Dionae lore re-work/reformat

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Auraknight
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Dionae lore re-work/reformat

Post by Auraknight »

Basically entirely done, but vastly appreciate any input. A great deal of this is simply re-implementing the 2014 info we have on the wiki up to our standards, as well as adding some additional lore-appropriate additions that have propped up in the seven years since the original's writing, including some varieties from the original creator that I enjoyed. There are some features of the race here that I intend to try and get implemented, either from porting or adapting from other servers, such as the katamari concept, and cooperative control, (which would really require more players, and perhaps a change in the whitelist restrictions to be only for spawning as an adolescent, independent dionae.) as well as having the nymphs appear more frequently on the station as random events, such as clogging thrusters, absorbing radiation, and getting stuck in vending machines, for low-danger incidents that bring the lore of what they should be more to the fore, and perhaps even methods of ghostspawn roles.


'''[Dionea]'''
'''Introduction'''
Dionaea, Diona for singular, are sentient plant-like (note, not actually plants) creatures that have a three stage life process: seed, nymph, and 'adult'. Seeds grow into diona nymphs, which eventually evolve into adults. They are not a race meant for science experimentation, and killing one is considered to be murder.

Of note, while nymphs born from seeds are not legally recognized as a person, and thus not counted as murder, adolescent and beyond gestalts are granted sapient rights, as are the nymphs spawned from their separation.

A gestalt is a gathering, or grouping of dionaea, which operate in unison, typically in a fashion that represents somthing of a hive-mind to an outside perspective.

While Dionaea is the most common term for them, several other scientific and monikers have arisen, such as:
Spectraphage, called as such for the wide varieties of radiation they are capable of eating, and
Doonai, Doon for singular. a jokingly friendly style term, some go so far as to modify it with additional 'o' every decade.


'''Biology'''

<u>Physicality:</u>
Dionaea for the most part don't 'breathe' in any sense. They sometimes intake and expel gasses as a means of discharging waste and assisting in internal cooling, but they have no dedicated exchange membranes or respiratory channels. They don't have a central circulatory system either, instead using capillary action within the segments of their bodies to move fluids and nutrients around (similar to many plants). Their nervous system is underdeveloped and decentralized, with the neural matter of the component dionaea merging into a complex strata of tissue that can often take up many cubic meters of space. For this reason, the large a diona becomes, the slower it will think, but the larger its information processing capacity will become.

Dionaea are immune to the pressures and temperatures of space, including that of the stars they inhabit, capable of soaking up most if not all forms of radiation as food. Further, due to the gestalt nature, Dionaea adults have a theortically unlimited lifespan, barring external hostile pressures. While an individual nymph's lifespan is limited to the chemicals and resources they're born with, from the Gestalt or pod plant, and they live until the resources are used up or their means for processing them wear out. On average, this could be a few days, but potentially far longer if they find methods to feed and restore said resources. An individual nymph is a fairly transient creature, akin to a cell.

Dionaea don't have DNA. Their precise means of storing reproductive information is unknown to modern science but does not match any currently known form of cellular life. Dionaea are cell-based, but their cells are very large (visible to the naked eye), fibrous and lack distinct nuclei. Every diona is physically and functionally identical to any other, barring acquired injuries and conditioned behaviours or attitudes.

Skrell research has sketched a rough picture of how the diona clusters function. Much like all earth life, dionaea maintain complex systems of internal flora and fauna. The gestalts are host to virus-like symbiotes that take complex molecules apart into their components and recombine them into useful forms. Over time, these strains have diverged and mutated, serving the dionaea gestalts as a means for disassembling and manipulating genetic material within the depths of the mass. The tremendous distributed processing power of a large gestalt combined with a means of controlling these strains allows for the examination and archival of the material.

