Blindsharks

Blindsharks are a semi-amphibious, cavern dwelling refugee race hailing from the great crater known as the Sink. The sinkhole’s collapse killed many of their number and has forced them to flee into the surprisingly open arms of their new neighbors, bringing with them organic technology and a cultural hot streak.

by Evans

Basic Information

Anatomy

Precisely how the Blindsharks came to dwell in their caverns is as of yet unknown, but their physiology fully represents their time spent in the lightless, watery depths.
Blindsharks, at their most base, resemble anthropomorphic sharks, yet are more closely related to amphibians or salamanders than fish. The skin that covers their lanky frames is cold and slimy, a thin layer of mucus helping them move in the dark waters of their native habitat.
Their frames are slender and lanky, physiology leaning towards lean if not gaunt, with exposed ribs being a common sight. This is partially due to the environment and partially due to the diet most Blindsharks subsist on, being cavern dwelling isopods and shellfish.
While they resemble somewhat humanoid frogs throughout their figure, with thin, pale white or even clear skin, webbed fingers and toes, and cartilage bones poking outwards, thin skin draped over it, their most unique features are their tails, snouts, and fins.
Blindsharks have large chunks of cartilage growing from their forearms, back, lower legs (and maybe head), connected to their bones by thick ligaments and manipulated by smooth muscle. They are collapsible, and aid the shark in smooth aquatic travel.
Their tails sprout from their spines, being, again, a cartilage frame holding up fin-shaped skin structures. Blindsharks tails are unique in that they can vary from region to region, though the most common are the salamander-shaped tails sported by the Sink refugees.
Last of all is their head, which on first inspection appears to be a almost featureless cone. Upon opening their mouths, a wide jaw full of sharp teeth is revealed, along with a long tongue (occasionally replaced by a isopod) and capped nostrils. Eyes, however, remain conspicuously absent. It's not until a very close look is taken that the two faintly dark spots can be seen under the skin, a remnant of ancient evolution.
Beneath their head lies a handful of gills slits, which swell out and dominate their shoulder area. These gills are almost fully functional, yet can be disregarded when the Blindshark decides to leave it's aquatic home. Unlike a true amphibian though, they can't truly breathe air, and will have their actions somewhat impaired unless they can take a deep breath with some fresh water every once in a while.
Their cartilaginous skeleton yields them an advantage in the close quarters, cramped location of their home sea. It is not so on land, where the extra weight exerted over their bodies tends to cause some compression issues if they remain out of water for long periods of time. Luckily, they can still move fairly freely. Humorously, Blindsharks may appear to be a few inches shorter out of water due to skeletal compression.

Genetics and Reproduction

The two sexes of the Blindshark population express extreme dimorphism. Both begin their life cycle as small, tadpole like nymphs consisting of a head, organs, and a rudimentary fin system to help them navigate. However, while females sprout limbs and grow into their full, humanoid figure over time, males never make it past the nymph stage. They remain as a small, tadpole like organism throughout their short lifespan, serving as a food source for both their larger brethren and the many creatures that occupy the underwater sinkhole.
That is, unless they find adult female. Much like the anglerfish, Blindsharks males exhibit sexual parasitism. Upon finding a female whose body is giving off the telltale pheromones that she's ready to mate, the small male will bite into her skin and remain latched on. The bite is painless, the male using a numbing agent in its saliva to ensure its mate doesn't notice it until it is already too late. The male will fuse itself to the female’s body, becoming a tiny, wriggling tail and a set of sexual organs over time.
Once it has fused to the point of having access to the bloodstream though, then it can begin dumping its genetic material right into its partner’s body. Specialized cells will carry this to the female’s uterus, where egg development can begin.
While females and males can technically copulate at any location on their body, those which actually attach themselves near the female’s genital slit will have the highest chance of copulation.
While this is good for the female, as it allows them to be rather selective of males, it can be terrifying for any who have a non-Blindshark partner. Females may carry up to dozens of these male parasites around their genitalia, which can be quite the terrifying sight for anyone who's not a female Blindshark.
The way Blindsharks age can vary immensely, much like with any other race, depending on what environment they're kept within. In cool, moist or liquid environments free of conflict, a female can live to around slightly over a century. However, this isn't much of a luxury anymore, with most of the populace being thrust onto the hot, conflict embroiled surface of Admoxin. Average life expectancy has dropped to around 40, and is liable to decline further as tensions mount.

