Smallword Character Note To Self:

[omorka]

One of Borealis One's greatest creations (which all of the Twos and most of the Threes will have the instruction manual for) is the Feeping Creature. It was one of her early "bodyguard" attempts, although it is not based on human DNA and has intelligence somewhere between a very smart dog and a very obedient monkey. It is roughly bipedal, though hunched, and stands about five feet tall. It can do the armadilloid tuck-the-feet-behind-the-ears and become a ball, and can roll assasain-droid style in that position. The original models had dark-grey armadillo-scale skin, although later models have had everything from rhino hide to crocodile scale to turtle shell, and Haborscale is a definite possibility. The front arms are very powerful, with sharp talons and an opposable thumb; the back legs are made for running, not kicking, but are also taloned in order to keep a grip on uneven footing. The tail is short but semi-prehensile, and can support the creature's weight for short periods. Creatures can burrow, climb, or brachiate as needed. The head is somewhat rodentine and somewhat reptilian, with small but sharp teeth in a pointed muzzle. Its eyes can pick out detail in low-light, and can see motion in almost no light at all. Its sense of smell is about as good as a dog's (not in the same league as Olfato by several orders of magnitude, but it can track by scent).

A Creature can be trained to do simple chores, as well as patrol and guard. They are smart enough to set off an alarm before they attack, or respond to an alarm in the absence of a verbal command. They can eat almost anything, and are toilet-trainable. They need very little sleep, and can stay up for days at a time.

Best of all, when they are not currently patrolling or otherwise being useful, they curl up into a ball and stay perfectly still, making a soft "feep" noise to let you know they are still in active mode. (A sleeping Creature makes a faint chirping noise instead of snoring.) Borealises find this incredibly cute, for some unknown reason.

Most Borealises have moved well beyond the Creature for their guards and servants, but it's one of the DNA sequences that Allisons who are interested in genetics are first given to play with, so there are probably still several running/rolling around. (A few of One's old ones might also still be patrolling in the vicinity of Jax's old cage, if they haven't died of accelerated aging.)

Comments

Re:

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Wait, stop, you're both right!

If you stretch an undersized pangolin skin over Jeff Younker's skinless frame, you get a Feeping Creature almost exactly. Brachiation and all. (Minus the "feep," though, which is of course very important.)