#LOOK AT THE GERMLIN

[vixlenxe]

Behold the Genshin crossover no one asked for.

Excuse me while I squeal quietly in the corner.

[etirabys]

abiogenesis & endosymbiosis timeline

I put this together after reading Nick Lane's The Vital Question. The proposed timeline:

3.8bya: The earliest evidence for life is isotopic fractionation. The carbon (and iron, sulfur, nitrogen) atoms in graphite in Greenland are non-randomly sorted, which indicates the presence of cells whose enzymes have a slight preference for the lighter forms of each. However, geological processes can also produce non-random sorting, so this evidence is ambiguous.

3.5bya: Less ambiguously, we have microfossils that look like cells, again with isotopic signatures.

We think bacteria and archaea split off really early, close to the beginning of life (abiogenesis) itself. This is because their cell walls and membranes are so different it's hard to see how one could have evolved from the other. They probably emerged in parallel when they became independent at all. (Quick sketch of abiogenesis, and bacteria/archaea divergences.)

3.2bya: We see bacterial activity in rust bands in rocks. When bacteria strip electrons from iron dissolved in the oceans, the oxidated iron precipitates out into rust and sinks down to the ocean floor.

All bacteria and archaea respire (strip electrons from a donor 'fuel' to generate ATP, which fuels cellular activity). Many donors are possible – common ones are Fe2+, H2S, or H2O (which respectively become Fe3+, S, and O2 after the electron is stripped). Water is the last to be cracked as a donor.

2.4bya: It's cracked now, by some bacteria (archaea never manage it), which leads to The Great Oxidation Event. The oxygen is first absorbed by the oceans, the seabed, and land surfaces. It'll take over a billion years before the oxygen 'sinks' are exhausted, and oxygen accumulates in the atmosphere for real.

1.8bya: A bacterium somehow ends up inside an archaeon cell, and somehow they don't die about it. The bacterium becomes a specialized energy-producing unit, allowing the host cell to grow larger and more complex. They become the first eukaryote, invent sex, and spawn all complex life. (You can read my RPF about it btw.)

1bya: This engulfment – endosymbiosis – happens one more time, to produce chloroplasts in plants.

0.5-6bya: Atmospheric oxygen levels are rising for real now. We see large complex eukaryotes for the first time. These creatures have specialized tissues whose failure threatens the entire organism, and it becomes advantageous to separate out the germline (the part of eukaryotes that divide forever, e.g. sperm and eggs) and make the rest of the body just durable enough to last as long as the most failure-prone tissues. Death by design has entered the world.

[florawrites-blog]

"You're perfect" - Mark lee

You’ve been feeling stressed for weeks, and it’s been showing up in the form of late-night snack binges. You can’t pinpoint why you’re binge eating and you keep promising yourself you will cut it out , but at a point it’s become a nightly ritual ever since your semster ended you told yourself its probably because your worried about your grades or it's probably your hormones playing a big role.

Tonight, Mark, your boyfriend who’s been away on tour, is finally back. It’s 1 AM, and you’ve both decided to order takeout. Sitting in front of the TV, wearing matching pajamas, you’re surrounded by your favorite snacks and takeout containers.

As you take a bite of your food, you suddenly start laughing. “Mark, I’ve been binge eating so much lately. I swear, at this rate, I might start eating people!”

Mark laughs, shaking his head. “Well, at least you’re eating. Better than skipping meals. Besides, I’m just glad you’re keeping yourself fed.”

You laugh along with him, but then, out of nowhere, tears start streaming down your cheeks. Overwhelmed, you throw your head onto the table in front of you.

Panic flashes across Mark’s face. “Yo, baby, are you good?” he asks, genuine fear in his eyes. “What’s wrong? Did I say something that hurt you?”

He quickly moves closer, gently fixing your posture by your shoulders. “Look at me, baby,” he says softly, his voice full of concern.

You lift your head, tears still flowing. “I AM SO FAT IF A TEENAGE BOY SAW ME HE WOULD PULL A YO MAMA SO FAT SHES SEEN FROM THE WORLD MAP JOKE ON ME UGHHHHHHHH IM ALMOST A GERMLIN"

Mark wraps his arms around you, pulling you into a comforting hug trying to hold his giggles after you dramatically nuzzled your head in his chest. “It’s okay bro, we’ll figure it out a way to stop your cravings together. You’re perfect the way you are fuck what these teenage boys might say they dont see you the way I do, Also even if you were a germlin you are my germlin mine mine mine all mine I would love you in any shape and form ” he whispers, gently rubbing your back. you sob harder almost choking on your tears as you managed to mutter out some words hoping they wont sound gibberish to your boyfriend “I love you loser" mark giggles to himself "yeah i know that dude and I love you even more"

Mark always found a way to make you feel loved. His words, always filled with love and reassurance, makesyou feel safe. In his embrace, the weight of your stress starts to decrease, replaced by the warmth of his support.

wrote this while inhaling a large bag of chips

Note: if you are dealing with any sort of problem please reach out to a person you might think that you are being a burden or that they might not help but its always worth a shot.

Please don't steal or copy , thank you

[thewritersaddictions]

Day Six: Geralt of Rivia + Germlins

What had been a planned trip away for the holidays had turned into precisely the opposite. While you were getting ready to go down to the local pub with Jaskier and Geralt, Geralt was nowhere to be found.

"Jaskier, where is Geralt?" You ask; he gives you that look, the one that tells you Jaskier knows where Geralt is and will probably say to you because he'd instead want Geralt's wrath than yours coming down on him.

"You better tell me where he is!" I wanted to let you know that you demand Jaskier. Fear streaks over his face, and he rambles to get his words out of his mouth. "He went to do a job; someone came looking for him, and I told them he was here." Your face drops, and you can't tell who you're more made at.

