An D&D analysis of the Starbound races

Disclaimer: This analysis is based on the Alignment system of Dungeons & Dragons. Obviously, much has been written on this system, and it remains an hot topic even nowadays. So, before I begin, I don't claim to have a perfect understanding of the alignment system, many will have different opinions, and I will be happy to hear yours (this is also the goal of this topic after all). This is just a analysis "for fun", though it may be useful for some of us who want to roleplay when the game is out. Also, since the information released is limited, it will be impossible to pinpoint exactly the alignment of some races (and of course individual beings can have totally different alignments than the majority of their race; for example, all Apex aren't necessarily "Lawful Evil", that would be inaccurate and reductive, but when taking their society model into account, it's obvious that a lot of them are formated that way).
I also apologize for eventual typos.

As of now, Starbound will feature 7 races:
- Humans
- Apex (Background Info)
- Avians (Background Info)
- Floran (Background Info)
- Hylotl
- Glitch (Background Info)
- Novakids (Background Info)

Since Humans and Hylotl don't have an official background released yet, I will focus on the other races.

Apex

A single phrase is enough to describe the race: "Big Brother is watching you" (after all, "Big Ape is all seeing"). The Miniknog rules the Apex society with an iron fist, and some Apex are "choosen" to be experimented on, especially the lower classes and the "dissidents". We have here an organized and suffocating society with arguable ways of improving the race as a whole, ruled by tyrants.

The Apex who follow the Miniknog rule willfully, or who are part of the Miniknog, are, in my opinion, Lawful Evil.
Thus, the Apex who are rebels and who oppose the current regime are Chaotic Good in that regard. Apex who just want to be free and couldn't care less about the Apex society would rather fall on the Chaotic Neutral spectrum.

Relation with other races: it's hard to say how the other races view the Apex, though I wouldn't be surprised that most of them would rather avoid them like the plague. Also, if the Miniknog is able to experiment on their own people, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they kidnap and experiment on other races as well (it would be rather unsettling to see "pieces" of other races in jars in a Miniknog lab'... Brrr). Other races may be able to cooperate with Apex towards a common goal (or to fight a common enemy, which may or may not look like a plant, if you get my drift), but they would remain wary of them, and cut ties once the collaboration reaches an end.

Avians

The Avians are based on the Mesoamerican races, with a workship of Kluex, the winged god of Aether (who may or may not be similar to Quetzacloatl). They were a pretty primitive race before a superior race gift them with technology (something that didn't seem to undermine their faith too much, aside from the outcasts). Little is known about them aside from that.

We know they build a lot of temples and are very religious, but we have little information about their religious rituals. Because of that, we don't know if they practice avian sacrifices (or other races sacrifices, for that matter), something which would send them on the Evil spectrum of the alignment chart (though, well, they did seem to want to sacrifice Tiyuri in that screenshot... Bleh, who can blame them? Sacrificing a dev' will probably release the game sooner! It's perfectly logical!).

The protection of their faith and temples is very important to avians. Sure, those who don't believe in Kluex become outcasts, but it doesn't seem that the avians kill them (though I wouldn't be surprised that this race sports some fanatics who would go to these lenghts to punish the unbelievers).
For all these reasons, they strike me as fairly Lawful Neutral-ish (maybe Good-ish if their society is rather benevolent, maybe Evil-ish if sacrifices and fanatics are the norm).
As for the avians who become outcasts, I guess they could be of any alignment, though in the eyes of other religious avians they would obviously fall on the Chaotic spectrum, and be Good/Neutral/Evil depending on their actions.

Relation with other races: I guess that most races would see them as zealots, though some may be able to have enlightening discussions with open-minded avians (but those may be rare, judging by the reaction of an Avian when talking with a Novakid about their god). For that reason, it may proves difficult for some races to reason with avians. Also, the fact that they remained rather primitive despite having access to technology may push some races to discard them as a "lowly" race, not worth of their attention (though that would be a mistake, since it seems that they make great use of the technology that was gifted to them).

Florans

Oh boy. There is absolutly no ambiguity here: the florans are dangerous. They are hyper-aggressive, carnivorous, and they steal the technology from other races to improve their own. The description of the race even qualify them as "evil" (though it is mentionned in the description that some florans are questionning the way of their race).

It doesn't seem like they "think" like Humans too. After all, "their aggressive nature appears to be borne from a lack of a concept of non-plant life as opposed to outright contempt." So it's not like they are racist towards other races, since this notion may not even exist in their "society": non-plant life is a foreign concept to them, something that they don't even understand.

