Behemen

Pronunciation: Beh-heh-mehn

(Singular is Behem)

Part of the three main species that make up Morrem's sapient bipeds, Behemen are a species of animal-like beings, who make up a large amount of the continent's population. Clever, if not more short lived than their peers, behemen are a cornerstone of Morrem's bipeds and society.

Behemen are mostly mammalian in form, although a rare few bridge the gap between oceanic (and in some unfortunate cases, this ostracizes them even more as they are ‘closer to beasts’) and land.

Biology

Culture

Biology

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All behemen are digitigrade, and unlike corridae and omun, traditionally have four digits on their hands (rarely, there will be one born with 5 fingers but this is as surprising as an omun born with 6), but their feet range from pawpads to toes closer to hooves in appearance (but never fully).

All behemen are born with a tail, which is typically long and furred. Some behem choose to crop or for fashion purposes, but most behem choose to keep their tail long.

Some behemen have horns, but they aren’t called spires, even by corridae. Unlike some corridae, behem never have one horn: two horns are the minimum, and four at the maximum without outlier mutations.

Behem have fur/hair in desaturated and soft colours- none sport colours close to the bright colours seen on tropical parrots, but a lot of younger behemen love to dye their hair (alongside their omun friends). Behem are the species that is most prone to genetic mutations (although this is nothing too crazy/flashy and generally results in visual changes, most mutations are never actually practical).

Eyes

However, out of all of the species, a notable aspect of behem anatomy are their wide variety of eyes: like omun, behem irises can vary in a dramatic variety of colours, but unlike omun, their schlera and pupils can be a wide range of not only colours, but shapes: as a result, behem eyes have some of the most dramatic range out of all of Morrem's species. A behem's eyes are considered to be an innate vision into one's soul.

As a result, behem consider eyes to be especially important to appearance, and are a very key part of their rigorous self-grooming (see 'Social' below). Keeping your eyes healthy, clear, as well as ensuring your vision remains clear and unobscured is highly important to many behem- this is inclusive of any additional tools needed to see (eg; glasses).

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A Higher Sense

Compared to their omun and corridae peers, behemen have some of the most attuned senses in Morrem: gifted with finer sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, you can often find behem today at the core of many sense related tasks, such as audio production, culinary work, or aromatherapy, for example. These higher senses have also guided them in various historical situations: when a natural disaster occurs, a behem is usually the first to understand what's going on, and react before disaster hits. Behem are also typically faster to react than their peers- you can also find a lot of behem at occupations requiring fast reflexes.

But sometimes, these higher senses can get in the way of living, especially in a more noisy enviroment such as a large city. As a result, a lot of behem in the present, especially those who have even higher senses than their behem peers cope with issues such as loud noises or bad smells with various tools such as specially made earplugs or head devices, or medicines to reduce one's sensitivity. While a lot of younger behem cope with the daily issues of heavy urban life, older behem or behem more used to the peace of outside the city have often moved back to escape the noise.

Culture

Cleanliness Is Key

Behemen, at least traditionally, are incredibly rigorous groomers: even if the home is covered in ash and soot, a behem aims to have their coats free of dirt, grime, and other things- this is typically because a dirty coat is seen either as a sign of a lack of self respect, or worse, illness. Older aged behem often lose the intense will to groom, as well as sick behem, because cleaning yourself rigorously when dirt gets into your palms is quite a draining task and neither have the energy for it.

Tons of products exist for the upkeep of one's coat, and even among younger behemen who aren't as invested in extremely rigorous self-cleaning, you'll often find someone taking pride in how clean and shiny their coat is- their home may be messy, but it's the coat that matters, after all! This need for cleanliness can also rub off onto a behem's non-behem peers: a behem who is, for example, the partner of a corridae may try to clean their partner's head as a sign of affection (which will be relatively fruitless due to how a corridae's body is composed). To clean's one self is to show self respect, but to clean another is to show care. Even as lot of the younger generations aren’t as mercilessly clean, now and then you’ll see a parent plucking some grains of sand and dirt out of their child’s head that were barely visible to anyone but them.

Courtship

Out of all of Morrem's species, behem are the most likely to be polygamous: polygamy within behem traditions is frequent, and while some behem are monogamous, more frequently, you'll find a behem with at least three partners living together in one household. This partnership can range from extremely casual to extremely committed, with no true judgement passed on either side of the spectrum.

Behem are generally very casual in finding partners, and very open with their feelings towards potential partners, courting and partnership can therefore be as short as a week and extremely experimental as behem are, like all bipeds, social creatures- however, when a behem finds a partner or partners they are truly comfortable with, their partnership can last a lifetime.

The Warmth Of A Colony

As polyagmous families are common among behem, some households are as large as five romantic partners and/or parental figures all living within them. With children especially, large, polygamous behem families are warm and inviting, and all members of the family take equal shares in childcare and rearing.

Sometimes, this extends into extended families with communities banding together to form a behem colony household, of which all members takes care of all the children in a communal fashion. Within more urban areas with limited space, colony-level behem households aren't as common, but within more rural and wide-open areas, quite a few behem colony-style families exist.

Non-behem partners are generally expected to join the colony as well if invited... Although this can be a deal killer for some, especially more traditional corridae.

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