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==Culture==
===Forms===
Due to their highly nomadic nature, Dionae do not experience a universal culture outside of certain behaviors that appear to be biologically ingrained and somehow hard-wired into their genetics. Information on individual group cultures can be found in their
The merging and separation of Nymphs takes much time and energy to complete, sometimes days or even weeks on much larger structures. For smaller collections such as Workers, it typically only takes an hour or so before they are ready to function. This is due to the Nymph bodies fusing together and creating a sturdy body that will be able to reasonably support itself and move, adapting it to the current environment. Before preforming a change, Nymphs and Gestalts will gorge themselves on biomatter in preparation. Separation is only ever done in life-or-death emergencies or special situations such as growing a larger Gestalt as it can often be traumatic to Nymphs if done in a hurry, causing the knowledge gathered to be improperly stored in each individual or even lost without the correct precautions taken. With each change the new form will always take up a new name to represent the new information and experiences collaborated.  
[[#History|History]].


===Naming===
The Dionae, being by its very nature a compound creature, comes in several known and theoretical forms with several characteristics:  
Dionae names are typically a summary of experiences which are both unique and are routine in their lives, the length and style also holding meaning among Dionae, only ever changing when merging and agreed upon by a consensus or separating from a Gestalt and done by the individual itself. When a Nymph is first grown, they are often nameless until their curiosity is recognized in the form of their first interest, and is usually a singular word that references their first interest. Among Dionae, the length of a name reflects their age: short names are for younger Neophytes, while longer names are reserved for elderly Sages. If a Nymph cannot find an interest, a Sage will often give a new Nymph a name and it is not uncommon for other races to name a fresh Diona as well, especially if they were hand-raised by the one that planted them. Another way of identification is the complexity of the name- this usually refers to how literal a name is. Once more, simpler names are given to Neophytes while more abstract names are reserved for Sages, denoting their reserves of knowledge and helping to keep name length manageable, even among themselves. In the presence of other species, Dionae will take up a condensed version of their name in cultural assimilation, and hold no offense to others further shortening their assimilated names into nicknames.


'''Identification:''' Dionae see themselves in a different light than other sentients, using mainly gender-neutral pronouns such as "they/them/it/" due to their asexuality and interchangeable definitions of groups and self which may be confusing. A single Nymph is called a Diona, the base form of the species and is seen as an individual, identifying with "I/me". When merged into a combined form of a Gestalt, the group is called Dionae, the plural of Diona despite the fact that their physical appearance is that of an individual to other sentients and is seen as a group of individuals, even identifying as "we/us". Separate Gestalts in a gathering of one another is known as Dionaea, a plural of plurals.
'''Nymph:''' The default form tackled above. Medium intelligence, extremely curious, extreme learning potential.  


===Intra-Specific===
'''Worker:''' The most commonly seen form, this occurs when three to six nymphs link together and grow a humanoid body. Highly intelligent.
Relationship specifics between one another of the species.


'''Identification:''' Dionae see themselves in a different light than other sentients, using mainly gender-neutral pronouns such as "they/them/it/" due to their asexuality and interchangeable definitions of groups and self which may be confusing. A single Nymph is called a Diona, the base form of the species and is seen as an individual, identifying with "I/me". When merged into a combined form of a Gestalt, the group is called Dionae, the plural of Diona despite the fact that their physical appearance is that of an individual to other sentients and is seen as a group of individuals, even identifying as "we/us". Separate Gestalts in a gathering of one another is known as Dionaea, a plural of plurals.
'''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.  


'''Neophyte and Sage:''' The only time when one Dionae is venerated above any other is when an older and therefore more knowledgeable Gestalt is present. This elder is referred to as a "Sage" while those younger than it are called "Neophytes". Sages are seen as more valuable due to their vaster stores of knowledge and therefore are protected over Neophhytes in a dangerous situation. However, a Sage will often take up the responsibility to educate a new Neophyte on their environment- including but not limited to the ways of local alien civilization. This is to simply get the Neophyte up to speed so they can be quicker on their way to learn more about their particular interests instead of being held up with the inconvenience of learning the hard way.
'''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.


===Art===
'''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 intelligence, 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.
While the species may make incredible artists in civilized space due to their longevity and capacity to learn, another form of visual art exists for Dionae that they practice as a recreational activity known simply as "Forma" and have two versions. Both utilize only their own bodies to make Gestalts in creative and practical ways alike. The first and most popular of the two is the Artem, or Art-Form. These are more for form than function and are used to display a Gestalt's creativity in strange and unique ways. Artem are typically observed being made in the void of space where they are free of the restrictions of gravity and require no rhyme nor reason to their design and exists purely as a hobby.


The second and perhaps most shocking of them is Vita, or Life-Form. Seen most often in some type of environment with gravity, there are two different forms: symbiotic which is done in the presence of other life forms, and competitive, preformed in areas where the concentration of Dionae are high. The symbiotic version is seen every day and is a form of passive mimicry to blend in with their extraterrestrial neighbors whereas the competitive version is a surprising display of violence. One is to increase their chance of survival in an alien landscape, the other used as a strange yet creative form of population control.
'''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.


