- Polyphyly - "A polyphyletic group or assemblage is a set of organisms, or other evolving elements, that have been grouped together based on characteristics that do not imply that they share a common ancestor that is not also the common ancestor of many other taxa[...] The term is often applied to groups that share similar features[...] which are explained as a result of convergent evolution." A familiar example is Protista, "any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus." - Wikipedia - Polyphyly
A Solarian is a polyphyletic classification1 of a wide variety of species that evolve amid the stable layer of reality that arises from the extreme output of a sun's surface. The radioactive chaos is after all the product of harmonious principles, which after an interim of incoherence resolve into a super-material harmony that is something like a second layer of reality in the material universe. The development Solarian life is a near-inevitability with suns of a certain mass and heat, though they take a wide variety of forms and are generally not related.
Most Solarians cannot perceive the material plane, just as we cannot perceive theirs. Some communication is possible on the psychic plane, but their psychology is truly alien to anything on the material plan.
Typologies
Solarians exemplify extremely diverse patterns, making them difficult to categorize neatly. Generally they are categorized among multiple typologies at once. Cladograms are irrelevant between species of Solarian, since none of them share lineage.
Numeric Typology
Solarian species vary widely in the number of their members, running the gamut from an individuated species somewhat resembling the intelligent life of the material world, to sun-spanning Singletons, the only exemplars of their species.
Individuated
Individuated species are those comprised of multiple separate sentiences, which may share a corporeal form or not. Those that share a body are the subject of some debate
Colonial
Colonial species just what they sound like. Don't be a dipshit.
Singleton
Singleton species are those which are comprised by a single member. Generally such a member encompasses the entire livable space of the sun, though there are some exceptions.
Sentience Typology
They're diverse. You get it.
Material-Relevance Typology
Passive
Passive species either do not take notice of the material plane, or have no interest in it.
Active
Active species are confirmed to be aware of the material plane,
Bio-Temporal Typology
Accelerated
The species has a lifecycle so short that communication with the material plane is impossible.
Material-Scale
Decelerated
The species' perception of time proceeds at such a slow pace that communication with it is near-useless. You can send them a postcard, but your species might be extinct by the time they respond. Plus it will burn up in the sun. Also the mail doesn't deliver to the sun.