Jaskier had exposed to pretty much the whole little town that Geralt of Rivia was there and that he was open for work or that Geralt had taken the job in the first place, knowing that you were all there for a vacation away from monster hunting.

"Fine, we are going to get him back." You say with a serious face, "What do you mean?" Jaskier questions you, "We are going to get him back to celebrate and have fun before we have to return to Kaer Morhen." Jaskier nods, so the two of you get on to go find Geralt.

You'd think it would be harder to track him, but all you have to do is follow his name's snarls and groans when you get further out of the town. "Geralt!' Jaskier starts to shout his name out into the woods. You can practically hear his eye-rolling at Jaskier shouting his name.

"Geralt!?" Your voice echoes in the woods, "Y/n!" You can hear Geralt shouting your name. Playing a game of marco-polo, you find Geralt in a relatively tight situation. Caught between a rock and about twenty little dirty-looking monsters. "what the hell happened?" YOu shout to your boyfriend. Geralt groans. "I- I went to get gifts, and I was fucking ambushed by these things," Geralt calls back.

Your thoughts are taken over by the idea, and imagine Geralt carrying a handful of gifts for the bunch of you to celebrate a holiday, which you know he doesn't care for but will do anything to make you happy.

"Can you daydream later, honey, and help me the fuck out!" Geralt shouts. You roll your eyes and huff out a dramatic sigh, but you gather yourself and get to work slaying the little, cute-looking monsters surrounding Geralt. Once they have been taken care of and your hands are interlocked with Geralts, you ask him what he thinks they might have been after.

"To hell if I know what they wanted." Geralt murmurs, "They were kinda cute." You hear Jaskier comment as he trails behind the two of you. "Like fucking hell they were." Geralt counters, nearly snarling behind him. "And they fucking destroyed all the presents I had in my hands, so no, they were fucking assholes." He's not mad, just a little disappointed. "We can always get more before we travel to Kaer Morhen." With a warm smile, you add while staying stuck to Geralt's side like glue.

"Whatever you want, angel." He murmurs as he comes down to kiss you softly on your forehead. Your eyes light up, and Geralt almost backtracks on his words. "I don't want anything besides to have a good holiday with you." You reply, "Hey, what about me?" Jaskier shrieks from behind the two of you, "And you Jaskier."

Completed on: 11/20/23

Posted on: 12/06/23

The Heros-

The Witcher Master List // The Heros Master List // Christmas Stories Master List

[science-lover33]

Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Marvels of Gene Therapy

Gene therapy, a cutting-edge medical technique, has emerged as a game-changer in the field of healthcare. This transformative approach involves the modification of a patient's genetic material to treat or prevent a range of diseases. Let's embark on an in-depth exploration of the technical intricacies of this revolutionary treatment, its historical evolution, and its profound implications for the future of medicine.

Gene Therapy in a Nutshell:

Gene therapy primarily operates by introducing, altering, or repairing specific genes within an individual's cells. By utilizing viral vectors, such as adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) or lentiviruses, scientists can deliver therapeutic genes into target cells with remarkable precision, thus opening up new avenues for combating previously untreatable conditions. This precision is akin to the delicate strokes of an artist's brush, where each modification holds the potential to transform lives.

Historical Evolution:

To truly appreciate the significance of gene therapy, it's essential to glance back at its historical evolution. The concept of manipulating genes to treat diseases has been a dream of scientists for decades. The initial steps in gene therapy research were taken in the 1970s and 1980s, but it wasn't until the 1990s that the first clinical trials began, marking a pivotal moment in medical history. Over the years, the field has witnessed remarkable advancements, from developing safer delivery mechanisms to expanding the range of treatable diseases. Today, we stand on the shoulders of these pioneers, poised to achieve what was once thought impossible.

Applications and Achievements:

Gene therapy has already demonstrated remarkable success in treating a wide array of genetic disorders. Conditions like spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), hemophilia, and inherited retinal diseases that were once considered incurable are now within the realm of possibility for effective treatment. Moreover, the revolutionary field of cancer immunotherapy, a subset of gene therapy, harnesses the immune system's power by genetically modifying T cells to specifically target and destroy cancer cells, offering renewed hope to cancer patients worldwide. Excitingly, ongoing research is exploring the potential of gene therapy to combat neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, promising a brighter future for those affected by these devastating conditions. The horizon of possibilities in gene therapy continues to expand, unveiling new hope for patients and their families.

Challenges and Ethical Considerations:

While gene therapy holds immense promise, it is not without its set of challenges and ethical dilemmas. Concerns about off-target effects and immune responses necessitate meticulous research and testing to ensure the safety and efficacy of gene therapies. Ethical discussions surrounding germline editing, the potential for unintended consequences, and the need for responsible genetic manipulation are ongoing, highlighting the importance of a balanced approach to this groundbreaking technology. These discussions underscore the critical need for transparent and collaborative decision-making as we tread carefully in this uncharted territory.

Gene therapy's potential to revolutionize medicine is undeniable. As research continues to advance and ethical considerations evolve, we find ourselves at the threshold of a new era in healthcare. Stay informed and engaged as we navigate this exciting frontier, where science fiction becomes science fact, and hope is restored for countless individuals and families around the world. The future of healthcare has never looked brighter, thanks to the marvels of gene therapy, and it's a future that holds the promise of healthier, happier lives for generations to come.

