Tenta-speak

In the Watery Deep

The depths of the Ur Hilgarria is a very dark place. So dark that most species have lost the ability to see. Blind, they wander their endlessly open world seeking out prey and predators alike using smell and touch - and for some, the ability to sense the very currents of life.
But the Tentakuluak have not abandoned their affinity for light, but instead have evolved to exploit the blindness of their neighbors. An intelligent species in the midst of an endlessly open savannah, they use their own skin's ability to produce and control light to not just survive, but dominate the food chain in the ocean depths.

Critical Anatomy

The Tentakuluak have developed a visual language to speak with others of their own kind, and occasionally to fishermen of sentient species and merfolk. Examination of Tentakuluak bodies has revealed that they have massive, dispropotionately large eyes which have three different types of receptors connected to their optic nerves leading to a massive brain which uses approximately 30% of its capacity to process the light it receives. These receptors allow them to see color as well as black and white, and suggest that they are able to see in wavebands of light that are not perceptable by humans similar to those species that have darkvision.
The skin of the Tentakuluak is covered with roughly round areas that can be stimulated to produce a bioluminesence, the degree of stimulation dictating the color of the light emitted. Originally, this adaptation was probably used exclusively for camouflage as is seen in non-sentient species of cephalopods, but the development and sophisticatio of the spot systent and the size of the eye indicate that the ability of hide is not the only use for these organs. In addition, the Tentakuluak has a Magei System with both a mageíaktítoras and mageiakysti. Although the mageiakysti is not generously sized for the size of the creature, it's existence is very clear evidence that the young of the species take significant period of dependence on their parents to mature (typical with large brained creatures). This need to raise and train the young means that the development of language is a clear necessity for this creature, and assertion that is supported by the creature's ability to process and form abstract concepts as is evident by the artistic patterns that have been observed by deep sea sailors and fishermen during the colloquially named Tenta-fair that occurs during Ahizpen Erorketa.

A Language of Light

The Tentakuluak will interact with sentient beings by flashing and changing colors. People who have interacted with living members of the species are universally convinced that the Tentakuluak are speaking to them, attempting to communicate through the patterns that are created on the skin. Clear and repeated patterns of light including sequences, locations color and timing of the pattern changes indicate that a very sophisticated language can be inferred. Initial exporation with the few living specimens that have been encountered indicate the following:

• Emotion appears to be conveyed by the brightness of the luminesence.
• Color has significance in the conveying of ideas, with fine gradations of color being used to nuance ideas.
• Sequencing, speed, and location of the patterns are clearly important in the defining of words, easily carrying the concepts of nouns and verbs, and providing descriptors for each. It is not clear if there are grammatical constructs, but it is though to be likely by linguistic scholars who have been consulted on the topic.
• Continuity and contiguousness of the color splotches does not appear to have meaning in the overall language, however, during the Tenta-fair, those with fine control of their color spots appeared to breed more than those without, leading to speculation that these may be part of the species standards of beauty.