Crazy Genetics

[Doughdee222]

A thought occurred to me last night.

In ADRP, and the books for that matter, there seem to be four basic groups of characters. (I'm not certain of the correct term here. "Race" or "Ethnic group" don't seem right. Perhaps someone has a better term for them.)

1. Amberite & Human hybrids.
2. Chaosite & Human hybrids.
3. Amberite & Chaosite hybrids.
4. Pure Chaosite.
(In theory there is a fifth group: Pure Amberite. But there seems to be none of these. I suppose Corwin and Dierdre could get it on and produce children, but no one wants to consider such events.)

However, in fantasy and sci-fi writings we often get other hybrids. Half-Elves (Human and Elf parentage) and Half-Orcs (Human and Orc parentage) are common in some game systems. In Star Trek Spock was half Human and half Vulcan, B'Lanna Torres was half Human and half Klingon; Worf and Jadzia Dax could have had a child together. On Babylon 5 there was to be a child between a Human and a Minbari.
So there's really no reason we can't expand the hybrid possibilities to Amber. Amberite and Elf hybrid children, for example; or Chaosite and Klingon.

Furthermore the possibilities become near infinite when one considers Shape Shifters. The Greek myths (and others, no doubt) abound with the gods turning into animal forms to have sex with whatever pretty thing caught their eye. Mostly such pairings resulted in "monsters." But in ADRP such a term can mean almost anything, or nothing. There's no reason a character's basic form is Human but is instead a bull, a duck, an AD&D Otyugh, or anything else. We already know walking the Logrus will cause insanity for a time. Who's to say severe kink isn't a part of that?

Characters who travel to high-technology "sci-fi" Shadows regularly can take this all a step further. Direct genetic manipulation is possible. Who knows what oddities can be created then. Consider the Dark Angel TV show for example: Humans with animal genes stitched in. Now consider such characters mating with an Amberite or Chaosite.

(I'm not saying there is any advantage in such characters, just that these ideas broaden the character biographies.)

Then there are the possibilities with the high technology of cloning. If a post-Pattern/Logrus walked character is cloned what is the result? Would the clone also be post-walked and able to travel the Shadows or is he reduced to a pre-walked "virginity?" If taken to Amber/CoC would the clone be able to walk the Pattern/Logrus? Maybe there is a spiritual element that is not cloned and thus makes the clone weaker and therefore liable to be killed when taking the Walk.
If the clone isn't inherently weaker then further possibilities arise. Imagine an Evil Genius who gathers a sample of Amberite flesh and runs off to a high tech Shadow. There he creates a hundred cloned Amberite babies, raises them as he wishes (obedient to their loving "father" for example) and sets out to make havoc on the Shadowverse. There's a whole campaign idea right there.

Then there is the character who sees the advantage of having lots of children. He heads for a modern day Shadow, performs a few tricks that are easy for him (earns a PhD, wins a couple Olympic medals) then decides to make some donations to the local sperm bank. What woman using such a service wouldn't want sperm from a handsome Olympic winner with advanced degrees? In a few years the character has dozens or hundreds of children, all capable of following daddy across the Shadowverse.

Just a few ideas to ponder.

[Panjumanju]

I guess for the loose terms of classification we can add on another number at least:

5. Pure Ambeite. (Who's to say it hasn't already happened? They just said Oberon frowned on it, but we all know how crazy royal families can get about keeping the blood pure, and there was more than one potential incest couple in the Amberite royal family. Greek mythology, anyone?)
6. Amberite & Shadow denizen hybrids.
7. Chaosite & Shadow denizen hybrids.

These are all great ideas, not just as a character concept to bring to a GM - there's some pretty easy campaign potential there, the easiest option being if some very non-human being (like a manticore or a dragon or something) had a completely legitimate blood claim to the throne, for instance. Or you can pull the classic Amber move of: strange looking thing walks out of shadow into Amber and says "you're my daddy!"

I wonder if it would violate some social taboo, like if Random would lose prestige having a half-duck for a son.

//Panjumanju

[Artifacts of Amber]

So where to start.

Okay I have no problem with there being so many Genetic possibilities however assigning shadow technology/rules (Like Genetics) only goes so far.

But I like the God mating with whatever concept I just don't necessarily feel beholden to some Earth level Genetics in running that sort of thing.

It does open a million possibly interesting backgrounds for characters and I lean much more toward embracing such concepts then not. But to me there needs to be a human element maintained in the game to keep the game relevant to the players. I don't want them to have to work and focus on being Un-Human and trying to think like a cat person, or dragon thing or whatever. I could go for one that is learning to be more human or trying to fit in with Amber society.

Now possibilities as antagonist does make that real freaking interesting, in fact I may now alter some of my campaign Ideas to include that concept. I could see something like that being really cool in the Campaign I am running now.

As far as cloning goes. In my mind the Pattern imprint or Logrus Initiation  would prevent average shadow technology from cloning them correctly. How the incorrect part would manifest itself depends on which power the person has. I tend to run it that when those powers right themselves into it changes you on a primal fundamental level that makes you somewhat immune to a lot of things that are shadow.

Now pre power imprinting would open up some cool ideas. At that point your just another shadow person and it comes down to how the powers of the universe work in  that campaign for me, since I sort of switch that up on  occasion. It would boil down to what does it mean to be an amberite as far as the universe is concerned. What is that special something  that lets you walk the Pattern or survive shapeshifting and Logrus etc...


A lot to  think about.

[Arduin]

A thought occurred to me last night.

In ADRP, and the books for that matter, there seem to be four basic groups of characters. (I'm not certain of the correct term here. "Race" or "Ethnic group" don't seem right. Perhaps someone has a better term for them.)

Species would be the correct term.

[Croaker]

I tend to treat Amber genetics a little like Viltrumite genetics: Whatever the other species, the Amberite DNA takes other, so the offspring will always look way more human than otherwise: An amberite mating with a dragon might produce a scally baby, but he'll have 2 arms and 2 legs.

Such offsprings are always inferior to an amberite, with their own matings being more shadow than real.
However, when one assays the pattern, he is strengthened and reconstructed on a molecular level, being brought up to pure "Amber" level, in effect resetting the clock.

Cloning and all... Such feeble shadow techniques can't affect something real. Pattern-infused DNA just resist cloning, while logrus-infested just mutates wildly. You may get results, but they'll be flawed and inferior to the original, just like offsprings.

[RPGPundit]

There's a reason why one famous early campaign was entitled "Redneck Jeb's Inbred House of Freaks".

RPGPundit

[Taewakan]

I go directly to the Artifact Creatures and Items section of the main book and the Demon creation section of Shadow Knight. I've created my own integrated chart for players who want to play something... Different - like Ghostwheel or Frakir.
It is fun to watch the Player seek a way to match powers with a scion of Amber or Chaos.

As a rule I like to find a way to say yes to a character concept.
And then torture the character until she pleads for more.
In my experience there are more masochistic Players out there than you'd think lol.

I also like to think of myself as more of a Dom than a Sadist when it comes to DMing. Mostly DMing is about being a glorified moderator. Mostly.

Sometimes the role-playing can be pretty intense between PC and DMPC.
I once ran a Captain's Ball in Amber with more than twenty NPCs for five PCs. Talk about DM prep! Whoo Hoo!

My advice: When in doubt, cheat. Any mistake is a potential new plot line - even if you don't know what the plot is when it happens. These ARE Amberites after all.

Good luck.