Tulu

Appearance: Each Tuluian has two demonstrated forms, an attractive humanoid form and a horrific demonic squid form. As humans, a Tuluian is thin and graceful, with very flexible limbs (to the point of bonelessness) and very passive natures. They are content to sit, conserve energy, and watch their environment. When time comes to act, they are fast, and strong. Educated observers can spot Tuluians or Tulus by their near hairlessness as many wear wigs to conceal their lack of hair. Offhand movements can also betray a Tulu as their human form is a disguise they often bend in the wrong places, as they have no internal skeleton and are just mimicking human movement.

The Tulu true form is a squid like central body lifted off the ground by a mass of writhing tentacles. The Tulu doesn't differentiate it's limbs into arms or legs, and all of the limbs seem to be equally adept at functioning as a supporting limb, an arm, and worse. All Tulu are hermaphroditic, and like the octopus several of their tentacles are functionally male reproductive organs.

During periods of agitation or external applied stress, a Tulu will begin to lose control over their human guise and the illusion will fail in places, revealing their tentacles and true nature. This agitation is worsened simply by seeing it happen.

Combat, Reproduction, and Feeding

To the Tulu these are variations on the same theme. While the 'head' perched at the top of the torso has a mouth and is capable of vocalization, it is not connected to the digestive tract. Access to the stomach is done through a lamprey like toothed orifice that functions as both a feeding maw and a female reproductive organ. Reaching the uterine cavities is done through extreme penetration to bypass the internal orifice leading into the stomach. Mating is a challenge as a non-receptive Tulu can chew off the offending male appendages, or simply disgorge the corrosive contents of the stomach onto them. Aggressive Tulu will simply force as many tentacles into the maw as possible, forcing it open, and protecting the reproductive members long enough to get the job done.

Eating and combat is just a matter of how much of a fight the food puts up.

When humans and Tulu encounter each other, it is not uncommon for the Tulu to attempt to impregnate the human. This is unfortunate as they do not understand the concept of the human two gender species and really don't discern a difference between human males and females. Such mating is typically fatal for the human. Humans encountering Tulu respond with screaming, catatonia, or heavy weapons fire.

Origins: The Tulu are a trans-dimensional alien species that was previously native to earth. The Tulu civilization was destroyed some 8 million years ago, and there is nothing that remains of their primitive empire. The rise in the use of arcanotechnology has allowed for the use of Dimensional Bores to explore for energy sources that are more powerful and reliable than Dimensional Engines. These Dimensional Tap Reactors are the next generation in Cosmic Era power production and are still very experimental. The fact about the DTRs is that the bore isn't just tunneling through dimensional space, it is also ripping through temporal space, penetrating other dimensions at times far divergent from the common day.

The first Tulu were encountered in a massive failure of the Cypriot DTR Research Facility in the Eurasian Alliance. The failure of the DTR allowed for a long term breach to open on the island of Cypress, releasing a strong Storm Surge that was only eliminated after heavy bombardment of the island by several Alliance Submersible Battleships. Several Tulu survived and escaped the barrage, but were later killed by Alliance security teams and sent to //redacted// for dissection and study.

The Existence of the Tulu and all other Extra-Dimensional Lifeforms (E.D.s) is a classified secret.

Human-Tulu Interaction

Interaction with the Tulu is difficult at best, as the creatures take some time to accept the fact that humans are, like them, intelligent species. The average Tulu sees the human vessel as either a receptacle to incubate their young, or as a food source. The ability of humans to kill the normally impervious Tulu makes them reconsider their position. The Tulu are quick learners and natural linguists, and once a rapport is made with one, it can be communicated with as an intelligent, if hostile alien being.

it has been inferred that there are a number of Tulu who live in deep hiding on Earth, survivors from Cypress and other DTR failures. They have since learned to masquerade as humans (a hunting trait where they imitated their food source, a species of medium sized hairy primates) to avoid being viciously destroyed by the seemingly endless metal and fire and thunder the hairless monkeys have learned to command. The most common appearance is a lithe female figure, with a penchant for living underground in criminal locations. These Tulu have found themselves a niche as assassins and hunters in the Geofronts and seacologies. They avoid arcologies as they cannot pass electronic bioscanners and they are superstitiously afraid of space, and anything associated with it.

With so few Tulu existing on Earth, they have been forced to vent their sexual frustration on human victims. Despite being hermaphroditic Tulu cannot self-impregnate. This starts as seduction, turns into rape, and usually ends with the Tulu consuming the corpse of the human that they have killed. They are biochemically similar to humans, and will attempt to control their behaviour through recreational drugs, and alcohol. Their brain structure is such that they cannot use the CogNet and attempts to connect a Tulu to the net invariably ends with cerebral burns to the Tulu, as well as mental instability and madness in their alien brains (typically manifesting as OCD or catatonia)

Tulu identify themselves through what appears to be tribal tattooing to the face, upper torso, and arms. This has caused some mimicry in human body art circles, which has in the past caused misunderstandings between one amorous Tulu and one unexpecting street punk.