how should Florans mate?

Yeah. noting butt rubbing / pollination. there unisex.
I'd be fine with butt rubbing I guess.

 

Butt rubbing it is.

 

Butt rubbing Florans are the master race. That is all. There is no need for any further discussion.

 

In all honesty I don't think the mating of a Floran should stray too much from other plants. They should have two modes of reproduction.

Asexual Reproduction: In which a Floran can have another Floran of identical genetic makeup bud from the main body and eventually become a separate entity (this could be the basis of Floran cloning). This should not be the only method of reproduction as it would mean every generation of Florans is genetically identical to the previous one and that they do not evolve at all. This could be initiated as the stamens on a Floran produce pollen and that Floran willingly introduces its own pollen to its carpels, leading to a production of a seed.

Sexual Reproduction: I'm assuming Florans are a form of Angiosperm, in which case they occasionally flower. Both 'male' and 'female' Florans would have stamens and carpels, with the 'Female' Florans a greater abundance of carpels and the 'Male' Floran's a greater abundance of stamens. In this case males would produce more pollen than the females and would be less capable of taking pollen from other Florans due to the lesser amount of carpels. This way they are still a unisex species but there is still a slight difference in Floran specimens. In the long run the reproduction depends on the method of pollen movement. As Florans are motile (arguably separating them from plants) they would most likely have a form of coitus where pollen is transmitted instead of sperm. Procreation would be more likely to occur between a 'Male' and a 'Female' but could still occur between 'Male' and 'Male' or 'Female' and 'Female' specimens.

Personally I never thought their method of mating was a huge mystery, I thought it was a given that they had an angiosperm type reproduction with both haploid and diploid stages allowing for both asexual and sexual reproduction. In normal angiosperms these methods would lead to production of a seed, however seeing that the Florans are fully motile they could have a similar pregnancy to that of mammalian species until the 'baby' is ready to move and photosynthesise on its own.

 

Here it is! TheConfusedDoorman's Flor-lore Redux!

When a Floran hits puberty, they enter the "Scarlet Fauna" stage, indicated by burning red circles in the middle of their eyes, and pronounced fangs/talons. They develop an uncontrollable bloodlust that can only be quelled by the blood of their siblings. They then begin to fight, no matter the age. The stronger sibling is determined by whoever consumes the most of the other's blood, the loser is then either eaten by the parents, or forced for 3 years (their time) to drink the dew of mature leaves and trees (which can be very bitter or sour on their planet, even acidic) to build their tolerance to pain. The budding Floran then finds a mate, a hyper-violent male-looking counterpart under their own “Scarlet Fauna” phase.

The two, hyped up on their own and each other's pheromones fight to near death, the loser being assaulted. If one wins what happens next depends on who initiated the struggle, if the one who started the brawl wins, they take the blood of the main cardiac organ has and consumes it (It can be from any part of their body, but the pheromones coming from their organ is what gets the aggravator's attention). The blood of the loser congeals with the partially digested blood of their sibling to create a fertilized egg cell. The egg cell houses itself right beside the heart of the Floran (or whatever pumps their lifeblood) and stabs into it, some Florans die from this process, but the surviving are nurtured day and night by the parents of the mother (Which have caused many murder attempts by severely neglected/bitter from defeat siblings). When the child is ready to be born, it slowly claws its way out of the maternal figure, dragging nearly half of their "heart" out with it. The matriarchs then live with the half of their heart, from then on bearing the title "Den of Life".

Now if the DEFENSIVE part of the brawl won. They’d first celebrate their victory by rubbing their butt against the butt of the loser (which in turn is actually a graceful move to the loser as it gives the loser some of the winner’s pollen, which gives the other Floran energy to find another mate (and in that, another battle). The winner would then recuperate from the brawl in a sacred Floran “Garden of the Victors”. It is said in Floran lore that danger will rush upon you in an instant sometime in a Floran’s life, and only the strongest would take part in the “Ritual of Pieces” So after surviving this part, the Floran instinctive follows a process that is before unknown to them. The Floran would find a vine/tree/large plant that is consistently touched by sunlight, as it ensures its survival. The Floran would then rip off two parts of their body, the larger the part, the greater chance their offspring has of survival, also the greater number of offspring. The Floran then looks upon the vine, with parts of itself jutting from it and perform a lighter version of the dance they performed during their victory in the fight and a chosen Floran from the victor’s past (it is usually the Floran they beat to get here in the first place) will proceed to rub their butt against the vine. The pollen then “fuels” the body parts, kickstarting it’s metamorphosis into a small child, who will then be guided back to their parent(s) by a designated “Guide of Kin” (The Floran equivalent to a Godparent).

