wapush

The wapush are a minor species of rabbit-like people, mostly living on the realm of Tsohkeyah. Many small populations of wapush live in scattered pockets throughout the Sora, the result of a diaspora caused following the varanid invasion of Tsohkeyah.

Physical Description

Wapush have a general bipedal body shape, standing between 4' to 5' tall and weighing 80 to 120 lbs. They resemble rabbits in some respects, with rounded snouts, flattened noses, and two sets of large incisors. They have elongated ears with rounded ends, often standing straight up on their heads. Their legs are longer than a similarly-sized humanoid and they stand in a slightly crouched stance, with their knees bent forward. Along with their long feet, their legs allow them to leap great distances, even without a running start.
Wapush are covered in a short coat of fur, which is typically a shade of brown or gray, sometimes speckled or banded. Their eyes are large and round, with large irises and pupils. They typically have brown or blue eye colors, with occasional blue-grays. Most wapush have short, flat, pointed tails. These tails are often hidden beneath clothes and have no practical use to a wapush.

Senses

Owing to their large eyes and ears, wapush have exceptional hearing and vision. They are able to see in very dim light and hear even soft or distant sounds.

Life Cycle

Wapush does are always fertile, able to become pregnant at any time. They typically have litters of three to four kits at a time. Their pregnancies last roughly nine months, at which point they deliver the kits. Does and bucks mate for life, sharing a burrow and raising their kits together. The kits are able to hop around on all fours after about six months and can start walking around two years of age. They are able to talk shortly after, starting with one or two word statements and continuing to develop over the years. They reach adolescence at around 10 years of age, reaching their full height and maturing around 16. They continue to gain some weight until their mid-20s, at which point they remain roughly the same until their late 60s, at which point they begin a decline. Few wapush live beyond 80.

Diet

Adult wapush eat an entirely herbivorous diet, high in grasses and grains, supplemented by vegetables such as carrots, squash, and peppers. Wapush generally practice only small amounts of agriculture, typically for their supplementary food, as their main diets tend to be found freely and widely in plains. Pregnant and nursing wapush does tend to eat higher amounts of vegetables in order to produce enough milk for their kits.

Distribution

Wapush are native to Tsohkeyah, which is a savage, wild realm, albeit one that has managed to reach the Sora naturally. The realm is largely free of cities and even towns, with most natives living in small villages or loosely connected habitats. The wapush tend toward the later, living in underground warrens consisting of a dozen or so burrows connected together. These burrows can be found primarily in meadows and grasslands, though they can also be found in woodlands and forests which border such areas.
Few wapush have left their homeland. Those who have are relatively recent refugees from an invasion of Tsohkeyah. They tend to find relatively remote, uninhabited plains to establish warrens, living away from others and having little interaction with any natives. They often treat strangers with suspicion or hostility.

Culture and Society

Wapush live pastoral, communal lives. Though there are some regional differences between different cultures of wapush on Tsohkeyah, they all tend to live in broadly distributed communities consisting of large underground burrows. Each burrow contains three or four chambers connected by small tunnels which house between five to ten individuals. Occupants of a single burrow are typically all members of the same family. The chambers serve multiple purposes, being places to rest, play, work, and eat. Wapush rarely have a place of work which is not their own burrow.
These burrows are connected to each other by larger, intersecting passageways. These tunnels are often twisting and turning, many of them leading to dead ends or self-contained loops to deter any invaders. Typically, a dozen or so burrows are connected in this way, usually covering around one to two square miles, though larger, older warrens may contain up to a hundred burrows. An additional one to two square miles are maintained by the warren as grazing land. Due to much of the wapush diet being grasses, they don't require much in the way of agriculture to support their populations. Each burrow typically maintains its own garden where they grow vegetables, with the rest of their food coming from the pastures they live beneath. Warrens tend to be separated from one another by one or two miles.
The eldest child of each family typically inherits a burrow from their parents, while the younger children either move in with spouses who inherit or go dig out their own burrows once they marry. These burrows may be connected to the same warren as their parents' burrow, assuming the warren has not grown too large. When warrens grow too large, four or five married pairs will venture out together to found a new warren.
As wapush are pacifistic and appeasing by nature, they tend to have relatively few disagreements. Those they do have are typically adjudicated by the oldest wapush in the warren. Intrawarren conflict is even rarer, though when it does the warrens typically send representatives to a nearby warren to request the judgement of their eldest. As such, the wapush largely do not have governments, instead relying on informal leadership from elders.

Appearance and Dress

Wapush are covered in fur from head to toe and largely live in temperate climates, thus do not use clothes for purposes of warmth or modesty. Thus most wapush clothes are designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as carrying multiple objects or protection from the elements and injury. This does not mean that wapush clothing is plain or utilitarian, however. Many garments are produced for form as well as function, typically featuring tasseled fringes, elaborate beadwork, and embroidery. Most wapush clothing is made of plant fibers such as jute, flax, or cotton.
Beauty standards among the wapush tend to favor highly achromatic colors, with pure white or pure black fur considered most desirable. Spots or markings on a coat can be considered either attractive or unattractive; regular, symmetric patterns are often considered undesirable, while broken, splotchy patterns tend to be considered beautiful. Soft, fine fur tends to be universally popular among the wapush, though both straight and curly fur is considered attractive in different groups. Though most wapush are rather lithe, rounder bodies are considered especially attractive among them.

Gender and Relationships

Wapush are fairly egalitarian in terms of gender and sexuality, showing no particular care for deviations from the average. Both bucks and does contribute to nearly every type of work, including sharing child rearing duties. The only major exception is with nursing does, who are expected to give up any form of labor other than tending to the kits until they are weaned. When a pair of wapush marry, they tend to move into the burrow of the elder of the two, assuming one has their own burrow or are expected to inherit one. Inheritance is based solely on age; the eldest child who has not already moved out receives the property of the deceased. In the event that all children have already left the burrow, the property tends to be claimed by the first couple who do not have their own burrow.
Homosexual relationships are normal, with about 1/3 of the population being sexually interested at least partly to the same gender. Due to the high fertility and large litters of does, this puts no strain on wapush populations. Marriages between couples of the same gender tend to be somewhat rarer, simply because the pair will be unable to have children and thus do not require their own burrow. Those who do choose to marry are often viewed as somewhat odd, but not treated poorly because of it.

Relations with Other Species

Wapush tend to avoid interacting with other species, typically remaining underground in their warrens. They tend to have peaceful relationships with most other burrowing herbivores on Tsohkeyah such as wuchaks and gigas, while tolerating above-ground herbivores like echoche or tummoks whom they rarely encounter. Contrarily, they have an instinctual fear of carnivorous and even omnivorous species, treating them with suspicion and unease even though the wapush themselves are not considered prey by any intelligent species. When confronted with a carnivore, most wapush will do their best to get away from them, though when such meetings are necessary they can suppress this instinct.
Non-Tsohkeyah species have had much less contact with the wapush. Those few warrens that have migrated offrealm tend to stay far from other species, dealing with them only in times of utmost necessity. It remains to be seen how they will treat other species in general if they become more established throughout the Sora.