Kyleth

A northwestern Kyleth man dancing, depicted in art form.

Kyleth
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Paractinopterygii
Order:	Nothocipriniformes
Family:	Lepidocheiridae
Genus:	Anthropicthys
Species:	A. caudatus
Binomial name
Anthropicthys caudatus

The Kyleth (Anthropicthys caudatus), sometimes known as Kyld, is a sapient species native to northern Pelia, almost exclusively to Kyldigard, with a small sub-species population known as the Kytang (Anthropicthys caudatus gigans) in Kytangia.

Kyleth are bipedal merfolk with many human-like features, such as their humanoid facial structure and facial fins, which often resemble human hair. It is widely considered the oldest and only extant species in the genus Anthropicthys, although this claim is disputed by the Kytang people of Kytangia, who proclaim themselved a so-called "sovereign species". A. caudatus is significant for being the world's most complex genetically modified organism, with its roots being traced back to Kethesite genetic evolution engineering experiments around 150-200 AR. A partially amphibious species, A. caudatus are found mostly on land but have many underwater settlements as well, and will often spend large sums of time underwater.

Genetic Traits

Coloration & Ethnicity

The Kyleth species is a diverse species which comes in many different types of scale color, as well as scale patterns. As the Kyleth are a sentient species, the different scale color groups are considered ethnic groups rather than seperate subspecies.

The peoples of the north and historic northeast of Kyldigard developed lighter scale tones, mostly palettes of blue, ivory, or other shades of off-white. These peoples are usually referred to as Motul [ˌmɔ ˈtʏl] and Blezc [blɛʒ] respectively. The Motul and especially Blezc developed lighter scale tones during settlement due to the harsh cold weather and less sunny climate, while their southern brethren retained darker scale tones due to receiving more sunlight.

The peoples historically native to the west and southwest coasts, meanwhile, are typically mid-ranged in scale tones, with varied shades from orange-red to pinkish-red. These peoples are known as the Frezcij [ˈfr̥ɛ ʒijˌ]

Finally, the peoples of the historic southeast (now south-central) , more specifically around Lake Guwuk, are divided into two subgroups: the Cjomung [ˌcɔ mʏŋˈ] and the Scuejaj [ˈʃwe jajˌ]. The Kjomunjg live in the southernmost parts of Kyldigard, mostly around the southern bank Vrezcyth River, and have bright orange scales, whereas the Scuejaj live mostly around the Gizcazc River and east of the Vrezcyth, although in recent decades, the Kyldigardian capital city of Muremysct has become an ethnically diverse metropolis, despite being located in what is traditionally Scuejaj land. The Scuejaj have a complex, multi-colored body pattern, akin to the patterns of one of the species' close evolutionary cousins, the Showa Goldfish.

There are giant variants of the northern Blezc and Motul ethnic groups known as the Jejoth [ˈje ɔθˌ] and Kytang [ˌkɪ taŋˈ] respectively. Whether the Jejoth and Kytang are ethnic groups of Kyleth or a seperate sub-species or even species (in the case of the Kytang) is disputed.

Body Proportions

Normally-sized adult A. caudatus are on average between 50 and 86 inches in height, from their feet to their head. Their heads are comparable in proportion to that of the average human head, at around 9 inches from chin to skull, with the Kyleth head being about two centimeters longer at the back of the skull, and with Kyleth jaws being more effeminate and round than the average human jaw.

The average Kyleth armspan (from one fingertip to the other) is around 49 to 95 inches, excluding larger species variants.

Kyleth leg length (from hip to the ground) is typically about half their height, at around 3 feet on average.

Kyleth tails on average, when measured from base to end, are the same height as the rest of their body measured from the head to the ground.

The fins of a Kyleth typically measure from a few inches to a few feet in length and width depending on the fin's location on the body.

Kytang and Jejoth Kylds are much bigger, around 115 to 200 feet tall for Kytang and 50 to 100 feet tall for Jejoth, with mostly the same bodily proportions. The typical armspan for Kytang is around 105 to 220 feet long and their leg length is around 80 to 105 feet on average. Their fins on all parts of their body also grow much proportionally longer and larger than typically-sized Kyleth. The proportions for Jejoth are around half as large as the Kytang's.

Sociology & Behavior

Language

Over the course of the species' history, many different languages, pidgins, and creoles have been made for communication, however starting in 634 A.R. with the unification of Kyldigard proper, a process by which most languages of Kyldigard would be unified and assimilated began, leaving the Kyledo-Pelian language family with only one isolate language of Kelerruth for many centuries.

