Hylotl and gills!

marco polo

 

One week on a poll is not long enough for starters.

Two, Hylolts do not consist of just two people.

Third this is still trying to impose a sub-species system that I feel will not work with the server. Again. If one race gets sub-species then what is to stop other races from having the same?

This all goes back the Hylotl Breathing Tread where it is being discussed heavy.

Lastly all my opinion and answers are in that thread. However I don't see why this needs to be a things. If a player wants their hylotl with the ability to breath under water or not should be up to the player. As long as they can explain it than who cares.

 

Hylotls have gills... In their child phase.
It makes a lot more sense to let their gills remain, as a cosmetic vestigal (thus nonfunctional when they are adults) remnant of what they used to breathe underwater in their child-phase and that Hylotl are only able to breathe underwater in their child phase. This also explains why the Hylotl player character descriptions say stuff along the lines of having to adjust to life above water: Hylotl player character may not have been an adult for long. Also keep in mind that they have a specific armour set, much like a diving suit, to bring their young with them underwater.
Something to keep in mind is that these little fuckers (Axolotl) have evolved to lack some kind of growth hormone which causes them to not mature properly and thus they don't lose their ability to breathe underwater, their gills, but they can't live above water anymore either, like normal salamanders, thus the Hyltotl gills you see in the art could be vestigal (as in: they don't work, they're just remnants from their child phase) and in case they are like the Axolotl then they're incapable of breathing air on land, that's right:
Axolotls live underwater permanently.

Considering we have seen adult Hylotl characters on land without any special suit to allow them to breathe properly (underwaer), I can say with almost certainty that Hylotls lose the use of their gills when they mature. But they do have gills, they're just useless.
If you wish for a subspecies that evolved like the Axolotl that's a different matter altogether, but THAT subspecies shouldn't be capable living above water without some form of weird suit.

All salamanders run the risk of dehydration as well (so Hylotl probably have just as hard of a time as Florans on desert planets), and the Axolotl would have a much harder time than most other salamanders but that doesn't matter as they live underwater permanently. So unless a Hylotl always has to wear a space suit filled with water, sorta like this:

Spoiler: image

ELSE they'll be running around like this:

Spoiler: image

and that's my opinion on the argument as supported by some facts.

Edit: I'm not trying to be a party pooper or to rain on anybody's parade, but I have thought on this topic
a lot and researched all the Hylotl lore which all seems to hint that adult Hylotl lose the ability to breathe underwater but are able to breathe underwater in the child phase, they differ from the species they were based on. (Axolotl) Last night I voiced my opinion on the matter in chat and I felt personally attacked as people were lashing out at me, telling me I was clutching at straws and calling me names for my factually supported opinion on an argument that Chucklefish's lore vagueness has created.
Hylotl do live underwater, using technology, which is befitting to their theme as well.

Aside from all the hints and the outside research when compared to the biology of salamanders there is no "canon" definitive answer. However, I'd like to stress that both the circumstantial evidence as the outside research point towards the same thing.
This is why I'm so adamant on my view on the topic and I won't change it unless Chucklefish comes out and says it straight how it is. If the community decides to change it I will be forced to accept it, but I will NEVER agree with it regardless.

I really think I'm right.

(Taggingg: @Angre , @CaptainBritton02 , @Clem , @Cole Ombre , @Coolguy , @Dodec1 , @Froot , @Haplap )

 

Khaltor, you've been around nearly as long as I have to know that this discussion has come up like... ten billion times before. And as a whole as a community we've never settled on it because of the vague Chucklefish lore mixed with players wanting literal super powers for their fish characters.

Let it go man. People want their Hylotl to breathe underwater. Its stupid as shit, and scientifically makes very little sense, sure. But like... why both hashing this out when literally no one is listening. On top of that, how much freaking underwater roleplay do we even do? If the four Hylotls in Antares want to chill at the bottom of the ocean doing nothing, let them.

I get that you're the bio man, and you super care about lore and don't want the ignorance of roleplay impacting the direction of our server, yadda yadda. And normally I agree, but I think this is so irrelevant, and we could be putting effort into things that are less completely retarded.

 

Just rp your character how you want.

 

I agree with Khaltor that adult hylotl's should have vestigial gill. It make sense why, as adults that they needed to make armor the could provide them with breathing underwater. As far as them living underwater. That is just probably a life style (using technology)) they are use to as they evolved.

 

i always just RP my hylotl characters as being able to hold their breath for a long time, swim really well and enjoy being in water. they may or may not have gills, its never been important to me i guess. Khal has several good points but really his essay on why they dont have gills seems unnecessary to me. this isn't something that could ever be enforced (much akin to the floran lisp scenario), so just dont make a big deal about it unless its adversely affecting RP?? i dunno

 

Actually Floran lisp doesn't need to be enforced because of the fact that there's a Floran "scholar" (that's the name in the code) NPC and that Nuru (the Floran quest NPC) specifically show us that Florans do not HAVE to lisp, they are able to "surpress" it.

All lore indicators points towards vestigal, non-functional gills + as we've used logic and some minor scientific research like in the past, like when I worked on my Glitch physiology article with members of staff at the time, it's almost certain that I'm on the right track.

Thing is that this silly poll, which didn't last long enough by the way, was put in place to determine whether or not they could and this would be added to the Hylotl lore wiki page, probably a physiology page. And I really disagree. Nor do I think that this vote is valid because a lot of people that agreed with me that it's bullshit didn't realise a vote was going on and a lot of people don't frequent the forums enough to take part in these kind of polls. It's also about the principle. And I'm stubborn.

 

Another point is that while the lisp topic has been realatively agreed that the lisp was left up to the players weather or not that player wishes to use it. With my new opinion that if the lisp should be a factor realative to should close the Floran was raised near council spaces, yet still left to the players. IF would give the floran character a kinda of innate background built in. No lisp due to being raised in council space, thick as lisp for those raised out in the sticks. Like a human rasied in new york vs. one raised in the southern states.

However I digress. This subject has not been has not been agreed upon. I as pointed out before. Yes it should be left up to the player like the floran lisp. It if was agreed upon that hylotl's in their adult stage have vestigal gills. But there are some genetic abnormalies where hyltotl can and do some time retain gill functionality as adults. Like when some humans have wisdom teeth and other don't. I am also stubborn. So put me in the same boat as Khaltor.