Deep Seadwellers

The Deep Seadwellers are a presumed extinct subspecies of Retikan Seadweller that are believed to have lived at the borders of where Tropical and Polar Shallows become the Deep Oceans. Abandoned structures have been located near geothermal vents that no longer function, leaving the surrounding areas devoid of most life forms that exists in the Shallows. These structures are dug into the surrounding stone, the walls carved with intricate murals that depict what many scholars believe to be images of still life, captioned with strange runes. Using the above carvings, scholars have extrapolated that the Deep Seadwellers were very similar physiologically to Polar Seadwellers, retaining larger fat stores to combat the cooler ambient temperatures of the deeper waters. Expeditions have found skeletal remains, confirming that the skeletal structure of Deep Seadwellers is virtually identical to their still living cousins, albeit denser. It is suspected that they had a tougher swim bladder than Tropical and Polar Seadwellers, and some scholars have even speculated that the Deep Seadwellers did not possess a dual respiratory system. Expeditions to the abandoned structures have returned artifacts that use biolumiescent plantlife to provide light, even though the ruins are never so deep as to completely lose the sun's influence. It is suspected that it was the Deep Seadwellers that brought artificial lighting to their Tropical and Polar cousins. Other artifacts indicate that the Deep Seadwellers were a warlike people, with several expeditions returning weaponry in the form of spears and other polearms, as well as some hard coral headpieces that seem to be designed around protecting the tena nerves on the forehead. These designs influenced the weapons, armor and helmets of the Seadwellers after they made contact with the Itakian people. Seadweller scholars have made multiple attempts to translate the runes found on the walls of the abandoned structures, but were unsuccessful until the introduction of the universal translator to the culture. After the runes were able to be translated with ease, the mystery of the Deep Seadwellers fell out of the common interest, with most people simply writing them off as a dead civilization. However, archaeologists and collectors still journey to the abandoned structures to locate and recover artifacts for study, and some religious historians believe that the Deep Seadwellers have a heretofore unknown connection to the Goddess-In-The-Trench.

Encompassed species