THE
SKA'KAILN
("SNAKEWORM") |
Appearance. The Ska'Kailn, also called "Snakeworm"
or just plain "Worm" in
human slang, range from many types around the
world. The normal, forest-loving
Ska'Kailn is about 1 and 2/3 peds long, with a tapering tail and a flat gaping
mouth. The Ska'Kailn have no face, it looks like a long serpent that was cut
with a knife at the middle, and the cut turned into a mouth.
The Ska'Kailn do not have scales or slimy skin but a carapace of bone, formed
together on the body to make a natural armor. These plates of bone can be
crushed to make spices for beverages. At the end of the beast the gaping mouth
has from 5 to 10 teeth on all sides. There is no top of the mouth or bottom of
the mouth, the sides are rimmed with curving sharp teeth.
All the bones and skin of the Ska'Kailn are colored. Variations of blue, red,
and green colors have been seen on the Ska'Kailn,
often in strange swirling patterns.
Special Abilities. The Ska'Kailn have extreme empathic and telepathic
skills. Humans can feel slight emotions from
it, and sometimes images can be projected from the Ska'Kailn.
Ska'Kailn also have slight heat resistance, from their
reflective carapaces, and have an amazing immune system. They can eat almost
anything and almost never die from food poisoning, as they have special glands
in their throat that sort the poisons out, which are rejected out of the mouth.
Any magical herb or meat fed to the Ska'Kailn has strange effects on them.
Wizardleaf is one of those things. One filled with
energy can lend the energy to the Ska'Kailn. A
Wizardleaf that has been near a fiery source, fed to
a Ska'Kailn, often results in the Ska'Kailn having minor
mentalist abilities. Controlling and creating
fire is one of them.
Queprur's Love for example, when fed to the
Ska'Kailn, does nothing except darken features upon their body. Magical herbs
fed to Ska'Kailn work very effectively on them.
Territory.
Ska'Kailn live underground or in the trees of many forests. They haven't
been found in Sarvonia, yet have been
sighted in R'unor and Akdor.
Ska'Kailn, though they can live almost anywhere, like to settle down in
underground dens in a forest or near a creek.
Habitat/Behaviour. Ska'Kailn live in packs of 3 to 15 in Ska'Kailn dens.
The Dens are holes in hills or cliffs, which sometimes can go up to four square
peds. They also build seperate rooms for eating and sleeping.
When outside, they are usually hunting or foraging. There is no leader or worst
hunter, they all work as a team to get food. All the hunters and foragers are
male, and their groups consist mostly of them, though a female has been seen to
tag along to carry food back to the den.
When inside, their activities range from wrestling with
each other.
However, these wrestling matches are no
competitions and the winner and loser are equal even
after the match. They also like to collect smooth and shiny rocks, which they
push with their mouths into the sides of their dens and make interesting
patterns - to what purpose nobody can say. Other things
Ska'Kailn do the whole day long include sleeping, eating,
and organizing food.
Diet. Though Ska'Kailn can eat almost everything edible, they cannot eat bark
or any kind of wood. They were known for a long time as carnivors, as they eat
alot of meat, but that is just what they like the most, they can eat anything.
They also love wine if they can find it (they rarely do) and like berries.
Mating. If a male wishes to mate with a female he digs a new room into the pack's
den, and leaves the den alone after he signals the one he
wishes to bond with. Every night he is supposed to leave food at the new room,
and once putting it there he goes back out to hunt or forage. He does this up to
16 days without sleeping. Every night the female comes into the room, eats from
the pile of food, and sleeps there until the morning.
After the days of hunting and foraging, the male comes to the den, wakes the
female and the male shows her a hill or cliff side he has
seen. The female lays up to 20 eggs once the male has carved out a new
den, though it is usually less than 10. If there are more
than 15 eggs, the male goes to the old den and puts the remainder of the eggs
there. A starting den may only have less than 10 in it.
Once the old den recieves the eggs, if they have 14 and the male brought 3, they
take one of the eggs and the oldest Ska'Kailn eats the other eggs. It sounds
gruesome but the Ska'Kailn keep their limits strictly.
The old den might deliver their remainder to a neighboring den, but still if there
were remainders it is unlikely they will live.
Usages.
The Ska'Kailn are usually raised in bondage for trainers. If a trainer
buys an egg that was found, the new Ska'Kailn usually never finds a mate and
lives with his master without a den.
Upon maturity, the trainer uses the Ska'Kailn in gladiator rings to fight
against other Ska'Kailn. They fight to the first one who is on the ground for
more than 30 seconds. Bets are made, and training is a good job that gets alot
of prize money. But good trainers usually never have only one Ska'Kailn, and to
build a Ska'Kailn Barn with enough food for all of them costs alot.
The sport is appearing in Akdor and R'unor
only, though many fans of this kind of
sport predict it will become a popular sport one day in
Sarvonia as well.
Information provided by
Darren Konneran
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