Good points, what if the ecology of Pandora, invaded Earth but not under the
control/direction of the Mother Planet? Much like how plants and like go
from port to port attached to ships from one port to another...
Yes, they could be under the direction of the mother
UberBioTech: Cthorr, hum.. Just trying to go from where Pandora left off and
see where the mental voyage takes us? You sure the bacteria do not think
they are in charge, grin.. chtorr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Against_the_Chtorr
I still wonder how come the Navi are 4 limbes, but many or most of the other
life forms on Pandora, are 6 limbed, and how come their DNA is compatible to
human, or it just a coat of Navi over human or ...
Earth in Pandora world, seems to be bare of life, or some continuation of
the thread of deforestation that we hear on the news, and ... what does the
mystery element do, or why is the Corp there in the first place? Do it work
in some sort of oxygenation plant or what?
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Onno Meyer" <[email protected]>
To: "The GURPSnet mailing list" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 8:14 AM
Subject: [gurps] Biological Invasions, was: Pandora
Some assorted comments:
* We can talk about a world as a sentient being (or the biosphere of a
world as a sentient being) like the more spectacular interpretations
of the Gaia theory, or about the biosphere as a complex system with
emergent patterns (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergent_behavior).
That really matters when it comes to reactions to completely new
problems. A sentient can guess and try ...
Of course a biological invasion does not have to be deliberate, but
intent helps to make it much more effective.
* Biological systems (or "biotechnology") will have a hard time going
into space, let alone FTL with typical SF stardrives. The original
Starship Troopers had the Bugs as a technological species. Going
interstellar with biological systems MAY work with sufficiently
esoteric FTL, like psionic teleportation or stargates. See the
Chtorr books.
On the other hand, biological systems can reproduce from very small
spores, and generate a real lot of them. Again, cf the early Chtorr
books.
Larry Niven had this concept of solid-fuel-rocket trees.
* Biological invaders could be transported (and even engineered) by
technical means. George R.R. Martin's Haviland Tuf novels come to
my mind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuf_Voyaging), or some of
the interpretations of the Aliens universe.
* Interstellar travel implies control of massive energies, and
those energies could be directed in a more immediately lethal
way. Why wait for a grass to take over if you can drop an
asteroid?
Capture rather than destruction could be the answer.
* The slow onset could be a feature, of course, using the enemies'
space transport to spread spores and germs before they realize
the danger.
* As far as Vehicles or Space goes, the technological delivery
systems for a biological invasion are little different from
other space-to-surface warships. No real fun or challenge.
Ships capable of developing or adapting lifeforms are a cross
between large scouts, terraforming craft, and warships. That
could be an interesting design.
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