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Since biotech is a major piller of the setting, I'm sure this idea is in here. I just wanted t make a discussion about how Splicers can grow their biotech while able to modify them.

Are parts of the population conceived by this or fully grown in a meat tank?

Does NEXUS use similar technology for heir organic assets?

Is their a bias against being born in a pod than from a person?

there are appears to be in many or perhaps most parts of the resistance a fairly strong bias against using biotech directly on humans, and in keeping humans as natural humans.

now, there's a lot of different great houses, and probably they're in separate houses because they have separate ideas, so i would be surprised if nobody does it. but it appears that "typical" great houses would probably not do it.

agreed. i would assume that you could, but that opinions on whether you should would vary.

though i could see some houses using artificial wombs to carry the kids of their warriors to term, in order to keep their female troops combat capable in the field longer. so like, transfer the embryo to a artificial womb after a couple months rather than sideline a female warrior for 9-10 months.

though a house that worked kinda like the Clans from battetech, where the warriors are produced solely via artificial wombs and raised in groups of like aged kids and trained specifically to be warriors might be an interesting background for a player. heck, such a system might not even have naturally born people, with the civilian side of the house filled by the people who washed out of the training.

From what I remember, modifications are done in the Gene Pool(s) of the House, usually under the supervision of the Librarian, Engineer and/or Geneticists, depending on how many Pools a house has, who's available, ect.
Some smaller-sized Houses may make use of bio-tech wombs/incubators to re-populate their forces after a particularly sudden drop (a rather costly sortie against the Machine or another House), but keep this a secret due to the fact that, in general, the Resistance frowns on such practices (they could view cloning as unnatural; producing the same warrior over & over does not allow for generational improvement to the House and the human race). Like the Clans in Battletech, some Houses may gather viable genetic material from their finest members, and when they die unexpectedly (battlefield death or suicide) with no known heirs/descendants, use the material to keep their ranks stocked. But they do not modify them in-utero.

side-note: and by 'frowns on', I mean the punishment can be anywhere from simple destruction of the 'devices' to a complete annihilation of said House.

naturally, the punishment will vary greatly not only on attitude, but ability...

if a great house has 5 times the population (or just military) of all their neighbours combined because of their willingness to use "forbidden" technology, it is quite unlikely that the neighbours will be able to do much of anything. maybe economic sanctions or similar, but someone doing something you don't like doesn't give you the ability to actually do anything about it

anyways, i would think that some form of artificial womb would likely be a lot less frowned upon than full-blown genetic experimentation/modification. i don't think most great houses would be likely to start a war over it (but i also think that there probably are some great houses that absolutely would start a war over it). i do suspect that most would consider it to be less preferable, with some houses seeing it as an undesirable necessity, some seeing it as just the way things are done, some using it only in the most dire of circumstances or for medical reasons, and some seeing it as a corruption of the natural order.

It's a great Splicers Dark Theme that's worth using. A House might, due to some NEXUS weapon(maybe a bioweapon, either NEXUS or a House experiment gone wrong, that kills most of one gender) that's reduced its population, use artificial wombs to keep their numbers up and thus not fall to further attacks, or be forced to assimilate into another House. A Warlord might use a meat tank to grow an heir, keeping genetic continuity of leadership. A House might use mass-production zoom-wombs to build an army...and then grapple with the question of 'well, we took it this far, why not make them all biotics while we're at it?'.
Another angle might be to have a coalition of Houses joining for a strategic alliance...except that a devoutly Human-purist' House might object to working with another House whose membership is predominately zip-clones or vat-born, and they regard the tank-born as little better than the Machine.

The REALLY dark side might be having NEXUS(or a really nasty House) do some genetic sabotage to another House's people-tanks. leading to all sorts of ugliness, both immediate and long-term.

Wow, I was just thinking of allowing same sex couples to have children or allow pregnate splicers to fight on without fear for their baby.

89er wrote:Wow, I was just thinking of allowing same sex couples to have children or allow pregnant splicers to fight on without fear for their baby.

That's also a good option if they are used in-House.

