Alien Name: Shoii (Sho-E)

Planet of Origin: Darrah Toh

Ecosystem Component: Mid-chain Carnivore
Base Habitat: Semitropical forest

Grouping: solitary, Huut (10 or more related Shoii, usually living together, though can be living close by each other), village (100-300 Shoii, some in Huuts), Town (300-600 shoii), City (over 600 Shoii)

Intelligence Level: When compared to humans, Shoii average intelligence is just above human average intelligence with an otherwise similar distribution.

Typical adult size: 24 in tall, 20 in long

Appearance and physiology: Its body is large and bulky, rounded somewhat and ending in a stubby tail.Though it is quadrupedal and does hop on occasion, it rides higher off the ground than one would expect. Its head is ovoid with a sharp, predatory beak. From the sides of the beak’s hinges, two flexible tentacles protrude, forked on the end. These tentacles are not strong, but they are able to manipulate objects with amazing dexterity. The nose is capped with a bony plate and its two eyes are ridged by short bony spines. The eyes itself are arranged to provide three dimensional vision and decent peripheral vision. They resemble a cephalopod’s eye in construction and are able to see in fairly low light. They appear to have three ear-like structures of gradiating size on each side of their head, causing them to further resemble a rabbit. However, it often surprises humans to know that their large ‘Ear’ is actually their reproductive organ. They are protected on its upper edge by a series of plates. The middle ‘ear’ is the ‘ear’ actually used for detecting sound waves, and is fairly acute. Shoii are very good at picking out individual sounds in a catacophany of other noises, and seem to have a wider range of hearing. However, they tend to focus on specific ranges of sound to the exclusion of other ranges, so they often do not hear things one would expect (inattentional blindness?). The smallest ear- resembling more a plant bud than an ear- detects scents such as pheromones. The Tentacles on its face detect textures and vibrations easily and are particularily sensitive near the tip. Often, a nervous Shoii will fidget using the tentacles and wrapping them around each other. The feel of the other tentacle is soothing.
Its body is compact, again resembling a rabbits. However, its forelegs are far longer and have armored paws with sharp, hooked claws. It also has a sharp spur connected to a venom gland in the leg that produces a venom that is predominantly paralytic, though it also disrupts brain function in other ways, causing permanent to semipermanent mental damage and often a loss of conciousness. Paranoia is a common symptom of survivors. The spur occurs on all four feet, but is largest on the forelegs. It is usually curled and out of the way, but when pouncing on prey the spur moves to stab and inject the prey with the venom. The poison itself is not deadly. Shoii are not immune to the venom when in their bloodstream, but their saliva contains several compounds, enzymes, and a symbiotic bacteria that neutralize the poison. This is an evolutionary trait gained to prevent from being poisoned by their own prey and it is often used as an antidote for the survivors of overzealous fights or brawls or for attempted murder victims. Their science has hinted that the saliva may be put to other purposes, but research is ongoing.
Their hind legs are huge and appear to be elephantine versions of the front paws. They are padded with a hard yet squishy substance that cushions them from the landing side of their hops. The hind legs are wide set and powerful. They are built for hopping on and crushing whatever they can. However, the wide spread makes walking awkward and so shoii often make small hops forward when nobody is looking. They have a short, vestigal tail that naturally curls upward. At its base are a series of spines. These spines are actually hollow and serve to either broadcast pheromones and other scent signals, or to provide oxygen to the pouch that lies beneath the spine’s bases.
Shoii breathe through both their skin and their mouth. Their lungs are a series of connected pouches that encase all of their other organs in a cusion of rhythmically pulsing air. The rhythmic breathing is necessary for good organ health. The hearts are at the center of their organ mass, with the digestive and other organs nearby. Although they can breathe through their skin enough to keep themselves alive, they will fall unconscious if their mouth is overly blocked. The skin is toughest over the lung area, in the front, and least touch in the area at the back, which contains the pouch and the signaling organs.

Its smooth skin tends to be green with a blotchy pattern. The exact shades of green in the patterning and base color are up to genetics and sun exposure. However, the ‘ear’ tips and rear spine tips are tipped in a bright color ranging from dark red to crimson to magenta. They can either be tipped or tipped with one or two bands of the same color in the middle of their respective parts. Their tentacles are mainly their coat color, but are somewhat paler and pinker due to the thin skin on those parts. Their bony plates are either naturally or artificially pigmented black or grey, as it is deemed very respectable.

