Vellandor

The Vellandor are reptilians who inhabited the bogs and marshlands of Enjil, the capital planet of the Syndication. They once ruled from the planet as the Supreme Vellandor Empire, a despotic dictatorship that was destroyed by its robotic servants, the Enjyn, in a cataclysmic event known as The Act.

Headstrong and composed even in the most dire situations, the Vellandor are known Microcosm-wide for their strength of mind, and many take up managerial and commanding roles for this very reason; little but their ideology has changed since the collapse of their empire. Despite this, they are often physically weak and do not enjoy exertion, delegating these tasks when possible.

There are approximately 116.3 million Vellandor living in the Microcosm. They typically inhabit homogenous or near-homogenous 'clan' colonies rarely numbering more than 25,000, often developed on boglands similar to their planet of origin. Few live on their home planet for spiritual reasons.

Anatomy

Vellandor are amphibious reptilian bipeds distinguished by their hunched appearance and broad necks, upon which sprout remarkable iridescent fins once used for attracting mates. These fins tend to fan into lobes that veil the head. They also may grow fins on the backs of their heads, thought to have streamlined the body further while swimming.

Their prehensile tongues are long and rugged to the touch, an evolutionary trait that allowed them to fish for food and manipulate objects at a distance. An adult Vellandor's tongue can grow to 1 metre long. Its prehensility is also an advantage in the modern day; many Vellandor-designed personal devices are also made to be grasped in the tongue, and it often provides additional dexterity in multitasking.

They are hermaphroditic and bear their sexual organs on their backs in subcutaneous cavities. These cavities allow two Vellandor to copulate simultaneously, each bearing young that the couple raises together. Mating can only be accomplished while submerged in water.