Species: Kuagu

== ''This page pertains to the collaborative "Thrive Universe" project, and is not necessarily part of Thrive's official development. More information here and here.'' == The Kueku(kweh-koo)  is a cave-dwelling, sputnik-level sapient species from the planet Kuekua.(kweh-koo-ah)

Etymology
Due to the gap between the possible vocalizations of humans and that of Kueku, most Kueku are often not referred to in earth writings how they are actually named. Most Kuekus are thus instead named as either “big (human name) Kueku” or “little (human name) Kueku” depending on if they are a royal(large in slze) or commoner(small in size). This naming system arose from the very first reports of Kueku on the planet Kuekua. This is when the world-famous “Little Johnny Kueku” revealed himself from a cave to investigate an explorer a minute before another horde of Kueku followed suit joining in on the investigation. For his bravery in venturing out before any other Kueku, despite his relatively small size to the explorer, labeled him “Little Johnny Kueku” after the great earth explorer and connector of worlds John Cabot. Since then many other important figures in exploring the Kueku livelihood have been assigned this same system of naming.

The name Kueku also did not arise from a demonym of their people. Instead it arises from the echolocational sound Kueku make when they are in danger. Human linguists believe that there does not exist a single demonym for all of Kueku-kind due to their isolationist nature toward other kingdoms.

Anatomy
The Typical Kueku is no more than half a meter tall at adulthood. Kueku are almost entirely bipedal, only deviating from this when in a careful hunt. In this case “belly-crawling” is often the main form of locomotion.

The Kueku has three webbed fingers on each of its two hands.

Its pseudo-eyes are for the most part blind, Though when exposed to stressful stimuli may be able to distinguish rough shapes around them by way of a lightness/darkness gradient that allows the basic visualization of movement.

The main sensory organ of the Kueku is its two bobbles directly above its pseudo-eyes. These appendages serve two purposes. Firstly, they allow the Kueku to perceive the intensity of wind around it and make it very keen to changes in weather that could be a very dangerous stimuli to their small stature. Secondly, they work as mock-fingers when in close contact to something or someone threatening, attractive, or important to the Kueku.

The entire skin of the Kueku, especially in its hands, has an incredibly precise sense of touch. This allows a hunting Kueku incredible awareness to its immediate surroundings. For larger spaces, the Kueku uses short screeches of echolocation to map out its wider surroundings. The combination of echolocation screeches and precise sense of touch gives the Kueku a fine perception of the world around it.

The Kueku mouth has two parts; the exterior mouth of skin and the interior beak of keratin. Together, these two parts allow the Kueku to break up food for passage down their alimentary canal and to share broken down food with other, like children, family, and close companions.

Society
The Kueku live in semi-communalist communities ruled over by kingdoms that often have governing authority over several cave systems at once.

As Kueku tend to have quite hectic lives, one major cultural aspect of almost all of the Kueku modern world is what is known as Euclidean Humor( or Kueku Humor). This form of humor is developed from the Kueku's very blunt manor of speaking to form jokes that, instead of moving from buildup to punchline, are simply single phrases with the buildup and punchline combined followed often by some dance or jerking motion.

For example:

Johnny: "the meat is red!"( jumps back and forward while saying line)

Timmy: ( laughs hysterically)

Though it is polite to tell the king a joke if one is ever summoned in front of him, in a majority of Kueku cultures, it is extremely disrespectful to ever tell a joke where one must jump backwards despite any well-meaning context behind the move.

Almost all Kueku kingdoms worship some form of wind, storm, or sky god as Kueku are easily blown over by any large wind. This is one of the leading cause of death for Kueku commoners in the majority of the modern Kueku world.