Honor's grandparent(s)

feyhunde wrote:

kenl511 wrote:Mesan star lines have a lot of genetic slave DNA in them as most of the new code gated into the star line is tested out in genetic slaves. Allison would have recognized the genetic slave genetic material at numerous points in Honor's childhood.

Beyond that Star Lines are curated. The Harringtons proper have been in the Kingdom for over 400 years, and thus would not themselves be easily upgraded with the new changes.

Perhaps someone would think a group like the Harringtons with known mods would make a good cover to marry in. I think even that is debatable as Harringtons would be likely to be scanned to see if they have the mods, and if there's been some mutation.

But, if we're procreating according to the biological imperative, messy bits and all, all "mutations" can be explained by simple genetics.

feyhunde wrote:Beyond that Star Lines are curated. The Harringtons proper have been in the Kingdom for over 400 years, and thus would not themselves be easily upgraded with the new changes.

You're missing the "lost alpha line" qualifier of the original post. Honor's grandparents would have to be a "Lost Line" that the MAlign no longer has any influence over -- or possible no knowledge of.

feyhunde wrote:Perhaps someone would think a group like the Harringtons with known mods would make a good cover to marry in. I think even that is debatable as Harringtons would be likely to be scanned to see if they have the mods, and if there's been some mutation.

Actually, since the Meyerdahl Beta mods are fixed as dominant traits, the Harringtons would be one of the worst possible places for a lost alpha line to propagate. The alpha line genetics would be mostly lost in the first generation of intermarriage.

Weird Harold wrote:Actually, since the Meyerdahl Beta mods are fixed as dominant traits, the Harringtons would be one of the worst possible places for a lost alpha line to propagate. The alpha line genetics would be mostly lost in the first generation of intermarriage.

Which brings to mind, the Malign would surely have made the mods used in the Alpha, Beta & Gamma lines dominant as well.

I know the genome is very big but what would be the chances of some of the Meyerdahl-Beta mods conflicting with some of the mods used in the Malign lines?

George J. Smith wrote:Which brings to mind, the Malign would surely have made the mods used in the Alpha, Beta & Gamma lines dominant as well.

I don't think the MAlign would make the Star Line Genomes dominant traits. Doing so would make the constant refinement and "upgrades" more difficult. The reliance on IFV and genetic "customizing" might make bypassing dominant traits possible, but it would still be more work than not locking the genomes.

An Aside: Is the Meyerdahl dominance a "bad thing" in the long run? It seems to me that stalling or slowing natural selection by locking in the modification would make Meyerdahl Genies less adaptable to environmental changes.

Weird Harold wrote:

George J. Smith wrote:Which brings to mind, the Malign would surely have made the mods used in the Alpha, Beta & Gamma lines dominant as well.

I don't think the MAlign would make the Star Line Genomes dominant traits. Doing so would make the constant refinement and "upgrades" more difficult. The reliance on IFV and genetic "customizing" might make bypassing dominant traits possible, but it would still be more work than not locking the genomes.

An Aside: Is the Meyerdahl dominance a "bad thing" in the long run? It seems to me that stalling or slowing natural selection by locking in the modification would make Meyerdahl Genies less adaptable to environmental changes.

The main reason for the Meyerdahl-mod was a general adaptation to heavy-grav-worlds. So all genes related to that goal would be made dominant. But genes are living things, and to "harden" them against sudden mutations which happen some centuries down the road seems to be impossible. As it is, it's something like a miracle they remained stable for such a big part of the recipients and their descendents over such a long time and under such challenges (mainly space travel, stellar radiation, different environments on different planets etc).

If you put Mesan Star line genomes into that mix, any kind of things could happen.

Eagleeye wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:Which brings to mind, the Malign would surely have made the mods used in the Alpha, Beta & Gamma lines dominant as well.

I don't think the MAlign would make the Star Line Genomes dominant traits. Doing so would make the constant refinement and "upgrades" more difficult. The reliance on IFV and genetic "customizing" might make bypassing dominant traits possible, but it would still be more work than not locking the genomes.

An Aside: Is the Meyerdahl dominance a "bad thing" in the long run? It seems to me that stalling or slowing natural selection by locking in the modification would make Meyerdahl Genies less adaptable to environmental changes.

The real problem in all of this is that we have no idea that the MAlign changes are. The people involved don't seem brighter or more capable than others. Somehow the guards are supposed to be better...that does that mean they are just stronger...are reflexes faster?

We don't know. Perhaps there is just more culling of dangerous genes. But, then again, that would not be a problem under the Beowulf rules.

We have never seen one of changed MAligns fight. We have not seen any (that we know of) doing anything remarkable. Yes, the Detweiler clones are supposed to be smart. But they are clones of someone smart. O'Hanrahan is an A line. She is a good reporter...albeit crooked. But, so what?

You would think after centuries of upgrading the genome, there would be useful changes and we haven't seen much.

ldwechsler wrote:

Eagleeye wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:

PLEASE learn to parse quotes--or at least remove the attributions.

Weird Harold wrote:

ldwechsler wrote:

Eagleeye wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:

PLEASE learn to parse quotes--or at least remove the attributions.

OK,

where do I learn?

If someone had a short seminar on how to use the forum I wouldn't have to guess half the time. And, yes, there's something to be said for experimenting, but when I do it, it never seems to look like other people's.

Weird Harold wrote:

ldwechsler wrote:

Eagleeye wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:

PLEASE learn to parse quotes--or at least remove the attributions.

OK,

where do I learn?

If someone had a short seminar on how to use the forum I wouldn't have to guess half the time. And, yes, there's something to be said for experimenting, but when I do it, it never seems to look like other people's.

ldwechsler wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:PLEASE learn to parse quotes--or at least remove the attributions.

OK,

where do I learn?

If someone had a short seminar on how to use the forum I wouldn't have to guess half the time. And, yes, there's something to be said for experimenting, but when I do it, it never seems to look like other people's.

You might try rereading the posts starting here (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9095&p=252234&hilit=+quote#p252219).
That's the previous time Weird Harold attempted to explain how quotes work; then a few posts down John Ross and I provided some examples.