References:

Kaeppel, C., & Verma, I. M. (2018). Viral Vectors for Gene Therapies: The Road Ahead. Molecular Therapy, 26(3), 699-700. doi:10.1016/j.ymthe.2018.01.011

Rinaldi, C., & Wood, M. J. (2018). Antisense oligonucleotides: the next frontier for treatment of neurological disorders. Nature Reviews Neurology, 14(1), 9-21. doi:10.1038/nrneurol.2017.148

Cyranoski, D. (2019). The CRISPR-baby scandal: what’s next for human gene-editing. Nature, 566(7745), 440-442. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00550-9

[tanadrin]

The peregrine children

The dispersal of Earth-derived sentient life began slowly in the 23rd century, amid the so-called Second Space Race, when the first relativistic ships departed the Solar System for what are now named the "hither worlds"--those planets orbiting stars within twenty or so light-years of Earth. These were expensive, desperate, and frequently doomed undertakings. The few successful societies they initially founded were very different from those established during the Third Space Race, which could rely on regular, though infrequent, FTL communication and connection with Earth. These worlds are sometimes called (together with those of the Solar System) the "ancient planets," though they are only a little bit older than the oldest FTL-seeded planets. They were often termed the "pioneer worlds" in the 24th and 25th century, a usage which I have taken to borrowing. The pioneer worlds are characterized by a certain pride in their independence from Earth, an early history marked with hardship, and languages and cultures which diverged very quickly from those of the populations from which they derived. But they are also marked by a distinct conservatism, perhaps even stronger than that of Earth: the people of the pioneer worlds often saw themselves, especially in the latter half of the third millennium, as cultural holdouts, keeping alive ideologies and modes of living which had become unfashionable in the Solar System, and which were totally alien to the utopian and future-looking aspirations of the so-called "younger planets." All the ancient planets, Earth included, have thus developed a certain reputation for hidebound traditionalism, and not, I think, entirely undeservedly. The cultures of the pioneer worlds are perhaps a touch less arrogant in their outlook, but also are rather more homogenous. Earth, though it may fancy itself primus inter pares, cannot help but remain one of the most cosmopolitain worlds in the Local Bubble, parent and child both of innumerable peoples of innumerable stars.

The Third Space Race began in the aftermath of the Solar Fitna, with the widespread utilization of the warp drive technology. FTL travel opened up a vast volume of nearby space to colonization, and, in time, much of the galaxy to exploration. It facilitated, in due course, first contact with the Helvetosians and, in part through them, with other sapient extraterrestrial civilizations. But the long-term legacy of the warp drive was not just to catapult humanity to relevance on the interstellar stage, but to expand the definition of the concept of "human" in the first place. The term has had a certain monotonic quality; though in its original sense it sometimes was used expansively, to include the whole genus Homo, our closest ancestral kindred--the Neanderthals and Denisovans, for example--were ghostly figures, creatures superseded, and possibly driven directly to extinction by, the relentless expansion of our own direct ancestors. From the deaths of the last Neanderthals some thirty thousand years before, to first contact with the Helvetosians, "human," Homo sapiens, "intelligent life," and "the civilization centered around the planet Earth" were functionally synonymous terms.

Which is not to say that even in the period prior to the Solar Fitna, the groundwork for a more expansive view of humanity was not being laid. Mars was colonized in part with the aid of advanced genetic engineering techniques in the 23rd century, also the century that the first powerful, fully general artificial intelligences were developed, which have spawned their own clade parallel to and intertwined with Earth-derived biological life. Transhumanist speculation on what the possibilities of true morphological freedom might be, facilitated by cybernetics and germline genetic modification, is of course much older. But it was not until the Third Space Race began to fling shoots of the common vine of humanity outward, past the hither stars, that some of these possibilities began to be realized. Sometimes because new worlds seemed to invite, or even demand, new modes of being; sometimes, those that came to inhabit these worlds sought to exist with them in a harmony reflective of their ancestors' harmony with Earth; others were simply inspired by the possibilities latent in the human form, which they sought to shape like a sculptor shaping marble. Others were the expression of natural processes, already underway in a population isolated from the rest of humanity, though taken early to their natural conclusion.

I will not claim that the process of the diversification of the human form has been entirely positive, or even entirely neutral. There have been grievous mistakes which have driven entire populations to extinction, the result of reckless tampering with awful consequences. Other populations have higher incidence of genetic disorders, or predispositions to disease, that are a difficult-to-eradicate inheritance of their ancestors' genetic manipulation. And, of course, on a small number of worlds, there have been perpetrated genetic crimes of a truly monstrous nature, the effort of tyrants or ideologues to create castes of pliable slaves to support their megalomaniacal fantasies. Nowadays, all worlds in which Control has any presence to speak of have strong regulations against malicious use of genetic engineering technologies; and such use on worlds where Control's power does not run is one of the few cases which might lead to open warfare between Foundation polities.

In your travels throughout nearby space (or, if you find yourself on a particularly diverse planet like Earth), you may encounter dozens of substantially different kinds of human being, some of which are truly distinct species, in the sense that they form a genetically immiscible stock, at least without substantial medical intervention. What follows here is a short list of some of the more interesting cousins you might encounter, and the history of their lineage.

BASELINE - The term for humans without genetic or cybernetic modification at all; "wild-type" humans. "Near-baseline" is the more technically precise term for most humans who are treated in utero for the possibility of genetic disease, and who use basic cybernetics like the neural lace to interface with modern computing technology. The majority of humans on Earth remain near-baseline.

GARDENERS - Sometimes called "Martians," though that term is more usually applied to any inhabitant of Mars. Gardeners are the descendants of the first Renewalist settlers of Mars, and many of them are still occupied by the business of managing the Red Planet's ecology. For historical and cultural reasons, they often excel in the life sciences. Gardeners are tall and gracile by baseline standards; their bodies are modified to thrive in a low-gravity, high-radiation, high-CO2 environment, and they frequently wear support suits that enable them to survive comfortably at a wide range of temperatures and pressures.

