This is a crosspost from the Character Discussion Group forum about the topic
"What had Miranda's father planned with and for her? What's the meaning of the "dynasty"? I summarized the three scenarios we have so far together with a few relevant questions, for those who are interested and don't already know:
We have basically three scenarios:
(1) The Ideal Daughter:Miranda's father wanted to create an ideal child to inherit his business, nothing more. The "dynasty" is just a figure of speech, as in the everyday usage where the families controlling business empires are sometimes called that (at least in my country, that is). He wanted to make sure his heir is capable and willing to do what's excpected of her. The main problem with this is the biotics: biotics can be useful for many things, but a corporate executive wouldn't profit much from them. jtav, since you favor this scenario, how would you explain this?
The question "why has he gone after Oriana instead of making new daughters" remains open to speculation. It could be as easy as the wish to retain secrecy or to be obsessive about never letting anything go that belongs to him.
(2) The Genetic Destiny:Miranda's father wanted to create natural human biotics and leave the traits that make this possible as his legacy on the human genome. That's Elyvern's scenario. The first problem with this was that Miranda couldn't have been intended as the first natural biotic, because biotics weren't known when she was born. That has been circumvented by hypothesizing that Miranda and Oriana are intended to be the mothers of the first natural biotics. That would mean, in turn, that their genome had to be modified retroactively to the same specifications as a natural biotic's, including their ova. It would also include an engineered craving for food containing eezo both for Miranda and Oriana while pregnant as well as for the children while they grow, in order to build up the nodules required for biotic abilities.
The question "why has he gone after Oriana instead of making new daughters" remains open to speculation. In addition to the possibilities above, there is a possible contamination of the human gene pool by imperfect "specimens" to consider.
(3) The Master Race:Miranda's father wanted to create a new human subspecies, distinguished by enhanced abilities and biotics. The term "dynasty" would indicate that the improved humans were intended to be influential or even rule. In this case, there must be mechanism to keep the species separate. The new humans would not be able to have children with normal humans, only with each other, but they would still be attracted to normal humans, for a significant number of generations at least. So they would be able to pass as normal humans to a certain degree, interact with humans normally etc.. They would need to eat eezo-rich food when growing up, that's the single obvious difference. In addition, a sustainable population would need to be created from scratch, with improved genomes that could be as few as, say, a hundred individuals. Genetic diversity would be lost, but that's nothing that couldn't be dealt with by genetic engineering after a few generations. The answer to the question: "Why didn't he clone additional daughters" could be "he did, but every individual counts." in addition to the possibilities already mentioned. On the outside, this scenario would look identical to Elyvern's for a few generations, until it became apparent to everyone that the new subspecies can't mate with normal humans.
Which of these scenarios is the most likely one depends on several factors:
(a) How serious are we intended to take the term "dynasty"? Scenario 1 fits most closely but seems a bit small. It's also (IMO) the least interesting scenario from an Sci-Fi viewpoint. Scenario 3 fits figuratively and scenario 2 not at all.
(
How sane and educated is Miranda's father? He controls a business empire, so I feel justified in saying that he is not psychotic and relatively educated. I cannot imagine he would go for something like scenario 3 without being aware of the most basic problem of how to keep the genetic traits exclusive. Scenario 2 fits if you discount the "dynasty", and if you see him as relatively sane and beneficial except on a personal level. In scenario 1, I'd ask "What's the point of it"? If anything, it seems not ambitious enough for a man like him.
© How advanced is reproductive medicine and biotechnology in the ME universe? I would have to say "very much so", considering that something like Miranda's and Grunt's creation is at all possible, and that the Lazarus project is at all possible. While not exactly widespread, it is plausible that artificial wombs and artificial gametogenesis do in fact exist and are known to exist, and that genetic engineering is only limited by the knowledge of how to create hypothetical traits and resources. In this scenario, only the natural biotics and the creation of a genome from scratch would be real cutting-edge research, and non-biotic human improvements only limited by law and resources. Given that Miranda's genome was created in 2150 and that biotechnology has moved forward since then, none of the scenarios are likely to be limited by technology.
(d) How feasible are these scenarios? Scenario 1 is the most feasible, but I discount it as not ambitious enough. Scenario 3 is the least feasible, I only have a preference for it because I wanted Miranda's father to have a properly sinister agenda in my fanfics. Scenario 2 is more beneficial in a general sense, and I actually like it. My problem with it that it paints Miranda's father as idealistic, something I have a little trouble to build into my mental image of him.
OK, that was it. Any questions? Suggestions?
Modifié par Ieldra2, 01 décembre 2010 - 04:40 .
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I can't remember.....
