"Over five or six hundred years, all sorts of experiments were
undertaken, but somehow in these modern times most babies continue to
be born by the traditional method – catch as catch can." – Alexei
Panshin, Starwell
"The tenor of the time had generally turned against such
outlandishness and people had mostly returned to looking more like
people over the last millennium, albeit assuredly pretty good-looking
people, but still, some part of one's appearance was initially at least
left to luck and the random nature of genetic inheritance…" – Iain
M. Banks, Excession
Of all the Terragen clades and superclades the human nearbaselines have perhaps changed the
least from their original Old
Earth progenitors. Although there is huge diversity a common
"average" nearbaseline is superficially similar to a typical baseline human of Old Earth –
perhaps a little larger and stronger and more alert and attractive than
the normal baseline, but otherwise unremarkable, with the usual brown
skin and black hair. True, there are populations of many billions who
are all chubby, red-haired and freckled linguistic geniuses, or
slender, black-skinned, two-meter-tall mathematician/musicians with
slanted eyes, or all blue-grey skinned heavy-gravity pygmies with faces
decked out in the colours of a mandrill who have a talent for
gymnastics and martial arts, or empaths with big green eyes and soft
brown fur. However most nearbaselines could pass for a good-looking
local in one of Old Earth's Information
Age societies. Were a typical modern nearbaseline transported back
to Old Earth as it was before the Interplanetary Era she might be
mistaken for a particularly vital and intelligent Polynesian. Most
present-day nearbaselines are still interfertile with the ancient
baseline human stock, though that concept might strike even the lowest
status plebhu of the present era
as rather repugnant.
Most of the differences between human nearbaselines and their
baseline ancestors are not immediately apparent. In addition to what an
Old Earth baseline human would have regarded as an extraordinarily rich
and supportive upbringing, training in dozens of highly sophisticated
techniques and a fantastic degree of wealth and technical support (not
to mention the self-assurance that goes with such things), typical
nearbaselines are genetically as well as environmentally gifted in a
host of ways. They are inherently more resistant to disease and injury,
potentially more talented in multiple areas, more emotionally stable
and physically faster and stronger than a typical baseline human. This
is not to say that there are not "naturally" sickly, stupid, ugly or
unstable individuals in modern human nearbaseline populations, but they
are rare and in most cases education, technical support and postnatal
gene mods disguise any such inborn infirmities.
The reason that nearbaselines are so difficult to distinguish from
their ancestral stock is that the nearbaseline population has left the
original H. sapiens line behind not by some single radical
change but through a series of much smaller increments and minor
tinkering with the gene line. Traits selected by parents have been the
same as those that any human parent throughout history has hoped for;
those leading to a person who is happy, successful in the existing
society and of course attractive and understandable to the parents
themselves. On occasions when this has failed children have frequently
taken matters into their own hands and tried heritable postnatal
modifications in an attempt to fit in or get ahead in human society.
Those who were able to attract mates (or otherwise acquire the rights
and resources for reproduction) were much more likely to pass on their
genetic heritage. These three levels of choice (parental, personal and
reproductive) have driven all of the change in the nearbaseline genome
in the millennia since the advent of reliable genetic engineering.
Individuals with particularly odd traits have tended seek out others
like themselves and form separate clades or subclades, thereby leaving
the nearbaseline gene pool entirely. Occasional attempts at
interference by sapient-led political organizations or Great Leaders
and the more persistent and subtle influence of various interested
transapients have also been factors. The conflicting goals of such
powers, though they may have affected billions of lives at any one
time, have apparently tended to cancel one another out in the big
picture. In the Gardens of the Gods, humans are still the weeds.
For all of that there are some common trends to human nearbaseline
development. The following are some of the general categories of
genetic traits that have become common in nearbaseline populations in
the last ten millennia. The traits listed below range from moderately
common to nearly ubiquitous, but none is universal. Nearbaseline
diversity is tremendous, greater by far than that of the original
species. For ease of understanding the modifications are listed by
category.
