Post by TiJiL on Dec 21, 2005 1:13:59 GMT -5
Flispians are warm-bodied mammals of great strength and intelligence.
Flispians range from 2-3 meters tall and weigh 600-1000 pounds, with females generally being larger. They balance themselves on two heavy legs, standing on their single, hoofed toe. Their torsos are wide and muscular, bearing four long, powerful arms. Each hand is heavily built with two fingers and an opposable thumb. Flispian necks and shoulders are hunchbacked and packed with muscle. Their thick, knobby heads have two narrow eyes on each side and a powerful black beak. Their ears are long and hang down from either side of their head. Flispians also have long, whip-like tails that are lifted slightly off of the ground while moving.
Flispian skin is dark and leathery and grows thicker with age. The oldest flispians will have such an excess of skin that it will fold, lending them a very fat appearance. Flispians are nearly hairless, except for sensory hairs on the feet and back.
Flispian brains are particularly tiny, but are enormously effective. They operate at a temperature of about three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, converting thermal energy into chemical energy at an amazingly rapid rate. A thick layer of insulating lipid membrane encases the brain, helping to protect it against thermal shock, which is particularly deadly to flispians. Outside of that, it is incased in a brutally thick, knobby skull, effectively protecting it from even very powerful physical blows. Three different brain stems extrude from the back of the braincase. Two are fully functioning spinal cords that branch out into the body, while the central brainstem is covered in a thick layer of flexible cartilage and runs, unbranching, all the way down to the tip of the flispian’s long tail. Within this central stem is a highly conductive material that funnels available heat to the brain, ensuring that it always works at full capacity.
As aforementioned, flispians have two working spinal cords. Each of these is surrounded in its own column of vertebrae and can operate the entire flispian’s body. In normal circumstances, each cord takes command over just half of the body at once, helping to decrease the flispian’s response time. However, if one of the spinal cords is damaged, the other can either partially or fully take over the duties of the entire nervous system, albeit at a slower rate. The high temperature that flispian nerves operate at, combined with the dual spinal cords, gives healthy flispians rather excellent reflexes. Unfortunately, their bodies are heavy and thus, while their reaction time is swift, they cannot move at great speed. Their fast reflexes serve them well as pilots, however, where large movements are not necessary.
Flispians derive most of their energy from ambient temperatures, so, in some situations, breathing is not necessary. A sleeping flispian, for instance, can go without breathing indefinitely as long as he’s kept at a steady high temperature. However, deriving energy from the surroundings is often slow and entirely inadequate for sudden energy requirements. Thus, flispians have a single lung which is little more than a convoluted portion of the tracheal wall that can provide the flispian’s body with oxygen for use as supplementary energy. Breathing rate is generally quite slow, but increases as energy requirements increase. Flispian lungs are useful in other ways, however. Due to their bizarre physiology, flispians require certain minerals in comparatively large quantities and sometimes are incapable of getting them through eating. Thus, the lungs will also capture materials in the air for use in the flispian’s body.
Because of the odd manner in which flispians get their energy, their digestive system, too, is merely supplementary. As long as the flispian keeps his body at a healthy 200 degrees Fahrenheit, most energy requirements are satisfied. However, for prolonged movement, especially sudden movement, additional energy reserves are necessary. Thus, flispians have a long, multi-chambered intestine where food is digested and drained of its nutrients for use in more commonplace energy production. Understandably, flispians generally eat far less than creatures of their size normally do, but when ambient temperatures fall, their food requirements skyrocket to keep the body warm enough to function. Flispians primarily use their digestive systems, however, to maintain adequate levels of certain minerals. They spend a great deal of their time scraping minerals off of igneous rocks with their sharp radulas.
Flispians have a bizarre circulatory system, again coupled with their unorthodox means of energy allocation. A convoluted, fatty membrane fills most of their body cavity, enveloping and cushioning all internal organs, the brain, and the spinal cords. This membrane not only acts as an insulator to protect against thermal shock, but also serves as a large central chamber from which to distribute materials. A nutrient-rich liquid fills the inside of the membrane, which expands and contracts with the level of fluid within it in order to maintain an even pressure. Nutrients will automatically diffuse from the intestine and lungs into the membrane and from the membrane into surrounding body tissues. Special drill cells of large size help to distribute needed materials into distant regions or against diffusion gradients. These ciliated cells actively collect necessary substances and exit the central membrane, working their way through the flispian’s body to the required area. Their amorphous structure and the release of a hormone that forces nearby cells to contract allow the drill cells to slowly work their way to their target area, which is usually one of several smaller membranes that cater specifically to a specific region of musculature.