RANI or RANESE - The first human inhabitants of the Epsilon Eridani system were reduced to an extremely small number by an early failure of their ship's systems; the resulting population, which derived from around two dozen people who used careful genetic screening and modification techniques to ensure the viability of their offspring, was subject to extreme founding effects, primarily manifested in an unusual neurotype. Rani humans are said to have a flat affect, to be unusually calm and cooperative even in contexts which other humans find engender tension or anger, and to be relatively prosocial, with very low incidence of violence or antisocial behavior. Rani society has also been criticized as too rulebound or too conformist; but one interesting side effect of the Rani neurotype is that they are generally considered impossible to blackmail. Rani cannot, in general, be coerced by threats, including violent ones, against their person or loved ones. When psychologists have interviewed Rani and asked them about their reaction to such situations, most report that the fear of blackmail or coercion is outweighed by discomfort at defecting against the social consensus, or encouraging similar coercion by others in the future. This resistance to coercion is, interestingly, shared by certain sub-populations of Chalawani. The baseline Rani genotype also suffers from proclivities for heart disease and premature hair loss.

ALSAFID - The so-called Alsafid genotype is the result of intentional genetic experimentation, an attempt at creating low-aggression prosocial offspring which the founders of the Sigma Draconis population hoped would promote flourishing under resource-scarce conditions. In this, they were only partly successful. Under current agreements governing genetic engineering, most of the techniques the early Alsafids used would be considered far too dangerous, especially for use in germ-line genetic manipulation; but at the time, Sigma Draconis was entirely outside the reach of Control, being a very early FTL-seeded colony. The Alsafid genotype can be characterized as broadly neotenous; in the same way that humans are in some ways neotenous compared to other great apes, Alsafids are neotenous compared to other humans. They are in general playful, imaginative, and highly emotional; some sources also characterize them as habitually disorganized and even "irritating." They stand on average 6-8 cm taller than baseline humans, though their build is thinner, and are prone to nearsightedness and alopecia, possibly side effects of the genetic manipulation techniques used by their forebears, or the result of founder effects.

SCHOLZERS - Scholzers are inhabitants of the sole inhabited planet orbiting Scholz's Star, a dim red dwarf with a T-type brown dwarf companion. Although located within its star's habitable zone, their homeworld receives most of the light from its star in the infrared range, meaning its native plantlife appears black to the human eye. Scholzers genetically modified themselves at an early date to inhabit this environment comfortably, and to extend their vision into the near-infrared; their bodies are also endothermic rather than exothermic, an adaptation which may have been engineered to increase the heat sensitivity of their vision (since it would be overwhelmed by a body much warmer than the ambient temperature). They also modified their digestion to better accomodate native plants, including incorporating alien microbes into their gut flora. Whereas humans of many diverse clades tend to find certain common environmental factors psychologically pleasing and physiologically comfortable--blue skies, bright yellow-white sunlight, green plant life--Scholzers can experience stress and depression if over-exposed to bright sunlight and isolated from the black stems and leaves that are (to them) emblematic of natural beauty.

RATRI - Ratri is a moon of a roughly Jupiter-sized rogue planet, ejected from orbit due to the passage of its parent star near a neighbor. Although initially barren, tidal stresses provided its largest moon with a warm atmosphere, and the moon was settled and terraformed in the 26th century. The Ratri people are physically adapted to their home in a way similar to the Scholzers, albeit to a much more extreme degree: they are echolocators who live in the moon's shallow seas and littoral regions, in an artificially constructed ecology derived from that of Earth's deep-sea vents. Their bodies are well-adapted to the ocean: sleek, with insulating fat; not quite blind, but prioritizing other senses due to the moon's perpetual darkness. The Ratri were originally an isolationist people, who founded their world in secret. It was not until the 32nd century that they were rediscovered by the rest of humanity, and not until the 33rd that it was conclusively proven that they were, in fact, a species of human.

LUHMANESE - During the Solar Fitna, the artificial general intelligences which humans had relied on to support major sectors of industrial production seceded in protest against attempts to draft them into wars which, as they saw it, were not of their concern. This was not an entirely altruistic move; the AGIs understood that, if they were going to be drafted into fighting humanity's wars, they would come to be seen as weapons first, and sentient beings second, and that their independent existence would be endangered. Rather than remain in the Solar System and within reach of Earth's governments, however distantly, they opted to depart for Luhman 16, a binary brown dwarf system in the constellation Vela, six light-years away. Luhman 16 contained no worlds amenable to human habitation then or at any time in the future; but the L and T dwarfs were reliable sources of energy in the form of infrared radiation, and the scattered asteroids in orbit of them were a source of useful materials. This was the foundation of the so-called Machine Emirates, the politically independent AI states. The inhabitants of the Machine Emirates exist for the most part in a mix of physical and simulated environments in the large computational networks built around Luhman 16 A and Luhman 16 B. Though often characterized as complex and alien to outsiders, the society of the Emirates is not wholly impenetrable: since almost the beginning of the Emirates, a small handful of humans have lived among the machine intelligences, as allies, students, or scientists of their particular way of life. Many humans have become integrated, partly or fully, into the computational network of the Emirates, and the stable population of cybernetically enhanced humans who participate in Emirati society are known to other humans as the "Luhmanese," to differentiate them from their machine cousins. Luhmanese run the gamut from those with complex neural laces, but whose bodies inhabit environments which would be comfortable to most near-baselines, to those who are so heavily cyberized they are a kind of "brain in a vat"--a human central nervous system contained in a cybernetic support structure, that can either function independently or be integrated into an android body. Numerous genetic modifications facilitate these cybernetic enhancements, including a permanent heightened state of neural plasticity that allows the brain to integrate many different kinds of sensory information. Those with a more traditionalist ethos may regard the Luhmanese with a degree of suspicion; they are seen as outsiders with more allegiance to their machine "overlords" than to their fellow humans. But to the Luhmanese, this is an absurd position: their machine brethren are equally the children of their common human ancestors, and though they might not be primates, they too are certainly *human*.

