Esaanla

Anatomy

Superficially, esaanla appear to be a chimæra, combining the upper body of a yutaaq with the tail of a snake or eel. Despite this, they are naturally occurring; their similarities are believed be the result of either convergent evolution, their arcane adaptability, or a combination thereof.

The adaptability of esaanla is legendary, as the enormous variation in their subtypes proves: these are not subspecies but environmental adaptations. An esaanla may cycle between subtypes several time throughout her life.

An esaanla’s face is flat, in comparison to a yutaaq, with no nose or sense of smell to speak of. Their teeth are sharp and needle-like and they lack molars, swallowing their food whole or in chunks, like a shark. They have a collection of tendril-like appendages, barbels, across the back of the head and top of the neck which are highly sensitive to bioelectric and magical fluctuations.

2/3 to 3/4 of an esaanla’s body is its tail, which is prehensile and immensely powerful. Esaanla use it to hold on to and constrict large prey, and to anchor themselves on the underwater wrecks and ruins they live in. They have a fine degree of control over their tail muscles, and may learn to write with it.

Through the use of natural magic, esaanla are able to dive to a depth of hundreds of metres and stay there indefinitely, able to breathe underwater without gills.

The majority of esaanla’s intraspecies communication is nonverbal, changing the colour and texture of their skin to indicate mood and intention. They are capable of bioluminescence, allowing easy communication with ljudoy, and those in regular contact with surfaces dwellers do eventually adapt to speech.

Subtypes

Abyssal

By far the largest morphology, esaanla tend to become abyssal in their old age, as they sink into the depths in search of larger prey to sustain their growth. Abyssal esaanla are gigafauna in their own right, with the largest reaching over 40 metres in length.

They are pale – colourless or partially translucent – with multiple rows of teeth. Although they have been seen approaching the surface at night, they can no longer breathe air and only tolerate the lack of crushing water pressure for short periods.

Abyssal esaanla are often heavily scarred, sometime missing fins or entire limbs; they have a layer of blubber, like a yutaaq, that protects them from the cold and serious injury, and their skin is thickened and covered in armoured plates. They may augment their natural armour with plates of fish iron, which they bolt to their scales.

Oceanic

The largest and heaviest of the more commonly-seen morphologies, oceanic esaanla are an interim step between the inland and abyssal subtypes.

This type’s scales are much larger, still small and mobile around the joints and sense organs, but much larger and thicker across the back, forming armour plates. The belly appear exposed but a thick layer of blubber protects the vital organs.

Despite their size – up to 25m long – their blue-grey and pale contrashading can make them difficult to spot, and their large back scales means that, from the surface, they may even be mistaken for islands or rocky outcrops.

Adult oceanic esaanla are no longer capable of leaving the water, but young adults and juveniles may beach themselves to interact with land-dwellers.

Coastal

Possessing the most lean muscle of the four types, coastal esaanla have a pale belly with blue-brown or sandy mottling across the back. There may be some silvering on the scale edges, especially around river deltas and estuaries, where the line between coastal and inland morphologies is blurred. They are excellent visual mimics and make use of physical camouflage, utilising clothing and accessories alongside their natural ability to change their skin texture and colour.

A coastal esaanla’s scales are thick and rough, to help them climb cliffs in search of seabirds and eggs, or to protect them from rough weather that may drive them onto rocks. Their eyesight and ability to detect changes in air pressure and wave patterns is acute.

Inland

The smallest of the four subtypes, inland esaanla would subdivide themselves into “river” and “wetland” types, but this is primarily a cultural distinction.

Inland esaanla have longer limbs and a longer tail:body ratio than other types and distinctive hands, with longer, thinner fingers which lack webbing. They are well camouflaged with browns and green stripes and mottling, and vocalise more than other types, mimicking bird calls and learning spoken languages easily.

Sex differences

All esaanla are female.

This fact is not known to non-esaanla, and multiple hypotheses have been suggested to explain the failure to observe males. The current prevailing theory is that the males are significantly smaller than females, as they are in anglerfish, and may have not been correctly identified.

Reproduction

The reproductive mechanics of esaanla are unknown to non-esaanla.

Reproduction occurs during triple-full moon, about the times a year, and begins with two or more individuals entwining their tails to expose and rub their cloacae together, transferring genetic material. The influence of the moons and the act of mating triggers the production of a egg cluster, which fuses with all alien genetic material before splitting into separate embryos. The upper limit for a productive mating is eight partners – after this, the embryos’ genetics diverge too far from the mother’s and the pregnancy is rejected.

Esaanla are ovoviviparous: pups hatch from eggs gestated inside the mother’s body and are born as live young. Esaanla pups are foetal cannibals – the first to hatch eats her unhatched siblings before being born.

Growth stages

Newborns have a high prey drive and are able to hunt for themselves almost immediately after birth, but are dependent on their mother to protect them from predators and teach them the skills they need as adults.

Infants have gill fringes that help them to take in more oxygen when breathing underwater. They shrink as the pup ages and are resorbed into the body by two years old. Between two and three years, the pup learns to speak and express deliberate messages through the colour and texture of their skin. At this point in their physical development, a pup appears to be a miniaturised adult and it is only their behaviour that reveals them as immature.

There is no fixed age at which as esaanla becomes sexually mature; fertility is conveyed via a religious ritual and an esaanla may remain infertile until her family head deems her ready for the physical and social demands of childrearing.

Pups remain close to their mothers into adulthood, living in an extended family group known as a bevy.

Esaanla continue to grow throughout their lives, with their growth limited by the food available to sustain them. Due to this growth, older esaanla tend to favour deeper water and wider oceans, ultimately taking on the abyssal morphology. The natural lifespan and maximum size of esaanla are, therefore, unknown.

