Jerboa

Jerboa are skittish, shy creatures that usually stay in the burrows during the heat of the day and come out to forage under the cool sky of night. Like their animalistic ancestors, jerboa enjoy the bipedal locomotion of hopping, skipping, and running gaits. It is associated with rapid and frequent, difficult-to-predict changes in speed and direction, facilitating predator evasion relative to quadrupedal locomotion. This may explain why the evolution of bipedal locomotion is favored in desert-dwelling rodents that forage in open habitats.

Their long ears make them excellently aware of their surroundings, making them quite able to hear incoming predators near them or their kin.

Born of Desert Nights

Jerboa are crepuscular, meaning that they are most active at twilight. During the heat of the day, their community takes shelter in burrows. At night, the forages leave their burrows due to the cooler temperature of their environment. They dig the entrances to their burrow near plant life and settle down their communities with access to nearby water.

Lophophora Diffusa

Lophophora Diffusa, or the more commonly known name Peyote, is treasured by the jerboa people. They believe that the plant holds not only its hallucinogenic properties, but spiritual ones as well, allowing them to reach into the Ethereal Plane and sometimes beyond. The jerboa have an innate tolerance to this plant that allows them to gain mystical properties from it and some have even been able to use it as a catalyst to traverse the Material Plane altogether.
When a jerboa doesn't return from their vision quest, it is said that this what has occurred and that they are with their ascended-kin. Though the truth of the matter is more likely that they were hunted down, captured, and killed by another denizen of the unforgiving desert.

Embracing Their Kin

Unlike their animal counterparts, Jerboa are no longer solitary creatures. Once they reach adulthood, they usually go on their tribe's Rite of Passage where they must fend for food and water on their own for a fortnight before they are allowed to return to their colony to prove that they are worthy members of their society and will help it thrive.

Shamanistic Visions

Every generation, a jerboa is chosen to become the tribe's future shaman that would reign over its rites and traditions. The jerboa is given hallucinogenic plants and sent on a vision quest, not to be permitted return until they commune with Pelor himself. There is an unfortunate number of jerboa that never return from these quests and many speculate this as the reason for the race's dwindling numbers.

Natural Martial Artists

With their unique body-type and mannerisms, the jerboa people have developed special fighting techniques much akin to the monasteries of monks through the lands. All jerboa have some prowess over their tails and are able to wield them as a natural implement of destruction often compared to that of a whip.

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Jerboa Mannerisms

Characteristics (d8)

1. "I find myself praying to every shrine I come across to appease the spirits."
2. "There isn't an obstacle not worth jumping over."
3. "I will hone my people's ancient fighting forms and pass them down to our future generations."
4. "I enjoy a personal herbal blend that grants me visions from my ancestors. No, really."
5. "The world seems a bit brighter with a chime tied to my tail."
6. "Sometimes all I want is to just crawl into my cozy burrow and forget the world exists."
7. "The shaman says meditation is important, but I just can't seem to sit still."
8. "I am not a day person..."

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Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Secundus

Scientific Name

Euchoreutinae Sapien

Origin/Ancestry

Euchoreutes Naso

Lifespan

~50 Years

Average Height

2'5" - 3'1"

Average Weight

17_lbs - 23_lbs

Jerboa Names

In jerboa societies, names are almost always titles. These titles are chosen by the elder or shaman of the tribe. Inhaling the fumes of the Lophophora Diffusa plant, they succumb to visions of the Ethereal Plane, and the most prominent hallucination, either auditory or visual, becomes the name of the child.

Example Titles. Avalanche-of-Floating-Rocks, Bringer-of-Hungry-Souls, Carrier-of-Heavy-Burdens, Dancer-of-Heartfelt-Stories, Evader-of-Young-Predators, Facer-of-Difficult-Truths, Giver-of-Bountiful-Gifts, Harvester-of-Singing-Flora, Inquisitor-of-Victimless-Laughter, Jester-of-Jovial-Gestures, Knitter-of-Forgotten-Fates, Lurcher-of-Stalking-Prey, Maker-of-Dismal-Faces, Night-of-a-Thousand-Lights, Opera-of-Silent-Melodies, Price-of-Valued-Trinkets, Quip-of-Sly-Retorts, Racer-of-Endless-Dunes, Stretcher-of-Harmless-Lies, Teller-of-Secret-Shames, Usher-of-Infinite-Jokes, Whisper-of-Lost-Sands, Yeller-of-Historical-Absolutes, Zipper-of-Lumbering-Fools

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