Full Version: Genetic heritage
see Augmentation, p. 88-89: Reductions to maximum Magic/Resonance attribute remain in effect, even if Essence is regained.
QUOTE (Rad @ Jun 22 2008, 04:35 AM) 
The way I look at it is that evolution is like an R&D lab: A normal, (essence six) organism represents a robust and functioning genetic structure that has been tested over millenia of evolution, shaving away inferior genetic combinations with each generation.
You've obviously never studied human genetics then. "R" Selected species might work that way, but "K" Selected tend not to, as our reproduction time grossly exceeds the time required for DNA replications, so pairing down the genome provides no selective advantage, and thus does not occur.
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Genetech doesn't have nearly as rigorus a screening process. Any kind of genetic alteration, whether natural or otherwise, could mess up the "holistic integrity" of an organism and result in a lower essence score. With normal reproduction, most of the gene combinations that would result in lower essence have probably been bred out of the species by now, so you're not likely to get cases of "low birth essence" unless something messes with the process.
This holistic integrity thing is just a game mechanic to keep a leash on munchkins, in actual fact by 2070 we will have a perfect understanding of how human physiology works, given current trends in biochemistry, computer science, and molecular genetics. The idea that we wouldn't know the consequences of adding some new genetic material to the body when we could predict all the possible interactions with all the genes and chemicals already present in your body is laughable.
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The reason this doesn't happen with other attributes is that sometimes a low attribute can be helpful for survival. (ie: the dumb, wageslave who doesn't question his place in the world has a much better chance of surviving than the ex-corp shadowrunner who couldn't stay in his cubicle.) Essence, on the other hand, is pretty much the measure of how well your body keeps itself alive, so higher is always better.
Problem is aside from vampires and a few other things, little in the natural world actually impacts a characters essence, and even if they did your actual survival is not impacted by them significantly in any way shape or form, so essence loss from mutations would natrually add up, because there is nothing to weed them out until such a time as natural essence loss from living day to day would kill you before you had a chance to breed. Since very few people ever encounter any events in nature which drain essence, it is highly unlikely a 6 essence would have any selective advantage and thus highly unlikely it would be maintained at that constant level if it had ANY genetic component to it at all.
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