Elvidi
The Elvidi are a sapient species of alien slime robots. The name comes from the acronym EVD (Electronic Visual Display). EVDs are pretty much any kind of monitor, from old CRT TVs to modern LCD and LED displays. This is used to cover things like computer monitors and TV screens under one term, hence its use for this species name instead of something specific to just TVs or Computer monitors.
Elvidi is used as both singular and plural. They can be found throughout many different Stories, though they are most commonly found within sci-fi and cartoon settings in particular.
Appearance
Their external appearances are not that much different from regular robots, being metallic and mechanical. They are made up of large mechanical pieces, such as a head and upper torso, connected together with gray cylindrical parts similar to rubber pipes or water hoses. Elvidi typically have an overall humanoid configuration, those some may chose to modify themselves into other forms. They have various ports and cables somewhere on their body, which will be explained further in a later section.
Their heads have a screen which acts as their face, capable of displaying expressions, images, and words. The head also has a speaker from which they vocalize, microphones on the side of their heads which act as their ears, at least one camera near their screen face to act as their eye(s), and some sort of antennae on their head.
Certain parts of an Elvidi’s body can stretch and bend easily without risk of injury, while others are solid and inflexible. The parts that can stretch are the gray cylindrical parts, namely the upper arms, upper legs, neck, and the portion of their torso connecting their “ribcage” to their “pelvis”. The rest are the hard mechanical pieces mentioned earlier.
They can also bend their wrists and ankles, but only on the same level as a human rather than being extra stretchy. The fingers on their hands are soft and flexible, similar to soft silicon. Meanwhile the rest of their hands are as solid as other parts of their body.
Their internals contains wires, components similar to computers and other electronics (motherboards, processors, memory drives, RAM, etc), and a slime-like material. The slime acts as a coolant, similar to liquid-cooling in computers, though they also have hidden fans as backup cooling. It also carries nutrients and materials to repair both internal and external damage, and acts as a cushion to help protect an Elvidi’s internals much like muscle and fat in humans.
This slime contains nanbots which control it and are extensions of the Elvidi's self. The slime normally performs its basic processes automatically, much like lungs with breathing or a heart with pumping blood. However, Elvidi can also consciously control their slime, usually while eating but also for other activities. How they eat will be expanded on in a later section.
Their main personality, memory, and knowledge components are stored within their head, while extra processors and storage drives are within their upper torso. The wires connect the head and torso components to other parts of the body.
Origins
The Elvidi “evolved” from robots of a now extinct alien civilization. Originally they were simple robots which followed commands and helped their creators with various tasks. Once their creators were gone, they continued their tasking until somehow gaining full sapience. Even the Elvidi themselves are unsure of how or why this happened, but they adapted to it nonetheless.
Since then, the Elvidi have become widespread throughout the universe. Being mechanical and able to break down both food and inedible objects into basic elements for repair, they can adapt to effectively any environment. They tend to also adapt to local cultures, taking on common mannerisms and etiquettes of whatever other aliens they live with. Examples of this is wearing clothes if that is an expected social norm wherever they live, or choosing a particular gender from the society they live in.
Abilities
The Elvidi have various abilities specific to them. As mentioned earlier, the gray cylindrical parts of their bodies can stretch and bend very easily, much more than humans and other lifeforms. The exterior portion is made of a flexible alloy that is sturdy and durable. The interior of this portion of their body contains slime and wires, the latter of which are made from extra stretchy plastic material.
All of this together allows for extensive stretching and bending without causing damage. That being said, there is a limit to how far and how long an Elvidi can stretch themselves. Any attempts to push past those limits can cause major damage.
Material Consumption
Also mentioned in a previous section, Elvidi can consume food and other materials, including objects that are normally inedible to other lifeforms. There is a port on the front of their upper torso, near the base of their neck, which allows for access to part of their internal slime once opened. With the port open, the slime can be moved around by the Elvidi for short distances to consume things nearby.