Cosmetic Mods
These are a rather unreliable group of traits because they are
subject to fashions and cultural prejudices. Only the most general are
listed. Changes to innate baseline preferences have also been possible,
but these have usually been part of the creation of entirely new clades
(the Alchemists would be a
good example of this). Most cosmetic mods are for traits that the
baseline human population, or at least a subset of it, would find
attractive.
- Increased symmetry: A reliable attractor in all biological
species from beetles to brontosaurs, possibly because it indicates good
developmental health. Nearbaselines are on the average more
symmetrical, partly because of course they have that same good
developmental health and partly because of specific genes for enhanced
symmetry.
- Supernormal features: Most bionts find certain key features
attractive if they are exaggerated slightly beyond the population's
norm (thus "supernormal stimulus," a term from early animal behaviour
studies). An exaggeration of traits that are generally considered to be
attractive is seen in classical Greek statues and many drawings of
"ideal" humans (higher brows, more prominent chins, bigger eyes, longer
legs, etc.). Analysis shows that these figures are actually just a
shade outside the baseline human range and just one shade short of
looking monstrous, as even very slight further exaggeration shows. If
the gene-sculptors are not careful the children of two such people
might actually cross that line and be ugly. In the past natural
selection tended to been trim back these exaggerated traits because
some of them present practical problems in the day-to-day world.
Similarly, in historical populations some traits originally selected by
parents have been edited out by later generations as impractical. This
process is even speedier than natural selection.
- Sexual dimorphism: Actually a subcategory of supernormal
features. As in the case of the more general category, this tendency
has been trimmed back a bit over time from some initial excesses. Women
with gigantic breasts, or men with huge genitals, lots of chest hair
and massive flowing beards tend to get their traits altered to
something closer to the norm for the sake of convenience if nothing
else (they might sue their parents, too, if they are particularly
indignant about it, depending on the customs of their polities). Also,
the children of such unions also tend back towards a more androgynous
mean unless the traits are carefully sex-linked. In following
generations the boys may show traits which were considered attractive
in their mothers but are not masculine enough for the local standard
and the girls may have features that are unacceptably mannish in the
local culture. The net result in nearbaseline populations has been that
their men and women are slightly, but only slightly, more different
from one another in appearance than they were in Old Earth's baseline
populations.
- Fashion has led in the past to individuals or whole populations
who show extreme adherence to a racial type. This may be an Old Earth
population, a famous population type from later in Terragen history or
even an imitation of some group from works of fantastic fiction. So, in
some times and in some places there have been large numbers of people
who chose to look like idealized Old Earth Maoris, Kikuyu, Swedes, Han,
Vietnamese, Pygmies or Inuit, or like famous colonial types from the
Early Federation era, or for that matter like "elves," "dwarves" of
fantasy literature, or like members of various humanoid species from
famous science fiction stories. This has tended to promote diversity
and preserve physical types that might have vanished by admixture. On
the one hand, once established these populations do tend to choose
mates of somewhat similar appearance. On the other hand such exotics
tend to attract attention and be re-absorbed into the general
nearbaseline population over the next few generations. The net result
is an increase in diversity within the nearbaseline population. Some
individuals and populations with idealized archaic features are a
result of "retro abo" movements. Sometimes, of course, the
re-combinations of these features produce individuals or populations
that would be quite unusual looking by Old Earth standards even if the
elements themselves are not particularly remarkable.
- Harmonious and wide-ranging voice, often somewhat deeper and
more resonant than the norm in baseline stock (since this tends to give
a social advantage). Good control over a wider range of volumes than
most baselines can manage (louder shouts, quieter whispers).
- Attractive skin colors. This includes stronger versions of the
original variations, from extremely dark brown to nearly transparent,
with or without freckling and with or without a yellowish tinge and
with or without a pink or coppery undertone. Added to this are grey and
blue-grey colours, true white and perhaps some of the subtler dusky
reddish colours. Green (possibly from symbiotic algae), sparkly or
iridescent markings, strong Mandrill-like reds and blues, stripes or
spots and skin color that varies via chromatophores tend to be found
outside the mainstream of nearbaseline populations in subclades but are
a definite element in the nearbaseline population as well.
