|
|
| Line 40: |
Line 40: |
|
| |
|
| --- | | --- |
|
| |
|
| |
| The lore I've been using/pulling out of my ass for alraunes, in summary:
| |
| Before contact with space, alraunes were essentially giant mobile Venus flytraps that lived in migrating tribal communities, feeding on the giant bugs also native to Loam.
| |
| Eventually a bunch of human colonists/space explorers were flying by one day and said "whoah look at that rad-ass green planet let's totally set up a colony there", so they did! And after they settled in the mountains and started getting comfy, they started reporting more and more losses and vanishes as Alraune were pretty much picking them off. Eventually, they stop communicating with folks off planet altogether, and people get worried.
| |
| Meanwhile, the colonists have all been either killed or captured by Alraune who were a combination of curious about this new source of meat as well as angry about the incursion on the land they thought of solely as theirs.
| |
| In the process Alraune society gets a big bump in its growth and change as now they've got all this cool manufactured shit and tech and wow, and it allows a more stationary lifestyle based around insect farming and cultivation to flourish, along with slowly reverse engineered technological advancements.
| |
| Eventually more people arrive to figure out why none of the first group of people are responding, but oh shit- these guys are actually heavily armed and equipped for the environment ahead of time.
| |
| All this results in a planet-wide violent conflict until eventually big important power[I was using solgov previously] negotiates a ceasefire. Dunno who that'd be now, since Solgov was cut.
| |
| The gist of the agreement said the Alraune get all the land that was captured back, which was a big deal since a lot of important Alraune are stationary and were on captured land, but are required to let colonists do whatever colony growth shit they want in the mountains, where the atmosphere is easier on humans anyway.
| |
| Fast forward to present, since Alraune tend to have very long lifespan, most older ones are still very much against the interstellar society and the colonists, and generally retain no communication outside of Loam, while being as prickly and unfriendly to colonists as they can get away with.
| |
| The more recent generations have adapted much more though and time has seen more and more alraune leaving Loam for space, something older alraune look on with scorn/essentially calling heretical.
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
| SOS PERSONAL BACKSTORY
| |
|
| |
| One parent is anti-colonists, anti-solgov veteran of the war since gone stationary- general prick, upset at sound's leaving. The one who fertilized her seed, sound refers to using they/them pronouns or father if she has to. Spent much more time with sound, since ego demanded he try and raise her into his beliefs. Because he is a prominent stationary alraune and the center of a well-known garland, his continued support of sound in an effort to change her mind has left her rather well off and with the very smallest bit of celebrity status by association on her homeworld. She continues to work her ass off, though, because she knows this goodwill will not last forever.
| |
|
| |
| Other parent had less interaction and while still very much held to the idea that loam is The Place where alraunes Should Be, most of worldview was focused on beauty and fun and parties, and she has little negative feelings toward the colonists. Still not a fan of garlands who actively industrialize and and develop loam, but doesn't antagonize them nearly as heavily as the other parent.