"Explain yourself before this Council, warlord."
Warlord Rathan of House Highfields, bowed before the 5 highest raking Warlords of the Resistance. With his Host Armor on stand-by a few meters away, he was dressed in a simple tunic. He chose this both a a sign of respect and to show the council he had nothing to hide in this inquiry.
"Recent events have lead to the decisions that we are here about. Our most despised enemy, The Machine, and it's forces, performed an assault upon my House. We discovered that our location had been leaked by a traitor within, who attempted to seize leadership during the attack. While we were able to quell the uprising and use the usurper's forces in repelling The Machine's attack, we suffered losses that put my House at the edge of annihilation."
There was a short pause. The Warlord to Rathan's right spoke up. "We know of The Machine's attack upon your House. We were curious on how your location came to be know to The Enemy, as it's location is one of your House's closely guarded secrets, even to we in the Resistance."
Rathan nodded. "Dothel, a trusted commander, made a deal with The Enemy in secret, and led a coup comprised of specially-conditioned Biotics to seize power, while The Machine's forces occupied the majority of my House's forces. He made the mistake of being abusive to several recruited Geneticists, who provided the intel needed to thwart both assaults. But doing so left my House devastated."
"You made a Grand Exodus to a new location," spoke another Warlord, this one off to Rathan's right.
"Yes, my lord. Trusted scouts and Deliverymen located a site that had been abandoned by a previous House that served our requirements. Once the would-be usurpers were quelled and....re-purposed....we moved as quickly as possible. Our exodus was successful and now my House is adapting the location to our needs."
"I am informed you are to be congratulated," said the warlord in front of Rathan. "With the successful repelling of both the Machine's assault, putting down the attempted coup, you also have a new heir."
Rathan smiled briefly. "Yes, my lord. Thank you. My beloved wife and I have a son, born as we established our new base. We are most fortunate, as we have attempted many times before without success."
Three of the other Warlords nodded.
"But the matter at hand is this," the center warlord spoke, "with your forces so low, you wish to implement the bio-wombs program to replenish your lost forces?"
"Yes, Warlord. While many good soldiers were lost in both conflicts and the Exodus, the majority of their families have survived and are willing to contribute genetic material to restock our forces while we slowly rebuild our House. We are fortunate that, while we are not yet at the full strength we were before, we are sufficient enough to begin independently, with negligible assistance from any other House, so they are not burdened by our plight."
There was a moment's pause, then the other Warlords conferred in whispers. They shortly stepped back.
"This council will approve of this action, so your House may replenish your forces in the fight against The Machine," the center Warlord spoke, "but know this; we shall be watching your House closely and should we find you have failed in your oaths, you will face the swiftness of our wrath."
Rathan bowed. "I am thankful for the Council's wise decision."
The warlords departed.

taalismn wrote:
The REALLY dark side might be having NEXUS(or a really nasty House) do some genetic sabotage to another House's people-tanks. leading to all sorts of ugliness, both immediate and long-term.

or have NEXUS start using technological equivalents to clone its own humans, indoctrinated to act as infiltrators to locate the House's hiding places..

BookWyrm wrote:"Explain yourself before this Council, warlord.".

Excellent little snippet about the politics of the Houses.
I can also see Houses bargaining with other Houses for the use of spare bio-womb capacity(although 'spare capacity' would be a rarity...perhaps determined more by a House's ability to feed its gestated numbers...being able to churn out extra population would be useless if your new people are just going to starve...unless, of course, you're a total bastard who then gives your newly expanded population the order to expand into another House's territory in order to feed themselves).

taalismn wrote:

BookWyrm wrote:"Explain yourself before this Council, warlord.".

Excellent little snippet about the politics of the Houses.
I can also see Houses bargaining with other Houses for the use of spare bio-womb capacity(although 'spare capacity' would be a rarity...perhaps determined more by a House's ability to feed its gestated numbers...being able to churn out extra population would be useless if your new people are just going to starve...unless, of course, you're a total bastard who then gives your newly expanded population the order to expand into another House's territory in order to feed themselves).

Thanks!