#kotlc science

[bookishandartsy]

Talentless elves = silent carriers of ability enhancement?

I have a theory that talentless elves are a silent carriers of some kind of ability enhancer. The two examples we've seen of kids (Dex and Stina) with talentless parents (Kesler and Timkin) have been really, extraordinarily powerful, especially for their age. First, Dex: he was able to do so much just within a few months of manifesting. I don't have clear cut evidence but we've seen Dex accomplish really complex things in short periods of time (ability restrictor, twigler, sucker punch, panic rings, hacking into the registry files, the list goes on) and he's also been entrusted by the black swan and the council to invent and modify gadgets. I would understand if the black swan took him on because as a secret organization (supposedly) they could benefit with more technopaths, but the fact that the council (who have access to ALL technopaths ever) needed him so badly that they had to blackmail and threaten him really shows how powerful he is compared to other technopaths (even those who have had centuries to hone their ability). Moving on to Stina: she is an unusually powerful empath. In Legacy its revealed that she can also feel Sophie's emotions through the air, which only Keefe and Lord Cassius have been known to do (but Gisela experimented on them, which is probably why they are extra powerful (also this is kinda irrelevant but I hc that Lord Cassius' dad was talentless -- im fully aware that this probably isn't the case)). I have to do a little more research to think about how this would work (like if this might be a chromosomal thing, or if its a trait determined by alleles).

[twohoursearly]

Sometimes getting educated is hard because then you reread your favorite book series from your childhood and realize the author had no clue what they were talking about

[crymeariveronceagain]

Gethen and Keefe

"What's the point of this?" Keefe asked.

Gethen shrugged, gesturing to his notebook. "I'm trying to figure out how the genetics work with talents. I'm pretty sure I've figured out how they determine match status... but like. I want someone else to look it over."

"And you want... Me to?"

Gethen shrugged. "Your mom thinks you're shit-- I mean crap. I said crap. Crap at science stuff. If it makes sense to you, then I'm onto something, you know?"

Keefe tried not to take that statement to heart.

Gethen started talking, rather loudly. Gethen was rather loud. He made noise, rattled, growled, shouted. Keefe didn't think the man had a quiet bone in him. "So this is a Punnett square, you know. And the capital T stands for a talent, and the lowercase t stands for a weak talent. If you get two capital T's, you get a really strong talent, you're probably a TT combination, and with that you get--"

Keefe listened, quietly, letting the words he already understood, and had understood for years, wash over him. After Gethen finished, finally wearing himself out with his endless words, he sat back. "What do you think? Does that make sense?"

Keefe looked over the notebook's intensely detailed squares, and then flipped the page, moving onto even more complicated squares. He scanned them, quietly, assessing. "I think you've got the elemental powers backwards," he said. "Especially hydrokinesis. That one only makes sense if it's genetically recessive, and requires multiple genomes. Think about it. Hydrokinetics seem to come out of nowhere, from families that have maybe one hydro in their history."

Gethen blinked, surprised. "So," he said, not missing a beat, "You're saying you think Hydrokinesis, and maybe all elemental powers aren't capital T's at all?"

Keefe nodded, looking at it. "Or," he said, "It's a lot more complicated that just one gene that indicates whether or not you'll have a talent. Maybe each one of these also either has a dominant or recessive talent element. Heck," Keefe said, "Maybe there aren't just two genes, one for the talent, one for the ability. Maybe nearly every elf has a possibility to show every talent recessively. Cause," Keefe said, sketching a square. "Even if you have two talentless," he said, putting in lowercase T's, "There isn't a 0% chance that they won't have a kid who's got a talent. So, maybe everyone has every set of talent genomes, and it only comes across in specific situations and--"

"Fucking shit, Kid," Gethen said, yanking his notebook out of Keefe's hands. "You're onto something."

Keefe grinned, at Gethen, watching as the man hastily scribbled out a nearly endless string of letters.

"So you're saying a hydrokinetic could potentially have genes that look something like this?"

Keefe inspected the paper.

tthhiiPPRrSsVvLlNnDdWwQq

The string of letters fit into his envisioned string of DNA like visible drawings.

Keefe nodded, slowly. "Almost," he said, taking the pencil from Gethen, and erasing the capital W. "Two lowercase w's, though. And this," he said, "Is probably overly simplified."

"Fucking shit," Gethen said, again. "What the hell? You're crazy smart, Keefe! Why'd your mom say you were so fucking pathetic?"

