Creature:Shale

The "Shalinodes", or Shale, are an ancient space-faring species related to lizards. Little is known about this civilization except a preserved body and a document about an unknown war with The Grox around the middle of their 40,000 year reign.

Anatomy
The Shale have overlapping scales and two pairs of skull holes behind the eyes. A part of the skull extends in a horn-like bone that runs parallel to the spine. The "neck" is actually an elongated part of the body carrying a pair of arms with four fingers per hand; three main fingers and a thumb.

The most interesting part of the creature's body is the three pairs of short legs located on the main body. They are apparently helpful in walking on a level surface. Behind the legs, there is no tail, probably due to the tail being shrunken down to a stump.

History
Little is known about the history of the Shale except the war against the Grox, named the Shalo-Groxes War. Their origin has been theorized, however.

Origin
The shale probably originated from a species of lizard that evolved a sturdier spine and a longer body. Later species may have developed more legs to free the arms for manipulation.

The Shalo-Groxes War
The only known activity of the species is the war against the Grox. For unknown reasons, the Shale had conquered the region around the Galactic Core. This is confusing, as the Grox, in the end, had survived the destruction of the Shale Empire.