Minikin

Last updated Nov 3, 2024

• Fauna
• People

Minikin (spp. Anthrosciurus sapiens) are a small rodent species native to the 2nd Realm. They are arboreal omnivores which tend toward eating nuts and other plants, and descended from red squirrels from the 0th realm. They are capable of language, and appear anthropoid.

Many red squirrels that had found themselves in the 2nd Realm as a result of the Supernova of 80MB, and are subsequently put under a lot of pressure from similarly arboreal predators. This led to the adaptation of;

• stronger legs and digitigrade feet for the ability to jump,
• greater agility and capacity for stealth,
• and sharper claws and teeth for self defence.

Minikin measure at a height of 25-30cm tall. The basal minikin grew to develop hairlessness and bipedalism, with strong, long digitgrade feet specialised for jumping from branch to branch.

They also grew to look a lot more anthropoid, as the same Alucinara that had augmented their evolution was the same energy that had developed muscle memory from use in the souls of late humans that had gone extinct soon after the supernova.

The Austerkin are a lot hairier compared to other minikin races.

Hairlessness and / or fur distribution can vary from race to race depending on the climate. Hotter climates would result in sparser, thinner fur, with the opposite effect in cooler climates. As a rule, the head tends to have hair, and the tail is fuzzy and bushy.

For example, the equatorial Morello-Oyhoyunic minikin are almost completely hairless apart from their heads, genitals, and tails. In contrast, the southern alpine Snissojian minikin are hairy all over apart from their faces and palms, covered with fluffy white fur to adapt to their cold, snowy environment.

Minikin skin colour can vary from dark to light, often taking on a semi-dark beige colour. Eye colour can vary from brown, to green, or to blue. In cases of prolongued Alucinarium exposure, the irises would take on a light pink or purple colour.

As omnivores, minikin often tend to eat;

• insects,
• berries,
• nuts,
• leaves,
• tree bark,
• and small rodents.

Some minikin guilty of comitting a taboo would be fed potentially poisonous foods, as to gauge their toxicity, and some minikin cultures would abstain from consuming squirrel flesh, due to their sanctity in a lot of religions as the minikin’s evolutionary and spiritual ancestors.

Minikin often tend to form groups based on familial relation, headed by a matriarch. Minikin exhibit altruism in sharing food with others of their own group, giving and allowing others to freely take from each other’s den(s).

As they developed, the basal minikin developed a more sophisticated capacity for the formation of society, language, and the ability to construct permanent buildings such as workplaces and small clay dormitories or dens.

Modern minikin groups inhabit small wooded areas, with one to three immediate families living in one tree. Portions of these trees are often hollowed out for use as storage or shelter, while some cultures would store clay in their cheek pouches to build round shelters dangling from the branches.

When a minikin commits a crime, they are ostracised from the community and have their tail dismembered and burnt. In morellic culture, tails are seen as the source of the spirit or soul, and disconnection from the soul is representative of the disconnection of the individual from others. The legal definition of what constituted a ‘crime’ can vary depending on each culture’s taboos.

When a group is too large for one community, it inevitably collapses. A varying amount of groups form following the split, involving fighting, war, and ostracism. Large groups are often unstable, resulting in violent dictatorships in some communities as to reduce the risk of collapse.

Minikin psychology was a complicated subject on account of the brain’s interaction with the Fortuitary gland. The brain was accountable for conscious and subconscious processes, such as thought, decision-making, breathing, sleep, hibernation, including the control of all other biological systems. Likewise, the fortuitary gland was accountable for the subconscious process of Alucinarium secretion and essential shift.

However, the line became blurred between each organ when one researched the subject of dreaming and sorcery. Dreams, while mostly innocuous to non-fortuitous beings, are greatly debated in the context of Alucinara, wether or not they originated from the brain or from a spiritual plane.

All minikin hibernate in the winter, slowing their metabolic processes following a period of feasting. During hibernation, minikin become unconscious in a sleep-like state, and Alucinarium levels in the brain increase due to the inactivation of valves in the bloodstream that protect the brain from Phantasmarrhoea.

This is not seen in normal sleep, but is shown to increase the vividness of dreams during hibernation. The presence of Alucinarium in the brain during hibernation is a survival method developed to allow minikin to interface with deities, to gain foreknowledge such as future events or advice through acquisition of divine wisdom.