Baderscatch
The baderscatch (pronounced ˈbædɚskætʃ) is an ellogous arthropod native to the seas of the world of Tegn, as well as some of the adjacent eders. It is able to pass freely between monals—parts of the sea made up of different liquids—by transforming itself to adapt to its new environment. Baderscatches are found through all monals of Tegn, but are most common in the freshwater monal of Osi, the acid monal of Funar, and the alcohol monal of Reidhen.
Description
A typical baderscatch is about two and a half meters long, its body consisting of three main tagmata: the head, or cephalon; the trunk, or urosome; and the tail, or telson. The urosome is, however, itself composed of ten articulated segments, each bearing a pair of legs. The telson seems to have developed very late in the baderscatch's evolution from the fusion of three urosomal segments, and some biologists consider it to be a part of the urosome rather than a separate tagma. Indeed, some baderscatches are still born with vestigial telsonic legs.
The head of the baderscatch bears two eyes on short stalks, three pairs of mouthparts (two maxillipeds, two mandibles, and two maxillae), and one pair of chiropeds, or arms. These last appendages end in a complex series of jointed branches called a cheir that possesses a dexterity comparable to that of human hands, and serves as the baderscatch's primary means of manipulation.
Like most arthropods, the baderscatch is enclosed in a hard chitinous exoskeleton. The baderscatch's carapace is usually dark reddish to bluish on the top, and paler or even white on the bottom. The tergites of the urosome often bear complex mazelike or flowerlike patterns of white lines, which vary widely between individuals.
Anatomy
Most of the space inside the baderscatch's head is taken up by its large brain and its oral cavity. The rest of its prominent vital organs reside mainly in its urosome, including the remainder of its nervous and digestive systems. A thick nerve cord runs ventrally down the length of the baderscatch's body from the brain, with nerves branching off it into other parts of the body and limbs. As for the digestive system, the baderscatch has partially internalized the function of the external preoral cavity of its ancestors (and of related arthropods like most chelicerates today); small pieces cut from its food by the mouthparts are inserted into its mouth and bathed in gastric juices produced by the stomach. Only when the food is fully liquefied is it pumped by the the muscular pharynx through the œsophagus and into the stomach, with any solid remnants ejected through the mouth. Most of the digestive process takes place in the stomach and intestine, and finally any indigestible matter accumulates in the hindgut until it is excreted.
The baderscatch's circulatory system is an odd hybrid between an open and closed system. While it does have a hæmocœl bathing some organs in hæmolymph, it is much reduced and only fills part of the body. A tubular heart running along the baderscatch's back pumps light blue hæmolymph through numerous arteries, some of which terminate in the hemocoel while others further branch into capillaries that interface with organs directly before connecting to veins that return the hæmolymph to the heart. Hæmolymph from the hæmocœl passes through tiny organs called colula that filter the hæmolymph before returning it to the heart. With this system, the baderscatch does maintain some separation between its hæmolymph and its interstitial fluid, albeit not as much as in an animal with a fully closed circulatory system.
Respiration takes place through book gills attached to the base of each of the baderscatch's legs. Each book gill consists of a flap covering about sixscore thin membranes called lamellæ through which gas exchange takes place. From the book gills, veins carry oxygenated hæmolymph to the heart for distribution through the body.
Perhaps the most distinctive anatomical feature of the baderscatch is the spagyric organ or mistorium, an organ in the front ventral part of the baderscatch's urosome where alchemical processes take place. The mistorium is connected to the mouth by the pseudopharynx, which conveys alchemical reagents from the mouth to the mistorium just as the true pharynx does from the mouth to the stomach. Within the complex of sinuses that make up the interior of the mistorium, the reagents are mixed and treated to create various alchemical products, which are then either used internally by the baderscatch or expelled through the mouth for later use, encased in membranous vesicles.
Origins
While now widespread in Sent, baderscatches actually originated in the neighboring eder of Athrigane, in the brackish monal of Esterek. At first confined to that monal, they were intelligent enough to develop both some primitive technology and some ability in spellcasting. It is this that allowed them to spread beyond their home monal; baderscatches did not originally have mistoria and were confined to Esterek. However, they were aware of another creature of Athrigane, the ulligar, that was able to move between monals, changing its substance as it did. Studying the ulligar, baderscatches discovered the organ that made this feat possible—and then by means surgical and magical, they contrived a procedure to extract this organ and implant it in subjects of their species.
