Two-Bit Con Artist
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create another dominant species on Raykka.
- Image Credit: Culpeo-Fox
- Canon: N/A
- Links: N/A
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Name: The Xykan
- Designation: Sentient
- Homeworld: Raykka
- Language: Xykian | Raykkian | Basic
- Average Lifespan: 80-100 years
- Estimated Population: Scattered
- Description: Long serpentine creatures with a hearty appetite and little capacity for mercy. Then you blink and in front of you perches a birb with slit eyes, a human with patterned skin or something else entirely. All you know is that it is looking at you in a way that makes you unsure if it is going to request your name.... or which wine you pair well with.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Breathes: Type II
Average height of adults: 1m / Variable
Average length of adults: 3m / Variable
Scale color: Multi-hued- almost any colour is possible. Xykan’s have unique patterning, much like a human’s fingerprints, on their scales.
Hair color: Multi-hued- common colours are black, red, gold, silver, but others are possible as well.
Distinctions: Though they can shape shift, a Xykan’s primary form is of a long, serpentine creature with four legs. Feet/hands all have opposable thumbs, which allows for tool (or kill) manipulation. Slitted reptilian eyes blink with a nictitating membrane. A crest of fur runs down from the crown of their head to the tip of their tail. Iridescent scales with unique patterning cover the rest of their flanks. Long curved claws that can easily part flesh, and the sharp teeth of a carnivore mark their dietary choices clearly.
Races: N/A
Strengths:
Shapeshifters: Whilst the Raykkans have the strength of their mind to counter the fragile nature of their body, the Xykan grew into a different direction. They are capable of shaping their form into anything imaginable, but with some limitations (see weaknesses).
Acidic: Their homeworld was ruined millennia ago and this forced them to adapt. Much like their allies, the Raykkans, they are highly resistant to poisons and toxins.
Keen Senses: Heightened hearing, smell and touch make it difficult to sneak up on a Xykan. Their eyesight is particularly keen in the dark.
Paralyzing Bite: Xykan's saliva has a numbing effect on the skin of most creatures- puncture the surface through a bite and get that into the blood stream and it has a paralyzing effect on mammalian and avian species. The bigger the animal the smaller the effect, ranging from as little as a vague tingle and numbness to full paralysis. This is a hold over from their wild hunter roots, where Xykans preferred to eat the belly from their prey while it was still alive. That is, sadly, now considered 'rude' and 'uncivilized' so modern Xykans try to be careful.... except, of course, when they aren't.
Reptilian Physiology: There are some perks to being a reptile. Xykans (unshifted, see below) can go long periods without food, up to several weeks if necessary (though they do not prefer to) as they do not waste energy on being such a silly thing as warm blooded.
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Weaknesses:
Fragile: Their scales evolved to resist the depredations of an acidic environment and the thrashing of prey, but offer them no protection against anything else- blasters, bladed weapons, explosions, etc do grievous damage.
Sensitive: Their heightened senses are a double edged sword. Xykans can be easily overwhelmed by too much external stimili. They are particularly susceptible to light and sonic attacks, and have a low pain threshold. Simply the bright light of an overhead sun is uncomfortable and can be distracting.Even positive stimuli can be overwhelming, and few Xykans appreciate being touched by non-Xykans who do. Not. Understand.
Cold Blooded: The reptilian Xykans do not handle cold temperatures well. Originally hailing from the equatorial regions of their homeworld, the industrialization and global warming allowed them to spread farther than their traditional hunting grounds. Many will shift into a form that can better accommodate clothing, but external sources of heat are necessary, no matter the number of layers. A Xykan grown too cold becomes sluggish, has difficulty concentrating, even moving, and will eventually be unable to function entirely. Left out in the cold, a Xykan will die as their body slowly shuts down.
Shape Shifting is Expensive, Yo: When they are simply relaxing in their native form, Xykan’s can go days, even weeks if necessary without eating (though they don’t prefer to). But shape shifting requires vast energy to fuel. Eating unreasonably large quantities before if possible, during, or after absolutely is necessary to keep the Xykan from simply fainting from exhaustion.
