#uniima larvae

[yellosnacc]

Uniima larvae come in large numbers but high mortality rate as these onigiri have to compete to become juveniles even in the egg case.

They start off with an egg wall. Their bodies are still clumbs of cells that slowly fill up the inside of the 'egg', consuming the included nutrients. Once they are ready, the baby grows it's own wall for the first time and 'hatches'.

After this the larvae molts as it grows with a new wall each time. During the whole larval period the shed skin sticks to the white. If adults don't clean them up, you will see multiple torn layers on top of the white, which can cause issues.

The white grows a straw. A somewhat brittle organ compared to that of ancestral larvae but functional enough to pierce under another whites wall (especially in the side seam). The larva actively feeds itself using this, though the food has to be liquid enough to get through the straw. They don't smell or see to search for food and will just wiggle the straw around until they can slurp. These triangles are mostly fat and liquids with other tissues in the center and thowards straw.

When they completely lose the straw (the entrance to it reforms), they start eating with their new mouth. At this point they also start making noise with their nostrils. Adult Uniima are sensitive to this much more than to the visual cuteness of the larva. This is often when adults start claming individuals to raise.

As the creature grows and gains complexity inside its own wall, it's new molts allow for use of more developed parts - anal cavity opens, ear cycles appear, eyes get bigger and closer to the wall surface, "mouth hands" with leathery pads emerge.. and lastly it's whole legs with fingers (often just silhouettes of feet show up rather then whole fingers or they are webbed).

After it's last stage and sufficient amounts of food, the white goes dormant to metamorphosise. This can take a week and less as most juvenile components are already in place.

The larval stages of Uniima can differ in length depending of environment - temperature, humidity, lack of food...

The average time from birth to metamorphosis is around 3 and half earth months.

The images here are not fully up to scale. Most larvae grow more between the stages but it's also not impossible for it to be to scale. I would just consider this larva a runt of the litter.

[yellosnacc]

(sorry u have to see them undressed)

This is not a final look but let's say there are some small changes to uniima. (There's very little practical change because these were already a thing, it just wasn't visually clear.) The hair has been like this forever but I never drew the bamboo feathers themselves so here they are.

So yeah, different plates/parts of the unii-skin have slightly different functions or store other things. The back of the neck contains many hard roots from which the node hair grows. The skin itself is leathery but flexible. Its biggest strength comes from the roots that function like osteoderms. Hard pieces like this are easier to see in older individuals whose skin is less fatty and more wrapped so they might look somewhat spiky at times.

The neck is another strong armor piece because it needs to protect multiple organs - primarily lungs/part of lungs. But in most individuals, the "roots" inside don't grow outside of the skin.

You can see here that compared to "islanders" (or coastal etc), "centrals" are pretty small and less bulky. One thing is that centrals are more arboreal than many other groups and being heavy makes climbing liiittle harder. Other ethnicities are also not the biggest fans of powered flight but it's getting around. I will talk in more detail and more informatively another time. I still need to do some sloman things. For now, enjoy the plate designing wip.

Have this snack while you consume information. Harvested in the morning.

[yellosnacc]

Okay, 1: I REALLLLY REALLLLY love how uniima FLY as a sport?!?;?; THATS SO COOL???? And such a good use of that Long Finger

2: Do you have more info on Uniima larvae??? I was so fascinated by their larval forms when I found out they were larvae - I could not tell WHAT i was looking at when I first saw them, and I mean that as the highest of compliments, it's such a creative Baby (so minimalist! you literally broke them into their simplest Shape and then made THAT into their larva AUGH)

Thank you so much! I wish to develop the flying stuff a lot more. The culture around it and such. It's considered very modern so traditions around it are very new and taken from other things. Funny guys!

And thank you I do have more info I'm working on it right now to give a fuller answer but the idea actually came from a very silly conversation on Discord about uniima as just a triangle, relating to another artist's work.

@t34-mt then depicted this

It was obvious that the potential of these drawings was immeasurable. So the shape larvae became a reality.

[yellosnacc]

Been keeping this away for long since its a very out of context specific stuff.

These are the Heads - the mostly spiritual leader of the central Foru micro-state collective. Their role is to be a guide for all the leaders (archs) in central Foru and speak for all of them on an international level. They also bless lands and people and generally are well-liked by them. They can make big decisions, but it's ultimately on the archs if they comply (but the pressure is strong).

Every head has a more specialized role, each representing a 'sense' of their one shared soul (hearing, seeing, touch, thought...) and people they are patrons to (the old, the "rich", the leaders, the priests...). Each central Foru micro-state usually has its favorite head that they want to see the most in their community when bringing them news or blessings.

here are closeups

The Heads are the center of a religion practiced in the region. In short - the Heads share one spirit that in ancient times belonged to a priest who misused their power to get to the spirit world and instead became forever stuck in the material world. After many reincarnations, the priest became a wise leader who learned to speak with the spirit world and make final peace between the worlds of spirits and the material.

