BY LETTER
Siloen
Xenoprovolves derived from the crystal dislocation biosphere inside Crystallographer's Nightmare.
They "move" by growing from the head. When their crystal substrate is under high stress, this growth can be extremely rapid. Otherwise, they absorb energy stored in dislocation loops to grow more slowly. They can also retract their tail, by absorbing and consuming the dislocation loops that make it up.
This growth-movement is normally limited to a single direction due to the anisotropy of their crystal substrate. They can turn only by encountering a food source (natural or artificial) and using it to develop a new head in a different direction. In fact, at such points, they can grow multiple new heads, each capable of growing in a new direction. (However, new heads must always be along one of the crystal's glide planes.)
The result is a fractally-branching body, composed of elongated, extremely straight sections. The body has triangular symmetry. It is 6.2 metres wide, but individual sections can extend for over a kilometre. Clusters of spikes pointing in different directions emerge from the body at intervals of 31 metres. These spikes, capable of limited growth in different directions from the main body, serve as tools for manipulation, defense, or feeding.
The Siloen body can easily split, either from rupture of the middle section, or from the tail retracting to meet a branching point. The result is a form of clonal reproduction, creating genetically-identical individuals. Two genetically-identical individuals can also merge, with the heads growing into each other and forming a branching point.
Mating occurs when two genetically distinct individuals merge at the head. The merging itself is relatively easy, but the resulting combination of genomes is more laborious, and the combined Siloen must remain quiescent for several days.
If the combination is successful, the merge point develops three new heads: two carrying the original parent genomes and one with the combined offspring genome.
The offspring learns from its direct connection to the brains of its parents, and remains connected until it is separated by one of the usual processes of division.
Encountering crystallographic defects is equivalent to a tactile sense when those defects make up a macroscopic structure. But it also functions as an olfactory sense when encountering isolated networks of dislocation loops shed by other organisms.
Phonons scatter off dislocation loops and other defects. Therefore, they interact with Siloen bodies and can provide information about distant objects. Phonon sensing is thus roughly equivalent to vision.
Stresses in the crystal substrate directly affect the movement of and interaction between dislocations, and thus are directly felt by all organisms. This sense has no clear analogue in chemical life.
Sensory organs for crystallographic defects and phonons are most dense in the head, but are also present in the bundles of spikes down the length of the body. Siloen communicate via phonon emission from the head.
The head region, consisting of the first thirty metres, is fully sophont. The regions further back are presapient, acting on behalf of orders sent from the head. The body regions can also be used as an archive, storing memories, learned behaviours, and personality traits that don't need immediate recall. As a consequence of this, if an individual is ruptured, the original head will lose access to the archived traits stored behind the rupture.
Siloen can have several heads, each of which is sophont and can act autonomously. However, these heads still perceive themselves as being a single, if rather distributed, entity. Indeed, if a Siloen divides, the resultant pieces will still act and behave like parts of a single individual, though this effect reduces over time as the separate bodies accumulate different experiences.
Siloen are highly social beings, and enjoy the presence of other sophonts. They are curious and flexible, and respond positively to the presence of mind types unlike their own. Many find such minds an interesting puzzle to explore and learn about.
They enjoy productive activity, and are often highly industrious. This trait is partly a result of their provolution, being encouraged to align with the values of the Silicon Generation vecs working with them.
Description and Locomotion
Physically, Siloen resemble the majority of other Mobile Heterotrophs from Crystallographer's Nightmare, with extremely elongated, branching bodies anchored in Frank-Read Autotrophs, the bodies of other Heterotrophs, or artificial structures, from which they feed on dislocation loop networks.They "move" by growing from the head. When their crystal substrate is under high stress, this growth can be extremely rapid. Otherwise, they absorb energy stored in dislocation loops to grow more slowly. They can also retract their tail, by absorbing and consuming the dislocation loops that make it up.