Ecology and Habitats

Blindsharks are wholly aquatic, able to live for indefinite periods of time within the oceans of Admoxin, as well as for partial periods of time on the land. Their rudimentary lung system allows them to suck air through their gills, which is very fortunate as their home-sea was almost completely destroyed, forcing them from their deep ocean home and into the swamps of Visha.
The Sink once held most of the population of Blindsharks, the central ventriculae containing many living shapes and thousands of sharks. However, being in a self-contained cavern ocean, as such, limited their space. So they mined, digging in all directions until, eventually, many hundreds of miles of rock and ocean came crashing down around them. The Sink, once a hidden depth of briny water, was opened to the surface for the first time, bringing with it the dead and dying refugees of the Great Sink.
While the rescues attempts to save the still trapped pockets of Blindsharks stuck within the churning waters of the Sink continue, most of the refugees have moved into the outskirts of Ush Daoh or migrated to the slums of the various major cities, setting up small ghettos and colonies as they try to eke out a living in a new and hostile world. Their inability to see has some remedy via Ampulogues, but there is no way to truly solve their other physical issues. While able to carry water circulation systems with them to extend their travel time, they lack any real ability to keep their bodies moist and protected from the sun. As such, every Blindshark must eventually return to some source of water.
Many of the more desperate Blindies have fallen prey to the polluted waters of the major cities, their skin too absorbent of toxins and residual Magium. Mutations are a common sight in the slums, and for every handful of rebellious Blindshark pups there is at least one with a cleft face or extra limb.
They manage though. Their kin, the Sandgators, who also suffered great losses from the collapse of the Sink, have welcomed them with open arms, trying to provide what little land they can. The less turbulent waters of the Sink tend to hold floating shanty-towns made from old plumbships and floating debris lashed and bolted together, a place where Blindsharks can convene with their land-bound brethren and choose the next course of action.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Blinsharks are, as their name suggests, wholly blind. While the shallow divots in their skull suggest that they, once a time, had eyes, they have long since evolved powerful senses of touch, hearing, and smell to allow them to navigate their light less domain.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

The Blindshark language is quick and bubbly, often sounding like the smooth and fast slang terms of other species. Halts between sounds, words, and sentences are either clipped or wholly non-existent, and it can often be nearly impossible to translate what an excited or angry Blindy is trying to say.
Their words consist almost wholly of vowel sounds, with the occasional croaky consonant tossed in for emphasis. “Ayo wha oup fahmnk?”
For almost their entire lives, Blindsharks have known only two things to be certain; stone, and water. Their names reflect this duality, with part of their full name being solid, set in stone, a family name. The other portion can change on a whim, and acts as more of a nickname. However, it is up to the owner of the name to change it, though close friends can often make good suggestions. As such, younger pups tend to hold rather curious names, while the older fish eventually settle on one name. Only the most dire of crimes will strip a shark of their naming freedom, earning them a “shackle-name” to remind themselves, and others, of their crimes.

Average Technological Level

Males helped discover biotech via fusing
Isopods, follow the behavior of other digits and can be trained. MAgium has allowed for the ispod market to go crazy with designs, the familiar marine insects now able to take on the role of everything from whole limbs to internal organs.
Ampuforms / ampulogues
Unlike the tree-manipulating humans, BS do not actively shun or look down on technological advancements of other races. Perhaps due to desperation, they are willing to use anything they can get their webbed hands on, and are willing to openly trade away the secrets of their own technology for a nominal fee.
Due to this, the Blindsharks have a booming medical market, both legit and black. The prevalence of limb replacing isopods and tech evolved from their own organ fusing genes has led to them being at the forefront of organ replacement sciences despite the populous as a whole remaining in refugee status. The slums of the region are rife with illicit operations, and you can find anything you need, from a cosmetic change to a whole limb, for the right price of course.

