Planet of Origin: Man'Sarthree
Ecosystem Component: Omnivorous Insectivore
Base Habitat: underground, usually in loamy areas with regular rainfall
Grouping: Haka: 3-5 reproductive individuals with 1-3 nonreproductives, Hakabon: a Haka + 10-15 juviniles (basically a Haka is a breeding group/family, and the Hakabon has children in it), Pair: two individuals of any type, City: more than 500 Hakas or Hakabon, Town: more than 100 haka or hakabon but less than 500. They are never found solitary unless orphaned or sick.
Intelligence Level: From a human's point of view, the Man'appoi seem naive and childish, and would probably score fairly low on a human-based IQ test. However, they have an aptitude for machines and love to tinker. They seem to figure out languages well, too, possibly because they make it a game.
Typical adult size: about 1-1.5 fee8 inches from head to ground and about 1.5 ft in length.
Lifespan/Reproduction:
Man'appoi live about 30-34 Man'Sarthree years translating to approximately 15-17 earth years. There are two genders- Reproductive and Nonreproductive.
The reproductive gender (known as: Man'Le Pronoun: Les, le though they accept 'She' as an acceptable human variation) can both fertilize and bear young. They tend to be larger with less endurance. Their digging claws also tend to be smaller and flatter than their nonreproductive siblings.
The nonreproductive gender (Known as Man'So Pronoun: Sos, Se) lacks any sort of reproductive capability. It is, however, strong and able. Nonreproductives are responsible for most manual labor, including the building of large burrows that serve as the dens for their Hakabon. These Dens are known as Hakakan and are often complex. Sometimes, while digging, a Man'So will accidentally dig into the Hakakan of another Haka or Hakabon. In this case, the groups become allies. eventually, a city or town is born of these interconnected Hakakans, since there is little aggression between Man'appoi.
Both genders are, however, of equal intellect and mechanical aptitude.
Litters consist of a maximum of 6 juveniles, known as Man'Chas or Chas, about 40% of which will likely die due to diseases or preexisting conditions, do not survive to adulthood. Most of these are reproductive types, but about 25% of the Chas are of Nonreproductive gender. They grow to adulthood in 10 Man'Sarthee years.
Appearance and physiology: The man'appoi are small creatures with large bellies, two compact hind legs, two arms with three joints that forks into two different appendages at the third joint and continues on to a fourth joint. At the end of the fourth joint of the upper separation on each arm is a dextrous and delicate 'grasping hand' used for manipulating objects such as machine parts and food. The lower separation ends in a set of large, thick chitinous claws used for digging. The upper hands can be folded close to the body and protected while the 'Mappy is digging. it has a neck almost the length of its body, ending in a small head. The head is ringed with faceted eyes, and two of the front ones are especially large. These are used when hunting insects, as they give excellent stereo-vision. The other eyes are used to detect danger. Its mouth consists of a short, rubbery lip that barely covers a set of crushing teeth and a set of tusk-like mandibles. To a human, the lip's tendency to reveal 'Buck Teeth' and the mandibles causes the 'Mappy to appear to have a perpetual smile. Although its behavior seems to confirm this, this is not the case. They actually have no facial expressions, though the lip is very flexible in order to accommodate a variety of food. their Compact hind legs are armored and tipped with dull claw-like feet.
Their head has a small bone helmet, used when digging. It is vaguely shovel-like to scoop debris out of the way.
their long neck is collared with various glands that produce chemicals and pheremones that tell other Man'appoi Who they are, What their gender category is, their age, health, condition (as in full, hungry, tired, sick, recovering, weak, strong), mood, social status, and location. This information is read through the means of a special sensory organ. This organ is handlike and stubby and contains many sense receptors. it is attached to a 7-jointed incredibly flexible arm-like structure growing from the Man'appoi's chest. In order to use this organ, they grab the neck glands of another Man'appoi with the hand protrusion and apply pressure. Often, they lift the other up a bit in order to get the full range of information. This causes alot of trouble when they meet necked aliens, as their first impulse is to greet them by doing this. No matter how many times this happens they do not learn not to do this.
Their eyes are not as focussed as human eyes, although they can see some of the ultraviolet spectrum. They see distances well, but close-range is very blurred.
Their breathing apparatus, which uses oxygen, is located in the main body. They breathe and take water through tiny pores in their skin. Thus, their habit of grabbing other by the neck is harmless to them. their stomachs are multi-noded to deal with their hard-to-digest food sources such as tough grasses, roots, varies forms of Insectoids, many with poisons. They excrete in a manner similar to human excretion, involving large solid waste.
they have a circulatory system that carries oxygen to the rest of their body. Near their series of pumping organs, which can be referred to as a 'heart', they have an auxilary brain which can work even when their heads, housing the main brain and mouthparts, is removed. When it is activated, it serves the function of continuing the production of nutrient-rich milk-like substances and heat to raise any young available until they run out of nutrients themselves. Nonreproductives, when this auxilary brain is activated, will usually attempt to remove themselves from the tunnel systems and die on the surface.
Its coloration is that of a reddish brown base with a dark brown top and lower speckling. Its skin is pebbly and tough, yet oddly soft.
-Made by Draconicfeline in spore as concept art
Territory: one City of Man'appoi requires about 500 cubic feet. However, this can mean that it goes down very deep. aboveground can have varied environments so long as there is regular, medium-density water rainfall.
Language:
Very varied. When speaking of a living object related to themselves, the Man'appoi add the prefix 'Man' (Mon). When speaking of other lifeforms from their own planet, they add the prefix 'She' (Shay). When speaking of those they consider Alien, they add the prefix 'Da' (Day). 'Da' is from their word Dappaki (Day-Paw-key) which means "Play" or "To play" since they see all aliens as playmates. Mostly, though, they play games with aliens until they learn their language well enough to talk to them.
Culture: They love games. Games of any sort, new, old, upside-down, and backwards. And, in their time in the Keeper's display, they have learned that other aliens in the funny domes sometimes have fun games to play. They are very friendly, although their preferred method of greeting- by grabbing the necks or neck like organs of sentients with their sensory grasper and lifting them up about two inches off the ground for 30 seconds- has caused a few difficulties. They aren't all that bright, so sometimes their games take on blatantly dangerous tones, though they don't realize it.
their communities consist of interconnected Hakakans and clay aboveground shelters that serve as stores and places of business.
Tools: their digging claws, their grasping hands, tools analogous to a wrench, Screwdriver, and drill, a sort of shovel-like tool uses by the flexible hands to speed up the rate of excavation, various building tools for clay-based buildings aboveground.
Dangers: disease, large burrowing insects, any large carnivore that can fit into their tunnels, cave-ins. overzealous or risky games
