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Fishes: The Sea-Dog
https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=244&t=4782		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ October 28th, 2011, 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Fishes: The Sea-Dog
The Sea-Dog, called the Coten, or {w-nh-uh} by the mermen, is the size of a bear or larger. It has hair as long as a man is tall, white, but with a slight, icy blue hue. When fishes touch this hair they are tangled and paralyzed, and the dog combs them out with long hooked claws, and eats them. It never eats men. Some people gradually inure themselves to the sting and bathe in the hair. The Coten's eyes, and the skin around them, are gleaming red.

They live alone with their mate, and mate for life. They give birth on shore and leave their young to themselves. These hunt small creatures on shore, and then swim out to sea and grow their long hair. While their hair is short it still gives the young ones some protection by giving a strong sting when touched.

Throughout their lives they make little or no sound. They have no scent. They willingly allow people to bathe in their hair, unless they are hungry and the person scares away their food. They can be kept in and fed very easily.

I have other threads about this creature here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/fantasy/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=3832
And here:
http://www.holyworlds.org/scifi/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=982
Author:  Seabird Mimetes [ October 31st, 2011, 8:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Like it!

No scent? How is this possible? :?
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ November 6th, 2011, 11:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Thank you for posting! You are the first one to post, and the first one to ask about this.

I do not know very much about how scent works, but I was thinking of the comparison of some things which obviously have a strong smell, and things like rocks, which are often very hard to smell. With the Coten I was thinking of an extrapolation of that from little smell to no smell.

I could also explain it as one of those phenomena of nature which we have not yet discovered the explanation for; of course this would not satisfy any one artistically, but we have to prioritize.

Sorry if this is an unnecessarily long answer, I am on a break during Nanowrimo, and my verbosity is heavily stimulated.
Author:  Seabird Mimetes [ November 6th, 2011, 10:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Tsahraf wrote:
Sorry if this is an unnecessarily long answer, I am on a break during Nanowrimo, and my verbosity is heavily stimulated.


:shock: Whoa. That's some extensive vocabulary. I'm throughly impressed!

*Getting back on topic* Scent is easily built up by sweat and other 'excretions' of the body so the sea-dog must be really into grooming but it poses one problem. If it cleans itself by any means like other animals, a cat for instance, then it will then have the aroma of it's saliva, although it no longer smells like whatever got caught in it's fur. Therefore, the only solution is for it to rub itself with something that can disguise it's scent, like sterilizing with salt or anything of nature, even old fish if that helps. :blush:
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ November 8th, 2011, 6:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Here is a quote from Wikipedia about sweating:
Although sweating is found in a wide variety of mammals, relatively few, such as humans and horses, produce large amounts of sweat in order to cool down.

I begin to think that its near odorlessness is caused by the kind of hair it has.

Off of my Nanowrimo break, hence my brevity.
Author:  The Bard [ November 9th, 2011, 10:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
These are really neat.
One question why would one want to bathe in its hair? Is it good for the skin or something?
Author:  Suiauthon Mimetes [ November 11th, 2011, 12:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
*grins* I wasn't the only one, Tsahraf. ;)
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ November 12th, 2011, 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
*grins back* You were for twelve days.
Quote:
NomadoftheStars wrote:
Why do the people bathe in the hair of the Coten?



Interestingly, you are the first to ask about that in all three threads I have about this creature.
Similar to the reason why people bathe in very hot or icy cold water: to arouse and refresh themselves. But it is also similar to the reason people eat strong or spicy foods. The sensation is like a tingling, stinging coldness, or searing cold (speaking essencely).


It is very hard to get used to, but many people do it. Many sea people anyway.


Quote:
Do you think I should post the information I give on the other threads on this thread?

For instance:

Elly of Zoriah wrote: How quickly does the young sea-dogs' hair grow?
How many pounds does the sea-dog weigh?


It has about one inch of hair when it is born, and it is very dense. They grow to be about the size of a pony before they swim out to sea, but their hair is still one inch. When they do swim out to sea their hair grows to its full length in less than a month, sometimes less than two weeks.

They would weigh more than a bear because of their hair. It weighs a little more than a bear without its hair. I suppose it would be 1,066 pounds or more.
Author:  The Bard [ November 16th, 2011, 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Ok. o.O

(Sounds like something I would do...)
Author:  AzlynRose [ December 7th, 2011, 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
That's a very neat creature, Tsahraf. :D It sounds awesome. *Make note to check out other threads sometime*
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ December 7th, 2011, 2:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
The Sea-Dog sounds interesting. :D I keep envisioning a big fluffy white dog, though... :P I don't think that's accurate. :rofl:
Author:  Sam Starrett [ December 7th, 2011, 4:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Tsahraf wrote:
The Sea-Dog, called the Coten, or wnhuh by the mermen,


I dare you to pronounce that. :D
Author:  Calista Bethelle [ December 7th, 2011, 6:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Samstarrett wrote:
Tsahraf wrote:
The Sea-Dog, called the Coten, or wnhuh by the mermen,


I dare you to pronounce that. :D

Haha, I don't think I'll try...
Author:  Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes [ December 15th, 2011, 10:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
Sorry I am so late: busy, not much time on the computer, trouble with the recording. I know it sounds fishy (pun intended), but I was able to pronounce wnhuh when I first typed it (that is to say, when I first typed that word, it was ''nhuh when I first typed it).

Since mermen use different sounds than English speakers, and therefore there is no phonetic code for representing the sounds they use, I made one up using English characters (sorry). When I typed the word I used this code. Then I forgot how to pronounce it. I ran to get the sheet out of my
*pales, faints, revives*
folders.
I found it in the folder I thought it was in.
*screams in horror*
Then realized "w" was not in the code.
What had happened was this: the first orthography, as I said, was ''nhuh. But some editor came along and kindly put the word in quotes (thank you, really), so I had to come up with an unambiguous spelling on the spot, which was not already used in the code. So I used "w," and forgot to note it in the code.
*slaps forehead*

I am going to put mermanish phonetic representations in curly brackets to identify them, and separate the sounds, like this {w-nh-uh}.

This is the pronunciation, said three times, with mouth shut and nose pinched, of course:
Attachment:
{w-nh-uh}.mp3 [176.33 KiB]
Downloaded 30 times

There!
Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ December 16th, 2011, 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fishes: The Sea-Dog
That... is not how I would have pronounced that, but okay. :D
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