Cloudeye
Bat people. Omnivorous
Have both skin and fur
Have always had a culture based around family size, even before they were what they are now
Heavily matriarchal, even before they gained sentience, because female Cloudeyes have a strange chambered womb system, and are capable of maintaining unborn individuals in a “stasis” inside the body for some time if need be. This minimizes the amount of nutrients the unborn gets, and prioritizes the mother’s survival. (i know it’s not precisely feasible but the idea came to me so uhhhh i do what i want.)
Two sets of hands (one on the wings, one on the uhhh arms)
Two sets of ears
Their ancestors adapted a keen sense of smell to be able to tell which fruits were “false fruits” aka actually predatory plants with decoys to attract prey and this carries over to now
Used to have a drastically different body build, “walking” on their folded up wings, with smaller secondary arms that evolved out of wing bones. Now things have changed.
Have both skin and fur
Have always had a culture based around family size, even before they were what they are now
Heavily matriarchal, even before they gained sentience, because female Cloudeyes have a strange chambered womb system, and are capable of maintaining unborn individuals in a “stasis” inside the body for some time if need be. This minimizes the amount of nutrients the unborn gets, and prioritizes the mother’s survival. (i know it’s not precisely feasible but the idea came to me so uhhhh i do what i want.)
Two sets of hands (one on the wings, one on the uhhh arms)
Two sets of ears
Their ancestors adapted a keen sense of smell to be able to tell which fruits were “false fruits” aka actually predatory plants with decoys to attract prey and this carries over to now
Used to have a drastically different body build, “walking” on their folded up wings, with smaller secondary arms that evolved out of wing bones. Now things have changed.
CLOUDEYE TRAVELLERS
Cloudeye Travellers are relatively rare, given the Cloudeye culture's emphasis on family lineage. A Cloudeye who has stepped away from her home planet (and it is always a 'her', for Cloudeye men serve as adoring groups of husbands for matriarchs in power) has often done so in an act of rebellion against her matriarch or an act of suffocation, feeling restrained by the culture she has grown up in.
Cloudeye Travellers roll with DEX+1 and SOC-1.
All Cloudeye Travellers possess the following traits:
Gliding Membranes: Cloudeyes are capable of slowing falls to the point that ground impact will not hurt them whatsoever. They must extend their membranes to do so, but any fall of over approximately thirty feet can be mitigated by the usage of membranes.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Cloudeye wings are capable of being feathered in rare cases, but they're often leathery instead.
Genetics and Reproduction
The mother Cloudeye is given a great deal of choice in potential mates, and those who want her attention have to fiercely compete for it. It's entirely reasonable and expected for her to refuse suitors while they fight and claw for her care; once she does choose, that suitor is taken into her cliff-den and treated excellently for a long period of time while the two copulate numerous times to ensure offspring.
Once the pariing is done, the suitor either leaves, is chased away, or stays -- it all depends on what the matron desires. It's not unknown for particularly powerful matrons to have groups of suitors kept in her cliff den as a personal group of mates.
Offspring initially begin gestation in a chambered womb, but the Cloudeye is capable of placing the womb in a state of stasis if times become tough or resources become scarce-- or any other crisis, really. This ensures that the child is not born into a time of turmoil that would jeopardize their survival.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Cloudeye individuals can percieve pitch at a much higher rate than humanity or even canine-adjacent species. Additionally, they have a three-tiered system of echolocation which operates to let them know when they're dealing with a threat that is moving or holding still.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Cloudeyes born into the culture are often named after their mother. A proper Cloudeye cultural name is hard to translate given their screeching-clattering language, but the closest explanation is as follows:
[ Short personal epithet ] [ Mother's name ] [ Birth Sedge ] [ Clifflord of the Cloudeye's birth Sedge ] [ Cloudeye's second personal epithet ].
In polite society, Cloudeye call one another by the full name. It's common for Cloudeye in other settings to be known by their initial epithet and second, name-ending one in conjunction-- example: K'eeik Tsta't'ter.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
One of the more important notes of Cloudeye culture is the awareness of predatory fruits and plants. While this was initially just an important part of their survival, in modern days Cloudeye individuals have a phrase for liars and traitors and it literally translates to "false plant sniffed out of a tree". Cloudeye culture revolves heavily around plucking liars from the flock and exiling them; while they're a flawed people, Cloudeyes pride themselves on honesty. There are many words for liar in Cloudeye tongue, and none of them are good at all.
Lifespan
70 years, give or take.
Related Organizations
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