Herits

a normal distribution graph illustrating most herits are in the 3-5 feet range
Herit Height Distribution
 
Life Stages
Herit Life Cycle

Overview

Herits are extremely varied littol buggy guys, which have evolved after humans went extinct. They all start out as identical little grubs, and evolve influenced by their environment to develop a wide array of unique attributes, growing though many stages, the last of which typically anthropomorphic. Their physionomy varies wildly but they usually grow at least one pair of head appandages (ears, horns, anteanaes), a pair of back appendages (usually wings) and a tail-like appendage. Every herit's name is five letters long. With an average height of around 4' tall, it is not impossible for Quinherits to be as small as a foot, and as tall as 9 feet; altough these are extreme cases, and are rarely encountered.

Life Cycle

by timetokrill

Larval Stage

the larva of a herit is uncerimoniously dumped in some area on the vast landscape their continent spans. a larva is half of a foot long, white, and has small nubs that will later be antennae.it looks near featurless and is EXTREMELY fucking hardy. tardigrade shit

Nymph stage

after being adopted by a fauna, they take on pale, dull versions of their parents colors and slowly developing limbs. their nubs (antennae) may mimic their parent species horns. size of a cat, but may be bigger or smaller. tail is kinda just a strange little bit of flesh

Youngling stage

bipedal, but very poor posture! colors are brighter but not vibrant and they are about 3 feet tall. developing chitinous plates and “hair”, wing buds visible (dont damage em!) and tail now is an actual tail

Chrysalis stage

a young herit, put in a sleepy autonomous state by desire to start pupating, uses funky magnet shit im pretty sure animals can use to direct themself to what they will later learn is Chrysalis [something] a hospital like place with a large foyer that functions as a safe place to build a chrysalis (which may be relocated by workers there). in the chrysalis, they basically fucking dissolve into goo

Post pupation

WINGS TIME. you just escaped your cocoon and you are covered in goop and hungry as SHIT. most post pupates will eat their chrysalis, if the chrysalis cannot be eaten (too thick, teeth too blunt, etc) the chrysalis will be blended into an edible state and served with nutrient rich foods to quickly replenish energy (this is hodges job, “pupate feeder” name wip) while a pupate has the maturity of a 9-12 year old, they have VERY high neuroplasticity and quickly pick up the customs and language of their species. they go to school :)

Anatomy & Physiology


Herit evolve in many different ways, highly influenced by their surroundings.

Herits flesh is a soft, jello-like substance. It is quite soft and glutinous, sticking to itself. Bloodless, it is a cloudy. transluscent white, making blood color very influential to its final color. When born, grub flesh is uniform all the way through; but it quickly forms a skin where it contacts with air. This membrane thickens through its growth, over the ten-ish years of the first part of its life. During chrysalys, flesh, organs, everything liquifies and the gellification process begins anew, until the herit's body has been fully reformed. On emergence, young hatchlings's skin is firm, But not quite fully hardened. It usually takes 6 to 8 years for a hatched herit to reach final size and firmness; changes being much slower and less radical post-pupation. Final skin hardiness is determined by a variety of factors, but usually ends up in the ballpark of cow hide.

Blood types

  Mammal blood Red - most alike to human blood
  Dish Soap Blue - translucent, more viscous; ranges from deep aqua to light cyan
  Icefish Clear - fully transparent
  Hemerythrin Violet - denser, mostly opaque, shimmery
  Conceptual blood - Rare, these are unique to each individual with it