trisoomians

Trisoomians are a fictional intelligent species featured in speculative fiction and worldbuilding projects. The name derives from the prefix tri- meaning 'three' and soma meaning 'body', reflecting a distinctive three-part morphology. In most portrayals, trisoomians possess three body modules that share a single conscious identity, enabling distributed perception and control.

Biology: A trisoomian body is tripartite, consisting of three thorax-like modules connected to a central neural hub. Each module carries a pair of limbs and a localized sensory cluster, and the three segments coordinate through the hub to produce unified movement and planning. The skin patterns are often iridescent and adaptive to environmental cues, and some depictions emphasize synchronized signaling among modules.

Behavior and society: Trisoomians are often depicted as highly cooperative, with governance that distributes authority across the three modules. Cultural memory may be stored in a distributed manner, enabling each module to retain aspects of shared history while contributing to collective knowledge. Educational and scientific pursuits are typically framed as collaborative endeavors.

In fiction: The trisoomian concept appears across multiple works of science fiction and game settings, where themes include identity, autonomy, and interdependence. The term is used in worldbuilding to explore how a tripartite nervous system affects culture, communication, and ethics. Variants range from metaphorical tripartite beings to physically tripartite individuals with varying degrees of neural integration.

---