The Blind Qinok

teeth are on display, face permanently set in a sinister grin. Their chests possess two large nostril-like holes, giving them a large oxygen intake without presenting a choking hazard when ingesting food or drink. Their tails are the same length as their bodies, ending in 3 stinger-like claws protruding from a kind of large palm. This gives them the ability to grasp hold of their prey (or potential threats) while injecting acidic pre-digesting venom into their victims.   Blind Qinoks ingest food and excrete most waste products from the same hole. A set of intricate valves in their throat and digestive system prevent waste products from emerging while the Qinok is eating or drinking, likewise preventing undigested nutrients from being excreted with the waste. Hidden beneath their tongues, every Qinok carries an internal sack of reproductive gametes, protected by a layer of skin until it is time for them to mate. Large arteries allow their purple blood to deliver rapid and steady supplies of oxygen to everywhere in the body.

Blind Qinoks are homeothermic animals. During times of high activity, such as when they are hunting for food or fighting to defend their territory, Qinoks are warm-blooded. However, during times of low activity, they enter a state of torpor, causing their body temperature to plummet and their metabolic rate to drop. As such, they reside inside the caves of their native continent, the rocks being naturally heated by the volcano on Aboya.

Blind Qinoks are mainly carnivorous, however, they do occasionally consume a few select plants which grow around the base of Elree. When a Qinok senses a potential source of food, it will carefully make its way towards the location of the sense- usually sound- that alerted the Qinok to the prey's presence. Using the walls and ceilings of their cave systems, the Qinok often uses the surprise of an ambush attack to its advantage. Along the way, it will consistently use echolocation in order to better navigate its surroundings and locate the prey with pinpoint accuracy, determining the size of the other creature and how to best attack it. The Qinok uses three main methods to kill their prey.   Using the blitz attack method, a Qinok will sprint toward its victim, making use of its flexible spine to maximise its speed. If the prey is sufficiently large enough, the Qinok will wrap its body around that of the prey, using its muscles to hold the creature in place and disable it. Qinoks will also use their tails to hold the prey and inject it with the Qinok's venom for easy digestion.   With the ambush method, the Qinok will squeeze itself into one of the pre-dug tunnels found throughout the caves of Aboya, waiting patiently until the prey moves into a position that allows the Qinok quickly launch itself out of the tunnel and sink its claws and teeth into the other creature.   The third method is a kind of combination of the previous two. The Qinok will use the walls and ceiling to its best advantage, approaching the prey from behind. Using its extreme flexibility and range of motion, the Qinok will twist itself around, clinging to the high ceiling with its back legs, leaving its front legs free to grab and attack the prey. Alternatively, the Qinok can use its tail to grasp the prey, with the added bonus of injecting venom at the same time.

Qinoks have 3 sexes; mas, femas, and inmas. The inmas members of the species are at the top of the pecking order, due to their large size and rarity. Both the mas and femas of this species bring food to the inmas who lives in the nearest cave to their territory. Due to their size, the inmas members of the species cannot hunt for themselves, therefore, if the mas and femas of the species wish to mate and receive better protection, they will bring food back to the inmas to curry favour.

They live exclusively on the continent of Aboya on Laethius, particularly within the cave systems in and around the volcano, Elree.

With no eyes, the Blind Qinok is- as the name suggests- blind. They rely on a combination of other senses to navigate the world instead. Their large, movable outer ears can pick up sounds ranging from around 1 Hz to around 153 kHz. They use this extreme range of hearing to detect their prey and aid in their use of echolocation. When they hear a sound, they will move their ears toward it in order to maximise reception, achieving an extreme range of movement with the use of over 23 muscles to tilt and rotate the ears. Fine, sensitive hairs across their body help them sense changes in their environment, such as air pressure. Their long, thin tongues can sense minute changes in temperature, allowing them to check whether the environment is cold enough to lower their body temperature and kill them or hot enough to burn their bodies. The nostrils on their chest contain sensitive scent-receptors, helping them move through the world and investigate whether anything in their surroundings is dangerous to them.