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Description
Fucking finally, it’s them!! They think they’re god, so they get the fun colors and lines.

Sundyne are under the Cerest label umbrella with Dorest and Rox, but are genetically distinct enough that they aren’t really the same thing. If you’re smarter than me figure that out in the comments. It’s a commonly held theory among other species that they’re some kind of artificially created Cerest offshoot that went wrong and overtook their creators, but that’s crazy talk and bringing that up around a trad Sundyne is a great way to get snapped at.
They share some things with their Drecu cousins and I would suggest reading their stuff to get the general vibe, namely they have serviceable but poor temperature regulation, their eyes aren’t spherical and are housed in bony cones in their heads, they can see colors that we can’t, they lay eggs and have a similar life stage development cycle, extremely sensitive antennas, and they have a mix of endo and exoskeleton/shell. Their differences are a lot more distinct. Sundyne are obligate carnivores, for one, and have a lot harder time processing plant matter than Drecu., Their lower mandibles and beak are very sharp and are used to both tear into and hold prey. When their mouth is closed, these two are pressed together tightly by internal muscles. Along with their little bit of lip and their other mouthparts that fold closely along their face, it gives the impression of their jaw being more like ours (especially when I stylize it and remove all detail >: ) ). Those internal grabbies are about as strong as a human thumb, and are used to make speaking noises by vibrating them together and to hold/maneuver food. Their tongue is housed in a hole along their lower jaw, and its length retracts down their throat. They use it to strip meat from bone and lick yummy goop out of shell and bone holes. Their huge eyes function much better at night. You can’t see it here, but they also have retractable claws and a similar kill thumb as Rox on their smaller second set of arms.
Also unlike their cousins, they are not hermaphroditic, with adults being distinctly male or female. Sundyne dimorphism is based on this sex difference rather than their service role in their familial/ societal clans. Their family units tend to be single dominant pair of male and female (monogamous), their children, and nonreproductive members. It’s structured a bit like a lion pride, though females are the ones who defend the territory while males hunt and rear children once the eggs have been laid/hatched (similar to Rox and Dorest roles too). Males are smaller in height and sleeker, and have more markings on their face/ body (while they look very flashy to us, it helps break up their shape to their colorblind prey). They also retain one more set of limbs than females: small barely functional structures on their back that are only there to help hold their females eggs in place (once the female is ready to lay them, they give them to the male so they can go back to protecting the clan/etc) . The things on their head are structured sort of like horns, being more or less hollow/spongy bone on the inside with a thin sheath covering , more or less permanent, and sort of vascularized and growing for the whole year, but they can branch, don’t have a single living core, and they can drop and regrow if damaged enough by the root (kind of just a spongy thing growing out of a bone shoot idk). Horn damage/having regrown branched horns on a male is seen as extremely unattractive and disgraceful (the long continually grown unbranched ones are the beauty standard since it exemplifies how precious they are and how they are strong enough to be undamaged) . Females are much larger and more muscular (standing at 8-9 feet tall rather than 7-8 XD) and have fewer markings. They don’t have the stubby arms, and also their horn things will drop and regrow more based on hormone signals from their social status and/or their environment. They use them a lot more for combat, territoriality, and social status (whereas males use them for defense and social status) so they get cracked more often. if they get access to a better food source, they’ll drop and then regrow better and stronger. For the few reproductive females, they will also begin to shed and regrow bigger/stronger/ with more branches yearly the longer they’re the dominant female as a status symbol. Unlike with males, horn branches are looked at more favorably on females, but crooked/unnatural damage is looked at as a low status symbol since the only reason they’d still have it is if they aren’t dominant enough to get the signals to regrow them the right way.
However, before pupation both are indistinguishable, and adults can’t ‘choose’ the final form of their offspring like Dorest and Rox can. Males are considerably more favored because they leave their home clan to build ties and status in other clans, ultimately expanding the influence of the family and more freely rising in the ranks (they leave, marry in with a female of equal or greater status, and can move up by taking out other males there. a female doesn’t typically leave their birth clan, and could never become the dominant female of their own clan because incest and patricide taboo, and the only way they’d be able to in another clan is if the dominant male there chooses them. ) if they had the chance most clans would cull many of the females in their clutches, but since they can’t tell the difference until the age where their kids are legally considered people, it’s harder to do that. Succession rites for females follow a matriline from the dominant female, but they have their own internal pecking order established through literal and social pecking. If you’re a better fighter or just smarter/more useful, you’ll have a higher status. Males get their initial status from their pair with a female upon entry to a new clan, but they can actually move up to the dominant position by killing or otherwise removing the previous male. Their biological roles of hunter/nurturer for male and protector/fighter for female translates to their modern sociopolitical roles pretty literally. Males hold pretty much all power as lawmakers, media makers, educators, and leaders. Though they are physically superior, females become the males protection once they are paired. They hold power in the military or as lower government officials, pretty much carrying out and enforcing the orders of their male. Their dynamic is like a sword and its wielder, or a speaker and their voice, though it is also referenced in their own culture as a male/female pair being “the sun and its moon.” They also take great pride in this binary, seeing it as something that sets them apart/ male and female completing each other to form the perfect whole.Straying from this is a one way ticket to being either kicked out of the clan, jailed, or killed depending on where you are and who you’re dealing with. They will enforce it onto any other species they meet (which is part of why Dorest and Rox are rigidly separated by a gender role along with their biological role in the colony, even though they are both sexes) just a little bit of politics lore but part of the reason why Cerest and Rossetians got/get along well is that they have both share strong patriarchal societies.
Sundyne clans are at the tippy top of Cerest society’s order (Seru). They oversee their Drecu colonies and use their resources and manpower to expand their territory. This hierarchy is deeply entrenched, with any Drecu within a trad Sundyne structure believing that the Seru are immaculate and powerful beings.
Another conspiracy theory is that back in the early days of Sundyne development they probably preyed on Drecu and infiltrated their colonies through pheromone manipulation, overtaking that territory for their clan. The pheromone thing allows them to influence the general emotions of Cerest around them and give loose instructions, and to stop the instinctive swarm swarm swarm kill kill kill responses Drecu get when they see them (To Drecu, Sundyne look like creepy elongated shadow versions of themselves, and though this response has largely been bred out most Dorest and Rox still feel an uncanny effect from looking at them. )