Also, if they're alone on a far away planet, they have a method of asexual reproduction, they rip off a chunk of their butts, rub it against their remaining butt and thrust it into the ground to grow into a new budding Floran

 

Interesting. However:
-Overly savage for mating, too many individuals would be lost for the amount of offspring gained. A species couldn't survive like this unless it had a large number of offspring each time.

-Floran aren't inherently savage, they just don't understand the value of life. As seen in their lore. This is why we have the opportunity to play as them, because some of them actually learn not to eat everything that moves.

-Seems awfully convoluted for a reproductive cycle. I don't see a successful species developing something like this. It has the kind of ritual tied to it we normally see when a species needs to control its population, a lot. Something I don't think the star bound (if you'll pardon the pun) Florans need to consider anymore.

-Metamorphosis of body parts into children, very plantlike, also implies completely asexual reproduction.

Over all I don't think this is a good reproductive cycle. Interesting sure, but not a good one.

 

After reading it over, I did kinda get carried away >.> It started out as some sort of bloodsport, the winner then having kids, then it sprawled out of control with the near-omniscient "OOO WHAT IF..." when it comes to writing. Then I decided to shoehorn a few foreign ideas from the community in there. I don't expect this to go anywhere in the slightest, but backstories and lore always interested me, so when I saw something I could write about, I went kinda all out

 

That's kind of inappropriate...

I only meant they pollinate each other when they find their mate. No external organs involved :/

Some people...

 

For reference, this is an angiosperm

It is possible to have flowers with both stamens and carpels, or flowers with just stamens, or flowers with just carpels. A much more simplistic and realistic reproductive cycle for Florans could easily be based on that of flowers.

EDIT: Furthermore, flowers self pollinate all the time. It isn't generally desirable but it does occur. Plants are masters at asexual reproduction.

 

I might get in trouble for this but I couldn't resist..

 

Florans should mate using domesticated giant bumblebees. Naturally.

 

In order for plants to reproduce, you'll need pollen spreaders. THEN, you'll need the seeds carried around to various locations in order for the parents to spread the glory that is their off-spring. Then, they spring up from the ground!
An asexual race need not pairs in order to mate. Saber Cherry is on the right track.

 

This is because plants aren't motile. They need pollen spreaders because they can't do it themselves, Florans can move, pollen spreaders are unecessary.

Again, Florans are motile, they can do it themselves. Assuming they have seeds.

Again this is wrong, asexual species still required pairs if they seek to evolve and survive in a changing habitat. A species only truly becomes asexual when all of its members are female with no male parts and get spontaneously pregnant. There is a species of lizard like this, every member is female, there are no males. However this lizard can no longer evolve and adapt to its climate, a sudden change would see a rapid extinction.

 

Spores. Lots of spores.

Yes, I know plants don't breed by spores, but still. >>

 

Holy crap I just got an idea for a race of fungus people. The fun thing about fungi is that the majority of their bodies is actually a "web" network of mycelium. Which they also use to feed. So coming into contact with the body of this species would mean they could grow into you and devour you via your individual cells.

Holy hell its brilliant.

 

Something like this.


On a more serious note, they have flowers for hair option. I would guess it would probably be that. Pollination like most flowery plants do. For an interesting twist a retractable pistil to allow them to choose mates rather than letting it all hang out.

 

Hm. Maybe they're spreading spores? Just like Orkz from WH40K?

Just sayin'.

 

Oh man thats cool. Seeems like the kind of thing better suited for a race of Fungi people rather than the Florans though. (I'm saying this because I want to see a Fungus race xD)

 

Replace "spores" with "seeds", et voila!
They are like potato. Dangerous, bloodthirsty, carnivorous potato. Kinda.

 

I am happy with this.

Out of curiosity how would you feel about a fungus race? They'd look like people made out of a spiders web. (So you can directly see through them at places) Probably like this:

(I realise thats a man made out of wind but the general idea is the same)