Dionae

Overview
The Dionae that most people will see will come in two forms: a small, stout nymph, and a working form that is best put as "a moving, bipedal bush". Regardless of their appearance - they are not truly plants - genetics point out that they have functions common to animals, plant and mold cells. As a result, they have quite a unique language, composed of an almost melodic combination of rattling, rustling, creaking and various vocalizations.

Legally, they are complicated - due to their nature, a nymph is considered an animal - and thus technically have rights, mostly in the realm of animal abuse if harmed/killed with no purpose. However gestalts are a little bit more complicated, with terms and conditions - though it can be summed up as considering a gestalt as an individual, and thus termination of one would result in a murder charge just as standard crew.

And that same nature also created a grammatical exception; Diona refers to the nymph, and Dionae is plural - multiple nymphs. However, because gestalts are entities in themselves, there is a "plural of plurals" - Dionaea, defining multiple groups of Diona.

They are truly omnivorous - having shown being capable of quickly assimilating almost any matter to grow - but generally do not eat, as sources of radiation (electromagnetic or otherwise) are claimed sufficient to sustain them. While they are highly intelligent - and even quick to think, in some cases - their physical speed is extremely low, to the point where even a wounded person could outrun them. It is assumed to be due to evolutionary traits favoring energy economy over speed.

An immature Diona nymph, through means still not fully understood, can assimilate information - knowledge of language, most notably - through genetic material, most often being a minuscule blood sample. Research is being actively done in this domain - as if these results could be replicated, it could lead to extremely efficient learning processes.

To apply to be one of the strange, plant-like Dionaea, apply here

Mechanics

 * Custom language accessible with :r prefix
 * Weakness to fire
 * Feeds off light
 * Completely unaffected by atmosphere (or lack thereof)
 * Completely immune to pressure and temperature (or lack thereof) - can venture into space with nothing more than a flashlight for food
 * Heals brute damage when exposed to radiation
 * Walks/runs slowly
 * Can absorb nymphs through context menu

History
The Dionae's history is highly debated - with no significant evidence, xenoarcheological or actual, towards an origin point - most notably due to the tendency of space-bound gestalt's seeds to travel immense distances. The species itself does not have concrete information on this subject - however many people of all species have linked them to mythological being, as it is thought that the species is old enough to have spread to a significant portion of the galaxy, including all of the currently colonized areas.

Discovery, Part One - The Conglomerate
The Dionae are considered to have been discovered three times.

The first discovery - the one that proved their existence - was an immense pod-like gestalt. It is theorized to have contained upwards of a thousand nymphs, protected in a thick, haphazard organic shell that took the shape around whatever body it hit and integrated within itself.

The entity was put into observation by its Skrell discoverers, being labeled as a simple organic anomaly - the lack of atmosphere and contact making communication not even a thought. Interaction did not happen until much later.

Discovery, Part Two - The Organic Craft
The Dionae were found, the second time, in 2426. An anomalous reading tipped off a scout ship - part of a Human-Skrell joint practice operation. A low-intensity yet high-frequency energy signature in the middle of seemingly nowhere, far in deep space.

Upon investigation, a large mass - now known to be the result of six hundred nymphs being overgrown - was present. It was definitely organic - yet it showed readings similar to a space craft, including a simple (and empty) supermatter reactor and some sort of rudimentary drive. It seemed inactive.

However, upon approach - the craft took life, quickly dashing towards one of the human frigates, shrugging off the firepower and attaching itself to the ship. It moved like nothing they had ever seen - a captain of the nearby frigate even provided this description: "Like a fish moving as if space was an ocean".

It quickly infiltrated it, bending hull and causing breeches, eventually reaching the ship's own power plant, siphoning power off. The ship saw no further damage - however it was already done, all the engineering decks were breached and the ship no longer had enough power for the engines.

