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[Seriphyn]

Seri,

I think if you cleared up Kiam's origins some, her core motivations might be a little more clear.  Here are a couple of random suggestions.

- Kiam was created in an Ishukone facility from anonymized sex cell samples that were donated as part of a Deteis racial reconstruction project.  While the samples were screened for genetic defects prior to their combination, they weren't engineered in any way.  She was born the way she is, not designed to be a manual laborer who's got some serious baby-making hips.  She was reared in an Ishukone creche, and at some point was given the option to transfer to Quafe ... or decided to "run away" to Quafe at some point for some reason.

- Kiam's parents were Deteis Quafe employees who couldn't have children conventionally (or wanted to have more children than was physically possible for her mother).   True, she was cooked up in a tube, but she was reared in a regular family, potentially one where she was one among a large number of siblings.

I will be ironing these out. What Ken brought up about being "deprived of a family structure" is certainly not something that seems to have had an effect on Kiam, given that she's not exactly relentless and unwaveringly loyal. So I'm leaning more to the second option, and the engineering of her physical shape is a little more believable if done by parents' desires as opposed to Quafe going "hehehe..."

[Hamish Grayson]

I've never bought into the idea that tube children are geneticly engineered on any level.  There is no PF to support it and the Jovians would shit a brick.

Is there screening and compatibility comparisons done?  Of course.   There are probably even breeding programs designed to produce certain results.  There is probably even cloning done on ova and zygotes to produce even more children too, but there is no PF that supports actual modifying of the genetic code.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilisation

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a process by which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the body, in vitro. The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova (eggs) from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a fluid medium. The fertilized egg (zygote) is then transferred to the patient's uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy.

I expect that the only difference in the process  described above is that instead of one ova being fertilized and placed into the mother’s uterus, all ova are fertilized and then placed into artificial wombs. 

The object being to maximize how many children each female can have in her life time – not growing clone troopers.

[Amann Karris]

It does say how the "Deteis utilized tube children", with no real corporate references. She may have just been born as a tube child then transferred to Quafe's authority. Alternatively, she was originally touted to be Ishukone, but then Quafe was granted Ninth Mega status, and bought holdings in Saranen, turning her into a Quafe citizen. This is assuming Quafe ascended to corporate status within the last 25-30 years.

There's a chronicle for that.

Namely:

Quafe is the name of the most popular soft drink in the universe, manufactured by a Gallentean company bearing the same name

I think you are confusing the general term "megacorp" with the more specific "Caldari Megacorps", or the "Big Eight".

There's a chronicle for that, too.

Simple fix?  Kiam moved with her parents to the Quafe station after their employment contract was purchased from Ishukone to fill out the workforce on the station.  Means she'd still have Caldari citizenship, without trying to figure out a convoluted explanation that stretches credibility and rewrites an aspect of PF. 

That is, if you even feel the need to have parents, Kiam being a tube child and all.  Corporate creche to a certain age, then employed by Quafe after a certain point.  If Tube children are future salarymen, I'd bet that their contracts are purchasable for the simple fact that it's an easy way to recoup the cost of raising the kid.

[Vieve]

I've never bought into the idea that tube children are geneticly engineered on any level.  There is no PF to support it and the Jovians would shit a brick.

I imagine the Statics would have brick-shaped kittens, yup.  The Modifiers?  Dunno.  Who knows -- they might be running projects on 'normals' themselves, trying to reverse engineer the disease that's killing them (incidentally, that'd make more sense to me than whatever the Jove were up to with the Elders).

Side Note to the Universe: despite what I think might be reasonable from a fictional perspective, I REALLY don't want to encourage players to start turning up with "I was a Jove genetic experiment!" backgrounds.  Seriously.  'Cause, y'know, I can't see the Jove letting their mice out of their labs, even if that mouse did manage to pick up Hacking V, Cloaking V, and Jovian Interceptor X.

Is there screening and compatibility comparisons done?  Of course.   There are probably even breeding programs designed to produce certain results.  There is probably even cloning done on ova and zygotes to produce even more children too, but there is no PF that supports actual modifying of the genetic code.

