I KEEP FORGETTING TO YAP ABOUT THIS BUT
with the recent reveal of the Starblight lore/species, I thought it could be fun to talk about a bunch of the speculative taxonomy I came up with for the “Star” creatures that we have (specifically Starcores, Starblights and Starspawn)! :D
Some of this will include a bit of the fictional taxonomy stuff I’ve mentioned before, but I’ll do my best to break down what I need to :)
And HUGE DISCLAIMER that 1. this is not necessarily “canon” to Starbound, I’ve tried my best to make it match the lore and everyone’s characters but at the end of the day,,, these are @goldenocie and @m0thm00n’s guys and their word is law not mine. I’m a Starbound creator but I’m just yapping, my word doesn’t mean shit, if they say something that goes against these concepts, they’re the right ones. And 2. I am not a scientist I don’t know science at all and none of this is real science. This is me taking real science apart and trying to stick it back together with Elmer’s glue in a shape I like better. So… if I get science wrong… I am aware (but also if you wanted to tell me real science in a nice educational way that would be cool I love science). Anyway, with that said-
SO mentioned previously, for Starbound taxonomies I’ve created the additional taxonomic classification “Basis”. And all three of these species are unique in that they qualify as Basis: “Extranotus” (meaning roughly “beyond known”), as they’re non-carbon based life forms. Which means that within their basis they would have a variety of domains! But since we know these three are closely related that means they all share the same one.
Specifically, they are members of the Domain: Neutronia. Rather than being comprised of carbon-atoms, the living cells which develop intelligence are instead comprised primarily of neutrons, which adjust their density to attract varying other elements that combine with the neutron-cells to form a “body” in a somewhat symbiotic relationship.
Our first divergence comes at the Kingdom stage! Star-Spawns belong to Kingdom: Exterae, whilst Star-Cores and Star-Blights belong to Kingdom: Corpiae. What separates these branches is the stability of their dimensional existence. Star-Spawn’s intelligence or consciousness exists in a form external to its dimensional confines, with the neutrons being impacted by this dimensional superposition. As such, the electron orbit around the atomic-nucleus which holds their consciousness is highly unstable and subject to change. This also means it’s much more malleable, allowing the species to have drastically alterable physical forms, like how Mi-Go can change shape/size. They exist in a transmutable state rather than a corporeal one, like Star-Cores and Star-Blights, which have physical forms stable in our dimension!
Star-Cores and Star-Spawns both exist in the Phylum: Planae (with the only other other known phylum in Corpiae being the “Nebulae” branch) since they exist in a singular dense form held together with gravity, rather than a wider gaseous/cloud form. Star-Spawn exist in the Phylum: Veritume, with the consciousness finding a “true” form in this dimension.
Star-Spawn belong to the Class: Migrare, due to their ability to migrate between dimensions (likely with other members of the Veritume Phylum existing that can’t and only exist on specific planes). Here we also have our next split! Star-Blights belong to the Class: Rete-Cognere, with Star-Cores instead being in Class: Reposito, the two being differentiated by the manner in which life is stored (a single repository being or a broader network of elements comprising a single being).
Star-Core’s and Star-Blights here become fairly obvious in their delineation of Order, with the former belonging to the Order: Stellaris, and the latter to Order: Orbitae. Star-Spawn belonging to the Order: Demutates, from the Latin for changing, specifically in reference to the mind and the altering of thoughts.
From here it’ll be easier to go species by species, since we’ve branched off significantly each way.
Star-Spawns belong to the Family: Veteres (meaning “Old Ones”), in the Genus: Insania, and belonging to the Species: Progenia. Leaving us with the species name Insania Progenia (Children of Madness) and the taxonomic tree:
Star-Cores belong to the Family: Renatus (from the Latin for “reborn”), within the Genus: Supanovae, and the Species: Centrum. Leaving us with a species name of of Supernovae Cetrum (“Supernova’s Centre”), and a taxonomic tree:
And finally, for our Star-Blights, they belong to the Family: Gravites, the Genus: Tellus, and the Species: Hostillis. Giving our evil planet the scientific name Tellus Hostillis (“Hostile Earth”), and the taxonomic tree:
So honestly working to find the connection point between Starspawn and the other two was the most tricky and rewarding part because like, the inter-dimensional aspect is super funky but also so different, but we know canonically they are connected, so finding where all the pieces fit together was super fun!
If you’ve read this far… thanks, honestly, this is a super long and wordy post where I’ve basically brain dumped all my thoughts about these fictional taxonomies lol- and this isn’t even all of the ones I’ve worked on! The only other complete taxonomies I have (other than Tad of course) is Daiv, so if people would want a full infodump on my thoughts about Daiv let me know that could be a fun post (also because I think Daiv is potentially the only one of his species canonically).
But otherwise yeah… I don’t know how to end this post… thanks to Ocie and Olive for letting me play science with your blorbos I guess :)