| |
|
| |
| Sound, like both of her parents, is in love with the untouched natural beauty of loam, to the point where her image of nature is as a semi-deity: A powerful force that perpetuates its cycle and is beautiful to behold. Notably, though, as she grew past fifteen, she became increasingly upset with the politics and arguing between garlands on her homeworld, and combined with her desire to see how nature showed itself on other worlds led to a wanderlust, culminating in her leaving the planet at twenty-eight and promptly finding a place where she could work that was also on a planet because she discovered just how uncomfortable interplanetary travel made her. She has only returned home once, and during this visit met with both of her parents, who both expressed their dismay at her continued refusal to stay home, but neither were able to change her mind. (Another, recent trip ended with her father cutting off monetary support and saying something along the lines of I don't want to see your face around here again)
| |
|
| |
| BIOLOGY SHIT FROM THE VORE WIKI
| |
| Alraune vary somewhat in their body type, able to change their forms with enough time and focus; this manifests most apparently in motility and outward appearance, though their underlying anatomy tends to be fairly uniform. All Alraune possess many hypha-like tendrils running the length of their entire body. These tendrils also double as a neural network, giving the Alraune a high awareness of their surroundings. Lower body parts may lack these tendrils or have only strings running down the lower body to protect their neural network. This aspect makes most Alraune somewhat slower and less balanced on their feet. The lower body of an Alraune tends to be either a collection of thick, vine-like tentacles; a set of human-like legs; or most commonly a bulb covered in large petals. Vines sprout out of the base of their bulb, which they use to absorb nutrients out of the soil. These vines are strong enough to allow for movement, although slow. Following contact with colonists, most Alraune have begun to adopt human-like forms from the waist up, mostly feminine in nature, and taking on very bright colors or appetizing fruits. Alraune possess relatively few organs and are rather simple organisms. Their digestive system is a series of chambers lined with modified leaves through which ingested material is broken down to its base components by means similar to a pitcher plant and stored as glucose and starch in other regions of the body, sublimated with large quantities of water. Sometimes this expresses in storage of berries, cereals and other edible plant parts peripheral to the Alraune's body. Due to the diffuse nervous system Alraune have, removing these parts is nearly painless and Alraune are known to self-cannibalize to regain nutrients saved in such a way. Some Alraune choose to grow edible sections with hallucinogenic properties to lure potential prey. The skin of the Alraune consists of three layers. The first layer is a thin, slightly waxy layer which prevents water loss. The second is a mottled, porous layer that enables respiration. The third layer is the mesophyll, which is responsible for most photosynthesis, and which gives their skin its green color. Deeper flesh is increasingly pale due to lack of light to stimulate chlorophyll production. Alraune possess two or more sensory organs capable of seeing light in the usual, humanoid visual spectrum with a slightly higher sensitivity to blue light, due to needing it for photosynthesis. The appearances of these can vary from complex, almost runic patterns, to irises, to simple spots. However, they are typically a bright red color. They also possess a vomeronasal organ, which allows them to both sample the air with a forked tongue, and pick up a wide array of frequencies. Hearing is accomplished through patches of their body that bear short, stiff trichome coverings, picking up vibrations in the air much the same the hair in a cochlea do. However, some have formed ears that appear similar to a human’s filled with hearing-trichomes. Alraune also possess two balancing organs along the back of their neck. Their ‘mouths’ have faux-teeth and a tongue which provides a sense of taste. Alraune have no anatomical difficulties speaking Galactic Common.
| |
| Naturally, Alraune engage in sexual reproduction, using flower-like structures that are typically internal and shaded by modified leaves to prevent contamination or their untimely physical removal. However, an Alraune is just as capable of molding their reproductive parts as they are any other part of their anatomy. In typical anatomy, the "female" bulb-like seeds grow at the end of a long, motile tendril. The seeds vary considerably but largely are around the size of a softball, possessing a firm rind with a narrow central opening. Colors vary from a very pale, green-tinted white to a nearly black aubergine color, and come with wildly varying surface coloration. The "male" parts are compartment-like structures, taking the form of a small motile slit or pore. It is bound by a similar rind, and produce pollen that, when a seed is inserted by the tendril, sprays out to fertilize it. By this same mechanism, Alraune can 'self-fertilize, being fully hermaphroditic. After the seed is fertilized, it requires a period of two to four days in moist conditions for the central opening to close fully and to harden and retain water. Typically, this is by leaving it inside the recipient until it dislodges naturally around the time this process is complete. At this point the seed is viable and can be planted, cryogenically preserved for later use, etc. Once either planted or otherwise left in a hospitable environment after the rind hardens up, root-like projections of a dendritic structure emerge, drawing moisture and nutrients from the substrate it is placed on. However, successful early development is obligately reliant on external energy, either relying on parasitizing nearby plants via root-like structures, intense hydroponic support, decomposing organic matter, or the body of a host creature to thrive. Over a period of a few months, the rind will steadily grow until it reaches the size of a large watermelon. Eventually the rind will spontaneously rupture and a newly born Alraune emerges. It will whittle away the single umbilical-like root tendril joining it to the rind; in communal settings this umbilicus is ritualistically severed.
| |
