A race type we all need!

[Lonely-shark Dan]

One thing I've noticed in many popular sci-fi franchises is that they lack (or are at the very least very short on) mineral-based lifeforms. Sure, we have the Crystalline Entities in Stellaris, there are the Gems in Steven Universe, there were at least three sentient crystal species in old Star Wars canon, and a bunch of crystal-based monsters in old sci-fi movies and some franchises, but methinks this kind of lifeforms are underused in the media.
I missed the opportunity to mention this in the 'future races' threat before it got locked, but I think it'd be cool to actually have a mineral based species list, stuff like living statues (the Thing from Fantastic Four, or stone golems, or something), crystalline humanoids (think Diamondhead from Ben10, or the star creature for Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo), crystals inside robotic bodies (Iron Knights from old Star Wars canon), or even crystals projecting human(oid) bodies (the Gems from Steven Universe).
Yeah, I watch a lot of cartoons
What do y'all think? This smells of a number of interesting event chains, tech, and maybe even traits!

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I actually use the Blorg portrait for a "magmoid" species, so yeah I can appreciate this sentiment.

(I'd love one that's just a cluster of big glowy crystals, maybe growing/absorbing new spikes/pillars for its animations- I came up with a sort of "mineral ameoba" for some of my writing years ago, it was a fun idea. Since they store memories in their lattice but move by deconstructing and reconstructing their lattice, their civilization advanced through the invention of force-multipliers that allowed them to move around with less physical effort, until eventually they're all riding around on little walker-platforms and motorized carts)

 

[Lonely-shark Dan]

(I'd love one that's just a cluster of big glowy crystals, maybe growing/absorbing new spikes/pillars for its animations- I came up with a sort of "mineral ameoba" for some of my writing years ago, it was a fun idea. Since they store memories in their lattice but move by deconstructing and reconstructing their lattice, their civilization advanced through the invention of force-multipliers that allowed them to move around with less physical effort, until eventually they're all riding around on little walker-platforms and motorized carts)

Oooh, sounds interesting! I think I remember seeing something similar in regards to the specie's mobility somewhere, but can't quite remember where.

 

[ECFOX]

Maybe, A crystalline species that looks like boulders that has a glowing crystal in the middle of its head

 

[Lonely-shark Dan]

Maybe, A crystalline species that looks like boulders that has a glowing crystal in the middle of its head

That could also be an option. This thread is actually all about options, and opinions

 

[conco]

From what I remember the Taalo from Star Control II were basically sentient rocks

 

[Ilanin]

The Chenjesu from the same game were crystalline beings. In theory, the idea is a good one; the only practical problem with it I can see is that it'd be difficult to explain why silicon-based life only lived on the same set of planets that hosted carbon-based life, and it'd be even harder to balance the game if they didn't.

 

[Greyhound_Gen.]

I'm pretty sure there will be a 'Silicoid/Lithoid' portrait pack eventually - it's something that is requested pretty much every time there's a thread discussing future portrait categories and they're such a common sci-fi trope it would be weird not to have them. Plus, as has been mentioned we already have the Crystalline Entities in game so they definitely fit the Stellaris setting.

Given the topic of this week's dev diary and some of Wiz's other recent tweets I think the next category we'll be seeing is 'mechanoids/robots/cyborgs' or something along those lines, but after that who knows? I think 'Amphibians', 'Ichthyoids (fish) + other aquatic portraits' and 'Xenoids' are other probable contenders but I'd say that 'Silicoids' would have as good a chance as any of them.

 

[The_Meme_Man]

Scientifically, even the dumb shiny rocks found in caves scientists are investigating for the possibility of calling "life" since they grow like primordial carbon lifeforms. So, crystaline life is fair game. It just goes up from there for reasons to add crystal life because of diversity and coolness.

Id see them competing for "green" planets since, to my knowledge, many crystals require water, heat, and atmosphere to experience the chemical bonds needed to grow. Since planets are abstract, they can still require green worlds to flourish, just for different reasons, especially if an animated crystal needs lots of complex chemical bonds to survive.