Sathar Biology & Ramifications of it:

<font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#999999">After reading a few things in this project area I have been forced to really give this creature a rethink on it's biology and what it might mean culture wise: </font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#999999"><br /></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#999999">I am going to start with a few biological things I noticed:</font></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span">Mouth circular & ringed with
teeth, could indicates a biological history of developing from
a parasitic, filter feeder, and or scavenger creature that latched
onto another living creature burrowing into it with its' teeth to reach
blood and body floods but could also survive by filter feeding, sucking in
smaller live animals and other nutrients, eating algae off of rocks and
very possibly being a scavenger of partly decayed mater both plant &
animal. Basically Sathar and related races eat a semi-liquified diet of
both fresh & decayed plants & animals. Sathar Cuisine might be very slimy, mucky and yucky to other races.</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px"><br /></span></font><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#999999">Another thread got me interested into how real life worms nervous systems are laid out... I totally love the dual brains idea on the other thread, and when I checked out real worms this is what I came away with when I combined reality with the idea of 2 brains: </font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large">The Sathar nervous system has
three parts: The Central Nervous System (CNS), Peripheral Nervous System
(PNS), and the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large">The CNS consists of Bilateral
Symmetric pear shaped Brains. In addition circum-phryngeal connective bundles from the brains encircle the pharynx and then connect with a pair of
sub-pharyngeal ganglia bundles located below the pharynx.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large">PNS nerves arise from each brain
to supply the head (segment 1), buccal chamber (mouth) and pharynx. Three bundles of
nerves arise from the sub-pharyangeal ganglia bundles to supply segments. Three
pairs of nerve bundles extend from each segmental ganglia to supply
various structures of the segments.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large">SNS This consists of nerve
plexuses in the epidermis and alimentary canal (digestive track). (A plexus = A web of nerve
cells connected together in a two dimensional grid.) The nerves that run
along the body wall pass between the outer circular and inner longitudinal
muscle layers of the wall. They give off branches that form the
inter-muscukar plexus and sub-epidermal plexus. These nerves connect with
the circum-pharyhgeal connective bundles.<span> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large">Based on depictions of RL worm nervous systems I think the Sathar “spinal cord” is dual and
actually runs along the ventral side ("belly cords") of Sathar instead of the dorsal.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large">So I am thinking maybe theses guys are very tactile?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"><br /></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#999999">Worms in RL are born with their total number of segments and there is one species with little paddle claspers... so I counted the segments in the original art, including the head that equals 38. The one RL species with paddles has them near their sexual pores: So I suggest this for "natural matings" of Sathar and location of sexual organs. </font></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span">Sexual pores are located in
segments where the tentacles are located, male pores are located at
segment #12 and the female pores at segment #9. Each Sathar has two pairs
of testes contained within sacs and four pairs of seminal vesicles
produce, store and release the sperm vis the male pores. Ovaries and
oviducts in segment #8 release eggs via female pores at segment #9. One
pair of spermathecae are present in segments #10 and #11, which are
internal sacs that receive and store sperm from the other Sathar during
copulation. As a result, segment #12 of one Sathar exudes sperm into
segments #10 and #11 with its storage vesicles of its mate. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span">Sex pheromones are probably very
important to Sathar mating. Facilitates out-crossing, identifying a mate,
and attracting mate. </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span">Copulation and reproduction are separate
processes in Sathar. The mating pair overlap front ends ventrally and each
exchanges sperm with the other. The segments #10 and #11 becomes orange, or
very reddish to very pinkish in color depending on the skin colors of the
individual. Some time after copulation, long after the Sathar have separated,
the Sathar secretes a material which forms a ring around the Sathar. The Sathar
than backs out of this ring, and as it does so it injects its own eggs and the
other Sathars’ sperm into it. As the Sathar slips out of the ring, and the ends
of the cocoon seal to form a vaguely lemon-shaped incubator (cocoon) in which
the embryonic Sathar develop. They emerge as small but fully formed Sathar, but
lack their sex structures, which develop latter.</span></div></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large" class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px">I noted the Sathar are slimy so that must serve a biological purpose for them... I have not researched slime yet on animals so I am wondering about that. I am wondering what sort of environment they would consider the best, most pleasant? Maybe something with a high humidity, high moisture in air?</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px"><br /></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px">I also noted though in art we show them using the bottom limb/tentacles as legs, the description of them clearly does not state that, they slither, they coil, and those "legs" get used for lifting heavy objects, no doubt the bottom limbs can help support the body and move them along as well, but if you forget about those bottom limbs being there it does change preferred architecture they might make, & because they can coil I am left wondering if they can strike out like snake? I am inclined to think maybe.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px"><br /></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#999999" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px">Also the numbers because they have a 4 tentacle fingered hand I am wondering if 4, 8 and multiples of those numbers might have cultural significance to them... just mussing on the wormies... </span></font><img src="http://www.starfrontiers.us/modules/tinymce/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/p…; border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23px; font-size: large"> </span></div>

Pinned

Off

Locked

Off