Dionae Forms

The merging and separation of Nymphs take much time and energy to complete, sometimes days or even weeks on much larger structures. For smaller collections such as Cyclopes, it typically only takes an hour or so before they are ready to function. This is due to the Nymph bodies fusing together and creating a sturdy body that will be able to reasonably support itself and move, adapting it to the current environment. Before performing a change, Nymphs and Gestalts will gorge themselves on biomatter in preparation. Separation is only ever done in life-or-death emergencies or special situations such as growing a larger Gestalt as it can often be traumatic to Nymphs if done in a hurry, causing the knowledge gathered to be improperly stored in each individual or even lost without the correct precautions taken. With each change, the new form will always take up a new name to represent the new information and experiences collaborated.

Note that Nanotrasen only hires Cyclops forms to work on the Aurora. All crew characters must be one.

Dionae, being in its very nature a compound creature, comes in several known and theoretical forms with several characteristics:

Nymph

Nymphs are the base form of a Dionae, being a singular being not apart of a gestalt. Most will begin their life with an intelligence similar to that of a dog, although with enough blood and time their intelligence can be comparative to a human. Nymphs will generally seek other nymphs to form together into a Dionae gestalt.

Cerberus

Cerberus are Dionae gestalts who make up more than one nymph, but not enough to be considered a Cyclops form, comprising roughly two to four nymphs. It can be difficult for a Cerberus form to find work, as their general size can make it difficult for them to find the equipment they can use unless specialized specifically for them. The majority of long-term Cerberus forms can be found within the Jargon Federation.

Cyclops

The most common form of Dionae gestalts in the galaxy, cyclops-forms, sometimes referred to as “worker forms” are Dionae gestalts who are made up of roughly five to nine nymphs. Most Cyclopes resemble other intelligent species, usually having two legs and two arms, although this can differ based on the number of nymphs that are a part of the gestalt. Dionae Cyclopes tend to stand anywhere as low as three feet to as tall as eight feet, some even taller. Typically, the majority of the Cyclopes will stand at a rough five to six feet.

Argus

One of the rarer forms of Dionae, Argus are Dionae made from anywhere from ten nymphs, to a hundred. Due to the sheer size of most Argus forms, work can be extremely tough to find in most unskilled jobs and many find work within specialized jobs, largely with Research or even as Engineers, considering many of them would spend their time on the exterior side of the ships and stations, allowing for the soaking up of radiation and light.

Colossus

Colossus forms are Dionae gestalts that are made up of as little as one-hundred-and-one nymphs to upwards of five-hundred-thousand. Colossus forms are split into two sub-categories, "Trireme", who are gestalts that move through space, and “Echions”, gestalts that tend to stay in one area/system. Most newly discovered gestalts in space are considered a Trireme Colossi. Due to the sheer size of a Colossus, it is incredibly rare if not impossible for one to find work or a purpose. As such most will break up into a myriad of new gestalts to see new and better opportunities.

Cetus

Cetus forms are a mass of Dionae so immense, in the orders of a million nymphs, that it can be considered a stellar body. Currently, only two have been observed, those being the gestalt above Nralakk, the second being the recent Venter's Cetus. Unknown capabilities - theorized to be more intelligent than most other forms of intelligence, organic or synthetic. It is suspected that the original Dionae gestalt, where it may be, is at least this form if not the form below.

Titan

A theoretical form of the Dionae - a planet, or even star-sized Diona form consisting of maybe more nymphs than is currently known to exist, maybe the pinnacle of organic processing and thought. Uncharted intelligence. The Skrell has an order to destroy any Diona structure that could reach or has reached, this size due to the inherent risk of intelligence singularity and other classified risks.