Antefyn: Created page with "The '''nogan''' (pronounced {{IPA|/ˈnoʊgən/}}) is a breed of kake resembling a human brain with a single eye on the bottom. More specifically, it resembles a human cerebrum; there is no exterally visible cerebellum or medulla. Although its shape bears a close resemblance to a cerebrum, the coloration may be different; some nogans are the same pinkish-orange color as brain tissue, but others tend toward white,..."

2022-01-29T21:09:35Z

Created page with "The '''nogan''' (pronounced {{IPA|/ˈnoʊgən/}}) is a breed of kake resembling a human brain with a single eye on the bottom. More specifically, it resembles a human cerebrum; there is no exterally visible cerebellum or medulla. Although its shape bears a close resemblance to a cerebrum, the coloration may be different; some nogans are the same pinkish-orange color as brain tissue, but others tend toward white,..."

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The '''nogan''' (pronounced {{IPA|/ˈnoʊgən/}}) is a [[breed]] of [[kake]] resembling a [[human]] [[brain]] with a single [[eye]] on the bottom. More specifically, it resembles a human [[cerebrum]]; there is no exterally visible [[cerebellum]] or [[medulla]]. Although its shape bears a close resemblance to a cerebrum, the [[color]]ation may be different; some nogans are the same pinkish-orange color as brain [[tissue]], but others tend toward white, silver, or lavender.

Nogans have an innate [[power (celemology)|power]] of [[flight]], and spend all their time in the [[air]], never touching the ground if they can avoid it. If possible, they try to stay above any other creatures in the area, the better to bring their powers to bear against them if necessary. A nogan somehow [[amerdism|deprived]] of its flight ability is completely helpless, lacking any means of [[motility|motion]].

==Abilities==
Aside from its flight, which seems to work through similar principles, the most obvious power of the nogan is its [[telekinesis|telekinetic]] ability. The nogan can produce a [[force]] up to about 1.8 [[newton]]s within a [[distance]] of five [[meter]]s or so, or about half that force up to about twice the [[distance]], which is the maximum extent of its range. Although it can and frequently does use this ability to lift and move small objects, it can also use it offensively. While it can manage a crude attack by telekinetically throwing things at enemies, with practice a nogan can focus the force over a very small [[area]], creating a high [[pressure]] capable of stabbing through [[skin]] and [[flesh]]. Because this takes some amount of concentration on the part of the nogan and is not an instantaneous process, the nogan finds it difficult to use this telekinetic impalement against a fast-moving target, and it can in principle be dodged.

Another standard power of nogans have is that of [[electroreception]], though technically this is not a true power in the [[celemology|celemological]] sense, since its cause is entirely [[biology|biological]], not [[magic]]al. In any case, nogans can detect [[electric field]]s around them, and in this way have some awareness of what lies in [[direction]]s they cannot [[sight|see]] with their one eye. Because of this, nogans are not as easy to take by surprise as is often assumed; while many people with little or no direct experience with nogans assume you can take them unawares by approaching them from the direction opposite their eye, their electroreceptive ability prevents this.

Many nogans can and do develop additional powers—in fact, they cannot [[appreciation|appreciate]] without doing so. While there may be other powers possible to nogans beyond these, the powers most commonly observed include the following:
* A [[augabole|beam]] of [[heat]]
* Weak [[thelxis]]
* [[Plasmation|Creation]] of small amounts of matter
* [[Sartion|Healing]]
* [[Soporation]]
All of these powers, where applicable, seem to emanate from the kake's eye.

Nogans grant a weaker version of their telekinesis as their [[obverse power]]. The obverse kake often appears to have a slightly swollen [[head]], often with a corrugated, brain-like texture.

==Anatomy==
The nogan's encephaloid appearance is not coincidental or misleading; the nogan actually is composed almost entirely of [[nerve|neural]] [[tissue]]. It has no [[muscle]]s of any kind except within its eye, and moves entirely by [[magic]]. Even the eye itself is loose within its socket—a [[hemisphere|hemispherical]] depression in the ventral surface of its cerebriform [[body]]—and is held in place and [[rotation|rotated]] by the same telekinetic ability that enables its motion rather than being moved by [[extraocular muscle]]s. (The fact that the eye is not physically connected to the rest of the nogan's body leads many [[etorist]]s to consider it a [[pleote]], though the fact that its parts always remain in contact makes it a borderline case.) The only actual muscles the nogan possesses are the [[sphincter pupillae|sphincter]] and [[dilatator pupillae]] muscles that control the size of its [[pupil]].