Diet

Primarily scavengers and foragers, an esaanla’s typical diet consists of carrion, supplemented with shellfish, crustaceans, invertebrates, and fish. They are capable hunters, using tools, traps, and teamwork to bring down large prey, but prefer to avoid the dangers and energy expense involved in hunting.

Coastal and inland esaanla are the most active hunters, utilising traps to catch fish, marine reptiles and birds, and raiding nests for squab and eggs. During lean times, inland esaanla may ambush animals that get into or drink from their water. Both of these types have a reputation for excellent smoked and barbecued meats.

Oceanic and abyssal esaanla are primarily scavengers, targeting dead marine mega- and giga-fauna, but have been known to coordinate attacks on giant squid and solitary whales.

Perception and sensory capabilities

All esaanla are capable of using sonar, and have tendrils equipped with lines of Nahei and bioelectric receptors which allow them to hunt without light.

The inland and coastal subtypes hunt mainly by sight, except in silty or polluted waters, but this is supplanted by the non-visual senses in the oceanic and abyssal subtypes.

Symbiotic and parasitic organisms

Esaanla’s bioluminescence is the product of a symbiotic relationship with highly-specialised bacteria. The bacteria is transferred from mother to child during pregnancy, and is found nowhere else.

Oceanic and coastal esaanla have developed relationships with several species of shark and porpoise, as land-dwellers have with cats and dogs. The sharks alert the esaanla to the presence of injured or dying megafauna and the esaanla use tools to open the carcass to access the organs.

Oceanic esaanla may develop growths of barnacles and mussels, which are normally plucked as part of community grooming. If not dealt with, these hangers-on interfere with swimming, increasing the chances that a solitary esaanla will eventually starve.

Ecology

A largely aquatic species, esaanla are found in tropical to temperate waters around the world, though they lay claim to a small number of semi-aquatic settlements in wetland and mangrove swamps, and along city docks and shorelines.

Social structure

Esaanla live in loose family groups centred around a family shrine. For the migratory oceanic esaanla, the shrine is tattooed onto the family head.

The family head is the leader of their religious rituals and may not be the senior member nor the most productive forager, but chosen for their spiritual proximity to their deity. The family head fulfils the same role as a witch and may be a mage or mother to a mage.

Although small variations in culture exist, attributed to external and environmental influences, esaanla show a remarkable consistency in their social structure and culture, between both geographic region and morphologies.

Geographic distribution

Worldwide, with the largest and oldest communities found around Ophoné.

Behaviour

Curious, playful, and intensely social, esaanla spend most of their time playing, socialising, raising pups, and exploring. They are great travellers, with oceanic esaanla in particular conducting annual migrations that take them around the world.

When Esaanla hunt, they do so in groups and their games reflect this, often being team-based with complex tactics and coordination.

Like yutaaq, esaanla fare poorly in isolation and – even with an abundant food supply and no predators – may die of loneliness. Despite a reputation for insularity, possibly borne from communication difficulties and the large differences between esaanla and land-dwellers, esaanla do form lasting social bonds outside their species.

Civilisation and culture

History

Esaanla maintain an oral history through song. They lay claim to a history that dates back to the Third Age, merging history and myth to tell an origin story for their species that has them as land-dwellers forced into the sea when a god drowned the continent. The largest and oldest communities around Ophoné exist in submerged Precursor ruins, and the geology of the continent supports the esaanla history of a cataclysmic event that caused large portions of the land to fall into the sea.

Common etiquette

Although many esaanla are traders, they are offended by payment in coinage both on a practical level – they rarely have anywhere to put loose change – and a cultural level – ferrous metal is worthless underwater and nonferrous metal is a highly prized commodity, with metal armour and weapons being both indicators of status and symbols of the abyss. They operate a parallel economy, primarily bartering, but also owing favours and debts that they hand down between generations.

Breaking a promise, reneging on a bargain, and avoiding a debt are major taboos among esaanla, and they apply this principle to others.

Amongst themselves, esaanla record transactions via the ownership of massive sculptural stones. The stones themselves are too large to move and this represents the security of the transaction. When esaanla comprise a significant part of a cosmopolis, they have adopted a token currency of worked shells and bone, and glass beads that can be threaded onto ribbon and worn as accessories.

Common culture

Esaanla have a more coherent culture than many other species, with a particular veneration for a divine moon-husband, an array of unnameable and unknowable Gods Below.

In esaanla culture, the creation myth is a tragedy known as the Deluge, which was initiated by the antagonist, Dzuras – the god/historic figure who drowned Ophoné and slaughtered the proto-esaanla’s menfolk. They believe that the world will end with the release of a group of powerful titans, kept in check by a group of warriors and protectors made of abyssal esaanla.

Inter-species relations

As little is known about esaanla reproduction – not even the absence of males of the species – it is a topic of rampant speculation in both academic and popular circles. Esaanla generally find this perceived obsession with their sex lives to be intrusive – as anyone might find persistent interrogation about their sex life. Some individuals have agreed to “bare all”, usually for a large sum of money, but their accounts are wildly inconsistent and more salacious than scientific.

The physical independence of pups, combined with their greater mobility on land, may result in people unfamiliar with the species seeing them as lost or stranded and “rescuing” them, creating hostility between esaanla and land-dwellers.

Esaanla are the only sapient species without a taboo against eating other sapients. Otherwise well disposed to their company, sailors believe that a bevy of esaanla suddenly appearing with the onset of bad weather is an omen of catastrophe. It is understood, though, that those lost at sea could do worse than to become food for esaanla – if a person can be saved they generally will assist but, if the lost sailor is beyond rescue, they kill quickly and with compassion. Among seafarers, esaanla have the by-name “merciful ladies”.