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Quick Reference:
CrossbreedingShared DNA
Makeup
IpothesisEngeneered Retrovirus Danger
Latent genes
Non-coding sections o human genome,
Virus Interference Ipothesis for Ghouls,
Human
GenomeGenome Use
StatisticsDeep Ones and Ghouls as Engeneering
ProductsDeep Ones and Ghouls as Dreamlands
NativesDeep Ones as
AliensAcquatic Ape Theory as explanation for Deep
OnesParent Heritage in Deep Ones and Humans
as Ghoul Larval
StateDeep One Genetic Makeup
BreakdownChernobyl as Locale for Induced Racial
MutationKarotechia as Human Genome Project
BackerHumans/Deep Ones Common Origin
TheoryDeep One Genetic Contribution during
Sexual
IntercourseDeep Ones as Ermaphrodites
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 09:33:37 -0400
(EDT)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"
The discussion about Mythos races going insane brought up an interesting point, one concerning the crossbreeding of certain Mythos races with humanity, particularly Ghouls and deep ones.
Remember that the interbreeding of these races with us suggests that these two races are not wholly alien, but possibly the equivalent of the currently-existing human races. The suggestion is that the genetic makeup of these "aliens" is similar enough to that of humans for compatibility.
Only a very small portion of our genetic code is used. Now, I'm certain geneticists know what this section of code would be used for. However, we're allowed to distort things in CoC: so are we all, at least latently, Ghouls & deep ones?
I don't have a great knowledge of genetics, so there may be some errors in my logic. But we'll leave that up to others on the list to decide.
From: Ricardo J. Menndez
> Now, I'm certain geneticists know what this section of code would
be used for. However,
> we're allowed to distort things in CoC: so
are we all, at least latently, Ghouls & deep
> ones?
Interesting. Not necessarily, but if there is really a portion of the genetic code that is either unused or redundant (about which I don't know), we could not latent Ghouls and deep ones, since nothing says that we have the same genes as them (we're only compatible), but could be altered into one.
Then again, as far as I understand this things, the Deep Ones could have a longer or totally different DNA string and still be reproductive-compatible with us. If that's the case, it would be harder to alter a human into a deep one.
Can someone please bring us out of our collective ignorance?
Well, I don't know that much about genetics but this does bring forth a truly frightening possibility. If we are all latent Ghouls or Deep Ones, it would be possible to use genetic engineering techniques to create a retro-virus that would turn EVERYBODY into a Deep One or a ghoul. And the Human Genome Project is mapping all of our genetic code even as we speak ...
I can't bring anyone out of any kind of ignorance on this Subject, as I'm not that well read on the Subject as it is, but perhaps the unused genetic code is something the deep ones and Ghouls exploit, rather than latent instructions for development into them which they somehow activate.
This unused genetic code would make us, as a race, particularly suitable for any kind of genetic transformation, which is why the Ghouls and deep ones target us, rather than say, each other. It would also account for how a single human being would be suitable for both deep one and ghoul breeding stock ( if we assume this is the case of course).
If we are all indeed latent Ghouls or deep ones of course, we'd all better start learning how to fire a shotgun with our toes...
This has been put forth in a lot of literature written for lay people, and it is misleading in it's meaning.
Only a fraction of the total amount of DNA in our genome actual contains coding regions which are translated to make proteins. BUT, these coding regions are spread throughout the whole genome, so you would be hard pressed to travel too far along a chromosome and not, eventually, find a coding region (a gene). The problem is that a lot of the non-coding portions of the genome are used to control the coding regions. However, it is a fact that a lot of the genome contains neither control regions or coding regions, and is considered by many to be "junk".
> Now, I'm certain geneticists know what this section of code would be used for.
The genome is made up of DNA. This DNA is arranged into structures called chromosomes. Along the chromosomes lie genes. Theses genes code for proteins; that's all that genes do. These proteins control pretty much everything that goes on in your body; they are responsible for growth, for controlling your metabolism, etc. They are the units of which your cells are made, they control where different things are deposited in your body, they are used to digest your food. So, here's the thing. If you look at our genome and compare it to a chimps, there is an awful lot of similarity, especially in the coding regions of genes. This is because (and I don't mean to offend anyone's religious sensibilities, feel free to believe whatever you would like) scientists have surmised that humans and chimpanzees have, in the relatively recent (past 4 or 5 million years as an upper estimate) shared a common ancestor. If you go back far enough, _all mammals_ shared a common relative. In fact, it is believed that if you go back _really far_, all life on earth shares a common origin (or at least most life- there is some speculation that some bacteria might have arisen independently- to make my own biases clear, I believe that the evidence which suggests a common origin for all life on Earth is stronger than evidence to the contrary.