Competitive Vita is a theoretical evolution simulator where each Gestalt will merge, often as fantastical forms of creatures, which is then tested with the current environment they are in under different conditions. If present, they will then be tested against other non-sentient life forms before finally each other. Throughout the competition the losing Gestalts are either consumed or absorbed into their forms as additions, the final battle being the most dramatic display of a Gestalt's abilities. While most sapients would find this practice barbaric and contradictory to the species' desire to gain and preserve knowledge, the fallen and their knowledge simply become a part of the victorious.


===Integration===
With being a complex multi-formed and sometimes ever-changing organism such as a Diona, one can imagine that becoming a part of a society can be rather complex. Dionae can be found nearly everywhere except for the coldest and radioactive-free of places. With money meaning little to them, others see them as cheap labor and both seem to be content with this, as Dionae do not need much outside of proper radiation. A clever species, Dionae often take advantage of a solar system's sunlight during the daylight hours and bask before taking a night shift, and during day shifts they will often live together and collectively pay for housing, heating, and light. If others are willing, they will also become housemates with other species and assist in menial tasks and paying rent in exchange for safe shelter.


====Citizenship====
===Discovery, Part Three - The Dead Planet===
Like other species, Dionae must apply for citizenship to be allowed sanctuary in a system, or face removal. However, this does not apply to Nymphs, only Gestalts. Some tests are involved in the process and are somewhat similar to the ones an IPC would take, such as one to determine their personality, and another, their intelligence and learning potentials. Gestalts must resubmit for citizenship and defend it's education (if it has one) each time a merging is made, as the Gestalt is technically not the same entity it was before. Once the process is complete, the Gestalt will have it's nymphs microchipped to better keep track of where the nymphs end up, and is a one-time process. It is much like microchipping a pet cat or dog, and is not harmful or hinders the Nymph in any way, usually installed along the back in the middle for easy scanning. The chip itself contains a summary of information about the Nymph, such as it's age and origins, and previous Gestalts it was merged as. If a re-merged Gestalt has all Nymphs chipped, the process of re-registering is made simpler and therefore shorter, completing it in almost half the time.


'''Legality: In civilized space, Diona Nymphs are considered an animal and fall under the protection of laws that pertain to and protect animals.''' If a Nymph is harmed by an individual, it is considered animal abuse and they will be charged accordingly. '''A Gestalt of three or more Nymphs is considered a person and is therefore protected under laws that pertain to and protect people.''' If a Gestalt is harmed by an individual, it is considered assault and they will be charged accordingly.
The final time the Dionae were found was in Epsilon Ursae Minoris in '''2430''' - where a large piece of their home planet had crashed into another world. The world in question was found by Skrell Captain '''Weirun Tup''' - who had been exploring stars on the behalf of the Jargon Federation, 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''.  


====Education====
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.  
Although Dionae can contain vast amounts of knowledge and possess extreme intelligence, the species still have to obtain the appropriate degrees for the occupation they wish to pursue in their chosen location of residence. This can be accomplished after being registered for citizenship. All newly-registered Dionae must complete and pass the courses required for their field if their degrees from past planetary systems is not recognized in the new location, or they lack one all together. Their education must be defended one year following the awarding of a degree, and then every five years there on out. However, that timer is reset due to the fact that after each merging, Dionae are required to defend their education along with their re-registration for citizenship due to the possibility of accumulation of new knowledge, and possible loss of information depending on the nature of the new merging.
 
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 bodies were ever found.
 
'''Culture:''' The largest 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.

Revision as of 19:56, 23 February 2019

"I am the Lorax. And I speak for the Trees." - Neinbox

Diona Species Lore Developer


Methods of contact (Updated 3/8/2018)

Discord: Neinbox#1317

Neinbox's Forum Profile

Template:Wip

Main Lore

Dionae
D. Primo
Dionaea410x320.png
Home System: N/A
Homeworld: N/A
Language(s): Rootsong
Political Entitie(s): N/A

Forms

The merging and separation of Nymphs takes much time and energy to complete, sometimes days or even weeks on much larger structures. For smaller collections such as Workers, it typically only takes an hour or so before they are ready to function. This is due to the Nymph bodies fusing together and creating a sturdy body that will be able to reasonably support itself and move, adapting it to the current environment. Before preforming a change, Nymphs and Gestalts will gorge themselves on biomatter in preparation. Separation is only ever done in life-or-death emergencies or special situations such as growing a larger Gestalt as it can often be traumatic to Nymphs if done in a hurry, causing the knowledge gathered to be improperly stored in each individual or even lost without the correct precautions taken. With each change the new form will always take up a new name to represent the new information and experiences collaborated.

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 intelligence, 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.


Discovery, Part Three - The Dead Planet

The final time the Dionae were found was in Epsilon Ursae Minoris in 2430 - where a large piece of their home planet had crashed into another world. The world in question was found by Skrell Captain Weirun Tup - who had been exploring stars on the behalf of the Jargon Federation, 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 bodies were ever found.

Culture: The largest 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.