username: PixieStoryteller
species name: Cave Dippers
what are they?:
Cave Dippers are tiny cave dwelling rodent-insect hybrids who scurry through tunnels of their own construction. They have a mouse-like body, all covered in fur which is mostly fine except for a slight ruff around the neck. From each ear sprouts an antenna which helps with spatial awareness in the darker regions of the tunnels and caves in which they live. Also, gem-like scales protrude from their fur at various places along their sides. These can all be one solid color or else a variety of colors with males tending toward being a solid color and females tending to have more than one. Finally, there is their tail which from teen-hood throughout the rest of their lives drips a translucent, waxy feeling, faintly glowing liquid. Where this liquid comes from will be described further down.
For the most part these little cuties remain busy from the moment they are able to waddle to the moment they pass on into the after-life. The only period in time where they take a moment to rest is when the female takes a break during the pregnancy, birth, and nurturing of her infants to take their place in the endless bustle and hustle of their busy brothers and sisters.
What are the Cave Dippers (or CDs) so busy with? Why, expanding their cave system and keeping it maintained and orderly, of course! CDs act very much like ant colonies (though their term is "hoard") in that they spend most of their lives expanding their hoard empire. Using their little paws, they scrabble in the earth, working together to move the bigger, tougher chunks of dirt and stones. They mark the path with the ooze dripping from the end of their tail, which glows faintly. There is one CD assigned to each new tunnel branch so that the ooze (they call it "dripping") remains consistent down the one tunnel. Often during construction, one tunnel will fall into another tunnel and so the two assigned CDs are required to mark along the same tunnel for a while until a higher up CD determines that it is time to split.
That brings me to two important facts about the Cave Dippers, namely, their Dripping tails and their hierarchy. First we will talk about their tails.
A CDs tail is soft and fluffy at birth. It will remain so until the infant has reached teen-hood, at which point their mother is tasked with herding her young down into the deepest sections of her hoard realm. The tunnels and caves eventually lead into ancient, huge caverns whose floors are pock-marked with colorful pools of the faintly glowing substance found in adult CDs. The mother allows her children to choose a pool in which to dip their tails. The moment a teen dips his or her tail into the ooze, the waxy stuff seeps into their fur and the heat opens up sacks contained in the CD's tail. The pigmentation of the particular pool which the teen chose will be genetically bonded with the young CD and from that moment on they begin secreting that color of dripping from their tail tips. At this point, the teens join in the work of the hoard as full members of their different ranks.
Now we'll move on to explain the ranking system used by the CDs for time out of mind. As you know, a group of CDs is a hoard. However each hoard is led by a female, a matriarch, who settles disputes, approves new excavation sites and is the only CD in the hoard that gives birth, like a queen ant. Unlike a queen, though, the matriarch does not constantly give birth to new babies. There is a cool-down period of a month between each batch and during that time only a week is required for the infants to be able to join her in simple jobs and learn about life in the hoard. Once they are teens at two weeks of age, the Matriarch will join the Workers of her hoard in order for them to see their Matriarch working as hard as they are.
Matriarchs mate for life; however they may have up to five of these life-mates. She is very choosy about who will be her mate, picking the strongest, most intelligent and most diligent of her Workers. She is usually a very practical little CD and not prone to romantic notions.
The Matriarch is distinguished by an extra growth of antennae around their heads in a crown-like formation. These crowns sprout the moment the Matron accepts responsibility as the Matriarch of a new hoard. They are fully grown within seconds. What these antennae crowns are used for is not completely certain, though Matriarchs seem to gain a "sixth sense" from the moment they begin their rule and often can tell what is going on in distant parts of their hoard territory. It is presumably this antennae crown which helps them to do this.
After the Matriarch, there are Matrons, who are females (usually her daughters but rarely from other hoards), who do not give birth (this does not stop them from having mates or crushes) unless they split away to form a hoard of their own and become Matriarchs. However, as Matrons, these busy females act like workers, but have the authority to give orders as to which direction to dig (with the approval of their Matriarch) and who is assigned as marker to the tunnel. If any Worker has a question, they go to the Matron of their "Squad" (a sub-group consisting of a Matron and up to twenty workers). Every so often the Matriarch will join a Squad at which time she will take on the responsibilities of the Matron.
Finally, there are the Workers, the backbone of the CD society. They are mostly male except in the rare case of a female joining from a different hoard. She has to work her way up to the rank of Matron before she will be fully accepted as a member of the hoard.
Contrary to how you would expect, males are highly respected by the "upper" ranks. They do allow the females to rule the roost, but they are not lorded over and if they have a complaint, they are more often than not listened to and their words acted upon. They are considered by the females to be rather intelligent and great for asking advice. The Males also are slightly more naturally muscular, though smaller, than their female counterparts. They enjoy their work and often are the more humorous and romantic of the species. This does not stop them from working constantly alongside the females.
The idea of a male attempting to gain rank has never been heard of. No male feels repressed by this arrangement and if anything, such an endeavor as to rise in the hierarchy would be looked upon as unnatural and dangerous. The other males would turn on said weirdo and either convince him he is happy as he is or else chase him from the hoard. This deviant male would not be accepted in any other hoard as he would marked with the scratches of his previous hoardmates and as such his unnatural desire for rank would be known. He is doomed to wander around on his own through uncharted territory, possibly joined by a few other renegades or else he might head up to the surface. The likelihood of his survival is slim to none.
A normal male worker can leave anytime they like to join a new hoard as long as he does not choose a mate in the hoard he currently is in. Males also mate for life, but only with one female.
Now, a quick mention of their diets: they like to eat worms and other insects found in their tunnels and caves. They do enjoy plants as well, but being so deep in the earth most of the time makes vegetation a rarity. Mushrooms and bioluminescent moss that grows in the deepest caves just above the cavern pools are harvested on special occasions. Males automatically make sure the females are fed first and then allow themselves to enjoy a treat or two before going back to work.
As you could probably tell, Males are way more common than females with one female birthed at most once every three batches. Each batch might be three to twelve infants.
And... yeah! Those are the Cave Dippers... My apologies if this is waaaay too much. Thank you for your consideration!
by Bean_Cake » Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:18 pm 
