Tua
The Tua are a race of intelligent arboreal ulanids who are distant cousins of the ulan and abyssals. Tua dwell in the great mist forests of Nahele'opua in southwestern Okaluan. Tua stand one meter on average. They have small mouths with four black beaks, one at each corner that can move independently to shred food and communicate and large, emerald green and gold iridescent eyes. They are olive green with brown horizontal stripes. Their skin exudes a protective mucus. It is a paralytic neurotoxin that can cause heart failure and asphyxiation in large enough doses.
They have six limbs ending in six long digits. Their head-bodies are shorter and slope back more than the ulan and are stiffened with an internal, ribbed shell with a process that runs from their forehead to the apex, with ribs branching off around the sides. Their skin is tough and rubbery, the mucus on the underside is stickier than the slicker mucus of the outer surface. Along with tiny hooked suckers covering the underside, they are completely at home in the gigantic Ko trees of the mist forests. All the limbs are used for all tasks equally.
Their young come from eggs laid in freshwater pools. The pools are made by the tua and are covered in a dome of woven branches and guarded by large matrons past laying age. The young can climb and hold on to their parents soon after hatching and travel on their parents backs until four years of age. Females are twice as large as males and usually have three or four male mates. It is the males who tend to the females and provide for them. One male usually stays near to forage and care for the young while the others are out hunting. The sex ratio of 4 to 1 usually accommodates this arrangement.
The tua breathe through gills, primitive lungs and their semi-permeable skin. All tissues must remain moist to respirate, thus they are rarely seen outside of the permanent fogs of the mist forests. Tua live in groups of 15 to 30 adults and half as many young. They are carnivores who prey on small flying keratoplexans, reptiles, fish and megarthropods including the kreja, using spear throwers with darts coated in their own poison. Though the tua wear no clothing, they are fond of jewelry in the form of bracelets, anklets and necklaces made of woven hair, bones, shells and horn.
Their spears and darts are made from hard wood from the Ko tree sharpened to a point on the edge of their beaks or tipped with stone or bone. Tua do not use fire and become very upset and aggressive at even the smell of smoke, since the heat, smoke and flame easily damages their sensitive skin. A chorus of their distinctive booming battle croak created through their gill slits and a few minutes is all outsiders foolish enough to start a campfire have before they are peppered with poison darts from the trees above.
Some of the Talani'i of the western lowlands have limited contact with the tua, with whom they trade obsidian for rare fruits and nuts and kreja silk. Tua speak in a series of whistles, drones, clicks, clacks and croaks as well as a sign language used between different tribes. Their skin does not have color changing ability and they do not seem to possess the limited telepathy of their aquatic cousins. Their speech is impossible for humans to replicate and very difficult even for excultids, but their signs have been learned by some hakanu who have invented a limited form with their two hands that is understood by the tua, but makes them think the hakanu are very stupid indeed.
Tuas fight from the trees and only by ambush. If caught unawares, they will climb away and disappear, only to attack later from ambush. They almost exclusively use ranged attacks and will only engage in melee if cornered or if defending a fallen comrade. Victims are eaten and their bones and teeth used for home décor, tools and jewelry.
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