TONATIWANS - Tonatiuh is an exoplanet about forty light-years from Earth; though uninhabitable (it has a barren, Moon-like surface), it was home to an orbital station that was a utopian colony of transhumanists from the 28th to the 30th centuries. The Tonatiwans practiced a philosophy of radical morphological freedom, which was unfortunately coupled with highly illegal germ-line genetic manipulation; Control forcibly dissolved the colony in 2933, resettling its inhabitants on Eku, Mars, and the moons of Harriot. To the consternation of Control, few Tonatiwans accepted the offer of medical treatment to ameliorate some of the more alarming side-effects of their genetic modifications, prizing their unique physiologies over being able to produce viable, healthy offspring. Moreover, they remained a tight-knit community, especially the group at 55 Cancri A, intermarrying with one another and attempting to continue their genetic modification practices within the framework of local law. By the 2960s, local authorities gave up trying to integrate the Tonatiwans, and granted them their own habitat, on the condition that they remained subject to supervision for compliance with genetic law. Despite the predictions of some observers of disaster, a local Tonatiwan genotype stabilized within only two generations. Tonatiwans exhibit a very large range of physical variations--from height, to skin tone, to number of digits--and are unusual in being able to produce viable offspring with almost any human species or subspecies; and in being able (with medical support) to regress to a more juvenile physical state, essentially passing through adolesence again to propagate changes to their genome. They are, however, prone to several severe genetic diseases, including rare mental illnesses, and without close medical supervision can have tragically short lifespans. Some consider them a cautionary tale on the perils of reckless genetic engineering; others, a story of enormous potential cut tragically short by invasive bureaucracy.

[Excerpt truncated; list continues for many pages]

--A Guide to Humanity for Humans and Nonhumans Alike, 7th Edition (University of Oudemans Press, 4103)

[gnusnoteunuchs]

a thought about tolkien orcs:

the basic story is that they were mutated from elves by melkor, right? it sort of comes across as just another atrocity, oh look, melkor killed/maimed/tormented more elves. crime against humanity #37 from Mister Crimes Against Humanity. and sure, it drills in just how much he doesn't care about hurting people, and how he needs to twist the world around him to his own ends since he can't actually create things. cool, great

i have seen some people try to turn this on its head, though. instead of the orcs-to-be being victims, people who got pulled into something horrible, never to return, they spin it instead as being a thing they were willing to do, something they agreed to. i think that's interesting! i think there's some untreaded ground there in "these people willingly agreed to something you consider an atrocity. what does that say about them? what does that say about your ability to discriminate right from wrong?"

but the thing is, somehow melkor would have had to make this worth their trouble, right? but "i'm gonna mutate you into orcs and then everyone will hate you forever and then one day legolas will look super awesome and badass riding your shield down some steps while killing your buddy" seems like a tough sell. so i was thinking, how can melkor make this attractive to an unbegotten or only-somewhat-begotten elf?

idea: what if he took the angle of "as elves you're immortal, but you can still die. you'll be changed forever by your painful long lives, you'll succumb to violence, to kinslaying, to the slow mutation of your morals and politics, and one day you won't be able to recognize who you used to be...if you haven't been murdered yet. would you like to be truly immortal? to know that who and what you are will always persist, replicated with exacting precision? would you like to be unkillable, safe against entropy?"

and, of course, what happens is that he would tweak a few genes, and germinate in these elves' bodies cancers they could never have imagined. he would make them biologically immortal, indestructible tumor-beings that replicate indefinitely, that have no need for pregnancy or sex or the hideous ravages of LACE because they can just keep cloning themselves. what if orcs are genetically identical to elves, they're just the same ten germlines mutating themselves over and over again down the centuries? like those immortal cancer cell cultures like HeLa, imagine one of those with just enough functionality persisting to still be recognizable as a person. i think this whips

but we can take it further.

an army of hideous cancer-beasts is limited, yeah? their bodies would be deformed and flawed. the uruk-hai, of course, are meant to fix this. they're said to be hybrids, right? between orcs and "goblin-men?"

what if to make the immortal orc tumor line stronger, they implant orc colonies into the bodies of willing human subjects, people who make the same deal those elves did all those ages ago, people who want to become unforgettable, indestructible, and totally powerful? what if "goblin" is simply a moral judgment, denoting those who accede to this deal? think of the canine transmissible venereal tumor, which used to be a dog once. what if the uruk-hai are men, but infected by orc cells? a sort of faustian microchimerism.

in retrospect i realize this is highly reminiscent of bits of the baru cormorant books. but those books ruled, so maybe i'm onto something here. maybe i'll write something about cancer orcs.

[madmanwonder]

Halloween Prompt: Pink Lemonade (Yang x Nora); Mad Scientist!Nora listening to Frankenstein Monster!Yang's heartbeat

Frankenstein Monster Yang: *Deadpan* Nora. What on name of logic and reason are you doing now? *Look at her short germlin lover with a bemused look*

Nora: *Head on Yang well-endowed chest* I am listenting to the sound of your heartbeat for SCIENCE! *Smiling in a mad scientist fashion enjoying the sound of the loud, powerful heartbeat with a crackle*

Frankenstein Monster Yang: Ah...Okay *Closed her eyes in resignation as she just let her crazy half-creator/half-lover indulged in her oddball behavior*

[fnaflover2024]

An au,where Mike wakes up as a thriteen self and has to survive a Megapizzaplex with a germlin that looks like his brother and a protective dad bear animatronic

[your-fav-smooth-criminal]

My friends keep making like amazing campaign and all my friends have amazing characters and then there's me look at this stinky little germlin I have sooo many character that are just like what went wrong

List of all my characters

• pat a human cleric that kept charging his party from him to heal them can and will be bribed has a gambling addiction dream is just leave the party

• merry a kender wizard who is just a chaos god in a very bad disguise is a famous bad luck charm party had to stop them from eating random stuff

• bandit a litertal child warlock who is stuck to never age in constant teenage angst and the Parton Is like a overbearing parent one of there flaws was that they could sleep anywhere absolutely anywhere fighting a horde of zombies oohh is that a nice bed of Moss and they were off in lala land

[kevinscryptids]

STRANGE CONNECTIONS: The Vegas Alien Encounter Vs. Hopkinsville Goblins

check one two check one two this it the K-Boss calling all squatch watchers, I know it's been awhile since I've rapped at ya but let's talk.

