Swift-Snake
Swift-snakes are air-breathing, warm-blooded aquatic keratoplexan animals native to the Torvalen Sea and the Torvalen continental coastal waters. They are believed to be closely related to the titantic kalamaudha that roam the wide oceans. Adult swift-snakes average 4 meters in length. Females are slightly larger than males and give birth to live young.
Swift-snakes are long, sinuous and limbless except for a keratoplex that extends down half the length of their backs. The spars of this keratoplex are connected with a membrane, creating a sail like fin that the swift-snake uses for stabilization. The posterior half of their bodies are perpendicularly flattened and provide enormous propulsion. Swift-snake heads have long muzzles and mouths filled with sharp, backwards-hooked black teeth. They are covered in tight scales with colorations and patterns that vary according to habitat. The most common subspecies, living in the southern reaches of the Torvalen Sea, are black with yellow horizontal stripe extending down the lengths of their bodies and crimson patches over their iridescent silver eyes.
Swift-snakes are pack hunters who generally attack large prey, such as hval, rostung, tuna, sharks and giant squids. They are intelligent and social animals living in packs of fifteen to twenty adults and half as many young that are controlled by the dominant female who is the mother of most of the young. Young males form their own packs of five to ten individuals. These bachelor packs are known to be dangerous and are avoided by the ulan. Packs communicate through hums and clicks they create with their syrinxes as well as body language.
The ulan of the Torvalen Sea long ago tamed populations of swift-snakes. Some ulan are trained to form close bonds with chosen swift-snakes who will allow themselves to be fitted with harnesses and pull undersea chariots which are the primary means the ulan have of transversing the great distances between ulan communes and trading goods. Tamed sea-snake packs live on the peripheries of the communes. Their hunting is supplemented with gifts of food from the commune's members and they in turn, are protective guardians.
Occasionally, swift-snake young are rejected by their mothers, due to some physical defect or are driven off because they are the young of a subordinate female. The ulan adopt these sea-snakes and train them for special duty. They become the mounts of the Deep Watchers and receive from the commune's ama a modified version of the Venom of the Deep that the Deep Watchers themselves receive. The venom transforms the sea-snakes, giving them gills and the ability to withstand the enormous pressures of the continental slopes and abyssal plains that the Deep Watchers patrol.
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