This was neither a smooth nor an instantaneous process. At first, as the techniques were developed and refined, the implantation process often went wrong, resulting in some cases in death and in others in unfortunate magical mishaps. Even when the operation became well understood and relatively safe, it was still time consuming and performable only by highly skilled individuals, and only a small proportion of baderscatches were given the implant. It took generations before the baderscatches devised a means of effectively altering their genetic code to enable baderscatches to be born with mistoria rather than have to have them implanted. Once this was achieved, however, it enabled baderscatches to radiate well beyond their home monal of Esterek and even into other eders. Now, though there may be some small clans of baderscatch back in Esterek that lack mistoria, the vast majority have them, and it is for all practical purposes a regular part of baderscatch anatomy.
Reproduction
Baderscatches are diœcious creatures, females on average about twenty percent larger than males. Although the female baderscatch is capable of producing (unfertilized) eggs without the presence of a male, it is a taxing endeavor. To produce enough nutrients for the eggs, the female baderscatch eats voraciously for at least a week before laying, swollen to almost twice her usual size—and moulting much of its shell to make room for the expansion. The baderscatch then lays her eggs, usually eight to twelve at a time, each about twenty-five centimeters in diameter. Exhausted, she then must spend several days recovering and regaining her strength. During the time just before laying when she is bloated to near-immobility, and during the time just after when she is enervated and expended and her moulted exoskeleton is regrowing, the female baderscatch is all but helpless and relies on her mate to feed and care for her. Fortunately, egg production is a voluntary process for baderscatches, and a female baderscatch will very rarely choose to lay eggs if she doesn't already have a willing mate present. While it's possible in theory for a female baderscatch to produce eggs as often as six times a year, in practice relatively few opt to do so more than once in their lives.
Once the eggs are laid, the male tends to the female baderscatch until she has mostly recovered from her ordeal and regrown her carapace, and then, moulting his shell, takes most of the eggs into a ventral cavity called a brood pouch, where they are fertilized, and where they are incubated as the embryo within fully develops. Until the time of fertilization, the embryo within the egg still comprises a single cell, the vast majority of the egg's volume being taken up by the vitellus. Within the brood pouch, however, the embryo gradually develops and differentiates over about a hundred days, absorbing the nutrients from the vitellus to fuel its growth. During this period, it is the male that is distended and disabled by the eggs developing within its body, and the röles are reversed as the female must care for him. At the end of the incubation period, the larval baderscatches hatch from the egg and exit the brood pouch. Typically fewer than half of the eggs are successfully fertilized and develop into larvæ, and generally three to five larvæ end up emerging from the brood pouch. These larvæ are similar in shape to adult baderscatches, and take about fifteen years to grow to full size. As they grow, they moult many times, though the frequency of moulting decreases as they develop. A juvenile baderscatch usually moults seven times in its first year, but then the frequency drops off to three or four times a year, then to once a year, and once the baderscatch reaches full size it no longer moults except during the reproductive process.
One curious detail of baderscatch reproduction is that—partly due to the male's smaller size, and partly due to the fact that the ventral cavity takes up a proportionately smaller part of its body—the male baderscatch often cannot fit all of the eggs laid into his brooding pouch, and it's very common for a few eggs—usually one or two but sometimes as many as four or five—to be left outside and unincubated. These eggs are generally still fertilized; the male baderscatch takes all the eggs into its brood pouch, but not all at the same time; once there is no more room he expels some of the now-fertilized eggs to make room for the others. The unincubated eggs rarely hatch, and if not tended—as is commonly the case—are very likely to end up as food for some passing scavenger. However, even neglected eggs do occasionally hatch on their own, and baderscatches that hatch from such eggs, sometimes called coldborn, often get reputations—not necessarily deserved—as survivors or obstinants.
Alchemy
Although it may not have been an innate ancestral ability, probably what baderscatches are best known for now is their alchemical aptitude. By mixing and treating reagents in their mistoria, baderscatches can produce an endless variety of potions and other alchemical products. The pseudopharynx leading into the mistorium is tough and well protected by chemical coatings against most toxins and irritants, allowing the baderscatch to take into its mistorium even many substances that would otherwise be poisonous or caustic—although particularly hazardous substances may be ingested inside capsules of some material that will last only long enough to pass through the pseudopharynx and then quickly dissolve within the mistorium.