If Florans are obviously considered Evil by the other races standards, Good and Evil may be concepts that they don't even understand. They are plants, which spread wildly and which thrive to survive. They have no moral compass: that's just the way they are, they work with their instinct (we don't even know if their cannibalism is done out of conservation or tradition). For these reasons, since most of them "probably" lack moral judgement, it would be "perhaps" more appropriate to label them as True Neutral.

What about the florans who split apart from their society, or who are discussing the way of their race? Those, obviously, don't belong to the "flora", and may escape the True Neutral alignment if they understand what could be seen as "wrong" by the other races. Labelling them as Chaotic seems inadequate, since, once again, they may not be able to understand that concept, though they may grow to understand it and embrace it.

Relation with other races: Kill on sight. If you can't kill them, run. Far. Very far. Honestly, I don't think many races would let a floran approach them without feeling distrust. The florans who don't want to eat you and steal your technology are the exception, not the norm. Even the florans who have taken refuge among other races may create unease and/or discomfort.

Glitch

[Analysing data...] [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR]
[Re-formating...]

It's very hard to analyse the Glitch, since this race is what happens when AI goes horribly wrong (or "right", depending of your point of view).
They have medieval values and beliefs. They are robots, but they are sentient, since they are "built to experience the feelings and desires of any other sentient organism." For this reason, they are, in my eyes, very different from the florans.
The thing is, aside from some Glitch, they aren't entirely self aware. They do not realize that they are robots (or that they are part of an experiment). Because of that, pin-pointing their possible alignment is tricky, since it's hard to say if their actions are part of their own beliefs or of their "programming".
Because of this, I think that most Glitch are [ERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERROR].
What about the ones who become self-aware? That's something else entirely. They could be on any side of the alignment spectrum, depending of their actions.

[New mystery: On a side note, I wonder if the race who built the Glitch isn't the same as the one who gifted technology to the Avians. Both races are labelled as "superior", and we don't know anything about them. Need more data]

Relation with other races: I guess that most races would see them as "odd". The self-aware ones may be very sought-after, since they have access to advanced knowledge, and it wouldn't surprise me that some races welcome them with open arms (after all, they would make formidable scientists... Or excellent subjects of experimentation for the Apex... Or wonderful parts to salvage for the Florans... Poor Glitch).

Novakids

Space cowboys! Yay!

Unfortunately, when it comes to Novakids society, we really lack information. All we know is that they have a short memory and attention span, and that they find difficult to understand interracial social interactions.
So, I can only speculate that they are a very independant race, who may or may not take bounty hunters jobs. It's impossible to guess what could be the general alignment of Novakids (though I guess they would fall on the Chaotic spectrum).

Relation with other races: They have a "slightly dubious reputation" amongst other races. I guess some races would hire them as mercenaries to do some jobs, or that they could be hired to explore unknown planets. Their childish nature may lead some races to not associate with them for too long. They strike me as the most adventurous race, going to explore planets and uncover mysteries just for the thrill of it.



In any case, I hope that the devs will share with us more information about the races and the background of Starbound.

 

Nice post. I personally believe the florians are not evil it's just there culture.

 

Floran Culture is "evil", I mean like in our "old" civilizations, they did crazy stuff, culture or madness?

 

Your reminds me that we know nothing about Hylotl :/




Anyway impressive post that must have been aa hell of a work to gather all the informations Nicepy done


I still have doubts about the fact that florans can eat a Glitch or a Nova :O


i'm sure they appreciate the Novakid ==> they can make photosynthesis near them ;3

 

I'd say that the regular Glitch are Lawful Neutral, while the self-aware Glitch are Lawful/True good.
Of course, it's all up to the player what their character is.

 

Really nice!
I agree with most you wrote, except one: about Apex who don't care about society and stuff.
I think Chaotic Neutral aligment is for all kind of maniacs, crazy-space-hobos and hardcore anarchists. Personally I think True Neutral will fit better.

Really nice job you did!

 

Thank you for your warm reactions

The Florans are rather hard to pinpoint, honestly. I took a stand and labelled them as True Neutral on the basis that their behaviour is dictated by their instinct (and animals and the like are always True Neutral in D&D). However, if their behaviour is dictated by their culture, and if they acknowledge it (ie. they realize that they are harming other creatures, but really don't care), then it's definitly Evil material. The thing is, in the (too) short description we have about them, it's mentionned that they "lack of a concept of non-plant life". Without this concept, it's hard/impossible for them to understand the other races, and it prevents them from even considering that they may be doing something "wrong" (heck, for all we know, they could view the other races as delicious non-sentient cattle). Without this realization, their actions, while Evil by our standards, aren't by theirs, since like I said they may lack the concept of Good/Evil actions. Though, some florans are discussing the way of their race... And if they can think about it, if they can, in fact, grasp the concept of "non-plant life", it changes everything.
Really, the line is incredibly blurry with them. If it weren't for those little (but important) details, I would have labelled them as Neutral Evil.
Also, I don't think they would eat Glitch but they would definitly tear them apart and use the pieces as components for their spaceships The Novakids are safe though (unless they manage to harness and control them, and use them as energy sources, since they are charged with energy... Slow death by being drained alive... Brrr).

