Lithkind

Lithkind
Status	Minor Race
Classification	Omnivore/hunter
Size	4 foot
Weight	90 pounds
Homeworld	Izyme (Gzirr!k'l 1833)
Multi-world	yes
Canon	yes
Extinct	Extant
Reference	GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 3

The Lith Kindriu a-Izyme evolved in the tree branches of their planet Izyme's southern land masses. When climactic changes threatened this habitat, the Lithkind became nomadic hunters. They developed fire, clothing, tools, and weapons, and tamed the fierce Crimson Snakebat that came up out of the frozen south. When the ice retreated, the Lithkind returned to their trees, but developed vast arboreal cities, domesticating many varieties of fungus, animal, and insect. With cities came science, industry, and eventually, the stars.

PHYSIOLOGY

Standing only 4' and weighing 60-90 lbs., the Lithkind are among the smallest of sentient races. Their faces are similar to a delicate-featured Human's, save for large, slit-pupiled emerald green eyes, pointed ears, and a total lack of eyebrows or facial hair. Concealed by their thin lips are multiple rows of needlelike teeth. A Lithkind's smile can be a shock.

Aside from their small size, their most exotic feature is their "hair," a mass of rippling blue and green pencil-thick tendrils that reaches halfway down their back. Their skin is smooth and hairless, blue as the sea. Their limbs are Humanlike, although their legs are 'a trifle longer in proportion to their bodies than those of mankind, and fingers and toes have an extra joint. They are slim for their height, and possess a long, prehensile tail.

The Lithkind are nocturnal. They have very sharp ears. Their eyes can see well in anything but total darkness. Their color vision distinguishes fewer shades then Human eyes. For a Lithkind, yellow, green, and blue blur together, as do red and orange.

Lithkind have two sexes, with the females slightly larger. They are not mammals, and neither male nor female Lithkind possess breasts. Lithkind reach their full physical and mental growth after 13 Imperial years. They are then socially adults and have reached their full growth, but they don't achieve puberty until 35 to 40 years old.

REPRODUCTION

The Lithkind must mate at the appropriate age, or suffer a fatal buildup of hormonelike chemicals. As these hormone-analogs begin to surge through its body, a Lithkind will feel an increasing desire to mate. A Lithkind who does not do so by age 40 suffers insanity followed by death through painful convulsions.

When Lithkind mate, both partners are consumed by a raging flood-tide of desire, but the female's strength will be artificially enhanced by adrenalinelike chemicals. Courtships are violent affairs. They end when the female rips open her husband's stomach and devours his spore-pods and then the rest of his body. The now-fertilized (and bloated) female collapses into a deep sleep lasting several days. Afterward, a pregnant Lithkind is listless and quiet. Any threat is met with a berserk defense.

The Lithkind digestive tract (and those of other animals on their world) do double duty as a reproductive vessel. Eating the male provides both the male genetic material needed for reproduction and the initial nutrients for the fetuses that grow inside her own stomach. As the female's own digestive tract converts to its reproductive role, she gradually ceases to eat.

Lithkind females develop three to six pairs of matched male and female fetuses. The exact number depends on the age at which mating takes place (the older she was, the fewer children) and her own health. As the fetuses grow they absorb nutrition from the mother's body, much of it initially provided by the body mass of the devoured father. However, developing Lithkind fetuses also compete fiercely in the womb. When food is scarce the largest fetuses may use the smaller as food (much the same fashion as terrestrial hyenas or sharks).

Normally, one to four pairs will survive. As the fetuses develop, more and more of the mother's own nutrients are also consumed. Their birth means the mother death. The baby Lithkind eat their way out of their mother's stomach.

References & Contributors / Sources

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• GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 3
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science