The Sullken Smile

For this strange mask, there are only theories. Possessing no mechanical features, it hardly seems right to call the thing a mouth machine. Not that shoons and dust-huffers care for calling a thing by the right name. Why dust? Because all extant masks come from excavations of the Outer Dunes of Dranag, where legions of Sullken pilgrims and their putrilous oils were buried beneath the Great Dust Gale. Take a bludgeon to one of these masks and you will find the segmented carapace of the masks are constructed from some reedy, fibrous material, coated in clay and baked at high temperatures for a smooth finish. Behind the teeth are shallow bowls, like a mouth with the tongue carved out. Soot stains indicate that, perhaps, the masks may also function as enormous pipes used during ceremonies to achieve ecstatic visions. Others suggest there is no functional purpose beyond intimidation of strangers. Still others, that these terrifying visages were donned during orgiastic holy days and banquets and used for erotic purposes. The Sullken have provided no illumination, and have instead reappropriated - nicked, dragged, pilfered - as many of the masks as they have found.