The Ancient Files

Mana, Genetics and the Awakening
  One of the primary effects of the rise of mana in the Sixth World are the number of species, and changes within species, that have taken place, and are still to come.  For a proper understanding of the changes the Awakening is making, a look must be given to the process.

Mana Mechanics
    Magical energy increases and decreases according to a pattern of sorts, like a sine wave, except the progression is not always smooth, having jumps and spikes here and there .  The Astral Plane allows one to view mana.  While it would be folly to prescribe laws to magic so early in the cycle, there are certain principles which are apparent and should be noted before we delve into genes.

--Mana is tied to living things.  Both the living earth, and living beings both sentient and non sentient.  The farther one gets from the mass of living beings, the more warped the manasphere becomes.  Likewise, the condition of the earth and living things affects the flow and manifestation of mana. Polluted areas cause a warping of the astral plane: mana will not flow correctly there, and spirits summoned will be corrupted.  Which brings us to the next principle.

--The thoughts and emotions of human beings affect mana.  Intense emotions are visible to Astral viwers, and cause effects on the Astral.  Areas of severe emotional distress (like Auschwitz, or the ghetto) can pollute, without any physical pollution present.  What is more, sentient beings may manipulate mana, sometimes on a wide scale, aspecting and increasing the amount of power available.  The unconscious beliefs of humanity may also have a hand in the expression of some paranatural animals to conform to legends, beliefs and stories; but it is also likely that previous encounters with such creatures may have influenced myths and traditions so that our stories conformed to the critter's reality. 

The Metagene
     Magic is essentially the grounding of astral energy into the physical plane.  Its specific effects and the actual channeling of the energy are accomplished with the aid of astral constructs, or spell engines.  The magician determines which effect manifests through subtle alterations in the formula and construction of the specific astral engine.  These engines have a shape and form that are only perceptible in their totality in astral space.  Like all other multi-dimensional objects, a spell engine can be represented in a "lower" dimension by it's shadow.

     Genetic configurations precisely match three-dimensional shadows of specific astral constructs.  Metahumans are humans who possess genomes carrying the correct sequence of astral shadows that code for their metatype's traits.  These three-dimensional structures within the genome only activate in the presence of magic.  Astral energy must be funneled through the gene to cause this effect.  It is still unknown how genes channel astral energies.

      The shape fragment that codes for the direction and grounding of astral energy is called the metatrigger.  An individual may have any number of astral shadows within his genome, but cannot express them without an active metatrigger.  Also, a person could have a metatrigger and no astral shadows.  Such an individual would develop a sensitivity to magical phenomena.

     The metatrigger cannot access any of the energies of astral space, but rather must draw its energy from ambient background magic.  Metatraits actively manifest only when the vibratory cycles of the physical plane and the astral plane achieve a harmonic point and energy flows freely between the two.  Thus, in an area where a mana spike occurs (either naturally or through some event or ritual) it is possible for metatraits to express in an individual earlier than the norm for the species.  These individuals are known as Spike Babies, and are typically elves, although other metatypes are certainly possible if the individual has the correct genes and the spike is strong enough.  When in an ambient mana environment, metatraits appear to be stable; but during the down cycle they are subject to standard mutational effects (pollutants, inbreeding, radiation, random mutation due to miscopying, etc.)

Ingentisization and Expression
      In a magic-positive environment, an organism whose genome has both astral shadows and a functional metatrigger will develop the physical manifestations of its metatraits as soon as it can draw enough energy to exceed the body's repression factor (usually, this occurs in vitro).  Goblinization at puberty occurs when an individual with astral shadows and a metatrigger produces specific repressor proteins that prevent Awakening.

      Mana (and/or genes) may be aspected in such a way as to favor the expression of one metatype or another.  That is, physical location influences metatype expression.  As an example, the Pacfic Northwest of North America shows higher birth and expression rates for all metatypes, Australian Aborigines have expressed very few dwarves and no trolls, and Tir na nOg shows signifcantly higher than world average number of elves born since the Awakening.

       Metahumans might not breed true(though they have tended to do so).  Children of any union will be either the father's race or the mother's race.  However, ork and troll parents may give birth to human children that Goblinize at puberty, and some children of two human parents still express as orks or trolls at puberty. The progeny of the Giant metavariant have a higher-than-average factor of reversion to human: approximately one in four children will be born human.   However, no sub race (i.e. half-elves, half-trolls, etc) will ever exist, because only one set of metatraits will express.  An individual born to an elf and a dwarf may have the complete genes for the metatraits for both, but only one set will express.

