Mopi'oi

"Embodiments of grace and beauty, lords of the Cosmos, Masters of the scientific and arcane arts, that's how most perceived our kind. But since the doors have been opened and the scale of the Outer Plane has been revealed, some wonder - were we but prisoners all this time?"

-Thermebada Raus'der Fesei, the Historian

Basic Information

Anatomy

The trunk of a Mopi'oi is a slender tube which ends in a spherical skull with six eyes arranged in a hexagon and a beak. From the back of the head emerge 8 tentacles with limited strength, used mostly to handle food and small objects. From the middle of the trunk 8 more tentacles emerge, much stronger than the head ones. These are used for most common activities. At the other end of the trunk there are the last 8 tentacles, used mostly for locomotion.
Sight is the main sense of the Mopi'oi, mainly in the infrared and visible spectrum. Sound, touch and taste are the other three standard senses used, with smell organs being nonexistent. Most individuals train in the arcanes to acquire at least an elementary mana perception, with which they can sense most living beings from further away and also allow long-range communications between different Mopi'oi.

Genetics and Reproduction

Reproduction is rare, as adaptation to the environment is done by the individual, who is functionally immortal, either unconsciously or consciously in the case of those with the adequate knowledge to alter their own organism safely. When resources are plentiful and reproduction is allowed, it is done through cloning of the individual. The offspring gestates within the parent for several megaseconds and, after birth, develops quickly into adulthood.

Ecology and Habitats

The Mopi'oi developed as amphibious creatures in the reefs in the shallow waters on the zenith of the Fomoran Ocean. On the shores, they mastered fire and the manipulation of elements and built the first surface cities. After many teraseconds (weeks), they had expanded throughout the Inner Plane, but still prefer warm shores near steam vents that remind them of where they started.

Biological Cycle

A Mopi'oi's biology constantly changes to combat disease and environmental hazards, through the rewriting of its genetic code. A fine balance is being kept between the size and strength of one's body and the amount of nutrition available to sustain it. Mental processes similarly change drastically, with the mind of the oldest Mopi'oi born teraseconds (tens of thousands of years) ago in the primitive times being radically different from their current state, adapted for modern society and intellectual pursuits.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The Mopi'oi civilization has gone through many socio-economical developments. The worldwide system that has been in place for the last 25 gigaseconds (800 years) is called compartmentalized meritocracy. An individual takes up an art and joins a group affiliated with the institution (called Section) that encompasses all or most of the practitioners of that profession (for example the Engineers' Section, Archivists' Section, etc.) and gain a title relating to it. There, through hard work or innovative achievements, they garner the trust of their peers and with it, authority in the organization. While the world is divided geographically among many political entities, these hold more of a ceremonial role and it is the Sections which direct much of the politics and economics across the Inner Plain.
There is no money or private property among the Mopi'oi. The closest thing to a currency is the unit of energy (Joule) with which the partition of the resource budget of each Section is usually measured. Housing will belong to an individual until they move out and after a period of time it is considered vacant and another may move in. This is an important cultural practice as the Mopi'oi do not prefer to stay in the same place for long.

Technological Level

Mopi'oi society has achieved post-scarcity. They are masters of quantum mechanics, computer science, genetic engineering and nanotechnology. However, the force of gravity is still a complete mystery, as is the nature of the world beyond the molten mantle surrounding the Inner Plane.

Scientific Name

Mopi'oi Sentis

Lifespan

Biologically Immortal, Average Lifespan: 63 gigaseconds (2000 years), Maximum Recorded (approximately): 2270 Gs (72000 years)

Average Height

Measured from head to stretched lower tentacles, worldwide average height is 5 meters. However it varies greatly due to nutrition, climate or culturally imposed evolution from 2 to 10 meters.

Average Weight

Average: 200 kilograms. Varies from 70 to 1000 kg.