Under the orders of the Skrell Fleet Admiral (at least the equivalent of it) and with the approval of the incapacitated ship's captain, the exercise was canceled and the ships returned home, requesting a few science vessels and a rescue shuttle to be sent to them. Unfortunately, when they did arrive roughly a week later, no life was found aboard. The ship was considered derelict - and the vessels returned home, with a warning being placed on both of their star maps about a possibly hostile lifeform there. This event also caused a rigorous security increase in the observation of the first structure, causing the Dionae to be officially labeled as "potentially hostile to Humans and Skrell"

Discovery, Part Three - The Dead Planet
The final time the Dionae were found was in Epsilon Ursae Minoris - where a large piece of their home planet had crashed into another world. The world in question was found by Skrell Captain Weriu Tup - who had been exploring stars on the behalf of the Jargon Empire, in order to find new habitable planets for expansion. That particular world had attracted attention due to two main factors, which conflicted with one another: the readings were highly unusual, yet all of the planet's landmass was covered in greenery.

Of course, such a thing was exceptional, and warranted more investigation. And so, over time, several more vessels - under the guise of a 'scientific fleet' lead by Captain Tup - investigated it, took readings, analyzed it. And with that came more and more strangeness - organic structures, strangely coherent signals, and so on. It was not until much later - after a scientist applied a cryptoanalytic AI (before the widespread cessation of research occurred) that they realized that the planet seemed sentient. It is during this time that the first attempted communications with Dionae were made successfully, albeit primitively - the Dionae only had rudimentary radio communication devices. Bolstered by such a discovery, Captain Tup managed a landing, an AI interface translating between the Rootsong and him.

The Captain stayed, at first, for a few weeks - learning much about the Dionae, and helping make a complete translation guide between the two. But time went by, and soon Captain Tup was forced to make a decision. A permanent agent was requested - he could either resign as a Captain and become the official ambassador of the Skrell with the Diona, or leave the planet. He chose the former - and stayed nine more years, until toxic flora ended his life.

Eventually, an agreement was made - the Dionae would get Skrell genetic samples (which allowed them to understand Skrellian - although their limited physiology prevented them from speaking it) and an information trade deal would be signed in favor of the Dionae - and in exchange, they would allow the collection of their seeds in the goal of creating more nymphs for research, and the Dionae would assist them in tasks, being a relatively inexpensive (and unrestricted) labor force.

However, the planet was quickly nicknamed "The Dead Planet" for two reasons - first, animal life seemed completely absent. As a matter of fact, except for the Dionae and a few select species of tough plants, the biodiversity was almost nil. Second, the thick coverage of Dionae growth meant that there could be no building potential - and so it meant that it was, technically, inhospitable for life, as no permanent settlements could be made.

A third reason, however, quickly found its way into the name: a few deaths occurred, and no body was ever found.

Aftermath of Contact
With this new-found information, the large object - the first sighting of Dionae - was finally contacted. They were informed of, and agreed to, the deal made in Epsilon Ursae Minoris. The contact delivered a wealth of information - about star movement, physics behaviors, material properties, and so on. In the end, the "Original Conglomerate" was towed, with their glee, in orbit of Nralakk, where it remains to this day the main source of dionae pods, nymphs, and seeds.

A second attempt was also made at contacting the "Diona Craft" - with success. Data was exchanged - valuable, in fact, as they had additional information about the phenomenon known to humans as the Bhowmick-Mukherji Effect, and helped improve efficiency in supermatter energy collection. Unfortunately, a piece of information given by this gestalt permanently damaged Dionae public opinion.

Of course, with the current status, the question was asked: where is the crew?

Correlated with the logs acquired later, the scenario became clear. The Diona's infiltration of the power plant not only caused the engines to fail, but life support. With all the breeches present, it did not take long for the crew to suffocate and die. And once that was done, the Diona (and it is quoted) "simply assimilated their form to learn about your species and conserve matter".

This information, while held "classified" for a long time, eventually were leaked to the public by disgruntled and scared sailors - on both human and skrell sides - earning them the nickname, among humans, of "Gravemind" in reference to a 21st century videogame. The Skrell were more keen in calling them "Saapimaa Rakhomm", or "Deathflower". In general, it made a lot of people quite wary of them.

