You know, given the Elders' many mistakes wrt the aliens, the Chosen, and the invasion... how successful do you think the Avatar Project would've actually been, if it'd gone according to plan, in terms of keeping the Elders alive? Would it solve any issues with longevity (that is, would the Avatars be able to live as long as the Elders' original bodies, or do you think they'd inherit human mortality)? Reproduction? Or do you think the Avatar Project was doomed from the start, considering how frequently details would slip through the cracks in the Elders' other endeavors?
I'd see the Avatar project being a mixed success with it eventually failing or backfiring on the Elders at some point, but there are so many factors that could come into play.
Read more for this will be long.
How long will the new bodies last? I doubt they'd stop seeking ways to further modify them in and increase their psionic power (for that eventual foe they need to stop running from and fight) which they'd probably reach the point of their new bodies degrading the same way as their original ones did or something much worse. Also, who's to say their original DNA blended with humans(and everything else) won't also trigger issues down the line? Looking at you Warlock with how aged you look compared to your siblings, though he's a combo of however his conversion went and the gene editing, besides waaaaaaay to much psionic power being poured into him.
One thing that's always itched at my mind is how does the psionic possession work with how ever that gameverse views a conciseness and soul? Is it a permanent transfer over? Do they need to keep their original bodies still around and in permeant stasis so they can control their new bodies? Also, how the heck did they make the new bodies have zero conciseness or a weak one that they can override and fully erase? Do they have to constantly suppress the original personality or risk being shunted out or killed due to feedback?
Though I readily ignore that mobile game Legends due to several reasons, it did have a few interesting characters such as Specimen ZERO a.k.a. Void. Void ends up touching on the idea of a will already inhabiting the body. For one version of its creation, there was a clash when an Elder tried to inhabit it, causing the Elder to lose and a spontaneous unique conciseness to form for the Avatar. For another version of its creation, the Elders mind partially imprinted on it which eventually evolved into its own unique personality that resisted any future attempts to be controlled or erased.
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Edit: Misread mortality as morality, here’s the information for that I did in a follow up reblog post
Now for that mortality, probably would have a longer lifespan than a normal city and native(non-city) human. How long? Who knows since the carbon dating from EU/EW would be inaccurate for several reasons(and then XCOM not even getting a chance to do that with 2’s timeline). Could potentially see a few low hundreds. And probably the first sign of wear and tear that can’t be fixed they would jump to a new body and recycle the old one.
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Inherit human morality? Eh, no. Don't really view human DNA would do that to/for them at all. They seem too ingrained in their current ways to change(and feel like that would put too much of a special spin on human DNA.) It would probably take a massive epiphany via some massive loss that leaves them hurting badly for them to rethink their ways and then that is having to fight through how ever-long they've been settled in their self-righteous hypocritical ways for a minuscule shift to begin. Or the Verge epiphany, but, probably have to separate the Elders from each other so their hive mind doesn’t block out the empathy/sympathy they could learn from others.
Don't see them picking up human(or any other alien) reproduction. Building bodies like they do for the Hybrids would be most efficient and allow the upmost control and customization through the entire process. Maybe the Elders could explore parts of themselves they lost(not just reproductive)? Unless they purposely removed or rejected things for whatever issues.
I can see some things slipping out before the completion of the Avatar project to their alien forces which probably would get mixed reactions from those the like/worship them to those that hate them. Can see some slips that get to the human populace that would have to be constantly discredited to obfuscated with the propaganda machine, but eventually something would have to come out once the project in completed and the Elders would be moving on to... well whatever their next interest/mission is. Maybe "some" truth would come out when they establish whoever will the be "caretaker" of the Earth before they leave.
Though, I don't see the Elders abandoning Earth entirely, or leaving to fast(are their other Elder ships heading to Earth?) Humans were finally the perfect species they had been seeking so long. I can see them garrisoning the planet(and solar system) and further controlling the world and micromanaging humanity to the point their constant meddling would end up reshaping the species like they do for all the other species under their thumb.
There's also the "what if" of them doing the spite ending of turbo blending everyone in the Cities(and probably the controlled-settlements too) at those Gene Clinics when XCOM was causing too many problems. Which, man, that level of spite would bite them in the ass so hard.