What does this mean for CoC?
If you believe that humans and "Deep Ones" share a common ancestor, there might be some homology (shared structure and function) between our genes and a deep one's genes. BUT, and let me make this clear, that _does not_ mean that the "junk" portions of our genome contain all that is necessary to make a human into a Deep One, any more than it means that we could "degenerate" into a chimpanzee. This is why that one Star Trek: TNG where everyone on the ship was "devolving" into different organisms because their introns were activated was so laughable.
My take on the "degeneration" of a human into a Ghoul would be that a virus was actually interfering with our code and making new proteins which transforms the unfortunate victim into a ghoul. Think of it like cancer, in a way; if you change the structure of DNA in a gene, if you mutate it, you get abnormal functioning which could lead to a host of different diseases, including cancer. Picture changing genes in a specific pattern, in a specific way, and you could change a human into a ghoul. that's at least how I would work it in a campaign. We talked about Prions a little in this list, too.
For Deep Ones, however, I don't see that there is any way to explain given our existing knowledge of genetics how a Deep One and Human could hybridise or how a human could transform into a deep one. I guess someone a little more creative might be able to come up with an explanation which doesn't contradict known genetics. I have a few ideas, if anyone really wants to hear my speculation about how to keep it within the realm of possibility, e-mail me.
The above is all a _gross_ oversimplification of genetics, I just don't have the space or time to thoroughly explain it all here. BUT, if anyone is really interested, I recommend that you look for the "Cartoon guide to Genetics" by Larry Gonick. Don't laugh, it is a very well researched book pitched at a level for the average starting college student or maybe even upper level high-school student. It explains a lot of the basic concepts of genetics.
> >we're allowed to distort things in CoC: so are we all, at least
latently,
> >Ghouls & deep ones?
so, just to restate it, I think maybe you could work it that humans and Ghouls and humans and deep ones share a common ancestor in the past. How distant that relationship is, I would leave to the storyteller. But I would suggest making the transformations stay in the realm of the mystical and unexplainable unless you want to do a lot of research or if you don't mind bending science to make it fit your story. After all, it's a game, we should all have fun with it.
> there is really a portion of the genetic code that is either unused or redundant
In fact, a lot of the genome is both redundant and unused. Also, genes consist of exons (that code for proteins) and introns (which are spacers between exons of the same gene). And, outside of the exons are the control regions for a gene. And, beyond that is more DNA that is, as far as we know, junk but which may reflect spaces needed between genes or may reflect accumulated junk over evolutionary time or may be genes which have ceased to function and over time accumulated enough mutations to look like junk (and therefore become non-functional).
In order to be a gene, a piece of DNA needs certain pieces ( a start and stop "codon", think of this like the punctuation on a sentence), and it needs to be in frame.
Look at it like this.
You are reading a manuscript. It looks like this.
aWYRIARGIPUQEIJAPIFUVHQ9UEIRGPQIUOEFVIJ<14POINT
TIMES>UIRQII<START>MARY
HAD
A LITTLE LAMB<splice>ierieioqealviqiqiaviuqv<splice>ITS FLEECE
WAS
WHITE AS SNOW<PERIOD>QWUROQWFOQWFO
In this analogy, the <14POINT TIMES> is the control region, the <START> is a start codon, the readable sentence begins, it is interrupted by some stuff, which in this case breaks the sentence into a logical part (this is not always the case) and than continues until the <PERIOD>, the stop codon. Everything else is just spacers and junk.
Reading the human genome is like reading a manuscript that looks like this, except finding the sentences are harder. Also, DNA consists of only four "parts" or letters, usually represented as A, C, T, or G, called nucleotides. So the above text, which uses a bunch of letters and numbers, is meant only as an analogy.
> Then again, as far as I understand this things, the Deep Ones could
have a
> longer or totally different DNA string and still be
reproductive-compatible
> with us. If that's the case, it would be
harder to alter a human into a
> deep one.
Actually, reproductive incompatibility exists between even very closely related species in some cases, and a lot of times hybrids between closely related species are sterile. This is why I said before that Human-Deep Ones hybrids are a big stretch for known genetics.
