Florans are creepy

"Excuse me, mister? I know you did not just say that."
Starts casting

 

^forgets to finish incantation, gets distracted my nearby insects.

 

xD (10 chars)

 

They're not creepy, they're awesome !

"Their aggressive nature appears to be borne from a lack of a concept of non-plant life as opposed to outright contempt. Owing to their relatively young age as a species, this tenet dominates their culture and justifies their treatment of visiting races, though there are signs of some beginning to question this, implying that Floran individuals may not be inherently “evil” as previously thought, but that they are able to make peaceful societies that are able to live in harmony with the other non-plant races." -Wiki.

It's not that they're "Evil", it's just that at first they weren't educated enough in order to understand the concept of living in harmony with other races, but at the start of the game if you're playing as a floran you get to know that this isn't the case anymore, all races treat you respectfully, and you do the same.

They look so cute is because that's what planets do in order to lure in prey, these kind of planets are beautiful and vibrant and exotic, did you ever see Nuru in real life ?

 

no, what is Nuru?

 

oh. rebellious floran

 

She's a Floran princess.

 

This:

is what sold me on the florans.
...still the best picture of them.

 

I like her she's smart

 

Ugh creepy smile is that really what their teeth like
*cringes*

 

Carnivorous celestial objects aside, I do wonder if that's actually correct. They must have evolved the look before coming into proper contact with other sentients in order for the disposition towards other sentient life to still hold true. I find it more likely that it's a more general sort of natural camouflage and natural defense, allowing a Floran to blend in with the surroundings of their home planet(s) not only when hunting, but also during rest.

 

or there is a beauty that is objectively universal?

 

Hey, if someone can help me, please do.
(My latest post)
(Modding help)

 

Got to keep in mind, the sheer fact that a sentient plant species evolved to be humanlike at all, in a galaxy already filled with suspiciously humanoid alien life, points to a lot more going on than coincidence or convergent evolution. Them being physically attractive (or at the very least, non-repulsive) humanoids instead of however a sentient carnivorous plant would actually end up looking like, is basically ensuring that they would end up entering the already-existing community instead of... whatever reaction a more monstrous appearance would result in. "All part of the plan", so to speak, the only question is whose.

 

sorry! if it were any other word, I could have resisted the compulsion

But yeah, I think that point was made (by you?) in another thread few days ago. It's my biggest beef with Stellaris too, how all the life forms are basically simple extrapolations of Earth life. Boring, predictable and insulting to the intelligence.

 

Well... all the writers are human. And no, massive sentient fungi are at the very least fun. They're fun guys.

I wouldn't mind that particular bit of meta-lore being explored at some point in the game itself. It seems like the sort of thing that'd get noticed, with Florans and Novakid being the point cases - Humans evolved from an arboreal species, Apex are basically convergent, Hylotl could have conceivably followed an earlier evolution chain starting in the ocean, the Glitch were very much created, Avians have less excuse but are at best runners-up. And then there's humanoid carnivorous plants with eye-pleasing looks, and humanoid-shaped globs of sentient stellar plasma. Either among the Apex or humans, someone's (star)bound to notice.

 

Easy trigger, if you whip out the big guns all willy-nilly-like, someone is bound to get hurt. Fun guys, indeed! (Endless Space's space blobs have more personality and dare I say, more heart and soul)

Yeah saying, "imagine the unimaginable" is a tall order but dammit, we can try harder than this "[insert thing coagulating on the surface of your imagination]-people" thing that has become the convention.

Novakids certainly take the cake for being the least unimaginative of all the species and ironically (is this irony?) they are the one race not designed by CF

 

It's less, perhaps, a problem of imagining the unimaginable, in a game like this. "stuff"-people are readily identifiable as a concept, which is important for a game to be playable. The more you pile on the starfish-alien weirdness, the more you actually have to explain before any kind of characterization even manages to become relevant. An alien people that are "like people except where noted" are easier for the typical human mind to grasp than, say, whatever it is you're supposed to be in Vangers: One For the Road.

I'm not entirely a stranger to creating odd lifeforms myself, but even so I must start with a reasonable basic concept ("reptilian/big cat hybrid with humanoid secondary arms") before expanding on that, so that if I must explain it to someone I can actually do so without writing an essay.

Perhaps the Florans are, then, the most imaginative thing to come out of CF's collective minds.
There is, as far as I am aware, no direct analogue to Florans in popular media. There are plant people, sure, sentient, sometimes angry, as defenders or representatives of nature... I don't believe I've ever seen a plant-based species that was sentient, socialized, but also quite so... not specifically bloodthirsty, but basically stab-happy, not insane or psychotic. It's just a very interesting race, to me.

 

"PARTNER! I KNOW YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!"

 

Um. He said they're the most imaginative. That's not a bad thing.