Silent Ones
Silent ones, along with click worms, were the founding species of the greater galactic community.
Biology
Life Cycle
Silent ones have what other sophonts tend to consider to be an unusual life cycle. Their species comes in two forms, a mobile one, which is what is generally thought of as a silent one, and a stationary, fungal like form. Silent ones host spores in their horns, and when two adults butt heads, the spores intermingle and can fertilize each other. Upon successful fertilization, if the spores land in the right conditions, they can start growing as a root-like network of psudo-hyphae. Should this network grow large enough, it will start sprouting pods. If these pods are opened, a young mobile form of the organism will emerge. This is what is generally considered to be a baby silent one. One stationary form can produce many babies, although without help the babies cannot escape their pods and will essentually be stillborn. Mobile forms do not have any memories from the stationary form, but are clones of it, as well as any other mobile forms who originated from the same stationary form.
The stationary forms grow in and on trees, and the mobile forms are arboreal by nature. Similar to a Earthen fungus, should root like network that makes up the stationary form be cut in half, both halves will simply function as two independent organisms from that point on. A single stationary form can grow quite expansive, potentially occupying several trees, although most are considerably smaller. The stationary form can also theoretically live indefinitely, and there are some truly ancient stationary forms growing in laboratory conditions. Generally in nature, however, they don't outlive their tree hosts.
Diet
The silent one's mobile form's are generalists eating fruit and nectar, and meat. They are not good at digesting highly fibrous foods like leaves and certain fruits (such as space bananas). They require a lot of calories, generally eating at least 20% of their body weight a day.
The stationary form roots into specific species of trees, predating on them.
Culture
Silent ones get their name from their communication style, they have fairly underdeveloped vocalization abilities compared to other sophonts, communicating primarily through changing the color and patterns of their skin, similar to Earthen cephalopods. They are capable of vocalizing, however, and often will to communicate danger and pain.
Because of their communication method and the lower UV radiation produced by their homeworld's local star, there are no cultures of silent ones that normalized clothing for daily wear. Some cultures might have developed clothing for ritual or other specialty purposes, but it historically has been quite unusual. When visiting areas where UV radiation is a concern, silent ones will generally wear a lot of sunscreen and stay indoors as much as is practical.
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