Didis
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Species Rules

Ownership: CosmicSynthetics (EnterTheDwelling)
Gifting: Yes! (Just let me know)
Resale: Yes, but only at equivalent value unless you've added new art!
Trading: Yes, but only for designs of equivalent value (Just let me know)
Species Type: CLOSED*

Though Didis are a closed species and you're not allowed to create, breed, or sell more of them, you CAN breed didis you've purchased to other breedables (except slinks) and do whatever you'd like with the hybrid offspring, so long as:

  • those offspring don't just look like didis with minor alterations (A 50% difference or more will suffice)
  • you credit EnterTheDwelling for the didi species itself on your sheets!

You can make more of these crosses, breed your own strains of critter based on them, gift them to other people, sell them, etc

A Note on Official didi Breeding: You CAN commission EnterTheDwelling to breed your didis! These offspring follow the same rules as normal didis. Same goes for slink/didi hybrids!

Origins

Though the exact origins and evolutionary history of didis are unclear, reports of them can be confirmed all the way back to the First Age of Aeonoea.

What is a Didi?

Didis are one of the most elusive "living fossils" within Aeonoea. They are 5th dimensional animals technically classified as Infusoria that are able to slip between dimensions into different timelines and physical locations at will. Though they can physically "manifest" as flesh and blood animals, they often flit about as something akin to an "energy being" that is unaffected by physical forces but may still be damaged by extremes of heat and radiation. Didis vary in size from that of a medium-sized dog to a large pony, though exceptional cases have been reported.

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Behavior

Didis are swift, mischievous, spritely creatures that are infrequently seen and rarely re-encountered. When they appear, it's usually to play with (or steal from) other living things. They seem to have a fondness for slinks, and will vocalize at them and other beings in flowing, rounded vowel sounds that often reflect Earth whale song, and the volume and pitch will gently but frequently dip up and down in a way reminiscent of the doppler effect. Their markings light up and usually glow gently but may flare brightly during emotional highs. Some have learned to coordinate this glowing.

One of the most distinct traits of the didi is its ability to phase in and out of three dimensional space. Didis generally prefer to stay "half phased", which allows them to avoid direct physical damage and accompanies changes in appearance. While a "fully phased" didi looks and functions almost exactly like a normal animal, A half-phased didi loses its more complex physical features including details like digits, pupils, nostrils, and the mouth. Light seems to interact with this state strangely, reflecting irregularly and in ways that look unnatural and "flat" to the average viewer. When transitioning from this state to being fully phased out, a didi will appear as a fine mist of the appropriate color that cannot be interacted with shortly before completely vanishing.

Fully phased didis can eat, drink, and breed [citation needed], but can also be injured and bleed. Damage does not disappear upon phasing in or out and needs time to heal.

No didi attacks have ever been recorded, and any cases of injury related to one have been purely accidental.

Intelligence

The intelligence of a didi is somewhat comparable to that of a slink in their ability to pick up emotional cues, though where slinks aren't known for their coordination, didis have vastly superior physical intelligence that allows them to coordinate their bodies so they can travel across vast tracts of space and time effortlessly. Despite this, a didi is more easily classified as an animal than a being, even compared to slinks; they have no known identifiable language, culture, or history of tool usage. This could be because they have very little need for these things evolutionarily, but research is lacking.

Diet

Didis can eat any and all matter that they can realistically fit in their bodies and break down without spending significant energy, but they often prefer "flavorful" foods for the sake of pleasure. Though they do have a digestive tract when fully phased in, this tract no longer plays a significant role in processing what they eat and serves more as storage for the food as it's being deconstructed into energy directly. Because of this direct and poorly understood conversion process, didis do not produce significant, if any, waste products, though they may vent out small amounts of heat.

Life Cycle

… DATA MISSING…

They appear to be born with a stable male and female sex that does not change, though there are no outward physical differences between the two. Coitus between didis has never been witnessed, though permanent-looking pairs of didis have been seen playing and traveling together, often displaying behavior that appears to be affection and

… DATA MISSING…

The lifespan of a didi is determined by how much time it's collectively "phased in" and able to directly interact with the physical world. Aging occurs during these periods, and the total amount of time they can spend in this state is approximately 15-20 years. This "counter" does not reset when phasing back out again. At the "age" of five, a didi has reached its prime and will steadily become less tolerant of damage after this point.

First Age vs. New Age Didis

Didis have survived into the current age of Aeonoea, though they've also gone through some fairly heavy physiological changes over time due to a large die-off of didis at the end of the First Age, adaptations to reduce their energy requirements, and possible hybridization with slinks.

These two types of didi, "FADs" and "NADs", are general classifications and likely crosses of the two are often observed.

First Age ("FADs")

Didis from the First Age are the older and rarer strain, being more prone to manes and other scruff on their bodies as well as more pronounced "muzzles". Another difference is in body shape; FADs often have shorter legs and move lower to the ground when walking in a way somewhat similar to Earth weasels, but can also infrequently reach much larger sizes. They also tend to display less variation in color on any one individual compared to a New Age didi and have a proneness to stripes, spots, speckles, and solid blocks of color. They're rumored to give birth to live young instead of laying eggs like New Age didis are assumed to, but this has not been confirmed yet.

New Age ("NADs")

New Age didis are from after the first big bounce of Aeonoea and have changed quite a bit since. They seem to have picked up some traits from slinks, having developed slightly rounder ears, more dexterous fingers and toes, somewhat less squat bodies, and smoother heads with less pronounced snouts. More variably colored didis and didis with blotchier patterns are often NADs. It's unknown if this has been caused by either genuine natural or artificial hybridization, or if this is an attempt at mimicry by the didis themselves. A few researchers have claimed that there are extant FADs that have physically changed to look like NADs, but this theory has yet to be proven.

New Age didis have been observed to engage in active communication with slinks and other animals slightly more often than First Age didis, so some take this as evidence that NADs are more socially intelligent.

Occasionally, "dinks" (didi/slink hybrids) and rarely dink slinks are mistaken for NADs.

How to Definitively Tell Didis, Dinks and Dink Slinks Apart Without Genetic Testing

Didis

  • Colored sclera with no defined irises
  • Simple and semi-retractable peg-like teeth (can be black or white)
  • No fleshy "eyebrows"
  • No fleshy paw pads
  • Concave head shape (more pronounced in FADs)
  • All markings glow
  • Black flesh and black blood
  • Can smoothly phase in and out of reality

Dinks

  • Mixture of didi and slink traits
  • Mixed dentition (Always white)
  • No or few true glow spots
  • Very dark red-orange blood

Dink Slinks

  • White irises and colored sclera
  • Somewhat rodent-like teeth with defined incisors (Always white)
  • Fleshy "eyebrows" (eyebrow-like markings do not count)
  • Paw Pads on palm and ends of fingers
  • Convex head shape
  • Defined glowspots (one on the back, three on the tail) with cuticles
  • Red-orange blood
  • Can only sometimes "flash-step" short distances or not at all
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