- Smooth, unblemished skin. Extreme variations away from this form
(scaly skin, wrinkly skin, sharkskin, etc.) tend to lead to minor
subclades outside the nearbaseline population.
- Pleasant body odor. This is still typically be musky and
contains some of the ancient human pheromones but it is less rank than
that of most baseline humans and sometimes includes some odors typical
of the subtler Old Earth perfumes.
- Attractive hair. This might be anything from very thick to very
fine and anything from straight to woolly but is generally dense, shiny
and healthy-looking rather than lank or greasy. Body hair is usually
reduced from its original baseline extent in both men and women except
for pubic and head hair. Hairlessness, extreme hairiness or actual
smooth and silky pelts are usually local or subclade traits.
- Height. Overall, those who are a little taller have a slight but
measurable social advantage over otherwise identical individuals. This
resulted in an overall increase in average human height that eventually
stabilized at about 180 centimeters (though with some strong regional
variation).
- Weight control. Genes for survival in starvation situations are
a liability in a food-rich environment as they may cause considerable
weight gain. In some cultures the original baseline genotype has been
maintained. This requires customs that encourage a high physical
activity level and attention to the quantity and quality of foods. In
others these genes were considered detrimental and the set of "thrifty"
adaptations was eliminated. As a result "thrifty" genes are rarer among
nearbaselines than among the original stock. This is somewhat
compensated by modifications allowing control of the basal metabolic
rate.
Physiological Mods
- Fertility under conscious control. The default condition is
infertility, but with some easily learned biofeedback a woman may
release a viable egg and a man may produce functional sperm. The female
reproductive system does not cycle under its own control as it does in
baseline women, but like fertility is under some degree of conscious
control. Unlike baseline women, whose entire lifetime supply of eggs is
created before they are born, nearbaseline women may produce additional
gametes, and can reproduce if they so choose at advanced ages.
- Basal metabolic rate is under conscious control (enables burning
off of excess calories, heating in cold situations or hibernation).
Convenient, and occasionally a lifesaver.
- Vitamins that required special environmental conditions such as
UV-rich sunlight (like vitamin D) or specific intestinal flora (like
some of the B vitamins) are produced naturally by the body and not
required in the diet. The same applies to critical amino acids. Even on
a limited diet such nearbaselines are less vulnerable to deficiency
diseases than their baseline ancestors. These traits are particularly
common in nearbaselines who are descended from early colonists.
- Ability to produce cellulase and therefore digest foods high in
cellulose. Note that this does not confer the ability to live entirely
on grasses and leaves, since such materials are physically tough and
bulky and would require much larger jaws and a larger stomach. This is
another common trait in colonists and explorers or their descendants.
- Pain shutoff. This is something that baselines with the proper
training could already do to some degree, at least for most sorts of
injuries. This trait has been enhanced to make the training easier. It
still requires training, since otherwise children would damage
themselves before they had learned good judgement.
- Local adaptations: switchable UV protection without production
of melanin, heavy gravity adaptations, ability to function in CO2
rich atmospheres, etc. Some of these might be locally common but few
would be common across the whole population of nearbaselines.
- Microgravity adaptations. Since even those who don't live there
might have to live for periods of time in microgravity or are likely to
have ancestors who lived for generations outside a gravitational field,
this is an extremely common set of traits. This set of adaptations
includes bones that don't lose calcium in microgravity, immunity to
vertigo in space, some switchable changes to the circulatory and
lymphatic systems and a number of other traits which are all invisible
to the human eye.
- Adaptations to some industrial toxins. This includes immunity or
resistance to heavy metal poisoning, an ability to metabolize or
otherwise counteract small quantities of formaldehydes, fullerenes,
phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls and most of the other common
byproducts of or contaminants in many modern products. Presence of such
traits is spotty and unpredictable in nearbaseline populations but most
individuals are resistant to one or more such hazards.
- Enhanced immunity. Rapid response to pathogens (which are rare
in the usual nearbaseline environment to begin with), and few or no
allergies. The baseline connection between the immune system and the
brain has been enhanced to allow some conscious intervention with
simple training.
