There are multiple ways for a vycotan to come to be and there are different classifications depending on the origins of that vycotan in particular.
Vyctoans that begin their life from nodules on vycelium are called vine-born or root-born which get their genetic information from past genetic sequences of the vycotans that died to form the brood ground.
Vycotans which are created from two other vycotans through sexual reproduction are called flesh-born referring to the fact that they are created by two distinct individuals rather than a collective pool.
Vyctoans can also be constructed, these ones are different because while they do have a juvenile and adult stage, they do not start their lives as helpless or even small. They remain as large as they will be in their lives. This is a process that is done by constructing an outer shell and then placing a nodule inside of a bare bones frame for it to fill up. These vycotans are usually already programmed to do tasks and are a bit more like androids than an organic creature.
Finally there are two other unorthodox ways that a vyctoan can be treated. Mutation and integration:
Integration is through a process which can only be seen exclusively with mech pilots. This has been seen in many different civilizations which have attempted to use empty vycotan shells as weapons or vehicles. What often happens is that the nervous system of the pilot merges with the remaining nervous system of the host body leading to organic liquefaction and total integration of the pilot into the mech.
Mutation is equally harrowing as it involves the slow transformation of an organic creature growing metal parts and slowly losing who they once were. This is usually after an vycelium based impact is placed into them, where it slowly takes over and mutates the body into techno-organic flesh. However this can also occur through specialized spores which are created by a specialized strain of vycelium, generated by a new extinct species which used this as a mass bioweapon to devastated enemy populations. (It was effective… too effective).
Vine-Born: Alternation of Generation
Alternation of generation is a real world phenomenon which can be seen in organisms such as plants and in some species of fauna such as cnidarians (jellyfish). In plants these two separate forms of life are called gametophytes and sporophytes and in cnidarians they are called polyps and medusas (I will focus more on cnidarians in a second).
In plants the gametophytes is a haploid organism meaning that it only has one set of chromosomes, they are responsible for generating eggs and sperm. A sporophyte is a diploid organism meaning that it has two sets of chromosomes. In angiosperms and gymnosperms the sporophyte is the dominant form. In bryophytes (mosses, liverwort,and hornwort) the gametophyte is the dominant form. I’ll be focusing on these. For reproduction the male gametophyte generates sperm which will one way or another fertilize the egg generated by the female gametophyte. The diploid sporophyte grows and then asexually generates and sends out haploid spores which will grow into new gametophytes.
Cnidarians do something similar however differently from plants, both forms of life and diploid and at no point is one organism a haploid. After a female Cnidarian’s eggs (which are generated by meiosis like all fauna) are fertilized she releases them into the water as larvae. These larvae swim until they find a suitable place to latch onto which will become their home for the next foreseeable eternity. These larvae grow into polyps which eventually mature and asexually produce medusas which then break off and go out on their own.
See this video by Deep Look to better understand what I am talking about, it’s a very fun watch.
How It Appears In Vycotans
The alternation of generation present in vycotans appears very similar to the ones that are undergone by cnidarians. In line with terminology the vycotan is like the medusa which can move around. Whereas the second life form, the vycelium, is more like a polyp.
Vycelium appears very much like a vine, with an anchoring point that keeps it within the ground and other seconds which slowly grow along the surface it’s on. Which surface could be down, or rocky vertical terrain. It’s all dependent upon where a vycotan has died. Vycelium is both the beginning and the end of a vyctoan’s life. They grow from a nodule (which is called a polyp) on the growing tips of vycelium that very much looks like a berry that on a human scale grows to about the size of a soft ball, once fully grown it break soff and unfurls into a baby vycotan. And when the vycotan dies, they break down back into vycelium and repeat the process.
Flesh-Born: Sexual Reproduction
Vyctoans do not explicitly have to go through the process of dying in order to reproduce the next generation. In fact turning into vycelium which then procreates is more like a last stitch effort to spread genetic material. Where as vycelium follows the principle of quantity over quality when it comes to reproduction, producing hundred of offspring at a time with the hopes that a few of them will survive into adulthood.
Vycotan sexual reproduction follows the opposite principle: quality over quantity. They have less children but those children are more likely to survive with their care. In other words there is a trade off.
Fun fact: there is a saying “I’ll have kids when I’m dead.” that is said to prying family members.
Constructing Vycotans is a way to mass produce workers and/or soilders which are ready within weeks or even days upon being born.
While constructs are a non-conventional way to reproduce, this is the fastest way to create a new breed of vyctoan. In the past vycotan breeds were done through meticulous selection, but with the ability to create constructs the time needed to create new ones is cut in half.
This method of reproduction is accomplished by placing an immature nodule inside of the main body. The nodule—disconnected from the mother root will die and turn back into vycelium that will then grow and take up the frame. This method of reproduction is seen as unorthodox and is often frowned upon.
Integration is a specific term for when a smaller being neurologically connects to the remaining nervous system of a lobotomized vycotan. This was something that was done by a couple of species in which they would harvest the vycotan bodies and scoop out any central nervous system (not including the Medulla oblongata equivalent which is where the problem stems from in the first place) in order to make them manually controllable.
Essentially they turn the vycotans into vegetables and keep them on life support in order to turn them into puppets that were then used as weapons and vehicles. The issue with leaving in the Medulla oblongata is that once the pilot has connected with it enough times it begins to slowly begin the process of integration. What this means is that since the vycotan has no central nervous system but is technically still alive, it needs a new one, so it takes the closest available one.
This process is very slow and hard to notice until it is too late, often manifesting as a level of dependance similar to severe addiction to being inside of the mech suit. It is a problem that once the symptoms start to show, it is already too late.
