Zophia.
A Mazzelhs is a fluffy green thing. Erm, they don't have wings and... well this should do.
~MAZZELHS~
They differ quite a bit from "normal" creatures, not really resembling any kind of animal from Earth, though they have fur and lay eggs like monotremes, but as they don't give milk and basicly aren't of this world... Well yes.
They are generally peaceful, playful creatures with a well developed though weird sense of humour.
I'll start the somewhat short description of their physical facts with the external features, then move in- and onwards. Note that this concerns only the nonhumanoid mazzelhs and that I jump a lot in the subjects here.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z121/Mazzelh/Snapshotmazzelh--.jpg
The mazzelh-fur varies in colour from green to green. They come in all shades of it, ranging from a deep greenish black to an almost glowing white that under certain circumstances looks green.
It can have a blue, red, yellow, brown or even purple tone in the green, but the colours of grass are by far the most common varieties.
Also, their colour may cross or delve into a more greyish shade, a thing that often occurs as they grow old. It covers most of their body, but is very short on the head, the ears, the tail and their feet.
From the chins, the cheeks and the neck the very short fur gains a considerable length that remains down their body and shortens a bit down their legs.
This makes mazzelhs appear as almost ballshaped piles of fur with ears, eyes, toes and a tail.
Some mazzelhs, but definitly not all, have tufts on their head, ears and/or tail. They can be just a few hairs or lengthy soft tufts, but only about 42% of all mazzelhs have some kind of "extra fluff".
Many mazzelhs, especially those without tufts, have earrings, ribbons or feathers tied in the fur, or other decoratives on their body for various reasons, just like the colony mazzelhs often decorate their nests with shining or soft objects as well as the nest material itself.
They only have one pair of limbs, which are short legs consisting of a thigh, a knee, a shinbone (kinda like the human leg-structure) and ends in a pair of two-toed, soft feet with round toes.
Their tails are moveable beyond belief, being a cartilage-core with an insanely fine and strong layer of muscles upon it, the network being far more detailed and accurate than that of an elephant's trunk.
This extreme manuevrebility makes them capable of many things that would otherwise require a pair of arms, or at least one.
The ears varies in shape, they can be catlike, somewhat horselike, tufted, rounded, pointy... The most common are slightly rounded and more pointy towards the tip.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z121/Mazzelh/Snapshotmazzelhcubs.jpg
They often turn their ears around, kinda like a deer or a horse would do it, either to catch some sound better, or to express something, like anger or sorrow.
Their eyes, which rarely blinks, are round with an iris that fills out most of the visible part of the eye, and their pupils are often larger than most other animals', giving many mazzelhs a look of being darkeyed, even if their iris is a light colour like iceblue.
The colour of the iris varies between black, purple, blue and green shades crossing into brown tones, and, on rare occasions, red. Brown, blue and black are the most common.
Their vision, hearing and other senses basicly works like those of humans (in lack of a better comparison), but they can perceive ultraviolet light and their soundperception goes slightly further up than humans'.
Mazzelhs don't have a snout or a nose, they only have two almost invisible nostrils. Their facial musclestructure is rather well developed, making them capable of expressing themselves through a wide variety of facial expressions.
In their mouths they have a soft, rounded tongue, comparable to that of a rabbit, but longer and more moveable. They have two sharp incisorlike toothplates right behind their lips (one in the upper half and one in the lower), four pointy teeth, one in each corner of the mouth, like fangs, and eight molars behind those (two in every quarter of the mouth).
Mazzelhs are diphyodont, meaning they grow teeth twice, the first set really just being the pointy ones. Those fall out when they're about three months old, and are replaced by the full set within two to four weeks.
Their skeletons consists of flatish round skulls, a spine, four pairs of very hard cartilage ribplates instead of the kind of ribs animals in this world have, a hip, and bones in their legs. No clavicle or shoulder plates, as they are not needed.
They have a brain placed in their skull, I'm not gonna explain how that functions, it would take far too long.
Their internal organs are symmetrically placed, the two lungs equally big with the little heart placed right in the middle. Their hearts and lungs have quite a lot of stamina, thus most mazzelhs can run for an hour without their pulse and breath racing in particular.
Now, just to mention it: mazzelh droppings are dropped as ball-like little things, from healthy individuals usually a greenish blackbrown colour with a semihard fiber texture. They rarely pee, most of the excessive water is perspired through ears, tongue, feet and tail.
A normal mazzelh drinks between four and seven cl a day. (Standing less than a foot tall, they don't need much.)
Their digestion is able to deal with most kind of edibles, but they prefer to eat nuts, leaf material, roots and fruit.
Mazzelhs living in areas with humanlike societies often steal food like bread, grains, and even candy.
City-mazzelhs' behaviour can be quite like that of rats, though mazzelhs are more intelligent and adaptable. (Mazzelhs who lives in sewers, like rats, don't grow as much fur, mazzelhs in frosty areas grows thicker fur, and so on. Their body responds to the surroundings.)
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z121/Mazzelh/Snapshotmazzelhmousedrawn.jpg
Back to the anatomy: Female mazzelhs has a single ovary and a uterus where the foetus grows for two weeks, after which an eggshell encases it within two days, and the female lays it as an egg in her nest.
When the eggs (usually two to four) are laid, the mother and father takes turn in keeping them warm with their bodyheat for another 8-11 days before they hatch.
