(This character was made with Sephiroth in mind and is meant to be the main villain in a post-modern scifi.) Even with all the technology they possessed, scientists could not find a way to cure even the smallest of diseases. They got the idea that a bacteria would not attack a being with DNA similar to that of its own, and that a being with DNA similar to that of a virus would be more capable of fending that virus off. Thus, the creation of Project Chimaera. This group of scientists took samples of DNA from a large variety of disease-causing bacteria and virii and spliced it with that of a human. The result was a seemingly normal human who, in all actuality, was much stronger than the norm and had a faster metabolism as well. This specimen was named Chimaera. But the scientists forgot one detail. It''s a proven fact that one''s DNA contributes to its mental outcome. This carried over to Chimaera: All bacteria and virii know is destruction and the procreation of their kind. The DNA Chimaera possessed not only made him stronger, but also made him insane, by human standards. The foreign DNA in Chimaera increased the speed of his growth process. By the time he was five, he had the physical maturity of a twenty year old. His mental capacity was expanded to a degree. He was of normal intellegence with a twisted view on things. He was immune to nearly all air-born diseases. Being in this position made him felt superior, as he was pivotal in the areas of science, health, and biology. As soon as he was capable, he used his strength and stamina to escape the lab he was "born" in. He was able to steal new technology from a near-by lab his birthplace was connected to and left. Around a year had passed when a number of beasts began to flood major cities. These creatures were of unknown origin and weren''t classified under the normal classifications, such as mammal or reptilian. No one could make since of what they were. The scientists located the creatures'' point of origin. A biochemical strike was ordered. A bomb with an unknown chemical agent was dropped on the location, only to cause more flooding of cities with creatures. (I can''t think of how to continue this without introducing a main character, which I kinda have in mind. I''ll get back to you on that.)

Ouch. That science is... bad. As bad as parasite eve. As a science fiction fan, I wince.

EDIT: meh... I suppose I should say something nice to go with that. I'd love to see a game with a sephiroth-like major character, sephiroth rocks.

[edited by - sunandshadow on February 18, 2004 12:43:19 AM]

Damn. I thought it was good. >_>

I''d like to note, while I''m here, that this wasn''t supposed to be in a story-like form. More like a sypnosis of a story that hasn''t been written.

It''s a cool sounding character, but the virii are an underrepresented minority.

Addy

Sorry, I''m not sure I understand what you mean by an "underrepresented minority." Can you explain for me please?

Sunandshadow: I appreciate your brutal honesty. Is there something I can do to improve the character or whatever or do you think the entire basis should be scrapped?

umm, so the world is underseige by a crazy six year old? Even if the villians body develops quickly that doesn''t mean their mind will. Sure you said there mind expanded to a degree but that doesn''t really mean anything, so instead of being as smart as six year old he has the brain of a seven year old?

Also virii don''t think much of anything let alone destruction, if anything he who have the overwhelming desire to reproduce.

umm, I''m assuming the villian made the creatures, but how? one minute your saying he has normal intellegence the next he''s a super genius who can break out of one top secret lab and at the same time break into another and steal it top secret research that he doesn''t know about. Then use that research to create an army of creatures that I''m only assuming reproduce by fission or budding with in one year?



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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

You have a good point. I really didn''t explain things as well as I should have. It''s just that I wanted things to happen as quickly as possible.

With the intellegence factor, I kinda figured him being on semi-intellegent would be a good thing. I think someone said, "There''s nothing worse than the hate of a child," or something similar. I wrote a revision that''s a bit better. I think I''ll revise it again, and change some things to make it a bit better. (Any suggestions?)

Yeah, the science is a little rough around the edges. Your best bet is to refrain from getting too far into the scientific details, and just have a military advisor or something ask the scientists what they''re up against. They''ll say, "We used germ-line gene therapy to make him resistant to diseases, but many of the results have been... unexpected." And then later on have someone find notes about using virulent DNA, and say, "My God! They''ve combined DNA from two different kingdoms of life! This shouldn''t be possible, but from these research notes, it looks like they pulled it off. This thing isn''t human, it''s something... different." (ellipses added in both cases to convey corny drama)

I don''t know about you, but all this talk about a powerful drive to reproduce and floods of monsters conjures up some horrifyingly funny images of this guy running around in the woods boning everything that gets too close. Could be hysterical. Or you could ride the Parasite Eve train and have him divide, mitosis-style.

