Sakhwey

This page is about the Sakhwey species inhabiting much of Arboria.

Appearance and Anatomy
Superficially, the Sakhwey resemble a small version of Quetzalcoatlus, but they are very different from current ideas on what Quetzalcoatlus looked like. For example, the Sakhwey have feathers or fur-like feathers (dependant on where they live) over much of their body, in addition to their scales. Their hands are also very developed, compared to Terran pterosaurs. They do however share some features, such as membranous wings, and a long beak. Their legs are long, similar to humans', and they generally move about in a quadrupedal stance, using their wings as forelegs. They can shift into a bipedal stance, freeing up their hands for tool use.

Mouth and Nasal Cavity
The front of the Sakhwey head is dominated by their long beak, used pull small animals out of their burrows, and later to catch fish. The rear upper surface contains their nostrils, leading into their nasal cavity. The cavity connects into the trachea, allowing the Sakhwey to breathe through their noses, as well as their mouths, which also connect to the trachea. Inside their mouths are a long tongue used to help them swallow their prey, much as human tongues. It is capable of contacting much of the upper surface of their mouths.

Inside their mouths is a ridge where the beak meets their skull. This is the Sakhwey equivalent of the alveolus. At the back of the throat are two 'pipes': the trachea and the oesophagus. The tracheal opening is located above the oesophageal opening, and is blocked during swallowing. This prevents food from entering the trachea, preventing choking. There is a flap of tissue which blocks the trachea, and is the equivalent of the glottis in humans.

Respiratory System
The Sakhwey respiratory system is very similar to that of modern birds, and functions in a similar way. Each lung is divided into four main sections: the anterior (front) air sacs; the parabronchi, where gas exchange occurs; the posterior (rear) air sacs; and the bronchus, connecting into the anterior air sacs and the parabronchi at one end, and the posterior air sacs and the parabronchi at the other. The bronchi also connect to the trachea.

When they inhale, air passes down the bronchus, where some enters the posterior air sacs, while some passes through the parabronchi, is depleted of oxygen, and enters the anterior air sacs. Both types of air sac swell on this phase. When they exhale, air from the anterior air sacs directly exits the lung, while the air from the posterior air sacs passes through the parabronchi, and is now depleted of oxygen, and then also exits the lung. This allows the Sakhwey to extract oxygen from air constantly, as there is always fresh air in the lungs which does not mix with stale air.

Cardio-vascular System
Sakhwey have a four-chambered heart, similarly to humans and birds, although in Sakhwey, it is the right ventricle which pumps blood to the body, and the left which pumps blood to the lungs. Otherwise, the circulatory system is almost identical to that of humans. In the lungs, the capillaries are woven around the parabronchi, and oxygen continuously diffuses into the blood vessels. Avian blood is clear when deoxygenated, and dark blue when oxygenated, due to their blood using a protein very similar to haemocyanin to transport oxygen.

Sexual Dimorphism
As with most animals, there is some degree of sexual dimorphism in Sakhwey. For example, females are generally slightly larger than males, growing up to half a metre longer. Also, during the mating season, the female produces a display used to attract males. Aside from these, males and females appear similar.

Pre-history
The Sakhwey evolved in the eastern foothills of the mountains running down the centre of Arboria. Originally, they were as any other animal, but at an indeterminable point in history, they developed awareness, and a rudimentary sentience. This is evidenced by stone tools found in this region, clearly used to dig up animal burrows. They date back more than 100,000 years, and may even be over a million years old. Ashes from controlled fires have also been found in this region, and are theorised to date from the same era. Up until about 25,000 years ago, these were the most advanced tools used by the Sakhwey.

Around 25,000 years ago, the Sakhwey migrated across the mountains separating them from the rest of the continent. However, some Sakhwey migrated south for unknown reasons, and there is no evidence of contact between the two groups. After leaving the mountains, both groups developed primitive metallurgy, but whether this was before or after their divergence is unknown. It is probable that they used rocks containing ores of various metals as bases for their fires, and discovered that they became metal. They would then have actively sought ore rocks for various purposes.

