Vykarin are man-sized at the shoulder digitigrade marsupials
with vaguely lupine/armadilloish features, with long legs in relation
to the size of the torso and forearms. The torso leans forward,
counterbalanced by a thick, semi-flexible tail which serves as a
counterweight. The forearms end in hand-like claws with opposable
thumbs, though they are somewhat stubby and not as dextrous as human
hands. The feet are hoof-like with a single sharp "talon"-like growth
on the front of each "hoof".
The body is furred, but most of the exterior (excepting the underside, muzzle and paw-hands) is covered with overlapping shell segments. When the head is upright, the eyes are mostly obscured by a semi-transparent curved shell which provides some protection at the expense of clarity of vision. What isn't covered in shell-like portions has fluffy fur sticking out, usually pepper-grey, lightening toward the belly.
Due to the physical structure, the Vykarin have some natural armor, though it is mostly useful to defend against various insect predators in the region. It is not strong enough to stand up to steel swords and certainly not bullets. Vykarin are fast runners, slow in turning, and their stance and hands greatly limit their ability to use tools and weapons -- especially those humans would use.
The Vykarin are capable of speech, including wolf-like howls, and the adult voices tend to be very throaty and deep. Their native tongue includes many distinctive clicks and pops they make when speaking. Their existence is nomadic as they do not make extensive use of tools nor of permanent shelter. They do cut pits in the tundra and pile up chunks of half-frozen ground as windbreak walls while they curl up inside.
The Vykarin are superstitious, wary of magic, and consider most technology to be "magic" as well. They have no affinity toward magic. Any "shaman" in the tribe may have herbal abilities and may have superstitious notions about talismans and the like, but actual magical abilities are a unique trait that often results in exile from the tribe -- or worse.
Vykarin shells are shed and regrown periodically. The cast-off shells are used to make the jewelry, tools and fragile weapons which this race is noted for.
The Vykarin tend toward a region of wide open half-frozen tundra known as the Vykarin Wastes, marked only by the occasional boulder left by the glaciers. Vykarin camps can be told by the pits torn up in clusters where the creatures huddle in for shelter from the winds that whip across the expanse.
The necklaces worn by Vykarins, fashioned of pieces of shell strung together as beads, serve a far more important purpose than mere jewelry. While the spoken dialects of Vykarins have varied so greatly that any given two tribes most likely cannot communicate with each other, the "language" of the shell necklaces has remained remarkably unchanged for innumerable generations.
Each necklace, depending upon the shapes of the beads which run along its length, and their order, conveys a simple sentence that says something about the wearer or his tribe. (Most such necklaces are worn by males, but this is not exclusively the case. "He" and "his" here are used in the generic sense.)
A Vykarin without any necklace at all is generally either a child, a common member who has done nothing to distinguish himself, or else an outcast who has no tribe to verify the claims made by any such necklace he wears. While each tribesman will have a short vocal name by which he is called, the accomplishments which are commemorated by his necklaces are just as much a part of his full name and identity. If he should lose such a necklace, for certain he will consider it a high priority to make a replacement as soon as possible.
These necklaces are as often made by the wearer himself as given to him by members of the tribe ... but those of a particularly boasting nature are, by tradition, only made by others. Necklaces fashioned for oneself are most often more fact-based, such as "(I) slay/have slain (a) dragon" or "(I am a) maker (of) fire" or "(I am the) eldest son (of the) chieftain". What is worth commemorating is highly subjective. Being a "maker of fire" may be of real note to some of the northern tribes -- but to some of the southern ones who regularly set up bonfires and may even signal airships for trade with the "sky gods", it is hardly a cause for celebration.
Bead Colors: Color has a limited role in determining the meaning of a given shell. After all, many necklaces are made solely from one's own cast-off shells, and except for those individuals with unusual striations, this will not give much variety in the least ... and even most tribes tend not to have colors representing the entire spectrum of possible hues among their number. In terms of meaning, the color of a shell is either "light" or "dark". "Dark" is black or very close to it. "Light" is any other hue. The "darkness" of a shell does not affect its basic meaning greatly -- Rather, it indicates emphasis. A darker piece of shell indicates a more important part of the sentence -- comparable to where you would put the stress if you were to read such a sentence aloud.
An average Vykarin's shell is not a uniform color, but will tend to darken in some areas and lighten in others. Shell areas that run closer to black are less in abundance than the main coloration -- and hence are used less. The exception to this would be with those Vykarin with black shells ... and if they make a necklace of their own shell entirely, the effect is much akin to TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
As for the choices between using blue or green as "light" colors, these are ultimately arbitrary and aesthetic. However, it is typical that if different colors are to be used, there will be some sort of repeating pattern, or else care will be taken not to have two pieces of the same color next to each other. This tradition may be of help to someone who has found, say, an ancient collection of shells which once formed a necklace, buried at a gathering ground, but which are now scrambled because the string and bone spacers have long since decayed. (Vykarin shell tends to be resistant to normal processes of decay. It can be burned, but doesn't make for very good fuel.)
