| Tweechis | |||
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DescriptionTweechis are flying sentients. They have a long neck and a head with two bulging eyes and a pair of hand-like mouthparts. They have one pair of limbs, which they use for both flying and walking. The Tweechi abdomen ends in a pair of grippers that they use to hang from roosts or grab on tightly to objects. They use their feet or grippers for powerful grasping and their mouthparts for fine manipulation. Tweechi skin is covered by a coat of short to mid-length fur.
Internal AnatomyA Tweechi's brain is located between its shoulders, although a secondary brain used for sensory pre-processing is located in the head. A Tweechi's digestive and respiratory organs are set in its abdomen while its twin hearts rest in the chest cavity. Tweechis breathe through openings along the side of their abdomen. The bones of a Tweechi are hollow for reduced weight.
SensesTweechis have good eyesight, which is adapted for night vision. As a consequence, their sense of colors are muted. Since they evolved around a red dwarf star, their vision ranges from the near infrared to the orange part of the visible spectrum. They cannot see yellow, green, blue, or violet light. Their ability to sense near infrared does not give them thermographic vision (that requires far infrared sensitivity). Their vision cannot resolve as fine of details as that of a Human.Tweechi hearing is highly developed. Their hearing is tuned more towards the higher frequency part of the spectrum than that of Humans – low bass sounds can still be detected but their sensitivity is not as high as for the higher registers. Tweechi can hear well into the ultrasonic range. They can pinpoint the location of anything they can hear. Tweechi taste is centered on their grasping mouthparts. In essence, they can taste whatever they hold. The Tweechi sense of smell is roughly equivalent to that of a Human. CommunicationTweechis speak using a larynx-like organ in their abdominal respiratory system. Opening and closing different abdominal spiracles gives their voices different tones, much like stopping the holes on a flute or oboe. Since they need to breathe to talk, their abdomens pulsate slightly as they speak. This flute-like arrangement gives them excellent singing voices.Tweechis can easily reproduce Human speech, although it comes out with a bit of a squawk. Tweechis can make Gummi sounds individually, but they cannot mix multiple sounds together for native Gummi speech and it comes out comically high pitched to a Gummi. Tweechi from a great variety of different cultures and languages followed the Gummis to the stars. They still speak many different native languages to this day. However, they have largely settled on Sequential as the standard lingua franca for communicating with outsiders. Most Tweechi in the Verge speak Sequential. It is not unusual for them to learn English as well, to communicate with Humans and their entrained species. Locomotion and BiomechanicsTweechis are excellent fliers, and adequate runners. They launch themselves into the air from the ground with a leap. Tweechi wings are adapted for soaring long distances using thermals.
Diet and Feeding HabitsTweechis eat using a long, prehensile tongue with a barbed lancet at the tip. The tongue penetrates animal or vegetable matter and injects a digestive toxin which liquefies the food item. Then the Tweechi sucks out the juices.
ReproductionTweechis have two sexes. They are monogamous, and lay one egg at a time which both parents share in incubating. When the infant Tweechi hatches, the parents feed it with regurgitated liquid until it is old enough to liquefy food on its own.
PsychologyTweechis are naturally curious. A Tweechi will take interest in anything that is out of the ordinary, investigating it until they can place it in their system of understanding. They love to explore, and get restless if they are stuck in one place for too long. Tweechis will collect small trinkets and interesting items, knick-knacks, and souvenirs – and occasionally larger items – to decorate their nests. You can get a good idea of a Tweechi's interests and hobbies with a look into its nest.A Tweechi's friends are important to it. While they tend to squabble with each other frequently, Tweechis have a strong sense of in-group and out-group. This leads to an innate tendency to defend their friends and community from any outside force, and to help them when in need. Likewise, Tweechis are possessive of their stuff, and very protective of their own personal space. Tweechis are suspicious of outsiders within their community, although they are fine with strange people when off exploring. Strangers who are not Tweechis themselves are usually tolerated more readily than Tweechis from other communities. Tweechis prefer roosting in places with wide views of the surrounding land. Confined spaces make them uncomfortable. Tweechis have a tendency toward vanity, often preening and posturing to show off. Many prefer to project an inflated view of their performance, competence, or status, and (fairly or not) they have a stereotype of exagerated boasts or tales of past deeds. A typical Tweechi also have a tendency to be a bit of a trickster. While not universal, many enjoy playing minor pranks on each other, both as a freindly form of one-upsmanship and in-group bonding, much as Human friends might rough-house with each other. Against rivals, this pranking can be brought to a whole new level, and might lead to outright sabotage between conflicting communities. SocietyThe basis of Tweechi society is the flock. Flocks allow the Tweechis to socialize and network, find mates, keep track of who is doing what, and who outranks whom. Members of a flock assist each other in times of need; in their hunter-gatherer past they would share the locations of rich sources of food and band together to drive off dangerous predators and rival flocks. Each flock is protective of its roost and territory, but this applies more to other Tweechis than non-Tweechis – alien species are given somewhat more tolerance and latitude, so long as they behave themselves. Within a flock, there is a loose dominance hierarchy. Less dominant Tweechis will tend to defer to those who are more dominant.While the flocks are gregarious and communal, each Tweechi family will have its own private nest. Sub-adult Tweechis remain in their parent's nest and help care for their younger brothers and sisters until they themselves find a mate and build their own nest. Nests are built as enclosed structures, but they will always have windows, outside roosts, or porches for observing the surrounding terrain.