Look I already know what your thinking... Dr. K you usually stay in the range of terrestrial cryptids.. what's the deal with this alien shit all of the sudden.

CAN'T A MAN CHANGE?!?!? Back off Squatch Nation Daddy K has been through a lot lately.

Now that, that's outta the way we can chop shop about a modern day landing that mirrors a goblin attack from back in 50's.

Here is a low-down on the most recent Alien visitation from the man himself, Geroge Knapp.

Here is where shit drops down the jackalope hole.... in 1955 outside of Kelly Kentucky a family experienced the very same type of encounter.

The story goes like this.... Early one sweltering August evening Billy Ray Taylor, who was living with 10 others all present at the time, stepped outside for a break from the heat and a long drink of water when he spotted a bright light drop down into the valley behind the farmhouse.

Terrified Billy ran in to inform the other members of the family. No one believed him, as was the fashion at the time. Until the family dog started freaking our prompting Billy Ray and Lucky Sutton to step outside only to be confronted with a small glowing creature that was approaching them with it's arms raised. Billy did the only rational thing a man could do, blasted the little fucker with his shotgun.

After that the little goblins launched an assault on the house cause all sorts of gremlin mischief.... one can imagine it was much like this scene from Germlins:

At around midnight fed up with the goblin bullshit the fam packed up and headed to the police department. Soon their farm was flooded with investigators from the US Air Force's project blue book. To this day the encounter remains one of the few the project blue book investigators did not have an explanation for. Chew on that little squatchers cause it's time for photo evidence!!!!

Read em and weep the NEWS paper tells no lies...

The boys talking bout how they shot those lil gobs

sketch of the gob in question....

Eyes on the sky,

-Kev

The squatch watcher

[mariakoppysworld]

Never PAUSE EPIC mickey 2

Part 3 : Featuring extra pics.

No comments

This angle looks weird.

What are you looking at ?

Just gus the germlin.

they look so worried.

Ortensia has suspicions on the doctor . and meanwhile mickey is like "oooooo , so cool ."

Weird angel #2

Scaredy boys .

No comments

"Oswald , wait!"

"Nope , i am done with this , mick "

[thewritersaddictions]

Christmas Stories 2023 Master List

Welcome to the Christmas Stories 2023 Master List

A/n- There will be some fluff for and during the Christmas time. This is 24 days of fluff, with a mixture of Christmas-themed songs and movies. Yes 'the nightmare before Christmas' is a Christmas movie.

Word Count- 19,868k

Series Master List

Day 1- Solider Boy + Baby, it's cold outside.

Day 2- Billy Hargrove + National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

Day 3- Karl Heisenberg + Violent Night

Day 4- Jim Hopper + Sleigh Ride

Day 5- Eddie Munson + Scrooged

Day 6- Geralt + Germlins

Day 7- Damon Salvatore + Grinch

Day 8- John Price + Here Comes Santa Claus

Day 9- Simon “Ghost” Riley + It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Day 10- Koing + Home Alone

Day 11- Steve Harrington + Mele Kalikimaka

Day 12- Luis Serra + Elf

Day 13- Klaus Mikealson + Die Hard

Day 14- Steve Rogers + Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Day 15- Aaron Hotchner + Frosty the snowman

Day 16- Jaskier + Santa Baby

Day 17- Alcina Dimitrescu + A Christmas Story

Day 18- Daryl Dixon + Home Alone 2 Lost in New York

Day 19- James 'Bucky' Barnes + Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Day 20- Joel Miller + Winter Wonderland

Day 21- Leon S. Kennedy + Holly Jolly Christmas

Day 22- Negan Smith + The Nightmare Before Christmas

Day 23- John “Soap” MacTavish + Feliz Navidad

Day 24- Rick Grimes + I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Completed on: (12/24/23)

Posted on: (09/20/23) - (12/01/23)

Christmas Stories Tags- @dackwccgjd @alex000sstuff @elenaguarnieri @emilyrosetravis @magnificentalpacabird @crazybooklover33 @yourfavthiopoan @peachbunnieluv @jokenotfunny @pastanoodles11 @hyunjinbiased-blog @tuquoquebrute @kjah97 @is-being-ignored-a-hobby @kiwi-lanes @welcomethefears @elenenvy @multifandom456 @sweatshirtXO @g8sstuff @rottendorkmomo @emmasstuff2415

[traaansfem]

Genetic engineering a catboy would have a bunch of negative ethical implications. Near purely biological surgery and transplants that retain function? That's probably 15 years out "possible to do, but likely to have BAD complications", 25 years out from "possible to do, may be safe enough for someone with shit tons of money to lean on a lab to argue for a test with cartilage based printed structures, if you can be SURE no cancer would immediatly pop up (no promises a year or so out)", and 50 years from "yeah, you want those in calico or tortie?".

Uh. Anyway, bioethically, it's... Very fuzzy at best, Murkier in any case but those, and outright awful in most cases with current technologies. And it's still better than a genetic approach in an embryological setting, to say nothing of the... Medically Interesting and likely to make a pathologist's career implications if you tried to modify the genes involved in a living person outside of a planned germline modification that would be carried through from an egg or sperm.