This growth-movement is normally limited to a single direction due to the anisotropy of their crystal substrate. They can turn only by encountering a food source (natural or artificial) and using it to develop a new head in a different direction. In fact, at such points, they can grow multiple new heads, each capable of growing in a new direction. (However, new heads must always be along one of the crystal's glide planes.)
The result is a fractally-branching body, composed of elongated, extremely straight sections. The body has triangular symmetry. It is 6.2 metres wide, but individual sections can extend for over a kilometre. Clusters of spikes pointing in different directions emerge from the body at intervals of 31 metres. These spikes, capable of limited growth in different directions from the main body, serve as tools for manipulation, defense, or feeding.
The Siloen body can easily split, either from rupture of the middle section, or from the tail retracting to meet a branching point. The result is a form of clonal reproduction, creating genetically-identical individuals. Two genetically-identical individuals can also merge, with the heads growing into each other and forming a branching point.
Reproduction
Genetic information is carried in the topology of complex dislocation loop networks. Siloen carry multiple copies of their genome at regular intervals down the length of their body with robust error checking. Large stresses can disrupt the topology of these networks, and damaged genomes are discarded and absorbed back into the body.Mating occurs when two genetically distinct individuals merge at the head. The merging itself is relatively easy, but the resulting combination of genomes is more laborious, and the combined Siloen must remain quiescent for several days.
If the combination is successful, the merge point develops three new heads: two carrying the original parent genomes and one with the combined offspring genome.
The offspring learns from its direct connection to the brains of its parents, and remains connected until it is separated by one of the usual processes of division.
Senses and Communication
Siloen have three main sensory modalities: Direct encounter of crystallographic defects, phonon scattering, and stresses in the crystal substrate.Encountering crystallographic defects is equivalent to a tactile sense when those defects make up a macroscopic structure. But it also functions as an olfactory sense when encountering isolated networks of dislocation loops shed by other organisms.
Phonons scatter off dislocation loops and other defects. Therefore, they interact with Siloen bodies and can provide information about distant objects. Phonon sensing is thus roughly equivalent to vision.
Stresses in the crystal substrate directly affect the movement of and interaction between dislocations, and thus are directly felt by all organisms. This sense has no clear analogue in chemical life.
Sensory organs for crystallographic defects and phonons are most dense in the head, but are also present in the bundles of spikes down the length of the body. Siloen communicate via phonon emission from the head.
Psychology
The Siloen "brain", an information processing system based on dislocation loop interactions and fast phonon signalling, is distributed along the body. Signalling times down the length of the body can be long, so individual sections tend to operate as partially autonomous entities. For a kilometres-long Siloen, the head may not even know the body has been ruptured until several minutes after the event.The head region, consisting of the first thirty metres, is fully sophont. The regions further back are presapient, acting on behalf of orders sent from the head. The body regions can also be used as an archive, storing memories, learned behaviours, and personality traits that don't need immediate recall. As a consequence of this, if an individual is ruptured, the original head will lose access to the archived traits stored behind the rupture.
Siloen can have several heads, each of which is sophont and can act autonomously. However, these heads still perceive themselves as being a single, if rather distributed, entity. Indeed, if a Siloen divides, the resultant pieces will still act and behave like parts of a single individual, though this effect reduces over time as the separate bodies accumulate different experiences.
Siloen are highly social beings, and enjoy the presence of other sophonts. They are curious and flexible, and respond positively to the presence of mind types unlike their own. Many find such minds an interesting puzzle to explore and learn about.
They enjoy productive activity, and are often highly industrious. This trait is partly a result of their provolution, being encouraged to align with the values of the Silicon Generation vecs working with them.
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Development Notes
Text by Liam Jones
Initially published on 17 December 2024.
The nature of the crystal biology was inspired by the paper "A model for a non-chemical form of life: crystalline physiology" (PDF), by Jean Schneider, published in the journal Origins of Life in 1977.
Initially published on 17 December 2024.
The nature of the crystal biology was inspired by the paper "A model for a non-chemical form of life: crystalline physiology" (PDF), by Jean Schneider, published in the journal Origins of Life in 1977.
