Discussing Inkling/Octoling Biology

[Ansible]

Blargh. So much to spew out of my head.

Spoiler: useless aimless babble ahead babble babble babble

If you go through the Salmon Run job manual, they make mention of them having contact with the Octarians and even receiving a bit of tech from them.

So then the samurai dude and the octolings all have mini-soul-like forms that appear when being splatted. I guess this implies that all others are just "sentient tentacles" then? But that couldn't be the case as all the images representing Octarians have just been tentacles, right? Where does that put the humanoid types then?!

If vanishing ink only applies to inklings, then that could explain all the purple/Octarian ink in sector five as well as some stages and boss fights in the first game. ...which... can put Marie's mentioning that octo-ink stinks into an interesting light. o_O

Also, if taking the path of vanishing ink being a part of an inkling's biology like bacteria in a human stomach, what does that mean for an inkling that has trouble producing ink due to old age, disease, or what-have-you? Do the microbes eat more internal ink than the body can produce or do they die from starvation or something else happens? Granted that's if we're assuming the invisible ink microbes thrive inside an inkling's body.

Sorry for the disjointedness...

 

[Globin347]

Spoiler: Vanishing Ink

I would assume that the bacteria responsible for eating up Inkling ink do not live in the inklings, as that could cause some serious biological harm to the inklings- this is what the immune system is for. The reason Inklings loose the ability to produce ink at an old age depends on whether you view the ink as a part of the inkling or as a separate organism that has a symbiotic relationship with them- in either case, it might be because the ink cells stop dividing properly due to the hayflick limit, and in the latter case, the inkling's ink sac may simply stop being able to create the proper environment for the ink.

Also, I don't think inklings use ink as stomach acid, as the ink only attacks some things; it would be simpler and more reliable to use a more conventional fluid for that purpose. In this case, the stomach would be one of the core organs that is taken along with the squid soul... or maybe not. Perhaps the soul drops some of the vital but not "must be present at all times" organs to decrease weight? that would make the regen process particularly taxing, but it is already very dangerous and taxing, so...

Food for thought, anyway.

 

[ADude]

I'm not sure about splatoon 1 but in splatoon 2 I saw squids were made of ink, while messing around in the test area you can see ripples in the squids body and that also explains how squids can slip through grates.

 

[ADude]

Also do remember that inkling battles are only a sport, inklings could just be reported to their spawn point when something detects their low on health that would also explain why Inklings explode in enemy ink when splatted and why their gear doesn't break.

 

[Slushious]

That being said, I remember reading somewhere that the various Octarian grunts are born the same way: they take off another one of poor Octavio's arms and leave it to grow independently, or something like that. If that's the case, then it' can be said that the Octarians reproduce via a process similar to budding/autotomy, or more accurately what starfish do. So your bee-people comparison might hold some weight.

I got the artbook and it actually has notes about this. According to that, Octarians in general have no reproductive capability at all and are grown from tentacles donated by "high ranking" members. I assume that means the Octolings/Octavio, but they're not specific about it =p

 

[Globin347]

Ontarians have no reproductive capacity...
Interesting. I presume this does not include the octolings?

Also... all the octolings we've seen so far have much smaller tentacles than the octotroopers, so do the tentacles need to grow before reaching sapience (if they ever actually do?)

 

[Slushious]

The notes didn't explain past what they said, but I'm willing to assume Octolings are the "high ranking" specimens in question. Maybe the ones we see in the field all have short tentacles due to constant cloning-donations?

Ontarians

I know it's a typo but I'm having a hard time NOT making a Canadian joke right now. Thank you so much XD

 

[Globin347]

I know it's a typo but I'm having a hard time NOT making a Canadian joke right now. Thank you so much XD

I actually didn't notice that until just now... anyway, it's funny enough that I won't correct it. Anyway, the moral of the story is not to post from a cell phone.

 

[Ansible]

It just continues to confuse me when trying to figure out where the octolings fit. Other than DJ Octavio being the only male octoling we know of so far, the major representative of the Octarian species presented to us is always the sapient tentacle. Do they all come from octolings? Did/does some portion of their population evolve into octolings? Blasted empty spaces in lore!

