Gibs are a diverse sapient species, with many subspecies, some of which vary dramatically from the most common members of the species. Gibs are most readily recognized for being ball-shaped, with a plain face. Each member is monochrome, but Gibs are found in every color. All Gibs variants possess a long, extensible, and prehensile tongue which they use for most manipulation.

Gibs are, as a species, quite comfortable with variance. Gibs societies focus heavily on mutualism, allowing different individuals to use their particular advantages to contribute. Individuals are generally encouraged to rely on their strengths, rather than work against their weaknesses. It does not, for instance, make much sense to have an armless Gins serve as an artisan or painter.

However, the fact that the physical capacities of Gibs vary so widely can be frustrating for individuals. Juvenile Gibs often envy other subspecies, but technology improvements and exosuits allow many Gibs to pursue paths they wouldn’t naturally be able to pursue. However, Gibs society is low-density and low-impact, preferring small settlements to large cities. While artisanal exosuits are somewhat common, many communities lack the means. Thus, even where technology allows a Gibs to do things beyond their natural capacity, it is still culturally and morally important for Gibs to overcome subspecies-envy before they reach adulthood.

It must be emphasized that Gibs society is highly communitarian when it comes to need. Gibs society often relies on “assignments” or “missions,” where a Gibs with certain abilities will be sent to a community in need of those abilities. Individuals with rare abilities may serve rotating missions to many communities. This practice of need-matching helps Gibs keep their communities simpler and efficient, decreasing how large communities need to be viable and ensuring decreased environmental, colonial, and sociological impact.

Unlike other species, Gibs and subspecies names should all be capitalized. This is a cultural convention from historical Gibs’ languages.

Gibs

The most common Gibs variant, also called by the species name. The term Gibs among Gibs only referred to this subspecies, but the expanded meaning quickly grew as Gibs societies mingled with others.

They are characterized by 4 nub arms and 2 platform feet. They move principally by bouncing or hopping. They are about 3 feet tall. If a trait is not mentioned for another subspecies, it may be assumed to resemble the Gibs.

Gids

Horned, with two clawed arms, and heavy wings. They lurch through the air in flight. They have chemical sacs that allow them to ingest, store, and spew flammable or acidic chemicals. They are, in a sense, edgy Gibs.

Gigs

One of two aquatic Gibs. They possess 5 tentacles arranged around the tail, each being about 8 feet long, compared to their body which is merely 2 ft long. While Givs are more agile on land, Gigs are stronger and more agile underwater.

Giks

A rare, winged variant, with 2 platform feet. They boast an 11 ft wingspan, which is significantly reduced with wings furled. The wings are covered in downy feathers (unique to Giks). Many serve as messengers and couriers of light objects.

Gils

Gils are very rare, with elongated bodies, limbs, spines, and a pointed tail.

Gims

Gims are uncommon, resembling Gibs but for the arms. Rather than 2 pairs of 2 nubs, Gims have 3 arms on each side, made of a slightly flexible but hard substance. Each arm can be fired and quickly regrown up to 3 times, for a total of 24 shots. Once all are expended, new arms are grown in a week, and each backup arm takes another week.

Gins

Gins are smaller, being 1.5 feet in length and low to the ground. They have 4 nub legs and no other limbs. They move in a bunny-like fashion and possess catlike agility. They are the second most common variant.

They help communities by performing tasks impossible for larger creatures, and are comfortable as lookouts, running around on roofs, alleys, and the like. They are also deceptively strong, so many work in transporting goods.

Girs

Girs have 8 arms in a ring around the base of their body. These arms can be inflated to make Girs buoyant, allowing them to float above the ground at low altitudes. Girs have highly variable eye-counts and positions, as they may grow eyes anywhere around the body. They’re good lookouts and can lift heavy objects in groups (they are quite good at latching together, unlike the fast and agile Giks).

Givs

The second aquatic Gibs, which resemble a Gins with a horizontal tadpole-like tail, whose fins extend across the body and help the Givs move by vertical undulation. Givs are the most comfortable on land and sea, bridging the two.

Exotic Gibs

Most individual Gibs will fall into one of the common subspecies, even if its parents are from different subspecies. Nonetheless, some Gibs will have exotic and even bizarre combinations of traits from different subspecies. They may also possess more or less traits than usual, such as a horned Gibs with 13 tentacles and extra eyes.

A genh is a spiritlike, symbiotic species. While not actually spirits, their body is almost invisible and almost intangible.

They engage in symbiosis with other intelligent species. A genh will attach to a specific person and act as a sort of guardian or patron deity. Genh influence their host with creativity and insight, while also using their magical abilities to the host’s benefit. Genh can make themselves visible only at great expense. Instead, they mostly just interact with their host by magically altering dreams, whispering in their ear, and appearing to the host (which is less difficult than making themselves visible; they can appear to the host by magically altering the host’s sight).

Genh’s magic is mostly targeted, being strongest when focused on an individual. Genh abilities vary dramatically, with some being incredibly powerful, and others capable only of inspiration. Thus, genh have blessed many artists, while some genh have helped a handful of people become incredible warriors.