Agreed, but I don't rule out gene therapy, even to the level of germ line alterations.   Not that I think it's universal:  for example, Amarrians (unless they're "morally compromised" and wealthy enough to get away with it) probably frown on having things like, oh, phenylketonuria or congenital adrenal hypoplasia deleted from their genetic lines.   Nor do I believe therapy's universally available, or in cases where it is available, it's of uniform quality, particularly in the post-natal realm.

Another Side Note to The Universe:  No matter how ditzy or demented a Gallente socialite may be, I just can't see her skipping to a doctor and ordering  a fuzzy black spotted hot pink kitty-monkey baby.  No way, no how, and I'd be the first to give that kid a knife when he grows up enough that he wants to stab his mommy in the head.  Can I see projects like Shin's Tierjiev clade?  Yup.  Or Lai Dai's wanting to filter out possible genetic-based communication impedances (e.g. artifacts from the autism spectrum) from an otherwise mundane potential scientist breeding program?  Oh, sure, these things would crop up in screening and could be dealt with by scrapping the child -- but if everything else in the genetic profile is viable, why toss the child instead of simply removing the undesired aberrations?

Now disappearing before somebody gets the idea to split this thread.

[Hamish Grayson]

Quick! Somebody from Federal Robotics plug my character guide so we can get into both threads!

[Seriphyn]

My primary influence in regards to the "Ninth Mega" idea is this and this, the key words being "the only non-Caldari corporation with domestic corporate sovereignty" "subject to the same laws, regulations and protections as Caldari corporations". Given that we have no Quafe Caldari RPers, I figured I'd give it a shot.

[Hamish Grayson]

That makes them a mega that can petition the CBT, is not subject to certain teriffs and taxes other gallant corps are, and are allowed to own land. "Ninth mega" is an extremely inappropriate term.      It implies that they are some how apart of the state's government which is not the case.   

They might hire groups like spacelane patrol or the peace and order unit to protect their assets, but they are not entitled to Navy protecion since they do not contribute to it's budget.

In practice they might get that protection of course, since protecting their assets are likely in the best interest of their trade partners who set on the CEP.

[Seriphyn]

That makes them a mega that can petition the CBT, is not subject to certain teriffs and taxes other gallant corps are, and are allowed to own land.

If you read the article, that's exactly what it's saying, except not a member of the CEP.

[Amann Karris]

If you read the article, that's exactly what it's saying, except not a member of the CEP.

Okay, let's put it this way.

Megacorporations (The Big Eight)

The Caldari State stands for corporate capitalism in its purest form. There are eight great Corporations that together own more than 90% of all property within the State. Each of the corporation is made up of thousands of companies of various sizes and various sorts, ranging from simple mining companies to powerful police companies. There is no single, unified government as such, each corporation rules its territories like their own kingdom with little or nor interference from the other corporations. In higher matters, such as in foreign policy towards the other empires, the Board of Directors, which consists of the CEOs of the eight major corporations, has the highest authority. The Board of Directors also makes sure that the social infrastructure of the State remains intact and settles all major quarrels between the corporations.

It is a foreign-owned company allowed to operate within Caldari space, and operates in accordance to Caldari laws within Caldari space.  If Quafe were the "ninth Mega", there would not be such a thing as the "Big Eight", because it would be the "Big Nine".

To quote something from the articles you cite:

The CEP tabled consideration of the petition after initial discussions failed to reach a consensus. Sukuuvestaa Corporation in particular seemed opposed. "Quafe is an integral part of the State's economy," said Sirotova Uesi, CFO for the megacorporation. "Gallente or not, suddenly revoking their status could have undesirable consequences."

Also:

the Gallente firm's State-granted corporate status.

Your own sources, as well as PF and wiki information all point to a different situation than your stated "Ninth Mega" status.  In fact, your articles specifically state Quafe's precarious position within the state, fully discrediting the claim that they are a Mega.

Your character certainly could perceive it as the "ninth mega", I'm not saying that.  It's just that the reality as stated in all the sources I see contradicts this being the in-game reality.

[Seriphyn]

Well, yes, that's why I put ninth mega in quotations. They have "domestic corporate sovereignty", meaning they would own land and have State citizen-employees.