 

[swamphox]

Squid soul, octo soul, whatever you want to call it can assist with sentiency by beaing a means of remote control for a hive mind. humanoid octarians seem to have free will and a rank structure. most of them though are just drones, perhaps beingremotely piloted by Octavio or other higher level octolings.

I noticed the thing in the story scrolls and think that could play into my Intelligent NanoKollective theory

As for the Salmonids, I got a kick out of the inkling bible however the pic looked more Old testmant to me. I was reminded of the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah.

 

[Ansible]

Throwing maybe some further confusion into the mix: Forgot to screencap the dialogue but Pearl offers a tip of hydrating oneself then Marina notes that water is lethal to them. She even says "lethal." Meanwhile on Manta Maria you are getting sprayed by salt water—a nice little map detail.

*throws up hands*

I don't know what to comprehend!

 

[Hero of Lime]

As for the Salmonids, I got a kick out of the inkling bible however the pic looked more Old testmant to me. I was reminded of the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah.

I knew that art piece was based on something I've seen in real life! I remember it being based on a biblical story but forgot which one.

Throwing maybe some further confusion into the mix: Forgot to screencap the dialogue but Pearl offers a tip of hydrating oneself then Marina notes that water is lethal to them. She even says "lethal." Meanwhile on Manta Maria you are getting sprayed by salt water—a nice little map detail.

*throws up hands*

I don't know what to comprehend!

This thread's premise was a good idea, but we would go insane trying to justify and explain most of the stuff in the Inkling universe.

 

[inkcan]

Something to consider:

The atmosphere of our planet in the distant future is such that the gel-structure organisms have come out as the king creatures in man's stead.

These organisms appear to be wholly a shapeshifting biological gel, or ink as it is explained to us. It is within reason that this type of creature evolved deep within the sea during many, many years of changes on our planet, including the rise and fall of mankind.

Water, in high doses, causes some sort of negative reaction in their biological makeup, undoing their gel structure, and is then considered lethal. Similarly, high doses of another organism's genetic gel (ink, heretofore) overloads these creatures in some manner, causing them to shed the contagion ink in a self defense "inksplosion"; reducing the creature's structure to a thin ink "gas" which can escape through the air and return to a "spawn point" comprised of a wellspring of homo-teuthida ink shared by a group of these gel squids, aptly named "Inklings". This shared genetic ink may somehow explain the super jump ability.

It seems clear that the Octolings have not fully evolved to the degree the Inklings have, which is why they cannoy seem to overthrow the Inklings with regard to the overworld; evidence of this is the lack of male Octolings, though this remains inconclusive. When the water levels rose, it would appear the Octolings took remnants of human societies and encased them to create the subworld, linked through a network of flimsy kettles and false skylines.

The Salmonids appear to have evolved the least, though maintain a partial gel structure shared by Inklings, Octarians, and possibly the Jellies. Salmonids are bestial, hive-minded creatures that rarely appear unless it is spawning season (golden egg season), known as the Salmon Run. They are one of the few remaining creatures that are still able to enter the seas and swim naturally.

 

[Slushious]

Throwing maybe some further confusion into the mix: Forgot to screencap the dialogue but Pearl offers a tip of hydrating oneself then Marina notes that water is lethal to them. She even says "lethal." Meanwhile on Manta Maria you are getting sprayed by salt water—a nice little map detail.

*throws up hands*

I don't know what to comprehend!

I like to think they're okay with salt water in reasonable quantities (salt/brackish, maybe?), but it's the fresh water that does 'em in. So for added danger in stages like Mahi-Mahi they fill the pools with fresh water for the matches?

 

[Globin347]

Something to consider:

The atmosphere of our planet in the distant future is such that the gel-structure organisms have come out as the king creatures in man's stead.

These organisms appear to be wholly a shapeshifting biological gel, or ink as it is explained to us. It is within reason that this type of creature evolved deep within the sea during many, many years of changes on our planet, including the rise and fall of mankind.