Genh, since they are mutualistic, are benign. Nonetheless, they have their own personalities. Some are less helpful, more biased, or more domineering than others. They might be sassy, dismissive, encouraging, protective, motherly, fatherly, or any number of other things. Most genh will defer to their host’s judgment as to what is beneficial, but not all, and not for all things.

They have a lifespan of about 50 years and gain intelligence rapidly (aided by how little they need to learn of survival or physicality). If their host dies before the genh, the genh will simply move on to another person, typically someone close to the original host. Genh may establish dynasties, where their descendants will associate with the descendants of their hosts. Some genh appear with incredibly long lives sporadically.

Their appearance varies dramatically, since their real bodies are mostly ethereal; what is seen is a projection. As a cultural matter, they do choose a fixed appearance for dealing with their host and each other. They would not really benefit from shapeshifting, so a shapeshifting genh is rare.

Genh subsist on energies emitted by their host. They are not terribly social, but need a healthy relationship with their host. They need respect from the host for their gifts and appreciate quiet meditation. Genh may appear to people close to their host, and a handful of individuals will form friendships with their host’s friends. Additionally, genh will take an entire family as a host where they all get along.

As for the host’s enemies, genh tend to rely on their host’s perspective. Genh struggle with bias and perspective, to the point that some become self-absorbed (they may view the self as including the host, which can get quite problematic if they come to feel the host is part of them, rather than distinct). The same can be true of genh hosts, who may become quite arrogant thanks to the genh’s blessings. Many genh will abandon such hosts.

Fictional examples would be Ms. Sothis Fire Emblem (at least for part of her life) or the Roman genius.

Wispit are actually two, almost inseparable symbiotic lifeforms. One is a docile, cloudlike mass, while the other is a small, winged humanoid (height clocking in at 2 to 3 ft). When necessary, wispit refers to the humanoid, while wispit cloud is, well, the cloud. In addition, wispit have no legs, but a sort of tail that helps them nestle into the cloud. Their hair tends to be long, and their ears are more like horns, being long, spiked, and sturdy.

The two species are totally defined by their symbiosis. For example, wispit are intellectually precocious compared to other sapient species. The cloud protects the young wispit and allows it to develop its mental faculties faster than its physical ones. While the cloud allows both to fly (their main mode of movement), the wispit’s wings make for much quicker movement. And, naturally, a wispit is strongly incentivized to nurture, feed, and protect their cloud.

Wispits and their clouds are born and raised together and have nearly identical lifespans. A wispit that loses its cloud is crippled, while a cloud without its wispit becomes ill and will often stop eating. Much like a body will reject an organ transplant if it does not recognize the organ’s cells, a wispit and clouds’ bodies will reject attempts to be separated or have the other replaced.

Since gasses can’t naturally retain their shape, carry weight, or anything like that, wispit clouds need a touch of magic to live. Consequently, there are no wispit in nonmagical rings.

Vampircille [vam-per-seal] are a diminutive, vampire-like sapient species. They stand out because of a biological link to planes full of energy: rather than drawing energy from their ecosystems, vampircille are able to subsist passively on an infinite energy source.

Vampircilles are generally very smol, being 40-60 inches tall in adulthood and are typically docile in personality. Each arm ends with two dexterous digits tipped by hard claws. They have two protruding fangs, from which they can produce threads.

Vampircille are natural weavers. However, the traditional vampircille lifestyle is technologically simple given their lack of opposable thumbs. As a species, they display incredible resistance to disease, heat, pressure, cold, and radiation. They can also rapidly form an armored cocoon when in danger. They can remain in a cocoon indefinitely, since they generate their own energy.

Thanks to their ability with weaving, they can create things like clothing, simple structures, baskets, and the like, but they must rely on other species for more complex manufacturing. They prefer to live in burrows with complex family structures. While pure vampircille societies lack much engineering, they are quite literate with rich intellectual traditions. They can etch in stone with their claws or, where the resources are available, write with their clawtips dipped in ink.

Many species and civilizations exploit vampircille on account of their “free” energy. While vampircille can sustain themselves indefinitely and live for hundreds of years when left to themselves, they have little to protect themselves against other sapient species. Their small size makes them easy to overpower and their cocoons are easy to destroy with tools. Furthermore, most pure vampircille societies are eventually destroyed by slavers.

Of these parasites, vampires are the most prominent. Vampires enslave and feed off them. Some vampire species are only able to survive by feeding on vampircilles. The association is so strong that vampircille’s name is derived by their relationship to vampires in most languages (including this one). While one might think it’s because they are both fanged, a vampircille and a vampire are almost impossible to confuse. It’s more that most civilizations’ first contact with vampircille is through vampircille enslaved by vampires.

Ultimately, most vampircille are enslaved. Of free vampircille, most must live in communities dominated by other species and rely on the defenses those communities provide. Pure vampircille societies are exceedingly rare. Only one is notable on the interplanar scale: the City Faille.