> Can someone please bring us out of our collective ignorance?
Well, like I said, I can't explain it all, but there is a quick primer, and I really suggest reading the "Cartoon Guide to Genetics"
Warning: again, I will say that I am oversimplifying in a very large way, and it is hard to be totally accurate when one is oversimplifying. Genetics is a pretty big Subject. Have fun exploring it. Also, I do not speak for my department or school in this post
> >Only a very small portion of our genetic code is used.
It's debatable. I seem to recall that 10% of our DNA is used to code for proteins (exons). 10% does not code for anything (introns). There's another 80% which we're still not sure about.
Just to throw in my $0.02, I have a couple of theories of my own on the subject. My apologies if these kinds of ideas have already come up - I only just joined the list.
THEORY 1. The "science-fiction" explanation: Ghouls and deep ones did not evolve naturally. They were created by a technologically advanced race (the mi-go would be an obvious candidate) either by genetically engineering humans or by infecting human candidates with a virus that causes the gross physical change into a ghoul or deep one. The latter I think may be more interesting. The viruses wouldn't cause any genetic change at all -- meaning ghouls and deep ones are genetically human, which is why they can crossbreed with us so easily. The "Ghoul virus" might affect anyone, but require prolonged contact with an infectious agent. This also explains why people could become ghouls by reading books (contaminated with the virus) or by hanging out with ghouls. The "Deep One virus" might only affect people with a certain genetic ancestry, but be easily spread. This way, an uninfected person with the "Innsmouth look" could go through life just looking a bit weird (a simple inherited trait), but as soon as they come into contact with a long-lost (and infected) relative, or visit a certain ancestral town, they begin to notice certain ... changes, physically and mentally.
THEORY 2. The "mystic shit" explanation: Ghouls and deep ones are native to the Dreamlands, not the waking world. DNA and other scientific questions are irrelevant, because the matter of crossbreeding requires only the logic and science of a dream. In this view, ghouls and deep ones are the manifestation of the collective unconscious and human squeamishness about sex and reproduction, death, the oceans, and the unknown. Whether it is that fear that created the ghouls and deep ones, or vice versa, is a kind of "the chicken or the egg" question.
There are big holes in both these theories, of course. If this ever comes up in my own games, I'll probably drop hints about both, without ever resolving it. I'd hate to see my players' hard-earned terror of cemeteries and isolated seaside villages disappear in a puff of science.
As I've always understood it, the deep ones are not native to this planet. that is not to say this was ever made explicit in Lovecraft, or even that they didn't roam the Earth before humankind evolved, but if so, then deep ones and humankind do not share any kind of common ancestor. The fact that deep ones are capable of using humans as breeding stock would suggest there is some kind of facility within the deep ones genetic structure that allows them to take advantage (literally) of other creatures DNA for reproduction purposes. Some kind of highly developed survival mechanism is presumably at work.
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 20:20:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: The
Man in Black
1) DeepOnes : The DNA / Anthropological aspects of Human/Deep One relationships relate to Aquatic Ape Theory. AAT basically states that some primates had an Aquatic stage in their evolution, like dolphins, otters etc. The theory goes on to suggest that missing links could be found if paleoanthropologists would do some digging in offshore areas or areas that used to be offshore. I'm not kidding, this theory actually exists (although it's not particularly well supported or credible).
Also, it would seem that Cthulhu and his octopoids (sounds like a punk rock band :) have had something to do with the manipulation of Deep Ones. Thus any scientific filter we view the Deep Ones biology through would distort the reality altering magics used to create them in the first place.
2) GHOULS : DNA, genetics and paltry human science cannot possibly explain the Human Ghoul relationship. Connections with Dreamlands magic, the god Mordiggian and the Charnel realms would go farther to explain Ghouls than any Biological understanding we might pretend to have. This is why Ghouls are so dangerous and should all be flame broiled by the time Countdown is published :)
CONCLUSIONS: If we take magic into account then it may not be possible to distinguish Ghouls and Deep Ones from homo sapiens sapiens with mere DNA testing. It could very well be that the DNA is identical to our own and the source of their differences are beyond the understanding of our science.
First off, let me say that Mr. Wyckoff did a _very_ good job on providing a basic overview of genetics. I was trying to work up the enthusiasm to summarise the topic (I'm an ex-Biological Sciences grad student), and was thrilled to come across someone who did it better than I could have.