Integration in Society
Their value, however - along with general helpfulness, high curiosity and impressive intelligence, even to the Skrell - gave the Dionae enough going for them that they were not phased out, and are commonly seen aboard space stations and spacecraft, especially human-owned. The Skrell have, however, started a new program to find and appropriate any other Dionae groups to ensure proper incorporation - or destruction, should the group be too dangerous. This program has already uncovered three dozen gestalts.

Mythological associations
Bearing a wood-like appearance, a small bulbous nymph and with the tales of necrophagy, the Dionae have been said to actually have been the species behind several mythical creatures - such as the humans' Green Man and Leshy, and even the Mandragora and Man-Eating Tree. Most notably - it has been linked to a wise, ancient God of Life by some Skrell - the Oernabi (Tree-God), who was said to be benevolent to those seemed worthy. Such a belief spawned the Dienabi religion - the term literally meaning "tree child" - which stipulates that it is possible to ascend to the status of a noble Diona by protecting them with your life - after which they absorb and transform the martyr. Captain Weiru Tup is considered to be the first "ascended" of this kind, earning him almost as much veneration.

Culture
The Dionae does not have a universal culture - mainly due to the fact that there are several clusters separated by vast distances, and as such Dionae can vary as much between groups as entire species can - the only two common factor being the naming conventions, which when translated seem to be based around actions or experiences (such as "Leaf that Grasps the Sky" or "Wind Howling through Ocean") and the Rootsong.

Strangely enough - they see each body as an individual - as such, while a larger gestalt can identify with a name, any group that splits from it usually adopt another name, despite the links between the two. It is theorized to be an easy method of categorizing data - by knowing what came from which experience.

They do not have any claims on any known world so far (the Epsilon Ursae Minoris world having agreed to be filed under the Jargon Empire), and as such no government or hierarchy - most relations and interactions being based on agreements and non-committed verbal/physical contracts, though many see the bond a gestalt has with it's "offspring" - the fragments of it it sends away - is often seen as their only form, as it is almost absolute.

Furthermore - the Dionaea never have developed any form of media-based communication - all knowledge disseminated to, from and between Dionae is usually made through verbal or physical means, under processes not yet fully understood. They do not have native writing, drawing or any form of tangible "archives" - yet gestalts still show impressive knowledge quite often, pointing towards the species having memory on-par, if not superior, to digital data storage solutions known to species. Most interestingly - the Dionaea have proven to defy known neuroscience by actually being able to learn to write, read and draw from other species, even without their known genetic learning, by simply observing. They are the only species, so far, known to be capable of such a feat - as it was thought that it was necessary to have generations of ingrained manual dexterity and muscle memory in the species to be able to do so.

However, there ARE several known groups with common cultural traits:

Epsilon Ursae Minor shell
The first Dionae to have communicated with other sapients, Dionae from EUM have become highly focused on being efficient, having learned and adapted to Skrell culture. Most notably - the system has become notorious for being a checkpoint shipyard as the Dionae there most often specialize in engineering tasks. Of course - the exposition to the Skrell has made them wary of synthetic intelligence. Furthermore, they are the only known group with an unified creation theory - according to them, Dionae have been at home in "the Great Void" - as paraphrased - since the beginning of their existence, and their creation should have been nothing short of impossible.

Reade Colossus
Discovered on Reade, this isolated and small group is sometimes seen on facilities across Tau Ceti. They are reported to be highly social, a Biesel bar even boasting an occasional Dionae bartending experience. This particular gestalt seems particularly knowledgeable about the goings of supply and civilian departments - though they are often seen with distrust due to the rumors of Reade.

"DSS Ophion" Colossus/Shell
Jokingly given the nickname "Dionae Space Station Ophion, Keeper of Life", the Ophion group is constituted of the "second-discovery" craft. Workers are regularly hauled between Ophion and Tau Ceti - as while they are seen as methodical and even cold, there is no denying their scientific methodology. However - all stations whom host one are instructed to keep an eye on them, should they become hostile for whichever reason.