History

A large amount of shark history has been lost due to the Sink, with many reservoirs of knowledge finding themselves crushed beneath the waves or trapped therein. Most Blindshark history is kept orally at this time, and due to the large loss of esoteric and cultural knowledge, Blindsharks often act as a young race as a whole, though this will vary from individual to individual.
One of the largest mysteries surrounding the sharks themselves is how they got in the sink in the first place.
Before the fall, Blindsharks existed within the various caverns within the Sink. The Sink is not a vast area, with provinces being split up within a few hundred miles each, borders usually determined by the walls of the caverns they inhabited. The limited space led to plenty of wars, with vast plains of stagnant water remaining unusable and making food and other resources fairly scarce. The Blindshark population remained small and tribal for many years until one province, under the reign of twin matri-sharks (kek), uncovered a collection of undersea vents. Nearby these vents was found several crevices opening up into vast caverns of crystalized Magium. Between these two discoveries, the Blindsharks acquired both the power source they needed, and ways to harness it.
Remaining as the dominating head for many years, the twins eventually fell, with one dying of old age and the other disappearing into the deeper abyssal caverns never to return. In their stead a power vacuum was formed, with the many sides bringing arms to bear as they fought amongst themselves. Magium found itself used as a weapon, alongside several horrors from the abyssal plains. The caverns were wholly rearranged, with factions rising and dying year after year. It is believed that at some point the faultline, which is theorized to have caused the sink, was formed somewhere in this warring period. It would not open up until much later, but before that, after a hundreds years of vicious, tribal war, the sharks found themselves in a stalemate.
More Magium and vents had been found, and with this “wealth” finally distributed, soldiers and civilians alike began to suffer fatigue from the constant skirmishes. As the populations began to settle, new borders were formed and new caverns mined. Treaties were signed and land divvied out. All that was left was to beat back the horrors, many heroes rising and falling to guard the great cavernous holes from which these creatures crawled. But for the most part, the sharks could call themselves sisters again.
Until the Sink. Despite their rapidly developing technology and steady reign of peace, the blindsharks lacked the foresight to see the danger looming literally overhead. In (date AD) the cavern ceiling began to crack apart, bringing the whole world down on the sharks. A chain reaction began, with the destruction spreading faster as tons of stone and rubble, almost a whole continent, rained down around them. Cities were crushed and populations trapped, the devastation immeasurable. Many managed to escape through the usage of Magium, hiding in side caverns, or raw luck. Out of the tens of thousand strong population, only a few thousand escaped.
Literally fish out of water, these newcomers had to adapt to the world, and quickly. No city could house such a vast population of foreign bodies, and while they tried, tensions began to rise. This new race was strange, had odd customs. Many internal conflicts boiled over as they began to fight over whether they should try and save those in the Sink, or if there was no point. Gangs began to form in the slums and refugee camps, offering protection from the less tolerant outside races. The diplomats of the old Blindshark nations fought to keep the peace, as those focusing on rescue efforts continued to drain the dwindling resources of the group as a whole.
A year later, the sharks are split into a few groups, each with vastly differing ideologies.
The Diplomats desire to keep the old ways in order, upholding the laws and customs of the city states now sunk beneath the waves. Most of them consider this a new world, a fresh start, and aim to establish new sovereign states. This is due to the belief that, while the Sink isn’t a lost cause, the Blindshark should gain footing before they begin a rescue effort. Getting them organised is the first step. There is currently only one surviving royal member from the Sirirachi province, Californyaroll. Considered to be the face of the entire diplomatic group, she is very much a figurehead, but remains a driving force behind the various Diplomats.
The Saviors can be considered a foil to the Diplomats. They argue that there are people still alive within the sink, and that the race as a whole needs to focus its efforts on saving as many as possible. Unfortunately, they lack the resources to do so, often turning to black market trading to procure the Magium Rigs and mining equipment needed to clear the vast swathes of rubble left in the poisoned, murky waters of the Sink. Saviors are considered a faction unto their own, considering the vast number in their ranks, often acting as something of a military force at times, and construction company at others.
They are a huge motley with a mostly single minded interest, honed to point under their leader, Sashimi. A thin, sharp, and angry shark, Sashimi is often called the “Queen of Burnt Bridges” due to her incredibly single minded nature. While still an extremely sharp negotiator, her harsh words tend to lead to the conclusion “if you’re not helping us, you’re against us.” She has left many angry politicians in her wake, but between her powerful leadership skills and the undeniable power of guilt, she keeps the Saviors going on a steady trickle of funds, stolen or otherwise.
The third and final group is simply the collection of Gangs. Largely focused on both protecting the shark population as well as extorting them, these gangs can be both benign, rebellious teenagers or extremely hard gangsters, with the two often mixing. Gangs run the black markets, trading Magium, Biotech, and unearthed Blindshark artifacts for coinage and other goods. Many of them provide supplies to the Saviors, funds to the Diplomats, or are simply collecting money for themselves. There are a few gangs that serve wholly to protect the more fragile population of sharks, and while some demand pay, other have taken it upon themselves to show their teeth and keep their sisters safe.
Between these three lie the rest of the population. Mourning, looking for work, trying to pick up the pieces, and often all three at the same time, they are a tired lot.

Scientific Name

Ishqesh

Origin/Ancestry

Amphibian

Conservation Status

Endangered