Puffskis

We are the traveling puff people from beyond the stars! We are... the puffskis, and we've heard a lot about you!

- Billy the Puffski, giving an introduction to people in a new world

Puffskis are a species of world-hopping puffball people who travel to various worlds in and out of the Akatasphere. They can be found in a great many locations, but their homeworld is the planet Puusk, a diverse planet intended for them and various other species.

Biology and Appearance

An example puffski, giving permission to be photographed.
A puffski is a round, fluffy creature with retractable, stubby arms and legs. Their fluff color is often along the tan-yellow-orange spectrum, though other colors have been sighted, if more rarely so. They move by scooting or bouncing when their limbs are retracted. Their body is a bit rubbery in structure, allowing them to squish and bounce off things with minimal injury if any at all. Their average size is large enough to fit comfortably in most palms.
How a puffski's organs fit in their body or what their skeleton is like is a mystery, as they break up into magical energies when they die. Attempted "surgeries" on puffskis have failed for mysterious reasons, almost as though it activates a memory censor.
Their reproduction is also a mystery, though some researchers have proposed a brief internal incubation period before they lay an egg (the egg part may have been a joke or misinterpretation of a puffski's words, as none have been found). Young puffskis are called pufflings.

Intelligence

Puffskis have a wide range of intelligence. Some pick up new languages easily and cheerfully communicate to all they can, while others have difficulty and stick to their "puffskish" language, a series of puus and buus. Some may figure out technology and perform great feats with it (rumor has it that the inventor of the NexusNet is actually a puffski), while others panic even looking at more than two buttons at once. What this all comes down to is that puffskis are generally about as intelligent as any humanoid race, even if their behavior would have you think otherwise at times.
Puffskis have a tendency to behave in manners perceived as "cute" or "childish," maintaining a polite and sweet demeanor. Of course, variations exist, even if it is hard for a puffski to be intimidating or be taken seriously as a "bad boy/girl/puff." They try their hardest to be perceived how they want to be, though.
There is a tendency among puffskis to avoid conflict, though surely there is one brave puffski hero who took up arms in the name of people they cared about.

Magical Aptitudes

The most outstanding magical aptitude of a puffski is the ability to effortlessly scan for and travel to different worlds. This is arguably their signature ability. With it, they travel in groups to explore and settle in new lands, creating villages.
Speaking of those villages, they have some item manipulation ability, as shown by their ability to fashion little huts out of anything they can find that resembles planks and flooring. Sometimes they bring supplies with them if they think they won't have much trouble; otherwise, they'll travel lightly if they don't expect much and feel they may need to leave and explore elsewhere.
Aside from these abilities, their aptitudes for other magics are largely average. They possess no other innate magics, and ability to learn other types of magic varies from puffski to puffski. Some are able to use elemental and/or healing magic decently enough, while others just cover themselves in soot when they try or have other comedic backfires.

Migration and World Distributions

Puffskis can be found just about anywhere, but they favor peaceful, fertile worlds with pleasant populations. Worlds with a more natural focus are favored as well. Still, exceptions exist. They find a way to live wherever they decide to go, especially if they can get help from a neighboring community.
Regarding the "top three" worlds, the general opinions and statuses seem to be as follows:
Etyuna - Highly recommended due to its mix of technology and nature and generally friendly denizens. Puffskis often gather to cheer on people going on Pact Quests with their Pactones. Puffskis are occasionally mistaken for Pactones there, but their lack of synchronization abilities generally settles that mistake. While this hasn't happened yet, there's nothing preventing a puffski from synchronizing with a Pactone and going on a Pact Quest themselves, which has a few gears turning in a few nubby little heads.
Medleya - Arguably the top place for a puffski to be. As a hub for all kinds of people from across the Akatasphere, it's one of those places that a puffski ought to look into at least once. As this world contains one of WorldSeal's largest branches, some more adventurous puffskis also stop by to list in the universal investigation organization.
Celea - Generally cautioned against for any long-term settlement. The world itself is a bit chaotic and gritty, which is a turnoff for most puffskis in the first place. Still, some will try to find points of light in the somewhat grey world, and they tend to succeed and enjoy their time there. Rumor has it that some puffskis are trying to dabble in unsavory things there, though...

Variations

There are some types of puffskis that are a bit rare and different from usual. No one is sure where exactly they arose from, suspecting experiments or some kind of adaptation effect, but they do exist among the puffski population. There is at least one individual that possesses more than one variation at once, making them very distinctive indeed.

Tailed Puffski

Some puffskis present with slightly elongated bodies and stubby tails on the end. They are otherwise no different from any other puffski, though they seem to extend their limbs less often and prefer to scoot or slide where they go.

Eared Puffski

There are reports of puffskis with upright rabbit-like ears on their heads. The ears vary in size but do provide some extra hearing ability. The shape of their ears and their round bodies once led them to be confused for a type of friendly forest spirit in one world.

Pixie Puffs?

An unconfirmed variation. There have been scattered reports of puffskis flitting along on shiny pixie-like wings. These sights are either very recent developments or technological/magical enhancements granted to puffskis to help them fly, but there are rumors to the contrary.

Human Form Puffskis

Though it hasn't been reported often or documented well, some puffskis can achieve human form through magic. They can ask a mage specializing in transformation skills to give them the ability to change, or they can go on a more official quest, where they go home to Puusk and ask the Puffski Mother to grant them a human form. After achieving some sort of goal or progress, they are then given their human form.
There are no real rules on a puffski's human form, but most known examples skew towards a younger appearance, and towards only having one set human form at a time, with the exception of age variations.

Notable Exemplars

Some puffskis have made a name for themselves in the lore of the Akatasphere and are worth reading up on when you can.
Billy - A puffski known best for the scope of his adventures and the friends he has made across the universe.
Puuli Buune - A puffski who disguised herself as a teenage human girl and became a hotshot pop idol performer in Celea's idol circuits. When her cover was blown and her true form was revealed, it had remarkably little impact on her popularity, even increasing it to the point that a genre called "Gachapuff Games" was created to ride the trend wave she sparked. They took after the infamous "gacha games" genre, except they were focused on puffskis. Puuli's particular Gachapuff series is called "Buum! Dream Explosion Girls," and is a rhythm game where you form teams based on the characters pulled by chance.
Joa Arku - A legendary and elusive puffski. Very little is known about them, even their gender or current location. They are famous for joining a kingdom's army as more than a potion bearer or pal hitchhiking in a satchel. Rather, they took up weapons themselves and fought in the name of the people and puffskis they loved. Since puffskis are small, their true military impact is questioned, and it is suspected that they were more involved in espionage and stealth operations. Still, their bravery is commendable. They often show up as a high-tier character in Gachapuff RPGs.