Description+Chacteristics:
Jungle Leapers have green or brown scales which tend to be light in color matching the southern jungle they call home. While these scales are not able to change color it can appear so from the extensive body painting common to their species.
To aid them in maneuvering around in the dense environment of the southern jungle Jungle Leapers have a number of notable characteristics. First is their smaller wing size, while this does limit their ability to fly for long distances it does make the tight turns needed to navigate in the jungle significantly easier. Their second ability is that of their tail strength. Their tails are strong enough that they can and often are used to hang from or even swing around. This vastly increases their maneuverability and when paired with their stronger legs makes them nearly unparalleled in their ability to navigate the decently dense southern jungle.
Their last commonly used ability is their strong color vision being able to quickly tell the difference between various fruits and pigments. This greatly helps with both their artistic ability and harvesting.
Though hardly ever used there is one last ability Jungle Leapers possess which is the ability to spit a mild acid. This acid is not strong enough to do much damage to harder areas such as scales but when exposed to bare skin or eyes can burn.
Preferred Range:
Jungle Leapers live almost exclusively in the southern jungle. While in theory they could easily live in the green sea, the long trip and the need to leave family and friends behind mean that nearly none ever leave.
Culture:
Jungle Leaper culture is the most utopian among all of those on Drekmur, with little dangers of threat it is able to focus on furthering both artistic and scientific endeavors. Some Jungle Leapers focus on honing their artistic abilities turning themselves or plants into living works of art. Others focus on perfecting a crop, companion species or cattle, selectively breeding them until they are just right. From this many of the foods and cattle which the rest of Drekmur use have originated, or at least some breeds of them. Still more focus on creating ever better technologies and innovations, this I am told is how steelmaking originally was discovered.
An interesting dynamic has formed due to their geographic isolation and rapid rate of innovation. Sea Shapers and Sky Cutters will often visit and exchange news of the rest of Drekmur for innovations or creations. This seems to have worked out well as Jungle Leapers by and large love to share and show off their creations and Sky Cutters and Sea Shapers are the only species which can easily reach Intavic.
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Jungle Leapers live in large spread out communities which have no clear edge slowly shifting from one community to another with a communal exchange ground at their center. Within these communities Jungle Leapers will bond over their shared interests. From what I have heard more often than not this is how they also form partnerships. Houses can take on a huge variety of different forms from tree houses to underground labyrinths with reflected sunlight all the way down. One of my favorites of these being a ring of trees which were made to grow into the exact shapes needed for the house.
There is however one thing which is not so utopian about their society: their need to safeguard it. To the north of their jungle home is what is likely the most hostile environment on all of Drekmur, the northern jungle. In order to prevent all the dangerous and deadly life in that place from infecting the southern jungle, a portion of all Jungle Fighters must stand guard over the gap. While it is a job few drekmurians want, but it is seen as their duty to do it, luckily it is only a temporary position for most. Each year all Jungle Fighters who are yet to stand guard and are fit enough to serve have their names placed on stones. Then however many are needed to replace those manning the gap are randomly selected. They will then spend three years apprenticing under a senior Jungle Fighter who will train them in all they need to know. They then will spend six more years manning the gap. In all the years this has been going on there is yet to be a single desertion or slip up bad enough to endanger the southern jungle. But they must remain ever vigilant for even one species slipping through could devastate the paradise of the southern jungle.
Anomalies:
While most Jungle Leapers have little capacity for combat one in every twenty or so are naturally experts at it. This is not to say that they have any innate skill in a fighting style but instead they have an almost prophetic sense of danger and enemy attacks. They instinctively know when and and where an enemy will strike, this makes them almost impossible to defeat even when greatly disadvantaged. This does however in all but the safest possible environments lead to paranoia and chronic stress. These drekmurians are called Jungle Fighters.
Notes:
Nearly as soon as we visited the southern jungle and explained who we were and what we did we had applicants applying to join us. Which now that I look back and think about their culture of forever searching for a way to improve is no surprise. Still it was this rush of applicants which forced us to implement a raffle system. I do look forward to working with them in the future from what I have seen their passion for their work is endless.
For a while now I have been looking for an explanation to how Drekmur had advanced so quickly and I think I found the reason with this species.
While our ship is not allowed to print advanced weaponry we did offer them shield technology to help with the gap. Unsurprisingly they did accept the help and by the time I have finished this report it should be installed. Though what was surprising was their refusal of our offer to clear out the northern jungle. Apparently they don’t want to force the Jungle Hunters to adapt to what they deem right. We probably should have checked with them before even asking.