Venter's Satellite
A new discovery, Venter's Satellite is one of the few known Satellite-class Dionaea. Rather reclusive, they seem to have an immense amount of knowledge in atmospheric systems, having designed a circulatory array within themselves. Slow and meticulous - this group has elected to provide the Sol Alliance with Worker bodies in exchange for large amounts of biomass from various species - with supplementary "credit" for sapient specimens. They do not seem to fear extinction at the phase they have found themselves to be in, with "shards" of the gestalt being of almost nil importance.

Other groups
Of course, these are the large known groups. There is a total of eighty-one known subgroups with various traits - and an unknown amount of yet undiscovered groups.

Language
While they can understand all languages, if exposed to the genes of a speaker, their physical limitations only allow them to speak a handful; most Dionae that work aboard human facilities only know Common and their language - however they are capable, due to their biological flexibility, to emulate most other languages - Gutter and Tradeband are easily talked (if a little slow with certain subjects who use only one Nymph to communicate), while Sinta'Unathi is spoken perfectly. Their physical slowness, however, makes it difficult to talk Sik'Maas, the meaning sometimes being lost in the slowness of their "ear" and "tail" limbs when grown. And Skrellian is simply out of their range - the speed and pitch variance needed for it is simply impossible to match through regular means. Their speech, regardless of which language they speak (except Rootsong for obvious reasons) sounds airy, with various tones - quite often multiple ones, as a popular means of speaking is by "balancing" words between the various nymphs.

Their language, named "Rootsong" (as translated), uses various limbs and membranes to imitate what most would see as "natural" sounds - leaves whisking in the wind, branches rubbing - and even some instrumental sounds, at times (flute-like sounds and drumming being common). However, to those who can discern it - Rootsong is a true orchestra of language. Syntax and grammar are simply part of the song, reflected in tempo and beats, while emotions are conveyed through pitch and the imitation of weather effects, such as wind and moisture. Most interestingly - the sound itself is only a byproduct of their body structure, as some humans have successfully learned Rootsong (without the emotional intonations) through violin and calliope organs. Xenohistorians often use the Rootsong as evidence that the Dionae evolved in conditions involving an atmosphere.

Biology
The Dionae, by virtue of being an unique lifeform, feature an anatomy seen almost nowhere else.

Their base form, the nymph, has very few organs (which have no set structure): the neuralias, which behaves like a cluster of neurons, the chlorodermates which attach together to form a light-sensitive skin that produces usable energy, the optical organs, the glucose sacs that process the sugars made by the chlorodermates, the "motor organs" which allow them (and their growths) to move, and the circulating system - which is equivalent to our heart, veins and arteries combined. While they usually only have a single circulation system and optical organs, the others can find themselves in almost combination of numbers as they dedicate themselves to a task - processing nymphs would have a higher count of neuralias, while those who dedicate to motion would have a higher number of glucose sacs and motor organs. Interestingly, Dionae are perfectly adapted to life in a vacuum environment.

However, it is to be noted that because they dedicate themselves to a task, they all require at least one of each organ to survive, and as such even a basic nymph has rudimentary intelligence, equivalent to a very young human child.

The work form that you all know are actually an amalgam of various nymphs - usually from three to six, and most often with one thought-dedicated linked to an energy-decidated and one to three motion-dedicated nymphs, all working together. Furthermore, this symbiosis means that if a nymph becomes sick - or even dead - it must be treated/removed for the Diona body to be healthy, though interestingly enough they will often reabsorb the dead nymph, with no obvious downsides, to be used as a source of nutrients.

Fortunately, they structure themselves (generally) in a manner that almost emulates most other sapient organisms, and as such surgery is not too complicated - with structures clearly functioning as motor devices, with a skeleton-like substructure made of a material similar to the core of a tower-cap mushroom, which unfortunately takes an extended amount of time to heal, and can be hazardous to nymphs if used regardless - much like the bones of a standard humanoid, down to the fact that they can (and should) be repaired just like one.

Even so, very little is actually known about the function of their larger gestalts - except that Dionae do not have natural deaths, and are functionally immortal as far as is known.

