Yes, the population would drop dramatically, but maybe some would find new ways to survive. And, if the kaers were magically sealed, as I think they were, maybe they wouldn't have been able to get out after the mana level dropped. These kaers would be forgotten over time, buried deep in the ground, with only a handful of people surviving. Of course, they'd probably look like the banjo-playing boy from Deliverance.

Parlainth is the prime example for the cities who tried to survive this way.

It's possible, indeed.

Ayup... Well, the city made it back... more or less... Oh, the inhabitants? Ahehe... Well, needless to say there's a lot more elbow room, you can get some prime real estate locations via squatter's rights.

Actually, what you are referring to are two separate issues, one is the CCR5 mutation and the other is sickle cell anemia.

While your summation is somewhat inaccurate (the Black Death did not kill from iron deficiency, it killed from overwhelming the body's defenses and essentially eating it from the inside out) your point on genetic defects is accurate.

The CCR5 mutation is a mutation of the CCR5 receptor on the exterior of white blood cells. As for why it is important, CCR5 is the receptor that the HIV particle needs to open to enter the white blood cell; the mutation results in a malformed CCR5 receptor and the virus literally cannot enter the cell, saving it from infection from HIV. The mutated gene can be received from both parents, and having two copies is better than having just one--having just one means that while blood cells still have CCR5 receptors, but fewer of them than normal, while having 2 copies essentially means no receptors whatsoever; the man who did the research, Stephen O'Brien, a virologist at the National Cancer Institute, found that people who had two copies of the mutation, even if they engaged in behaviors that have high risk for HIV infection, like needle sharing and certain sexual practices, were essentially immune to the virus. And even though those who have only one copy of the mutation can still be infected, the virus is slowed down enough that the onset of full-blown AIDS will be delayed by two or three years.

However, it is the extent of the mutation that is interesting: it is relatively common in Europe, where 20% or more of the continent's total population having one or more copies. It is most common in Sweden, and tapers off as one heads south and east; it is relatively common in the British Isles, with over a tenth of the population carrying it, but only 6.3 percent of Turkey carries the mutated gene, and in the rest of the world, the mutation is unknown.

The only way that the mutation, which impairs the functioning of the T cells slightly, could reach such levels would be if the mutation had been favored by natural selection at one point, and a powerful selection at that.

O'Brien and his team looked at the mutation's age by studying the variability on that portion of the DNA strand, and came up with an age of 700 years--which would put the origin of the CCR5 mutation at the time of the Black Death, which killed one out of four Europeans between 1347 and 1350, and even more in other waves of epidemics of bubonic plague over the centuries.

The other item is sickle cell anemia. An individual with two copies of the mutation has deformed red blood cells, which can get tangled in the blood vessels, leading to blockage, with all the fun that results, like strokes, heart attacks and other things of that ilk, in addition to the fact that the deformed red blood cell cannot carry oxygen, resulting in anemia. However, the mutation is relatively common in sub-Saharan Africa. As for why, it is quite simple: having one copy of the mutation makes the carrier resistant to malaria, which kills between one to three million people annually. So while having two copies is effectively a death sentence, having one copy will help save a person from dying, because the red blood cells, which parasite breeds in, will have the sickle cell trait express, making the cell deformed, which means that the body's spleen will destroy it before the parasites finish growing.

In terms of Shadowrun, it makes me wonder if there is now a resistance to VITAS in the population due to the massive selection pressure that the virus caused.

Thanks for posting all that. Always love learning new stuff and that was really interesting.

While that is, strictly speaking, true, inbred populations are absolutely fantastic for identifying genetic defects. Even populations that are just a couple of hundred years old tend to have extremely high instances of at least one interesting inbred trait. In many modern inbred populations, there's also excellent tracking information from family trees. (e.g. Communities isolated for religious reasons will often have very detailed family histories in the family Bible.)

The combination of a limited population and a solid family history makes things so much easier for genetic analysis. In this environment, mapping the gene of interest becomes rather dramatically easier.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any established inbred populations of humans that do not have a detrimental gene associated with them. OTOH, I've got a bit of a sampling bias, in that I'm generally familiar with them because of the cool recessive trait that we were looking at in the population.

I think there'd almost have to be one, but it probably has not been identified. (Only 2-3 generations) There's also the fact that, in all probability, there was an increased survivorship amongst the affluent due to better medical care. So, while the mutation might be more common amongst economically depressed populations, those populations would also be much less likely to have their DNA tested to identify such a resistance factor.

There's also the fact to consider that as medical care has improved, the viability of individuals with recessive diseases has increased. From the perspective of Shadowrun, that means that the frequency of diseases like diabetes and cystic fibrosis is probably more common than they are in the world today. However, the consequences of living with these diseases would be much lower. (Essentially, there'd be pharmaceuticals to address the issues.)

Then again, with effective gene therapy, all of this could go out the window.

Like The Greenbriar?

Something is odd within your post, but I can't lay my finger on it somehow.

Perhaps the years mentioned? The Kaers would have been built over 7,000 years ago prior to the arrival of the Horrors. The last inhabitants probably left the Kaers about 5,000 years ago when magic disappeared. So, they would have lasted for more than 7,000 years, but had 5,000 years to be forgotten, assuming people lived in them up to the last.

Then some archeaologist is going to get a really rude surprise. Maybe some 2070's version of The Naked Archeaologist will be doing a live shoot from deep inside the Kaer as an exclusive and open the wrong door.

Then when the stars are right...

Sure, blame us for the accident. Like it's our fault it happened. We blame it on the Johnson!

Hmmm..
..I remember an Earthdawn story where the magic checker [true earth suspended in air] was faulty and only because the heroes rebelled did they escape and discover that the Time Of Horrors had passed.

And I think that happened because one of the Kaer leaders was a Horror, or connected to a Horror, and was keeping them in.

So a Kaer could stay occupied and not realise it was safe..


I read somewhere that Atlantis could be a Kaer, and would return sometime.


Just my thruppence...

It was. It did. Just in time to go to war with Ironfor- sorry- Thoral and the rest of Barsaive. After that, probably sank in some cataclysmic implosion of blood magic.

Hmmm..
..Interesting comment.

After all Dragons and Elves needed somewhere to hide/rest during the Horror Years.


In one of the Sam Verner books [the 2nd, I think], they 'break into' a cave complex in Australia to steal something buried there many thousands of years ago..
..And another has people digging up something pre-dating civilisation.


My point being that it's easy for things to survive many thousands of years..


Which brings to mind that maybe a Horror could have made it's own Kaer, to wait out the years or to protect itself from low mana times !!


Just my thruppence..

It's the third book (2nd was druidic wendigo), it's Aires Rock and he nicks a great big magic gem / stone which had been keeping Spider locked up for the past age.

Good books.

So you going to write this up as a convention game? Cause that sounds like a great tag for one to me.

Sam Verner released several spirits, one of these was Twilight from the Adventure Total Eclipse (7308).

Lars

If I was a millennia-old creature from beyond that feeds off of human suffering and a random naked guy barged in on me for no apparent reason, I'd probably run away. A dude wearing nothing but his birthday suit might be crazy or he might be dangerous. A dude wearing nothing but his birthday suit while surrounded by servants bearing bizarre contraptions must be an absurdly powerful magician. It takes a great deal of confidence to let it all hang out and a great deal of power to inspire the loyalty of one's minions while letting it all hang out.