Name: Floran Birthing Pods Description: Floran Birthing Pods are an offshoot product from the rapidly evolving reproductive system of Florans, which has been further developed as organic technology. Most commonly, pods are not intentionally grown, and are a byproduct of a Floran’s birth. However, it is possible for users such as Greenfingers to create them manually, which typically occurs among tribes whose reproductive systems do not naturally produce them. Pods are grown from specialized seeds, which first sprout into tree-like stems containing the genome of a newborn or a specific Floran within. Naturally-forming pods contain material from the parent(s) of the Floran, and ones crafted to clone existing Florans require some sort of Greenfinger equivalent to possess sufficient samples of their DNA. The pods possess a stomach-like chamber centered around the initial site of planting, filled with digestive enzymes. Biodegradable substances are placed within them to feed the growing Floran, which develops from a pod. To clone dead Florans, the pits are usually enlarged by Greenfingers until the entirety of the body (or any intact portions) can be placed within it. The body will then be digested and re-integrated by the pod. The pod has a leathery texture, and is thick enough to resist puncturing to some degree. If destroyed in its early stages, the material within is likely to be lost. Once the Floran starts to form within, breaching it will result in a premature birth, which endangers the child in the expected manner. With the interference of a Greenfinger, a pod being used as a Cloning device will continue to grow until the adult body of the Floran is formed, whereupon they are released. Greenfingers can also use these to a smaller degree, and grow individual parts or organs for transplants— though this is a privilege reserved for those worthy. Compatibility with the pod is granted by a genetic trait, which will be detailed further. Abilities: -The ability to substitute electronic cloning methods by using organic technology, and produce a clone of a Floran without requiring brainscanning or modern-fringe-era medical procedures. For Florans with the accompanying trait, information stored in the body itself is used. -The ability to grow specific body parts in order for Florans to undergo grafting or organ replacement. Conditional Abilities (Optional): -Agarans and other plantoid organisms (such as Nysians, potentially?) can use them too, if their biologies possess no major conflicts in the way they function. However, they need their own equivalent of Greenfingers, biokinetics or organotech developers to operate them. -Even if a Floran completely lacks the trait, they may still be able to use the pod to clone a body, provided the brain is intact, and kept medically alive. It can be fed to the pod as a replacement for storing memories in the body. Limitations: -All cloning restrictions apply. When the pods grow full adult bodies, they’re often starved for nutrients as compared to a newborn, resulting in all the same effects of the cloning recovery period. -Require large amounts of biomass to fuel them. Life for life. Conditional Limitations (Optional): -Requires a user who can physically interface with plants to operate its cloning function, making it usually only feasible in Floran communes. Independent Florans will most likely not have access to it, or be able to operate it. Most of the time, the knowledge of how to do so is only possessed by those in Greenfinger roles, and one needs to have some form of biokinesis or Floran Plant Symbiosis in order to control it. -The less raw material originating from the Floran, the longer it takes to clone them, resulting in a possibly longer time compared to regular cloning. When using this app as a cloning method, specify how much of the Floran's body is returned to it. This can be overcome by providing a living, extracted brain, returning the level of memory loss to standard cloning, regardless of how damaged the body is. -The more severely decomposed the corpse is, the more severe the consequences of cloning, and the longer it can take. A fresh body with all limbs will likely obey the standard cloning rules. Having it be decomposed means that the usual 3 days is extended, and having missing limbs/flesh means that more memories are lost. If a corpse is rotted to a ridiculous degree, it will also fail, as there'll be nothing left to salvage. How does it work: Floran Birthing Pods are a sub-application of the Florans’ rapidly evolving reproductive system. Some parents naturally create them when giving birth to offspring, and Greenfingers with the requisite knowledge are able to grow these in the same manner as organic technology such as their thorn-guns and bioweapons. In order to clone a Floran, their genetic material must be introduced to the pod. Most commonly, this will be the pod that they were born from, as it already contains their genome stored within it. Otherwise, the Greenfinger or Biokinetic must grow it from scratch. The Greenfinger nurtures the pod until it is ready to receive the body of the deceased Floran, and then places their body within the stomach chamber. Much like how a caterpillar is able to be completely dissolved into imaginal cells and be reconstituted as a butterfly at a later date, the pod is able to recreate the Floran’s body after breaking it down. Florans who were born directly from this type of pod typically have a genetic quirk where the plant-matter of their bodies store information along with the brain. This doesn't manifest outwardly in any way, or cause physiological changes. The body is simply used as a redundancy, and their thought processes and memories all still exist in the brain itself. The pod is able to copy the repeated cognitive pathways within the flesh and body of a Floran after breaking them down, allowing substantial amounts of their memory to return. It does this with the brain as well. As the brain has almost certainly been dead for a while by this point, the pod is unable to fully recreate the information that it contained within those dead neurons, and uses information stored in