The Kyrabilli

To see how I painted this creature, head over to Pheonix Atelier and sign up! I shall be instructing a class there from the 21st of October in creature design.

www.phoenixatelier.com/program…

The kyrabilli are a sentient hexapodal species about four and a half feet high, living on a small, warm world orbiting a slow burning star.

Although now technologically advanced, the kyrabilli evolved as environmental specialists who hunted for both animal and plant food across the extensive moss-like forest floors of their subtropical home. This soft sponge-like substrate played a key role in the evolution of the kyrabilli and their unusual needle like feet: The thin tips, unable to support themselves on the moss, sink into it several inches and are stopped from slipping deeper by a ring of tough, fibrous hairs. This provides some extra traction, but more importantly allows the thin and highly sensitive tips to detect vibrations passing through the denser ground beneath. By sensing the substrate in this way the kyrabilli can detect large creatures moving a considerable distance away while also communicating with one another via rhythmic vibrations through the ground. As their evolution progressed towards more complex intelligence, entire long range conversations could be carried on this way and thus the groundwork was laid for co-operative hunting and intertribal communication.

Whilst their stable environment made thermoregulation largely unnecessary, the kyrabilli are able to maintain an elevated body temperature when necessary by concentrating warm blood near the central organs and withdrawing it from the long slender limbs. Weather falling outside of their range of tolerance was met by moss matt shelters and communal huddling until the discovery of fire and limited clothing.

Sensory input comes from several highly specialised organs and is dominated by sight. Two stalked and densely packed compound eyes extend from the front of the head, below which hang sensitive olfactory organs to detect scents and changes in humidity. In keeping with their well-developed vibration detection abilities, their hearing is acute and is mediated through mobile ears at the tip of the abdomen.

As omnivores, the kyrabilli possess mouthparts and manipulators of a generalised and adaptable design. The arms, derived from the lips, lack a solid skeleton and collect fruits or carry weapons for subduing small prey. Equipped with their own basic sense of taste, these arms pass food up the mouth that lies between them.

Their most critical adaptation, however, may be their linguistic abilities which encompass visual, aural and infrasonic components. Various configurations of the limbs and body reveal the colourful blue patches on the legs and abdomen, the different combinations conveying meaning and intent. Sound is generated through a combination of stridulation using the rough inner surfaces of the arms, and air expelled and modulated through the twin breathing spiracles on either side of the abdomen. Dramatic punctuation and long range communication can be supplemented by beating on the substrate.

Currently a technologically advanced and relatively peaceful people, the kyrabilli have developed sustainable high density agriculture and their population continues to grow.