Catholic Space Doggos: The Scalefolk of Caliban

Past the Tombworld of Mars, hiding in the Asteroid Belt, lies the minor planet Caliban. Largely undisturbed due to the shelter of the Belt and the ferocity of the locals and wildlife, it is a Paradise World of soaring cliffs and lush forests, warm oceans and balmy shores. If anything could be said to be the 'home' of Jörmungandr Typhonius, Midgard Serpent and Master of the Belt, it is Caliban, for here live his beloved wife, Echidna Typhonius née Nuwa the Scale Queen, their beautiful daughters the Scale Maidens, and their hardy sons the Scale Men.

While Jörmungandr rules, roams, and protects the vast Asteroid Belt, his wife tends to the affairs of Caliban from within Hive Fortress Xanadu, delved into the rock of Caliban's mountainous equator. Scattered across the planet are the Principalities of the matured Scale Maidens, through whom she maintains good order and discipline as the industrious Scale Men go about their work tending the the continent spanning gardens and managing the populations of fierce wildlife. Such mega-agriculture and conservation is required to sate the hunger of Jörmungandr. Thus is Caliban, the Walled Garden and Jewel of the Belt, maintained.

King and Queen Typhonius (Caliban to scale with Jormungandr only)

One of many entrances to Xanadu

While the Queen Mother remains in her fortress guarding her many eggs and children, her grown daughters, the Scale Maidens, extend her law and order to the far reaches of the planet. Hatched of the rare Royal Clutch, the Scale Maidens vary greatly from one another, each possessing the traits and strengths of a different reptile species. The similarity to Earth reptiles is striking, and some hypothesize that Scalefolk once inhabited prelapsarian Earth, and diminished to dumb animals after the Fall of their Father. Common to all are minor psychic powers that grant them command of the drone-like Scale Men. So also are they all of a curious temperament, for out of a Royal Clutch, perhaps only one will eventually be wedded to a young Midgard Serpent from another system and raise children of her own, while the rest will live out their lives as commanders of warrior-farmers. They are thus both warlike and sweet, fierce but nurturing, stoically resolved to meet whatever fate awaits them.

Princess Molly, the Blood-Eye

Princess Rhyna, the Salt-Crowned

Saboteur Princess Tigra

Princess Chariss, the Cloudglider

Rarer still than the normal Royal Clutch is that which contains the egg of a new Midgard Serpent. Once raised in the arts of etiquette, courtship, war, and rule, the young scion of Jörmungandr will journey forth into the galaxy to find another Scalefolk world, wed a Scale Maiden thereof, and train further to inherit that world and circumstellar disk under the tutelage of his new father-in-law.

From the many other clutches laid by Echidna hatch the hunter-gardener Scale Men. Though called such by Dog Chroniclers for their masculine demeanor and stronger resemblance to their father, the Scale Men are sexless drones, built for hard labor and hazardous environments. While not lacking free will, their greatest ambition is a hard job done well, and they rely heavily on the telepathic guidance and order of the Scalefolk Royalty for broad direction and governance. By externalizing higher-level thinking into the Scale Maidens, the Scale Men are able to focus their energies into honing their fieldcraft and going about their labors with vigor. Unconcerned with aught but their work, Scale Men hold a sanguine outlook on life.