To minimize this pilots would often get rotated through different mech suits in order to prevent neurological familiarity. However a lobotomized vycotan will often bond with one nervous system and not interact with any other foreign ones once the connection has been established for long enough.
Usually what happens in this instance is that the pilot is culled if the symptoms have progressed enough and the suit is scrapped. Or the pilot is retired, the suit is scrapped, and they are put through an extensive recovery program.
Mutation often occurs because a species violates the number one rule of never put any vycelium related technology inside of your body. Never ever do that. Vycelium consumes and replaces in the best case scenario. Most cases of mutation lead to the user just falling apart into a wad of thick roots which produces polyps using their stolen dna.
However, on rare occasions where mutation leads to the replacement of organic tissues, the user will slowly be transformed into a technological organic being and is no longer a member of their species. (this is kind of like how mind flayers increase their numbers).
Moral of this story, do not place a piece of vycelium derived technology inside of you. Ever.
It can also occur when a special strain of vycelium produces spores which in turn infect organic beings leading to a very zombie-like apocalypse of them breaking down into new vycelium which then produces more vycotans. (similar to the first example, a small number of infected can turn into full fledged vyctoans).
Non-Construct Stages of Life
Polyps can form in one of two ways. If the vycotan dies in a relativly isolated location then a polyp will be formed by mixing up and rearranging the available coding in order to create genetically unique polyps (this type of asexual reproduction is called automixis diploid parthenogenesis and is only present in the vycelium stage of life).
However if the body breaks down in a patch of pre-existing vycelium, they will trade coding and instead generate a polyp in a way that more resembles sexual reproduction. Once the polyp has been established it will grow, while the forming vycotan remains coiled up, different parts of the body such as arms and legs can become more visible as the polyp nears term.
In cases where the child is a product of who vycotans duking it out between the sheets, this stage of the growth takes place within the womb of the carrying party.
Ephyra is simultaneous with the word infant (the term most similar to newborn is newbit or bitty which coincides more with the third stage of life more so than with the second and is the standard slang term).
(if the child is between two vycotans, they are born in this form and skip the unfolding process that vine-born individuals go through).
This is the stage of life where the vycotan is brand new to the world and requires an adult to care for them in order to survive. When an ephyra is a new minute old, they will be able to weakly drag themselves around and have an instinct to put anything and everything into their mouths. However if they are not found within the first few days of life (at most a week), they will die and return to vycelium.
Ephyra are covered in downy wires which both keep them warm and allow them to connect with the vyctoan that picks them up. (there is a saying that if you don’t want it, don’t touch it because once an adult handles a vine born ephyra they tend to become attached). These wires are color coded with what their armor will look like later in life.
Bitlet (Starklet, Shadlet)
An ephyra becomes a bitlet once they are able to move around and have better muscle control, have started talking and walking. This word is synonymous with the word toddler used by humans. They are also sometimes called bitties (which can be confusing, sometimes to curb some of that confusion ephyra bitties are called itty bitties or just itties.)
At this stage in life the soft down that covers their body is starting to become sparser as platelets begin to erupt from the dermis as their armor grows. Often that armor is not as complete in covering their body so instead they have a little bit of down and a little bit of armor on their bodies. (They tend to look very ragged.)
The armor that is present on their bodies is very rounded (which is meant to protect against falls or any attacks).
Youngling (Starkling, Shadling)
This stage of life is usually marked with the complete transformation from fuzzy to armored, the youngling’s body is completely covered in rounded armor which protects them from attacks and falls which could otherwise be life threatening to an unprotected body. During this stage of life the dermis under the armor begins to adhere to the back of it and merge, meaning that the armor and the dermis become one in the same, trying to remove it will result in a great deal of discomfort.
While their bodies are completely covered in armor the secondary gender differences (crested or unadorned) are still not yet present. The younglings do not have any raised areas that are present on both crested and unadorned vycotans. Nor do they have any armor extensions or armor thickness that are seen in starks or shades respectively, these start to develop in the next stage of life.
Synonymous with teenagers, this is when the secondary gender characteristics begin to show up. This is also when puberty hits and when there is more interest in sexual behavior (more on that in reproduction and mating practices.)
This later development is also why vycotans tend to classify gender using stark and shade over using crested or unadorned, because crested and unadorned are traits that are not obvious at birth.
In this stage of life, the vycotan stops growing, the brain finishes developing and they are able to go out on their own.
As stated before, constructs do not begin lives as children, instead they are at the size that they will be when they are created. They are also pre-programed with an intended purpose and are generally more capable than an infant. However they are still brand new and often are clumsy or naive, they still have to learn how the world works in order for them to reach their full potential.
In this stage of life, they do not have as thick of armor and instead are mostly wiry cords twisted together. This gives them a very thin, starved look (I’m using human terms here, technically vycotans don’t gain or lose weight from eating because they store energy differently in their bodies).
When a constructed vycotan matures their armor thickens and grows more abundant around their bodies. They appear normal and it would never be obvious that they did not start life as a small little baby but instead a pre-programed adult with an advanced baby brain.
When a vycotan dies, as stated before, they will break down into strands of vycelium which will twine together with other vycelium if they are within the same vicinity. In some ways this is their afterlife, the personality of a dead person is not spared as they are absorbed into the greater half consciousness of the vycelium, however some of their memories can persist.
Vycelium remains relatively stagnant through its lifetime, occasionally producing offspring in the form of vycotans. In some ways the vycotans are like spores, but they are more complicated creatures.
Vycelium itself is also not immortal. Over a period of time they will also die and break down. When they die their roots rot and nourish soil which can be good for organic plant life and new growing vycelium spores.
When vycelium dies, this is called a true death, and only then do individuals mourn their loss.
