Sophont

Sophont is the term for an entity, group, or species which exhibits cognitive levels of complexity which are at least intelligence-like (as in humans), or possibly truly intelligent.

Models of Cognition
There is a wide array of ways in which thought can be structured, how it may respond to different stimuli, and the way it can chain together information. There is also more than one way that it can arrive at humanlike complexity--with the ability to transfer skills and form cultural memes, among other things. Of course, the exact behavioral patterns an intelligent species can form are functionally infinite, but what is important here is the most foundational stratum of how a sophont thinks: the underlying structure that allows it to achieve humanlike intelligence (or greater) at all. The most common model among known sophonts is doubtless mimesis, or mimicry. A mimetic intelligence is one whose foundation is predicated on the imitation of behaviors. Humanity is the most obvious example of a mimetic intelligence, but there are quite a few in Earth's long history--including the 'Ithra, the N'gah-Kthun, and even the Great Race and the Yuggya. While the nuances of instinct and other cognitive structures are widely divergent among these beings, one thing is shared in common among all of them: their minds are built to recognize patterns of behavior and imitate them, and this imitation is the mechanism by which they propagate skills and cultural memes, and why they are capable of approximating (but never truly having) logic.

More alien modes of cognition exist besides mimesis, of course. The most notable Earth-bound example (outside of the Lloigor and lloigornos) are the Flying Polyps. The Polyps are a rare example of a species working itself into pseudointelligence through r-selection. Namely, the Polyps are highly fecund eusocial hives whose individual members have a prion-like neurological structure which hardwires all possible patterns of behavior an individual has access to. Individual Polyps have no memory, nor the capacity to learn skills, with their precoded responses being completely unchanging. The pseudointelligence of the Polyps does not appear individually, but emerges at a communal level. A Polyp hive exhibits intelligence-like behavior, learning, the development of skills, and the formation of cultural memes as a collective. Rather than these conditions arising from mimicry and imitation loops, they are the direct result of r-selection: the Flying Polyps' immense fecundity, swift maturing, and high mortality lead to only individuals capable of fitting into and iterating upon the hive's cultural landscape surviving to adulthood. A Flying Polyp does not have a personality. A Polyp hive does.

Then, of course, there is True Intelligence. A True Intelligence is one whose capacity to model reality within its thoughts and accurately deduct and anticipate its workings is wholly innate and unconscious. The only known mundane example of a True Intelligence is the Shoggoth. This entity's vast, ancient mind was structured such that its foundational structure is deductive and inductive reasoning. With no prior knowledge, for instance, the Shoggoth was able to arrive at an accurate understanding of the mechanics of light and its wavelengths merely by observing how it is refracted by water and thinking. This is not the only way to arrive at True Intelligence, however. While most of the lloigornos and all of the Lloigor are True Intelligences, not all of Them have as Their cognitive substrate what we would call logic--Yig and Hastur being two notable examples. The simple fact is, such entities don't need logic to correctly anticipate how reality behaves. They've broken entropy. Reality will act in whichever way They think it will.

Degrees of Intelligence
Intelligence is, like all spectra, infinite in the degrees to which it may be divided. With regard to sophonts, however, there are three major categories that are relevant. (The second and third are both referred to as True Intelligence, but there are times when it is necessary to distinguish them from one another.) At the low end of the scale are psuedosapient intelligences (also called pseudointelligences) such as humanity. This encompasses such things as mimetic intelligences and more exotic models of cognition which are capable of approximating reason without truly having it. Secondly there is sapience, which beings such as the Shoggoth attain, and which is predicated on an innate capacity for accurate logic. Lastly, there is metasapience, which generally only applies to lloigornos and Lloigor; this category is defined by the mind's workings incorporating reality itself into its structure, and definitionally requires the entity that attains it to function as a sort of pocket Universe in some way. Metasapient beings constitute True Intelligences regardless of Their capacity for logic, for the reasons outlined above: no matter how They think, reality conforms to those thoughts.

Mundane and Immane
When discussing sophont races, one more set of categories is often relevant, though they are unrelated to intelligence. Namely, whether the race in question is mundane or immane. A mundane race is one whose physical composition--no matter how complex or varied--is...mundane. Perhaps they are extremely hardy, perhaps they are immune to disease, perhaps they do not age; but regardless of their abilities, merely mundane means can be used to terminate their existence. An immane race, however, is composed of more exotic fare; such beings are partly (or wholly) composed of unreality, or at least use unreality to sustain their cognition. Mundane threats alone can not endanger such a being's existence. With the exception of the Shoggoth, the vast majority of mundane sophonts are mere pseudointelligences. While most immane entities are either sapient or metasapient, this is not a given--the Yuggya being a prime example of how immanity and True Intelligence do not go hand in tentacle.

A List of Sophonts
Precursors: While a multitude of sophonts have inhabited the Earth over its long career, only six are regarded as precursors; these are races which, while completely (or almost completely) mundane, have managed to impact the Earth's development over a geological timescale:

'Ithra

Flying Polyps

The Great Race

N'gah-Kthun

The Shoggoth

Yuggya

Servitors: Servitors are sophonts created by a lloigornos or a Lloigor--either wholecloth, or through uplifting an extant mundane species. Servitors which have diverged widely from their intended purpose (such as the ghouls) are not included here:

Chthonians

Deep Ones

Miri Nigri

Nagaae

Tellurian Sophonts: This group includes non-human sophonts which evolved naturally on the Earth:

Gnoph-Keh

Hyperboreans

The Serpent Folk

Human-Adjacent Sophonts: Humanity is not alone among notable homonid sophonts, and some of their relatives may be founds below:

The Calabash Peoples

The Ei'ei

Ghouls

Extraterrestrial Sophonts: Even ignoring the precursors, other sophonts have come into being outside of Earth--some in other parts of this solar system, some in other systems entirely, others still in different transforms of reality:

Aihai

Shan

Yekub

Y'nathoggua