About 20,000 years ago, tools made of a bronze-like copper-tin alloy appeared, but did not replace stone tools. The bronze tools were unworked, unlike stone tools of the time, and did not become popular in the north of the continent until approximately 15,000 years ago. At this time, the Sakhwey in the north discovered how to cast their bronze into better shapes, such as flat spades, and wires for fish cages. Knives also appeared around this time, replacing the stone axe as a means to skin animals before cooking. In the south, this progress was delayed by a few thousand years for unknown reasons.

By 10,000 years ago, rock carving had become popular, and accompanied the development of chisels, and other stone-working tools. This also heralded the development of the first structures, made from worked stone blocks, which were always organised into rings, surrounding a central firepit. There were no doors or windows on the outside of the structures: access appeared to be through open-roofed rooms on the edges of the structures. With these early settlements came the end of the pre-history of the Sakhwey, as primitive records were kept, carved into slabs of stone. Basic calendars have been found inside some of the buildings, and recorded the birthing seasons over many years through the alignment of the sun with the buildings, as seen from the firepit.

In the south, however, these settlements did not appear. Instead, stone never became used for construction, as wood was much easier to harvest, since the trees in the forests of the south of the continent were much thinner than the trees in the jungles and rainforests of the north. As such, none of the buildings have survived, and consequently, no artefacts have been found dating from this period either, as settlement has since moved away from the mountains, where it is not so easy for sites to be buried. For this reason, nothing is known about southern civilisation until contempory written records appeared.

Early Communities
In the north, the simple settlements grew in size to become micro-villages. They seemed to house up to 2 dozen families consisting of two parents and up to 4 offspring. This number shrank to 2 in later periods to tackle rapid population growth. There were also dedicated buildings for storage of communal food and general tools. Specialised tools were kept in individual homes, as each family would specialise in one area, such as stone-working of hunting. Multiple families could specialise in the same area, although more than two in the same specialisation was frowned upon, due to overworking. As the Terran adage goes, 'too many cooks spoil the broth'.

As time passed, the settlements grew larger, with some exceeding 50 families in the regions sporting the most food, though 35 - 40 was most common. Sakhwey life expectancy averaged at around 100 years, with offspring born typically at around 50 years of age. This allowed the population to grow at a slow but sure rate. As the population grew, the number of families working in the same area increased, and soon came the concept of recreation. This happened at first in the very largest settlements, but soon spread to the entire civilisation. It seems to be at around this point in the development of the Sakhwey (c. 8,000 ya) that their polytheism appeared, as this is when the first crafted statues appeared. With the invention of religion, their pictograms became more sophisticated. Inscriptions moved away from random cave drawings towards telling stories of the exploits of their many gods. What's more significant is that many symbols became standardised in form and meaning across the entire settlement of the Sakhwey, which by now had covered much of the coastal regions of northern Arboria. Also, they erected walls dedicated to single gods, on which would be drawn many of the stories surrounding them. As these drawings seem to have all been done by a single Sakhwey for each settlement, the notion of a priest appears to have become widespread.

The first instance of fighting between the settlements of Sakhwey arose just prior to the migration of some Sakhwey north into Borea, and may even have been the cause. Numerous settlements on the north-west coast of Arboria were found deliberately destroyed, and the cuplrits appear to be from further east, where weapons were beginning to be manufactured from hunting equipment. This new culture of fighting amongst settlements developed into a culture of conquering other settlements and so began the first nations. At this point, circa 6,000 years ago, the population of a single settlement passed 500 individuals, and some families specialised in particular services for the other Sakhwey, such as building new houses, or dipsosing of the communal waste. The settlements could now be called villages.

The largest villages by now had several others which answered to them. As gold nuggets became widely used for trading (a system used to acquire food you did not hunt, or tools you did not make), villages began to develop the idea of wealth. The villages which answered to others began to send small shipments (gold, food, or items of value) in exchange for defence if they were attacked, something which had become fairly common.