Headscratchers / Starbound

• So, the Hylotl and the Florans have a long rivalry. The Hylotl hate the Florans because they destroyed their home planet. But why do the Florans hate them so much in the first place?
  • Because everyone hates the Hylotl. Or at least gives them shit via the examine messages. Combine this running gag with the Floran love of ssstabing, and Hilarity Ensues.
  • Most Florans also don't care much for history (as opposed to tradition, which seems to carry strongly in Floran villages). To them, the Hylotls' especially virulent disdain towards them both for their general lack of appreciation for the finer things in life (art, literature, etc.) and the Sins Of Their Predecessors will appear seemingly random.
  • Just as the Hylotl are disdainful of others for not appreciating their culture and philosophies, the Florans would be offended by anyone disrespecting the things they consider important in life (hunting, combat prowess, etc). For example, a Floran might proudly show off his couch made from the bone, skin and sinews of a great beast, to his new Hylotl friend. To the Floran, this is both a show of great accomplishment and pride, and a way to honor the beast for being a worthy challenge by making something useful and memorable from its remains. And in response, the stupid fishman makes weird faces and runs off to throw up in a bush. How rude!
  • In short, it seems they don't. The Hylotl were simply the first race the Floran encountered, and having not yet discovered the concept of other races being as sapient as they are, saw them only as prey. The ensuing war was not the result of any particular ill-will on their part. Hylotl NPCs understandably seem wary at best towards Florans, but Floran NPCs don't seem to hold nearly as much of a grudge toward Hylotls, with a lot of them apparently barely knowing about the conflict in the first place and being apologetic for what they've heard of it (Literal quotes: "Greenfinger told Floran that a Hylotl told greenfinger that Florans kill Hylotl ancestors. Sorry." "Florans once kill millions of Hylotl? Oops, sorry.")

• So how exactly can the destruction of a single planet (even if it's their HQ) destroy an entire organisation of Space Police?
  • It didn't. In the Starbound 1.3 update, you can find abandoned Protectorate space stations. Some, by the looks of them, were abandoned quite recently, some, due to the fact that Astro furniture is really Protectorate furniture, are still inhabited, and some (the Abandoned Protectorate Storage Facility) are in fact secret facilities holding prototype mech blueprints that not even SAIL knows about.
  • The various codec entries suggest that humans of starbound did what humans of other franchises didn't. Rather than expanding outisde Earth, they focused on their homeworld. The "Off-Earth Human Census" mentions that the total amount of humans who dwell off Earth (not counting nomads) gives a total of 15,802,433. And if you consider the fact that the player's graduation day also served as a ceremony which a lot of protectors attended, along with the lack of any protector NPCs, you're left wondering if the player(s) and Esther are the last protectors alive.

• Only lowest tier worlds, as Lush, Forest or Desert can be visited comfortably without EPP. To operate in more dangerous worlds, EPP is required. That's pretty logical and good for gameplay. But how can Avian village exist on irradiated world or Glitch castle on Volcanic one? They just walk there without even commenting hazard they live in, not seeming to use EPP or any kind of environment shielding (like Hylotl do in their underwater cities).
  • The six species each evolved and adapted to live on the various worlds they can be found on, so they're perfectly fine: the Hylotl can live underwater (well, they are fish people) and the Avians aren't troubled by high amounts of radiation. Of course, it doesn't explain why you as the player character need an EPP for those worlds even when playing as that race...

• Why, for the love of The Cultivator, would a Floran PC (who is presumably more civilized than the ones you find in villages) see an empty Apex life support pod and have the same reaction as the other races' PCs, but see a occupied one and think, "Ssoup!"?
  • Well, the keyword here is "more civilized", not "as civilized as the other races".

• Why does everyone know you're a Protector simply because you have a Matter Manipulator? Such a device surely finds use in many different industries. And MM components are lying around all over the place, not just in Protectorate-related locations.
  • this trooper proposes the idea that you’ve been given specially designed ones which are unique to the protectors which are simply used as a quick identification of any protectors. There’s also likely civilian models as picks and drills are shown to be still more effective and widely used. I would say in a couple centuries more of advancement MMS would come to be universal with perhaps future protectors adopting ones made to look like older models are both tradition and badge.