The gestalts themselves maintain a state analogous to the diploid state of cell development. They are reproductively viable at this time, spawning new nymphs and maintaining their own mass by synthesizing more growth and food. Nymphs are analogous to haploid cells, only becoming viable for growth when merged with other dionaea. Station-grown nymphs are distinct from this (reproductively viable due to a single nymph) due to extensive conditioning developed by Skrell scientists and applied to the 'seed' nodules by volunteering gestalts. For this reason, such wandering dionaea tend not to form single gestalts, preferring to merge with other masses from other spawning sites to maintain 'genetic' viability. All gestalts will normally contain at least one member from a mature gestalt as a means of transferring the molecule-parsing viruses into the new mass.

A mature gestalt is structured in several layers. The topmost and thinnest is for the most part ridged and finned for heat dissipation and signalling via Rootspeak. Below this is a layer of 'flesh' and cavities in which nymphs move and thrive, as well as gas and matter storage analogous to fat in animals. The neural strata and nutrient capillaries are spread throughout this layer and several dedicated layers below it. Between the neural strata and the outer husk lies a layer of cavities and tissue responsible for maintaining the radiation-harvesting blisters dotting the diona underside. The blisters are iridescent meter-wide bubbles of layered crystalline material that absorb several wide varieties of radiation for use in photosynthesis. The layer surrounding them is a combination of dead, hard diona-flesh, harvested rock, and synthesized 'filler' intended to absorb heat and hold the gestalt together.


<u>Mentality:</u>

Dionae are highly curious, intelligent (if slow) and passive. They feel pain of a sort, though in a very different manner to humans, but are only able to emulate emotion. An 'adolescent' diona will generally take on observed traits of the entities around it as a side-effect of the instinctive information-gathering and hoarding that each diona conducts.

They have no concept of personal or mental space, and those who are new to human culture tend to be excessively touchy-feely or invasive of privacy.

While the only dionaea contacted so far have existed in the upper atmosphere of gas planets and the photosphere of stars, the gestalts have made oblique references to 'deep dwellers' that live within the surface of the stars themselves. Such a state makes them impossible to contact with conventional transmissions, and no pattern or encoding has been detected in the emissions from the system; it is unclear if the gestalts still exist or if they ever existed at all.


'''History'''

<u>Origin System:</u>
Dionaea's 'origin' system is lost to time. Any individual adult Dionae is compromised of sources from many many places, including back and forth transferal between adults in distant stars. Due to the nature of following stellar winds to send nymphs grand distances, it is very difficult to determine which specific starsystem they came from, though many scientific bodies have theories. Charting said paths and currents, along with estimations on how said flows changed over time, has provided rough, and inconclusive ideas of where the original system was, or is.

<u>Homeworld:</u>
Likewise, as an entirely spacefairing species, the Dionaea have no home planet, or indeed, any planet that could be considered entirely under the occupation of the Dionaea. Stars, on the other hand, are frequent hotspots for Dionaea, and are usually uncontested in their occupation. Such occupation is either in some distance of orbit, to any degree of closeness to the sun. The deepest contact that has successfully been made is within the photosphere of a sun, but many adults say that further gestalts live deeper within, though no contact has been made with such.

<u>History:</u>
Diona do not keep a history in the same sense that we do, and the various gestalt groups each have their own notation of history. Though they where once far more difficult to find, with assistance from other space-fairing species the nymphs have spread far and wide across know, and likely unknown, space. With the standard lifecycle, gestalt superstructures are slow in spread, but persistent in growth. Nymphs from gestalt that decided upon the destination, or even longer generational chains showing as they deem their accumulated knowledge means that when a choice of spreading is made it is much less a matter of 'if' rather then 'when', as they slowly filter in over hundreds of generations. While keeping a particular unestablished spot free of them isn't innately difficult, most of the more understanding gestalts leaving for a different destination upon being asked, it is simply a matter of attrition. What history they do keep is that of their favourite: Archived decoded molecules and materials is a favoured form of record keeping and interest.

