Union Member Species closely associated to the Shaill,
What is the difference between a Shaill and a Shail?"[]
Once there was only the Shaill, a species of large snails occupying a world in the outer part of the Sagittarius arm in the Upward sector of this galaxy. Why or how we gained sentience is still unknown even though there are speculations about an external source influencing natural development.
The Shaill relied on scents and touch for communication. Only became aware of another Shaill if another was close enough to smell or touch each other.
The transfer of ideas and concepts is very difficult, actually almost impossible. Not only did Shaill lack the most important sense to develop a civilization, but they also lacked the manipulators to even utilize the crudest of tools
How can you gather a crowd of fellow-beings with communication that relies on scents and touch?
Scent's travel with the wind and air currents. One can never answer to a scent received as it would travel away from the individual asking.
If there is a crowd, scents mix and take on completely new meanings or no meaning at all. Shaill was basically a society of hermits, intelligent beings trapped in the worst possible body.
This is why Shaill can change sex in an instant. Shaill used to meet another Shaill by simply running into it. If two males run into each other one becomes female. The same holds true of two females meet, one becomes male. Thus Shaill and Shail use gender-neutral pronouns.
Long before there was a Union the Shaill were invaded by the Shiss, who loved to eat them and established breeding farms.
A Shiss scientist discovered the sentient nature and experimented with Shaill DNA and crafted crude visual receptors to Shaill bodies and linked them with the stalk feelers.
To a species that was blind since its conception, even seeing just shadow and light was a culture shock. It opened an entirely new universe for the Shaill. Over the decades and more experimental DNA crafting, eyesight improved.
To this day there are the original Shaill, those who completely lack eyesight and then there are the Shail who are able to see.