Post by Sher on Aug 9, 2011 0:50:20 GMT -5
((Final paragraph of text with missing info is saved on the Team WTF plot board. This is strictly OOC information at the present time.))
Please don't take this concept elsewhere without permission.
To humans and dragons, between is a timeless, directionless void. But to these mysterious, typically solitary beings, it is home. Their innate sense of where they are permit them to locate the gravity fields they sleep in, and a sort of echolocation helps them navigate in the blackness. Strange magnetism between has brought together large chunks of 'land,' where plant matter grows and the insects that provide most of a shadow lizard's sustenance can be found. Betweening accidents sometimes involve materializing in the precise location of such a floating island, which inevitably results in a rather gruesome death as the molecules of a dragon's body try (and fail) to supersede over the less organic matter. Shadow lizards sometimes feed off the scattered remains of dragons, riders, and firelizards unfortunate enough to die this way, but it is not their preferred meal.
Biologically, a shadow lizard is not much different from the dragonets the Pernese settlers encountered so long ago. Over twice the size (up to eight feet long in fact), yes, and adapted to the realm they now inhabit, but still recognizable as cousins to modern firelizards. They only have three toes on their forelegs, two facing forward and one used for gripping that points to the rear. With the lack of air between, they have evolved to the point that their bodies can subsist on a single breath of air taken from Pern itself for quite a long time, and their lungs have shrunken considerably over the generations; what remains of them is almost entirely redundant. Aside from 'surfacing' to breathe, they also use Pern as an escape from danger and as a place to resolve the problems of an itchy hide. Such excellent lung efficiency permits them to go down to the deepest parts of the ocean if they so choose, to rub themselves against the sand there and finish shedding.
Unihemispheric sleep (napping with one half of the brain, with the opposing eye shut) permits them to stay near-constantly on the wing while traveling between, ever alert to the more dangerous denizens found there (luckily, ones that have never evolved a way to escape the void).
A long natural lifespan, when not ended by predators or accidents, means less frequent breeding. Mating between is quite similar to that of a firelizard, but with the added dynamic of the chance to be hunted and eaten in the middle of it. Ten Turns on Pern might pass before a breeding female 'surfaces' to clutch her eggs, but in the sluggish time of between, she might in fact only be a few 'seasons' old. (There are indeed seasons between- the season when void horrors are awake, and the season they are dormant.) These clutches typically are two to six eggs; plum-sized eggs that float, and are usually camouflaged by floating seaweed or other debris. They do not require heat for incubation, but sunlight is absorbed through the shell to hasten the development of the embryos.
Initially, the hatchlings will feed on fish and small sea creatures until they are capable fliers. The mother will then guide them between for the first time and introduce her brood to their new surroundings. This is the only time besides a mating flight that shadow lizards travel in fairs, and it lasts only until the hatchlings grow sick of the sense of one another and separate one by one. Sometimes two shadow lizards will find that they can tolerate company and stay together a while, but this is a rare exception.
Please don't take this concept elsewhere without permission.
Shadow Lizards
To humans and dragons, between is a timeless, directionless void. But to these mysterious, typically solitary beings, it is home. Their innate sense of where they are permit them to locate the gravity fields they sleep in, and a sort of echolocation helps them navigate in the blackness. Strange magnetism between has brought together large chunks of 'land,' where plant matter grows and the insects that provide most of a shadow lizard's sustenance can be found. Betweening accidents sometimes involve materializing in the precise location of such a floating island, which inevitably results in a rather gruesome death as the molecules of a dragon's body try (and fail) to supersede over the less organic matter. Shadow lizards sometimes feed off the scattered remains of dragons, riders, and firelizards unfortunate enough to die this way, but it is not their preferred meal.
Biologically, a shadow lizard is not much different from the dragonets the Pernese settlers encountered so long ago. Over twice the size (up to eight feet long in fact), yes, and adapted to the realm they now inhabit, but still recognizable as cousins to modern firelizards. They only have three toes on their forelegs, two facing forward and one used for gripping that points to the rear. With the lack of air between, they have evolved to the point that their bodies can subsist on a single breath of air taken from Pern itself for quite a long time, and their lungs have shrunken considerably over the generations; what remains of them is almost entirely redundant. Aside from 'surfacing' to breathe, they also use Pern as an escape from danger and as a place to resolve the problems of an itchy hide. Such excellent lung efficiency permits them to go down to the deepest parts of the ocean if they so choose, to rub themselves against the sand there and finish shedding.
Unihemispheric sleep (napping with one half of the brain, with the opposing eye shut) permits them to stay near-constantly on the wing while traveling between, ever alert to the more dangerous denizens found there (luckily, ones that have never evolved a way to escape the void).
A long natural lifespan, when not ended by predators or accidents, means less frequent breeding. Mating between is quite similar to that of a firelizard, but with the added dynamic of the chance to be hunted and eaten in the middle of it. Ten Turns on Pern might pass before a breeding female 'surfaces' to clutch her eggs, but in the sluggish time of between, she might in fact only be a few 'seasons' old. (There are indeed seasons between- the season when void horrors are awake, and the season they are dormant.) These clutches typically are two to six eggs; plum-sized eggs that float, and are usually camouflaged by floating seaweed or other debris. They do not require heat for incubation, but sunlight is absorbed through the shell to hasten the development of the embryos.
Initially, the hatchlings will feed on fish and small sea creatures until they are capable fliers. The mother will then guide them between for the first time and introduce her brood to their new surroundings. This is the only time besides a mating flight that shadow lizards travel in fairs, and it lasts only until the hatchlings grow sick of the sense of one another and separate one by one. Sometimes two shadow lizards will find that they can tolerate company and stay together a while, but this is a rare exception.