<u>Current Racial Status/Government:</u>
Dionaea have nothing resembling government. They speak about the chorus or song of a group in the same manner that one would talk about teamwork or membership in a group.
<u>Notable Racial Factions/Entities</u>

The Diona can be vaugely catagorised into a few groups, though none are of opposing factions. The Nymphs, the Katamari, the Gestalts (adolescent) and Gestalts (mature) Independant nymphs are generally regarded as low intelligence, Katamari, which is an inbetween point of gestalts, and nymphs. Several nymphs have gathered into a communally cooperative mass, actively seeking other nymphs, the communal knowlidge at this point being smarter then the sum of it's parts. Upon reaching a sufficient number of Nymphs, the Katamari will soon transform into an adolescent Gesalt. Gesalts are considered properly sentient, if not more then a touch slow. With enough time, learning, and opportunity, the adolescent will move to a point determined by it's nymphs or external pressures, and merge with other adolescents, to form a adult gestalt, or join an already existing adult gestalt, with these adults forming the final catagory, of Dionae who are now too large to effectively operate at a crew-level.

<u>Technological Advancements as Understood by NanoTrasen:</u>
NT maintains a good working relationship with the gestalts, exchanging star maps, planetary settlement rights and bluespace comms and FTL engines for various services, and many of the younger Diona have actually formed their bodies around starship components and hab modules to enable them to journey across all manner of inhabited systems. Their techological advancements seem to be entirely relegated to tech that they've caught drifting, traded for, been gifted, or stumbled upon. Most technology is unnessesary for Dionaea life, and thus recreation of it is only so useful as it's purpose interacting with other intelligent species. However, their ability to reconstruct genetic matter, and molecule-parsing ability, combined with the supercomputer power of the larger adults has several notable implications.

'''Culture'''

<u>Life as a Diona:</u>
To skip the question of what came first, the Gesalt or the Nymphs, we start our branch of Dionae life as a nymph. This variety of which come from the stellar drifting nymphs, scattered like dandelion seeds from the adult gestalts. These nymphs cling to, and infiltrate ships, stations, asteroids, and anything else they encounter. usually feasting off of the engine radiation, getting caught up in vending machines, attempting to learn about anything they can. Many will die, disposed of as if a pest, or suffering some variety of misfortune in pursuit of learning. The ones who survive will eventually meet with either an adolescent gesalt, and be incorporated, or, in our case, meet with nymphs, strays and survivors from other adults, or perhaps even nymphs grown from the seeds commonly found on a ship or station. Two nymphs, amicable to merging, will form a Katamari, sacrificing the advantages of the small individual size for that of strength in numbers, rolling about, collecting interesting things, and other willing nymphs, growing in size. These Katamari can be very unstable, as the nymphs are not fully in tune with each-other's wills, and a separation of interest can result in the dispersal into individual nymphs, into separate katamari, or simply rolling back and forth, or even in circles, as each tries to follow it's individual will. Upon reaching a critical mass, however, a feat only usually performs by a group of nymphs that has managed to cooperate, they will have the ability to become a gestalt adolescent. Fresh adolescent are still prone to the separation and division of interest that the Katamari suffer, but the greater volume and processing power usually means that they are capable of working a system that will evolve until eventually the whole mass becomes an unmistakably singular entity, with all the same shared memories and learning. Once this stage is reached, even upon later separation, which is capable at any point in a Gestalt's life, the separate entities resulting from the split are more akin to copies of the original. Forcefully separated adolescent gestalts, (into Nymph components) can usually re-merge into the same adolescent, given the time to katamari and recover. From here, depending on the surroundings, the adolescent may take up a position as crew on a ship, or any number of things, learning, growing, and improving.

<u>Language:</u>
While smaller Dionaea are capable of vocalizing languages from all manner of other races, thanks to their fluid form, they tend to do so in a monotone or as a series of heavy bass rumbles or grinds. They come across as very slow and not very smart in Siik'tajr due to the relative slowness of their 'ear' and 'tail' growths, but communicate very well in Sinta'unathi. They cannot speak Skrellian at all due to the pitch variations required.