Ok Blasho gang get ready for humans and muttreazik next and then we’re freeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

Description
Fucking finally, it’s them!! They think they’re god, so they get the fun colors and lines.

Sundyne are under the Cerest label umbrella with Dorest and Rox, but are genetically distinct enough that they aren’t really the same thing. If you’re smarter than me figure that out in the comments. It’s a commonly held theory among other species that they’re some kind of artificially created Cerest offshoot that went wrong and overtook their creators, but that’s crazy talk and bringing that up around a trad Sundyne is a great way to get snapped at.
They share some things with their Drecu cousins and I would suggest reading their stuff to get the general vibe, namely they have serviceable but poor temperature regulation, their eyes aren’t spherical and are housed in bony cones in their heads, they can see colors that we can’t, they lay eggs and have a similar life stage development cycle, extremely sensitive antennas, and they have a mix of endo and exoskeleton/shell. Their differences are a lot more distinct. Sundyne are obligate carnivores, for one, and have a lot harder time processing plant matter than Drecu., Their lower mandibles and beak are very sharp and are used to both tear into and hold prey. When their mouth is closed, these two are pressed together tightly by internal muscles. Along with their little bit of lip and their other mouthparts that fold closely along their face, it gives the impression of their jaw being more like ours (especially when I stylize it and remove all detail >: ) ). Those internal grabbies are about as strong as a human thumb, and are used to make speaking noises by vibrating them together and to hold/maneuver food. Their tongue is housed in a hole along their lower jaw, and its length retracts down their throat. They use it to strip meat from bone and lick yummy goop out of shell and bone holes. Their huge eyes function much better at night. You can’t see it here, but they also have retractable claws and a similar kill thumb as Rox on their smaller second set of arms.
Also unlike their cousins, they are not hermaphroditic, with adults being distinctly male or female. Sundyne dimorphism is based on this sex difference rather than their service role in their familial/ societal clans. Their family units tend to be single dominant pair of male and female (monogamous), their children, and nonreproductive members. It’s structured a bit like a lion pride, though females are the ones who defend the territory while males hunt and rear children once the eggs have been laid/hatched (similar to Rox and Dorest roles too). Males are smaller in height and sleeker, and have more markings on their face/ body (while they look very flashy to us, it helps break up their shape to their colorblind prey). They also retain one more set of limbs than females: small barely functional structures on their back that are only there to help hold their females eggs in place (once the female is ready to lay them, they give them to the male so they can go back to protecting the clan/etc) . The things on their head are structured sort of like horns, being more or less hollow/spongy bone on the inside with a thin sheath covering , more or less permanent, and sort of vascularized and growing for the whole year, but they can branch, don’t have a single living core, and they can drop and regrow if damaged enough by the root (kind of just a spongy thing growing out of a bone shoot idk). Horn damage/having regrown branched horns on a male is seen as extremely unattractive and disgraceful (the long continually grown unbranched ones are the beauty standard since it exemplifies how precious they are and how they are strong enough to be undamaged) . Females are much larger and more muscular (standing at 8-9 feet tall rather than 7-8 XD) and have fewer markings. They don’t have the stubby arms, and also their horn things will drop and regrow more based on hormone signals from their social status and/or their environment. They use them a lot more for combat, territoriality, and social status (whereas males use them for defense and social status) so they get cracked more often. if they get access to a better food source, they’ll drop and then regrow better and stronger. For the few reproductive females, they will also begin to shed and regrow bigger/stronger/ with more branches yearly the longer they’re the dominant female as a status symbol. Unlike with males, horn branches are looked at more favorably on females, but crooked/unnatural damage is looked at as a low status symbol since the only reason they’d still have it is if they aren’t dominant enough to get the signals to regrow them the right way.