Now, onto adding the Mythos angle:
My take on humans converting into Deep Ones would be something like this:
Deep Ones and humans can interbreed. Whether this is genetic compatibility, magical compatibility, or something else is your call. Personally, I'd considered Deep Ones to be native to the earth, so I'd go with a bizarre genetic compatibility, perhaps some sort of reproductive parasitism (this is sci-fi, not real biology). The product of a Deep One/human mating is a Deep One from birth, even if it looks human. That resemblance to humanity is a concealment technique. Like chameleons can change their colours, Deep One children can resemble their maternal parent (do we know of any human children of Deep One mothers?). But then, at some point after birth, the Deep One genetic heritage manifests, the disguised Deep One sloughs off the appearance of humanity, and regains its birthright. The above doesn't happen in that exact way in any organism I know of, but is similar to how cuckoos and cowbirds lay eggs in the nests of other bird species. The cuckoo chick dominates the nest, evicting the other hatchlings. The parent birds seem to be unable to tell the difference between the invading chick and their progeny, and take care of the cuckoo chick until it grows up and leaves them. It's a stretch to take this to a Deep One child in a human womb, but not a fantastic stretch.
> My take on the "degeneration" of a human into
a Ghoul
Larry Niven
wrote a book in the Ringworld series that, despite having characters as
interested as wet cardboard, explored the possibility that what we know as
the "adult human" is the larval stage of an more complex organism. Were I
trying to explain the ghoul transformation, I'd follow this idea. Some portion
of humanity has the ability to metamorphosis into a ghoul when given certain
environmental hints, akin to how a caterpillar turns into a pupae and then
a butterfly. If human biochemistry were sufficiently well-understood, scientists
might come to understand the "ghoul transformation." Such an understanding
might make a good element of a story, actually. For tones of Nazism, those
who _can't_ turn into ghouls could be considered racially impure by a
ghoul-worshipping group.
Metamorphoses in biology are pretty much fundamental to modern developmental biology. Cell movement in developing C. elegans (a 1-mm worm) is precisely chartable, if not entirely understood. The study of fruit fly development (Drosophila, for those of you that went to better high schools than I and got to play with such things) is pretty interesting. It's a stretch to assign humans the ability to metamorphosize into ghouls, but only because they don't. If someone showed me a book that turned people into ghouls, and I had to try to explain it scientifically, I'd use the explanation I just pitched above, but put most of my work into trying to track down the environmental signal.
I think this sort of thing is interesting enough to discuss on the list, actually. Scientific or quasi-scientific explanations for the Mythos seem to be the cup of tea of certain groups within the setting, and putting together some hypotheses may be a good source of ideas for GMs.
>I think this sort of thing is interesting enough to discuss on the list,
Quite true. Not only that, but given that Delta Green is set on a highly technological era, it's good to have a tech background for when your players wish to rationalise things. Hell, if they're going against the forces of chaos they might at least have *that*. :)
>For Deep Ones, however, I don't see that there is any way to how a
Deep One
> and Human could hybridise or how a human could transform
into a deep one. Well, that sounded like a challenge to me! So here goes
with my bizarre theory:
For a major change from human to Deep One (in my mind ghoulish degeneration is a different thing - possibly due to contagion, possibly not: see the earlier posts on the matter) to occur, multiple genes must be involved. This is logical and based on biological fact: different genes for different things (claws, webbed feet etc) would need to be switched on and off for the "change" to occur.
However, here is where I go slightly more offbeat (but not much). If we assume that various Deep One genes are latent in the human genome (which granted is a big assumption), the main problem (as I see it) is that lots of genes must be switched on and off in the correct order. This could be controlled by a master gene (I will call this gene "X") which acts as the "Deep One Change Activator Gene" or immediate early gene (to steal a phrase from my virology background).
If transcription of X is triggered (by whatever cause: a virus, magic, chemicals or listening to Spice Girls records for example), the X gene product switches on the next step of the change (genes V, W, X, and Z: or early genes).
Now these gene products have their own effects (V switches off host genes A, B and C; W switches on the next stage of Deep One genes P, Q, R, S and T; Y regulates V and W). Then P,Q,R,S and T switch off D,E,F and G and switch on H, I, J, K and L. And so on... leading to temporally (and spatially) regulated gene expression resulting in the Change.
