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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marandahir" data-source="post: 6757978" data-attributes="member: 6803643">You're taking a strong anthropic principle hardline here, and I'd suggest more of a weak anthropic principle. Our societies are like they are because of the path we've taken to get here; it wasn't a necessity to get here. There are many ways that these societies could have and do diverge.Wealth & Status, social role, etc comes from an earlier role in protection from exposure: if you have the wealth to afford clothes, you're better off than the person who doesn't have the materials goods to afford it. This is a natural extension of that. If our plant society doesn't need clothes for protection, then they wouldn't develop it as a status symbol. A different set of status symbols would develop, if status is important at all (I'd argue that it well could be, due to the strong individualism that many plants play; colonial plants – the inspiration for the Killoren/Wilden and many other plant-people – are actually rarer than we tend to portray them). Your point about pockets is important though. Finding different ways to carry things may well be key here. But these are plant people. Couldn't they have extra vines that wind around items or grasp things in a way that's not wieldy like an arm, but is good for securing things to their bodies until they need to release them? I'm thinking almost Ficus-level vines. Of course, there are many different kinds of plants, and vines are not present in many taxa. But it might be an interesting substitution. Finally, the protection point holds merit as far as the plants may want protection from the environment. However, if we are doing tree people, then barkskin is the norm, so we don't have to worry about light wounds that clothes provide some protection against. And if it's a tree person, bark is also a great insulator. We may be talking like Warforged – clothes may not be necessary (though Warforged in Eberron are part of a society that that does have clothes as status symbols so some 'forged do wear clothes). I take issue with your "Advanced beings" line of thought (you're suggesting that we're better than plants, which is a big anthropocentric assumption, especially when we're trying to talk about plant societies). But your point about light energy is important. Plants don't need to feed these extremely energy-consumptive organs we call brains, and they don't need to spend energy on locomotion (at least not usually). Growth, synthesis, and reproduction are the main consumers of energy in a plant's organ systems. Reproduction is by far the most expensive. If plants had to locomote, then they would need a lot more energy. We might imagine that plant-based "humanoids" might only arise in sun-washed countries, and they might have massive solar-fuel cells (perhaps even other plants that are slaves to the plantoids) to save up energy for when they're running low. Or they just need to drop their leaves or retreat underground for the colder seasons. Think like a plant, not like a human. You might not have plant adventurers travelling in colder climes. Then again, perhaps you'd have coniferous plantoids in those wintery places. Exactly, which is why I suggested them trading solar-food for useful nutrients produced by their Myconid neighbours. That said, they may not need wood for building: perhaps they grow their homes by nurturing other plants or have their ancestors die and hollow out into their homes. Fuel may not be necessary; some plants might hate fire. Though that's a bit of a cliche; many plants love fire. Those redwoods out West would die if the small forest fires stopped burning. And many blueberry bushes only come in after brushfires (there are too many examples to count). So fire might be a resource nurtured, but used responsibly by a plantoid community. I could even imagine your oils for dyes idea – but imagine the plantoids stealing the oils from other plants? I think it would be less about agriculture and more about harvesting, with a plantoid people.Many of these may or may not be needed. Interesting questions, to say the least, but I could think of dozens of counterexamples where our plantoids would get around these quite naturally.</blockquote>

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