Flispians are highly resistant to the majority of known bacterial and viral maladies, simply because of their high body temperature. The diseases that affect their allies and enemies simply aren’t capable of surviving within flispians. Also, the few common bacteria that can function at a flispian’s high temperature can rarely effectively damage the flispian due to its lack of orthodox blood. Despite these advantages, bacteria originating on Flisp are capable of killing flispians (but again, due to the temperature difference, are incapable of affecting other species). The most notable flispian disease is CMR (central membrane rot), in which the central membrane starts to deteriorate, leaking fluids into other parts of the body and often resulting in temperature-related illnesses. Most of a flispian’s active immune system is in the form of aggressive phagocytic cells that reside within the soup of the central membrane.
Flispian senses are not known for any particular greatness. Their vision is their best sense, by far. With two eyes on each side of their head, flispians have an enormous visual range while maintaining stereoscopic vision. However, they have a slight blind spot directly in front of their beak which often limits their capacity for physical combat. Flispian ears are large and fairly acute. Flispians have a very limited sense of feeling, because their exteriors are sometimes exposed to extreme temperatures at which nervous endings cannot survive. Their primary means of feeling are their whisker like sensory hairs on their feet, which can gauge temperature and soil content of the ground beneath them.
Flispians have a series of glands nestled amongst their skin folds all over their bodies. These glands can, at will, release a flammable sweat-like secretion that, with a great enough spark, will burst into flame until it is consumed. This slick, oily substance allows for the amazing fiery demonstrations that the flispians use in their mating rituals. However, the glands only carry so much of this fuel and take several days to regenerate it. The flammable sweat can be produced at will by the flispian, but will also automatically secrete when the flispian’s temperature gets too low, providing a possible means to increase it.
Flispians require an ambient temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit to live comfortably. Various body functions like heat-producing metabolic reactions and sweat secretion serve to increase heat when body temperature starts to drop. With an increase in respiration and digestion rate, a flispian can last for some time with a body temperature of as low as 180 degrees. Below that, however, the flispian’s energy starts to drop as available heat is funneled away from the muscles to ensure that the brain and internal organs continue to operate. If temperature continues to drop, the flispian will enter a comatose state as the brain slows body temperature. Any further and the flispian will experience massive organ failure and death.
Flispians range from 2-3 meters tall and weigh 600-1000 pounds, with females generally being larger. They balance themselves on two heavy legs, standing on their single, hoofed toe. Their torsos are wide and muscular, bearing four long, powerful arms. Each hand is heavily built with two fingers and an opposable thumb. Flispian necks and shoulders are hunchbacked and packed with muscle. Their thick, knobby heads have two narrow eyes on each side and a powerful black beak. Their ears are long and hang down from either side of their head. Flispians also have long, whip-like tails that are lifted slightly off of the ground while moving.
Flispian skin is dark and leathery and grows thicker with age. The oldest flispians will have such an excess of skin that it will fold, lending them a very fat appearance. Flispians are nearly hairless, except for sensory hairs on the feet and back.
Flispian brains are particularly tiny, but are enormously effective. They operate at a temperature of about three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, converting thermal energy into chemical energy at an amazingly rapid rate. A thick layer of insulating lipid membrane encases the brain, helping to protect it against thermal shock, which is particularly deadly to flispians. Outside of that, it is incased in a brutally thick, knobby skull, effectively protecting it from even very powerful physical blows. Three different brain stems extrude from the back of the braincase. Two are fully functioning spinal cords that branch out into the body, while the central brainstem is covered in a thick layer of flexible cartilage and runs, unbranching, all the way down to the tip of the flispian’s long tail. Within this central stem is a highly conductive material that funnels available heat to the brain, ensuring that it always works at full capacity.
As aforementioned, flispians have two working spinal cords. Each of these is surrounded in its own column of vertebrae and can operate the entire flispian’s body. In normal circumstances, each cord takes command over just half of the body at once, helping to decrease the flispian’s response time. However, if one of the spinal cords is damaged, the other can either partially or fully take over the duties of the entire nervous system, albeit at a slower rate. The high temperature that flispian nerves operate at, combined with the dual spinal cords, gives healthy flispians rather excellent reflexes. Unfortunately, their bodies are heavy and thus, while their reaction time is swift, they cannot move at great speed. Their fast reflexes serve them well as pilots, however, where large movements are not necessary.
