Phase 2:Tiess Kin'toni Clan

History

Psychology

Biology

The Tiess are adapted to the high water pressure, constant salinity, low visibility and complex currents of the Uayata Sea Caves. They are sleek, slender and hydrodynamic of build. They have long, powerful torsos and webbed digits. This allows them to me quickly and silently though water. The downside of lacking mass and bulky muscles is being weaker then other clans in land-based combat. Skin is thick, stretched tight and slightly slick. It is a translucent, mottled grey-blue in color and has faint bioluminescent streaks across the torso and limbs.

This skin is s saturated with elastin and resilient protein fibers to allow it to survive extreme hydrostatic pressure. Being thin and flexible, it is not as tough as normal kin'toni skin, having no protection from cuts, or piercing. The skin is hairless, having only an dense layer of microscopic, water-repellent cilia. The ciliary layer reduces drag and assists in propulsion through the water. The eyes are large, dome-like and jet-black. These eyes have an glossy, highly refractive surface, lacking visible eyelids.

These eyes have an internal membrane that separates the aqueous humor from the lens. This allows the eye physically change shape to focus perfectly underwater. The downside of this is being hypersensitive to light and with blurry sight when exposed to air. The external ears are vestigial. These are sealed under an tough layer of skin, with only an tiny, reinforced aural pit on either side of the head. The inner ear structures are inside an dense, liquid-filled cartilaginous bubble to transmit water pressure-waves directly for sound.

The noise is gone, all is left is smooth, featureless skin. Chemical absorption through the skin is relied on for environmental sensing. In replacement, they have chemoreceptors embedded inside the mouth that analyze the salinity and trace compounds in the surrounding water. The teeth are very small, needle-like and in multiple recessed rows that continuously shed and regrow. These teeth are adapted to feed on small marine lifeforms. The constant shedding and regrowth is incredibly taxing on their regeneration that slows overall healing.

The claws are short, broad, paddle-like nails made of an dense, highly calcified keratin that can resist saltwater damage. These claws are hard, but prone to shattering. The low buoyancy is countered by an large amount of internal swim bladders. Using rapidly pressurizing and depressurizing using prion-driven muscle contraction, they can reach neutral buoyancy. The peripheral blood vessels contain a pressure-sensitive valve system. This allows them to seal off blood flow to damaged tissues to deal with crushing deep-water injury.

The downside of this, is that they are prone to necrosis in body parts that they seal off, forcing amputation. The Their epidermal cells include photophores to allow them to produce bioluminescent patterns. This allows them to communicate and locate one another in darkness. The downside of this is being able to be located by underwater predators.

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