The pudding origins are unknown, though believed to be from far off-world. They consist of single-celled lifeforms that exist in a colonial manner, moving and engulfing prey much like a slime mold – though at far larger scales. Many puddings use active ion exchanges in aqueous solutions to extract every last iota of raw materials to serve as reaction mass to derive energy at even the smallest scales. All puddings known are oxygen-breathing puddings, though they can often survive for extended periods of time at lower oxygen levels. Puddings eat raw minerals and materials, but prefer to dine on already-living materials.

Many puddings are specialized to differing environs. For example, the white puddings are somewhat exothermic, existing just above the freezing temperature, and often move through and on icy terrains – 'eating' raw materials suspended in the ice and the minerals in the surrounding areas. Black puddings are often found in the depths of caves, and have no UV-damage repairing genes. Yellow puddings tend to have a high sulfur content, utilizing sulfuric acid as their primary digestive juice.