I guess that's out then.eleazar wrote: It's believed that some genes have multiple purposes, however the needing the genes for an entirely different body plan, massively improved brain, etc to accomplish a totally unrelated thing i.e. swimming fast or reproducing— is the sort of explanation which in my mind makes something less believable than if it simply wasn't explained.
While I don't want to, if there isn't a better idea then I'd use it, of course it dosn't have to be the Orions, I'm sure there were a several prefall races who had that kind of technology during the golden age. Using a different race would also avoid makeing the Orions twisted.eleazar wrote: If you don't want to say "the Orions did it!" (and if they did they seem rather twisted) the simplest way to make these guys more plausible is to:
No 2 is unlikely because they live in different environments, not to mention that I deliberately removed every single physical need from The People, no need for food, no predators, no competition to mate to result in a race with absolutely no reason to fight or oppose anything, if they had to care for their larva they'd probably be reintroduced to some of those, something I want to avoid more than genetic modification.eleazar wrote:1) involve the "adult" form in reproduction somehow.
2) make the adult for watch over or care for the immature ones in some way that needs greater intelligence
No 1 could work if they did it as a passive by product of their existence (or their death) I suppose they could basically be a way of moving the young to the surface (lets say its safer) until they're old enough to return to the water, I'll have to think about that, see if I can find a way of doing this that justifies a fully sentient adult form, to be honest I'm not sure I can.