       The Magus Factor is the nebulous gene or combination of genes which allow a metahuman to consciously manipulate astral energies.  The very existence of the Magus Factor is barely agreed upon, as there is little difference between a magically active metahuman and one without magical abilities.  It has been proposed that the Magus Factor may be little more than a predisposition to wielding arcane forces, much like the progeny of two quantum physicists may have a better natural grasp of equations.  Currently, one percent of the world population have the potential to be magically active.  The ability to use magic may or may not be passed on to one's offspring.

        The Infected are individuals who possessed a strain of HMHVV.  When mana reached the Goblinization point for HMHVV, individuals with a sufficient concentration in their system transformed, as mana activated the metatraits created by the retrovirus.  Some historical reports of vampires and the like may be traced to individuals infected with HMHVV who expressed early, similar to a Spike Baby.

SUdden Recessive Genetic Expression
        During the Year of the Comet, one percent of metahumans SURGEd, becoming Changelings.  Other animal species likewise SURGEd, but they appear to be new sub-species.

        Basically, the rise in mana activated recessive polypeptide chains in the metahuman genecode.  These can be broken into  three classes.  In each case, it appears the genes have altered due to time.

Class 1-These polypeptide chains have similar structures to those associated with normal metatype expression, but only parts: pointed ears, tusks, astral perception, etc.  The current thought is that expressing one metatrait triggers another until all metatraits of your type are expressed (example: a fetus' ears become pointed, then her eyes become almond-shaped, then their eyes grow more rods, etc. Until the kids's a full elf.) and that those who express Class 1 SURGE have damaged sequences: some metatraits express while others don't.

Class 2-These polypeptide chains appear to be ancient remnants from earlier periods of genetic development; usually
              following a single type; such as canine, feline, icythus, etc...  Examples include fur, tails, scales, fangs, slit irises, gills
              and the like.

Class 3-No one knows where these genetic traits come from, and the results are unusual; such as a change in skin
              pigmentation or loss of all body hair.

Gods and Monsters
      Sometimes, certain advanced genetech do great things...terrible things...but great.
Aztechnology once recombined the human metagene with wolves, tigers and bears; until it broke out into a virus that
    changed everything it touched.
Renraku caused the sister of Sam Verner to express as an Ork, as if she had been born that way.
BioDynamics, a Seretech company, creates a hybrid metahuman species called Uruk-Hai (waaay too much Tolkein, Mr.
    Smith.)  It fails the final test vs. a certain awakened feline, however.
Telestrian Industries created a magical virus as a bioweapon.
The Ordo Maximus and the Mob create super-vampires by recombining HMHVV strains.
The UCAS creates cyberware-accepting kids prone to psychoses.
And oh, so much more...

Odds'n'Ends
-There is no documentation of an ork or troll being born to elven parents; nor a dwarf born of an ork.

-Some paracritters that are born in litters display individual or no paranatural abilities when separated from their littermates, but when brought together, all littermates display a certain power.  It appears that one littermate out of  the rest holds a gene significant for the power enhancement.

-Six percent of metahumans suffer from severe photosensitive reactions. 

-Some normal genetic traits are passed down with metatraits, perhaps because they're located close together.  This leads to a propensity for certain traits in certian metahumans: orks are more likely to birth multiple children,  adult trolls are more likely to be lactose intolerant, dwarfs are more likely to be left handed, and so on.

-There is a genetic stopwatch mechanism that activates in high mana, present in all metahuamns but only fully developed in certain elves.  No complementary set of genetic material has yet been found to turn it off, though.

-There is evidence that individuals who Goblinize into orks and trolls from human may enjoy a typical human lifespan, rather than the shorter lifespan of those metahumans born orks and trolls.

-There is a certain rare blood type, the genes of which may be linked to magical ability, as well as the Elven metatype.  It exists only in human and elven metahumans, fetuses of other sub-species that have this blood type die in vitro.  There are no records of elves with this blood type not becoming magicians.
   <Example: A human has this rare blood type.  She has a higher chance of being a magician.  If she becomes pregnant with an ork, dwarf or troll baby, she will suffer a miscarriage.  If she has a human baby or elf baby, it'll come to term.  If she has an elf baby, it will become a magician.>

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