- A side effect of these and many other mods is an increased need
for calories. Since the availability of food has rarely been an issue
in civilized societies this development has gone unchecked. Most
nearbaselines have what a baseline would regard as a ravenous appetite.
An efficient digestive system and a naturally rich diet somewhat
compensate for this trait.
Mental and Emotional Mods
In many cases these have been copied from successful models in
clades outside the nearbaseline gene pool or are the result of
admixture with more distinctive clades. Many nearbaseline traits in
this area are actually the result of an enriched childhood environment,
highly advanced teaching techniques, access to extensive data and other
factors. These alone produce levels of performance that an Old Earth
human would have found astounding, but nearbaselines have the
additional advantage of genetic aptitudes in these areas.
- The "lucky" modification.
Most nearbaselines have this combination of optimism and alertness to
one degree or another.
- Innate ability to pick up a written language much like the
baseline talent for spoken language (slearner
and ilearner mods).
- Innate calculating ability (from a very small cluster of
specialized brain cells). An extremely common mod, though not universal.
- Perfect pitch, innate rhythm detection and sophisticated ability
to recognize harmony and melody.
- Larger and more complex brain. There is an upper limit that
cannot be exceeded for aesthetic and safety reasons, but the larger
overall body size of nearbaselines makes this limit somewhat higher
than for the original baseline stock. Improvements in teaching
techniques and basic neural architecture have allowed the creation of
more "braininess" per volume of grey matter. Some of the more radical
forms of these mods are paths to the creation of superbright clades.
- Empathy skills. This is derived from better mental models of
other minds as well as from innate sensitivity to nonverbal
communication (body language, facial expression and vocal inflection)
which in turn grants heightened ability to gauge others' emotional
states.
- Improved coordination and spatial sense (mostly from
improvements to the cerebellum).
- Switchable attention span. This is in part an ability gained
with age and training, but genetic engineering has made this skill
easier to learn. The brainwave pattern of a nearbaseline who is under
attack, meditating, trying to understand a difficult communication in
the safety of eir home or in some other complex situation requiring
diffuse attention and immediate action differs radically from the
brainwave pattern of a baseline who is attempting the same feat.
- Increased mental/neurological plasticity. This was a
controversial mod when it first appeared. It allows rapid learning and
personality change by incorporating some of the traits of young
children in the adult. Some have this at a constant, low level, but
such persons are subject to significant personality change over time
and are vulnerable to hostile memetic attacks. More commonly this is a
switchable ability, and when someone contemplates a significant change
of lifestyle or career a greater degree of neuronal plasticity
(including the generation of entirely new neurons) is initiated for a
short period of time. Significant personality change is a side effect
of this mod.
- Fixable memory. This is partly a matter of advanced training
that is available even to those without this genetic advantage.
Experiences that an individual is determined not to forget are retained
to the least detail (like the "photographic memory" of some unusual
baselines). This is a switchable ability to prevent the memory from
becoming too cluttered with trivia. With training it is also possible
to erase rather than merely suppress memories. This is an ability that
needs to be used with some caution, and the necessary skills to use it
are not usually taught until individuals reach the age of majority for
their respective cultures.
- "Instinctive" safety responses. The most common such mod is an
instinctive ability to swim. Most nearbaselines can maneuver and remain
afloat even if they have never been in an open body of water and have
never been taught to swim, though complex strokes and rapid swimming
techniques must still be learned. Automatic responses to sudden air
pressure loss and exposure to vacuum are also common. Such innate
responses have saved the lives of many an infant, child or untrained
adult
Sensory Mods
- Acute daytime eyesight (extra density of cones in the retina;
larger fovea). May include increased sensitivity to motion.
- Improved color vision (sometimes with the addition of a fourth
or fifth type of cone). Often includes enhanced visual range into the
far-red and far-violet (usually accomplished by adding additional cone
types).
- Enhanced sense of smell. Much of this "enhancement" has been
simple repair of the existing genes for chemical detection, especially
those of the vomeronasal organ (which are nonfunctional in human
nearbaselines and related baseline primates). Even in an artificial
environment those with fully functional chemical senses have an
advantage in that they can pick up subtle social cues via pheromones.
