Ite, the Four-Fold World, was the first recorded Splash. If the stories of the Pilgrims of Yordsk are to be believed, it was a world divided into four tetraspheres by huge oceanic trenches. Each tetrasphere was dominated by one of the species which survived into the modern day.
Myrivada
Each Myrivadan is roughly about ~1.6 - 1.7 meters tall, and look like a golden statue. Each one bears a rough humanoid form- like an abstract or symbolic depiction of a person- with no other consistencies in art style. Their poses also can vary, but most often depict gentle and restful poses.
Their bodies are not actually metallic, but some form of stiff exoskeleton. It is semi-permeable, as they are able to eat and drink merely through touching it, quickly vanishing food whenever you look away for a moment. When speaking, their voices actually come from the vibration of their exoskeleton, giving a certain resonance to their voices.
Their bodies also seem to have very limited flexibility, if any. While in polite company they often sit locked in their poses, relying on the kindness of others, subtle magic, or other implements in order to survive.
When they need to act or move though, a Myrivadan will reveal the truth. Below their exoskeleton are thousands of squirming insects, curled up in zen-like repose. They can briefly stir, and just barely phase out from inside in order to hold objects, move their bodies, etc. Under normal circumstances, they cannot leave a Myrivadan's body any more than your fingers could leave yours.
Despite seemingly being a colony being, Myrivadans possess one consciousness. Each insect merely gives rise to the whole.
Myrivadans do not breed. Instead: 10,000 Myrivadans seem to ever exist at one time. When one dies, it explodes into a cloud of ash and insect husks. At the same time: another Myrivada will spontaneously birth a new one as a fully-formed statue that branches and breaks off from itself.
Doubberrean (aka Doub)
Doub can vary widely in height, but conventional modern designs usually stand about ~2.4 meters tall. They are roughly humanoid shaped, but they have wide stout limbs and bodies covered in many layers of blubber and thick leathery grey skin.
A Doub's head is relatively under proportional, and is made up almost entirely by a long bulbous trunk-like nose and wide eyes with long horizontal slit-like pupils.
Their bodies do not have any bones, only fat and muscle and organs. They are held up purely by tension and blood pressure. You can hear their hearts flapping loudly from nearby, pumping the milky porridge that is their blood.
Doub do not breed either. Instead they may only be crafted by another Doub. Most Doub do not wish to talk about this process, as its an instinctual and base sort of subject.
In order for a Doub to craft another Doub, they must first obtain a Doub Totem. This sort of looks like a cross between a foetus, a sleeping goat, and a germinating seed. It is made of some sort of soft metal- which looks like lead, is warm to the touch, but squishy like flesh. It is about the size of a chess piece, and is basically indestructible. However Doub Totems once were made is knowledge lost to the First Splash, so only a limited number exist on The Mound.
The crafting Doub will then collect a pile of blubber and meat, sculpt the final body for the new Doub, and then insert the totem somewhere hidden and deep inside the new Doub.
The crafting Doub are known as the parent or parents of the new Doub, however respect is also given to the ancestor who last bore their totem. Doub born from the same totem often share similarities and certain inherited peculiarities (verbal tics, preferences, tendencies) from their ancestor, but is a unique being besides.
Gofka
Essentially, a Gofka looks like a small sentient boulder with a face carved into it.
Despite appearances, they aren't quite rocks. Their bodies are typically much less denser than most stone, such that even a decently large Gofka weighs barely more than 90 kg. They also can be chipped and damaged easily by conventional weapons, revealing an inside closer to wet fluffy kinetic sand.
They rely on using their facial muscles and stony mouths in order to move around and do things. As such, there's a stereotype about Gofka being rather slow or silly or getting stuck in odd places. This is far from a universal truth though as Gofka are a long-lived and durable people, often content to simply live at a slower pace. Through the use of mounts, spells, massive slingshots, or legendary spinning warriors they also can be as fearsome as any other species on The Mound.
Gofka do not have biological sexes and innately seem to have trouble recognising it on a biological level. As such they also do not breed, instead seeming to undergo some form of rare spontaneous generation from certain patches of stone found in The Mound.
Despite this they do instinctually build harems. Gofka will marry any number of beings whom they are friendly with, which they will erroneously claim as "wives" no matter their gender. In that sense Gofka often act as match makers of a sort, with plenty of "sneak breeding" occurring blatantly out in the open within their harems.
Bas & Baso
Each Bas consists of a skin-covered snake-like body, about half a meter long, which ends in a hand instead of a head. These hands have five digits, including the thumb.
These Bas can join together by either intertwining their snake-like bodies, or grasping each other with their hands. Together the resulting clump of Bas forms a sort of colony being, known as a Baso.
Once joined, the Baso's shape is usually locked into whatever shape they chose. Often just a bigger snake-like form is popular, however humanoid or tauroid shapes are common too as a matter of utility. Some Baso will even have other objects threaded into their for such as armour or storage spaces. Baso normally cannot change their forms or break apart and reform.
Each Bas is part of the Baso, and the Baso is the sum of it's Bas. It's sort of like if every organ in your body was kind of it's own person, but the composites still also make up you.
Bas(o) cannot read or speak, but have an incredibly deft sense of touch such that they can still see and hear through vibration alone (as a sort of blindsight).
Under ideal conditions, with nutrition and bedrest, a Bas can divide and produce a new Bas over about four weeks. This new Bas can then be used in a few different ways:
- Internally: The Bas is merely integrated into the existing Baso network.
- Division: The new Bas is split off, potentially with other new Bas, in order to form a new Baso network. (This is more akin to creating a new being by splitting off aspects of yourself).
- Joining: Two or more Baso networks may contribute Bas to create a new Baso, resulting in a new sort of hybrid Baso.
Division and Joining is very serious, as its literally giving up portions of yourself in order to create new life (to continue the metaphor, imagine chopping off some organs to make a baby). It is a very complex and intimate affair.
Two individual Bas can in theory merge to create a new Baso, but this is seen almost as a sort of death to birth new life.
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