduction

Tse-Riki possess a reproduction method which has been called "distressing" by other species in Iun, even as Tse-Riki assure their counterparts that the process is painless.
When Tse-Riki reproduce, their face-plates distend and their jaw dislocates itself, revealing a secondary throat that flexes down from the top of the palate. Muscles in the throat propel a stinging ovipositor from the Tse-Riki's jaws and implant the ovipositor directly into the body of the host parent, breaking through skin to nestle in inner tissues. Tse-Riki prefer to lay their young in a host's abdomen, as the abdominal region possesses the highest survival rate of both host and child.
Once the ovipositor has gained purches, the Tse-Riki essentially vomits up to three dozen small eggs into the host body. The host feels no pain due to the immediate tranquilizing effect of the Tse-Riki's venom, which is a small relief.
Inside the host body, the Tse-Riki offspring metamorphise from eggs into larvae, and here is when the competition begins. Inside the host, the offspring eat minute amounts of flesh and internals, siphoning blood, but their main method of feeding is one another. The younger larvae are devoured by their stronger counterparts, and what was initially up to three dozen offspring is inevitably narrowed down to just one by the time the offspring emerges.
When the offspring emerges, it emits a deep paralytic anaesthetic to the host body; the host becomes inert, unable to move or feel as the infant Tse-Riki crawls from their abdomen, splitting open flesh and muscle to emerge. The infant then emits a scream at a specific pitch that only their Tse-Riki parent can hear, and the parent comes to collect the offspring. Typically, the host is then paid for the service they provided and then healed.
In worst-case scenarios, the child does not inoculate the host enough, and the host experiences agony as the infant claws its way from the abdomen. These cases tend to end in the death of the host due to shock.
The phenomenon of Tse-Riki-hle is a phenomenon in which the Tse-Riki larvae do not entirely extinguish one another. Instead, the final two larvae find themselves at a stalemate, and being unable to exterminate the other, they make a sort of 'peace', and exit the host together. Tse-Riki-hle are incredibly rare creatures, and are the Tse-Riki equivalent of twins. What's more, Tse-Riki-hle are somehow both bigger and stronger than their Tse-Riki counterparts, despite not having devoured their entire share of larvae. It's suspected by the Tse-Riki that the mutual bond formed at such a weak point actually strengthens the Tse-Riki-hle, rendering them more powerful as a result of the psychic bond shared by the duo.
Unfortunately, in three-fourths of Tse-Riki-hle cases, the emergence of two children kills the host, painless or not.

Growth Rate & Stages

Tse-Riki mature slowly; a young Tse-Riki stays relatively defenseless and soft-bodied for up to five years before rapidly going through a growth spurt that makes it more agile at the bare minimum.
Once a Tse-Riki reaches about twenty years of age, they have reached physical maturity, though Tse-Riki are considered adults at a younger age than this; physical maturity simply means that the Tsi-Riki is capable of reproducing, as until this point, they are unable to.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Facial mandibles that either hide a smaller mouth or are the outer mouth itself. Soft under-skin which is reportedly quite supple to the touch.
Four eyes.
Nostrils which are capable of isolating scents with a series of glands in the sinuses.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Of the four eyes possessed, those located closer to the Tse-Riki's nose possess a triad of additional eyelids that allow the Tse-Riki to see in color spectrums beyond that of any other Iunian species.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Tse-Riki and Leso have a rather unfortunate parasitic feedback loop. Every instance of Tse-Riki implanting youth into a Leso individual has resulted in Tse-Riki-hle offspring, but the process always kills the Leso host.

Civilization and Culture

Common Taboos

Tse-Riki have a massive cultural taboo as a whole against implanting someone with youth against their consent, or otherwise making the process painful for another individual. Because their reproduction process is so ghastly to many other species, Tse-Riki often pay individuals to carry young for them.
If a Tse-Riki's romantic partner agrees to carry the young themselves, within their flesh and blood and body, the Tse-Riki is expected to treat them gently and spoil them during the multi-month period of parasitic gestation. Once the child is born, the Tse-Riki is expected to marry their partner for being so willing. Even nobility is subjected to this expectation; nobles have historically refused to do so, and more than one of these individuals has been shunned, shamed, and beaten by other Tse-Riki for being so distasteful.

Lifespan

75-100 years.

Average Height

5 feet 10 inches to six foot 5 inches.

Average Weight

300 pounds. Tsi-Riki have dense bodies due to chitin and their internal defense mechanisms.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Tse-Riki colorations vary from deep green to bright, eye-burning blues and teals. They are a colorful species, and those who are not overly involved in politics of other species tend to decorate themselves in ways that accentuate these colors.
Tse-Riki often have dark-colored eye spots on their cheeks or facial mandibles.