the Sea of Flowers has a lot of different peoples that live within it, each with their own unique features, spread across a range of polities and settlements. below are brief writeups on each of them.
/bi:/, BEE
beefolk
bý are fluffy, bee-like bugfolk with a spiked stinger at the end of their wide tails.¹ they're covered in fuzz, typically in alternating bands of yellow and black or scarlet and brown or some similarly warm combo, and have a thicker ring of fuzz around their necks in addition to their hair. they have four arms, two bent antennae, and glossy, translucent wings that make a buzzing noise when flapped.
bý are capable of flying for a short amount of time, usually at a slow rate, and doing so makes a distinct buzzing noise. the stinger on their tails can be used for combat, and is able to deal a ton of Poison damage if they land a hit just right, but doing this is super intensive and requires awkward positioning. like other four-armed peoples, they can equip additional items (with the proper skill to effectively use them), but armor needs to be tailored to fit their arms and wings.² bý are sensitive to smoke, and like some other peoples are susceptible to Signals; they should wear protection against these if they're venturing into certain areas.
while the still dominantly-bý clan hives of the Sunbound Plain are widely recognized as being important to the economic development of the Sea of Flowers, a less-recognized impact of theirs is on manual language. Dansmál, which originally emerged among bý as a two-handed manual language, would rapidly spread during the peak of the Sunbound Plain's influence, having a major effect on other manual languages by either greatly influencing their lexicon and grammar or outright supplanting some languages entirely. in some ways, Dansmál is a common manual language in a siilar role to Alta's status as a common verbal language. Dansmál would also serve as a replacement for its verbal "equivalent",³ Pilomál, which is only spoken by a small community within some of the more conservative clan hives.
/ˈmoʊ.ti/, MOH-tee
mothfolk
moti are fuzzy, moth-like bugfolk with dusty, patterend wings. they're covered in fluff in primarily brown and cream colors with occasional splashes of more vivid colors,⁴ and have a thicker ring of fluff around their necks separate from their hair. they have four arms, two feathered antennae, and a tiny set of fangs. their large, scaled wings sparkle a bit at the right angle.⁵
moti are able to fly for a short amount of time, at a kinda slow pace.⁶ by agitating their wings just right, they're able to shed scales from them, creating a shimmering distraction and dealing Allergy damage to anyone that makes prolong contact with the scales.
/mɪn.'tɑ.hɛ/, min-TAH-heh
mantisfolk
/he.ˈb͈i.gjo/, heh-BEE-gyo
cactusfolk
hebbikyo are tall, spikey plantfolk. their skin usually ranges in color from olive green to teal, though it can vary as far as yellow or cyan, and tends to be darker on their ears and hands. their arms and shoulders are usually covered in large spikes, and their bones are made of something resembling wood. at the end of winter every year, they tend to grow flowers on their heads, which are said to act as a focal point for their flow.[NOTE]
the spikes that Hebbikyo have give them good options for both attacking unarmed and defending from hits, but also make armor (and tops in general) more difficult to wear, requiring more open shoulders and minimal sleeves to wear comfortably. hebbikyo also have psychoactive blood, which inflicts Dizzy damage to all non-Hebbikyo fairly easily, and they're generally more resistant to overheating.
/ˈo.gʷɪ.la/, O-gwi-lah
flytrapfolk
/ˈpɑɹ.vi/, PAR-vee
sea cucumberfolk
/ˈwɛ.ɾo/, WEH-ro
frogfolk
/ke.'kel/, ke-KEL
crows
/ˈmɪk.si:n/, MIHK-seen
hagfishfolk
myxine are tall, vaguely fishlike people. their skin is usually a dull red, pink, or purple, but can range from brown to slate, and is very loosely attached to teir bodies (mostly along their notochord). they generate incredibly viscous slime, though unlike the body mass of slimes, it's more fibrous and stucky, and mostly serves as a protective layer around their skin. they usually have a few barbels around their mouth[NOTE] which function as accessory sensory organs in the same way that bý antennae do. internally, myxine barely have a skeleton, only posessing a skull and a few cartilaginous elements beyond that, and their cirulatory system features multiple accessory hearts and an abnormally low blood pressure.
due to their physical quirks, myxine are fairly well-adapted to escaping danger; their skin is hard to actually puncture, their bonelessness makes it easy to escape from restraint, and their slime is both sticky and hard to grab anything through. conversely, they're a little light and frail, and due to the way their circulatory system works, traditional methods of utilizing blood Flow are hard for them to use, leading to myxine blood arcanists creating divergent techniques for it.
within the old Three Origin system, myxine fall into a bit of a grey area. records of their existence prior to the Heavenly Schism is sparse and contradictory, stating that they were already present in the Sea of Flowers at Incursion and also first arrived alongside the Ashen peoples. this has led to disagreement among people who care about this kinda thing, compounded by a few notable cranks that argue myxine were actually created during the Heavenly Schism along with the Eldritch peoples. most people don't give a shit about any of this.
