Biotech/Playing Saturn to reborn "devouring" your children

[Alonsua]

After thinking a bit I managed to make a great plot jump to advance in time the technologies related to metamorphosis viruses.

Apparently metamorphosis viruses are a technology marvel reserved for TL12. Actually, this is not exactly true:

• By virtue of heredity-changing metamorphosis viruses we can lower our TL needs to 11 and alter the genetic heredity allowing our children to inherit virus-induced traits.
• By using medical transplants technologies which will overcome the spinal cords incomplete connections with TL10 nanosurgery we can perform completely safe head and brain transplants.

Consequences?
It is sufficiently clear that genetic engineering is capable of producing the same results in embryos without the need to resort to metamorphosis viruses, but the reference to the oil painting "Saturn Devouring His Son" by Francisco Goya and to the Titan Cronus devouring Hestia, then Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon is too hunky-dory to ignore it.

What is your opinion? Do the rules of the game allow this task to be carried out by TL11? Is there any way to use metamorphosis viruses before TL11?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

What is your opinion?

Of what exactly? Do the rules allow you to transplant your brain to a genetically engineered clone body before you can modify your existing body? Sure.

It requires forced growth technology to be very useful, but the GM wants "metamorphosis", is allowing everything in the book at the listed TL, and for some reason also doesn't want to lower the TL of the metamorphosis virus, he can.

Realistically stuff that requires brain or nerve connection modifications to work (new limbs, or really anything new you can consciously control at all) would be useless, and anything that changed the immune system much would probably cause rejection of the transplanted brain, but you're mostly on your own deciding which mods that would be a problem for. Biotech mostly glosses over stuff like that in favor of allowing things that probably shouldn't work to do so anyway because it's a cool gear book - your player base won't be as happy with a book of gear they *can't buy* after character creation, which is probably partly what the metamorphosis virus is for in the first place.

Personally I'd just have the virus appear "early". It's not like future TLs are set in stone, or for that matter that all the stuff listed at any particular TL is equally difficult - Biotech is full of stuff that I'm pretty certain is realistically impossible at every TL.

[ericthered]

I'm not sure how different it is from allowing yourself to be rebuilt as a bioroid: which should be possible at TL 11. Its a lot of surgery, and requires custom cloning and rewiring nerves, but so did the other method.



I suppose the main difference is the potential for drama in that you are taking over your own child's body, as opposed to grown tissues.

[Celjabba]

So, using a strict reading of Biotech, you want to imitate a TL12 metamorphosis virus result by using TL11 genemods on an embryo, growth it to adult size then switch your brain to the new body ?
Going strictly by the rule letter, it is legit as long as the genemods does not require TL12 themselves.
Without force growth which is ^ superscience, it is a much slower process.
Symbolism aside, you really want to use a clone as base rather than your children, to avoid compatibility issue.
And the probability of failure, partial or complete, is much higher.
The ethical and psychological consequences are left to the setting.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Of what exactly? Do the rules allow you to transplant your brain to a genetically engineered clone body before you can modify your existing body? Sure. Personally I'd just have the virus appear "early". It's not like future TLs are set in stone, or for that matter that all the stuff listed at any particular TL is equally difficult - Biotech is full of stuff that I'm pretty certain is realistically impossible at every TL.

Yes, transplanting your brain to a new body seems to be the way to go unless we stoop to judging with all subjectivity at what technological levels each technology belongs.

Originally Posted by ericthered

I suppose the main difference is the potential for drama in that you are taking over your own child's body, as opposed to grown tissues.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Celjabba

So, using a strict reading of Biotech, you want to imitate a TL12 metamorphosis virus result by using TL11 genemods on an embryo, growth it to adult size then switch your brain to the new body? Symbolism aside, you really want to use a clone as base rather than your children, to avoid compatibility issue. And the probability of failure, partial or complete, is much higher.

It seems reasonable and we can always resort to accelerated maturation.