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Bioship
Tiamat Bioship
Image from Worldtree

Overview

A bioship, also known as a living ship or bioengineered vessel, is a spaceship in which the majority of its components and systems - as well as the ship in its entirety - could be classified as living organisms or tissues. Much like conventional lifeforms, bioships can have the capacity for homeostasis, metabolism, growth, response to stimuli, and reproduction. They are either grown partially or entirely using wetware biotechnology or a close analogue to biological growth.
Many bioships are heavily bioborged/cyborged for many of their systems while still assembling their frames through mass-manufacturing processes, but these do not exhaust the amount of types, biological strategies and bodyplans used in their construction.

Some species of bioship, including many biowars, are capable of reproducing entirely from seed or by viviparous birth, and can breed independently among asteroid belts, planetary ring systems or oort clouds. However, because the line between biology and nonbiological manufacturing has blurred steadily since before the sundering, the biological qualities or categorization of any bioship will exist on a spectrum between materials and systems that could be classed as living or nonliving. Bioships can be very similar in final composition to other ships but often look distinctively 'organic' in form. The look is a matter of aesthetic and ethos of the different polities and manufacturers/farmers/breeders.

It is a mistake to think of these bioships as being soft, fleshy constructs however. Some bioships grow exoskeletons like arthropods, while others cover their outer (or inner) surfaces in fur or feathers, or hardened foam-like materials. Others grow shells of steel, diamondoid and corundumoid to repel assaults or space debris in the same way that terragen bivalves, brachiopods, and equivalent biota on many worlds grow their inorganic shells- by steadily depositing materials into a structure using the surrounding living tissue. Modern bioships employed by high transapients are known to employ similar shells- augmented in various forms of material engineering with monopoles or even magmatter.

Features

Some of the commonly seen bioship features and characteristics are included below.

Hull

Most bioships grow an organic hull, which is a living, self-regenerating material derived from specially crafted bioengineered tissues. This bio-hull adapts and repairs itself, making the ship resilient to various forms of damage encountered during space travel. Other bioships grow a test or shell of inorganic material that makes it more durable but less reactive to change. A third type uses an intermediate strategy growing composite materials similar to bone marrow, that allows regeneration. Additionally, the hull's biological nature allows it to interact with the surrounding environment, enabling the ship to pass and receive messages, blend into certain surroundings or employ camouflage strategies for defense or stealth. The decision between hardness and reactivity is faced differently by each manufacturer, breeder, or farmer.

Living systems and symbiosis

One of the most iconic features of a bioship are its internal living systems. These systems act as an integrated ecosystem, sustaining the ship and its occupants throughout extended journeys. Advanced bioengineered organisms fulfill various functions within the vessel, such as waste recycling, atmospheric control, and energy generation. Some bioships also possess a form of collective intelligence, where the living components work together to enhance ship operations and decision-making.

Crew members aboard a bioship often develop a profound symbiotic relationship with the living vessel. Extended periods of interaction with the ship's biological systems can lead to an empathic connection and mutual understanding between the ship and its occupants. This bond enhances crew coordination, communication, and overall efficiency.

Material reserves and distribution systems

Nearly all bioships possess reserves of materials to draw from for their basic functions. Their type, design, number and placement depends on the ship model and on the decisions of the manufacturer, grower, or farmer. Fuel reservoirs, matter caches and storage cells are present in almost all bioships. Distribution systems link the reservoirs to the ship, enabling the flow of material as needed by its operations in ways that can be analogous to the work of the circulatory system in bionts. Often, such distribution systems are linked to specialized organs, collectively named "mouths" due to the vague resemblance of some of them to a biont buccal apparatus, that are distributed through a ship's hull. These are able to "feed" from available materials outside the ship or "regurgitate" matter or devices the ship produces internally to the outside. Bioships may also have other advanced technology incorporated into their structure, such as an electrodynamic fluid circulatory system and/or a chemical or air-breathing ramjet for atmospheric flight.

