It should be noted this document is not meant to be comprehensive, but primarily to contrast human popular culture depictions of similar beings.
First, no internal species name has been provided. It should be noted that Black Speech also does not include a species name. “Goo” or “Goos” is deemed suitable as an English placeholder until a more concrete identifier has become popular.
Black Speech is a formal, constructed, aural-only language. Learning it is one of the requirements of citizenship (and it’s benefits), which is a requirement of participation in government or membership in the military. This contrasts with the series of psychic (radio backed) dialects that are the natural first language of goos. As this language can not be formally taught (leading to exponentially slow communications at first contact), and as it’s use can damage minds that are supposedly receptive to it, Black speech is mandated for government and military action.
Physically, Goos are obligate shapeshifters. They have no endo- or exoskeleton. One may be tempted to label them as amoeba-like, but depictions of such creature in popular culture have several bad assumptions.
1. That the representation of a single celled creature can be scaled
There is no way mono-cellular mechanisms scale up to the level of kilograms.
1a. That there is some level of translucency to a Goo
Except with the consumption of dangerous amounts of water, visible light penetrates a goo no more than it does a human.
1b. That there is the equivalent of a cellular nucleus or core that is “actually” the Goo; That lost mass is inconsequential to their operation, and can be easily replenished.
The entire non-water mass of the goo is essential to their existence. Significant damage or loss of this mass would be akin to human brain damage. Past childhood, there are no significant changes to mass that are not related to digestion or water consumption and evaporation.
1c. That the structure is water insoluble
As suggested previously, the Goo body is soluble to the point of involuntary absorption. A Goo would drown and dissolve irrecoverably in an amount of water equal to their preferred body mass.
1d. That them may be immune to damage from piercing, slashing, dismemberment, or gunfire.
While blunt damage may be more quickly recovered from, there is an effect. While dismembered limbs may be re-attachable, the Goo is at significant risk of going into shock after the dismemberment – at which point you are likely to get a psychic beacon for homing purposes. You do not want to experience this.
1e. That humans or other creatures could be converted into a Goo
While there have been experiments with creating human-goo-golems, this is based on non-destructive brain scans. The next generation of a strain only happens at the end of a parent’s life.
2. It has been suggested that intergenerational memory is genetic. It is not. Any knowledge or memory directly shared between generations of a strain needs exacting standards to be preserved, and the sum of what the next generation know is never equal to the total of their parent.
Governmentally, the goo alien government is a Bureaucratic Republic with redundant military structure leanings.
Wherever possible, each government structure – appointment, organization – has two appointments or organization of equivalent power. Usually this manifests as the equivalent of a 3 person board of directors; each has their own duties, but they have a quorum in which to agree with or reject lines of action by the other.
Also in potential opposition are the underlings of each director – a 60(base b+)%+ vote can override two directors, a 80(base b+)%+ vote can override 3 directors. Usually, with this much opposition, a director may reverse a vote or step down rather than allow a vote to happen, as such objections are generally held to be a vote of no confidence – otherwise they would lobby directors directly.
This goes up to the Chambers of Council on Iu’husid; Imagine an almost 360 degree amphitheater with box seats above it; speeches, debates, and votes are called from the center dias, representatives of invited organizations wander between the theater and provided offices. The box seats above are those who will make the actual votes; one section is the civilian government, including representatives invited form all three planets; the second is the military, it’s most senior officials that can be bothered, the third – well, the windows are dark on that set of boxes. The official line is that the weak deserve anonymity and protection from pressure. Over the years, it’s been suggested its a survivor of the of dictators, or a representative from the interarm Plyd Traders, or some secret deep state thing. Either way, the Chambers of Council are where the votes for the big issues of state come from.
The dynamic is a bit like jurors writing down questions during a trial; whoever is on the dias, or in the offices below, it not supposed to have direct contact with those making the vote, everything presented and questioned can be heard by all.
Socially, there generally is more village life than Urban or Suburban, not that the latter does not exist – but there is a specific reason for this; Natural birth colonies.
A Goo does not have children without giving up their own life. Their mass, an about a month long process, builds up into several offspring.
There’s rumor that if one doesn’t eventually let this happen, they will crystalize – another form of death.
However, there are two ways splitting into offspring can go; in a controlled environment, with the right hormones at the right point of the process, 2 or three childern will be assured a fraction of their parents memories, of their expertise. This puts them about 8-10 years old in human development terms.
Without this treatment, one is statistically certain to get 3-8 idiot babies form the “Natural Birth”. That is, they retain no memory structures form the parent, and are in need of as much care and training as a human baby. This those that believe this is the appropriate way to grow up have founded inter-generational colonies in the support of these babies. While a number of strains reject citizenship, these colonies are also ripe for military recruitment.
While a “non natural birth” does usually have a friend of the deceased looking after their offspring, there is a good chance that one of their early goals will be studying for citizenship – including the parts of Dark Speech they failed to inherit. You occasionally get whole strains co-habitating unsupervised – but the government actively discourages this. It’s Dictator behavior.
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