@Muttonhawk While I'm no biologist, panting should be adequate for providing a hain's cooling needs. It works as a primary cooling mechanism for most animals (humans are a notable exception, who use sweating as a primary cooling mechanism). This has the drawback that hain would not be able to run long distances without stopping to pant every so often, but this is a minor drawback.
What I haven't wrapped my head around is how a hain's internal organs are supported for a creature that size without an endoskeleton, or how their muscular system is wired. There's probably a plausible explanation; I just don't know it.
I don't mind about the long distance thing. If I wanted them to have comparable running endurance of humans, they would probably sweat, have longer legs, have butts, have more forward vision etc. Basically, humans are pretty good endurance hunters. Hain are not. Hain are workers.
As for the internal organs, that can be mostly hand-waved, but my thoughts were that the exoskeleton is reinforced by a bone-like or cartilage-like frame that works as a pseudo-skeleton nearer to the surface of their exoskeleton than a proper endoskeleton. This would allow a flexible-ish structure to be maintained between the plates as well as providing points for organs to run along.
As for the muscles, I'm not sure how it would need to be different if the end points are still attached to the exoskeleton. To that question, I sort-of wiggle my hands and hold up a picture of a praying mantis.
Then again, I'm no expert. All this internal stuff can be safely ignored unless it becomes IC-relevant.
But before I give up...I also had another thought! Many creatures have a cluster of blood vessels around the nasal cavity as a means to cool down, right? Well, hain beaks have a lot of extra space in them. Maybe they have a larger version of that cavity than normal so it can provide better cooling?
Wow, am I thinking about this too hard. This is a mistake.
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