I am completely disregarding TBL as it's just flat out stupid. This isn't Shadowrun. Humanity doesn't come from what your limbs or organs are made from.
What is 'humanity' though? Didn't Socrates describe humans as a featherless biped?
On the topics of implants, how many can you have and still remain human? At what point do you become a Sansha-like cyborg? The Khanid are now using sub-cranial implants to control their slaves, which is certainly veering into 'meat robot' territory. I suppose this becomes an 'Argonaut's ship' sort of problem. If you have a vehicle such as a wooden boat or a metal car, and every piece eventually gets damaged and replaced, is it still the same original boat or car?
Are capsuleers even human? Apparently we are more like humanoids, human in shape only. Our bodies are made out of some biomass which doesn't even contain our own DNA at first. We aren't milk drinking mammals, we are more like 'possessed' re-animated flesh golems.
It does make me wonder about trans-humanism. Why even bother with the fleshy, squishy human looking occupant at all? Why not just upload our minds directly into a ship's black box computer instead? Then, when the ship goes into structure, a small hard box the size of a car battery auto-ejects and warps off. If we need a humanoid body to walk around a station in, we could use an android.
Also, why stick to the human shape? Our form is useful on the surface of a 1 G planet, but what about in a microgravity environment? Wouldn't it be more useful to have the body of a cephalod (squid)? Those big eyes and eight arms would certainly come in pretty handy for a combat pilot. Squids are already adapted to spending their entire lives in a liquid micro-gravity environment, unlike humans.
If Blood Raiders eat nothing but human flesh, why not develop a more carnivorous body for one's self such as a canine? A humanoid body with a wolf's head might sound corny, but it would be quite practical for a Blood Raider.
Today, there is an Electrical engineer in the U.S. who is in the process of getting his body transformed into a cat. He calls himself 'Stalking cat'. He has filed his teeth into pointed shapes, tattooed leopard spots all over his body, and has had whiskers surgically implanted into his cheeks. I notice that surgery, like gambling, was once an option in some NPC stations. Apparently though, this has been taken out.
Dogs (and cats) have sharp teeth and claws, and a digestive system specifically designed for the ingestion of raw meat. They have heightened senses, such as a sense of smell (improved scanning). They can be pretty darn scary looking too, which is also helpful for a pirate.
Humans and sapiens in general (Orangutan, Gorilla, Chimpanzees, etc) are either by nature omnivores or vegetarians. Humans with a heavily meat based diet tend to develop health problems such as rectal cancer and so on.
I understand the Tahkmanir were experimenting with Trans-humanism, perhaps the Jovians were as well. Why are capsuleers restricted to only human form?
I was even tempted to deliberately engineer my character to be a Siamese twin of myself. I would clone a female version of myself, then incorporate both genders in the same capsule, joined together at the shoulder and hip. If our bodies become our ships, then surely eight limbs would be better than four? This would be like one of the 'barrel people' that the Ancient Greeks believed once populated Earth.
In the Incal Light series, there was something like this inside of an egg which acted as the Emperor. They called it 'The Supreme Androgyne'. They seemed to share one mind, since both heads talked simultaneously. The Supreme Androgyne was assassinated, and a man and woman who participated said that they would now form the new supreme Androgyne. So clearly, this was not the result of a birth defect, but something that was deliberately chosen.
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Topic: Fancy Capsuleer Implants: Let's Discuss (Read 8990 times)