PLANET: FLERR (See: Flerr)

EVOLOUTION:

The Flora are a humanoid species, that had a very long and complicated line of evolution. Originally, they were a sort of mole-like creature, mostly digging and eating roots, mushrooms, and half-decomposed foliage, occasionally bugs.

This is the time that this mole creatures converges with a species of parasitic flower, which, because of its nature, ended up killing a large population of the species. The plant uses its hosts skin as one giant leaf, the outer layer being converted into a blanket that absorbs energy, and the deeper layers being infested with roots, that actually process the energy into sugars. This causes the creature to compulsively come up and sit in the sunlight, exposing them to predation, sunburn, and diseases that they're not made to resist.

In a similar fashion to how most humanoid species evolve, they went through a series of long and complicated environmental changes.

(In a fascinating and rare occurrence, these environmental changes happened in most areas of the world, transforming a few other animals into humanoids, as well. (See: Fauna))

The first change being a gradually more intense flooding, forcing them to seek out trees (which they used their claws to climb), ironically enough, only the sickly parasite-infected flora survived, in small numbers. Flora now live in the trees, and will stay there for quite awhile, giving them longer grasping limbs, and a shorter but stronger jaw for chewing nuts and berries, instead of softer vegetation like before.

Considering this, it's a miracle they survived at all, largely in part due to the sugars provided by the parasite. Giving them a symbiotic relationship that lasts to this day.

The second environmental change was drought, forcing them to come back down to search for food, relying less on the parasite to produce food now that water was not in abundance. The cousins that relied on their plants too much died off.

Food was scarce, causing life to look for ways to save energy, and they developed upright walking at around this time for this very reason, finding that standing up straight both helped them navigate the new grasslands and old forests, while also saving 75% of their energy compared to walking on all fours.

So now the crude humanoids, with their new legs, explore the earth, gradually coming to walk completely upright, and finding themselves split between three main subspecies depending on where they settled.

The parasitic plants usually end up eventually mimicking the surrounding vegetation. We're not entirely sure how this happens. Neither are the Flora.

SUBSPECIES:

Since, in the floran language, scientific names for species are based on an ancient version of the floran language, much like how english speakers name things scientifically in latin, these translations are in latin, not english, to keep the same tone.

It's not taboo for subspecies to interbreed. but it doesn't happen very often given that flora naturally stay in their preferred environments. Flora have colorations similar to moles, ranging from light pink, to a more tan pink (like a sphynx cat), to various shades of brown. The exception being albinism.

Unlike humans, although this coloration is indeed controlled by the level of melanin, it doesn't really have much to do with being closer to or further from the equator, it's more like the skin colorations of different dog breeds.

All subspecies are on the shorter side, usually being 5"-5"7, have pointed long ears with deep grooves, have roots visible on their body, and have retractable claws. All florans, when explained the concept of human gender, say they more identify as male. For this reason, in translated texts, they're usually referred to as He. Every member of the species presents in a masculine manner, as well.

AQUA:

The Flora that settled near the ocean or freshwater areas are called Aqua. The plants that dot their bodies have thin, wirey roots, extending deep into the tissues, limiting movement in some individuals. This is called Overgrowth, and is considered a disability. The other species also experience overgrowth, but none so common as the Aqua. They're generally a very serious bunch, preferring to work rather than play. That's not to say they don't, though. They usually don't sport flowers, instead they have small patches of an algae-looking substance across their bodies. This species is the least hairy, and they tend to be chubbier than the average floran. They endure winters with ease, growing more fat.

GRAMEN:

The Flora that settled in the grasslands. They adopted a nomadic lifestyle, traveling from one end of the Great Planes Expanse to the other over the course of a year. This is because Flora has an exaggerated tilt, causing the seasons to be more intense. They're experts at environmental conservation, knowing how to harvest food, while simultaneously making sure that there would be more food the next year by planting in a way that accommodates the species of the environment. They also perform necessary field burning, an agricultural practice done by many other cultures. They're known as calm thinkers, innovators, and philosophers. They're most commonly seen with what appear to be wildflowers dotting their body. This species is moderately hairy. They tend to be on the leaner side.

LIGNUM:

The flora that settled in the Forests. They have a somewhat secretive, suspicious, but not defensive way of life. They're curious of outsiders to the forests, but don't usually seek out other communities besides their own. This subspecies has a lot of festivals and parties, most notably the Love Festival, featuring streets decorated to represent all four kinds of love in floran culture. Platonic, New, Familial, and Old. They're the hariest subspecies, and are more muscular than the average floran, but they're not lean. They usually have a good layer of fat on them, especially during winter.

