Siba's Hoarding Pile

[Nairebistac]

[SPECIES]

Name: Kurvedan
Creator: High God Naga'Ron
Home Zone: Sea Serpent's Drifting Archipelago

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Origin: The kurvedans were created by the god Naga'Ron to share with them the gift of transformation and to praise any stream currents in the life of their people.
Kurvedans lived in the sea for many years and built ancient underwater cities, without needing or wanting anything. One of their religious leaders, the Arched King, who later became the leader of the first kurvedan dynasty, felt repulsed by the established stagnation and gathered his followers to leave the sea and go ashore.
Culture: Kurvedans are innate perfectionists. One of the most bizarre things that foreigners encounter in kurvedan culture is their obsession with "smooth, graceful lines" in appearance, architecture, and overall aesthetics. There are specialists who measure the flexibility of kurvedan chitin lines and hold beauty contests at sea serpent festivals every year.
Kurvedan families believe that the smoother the line, the more likely the kurvedan is to have a high position in society, which also affects partner selection. Although this rule mainly applies to their own kind, other archipelago residents have noticed that kurvedans have a certain tolerance for individuals with non-standard and sharp appearances.
Appearance: Kurvedans are a very tall and thin race with a majestic posture. In the depths of the islands, they often tattoo themselves with winding lines to honor the god of streams.
Biology: Kurvedans have blood, muscles, nerves, and organs.
They have an unusual skeleton.
Their body softens in water and transforms in appearance, feeling like the skin of a marine mammal. Their head appendages flutter underwater like hair.
After coming ashore, their skin dries and hardens, and all appendages take on the shape of semi-smooth lines, which are highly valued in their culture. Kurvedans prefer a humid climate to be able to soften and rest, but they always come out dry for important events.
Kurvedans do not like rain.
Life Cycle/Family Structure: Kurvedans have two sexes and weak sexual dimorphism. They choose partners based on the smoothness of their lines, which they fall in love with.
After giving birth to a child, the family gives them​​ to a neighboring island's nursery, exchanges them and retrieves the adopted child of their choice, and raises them as their own. The offspring are very different from adult individuals, even in color, so the parents themselves do not know who they will take. They justify it by saying that the given blood children have a chance to grow up in a wealthy family or even a royal one. The native offspring only returns to the family if they were not taken before a certain age, but it is unlikely, because some pairs without children can get a permission to adopt for a good service. Royal individuals also exchange their children, naming the first adopted child a "prince" or "princess." This happens anonymously.
Genetics: Kurvedans do not tend to identify morphs and genes, their general thinking – curly lines > everything else. 
Morphs:

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Emperor kurvedans live in religious isolated tribes in the depths of the islands, on ridges and fjords. They possess somewhat a sharp appearance, but overall, they are calm and measured. It can also be said that "they are their own masters."

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Although they would clearly not like this name, Crooked kurvedans are from the tribes that decided not to go ashore, and as a result, they have a large number of body appendages.
They are the opposite of the other kurvedans. They live in underwater cities. Land is unpleasant to them, and they try to avoid it.

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Ideal or Curved kurvedans are closely related to the descendants of the first dynasty and are idols of the kurvedan people. Taking such a child into a family is a great success, as they achieve career heights when they grow up.

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Crowned kurvedans are in no way related to monarchs. They have crown-shaped appendages on their heads and a benevolent nature that has welcomed fishermen lost at sea. Their main population lives on Fisher's Hope Island and shares it with other intelligent races wishing to settle on the archipelago. These kurvedans are smaller than their relatives, so they are more attentive to other species. They are happy to share their homes with tiny cat people.

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Razorback kurvedans do not inhabit the archipelago, they prefer the swamps of the Hoopla. Their ancestors, with sharp features in appearance, once bred and trained royal sharkipos long before archipelago's discover. After a failed revolution against tyranny of the first dynasty, they developed a fast breed of sharkipo - zorkipo, and used it to leave the islands. The remaining sharkipos, left without trainers, scattered throughout the ocean.

[WILDLIFE]
Sharkipo
Sharkipos are a type of animal that primarily inhabit the coastlines of warm rivers and seas. Once populating the entire world, their numbers have decreased due to hunting, but thanks to the efforts of conservation organizations and breeders, sharkipo have returned to their natural habitat.

Info:
Sharkipo have both gills and nostrils. Their nostrils close when they enter the water, and they breathe through their gills. They cannot hold their breath for long periods and must constantly move underwater to allow air to enter their lungs.
Sharkipo have plates on their backs that resemble shark fins. These plates cut through the water and help the animal accelerate. They also serve as a kind of protection against predatory fish that do not attack the sharp plates. ​​​​​Sharkipo do not actually swim; they lie on the bottom and walk on it. They search for crustaceans, lichens, mollusks, and corals, which they chew with their powerful jaws. On the archipelago, they acted as sanitarians, attaching themselves to islands and cleaning them of excess growth. Sharkipo's favorite snack is jellyfish. Sometimes they come ashore to bask in the sun, chew on plants, and digest food.
Wild individuals usually stay in huge flocks of 30 to 60 individuals, usually led by the oldest sharkippo, who leads the group and monitors the routes. Sharkipo gather in a formation similar to a flock of birds, and together they comb the seabed/island shell. Young sharkipo sometimes separate from their native flocks to migrate to other continents for breeding, but they always return to the place where they were born.
The gender of sharkipo is a separate mystery because it has been observed that they can continue to reproduce without the involvement of a second individual. This feature helped restore their species. During the breeding season, sharkipo move to the shore and eat only plant-based food. After building a nest, one of the individuals whose resources were spent on forming an egg goes to the sea to feed while the other parent guards the clutch. Upon returning from the sea, it takes responsibility for the clutch, and the second parent leaves the nest and no longer participates in raising the offspring.

There are now many breeds of sharkipo, some of which have been developed by intelligent races, although many consider them closely related subspecies than breeds.
 

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Hardkipo are peaceful and slow creatures. They are the symbol of determination and is often used in mail delivery due to their ability to memorize routes and migrate with a load for a long time. This is very convenient because it is enough to train the oldest individual on the desired route, and the rest will follow it, without using any fuel other than the resources of the ocean.

Furkipo is a new and rare breed that appeared during an anomalous winter. The archipelago was "stuck" in ice, and, by order of the monarch, sharkippo were temporarily transferred to southern seas... But some individuals refused to migrate and stayed home. Their descendants grew fur that repels water. Furkipo are undemanding and can be kept in a small pool. They swallow and digest stones.

Zorkipo is an incredibly fast breed of riding animals, secretly bred by cutters to overcome the current of the sea snake and cross the ocean. Their paws have evolved into fins, so they do not crawl completely on land. Very fast metabolism. They feed exclusively on meat and fish. They mostly live in freshwater and swamps. If there is no food for a long time, they can go into "hibernation," hanging in a cold corner of the reservoir. "Riders" hold onto the dorsal fins, but small races sometimes use special saddles.