Metallic elements

Another development in the art was the improvement in the manipulation of metallic elements by chemical vapor deposition within a living organism. That would make possible some of the biological use of metals and other elements within a bio-grown bioship; Thanks to this, metals and other elements could be manipulated as biological inclusions, tiny crystals and flakes that grow slowly inside biological cells and only gradually coalesce. If vapor deposition could be used on a large scale, then larger components could be "grown" on a much faster time scale.

Adaptability

Certain bioships, especially those designed for specific roles or exploration missions, feature modular design concepts. These vessels can swap out pre-engineered modules for specific functions, such as propulsion engines, interstellar whipple shields, sensor arrays, specialized laboratories and more. This modular approach allows them to adapt swiftly to changing mission requirements or repair more quickly at supply depots where appropriate manufacturing templates can be downloaded. Some feral biowars have only limited artificial intelligence systems and a breeding population of such creatures can become dangerous on occasion. In contrast, a sophont bioship can be highly intelligent; many transapients- including many Second Singularity minds, use bioships as their primary bodies.

Some lineages of bioships are built with a factory-style production methodology. In these cases, prefabricated components are produced en masse in dedicated manufacturing facilities across star systems. These components are then incorporated into the growing bioships, streamlining the construction process and ensuring consistency in performance.

Radiation, shielding and outer space conditions

Bioships are planned to adapt or mitigate to various radiation levels, shielding needs, and the harsh conditions of outer space. These adaptations give rise to diverse types of bioships, each suited to specific environments and challenges. Bioships rely on cocoons, thick layers of materials, shells or intricate photosynthetic systems to convert solar radiation into energy. These vessels have elaborate, multi-layered hulls that shield against harmful radiation while capturing the abundant energy necessary for their operations.

Drive systems

Many bioship breeders enjoy the challenge of engineering drive systems that could be categorized as partially or fully 'alive'. They use advanced biotechnology and manipulation of nanoscale biological structures to grow internal drive systems and to collect fuel or other energy rich material - even including antimatter or exotic matter.
Though the components directly interfacing with high temperature gasses remain dead, adjacent repair systems or the engine as a whole can sometimes be capable of self-reproduction.

Sensors, airlocks, internal lighting

In the current era and throughout most of terragen history, bioships have been created for their style and aesthetics. Large, multi-spectrum eyeballs and telescopes and earlike radio dishes have adorned the organisms over the eras. Some bioships favor mouth-like airlocks, while others remain more door-like. Although some bioship designers have opted for chemical bioluminescent lighting, most favor other options due to the suboptimal lighting quality. Sensors are similar to non-biological ships in their capability.

Interior design

There are many popular bioship designs that emphasize their biological nature, with most ships combining biological features in some ways depending on the rooms or furnishings. The interior can be made to resemble a living animal with fleshy walls, bone pillars, dilating doors, and various other parts mimicking biological tissues and organs. Ship designers can choose a plant-like appearance, with walls resembling tree bark and many leaves and flowers as part of the decoration. This design is especially popular when the ship is built or used near a dyson tree. There is a large variety of other popular choices, such as giving the ship a more fungal theme or features mimicking structures found in bacteria. A variety of designs have also been inspired by xenobiological, neogenic or completely fictional lifeforms. Of course, it is also possible to give the ship's interior an appearance that is not inspired by any biological organisms, in which case the appearance can be closer to that of a hylotech ship.

Soft Cathedral Bioship Allosaurus

Bioship
Image from Anders Sandberg
Soft Cathedral carrier ship Allosaurus, escaping from the Taung Offensive in 6522. The Allosaurus was transporting a complement of Offensive Terraforming Beings to Taung when the system came under ultratech attack from the Sagittarius Sphere. The ship managed to escape using the OTBs as makeshift sacrifical defense drones, and eventually reached Utte Vais in the Negentropy Alliance after a 340 lightyear journey.

Bioship types and lineages

There are thousands of lineages and different ways to build a bioship throughout the Terragen Sphere, some varieties of which include the following. Depending on the circumstances and the degree of development, the breeder or manufacturer can use one or more of these strategies to create its own type.