I would need to go into more religion details to go over that but that can be a separate post. Let's talk about how they get their role.

A 'competition' is held to determine the best leader, most spiritually attuned, most well-thinking, and best-presenting individual. The Heads in position at the time with a few other high-ranking individuals will judge the participants and then make their pick at the choosing ceremony. Luckily there are not too many to choose from, there are many requirements to participate.

However, the one picked isn't one that will become a head, they would be far too old at the time. Instead, they will force their system to make a rare phenomenon happen. This means making more of themselves with cloning (having babies grow out of diploid cells with no need for another person). This is usually achieved when under high amounts of stress and loneliness.

The uniima egg naturally holds 4 larvae but usually only 1-2 develop fully while the rest becomes food for the surviving ones. This clone egg has 4 identical whites (pre-babies) in them that get special care to ensure at least 3 survive. There have been heads with one member before and with 2 and 3, but 4 is a miracle as the bottom corner larva almost never develops enough to hatch. This egg is very lucky.

The identical quadruplets are given to be raised in different environments. These environments will decide what they represent as adults. It will also give them better perspectives of the world, making it easier/more difficult to make big decisions when the time comes.

Additionally, because there are 4 heads this time, a new environment had to be introduced. This environment was that of small communities, minorities, and generally people living in poorer conditions (yes, for the past Heads, war was more important than their people suffering (it's a very central Foru thing)). Unfortunately for The Ear, they are not respected everywhere, and many people assume them to be a fake among their siblings.

You can also see the heads have each their own signature and each Head generation has their own symbol that is recognized outside their writing systems.

[yellosnacc]

bigger Central religion post

Journey of the lost souls by an unknown pilgrim

A scene from the story of the "crystal Head".

With the help of a "harpy", the great sinner crosses the bridge to the new land as their sea-born crystal body cracks under the weight of a thousand souls.

If they were to fail, the sky may become richer, but the Uniima will end.

This is a bigger central Foru uniima religion post. All the information here is about the central religion's beliefs, not the world's biology or physics.

Now let's get the context for the painting.

To leave the Physical, one must die at a ripe age so that their wisdom can be put to the test. The glowing triangles are the souls of uniima. They resemble a larva/white and are parasite-like in behavior. After a soul is released out of a body by premature death (or created) it holds onto someone (soul-binds) until it's passed into a new body. Soul bonded can be anything with a soul but uniima souls are picky in what they cling onto and usually pick a parental figure, a friend, or pupil. When the soul senses an empty unii-body, it moves in. Twins/triplets are considered 'one-soul' with special powers.

The one depicted to carry this soul mass is the uniiman spiritual leader/s (their historical body and events), sometimes called the Heads, but there's definitely a better name in the native language (slomen and O.s use this name). The Head/s existed for most of the religion's history and is the one to name the 'uniima' (translates "own-one-mind". It's the name of the central people. Because of historical events, it caught on between aliens as the species name). Head/s is immortal because of a "curse" set on them for breaching into the spiritual world thousands of years ago. Since this event, they have been changing bodies and fixing their sins until today. Nowadays, they are considered the wisest, mentally strongest, and morally cleanest soul - an inspiration for everyone (which keeps them in power over Central Foru among other things).

More about the current Heads.

This art comes from an early chapter, only a few hundred years after the creation of people. After the Head dooms the uniima by peaking into the Spiritual, society starts falling faster than it did ever before, finally resulting in the 'death of creature people'. This society was one of constant sin and destruction since no holy parts were remaining (too complicated, let's leave that for another time), so this scene is something of a strange bitter-sweet moment. With both the land and the people gone (yes, land too), the Head is once more reincarnated - being put into a body of melted sand and rock. They collect all the wandering souls unable to ascend and travel to a new land with the help of a half-uniima-half-animal who feels sorry for the people it shares a soul with. This journey is the first major lesson and soul-cleaning of the Head. Now, what is the thing in their jaws?

This motive is common in images with the Head, but it's not very realistic for the time period. These "flesh lists" worn on the lower tongue-hand are a modern-ish invention. People wear these on special occasions. They show all the past lives on a uniima and can get very long in high mortality areas (soul moves until a body reaches the desired age to be final-judged). The significance and uses of these in status get very complicated, but I will keep it simple. A short scarf/list makes one seem strong, with potential, being naturally gifted, and wealthy. A long scarf shows weakness, and a tendency to sin, but also patience, and a wise mind (which in many cases is the most important feature of a person).

In religious art, "scarfs" help mark chapters, but in "Journey of the lost souls" it's to depict the scale of the tragedy.

