SOURCE: "The Last Days of Shandakor" (Startling Stories, April 1952)

DESCRIPTION:"...Then I reached out and pushed that red cowl back to bare his head. It was a beautiful head...His skull was narrow and arched and the shaping of the bones was very fine. On that skull was a covering of short curling fibers that had an almost metallic luster in the moonlight, silvery and bright. They stirred under my hand, soft silken wires responding of themselves to an alien touch...Corin's ears were pointed and there were silvery tufts on the tips of them. On them and on his forearms and breast were the faint, faint memories of scales, a powdering of shining dust across the golden skin. I looked at his teeth and they were not human either... ("The Last Days of Shandakor" by Leigh Brackett)

NOTES: Shandakorans are humanoid but not descended from apes, more likely lizards. They are one of the ancient races of Mars. The last three thousand individuals died at their own hands when the city of Shandakor fell to barbarians.

HISTORY: Like the Ramas and the Ancient Races, the Shandakorans are mysterious and only seen in decline or extinction. Their civilizations were long-lived but died out before humans came to Mars. Brackett uses their mysterious pasts to give her Mars a weird and mystical flavor.

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