Allright, got some interesting perspective here from someone who kills bugs. I put out the word and managed t' get in touch with a young lady called Tarantula. That's why I been gone a while. Those of ya up on yer gangs might recognise the name. Anyway, after spending a little nuyen I managed t' get 'er to spill a few things. Considering the source, take it with a grain of salt.

One: She's seen at least one bug possesion in action. (She claimed 3 but I could only verify one) Apparently, spiritually speaking, it ain't pretty. It seems that most metahuman's ain't up to the task of fending off the things. It's like the bug "eats" the spirit of the one it posesses. The one I could verify wasn't a good merge, but nonehteless, it kinda ingests the poor meta's soul and gains it's knowledge.

Two: The bug shamans are never posessed. It seems there's honour among body thieves. This includes shamans of other bugs than the one doin' the job. A wasp shaman won't stick a spirit into an ant shaman.

Three: according to Tara, bugs see us metas as competition for resources more than actual resources. The bugs themselves would rather have all trueforms, but the shamans are th' ones who are sneakiest and want good merges. Anyway, like corporations, bugs wanna be the only ones. They ain't interested in sharin' this rock with other bugs, and are wary of metas 'cause we don't act like they think "animals" should. Messes 'em up and makes 'em want us gone. It seems they don't understand us, so they wanna destroy us! Hows that fer becomin' the enemy.

As far as the mantids thing, when I mentioned that some people saw them as potential allies, she looked at me like I just gre another head. Called 'em idiots. Now, like I said, she's kinda biased, but one of her calling ain't one to dismiss lightly in these matters.

>>> I'll drink to that! I've seen some pretty hairy stuff in my time, but the twelve-tentacled creature from hell... that guardian of the tower? Kraken I think it was... well that definitely ranked a 9.8 on my Weird Drek-o-Meter. And no, for all those who enjoy my name so much, I'm not a bug. Used this Matrix ID long before the Chicago crisis ever came up. Most cause in my line of work, one has to be a fly on the wall a lot of times. Besides, the title ‘Master Cleric’ was already taken by the time I came around on here. Oh well, suck it up and move on I always say. Personally, I say the only good bug is a dead one. Everyone agrees on that at least, it's just a matter of when their dead and no longer posing a threat. I don't mind trying to understand other beings and cultures, but anything that has to take over another being's body permanently is crossing the line in my opinion.

-- HumanFly

At least you didn't call yourself Seth Brundle.

~J

Fly, what if the person has no further use for her body and willingly lets another have it?

There are already laws for the donation of corpses, but a live human body is legally not property and cannot be given to another.

~J

You can name a beneficiary

You can donate it to science. You can walk into a cryo-freeze center. You can go into Renraku.

Okay, here's my thing on this. I've decided that any problem is temporary. All it takes t' get rid of ont is time an' effort. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. So's merging! Now, before anyone goes whinybaby on me, here's the thing. Noone knows fer sure what really happens in a good merge. Maybe the bugs do, but they ain't an unbiased source. Generally, as a community, people take at least minimal steps t' prevent suicide. I've decided t' look at this merging business in the same light. It's a generally bad idea. At best, with what the "pro mergers" have been sayin', yer no longer the sole occupant of yer body. If the spirits become one, the being ya were before is gone. Kinda like combining 2 molecules t' make a new molecule...only this way it can't be re-separated.

Now, that bein' said, once a merger's happenned, what do we do about it? Legally, bugs ain't citizens and can't have a SIN without an act o' congress. Killin' 'em outright seems a tad harsh, at least until they break a law. Here's what I think.

Bug shamans gotta register as such. Any that force a posession on someone's broke a law. Punishment by the law. If someone wants a merge, they can apply for one. Give 'em a bunch o tests to check on their mental condition. Once approved, then a merger can be done, with said being registering as a possessed. Since they got all the memories an' stuff, they continue on as that person. They are under the law and registered. They break the law, they get punished as the code says.

Kinda odd a SINless bastard like me spoutin' about the law when I, in the infamous words ' William Ager, "Commit heinous crimes for nuyen," eh?

I'm all in favor of exterminating bugs on sight. I don't care about other people's concerns on this. I have all the personal evidence I need. Been there, done that, never again.

BUT I don't believe we should start registering bug shamans,kill on sight sure, but the risk is that if you start requiring shamans to register then you can start to declare others menaces. It's bad enough practioners need a licence but that doesn't require you to state your affiliation, just capability. If you name one group a thrat, then at another time and place you can name other groups. Rat and Raccoon are thieves. Raven and Coyote are tricksters, Wolf and gator are brawlers,how about declaring them menaces? After a while it gets a little hard to breath as this gives society a lock on a shaman's soul.

Boohoo, Snow Fox. You an' I might be able to handle these "menaces," but Joe Average can't. Th' bottom line is does society want to be safe? To do so requires ya give up a bit of yer freedom. If ya don't like it, join th' shadows.

Uh, chummer, I already am, that's what we'er all donig here krill for brains!

Uh, yeah...the comment wasn't directed at you...ya know?

I agree with Snow Fox. If we started registering people for their abilities... it wouldn't stop with bug shamans. They already do testing for recognized SIN-carrying citizens. Your powers and abilities are rated on a generic scale, categorizing you. What's to say that bug shamans won't just decide to remain on the streets like many shamans do who don't want to be swept up by the corporate arm?

Besides, we're at war with them right now. They attacked first, although we're still debating over whether Mantis attacked us at all (without provocation.) And as long as we're at war, bugs and their shamans are all viable targets.