Yeah, you want to give the Commander the middle finger and try and guilt-traumatize them to come back into your fold by harvesting a chunk of the already, decimated human race. And by doing that, you best have a really good way to store all that genetic material long term and hope however the harvesting went didn't damage some of it, or else your new bodies have a very limited shelf-life since you no longer have adequate amounts of that unedited (mostly) version of that species to harvest anymore!
And one cruelly hilarious thought, after everything they did to finally get their new bodies, what if they aren't enough to finally face that foe that they're running from? All that work only for it to end disastrously for them and all the others species they've dragged into the mess.
I probably have some other ideas that’ll come to me that I’ve forgotten and may make some future posts.
Since I’m doing a longer war™️ for my AU anyway, was thinking of there being an initial scouting force in the Sol System for many years studying Earth with the occasional abductions before the first main force comes.
Getting those hints that humans perhaps have that psionic potential(already finding a few energy pool spots on Earth) besides being another DNA farm and potential piece in their army. A few run ins with XCOM here and there really have them take interest in humanity’s combat potential and delving into XCOM’s history makes that interest so much worse.
Leaders of the scouting force sending information back to the main force(or at least one branch) and get the go ahead to start prepping for the invasion which leads to the development of the Thin Men.
Eventually the invasion force comes, kicking off everything. Everything happens in a 2-3 year time span for my AUs as much as the Elders are seeking that psionic potential and durable body, they want to see how the humans adapt and overcome what they throw at them, before it becomes to much of a headache.
Eventually, more of the main force arrives to Earth in the coming years. And more to come as everything is looking promising.
And takes some time, but they eventually get those psionic gateways set up, and if they can reach across the galaxy, that’s one way they keep up the more finite supplies, to a point, besides the mass consolidation, redesigning, and streamlining they’ve done over the years. Also, I keep the Elders using those psionic gateways for galaxy contact to a minimum as whatever is after them can track them that way.
Thinking about psionically saturated areas that recorded the memories and deaths of people and animals that once lived there. Psionic ghosts haunt the lands, repeating old routines or how they died either via an attack or the psionic flooding of the area.
Hm, think I'll have Muton females in my fics be naturally larger than males and more aggressive due to selective pressure from a deadly/tough homeworld, so reproduction is more costly for them. The larger size and aggressive improve reproductive success and survival of the young.
As they became space-faring and started their expansion, the aggression has lessened some but still core to their biology.
And the Elders take advantage of the natural traits pervert them.
Think I’ll handle my Floaters/Archons as a mix of three things.
1. Some distant cousin species to the Mutons or one that took a different evolutionary path as I’m handling the Mutons being space fairing already before the Elders
2. A different species all together. Shaping them close to what is described in Chimera Squad in that “dreamscape” they get plugged into.
3. Hybridization of 1 and/or 2 like the human/alien hybrids. Thanks @dreadblades for that idea.
And with 1 and 2, I’d going to have them fair well against the Elders(or saw through their nonsense as I have a mix of ‘peaceful’ contact and straight up hyper hostile invasions for the Elders) before they lost and perhaps they managed to do major damaged that pissed the Elders off so much to explain their continual tortured existence via the Floaters to the Archons.
Recently learned that with organ transplants, sometimes people will develop similar tastes of food or hobbies that their organ donor had.
Think I’ll tack that on with my CRISPR stuff and cell genetic memory for all the headache inducing stuff will come from the Meld and excessive gene edits in my XCOM fics.
The Avenger probably has to have a very strict weapons policy. Especially for my version.
Besides everyone’s got a unique temperament(adding in varying levels of mental health issues, traumas, and paranoias) also have to worry about those that do not trust the ADVENT defectors and Hybrids.
Probably have a few areas with semi-easily accessible weapons for security reasons, i.e. raids(alien or human) but most stuff, especially the heavy stuff, is locked up in the armory.
Hmm, could have Bradford break the ruling after an incident I’m planning(how he’s gonna carry around some handguns besides the knife) which will cause some tension.
Actually want to toy with the idea that some former ADVENT units may have to deal with lingering effects of addiction from the combat stims and meds they were given. Same with the aliens.
And for my AU-universe, also having to deal with Hybrid specific organs producing the stims or being semi-faulty.
Stun Lancer ocs on the mind that trigger this thought.
