Doodle beings are the dominant form of native life in Doodle, possessing nascent sapience. They are the largest and most complex form of Doodle life, as everything else native to the plane of existence is microbial.
It might be a stretch to consider Doodle beings a species, as they cannot reproduce amongst each other. Doodle beings come into existence fully-formed in spontaneous, discrete instances of abiogenesis; seeming to just pop into being from absolutely nothing at all. Their forms are drawn from bursts of human creativity in the “real” universe that Doodle is attached to, and Doodle beings are crude simulacra of objects or ideas from that universe.
Doodle beings can either be singletons, or appear as part of a thematically linked pair. Paired Doodle beings exhibit a natural drive to pair bond, and if a Doodle being loses its partner it will immediately seek a thematically appropriate replacement. Though they lack a conscious understanding of the concepts they are based on, pairs whose concepts do not fit well together are likely to become disharmonious.
Doodle beings are made out of two distinct types of matter – blob and stick. A Doodle being can be entirely made out of one type of matter (all blob or all stick), or a combination of both.
Stick matter can make up many different forms of body part, from solid ambulatory limbs and necks, to more delicate parts like antennae or whiskers. It is always black in colour, and usually thin. Though stick matter is very flexible, able to bend considerably in all directions without breaking, it would feel firm and smooth to human touch like insect chitin. Stick matter is readily fed upon by Doodle’s microbial life after a Doodle being’s death, and the remains of deceased Doodle beings are frequently found with all of their stick matter eaten away.
Blob matter is the soft, squishy material that makes up heads and bodies. It is usually pale, though can come in darker “shade textures,” and can possess simple markings. Blob matter can also form apparatuses for sight or speech, though curiously Doodle beings who appear to lack these things seem to be able to see and speak just fine without them.
Blob matter is considerably more resistant to decay and consumption by native microbial life than stick matter, and desiccated chunks of it can remain intact long after a Doodle being’s death. Blob matter can be consumed by non-native naturalised inhabitants of Doodle, though these are so few in number and the matter so dense in calories that carcasses are rarely fully consumed.
Healthy blob matter would feel soft and supple to human touch, with a texture similar to Japanese mochi candy (albeit with much more tensile strength). Dead blob matter would feel brittle and papery like a wasp’s nest, and would have a peculiar musty smell.
Doodle Being Taxonomy
Though Doodle beings have their own cultural taxonomic ideas about their kind (namely, the complicated concept of a being’s “dominant axis” and what it signifies), from an outsider perspective they can be split into three morphological groups based on what they are imitations of. These categories are typoid, zoopoid, and anthropoid.
Typoids
Typoids are Doodle beings based on simple shapes, symbols, and inanimate objects. They are physically the most simple form of Doodle being, and may lack limbs of any kind. This is usually not detrimental, as typoids are able to move through rectilinear locomotion, or even just hopping.
Zoopoids
Zoopoids are Doodle beings based on animals, or other forms of living thing. They are a more morphologically complex form of being, possessing limbs and other stick matter implements.
The Doodle being Jrafe does not bear that much of a likeness to their namesake...
They are not so much based on literal animals from the “real” universe, but human cultural conceptions of them, and beyond a basic likeness they may not have much in common with their inspirations.
Anthropoids
Anthropoids are Doodle beings based on human beings or human-like creatures, though the likeness can vary dramatically from realistic proportions to extremely stylised depictions. Some anthropoids are simple blob-based beings whose silhouettes vaguely hint at a humanoid shape, while others are more detailed beings with stick-based arms and legs.