Keefe blinked, startled. "I don't know," he answered, honestly.

Gethen grinned. "Well, hell. I've got a new genetics buddy," he said, brightly.

Keefe grinned back, his eyes sparkling.

[crymeariveronceagain]

Do you ever think there would be hybrids (I can't think of anything else to call them) between elves and humans?

Okay this is slightly complicated so*breaks fingers* prepare yourself

Elves and humans are cannonically different species, as far as I'm aware. Now, according to this article, "Most evolutionary biologists distinguish one species from another based on reproductivity: members of different species either won't or can't mate with one another, or, if they do, the resulting offspring are often sterile, unviable, or suffer some other sort of reduced fitness."

So, bearing that in mind, it would make sense if elves and humans usually do not create offspring together. Maybe there's something about the two of them that just feels off and unattractive to the other specie. Maybe humans are just... so messy, to elves. Maybe humans are wrecks, messes, or maybe we stink. Maybe elves find us gross, in some unforgivable way that they never talk about. Like, sure, they can respect us as a species, but they're not going to marry us.

Likewise, humans presumably find something off with elves, as well. If you've ever read The Lunar Chronicles(10/10 would recommend if you have not) you know that perfection is off-putting to humans. Like, perfectly symmetrical faces, incoherent beauty, over the top perfection. When it reaches a certain point, we don't like that so much anymore. There needs to be some flaw, something human about the person to make us attracted to them. Moreover, we look for traits we can find in ourselves in potential partners, as well as places to fill in the gaps of our own flaws.

"Well, hold on," You say, mildly concerned, "Sophie describes elves as beautiful! Like, crazy attractive, all the time! I would totally be attracted to an elf."

Well, hang on a second. For all her humanoid tendencies and behaviors, at the end of the day, Sophie is an elf. She has the mind of a human, but the biology of an elf. And, considering that what you find attractive has quite a bit to do with biology(most neurotypical people wouldn't find a different species attractive in any sort of mating kind of way), she is naturally going to be inclined to find elves more attractive than humans. Because she is one.

Anyways, I'm sure it's happened, that elves will fall in love with humans, or vice versa, and perhaps they got married and had children. Lots of things happen. However, according to biology, and the fact that elves and humans have different DNA, the children will probably have mild birth defects, or what one of the two species would consider a birth defect, such as being talentless, or never aging but growing old internally(like that one super sad Steve Rogers fanfic i read once oh my stars), or even aging normally but never dying. Maybe elf/human children have heterochromatic eyes, one that has to be blue because of the elf genetics and one that has to be brown through human genetics. But, if nothing else, most likely these kiddos will suffer from infertility.

Anyways, I'm sure these kids have a huge personality crisis going up, and have to pick one world to live in, despite how their parents seem to think that they don't have to. If they age as elves do, they'll have to watch their human parent and entire mass of human relatives die in front of them, and possibly some of their siblings who age as humans do. And, especially if they're exhibit more elf-leaning traits, the grief will be really hard on them, as will it be on their elf parent.

Also, if they're more elf-leaning, this brings up the classic problem of talents and matchmaking. They could have a small talent, or some small ability. Anything powerful or flashy probably wouldn't get passed on. However, they're definitely not eligible for matchmaking, and probably would have to live their life as a talentless if they cared to.

"Hold up," you say, "What if they decide to enter into the human world! They wouldn't have to worry about matchmaking or abilities then!"

Excellent point.

I present to you, the immortals. The actors who never age, the ones who share names with people who supposedly died hundred of years ago. I present to you, those with clear abilities that are so subtle they wouldn't effect an iota of the elvin world. Those who show up in your dreams to offer advice but then vanish and you can still remember their faces. Those who have such an understanding of mechanics that they can slap something and it seems to almost fix itself. Those who understand what animals want and need like they understand language. Those who can understand exactly what you're feeling, all the time. I offer you those whose voices are timeless and speak of thousands of years of knowledge. I offer you those who say, beleagueredly, "I don't want to live forever." I present to you the old woman who lived down the street who you swear has to know magic because once you visited her house and it smelled like burning stars and whispered memories. The old woman at the end of the street gets older and older every year. But you don't think it's possible for her to die. Your parents remember her being that old and living in that same house. So do your grandparents.

I feel like that's where the elf/human hybrids would take refuge. Living in safety among humans where they would be ostracized among elves. It's not that the human world is better than the elven world, it's just a little more comfortable for those who are different.