the Floran’s body to fill in the gaps. This causes standard cloning memory loss. A Floran who was not born within this pod still has a possibility of having the genetic trait that allows them to store memories in their plant-matter, provided they had distant ancestors who manifested this trait and passed it down recessively. If one has neither this trait, nor an alive brain, they cannot use the pod. Large amounts of biological matter are needed to fuel this pod. Cloning solution will suffice in most cases, but adding meat and other biomass to add viscosity to the goop is healthier for the growing body. A Floran who has been reborn through this method will have received damage to their DNA, due to the amount of missing portions that result from this method, and continually undergoing this process without completing a recovery period will lead to more and more deformities, in the same manner as regular cloning. Flavor text: In certain cultures where offspring are developed in pods, the stems of the pods that birthed them are kept in groves, similarly to how placenta are preserved. These stay in an inert, desiccated state once their purpose has been fulfilled, serving as living monuments that mark out the birth of tribesfolk. Touching or harming one is typically seen as a severe insult— somewhat like the spiritual opposite of spitting on somebody’s grave. When viewed from above, these gardens of birthing-pods can tell the story of a Floran tribe’s lineage, producing spiraling patterns that form an extended family tree. Despite their potential to counterbalance the high-lethality lives of Florans, these pods are seldom actually used. Due to the overlapping beliefs of many Floran tribes, returning a Floran from the dead is not something done lightly in a tribal setting. They more commonly have their own rites, such as returning the corpse to nature, consuming it, interring heroes beneath monuments, etc. It’s most often used in times of war, to bring essential soldiers and chieftains back should they fall— but it’s certainly not used as flippantly as cloning in many non-Floran societies. It provides the means to do so, but usage is always heavily dependent on the culture of the Floran tribes who possess these pods. Referenced Technologies (Optional): Floran Plant Symbiosis. Attainability: Open. Used by Florans as a whole. Would likely retroactively have existed. Tags: [Racial] Category: Medical I’m sure pods already exist, and can still be used as a birth method regardless of this app. It’s not an attempt to canonize pod-birth according to my perception of it. However, this is mostly to have it double-up as a cloning method for Florans in low-tech societies that don’t make use of electronic tech.
After talking about bodily damage effecting the cloning process, and how Greenfingers aren't universally psions, I slap thee with the first Approved.
Hey, I'm going to hit this with a pending while we continue grading this. I have some questions and possibly a few requests depending on the information I'm given in response. You use the word "typically" in this part, however by what I can tell in the post, given that the pod already kind of breaks down the body and reforms it, both getting information from non-brain plant-matter and putting it back in, we should be speaking in absolutes. Will a Floran born directly from this kind of pod always have the genetic quirk or not? If there are conditions by which they sometimes wouldn't, you should state those. I know this may come off as me being picky about wording and I apologize for that in advance, but I'm really just trying to get a bit more information about this to gauge how you should proceed. I'm not sure this would happen. That implies the presence of this genetic quirk, even if it's represented less than in one who wasn't born from the pod. My last few concerns are to do with how Florans born from this pod compare to regular ones in day-to-day RP. Florans are pretty varied, but for the most part their vitals are similar across individuals - and this is partly for balance's sake, but it's also reasonable when one considers that Florans aren't true plants in lore. The brain and memories are pretty vital, and I think there's a good chance that this app alone isn't quite doing justice to the potential differences this kind of change would bring about from regular Florans. Is all of the information stored in the brain also stored in the other plant matter with a Floran who has the quirk (creating a full redundancy of the brain), or just some? If it's not just all redundancy, then I'd have to ask what happens if, say, a Floran with this quirk suddenly gets their arm or even just finger cut off (assuming information is stored there)? Could they just suddenly forget how to do an important bodily function or a large chunk of their memory, right there? And if it is all redundancy, then that's fair, but- -why does it treat the brain different for Florans without this genetic quirk if you claimed it can still read memory in their plant matter when it does this for both the plant matter and brain in Florans who do have the quirk? I know you said in all likelihood the brain is totally dead by this point, but the post still goes on as if the possibility of bringing in a regular Floran with a still-living brain to one of these doesn't matter and would result in total memory loss. Is that what would happen, or can it read a still-living brain of a regular Floran? It also all raises the question of where exactly this plant matter that stores memory is located, like, whether or not it's just all over the body. To be honest, these are all questions I'd be asking for a subspecies app for Florans, as subspecies tend to be made through mutations or evolution and the like such as this. I'm slightly worried about passing this application with the amount of information provided thus far on how exactly the experience of playing one born from one of these pods may differ from the norm, because there are certainly some things there. I'm less concerned about the pod in and of itself and more concerned about the genetically different Florans coming from them.
