Hisser

The creature has the upper torso and arms of a human being, and the head and lower body of a giant snake. Their scales reflect all available light, making iridescent patterns that resemble glowing tattoos. The human areas usually have heavily tanned skin, while the scales run from green to blue-black or brown. While they appear both human and snakelike, hissers are neither. Rather, they are a unique lifeform born from dozens of different mutagens, nanotech viruses and the vagaries of chance. They are warm-blooded, but they lay eggs; they are omnivorous, preferring their vegetables cooked and their meat raw; they have no ears, but hear sounds as vibrations along their entire bodies; and their multi-lobed brains possess an oversized reptilian stem, the source of their extensive psionic abilities. Hisser are natives to Egg, a land far to the north of Taebur. They are virtually never encountered in Taebur. Hissers are highly social, communal creatures who gather together in clutches (villages) in the same way humans do. Their society is matriarchal, with most clutches governed by a brood queen, the mother or grandmother of most of the clutch’s inhabitants. In areas where several clutches exist, a hive queen may govern over a council of brood queens, linking the clutches together into a larger community. Hive queens frequently have four arms and are taller and longer than other hissers. All hissers have at least some psionic ability, and they communicate with each other and with other creatures telepathically. Some hissers have much more extensive psionic abilities.