Name: Couriers
Creator: –
Home Zone: —
Project Appearances: TBA
Species Development Thread: Species Development: Couriers

Couriers are a hexapod aquatic and semiaquatic gastropod species.

Couriers were created by a currently unknown god and originate from a currently unknown region.

Couriers consider themselves messengers for both their own kind and other species, and many find themselves in jobs traveling around and delivering letters and packages to people around the regions in which they live.

Slime over or under-production is a common health condition for couriers and is easily treated with medication. Shell polish is a common good marketed towards snail couriers and helps keep their shells looking aesthetically pleasing and clean. Non-toxic paint is also fairly common and used for decorative purposes.

Floor mats are typically used for sleeping and are accented with hydrophobic blankets and pillows. Aquatic courier morphs tend to prefer kelp beds or soft patches of sand if taking the more natural route, though some are able to find particularly nice underwater-geared mats.

Aquatic couriers value pearls and sea treasures and consider them especially nice tips for their services. The typical courier is not skilled in hand to hand combat at all, and at best might be able to use their teeth in an emergency situation.

To avoid their squishy bodies getting attacked by the far more dangerous species on their island region, couriers have traditionally taken up archery, and those known for traveling to dangerous locations often carry a bow and quiver full of deadly arrows.

Couriers consist of soft, round shapes.

Their markings imitate those of snails, slugs, nudibranch, etc.

Their voices are squishy babbling.

Couriers have no paw pads nor hair.

Their tails vary based on their morph.

Couriers range from 5’6-7’6 at their “normal” adult height.

Couriers have four legs and two arms, in what is called a tauran body plan.

Couriers have a lifespan of 110 years, maturing at 18-20 years old.

Couriers are composed entirely of a spongy material capable of compressing down to an incredibly small size, and re-expanding back to normal size on command. It is not possible for a courier to expand beyond their normal size, no matter how much they try. Couriers are capable however of gaining/losing weight like most other species and will return to whatever size they were at the point of compression. This allows the snail morph to be sucked into their shells in an almost vacuum-style effect and allows other morphs to fit into almost any space of their choice.

Couriers have sharp teeth, but these appear to compress along with the rest of their bodies inexplicably.

Couriers have an omnivorous diet and are capable of eating almost anything.

Couriers have very low energy levels and are lethargic and slow-moving compared to other species.

Couriers make use of their hands and tail when emoting through body language and make use of their upper and/or lower tentacles in their facial expressions.

Couriers have soft ears.

Most commonly, couriers have small, black, dot-shaped eyes, but some morphs lack eyes entirely or have multiple pairs of almond-shaped eyes.

Couriers typically have highly dexterous upper tentacles, though some morphs have an additional lower pair.

Couriers reproduce sexually and have no sexual dimorphism.

Couriers produce eggs and have 1 child at a time.

Couriers often keep their children compressed while carrying them around, keeping them in cloth bags and taking them out when at safe destinations.

Couriers prefer committed relationships and tend to take partners for life.

Courier morphs are inspired by various gastropods.

Mixed morph courier children tend to have outer textures, antennae shape, and features like ruffles inherited from one of their parents or mixed.

The first courier morph to be described was the snail morph.

Courier hybrids often inherit the tauran body plan, their ability to compress and expand their body, as well as a moist/slimy texture.

Common horror mutations that couriers experience when exposed to horror radiation include; size increase, hunger increase, extra eyes, claw growth, bioluminescence, teeth growth, carnivorous diet, speed increase, inability to compress, slime over-production

The carrier morph is inspired by snails of all types, provided they have an exposed shell. They are characterized by their shelled back, moist skin, upper and lower tentacles, freckles, and stubby tails. Carrier morph couriers have cultivated multiple strains of moss, plants, and algae which thrive on a specific mucus they can selectively secrete. They utilize these strains to grow living messages on any surface, natural or manufactured, though often they hide these messages among other foliage and write in a carrier-specific cipher to obfuscate the meaning from those unfamiliar with Carrier Cant. This has led to the creation of decades-long collaborative art projects of living, growing murals.

