Generation Legacy OOC Thread Part 2

[Tokiwong]

As an aside this brings up another subject on the virtue of humanity in Legacy. I had a short discussion with Shalimar about this, and she seemed to assume that all elites are intrinsically human. I as a GM have tried to make no statement either way on this matter and leave it subjective, to the players.

Because in th end, we can all agree that baselines are human. But are they more or less human then say Ryan, or Karen? Or is Karen more human then Cassie, or vice versa? Are elites still human? What is the determining factor for that humanity?

Although in the interlude, the UN seems to have a definition of what constitutes humanity and what does not, I am just curious as to how the players and obervers feel about this idea? I have touched on it a few times, and so have the players, what do you think? Are elites human or are they something else, or does it even matter?

 

[Agamon]

A human with a virus is still human, no matter what it does to them physiologically. At least that's one side of the arguement. This virus seems to make fundimental and radical changes to the person's genes, which effectively does make them something other than homo sapien.

 

[Samnell]

Although in the interlude, the UN seems to have a definition of what constitutes humanity and what does not, I am just curious as to how the players and obervers feel about this idea? I have touched on it a few times, and so have the players, what do you think? Are elites human or are they something else, or does it even matter?

A philosophical question. It's not even on Mark's radar. Of course all the elites are human, including people who don't eat and who have entirely superfluous biology like Ryan. But Mark hasn't looked at Ryan's phisiology and he's not at all science-minded. If someone were to present an argument to the contrary to him I'm not sure how he'd respond.

I rather like the idea and would like to explore it, though. It's not something Mark would think about on his own, but if prompted he'd mull it over. He considers Ryan and Star effectively human as a sort of fait accompli but I don't know if he'd immediately give that status to someone he didn't know who was visibly inhuman. Star certainly didn't start out there, but he's taken to thinking of her as a real girl.

 

[Agamon]

The only way this matters at all in regards to Anika, is if someone tries to tell her that her powers have nothing to do with her faith. And that's all I have to say about that.

 

[Tokiwong]

The only way this matters at all in regards to Anika, is if someone tries to tell her that her powers have nothing to do with her faith. And that's all I have to say about that.

Well of course... Anika is special too... in a delusional kind of way...

 

[Tokiwong]

He considers Ryan and Star effectively human as a sort of fait accompli but I don't know if he'd immediately give that status to someone he didn't know who was visibly inhuman. Star certainly didn't start out there, but he's taken to thinking of her as a real girl.

Glad you brought up Star, I mean knowing that she was built, and is an android and he still considers human, is interesting. I like Sar personally, was not sure how she worked out but her character is fun, and the fact she seems to have ingrained herself with the students is interesting...

Perhaps humanity is subjective?

 

[Agamon]

Perhaps humanity is subjective?

Sociologically speaking, looks that way.

 

[Tokiwong]

I just know that I like pie.

 

[Hammerhead]

I'd say that humanity is subjective, whereas belonging to homo sapiens is objective. However, lines between species are very fuzzy scientifically, so everything isn't exactly cut-and-dried. Humanity comes from acting like a person and having a soul...so a robot with emotions, such as Star, would be human. Is Ruby less 'human' than baselines? Well, her appearance, physiology, etc. are all certainly different...but her mind and soul are identical.

Ryan certainly considers himself human, and not as some homo superior as espoused by the X-Men. Ryan also doesn't like the term 'baseline,' or anything that separates Elites from normal humans. In his mind, Elites are simply humans with cool, advantageous powers.

Anika's crazy, of course, but certainly less so than psychics, faith healers, and those guys who channel the spirits of the dead. Her powers actually work, even if she thinks Odin gave them to her. Crazy Scandanavians...they believe in faeries too.

 

[Agamon]

Yeah, it's tough to refute she's maybe a bit mentally imbalanced (for me, not her ). But she used her faith to deal with her past the same way Mark uses his swimming to deal with his problems. The problem is that she ties her newfound powers in with her faith so that now, to her, they're one and the same. To tell her differently doesn't go over well, because she'd take the assertion that her powers aren't tied to her faith as an assertion that her faith is both false and misplaced. And she still subconsciously believes that without her faith, she not a very good person, even though she's done a lot of emotional growing in the past year.

So she's got a few issues?