Clambering onto rocky islets to escape from the tempestuous underwater conditions they evolved in, the Adipa are lithe and thin - perfectly suited even today for navigating in the deadly serrated caves of their cultural adolescence. Cetacean in ancestry, they are frequently confused off-planet for bovines on account of their floppy, blubber filled ears, although anybody who has seen them swim is immediately dispelled of the idea. Able to maneuver gracefully in even the most confined spaces, and with a keen sense of exactly what movements to execute so that they can float contactlessly through narrow cave openings, they make excellent shipboard engineers. In fact their species has adapted so perfectly to life in zero-g that there are actually more of them throughout the galaxy than on their home planet, where dangerous conditions and scarcity of space keep the population capped at around five million worldwide. A singular trait unsuited for such a profession is their ears, which curiously do not factor into their heightened awareness of every extremity and, billowing in the currents, are usually shorn off in transit through a tunnel before maturity is reached. Luckily they are filled almost completely with insulating fat and so their severing is mostly painless, with the metal surfaces on ships making also for a very clean cut. This doesn't mean that other species aren’t frequently horrified though to see their friends lose an ear in such a bloody fashion. Back at home, for an Adipa to enter into adulthood with both ears intact is a sign of cowardice or of a sheltered upbringing, both contemptuous to a people whose most popular pursuit is the exploration of deadly subaquatic caves. Therefore those peoples opinions are not properly regarded in the open forums that decide community action, their suggestions considered naive because of a perceived unfamiliarity with the wider world. Certain very manipulative individuals have been known to pay these people to share viewpoints that they personally abhor, decreasing the likelihood that they will be properly entertained. Adipa who live on other planets are a lot less likely to lose their ears, leading to some difficulties where they are jeered at for being soft on the occasions that they visit their ancestral home. This could lead to cases of ritual self-scarring in which they literally cut their own ears off, but is just as likely to fuel the disconnect of expat families instead.
Instead of thick skin or plates of armour, their people rely on the extreme elasticity of their flesh to prevent gashes from being cut, which considering that they are likely to happen underwater could otherwise induce death by bleeding. This makes them extremely squishy, aiding also their ability to enter into narrow confines but in some individuals giving the impression of excess weight, in fact a layer of blubber which they were born with to protect their vital organs. In most Adipa however these traits simply manifest in a people who, surprisingly for their great height, are stalwartly resistant to physical blows and who can take a lot of pressure without suffering broken limbs. They are highly resistant to atmospheric turbulence and often even profess to love the thrill of being thrown haphazardly about, joyfully rebounding off of surfaces in a way reminiscent of how they once were in the ocean.
Although most of their communities reside on land, they have never lost their close affinity with the ocean, typically living in proximity to the sea because of the narrow geography of their island homes. The tides are fairly constant and storms quite rare, but rain is ever present and waves lash constantly at the rocks - often swallowing up Adipa as they go about their day. This is not too much of a problem though and they clamber quickly back onto the shore, usually to the jeers of their friends. To be knocked off your feet by a wave mid-sentence is evidence that somebody is spouting nonsense, meaning that important political discussions are usually held indoors. Even being crushed against jagged rock in this fashion is only really a minor inconvenience to them, although their skin (ranging typically from light blue to grey) is criss-crossed with pale scars representing the countless times they have been caught unawares by the sea. In modern times, now that they can only swim for around twenty minutes before needing to breathe, ears are lost primarily in this fashion instead of in caves. Sand and dirt are practically non-existent on their island homes, with landmasses being formed almost completely from the remnants of an ancient string of volcanoes which have been dormant now for millions of years. This means that cooled magma flows are the staking points of villages, and that nearly everywhere else the ground is composed of hardened pumice, making ‘beaches’ exceptionally advantageous places for crops of anemones to be raised.