Alien Sex and Reproduction in Traveller 5

[Spaceresearcher]

Hello all,
With the new hybrid rules now upon us, how do most fellow Travellers feel about Alien sex and genetic manipulation to create the new hybrid races? Could this be a strange spicing up of the game. Adventurers walk in on scenes not meant for public viewing etc?

Do you think this will create some rifts between the different races? Will some hybrid species be looked down upon? Or will it usher in a new age of inter species cross breading throughout the Imperium?

Myself, I think I'll stick to genetic experiments and breading within those new hybrid species. I've been curious how other fellow Travellers will handle this controversial issue.

I've also thought it could make for a very interesting bit of gaming in the new Cirque campaign due out in a few months or so. (The circus that genetically splices together, ecstatically entertains together or something like that. ).

On that note, could it perhaps result in some new Race books coming out to cover the hybrid possibilities or should they be covered with the major alien books in a cross breeding chapter?

Who knows Rancke, maybe some of the Vargr will breed with dogs.

 

[SanDragon]

Cross-breading shouldn't be problematic.

Yeast is yeast. Bread is bread.

 

[aramis]

if they are all using the same 4 basepairs, should be no problem.

 

[Spaceresearcher]

LOL. Terrific responses.

 

[Reban]

Rated T for Traveller

Some of those planets with populations incorporating a significant alien (or native sophont) minority will undoubtedly have hybrids in the community. In such areas there's lots of potential for inter species or racial tensions and adventures based on them. Maybe some military units made up exclusively of hybrids.

Another good thing about the inclusion of these rules is that diereses can cross species.....the ship's locker needs some erm...prophylactics...

I look forward to the first "Captain Kirk encounter" that I have to handle :rofl::devil::rofl:

 

[Vladika]

I look forward to the first "Captain Kirk encounter" that I have to handle :rofl::devil::rofl:

The Enterprise, who's five year mission is to get Captain Kirk laid by a new alien species once a week...

 

[GypsyComet]

Aside from the branches of humaniti dispersed across Charted Space, there is not likely to be much, if any, cross species hybridization unless done on purpose in a lab. Humans are more closely related to a flatworm than to, for example, the Aslan.

Not even all of the branches of Humaniti are interfertile, though the genetic baseline represented by the three major races of Humaniti (Solomani, Vilani, and Zhodani) is apparently compatible with a lot of the others. The Syleans of Core and Yileans (Gashikan) were genetically drowned by the Vilani during the First Imperium, the Solomani and Darrians intermixed extensively, and the Zhodani absorbed a bug chunk of the Vlazhdumecta.

By comparison, the Azhanti, Geonee, Sydites, and Luriani are too far off the baseline to be interfertile.

 

[SanDragon]

With any other human stock in general, or with anyone but their own?

 

[aramis]

What can be done in the lab is not, generally, interbreeding as most think of it; it is genetic engineering (Gengineering).

Most people think of interbreeding as "insert Tab from A into Slot on B, and get C some months later"... as in A=Male lion, B=female tiger, C=Liger.

There are 5 basic levels to consider:
Interfertile: the offspring can breed
Hybridizing: the offspring form a discrete profile.
Limited (Mule-Generating): Offspring can't breed, and usually have a discrete third phenotype.
Non-viable: offspring usually can't succeed in being carried to term
Non-conceptive: conception can't occur.

We know that Vilani and Solomani are interfertile. We know that Zhodani and Vilani are interfertile. We can infer that Solomani and Zhodani are most likely interfertile.

Geonee and Suerrat may not be even viable; Lurani are supposedly able to generate mules, and occasional hybrids.

Humans and chimps are said to be non-viable (Some South African claims to have successfully inseminated Chimp ova with human sperm...), but due to a difference in chromosome count, probably are non-viable. (It is now considered unethical in most countries to make further attempts.)

 

[Spaceresearcher]

Thanks Aramis,
That at least removes the visions I was having involving a scene to rival that remake of 'The Island Of Dr Moreau' a few years ago.

I wonder if a Hiver would be cuddly. Then again, would you think it was cuddly when in fact it is not? (It's a Hiver after all).

 

[aramis]

I have no doubts that hivers can be cuddly - they are not hard bodied, and do enjoy physical stimulation. They won't be sexually cuddly, and of all the majors, are IMO the most likely to do gengenerring. But I'm reasonably certain that, due to the lack of smell, lack of voice, and the tunnel dwelling, much of their social communication is going to involve touch.

Intellectually, they are the most human of the non-humans intellectually, and the least human physically.

 

[Spartan159]

I seem to remember seeing somewhere that the Hiver sense of smell had come back in a portion of the race, I do not recall the specifics.

 

[Jazzlvraz]

...I do not recall the specifics.

From a thread last week:

From GDW's Alien Module 7, p.5:

"The Sense of Smell: The prehistoric pre-Hiver depended more on smell than on sight in dealing with the environment. A chance mutation in the pre-Hiver disabled the smell-brain (that portion of the brain which concentrates on processing smell data) and forced the sight-brain to assume dominance. It was this dominance of the sight-brain which led the way to intelligence for the Hivers. Depending on sight forced the Hiver [sic] more toward manipulation of objects; sight allows a finer dexterity than does smell. Many feel that a smell-oriented brain cannot process as much data as efficiently as a sight-oriented brain.

"However, since the dawn of recorded Hiver history, a major mutation has occurred: the re-enabling of the smell-brain. [skip a bit, Brother]

"The genetic basis for the re-enabled smell brain [sic], however, is a complex one, and one which has not lent itself to rapid dissemination into the general population. Today, after more than 5,000 years in the gene pool, the re-enabled smell brain [sic] is present in only about half of all Hivers."

 

[Spaceresearcher]

oh oh oh and darling I... can't get enough of your smell brain baby... :rofl:

 

[Epee]

"Find me one that doesn't have a season, or spines, and doesn't bite, claw, or stink and I might try it...."
NPC Scout pilot

 

[the.barwickian]

The next time anyone asks me what T5 offers that other versions don't, I'm pointing them straight at this thread.

It also makes me realise that T5 is well capable of handling Mass Effect's little blue babies.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

LOL!

The next time anyone asks me what T5 offers that other versions don't, I'm pointing them straight at this thread.

It also makes me realise that T5 is well capable of handling Mass Effect's little blue babies.

Nice one. I might have to use that some day. :devil:

 

[Spaceresearcher]

It's difficult to envision a K'Kree and a human engaging in intimate relations without gene splicing. I guess for characters that may have had an attraction for horses, K'Kree could be a natural attraction for them??

 

[ekervina]

I know I had a bottle of brain-bleach around here somewhere...

 

[aramis]

[m;]Marc does impose a PG rating decency standards equivalent standard.[/m;]

The topic itself is right on the very very edge of that.