Steve Jackson Games Forums - New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTTG (Post 2237484)

What's a half-parahuman?

An advanced achievement in biotechnology.

Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer (Post 2237426)

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.

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.

Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by adm (Post 2237599)

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.

Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer (Post 2237544)

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.

Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by tshiggins (Post 2237795)

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.

Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astromancer (Post 2237816)

That sort of consistency is probably the best choice, yeah.

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.

Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain (Post 2238764)

Capitalism?

The Orville has the same communist utopia as TNG.