REPRODUCTION:

This species is largely hermaphroditic, the majority of the population having a retractable prehensile seeder, internal testes, a vaginal canal, a high cervix, and a uterus with one ovary, storing about 100 or so eggs. The Lignum have a unique, soft barb-like vestigal ornament on theirs.

About once a year, usually in the spring or summer, the Lignum and Aqua go into heat. There isn't any sort of set date for this, and often everyone's heats are not synced. Heats rarely occur in early spring, though, which is why the Love Festival is planned in early spring.

If the heat is repressed through medication, or if it is simply endured with no fertilization, afterwards the flora in question experiences something similar to human menstruation, the body expelling the expired and unused egg and placenta over the course of an uncomfortable few days.

Floran pregnancy only lasts about five or so months, even in the case of the child being half-alien.

HISTORY:

Not much Floran history is known. All groups of the Flora are very secretive about their temples (which have many walls of hieroglyphic text that contain local history) being scanned. What is not written in stone, is usually passed down by word through the village elders in more rural communities, but can be found in paper books in the more urban ones. The florans don't seem to be pressed about their history, though, as they've had no major wars between their own groups.

They did, however have very very tense relations with the Fauna, which broke into a war. Event lead to event, and eventually a peace treaty was made. Simultaneously, they also had a short Prohibition era, which was publicly detested by the Lignum. However, much like America's prohibition, it was reversed because of lost tax revenue.

Flerr never had an industrial era. That's not to say they don't have and utilize technology, they do, and in wide abundance, but they did not capitalize on the technological revolution. This is largely because religion heavily permeates every aspect of their society, and keeping extra money that is not necessary for a comfortable life is seen as a grave sin, and although it isn't technically illegal, if word gets out that you're guilty of it, your neighbors will persecute you themselves. It is to be spent, or donated to the temple. This is the reason banks do not exist on Flerr.

JUSTICE:

The laws of the land are diverse, and heterogenous throughout the flora. Local Law dictates, and although now that the Flora are part of the Beta Cluster Alliance and have access to better comms tech, there are very few planetary laws. The ones that do exist are as follows:

Murder- Punishable by death.

Rape- Punishable by death.

Thievery- Punishable by death or exile.

Slander- (falsely accusing another of a crime)- Punishable by death or exile.

The justice systems of each area are all very similar, and although the actual titles may be different in each area, the same hierarchy applies. Trials are carried out by the Temple, everyone involved, and well as a group of random unrelated strangers. Instead of lawyers being brought in to argue for or against the accused, a team of scientists unrelated to the crime are brought in.

The scientists present all evidence to the unrelated jury, and give all possible hypothesis for how a crime happened. The only restriction is that there must be at least one hypothesis for how the accused can be innocent, however unlikely. Then, the scientists and Jury talk about what the most likely options are.

Then, a representative that recorded the entire debate between the jury and the scientists presents the information to the entire court, including the related individuals, the Temple Elder, the Priests, the scientists, and the jury. After this, a two day recess is taken to seek out more evidence and double check while the Elder and the Priests talk it over. Then, everyone is resummoned. This process is repeated as many times as necessary if the scientists think there may be more evidence to be found.

Who makes the final decision is largely up to the local area. It will either be the Temple, the Scientists, the Jury, or a group vote of two of those groups. The involved get to speak, but never to vote.

EVOLOUTION:

The Fauna are not really a single species. Instead, the Fauna are a group of many different species that evolved in much the same way that the Flora did. Avian, Bovine, Lagomorphic, and a few other less common families are seen. Some of the species evolved naturally, however, some others were placed there by an ancient S-type civilization. Both the natural and placed species of Fauna have vestigial features of their more animal-like ancestors, and seem to have a lot of personality traits that correlate to the behavior of those animals.

Culture:

Flerr is a planet that houses both the Flora and Fauna, two races that previously had tense relations, but now peacefully coexist. The more urban areas of the planet have mixed communities, but generally the rural areas (which make up about 80% of the planet's settlements) don't have mixed communities. They exist, and they're not taboo, but they are uncommon.

Beach, Grassland, and Forest areas are highlighted here. There are three main islands on Flerr, and they've been resized to show what they look like next to each other. In reality, they're in a slightly different orientation when put on a globe.

There is a planetary government, but it's not one that was in place before the Beta Cluster Alliance contacted the Flora. A few representative from each area were chosen to talk with the Beta Cluster Alliance to decide on a cohesive enough government for the alliance to trade with and visit the planet.

pictured is the settlement for alliance tourists, and foreigners seeking passports for legal access to the rest of the planet. Illegal access, though, doesn't often result in punishment. Instead, it most usually results in complications in getting various legal identifications for tax, marriage, and the purchase of recreational goods.