Their own language, colloquially called Rootsong, is based predominantly on the emission of radio and heat waves and as such is very very difficult to speak without several hundred kilograms of specialized machinery. Luckily, a diona nymph can harvest the rudiments of language from blood samples and communication is rarely an issue.

Due to the gestalt nature of the Dionaea, frequent difficulty in the 'I' verses 'We', depending on the learning they acquire.

<u>Naming Conventions:</u>
They do not have names as such, and when asked for one by other races will often supply an excessively long and poetic description of a memory they consider fundamental to their makeup ex. 'the spatter of starlight across the face of the iron mountain and the deep note of the planetsong'. This has been known to make Heads of Personnel need to go have a lie down when filling out ID cards.

<u>Religion:</u>
Dionaea have a somewhat strained relationship with religion. As a standard, they do not have one of their own, though are more then capable of following one if they learn of such during their travels. Due to their nature among the celestial bodies, there has been attribution to the 'starspawn', with reason. The larger gestalts to not tend to follow any specific religion, due to the vastly conflicted religious, or lack there-of, concepts they aquired from their parts. though they cannot be said to be unaccommodating of it, due to the significance it holds with some of their trading partners.

<u>Relationships With Other Species:</u>

Dionaea are, for the most part, entirely peaceful and compatible with all know interstellar cultures. Their preferred habitat is completely uninhabitable, being in the upper reaches of a hellish inferno, and since they have little to no use for money and a fondness for interaction with other intelligent races, they serve as excellent emergency berths for ships lost in unfriendly and underpopulated space. However, less socialized Dionae, typically nymphs, may exhibit aggressive behavour depending on what they've learned.

Humanity: Humankind and the various numerous subspecies tend to view the Dionaea as a largely harmless, but fairly invasive, issue. 'Domesticated' Gesalts can be useful, because they will encyst your supermatter drive, becoming a self-maintaining power source that you can also play scrabble with, but the more feral ones happily clog up your thrusters to feed on the output.

The Vox: Diona and Vox are frequently found in a position of cautious apathy. Due to the learning of Diona, a specific gestalt's opinion is likely to be similar to that of the group they learned from, though as with others they tend to a more 'innocent' view. However, the tendancy for stray nymphs to go missing leads to somewhat strained relations, especially in areas with the larger gesalts, who's communication methods have mapped a relation between a lack of presence, and hungry vox.
However, due to the Vox's spaceborn status, Dionae stations can prove useful as a docking point when far from a familiar shoal.

The Skrell: Dionaea and the Skrell have several scientific and exploratory contracts, and at least one Diona gestalt has converted itself to a a very notable skrellian exploration vessel, forming many of the key functions of the ship.

The Unathi: are for the most part uninvolved with the Dionaea due to their relative lack of space travel, but some adherents of various reforestation religions on Moghes consider the creatures as proof that if the heart of a sodding SUN can support life, the sand wastes are certainly up for it.

The Teshari: Find some kinship amongst the gesalt nature of the Diona, drawing corrolation with the pack nature the Teshari have. Likewise, the amicablility of trading, and useful nature of the station-grade gestalts means that wandering packs and fleets can frequently be found interacting with them in space.

<u>Rumors and Speculation:</u>
Diona is only the most ubiquitous name due to an unfortunate misunderstanding during first contact where an unsocialized Gesalt 'drank a xenobotanist like a wild cherry Capri Sun'
'Deep ones', dionae who live deep within stars, and apparently thrive

'''OOC Notes'''
<u>Etiquette Guide for [Race]:</u>
While you can split into individual nymphs, and might indeed wish to do so to sate some degree of curiosity, it is considered an exhaustive process, and generally slightly unfavourable
If you are playing as a katamari, or freshly merged adolescent, try to cooperate somewhat with your team! you're in this together, after all.
Understand that individual nymphs are usually considered pests. You can lament their loss, but unless they came from you, or another dionae in a division, they're basically animals, even if controlled by players. Try not to be too much of a nusance.

