Smoothfolk

The smoothfolk are said to have been spawned as a vast mat of egg-filled jelly. Their creator was never known to them, and as they spread through the swamps and jungles that best suited their constitution, they adopted a reverence for tutelary spirits over any gods.
Over time, three distinct smoothfolk lineages emerged. The Bofyrn of the swamps grew large and strong. Their jungle kinfolk, the Anurin, remained smaller, but rapidly out developed the bofyrn in technology and social development, especially following their discovery of writing and mathematics. In more temperate biomes, the smoothfolk - here identifying as Aneft - remained small, but did not develop writing until much later.
The bofyrn still mostly occupy their ancestral swamps, although others now serve anurin nobility as soldiers and labourers. The anurin not only out-developed the bofyrn, but in many cases actively prevented their growth beyond chiefdoms. The largest and least smooth of the smoothfolk, they most resemble toads, bullfrogs and crested newts. Early in their cultural history, the bofyrn adopted a totemic reverence for the massive froghemoths of the swamps, actually succeeding in elevating some of the creatures to divine status through their devotion. Modern bofyrn regard this as a shameful period in their barbaric prehistory, favouring instead the worship of the local deities of their homes.
The jungle-dwelling anurin are smaller, slighter, and have vividly coloured, and often patterned skin, resembling dart-poison frogs or salamanders. In Suto they rule a once-mighty kingdom, and in Caino enjoy a place of power and influence in the upper echelons of the Empire of the Southern Sun. In both places, the anurin make extensive - they would say generous - use of bofyrnal labour. Anurin religion began as a form of shamanic druidism, revering local spirits at places of primal power. Over time, they also came to revere their own deified fallen leaders, creating divine dynasties which fostered the growth of the centralised power which allowed them to out-develop the bofyrn.
In the temperate wetlands of central Caino, the aneft have either retained or returned a relatively simple, agrarian lifestyle, but through shared community stores and property have nonetheless developed a high degree of scholarship since acquiring writing from the anurin. Their libraries are often isolated, but the collections impeccable, if eclectic in their subject matter. They resemble smaller frogs and newts.
Finally, a sect of anurin in the Sutan capital of Anur-kek made pacts with what seemed to be a simple volcano spirit, but was in fact the Elemental Prince Apyros, the Dark Flame. Their deeds destroyed Anur-kek, the greatest smoothfolk-built city of all time, and Apyros transformed them into the Pyranoi, flame-skinned enemies of all civilised smoothfolk.

Smoothfolk and identity

Most smoothfolk develop their sense of identity through artefacts depicting their family line, and through their own calling to a particular kind of work. Gender is a moot point with them, as they are capable of changing their biological sex almost at will, either through exposure to excessive levels of sex pheromones, or simply by moderating the temperature of their sleeping place.