Kairei

Kairei is a Kiwakegawa, (often shortened to Kiwa). The Kiwa are a species of water dwellers. While they can live above water, and can breathe air, it feels uncomfortable for Kiwa who haven’t trained for a long time. Small groups are raised on the surface and live on island villages, but the majority live underwater. Those who live on the surface or in the shallows have horizontal tail fins and fine fur covering their bodies. Kiwa living in the depths have vertical tail fins, smaller ears, and more prominent webs between their fingers and toes. They are also more scaly.

Kairei lives underwater, but has trained to breathe air. He has a fascination with the depths, and enjoys pushing down deeper past his limits. He has friends in the depths, even though it is uncommon for both subspecies to mix purely because of physical limits. Both types of Kiwa are friendly and trade with other races, even though the depth dwellers lack many opportunities to meet others beyond their home. Kairei was interested in jackal technology because it offered the possibility of fully uniting his species. But the project ended up focusing on travelling into the beyond, past the Barrier, rather than delving deep into the depths. When the time came, he never left with the crew that vanished. He was disappointed in them because they chose to focus on uniting the different races of the universe for the sake of progressing towards their greater goal, rather than helping the depth dwellers connect with the rest of their species.

The hydrosphere*, where the Kiwa live, is a colossal ball of water, situated at the centre of the universe. It is physically closer in form to what we’d deem a regular planet than most places are in Kairei’s universe, because it has gravity pulling everything towards its centre. There are even a few islands and clouds that orbit around it in the way they would on a planet from our universe (although unlike on planet Earth, some of those islands float above the water). It also slowly rotates. While it doesn't have a solid planetary core exactly, there are rocky structures throughout the sphere where underwater cities have been built. There are enough tunnels that a ship capable of withstanding the vast pressure differences would be able to swim though from one side to the other. Nobody has been to the centre, as far as we know. The dead centre is known as the Abyssal Core.

There are other, smaller spheres of water out there that were once part of the hydrosphere*, but they are nowhere near as large. They are harvested by other races, and some are connected to the floating islands by tubes of water, forming roads across the universe. The hydrosphere* is off limits from farming, mostly for being too salty for most species, however some are interested in using it for other reasons.

When Jackal returns and befriends a new crew, Kairei is one of the first people they seek out for help, but he has become paranoid and uncertain over the years.

Other Notes: 

• Kairei’s outfit is more unique. Wears trophies from both ranges of the hydrosphere.
• Depth dwellers tend to only wear bioluminescent parts from squids, jellies, and other unusual fish. 
• The rest wear shark bones and teeth. 

* To be renamed.