For the regular Glitch, all things considered, since they abide by the medieval rules, there is maybe a system of lords and vassals. Honor and loyalty are very important aspects of this culture. Thus, considering them "Lawful Neutral" would be rather spot-on.

And, yes, we really need more information about the Hylotl

 

I'm seriously starting to need some lore about the hylotl!
I really like their looks, and the fact that their're probably based around early Japanese culture!

 

They are just sentient animals with some grasp on technology. I am sure thousands of years in the future they become a civil race. As for now I am guessing the player made characters and some npc's have become enlightened enough to grow out of the culture.

 

I love 1984 reference.

 

That was a great read, nice job Nohar! Awesome connection with D&D! I think humans will definitely be a fun one to understand in comparison to the other races. It is clear that in this game, the humans are visiting the planets of other beings... so would they more so be conquerors or saviors?

Just a thought, but maybe it was the humans that bestowed technology to Avians and created the Glitches. And what if the Glitch went out of control and took over the human planet (cough, Terminator) thus causing interstellar animosity between the two.

 

I would agree that the Glitch would probably be best interpreted as lawful good as most people in the medieval ages lived to serve their king and or their religion/religious icon. I don't think they would be neutral good as they are devoted to their rulers and are bias towards their religion rather than just wanting to do good.

 

And the oxygen gives the Novakids what to burn with. I'm sure the Novakid and Florans make good pals.

 

To be fair, one man's evil is another man's, 'whatever'. We consider human sacrifice a bad thing, but for the Mayans it was quite normal, and the people sacrificed looked forward to it, it was an honour. Simply because an observer considers something barbaric or evil doesn't really mean anything at all. Likewise, in modern times some people consider religion in general to be evil, or gay marriage, or abortion, or capitalism, or circumcision. Who's right and who's wrong on these issues? Is there such a thing as right and wrong?

The Floran culture approves of cannibalism. Many people would think that is evil. However, cannibalism is practiced in some cultures on Earth to this day, and even though onlookers may experience disgust, the people practicing it consider it a great honour to consume the flesh of their friends or relatives. Culturally for them it's one of the most intimate things you can do, take the flesh of another person and make it part of you, and it is done with nothing but the utmost respect for the deceased.

I think for me a lot rests with the individual's intent, that for me would decide most of all whether or not something is evil. Agression, in my view, is not inherently evil. Nor is human sacrifice, nor is cannibalism, nor are many other things. I know my Western culture has trained me to think of these things as evil, but I've learned over the years that the real world is very complex and doesn't fall neatly into categories. From where I'm standing, the Florans would probably classify as neutral, perhaps even leaning towards good (although that'd be a stretch, even for me), simply because they're oblivious to other races' traditions and customs, and honestly don't know how else to respond.

 

To be reasonable, small time's shrewd is another man's, 'whatever'. We consider human forfeit an awful thing, yet for the Mayans it was very typical, and the general population yielded anticipated it, it was a respect. Essentially on the grounds that an onlooker considers something uncouth or fiendish doesn't generally mean anything by any means. In like manner, in present day times a few people view religion as a rule as abhorrent, or gay marriage, or premature birth, or private enterprise, or circumcision. Who's privilege and who's wrong on these issues? Is there such a mind-bending concept as good and bad?

The Floran culture supports of savagery. Numerous individuals would feel that is detestable. Nonetheless, human flesh consumption is honed in a few societies on Earth right up 'til the present time, and despite the fact that spectators may encounter sicken, the general population honing it think of it as an amazing privilege to devour the tissue of their companions or relatives. Socially for them it's a standout amongst the most close things you can do, take the tissue of someone else and influence it to some portion of you, and it is finished with only the most extreme regard for the expired.

I think for me a great deal rests with the person's purpose, that for me would choose above all else regardless of whether something is detestable. Agression, in my view, isn't intrinsically shrewd. Nor is human forfeit, nor is barbarianism, nor are numerous different things. I know my Western culture has prepared me to think about these things as insidious, yet I've learned throughout the years that this present reality is exceptionally perplexing and doesn't fall perfectly into classes. From where I'm standing, the Florans would most likely order as nonpartisan, maybe notwithstanding inclining towards great (despite the fact that that'd be an extend, notwithstanding for me), just in light of the fact that they're negligent of other all 5e races' conventions and traditions, and genuinely don't know by what other method to react.