Cudalforms

Stats

Universe: Aeonoea
Place of Origin: Albedo
Age of Origin: 1st Age
Status: Extant

Summary

Cudalforms are the most wide-spread and ancient sapient species within the Aeonoea Universe. Their extreme technical intelligence, only rivaled by Iehgogs, some 5th Dimensional Infusoria, and a few individual Gods, means Cudalforms are often looked upon as mythological or spiritual figures by those that know of them. Several cudalforms and the cudalform race itself have been responsible for the creation of many forms of Aeonoea life, either accidentally or purposefully.

Origins

Cudalforms first evolved on the desert planet of Albedo, an ocean world now dominated by sandy terrain, canyons, and salt flats. Evolving on such a barren world encouraged the cephalopod-like ancestors of Cudalforms to rapidly evolve adaptability and intelligence. Early Cudalforms lived nomadic lifestyles in small groups, leaving messages and blueprints in the sheltered curves of cliff faces and large boulders. These early languages were all pictographic and quickly standardized among different populations, making information easy to share and efficient.

The fields that Cudalforms first specialized in were agriculture, biology, and eventually biotechnology. It didn't take long for early Cudalforms to begin creating farms and domesticating life. Large-scale irrigation and moisture collecting systems were invented too, and soon after, terraforming techniques. These skills and practices have remained integral to Cudalform life and society.

Instead of having defined peaks and dips in societal development like most races, Cudalforms had an "unending biotechnological Renaissance" that exponentially advanced their society. This period of extreme growth was sparked by the development of long-distance communication. It only took a few generations from this point for Cudalforms to become space-faring masters of their environment. This then led to the creation of the Cui and several species of life that would become essential and commonplace on Cudalform bioships.

Behavior

Overall, Cudalforms are independent and have a strong drive to learn, create, discover, and document. Though they will form small groups of close contacts and family, many travel alone or bounce back and forth between these two ways of living. Garcui are a common exception to this, with many preferring to live in Garcui-centric communities.

Regardless of intelligence, a Cudalform's attention span is strongly linked to how interested they are in a given topic. Fixations can last for several decades, while uninteresting conversations will die within minutes.

Intelligence

The Cudalform race's greatest asset is their ingenuity. They are known for building unimaginably advanced devices including bioships, gene splicing machines, automatic brain and body back-up systems, and complex 3D printers. Most of what they build is involved in the creation, research, and care of living things. Occasionally, an individual cudalform may be fixated on "hard tech" instead of biotech, but this is considered a more niche interest.

Cudalforms have a deceptive amount of gray matter in their skulls. Instead of having a brain like humans with a central mass and two hemispheres, cudalform brains consist of a "brain tape" that's tightly coiled and folded within the brain case. The brain tape is so densely packed that cracking the cudalform skull severely enough will result in a high-pressure explosion. This can end in a large loss of brain tape for the cudalform in question, though thankfully most essential functions are stored within the very base. Most cudalforms keep back-up blueprints of their brain's contents within their bioship, so thankfully this damage is usually reversible if they have enough brain tape left to remember how to get home. Cudalform memory is only limited by their ability to learn new things and maintain consistent back-up blueprints.

Despite their technological genius, many cudalforms struggle with prolonged socialization and are prone to low social intelligence. Situations that they find embarrassing, frightening, other otherwise stressful instinctively make them want to flee. Thought it is possible to ignore these urges and to build up more social tolerance, they often don't bother. They are nomadic by nature, so some will live mostly solitary lifestyles unbothered.

Diet

Give them all the things because they're omnivores (but maybe not red meat).

Life Cycle

Kiss

Known Racial Groups

Cudal

Cudals were the first variety of cudalform, having evolved naturally on Albedo. They consistently have complete limb-tails with a fully formed digit or digits, and are considered the parent race to all other cudalform groups. Cudals have bare skin with a suede-like texture, and sex-male individuals often have sprigs of rubbery tissue on their heads and sometimes "crests" of skin over their eyes along their browridge. In old age, the sprigs and crests of some Cudals may exaggerate and extend further along their bodies, sometimes creeping down the back, neck, and tail. They were the creators of the Cui.

Cui

The Cui are an artificially created racial group first made by Cudals, and were designed to be more energy-efficient and better equipped to deal with long-term space travel than their forebearer. They have varying amounts of true fur to deal with the cold, and either don't have limb-tails at all, or have heavily vestigial limb-tails with few to no digits. Instead of rubbery sprigs, Cui can get a keratin-coated version that is very similar to small horns. Occasionally, Cui can get extra long fur on their faces to make eyebrows and chin scruff. This has no link to biological sex and appears frequently, but not consistently, and is considered to be less common than not having this trait.

Garcui

Garcui originated from a fringe group of Cui that united and separated from most cudalform society based on differing cultural beliefs. These Cui genetically altered themselves in similar ways that helped them to express their identity. Garcui have varying amounts of true fur, and oftentimes also have scutes and scales on select parts of their body. Their keratinized sprigs are more ornate and extreme than those of Cui, and biological sex has much less of a connection to whether or not these structures develop on an individual. Therefore, "horned" individuals are diverse and common.

Cudalform (Disambiguation)

Though not a true racial group, "Cudalform" refers to an individual that doesn't fit into the Cudal, Cui, or Garcui classifications when used in reference to an individual's race. This often includes cudalforms with mixed heritage or heavy genetic alterations.

Reference Gallery

See Also

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