Alili Litak.

A calm planet dominated by faintly violet seas, frothy purple tides lazily rocking against the shores of isolated but bustling islands, and bountiful, warm sunlight skipping across the surface of its vast waters. Its mostly primitive and quiet appearance belies its status as a hub for Starlit Spires, pitch black towers scattered about the islands reaching for the sky and releasing an imperceptible rhythm that commands the planet's evolution to dance to the network's tune. Though most of the planet still seems in the middle of whatever experiment had been planned here, all but a scant few of the towers have fallen into disrepair and no longer function thanks to the disappearance of their creators.

The exception is Darkshore Point—the greatest spire of them all on this planet, it just barely breaches the clouds and resonates with by far the strongest signal of any of them. This, indeed, is from whence the Iyalu come: once mere overgrowth, vines and flowers creeping ever upwards on the tower as they hungrily sought the precious yet plentiful sunlight and drank of the rainwater that coursed down the grooves of the massive metal structure, the tower's unheard thrum commanded growth and drew intellect from them until they became the scholarly Iyalu that we know today.

Said to move with rhythm like the signals that brought them to sapience, to live with patience akin to the forebearers that committed to this centuries-long gambit, and to stun with beauty and color not alien to Alili Litak, the Iyalu are a race known best as consummate scholars, patient administrators and empathetic diplomats. Relatively free from the conflicts that consumed other races as they grew, with little to no need for resources beyond the sunlight gracing their colorful skin and seawater filtered of its salt through their roots, the Iyalu have only ever advanced. However, without conflict to harden their delicate petals, they are among the worst suited species for combat in the Vigil, and some find them to be too peaceful, too delicate, and too languid in their actions to be suited for many demanding jobs—and it is lucky for them that they find themselves in an age where power of mind takes precedence over power of body.

The Iyalu have long had agency over their forms. Whether through the strange genetic engineering machines they spent centuries deciphering inside of Darkshore Point, or simply through the careful manipulation of seed pods to produce new results, options were never limited. In spite of this, the Iyalu have never made any attempt to conceal their origins as a plant-based species. Such a phenomenon is extremely rare; only a few plant-based sapient species exist, and most are thought to remain primitive of mind, for plants usually have little use for intelligence, let alone higher intellect.

The Iyalu's floating body consists of three main portions: their vine wreath, their bulb, and the flower therein. At the base of a massive flower bulb is a circular, thick layer of vine-like tendrils ranging from slim to bulky. They hang down towards the ground when idle, or fan out around the Iyalu in order to simply look pretty. These vines have multiple uses: they are the method by which the Iyalu drink, are highly dexterous allowing them to be used to grab and hold objects, and project the telekinetic energy that keeps the Iyalu aloft. Most often, they have very large and sharp thorns that are actually cone-like bulbs that can unfold at will into large flowers of varying petal numbers and shapes. They can also have smaller, true thorns or even spines like those of a cactus.

Their bulb is a large 'shell' made of thick, durable, smooth plant material. Like the vines, the outer shell can sometimes possess barbs or spines. It is often the same color or a similar color to the vines below, usually a dark and subtle shade, with mottling or other markings. Most of the time, the bulb is open, but it can close when the Iyalu is sleeping, in deep thought, or to defend them. It is hard enough to deflect heavy blows from blades and blunt weaponry, and utilizes natural antipsionic plating that helps protect the delicate body inside from psionic attack. The bulb can unfold, displaying that each section of the bulb is actually part of a flower petal on the inside—oft brilliantly colored and delicate, the inside is smooth and soft. Extra petals are common, sometimes enough to make complex lotus-like designs.