Flispians derive most of their energy from ambient temperatures, so, in some situations, breathing is not necessary. A sleeping flispian, for instance, can go without breathing indefinitely as long as he’s kept at a steady high temperature. However, deriving energy from the surroundings is often slow and entirely inadequate for sudden energy requirements. Thus, flispians have a single lung which is little more than a convoluted portion of the tracheal wall that can provide the flispian’s body with oxygen for use as supplementary energy. Breathing rate is generally quite slow, but increases as energy requirements increase. Flispian lungs are useful in other ways, however. Due to their bizarre physiology, flispians require certain minerals in comparatively large quantities and sometimes are incapable of getting them through eating. Thus, the lungs will also capture materials in the air for use in the flispian’s body.
Because of the odd manner in which flispians get their energy, their digestive system, too, is merely supplementary. As long as the flispian keeps his body at a healthy 200 degrees Fahrenheit, most energy requirements are satisfied. However, for prolonged movement, especially sudden movement, additional energy reserves are necessary. Thus, flispians have a long, multi-chambered intestine where food is digested and drained of its nutrients for use in more commonplace energy production. Understandably, flispians generally eat far less than creatures of their size normally do, but when ambient temperatures fall, their food requirements skyrocket to keep the body warm enough to function. Flispians primarily use their digestive systems, however, to maintain adequate levels of certain minerals. They spend a great deal of their time scraping minerals off of igneous rocks with their sharp radulas.
Flispians have a bizarre circulatory system, again coupled with their unorthodox means of energy allocation. A convoluted, fatty membrane fills most of their body cavity, enveloping and cushioning all internal organs, the brain, and the spinal cords. This membrane not only acts as an insulator to protect against thermal shock, but also serves as a large central chamber from which to distribute materials. A nutrient-rich liquid fills the inside of the membrane, which expands and contracts with the level of fluid within it in order to maintain an even pressure. Nutrients will automatically diffuse from the intestine and lungs into the membrane and from the membrane into surrounding body tissues. Special drill cells of large size help to distribute needed materials into distant regions or against diffusion gradients. These ciliated cells actively collect necessary substances and exit the central membrane, working their way through the flispian’s body to the required area. Their amorphous structure and the release of a hormone that forces nearby cells to contract allow the drill cells to slowly work their way to their target area, which is usually one of several smaller membranes that cater specifically to a specific region of musculature.
Flispians are highly resistant to the majority of known bacterial and viral maladies, simply because of their high body temperature. The diseases that affect their allies and enemies simply aren’t capable of surviving within flispians. Also, the few common bacteria that can function at a flispian’s high temperature can rarely effectively damage the flispian due to its lack of orthodox blood. Despite these advantages, bacteria originating on Flisp are capable of killing flispians (but again, due to the temperature difference, are incapable of affecting other species). The most notable flispian disease is CMR (central membrane rot), in which the central membrane starts to deteriorate, leaking fluids into other parts of the body and often resulting in temperature-related illnesses. Most of a flispian’s active immune system is in the form of aggressive phagocytic cells that reside within the soup of the central membrane.
Flispian senses are not known for any particular greatness. Their vision is their best sense, by far. With two eyes on each side of their head, flispians have an enormous visual range while maintaining stereoscopic vision. However, they have a slight blind spot directly in front of their beak which often limits their capacity for physical combat. Flispian ears are large and fairly acute. Flispians have a very limited sense of feeling, because their exteriors are sometimes exposed to extreme temperatures at which nervous endings cannot survive. Their primary means of feeling are their whisker like sensory hairs on their feet, which can gauge temperature and soil content of the ground beneath them.
Flispians have a series of glands nestled amongst their skin folds all over their bodies. These glands can, at will, release a flammable sweat-like secretion that, with a great enough spark, will burst into flame until it is consumed. This slick, oily substance allows for the amazing fiery demonstrations that the flispians use in their mating rituals. However, the glands only carry so much of this fuel and take several days to regenerate it. The flammable sweat can be produced at will by the flispian, but will also automatically secrete when the flispian’s temperature gets too low, providing a possible means to increase it.
Flispians require an ambient temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit to live comfortably. Various body functions like heat-producing metabolic reactions and sweat secretion serve to increase heat when body temperature starts to drop. With an increase in respiration and digestion rate, a flispian can last for some time with a body temperature of as low as 180 degrees. Below that, however, the flispian’s energy starts to drop as available heat is funneled away from the muscles to ensure that the brain and internal organs continue to operate. If temperature continues to drop, the flispian will enter a comatose state as the brain slows body temperature. Any further and the flispian will experience massive organ failure and death.
