Axolotian

The axolotian is a species with a humanoid body, whilst having defining features of an axolotl. They can be seen with gills on the sides of their heads, small facial features, and varying skin colours, ranging from vibrant colours such as purple, blue and yellow to moody and dirty colours like and brown. There are currently two known kinds of axolotians, Neo-Axolotians (descended from Proto-Axolotians) and Modern-Axolotians. While Neo-Axolotians are able to reproduce, there has not been any discovery of young Modern-Axolotians as the creation process of Modern-Axolotians always produces mature axolotians.

Axolotians are seldom seen anywhere. Neo-Axolotians live in groups deep in the ocean, being isolated from any other civilizations, while Modern-Axolotians are sometimes spotted wandering in the wild, adapting to solitary lifestyles. Although quite rare, there has been verified cases of Modern-Axolotians joining and assimilating into Rathnir and Eldham societies.

Although sharing numerous similarities to the Merfolk species, Axolotians are regarded as a different species from Merfolks, due to their vastly different origins.

Origin
The origins of the Axolotians race are known and verified to be artificial. According to Ripley, he was created by a man who he simply refers to as "The Professor", though he did not provide any physical descriptions of the mysterious entity. This claim is further supported by travellers discovering scientific instruments in a random cave, with a few water tanks surrounding the tools.

However, ancient stone carvings of Axolopolis tales of a mythological legend

Discovery
The Professor was obsessed with life, and the secrets to it. This obsession sent him on a quest, seeking immortality. On his adventures, he had been led to a far off land, with giant caves, and large mountains. Whilst exploring this strange land, he came across a giant cave system, with moss, and other intriguing plant life inside of it. Residing in the aquifers of the cave system, were strange amphibians called axolotls.

Experimenting
Intrigued by the odd animal, he set up a temporary research bench in the cave to research the animal's traits. After discovering that axolotls had incredibly regenerative abilities, The Professor hypothesised that he could use the axolotl cells for technical immortality. He extracted the regenerative cells of the axolotls and injected it into his body. However, after some painful experimentations, The Professor found out that he was uncompatible with the axolotl cells. He came up with an idea; If they aren't compatible with humans, what if I make them humans? The thought behind the reasoning is that, while two completely different species might be incompatible with each other, two species that share many common attributes would allow for mixing of cells.

With this theory, he gathered some of the axolotls and journeyed all the way back to his lab. He bred the axolotls as not to run out of subjects. Armed with extensive knowledge on biology and magic, alongside the newly researched information on axolotls, he induced metamorphosis in them, creating the first humanoid-axolotl species, called the Axolotians.

Proto-Axolotians
The first batch of Axolotians, named the Proto-Axolotians, had a few "issues" when they underwent metamorphosis. The most notable issue was that the regenerative abilities of the Proto-Axolotians took four times as long to fully complete compared to the normal axolotls. Although this was not considered an issue at first, The Professor soon realised that the Proto-Axolotians nerve endings would regenerate first, causing them great agony. Another major issue was the feet of the Proto-Axolotians produced a strange, slimey substance that reduced their mobility on land. The Proto-Axolotians also had some troubles adapting to bipedal movement. They were also unable to eat meat, as the nutrients wouldn't be absorbed, forcing them to adapt to herbivorous diets. Fortunately, the Proto-Axolotians yielded incredible results in the dexterity, intelligence and stamina experiments.

Seeing as his first metamorphosis experiment wasn't successful, The Professor released these Proto-Axolotians to the wild. Most of the Proto-Axolotians were unfortunately unable to survive in the wild, but the handful that adapted to survival moved to the ocean for a better chance at life.

Modern-Axolotians
Although the first batch of metamorphosised axolotls did not produce satisfying results, The Professor did not give up and was determined to fix the issues. After a close analysis on his mistakes and much more research on axolotls, The Professor had found the perfect way to produce a near-perfect axolotl-humanoid creature. Many sleep deprived days later, The Professor finally created the perfect batch of Axolotians. Having a pair of lungs, 3 pair of gills, webbed hands and toes, extended limbs and completed with near-instant regeneration, high intelligence, quadrepedal and bipedal movement, incredible dexterity, topped of with long-lasting stamina, The Professor had succesfully biologically engineered an axolotl-humanoid species. However, his experimentation had one fatal flaw; the Axolotians could not reproduce. The Professor deliberately made this decision as to not ruin the ecosystem of the planet. From the second batch onwards, the complete axolotians would be called Modern-Axolotians.

The Professor had one last goal; extract the regeneration cells and inject it. And that he did, successfully. Although it didn't give him immortality, it gave him insane regenaration that could heal any wounds, including damged organ tissues, in seconds. This made him practically impossible to die from old age. However, he also noted that the effect wouldn't last forever. He noticed this when a few thousand years after his first injection, he got a papercut that took forever to heal. Therefore, every few thousand years, he would take another handful of axolotls, and metamorphosize them into axolotians, gathering their regenerative cells. The remaining axolotls from his experiments would be released out to the wild, with a high chance of survival.

In his most recent batch of axolotians, there was a pink one. One by one, these axolotians went out to go live life beyond the cave, he noticed that the last one to leave was the pink one. A few hours after this axolotian had left, The Professor noticed that his brown hat was gone...

Ancient Axolopolis Legends
idk, i suck at mythology

Neo-Axolotians
Evolved from Proto-Axolotians who adapted to survival, Neo-Axolotians are axolotions that adapted to underwater conditions and developed advanced civilizations, namely Axolopolis.

Modern-Axolotians
Known as the perfect axolotians, Modern-Axolotians can be found wandering around the wild, most of the time by theirselves.

Abilites
As mentioned, the axolotians have incredible regenerative capabilites, that can extend their lives indefinitely. their regeneration much more powerful than normal axolotls. They also have a fine sense of smell, since the axolotl's main method of hunting it's food is by smell. The predatory instincts of the axolotl have translated into the axolotians as well. This instinct makes axolotians competent fighters even without training. It can give them a taste for killing though. The Axolotians can also breath underwater, due to them being derived from an aquatic animal.

Weaknesses
The Modern-Axolotians cannot reproduce. The only way that their population increases is every few thousand years, when more axolotls metamorphosize into axolotians, which can be a liability to the survival of the species, if the way they are produced is ever threatened in any way. Another weakness is that though the axolotian has a healing factor that makes it practically immortal, there are ways to kill them. The only known two are if they ingest alcohol, which is known to counteract their regenerative properties, and why Ripley does not drink despite owning a bar. The second known method to severely injure or kill them using fire, which seems even more effective against them than a normal human.