| E-div_drone |
While the Pact Worlds book says that astrozoans tend to blend in with whatever the local culture is, they must have their own outlooks on life. So what would they be? They are short lived like humans and lashunta, so presumably they have a similar drive to experience life. Then there is the fact that they are hermaphroditic. However, do they give birth to live young? Lay eggs? Do they need to mate with another, or like other existing hermaphrodites (worms, plants), do they tend to self inseminate for procreation? Can they procreate with other species? How do these answers shape their behaviors?
Kishmo
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I don't think there's anything in canon, but based on their similarities to starfish and also amoeboid blobs, it's a fair gamble to say they might reproduce asexually via fission or some kind of fancy scaled-up mitosis, in their natural forms?
The write-up for astrazoans says they're "capable of forming both male and female reproductive organs and thus are effectively hermaphrodites," but I think 'hermaphrodite' maybe isn't the best choice of words there. It doesn't even really work describe a creature that can change its bits at will, and I don't think we're to take it in the scientific sense of, like, reproductive systems of biology. We aren't necessarily to assume from that line that, for example, astrazoans have male and female gametes and need some permutation thereof to reproduce. We know that that's no where near all there is in Starfinder - astrazoans could, I assume, handily change their form into a host shirren, or a uisha maraquoi, or whatever other wild and varied thing exists in Starfinder. Whatever the reproductive system of a sapient, multi-celled, shape-changing, species is - I don't think we have the words to describe it, scientifically, on Earth.
Whether or not they are biologically or genetically compatible with other species, I think there's references scattered throughout Starfinder of different species being able to reproduce using advanced genetics and science. I think the general idea is any thing can have a bébé with any other thing, and the Science to make that happen is just so much hand-waving.
All of that to say - go nuts and do whatever you want, and don't be constrained by the limitations and fleshy bits represented here on Earth :D In terms of what that means for their culture - since they basically showed up (presumably during The Gap) with no real culture or society to speak of, it really is a blank slate. Since astrazoans seem to enjoy being around other sapients, presumably they're not solitary creatures and have some need for companionship. That being the case, it's not a stretch to guess that they may find kinship with other creatures with missing or no culture? Like, I could see astrazoans getting along well with shirren, who escaped from the mono-culture of The Swarm right after The Gap ended, or with the bantrids or trinir, both of whom just woke up without much history? Who knows, maybe they'll all make some kind of Coalition of Non-Historied Species, and make their own culture :D
| John Mangrum |
A couple of years of running a campaign with an astrazoan PC has led our group to some basic ideas. Keep in mind that everything that follows is just how it works in my game.
The gist of the PC, since it informed our take on astrazoan society, is that her primary persona is a female lashunta from Castrovel, raised by a pair of astrazoans who have maintained the same personas (a pair of lashunta diplomats) for her whole life. She's spent so much time in that lashunta persona that she "identifies" as a lashunta (who happens to also be able to change shape). This distinguishes her from her parents, who still fully (though secretly) identify as astrazoans maintaining lashunta personas. It's evolved into a sort of first-generation/second-generation immigrant divide.
Some details that have emerged in our game:
1. Astrazoans typically view their humanoid identities as "personas" they can slip into and out of as casually as outfits. Remaining in a single persona for an extended period is unusual.
2. While an astrazoan's core personality (and certainly alignment) is always consistent, they often associate specific personas with particular personality traits. The PC's main persona is a serious corporate diplomat, but she also maintains a second persona as a sugar-pop icon. She hid this fact from her parents for years, but when she finally came clean they were incredibly relieved that she A) had created this persona to keep its activities separate from her first persona, and B) wasn't as locked into a single person as they'd feared.
3. Astrazoans are scattered across the galaxy. Individual astrazoans draw most of their "culture" from the humanoid cultures surrounding them.
4. Astrazoan communities are small and scattered. A few astrazoans live openly, but the majority prefer to remain anonymous. Usually located in major population centers, they hide in plain sight, connecting to other astrazoans through subtle marks and signs, or more commonly, via social media that allows a degree of anonymity.
5. For astrazoans, "fatherhood" and "motherhood" is literally a matter of physical choice, and they may switch up the roles if they have multiple offspring. They give birth to live young, but since astrazoans are squishy little suckers, the actual process of childbirth is pretty stress-free. Raising an astrazoan child is a tricky business for parents maintaining consistent humanoid personas. It takes an astrazoan infant about as long to take and reliably hold a form as it does for a human infant to learn to walk. Even after the astrazoan toddler can disguise itself, it's limited to its current size. "Settled" astrazoans often raise their offspring in secret for the first few years, with the child either hidden away or living among them openly in the form of a "pet" animal. When the astrazoan child is old enough to hold a humanoid child's form (and can be trusted to keep its identity secret), the parents may "adopt" their natural child, using counterfeit ID acquired through the astrazoan "dark web."