Floran Physiology In-Depth By Professor Oak ((IC/OOC)) [Khaltor]

You don't need genders to have genitalia.

 

I think she just means florans don't have obvious external genitalia like humans do. No plantdicks

 

I think everyone tries so hard to devolve Florans to Flowers and plants, that they forget to evolve them to a bipedal sentient race. Cmon guys, any one who knows about parallel evolution will tell you that two very different species can essentially evolve in two completely different isolated ecosystems and come out nearly identical, filling the same niche.

My point is that while yes, at one time the florans would be more considered a 'plant' at some time in its history... isn't it kind of inaccurate to describe them as that now? For all intents and purposes, they are as animal as it gets. Now from an evolutionary standpoint, desirable traits and mutations are often kept, where obsolete or unfavorable traits are phased out through natural selection.

From a reproductive standpoint, sure the devs have spoken, (though it seems they have once again left more questions than answers...), but even going off the flower model as you were before, as we know, the flower is described as being the reproductive part of the plant. containing the stamen (male genitals), and pistil/carpal (female genitals). Those are both visible parts. So it stands to reason they'd be visible on the creature itself. Another thing to note is that in Earth science for plants (botany), most flowers aren't described as having a gender based on their genitals. Rather, they are described by what type of reproductive cells they produce. Now that's a lore AND science friendly way to explain why a unisex race could have members that identify as either male or female.

Though there's a problem in this flower format. In the bottom of this post, figure one will show you what happens to a flower that bears fruit. Not all flowers bear fruit, but the process is usually very similar. As you can see, the flower then becomes the fruit. so if he flowers on the head, your head would lose its flower? or leave it's offspring vulnerable to attack from a passer by wanting a snack? in the bipedal or animal model, this makes no sense, and is impractical. Plants usually have some counter to being able to be wiped out in a single pluck of the fruit. One example is producing a large quantity of seeds, or by having some sort of defense to ward others off. As an animal, they would use way to much energy hunting and running around to be able to do this. And I don't think one or two Floran should be capable of producing 1000, 500, heck even 10 offspring at once. Now that's OP.
In the animal kingdom, the I way I can best describe why sexual reproduction is a successful system, (besides the diversity it allows through combining of gene pools), is that it allows countless mobile species the ability to, well, stay mobile.

Also, remember, even in the lore, it's both hinted and referenced that Florans have conventional organs. (Heck those eyes have to connect to something, don't they?) Last time I checked, Plants didn't have a central nervous system. Or a stomach. Or any other true organ that most animals do. We have to remember that a Floran no longer is the equivalent of plant and flower. There really shouldn't be a one to one ratio on how to explain it. Like the Floran has a skull, evidenced in multiple items and placeables. Perhaps it has an entire skeleton?

I think the problem here is we try to explain something fully which wasn't fully explained, and probably never be. So of course it stands to reason that people will want to make their own assumptions and guesses. But threads like these really only seem to cater to a portion of people's beliefs. Why not let just generalize it and let people come to their own (reasonable) conclusions (provided they can explain it well), rather than bottleneck them all into the same thing? Then we'll all be happy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_reproduction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynoecium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_reproductive_morphology
Figure 1:
http://www.geochembio.com/IMG/apple-fruit-development.jpg

 

I agree with Logan's wall of text! It is implausible to assume that a creature based off plant life would assume similarities with an actual plant. Florans see, feel, eat, and do all of which plants cannot do. Florans clearly have a central nervous system, a digestive system, and all that jazz. I assume that, much like any asexual organism, that Florans can ASSUME male or female organs depending on the situation they live in. If there are too many male Florans in an environment, some females will assume the reproductive duties of a male, and vise versa. I don't try to delve too deep into it, but I RP Hakachi as if she has all the regular tidbits of a human being, although with the oddities a Floran clearly has.

 

There are no male or female florans, the masculine and feminine body types are purely aesthetic.

The floran race has one ''gender'' and the male or female forms are purely aesthetic. Florans display a lot of physiological variability, I mean hell, some of them even have a second pair of jaws sticking out of their head.

 

First, I want to compliment you on not immediately and violently attacking my post. Instantly, This conversation will take a good tone, 'stead of a mudslinging one.

Second, if a particular headcannon bothers you when discovered in character, perhaps react... In character! like, if OOC, you believe that Florans reproduce a particular way, and some one says differently, then have your character react in shock/disgust/disbelief. Best of both worlds! You neither have to conform to their way or really acknowledge it, and they can continue to believe what they want.

I'm going to also start a group conversation to something I've been putting a lot of thought into. It's quite related to the topic we have here oddly enough! It's going to be a group conversation, so lemme know if you want in. Reason it's private is because when this sort of thing goes public, it usually devolves into name calling and hurt feelings across the board. :/

That's all I'll say on that at the moment.