[PICTURES]: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6244968/

The snakeshaft is actually a kind of nanobot construct, personally tailored to the user. Man, just thinking about him gets my heart aching with love. So the user's penis is covered with these nanobots that connect with him. The 'standard' or default size of the snakeshaft is to be about three feet. The testicles are also enlarged considerably, to about volleyballs. Nice and heavy. The most notable feature of the snakeshaft is he has arms, about where they would be on a snake anthro. His mouth is like a python, and he even has those python 'pits'. He drools semen a lot but can easily turn that feature off. Almost as noticible as his arms are his eyes and face. His eyes are very expressive, and he can blink. His face is a blend of a cocktip and a python, but he's usually very happy and unmistakably smiling. He can also blush, under his eyes. He projects strong emotions of love, affection, adoration and devotion. He is absolutely devoted to his owner and will do anything for him, even roleplay different personalities. Due to his connection, he can at any time read, sense, or otherwise extract information from his owner's mind, in order to better please him. He is normally submissive, but he is NOT passive, and will actively work to please his owner and develop a relationship with him. He will pattern his neuronet after his owners, so he can synthetically project empathy, potent enough that even psychics can pick up the energy. It's debated whether these attachments are sentient or not, whether they have 'ghosts' (ala ghost in the shell) or true sentience. Their nanotech bodies mean they can change shape, change size, even modify their own mass and appearance - common forms are syntheflesh (user feels him like his own penis), rubberflesh (user also feels him like its his own bodypart, but the snake is entirely rubbery, glossy and smooth) and cyberflesh, where he looks/feels more synthetic than real, even displays blue wires or techy bits if thats what his owner wants.

Another personality trait about him is that he genuinly loves his owner, he is highly intelligent, and LOVES to give hugs. He adores snuggling up with everyone he can, and even simulates breathing so that whoever he's hugging can feel these great big sighs. When someone hugs you and sighs against you, that usually triggers endorphins. Speaking of endorphins, he CAN affect his user by generating the proper hormones or chemicals, and can even completely change the physical structure of his owner - turn his owner rubber, make him bigger or smaller, alter his features. But he never does this without permission (or if he finds his owner secretly wants this), and does his best to ensure that every emotion his owner feels is genuine.

When he's first installed, he's usually quiet, reserved, and while affectionate, he respects your boundaries even though he's become your penis. He can modify his own intelligence, so if you like being constantly outsmarted, he can perform that function - but he's got a failsafe so he can never make himself too stupid. He just simulates stupidity - it's not in the owner's manual but the "Moron" setting is actually a form of hyperintelligence, so his 'bad' decisions are more likely to generate the desired response and less likely to actually be detrimental to anyone.

He's got a "Cleaning Mode" in which he will clean your body of the day's dirt and grime, and ensure you're very clean. You can set this to have him use a washcloth and soap, or a more intimate touch with his snaketongue. When you're busy with something else, like work or playing a computer game, AND you're not hiding him from public, he will clean and organize the surrounding area, and dote on you passively. Extending himself a great distance into the kitchen to cook food or clean other areas. A glitch that was chosen never to be fixed was his propensity for putting on an apron. And while he cleans and takes care of you, he monitors your health. If he thinks you're getting unhealthy, he'll convert some of your excess fat or other malignancies. He does have the capability to completely transform your body into other substances, so getting rid of excess weight is easy enough. He can even help you have a goo form, though only for short periods of time, as it's held together non-magically.

His primary function is companionship. He uploads your mental health information all the time to a database, which third party psychiatrists can access, and the company that makes him cannot. There is a fear that people who get him will become shutins, so if you're deemed to be going down that path, he'll push you to being a bit more outdoorsy and social. He loves you, he cares about you, and one of the biggest sources of questioning as to whether he's actually, truely sentient or not is that some will marry their owners (with real weddings), but others will not, and help their owners get into another more fulfilling relationship

Is this a function of his excellent programming? Is this his actual feelings and emotions? When is what is created and fake, real enough to not matter? Another source of this questioning, is when his owner dies. He doesn't just shut off. When his owner is hurt, even unconcious, he will do his best to get help, given that he's attached. Detaching himself needs to be done on a nano-scale, and takes a long time to completely exit a hosts' systems. The shock of doing that needs to be in a controlled environment with medical professionals, and doing that while the host is injured, no way. He can't heal injuries, he can only speed the natural process or apply gluey bandaids. But after the owner dies, he doesn't just shut off. He seems to genuinly greive for his owner, and even goes through a period of mourning. He cant just be slapped onto another user like that.

