TODO: Copy some squalorous social dynamics from Hamsters: https://www.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/nqzkbc/queen/
Those raised in the Appalachian Mountain Range Cave Complex are known as Feral Blues. They are a sister subspecies of Delta-Homunculi.
Those raised in civilization develop psychologically as normal Humanoids and are generally called Delta Blues, DBs or Blues. Their numbers are relatively small compared to other humanoid groups, as the feral population generates few refugees able to be domesticated. There are small enclaves of Blues living in civilization, though their numbers remain small.
To refer to the genetic group that encompasses Ferals & Delta Blues, I will use the term Blues.
Environment
The Appalachian Mountain Range Cave Complex is a sprawling network of occupied caves, most of them too cramped for a Beta-Human, and the very narrowest even a challenge to fit for a Delta-Homunculus.
Physiology
Anatomy
Blues exhibit the following differences from baseline Delta-Homunculi. Ferals experience predictable developmental aberrations to their anatomy due to adaptation to their environment. But unless otherwise noted, the differences below are genetic.
- Inter-fertility between baseline Deltas & Blues
- Smaller & more recessed eyes, with a sunken, beady appearance.
- Extreme light sensitivity and intolerance of normal lighting. guaranteedBlindnessForBluesWNoEyePro in Blues who live in well-lit environments if they do not take special care of their eyes. Delta Blues will often keep their homes pitch black, and wear protective goggles in normal-light settings. Some go a surgical route, having Photo-Protective Lens Implants installed in their eyes.
- Elongated earlobes with pointed tips
- Entire nose lowered and flattened, giving a snoutlike appearance. Ferals often have relatively minor calluses and lithodermia buildup around their nostrils.
- Elongated and thickening finger and toe nails, generally kept about 1" in Delta Blues. Ferals' talons get up to 4" from lithodactyly. The talon encases the outermost phalanx of the fingers, facilitating climbing.
- 20% smaller body mass in total in Ferals partly due to malnourishment and close quarters. Delta Blues tend toward 10% less body mass compared to mainstream Deltas.
- Proportionally narrower skeletons
- Proportionally shorter limbs
- More flexible spines
- Ubiquitous double-jointedness and a contortionist's level of flexibility
- Elongated skulls
- Long, protruding teeth that grow continually. This is an adaptation to their Alimentation habits, as the friction of scraping stone would erode the enamel a normal humanoid's teeth in a matter of months. It is a matter of hygiene for Delta Blues to file their teeth to shorter & more manageable form. Some choose to express themselves by preferring creative shapes for their teeth, most notably a fang fashion. Ferals' teeth are often heavily calcified through lithodontism, at an average length of 1"-1.5".
- An about 30% longer, slightly narrowing tongue. Ferals' are often elongated through use to about 200% the normal length, and deeply callused in layers of peeling flesh & glossolithic buildup, giving the surface a dry, stony appearance. They often hang out of the mouth freely. The genetic difference is small enough that it's not easily noticeable in Delta Blues, unless you meet one who's a giver ;)
- Pale, non-melanogenic skin with a bluish hue. Feral Deltas often have a very slightly clammy consistency, due to their damp environment.
- Genetic resistance to birth defects effected by inbreeding (a genetic callus?)
- Highly flexible cartilaginous ribcage
- Highly effective lungs
- Ability to bark at a [high] dB volume
- Thick, durable eardrums particularly resistant to trauma from force or pressure. At the same time, they are highly sensitive to the point of enabling most Ferals to FeralEcholocation effectively, a skill that comes naturally to Delta Blues who choose to cultivate it.
- Increased risk of late-life disease, due to short reproductive cycles in Feral population.
- Decreased (10%) life expectancy
Alimentation
Not all of the above differences are fully genetic, as the population has not had that long to adapt. The elongated nails and sharper teeth are due to the bulk of the Ferals' diet consisting of of native cave slime mold. To get every precious fragment of the mold, they have to scrape the surface of the host rock with their nails, and depending on the amount of strain they're feeling, their toenails, teeth or tongue.
