Impine

Written by Cyborg Starfish

"Hello!"

- an Impine

Impines are a winged species widely believed to be the Elphin's distant relatives. They can be divided into various sub-species and are found all over the Valahiri mainland. The relationship between Impines and Elphin communities tends to be quite intimate and varied. Impines can be messengers, companions, guardians, loyal friends or annoying troublemakers.

Basic Information

Anatomy

"Daddy!"

- an Impine

Impines have four limbs. They have opposable thumbs on both their hands and their feet. Their limbs are long enough to allow swift climbing.

Three Tails

The Impine's three tails can grow and shrink based on the Impine's activity. Besides climbing, the tails are also used as a weapon against larger predators. Getting whipped by set of Impine tails is no joke. It likely results in multiple broken bones depending on where the tails land. Impines sleep while hanging from a tree branch, which they grab with their tails.

Wings

Impines can't fly very long or high with their wings, but the flying combined with their expert climbing skills allows them to quickly traverse long distances. When flying, Impines contract their tails until they are merely stubs.

Genetics and Reproduction

"Rain clouds! Rain clouds!"

- an Impine

Impines are hermaphrodites. They often enter relationships with multiple other Impines at once, but they only need one partner to reproduce. Their other partners will stay with them and help take care of their children and vice versa. In a domestic environment, if there is no other Impine around, an Elphin companion is encouraged to take on the role of a second caregiver. Eggs take about twenty days before they hatch. Infant Impines are very small and have no fur. Their wings and tails are stubs.

Impines only reproduce once a Cycle. During mating season, the Impine uses up all of its reproductive material to generate as much offspring as possible, since very fiew of their children make it to adulthood. This reproductive material takes about a Cycle to regenerate.

Ecology and Habitats

Due to their affinity with trees and fungi, Impines prefer forested areas with a lot of precipitation.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Impines are carnivorous, feeding mostly on insect and small amphibious creatures.

Behaviour

"Kak! Whitefingers! Piss brain! Creeper! Headless turd! Spearsucker! Pest!"

- an Impine expressing affection

Kinship

Despite being relatively independent, Impines build strong bonds with each other and with members of other species, particularly Elphin. They mourn the death of their companions for several days on end.

Playful Pestering

Impines are very often seen playing with each other and members of other species. Al lot of their games involves teasing others. Common teasing behaviour includes:

- Knocking on each other's heads until it escalates in a playful brawl

- Making annoying sounds

- Pulling each other's tails

- Stealing and hiding things from their Elphin companions

- Knocking on their Elphin companion's head

- Pulling their Elphin companion's hair and ears

- Throwing rocks and nuts at other animals

- Mimicking the sounds of other animals to cause confusion

- Scaring other animals

- Scaring Elphin

Small Talk

Despite not being able to fully understand Elphin spoken language, Impines can mimic Elphin speech patterns in single words, short phrases and short sentences. Their mimicry is never perfect. It is always accompanied by all kinds of clicks and whistles regular Elphin are incapable of producing. Impines can be trained to recognize patterns and react to those patterns accordingly. Their Elphin companions have used this to create a more in-depth way of communicating with them. Impines will still never understand the words they are mimicking. To them, they are just 'Elphin sounds'. This can result in quite a few awkward and humorous moments, like an Impine swearing profusely to express affection to its potty-mouthed Elphin companion.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

"I like cookies!"

- an Impine

Impines have large compound eyes that allow them to see detail across great distances. They have two vocal organs. One is located in the throat and is used to produce non-ultrasonic sounds. The second one is located on the head, just underneath the Impine's antennae, which produces ultrasound. Due to the shape of this ultrasonic organ, it is commonly mistaken for a pair of ears. However, an Impine hears through its antennae, which they also use for smell.

There is much debate about why Impines also have an ultrasonic vocal organ, since it doesn't seem to give any evolutionary benefits. Impines are diurnal, and their compound eyes and antenna ears seem to be more than enough for them to orient themselves. One possible explanation lies within the fact that Impines are expert sound mimics, being able to mimic the sound of a wide variety of different species, including species that only communicate through ultrasound.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

"I need to pee!"

- an Impine (that doesn't actually need to pee)

Fur Fungus

From an outsider perspective, Impines appear to have a short coat of grey or gold fur, often adorned with black markings. The twist is: Impines don't naturally have fur, they have tiny scales, like their distant Elphin relatives. Instead, the fur is a symbiotic fungus that enhances the Impine's nervous system, allowing it to directly communicate with plants and trees through touch. Their fur also allows them to access the forest's many mycelium networks and be witness to the many communications between trees. The type of symbiotic fungus differs from region to region, and it's easy to find out which fungal species has attached itself to an Impine just by looking at the coulour of the fur. Fungal spores tend to jump from parent to child and from sibling to sibling. It starts taking hold only two days after birth. Once merged with the fungus, an Impine cannot live without it, as removing the fungus now damages the nervous system so severely it results in death. This fact suggests that the fungus doesn't just enhance the Impine's nervous system, but drastically alters it too. How this works is still unknown. And some fungi work a little different from others. However, strangely enough, none of them will ever attach themselves to other species.

Civilization and Culture

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Despite their teasing behaviour, Impines appear to be widely hospitable towards other species, as long as they don't try to eat them. As expert mimics, they are capable of easily communicating with different species. Sometimes members of other species are invited into the Impine family, mostly taking the role of a caregiver to Impine children. Elphin can also fulfill this role.

Speaking of Elphin, individual Impines can become especially fond of individual Elphin, viewing them as companions. Many forest-dwelling Elphin cultures have a deep relationship with the local Impine population. Impines can be trained to become messengers, as they move much faster than Elphin. They are also loved by travellers, as they can be trained to scout the environment, and their superior senses allows them to spot threats from long distances. Some Elphin families have trained one or more Impines to become guardians. Although inherently peaceful, Impines can become extremely aggressive when confronted with threats. And if their opponent is too much for them, they use their expert mimics skills to scare them off.

"Bye!"

- an Impine

Lifespan

20 Cycles

Average Weight

3 kg

Average Length

100 cm (including tails at maximum length)

Geographic Distribution

• Valahiri