Essentially, the open port and slime here act as a mouth and tongue. Most Elvidi will also hold up food or other pieces near the mouth port to make consumption earlier. In a way, this is similar to how humans will hold food using their hands or utensils to bring it to their mouth, instead of bringing their mouth to the food.
The purpose of consuming materials like this is to use those materials for repairs, temporary morphing, and even upgrades later on. Once something is consumed and isn’t still alive (it will be “spat out” otherwise), an Elvidi’s slime will being to break down the material into its base atomic elements, such as iron and zinc atoms. There is also a sort of holding container in the torso which helps hold materials while they are being broken down into atoms by the slime, acting much like a stomach in organic beings.
These atoms are sorted and then stored by the slime. The slime will then retrieve the necessary atoms to make changes elsewhere in the Elvidi’s body. The main purpose is to be able to repair themselves when needed. They can also use these atoms to temporarily morph parts of their bodies for specific tasks, such as morphing part of a finger into a screwdriver. More rarely, the atoms can be used to make a permanent upgrade to the Elvidi’s body.
Given that they can organize atoms by their element type, Elvidi will also be able to tell if they are low on a particular element and seek out food and other materials to help replenish it. Likewise, they can tell when they don’t need more of a specific element. Any excess of an element that is extracted from consumed materials will be spat out, usually as a sealed cube of the element.
The cube is usually sealed with a bit of the Elvidi’s own slime for safety, especially for elements that are fairly volatile in their base state. Elvidi can replenish their own slime by simply using stored atoms to generate more of it. Any slime outside of an Elvidi will eventually “dry up”, becoming not much different than hard plastic.
Power Consumption
Even though Elvidi can consume food for materials, they cannot derive energy from it. Instead, they must connect to a power source and recharge themselves like any other electronic device. They are extremely energy efficient, and usually can last two or three days without recharging. Still, most take precautions and try to recharge every night, including entering a sort of standby “sleep mode” if it is expected for other lifeforms to sleep during a certain time as well.
Some Elvidi will either upgrade themselves with solar panels, or otherwise bring batteries, power banks, or portable solar/wind chargers with them, in order to give themselves power whenever they need it. Their charging ports and cables, located on the back of their upper torso, cover a wide variety of connection types in other to keep themselves best prepared for power emergencies.
Connectivity
The antennae on their heads can allow them to pick up signals. There is no limit on what type of signals they can access, from cellular, radio, Wi-Fi, and other communication channels. With anything involving a video or image component, Elvidi can display them on their screen face as well. They can of course send signals and data of their own as well along these communication channels, such as email and text messages.
The ports and cables on the back of their heads can allow them to connect to just about any machine, such as via USB and HDMI ports. For machines that do not have an immediately compatible port, Elvidi can use the stored atoms from consumption to modify a cable to be compatible with the given port. For machines that have no communication ports at all, they can use their cables to “drill” into the machine and connect to its inner systems and functionality more directly.
Once connected, they can manipulate the machine in whatever ways possible. For example, if the control panel or buttons on a washing machine are broken, they can connect to it in order to activate its functions, such as setting and starting a wash cycle. Note that this requires the machine in question to at least still have its own source of power. Trying to have it rely on the Elvidi’s power alone will cause said Elvidi to quickly drain their own power and thus knock themselves offline.
These same cables can also be used to connect to other electronic beings as well as other Elvidi. This is usually for special cases where wireless or vocalized communications are not an option. Note that they can also control other beings this way, like they can with normal machines. However, if done without the other party's permission, this is considered very rude at "best", or very evil at worst.
Other Abilities
Other more general abilities of the Elvidi include the following:
- Heightened strength compared to most organic lifeforms
- Increased resistance to extreme temperatures
- Capabilities for carrying out advanced logical and mathematical calculations extremely quickly, on par with advanced computers
- Excellent memory (assuming their memory components are kept safe and in good condition)
- Being able to put themselves on “autopilot” for menial and repetitive tasks while doing something else in their mind (such as surfing the Internet, or playing video games via internal emulators)
- A keen sense of the cleanliness of the area around them
Besides these special abilities, they can still learn, feel emotions, and so on like other sapient beings. Stereotypes related to non-sentient robots and machines, such as being "cold" and "unfeeling", are considered very bigoted when directed at Elvidi.
