world building - selka

selka are scaled, bipedal beings with lithe, serpentine bodies and tapering heads. they have thicker, longer necks than humans, and the head is more forward-slung. short, swept crests or spines point back from the skull. they have binocular vision, supplemented by a third, apical eye.

evolutionarily, young are solid or mottled black, grey, or brown. egg producing adults are mottled as well, and sperm producing adults are brightly colored: green, gold, red, indigo or purple are most common. but this can be chemically triggered and is a matter of personal preference.

like humans, [selka] are synapsids, but they forked off at a point before the branch containing terrestrial mammals came into existence. they tentatively came from a world where the great dying was less cataclysmic, synapsida die-off was less severe, and in the clade radiation afterward the roles were split more eveny between archosaurs and synapsids. there was less of a push toward marginal, nocturnal lifestyles and endothermy.

one result of this is that [selka] retained the ancestral third eye (parietal or pineal eye). in ancestral species it was primarily for thermoregulation, but for social and redundancy reasons, it secondarily became like the other two eyes- fully lensed, mobile, and lidded. the exact social role of the third eye varies culturally, but generally it and the two lateral eyes are important in signifying attention, trust, mood, vulnerability etc.. it is also important functionally. the third eye is useful in regulating body heat. the third eye also has an ability to see polarized light, which allows one to see sky polarization patterns and to directly sense compass orientation during the day. [selka] have redundant binocular vision. the third eye participates in depth perception, and one who has lost a single eye can still see in depth using the remaining two.

[selka] are naturally ectothermic, but they've had magic which generates heat for hundreds of milennia: so long, in fact, that there has been some evolution to accommodate this. because of this long-running association, optimal temperature ranges for enzymes + muscle action etc. are more akin to endotherm ranges.

in the warm season, [selka] lay clutches of parchment-shelled eggs, which are most often incubated and watched over in a communal crèche. evolutionarily, this was an earth mound built over a mound of plant matter, with raised buttresses around it. adults would take turns incubating the eggs and, later, caring for young. supplementary heat was provided by breakdown of the plant matter beneath the crèche.

[selka] live in many romantic and family modes, but evolutionarily they evolved with a tendency to live in groups of closely associated mated adults. these groups tended not to have a clear heirarchy, and to have flux in terms of who mates with who. eggs, if the group had any, were generally incubated together, and children were generally raised communally, with little or no differentiation between individuals based on parentage.

in the present day, there's a great deal of variety in cultural particulars, but communal incubation and child rearing are still common. certain new options are available. nomadic lifestyles are more feasible than they used to be. in communities which have a stationary crèche, the crèche is often a central mound or enclosed building with spells for heat regulation and protection. [selka] young can walk (quadrupedally) at birth and are fairly self-reliant. most [selka] semi-innately have two magical skills:

SUN SENSE

WARMTH

which let them detect magical gradients and generate heat within their bodies, respectively. young often will remain in the crèche until they learn these and can thermoregulate independently.

smaller crèche units, which may include other species, are common, and [selka] often adopt other parenting styles as well. parental relationships are generally known, but the nuclear family is relatively deemphasized.

sexual dimorphism is minor in selka. in general, women are somewhat larger and older, for reasons we will go into. but individual variation is immense.

[selka] have two sex chromosomes, Z and W. the most common genotypes are ZW and ZZ, which do not cleanly map to male and female. there is very little dimorphism. while many species have practices of cultural or magical transition, [selka] are one of those in which adult social and physical transition is innate. ZZ individuals can become fertile and egg-laying, and ZW individuals can become sperm producing, with biological triggers which can be electively engaged with (temperature, chemistry, etc.)

ancestrally, ZZ individuals who are egg-laying were the most common example of this. this is because evolutionarily, [selka] are protogynous hermaphrodites. before they are born, ZZ individuals in their eggs may grow ovaries and become capable of laying eggs based on temperature. additionally, even before technological options existed to facilitate this, many ZZ adults would undergo the same process based on temperature, age, reproductive factors, or social factors.

while patriarchy and rigid gender roles have historically been uncommon in [selka] cultures, they have had some related hierarchical challenges. there's some essentialism around femininity, which despite immense individual flux, is in some cultures strongly linked to size, age, build, and physical prowess. some cultures end up with femininity being policed, positions of authority tending to be occipied by larger, more conventionally femme individuals.

in a manner somewhat unusual for dioecious species, the change in the capacity to bear children is generally considered independent of gender. many people choose to physically transition one way or another without any presentational or social transition at all. as an example of this, it is common in homosexual couples who wish to reproduce for one individual to temporarily change to complement their partner with no social transition at all, then return.