Aquatic Physique

Hyrani stand between two and a half and three and a half feet tall and average 50 pounds. Hyrani are some shade of blue or gray with paler fronts. They have markings on their thighs, shoulders, and underneath their eyes of the same color, the pattern is unique to each individual. These markings glow a faint reddish color for some hyrani. Hyrani have no nose and do not breathe air through their mouth, instead they breathe through nasal passages at the base of their neck, very rudimentary vocal chords allow hyrani to make simple vocalizations. Hyrani have gills below their ribs.  

Metamorphosis

Hyrani hatch from eggs and spend their first months unable to fend for themselves. After four to seven months a larval hyrani leaves its caretakers and roams the open ocean for the next six years. When a larval hyrani reaches maturity it will search out a coral near the coast. Once it reaches the coral it will begin to secrete a sticky mucus and adhere itself to the coral. Shortly after the mucus will harden, encasing the larva in a thick, oblong shell.   Once the mucus has hardened the larva's body begins to dissolve. The larva then goes through a metamorphosis similar to that of a butterfly or moth. After a few days two pump-like organs develop on the top of the shell, these organs cycle water through them and filter out debris to use as nutrients. Over the next few days a heart-like organ forms as well as a large sac which occupy the rest of the shell's volume. Over the coming months a hyrani will grow. About five months after the process began the nearly mature hyrani will start to secrete an enzyme which breaks down the shell. The organs outside of the sac will atrophy and fall off within the next week or two, at which point a hyrani is considered mature.   The metamorphosis is often referred to as the "awakening" because larval hyrani do not possess a soul, and adult hyrani do not retain any memory from beforehand. The awakening has much significance in most hyrani cultures, and is often invoked in religious and educational iconography.  

Home at the Sea

Hyrani settlements are always founded on coasts near corals where they can take care of second eggs and adopt newly awakened hyrani. Since hyrani are amphibious their settlements are in the coast as much as they are on the coast. A street that ran parallel to the ocean might suddenly take a turn into the sea. Since hyrani settlements may stretch as far as a mile out to see any hyrani settlement can, and often does serve as a port. Hyrani have no preference in building material, and build with whatever is most practical. Usually, hyrani settlements are made of wood and transition to stone at tide-level. Many coastal cities races also feature a coastal district heavily populated by hyrani.