Lifespan/Reproduction:
Shoii have no distinct genders. All Shoii can reproduce.
The reproductive ‘ears’, when touched to that of another shoii, will often trade cells. It only requires a light, brief touch to exchange the cells. Cells from another Shoii and cells from the host shoii fuse and travel into the bloodstream, developing as they go. Thus, baby Shoii are nonsentient blood parasites. They are known as Geliff and they compete with other Geliff in their host. Some die and others grow to the point where they are ready to enter the rear pouch through a valve in its blood supply. The pouch can hold many Geliff, but as they develop further, it is unusual to have more than two surviving, though three have been seen. The Geliff now is recognizable as a shoii and lives off of a milk-like secretion. After about ½ a Darrah Toh year of pouch development, they are able to hear and learn language. After about a full year of pouch development, they are ready to emerge. The spines on their parent’s back lift and the young shoii are able to climb onto their parent’s back. It takes a varying amount of time before the Shoii can move or hunt on its own. It begins to speak during this time.
Once it leaves the back, it is considered a fully-functioning member of society, though it cannot actually reproduce until it reaches its full adult size.
The Shoii do not understand their own reproduction, and they consider Geliff to be pests that must be treated against.

Adult Shoii can live to, on average, 75 Darreh Toh years.

Territory: Shoii require about a human-city sized area for a city of their own.

Known Predators/Dangers: large aerial predators in their home forests are their largest problem(Sathtonii, ---), followed by carnivorous and poisonous plants, as well as inter-shoii intrigue. (none yet named)

Language:
They speak with sound accompanied by tentacle genstures. Since the tentacles are naturally restless, they are not the most reliable language.
They pick up any verbal language well enough and often have a slurred accent.

Culture/psychology: Shoii are interesting creatures. They are very individual, disliking being controlled or limited. They do, however, like to work as a team… so long as it is a team of equals. If someone attempts to lead such a team, they will find that the Shoii will either ignore them, destroy them, or reverse all instructions.
They have a religion, but feel uncomfortable speaking of it to outsiders. All that can be gleaned is that no Shoii’s beliefs are the same for all shoii, especially due to their loathing for authority and dislike of being forced into anything. Any attempts to convert shoii to other religions will be met with either hostility, mischief, or deliberate misunderstanding depending on the individual Shoii. Conversion only works if they can be convinced that they are not being coerced.

The Shoii are touchy about biology. They are reluctant to research it overmuch, and feel self-conscious whenever its mentioned. They know enough about the bloodstream and their body to treat diseases, but many are uncomfortable with surgery. In fact, they do not understand that a Geliff and a baby Shoii are pretty much the same thing. They aren’t sure how babies are made, so they believe that some other force causes babies to grow in their pouch. Some attribute it in an offhand way to ‘the gods’ and others simply don’t care how it works, only that they now have a child. Usually, having a child is a favorable thing in Shoii culture and rarely slows down work. However, having a large quantity of Geliffs in their system can cause many health problems.

They wear clothes, and often the reproductive ‘ear’ and the pouch area are covered by something. Other than that, clothing varies per individual. Some even wear goggle like objects. These do not help or hinder them in any way, but the individual simply likes it.
It is considered polite to touch reproductive ears, as a handshake is to a human. Anything more than a light touch is considered unhealthy and wrong.

They build low, cavelike buildings, which tend to mix functions. One building could house a family and be a supermarket and have a room in the back for the equivalent of a lawyer firm. No two buildings are ever exactly the same. The Shoii are artists and there are many buildings with an art gallery function. Creativity is extolled as a virtue and they exercise it everywhere. It is not unusual to have fights break out because one persons art looks horrible to another, or is interfering with another work of art. Buildings often have small windows arranged and constructed artistically, or constructed to shed light on certain artworks.

They keep specific hunting grounds well stocked with game. In their history, they once attempted to keep livestock, but after a radical shift in popular opinion, the practice of farming animals was relegated to simply restocking hunting grounds, making hunting for food a necessary sport. They feel that it encourages physical fitness, though individual shoii have their own opinions about that. For the most part, they tend to agree that the act of hunting is very fun and very good. Some even think its healthier or tastier to hunt meat.
They do however, keep a few species as pets… though it is understood that today’s pet may be tomorrow’s dinner. However, they get quite attached to their pets, and can be very upset when they eat them.

Aside from the game parks consisting of scattered pockets of wilderness, the Shoii try to expand their cities whenever possible, obliterating much of the ground cover… though they like to keep as many trees (or tree-like plants) intact to provide their buildings with a bit of shade and natural cooling. Also, they feel that shaping and controlling where the trees are in relation to the building is another way to express architectural creativity.


Tools?:
Shoii had managed to begin putting satellites into orbit, but had not fully mastered spaceflight. Carving and cutting tools, quarrying tools, and sculpting tools designed to be used with shoii tentacle and legs. They have many different types of hammer, some humanly recognizable, others not. They have a rough equivalent of radio stations and have advanced sound technology, but do not have an equivalent of the television. For visual entertainment, they turn to art or to their version of comics. They have several buildings with laboratory functions, and a few with observatory functions. Their star maps are not very accurate, but they know their former sun’s composition very well. They have limited knowledge of biology, and focus mainly on physics and mechanics.