I think the confusion probably comes from a change in intent halfway through writing. I wanted to make it usable for Florans without declaring: "Hey, Florans work this way now" in terms of overall lore, which I don't exactly have a right to do. Especially since there's never been anything about storing memory like a plant in their biology lore. So I segued it to a genetic trait, and didn't go back to change all the wording. The intent is that they won't always have this quirk, due to me not wanting to infringe on other people's characters. This way, they can have a Floran be born from some kind of pod, without having to automatically get the app tacked on to them. As for the second quote, I'm realizing now that what I wrote was pretty nonsensical. I think a decent fix would be that it's possible for the trait to have passed down from a non-pod-born Floran's ancestors, and been recessive till then, since Florans undergo those constant changes in their reproductive systems. So it'd be the same thing where a Floran born from a pod might not have the ability to be cloned by it at all. IC, this would just be the standard way that traits are dominant and recessive, and OOC it would be due to the player's own decision. My intent for the app was for it to be a cloning method for Florans in primitive environments, and have an alternative to scans since they wouldn't have the electronic tech or cloning bays. So the body itself would serve as the storage for what amounts to a brainscan. In this case, it'd be a redundancy, and cutting parts off wouldn't remove the existing memories from a living Floran- only cause loss if they're cloned while missing a part. The backup would be in their flesh, and unlike standard cloning, the corpse itself would need to be preserved and brought to a pod. So going by the limitations section, it would indeed be all over the body. It'd be extremities, huge chunks of flesh, etc. Providing a whole body to the pod means that they only experience standard cloning memory loss due to the degradation of their corpse, and the imperfections inherent to cloning. And losing parts means that more severe memory loss takes place. I didn't have a particular metric laid out, because I figured it might be something for Cloning App graders to decide. My bad, I didn't clearly state what it actually does with the brain. My intention was that the brain could be dissolved by the pod directly, in order to read it, but the brain of a corpse is likely to be too degraded or damaged for anything to come of it. It'd be like brainscanning a corpse and trying to use that. So in addition to whatever it can salvage from the brain, it would use the information stored in the plant-matter to figure out the original state of the brain. As discussed in DMs, I guess the implication for this would be that it wouldn't work at all for a Floran who doesn't possess this trait. The brain in their corpse would end up useless due to degradation, and they don't have the info stored in their plant-matter to use as a backup. But an exception would be if the brain was somehow kept actively alive, in some kind of preservation substance or fluid. Then the pod could use the brain of a Floran who lacks even the trait, and clone them a body again. This would go under conditional abilities. Lemme know if the questions and requests are answered satisfactorily, and I'll edit the app for a re-look.
That's answered enough for now. Definitely edit the app with the necessary changes and I or someone else will get back to this app some time later.
Edited to detail how the info stored in the body is a redundancy, mentioned the existence of the gene as a hereditary trait, added in the conditional ability where an intact, alive brain can be used in place of body-memory, and made it clear that the ability to use the pods doesn't cause any physiological or behavioural changes that would warrant a subspecies.