The amount of cerebral tissue in the nogan, and the pattern of [[sulcus|sulci]] and [[gyrus|gyri]] on its [[surface]] like those on the human brain, lead many to assume that the nogan must be especially [[intelligence|intelligent]]. In fact, it is not; while the nogan is perhaps more intelligent than the average kake, it does not approach human intelligence or true [[ellogy]]. Part of this discrepancy is because some of the space within the kake is taken up by its cerebellum and medulla; while these parts are not externally visible, it does have them, internally embedded within its cerebrum. Also, part of the nogan's tissue is devoted to bringing about its abilities. Still, neither of those factors, nor both combined, are nearly sufficient to account for the disparity between the nogan's amount of cerebral tissue—and the additional [[surface area]] provided by the gyri and sulci—and the creature's intelligence. One possibility that has been bruited is that the excess brain matter does not directly benefit the individual nogan, but facilitates some kind of coördination between them, that each nogan, while still an individual [[organism]], is also in some sense an [[organ]] or [[appendage]] of a [[sangate|greater being]]. While on the surface this may seem a far-fetched idea, some studies have claimed to find evidence for it—though other etorists do dismiss it as strained speculation.

==Behavior and environment==
Lacking a [[mouth]] or any obvious [[digestive system]], the nogan does not [[ingestion|eat]] in the conventional sense. In part, it [[harmalia|sustains itself magically]]. It does, however, require some physical sustenance, in the form of certain [[gas]]es usually released from [[decay]]ing matter. Because of this, wild nogans are most often found in places where such decaying matter is plentiful: stagnant [[swamp]]s, [[landfill|waste heaps]], [[bat]]-infested [[cave]]s with plentiful [[guano]]. They are sometimes seen on [[blood]]y battlefields and near [[mass grave]]s, where they get their nourishment from the gases released by the putrefying [[corpse|bodies]].

When more than one nogan is in the same vicinity, the creatures have a tendency to move around each other in complex patterns, an activity that is often informally called the [[brain dance]]. The purpose of this "[[dance]]" is unclear; the leading theory is that it has something to do with their jointly altering the surrounding electric fields and then moving through and electroreceptively experiencing the new field configuration.

==Reproduction==
Nogans have no obvious [[genital|external reproductive organs]], but they do [[procreation|reproduce sexually]], using their telekinetic ability to facilitate the process. The nogans do have two [[sex]]es; they cannot be [[vision|visually]] distinguished by external inspection, but apparently have slightly different electrical fields that allow the nogans themselves to tell them apart. Both sexes have a [[sexual aperture]] which, again, looks identical in the two sexes, but serves a different purpose. The [[male]] nogan ejects [[sperm]] from its aperture and then uses its telekinetic ability to move it into the aperture of the [[female]]. After a [[day]] or two, the female nogan will lay a couple of dozen small, [[pearl]]y [[egg]]s that eventually hatch into tiny [[larva]]l nogans. Aside from their size, these newly hatched nogans look similar to adults, though their eyes are covered by [[skin]] for the first [[week]] or two of their lives. The [[mother]] looks after her young for a few months, by which time they will have almost reached their adult size.

==Appreciation==
The nogan is a [[germinal breed]] which does not [[appreciation|appreciate]] from any other breeds of kake. It does, however, have the potential to appreciate into more "advanced" breeds. It cannot appreciate, however, without developing at least one additional ability beyond its initial telekinesis. It still must also accumulate sufficient [[keki]] before appreciating; developing an additional ability is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. A nogan that has focused on one additional ability appreciates into the [[gegan]]. This includes the common case of a nogan that has already accumulated the requisite keki and then learns an additional ability just for the sake of appreciation. A nogan that has diversified its abilities appreciates into the [[tagan]]. These two kake can further appreciate into the [[geme]] and the [[aibar]], respectively.
[[Category:Germinal kake breeds]][[Category:Cerebriform creatures]]

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