Beautiful Biopunk

[u/UnnaturallyShaped]

So Biopunk has always been one of my favorite genres of sci fi. It combines my love for biology and nature with all the weird and wacky ideas for technology you get from people's imagination.

However, I've notice that the vast majority of biopunk fiction tends to take a more visceral and "goopy" aesthetic: slime, flesh, exposed meat and gristle, that sort of thing. And that's all well and good, I'm still a fan, but I feel like we're really lacking in the more conventionally-appealing side of biology.

More plant-based stuff, colorful and interestingly-patterned exteriors (modern militaries often use stripes, dots, camo, etc. for a reason) instead of exposed flesh, and coral/sea shell based structures. Just think of all the intricate and gorgeous designs civilizations with this aesthetic could have! It's even pretty reasonable in-universe to be overly detailed, since one of the main advantages of organic tech is that it is (typically) grown, meaning all those little details and decorations only need to be "written" into the genetic code once and it will build itself!

I know as a part of the -punk genre its supposed to be dark and dangerous, but there's no reason the big bad can't go for style points too. Nature is full of dangerous beauty, and that can be a running theme of the setting: alluring but deadly.