Shama

The Shama are a sapient, social, cultured species native to the oceans of Elsanid. They are a completely aquatic species adapted to breathe in liquid salt water environments. They are carnivorous, and predominantly eat shellfish and crustaceans, a number of varieties of which they have cultivated and domesticated. They have developed hierarchical societal structure in the form of nations, a number of which exist in various coral reefs deep in the planet's oceans, and exhibit agriculture and division of labor.
Note: the subject of this article is the Shama as a species, and predominantly focuses on their biological traits. As such, it goes into detail on their evolutionary history to explain why many of their physical traits were useful to them, subjects unknown to the common Shama and only just explored and hypothesized upon by Shama academics. With this focus on their evolution as a pack hunting, predatory sea species, it may give the impression that these are wild animals. While this was once true, as it once was for almost all social creatures, modern shama have since developed civilization, cultivated agriculture, built cities, use Astrum, and are on par with other sapient, social, cultured species in the galaxy. For more information on their modern culture, see the related articles on their various ethnicities.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Shama have large bodies ranging, as adults, 12 to 15 meters long, making them some of the largest creatures on Elsanid. They exhibit bilateral symmetry with a front facing head, two tentacle like arms coming from a round central torso, and a muscular tail. While they maintain a fish like structure and appearance with side and dorsal fins (actually, these are not fins but rather arrays of webbed spines, but are used as fins for maneuverability while swimming), and an elongated body which they use for carangiform swimming, complete with a vertically fanned tail fin; shama are more analogous to cephalopods and are not vertebrates.

Head

Shama have four eyes on their smooth, round head; two front facing eyes evolved for predation and two side facing eyes used to scan the environment. The side facing eyes are farsighted, evolved to sense prey and avoid far away predators; and the front are nearsighted to hone in on prey, hunt, and engage in fine manipulation of its local environment.
Atop their head is a bioluminescent tentacle, which they can use to emit a bright white light in their otherwise deep, dark environment. Their head also contains their brain, but not the mouth.

Torso

Behind their head is the torso, more bulbous than the rest of their body, which contains their massive stomachs, evolved to allow them to eat large amounts of food to maintain their bodies, and many other vital organs. They have no defined heart, instead the swimming movements of their torso and tail also pump blood along larger arteries found underneath their largest side muscles, which continue to twitch in their sleep to continue blood flow.
One at each side, they have two long tentacle arms, which can lay flat along the side of their bodies for streamline swimming, curl up near the front, such as before a strike or grab, or simply extend outwards to interact with their environment. At the end of each tentacle is an array of four more, smaller tentacles which originally evolved to grab, manipulate, and open the shells of their prey. These 'finger' tentacles can engage in an impressive amount of fine motor skills and allows tool use and construction.
The mouth is hosted at the bottom of the torso, underneath the arms, and is defined by a large beak, evolved to crack open crustaceous shells, although they use tools for this purpose now in most cultures. The mouth is not suitable for speech, and instead they communicate using a set of click, whistles, hums, and pulsing squeaks, all produced by a set of sound organs in the torso. They can however clack their beaks as a form of intimidation, which evolved as a trait to scare away would be predators, but is now considered by civilized shama as a rude, impolite sound to make, akin to what other cultures might call a curse word.
In lue of fins, on the flanks of the torso and on the dorsal area utop the torso, the shama has arrays of spines fitted with webbing. These can be flattened against the body when advantageous or extended with a good degree of control and are used for greater dexterity or speed while swimming. Between the dorsal spines and those on the sides are a rank of gills used for breathing. The torso is capable of expanding and shrinking to match the water pressure around them, vastly increasing the range at which they can dive and giving them a larger appearance at higher depths. They even have special muscles surrounding certain veins which they unconsciously use to regulate the blood pressure in the head and tail to adapt to external water pressure as well, and can even fill their stomachs with water if needed.

Tail

The simplest area of the shama is the tail, a long, very muscular structure used mostly for propulsion and locomotion. Additionally, the tail muscles constrict and retract along a series of wide arteries which pump blood throughout the body. The end of the tail has a large, vertical, true fin evolved and used for added control in the water. The sex organs are located between the base of the tail and the torso.