The ability to detect some industrial toxins by smell is a common
addition; it enhances survival in artificial habitats by allowing its
bearers to detect unsafe air without mechanical assistance.
- Improved night vision. This goes with slightly larger eyes (see
cosmetic changes) and might in more extreme versions require a cat-like
vertical pupil, though the latter is likely to be a local or subclade
adaptation. In some populations a reflective surface on the back of the
retina (a tapetum) also enhances night vision. This causes eyes to
appear to "glow" in dim light like those of nocturnal mammals (the
selection of a particular colour such as amber, green or red is a
cosmetic choice). Higher density of rods in the retina and some tweaks
to the movement of rods and cones in the retina allow improved night
vision that does not affect the appearance of the eyes.
- Increased acuity and frequency range of hearing. Enhanced acuity
is a common side effect of adaptations to hab life in microgravity,
since for reasons of economy such environments are commonly kept at
less than one bar of atmospheric pressure and sounds in thinner air do
not propagate as easily.
- Magnetic sense. Useful where planets or habs have associated
magnetic fields. Also allows one to detect "live" electrical wires.
Health/Practical Morphological Mods
- Regenerating limbs and organs. This is usually achieved via the
addition of genes from reptiles or amphibians. This includes the
ability to re-grow permanent teeth and/or the ability to re-grow nerves
after spinal cord injury. Some nearbaselines have the ability to
generate new neurons if old ones are lost or damaged (which can lead to
some personality change). Long term healing includes replacement of
scar tissue with normal tissue.
- Longevity. Natural life span (longevity without technological
intervention) is such that most individuals can live for 500 years or
more before actual rejuvenation treatments or other interventions are
required to maintain health. Thousands of "defects" in the original
nearbaseline genome have been modified to make this possible, including
some which only become apparent in the fourth or fifth century of life.
Advances in this field have slowed, in part because the compensatory
technologies are generally available and in part because most
individuals die by accident, murder or suicide before reaching 1,000
years of age.
- Late maturation. This is a much later onset of sexual
development than found in baselines and a further delayed development
of the ability to reproduce. This mod was one of the earliest that
parents sought out once increased longevity became the norm, and the
inevitable difficulties that it caused were worked out millennia ago.
Most nearbaselines develop their full physical size at about the time
that their ancestors did but do not develop secondary sexual
characteristics and desires until their third decade. They are not
usually fertile until some time in their late fifties. This facilitates
early learning and career development and helps to prevent ill-advised
pregnancies. This mod is not universal but it is very common, usually
as a geneline mod chosen by ambitious or cautious parents for their
children.
- Implant compatibility. This would be modification of the immune
system so that typical small implants such as communications uplinks,
socket connections for operating local machinery or even extensive
cyborgization can be added without irritating adjacent flesh. The
immune system would be tuned to disregard specific substances used in
such applications. In some individuals specific sites in the brain grow
organs that either have DNI (direct neural interface) broadcast
capabilities themselves or are compatible with nanotech implants. These
typically begin as extremely narrow-band restricted access devices in
children and grow to full capability as the individual matures.
Mods to Remove Deleterious Genes
This has often been a controversial subject because the definition
of unfavorable traits is in part culture bound. Early in the
development of the nearbaseline population hereditary traits such as
Tay-Sachs disease, color blindness, albinism, hemophilia,
nearsightedness and gigantism were eliminated with little debate.
Others, which had provided resistance to certain diseases when
inherited as a single allele (i.e. sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis
and thalassemia), were soon to follow once the diseases themselves were
no longer a factor. The elimination of most starvation-resistance genes
from the nearbaseline population (because as a side effect they produce
obesity if food is plentiful) has already been noted. Genes for most
forms of dwarfism have left the nearbaseline population, but not
without the secession of some groups who chose to form separate clades
instead. More controversial were attempts to remove the genetic basis
of such traits as Attention Deficit Disorder and some similar mental
traits that proved to be linked to important human abilities.
