Bionoid

Civilization and Culture

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

Despite their genesis as weapons of war, Bionoids have developed a rich tapestry of customs and traditions that affirm their identity and independence from their creators. These practices are not only a reflection of their resilience but also a declaration of their newfound autonomy.
Communal Kinship: Bionoids, scattered across the cosmos, have formed tight-knit colonies that serve as beacons of their culture. These settlements are the crucibles within which their customs are preserved and celebrated. Each colony, regardless of its location, is a microcosm of Bionoid society, reflecting a collective ethos of unity and mutual protection.
The Rite of the Weird Egg: The reproduction of Bionoids through their distinctive eggs is central to their cultural identity. The ritual surrounding the nurturing and attachment of these eggs to a host is performed with solemn reverence. The crystalline gem in the egg's center symbolizes the soul's emergence and is celebrated in a ceremony of bonding, signifying the continuity of their kind.
Warrior Meditations: Bionoids maintain a disciplined regimen of combat training, not for conquest but for personal and communal harmony. These sessions are meditative and almost ritualistic, designed to achieve mastery over their formidable bodies and to find tranquility in their engineered nature. They believe in controlling their inherent power rather than allowing it to control them.
The Festival of Remembrance: An annual tradition where Bionoids honor their origins and the Astral Elves who gave them life. Though they were discarded, they hold no malice; instead, they celebrate the life they have been granted. This festival is a time for storytelling, where the tales of their creation and their history are passed down to new generations.
The Assembly of Elders: A council of the eldest and most experienced Bionoids convenes regularly to discuss matters of importance. This assembly safeguards their traditions and deliberates on the future of their people. The council is also responsible for mediating conflicts and maintaining the order and ethics of their society.
The Pact of Non-Interference: As a people forged in the fires of war but seeking peace, Bionoids observe a strict code of non-aggression. They pledge to remain neutral in conflicts that do not directly threaten their existence or that of their allies. This pact is a cornerstone of their diplomatic relationships with other races and civilizations.
The Path of the Nomad: Some Bionoids choose to wander the stars, seeking knowledge and experience beyond their colonies. These nomads are both emissaries of their culture and seekers of personal enlightenment. Upon their return, they share their discoveries, enriching the collective understanding of the universe.

Common Taboos

The Astral Elves' decision to banish the Bionoids, as well as their subsequent view of Bionoids themselves as taboo, is rooted in multiple layers of their society and psyche, involving a mix of practical, ethical, and cultural reasons.
The Shadow of War: Bionoids were the living embodiments of a bellicose epoch in Astral Elf history. Once peace was achieved, the presence of Bionoids served as a constant reminder of the conflicts the Astral Elves wished to leave behind. Their existence was a mirror to the martial past, conflicting with the new era of serenity and diplomacy the Astral Elves were striving to cultivate.
Cultural Dissonance: Bionoids, transformed into towering, chitinous beings, no longer resembled their Astral Elf kin in appearance or demeanor. This divergence created a cultural rift. The very sight of a Bionoid became a symbol of discomfort, challenging the aesthetic and cultural ideals of the Astral Elves, who value harmony in form and spirit.
Ethical Dilemma: The creation of the Bionoids involved profound flesh-warping Magic, raising ethical concerns among the Astral Elves. Questions of consent and the morality of transforming sentient beings into weapons plagued the society, leading to a moral imperative to discontinue their use.
Fear of Reprisal: There was an underlying fear that the Bionoids, having served their purpose, might turn against their creators. The possibility that these engineered warriors could seek vengeance for their forced transformation and subsequent rejection was a risk the Astral Elves were unwilling to take.
The Loss of Control: Bionoids were designed to be controlled, but as they developed their own Consciousness and society, they began to act independently. This loss of control was unsettling to the Astral Elves, who had come to see them as a potential threat to the order and hierarchy of their civilization.
The Taboo of Playing Gods: The Astral Elves ultimately recognized that in creating the Bionoids, they had overstepped natural boundaries. They had played god, and the result was a race that defied the natural order. This transgression became a cultural taboo, a forbidden practice that was shunned and concealed in their historical narrative.
As a result, Bionoids became anathema to the Astral Elves—living relics best left to myth and silence. The banishment was as much a practical measure to protect their society as it was a symbolic act to bury the uncomfortable truths about their own capacity for destruction and the moral cost of their survival.

History

Created by the Astral Elves, a race renowned for their advanced arcane knowledge and ethereal beauty, the Bionoids were sculpted from the very essence of Magic and militaristic necessity. These formidable soldiers, standing ten feet tall with chitinous armor and scythe-like bone protrusions, were the frontline guardians in the sanguine conflicts against the Orcish and Goblinoid kingdoms.
The inception of the Bionoids was rooted in the darkest arts of flesh-warping magic, a testament to both ingenuity and desperation. Each Bionoid began as an Elf, a volunteer subjected to myriad transformative rituals, until they emerged unrecognizable—a sentient weapon engineered for war's grim theater.
As the tides of time brought the cessation of hostilities, the Astral Elves faced a moral quandary with the remnants of war's creations. With peace's delicate bloom, the Bionoids became relics of an age of strife, anathema to the serenity now enveloping the Astral Elf society. Thus, the Bionoids were cast out, exiled from the very civilization they were birthed to defend.
Over two millennia have since passed, and the official edicts proclaim the cessation of Bionoid creation as an unbreachable tenet of Astral Elf governance. Yet, whispers of clandestine actions at the twilight of the last great Astral War murmur through the cosmos. It is rumored that a cabal of dissenters, resisting the decree to banish the Bionoids, secreted away a cache of Weird Eggs. These eggs, the progenitors of new Bionoids, are said to be hidden in the vastness of space, lying dormant yet potent—echoes of a warlike past that some believe should be forgotten.
To the mainstream Astral Elf, these tales are but ghost stories, a bygone epoch's shadow that should be relegated to the Void of history. The Bionoids, in their eyes, are a testament to a barbaric past, weapons of mass destruction that have no place amongst the stars' enlightened dance. Yet, the undercurrents of history are never so easily stilled, and the Bionoids' tale is etched indelibly in the astral fabric, a narrative of power, exile, and the eternal question of creation's right to exist in a world that has moved beyond its purpose.

Scientific Name

Humanoid

Geographic Distribution

• Astral Plane