The schalindras are monsters! That’s about all you need to know.
Physical Characteristics
Every schalindra looks different, and yet the same in that they all look like horrible, gross monsters. They’re buggy, twisted creatures, some small and scuttling, others tall and sharp, yet more are huge and bulging. No matter what, they’re all repulsive. Some have fangs or claws, others thick and hard appendages strong enough to knock down a brick wall with one swing.
Really, it’s hard to consider them all one species, but they’re apparently able to mate regardless of their makeup, with the resulting offspring an amalgam of the parents. The lifespan of schalindras is also unknown, with some known to have lived since the founding of New Zhopolis–at least a thousand years. Some say there is no upper limit.
Known examples of schalindras include Hyönteinenvis, a tall, dark, bug-eyed monster with talons, many bent legs, and a muscular torso; Corbluten, a flying schalindra like a beetle that made a nest out of a live heart; and Grassocul, known by many as “fat-ass” due to his hindquarters being larger than the rest of his body, and who scuttles close to the ground on six thin appendages.
History and Culture
Schalindras have lived in the New Zhopolis area for as long as anyone can remember. They have always slunk and snuck around the area, and have always tried to be pushed out, to little avail. They began to spring up as New Zhopolis was built, believed by most to have lived underground before then. Since a lot of them still live underground in sewers, this makes sense.
The Schalindra District, where most schalindras have been pushed into (but not out of), is dirty, squalid, and collapsing, though it’s said most of this has been caused by the schalindras themselves. The district in question is in the northwest of New Zhopolis, flanked by two poor districts full of cleeple too poor to not live near the schalindras in cheaper housing.
The schalindras have a reputation of being shady, malicious, cruel, nasty, and criminal, and it’s not entirely ill-gotten. All schalindras are considered criminals, even if there’s no record of criminal activity, but it’s been declared too difficult to imprison them and a cruel and unusual punishment to those already in prison. Instead the Zhopian Guard tries to relegate them to the Schalindra District, with moderate success (though the sewers are almost impossible to patrol).
While a good deal of this rotten publicity is made-up by the Zhopian Guard and stems from their disgusting appearances, the schalindras are cruel to outsiders. Much of this comes from how outsiders treated them as horrible monsters, though, leading them to treat them in turn. Many schalindras are awful monsters regardless, though, and they do many cruel things above and beyond, torturing, killing, devouring, or doing other horrific acts.
Not all of them are bad, though.
Duth Olec's Cuckoo Cosmos 