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Xenobiology

Ethereal

Ethereal

Banned Member
Hi, just a (not so) quick question. I am currently making a character based around xenobiology. However, I was wondering how advanced the current xenobiological knowledge was in SA as it is a fairly new field in IRL biology. Can xenobiogists actually create synthetic life or biological components for systems? Or is it in the more in the realm of biological warfare?

This is - of course - asked under the assumption xenobiology and astrobiology are considered separate IC.

Cheers.
 
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Xenobiologists in Star Army are scientists who student alien biological organisms, such as newly-discovered species like the Rixxikor or just the random bacteria you picked up on that last planet, which is now turning the ship interior green-yellow and giving the crew Montezuma's Revenge.

There are biologists in Star Army that can create synthetic life (Nekovalkyrja are an example of a synthesized species), but I'm not sure they would be considered xenobiologists. Maybe the term "transbiologists" as in "transhuman" might be appropriate?
 
I see. It confused me because IRL astrobiologists are those who wish to find and examine extraterrestrial life whereas xenobiologists are those who use genetic modification to create organisms that can accomplish a certain task. Think a scientist engineering a xenomorph from the 'Alien' trilogy, creating a weapon of war in that case. Another example might be trying to create some sort of organism that can photosynthesise without CO2 to create unlimited oxygen for spacesuits.

Perhaps 'genetic engineer' would be an appropriate term in Star Army canon. Of course the extent of these activities would have to be within the law(s) - such as biological weapons - would have to be defined.

Edit: After chatting with @OsakanOne it's apparent Sourcians along with most other species in Star Army developed independently of each other and hence developed an entirely different 'XNA'. Therefore at this point what would be xenobiology IRL has basically become regular biology in Star Army. The best way to describe an IRL xenobiologist in Star Army would probably be 'Species Engineer' or 'Species Architect'
 
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I don't think "xenobiologist" is the correct term for people that does genetic modification. The term is more "molecular biologist", "geneticist", "bio-technician" or even a sub-speciality of more generic jobs like "horticulturalist". Xenobiology is more for study of alien life forms, not for modifying them.

Molecular geneticist is also a possible title.

Why don't you tell us what you want your character to do and we'll find a job title that fits?
 
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I think the whole xenobiology thing is basically the same as astrobiology on Star Army, from what everyone's saying.

I was thinking of making a character that's a creator of biological weapons in the form of intelligent organisms - such as the earlier remark about the xenomorph from Alien. I'm not sure what the laws surrounding such things are in Star Army however..
 
The Lazarus Consortium are researching ways of doing it but currently lack expertise. They do however, have boatloads of capitol and are happy to violate a few laws in strictly confidential settings outside of known jurisdictions.

The LSDF and the Consortium also have patents on the biology of these buggers and have already reverse-engineered structol and maesus to hell and back but are having a lot of problems with pricora; primaras and pricorial fibres and gels. They also only have two living examples: Something living emulating a person and something dead that emulated a starship. The neural plasticity of Sourcians surpasses that of dogs and the breeds of dogs so surely there's more potential out there.
 
I would call that Bioengineering. It's also very closely related to Bio-mechanical Engineering, the line is very fine in the SAOverse, after all, the transhumans are part machine too in a way, so there is a lot of similarities between them and a suit of powered armour with biological components.

Bio-Engineer/Bio-Mechanical Engineer/Bio-mechanic/Geneticist/Molecular Biologist all works.

From the looks of things in a systemwide perspective, I think the "Xenobiology" might end up being a "General Education" course where graduates would learn the general points of all species then specialize into specific species same as the current day "Doctor" ends up specializing in specific fields (Urology, Oncology, Cardiac, ENT etc) after his basic medical degree.

As for how he's going to end up in the Ryujo, I'm not really sure how to fit. I mean weapons projects are multi-year affairs with scads load of testing and paperwork, not done in a scout ship sent to probe the outer edges of the known universe (unless he really pissed someone off). The facilities on board are limited to Yamataian derived life forms and haemosynth and I have my doubts as to the suitability of the ship's computer to be used as a biological mainframe and bio-informatics system since it was programmed to be a military machine first and foremost. Not to say it can't be done, the facilities can recreate entire Nekovalk, so construction should be a piece of cake, but design and experimentation on totally alien life forms? Not to mention is the CO willing to let you use up so much resources in testing and experimentation?

I don't see it unless he got orders from the back door asking to support some Black project with his scouting run as cover. Which is also possible.
 
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Is anyone interested in a xenobiology plot? I'm happy inventing simple species: I've got a big book full of ideas I've had over the years. Planets, too.

Well, meta-plot. Nothing overly formal, just a collection of posts to see how they go. No hard mission, no briefing, just exploring.
 
Ethereal said:
I think the whole xenobiology thing is basically the same as astrobiology on Star Army, from what everyone's saying.

I was thinking of making a character that's a creator of biological weapons in the form of intelligent organisms - such as the earlier remark about the xenomorph from Alien. I'm not sure what the laws surrounding such things are in Star Army however..
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As far as I know, that's actually completely legal in the Yamatai Star Empire, and there could even be a market for it. I mean, nobody's made a new Yamataian genetics group to replace the old genetic weapons company PNUgen, who invented the original Nekovalkyrja and created the Great Plague of YE 08, so there's an open niche perhaps.
 
It'd be very intriguing to play a 'Bio-Engineer' that was contracted out from the Lazarus Corporation into the Yamatai Star Empire to create a new WMD. Funnily enough, being undercover on an exploration vessel like the Ryujo would allow this sort of thing to happen far away from prying eyes. Also, as there is a SAINT presence on the Ryujo (or a plot Osakan creates) it could make some interesting RP for those operatives, guarding their VIP Bio-Engineer and keeping everything hush-hush onboard the ship.
 
Yamatai doesn't work with Lazarus. In fact, Yamatai recently asked the Defense Treaty Council to declare Lazarus a terrorist organization. In another words, Yamatai is interested in wiping them out.
 
Good to know. Hmm. Perhaps he should just not be on the Ryujo and instead join another ship where it makes more sense? If not from Lazarus, would he have been warranted into Yamatai for creating a weapon off-the-board as some sort of deterrent?

Or should I just give up the idea altogether?
 
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I feel that he could probably work, or tele-work, anywhere there is a lab, which includes most Star Army starships. Even in some of the old Star Army plots on tiny ships, some of our science guys did similar stuff. I remember an Elf dude named Lenwe went on to invent the Baheel species, although that is ancient history now.
 
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