Due to their heavy shells, Sarsostra tend to move quite slowly. Their bulk necessitates the use of all eight of their lower legs for locomotion. Their two upper legs consist of a claw and a humanoid hand, respectively. About half of all Sarsostra have their claw on the left leg and half on the right. Coloration varies some, but most individuals are mottled orange, brown, and blue over a base of greyish-white. Male and female Sarsostrans are roughly the same size, growing to approximately six feet in height at the most and approximately four feet in width. Where they differ is in the shape of their torsos. Males have a more triangular shape, with their widest point being toward their "shoulders." Females are more box-shaped, as they carry their young inside their shells (sometimes dozens of them) as eggs and then in a larval state for the first few months of their lives. This does not seems to slow female Sarsostra down, as they will carry on their occupations without interruption until it is time to deposit their infants into shoreline nurseries. Neither male nor female are terribly sentimental about their own biological offspring and will take turns teaching, feeding, and caring for massive nests of intermixed young. The Sarsostran language is impossible for other species to emulate, as sound is augmented by the use of arcane body movements and the expelling of pheromones. Though a simplified, trade-language version may be understood by outsiders, it can never be spoken.