Bio-Fusion Synthesis: The Biological-Fusion Synthesis lineages use a blend of living tissues and mass-manufactured synthetic components as design strategy. These bioships utilize advanced cybernetic processes to integrate prefabricated components seamlessly into their organic hulls. Synthetic components serve as the structural framework, while bioengineered tissues are seeded into the hull and essential systems for them to modify the inert parts and integrate them into their system. This integration allows them to benefit from the precision and efficiency of mass production while still harnessing the adaptive capabilities of biological systems. The advantage of this procedure is that it requires less advanced technology.

Chimera Configurations: The chimera lineages combine multiple multicellular neogenic life forms to create a chimeric organism. The choice of different organisms is usually done to achieve the best performance but it is also very common for ethical and aesthetic reasons to lead to the use of other organisms and materials or to the creation of neogens that meet the manufacturing specifications. Chimera configurations are often the preferred choice if one wants to show a captivating fusion of organisms.

Digital gestation: In the Digital Gestation approach, a software-driven simulation models the growth and development of a bioship within a virtual environment. In some cases, this is used only to simulate the preparation of the body of the ship and in others the digital consciousness of the ship is also created or matured at the same time that its body is simulated. This way, the consciousness has more time to interact with its body and can communicate with the fabricator-mind to improve customization. Once it is digitally prepared, the ship tends to be printed, or grown as a custom design in a bioforge.

Hull colonization: This lineage involves building a bioship using once-living materials (a similar practice to carving a ship from wood or bone) and then colonizing it with an ecology of various neogenic organisms to serve as the responsive components. This process has some of the benefits of mass manufacturing while retaining the aesthetic of fully biological construction, but doesn't require the same level of maintenance for keeping the hull alive. This process is commonly used when recycling the bodies of old bioships when they have passed on.

Mycelial bioships: Mycelial bioships grow interlinked networks within their hulls using fungal organisms. They feature organic hulls composed of intricate mycelial networks that offer protection against cosmic radiation and facilitate nutrient absorption. This network provides structural integrity and a flexible framework for growth. Symbiotic fungal microorganisms, akin to mycorrhizal fungi, are integrated into the hull. These systems embedded within the mycelial network enable real-time monitoring and adjustment of the ship's needs. These vessels often thrive in space habitats where radiation and nutrient recycling are significant challenges.

Embryonic Genesis: This approach breeds bioships in massive wombs or hives using existing genetic parents. These bioships tend to be more unified individual biological organisms rather than colonies of separate ones. This approach results in less precise control over the ship's exterior composition and design, but allows for more independence from the original designers when reproducing.

Seedtrees: Designed with technology developed from Vacuum flora and other astragens, these bioships are resistant to many environments and carry different species of plants and microorganisms. They can release and create swarms of biobots and seeds that adapt to existing soils, atmospheres, and ecosystems in order to terraform new environments. Their translucent hulls shimmer with organic patterns, resembling colossal plants in flight.

Bioship1A
Image from Steve Bowers
A Biowar designed by the Tapestry of Mold, near Macrystis

History

Pre-Federation era

The history of bioships began centuries before even the first bioship was possible. Humanity first tried to design lifeforms capable of resisting the conditions of space. However, even today only a small number of naturally evolved organisms had been found to be capable of surviving in the harsh environments of outer space. Examples include the Terragen Deinococcus Radiodurans, its relatives, and equivalent microorganisms that are found up to 50 km above the surface of many natural garden worlds. Humanity would find out that most naturally-evolved biological lifeforms had to pass through a significant degree of augmentation or genetic engineering before they become able to survive the radiation, temperature extremes, and vacuum of outer space.

The early primitive experiments in vacuum-adapted lifeforms and organisms genetically engineered for outer space date from as early as the Middle Interplanetary period (130 to 400 AT) and continued to develop until the Sundering, thanks to innovative societies like the Gengineer Republic. Due to the still primitive state of genetic engineering and related sciences, development times measured in several decades (for the simplest microorganisms) to centuries or were estimated to take millennia to be fully completed in the case of the most ambitious projects. Some primitive vacuum flora and other astragens were being developed in SolSys Golden Age, but these projects didn't survive the Technocalypse. Nevertheless, some kinds of neogenic organisms developed in this age could be considered early ancestors of fully, or mostly biological spacecraft.

