Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-21-2019, 07:29 AM   #901
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by PTTG View Post
What's a half-parahuman?
An advanced achievement in biotechnology.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2019, 07:38 AM   #902
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
Further notes. Society had just transitioned to TL9 in the 2070s. In the following decades, the technological base of the society collapsed. The medical infrastructure is collapsing too as is the educational infrastructure to educate medical professionals. This means the non-parahuman birthrate is dropping. This deepens the extinction fears of ordinary humans.

The Parahumans age very slowly, the eldest of the parahumans were born in 2060 and are now 120 years old. They look like vigorously healthy people in their mid-fifties. If you've seen Dennis Quaid in the insurance commercials he does now, that is what the eldest parahuman looks like.

Because of their enhanced brains and lifespans, governments prefer to make educational investments in the parahumans. A doctor that stays a skilled and active doctor for a century is a desirable investment in any society.

More later...
Note: The Parahumans didn't used to be called the Parahumans. They weren't the only parahumans around. Most of the others died at the same rate as baseline humans and then had the same fertility issues. The Plymouth Parahumans, so called because they were designed by Plymouth Biotechnologies, had distinctive immune systems that aren't fully understood. The designer was eccentric and a genius. But she kept poor notes.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 01-21-2019 at 12:19 PM.
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2019, 11:38 AM   #903
adm
 
adm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: MO, U.S.A.
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

I would note that for standard humans, having a dozen off spring before widely available, and effective, birth control became available was not uncommon. How many kids could an extended life span, extra healthy human have? Fostering "extra" kids could be a way to form political alliances.
__________________
Xenophilia is Dr. Who. Plus Lecherous is Jack Harkness.- Anaraxes
adm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-21-2019, 12:17 PM   #904
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by adm View Post
I would note that for standard humans, having a dozen offspring before widely available, and effective, birth control became available was not uncommon. How many kids could an extended life span, extra healthy human have? Fostering "extra" kids could be a way to form political alliances.
Solid point. If we say that baseline human women are fertile from 16 to 40 (yes I know plenty of women have had babies before and after those ages), parahuman women are fertile from 16 to 80.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2019, 03:36 PM   #905
tshiggins
 
tshiggins's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
An advanced achievement in biotechnology.
Also, if the engineering simply put the best combination of human genes in an embryo, then the fact that it was genetically altered could qualify it as "parahuman."

However, it would remain fully compatible with "baseline," humanity. It's just that the childen of mixed parentage would wind up with a randomized set of genes that probably wouldn't provide the same immunity, but a few might luck into mutations that did the job better.
__________________
--
MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
tshiggins is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2019, 05:59 PM   #906
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
Also, if the engineering simply put the best combination of human genes in an embryo, then the fact that it was genetically altered could qualify it as "parahuman."

However, it would remain fully compatible with "baseline," humanity. It's just that the childen of mixed parentage would wind up with a randomized set of genes that probably wouldn't provide the same immunity, but a few might luck into mutations that did the job better.
I'm following the lead of THS in saying that Parahuman covers genetic modification pass the point where they can breed with baseline humans. In other words, they are a new species that can't have fertile offspring with a species not their own.

This might not be the normal use of parahuman. But as I said, I am following the lead of THS.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2019, 08:33 AM   #907
tshiggins
 
tshiggins's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
I'm following the lead of THS in saying that Parahuman covers genetic modification pass the point where they can breed with baseline humans. In other words, they are a new species that can't have fertile offspring with a species not their own.

This might not be the normal use of parahuman. But as I said, I am following the lead of THS.
That sort of consistency is probably the best choice, yeah.
__________________
--
MXLP:9 [JD=1, DK=1, DM-M=1, M(FAW)=1, SS=2, Nym=1 (nose coffee), sj=1 (nose cocoa), Maz=1]
"Some days, I just don't know what to think." -Daryl Dixon.
tshiggins is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-25-2019, 06:34 AM   #908
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Last night's episode of the Orville (All the World is Birthday Cake!) and seeing an old copy of The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett suggests to me that future societies that use superstitions like astrology, warped religion, or capitalism, to enforce cast systems is something to look into.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-27-2019, 12:49 AM   #909
doctorevilbrain
 
Join Date: May 2009
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Capitalism?
doctorevilbrain is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-27-2019, 12:54 AM   #910
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain View Post
Capitalism?
The Orville has the same communist utopia as TNG.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:12 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.