The baderscatch does not exercise precise conscious control over all the processes of the mistorium, but can with practice exert enough influence to engage the effects necessary to produce particular potions. Still, in order to create a specific potion, a baderscatch must know not only what reagents must go into it but also roughly how they are to be combined and treated. A few alchemical recipes the baderscatch seems to know almost instinctively, an instinct perhaps borrowed from the ulligar along with the organ. The adaptation elixir that allows the baderscatch to alter itself to survive in different monals falls into this category; in addition, almost any baderscatch can produce a simple healing potion, a steelskin salve, a potion of celerity, or an invisibility ointment. Others, however, must be either stumbled upon by experimentation—a dangerous process at best—or, more likely, learned from other baderscatches, or from other sources. Processes designed for traditional alchemy with flasks and flames and other apparatus can usually be adapted to be performed by the baderscatch's internal process, though it may take a bit of trial and error. Most adult baderscatches know how to make a couple of dozen different alchemical products, though some know many more than that. Recipes are often passed down through families, so closely related baderscatches often know the same recipes, though of course nothing prevents some family members from learning additional recipes on their own.
Baderscatches who deal with other folks often find selling their alchemical products to be a lucrative source of income. Even within baderscatch society, some trade in potions takes place, since not all baderscatches know the same recipes. Few baderscatches make a living entirely from their alchemy, unless they do so by establishing a trade with other folks without this faculty, although there are a few who do so manage to support themselves by dint of their knowing a large number of recipes or by knowing one or a few that are little-known and jealously guarded.
Society
In general, baderscatches are not especially social creatures, uncomfortable in large crowds. As they developed societally they found value in interchange of goods, services, and ideas, but even so they tend to interact as little as possible, and avoid gathering in groups of more than a half dozen or so. The design of baderscatch cities and communities reflects their semisolitary nature. Roads and walkways tend to be lined by walls or hedges to block the surroundings and give the illution of isolation even in bustling neighborhoods; broad thoroughfares are divided into multiple lanes each lined with such visual barriers, with staggered openings between the lanes. There are few if any large shops or other places designed for large numbers to gather, but many small, specialized shops big enough to be patronized by a few people at a time.
Baderscatches do, however, form close and lasting bonds with specific individuals. These bonded baderscatches are often referred to in English as mates, but the relationship does not carry the connotations of marriage, which is unknown in most baderscatch socities. Baderscatches that have children together almost always do become mates, if they were not already, but baderscatches also form mate relationships with no sexual implications, between individuals of the same or different sex. Mates may or may not live or travel together, but if they do not they will certainly frequently visit each other. It is almost unknown for unrelated baderscatches to share a residence unless they are mates; it may happen in circumstances where shelter is too hard to come by to avoid it, but it inevitably leads to stress and tension. If two baderscatches that had children together do not cohabit, the children are usually raised by the father, but since the parents will usually be mates the mother will be well known to the children.
The shed shells of moulted baderscatches often are given special significance, though the exact nature of that significance depends on the culture. The exuviæ of immature baderscatches may be kept to mark the child's growth, or disposed of with special ceremonies thought to bless the child's development. In some societies, they are ground up and eaten, either as part of some venerated ritual or as an unusual delicacy, or they may be used as alchemical reagants to make some special potions. The moulted exoskeletons of parent baderscatches after reproduction may likewise be kept as a memento of the occasion; often they are dismantled and refashioned into clothing, toys, or furniture for the children.
Religion
Although there are certainly individual dissenters—baderscatches who have turned to other deities, or who are uninterested in honoring any gods—as a whole baderscatches tend to be devout worshippers of a phylic pantheon they have hewn to since they were confined to Esterek. Called the Gambaran pantheon by comparative theologists, this goddery comprises dozens of deities, though there are seven (the "Septenar") that are generally considered the most powerful and important. Leading the pantheon is Zurunan, god of nature and creation. Other significant gods include Celcelane, goddess of war and competition; Enendane, goddess of knowledge; Odergan, god of fertility and birth; Telspane, god of storms and currents; and Wistlock, goddess of health. Finally, Rexen, mercurial god of change, was originally an obscure and very minor god, but since the baderscatches' installation of spagyric organs and spread beyond their home monal has risen in importance to almost rival Zurunan.
Worship of the Septenar usually takes the form of prayer and ceremonial dance, supplemented occasionally with sacrifice of valuable substances. Some gods, especially Celcelane and Telspane, occasionally demand sacrifice of finished goods; rumor has it that in Athrigane animal sacrifice was common up to and including the sacrifice of baderscatches and other ellogous beings, but if so that practice has long been discontinued, except perhaps in some secretive cults. Temples, usually shaped like ziggurats, are common, some devoted to individual gods of the Septenar and some to the pantheon as a whole; temples dedicated to gods outside the Septenar are rare, but not unknown. Most temples are home to at least one full-time priest, and for larger temples several priests, who intercede for the nearby communities and give spiritual advice, their livelihoods provided for by a tithe paid to the temple.