Federation Era

The idea of vacuum-adapted organisms was popular enough to be taken up again by the First Federation. Advancements in genetic engineering and nanotechnology allowed for the manipulation of living organisms at the cellular level, which broadened the creative scope of neogenic designers. Consequently, new and more complex types of space-based lifeforms were developed. In parallel to this, as a niche creative pursuit, some developers made progress over the centuries in the design of novel neogens that were increasingly able to emulate aspects of the morphology of land, sea and air-based vehicles. Research and refinement of the CELSS (Closed Ecological Life Support System) provided a foundation for ship life support and control systems.

During the Late Federation and later AI Emergence era, the foundational technologies that made true biotech vehicles possible were developed. The design of implants for a growing array of cyborg and bioborg clades provided new insights into how biological and synthetic systems could potentially be made to be equivalent, and how they could be more efficiently melded. Integration of software and biotechnology became more sophisticated as a result, leading to the creation of various forms of machines augmented with biological tissues. The primitive vehicle-shaped neogens were developed further to become actual vehicles, with integrated drytech components (or, more rarely, biotech equivalents whenever possible), software-equivalents, life support and control systems. Despite these advances, the first generations weren't able to operate in space. Many more innovations needed to happen before development of the first true bioships.

One of the driving philosophical forces behind the creation and development of biotech vehicles, which ultimately led to the creation of bioships, was the concept of "morphological freedom." This principle emphasized the right of individuals and societies to shape and redefine their physical forms. For these entities, the development of bioships represented an extension of this freedom into the cosmos itself. By crafting living vessels, they asserted their ability to transcend traditional boundaries between biology and technology.

Members of The Zoeific Biopolity, the The Biovirate, The Mago Halmi Hive, The Ayodhayan Hegemony, and other polities or alliances promoted research into the cutting edge of biotechnology, neogenics, and cybernetics at the time. Their advocacy paved the way for the convergence of wetware sophont ship minds and living organisms, laying the groundwork for the concept of bioships. The first bioships were developed in the 1900s AT through collaboration among a variety of research institutions. However, despite being historically classified as bioships the first models were a kind of cyborg: a biological matrix based on space-based neogens and aeronautic biotech vehicles with a significantly greater quantity of dry technology components installed. Until more sophisticated methods had been developed , the cybernetic implants were either installed surgically to enable survival in space or in some cases because the bioship was designed to be able to inherently connect to/interface with the dry technology components, in later/ more advanced versions.

These early ships, sometimes nicknamed 'cyborg ships', were not yet able to grow some specific components of the ship (high energy systems and others). Instead the ship was grown to be able to interface with the drytech systems easily while those systems were manufactured via 'conventional' means. Other construction strategies involved the use of things like solar and magnetic sails or even chemical rockets rather than high energy drives. Additional advances allowed for a seamless communication and cooperation between the bioships and their crew - whether they were embodied biological minds, software-based AI systems, or something in between.

Bioships began first as space habitats & space-adapted lifeforms with limited utility as vehicles (when compared to conventional forms of space travel used at the time). Then in the 2000s, when technology became more advanced, they grew fast, reliable and efficient enough to be occasionally used as interplanetary ships. The first versions capable of interstellar travel were not attempted until centuries later. During the first generations, early interstellar bioships could have been slower on average compared to drytech ships.

Biowar
Image from Michael Tan (copyright)
Biowar

Age of Expansion

Bioship development projects only really took off during the Age of Expansion (2100 to 2600 AT), supported by clades of spacers and biotech megacorps. With the rise of transapients and archailects, spacers, biotech megacorps and their surrounding societies began to advance technology in multiple fields and shape the cultures around them according to their interests. At the same time that cybernetics and "dryware" technology increased in variety and complexity, biotechnology also specialized, making it possible to solve problems with either type of technology.

