Paper Rhomboids

The Paper Rhomboids are an alien species heeding from an extremely mountainous planet with a pretty thick atmosphere. They are mostly taller than humans and communicate via pheromones. They have an acute sense of touch and smell (yes catching pheromones does count as smell), they have no ears and their eyes mostly act as heat sensors for away objects and predators. They have evolved this way because sound waves and light waves didn't travel as well in the atmosphere, making touch and especially smell the go-to to be able to escape from predators (since they also communicated via pheromones and those were able to stay in the area and around the predator for a long while). They are able to make a 3-d map of their sorroundings using their touch and chemical signals, like amblypygi.

They also have something akin to a hand coming out of their what we humans would consider their 'face', that they use to manipulate tools and machinery with. It secrets a sticky substance similar to tree sap but way stickier that they use to hang onto stuff (since they don't have something like thumbs to be able to hold things in place). The 'hand' can also separate into smaller parts if enough pressure is applied (think like a paintbrush), this was mostly a common mutation that happened in times before tools were invented that would later evolve to become a full-on trait due to it being extremely helpful for the handling of some tools. This 'hand' works mostly on hidraulics (like a spider's legs), but there are some muscles in its base for specific movements and to be able to pull it back into their face. Next to this 'hand' is their main source of touch/smell, their whips! They function essentially the same as an amblypygi's whips with a little bit more control (can u tell im obssesed with this weird little animal? x]) and can extend to almost twice their body size, though they usually remain next to the 'hand' when handling something. They are usually hidden inside their 'face' when navigating a place they know well or relaxing (its kinda like closing ur eyes), since they have a pretty good memory, they don't really need to update their mind-map often if the place doesn't change, they can remember the layout almost to a tee. This is mostly a culture thing, having your 'face' closed and your whips hidden is seen as a sign of trust and politeness, since it signifies being out of danger and trusting your sorroundings. Now, how can they almost visionless creatures know when the whips are out? because they smell like hell (partly because of the sap, partly because the whips also have pheromone glands in them to help remember place in their mind-map), in fact, all of the rhomboids smell mostly like hell, and that is because of pheromones and chemical signals!

As it was said before, the rhomboids communicate through pheromones. This communication happens in one of two main ways: direct and indirect. Indirect communication works the same way as things like pheromones trails do, a simple signal for everyone to follow, go here, do that, etc. This type of signals can be catched while not in direct conversation (since they are catched mostly by the hairs things they have above their neck and other smaller ones around their body; the hair catcher thingies are so high up from the ground due to pheromones satying in the air most of the times), in an involuntary action, but do have to be emmited voluntarily. These signals can stay for a while, and are usually renewed by specialized workers. They are mostly used to signal paths, especially on dangerous territories or in busy cities. The second type of communication is direct communication, this one is entirely voluntary and happens when that little seam in their necks open (since that is were most pheromone glands are situated). The rhomboids are capable of extremely complex communication this way, almost to the same level as us; humans don't have much of a clue about how they are able to do this with such simple things as organic chemical compounds, nor do they have a clue about what they are saying like ever. I bet the rhomboids would be as confused as them if they were able to hear the noises they make and the way they use them to communicate though. Anyways, they do emit a sweet scent (for humans receptors) when they are trying to communicate they are happy, that is nice little coincidence.

Their diet consists of foods with high mineral and water content, since they do need a ton of those things to make pheromones. In their planet, those are mostly gotten from plants and fungi, so they could be considered hervibores. They are capable of eating smaller prey such as what could be considered insects, but nothing bigger than that. Their mouth is located inside the seam where the neck seems to end, and only opens when it is eating time, since it is directly connected to their digestive system and doesn't have as much protection as ours does (since it isn't needed for respiration nor even close to that).It is considered somewhat of a sensible organ, while it does of course have antibacterial protection, it does pretty much only work against bacteria found in their food, and does not do much against foreign viruses and bacteria that aren't so easily held back by the inmune system. It is pretty much a direct conection to their bloodstream after all, which isn't good at all when it comes to possible highly dangerous sicknesses lurking within. Because of this, the act of eating is highly delicate for them, and they have to curate completely not only their food but also their place of eating. Without help, solitary rhomboids mostly eat via rolling around in the food, until most of it gets into their mouth hole. This is a pretty dangerous practice that can lead to a various number of not only diseases but also infections, if something sharp were to get in the mouth and then the stomach, cutting through flesh. Instead, the rhomboids prefer to eat with help, usually being mouthfed by other rhomboids. This almost neccesity to have company during eating lead to a quick evolution of social behaviour on the rhomboids, which would later lead to them becoming an intelligent species.

1. they don’t really have much in the way of predators atm cause they are a pretty advanced civilization, but it is fun to think about their ancestors and their struggles with predators for evolution’s sake,, they are mostly herbivores, eating plants and fungi, so they did have a ton of predators back then. It obviously depended on the area of the planet and its biome, the most common one to find the rhomboids in was the mountain jungles tho, so their predators were mostly ambush predators. These predators used the steep heights to jump their prey from where they were too far away to be sensed. Most big beings on this planet communicate through pheromones, so this predators used the pheromone trails left by rhomboids and many others to track their prey. Now, this predators also used pheromones to communicate aswell, especially to mate, and they had to spread them everywhere they could, so when it was time to mate they made a TON of specific pheromones and started walking around and just going hog wild to get things out there. Some got stuck to their plated skin tho (they had a mixture of scales + exoskeleton made of a kind of cellulose for skin), and the rhomboids used this to their advantage. They evolved extremely sensitive pheromone catchers, which would later become a key feature on why they were able to evolve complex communication :]

2. They are pretty much on the same level as mankind right now, maybe a little bit less. They have been able to make cities and harvest energy from most of their resources, the only thing missing is any kind of spaceflight science, which they dont have at ALL, mostly because they dont know there is space out there, they cant really see it yknow (they don’t have developed eyes like we do, since their primary senses are touch and smell). I believe they are mostly afraid of one of the things we are afraid of too: being the cause of the destruction of their own planet, especially since for them this is all they have. They have been making a better job than us managing all the nasty stuff tho, so they are in a good track. As for the structure of their society i honestly have no idea,, i could make it something like ants with a very centralized government that control the whole population, but i do believe diversity in ideas and culture is something necessary to be able to scientifically advance,, so i might just go with the good ol countries we are all fond off yknow

3. there is probably a ton of different disabilities and they do help whoever they can, but their medicine is not that advanced, especially the medicine having to do with genetics and shit. Working with small things is just hell on earth when u dont have eyes, since the best way to see little teeny things is with optics. Some of the disabilities i can think they could have is: a lack of receptors in their pheromone catchers, which would pretty much be like being deaf; and an issue with their ‘hand’ sap, specifically their ‘anti-glue, which is just really hot blood, which would make it so they wouldn’t be able to grab things and kinda like being blind (since their whips, which they use for touch and to make a 3d map of their surroundings, would be glued to their ‘hand’ permanently).

4. I did think of just one for now, which is keeping their whips hidden and inside their ‘face’ when meeting someone (specially someone important like for a job interview or something). This is because having their whips out in a familiar environment usually means that they are alert and kind of afraid of what could be out there. Its kinda like if you were just fullbody shaking while like, meeting ur grandma, it just wouldn’t be seen as polite (even if it can’t be helped sometimes). Ill have to do more thinking on this one later tho, specially once i figure out their whole clothing thing, since yknow that one brings a lot of taboos with it.