Once a Xykan, Always a Xykan: Though Xykan’s have incredible abilities to shift their physical form, there are tells that you might be facing something other than what they seem: their eyes remain the same in every form- reptilian and slitted. Every form retains sharp carnivore’s teeth, and occasionally the patterning of their scales offers a ghost image on the new skin. Though capable of shape shifting, Xykan’s make lousy natural spies with the lack of any telepathic ability to fake their way into a situation.
Abnormal physiology: Not many sentient creatures in the galaxy are shaped like the normal form of a Xykan. This can make it difficult to find clothing, tools, even ship cockpits, built in a comfortable set up, making it a necessity to spend time shape shifted despite the caloric cost.
CULTURE
Diet: Meat. Meat. Meat. Meaaaaaat.
Communication: A combination of verbal and non-verbal. Xykan’s are highly expressive through their facial expressions and body language and rely on those cues heavily- this can lead to annoyance when dealing with sentients who are less familiar with these physical tells and the subtleties of conversing with a Xykan.
Technology level: Slightly below Galactic Standard
Religion/Beliefs: In the Xykan mythology, it is clear. They did not worship the gods. They were the gods. But times change, and they are cognizant (to one degree or another) of just how far from there they have fallen since that time. Small and weak instead of two hundred meter long deities that breathed acid and ate infant stars from the skies. There are a myriad of theories and beliefs that stem from this knowledge- from why they are no longer gods to how they can once more become so again. A dozen sects, some more dogmatic than others, offer strong opinions on these matters, but few of them agree on much. Only this…. That once the Xykans were gods and some of them think they could perhaps be again.
General behavior: Xykans tend to be fickle, lofty, genuinely believing their own mythology while being keenly aware of the fact that they are no longer deities- which leaves them a strange and unbalanced social zeitgeist where their view of self never fully gels with what they can see and feel in the here and now.
Egg laying, as reptilians tend to be, their family structure is largely matriarcal. While the modern Xykan’s have evolved socially, their pre-Raykkan past still affects the nature of the modern family structure. Traditionally, beyond the mating, males had little to do with clutch rearing beyond that. True pairings and commitment is still considered a ‘bonus’, and even deeply progressive- not on the male’s part, but on the females who make room for such superfluous additions to a household. Romance for non procreative purposes is uncommon and often looked at askance, while within mated pairs is seen as perhaps a touch strange but what happens in that household is their business, yes?
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Xykans have lived on ‘Raykka’ for as long as they can remember.
Before the Raykkans arrived they were a predatory species first and foremost, spending their days hunting and preying on the animals around them. Even with the knowledge of what they had lost thick in their mythology, they were the apex predators on Raykka. They had a particularly hostile relationship with the Dalan of old, before they were enslaved by the Raykkans. Because they were the guardians of the forest and jungles, they protected the prey under their guard and made it difficult for the Xykan to hunt.
It is no surprise, then, that the richest of modern Xykan enjoy having at least several Dalan slaves in their households.
At first there was little contact between the Xykans and the Raykkans.
They were sentients of the shadows, hunting by night and staying deep within the forests. But the Raykkans have a way of infecting everything around them- it was no different here. Slowly these newcomers spread their influence throughout the planet.
It is uncertain who made first contact, but the end result was the same.
They found they had some things in common after all. The Raykkans showed the Xykans the pleasures of industrialization and the Xykans became quite interested in having their own piece of the pie.
A mutually beneficial relationship was quickly established.
The Raykkans were unimpressive in a physical manner and did not enjoy overt displays of aggression, but sometimes one had to quietly clean the proverbial garbage. Xykans were naturally adapt at this role.They were all too happy to play the role of shadowed enforcer, hunters in the system’s jungle planet, and consumers of exotic experiences for a share of the new world being built by the Raykkans.