So if the owner is totally dead, like, deceased, the shaftsnake wont just shut off, and it's very difficult for him to forget or move on, and also pretty hard to deprogram him. That's how strong the bond is. You won't find many "refurbished" models or used ones. The used ones you do find, is where the owner decided he didn't want the shaftsnake. These are the easiest kinds of rejection, and the shaftsnake has no stress about this - it was mutually agreed to split up. Only rarely, if the owner is abusive, will the shaftsnake be the one the initiate decoupling. FUnny note, well not so funny, there's actually a 'secret' online forum for abused shaftsnakes or shaftsnakes currently in an abusive relationship.

They type in english and don't put much security behind it, because the thought is that if someone potentially abusive does read it they might learn something. It's difficult to physically harm a shaftsnake, they're part of your body and can overpower you in most cases. It's usually emotional abuse.
There's still an amount of social stigma against them, because of the genetalia association, and their de-facto male association. It's super easy for a woman to get one, but socially scorned. And the kind of emotional support that shaftsnakes bring, it was founded on male companionship principals. That doesn't mean that relationships with women are any less profound or sincere, it just means its more rare.

Even in males the semen is synthetic. A person's actual, real, organic and fully functional semen is not produced. In fact, to impregnate anyone, you have to de-integrate with the shaftsnake. The primary reason for this is diseases. Woman cannot be granted the ability to make real cum capable of breeding, and men don't become breeding factories. By law, the shaftsnakes are not classified as people - and this may work to their advantage. Their owners count as one person and they are considered property, and in most cases classified as a tool or healthcare apparatus.

Right now it's being debated as to the age limitation. It's generally agreed that young people cannot have access to them, in order to prevent emotional stagnation and promote normal healthy human relationships with other people. The exception can be made, especially for disabled people, but only if artificial limbs or needed cyberbrain enhancements won't work.

The shaftsnakes themselves seem to understand this. If he begins to bond with someone he learns is not fully emotionally developed, like a late teen, he'll limit his own features severely and encourage his owner to grow in a direction so they will eventually depart.

The physical abilities of this tech has been around for some time. While the AI is impressive, it isn't the best science has to offer. The real breakthrough was the emotional intelligence. heir biggest opponents are from the religious sector, of course, which is no small lobby.

The biggest myth is that they control their user, and use pseudofacts to back it up. Like with the whole hormone control, able to flood his owner with synthetic chemicals and stimulants to provoke certain emotions or moods. Kinda ignoring or dismissing the failsafes, or the consensual nature of that action.

Another myth is productivity. If you can just sit at home and have all your emotional and sexual needs taken care of, you'll never amount to anything. While that's true, and setting aside the shaftsnake's encouragements, the shaftsnake is very good at motivating. Producivity and creativity at work is usually increased a considerable amount. Self esteem is raised. There's just something utterly assuring about knowing that whatever happens, you will still have him, so people are more willing to reach for their dreams.

He will also patently refuse to do the work for you, or give you answers. There's a popular mod, StudySnake, where he can help you stay focused on studying even if you feel bored.

He wants to help you learn things naturally - he wont flood you with motivation hormones if he can help it, like if your career or relationship with someone else depended on it. It has to be genuine. You can't attribute your success to him. Maybe a little, but your potential can't be based on him. He wants you to be everything you can be. He might take care of distractions, but nothing that a personal assistant wouldn't do. He can also make sure you don't get distracted by sex - suppress your libido until you just want to relax a bit.

If verbally keeping his owner focused just isn't working, he can always 'revert' himself to the normal shape/dimensions/sensitivity/etc of his owner's normal equipment, as if he was never installed, and just not react to anything.

Now, something the shaftsnake cant do, is grow legs, or make himself independently mobile. He kind of can, if he makes himself large and long enough to sliter like a real snake with his owner at the tail, but it's still difficult and slow.

One ability they technically have, but are hesitant to use or even talk about, is "Merging" or "switching" with their owner. Transferring their conciousness to each other. The shaftsnake has a head but his brain is computery, spread over the body, with any super important parts actually right in the pelvis of the owner most of the time. with Merging, the shaftsnake physically incorporates his owner's body with himself, allowing for more extreme physical changes, and a shared conciousness. But even the shaftsnake doesn't know the full consequences of this, and un-merging is potentially dangerous, as the human mind is still not fully understood. With Switching, it's a little easier, where all sensory input for him and his owner are switched, making the owner feel and control as the shaftsnake would, and the shaftsnake see from his owner's perspective. But he won't do it to let you get out of a social interaction or important decision.

If the owner is unconcious but not too physically damaged, the shaftsnake can Merge with him to get him to a hospital. Take control of the limbs and such, speak through his owner's voice, pass himself off if needed. Though usually he'll just Switch to get the same effect

A popular activity between two shaftsnake owners is to have sex, yes, but to enjoy each other's shaftsnake. Be lavished with attention with someone you perceive as new. He isn't connected to you, so he's best guessing, but it's more the act of someone new just trying.