Floran Technology

Content
Reverse Engineering
Bio-forging

Ballistics
Structures & Rigid Items
Ships & Mobile Structures​

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Reverse Engineering
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For the longest time, Florans have lived an isolated existence. Living in a stagnating, tribal society, the Florans have never shown interest in scientific progress aside from the occasional innovation in hunting tools or trap crafting.

This came to an abrupt end, after the Florans had annihilated a group of Glitch scouts and discovered the technological wonders of the Glitch’s inner systems, which allowed them to live. Some Florans were somehow able to comprehend and reverse engineer this technology, and used it to create new weapons, armour and so forth. However, due to limitations in available technology to assimilate and lack of knowledge and understanding of advanced technology, the Florans overall level of technology remained primitive and began stagnating shortly after this new discovery.

It wasn’t until the Avians, who had observed the Florans from orbit and realised that providing the Florans with more technology would be dangerous, visited them that this stagnation would once again come to an end. As the result of an accident involving a crashing supply ship, the Florans had acquired the means to travel across the stars. Ever since the Floran’s were capable of large scale FTL-space travel, they have been continually expanding and “salvaging” technology, in order to assimilate it into their own.

The ability to reverse engineer and replicate existing technology in itself isn’t all that special, as many of the other species are quite capable of doing this as well. However, the Florans seem to have a special knack for it, as they have next to none pre-existing comprehension of similar forms of advanced technology. As such, innovations are quite rare and Floran technology is usually inferior to the original product, often breaking and requiring a lot of maintenance and repair after prolonged usage.

Bio-forging
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Unlike the Floran’s ability to reverse engineer and assimilate alien technology, the following ability has been part of Floran culture from before the time Floran history started to be recorded. Through exchanging pheromones, Florans are able to “communicate” with and manipulate plant life. As such, Florans are able to gain some information from plant life, however it can be quite tricky to decipher the meaning without proper context.

For example, a Floran who has been tracking down prey can smell pheromones released by plants, which function as an alarm system. A Floran may deduce that the local plant life has been disturbed. This can mean that there are intruders nearby, who have trodden and damaged flora as they passed through the jungle, or some herbivore has been feeding on plants in the vicinity. This will allow Florans to somewhat aid them in tracking their prey in the jungle, which is one of the factors that contributes to their natural home advantage.

Florans are also able to secrete their own, mutable, specialised pheromones, in order to “manipulate” plants. These pheromones will incite slight mutations in a plant’s DNA, altering it. This allows Florans to create primitive tools, weapons, furniture and housing or just promote growth and cultivate plant life.

However, once a Floran desires to create a more complicated product through this ability, it requires multiple generations of genetic manipulation through alterations of their DNA and selective breeding. Ballistic weaponry, and the occasional plant-based mechanisms created through this process are often still quite inferior to their conventional counterparts. However, through a combination of plant- and conventional materials, Florans can create impressive weapons and tools, which could potentially reach the same efficiency of their conventional counterparts. This ultimate expression of the Floran’s ability to influence plant life, and to craft it into all sorts of products, is referred to as “Bio-forging” and it is an ability which requires a substantial amount of experience, knowledge, intuition, talent, intelligence and creativity, which is rare among the Florans. These individuals are referred to as Shamans and Wisemen.

Ballistics
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These are any grown object that can launch or throw a projectile, usually a sharpened spine of some sort. Growing these is a complex, time-consuming, care-intensive process that requires a very high level of skill and care. Instead of growing a single item, the Forgers grow separate parts. Floran bio-forged firearms consist of several pieces including the barrel, stock, handle, primitive trigger system, and natural gas-filled organ capable of propelling the needles, spines, or other projectile out of the weapon. Fire rate and power all can differ depending on the intended use and intensity of the ‘gas-bag’ inside the stock. ‘Needlers’ are a common example of Floran automatic weapons, with the gas-bag constantly propelling a stack of needles out of the barrel. Comparative to a carbon-dioxide vial in an airsoft gun, the gas-bag imparts the kinetic energy into the projectile. They can be tuned to fire small, fast needles or even single, large projectiles such as acidic pods. The gas-bags can refill themselves over time, although Florans have been known to carry multiple of theses gas bags in case they run out of ‘charge’ in the middle of a fight.

Floran weapons do not have much, if any, penetrating value, instead relying on the kinetic energy to wreak havoc in their enemies. Stopped by most body armors, they are inferior to nearly all conventional kinetic weapons, but can wreak havoc on unarmored foes. For a reference, the gas-bags work like a CO2 canister in an airsoft gun, propelling the projectile alongside a magazine or stack of the projectiles shoved into the weapon.

Structures & Rigid Items
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These are any sort of house, chair, lamp, bench, ramp, bridge, or solid, non-moving, rigid item. These things take much longer to grow than the weapons, but only due to the size they need to be grown to. They do not require nearly as much minute care and attention, as they can simply be grown around a frame or coaxed along as they grew. Objects grown from living plant matter are usually stronger than their wood counterparts, and can be compared to brick or hard clay. They are not as susceptible to fire as wood, since they are usually still alive and therefore damp and wet. Luminescent objects such as lamps can also be grown, however they require a different set of skills to enable to plant to emit the light constantly while still growing as is wanted.

Ships & Mobile Structures
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These encompass any plant-matter growth that is to be used as a vehicle, ship, or other mobile structure. Floran spacecraft are mostly reverse-engineered ships scavenged after they have crashed on planet. However, it is possible for a very highly-skilled Forger to grow the basic structure of a spacecraft. It takes years, and requires very minute care and attention. The growth must be inspected to make sure it is airtight, and must be kept alive until it is complete. Florans are not capable to growing machinery or engines for their ships, so scavenged FTL systems, engines, displays, navigation systems, and other electronic devices must be taken from other ships. Any mobile Floran structure is comprised completely of dead plant-matter, and as such care needs to be taken by the entire Floran ‘crew’ to make sure the ships does not decay away. Floran plant-matter ships are therefore extremely rare, belonging only to the biggest, strongest tribes with grunts to waste.​

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