So, I've been thinking while playing PS the last few days. PS is unlike any other RPG I've played in that they have the Kran, a race not based on Carbon. Albiet really nothing more than a Rock Golem (which are common in RPGs and Action games), the Kran seems to have a much neater description and history than a Golem. Because of this, I thought I'd write down some of my musings about the Kran race, especially since the game is still in development and the current racial descriptions are very vague. I know most of you have wondered about the reproduction of Krans, so I thought I'd take a stab at that first.
1. Kran gender and reproduction
Since it is stated explicitedly that Kran have no gender and reproduce entirely different than most races, this got me thinking. If any of you have wached Godzilla (the one from 2000) or Evolution, you've probably heard of A-Sexual reproduction. There's several species that do this, mostly small creatures, nothing major. The creature in question is able to impregnate itself and produce offspring identical to itself. In some cases, the creatue has no gender, but often they tend to be female. Therefore, in this scenario, all/most Krans are female!
Alternatively, it has been said that Talad (if I remember correctly) created the Kran. This would imply a magical process, which seems to contradict the very nature of the Kran, which is resistant to and generally not able to perform magic. To be created by the very process one is resistant to seems highly unlikely, so I'm ruling this one out.
There is a third scenario to Kran reproduction, but it is also unlikely since it would
technically be possible for a half-breed Kran to exist. Maybe. Anyway, this method is a group of all female creature (take for example Clown Fish, as in Nemo). The females of the group are able to change gender on a need to breed basis. If there is a shortage of males in a population, several species are known to invert from female to male to fill the gap. It's blurry how this fits in with Kran, but the idea has been ringing around in my head.
2. Kran respitory system
There seems to be some contradiction between this. Planeshift's official description of the Kran state that they "breathe much more slowly than other races" but then that "they don't breathe so they can't drown". Both of these statements cannot be true, so here's some options I've thought of.
Kran do not breathe at all. They have no lung system and gain all energy from food. Unlikely to be from a source of magic.
Kran breathe very slowly, requiring little oxygen. This would likely promote lathargy in Krans, possible also an explination for why they are not very intelligent. Brain require a lot of power to run. However, if this is the case, Kran should not be able to live underwater, they would still need to draw oxygen from the enviornment.
Kran breath very slowly, requiring much
nitrogen. Nitrogen is more common in the air, meaning they would need to breathe less to get more. Now why don't I work like that? The problem with this is that the PS description of Krans state that Silicon still supports oxygen bonds. Thus, nitrogen seems to be out in this case. But since when did we let
the man(just poking) tell us how we're supposed to breathe?
Kran breathe through their skin. Oxygen most likely because in this scenario they would be able to draw oxygen straight from the water (I believe). The lack of nitrogen in water would suggest that the only viable option for this is oxygen.
3. Kran...veins?
PS states that Kran have "colored veins different from individual to individual". I'm thinking that these veins represent the veins in natural substances, such as marble veins. It's really a pattern. However, if these veins actually carry a fluid (thus carrying...oxygen? nitrogen? on them) why are they different colors? If Kran reproduce A-Sexually, there should be no difference in Kran skin coloring or otherwise. Of course, that makes for a very boring character, if you look like everyone else. My point being here that it is highly unlikely the biological differences in Kran would be so great as to have their veins work differently per person. Excuse me, per Kran.
4. Kran ailments/intolerances
Ok, so here's a streach, again, from the movie Evolution (hey, it's a good movie). They determine that humans (carbon based) are intolerant of arsenic (3 down and 1 right on the periodic table). In theory, a silicon based life-form would be intolerant of antimony. Yeah, I've never heard of it either.
http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/51.htm describes antimony as being used to harden lead and "was known as a metal at the beginning of the 17th century and possibly much earlier". That's actually fairly recent compared to the world PS seems to be set in (assuming it's actually on earth? I've always thought it was...but now I'm not so sure), so it's unlikely that a Kran would come into contact with antimony unless it happened to be combined with an ore or another metal to reinforce it. (Catching on? That's right, Kran specific poison blades).
Since Krans are evidently immune to poison and disease (which seems odd to me, why should a biological being be immune to anything?) and are magic resistant, it makes sense to assume there must be some sort of Kran specific ailment. Maybe flaking skin? I don't know, the point being Kran seem too resistant to me.
5. Humanoid form
Why, oh why, are we so vain as to assume that every intelligent being has two arms, a head, torso, and two legs? Every alien movie every has humanoid aliens. Every game has distant and strange races that look like humans in different colors. I mean, common! Even the Enki (which are cats) walk on two legs. If every race is going to look like a human, there should at least be some serious proportion changes. Krans maybe should have extra long arms, no neck, shorter legs (and therefore slower. A weakness!), extra wide shoulders, etc. Are you catching my drift on this one? I am glad that the Kran have no noses or ears however, it really helps (visually at least) distinguish them from other races. However, it's not much different than adding a horn or a tail. I think PS could really go all out on this one. Every race could be
really unique.
6. Eating dirt
Kran, evidently, eat dirt. Basically. Sand, rocks, crystals, whatever. I'd really like to see some dirt sandwhiches and mud pies avaliabe for sale. I can't eat fish and apples.
That's all I've come up with for now. What do you guys think? Plausible theories? I'd love to hear your guys take on this, as well as theories on other races as well.
