The Ngisikaa

Finally, there are Juno’s odd creatures out, rare and ephemeral, existing on the edges of civilization. These are the Ngisikaa, fragile, glass-like creatures resembling a crab body with a squid attached to the top. While their eighteen appendages (eight legs and ten upper tentacles) are offputting to other species, their whole bodies glow with solar energy in a beautiful display, as every surface on their body can absorb that energy, unlike the Kuh.

The Ngisikaa are evolved from a unique offshoot species in the genetic record almost erased millions of years ago by a meteor impact. There are only two remaining types of these creatures: one animal and one sentient. The sentient Ngisikaa are much brighter than their non-sentient siblings because they have unlocked a method to crystalize solar energy into memory modules. This one accidental discovery caused the uplift of the first few sentients and their eventual civilization.

These creatures do not have a concept of genders per say, as they reproduce by pooling memory crystals from donor sentients into one of the non-sentient Ngisikaa in a kind of natural uplifting, until it gains sentience. The ones involved in this process are considered female, heralding the elevation of a new member of their society. The rest of the species is genderless and uses xie/hir pronouns to refer to themselves.

While the Ngisikaa do not have the Kuh found on almost all other diurnal animals, their crystalline skin has a different method to defend against the solar rays. Directly under the translucent skin is a layer of crystal that converts the magical solar energy into engrams of thought, constantly capturing what the individual experiences. Their entire body is capable of this transference, even down to individual tentacles. In the non-sentient version, this conversion is only used for nutrition.

Nearly all Ngisikaa live on one small island between the two main continents of Juno, because of their unique reproduction, the main body of their species is restricted by the regions in which the non-sentient versions can survive. Because of these restrictions, they have even less technical development than the Kuhifadi, and much less than the Uchafumlaji, but because they constantly store their experiences, the Ngisikaa have fantastic memories and calculating abilities. Modern specimens are often called in for particularly difficult engineering and scientific projects to act as coordinators between many moving parts of a large undertaking.

Deprived of the sun energy crystals to store memories, a Ngisikaa is reduced to an animal intellect, with old memory engrams breaking down over time without new energy to supplement them. On the other hand (or tentacle), if a member has too many memories, xie may start to lose hirself, endlessly cycling through many different ways to interpret an easy task. Consequently, each tribe is founded around a communal energy storage used to keep extra memory engrams in a repository of the tribe’s shared knowledge and as a resource for uplifting new members. Keepers of the repository are one of the most prized occupations of the Ngisikaa, and only given to the most exalted members. Good memory storage locations are hard to find, as they require precise temperature and weather conditions, stable tectonics, and the cooperation of many Ngisikaa to build the elaborate crystalline construct. Combine this with the scarcity of breeding grounds for the non-sentients, and the small numbers of sentient Ngisikaa are easily understandable. Coming across a village of these unique creatures is truly a rare and awe-inspiring event.

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JUNO - The Ngisikaa

The Ngisikaa