This "cascade effect" is based on known biological mechanisms: it is exactly what happens during Drosophila (Fruit fly) development, and in the development of all higher organisms during gestation and growth (and in much simpler organisms such as bacteria, yeast and some viruses). It also has some interesting implications:
If the Master Gene (X) is the "susceptibility gene" (i.e without this gene you cannot undergo the Change) and all other genes are latent and spread around the chromosomes, interbreeding easily becomes possible.
Secondly, if the X-gene is recessive it allows an "immune carrier state" to exist: that is, unless there are two copies of X (one on each copy of the chromosome: humans and all higher organisms are diploid - they have two copies of each chromosome, one from the mother, one from the father), the X-gene cannot become activated. Consider the situations below where X represents the Master Gene and O represents an inactive version of X:
The genotype XX (called a homozygote) is fully susceptible to the change
The genotype OO (also a homozygote) is fully resistant to the change
The genotypes OX or XO (called heterozygotes) are carriers, so are not susceptible to the change, but can pass the X gene on to their offspring:
Now, depending on the parents, the following things can happen:
Parents Offspring
OO + XX OX, OX, XO, XO : no susceptible, all carriers
XX + XX XX, XX, XX, XX : all susceptible
OO + OO OO, OO, OO, OO : all resistant
OX + OO OO, OO, OX, XO : 2 carriers, 2 resistant
OX + XX XX, XO, OX, XX : 2 carriers, 2 susceptible
XO + OX OO, OX, XO, XX : 1 susceptible, 2 carriers, 1 resistant
Doubtless I have made a simple mistake somewhere above, and will be corrected, but you get the idea. Not everyone is going to be susceptible even on the basis of one gene causing the change... but on the other-hand if you get unlucky and both your parents are carriers, the you have a 25% chance of being susceptible (or resistant... Oh the fickle hand of eukaryotic genetics!).
But it goes further. What if you are deficient in one of the other genes involved in the change? Well, it could block the change completely, or it could have little effect, or it could be lethal (viz. you die in screaming agony in an insane asylum raving about the wonders of the deep!).
It also means that treatment (gene therapy?) may not be possible once the change has started (for example X could be switched off by Z to keep the process regulated correctly - otherwise V, W, Y and Z would be expressed all the time - which would be bad!), but might be possible before the process begins (keeping X switched off all the time would prevent the Change). It also makes X very hard to find (you suspect there is an activator that does something, but by the time the "symptoms" of the change are observable, X is no longer expressed!)
And don't look to the human genome project to solve it either. As all the genes would show up as perfectly normal (as most people would have at least some of them) then there is no way to identify them (which is the major flaw of the HGP: whose genome are they sequencing to define as normal: current estimates suggest that each of us has 6-9 mutated genes). Also if carriers are otherwise perfectly normal human beings (apart from having one copy of the X gene) what can you do about them? This should provide food for thought for the kill-'em-all school who would wipe out all traces of the Deep Ones or ghouls... they may actually be committing genocide on normal humans if they use presence of X as a diagnostic tool for who gets a bullet in the brain (Mandatory d20 SAN loss when they finally pass an Idea Roll, Keepers).
Anyway, I could go on but I think I've said enough. Doubtless there are some flaws in my thinking, but I'm an infectious disease specialist not a molecular biologist! Hope it is of some interest to someone though
How about some place ...say near Chernobyl, where both humans and ghouls leave their mutated offspring exposed to die, Sometimes an exchange of sorts is made.
> ...(which is the major flaw of the HGP: whose genome are they sequencing
to
> define as normal
Those of 10 original Karotechia members, of course. Who did you think was running it? :)
>However, here is where I go slightly more offbeat (but not much).
If we
>assume that various Deep One genes are latent in the human genome
(which
>granted is a big assumption)
This is not such a large gap, if you take some mythos stories which assert that humanity was created as a slave race. Wouldn't it be more economical for our creators to use handy genetic material, rather than build us from scratch?
First off, I wanted to say that I'm glad people liked my quick genetics explanation, and thanks for the feedback. I do just enough TA'ing that it's nice to know when my analogies work (and when they don't).
I have thought about the Deep Ones "problem" a lot. As far as I can see, the ghoul issue could be solved by an infectious agent, though other nefarious agents are also possible and I don't want to spoil a Keeper's fun. But the Deep Ones/Human hybridisation had me puzzling. I like the explanations and discussion that have been going on: lots of good ideas here.