Effectively, the parts they use to scrape rocks are elongated, narrowing (sharpened), dry, and stonelike in appearance, due to the parallel formations of Lithodermia, Glossolithia, Lithodontism and Lithodactyly. In shortest terms, the parts of the body they are scratching with develop thick calluses, denser bones, calcified nails/teeth, and eventual inflammation and dryness due to deposits of stone in the layers of nearly-dead flesh. The ability of their bodies to accept and integrate these stony deposits is called Lithomorphia.
This isn't their entire diet, though. Ferals will eat anything organic they can find, including subterranean rodents, insects, worms, and each other. More on the cannibalism later.
And... one more thing.
Elimination
Oh, they're already charming already, aren't they? Well, they also endlessly consume their shit and piss and have adapted to survive on that too. Hey, food in the caves is hard to come by.
Blues in general have extremely robust digestion, most notably able to digest carrion and relatively collagenic(?) plant matter.
Sleep
Ferals spend a lot of their time in a light slumber, occasionally jolting or barking to keep invaders from their territory or mate-guard.
Psychology
Feras live a life of extreme privation and brutality. Their life expectancy is about 18-22, and the time they do have is extremely unpleasant.
There is evidence of the use of tools in Ferals, usually stone scrapers, or mashers for herbal balms to the perpetual injuries of Feral Blue Syndrome and a harsh life to boot. But digital manipulation is relatively difficult for ferals, due to Lithodactyly.
The Family Unit in Ferals
Society extends no further than the Family in Ferals. The Family is generally very small in number:
First, a child is born to parents and they cohabitate until the child comes of age. Infant mortality is high, and in such cases the child is consumed by the parents, or just the father if times are hard and he wants to be selfish. And if the baby and the female died, well buddy, you got yourself a good ol' country buffet. The father may also choose to eat his mate or children at a later date. Nothing's set in stone, as they say.
For a male, maturity is generally when he becomes large and aggressive enough to compete for mates with his father. He leaves the cave, often venturing miles before he finds an unoccupied chamber or perishes on the way, fodder for the locals to feast on.
For a female, maturity is when she reaches sexual maturity and seeks a mate in another cave or inbreeds with her father or sibling.
If there are relatively few intra-family conflicts on mates and foraging, Ferals may cohabitate, forming a FeralClan. But this is a loose animalistic association, prone to fracture.
Territory, Barking & Echolocation
Territory plays an important role in the Feral's life. They spend much of their non-foraging time barking at the borders of their territory to scare away competition or attract mates. Some may sneak into others' territory to forage secretly, though this is grounds for physical combat if they're caught.
Their eardrums have developed into a robust yet sensitive form, able to hear echoed barks from far within the cave complex. It is estimated that they know the voices of each neighbor distinctly within a mile or two, though they may never meet in person.
Reproduction & Courtship
Ferals come to sexual maturity quickly, and reproduce quickly since their average life expectancy excluding stillborn is something like 18 years. The cave complexes are a sweltering hive of pheremones... if you're into that.
Male Ferals will bark into the neighboring caves to attract a mate, usually the daughter of one of their immediate or near neighbors, which often results in a challenge to her father or existing mate, or to the female herself if she is not interested and puts up a fight. Sadly, rape is ubiquitous among the feral populations, though it is simply one avenue the species uses to initiate a later stable family unit.
The females have been observed to exit their parents' domain when a neighboring male attracts them through a courtship display, most frequently the presentation of a food gift.
The bodily remains of a rival are considered the most desirable food gift. In the event that that rival was the female's parent or former mate, the female tends to enter a submissive behavioral pattern, or escapes this cave to a new mate. Effectively, simply killing a female's current mate to take her as their own own is a less preferred strategy, if not because it tends to just make them resentful at best and unwilling at worst, but also due to the high risk of infection when engaging in physical combat with other Ferals.
Delta Blues in Modern Societies
As noted above, Delta Blues develop normally in a psychosocial sense. However, they are frequent targets of discrimination, known in some places as the pejorative Ghoul (Slur). Many backwards places assume that all Blues act like Ferals, though the behaviors are purely environmental.
The Flesheaters is a well-known media misrepresentation of Blues, but it makes money so they're not going to stop anytime soon.
Blues' voices tend to be raspy or husky.
Blues tend to excel at the same carrers as baseline Deltas, but have especial advantages in any profession that benefits from total darkness;
- Mining & cave exploration
- Commando night operations
- Tracking & Hunting
- Anything involving climbing