Around the 8th Century A.R., the Aravianist regions of southwest Kyldigard, who had been linguistically assimilated by the Khijovian-speaking occupiers, started to develop the beginnings of what would become the Fjojgym dialect of Khijovian, and upon re-integration, this dialect would only be influenced more and more by its Kelerruth surroundings, eventually leading to the modern, mostly intelligable dialect of the parent language.

The colonization of Kytangia in the 14th century lead to eventual dialect development in the region, which was only strengthened by its subsequent independence and nationalistic government takeover. Eventually, the dialect of Kelerruth only known by outsiders as "Kytangite Kelerruth" or informally in older texts as "Kytang-Speak" developed and became the dominant language in the region.

Underwater, Kyleth communicate using North Sea Sign Language, or NSSL. NSSL is also used by the deaf, mute, and hard of hearing.

Sexuality & Gender

Kyleth commonly practice naturalized polyfidelity, forming pods with multiple love partners and having many children, although monogamy is not unheard of, nor seen as abnormal, in Kyleth society. Heterosexuality and bisexuality are conceptually non-existent in the Kyleth species due to societal and biological factors, although there are various different alternative labels pertaining to one's sexual and romantic preferences, usually pertaining to one's gender expression rather than their biological sex. Many Kyleth prefer one gender, most prefer two, and some have no preference or prefer all three differently. It is also important to note that some Kyleth choose to identify with a non-trinary gender identity rather than one of the three trinary ones, and some even change their gender identity over time, or even fluidly from day to day. Sex changes can be performed frequently and easily reversibly by experienced alchemists and mages within Kyleth-populated societies, although in some (namely, Kytangia), sex changes are illegal and can be punished by death.

Kyleth are unusual in the animal kingdom due to the presence of three, rather than two, distinct biological sexes. The male and female sexes are similar to those of humans and other bipedal species, whereas the third, a more androgynous sex, is translated roughly as 'neutral' from its word of Kelerruth origin, "demang". Neutrals have wombs and female reproductive organs on the interior, but male breast tissue and 'mixed' lower genitals on the exterior. Because of this, neutrals are able to oftentimes both impregnate and be impregnated, unlike the other two sexes. Due to this, among other societal developments in early Kyleth society, prejudice and sexism arose, with neutrals enforcing superiority over females and males for many centuries. Due to centuries of gender suppression in Kyldigard, the resistance against patriarchy was fought by women's and neutrals' movements and today most Kyleth societies see all the sexes as equals. Gender roles are diverse within different Kyleth subcultures, with some regions outright resisting the formation of gender roles, while others adhere to more rigid gender roles (albeit less rigid than human ones), such as men having the responsibility to provide, and women being homeworkers.

Traditions & Spirituality

Since the dawn of the first Kyleth proto-civilizations in the central Pelian deserts to which Kethes initially expelled them to, the Kyleth have developed nomadic tendencies, even after their settlement in the Great North. Kyleth are not typically very attached to one place, frequently travelling throughout their country, which makes job organization chaotic, but population movement much easier, enabling easier settlement of remote lands. Kyleth are also very communal, cooperating and co-habitating with one another even when not part of the same pod. This behavior caused severe epidemics to spread frequently throughout Kyleth communities until the discovery of modern medical alchemy and foreign immunization treatments enabled greater collective immunity to disease. Kyleth also tend to have many children, with the average 2-to-4-parent pod bearing around 2 to 8 children per pod. Childrearing is partaken by the community, with primary responsibility falling on the parents of the pod and a strong secondary responsibility falling on other members of the local community, even if those members are not biologically related. It is common for a child to develop bonds with unrelated elders in the community, and there is little to no social distinction between a biological aunt or uncle and a socially-developed one.

Unlike many societies, mainland Kyleth religious tradition does not stem around traditional deities, but instead, mortal objects and beings, most commonly the wind spirit Relej. The Relej is able to store the collective ideas, emotions, and knowledge of those it blows through, leading to early Kyleth civilizations seeing it as a god and forming the nation's most followed religion around it, now commonly called Relejism or "Relejunjgám" in Kelerruth. In the modern era, it is commonly known that the Relej is not a god, however, that does not dissuade religious, magical, and scientific interest in it. Other religions exist as well, most notably Aravianism in the southwest, Kyldigardian Animism in the far northern tundras, and Sadhrism in Kytangia.