Cloudsailor
This article is a work in progress!
Cultural Impact
The cloudsailors have a long history with various peoples of The Anchorage Archipelago, where they are particularly populous. Their seeming defiance of gravity has made way to metaphor—enduring against the odds, or channelling inner strength to accomplish the impossible. During The Möniq Resist the stinging tentacles of cloudsailors were harvested for use in weaponry, cementing the creature's ties to the people of the area.Basic Information
Anatomy
Cloudsailors are reminiscent of a massive velella jellyfish, though their body is less flat. They have a large, translucent, inflated body topped with a slim sail-like fin. Underneath the body hangs a collection of numerous long, thin tentacles. They have venom that causes intense, stinging pain and paralysis, and which can be lethal to humanoids. The creatures are subtly blue—towards the top of the sail the colouration in often more intense. They have a modest musculatory system used to subtly bend their sail. Their only other muscle is their mouth, which also serves as exit for their digestive system. Their skin may look frail and slimy, though it is not as quite as thin as it seems. The tissue is organized in water-storing 'pods,' somewhat analogous succulent plants. The cell-walls of these units are designed to be effective at collecting and retaining moisture.
Growth Rate & Stages
Young cloudsailors spawn in the water as microscopic larvae. As they mature their body inflates until they sit at the surface of the ocean until they eventually ascend out of the water and into the sky.
Ecology and Habitats
Cloudsailors hover at low altitudes above the inland waters of The Current Sea. Their buoyancy relies on year-round stable temperatures, restricting their habitat to tropical climates. They are most numerous in leeward parts of The Anchorage Archipelago.
Wind is an essential part of the animal's locomotion, though harsh weather is also their greatest threat. During storms, cloudsailors are often blown out of the sky and into the roaring sea. If they aren't fatally damaged or beached they'll rise back up in the air after the storm has passed, though many are not so lucky. A new wave of brood is likely to be on their way to maturing out of the water eventually, however, which will stabilize the population again. Rain is a welcome event to these animals, as it's an accessible source of moisture.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Cloudsailors are carnivorous. Their diet consists mostly of insects and birds, though they also snatch jumping fish. They hunt using their venomous, ensnaring tentacles, which can be near impossible to spot at their thinnest. Caught prey is moved up to their gut and processed by enzymes inside. The creatures are most active at dawn and dusk, but also during the night or on cloud-cast days. They drink through their skin when it rains, but also gently dip their tentacles in the sea when in need.
Behaviour
Cloudsailors have a radial nervous system as opposed to a centralized brain. They are not capable of conscious thought and may appear to assert no intentions on their surroundings—simply blowing with the winds of the sea. Learned individuals suspect there to be more to the creature's phycology, however. For instance, the cloudsailor displays a remarkable ability to avoid drifting above land, despite not possessing any visual processing organs. Consequently, they must be steering their movement to a certain degree, and have some way of discerning water from land without using sight or touch. There is also evidence that they avoid colliding with each-other, though they have no similarly circumventions of flying creatures or other airborne obstacles, which some suggest is evidence of peer-directed communicative properties. Cloudsailors do not sleep but are the least active and visible during sunny days.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
The cloudsailor does not possess any organs dedicated to hearing or sight. The phenomenon of cloudsailor navigation is a complete mystery—they never float above land, how do they know to steer away from shore? Their tentacles probably do not sense touch, though they have quite extensive olfactory abilities which they use to steer toward locations rich in food, as well as detecting prey that has been caught in their tentacles.
Comments