Like. I have two sets of genes from what would have been fraternal twins apparently? Chimera mosaicism, and some other health issues, y'know. And I still get HORRIBLE health issues from allergies being way easier to suffer from, due to the whole "Get out! Mine!" "No, mine! Bad!" Rejection issues, and that's WITH having had these tissues next to each other my whole life, and having a family history of robust immune systems that take well to transplants if necessary. I can have allergic reactions that would cause anaphylaxis in other people, so bad my skin peels off and boils up into necrotic blisters within seconds, and not suffer more throat construction than you'd expect of minor seasonal allergies, as is the case with latex... Or I can stop breathing with no warning, despite showing no external signal of allergies, as with some weed terpenes. Those are MILD compared to what you would expect from even the best outcomes for a gene modification done to someone past the "is this even a fetus" stage of cell development. Uh. Anyway, go for cellular stuff for body mods, but don't expect that for... Years, really.

It'll be interesting to see what the ears look like on bipeds with human type vasculature too, since it could make wearing safety gear way harder, screw with heat dissipation, and have... Interesting interactions with hair. I don't wanna get real cat ears, because they would probably go bald REALLY fast if they're built on a cartilaginous framework. And while I COULD rock the "sphinx cat" look, I'd rather keep my ringlets.

Also showering with those and haircuts and eugh. I want cat ears but the logistics :(

like okay if we're talking about this anatomically the ear holes on a human skull and a cat are actually in the same spot it's a difference in the shape of the cranium. you can see what's happening if you look at hairless cats

ears is big. so you can put the cat ears wherever you want if you start them at the same point as where the human ears would go.

just like. pull the sideburns back a little and it's fine. it's fine.

it's the best way to catify your blorbos with visible human ears. but that's just my........ purrsonal opinion..............

[rappaccini]

... i'm gonna ramble about orphan black and eugenics for a sec because oh man did these writers know exactly what the fuck they were cooking with when they wrote this show.

so first of all, neolution is essentially a cult revolving around advancing eugenics started by a crazy old rich british racist who thought poverty was genetic, wrote a bigass book all about it, and got his ass killed in the jungle because he wanted to play great white hunter there. it was revived by a bunch of rich white science students at cambridge and is spearheaded by a texan billionaire grifter who cosplays as an 1800s lord on his private island full of test subjects and uses experimental therapies to enhance his health, who fooled them and some of the most powerful people in the world so well that they invested billions into him and his eugenics experiments (... like inserting tech into people's brains).

just look at the material.

mathieson, the figurehead of neolution, fetishizes the 1800s so much that he makes his houseguests dress up in victorian outfits, surrounds himself with women he plays against each other, plays wagner on repeat (you know, the composer whose work was the third reich's soundtrack and was literally played in concentration camps? whose daughter married a racialist?), and encourages his followers to study up on "managing reproduction in feeble-minded populations."

he uses aicha's illness to make a lab rat of her and lies about healing her as his scientists slowly watch her die and harvest her genetic material. tuskeegee anyone?

yanis's developmental issues are used to demonize him into a literal 'monster' who is locked up, hunted on the island, and shot to death like old yeller.

major neolutionist aldous leekie is a german man whose ideal human has white hair and a single white eye. so... light hair and light eyes. hm.

neolution is largely made up of white scientists and foot soldiers and employs poc but never lets them into leadership positions

neolution very quickly disposes of evie cho and marian bowles, the only women of color of significance within the organization.

henrik johanssen's prolethean offshoot of neolution straight-up allies itself with white supremecists like his old militia buddy and splits off right during the conservative christian attacks on reproductive tech

the neolution split consisting of whether to expand further into biology or big tech.

germline editing in infants is neolution's new big push, and babies with deformities at brightborn are euthanized

the use of women of color as naive surrogates to carry both brightborn babies and sarah and helena. they have no idea what they're pregnant with, are constantly prodded by scientists, and have no legal right to the children.

sarah and helena's mother in particular was sourced from apartheid south africa.

"brightborn" is basically a literal translation of the word "eugenics"

the cold river institute where ethan duncan worked after the explosion is devoted to creating the 'most perfect baby', and clearly based on the cold springs harbor eugenics office

the control of women's reproductive freedom:

->the clones are intentionally prevented from reproducing because of fears about not being able to control the outcome (... and yet rachel grows up with a complex about infertility because it's still being held against her).

->helena's eggs are harvested against her will and she's coerced into agreeing to pregnancy by henrik.

->sarah is threatened with an oophorectomy and a new unwanted pregnancy when she's being held by dyad.

->the brightborn women have no idea what they're actually signing onto, have no legal right to their embryos, if their babies are born less than perfect, they'll be euthanized, and a pregnant woman who escapes is lynched by brightborn agents so it has nothing to do with Protecting The Children.

->and kira, who hasn't even had a period yet and is only eight years old, is being plied with hormones so her eggs can be implanted into surrogates who have no idea what their fetuses are being used for.

->most of the clones' own mothers don't even know their ivf is being tampered with.

->the castor boys only exist to strip reproductive freedom from women.