Made of this same material is the body inside. Having engineered their form to better mimic their forebearers and, later, aid in diplomacy with races more used to humanoid forms, they possess a human-like upper half in the center of the flower their bulb comprises. It is generally androgynous, with no sexual organs and no distinguishable gendered characteristics. Their skin is soft to the touch and often brightly colored like the petals they are surrounded with. Additional traits usual to the 'standard' model of Iyalu consist of a pair of functioning eyes, one pair of arms, a pair of lips capable of emoting although no functioning mouth behind them, more flowers dotting their body especially along their back, and vine or petal-like hair with perky, long and round ears.

There are a lot of clarifications like 'usually' above, because the Iyalu vary quite heavily. Their bulb can have differing numbers of sections and different shapes and sizes, all of their coloring is infinitely variable, and the body inside is practically entirely within the control of the Iyalu. They may have additional arms, any number of fingers, a functioning mouth and even digestive system (especially those Iyalu that grow up on planets that have poor sunlight), additional eyes, and any number of other traits. This is because the Iyalu reproduce in a very unique way.

The Iyalu can produce a seed pod from within the 'nest' of vines upon which their bulb rests which can be placed anywhere, but preferably in an area with lots of sunlight and water. The seed moves itself about with autotelekinesis and gathers data on its surroundings using psiolocation, including weather patterns, prevalence of sunlight, soil conditions, and even the presence of predators and how best to counter the most common ones. It can also gather energy through psionic leeching, photosynthesis, and leeching nutrients from the soil. It contains a blueprint of the 'baseline' Iyalu as defined by its progenitor, but can effectively modify this blueprint in any way it finds suitable through its information gathering. These seeds have an advanced intellect of their own, capable of even recognizing the nuances of social interaction and how some traits may be amenable thereto.

Ultimately, the seed pod blossoms into an Iyalu with a full host of traits that are designed to adapt it to its environment. There is almost no environment that is impossible for an Iyalu seed to adapt to, as they can even adapt in the vacuum of space as long as they possess access to at least one source of energy, likely sunlight—as such, there even exists exolife Iyalu. The whole process takes about three years. The basics are always the same: a floating bulb, perched atop a tangle of vines, containing a body—but anything else is fair game. They may develop vibrantly glowing petals and complex humanoid traits to help them dazzle others, or they may develop poisoned razor-sharp thorns, quicker reflexes and harsh, almost utilitarian bodies designed to tough it out in even the most unsuitable environments, as rare as that tends to be nowadays.

The Iyalu are also unique in being one of the rare species that can change attunement. Although all Iyalu get telekinesis to help them utilize tools and better interact with others, and telepathy to allow them to speak and interact since their mouths generally do not actually work, they get an additional, if limited, attunement depending upon their starting conditions. Most Iyalu, designed to socialize, gain empathetic psionics that allow them to more deeply read the emotions and signals of other species and better respond, but it is just as possible that an Iyalu left in harsh wilderness will be ready to sling fire at anything that looks at it wrong, or dominate the minds of animals to do its bidding.

Mental acuity tends to depend upon their starting conditions as well. Although the Iyalu have a reputation for being languid intellectuals with depthless patience, this is true only of those built for socializing. Iyalu that live in the wilderness can be brutal hunters, or parasites that stalk their victims and sap them of psionic energy, with minds as sharp as any apex predator and reflexes just as quick. It is a trade off no matter the case; Iyalu built to socialize usually have empathy and patience surpassing that of any species, whereas those built to survive and to fight often do not have the capacity or want for empathy at all. Of course, patience and social awareness is certainly not always used for good, a trait the Iyalu are cautiously aware of—some of the most cutthroat manipulators to have disgraced the Vigil's history were of Iyalu descent, meticulously weaving webs of lies and orchestrating the downfall of their detractors and enemies without ever needing to lift a vine.

In short, the Iyalu are a highly adaptable plant-based species that alters the specifics of their physiology given the conditions in which their seed pod is placed. Whether they are left in the wilderness to claw their way to the top of the food chain awash in blood and leeched life, or relied upon to charm, comfort and teach with a gentle touch and a wise voice, they are among the most adaptable species to have ever existed.