From: Thomas Anderson <thomas.anderson@u...>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 20:18:02 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Re: FT: Sa'Vasku for the FB -- REALLY LONG
> On Thu, 19 Nov 1998, Imre A. Szabo wrote: good ones, too. here are a few ramblings to add, mostly by way of bioPSB justification. i have done it as an extract from a textbook, to namecheck a recent thread :-) > From 'Molecular Biology of the Sa'Vasku', Alberts, Brown, Halkett & --- begin extract --- For a long time, the Sa'Vasku were poorly understood, but the research carried out on the expeditions organised by the UNSC following the Oberth Understanding led to a rapid increase in our knowledge of their anatomy and ethology, although their biochemistry remained elusive. More recently, the nature of their molecular organisation has begun to be unravelled. However, it is important that the context within which exists be understood. The Sa'Vasku are a trioecious (three-sexed) race, although one of them is regarded as a pseudogender. The sexes are separate, but individuals progess through the two true sexes in a strict order over their lifetime. When a newborn Sa'Vasku emerges from the egg, it is male (note that the terms 'male' and 'female' have been assigned arbitrarily; they bear little resemblance to terrestrial sexes). The individual typically has a mass on the order of a few hundred tonnes, and spends the first centuries of its life alongside its mother, feeding on organic matter in local comets, etc, and growing rapidly. Soon the juveniles mature and develop the characteristic Halkett bodies (the energy-manipulating organs) of the adult Sa'Vasku. It is these male forms that were first encountered by humanity, as they are the only sex capable of jump travel, and fulfil the role of explorers, scavengers and warriors in Sa'Vasku society. On reaching a certain age or mass (the exact cause is not known), a male Sa'Vasku undergoes a change known as the saltopause (the 'stopping of jumping'), where many of its Halkett bodies break down and the materials used for other purposes. Specifically, the bodies required for movement and hyperspace travel break down; those able to generate beams and shields usually remain. The individual grows rapidly once more, feeding on local materials, and develops a hard outer shell. the individual has now become a female. aside from their reproductive role, Sa'Vasku females fulfil the role of stores and information repositories, as they are very long-lived and, being immobile, easy to find for a male Sa'Vasku, even after thousands of years have passed. the third sex is the macrogamete. for a long time, the Sa'vasku were thought to reproduce by direct copulation, and numerous expeditions were launched by all the major broadcast networks to try and film such an event. however, it was only when Harrison studied the behaviour of the Sa'Vasku 'drones' (as they were known) that it was realised that this is not the case. In fact, Sa'Vasku reproduce by indirect fertilisation. A male periodically enters 'andrus', a state where most of its body's resources are dedicated to reproduction. from the germinal tissues are derived gametes, which contain a subset of the male genetic information (this mechanism is common to all known life); these grow and mature inside the male, and develop into macrogametes. as macrogametes are genetically totally derived from one individual, and exist only for one purpose, they are classified as a pseudogender. macrogametes have masses of twenty to forty tonnes, and are fully capable of independent space travel, having organs and tissues in common with the male. they also have certain specialised structures, such as the ectolytic capsids, which are important for their reproductive function. when a male encounters a female, it releases a cluster of the macrogametes, which swarm to the female and, using the powerful energy bursts stored in the ectolytic capsids, penetrate her thick shell. they then enter and fuse with the female tissue. a complex series of transformations leads to the production of an egg, which the female then expels by muscle contraction into a warmer orbit nearer a star, where the egg develops and hatches. thus, the lifecycle begins anew. it appears that macrogametes, if produced by a male which enters andrus in a time of stress, such as when on an exploration voyage, may be used for purposes other than reproduction. Higher levels of certain signalling chemicals in the gametogenic organs cause the produced macrogametes to have altered behaviour, furiously attacking anything which they detect to be 'non-self', such as vessels of other races. this leads to their utility to the Sa'Vasku as weapons in space combat. --- end extract --- right, on to the rules effects. > Ships: males. > Drones macrogametes. > capability, 25% of a bioship's power factors can be the male is in andrus, and much of its energy is devoted to macrogamete production. > In campaign games, bioships regenerate damage at a rate of one box per > Bio ships are "grown." Bioship grow at a rate of 10 mass per i imply that the timescales for growth are far, far longer than this, but i admit that your way is better in game terms. otoh, a Sa'Vasku player who was unable to grow new ships over the length of the campaign but who had the option of withdrawing for a century or two would have to learn to think in a suitably alien way :-). > Bioships with drone storage can carry cargo. not really, under my description. unless the macrogametes double as ground troops... > BioSpaceStations: females. > upto 50% of thier power factors in drone storage. ah... with my biology, sapce stations are females and cannot produce drones at all. hmm. perhaps the swarms of juveniles count as heavy fighters? also, i imply that Sa'Vasku are purely space-dwelling, and so they do not have planetary colonists as such. or perhaps there is another, as yet undiscovered, life stage which lives dirtside; any xenobiologists out there who wish to publish some cutting-edge research? just my 2 umol. Tom