PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
All civae stand about 2-3' tall on their hind legs. The tail is an additional 2' long.
ELEMENTAL AFFINITY
The elemental subspecies tend to separate, but they are all of the same species and can interbreed. Clans of each element are drawn to environments rich in their favored magic: water Civae to riversides; wind Civae to treetops and breezy plains; earth Civae to mountains and dense jungle; and fire Civae to open, dry places or forests scorched by recent fire. Anywhere that element has a strong presence or effect on the landscape, the Civae will be most at ease and powerful. Each Civae has minor control over their element, and can give small displays of flashy elemental power.
Pups typically take after one of their parents' elemental affinities, but the mechanism for this is not fully known.
BREEDING
Unlike the viverrids and mustelids to which they are related, Civae don't give birth to a large litter of helpless pups: instead, they give birth to only one or two pups, which have fur, sight, and limited coordination at birth. Rather than taking weeks to wean, these pups quickly become attuned to the magic of their surroundings. Ambient magical energy seems to speed their development, and within three days, a pup will begin sprouting feathers, flames, etc in a crest on the head, back, and tail.
As soon as they grow their crest, the children are capable of foraging alongside their parents. Even with this accelerated growth, it takes a month to reach sexual maturity and be capable of breeding. A Civae mother will not breed again until her children are born, and often not until they have sprouted their crests (7-10 days from breeding.)
Among Civae, magic speeds pregnancy: a Civae is pregnant for only a week. Because of this eerily fast development, some think that Civae must be as much magic/spirit/elemental energy as a flesh-and-blood creature. You'd expect a population explosion with such fast pregnancies and precocial young, but a Civae usually breeds only once every few years. However, by ingesting the petals and stem of a certain flower, a Civae can activate their breeding cycle regardless of the seasons. By this method, they can breed at any time.
CULTURE
Crossbreeding is not forbidden, but often results in heartache when the Civae feel compelled to return to places more rich in their own element. Some locations have strong enough magic of two types for happy coexistence. A switch of alignment can occur when Civae ingest the powder or fragments of a certain snail's shell. Fire snails, frost snails, etc all seem to become concentrated points of elemental energy in their environments. These seem to react in a volatile way with the Civae's own inner resources of elemental energy. This is considered a change of identity and not undertaken lightly, as the Civae usually cannot remain in their original home. Often, a Civae will start to feel the pull of their destined new element and undertake the change to put to ease these restless, unsatisfied, confused-self-image feelings.
Snails are mildly sacred in Civae culture. Because snails are great.
Civae religion is a broadly animist tradition of "elemental energy is in everything and is sacred". Civae are, as a whole, cheerfully ambivalent towards spirits/deities/other species. They keep to themselves and don't pursue knowledge of things beyond their territory (or spiritual horizons): their culture is decidedly unambitious. Some individuals find this maddening and take to adventure and wandering to combat the mellow lifestyle back home. This is regarded as an acceptable, if a bit quirky and eccentric, lifestyle choice. It's assumed that the mental pull towards an elemental-magic-rich territory will eventually bring the wayward Civae back home.
Most Civae are fairly tolerant, easygoing, and willing to let emotional storms pass. Young ones may be more hotheaded. Hotheaded, fierce, quick-tempered adults are looked down on (with mild disapproval/gentle scorn) as being immature and impulsive.
THE LIFE CYCLE
All civae stand about 2-3' tall on their hind legs. The tail is an additional 2' long.
ELEMENTAL AFFINITY
The elemental subspecies tend to separate, but they are all of the same species and can interbreed. Clans of each element are drawn to environments rich in their favored magic: water Civae to riversides; wind Civae to treetops and breezy plains; earth Civae to mountains and dense jungle; and fire Civae to open, dry places or forests scorched by recent fire. Anywhere that element has a strong presence or effect on the landscape, the Civae will be most at ease and powerful. Each Civae has minor control over their element, and can give small displays of flashy elemental power.
Pups typically take after one of their parents' elemental affinities, but the mechanism for this is not fully known.
BREEDING
Unlike the viverrids and mustelids to which they are related, Civae don't give birth to a large litter of helpless pups: instead, they give birth to only one or two pups, which have fur, sight, and limited coordination at birth. Rather than taking weeks to wean, these pups quickly become attuned to the magic of their surroundings. Ambient magical energy seems to speed their development, and within three days, a pup will begin sprouting feathers, flames, etc in a crest on the head, back, and tail.
As soon as they grow their crest, the children are capable of foraging alongside their parents. Even with this accelerated growth, it takes a month to reach sexual maturity and be capable of breeding. A Civae mother will not breed again until her children are born, and often not until they have sprouted their crests (7-10 days from breeding.)
Among Civae, magic speeds pregnancy: a Civae is pregnant for only a week. Because of this eerily fast development, some think that Civae must be as much magic/spirit/elemental energy as a flesh-and-blood creature. You'd expect a population explosion with such fast pregnancies and precocial young, but a Civae usually breeds only once every few years. However, by ingesting the petals and stem of a certain flower, a Civae can activate their breeding cycle regardless of the seasons. By this method, they can breed at any time.
CULTURE
Crossbreeding is not forbidden, but often results in heartache when the Civae feel compelled to return to places more rich in their own element. Some locations have strong enough magic of two types for happy coexistence. A switch of alignment can occur when Civae ingest the powder or fragments of a certain snail's shell. Fire snails, frost snails, etc all seem to become concentrated points of elemental energy in their environments. These seem to react in a volatile way with the Civae's own inner resources of elemental energy. This is considered a change of identity and not undertaken lightly, as the Civae usually cannot remain in their original home. Often, a Civae will start to feel the pull of their destined new element and undertake the change to put to ease these restless, unsatisfied, confused-self-image feelings.
Snails are mildly sacred in Civae culture. Because snails are great.
Civae religion is a broadly animist tradition of "elemental energy is in everything and is sacred". Civae are, as a whole, cheerfully ambivalent towards spirits/deities/other species. They keep to themselves and don't pursue knowledge of things beyond their territory (or spiritual horizons): their culture is decidedly unambitious. Some individuals find this maddening and take to adventure and wandering to combat the mellow lifestyle back home. This is regarded as an acceptable, if a bit quirky and eccentric, lifestyle choice. It's assumed that the mental pull towards an elemental-magic-rich territory will eventually bring the wayward Civae back home.
Most Civae are fairly tolerant, easygoing, and willing to let emotional storms pass. Young ones may be more hotheaded. Hotheaded, fierce, quick-tempered adults are looked down on (with mild disapproval/gentle scorn) as being immature and impulsive.
THE LIFE CYCLE
- Age 3 days = get their element and name; considered an individual and part of the community; like the old practice of not naming children until they've proven survival at several years of age. Human equivalent (social and cognition) = toddler
- Age 1 month = sexual maturity. youngster, can tag along or play with others, but not allowed to stray far. can mate, but encouraged not to (social pressure of "you're too young to be a good parent"). Human equivalent = like 14-16, mmmaybe 17-18 for the more mature individuals
- Age 3 months = fairly respected member of the community. Human twenties.
- Age 1 year = considered a real adult. respected, total freedom, do as they please. Human thirties.
- Past that: a respected, responsible elder. Usually lives to 6-8 but can live up to 12 or 14. Not highly sexual; like seriously weirdly low breeding drive for something with a fairly short lifespan; biggest drive besides "stay alive" is "be close to elemental power". They seem to feed off it and derive satisfaction and a sense of peace and power from being in magical environments. The average Civae has 2-5 litters in their lifetime. Our community, with its access to breeding-cycle-altering flora, may have a higher birth rate than is usual.