However, before pupation both are indistinguishable, and adults can’t ‘choose’ the final form of their offspring like Dorest and Rox can. Males are considerably more favored because they leave their home clan to build ties and status in other clans, ultimately expanding the influence of the family and more freely rising in the ranks (they leave, marry in with a female of equal or greater status, and can move up by taking out other males there. a female doesn’t typically leave their birth clan, and could never become the dominant female of their own clan because incest and patricide taboo, and the only way they’d be able to in another clan is if the dominant male there chooses them. ) if they had the chance most clans would cull many of the females in their clutches, but since they can’t tell the difference until the age where their kids are legally considered people, it’s harder to do that. Succession rites for females follow a matriline from the dominant female, but they have their own internal pecking order established through literal and social pecking. If you’re a better fighter or just smarter/more useful, you’ll have a higher status. Males get their initial status from their pair with a female upon entry to a new clan, but they can actually move up to the dominant position by killing or otherwise removing the previous male. Their biological roles of hunter/nurturer for male and protector/fighter for female translates to their modern sociopolitical roles pretty literally. Males hold pretty much all power as lawmakers, media makers, educators, and leaders. Though they are physically superior, females become the males protection once they are paired. They hold power in the military or as lower government officials, pretty much carrying out and enforcing the orders of their male. Their dynamic is like a sword and its wielder, or a speaker and their voice, though it is also referenced in their own culture as a male/female pair being “the sun and its moon.” They also take great pride in this binary, seeing it as something that sets them apart/ male and female completing each other to form the perfect whole.Straying from this is a one way ticket to being either kicked out of the clan, jailed, or killed depending on where you are and who you’re dealing with. They will enforce it onto any other species they meet (which is part of why Dorest and Rox are rigidly separated by a gender role along with their biological role in the colony, even though they are both sexes) just a little bit of politics lore but part of the reason why Cerest and Rossetians got/get along well is that they have both share strong patriarchal societies.
Sundyne clans are at the tippy top of Cerest society’s order (Seru). They oversee their Drecu colonies and use their resources and manpower to expand their territory. This hierarchy is deeply entrenched, with any Drecu within a trad Sundyne structure believing that the Seru are immaculate and powerful beings.
Another conspiracy theory is that back in the early days of Sundyne development they probably preyed on Drecu and infiltrated their colonies through pheromone manipulation, overtaking that territory for their clan. The pheromone thing allows them to influence the general emotions of Cerest around them and give loose instructions, and to stop the instinctive swarm swarm swarm kill kill kill responses Drecu get when they see them (To Drecu, Sundyne look like creepy elongated shadow versions of themselves, and though this response has largely been bred out most Dorest and Rox still feel an uncanny effect from looking at them. )

Ok Blasho gang get ready for humans and muttreazik next and then we’re freeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!