Nueguan Physiology Explained
Nueguan Physiology Explained
Sometimes it surprises me how much world-building I've done that I take for granted. I've never fully written down all the changes in the human genome that went into the New Genetic Woman Project, or Nuegua (for short).
These changes can be divided into: (1) reproductive strategy; (2) brain structure and function for organic virtual reality; (3) immune system response; (4) aging; (5) miscellaneous.
The approach I will use is "show don't tell"; this means that there won't be any long-winded exposition about Nueguan physiology.
Reproductive Strategy
First and foremost, the male to female ratio is nothing like homo sapiens; there is one male to every four females. That biological change alone would cause a major change in culture.
Second, Nueguan females can consciously control their fertility. They cannot be made pregnant against their will, one of the most brutal and ancient forms of male domination.
Third, the Nueguan female body (and to a lesser extent the male) is optimized for sexual attraction and sexual response. The female is the idealized erotic model of our time; this ideal is further developed by Berylia's Seducers. With the Seducers, a combination of sexual encounter with a Nueguan female, plus the eating of (altered) Mother Fruit causes a permanent addiction to that particular female.
Fourth, a Nueguan female--if accepted by the Guild of Healers--begins lactating at age twelve, and doesn't stop until they permanently enter the Dreaming Grotto of the Pregnant Virgin (short form the Grotto).
Brain Structure And Function
Although all Nueguans have high intellectual functioning, only Nueguan females have the adaptation that allows them to access the Cactus Mothers. When a Nueguan female enters into the Cactus Mother, the female immediately goes into Alpha sleep, while the Cactus Mothers spins out a carbon nanotube (less than the thickness of a human hair) that passes through the female's earlid (a genetic alteration that combines hearing protection with access into the occipital lobe) .
A Nueguan female brain has a much higher level of integration of visual (occipital lobe) and dreaming (right temporal lobe) functions than either a Nueguan male or an Old Human. All Nueguans, however, have integrated amygdalar pathways not found in Old Humans; this self-therapeutic network means that Nueguans do not have priests or therapists, any more than Old Humans need someone to chew their food for them.
Immune System Response
All Nueguans, and to a lesser extent the Phoenix Apache--have a vastly redesigned immune system that makes it virtually impossible for them to catch an Old Human disease. This is a direct result of the Recursive Instructional Nexus (RIN), a supercomputer in each and every Nueguan cell.
Since Nueguans have had so little contact with Old Humans, since they only interact with Apache Traders, it is not until the time of the chapter 'Ghost Sickness' that the real power of their immune response becomes apparent. Alathea has hit upon the idea of using her Nueguan breast milk to instantly heal the Apache Traders when they go out as a team to investigate and secure the treasures of the Sky Wanderer cities such as Scottsdale.
Due to the combination of the advanced genetic alterations from this experience, and from the close contact with the diseased of New Spain, Rintiala alone of all the Nueguans becomes Remade. Not only her breast milk, but related body fluids such as saliva and sweat can heal and alter the Old Humans in her physical presence, even without close physical contact. The New Spaniards, Indio and Mestizo near her during her first convulsive transformation are Remade or optimized within their bodies' limits. Many die as a result, but Maria Sepulveda, Constanza Baca and to a lesser extent, Benedetto Sepulveda are also remade. The greatest change occurs to Maria's fifteen-year-old maidservant, who is Remade very close to the Nueguan ideal, which is the reason she later goes over to the Nueguan camp.
Aging
Nueguans age differently than Old Humans, sexually maturing earlier at age twelve, and then reaching full physical maturity at nineteen or twenty. There is then a sixty-to-eighty year span when aging stops, only to start up again around the century mark. Aging is quite rapid after that, with most Nueguan males dying before one hundred, and all Nueguan females dying around one-hundred-and-twenty. This is the reason that no one knows for sure the exact age of the Oldest Mother; the likely number is one-hundred-eighty to two hundred, as she is being maintained by the most advanced of the Cactus Mothers.
Miscellaneous
The Nueguan body is essentially an Olympic-class athlete, with sexual enhancements. They have very little body hair below their eyebrows. The most important distinguishing feature are their eyes, which are not mammalian, but avian, having no blood vessels in the retina. This gives a Nueguan four to five times the visual acuity of an Old Human. For this reason, the Hopi and Navaho have legends about 'the witches of the Clear Eyes'.
