Shrey Fen

Shrey Fen
The shrey fen were the dominate species everywhere they were found on Radewim until humans figured out how to use majic not only to see them, but also to disrupt the ment and prevent the hive minded shrey fen from using their primary means of communication.

Before majery the shrey fen had defeated every invasion, causing many to believe they were the demon Rel of the Godels, based the Vik Plague that reminded many of the Godel Blight, and also the testimony of survivors who described the shrey fen as silent, invisible in the light or dark, flying and attacking with claws from all sides.

The Shrey Fen Conquest began shortly after the advent of majery with Core nations carving out colonies that can still be seen in the borders of Sumer, Numer, Atos, Lasko and Allsworth. It continued Post Unification for another two centuries until the UER established the Shrey Fen Desert Territory, but ever since critics have called the reservation outside the Dragon Shield the newest evolution of the old genocide, still working toward the extinction of the shrey fen species.

Shrey Fen Traits
Due to the shrey fen's absence from the fossil evolutionary record and their unique features, from their invisibility effect to claws sets to hive-minded brains, shrey fen biology is often cited by proponents of both intelligent design evolution and alien ancestry.

The most visually distinguishing shrey fen characteristic is a lack of identifiable facial features. What passed for a head is sunk into the chest and left only a bump between the shoulders. Inside the bump is a spiraling skull that connected to three colar bones running between the shoulders and also two spinal columns connecting head and hip.

This structure was a byproduct of the most exceptional shrey fen trait; their ment based communication or telepathy. The spiraled skull amplified the ment their brains heard and sent, while the two spinal columns processed the visuals, scents and audio collected by the skin.

Shrey Fen Metabolism
One exceptional trait of shrey fen biology was its digestion and respiration systems. The process started at the hands where food was taken into the body and then used to culture three bacteria strains that served as the shrey fen's blood and combined were able to digest all organic material, allowing for a true omnivorous diet.

The waste from the bacteria was then eaten by the fungi that grew the shrey fen scales and emitted waste gases that were consumed by the body cells, which fed on the bacteria blood. Any remaining waste was expelled from holes in the feet, sometimes to mark territories.

Shrey Fen Skin
Shrey fen blended out of sight thanks to the cooperation of their cells, the three varieties of digestive bacteria flowing through their bodies, and the fungi that built the translucent scales covering their skin.

The effect began at the outermost layer of scales, which mirrored the light through small channels in the lower layers to the opposite side of the body and then directed the light onto the skin where it was  detected to provide the brain vision, absorbed through photosynthesis, and mechanically shifted valves that regulated the flow of bacteria.

By widening and narrowing channels carrying the three bacteria strains, which were yellow, blue and red, the shrey fen skin varied the amounts of those colors within layered chambers to essentially mix bacteria like paint. Due to their hydophobic sweat, the scales were naturally stain resistent and water repellent. While effectiveness was incomplete when a shrey fen transitioned between extreme shifts in surrounding textures, in most cases the effect deceived every known organic eye, except perhaps that of a dragon, which is unconfirmed.

Shrey Fen Scale
Three variant species of the fungi that built the scales covering the shrey fen were also responsible for their three claw sets; the cleats on feet or hands, talons on wrists and ankles, and scrawls on forearms.

The cleats were arranged in a spiral outward from the small mouth opening into a jagged oval that changed as the outer cleats were shed and new cleats grew out from the center. Each cleat could be moved independently and as a whole could be stretched out to overlap into a flat thin disc, tensed into a solid cone or spread for a wide grip.

The wrists below the hands and ankles above the feet had four joints for talons that reached beyond the cleats when set forward and halfway to the elbow when retracted against the forearm. The talons' inner edges were textured to cut substances from bone to wood to flesh while their outer edges were designed to grip the arm's scales or any object they touched when retracted back against the forearm.

Attaching just below the elbow was the scrawl, which was divided into two parts. The lower half contained the thin bone framework of the tip of the wing cape stretching between the arms and legs, plus the joints and muscles to extend the wingtip and manipulate the rest of the wing. The scrawl's upper half continually grew longer and was used to balance standing upright, in addition to spearing prey.

Shrey Fen Cape
When fully retracted the shrey fen's cape wing rolled into band that ran from the elbow up along the outside of the arm and then down the torso's sides to the knee. As the cape extended, the overlapping layers of scales unfolded as the bones and body tissues stretched and slid between them, maximizing the wing area where light could simply pass through the scales without any alterations.

When fully extended, the tissue inside the cape absorbed moisture from the air, smelled it, helped regulate the body's temperature and supplied the metabolic gases for the bacteria serving as blood.

The cape also allowed a shrey fen to glide and sustain flight in high winds. Fine control was done at the wingtips and with the lower cape, which stretched between the legs down to the ankles and folded into two tails, one extending from each of the two spinal columns.

Shrey Fen Sign
The shrey fen's natural thought based language, shrey fen speak, is considered impossible for a human to understand, and so far no shrey fen has ever learned a word based language. To communicate, humans and shrey fen typically use shrey fen sign, a compromise language with symbols and colors reprsenting simple ideas.

Originally developed so soldiers lost while on patrol in the SFDT could ask shrey fen for help, shrey fen sign was performed with a set of cards. Black and white were yes and no, gray was maybe, green was peace, red danger, blue cold, orange hot, violet distress, yellow ready and brown was tired, while the symbols covered the basics of compass directions, landmarks, relationships and distance.