Bead Shapes: The rough shapes that individual beads are found in serve as pictograms, in essence. There is some variation in the crafting that is inevitable, which means that a necklace may require some study to determine its meaning -- with some help from the context -- but the shapes are more or less consistent. Individual shapes are rarely symmetrical, and their alignment matters. To put a piece on backwards typically spells out the "opposite" of the phrase or word it usually represents. Good becomes evil, strong becomes weak, masculine becomes feminine.
Wearing a necklace backwards can lead to some disastrous resultant interpretations, particularly for simplistic "sentences" that are nothing but a string of boasting adjectives. "(I am) strong, swift, fierce, brave, wise (and) masculine" could become "(I am) feminine, foolish, timid, mild, slow (and) weak".
Bead Spacers: Many words are represented by combinations of smaller pictograms. Memory, after all, is a concept hard to represent with a picture. It is represented by a combination of "ear", "circle" and "night", as memory is exemplified by those who listen to the retelling of stories by the elders in the evening circle gathering. Many of the origins of these "conglomerate" words are so obscure that no Vykarin could explain exactly why they came to such combinations in the first place -- It is just a matter of tradition.
These groupings are separated by much smaller beads which serve as "spacers", typically round or cylindrical, hollow through the center. Some are made of shell, but many are of hollowed bone. In some cases, teeth or claws are used, typically in conjunction with a message that boasts of the wearer's conquests in battle -- and it is especially important that each tooth or claw be as different as possible from the next, so that one does not infer that these were all taken from the same victim.
Bead Arrangement: The ordering of the shell words can be very important. Within each grouping, the arrangement of the parts that form it can lead to entirely different and unrelated (not simply opposite) interpretations. If "Strong" is composed of pieces A, B and C, then "Weak" will be composed of the reversed pieces in the order of C, B and A.
Ordering is also important with numbers. Representation of numerals, when applicable, is done in a system very much akin to Roman numerals, in that units are added to the total or substracted depending upon their position. Numerals are represented by thin shards of various lengths, and there are "shepherd" pieces on each side that bound in the number, and correspond to the value of "10". This is considered the "most common" value, and serves for comparison with the rest, for the values represented depend upon the relative lengths of each shard to the next. Mixing them up can greatly affect that number you end up with. It's a clumsy system, and does not lend itself easily to mathwork.
An artifact special to the Vykarin is the Star Disc. It is a complex construction requiring pieces of many different colors of shell fused together in a semi-translucent construct, thin and disc-shaped, durable but still not something to be smashed about carelessly. These require lots of black shell, as most of the disc represents the night sky, with lighter, translucent points that represent the positions of constellations of stars, and often the positions of planets and the band that denotes Sinai's ring.
Along the perimeter is often a jagged panoramic horizon, dominated by the silhouettes of major mountains or other rare landmarks visible from some point on the vast tundra wastes in the distance.
Given some knowledge of astronomy and of the areas of the tundra, one could determine a particular time and place depicted -- especially since most star discs are made to commemorate or refer to a relatively rare cosmological event such as planetary alignments or formations, or the appearance of a comet. The place can be determined, theoretically, by triangulating from major landmarks represented on the "horizon", and by what stars are visible, as painstakingly rendered by the artist. (This is evidently not an art done on the fly.)
These discs, if they do not commemorate some particular event of note, are often used as a reminder of the location of a site sacred to the tribe and which the tribe will visit once in a great time -- corresponding to a rare but repeating cosmic event. Many tribes with common ancestry will converge upon these ancient ruins at such rare times -- and these gatherings often skip several generations. This is a time for feasting and celebration, for exchange of gifts between tribes, sharing of tales, remembrance of the dead, and sometimes the creation of new tribes. Any Vykarin born during such events are considered blessed by a special omen, and destined for greatness. These sites are typically archaeological gold mines, as well as exhibiting magical residue and/or signs of ruins of ancient, prehistoric structures. Whether these may have once been Vykarin cities -- or cities of some greater race that ruled or spawned the Vykarin -- is anyone's guess. In any case, the traditions are faithfully followed, and the star discs are created with as much care as any Vykarin could put into such work.
Smaller and cruder versions of star discs sometimes appear in necklaces of especially accomplished individuals, serving as a means of indicating time and place in addition to whatever claim is being made or event commemorated by the necklace, and they are typically worn in the center of the necklace as an amulet. The accuracy of such testaments is typically far less than the star discs, especially since these amulets are smaller in size.
Abaddonian Vykarin:
Some Vykarin variants have been found on the world of Abaddon, and in the Red Cliffs that were transported from there. These Vykarin serve the Abaddonian Silent Ones, and are pretty much comparable to Sinaian Vykarin.
PC Requirements:
Recommended Abilities (Sinaian Vykarin):
Skills appropriate to hunting, tracking, survival, etc. are
appropriate, especially for the males. Crafting abilities (using
bits of cast-off shells) are especially appropriate for the
females. Elders in the group may have some skill at astronomy, as
knowledge of time and the position of the stars is a trait common
to the nomads in order to plot their way across the tundra, which
is greatly lacking in distinctive landmarks.