Rhodolites
The Rhodolites are from the Rhodol System, located in the Ba’aja Sector, Beta Quadrant
Appearance and Biology
Rhodolites are semi-photosynthetic plant-form beings, composed of fibrous vascular tissues which are entwined around their bark-like skin. Beneath their skin, there is a complex network of sap canals that circulate mineralised fluids.
Their faces are made up of plates of hardened resin with apertures that open and close for communication. Instead of mouths, they possess a flexible membrane in the upper thorax that modulates air through bioluminescent vents. This allows both vocal and light-based communication. Thus, when they speak, different plates open and close at different times, in addition to colours appearing over their faces that communicate various emotions and ideas.
This makes it difficult for communication, as the universal translator deciphers the vocal sounds, but requires the speaker to identify the visual cues.
Rhodolites absorb a mix of oxygen and volatile hydrocarbons, which are then used to feed internal microbial colonies. These microbes convert sunlight, heat, and minerals into nutrients, which allow Rhodolites to survive on barren rock or deep underground for long periods.
Rhodolites do not have gender. Reproduction occurs through spore-bonding, a procedure where two Rhodolites release pollen clouds. Successful reproduction involves the successful joining of two pollen cells, and for the joint cell to fall upon nutrient-rich soil. These then form a seed-cyst, which continues to absorb nutrients from the soil for six years before germinating into a juvenile. Each offspring inherits traces of both parents’ microbial colonies, which ensures genetic and bacterial diversity.
Society
Rhodolite society is a living ecosystem rather than a social hierarchy. Rhodolites emit faint biophotonic pulses that synchronise with others, allowing for clusters of Rhodolites to share impulses, scent emotion, and fragments of memory.
Rhodolites can therefore gather in “blooms”; a microbial network of cognition. Blooms can range from a family-sized unit, to a city-scale hive of tens of thousands. Blooms can think collectively, deliberate through colour and vibration, and dissolve naturally when consensus fades.
Social standing is defined through “Resonance Purity”, which is the ability to maintain a coherent identity whilst participating in many blooms. Those with greater stability are revered as being able to join multiple blooms without losing themselves, as well as being able take information from other blooms.
Rhodolites prefer to stay in blooms; those who choose to isolate themselves from blooms are seen as heroes and, at times, strange.
Government
The Rhodolite Concordium is a planetary-scale network of blooms that are linked through resonant channels.
Each major region is represented by a Node, a cluster of Rhodolites with a high resonance purity, that maintains stable microbial harmonics that can persist across vast distances. When global consensus is required, Nodes enter a Synchrony, aligning bioluminescent signals until their oscillations stabilise into a repeating pattern. Once a pattern has been stabilised, that pattern becomes global policy. Thus, any policy requires unanimous consensus.
As the Concordium governs through equilibrium, individuals or blooms who deliberately create disruptive oscillations are called “Decoherents”. These decoherents are isolated in nutrient-poor zones until their signal fades or reintegration occurs.
The Department of Foreign Blooms handle foreign relations. As Rhodolites in this department have to isolate themselves from internal blooms, they are often held in high regard.
Trade and Interactions
Rhodolite society is highly advanced in bio-fabrication methods. Civilisations that trade with the Rhodolites often prize their organic technology, as it works in environments where other materials fail. Furthermore, Rhodolites colonise through life-seeding new worlds. This process can rapidly increase the nutrients in previously uninhabitable worlds.
On the other side, Rhodolites struggle with developing industry and processed material. In return for access and biological or organic exports, Rhodolites trade processed material, which they integrate into their own technologies, in particular harmonic relays that allow colonies to remain linked to the Concordium.
Finally, Rhodolites thrive on diverse ideas; uniform ideas create cognitive atrophy, where mental frequencies loop endlessly. The transfer of ideas through meeting foreign civilisations allows for new signals to enter the collective, allowing for a “nutrient exchange for the mind,”.
Current Federation Contact
- First Contact (2385) - First exchange of histories and cultures.
- Treaty of Non-Aggresssion (2388) - Non-Aggression and unmanned scientific observation
- Sap Accord (2391) - Federation scientists can study Rhodolite bio-materials in return for refined silicon and synthetic hydrocarbons.
- Concordium Recognition (2402) - Formal recognition of Rhodolite borders, in return for safe Federation passage through Rhodolite space.