Sajem Tan/Tetanah
| Singular: | "tetan" (/tetæn/) |
| Plural: | "tetanah" (/tetænɑ/) |
| Animacy: | animate |
| Average age: | 120 Gregorian years, 157 Sajem Tan years |
| Size at birth: | 1 tetan/2.9 in/7.2 cm |
| Size at maturity: | 2 dulkultah/11.4 in/28.9cm |
Description
The tetanah are the most well documented fictional creature in Sajem Tan because they were the first to be devised. The tetanah are large snails -- at physical maturity they reach the size of a kitten -- with hair, which can be any color, and is usually styled into a mohawk. They are the basis for the Sajem Tan measuring system. They live about 110-130 years and reach physical maturity at the age of 5 or 7.
The purpose of the tetanah is to fix the universe. You see, the universe slowly becomes out of sync with itself and that can cause minor, sometimes major, disruptions. The tetanah fly throughout the universe, locating these rips and tears and singing special Sajem Tan songs to bring it back to order again. While they're not doing that, they tend to their family's farm, growing food.
The tetanah have a propensity to goof off. In fact, they may often shirk their universe-mending abilities in order to go play around, and do something spontaneous or random such as trying to build a swing that hangs from the ceiling fan. The only things that might encourage them to do something is if their food supply is low and they need to go harvest more, if the tear gets too big and it starts causing things to go awry, or if they recieve nasty comments from the tribe.
Life Cycle
The life cycle of a tetan is quite different than that of a human. A tetan will be born and start to learn to speak and slide during the first three years of its life. After this, they will have become strong enough to start working on the family farm. They will do this for 5 - 10 years before starting school, where they learn to fly, sing, and mend the universe. After 6 - 8 years of this, they are ready to fix the universe.