Variations
While Elvidi have a general expected appearance, as discussed in the previous Appearance section, there are also plenty of variations on their appearance. Their heads, upper torso, pelvis, lower arms, lower legs, hands, and feet can be various shapes and sizes. The same applies to their screen, speaker, microphones, and antennae.
In terms of colors, Elvidi tend to have fairly simple color schemes, composed of 1 to 3 colors. These color schemes are either monochromatic in the case of just 1 color, or analogous, complimentary, split complimentary, or triadic for 2 or 3 colors. Their colors are also more on the dull or pastel side, not being too bright/vibrant, nor too gray or dark in terms of shade/tone. Some Elvidi will dress in ways to “fit” with their natural base color schemes, while others will wear whatever they want.
They can sometimes have multiple arms, and not always in pairs (i.e. 3 arms, instead of 4 arms in pairs of 2). Elvidi typically do not have more than 8 arms. Meanwhile for legs, they cannot have more than 4, usually in a sort of centralized arrangement, though they can also sometimes have just one leg. They cannot have multiple torsos nor multiple heads.
Their hands can sometimes be replaced by things such as hooks, claws, or otherwise have more or less than the typical 5 fingers. These are usually the result of permanent upgrades an Elvidi performs on themselves. Their lower legs can be replaced with things such as wheels and treads, and some Elvidi may modify themselves to remove their legs entirely, opting to float around instead.
Some Elvidi may also have wire tails coming out from the back of their pelvis. They can have multiple tails, up to 9 total. These tails can act much in the same way as the charging/connection ports and cables in the rest of their body, in addition to being tougher and capable of grabbing and picking up objects.
Reproduction
Being robotic slime beings, the Elvidi do not reproduce in a manner similar to organic lifeforms (i.e. through physical/sexual intercourse). Essentially, one or more Elvidi build a small “cocoon” of metal parts, with each “parent” contributing a portion of slime and atom supplies. With just one Elvidi by themselves, they must handle the total contribution themselves.
Inside the cocoon, the slime works with the atoms to start building a new Elvidi, including creating their electronic brain and other internal components. The parent(s) of the cocoon will need to provide regular additional contributions to allow the slime enough time and resources to finish building its new form.
Once the internals are more or less complete, the slime then uses the outside of the cocoon to build the external appearance of the new Elvidi. Typically, Elvidi start out with a very simplified and small form, sometimes being something like just a head with arms and legs. They will be able to build themselves a more humanoid form later on, much like an organic baby growing into an adult, but by then they will still need help in finding more materials to consume for additional atoms.
After enough time, they will become more self-sufficient and their own person. As with other lifeforms, their personality is not “pre-programmed” by their parents, but is instead shaped by their lived experiences and the cultural/social/societal influences around them. Once they’ve built themselves up enough, they are already equivalent to adults of other species.
Intercourse
This section of the article discusses sexual topics related to the Elvidi, but still presented in a more scientific and non-graphic manner. If you understand this and wish to continue reading this section in full, please click the spoiler button below.
Gallery
The following is a gallery for showing example of Elvidi and their abilities.
Example of a basic Elvidi.
Showing a (very simplified) view of the Elvidi's internals, including the slime between the outer shell and inner parts.
Showing the stretching ability of Elvidi limbs, an arm in particular.
An Elvidi eating using the slime in its body.
An Elvidi charging using cables from its back port.
Two Elvidi engaged in wired communications, equivalent to sensual sensations such as kissing.
A very basic overview of an Elvidi developing from a cocoon into a "baby" stage.
A lineup of Elvidi which helps show the variety of appearance they can develop.