Genetics and Reproduction

Shama have three genders, any two of which may reproduce sexually. The sex cells of all three are similar, with no discernable egg or sperm, and the word sperm is used to refer to all three; two of which combine to form an egg which can express either gender of its two parents. The species exhibits sexual trimorphism, with various differences in superficial traits such as body mass, spine length, tail shape, beak shape, eye color, and such features. As such the individual appearance of a shama can vary widely within genders, tribes, clans, and regional groups or nations. Sexual attraction ranges from asexual to trisexual with all combinations in between, although two shama of the same gender cannot reproduce, a feature evolved to increase genetic diversity.
Shama typically mate for many years, if not for life, and marital unions are celebrated within most of their cultures. The act of reproduction involves two partners spraying sex cells into a premade nest like area, some of which will form an egg. A typically hatch will yield three to four offspring. All adults within a tribe take responsibility for the young, and shama society has adapted to building communal nesting grounds overseen by dedicated nurses that guard the area from predators and sometimes take on a teaching role for younglings in the form of a prototypical elementary school. As a result, the concept of a dedicated "parent" does not exist in shama society, instead child shama tend to grow a bond to the tribe as a whole and learn from all adults. For an adult to mistreat or neglect a youngling is almost universally considered a grave crime in shama culture.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Shama are strictly carnivorous and cannot digest plant material. They evolved to hunt shellfish, as exhibited by their beak and other predation techniques. Modern shama, however, farm artificially breed, domesticated versions of their former prey, and use tools and utensils to open the creatures shells. They also eat fish or other meaty sea animals, but vastly prefer shellfish and crustaceans.
Shama medicine-folk and alchemists have also discovered a variety of herbal remedies throughout their culture's history, involving both plant and animal parts, and have a library of medical knowledge and do produce medicine.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Shama have four eyes, two on the front and one on each side of the head. They are photoreceptive, used in conjunction with their bioluminescent head tentacle or to hunt bioluminescent prey. As stated above, the front facing eyes evolved for predation, while the side eyes are used to scan their surroundings.
Shama also have a simple echolocation they use to avoid obstacles while swimming without activating their head tentacle, allowing them to retain a degree of stealth in the dark waters. It is not accurate enough for hunting however, but can detect the difference between stationary environmental hazards such as large rocks or the sea floor and large moving hazards such as another animal big enough to cause harm or other Shama.
They hear using a ridge of audioreceptive follicles lining the edges of their gills. They can hear very well, aiding them in vocal communication and their echolocation, although the frequencies of their echolocation are sensed separately from ambient noise.
Shama have a natural barometric sense, which they sense through their skin. This allows them to sense the surrounding water pressure to a great degree of accuracy, which they use to estimate their depth. Also, they are slightly sensitive to Elsanid's magnetic field, and while it is not accurate enough to detect field lines, they can use it in combination with visual, aromatic, and barometric queues to aid in long distance navigation.
Their tactile senses are noticeably week compared to other species. They can detect pain across most of their body when an area is damaged, and pressure as described above, but not much texture. The exception to this is in their arm tentacles, which have average tactile sensory capabilities, and more so in their finger tentacles, which they can consciously adjust the sensitivity of to be able to sense a great deal of textural, tactile, and temperature information.
Shama have large brains and excellent memory, especially navigational memory and social memory. They have not developed any type of travel marker technology, as they simply remember where to swim to get anywhere they need to go. Also they can remember the physical appearance and personality traits of almost every Shama they have meet since birth. This mental capacity for memory shows in their language, which allows for a huge and very nuanced vocabulary.

Civilization and Culture

Average Technological Level

Shama have a well developed civilization structure. They build tools from stone and certain varieties of coral or shellfish, and breed some of the shellfish they have domesticated and farms to have harder claws or other shell pieces that they use for tools. They breed certain types of coral that they then shape into bricks to use for building structures, but also inhabit natural geographic shelters such as caves or trenches, which they furnish and fortify to protect from other animals.
Shama have a refined language, which, while very difficult to understand by other sapient species, is very diverse and capable of a full standard range of linguistic expressibility, including abstract or philosophical thought and artistic expression such as poetry or storytelling, even song. They have an elementary educational system embedded in their nesting facilities where their young hatch and are initially protected and instructed by nurse Shama.
They also hieroglyphic writing system, but do not have a widespread means of recording information. As such many Shama are illiterate, but certain social classes, like their ruling classes, traditionally require knowledge of their writing systems. Important documents such as laws, edicts, history, and scientific or religious lore are recorded on stone obelisks or carved into other stone structures. Attempts have been made to produce smaller, more accessible means of writing, such as using inks or other fluids produces by smaller animals and staining shells or plant leaves, but in the underwater environment these materials fade or disintegrate too quickly to be of benefit.
Shama do not, like many surface dwelling sapient species, have access to fire (as they live purely underwater) and their native languages have no word for fire, or much of any other means of producing portable energy. As such they rely on manual exertion for labor and work and have little in the ways of machinery. Some Shama alchemists have hypothesized means of extracting chemical energy from certain chemical deposits at the ocean floor, but such experiments have yielded few results that make the endeavour worth the effort. They also do not have any vehicles or form of non-manual transportation.
They have division of labor within their societal structures, with individual Shama specializing in trades and skills such as farming, brickmaking, tool crafting, stone carving, house building, hunting, guarding, nursing, and religious and cultural professions such as ritual leaders, philosophers, musicians, ruling classes, artists, and magicians. They have a cultural understanding of Astrum, and some Shama have spellcasting capabilities tied to their cultural beliefs. They have an array of religions amongst their different ethnicities.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Shama are aware of the Eviin, another sapient, societal, cultured species that inhabits the above water islands of Elsanid. Due to the extreme differences in their methods of communication, despite both being verbal, audio based communication, translation between the two is difficult. Additionally, the two species also have very little to talk about, as they exist in what might as well be two separate worlds.
In the past, Eviin sailors would hunt Shama that came to close to surface waters, but such actions are now illegal (and were always far more dangerous than profitable, Shama are top tier predators with the tools and coordination to protect themselves from the small sailing vessels) among most Eviin nations; due to the few diplomatic negotiations that have been able to take place which outline Shama underwater territory and form non aggression arrangements between the two.

Lifespan

300 years

Average Height

3 meters

Average Weight

30,000 kg

Average Length

14 meters

Geographic Distribution

• Elsanid