For my own amusement, I was trying to figure out how hybridisation could take place without invoking either an infectious agent (as such: you'll see I had to fudge a bit) or the idea of "latent" genes _already present_ in the human genome being activated. Let me preface the following by saying that it is all fiction: while I will use known genetics and biology, I am going to depart from reality pretty severely at points and I will attempt to let you know when I do that.
So, let's say that you start out with a community of "normal" human beings. They live near water, fish, etc. Unfortunately, one of the population decides (for whatever reason) to contact the Deep Ones in the area, and use them to gain power in the town (or for whatever reason: use your imagination <grin>).
The Deep Ones say "Okay, sounds great, but we need new breeding stock. So, We're going to sleep with your women."
Now, normally, when a human male and human female mate, each contributes exactly half of the nuclear genetic material for the new human being. BUT, Human males do not contribute any to the cellular environment of the new being; sperm are pretty tightly packaged and they contain (in the portion of the sperm that invades the ovum) only DNA and some expendable binding proteins (I study the evolution of a couple of those proteins; let me tell you, using the phrase "expendable" hurts a little). But, the ovum is a large cell, and contains cytoplasm (the fluid in a cell) and contains among other things, a number of a specific type of organelle called a mitochrondria. These mitochondria actually have their own genetic material. You can see where this is going; mitochondria are inherited only from your Mom, your Dad has nothing to do with it. There was quite a paper on this a couple of years ago out of Penn State; they tried to date when the last common ancestor of all mitochondria in existence today in humans existed. Interesting work and widely misinterpreted by the lay press. At any rate, without going into too much more detai, what if the Deep One males actually contributed extra-nuclear genetic material to the new ovum.
Not a mitochondria, but a little bundle that contains all of the genes necessary to make a human a deep one. This is a stretch, but has some basis in reality; some species do have male extra-nuclear contribution to the next generation. Now, the following is a _huge_ stretch. In the _initial_ generation when the Deep Ones mate with females, the next generation are going to be humans with latent, extra-nuclear Deep One DNA waiting to be activated.
But, there is a problem; it doesn't explain how the Deep One nuclear genes were compatible with the humans to start with; the Deep ones might have a very different genome structure, so how can the first human/deep one hybrids survive? Maybe, the Deep Ones don't contribute _any_ nuclear material at all; perhaps there is a gene which causes the mother's ovum's DNA to replicate but not reduce in copy number (equivalent to a first round meiosis for those biologists out there). So, the hybrid is, in fact, derived from a recombined haploid maternal genome, doubled to give a normal human chromosome complement, with this extra "Deep One" DNA floating around, waiting to be activated. the interesting thing about this is that it would uncover all sorts of genetic defects present in the host population (trust me on this, the details are a little complicated to explain here, though I certainly will if people want).
The other thing is that all of the first generation hybrids are going to be female (no male Y chromosome contribution). In the next generation, Male humans might mate with these females, and the Deep One DNA is still floating around. So, in another generation, you have a mixed population of Males and females with this extra-nuclear "Deep One" DNA floating around in the cell. This DNA might than "activate" under specific signals (there is no biological problem with this) and convert the human into a Deep One (or, at least, a pretty fair approximation of a Deep One; the human now becomes fully reproductively compatible with the Deep Ones, acquires Deep One physiological characteristics, and such. So, basically, within 2 or 3 generations, the entire population can be subsumed into Deep One breeding stock, without any proclivity to degenerate into Deep Ones pre-existing in the population, and without invoking any "latent" Deep One genes in the Human genome. The Deep One "organelle" DNA basically hijacks the human cells at some point due to some environmental, magical, or age-related signal. Viola.
Now, here's where I fudged: the Deep One organelle might be considered by some to be a parasite: in fact, the ultimate parasite, only wishing to reproduce itself. Selfish DNA, as it were. It also gives us some idea of the _possible_ origins of the Deep Ones; maybe, through some accident, this parasite existed benignly in some other organism but managed to get introduced into humans. Eventually, it existed in enough of the population in a specific area to cause that population to "become" Deep Ones. The other possibility is almost too horrific to contemplate. Some human cultures, some Deep One populations, might have spawned human, land-based populations who had lost the "Deep One" organelle. These groups might have stories about being descended from "people of the sea" or some such. They might be correct. Or maybe the organelle was introduced into a population of primitive ape-like creatures by the Old Ones in order to create a usable undersea slave race. That race became the deep ones, and the unaltered ape-like creature might have been an early ancestor of man, like Austrolopithecus or such.