The creation of a new generation of bioships was made possible through a convergence of biotechnology and nanotechnology. Researchers within member polities of the Zoeific Biopolity pioneered breakthroughs in genetic engineering, biocomputers, bio-machinery and vacuum-adapted biology, With these breakthroughs, they developed fully biological versions of the previously synthetic components of bioships. To do this, early creators often employed gene editing techniques to engineer living tissues and organisms with enhanced capabilities to survive, grow and adapt in outer space and be able to perform the ship's necessary operations with as little synthetic aid as possible. At that time synthetic beings, medisystems and swarm technology still played a crucial role in integrating and regulating these biological components.

At the end of the age of expansion, as bioships were seen as an established discipline of engineering, more polities aligned with a pro-biont philosophy began to use them and the methods and ways of building and planting them spread. Researchers across the Civilized Galaxy created bioships with living hulls, biologically driven fuel systems, and regenerative capabilities - blurring the lines between biology and technology even further. From another angle, other researchers drew from the newest developments and sought to develop more efficient biological solutions or otherwise optimize the performance of a bioship's biological systems as much as possible. Because of this, a bioship could achieve very similar capabilities to those of a fully synthetic spacecraft, given that both had access to equivalent technology.

Many hylonanotech manufacturing systems and biological systems advanced in a way to mimic each other so well that since the fourth millennium the difference between biological growth and non biological matter compilation was practically non-existent for technologically advanced polities. In most cases the Bioist empires incorporated any available ultratech and even clarketech as long as biological systems could be utilised to grow the necessary components. Organically grown solar sails and reactionless drives are most common in star systems aligned with the Zoeific Biopolity and Caretaker Gods.

Post-ComEmp Era

In the 6th millenium, the Biovirate developed fleets of organic ships with similarities to the Zoeific, Genen and Ultimate's vessels. Interestingly, while all these civilisations employed organic technology, all came to diverge in the details of their technological approach, often reaching different solutions for the problems at hand. Biovirate ships were often long and graceful, often superficially aerodynamic in appearance, with the amat or conversion-drive at the rear (reactionless drives were rarely used, as they required void bubble technology) and the weapon arrays at the front and sides.

The most powerful bioships developed by the Biovirate were the large cruisers. Rather than the rigid diamondoid spheres, hemispheres, or disc-shaped autowars of hylotechnical empires like Metasoft or the Mutual Progress Alliance, these new bioships were essentially a pisciform or vermiform and made from carbon nanofiber exoskeletons. These were capable of a large degree of plasticity, although they were still inferior to designs of other bioist empires for that era. At the head of each bio-cruiser, shielded from rear amat drive's hard radiation output, was a huge wetware "vatbrain" into which the biovirate piloting mind was uploaded. Due to the toposophic level of their leading minds, Biovirate shielding was still exceptional for the time, as was the quality of their reactive armour, self-healing structures , and powerful defences.

Current Era

Current bioships most often use a matter/antimatter reaction power source or beamed power, but may have in some cases conversion-drive or even a reactionless drive, especially if the bioship is the product of high transapient or archailect technology. When a majority of spacecraft may be self replicating in some capacity, the immense diversity of bioships remains more of a cultural choice, or even a question of definition. Some of the present and historical empires and polities that have continued centering their cultures around bioships include the Biovirate, the Red Star M'pire, The Soft Cathedrals , the Ayodhyan Hegemony, the Seventh Swarm of Ravanastros, the Macrystian Ecojihadic Campaign, the Mago Halmi Hive, the Trigenetic Chromatoship-swarm of Gan Qiu, the Nabla Biowars, and many subcultures within the Zoeific Biopolity. In this present era, bioships are more varied than ever before, and practically, the only characteristics that limit what a bioship can be are ideology, time, technological capability and resources.
 
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Appears in Topics
GengineeringHigh Tech / HitechInterplanetary Transport
Interstellar TransportOrganic/BiotechZoeific Biopolity
 
Development Notes
Text by Avengium, Worldtree, Rakuen, Steve Bowers, Extherian, Todd Drashner
expanded from the original article by Steve Bowers and M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 02 February 2001.

Tiamat bioship added August 2023

article expanded 2023-April 10,2025
 
 
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