<u>Important Racial Terminology:</u>
Nymph: A singular Dionae, usually not far out from being a seed.
Katamari: A group of nymphs, typically 2-5 strong, in a ball-ish mass.
Adolescent: The typical Dionae crew member. A mass of nymphs and support structure grown to facilitate learning.
Adult: The stage after adolescent, where the gestalt merges into a larger structure that thinks too slowly due to it's size then can qualify for an average person.
Chorus: a fanciful name the Dionae use to refer to adolescent and adult Dionae, due to all the nymphs sounding in harmony with their Rootsong.
Deep Ones: A theoretical adult gestalt that lives deep within a star. Far too deep to converse with unless you are another adult, and the existence of which is only confirmed in rumour and the word of dionae.
Gestalt: The term for a group of Dionae, similar to that of a chorus, but typically not used by the Dionae, even if they understand it's concept.
Last edited by Auraknight on Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:04 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Drofoljaelisglis
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Re: Dionae lore re-work/reformat

Post by Drofoljaelisglis »

Concept is good but there are some issues that need to be fixed before I can give my approval. Criticisms listed below where specified.
This has been known to make Heads of Personnel need to go have a lie down when filling out ID cards.
lol, my favorite part of the read.


Minor broad criticisms: More grammar/spellchecking is needed throughout the proposal.


Specific criticisms:

Introduction
The term gestalt appears here but is not defined. Since there is the possibility new players reading the wiki may not know what a gestalt is (in relation to a Diona specifically), please define it here. You do not need to (and should not) be overly technical for it, just provide enough detail so the uninitiated can recognize what that term means in relation to the diona.
They are not a race meant for science experimentation, and killing one is considered to be murder. They are not a race meant for science experimentation, and killing one is considered to be murder. Of note, while station-grown, and unmerged nymphs are not legally recognised as a person, and thus not counted as murder, Nymphs spawned from the seperation of a crew gestalt are all considered wholly that individual. The killing of any one ranging in degree from assault, to murder.
This feels awkwardly written to me but is probably fine, I understand that the meaning is they have sapient rights and they're not a species intended for scientific experimentation in the way that nonsapient species are. You could re-write it to "Adult Dionae are granted sapient rights, and nymphs that emerge from an adult gestalt are granted the same rights. However, nymphs grown from a seed are not granted the same legal protections."
While Dionaea is the most common term for them, severeal other scientific and monikers have arisen, such as:
Spectraphage, called as such for the wide varieties of radiation they are capable of eating, and
Doonai, Doon for singular. a jokingly friendly style term, some go so far as to modify it with additional 'o' every decade.
This section as a whole could use special attention to grammar/spellchecking.


Biology
From a few things I read throughout the article, there is an implication that dionae are void-proof, or at least that they are not harmed by it. Please add that in here if that is the case. Also, please add a note on dionae lifespan.
The tremendous distributed processing power of a large gestalt combined with a means of controlling these strains allows for the examination and archival of the material, which the dionaea find quite interesting.
Consider removing the underlined section or instead transfer it to the Mentality subsection.


<u>Origin System:</u>
Dionaea's 'origin' system is lost to time. Due to the nature of following stellar winds to send nymphs grand distances, it is very difficult to determine which specific starsystem they came from, though many scientific bodies have theories
Expand more on this. Presumably researchers would have asked dionae capable of speaking Galactic Common about their origin system: come up with an answer to that, as it will be useful for both worldbuilding as well as an answer for dionae players if they are asked. On top of that, expand on some theories given rather than stating only that they exist.


<u>Homeworld:</u>
Likewise, as an entirely spacefairing species, the Dionaea have no home planet, or indeed, any planet that could be considered entirely under the occupation of the Dionaea. Stars, on the other hand, are frequent hotspots for Dionaea, and are usually uncontested in their occupation.
Clarify some: do you mean that dionae create space stations around stars and occupy it? Float around near the star? Or do you mean they literally live on the star itself?