Male mazzelhs' mating organs, or ****s, doesn't hang out, neither does their testicles. They are placed right under the skin, and, if the fur is removed, the sheath and a small bump behind it will be the only things visible. When erect, the penis is long and thin with a rounded head.
Mazzelh matings are a little troublesome, because of all the fur. Both the male and the female uses their tails to push the fur out of the way so that the mating can become possible. The female bends over or lies on her knees while sticking her rump up so the male can get access. Once connected and humping, the two mazzelhs keep their tails together, wrapped around each other.
During orgasm the tails stretch out entirely, a thing they otherwise never do.
Sex is not a thing mazzelhs do just for the fun of it, it's too much trouble and they don't need it. They do spend a lot of time snuggling with their loved ones though, some even kisses and/or washes their mate's fur.
The mazzelh race is quite social and talkative, their language consisting of, for most other races, incomprehensible sounds and delicate tail movements to support the grammar. They easily learn to understand other languages, but have trouble pronouncing the sounds as their own language is so different soundwise.
The tail movements, other than grammar, also constantly express how a mazzelh feels, or sometimes what they're thinking about. Between mazzelhs, reading each others feelings is easy and the society benefits from this. It's generally without conflicts, as misunderstandings are quickly resolved and peace again obtained.
Mazzelhs mostly lives in flocks, the smaller groups often travelling around like nomads while the bigger ones settle down in colonies. They can dig out large tunnel complexes and live safely underground, fouraging both above and below the surface, and preserving food in storage chambers. The travelling groups don't dig, instead they weave nests in the grass, or, in colder areas, collects sand or snow to make a decent nest.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z121/Mazzelh/Snapshotmazzelhcub.jpg
And back to the reproduction: The mazzelh eggs are almost perfectly round, and usually white with a green tinge.
Newly hatched mazzelh cubs have very short, fluffy fur which is normally paler than it'll be when they've grown to be adults.
They start their life following their parents around, watching and learning. They can walk within an hour after hatching and after a couple of days they become able to communicate primitively with their tails.
They miw a lot, at first unable to make comprehensible noices, but after a few months the miws and sounds obtains structure, and by the time they're six months old almost all young mazzzelhs are able to speak and sign phrrth'th-ado'um (also known as massel; the language mazzelhs speak).
Mazzelhs are considered cubs the first year of their life. After that, they gradually become less dependent on their parents, and they spend more and more time with friends and less with their parents, though they still seek comfort and security with them.
At age seven a mazzelh is what might be called a teenager. They hit puberty, their fur grows longer and silkyer, and they stop being "their parents' little fluffballs". Obviously it's not something that happens overnight, but it usually starts when they're seven and develops untill they turn thirteen. At that age a mazzelh is considered an adult, and most acts like it as well.
Sexual maturity doesn't come at a certain age. After they hit puberty they have potential to become fertile, but to get their reproductive organs started their entire body needs to be snuggled by a mate, caressed and warmed by another body.
Once started, both the females and the males goes into a kind of heat, both needing to engage in the breeding process. It's pleasant for both parts once they figure it out, though the passing needyness can be an annoyment.
After the first batch of cubs it usually takes between five and eight months before another heat strikes.
A heat only sets in when it's male/female snuggling, as it takes feromones from one of the opposite sex to set it off.
Here I shall mention that bisexuality is very common amongst mazzelhs, only a little less than 13% are straight or gay while the rest don't care about the gender. This is probably because every mazzelh (with a few mentally damaged exceptions) enjoys the snuggling, and actual sex is performed only to reproduce.
Normal mazzelhs have an expected lifetime of twentyfour to thirty years, and they usually stop being able to reproduce when they're about twentytwo years old. Only in the last couple of years they show true signs of aging, fading fur, furloss, weak bones, diabetes and generel stiffness are some of the most common signs.
When a mazzelh dies, the body is taken to a place where it can safely be burned.
This is the only time mazzelhs use fire for anything, and the cremation is performed almost like a religious ceremony.
Mazzelhs mourn. If a fellow mazzelh is killed, eaten, etc., and a cremation cannot be performed, they tend to mourn much more.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z121/Mazzelh/Snapshotmazzelhrain.jpg
Mazzelhs actually have gods. Amazz, the Mother of All; Arazz, the Dark Father; and Deiazz. The Twotailed, who's basicly the daughter of the first two.
Amazz stands for all pure mazzelh values, she stands for the growth, the grass, the light, the solidarity.
Arazz is pretty much the opposite of her, and is worshiped mainly by shadow mazzelhs(*) or darkness clerics of the mazzelh specie.
Deiazz stands for fertility, and it is said, that if a male mazzelh has a dream about mating with the Twotailed, his cubs will have long silky tufts on their ears.
There are a few more mazzelh deities, but no information about them is yet publicly available.
(*): Shadow mazzelhs are one of the other mazzelh varieties as well as humanoid mazzelhs and monster mazzelhs, but as I only wrote about the common mazzelhs, I won't go into details about any other variety here.
All mazzelh species, phrrth'th-ado'um and this text all together are
Copyright (C) Elizabeth Zophia Johannesen (me)
Any/all questions about mazzelhs shall be directed to me.
Erm, wall of text.
I had been wondering this, and now I know. Good question.
