Heptopod Research Lab
HRL Research Files
Heptopod Anatomy
Highly Adaptive Appearance
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Heptopods have a few muscle groups near the surface of their bodies that can adjust the given texture. These papillae allow a heptopod to fine tune whether their skin is smooth, bumpy, fluffy and even soft or rigid. This of course is further combined with the chromatophores in their skin that allow them to change colours by contracting and expanding essentially bubbles of pigment.
Heptopods can also redistribute their proportions to some extent, making themselves taller or shorter, or being able to stretch their limbs out further, but that can become tiring for extended periods of time, and it is generally easier for a heptopod to rest in their default state.
While not every heptopod has a complete mastery of it, and covert heptopods tend to be more proficient, it is quite a standard skill in the arsenal of a vast majority of heptopods to at least some extent.
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Furthermore, heptopods also tend to display bioluminescence. The way this shows itself varies between individuals, but often glowing can be found in any combination of: the sclera of the eyes, the suction cups, internal flesh (including the mouth), and segments of pattern. The default brightness, the ability to adjust it also tends to vary between individuals.
It is not entirely certain why the heptopods have developed so much bioluminescence, but leading theories suggest that they could have been used to communicate over long distances, or to be able to distinguish members in the darkness even better, despite the heptopods’ good vision in the darkness.
Specialised Limbs
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It may come as a surprise, but heptopods – despite being able to stand upright – do not possess any bones in their body. The only part comparable to bone is their beaks, but that will be discussed elsewhere.
The way that heptopods maintain rigid, upright form is by condensing muscle tissue within their limbs enough to act as an endoskeleton. This doesn’t come with too much strain or effort once a heptopod has gotten used to it. This is mostly seen in arms and legs when standing above water, but it can just as well be done when in water, also with tails or ears. There are no set positions for “joints” to be, most often heptopods are seen mimicking human anatomy. However, a heptopod can just as easily make as few or as many “joints” as they want to, whether that would be practical is another question entirely.
These condensed muscular supports cannot be broken like bones, but with enough force they can still be strained and bruised. Such injuries have been observed to limit the abilities of limbs to turn rigid.
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Moreover, these limbs possess great regenerative capabilities. If an individual is to lose a limb in some way, it is expected to entirely regenerate as early as a week, or as late as a whole month. The rate at which they regenerate may vary even further, and is also influenced by the individual, their diet during recovery, and by other external factors. Depending on how much is lost, the entirety of the lower torso has been observed as able to regenerate too, but few instances of this have been recorded and the exact details are unclear.
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While there can be a lot of tentacular shapes on a heptopod, it is a very important distinction that each healthy limb has at least one suction cup on it. For instance, tentacles tend to have one or more suction cups along one side of their lengths, while “arms and legs” most often have a suction cup on the palm. This of course is not to say an arm or leg cannot have more suction cups along itself too, however that seems to be a feature less seen in recent generations. While there will be more outliers such as this, the core principle (that each limb has at least one suction cup, and suction cups only appear on limbs) has stayed true in all of our research so far.
Cardiovascular system
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Heptopods, similar to other octopus species, have three hearts. These are located in their upper chest, with their two outer “Branchial” hearts being slightly lower than the central “Systemic” heart. These three hearts work together to pump the blue blood around a given heptopod’s body.
The reason as to why heptopod blood is blue is due to the copper based haemocyanin in their blood cells. Haemocyanin is much more efficient at oxygen transfer in colder, less oxygenated environments, such as the Suctucalix Chambers, compared to the red, iron based haemoglobin as seen in humans.
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It has also been observed that, despite being cold blooded, some heptopods have developed systems of internally heating themselves up to mimic more convincingly and increase comfort levels. This is believed to be done through a chemical reaction close to the three hearts, allowing for the heat to be transferred throughout the whole body.
Ink and jets
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Heptopod ink is mostly comprised of melanin, a distinct type of mucus, and various proteins. That may seem simple, but over their rich history, many advancements have been made in really drawing out its full potential. It is also worth noting that a heptopod’s diet can affect the composition of the ink they produce. This could be something as simple as a slight colour change, or something as complex as changing physical properties of it.
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This ink is produced by a set of glands, which is both connected to the back of the heptopod’s mouth, but also on the insides of their syphons (syphons are tubes, usually covered by crests on the back of a hepto’s head, which can rapidly pump out a jet of water as a means of propulsion). This allows the ink to be integrated into jets of pressurised water, making for an effective escape method with a built in smoke screen.The glands are often found either near the “jaw” or around the “shoulders” of a heptopod. The exact reason as to why the positioning varies is not certain, but it’s believed to be because the humanoid shape taken by young heptopods may be quite late in their overall development of internal structure.
The consequence of this may be that a heptopod may be more protective of being compressed in a surprising fashion, else they may spit up ink. In many individuals, the full effect is observed not too dissimilar to how a human may react to the anticipation of getting tickled.
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In its most standard state, this ink is mostly viscous, very sticky and can easily stain. When dispersed in water, it can make a temporary smoke screen, which can disorient predators and prey by both making a visual disturbance, but also by causing chemical diversions to confuse their other senses. It is also very important to note that heptopod ink does not stick or stain to their own skin at all.
The Clan of Artisan has historically had a very good understanding on the variance in the ink’s properties, though of course any heptopod may make use of, or participate in this ink manipulation.
Teachings of manipulating these properties notably tend to be passed down by families and training institutions, and many individuals innately have a sense of discovery strong enough to discover their own known and unknown formulae or processes.
One of the most common manipulations of ink is the weaving into nets, veils and the like. Ink can undergo processing that turns it into a fibrous and reliable material. The manipulation of this ink into a basic material isn’t all too complicated, with dietary supplements being able to produce a more workable material, but the process has a very high level of mastery which many teachings have stemmed from.
A masterfully crafted inkweave can be 10 or 20 times stronger than that of an amateur.
A more historically recent manipulation of ink is the brewing of concoctions which have more intense adjustments on composition and by extension properties. These could include making ink much less prone to staining, producing bioluminescent ink, being able to expel higher volumes of ink, giving ink more malleable weaving properties and many such others. There must be plenty more undocumented effects, maybe you can be part of the next breakthrough!
Excuse us… we’ve still got work to do!
We’ve got a lot more to learn about the species, so some information is missing! Check back soon as we find out more about…
Localised neuron activity
Beak and venom
Heptofries
The Heptopod Research Lab is a collaborative project between Hyla and Zepht.
The Lab and its creations are fictional, and any real-life sightings of any resemblance to our creations are purely coincidental.