The Shlorpians are a species of aliens originating from planet Shlorp. The most notable Shlorpians on Solar Opposites are Korvo, Yumyulack, Terry, and Jesse.
Biology[]
Plant-based physiology[]
- Shlorpians can taste the ground with their feet.
- Shlorpians do not appear to possess a brain.
- Shlorpians can come in a variety of colors and different shades of such color. This includes purple, pink, red, blue, green, orange.
- Green is the most common.
- Replicants can be different shades or colors than the parent Shlorpian.
- When a Shlorpian reaches full maturity, they turn into a wise old tree and if lucky enough, someone will use their wood to build a house.
- They don't go through puberty.
- Shlorpians reproduce by taking a clipping of their toe or finger and place it in a pot of soil which eventually grows into a replicant.
- Sometimes, if the clippings have trouble growing, as Jesse and Yumyulack did, the parent Shlorpians could put two replicants together to help them grow.
- While growing, they first start off as a flower. When they blossom, they're head first.
- The replicants, especially if they are like siblings or co-repicants, can exchange information by interlocking elbows which exposes magenta nutrient roots. This is caused by the trust between them; if this trust is irreversibly broken, then they can't do this anymore.
- The Pupa must feed on one replicant, a.k.a the nutrient replicant, every 90 days
- If Shlorpians don't wash their hands enough, they grow a flower-like fungus on their heads.
- The flowers release a pollen which, when inhaled by another being, compels that being to like the Shlorpian.
- Shlorpians themselves appear to be immune to the pollen, even if it is from another Shlorpian.
- If pollen from two or more different Shlorpians mixes, non-Shlorpians who inhale the resulting combination enter a homicidal rage.
- The flowers release a pollen which, when inhaled by another being, compels that being to like the Shlorpian.
Others[]
- While they do have lifemates, the Shlorpian equivalent to a spouse, it was originally believed that Shlorpians couldn't feel romantic love but only "teammate affinity." Korvo and Terry realize they fell in love with each other.
- If Shlorpians spend too much time on Earth, they adapt and take on a human appearance. This can be reversed if they leave the planet and it only happens once.
- They have a zeriod which their zycle can zynch up with others and cause messed up skin.
Regeneration[]
Shlorpians are functionally immortal, as even the destruction of the head will just result in them grown a new body with all memories restored from the moment of "death." This is an extreme example of genetic memory, similar to that of Lepidoptera which retain memories possessed prior to metamorphosis. The only known exception to this was the destruction of planet Shlorp, presumably because planetary destruction eliminates whatever biomass is necessary for regeneration.
One replicant from each mission is chosen as the “nutrient replicant”, a Shlorpian with the special role of being sacrificed to the pupa so it can evolve and terraform. This replicant’s memories are saved so they can be implanted back into the replicant’s clone. Without this Shlorpian, the pupa will become malnourished and die. This can be substituted with chalupas.
Gender[]
Due to their plant-based physiology and complete lack of genitals, the Shlorpians are universally sexless and therefore choose the gender they wish to identify. However, Shlorpians do have a "mound" which has been evidently treated as their genitalia. The "mound" is to be cleaned regularly to remove gunk with a gunk wand, which the process tickles, or else it will attract giant spiders.
Gooblers[]
When a Shlorpian becomes stressed, they produce tiny, mindless, purple creatures known as Gooblers from their heads. They can also be produced via diarrhea as shown at the end of Terry and Korvo Get in a Big Screaming Fight in the Taco Bell Parking Lot.
Red Gooblers[]
Every 100,000th Goobler produced by a Shlorpian is a Red Goobler, a larger, more aggressive variant with the sole purpose of causing as much stress to their Shlorpian as possible.
Super Gooblers[]
Super gooblers, like red ones, will try to kill the Shlorpian. Unlike red ones, they can represent any emotion and it takes time before they give into their homicidal urges. They do this for the sake of the mission to terraform a planet to create a new Shlorp by eliminating them so the team can continue. The rest of the team will then eat the corpse for nutrients.
White Gooblers[]
White gooblers represent a Shlorpian's repressed rage and will continue to grow the angrier the Shlorpian is. To destroy them, the Shlorpian must express their anger until they explode.
Green Gooblers[]
Green gooblers represent a Shlorpian's envy.
Orange Gooblers[]
Orange gooblers represent a Shlorpian's kleptomania.
Lavender Gooblers[]
Lavender gooblers represent a Shlorpian's lust.
Magenta Gooblers[]
Magenta gooblers represent a Shlorpian's binge watching of Full House. It will act like Kimmy Gribbler.
Blue Gooblers[]
Blue gooblers represent a Shlorpian's Criterian Disk.
Pink Gooblers[]
Pink Gooblers represent a Shlorpian's love of saying "Baby".
Religion[]
The Shlorpians seem to have a religion based on an entity called the Grey God. Shlorpians are expected to prey around obsidian crystals every hour, presumably to said god. Thus, these crystals are considred sacred. Shlorpians also have a holy number, though its exact significance is unknown.