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Post by CELS on Jun 5, 2004 2:20:21 GMT -5
The problem is that squigs supposedly carry all Orkoid genes, so squigs have ork, gretchin and snotling offspring, just like orks have gretchin, snotlings and squig offspring. This makes breeding a lot more difficult, I suppose.
As for pouches, yeah, we're abandoning that idea. It's outdated fluff, and no one has yet spoken in favour of pouches so far, so... it's out. End of story.
And yeah, you're right, the older and bigger orks would shed more spores, tipping evolution in a desired direction, I guess. And now that I think about it, a lot of insects die shortly after reproduction, but they seem to do just fine.
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Post by Minister on Jun 5, 2004 4:19:39 GMT -5
Erm...
Can I simply vote for as-given in the books? I happen to like the fungal system...
I wouls also like to bring to mind the idea, I belive it was from GorkaMorka, that as an Ork advances to the end of his life he will ocasionaly have an urge to wander out of his settlment into the wilds (desert in the GorkaMorka case), walking until he can't go any further. This means that, when he dies and the spores start to disperse, they are likley to form a new and sizable clutch of orkoids, who will either form the nucleus of a new settlment/tribe or find their way to their "father's" settlment/tribe.
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Post by Lordof on Jun 5, 2004 15:36:24 GMT -5
But i seem to remember that Orks developing near an Ork settlement will rarely grow beyond that of a fungus.
So it would seem more appropriate that the Ork will walk a long long way and start a new settlement by simply dying.
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Post by Kage2020 on Jun 6, 2004 10:59:13 GMT -5
I'll tell you what. Could someone post the colour text on orkoid 'reproduction'? I'm rather fond of Sojourner's approach, but my knowledge of the new 'fluff' is somewhat less than it should, partially because of the fact that nearly every bit of the new 'fluff' that I've seen is horrendously substandard... So anyone? And if you think that it's a bit dodgy to post it here, then please post it to my email address... I think you know me enough by now to know that I'm not going to distribute it and, indeed, and am very likely delete it within five minutes of reading it! Kage
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Post by Sojourner on Jun 6, 2004 21:48:58 GMT -5
I'm beginning to come round to the chromosome idea, CELS...
It would be nice and neat if all the Orkoids had the same basic genome and only differed in morphology by their arrangement. However, all examples of this process that we know of are extremely unpredictable and IMO, couldn't really be trusted to produce the desired results.
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Post by CELS on Jun 6, 2004 22:16:10 GMT -5
Kage, I'll help you out and send something your way later today or tomorrow, as long as you promise to keep being constructive instead of just declaring it lame Nice to hear that you see the point of my chromosome idea now, Sojourner. What examples of this process do you mean though? All I know is that the chromosome-disorder syndromes I mention happen once in every 1000 and 2500 births. I just assumed the Old Ones would have the technology to create a disorder that happened much more often. I think it would be cool if the Orks, Gretchin and Snotlings had the same genes, but I'm not so sure about the squigs, because there seems to be a truly endless variety of them. Sniffer squigs, buzzer squigs, squighounds, squiggoths, hair squigs... "The larger squigs are used for fur and food, or are kept as (rather fierce) pets, or even ridden to battle. The smaller squigs have many specialist uses (...)" I don't know how to make them a seperate species though, since they're supposed to be a "feature of a natural and mobile ecosystem that sustains the Ork race as it travels from world to world". Agh.. if everyone's ok with it, maybe I'll just follow the fluff on this and make them a part of the Orkoids...
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Post by Sojourner on Jun 6, 2004 23:09:46 GMT -5
Perhaps squigs, snots, grots and so on are the Orkoid equivalent of Instars in insects? Squigs are the ones that hatch, then grow into snots, then grots, then Orks, the maximum growth phase depending on how their chromosomes are arranged.
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Post by Lordof on Jun 7, 2004 0:58:50 GMT -5
Yeah but i think that Orks share a common link with the squig but i think that they are slightly more complex than just a re-arranged squig.
I think that maybe all orks sporing cysts would be more akin to say a cancer. But not cancer in that it kills the Ork but more in that it is merely a group of cells which is radically different to that of the host.
So it would be more like a patch of the spores on the ork would be squig related and another patch would be more grot based etc.
This would simply be something that all Orkoid species have so even squigs would have Orky patches (Albeit on a smaller scale)
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Post by Sojourner on Jun 7, 2004 1:08:51 GMT -5
Interesting there. Maybe the Ork's aging processes cause the chromosome arrangement in his cell division to go weird and thus produce the different morphologies of Orkoid forms.
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Post by Lordof on Jun 7, 2004 1:13:43 GMT -5
That could explain why when they walk off and die they can spawn an entire community including food supply and Grot slaves aswell as the Orks.
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Post by CELS on Jun 7, 2004 1:53:35 GMT -5
Hmm... here's an idea. These dead orks have blastocysts that need to be 'activated' by the spores of other orks. Well, maybe squigs come from the blastocysts that haven't been 'activated'?
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Post by Sojourner on Jun 7, 2004 2:56:43 GMT -5
Are squigs green?
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Post by CELS on Jun 7, 2004 3:15:15 GMT -5
Some are, some aren't. Squigs are basically as varied as all the creatures on earth, if not more. They do share 'orkoid metabolism' though, meaning they have algal cellular subsystems, etc..
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Post by Sojourner on Jun 7, 2004 3:23:55 GMT -5
I'm thinking maybe the aspect of Orkoid physiology engineered by the brain boyz was in fact the algae? Consider - a morphologically unstable genus of creatures which reproduce in the manner specified, and are found to be perfect for the introduction of new, engineered DNA in the form of algal spores. The algal DNA hijacks the metabolism of the base organisms and produces what we know as Orks.
Perhaps this is what caused the downfall of the brain boyz? The algae which they created grew out of control and infected every last one of them, retarding their intelligence and turning them into snotlings...
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Post by Destecado on Jun 7, 2004 3:48:58 GMT -5
Not to take the discussion off on a tangent, but we have been going under the assumption that there is no gender among the orks. What about the possibility that the squig line represents another "sex" or gender. There are several terrestrial species whre there can be radical size, coloration or other differences between the male and female of a species.
I'm not saying that the orks would be male and the Sqigs female, but each sub-species in necessary for the reproduction of the orkoid species. I'm not saying that they reproduce as we do...(shudders at the mental images). It would be based off of chemical or hormonal responses.
If I remember correctly, the orks also eat squigs. Perhaps when an ork reaches a certain age, its body chemistry changes. It becomes suseptible to the squigs spores. Think of it as an extreme allergic reaction. Boils or systs begin to form. These are not so much pustuals, but the budding of new orkoids.
Maybe the squis at a certain age are inversly effected by the orkoid spores in the same manner. They develope new sqig varients. Either way, the type of squig that the ork becomes "infected" by or the type of orkoid (snotling, gretchen, ork) that the squig becomes "infected" by will determine which of the different type of squig or orkoid forms.
I know that there are many different types of squigs than orkoids, but how does this sound as the beginning of an explanation. Maybe the chromozone theory can be worked into this. We also might want to consder the possibity of long chain aminno acids or DNA. Perhaps there are gaps in the DNA code or instead of gaps there are receptors in the code that accept a variety of linkages. These differing linkages are what leads to the variance beween orkoid and squig species.
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