Syss Rembala
Devout Dog
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Further develop Mahan's wildlife and create a possible companion for Player Character who wish to obtain one.
- Image Credit: Credits: Atenebris from DeviantArt
- Canon: Not applicable
- Links: Mahanaim, Mahan.
- Name: Kassiokh or Kassiokhan
- Designation: Non-sentient, able to understand and learn basic commands and solve basic problems, yet their inability to use verbal language and tools does not allow to classify them as semi-sentient.
- Homeworld: Mahan.
- Language: They do not have a verbal language.
- Average Lifespan: A wild Kassiokh will live approximately 20 to 25 years.
- Estimated Population: Between rare and planetary.
- Description: The Kassiokh are large, canid-like predators who slightly resemble very large wolves, with longer extremities such as their legs, snouts, tails and pointed ears. With quite an intimidating appearance, the Kassiokh sports a heavy coat of fur, thick neck and chests, wide paws and strong maws with larger canid teeth.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average height of adults: 1m to the shoulders in males, 85cm to the shoulders in females.
- Average length of adults: 1,20m in male adults (without tail length), 1m in female adults (without tail length)
- Skin color: Pinkish to greish
- Hair color: Pitch Black ~ Dark blue ~ Grey ~ Dark red ~ Dark green ~ Mottled ~ Albino
- Distinctions: They are characterized by their well developed muscles and impressive mobility and strength. They have thick necks and big heads with long and powerful muzzles. Their canine teeth can reach up to eight centimeters in length, are sharp, strong and slightly curved and just like their humanoid owners, they posses a double pair on the upper maw, giving them criss-crossed bite. The Kassiokh display sexual dimorphism with the female being quite smaller and leaner than their male counterparts. They have big, triangle-shaped and very pointy ears that are always upwards. The claws of a Kassiokh are semi-retractible, very curved and pointed allowing them to climb certain surfaces (they can't climb too steep surfaces such as trees). Also, their spines are slightly more flexible, allowing them to perform larger jumps and improve their overall mobility.
- Races: They are not divided into races.
- Strengths:
~ Social: They live in packs of no less than 5 members and up to 10. In Mahan their real strength lies in their pack, alone they would be easy targets for other predators.
~ Smell: They have a very good sense of smell.
~Strong jaws: A Kassiokh can easily tear through unprotected flesh.
~ Domesticated and loyal: The Kassiokh can be domesticated if raised from a young age. They are loyal companions and identify their owners as their pack members. The Mahanaim tribes have been domesticating them for a long time, they serve as companions and guardians.
~ Night vision: They are most active during the night and thus their eyes are well prepared to see very well in dark environments.
- Weaknesses:
~ No armor: Their skin might be thick but blasters, blades and other weapons will injure if not kill them unless they have some other form of protective.
~Aging problems: As they age, the Kassiokh are prone to some detrimental conditions such as bone weakness.
~ Social: They form very strong bonds with their pack members or owners and mourn the death of their lost ones. They are known to die of heartbreak if a very close member passes away.
CULTURE
- Diet: Despite being omnivorous, the Kassiokh has carnivorous tendencies and even while being able to consume varied foods, they instinctively prefer meat.
- Communication: Kinetic communication together with growls, yips, howls and whines. They do not bark nor whimper. It has been noted that the Mahanaim, thanks to their natural ability to replicate noises, can sort of communicate with them by observing what sounds mean what and replicating them.
- Technology level: None.
- Religion/Beliefs: Not applicable.
- General behavior: The Kassiokh are very social animals. Their behavior and actions are deeply influenced by their relationships with their pack, be it other Kassiokh or their humanoid owners. Wild specimens tend to avoid contact with the sentient species of their home world rather tan attack them but starving packs have been known to target livestock or even young children as prey. They are prone to aggression when they feel themselves, their pack members or their territory threatened and have a reputation from being incessant fighters, not stopping until their objective is dead or they are.
They are, despite being non-sentient, quite intelligent creatures that with proper training can even learn to heed commands. Furthermore, they form very strong bonds with their pack members and are very protective over what they consider theirs. When a close individual dies, such as a mate or an owner, they experience heart-brake and many times simply give up on living, dying soon after their passed companion. Kassiokh are more active at dawn and at dusk, though truth is they do not have clear active and inactive times.
The Kassiokh have inhabited the world of Mahan for longer than it is recorded. Even being far from ever becoming the strongest predator in their planet, the specie has somehow managed to survive, evolve and adapt through time and it is still prospering nowadays.
In the beginning, the Kassiokh and the Mahanaim developed a hard, competitive relationship hunting for food and fencing their space. The two species, as lesser predators who only proliferated in Mahan by keeping to tight knit groups, where being highly affected by the situation they were confronted with, having to fight one another as well as the other inhabitants of the planet that threatened them. However, a change started to occur when a group of Mahanaim decided to keep a litter of orphaned pups as pets rather than follow the usual custom of killing them. It was so discovered that when nurtured and raised from a young age, the creature easily bonded with its owner and its family and protected them from threats, going as far as sacrificing themselves for their humanoid masters. The tribe spread their discovery and even changed its name to Kasrikhan, "the Kassiokh pack", but it would take many years for the rest of the Mahanaim to accept that their previous enemies could prove to be powerful companions.
Time proved the Kasrikhan tribe true, and the Kassiokh became a common friend of the southern Mahanaim tribes, even the wild packs ceasing their attack on the sentient species. They were employed as companions, working pets, guardians and even war hounds. The tribes learnt how to train whole packs (a group of young put together) so that they help either in battle or hunting. It didn't take long for the term Ma'anik to evolve: "our guardians", the Kassiokh had been fully integrated as part of the southern tribes and its image served as the sigil of each of the tribes, the head representing the Kasrikhan.
The domestication of the Kassiokh would inspire other tribes to approach their fauna with less aggressiveness, in hopes of forming a bond alike the southerners had stroke with the Kassiokh. It was the first Ma'anik, and the cause for the Eastern, Northern and Western tribes to find companions of their own.
