Subtypes

The Maltese Kivuuli are a population of oddly colored Kivuuli that have been isolated for hundreds, possibly even thousands of generations. Because of the small, isolated population, a lot of extremely rare genes have become present and dominant and a collection of strange and new mutations have shown up.

As such they have become their own distinct subspecies of Kivuuli, much different than those more commonly seen.

Maltese have a color mutation that dilutes the usual black down to a blue/gray coloration. The fur is generally darker close to the skin and often has frosted tips. They always have a black sclera. Lavander accents are known to show up every so often and can appear in varying degrees. Their base coat can vary from a dark blue-gray, to a pale almost white blue-gray. Their stomachs and inner thighs are usually lighter than the rest of them, and they are usually darkest on the back. Dorsal stripes are very common.

They almost always have black markings somewhere on their bodies, with stripes and spots being the most common, like normal Kivuuli. Some have no markings, or the markings are very faint. This is fairly rare. Most Maltese have white hair.

They all have exotic eye markings which usually appear in black unless affected by a coat modifier or mutation, black scleras, and unusually bright eyes. Blues and Purples are most common. Greens, Yellows, Reds, Oranges, and Golds can show up as well but are not as common

Their fur is like chinchilla’s fur in texture; extremely thick and dense and extremely soft and fluffy. They are softer and their coats longer and thicker than normal Kivuuli. In short, Maltese have a LOT of fur. If you were to touch one your hand would sink in past the wrist. The skin beneath is very tough and thick and hard to cut through. They have some coarser guard-hairs down their upper backs and shoulders where their fur grows in the thickest.

Many have a thicker puff of fluff on their chest which often matches their hair in color. This can appear with or without a mane. A mutation exclusive to Maltese Kivuuli. When frightened, the guard hairs on their backs and shoulders puff up like a dog’s hackles along with their spines. Like regular Kivuuli, Maltese females have longer, sharper, and fiercer looking spines than the males.

The subspecies has only just recently started showing up in our dimension and others; and is extremely rare since there are fewer than a thousand in the main Colony, and mortality rate is fairly high. They are too far from any other island of Darkrealm to get there, even through teleportation; and thus come to other dimensions through naturally forming portals that appear sometimes. Maltese have the ability to teleport further than regular Kivuuli; due to a mutation carried over from the Colony the subspecies rose from.

Maltese, or Blue Kivuuli have many mutations that are exclusive to their subspecies. Their most unique feature is the presence of natural hermaphrodites, something that does not exist among any other Kivuuli subspecies but is theorized to be responsible for them having survived.

Probability of hermaphrodites is VERY high. Around 75% of Maltese Kivuuli are hermaphrodites and 80% of these hermaphrodites are completely functional. Most hermaphrodites take after one gender or the other, but masculine hermaphrodites are more common. Both Masculine and Feminine hermaphrodites are fairly androgynous in appearance. Each generation that passes, the percentage of hermaphrodites increases, since it is due to a mutation that has become a fairly dominant gene in their makeup. A hermaphrodite has a 50% chance of producing a hermaphrodite offspring.

Females, like normal Kivuuli, have longer and sharper spines, especially down their backs.