/ən.'ta.ɲɪ/, ən-TAH-nyih
neon demons
/ˈke.ɑ.ton/, KE-ah-ton
foxfolk
/'hɝ.naɪt/, HUR-nyte
deerfolk
/'ta.na.ʁun̠/, TAH-nah-rhun
humans
/skʷi.'kir/, skwee-KEER
squirmlefolk
/'t͡ʃap̚.t͡səv/, CHAP-tsəv
fresno nightcrawlers
chaptsév are armless beings mostly consisting of a pair of legs and a small torso formed from billowing cloth. they're almost always some shade of white or offwhite in color with two black eyes on their upper segment, though occasionally they can be grey or offblack and can have white or orange eyes as well. while from a casual glance they seem to be filled with nothing but air, they're still capable of bleeding radiant offwhite blood and are at lesat a little denser than you'd expect them to be.
/ˌɯ:.vɪ.'t͡sɯ.ki/, ooh-vih-TSOOH-kee
wireframe rabbitfolk
/slaɪm/, SLYME
gel-wrapped skeletons
/'seɪŋk.taɪ/, SAYNK-ty
polygonal rockfolk
/'gu:.i:/, GOO-ee
geodefolk
/'haɪ.ko.lol/, HY-ko-lol
fungus-controlled machines
hycolol are gestalt beings formed from fungal colonies growing around relics. their specific features vary a lot based on the type of fungi they formed from and what relics are integrated into them, though most tend to have near-featureless heads shaped like a large mushroom, delicate vein-loking mycelium "wings"[NOTE], and a number of relic components embedded into their bodies. many are formed specifically from shards of High Mycel, though otherwise completely mundane fungi are also capable of forming hycolol. they communicate by manipulating their relics to produce stuttering synthesized voices.
their movements are somewhat slow but graceful, and they "walk" as though they're being suspended by something. like some other peoples, hycolol have a heightened sensitivity to Signals, though it's arguably the most dangerous for them considering the potential for something to happen to their electronic components.[NOTE] individual hycolol can have an inherent status ability depending on what specific fungus they're composed of, often Poison, Dizzy, or Allergy but occasionally others.
/ɬə.'dʷe.k̠en/, ɫə-DWE-qen
sentient flower magic
/'hi:p.foʊk/, HEEP-fohk
living jack-o-lanterns
/'t̠jæ.bɹʌs/, TYA-brus
glitch silhouettes
/'kɑn.stɹʌkt/, KAHN-strukt
ancient ceramic automata
constructs are automata from the pre-Schism era that, for unknown reasons, started reactivating around 100 years ago[NOTE] with no memory from before their reactivation. they tend to be made from tarnished metal and offwhite ceramics, with variation in patterns on the ceramic (floral patterns are common, though there are others) or individual markings like stencils and graffiti. they generally have two or occasionally four arms, two backwards-folding legs, and a rectangular head with a vertical divot displaying their eye.
each construct has an artefact they slept with, which on awakening acts as a conduit for their ability to channel Flow. what this artefact is can vary widely, from small trinkets to weapons to clothing, but if they become separated from it,[NOTE] they lose their ability to use Flow entirely until they're reunited with it. constructs tend to be super bulky and capable of withstanding a lot of damage, but they don't heal naturally, and rather than using medicines or Flow require manual repair form either themselves or someone else with sufficient ability. they're also extremely susceptible to Signals, more than most peoples, and going into relic chambers without proper protection can be very dangerous for them.
while they come into being similarly to heapfolk, suddenly waking up from the environment, sleeping constructs are usually scattered about, often in remote and/or dangerous locations, rather than concentrated within a single area.[NOTE] since there's a very real risk of newly-awoken constructs getting lost, injured, or disappeared, community guard organizations quickly emerged to coördinate locating sleeping constructs and protect them until they make it into a settlement.
¹ - this would technically be the abdomen and not a tail. please do not ask how their internal biology works i dont think i have a good explanation
² - due to the prevalence of people with four arms and wings, it's also not that hard to just buy clothing like this, but it's still something that needs to be kept in mind.
³ - Dansmál and Pilomál are not related or equivalent at all, and are only viewed as such because they're both "languages spoken by bý". there's still a slight trend among some people to view manual languages as equivalents of verbal languages, but this isn't nearly as widespread due to the more common usage of manual language.
⁴ - some moti are more dominantly brightly colored, often in blues, pinks, and reds.
⁵ - there are a decent number of physiological similarities between bý and moti, which is why their descriptions here are kinda saying the same thing in parts.
⁶ - moti can fly a but faster than bý, but only by a small margin.
- there isn't any substantial evidence that shows the flowers do anything.
- in real life hagfish this would actually be their nostril, but i like the idea of them having catfish mouths even if it's not really accurate.
- these are actually breathing structures, they don't function like wings at all.
- it's speculated that Signals may have something to do with the formation of hycolol, but more research needs to be done to say definitively if there's a connection.
- in the CC 1890s.
- constructs can have a limited amount of separation from their artefact, but not a lot.
- the main exception to this is Ansible Garden, a community built around a large cluster of sleeping constructs similarly to how Pañukon Meadow was established.