Lastly, the Heads' stomach. It shows them moving a large "hole" out of their body. This is symbolism for shedding a sin. It's said a mind and body should be able to naturally "regurgitate" any "object" out of their stomach, clean of the evil within it.

Bad nature - sins, bad thoughts (even physical stuff such as poison and drugs), is stored in the stomach. The "hungrier" you are the more evil you have to shed and the more you are controlled by this "evil hunger". Being flagged as a "stomach-thinker" is not calling you a food enjoyer but rather an insane/deranged person. However, some regions consider the stomach the default thinking center (what's a brain?), so it's more like a scale of good to bad stomach.

If anything needs more explaining or isn't explained properly, please inform me in the replies or send me an ask for a dedicated post. Thank you for reading this far <3

[yellosnacc]

-Outdated-

Finally - Ifey (species O.)

This is the first stage (not counting a possible larva) in O's life cycle. These are the "gatherers" of their colony which is usually a villiage with one adult O (the parent of the colony). Cities can sometimes have more than one adult.

Ifeys are the lowest ranking members of their society and are expected to do most of the work (farming, building, hunting..). After that are Ee, who take roles in politics, sciece and comanding Ifey. O are the last stage which is sexually mature but only 2% of O.s reach that stage. O mostly do the population managment. (Ifey can do other tasks but for that it's better to move societies).

For their 'humanoid form' - O. are one of the first sentient species who did evolve to use their limbs in more formations but with the rise of Elven race Uniima weren't the only ones pushed into more human forms. In case of O.s, most changes were in their culture.

The O. culture is about "being human". From birth, human form is pushed as the beauty standart (different for O (final stage)). For Ifey to be seen looking non-human by non-Ifey is shamefull. They usually feel more comfortable looking natural with non-humanoids.

[yellos2]

Yes it's an extra limb! It's internal in juveniles and adults and very small in non adults. Since it's mostly a reproductive organ in sky Uniima (non-humanoid). The hind limbs of Uniima are actually sorta tail limbs. Overall the uniima skeleton is freaky.

Tbh I thibk I need to redo the gender page a little since uniima don't actually have separate sex. Their social structures when it comes to parenting and such is also more socially constructed. Biologically yes, Uniima do not care for kids based on genetics but on survival of larvae. But parenthood comes in many forms. Some communities have dedicated members doing all the parenting and then having the older kids engage in more outside of the "guild" while other communities share care of kids, switching them around or letting them stay with adults who don't mind. And sometimes they simply pick and parent. It's really up to the culture there. Sometimes it matters if the adult's are in partnership and sometimes it really doesn't.

Slomen on the other hand do the same thing 80% of the time in many different cultures.

I think loudness is the deciding factor in cuteness for many but pitch also plays a big role. Sure they can get annoying but to them it's not far as annoying as human baby screaming is to us. But there will always be exceptions.

Yea the head is silly skiny but most of the jaw muscles are at the base of the jaws while uniima don't need much facial muscle really. Tho I'm still pondering few things.

Also thank you sm!

Uniima larvae come in large numbers but high mortality rate as these onigiri have to compete to become juveniles even in the egg case.

They start off with an egg wall. Their bodies are still clumbs of cells that slowly fill up the inside of the 'egg', consuming the included nutrients. Once they are ready, the baby grows it's own wall for the first time and 'hatches'.

After this the larvae molts as it grows with a new wall each time. During the whole larval period the shed skin sticks to the white. If adults don't clean them up, you will see multiple torn layers on top of the white, which can cause issues.

The white grows a straw. A somewhat brittle organ compared to that of ancestral larvae but functional enough to pierce under another whites wall (especially in the side seam). The larva actively feeds itself using this, though the food has to be liquid enough to get through the straw. They don't smell or see to search for food and will just wiggle the straw around until they can slurp. These triangles are mostly fat and liquids with other tissues in the center and thowards straw.

When they completely lose the straw (the entrance to it reforms), they start eating with their new mouth. At this point they also start making noise with their nostrils. Adult Uniima are sensitive to this much more than to the visual cuteness of the larva. This is often when adults start claming individuals to raise.

As the creature grows and gains complexity inside its own wall, it's new molts allow for use of more developed parts - anal cavity opens, ear cycles appear, eyes get bigger and closer to the wall surface, "mouth hands" with leathery pads emerge.. and lastly it's whole legs with fingers (often just silhouettes of feet show up rather then whole fingers or they are webbed).

After it's last stage and sufficient amounts of food, the white goes dormant to metamorphosise. This can take a week and less as most juvenile components are already in place.

The larval stages of Uniima can differ in length depending of environment - temperature, humidity, lack of food...

The average time from birth to metamorphosis is around 3 and half earth months.

The images here are not fully up to scale. Most larvae grow more between the stages but it's also not impossible for it to be to scale. I would just consider this larva a runt of the litter.