<u>History:</u>
Diona do not keep a history in the same sense that we do, and the various gestalt groups each have their own notation of history. Though they where once far more difficult to find, with assistance from other space-fairing species the nymphs have spread far and wide across know, and likely unknown, space. With the standard lifecycle, gesalt superstructures are slow in spread, but persistant in growth. Nymphs from gesalt that decided upon the destination, or even longer generational chains showing as they deem their accumulated knowlidge means that when a choice of spreading is made it is much less a matter of 'if' rather then 'when', as they slowly filter in over hundreds of generations. While keeping a particular unestablished spot free of them isn't innately difficult, most of the more understanding gestalts leaving for a diffrent destination upon being asked, it is simply a matter of attrition. What history they do keep is that of their favourite: Archived decoded molecules,as mentioned in biology, is a favoured form of record keeping and interest.
This section as a whole could use special attention to grammar/spellchecking.


<u>The Typical Experience (Life on X/Life as X):</u>
Change the title to "Life as a Diona", as the X is a variable intended to be replaced with Homeworld/SpeciesName, and the diona do not have a former according to this proposal.
The ones who survive will eventuially meet with either an adolescent gesalt, and be incoperated, or, in our case, meet with nymphs, strays and survivors from other adults, or perhaps even grown from the seeds on a ship or station.
I don't know what you mean in the underlined part. Clarify please.


<u>Religion:</u>
Dionaea have a somewhat strained relationship with religion.
Elaborate on why.
The larger gesalts to not tend to follow any specific religion, though they cannot be said to be unaccomodating of it, due to the significance it holds with some of their trading partners.
This statement comes across as contradictory to the above.


<u>Relationships With Other Species:</u>
Dionaea are for the most part entirely peaceful and compatible with all know interstellar cultures.
Written oddly, "for the most part entirely" comes across as strange. I recommend rewriting it.
The Skrell: Dionaea and the Skrell have several scientific and exploratory contracts, and at least one Diona gestalt has converted itself to a simulacrum of the Skrell homeworld, been fitted with FTL engines, and hosted explorer parties as they warble across the cosmos.
Okay maybe I'm reading this wrong but is this saying that there exists a diona that is the size of the planet that has been given an FTL engine that goes around throwing parties across the galaxy
If so that's kind of wacky and probably should be trimmed


<u>Important Racial Terminology:</u>
You should probably add gestalt here.

Auraknight
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Re: Dionae lore re-work/reformat

Post by Auraknight »

Drofoljaelisglis wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 2:53 pm

<u>Origin System:</u>
Dionaea's 'origin' system is lost to time. Due to the nature of following stellar winds to send nymphs grand distances, it is very difficult to determine which specific starsystem they came from, though many scientific bodies have theories
Expand more on this. Presumably researchers would have asked dionae capable of speaking Galactic Common about their origin system: come up with an answer to that, as it will be useful for both worldbuilding as well as an answer for dionae players if they are asked. On top of that, expand on some theories given rather than stating only that they exist.
The Skrell: Dionaea and the Skrell have several scientific and exploratory contracts, and at least one Diona gestalt has converted itself to a simulacrum of the Skrell homeworld, been fitted with FTL engines, and hosted explorer parties as they warble across the cosmos.
Okay maybe I'm reading this wrong but is this saying that there exists a diona that is the size of the planet that has been given an FTL engine that goes around throwing parties across the galaxy
If so that's kind of wacky and probably should be trimmed


<u>Important Racial Terminology:</u>
You should probably add gestalt here.
Adjustments have been made!
the two parts mentioned in quote bear debate: I left the origin system as lost in time due to the Dionae not keeping track of it in a meaningful manner. Where they came from lacking in importance to them, compared to where they're going. Still, expanded on what I meant by theories.

As for the second, I fairly agree, however, the 'established lore' that I was under the impression of not supposing to change has 'dyson sphere' sized dionae, which by matter of scale are larger and entirely engulfing, stars. I'm leaving it in for the moment until further clarification on if this is really too outlandish to include, but I'm not against it's removal.

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