Sometimes it surprises me how much world-building I've done that I take for granted. I've never fully written down all the changes in the human genome that went into the New Genetic Woman Project, or Nuegua (for short).
These changes can be divided into: (1) reproductive strategy; (2) brain structure and function for organic virtual reality; (3) immune system response; (4) aging; (5) miscellaneous.
The approach I will use is "show don't tell"; this means that there won't be any long-winded exposition about Nueguan physiology.
Reproductive Strategy
First and foremost, the male to female ratio is nothing like homo sapiens; there is one male to every four females. That biological change alone would cause a major change in culture.
Second, Nueguan females can consciously control their fertility. They cannot be made pregnant against their will, one of the most brutal and ancient forms of male domination.
Third, the Nueguan female body (and to a lesser extent the male) is optimized for sexual attraction and sexual response. The female is the idealized erotic model of our time; this ideal is further developed by Berylia's Seducers. With the Seducers, a combination of sexual encounter with a Nueguan female, plus the eating of (altered) Mother Fruit causes a permanent addiction to that particular female.
Fourth, a Nueguan female--if accepted by the Guild of Healers--begins lactating at age twelve, and doesn't stop until they permanently enter the Dreaming Grotto of the Pregnant Virgin (short form the Grotto).
Brain Structure And Function
Although all Nueguans have high intellectual functioning, only Nueguan females have the adaptation that allows them to access the Cactus Mothers. When a Nueguan female enters into the Cactus Mother, the female immediately goes into Alpha sleep, while the Cactus Mothers spins out a carbon nanotube (less than the thickness of a human hair) that passes through the female's earlid (a genetic alteration that combines hearing protection with access into the occipital lobe) .
A Nueguan female brain has a much higher level of integration of visual (occipital lobe) and dreaming (right temporal lobe) functions than either a Nueguan male or an Old Human. All Nueguans, however, have integrated amygdalar pathways not found in Old Humans; this self-therapeutic network means that Nueguans do not have priests or therapists, any more than Old Humans need someone to chew their food for them.
Immune System Response
All Nueguans, and to a lesser extent the Phoenix Apache--have a vastly redesigned immune system that makes it virtually impossible for them to catch an Old Human disease. This is a direct result of the Recursive Instructional Nexus (RIN), a supercomputer in each and every Nueguan cell.
Since Nueguans have had so little contact with Old Humans, since they only interact with Apache Traders, it is not until the time of the chapter 'Ghost Sickness' that the real power of their immune response becomes apparent. Alathea has hit upon the idea of using her Nueguan breast milk to instantly heal the Apache Traders when they go out as a team to investigate and secure the treasures of the Sky Wanderer cities such as Scottsdale.
Due to the combination of the advanced genetic alterations from this experience, and from the close contact with the diseased of New Spain, Rintiala alone of all the Nueguans becomes Remade. Not only her breast milk, but related body fluids such as saliva and sweat can heal and alter the Old Humans in her physical presence, even without close physical contact. The New Spaniards, Indio and Mestizo near her during her first convulsive transformation are Remade or optimized within their bodies' limits. Many die as a result, but Maria Sepulveda, Constanza Baca and to a lesser extent, Benedetto Sepulveda are also remade. The greatest change occurs to Maria's fifteen-year-old maidservant, who is Remade very close to the Nueguan ideal, which is the reason she later goes over to the Nueguan camp.
Aging
Nueguans age differently than Old Humans, sexually maturing earlier at age twelve, and then reaching full physical maturity at nineteen or twenty. There is then a sixty-to-eighty year span when aging stops, only to start up again around the century mark. Aging is quite rapid after that, with most Nueguan males dying before one hundred, and all Nueguan females dying around one-hundred-and-twenty. This is the reason that no one knows for sure the exact age of the Oldest Mother; the likely number is one-hundred-eighty to two hundred, as she is being maintained by the most advanced of the Cactus Mothers.
Miscellaneous
The Nueguan body is essentially an Olympic-class athlete, with sexual enhancements. They have very little body hair below their eyebrows. The most important distinguishing feature are their eyes, which are not mammalian, but avian, having no blood vessels in the retina. This gives a Nueguan four to five times the visual acuity of an Old Human. For this reason, the Hopi and Navaho have legends about 'the witches of the Clear Eyes'.
posted by Zinc Chameleon @ 6:16 AM
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