Fellow travelers, voting has closed! We are LIVE!! I present to you the results of mostly your decisions, the FOFC entrant into the chaotic Stellaris Galaxy. Let us go forth and honor Boojie!.
Galaxy
Huge, Spiral(4 Arms), Standard number of AI opponents. Wasn't much debate here.
Appearance
Strong consensus to go with a Molluscoid, and more specifically a 'trout-like' race. We call ourselves Architreuthis. The so-called 'smug slugs' were strongly considered but did not seem particularly fitting with our marine nature. See the image of our completed race at the end here.
Homeworld
Only an ocean world will suffice. We name our homeworld Humboldt, and the star Solaris Troutentis. I took names from a variety of people voting, I like what was submitted!
Technology
Projectile weapons, Hyperspace FTL. Opinions were more divided here but each of these got one more vote than the others.
Ethos
Fanatic Spiritualist + Collectivist. These were far and away the top choices. As there was one request for Fanatic Spiritualist that broke the tie in terms of which way we went there.
** As Spiritualists we recognize that "consciousness begets reality. We regard with patience the child-like efforts of those who delude themselves as they play with their blocks of 'hard matter'".
** As Collectivists we know that 'Society has long since evolved past the insignificant rivalries and concerns of the individuals. We are numerous but one, and the needs of the many outweigh the concerns of the few."
Government
Oligarchy across the board. There are two qualifying oligarchies given our ethos choices: Theocratic and Plutocratic. The latter is rule of the wealthy elite, which is the opposite of our spiritualist bent so it was a no-brainer to go with Theocratic Oligarchy. As with most forms the politicians rule in this government. It gives us a -10% to ethic divergence; i.e., our population will not drift from our Spiritualist, Collectivist ideal as much as they would under other forms. We also get a 15% discount on the recruitment of new leaders. Specifically, we are the Oncorhynchus Collective.
Species Traits
This I did not put to a vote for two reasons. First, there are 29 of them. Talk about chaos -- I'm trying to keep this reasonably simple. Secondly, the other choices made informed the choice as I expected they would. For the most part I 'doubled down' here on the ethics choices that have been made. The game allows for up to four traits, with a total of two points to spend.
A bit here about how I see our species as it's been discussed. We are trout-beings, but amphibious ones who have developed the ability to live on land to expand our horizons and fully develop our homeworld of Humboldt. This flexibility came with a cost; we are physically Weak(-20% ground armies combat damage) compared to other races. This is a -1 trait and puts us up to 3 points, 3 more traits that we can select. 'Members of this species are physically weaker than average, making them poor fighters on the ground.'
Next I chose Adaptive(+10% Habitability) for the same reason. The flexibility that made us emerge from the oceans also gives us an advantage in colonizing worlds only marginally suitable to us. This is a 2-point trait, leaving up to 2 traits left but just a single point. "This species is highly adaptive when it comes to foreign environments."
Another negative trait was added next: Sedentary(+50% migration time, +33% resettlement cost). Our commitment to community makes us less likely to want to uproot. "This species has a sedentary past, and it's members are unlikely to migrate away from where they grew up."
Finally, we are Conformists(-20% ethics divergence). This uses up the last two points, and is in keeping with our collective spiritualist dogma. "These people always seek consensus and are more likely to conform to the governing ethics."
And so it is done. The finished product:
Coming up next ... a general briefing on matters both galactic and local.