#ooughh the symmetry tool my beloved

[b1asho]

Kixeli art and depiction of a community

Kixeli dont normally know who their parents are, but they do know who their caretaker is! Read more under da cut

They don’t really do family trees, and usually just draw their whole community. Their art likes lots of shapes and colors, especially anything abstract or patterned. They exaggerate their arms, flexibility, and patterns on their skin, as well as any barbels or fins they have.

Once their breeding season rolls around in spring, most communities do their thing all at once with their spawn partner. This partner/partners often changes between seasons, especially since there are often “drifters” who come in from other friend communities to participate and keep things diverse. Massive changes in environmental factors can even cause adults to change sexes, keeping their oft isolated communities from dying out (only pre puberty can they start development into an Arasit, but adult Arasit can reverse sex too)

“Voyagers” are people who leave the community to do this, and they don’t always come back. Arasit are particularly suited and esteemed for this role because of their gliding ability.

Once the eggs are fertilized, they are all collected into a special pool built in the middle of the community. All of the eggs are cared for collectively, and the parents of a clutch of eggs might not know for sure whose is theirs, and vice versa (though they have a lot better internal sense of whose related to who, and access to better science has made it easier to keep track) anyone who participated in mating are the ones who care for the offspring, known as caretakers. They wear a special badge to denote themselves as this so the kids know who is best to go to to ask for food, advice, etc and leave anyone who didn’t want kids alone. These caretakers raise the children so that they can know the community and become a part of it with the other adults. So if you ask a Kixeli who their dad is, they may direct you to one or two of the male caretakers that they grew up with/ were taught and raised by that they had a special connection with.

Communities like to all be in one place and they rarely stray outside their bounds for resources and for voyaging.