KNick wrote:TheGlyphstone wrote:For a setting with an enduring distrust and prejudice against genetic engineering, there sure are a lot of modified characters among the frontline cast - the Wintons, the Harringtons, the Scrags/Amazons, Thandi, all of the Mesans, anyone in the Ballroom...I highly doubt RFC did not do this intentionally, but it's still interesting.
<<SNIP>>
Other than the Mesans and the Ballroom, all the Genies you mention pre-date Earth's Final War. It is that war and it's aftermath that generated that distrust and prejudice. Mesa and their genetic slaves post-date the war but they are a reaction to the restrictions placed on genetic research by Beowulf's medical establishment after they finished the clean-up of Earth after the war. I believe that the fact that there are so many Genies is deliberate on MWW's part.
There's actually a sort of fundamental question here. Is the Alignment wrong about its objectives while Beowulf is correct to fear those objectives? Or is the Alignment only wrong about it's tactics, while Beowulf is wrong to fear the MA's final objective but right about its own tactics and morality?
There are, of course, a host of other questions. I simply submit these two for your consideration.