Ceph

Introduction

And now, dear reader, we turn to the third species in our survey of the People of Arborea: the illustrious Ceph. Though they stand far further from my own frame than either the Avara or the Bohra, I found them the most companionable of all the Peoples, and passed many pleasant days in their company as I journeyed with Odysseus aboard his graceful balloon craft. The Ceph remain among the most astonishing beings I have ever examined, marked by a singular pattern of development that I have termed punctuated immortality.

Nomenclature

Of all the Peoples of Arborea, the Ceph proved the most refractory to tidy classification. Their placement within the Kingdom Animalia presented little difficulty, and after considerable deliberation I assigned them to the Phylum Mollusca; yet beyond this point, the familiar scaffolding of my native system afforded me scant assistance. The analogues upon which our earthly taxonomy relies simply do not extend far enough to encompass the extraordinary forms assumed by Arborean life, and I was therefore compelled to devise several new categories outright.

I first established for them the class Polypodes, so named for the profusion of limbs shared by the Ceph and a number of their evolutionary cousins found throughout the branches of Arborea. Among those I examined, I observed none with fewer than eight limbs, while the greatest number I recorded was, to the best of my judgement, seventeen, though this latter figure was necessarily approximate, having been taken at some distance while the creature was in vigorous motion.

From this class I next derived the order Voluncirrata. Members of this order are distinguished by their remarkable capacity to compress and spread their bodies into a flattened form suited to aerial gliding. Many possess membranes extending between their limbs, and all demonstrate a degree of aerial maneuverability that would shame many true flyers, achieved by subtle and continual alterations of bodily contour.

Within this order I have placed the family Cephalindidae, so named for the pronounced enlargement of the head relative to the body, a trait which reaches its greatest expression in the Ceph themselves. It is also worthy of note that all members of this family possess, to varying extents and for differing ends, the ability to alter the coloration of their skin, a faculty employed in communication, concealment, and the expression of emotion.

At last we arrive at the genus and species. I have designated the genus Cephalontris, in recognition of the extraordinary means by which these beings elude the finality of death through what I can only describe as psychic bequeathal. Though I was able to witness this phenomenon only among the Ceph themselves, I was assured by my hosts that related, non-sapient creatures exhibit cruder forms of the same faculty. The species name Articulata I have chosen to honor their surpassing dexterity, both in the physical manipulation of their environment through arms and tentacles, and in the subtle and formidable exercise of their sorcerous arts.

Thus, dear reader, I present the formal appellation of this most singular People: Cephalontris Articulata, known to us more simply as the Ceph.