Neumono

A species that appears in AsteroidQuest

Appearance

The neumono are a mammalian race with an average height of 4' 10", while the average female is a couple inches higher. They tend to be somewhat stocky, and particularly dense and heavy. Their fur color is typically blue or red, with varying degrees of saturation and darkness. Their hands and feet are particularly large, with 3 toes, and 3 fingers and a thumb, all of which are particularly stubby, and not well suited for fine motor functions. Their teeth are sharklike at the front, but quickly change to molars at the back.

Internal Summary

They have a familiar setup of 2 lungs and stomach, the digestive tract of which is thorough. Several small hearts are spread intermittently through their body to pump their blood, which can hold enough oxygen to sustain most neumono's for a few hours without breathing. Instead of a single brain in their head, their brain is integrated throughout their nervous system. The upside is that a critical blow through a skull might not be fatal, but the downside is that a loss of limb or extensive damage to one may make the individual disoriented, slow witted, and other adverse effects. Furthermor, they're capable of complex thought, but with the brain spread out over the whole body, they tend to think significantly slower in general. The brain also emits many of its functions externally, which can be picked up by other neumono. This is elaborated further in the society section. With their anatomy as it is, despite their thorough digestive track, neumono's require a great deal of food comparative to their size.

Society

The biggest impact on society for them, is that their brains emit their thoughts outward, and other neumono are able to sense this from a varying range, depending on the force of thought/personality from the neumono sending, and the other neumono's sensitivity. They're not fully psychic, but they can grasp the general mood from strangers, and in the case of neumono they've been with and have bonded with, can be able to grasp simple thoughts like "going left" or "getting milk from the store."

When several neumono stick together, usually at least 10, they might begin thinking alike. When this happens, a Hive is possibly formed; a collection of neumono who tend to act as a single force. This can be jumpstarted by a queen, or more rarely a king due to females being the dominant gender, who has enough force of personality to act as a binding force. Still, hives can be formed, and continued, without the presence of a single leader. This led to other cultures giving them a dubious namesake "Neumono", a combination of "neurological" and "mono", which stuck over time, even for them.

Hives likely avoid each other, and allegiances between them are rare, even when it's in mutual interest. A hive easily gets in the mindset that other neumono should be like them. While they tend to be open to other species' cultures and personalities, they have a double standard that makes them completely closed off, if not outright hostile, to neumonos that aren't part of their respective hive.

Lastly, a neumono's personality may not meld with their hive, and they end up surrounded by people they dislike. This leads to them breaking off, to which the hive will consider that neumono 'rogue', as with any other neumono that is not part of a hive. While ones who are born outside of a hive can bond and be part of a forming hive as normal, ones that were part of a hive and broke off tend to be closed off to other neumono. There are exceptions, but they don't tend to have a large assortment of friends, as hive-members often do.