# The Laronians The Laronians emerged at first on the fringes of the Scattered Volumes, forming within at first a naturally void ecology in their star system. One showed influence from the nearby [Abandoned Sprawl](../../1_Worlds_Systems/[[Abandoned_Sprawl|Abandoned_Sprawl]].md). The Laronians despite their artificial selection and pressures from the advanced biology within are extremely metallic and removed from their organic, jungled origins. Instead the Larona iterated into taking on a range of plasma manipulation technologies and radiation oriented technology. This tech has made them extremely odious for the Grand Ones to the point the Vast One tries to Sabotage them through fleets of eusocial creatures who act as the immune system of the Vast One. Indeed the Laronians were the rogue component of a historical void ecology in the region of the galaxy the Larona thrive. However they were much more aggressive due to being constantly in perpetual conflict with the Vast One and ending up in expansion wars with the Architect and Scattered Volumes who actively have tried to quarantine them. These factors led them to be high stress societies despite all their advancements. Highly disciplined suicide castes of fighters are the norm as the Laronian desire for beauty is framed in violence since violence is all they collectively can know as far as they can tell. Their creators hate them, those around them hate them, everything hates them- even other Laronians hate other Laronians. So they act as a collective conflagration, devouring and annihilating each other in a cascading reaction. Outsider groups like Archivists and [[Folding Ones|Folding_Ones]] find them disturbingly reminiscent of the Simmiforms, however different they may be in origin and development. Laronians are not singular in form, but do have archetype forms that permeate as a result of that pressure from their ecological convergences as former Vast One dependent organisms   In general you see multiple cooperative archetypes who act as a sort of feedback mechanism to fuel their endless fire across the sector of the galaxy they have come to call their own. Fueling that fire is seen as an essential part of society, as it is the fire of violence which creates more life. They don't seem to have a concept of end goal and self awareness is warped, their motives are mostly built around ravenous wants but lacking the organization or organization of huge minds beyond the degree to which the selection pressures of the Vast One and architects have forced them to adapt.   Specialized laronians who exist mainly as vacuum beings part of suicide castes and engineers. In their own logic, it isn't even a hierarchy like thing. They do as they do because that is what they do. They are very mechanistic in that regard, since there is that constant, compulsive want to conform to the aesthetic demands of performative violence that leads to lots of ritualizing infighting that has more instinct than institution to it. For such conflicts are known for having more in common with fighting for a mate than anything else. How entities that use ritual warfare to create more of themselves developed advanced technology has its answer in the presence of outside threats. For there was the need to develop new means of defending against the Vast One. For a brief time, the Larona consolidated themselves into advanced gestalt collectives that existed for the destruction of the Vast One. However, such collectives could not hold as internal desires broke through and ritual warfare resumed. The beak down caused such terminal damage to the collective psyche of the Laronians that their whole ecology collapsed into a fluidly shifting set of endlessly warring factions. The vastness of the modern laronia comes from millennia of build up and they do progress into different ages/eras. For despite the warped outlook to existence, the Larona indeed do actually have contact and diplomacy. It's just that it's all forced into the framing of pressurized tension. They have no consistent sense of control or consistent matters for others, as all too often the Larona prove only interested in sending their members to other wars in exchange for tech, a completely one sided deal for them as their relationship to death and life is so built around extremely violence oriented mating cycles. ## The Ecology The apparently different forms of laronia are illusion, they can be thought of at most as sub species of some vast universal species they all breed from. This is why they're Laronia and not part of the Vast One. And more importantly, it's not remotely clear if this form of Laronia is a product or truly nature. As earlier eras had more stable incarnations before the Vast One tried to exterminate them and inciting their violence as a result. Laronian existence has been always precarious thanks to their belief everything in existence hates them, especially the very environment they developed within. They are advanced for a civ of this nature, plasma flow manipulation is everywhere as is the integration of Plasmoid organisms into some of their militaries. Ritually such weapons of mass destruction have often used against themselves, just for the sake of it as they warp plasma currents into very elaborate patterns of deaths. They show some elements of rationality regardless, as the reproductive function of war for them limits the ultimate amount of destruction tolerated. After all, plasma weapons for the Larona increase the yield of Larona spawn from ritual conflicts. Yet the Larona have advanced to the point they don't care at all if their wars yield no new Laronians, it is just something they do because it is what they are so naturally inclined to from their own passion. #ancient #postbiological #Galactic-Region/Sprawl #megaorganism #Type-2-Clearance #BBEG