| Antarctican | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | "Snake People" | ||
| Original | 南極人 | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Body type | Serpentine-Humanoid | ||
| Average height | Considerably taller than Humans | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Place of origin | Antarctica | ||
| Diet | Carnivorous | ||
| Locomotion | Bipedal (common citizens) Slithering (warriors) | ||
| Status | LC | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | Sentōru no Nayami | ||
| Created by | Kei Murayama | ||
| Designed by | Kei Murayama | ||
Antarcticans (often known as "Snake People" or "Serpentines"; although these are considered derogatory slurs) are a sapient species of reptile-like beings with an ancient and technologically advanced civilization in the continent of Antarctica.
Biology[]
In spite of their ophidian appearance, the Antarcticans are warm-blooded creatures and more closely related to birds in the evolutionary scale. They're also an eusocial species, similar to termites or ants. Both regular citizens and soldiers - the latter being a distinct morphological caste with no legs - are all female, and only the queen lays eggs.
The Antarctican body plan is typically humanoid, with one pair of legs and one pair of arms. They have a long tail and an even longer neck supporting an ophidian head which opens up to reveal several sharp teeth. Their hands have five fingers, like human hands, but they end in small claws rather than nails. Warriors differ in having two pairs of arms and no legs, and are also considerably larger than the common citizens.
Despite their somewhat frightful appearance, Antarcticans are fairly unimpressive as far as carnivores go: their weak mandibles are incapable of killing or crushing large prey, and unlike most snakes, they're neither venomous nor constrictors. However, they have been shown as capable of swallowing live prey whole.
History[]
The ancestors of this species have colonized Antarctica thousands of years ago, building their cities in areas containing natural heat sources such as hot springs and volcanoes.
There exist numerous conspiracies claiming that the Antarcticans have been secretly guiding the development of humanity since the dawn of time. In truth, this is mostly a myth: contact between humans and Antarcticans has only been established relatively recently in both species' history. They did have contact with the Aztec civilization, however, and it seems that the Aztecs venerated them as gods for their knowledge. The Antarcticans claim that they didn't interfere with the political affairs of the Aztecs, however.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- The Sentōru no Nayami manga series takes place in a universe in which all modern vertebrates evolved from a six-legged ancestral body plan; explaining how Centaurs can have four legs and two arms and how "Winged People" can have arms, legs and wings. The Antarcticans represent one of the species who lost their central limbs.
- It's worth noting that the word "human" as used in the manga - and in this article - denotes a number of vastly different forms including "winged people" (翼人), "dragon people" (竜人), "horned people" (角人), fauns (牧神人), "long-ears" (長耳人), centaurs (人馬) and mermaids (人魚), as well as the extinct "tigermen" (人虎). They're all considered part of the same species for both societal and biological reasons - being able to produce hybrid offspring. The Antarcticans, however, belong to a different order of beings; as do the South American Amphibians (両棲人).