Sanhvin
Sanhvin (pronounced /ˈsɑːŋvɪn/) are aquatic organisms found on many worlds of Loge. They are humanoid in shape, but much smaller than humans, and have brightly colored skin. These beings have an unusual method of reproduction, replenishing their numbers by causing larger organisms to split into a number of new sanhvin.
Description
A sanhvin looks much like a miniature human, adults averaging about twelve centimeters tall. There are a few details that set them apart from human, however; they have semicircular ears, visible gills on their necks, and slightly webbed feet, and some, though not all, have stubby tails or fins on their back, or both. Most obviously, the sanhvin's skin is intensely colored, the hue varying by individual: red, blue, green, yellow, purple, or orange.
Anatomy
Despite its superficially human shape, the sanhvin internally has a number of significant anatomical differences. One of the most obvious is the sanvhin's respiratory system; breathing water instead of air, sanhvin respire through their gills, although they do possess rudimentary lungs that allow them to survive above the water for limited amounts of time, perhaps ten or twenty minutes before they must return to the water. (The output of air from their lungs also gives them vocal abilities; some sanhvin have even learned how to speak human languages.) Less obviously, the sanhvin has an open circulatory system rather than blood vessels, its vital serum flowing freely through its body—and its tissues responding quickly to close off any wounds before it all leaks out. The sanhvin's skeleton is entirely cartilaginous, except anomalously for a single hard bone at the coccyx called the pygost.
Diet and Life Cycle
Sanhvin are omnivorous, eating any organisms in their habitat that they are able to catch. Some sanhvin colonies or individuals may choose a vegetarian lifestyle, harvesting aquatic plants and algae as their foodstuff, and they are capable of subsisting on such a diet perfectly well, as long as they balance it with the proper combinations of such aliments. Others, albeit significantly fewer, go to the other extreme and pursue a purely carnivorous diet, which their digestive system is equally capable of handling. Most sanhvin, however, have eclectic diets, comprising a combination of plants and algae, fish, and other aquatic life such as crayfish, water snails, and various other molluscs and crustaceans. Some sanhvin hives go so far as to farm such animals for their food, rather than going out and hunting.
Sanhvin pursue irregular sleep schedules, but are generally most active near dawn and dusk, and often sleep through midnight and the middle of the day. A sanhvin that doesn't fall earlier to disease or predation may live a little over two hundred years, though without visibly aging much during that time; even a venerable sanhvin near death by old age has a physical appearance much like a human in his late twenties.
Habitat
Sanhvin are slightly more comfortable in fresh water than in salt, but can survive in either. They usually live in relatively shallow water, close enough to the surface for light to still penetrate, although some sanhvin colonies have been reported dwelling in the depths, bearing glowing spots on their sides. (It's unclear whether the glowing spots are something sanhvin develop on their own in the depths, or whether these deep-dwelling sanhvin represent a separate subspecies.)
Sanhvin thrive in many worlds scattered all over Loge. It's common for sanhvin to be found on a given world only in one particular remote location, but there are worlds where sanhvin are relatively widespread, commonly found in lakes and rivers all over the world. On such worlds, people may be reluctant to get near water, for fear of falling victim to the sanhvin's reproductory process.
Society
Sanhvin live in large colonies, inside living hives that resemble colorful collections of inflated sacs, with valves connecting the chambers. A typical sanhvin colony includes a few hundred specimens, though larger hives with populations in the thousands also exist. Sanhvin are gregarious beings, and even far from their hives seldom travel singly, and usually group together in schools comprising several dozen individuals.
Because of their peculiar means of reproduction, sanhvin do not have traditional family units. They do form very close friendships, however, which may include strong bonds of loyalty. Probably in large part because of their lack of family structures, most sanhvin societies are more or less gender-blind, with the difference between male and female sanhvin being considered purely cosmetic. Those few sanhvin civilizations that do make a distinction between genders for some reason tend to be female-dominant.
Though sanhvin are definitely ellogous beings, different sanhvin civilizations vary widely in the extent of tool use. Despite their intelligence, some sanhvin don't bother with any tools or clothing, finding that they can get along perfectly well without them. Other sanhvin do create weapons for hunting, or other implements and accouterments, though most still don't bother with wearing anything beyond perhaps some jewelry and other adornments, or backpacks and belts with pouches to conveniently carry their belongings. Still other sanhvin, however, do dress in elaborate clothing, designed to minimally hinder their swimming abilities.
Reproduction
Perhaps the sanhvin's most notorious feature is its reproductive process. The sanhvin generally augment their numbers not through traditional sexual reproduction, but through transforming other organisms into sanhvin. It isn't a simple matter of finding an organism the size of the sanhvin and transfiguring it, though; the sanhvin prefer larger prey, and in fact commonly choose humans as their victims. In fact, it seems that the sanhvin reproductory process requires such a large subject, though the exact minimum size isn't clear. In any case, in order to perform the transformation, a number of sanhvin—at least a dozen or so—swarm the intended subject, clinging to its flesh and secreting a magical substance called scavil that passes through the victim's skin and initiates the transformation. The process takes about five minutes, during which the victim feels a wrenching and churning sensation internally. If the sanhvin break off contact with the victim before the process is complete, the intended subject will eventually recover with no lasting ill effect. However, it's not necessary for the same sanhvin to be present during the whole procedure, as long as enough are present at any given time, which makes large sanhvin swarms particularly dangerous; even if a few are swatted away, more will take their place and keep the transformation going. In any event, while the scavil is taking effect, the victim's skin will become mottled in bright colors, but otherwise it will be visibly unchanged. When the effect is complete, however, the subject will abruptly burst apart into a large number of sanhvin.
Some of the newly generated sanhvin may have fragments of the parent's memories, or share some of its personality traits, but otherwise they are essentially new individuals, formed dartically from the original "donor". They also gain some memories and knowledge of the previous sanhvin who assisted in their "birth"; among other things, newly formed sanhvin come into being already fluent in the language of their progenitors. Physically, the new sanhvin will be already of adult stature, or very close to it. They may appear perhaps more adolescent, but there are no babies or children among the sanhvin.
Sanhvin can, in fact, reproduce sexually, but in doing so they don't produce more sanhvin. Rather, it is through sexual reproduction that sanhvin construct their lairs. This reproductive process may be possible with only one sanhvin of each gender, but more usually takes place with a large group of sanhvin, at least a half-dozen or so and in some cases as many as thirty or forty. In a sort of sexual orgy that may last hours, the male and female sanhvin involved both release their respective gametes into the water. These gametes come together into a microscopic larva that settles to the floor of the body of water and grows rapidly into a saclike organism called a eascemh. Unlike sexual reproduction in most organisms, in the case of the sanhvin's generation of iascemh, any number of gametes can combine into one organism; a eascemh may therefore have more than two biological parents. In any case, the eascemh is an alogous, sessile organism quite unlike the sanhvin, but related to it in that sanhvin live within the eascemh's hollow forms. A sanhvin hive is actually constructed from a number of living eascemh joined together into a complex structure.