Reproduction
The Dionae follow a more plant-like reproduction cycle; they are asexual, and approximately once per year, a gestalt will release a large amount of seeds in it's surroundings (regardless of it's location), which will be carrying by whichever forces are applied upon them (the spores having a configuration that is even adequate to be spread by solar winds).

Once the seeds reach an adequate location, the seed anchors itself and starts developing into a Diona replicant pod - which is, in essence, a Diona egg. The pod absorbs the nutrient it needs - water, oxygen, carbon and other elements - from it's surroundings, when available, to grow and eventually hatch. Once hatched, a pod will produce an almost mature nymph.

Given proper conditions, a pod can fully grow a nymph within half an hour - however, should the pod run out, it will go into dormancy until proper conditions are met - and as such, in particularly barren conditions, it can take centuries for a pod to complete development.

Metabolism
As mentioned, the Dionae can obtain nutrients from any source - including ambient air, to grow. Furthermore, they only need a source of energy - light is by far the safest and most common, but direct electricity has been observed, and one particular case was found of a "Flaming Diona" which self-fed by absorbing nutrients and matter for the fire to burn to provide its energy.

However, it is noted that radiation - lethal to most other forms of life - is EXTREMELY beneficial to Diona, accelerating their growth geometrically, especially if given organic matter to process.

On Electrical Feeding
Some studies in Dionae feeding habits has recently shown a very interesting (and, according to leading Skrell scientists and institutions, quite worrying) trait. As electricity is a form of energy, a trained gestalt can, and has, drawn energy from a test rig constituting of a power source (in this case a standard Teranium power cell, identical in make to those in power controller across so many space stations), a resistor and an electrical interface point (in this case, two large copper plates linked together by a series of high-resistance diodes). Further studies would be required to fully understand the process, level and implications of the phenomena - but some scientists are thinking that adding such a training to the curriculum that some Dionae undertake could result in the pinnacle of engineering crew - a crewmember who needs no special machinery but a power cell to survive the dark, cold vacuum of space.

Forms
The Dionae, being by its very nature a compound creature, comes in several known and theoretical forms with several characteristics:

Nymph
The default form tackled above. Medium intelligence, extremely curious, extreme learning potential.

Worker
The most commonly seen form, this occurs when three to six nymphs link together and grow a humanoid body. Highly intelligent.

Colossus
A rare form, the Diona Colossus is a large network - often upward of a dozen - of nymphs inter-connected, forming a veritable physical and information net. The Skrell are looking into inducing this form and using it as a controlled organic processor for facilities. Very high intelligence, low learning potential.

Shell
An even rarer form, a Diona Shell is a large-scale structure - the ones found were made of more than hundreds of nymphs - exhibiting advanced intelligence and isolationist tendencies. One particular example was found growing around a derelict space station - it is also believed that the "Organic Craft" that attached itself to the human cruiser reached at least this state. Extreme intelligence, assumed low learning potential.

Satellite
Only two such forms were ever observed (that being the gestalt above Mralakk, the second being the recent Venter's Satellite), a Diona Satellite is just that - a mass of Diona so immense, in the orders of a million nymphs, that it can be considered a stellar body. The specimen observed seems reluctant to communicate despite showing they are capable, and show a natural (but weak) magnetic field and radiation emission. Unknown capabilities - theorized to be more intelligent than most other forms of intelligences, organic or synthetic. It is suspected that the original Dionae gestalt, where it may be, is at least this form if not the form below.

Singularity
A theoretical form of the Diona - a planet, or even star-sized diona form consisting of maybe more nymphs than is currently known to exist, may be the pinnacle of organic processing and thought. Uncharted intelligence. The Skrell has an order to destroy any Diona structure that could reach, or has reached, this size due to the inherent risk of intelligence singularity and other classified risks.

Beyond the Knowledge
As seen with reports of Ophion and the flaming Dionae, this species is still mostly unknown - in capabilities, origins and intentions. Many scientific organisms are willing to pay a good price for any useful data on the Dionae.