CultureThe Tweechi living in the Verge come from a wide range of cultures, with their own languages, religions, stories, festivals, dress, art styles, food recipes, and other traditions. However, there are some commonalities.ArchitectureTweechi dwellings are built using basic Gummi methods, but are built in high places – often on tall poles if no suitable cliff or tree is around. Their nests are much more open than a Gummi house, with large windows offering an expansive view. Tweechi nests will usually have an outdoor porch, with an overhang sheltering grips from which Tweechi can hang.ArtTweechi are known for their traditional artistic net weaving. Many Tweechi still decorate their nests with the net patterns they weave.CuisineTweechi cuisine consists of fruit, succulent plants, nectar, and large-ish animals (usually pre-killed). Their food needs to be large enough to be pierced by their tongue, so that it can be liquefied and sucked dry. The exception is liquids (like nectar) which can be drunk directly from a glass (or, in the case of nectar from several of their native autotrophs, from the flower).DressTweechi clothes, if the Tweechi wears anything at all, are usually lightweight and aerodynamic. They are tailored to be more or less skin-tight while providing insulation. Tweechis do not wear hats - hats have a lot of drag and tend to fall off while flying. Fancy clothes have the same sleek profile, but will be decorated with more brilliant colors and bold designs. Because Tweechi see in a different part of the spectrum than Humans, the effect can be rather odd to Human eyes.MusicTweechis sing through their abdominal spiricles, opening and closing different spiricles produces different notes much like covering the stops on a wood wind instrument. Each Tweechi develops its own personal song as it matures, which it uses as a sort of sign or identifying marker, similar to a Human signature or signet ring. Tweechi coming of age cerimonies involve the soon-to-be adult performing his song to the community. When Tweechi form pair bonds, they merge their songs into a single nest-song. Singing duets is a form of pair bonding for Tweechis, somewhat analogous to sex among Humans. A pair will usually sing several times a day from their nest, with the song serving as a territorial signal and indicator of presence, status, and health to the rest of the flock. Entire flocks will also get together to sing, often to warn off another encroaching flock but also to forge community connections. This uses a community song rather than personal songs, since using one's personal song is much more intimate. Since encountering Humans, it is not uncommon for Tweechis to incorporate pieces of Human songs into their personal or community songs - a Human walking past a Tweechi nest might recognize among the music coming from the flock snippets of Beethoven's 9th symphony, the Beatles' "Yesterday", Mia Chang's "A Man and his Monkey", or other well-known pieces.SportsTweechi sports usually revolve around flight. Synchronized flying, aerial tag, races, agility flying through obstacles, and games of chicken to see who pulls out of a dive first are all popular. Different flocks may compete in fly-ball, where each tries to get an "egg" in a "nest", while the other team tries to stop them. A variety of aerial capture the flag is another popular team sport. Individual competitive sports involve target dropping, where the Tweechi tries to hit a target (which may be stationary or moving, depending on the variant) with a dropped object, often a ball, net, spear, stone, or metal bomb or flechette. Similar to target dropping is a flyby with a spear or net to strike or entangle a target.HomeworldThe Tweechi homeworld was a planet around a red dwarf star. The gravity was somewhat lower than that of Earth, and the air denser due to an increased amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere. Like most planets orbiting red dwarfs, the Tweechi homeworld was tidally locked so that the same side always faced the sun. However, the orbital interactions with the other planets in the system produced a significant amount of libration. This led to regular cycles of day and night within the twilight regions as the planet wobbled on its axis, so that from the twilight region the sun appeared to bob up and down to above and below the horizon.It is thought that Tweechi originally evolved in "sky islands", mountains that received light from the sun for at least part of a libration cycle. This allowed the peaks to develop rich but isolated ecosystems, often populated mainly by animals capable of flight. The long periods of darkness caused Tweechi's ancestors to evolve capable night vision. Ancestral Tweechi spread from sky island to sky island, until evolving sufficient cognitive capability to employ tools and colonize the entire haitable area of their world. Game StatsType Description: Tweechi
Trait NotesSize – It is fairly common for an adult Tweechi to reach Size -1.Natural Weaponry: Cytotoxic Venom – A Tweechi's tongue-stab can deliver a potent digestive venom that liquifies the tissues of its victim. Those injected suffer intense pain, swelling, tenderness, and discoloration (initially redness, with increasing effect leading to green tinges, yellowness, dark purple hues, and even black).
Hit Locations
0 DOS: 1d10 1 DOS: 1d8 2 DOS: 1d6 + 2 3 DOS: 1d4 + 3 4+ DOS: Location 6
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