Any way you look at it, you''ll need some awesome explosions to distract people from the plot and theory. Maybe boobs could help.

We''ve been ragging pretty hard on your pseudo-science, but don''t let that discourage you. Nobody really cares, in the long run, as long as you''ve got guns and flappy coats and some kind of monster that we can kill without feeling bad about its family. Sephiroth is an excellent archetype, and if you combine that with some helicopters and flamethrowers, I''m sure your game will be fun. Good luck.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
Sunandshadow: I appreciate your brutal honesty. Is there something I can do to improve the character or whatever or do you think the entire basis should be scrapped?

Well, let's go over the science bit by bit then.

1) scientists have genetic engineering but cannot find a way to "cure even the smallest of diseases"

Okay, first you need to clarify between communicable diseases (caused by bacteria, virii, and fungi) and other diseases caused by other factors like environment and inheritance. Second, with the technology we have today scientists have already cured some of these diseases, such as smallpox and polio. The standard method for 'curing' a viral disease in a population is by inventing a vaccine and vaccinating everyone; the standard way to 'cure' a bacterial disease in a population is to find an antibiotic effective against the bacterium and use it to medicate all the people who can't fight off the infection on their own. For bacterial diseases where there is a clear vector of transmission (like food poisioning) that vector is also combatted with safety laws and procedures (like that new vegtable-sanatizing gel). Fungal diseases generally cannot be 'cured' because they live in dirt or water as well as in humans; they are generally treated by chemical creams and 'safe living' such as wearing sandals in communal showers, wearing shoes while gardening, washing hands, etc.

2) The splice the viral/bacterial DNA into the human (presumably in the 'junk DNA' regions)

Virii and bacteria generally have RNA, not DNA. Human DNA is a double helical strand built from the bases adenine, guanine, thyamine, and cytosine (sp?). RNA is a singal looped strand where one of the bases is replaced by uracil. There is no way you could splice RNA directly into humans - you would have to convert it to DNA first. If you did that, and then spliced the DNA into humans in the Junk-DNA regions, you still wouldn't get a human that was more resistant to disease or matured quickly; you would get a perfectly normal human. That's the whole thing about junk DNA regions - they never get expressed, and have no effect on the human's traits.

If however you put the DNA into the active regions you would either get an inviable fetus (very likely), or _maybe_ a human who was a walking biological bomb, because his cells produced copies of the bacterium or virus in question and they were released into the world through his skin, breath, etc. Like Typhoid Mary, if you know about her. A human like this would not be more healthy than average, he would probably be less healthy because his metabolism would waste a lot of energy and resources producing the bacteria/virii. He might eat and sleep a bit more than a normal human and have a tendency to be thin, but that's about it.

If you want a human who is super-resistant to disease, why not just genetically engineer the DNA that affects disease resistance? If you want a human who matures quickly, why not hack the genes that control his biological clock? Describe to me what you want your genetic engineering to accomplish, and perhaps I can tell you a simple and logical way it could happen.

(Have you read Nancy Kress's Beggars trilogy? There's a genetic engineering story with good solid science.)

[edited by - sunandshadow on February 19, 2004 12:54:39 PM]

quote: Original post by orionx103
You have a good point. I really didn''t explain things as well as I should have. It''s just that I wanted things to happen as quickly as possible.

With the intellegence factor, I kinda figured him being on semi-intellegent would be a good thing. I think someone said, "There''s nothing worse than the hate of a child," or something similar. I wrote a revision that''s a bit better. I think I''ll revise it again, and change some things to make it a bit better. (Any suggestions?)

There''s a Poe song (Trigger Happy Jack/Can''t Talk To a Psycho) with the lyrics, "There''s nothing more sadistic than an infant"