Biology

The Skala are a species of bipedal reptilians. They are covered in rugose insulating scales in a wide variety of colours and patterns, which flare into horns or crests on their heads and on their joints. These protrusions are blunt, but grow more pronounced with age. They evolved in dark confined environments, and retain excellent spatial awareness in tight quarters – like cave networks, or the bowels of a spaceship’s reactor.

Skala are ectotherms, meaning they do not produce their own body heat. While their thick skins can retain absorbed heat for long periods, allowing for sustained activity throughout the course of the day, Skala often rely on heating elements built into their clothing to assist with thermoregulation.

The lifespan of Skala generally ranges between 80 and 100 years old. They traditionally divide their lives by the number of skins they have shed; full-body moults take place roughly once a decade, and are traditional signifiers of a new life stage. The first moult at 2-3 years coincides with the giving of a name, while the third or fourth moult between 20-25 is taken as the coming of age. Skala who have shed their seventh skin are hailed as elders.

Skala exhibit tails frequently enough that it is considered a major sub-special variation. These tails vary in shape and size, from large bulbous tails like those of geckos or long tapering whip-like tails like that of an iguana. The loss of a tail is painful, even traumatic – but any Skala that has lost a tail will regrow it naturally during their next moult. It is even possible for the side-effects of the moulting process to cause a previously tailless Skala to spontaneously grow one.