Hylotl lore doesn't make sense

First off, let me just say that I hate the word "lore." Why don't people use a different word, like culture, history, or something?

Anyway, I've just started playing again as a Hylotl. While normally I just ignore everything in the codex library, and make up my own story, this one stuck out like a sore thumb.

From what I understand so far, the Hylotl are pacifist who don't believe in harming other living beings. They don't believe in wars either, running away from the Florans, so that they won't have to confront them.

You are a spreader of the Hyotl message for peace. And yet, you bring a sword with you? Just what kind of peace are we talking about anyway? You do not participate in wars, and yet you have knowledge of how to make armor and weapons. Even the Hylotl description for the CCS is along the lines of "capturing live animals is wrong but I'm doing it anyway."

I'd say that the Hylotl vision of peace is the same as Stalin's vision of peace

 

Lore implies its made up

 

Because 'Lore' means the facts, traditions, stories, and whatever else on something that have been accumulated over time? It also means the backstory created in a fictional universe? I mean, Starbound is a fictional universe, and so 'lore' works. It's just a word.

 

So they act like any normal race?

To be fair, you may be a pacifist as a race but other races arent. Weaponry is used for protection from being wiped out by a single tribe of aliens.

Not an army; a single tribe.

Makes perfect sense that the race would have a way to defend themselves considering they might be a target of every war mongering race in the universe just because "they don't like fighting"

any conqueror with their right mind will attack the most defenseless species but those are just some of my cookie thoughts

 

It's probably more along the lines of "I don't want to hurt anything if I can, but I recognize that there will be alien beasties that will try to eat my third eye out and I need something to defend myself"

 

A good man works for peace. A wise man prepares for war.

 

Well you don't have to ever deal damage. Dodge most monsters and summon bosses on airships. Mine like hell + use a refinery for money.

 

id expect this to be a popular phrase within hylotl society. you can see through various things that while the hylotl hold life as sacred and wish not to destroy it, they acknowledge that they may have to defend themselves against other races (they probably realise this truth even more now after being kicked off their home by the floran) and that they may have to kill animals for food if they wish to survive.

they are good people, but theyre not dumb. theyre not going to put themselves at risk no matter how highly they hold their beliefs.

and on the subject of armours, id expect that there was war between hylotls in the past before they came to the sort of race-wide union they seem to have today. which is to be expected, given that it would be needed before they could advance to space travel of their own accord (which they did).

 

My take on it is, yes they're pacifists, they're opposed to war and violence, but the Starbound universe is a dangerous place, they may not always have the choice to run and escape, and when that moment comes they may have to do something they dislike in order to restore other options. So yes, they have weapons, but to use it is likely their last course of action, only used when it is truly necessary.

 

Just like every other race religion or creed in real life.

We are peaceful, and if you say we aren't we will kill you!

 

I always found that a bit odd too - my current main is a Hylotl, and while the lore says that I'm supposed to be a vegetarian pacifist (though the vegetarian part is justified), I think my Hylotl has been far more needlessly savage than my original Avian character.

It's just a bit odd. I go into a Glitch Castle and am greeted with hostility - and of course, I do my usual thing and slaughter any hostile within the castle - even though the lore says I should do just the opposite, running away. It just doesn't ring well with me :T

 

thats not exactly accurate, and id say its definitely not true of the hylotl. they fled their own home planet rather than build up power to kill the floran.

of course we have to remember that our characters are only one of a race of many, and while the lore says the hylotl are peaceful as a race, it does not mean they all are.
same thing in that you can have a vegetarian floran if you want to.

 

If you look at the descriptions on most of the armor, everything is about defense, exploration or high ranking officials. The tier 9 armor is the armor of the warriors who protect Hylotl territory, the tier 10 armor, belongs to emperors or high ranking members of society, all seem to be explorers. I suspect that Hylotl society is based mainly around culture and the arts, exploration and knowledge. Missionaries would either be Warriors, monks or Pilgrims sent for diplomatic purposes, to learn more and the obvious one; spread good will.

I'd say their military, or warriors are more expeditionary Peace Keepers, they protect the homeland and help protect others when necessary. They probaby would have held a code of honor similar to that to the samurai and their warriors, though highly trained, warriors would have numbered very low. That's not to say that there aren't any Generals, aristocrats or anyone really that doesn't support war, but I would say it is only a last resort option, they don't appear to be the aggressors.

The Hylotl have supposedly been warring with the Florans for years. Probably to stalemate, and the main reason they abandoned their home planet, i believe; was to preserve their culture which they hold dearly, and if Hylotl culture is based off of Feudal Japan; to preserve the life of the Emperor. Warring on their home planet would have caused the destruction of all of this, pretty much destroying a civilization and its remnants.

The Military; Soldiers and Warriors, Weaponry and Armour would have developed over this period of time, or increased in number. Warriors would have been smaller in number before the war. etc

So essentially; Hylotl believe in the spreading and preservation of their culture and arts, love their emperor, have a military doctrine/code that has progressed for thousands of years, maintaining defense and honor above all else.

 

Self-defense? just because you are a pacifist peace lover doesn't mean that you wanna get murdered on the first planet you live on.

 

"The Florans revel in death. They should be eradicated."

Given this quote it becomes fairly apparent to me that Hylotl have nothing against killing brutal savages and defending yourself.

He Who Fights Monsters, right?

 

Starbound is a story. That means all aspects of the universe are LORE.

 

They seem to me to be pacifists as Shaolin Monks are pacifists. Remember, too, that a blade is a tool even if it cannot be used as such in this game system.

A pacifist may avoid killing for war by choice but may kill the wild dog who attacks out of necessity.