Water, in high doses, causes some sort of negative reaction in their biological makeup, undoing their gel structure, and is then considered lethal. Similarly, high doses of another organism's genetic gel (ink, heretofore) overloads these creatures in some manner, causing them to shed the contagion ink in a self defense "inksplosion"; reducing the creature's structure to a thin ink "gas" which can escape through the air and return to a "spawn point" comprised of a wellspring of homo-teuthida ink shared by a group of these gel squids, aptly named "Inklings". This shared genetic ink may somehow explain the super jump ability.

It seems clear that the Octolings have not fully evolved to the degree the Inklings have, which is why they cannoy seem to overthrow the Inklings with regard to the overworld; evidence of this is the lack of male Octolings, though this remains inconclusive. When the water levels rose, it would appear the Octolings took remnants of human societies and encased them to create the subworld, linked through a network of flimsy kettles and false skylines.

The Salmonids appear to have evolved the least, though maintain a partial gel structure shared by Inklings, Octarians, and possibly the Jellies. Salmonids are bestial, hive-minded creatures that rarely appear unless it is spawning season (golden egg season), known as the Salmon Run. They are one of the few remaining creatures that are still able to enter the seas and swim naturally.

It seems unreasonable that the salmonids are the only creatures able to swim; Calamari Inkantation celebrates the bounty of the sea, implying that there is enough sea life to sustain a vibrant fishing industry. It is likely that most of the aquatic species we know today still live in their ancestral forms, although some have split off into land-dwellers.

...On that note, I wonder how many fishing boats are capsized by salmonids every year...

Also, you don't need anything fancy to explain super jumping, because several species of squid already do that in real life; it works by filling the mantle with water (or ink) and expelling it out the siphons at high pressure.

 

[Globin347]

I like to think they're okay with salt water in reasonable quantities (salt/brackish, maybe?), but it's the fresh water that does 'em in. So for added danger in stages like Mahi-Mahi they fill the pools with fresh water for the matches?

Is salt water less able to dissolve substances than fresh water? either way, I think it's much more about quantity than content of the water.

 

[Slushious]

I'm no science-head, so I dunno about that; I do know squid and octopi are marine creatures, though. Most sea life doesn't fare well in fresh water.

 

[Globin347]

I'm no science-head, so I dunno about that; I do know squid and octopi are marine creatures, though. Most sea life doesn't fare well in fresh water.

This may not matter in the end, as inklings and octolings can't seem to handle large amounts of either.

 

[Tadashi]

Here are my theories about Inkling/Octoling biology:

1. The Inklings' and Octolings' humanoid forms are more solid, while their squid and octopus forms are more liquid.

2. Inklings and Octolings lay eggs, much like the Zora from the Legend of Zelda series. However, Octolings can also reproduce by cutting their tentacles off, hence the existence of lesser Octarians such as Octotroopers.

As for their inability to swim in water, I think that the Inklings and Octolings simply don't know how to swim in it. But if an Inkling (or Octoling) taught themselves to swim in water (while in humanoid form, of course), then water wouldn't be such a problem for them (especially if they managed to develop an immunity to it by taking small amounts regularly).

Enemy ink, however, is a completely different story. Notice how there's a vast river of Octarian ink at the bottom of Octo Canyon, which just so happens to be where Cephalon HQ is located.

Also, when you fall into the ink river, it has the same effect as falling into water. However, even if an Inkling somehow taught themselves how to swim in water while in humanoid form, they would still be unable to swim in enemy ink, let alone Octarian ink, sort of like how in other games you can't swim in lava (which is basically what the ink river in Cephalon HQ is). Of course, Inklings and Octolings have no trouble swimming in their own ink, especially in squid and octopus form.

By the way, why do Inklings dissolve in water? Squid ink isn't water soluble, but octopus ink is. According to Nintendo:

Squids squirt ink to create a substitute to escape their predators. It's an oily substance, difficult to dissolve in water, that becomes a sort of mass. On the other hand, octopi use ink as a smoke screen. It is water soluble in order to spread.

Also, if a splatted Inkling's or Octoling's "ghost" does contain its vital organs, then what happens to the Octo Samurai when his respawn device explodes after you defeat him? Does the Octo Samurai... die?

 

[Nuddlmaus]

What i am curious about, do salmonids and basic octolings die? because octo bosses and all inklings i know do have a "Soul" to respawn but salmonids and octo citizen seem not to have this ability.