So, there's my explanation. Pretty weird, I know, but I have used at least parts of it before in campaigns, and I have usually had the players roll to check for SAN loss in their characters when some parts of this are revealed. Also, I think that it adequately explains a lot of the phenomena associated with the Deep Ones in Lovecraft's work and in the more modern work inspired by it. For example, people in the "deep one" infested towns will tend to look the same, they will tend to have some similar deformities and such. It explains how a totally normal population with no occult history could become Deep One breeding stock, it explains Lovecraft's more wild stories about populations with "ancestors" in the sea, it puts forth a hypothesis about the "original" relationship between deep ones and humans, about the creation fo the deep ones in the first place, and about why they would be tempted to breed with humans at all.
There you go. YMMV. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER
NOTE: The above is a work of speculative fiction, and in no way reflects my beliefs about alien life, the existence of elder gods, or the origin of any human population. I speak only for myself in this fictional work and do not represent my school or department. Please do not take any piece of this out of context as representing my own real views towards genetics.
Funny thing this just popped up now, but on tonite's episode of Millennium they discussed all of the above. In reference, of course, to an apocalyptic prophecy... thought it was neat.
Date: 11 May 98 08:54 GMT
From: FRANK M ADAMS
I just wanted to interject something to this excellent and very interesting discussion. (Sorry to be posting late, but I don't get to check mail as often as I'd like.)
Warning: I know nothing of genetics and very little of biology. End Warning.
Rather than actually breeding with humans what if (I think there are some species that do this) the Deep Ones are hermaphrodites(sp? usage?) and have both male and female characteristics and some have the ability to produce an already fertilised egg.
The Deep One then "mates" with a human female and injects the fertilised egg (and a bunch of cellular material if necessary) into her and it finds it's way to her womb displacing whatever egg might be there. The female then becomes the host for the Deep One progeny.
Maybe the Deep Ones can't have children on their own and have to use other races to carry their children, perhaps even impregnating sharks, dolphins, small whales, apes, etc.
Also, the eggs could be highly sophisticated. The Deep One's DNA can "read" host DNA and mimic it's characteristics to insure survival in the birth environment and that the offspring would resemble the mother and she would care for it like one her own (eliminating the Deep One's need to raise the offspring). This would allow the Deep One to be born human (or whatever), but the DNA is only a really good copy of human DNA. Later on, when it's time to go home (determined by a variety of triggers or even a type of racial summons), the Deep One DNA kicks into high gear and changes the being (morphing/mutating/transforming/whatever) into it's true Deep One form. Since the Deep Ones are a mythos race and beyond regular laws of genetics this would offer a more plausible explanation (well at least it sounds good to me and my players) for the breeding stock rationalisations. Plus it gives the Deep Ones a unique perspective on the lifestyles, habits and capabilities of other races they deal with regularly (a sort of Deep Cover Spy so to speak). It also lends a greater level of horrific alien-ness to this already creepy mythos race. One more reason to fear'em, hate'em and respect'em
This is the explanation I've taken for my campaigns and it works great. The characters always freak out when they find a hidden ocean-side breeding den of kidnapped host women - all crippled and mute so that they can't escape and swollen with Deep One offspring. Kept alive in hideous isolation babbling and disfigured for the Deep One's terrible purposes. Shudders and groans all around the table every time. What to do? Put them out oftheir misery or try to help however they can. Not to mention the player reactions in adventures when the occasional beached whale or dolphin gives birth to something "not meant for this earth". I've based whole adventures around Greenpeace-type help expeditions gone awry.
I'd love to go into more details, but I've limited time and I'm sure you all get the idea. Let me know what you think (especially you brilliant geneticists out there). I'd welcome any input that help my theories gain validity (or at least sound more scientific).
May you never see what finally eats you,
> Are there any articles reasonably suited to a reasonably
well-read
> generalist that would lay out the current state of the
research?
The series NOVA had an episode called "The Brain Eater" (even the title sounds Lovecraftian). Seems to sum up all the current research regarding prions. The site : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madcow/ .
P.S. I think the Prions with DNA/RNA on Millennium are preposterous. Then again, they STILL don't know what this bleeding plague is & it might be something else entirely. Seems to always follow in the wake of dead birds however...