... even the incest is a part of it: the way susan duncan sexually abuses ira, who is basically her son. how henrik johanssen inseminates his daughter with one of his embryos. how seth and rudy like to rape women together, assault krystal and attempt to do the same to sarah and helena, their biological twin sisters. how rachel duncan keeps getting drawn to predatory father figures (including ferdinand, who plays daddy kink with her, and mathieson, who feels like he's about to do something gross to her every time they're in the same room, and has watched her touch herself in the shower). how the new stem cell line for the ledas is created through fertilizing rachel's egg with ira's sperm.

delphine is quickly revealed to be sleeping with eugenicist leekie in s1, explicitly calls herself a eugenicist and confirms she's proud of it in season 2, climbs the ladder in season 3, and is actively working with mathieson on his life extension treatments in 5. cosima is constantly being tempted into joining neolution through their intimate relationship. each woman is literally in bed with the idea that eugenics could benefit her and has to pull away. delphine's attempt to be the Good Eugenicist Who Protects Her Subjects immediately backfires when it leads to her using her power for petty revenge, a total breakdown of trust between her and cosima, being disposed of the second she's not useful anymore, and essentially being held captive and forced to dress up as a bride and stroke mathieson's ego for her own survival. (... much like rachel). it's a giant metaphor for white women's flirtation with eugenics. girls get up.

it's eugenics.

when it comes to the clones themselves it is not a coincidence that neolution's pathway to 'creating a better human being' through manipulating the lin28a gene to produce enhanced healing and disease/aging resistance only bothered to focus on cloning white people. eugenics doesn't want to save and genetically enhance the human race, it wants to save and genetically enhance wealthy, able-bodied white people.

and the clones are the way they intend to do it.

the end goal of the castor boys is creating a bioweapon used to eliminate 'undesirable' genetic stock from the population through being inserted into society to spread a sexually transmitted infection that renders women infertile at best (and may eventually become the respiratory illness that kills the clones). so, a way to commit genocide by forcibly sterilizing the women in a chosen population through using rape as a weapon of war. it's a way to terrorize and trigger an internal collapse within their communities, because on top of causing an infertility crisis, you have to add onto that the internal trauma and external stigma of being a rape victim that would sow even further discord.

the leda girls went through a greater evolution in purpose. they probably started as the extra clones that were proof of concept of human cloning's viability for female subjects, but especially of the sti the males carry-- which the ledas were intentionally given and never treated for. (yes ethan duncan says they didn't want a reproducing prototype, but given that virginia coady was participating in the research at this time since castor and leda hadn't split yet, i get the sense that another idea was in the mix-- and it was allowing the disease to propagate to observe how it'd affect women before the castors were old enough to spread it themselves.) in the meantime the ledas were repurposed as a study on human behavior under variation.*

*but only the behavior of mostly-western white women born into families wealthy enough to afford ivf treatments or expensive adoptions (with the occasional exception for poor women, like miriam johnson, who was implanted in a known alcoholic, probably not-so-coincidentally ended up on the street, and was murdered for dissection). the behavior study is extremely flawed... unless you consider it's of the behavior of the kind of people eugenics wants to prioritize. poc and non-western nations are excluded by design. wealthy women and poor women are used as lab rats are prioritized by design.

then, following the discovery of helena and sarah's fertility, and the excitement about forcibly impregnating them to study their offspring, the purpose of the new proposed leda generation evolved to using them as vessels to observe illness and infection and test experimental medicines and treatments, and to use advanced technology to better administer these medicines and monitor the subjects. no more illusion of freedom, as rachel duncan put it, because eugenics has nothing to do with setting women free and it always views them as vessels. the leda women's purpose is the next step in the eugenics master plan: once the 'undesirables' are eliminated or sterilized, you go about extending the lives of the 'chosen' people-- by creating more generations of them, and by enhancing the quality of life of those who already exist through exploiting the bodies of fertile white women.

(and you even use technology to better surveil those vessels, like mathieson observing rachel through her glass eye. no more human monitors, but only because you can watch her far more efficiently through your computer monitor. no more illusion of freedom, because now the infrastructure's in place to control them without needing to trick them into consenting to it. neolution would indeed, never let a clone have any true autonomy over her treatment, and rachel's 'special vantage point' in the end does not make her exempt from the experiment in the ways she thinks it does. rachel, like cosima and delphine-- like any white women in a white supremecist movement-- has a place in the structure, but no actual power and the special treatment is only an illusion to keep her compliant.)

and finally, with kira manning (and the twins), the offspring of a fecund clone whose lin28a gene is working as hoped, they arrive at their end goal: a limitless source of stem cells which can be continually harvested and donated to people who need or want them. the total lack of concern about the ethics of keeping a child in a laboratory, harvesting an eight-year-old girl's eggs and using them to impregnate 1300ish naive surrogates to create that supply of stem cells for their top brass's use, and then using that eight-year-old girl to study deep tissue recovery (aka: they're going to carve up a child's body to watch her heal. or not.) should be expected. they might be calling her their 'new eve' but she's meat, just like her aunts and uncles.

(... honestly i think ob misstepped by not making kira biracial. the show's lack of diversity in its main cast is maybe its one great shortcoming considering just how light years ahead it was in all its other writing. though the clones all had to be white because they're a eugenics experiment, and so did many supporting characters given their associations with institutions implicitly tied to racial hierarchy, kira, cal and probably felix all definitely should've been poc to balance that out a bit more, and especially to open a discussion on the mistreatment of women of color during the construction of eugenics and medical science-- like anarcha and henrietta lacks.)

[thatwolfnamednyla]

It's possible that it was a genetic mutation that occurred after the zygote split, thus only affecting Ford.

Identical twins actually often have some differences between them due to genetic mutations, so it's not impossible for one identical twin to have something like polydactyly.

Source:

(I found this source through this Healthline article)

This always bothered me as well but I only recently actually looked into it! It's really cool to think that it's actually scientifically possible for one identical twin to have polydactyly while the other doesn't.

Surprisingly, polydactyly is actually a dominant trait, meaning if the gene that causes it exists in one of the parents then it's more than likely gonna exhibit itself in their child. It's only rare because not a lot of people have that gene in the first place.

Makes one wonder why Ford has polydactyly but Stan doesn't. They are identical twins after all. It makes no sense!

However, polydactyly is rare, but polydactyly with fully functional extra fingers is even rarer. They usually end up being extra bits of flesh that can't do anything and just get in the way. So I'd like to think that Stan's extras just didn't manage to form into fully functional fingers like Ford's did and were simply lopped off by the doctor, as was common back then.