Conch variant carrier morph couriers favor warmer, coastal environments and they tend to be more aquatic than other carriers. Their Carrier Cant tends to be done in beach plants and algae, coating cliff faces and tide pools.

The emissary morph is inspired by slugs. They are characterized by their slimy, wet, dripping skin, upper and lower tentacles, lop ears, and long tails. Emissary morph couriers dripping mucus discolors most materials, with the exception of most metals, glass, and crystal. They use this discoloring to paint messages in their emissary-specific cipher as well as paint murals. Often these are combined, with artworks layered around and over messages to obfuscate the messages from those who don't know the trick to noticing them. Their language is often simply called Emcant, short for emissary cant.

The envoy morph is inspired by nudibranchs and other sea slugs. They are characterized by their moist skin, rhinophores, ruffled back, wrists, and ankles, stubby bobtail, and thick plumes, called cerata, on their back. Envoy morph couriers mucus has the curious property of invigorating and inhibiting coral growth depending on its quantity. Envoy couriers use this ability to grow messages entwined with the coral of their reef homes, giving their Cant a distinct appearance. Due to the obviousness of their messages, Envoy Cant has one of the most complicated ciphers in comparision to their fellow morphs. This language is called Encant, short for Envoy Cant, not to be confused for Emcant. These coral messages are often harvested upon the coral's death, and frequently sold as sculptures. In a notable incident, a number of envoys were able to create and distribute a number of sculptures defaming their wealthy buyers after said buyers had cheated the collective.

The herald morph is inspired by sea angels. They are characterized by their lack of eyes, horn-like tentacles, large flippers, long tail, and slight transparency in water. The herald morph is primarily aquatic, and although all couriers are amphibious by nature, they have great difficulty navigating on land. They are considered a counterpart to the harbinger morph. Herald morph couriers have the ability to produce small sea squirt-like colonial organisms which subsist of biofilm and plankton in the water column. They can be imprinted with a message that only other herald courier can access, though it is often encrypted as an additional protection. These Herald Cantlings can often survive indefinitely, budding when their current body begines to expire, however this can sometimes corrupt or distort the original message. Cantlings often form the foundation of the food web in dense Herald communities, and their aquatic communities attract lots of sea life, existing symbiotically.

The harbinger morph is inspired by deep-sea creatures and gastropods. They are characterized by their needly teeth, multiple eyes, glowing lures, bioluminescence, webbed flippers, and long, flippered tail. The harbinger morph is primarily aquatic, and although all couriers are amphibious by nature, they have great difficulty navigating on land. They are considered a counterpart to the herald morph and are closely associated with horrors and horror mutations. Harbinger morph couriers produce a bioluminescent slime which they use to leave messages in a harbinger-specific cipher, also called harbinger cant or Harcant. These messages glow by attracting a symbiotic species of deep sea bacteria, the same that lives within their various lures and markings, and only glow in the presence of another harbinger morph courier. Each harbinger can only leave messages in their specific color of bioluminescence. Some undersea caves have been so thoroughly coated in messages that they are nigh blinding when a harbinger wanders in.

The caretaker morph is inspired by succulents, particularly lithops. They are characterized by the splits along their tentacles, chest, back, and tail as well as the large flowering succulents emerging from their back. Removing leaves from this succulent, caretaker morph couriers can leave messages by propagating these leaves into resilent succulents. When another caretaker courier encounters these message succulents, they can induce the succulent to rapidly bloom. The scent of the flower communicates the message, so this caretaker scent language is a closely guarded secret. Large gardens of succulents are often found at crossroads and at the entrances to towns, communicating anything from notable sights, good restaurants to stop at, or the reception the courier can expect in the town. Some businesses have taken to removing succulents from their properties or using weed killers due to this, as to avoid negative reviews they can't correct.