by Phil Masters
art by Dan Smith
The Githiaskio are a race of intelligent aquatic sophonts (also known as Squids, or "Whooiihee" in imitation of their whistling speech); they originated on a planet on the coreward edge of the Imperium. Physically, they are radically different from the human norm; psychologically, they are remarkably similar.
Biology
The Githiaskio are bisexual, semi homeothermic (maintaining their body temperature within a broad range), and give birth to single, live young. They average 6' 8' in length, about half of which is tentacle, and are about 18" in diameter at their broadest point. They have roughly cylindrical bodies, which taper into a muscular swimming "fluke" at one end and divide into six tentacles around a feeding orifice at the other. A cluster of sensory organs is located mid way along the body. Githiaskio vision is biased towards the blue green end of the spectrum, having evolved for life underwater, but their eyes focus poorly; their prime sense is sound, which encompasses a very effective ability to locate objects in their immediate vicinity by low frequency echoes and fluctuations. They are very sensitive to strong light and to waterborne chemicals.
Githiaskio speech has been described as "whistling underwater." It is complex and subtle, relying heavily on pitch intonation. Githiaskio and humans can learn to understand each other's speech to a reasonable extent (in GURPS terms, treat each race's languages as Mental/Very . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: November 6, 1998
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