Richard's Animorphs Forum

Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: senter.pat on April 06, 2009, 11:45:50 PM

Title: answer me this
Post by: senter.pat on April 06, 2009, 11:45:50 PM
alright so what if two aliens, or humans even, became nothlits of the same species and had a child. think it would be sentient?
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: anijen21 on April 06, 2009, 11:56:47 PM
no

take a look at aldrea and dak--a "seer," one with greater intelligence than normal, and an Andalite, who are vexingly smart. They had Jara...or maybe Jara's father, I can't really remember, but either way it was just a normal, good-natured, warm-hearted, dim-witted Hork-Bajir.

it would be kind of depressing, actually, to see a fic or something about a non-sentient species.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: AniDragon on April 07, 2009, 12:52:20 AM
That's one of the things I'm covering in my "Negotiations" fic, actually. Since the Yeerks are all but being forced to become nothlits, this could really lead to mass genocide.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: morfowt on April 07, 2009, 05:10:46 AM
no

take a look at aldrea and dak--a "seer," one with greater intelligence than normal, and an Andalite, who are vexingly smart. They had Jara...or maybe Jara's father, I can't really remember, but either way it was just a normal, good-natured, warm-hearted, dim-witted Hork-Bajir.

it would be kind of depressing, actually, to see a fic or something about a non-sentient species.
the slight problem with that example: hork-bajir seers are normally something rare. just because a seer has a child doesn't mean the child is a seer. Besides, their kid was sentient. It was a normal hork-bajir, so it would be sentient, just not very smart...

alright so what if two aliens, or humans even, became nothlits of the same species and had a child. think it would be sentient?
if the species they morphed into was sentient, yes. if not, like say a snake, no.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Chad32 on April 07, 2009, 09:04:44 AM
I agree with Morfowt. It all depends on what the nothlit is. If Rachel had decided to become a red tailed hawk nothlit for Tobias, and laid eggs, the hatchlings wouldn't be sentient. They would be much more likely to survive because of their sentient parents, but they would still be animals.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Phoenix004 on April 07, 2009, 09:55:44 AM
As the others have already said, if the parents had morphed a non-sentient species, then the children would not be sentient.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: senter.pat on April 07, 2009, 12:09:48 PM
Ok, i was thinking more along the lines of the taxxons, if they were all to become snake nothlits, would their children be intelligent at all, or just snakes?
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Shock on April 07, 2009, 12:20:43 PM


take a look at aldrea and dak--a "seer," one with greater intelligence than normal, and an Andalite, who are vexingly smart. They had Jara...or maybe Jara's father, I can't really remember, but either way it was just a normal, good-natured, warm-hearted, dim-witted Hork-Bajir.

Hork-Banjir Seers are a quirk the the Arn have never smoothed out. it is not a affect of morphing techology being passed down through the gene pool.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Chad32 on April 07, 2009, 12:23:29 PM
Ok, i was thinking more along the lines of the taxxons, if they were all to become snake nothlits, would their children be intelligent at all, or just snakes?

Just snakes, as we have said. I wonder what the Taxxons would think of this.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: AniDragon on April 07, 2009, 12:59:50 PM
I think they must know the risk. I'm sure Arbron would have let them know.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Phoenix004 on April 07, 2009, 04:25:55 PM
I doubt the Taxxons cared, as they were more concerned about ending their eternal hunger. As for the Yeerk nothlits, the Yeerks were never too keen on the idea of having kids, as in their natural forms having kids was a death sentence for the parents.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: goom on April 07, 2009, 04:37:18 PM
As the others have already said, if the parents had morphed a non-sentient species, then the children would not be sentient.

yup.
poor yeerks.

almost have to pity them.
almost.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: senter.pat on April 07, 2009, 05:26:24 PM
i would let a yeerk or a taxxon acquire my dna instead of attacking earth. according to ax, you can even acquire dna from blood, so they could just send our dna to the new planet and they can morph us ;p
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: goom on April 07, 2009, 05:37:22 PM
i'd probably make them nothlits of something else sentient, at least.
maybe hork bajir or daresay - andalites?
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: senter.pat on April 07, 2009, 05:55:59 PM
Andalites would never go for that, hork-bajir would be too dangerous for them to have. i wouldnt trust them anyways. but humans are best option i think.it would bassically breed them out too lol
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: goom on April 07, 2009, 06:02:13 PM
or they could go the iskoort way...
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: AniDragon on April 07, 2009, 06:14:19 PM
Yeah, the Iskoort had the best idea. Honestly, if the Yeerks hadn't been douchebags and left the Arn alone, they might have come to this conclusion a lot earlier. I mean, the Arn had been willing to completely ignore them.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: senter.pat on April 07, 2009, 07:58:33 PM
ya good point, the arn prolly would have made them all symbiotes just to leave them alone.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Phoenix004 on April 07, 2009, 08:08:51 PM
Let's be fair, the Arn were arrogant to the point of stupidity, not to mention cowardly. Sure they were pure genius when it came to biology, but that's about it. Even so, they could have helped defend against the Yeerks better. They could have "built" bigger and better monsters to kick Yeerk arse instead of running underground and hoping the Yeerks would leave them alone.

The Arn could easily have made symbiotes for the Yeerks, but I doubt the Andalites would have allowed it at that point.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Chad32 on April 07, 2009, 08:16:51 PM
The Yeerks would need to pay for some crimes, but I don't think Andalites would dissallow symbiotes. I mean, the main threat of the Yeerks would be over. That is, the ability to invest most sentient beings, and some nonsentient beings. It's harder to enslave the galaxy if you can't get into the heads of your enemies.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Phoenix004 on April 07, 2009, 08:35:40 PM
Sure they wouldn't have to enslave people anymore, but it would mean that they could mass produce host bodies and go to war with the Andalites (and possibly win due to overwhelming numbers).
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: EmberGryphon on April 07, 2009, 10:39:38 PM
Any yet... even in a fictional universe, I don't think it's safe to say an entire species needs to be punished in any sort of way for any crime. We all know that many (possibly most) Yeerks never even got hosts; saying that those particular blind, helpless slugs need to be punished for, say, the crimes of Esplin 9466 is kinda like nuking Germany 'cause every civilian needs to pay for the Holocaust.

Yeah, there would be risk involved in that sort of compromise- the building-a-symbiote compromise- but I do think it would have been the first definitive step towards a peaceful end.
That doesn't mean, of course, that I believe the Andalites WOULD agree to risking a more equal warfare and allow the Arn to build the symbiotes. After all, the "all Andalites are good, all Yeerks are evil, all non-Andalite non-Yeerks are less than Andalites but better than Yeerks" attitude seems pretty prevalent. I just agree that it would be the best course of action. ^^()
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: anijen21 on April 07, 2009, 11:34:25 PM
okay wait I just thought of something else that may refute our agreement--

Tobias.

Tobias is totally a human, right? Except when Elfangor landed, he automatically had a connection to him. And when Ax was "mirrorwaving" or w/e, only Cassie and Tobias heard him. Cassie, b/c she's just *in tune with nature* or whatever, but Tobias...because he is part Andalite? And then there is that whole utzum thing from book #33. How could Tobias get a message from his ancestors if he's not even the same species as them?

I mean, all of these things were explained away with different in-story wank--he could hear Ax from beneath the ocean because he was in morph, and "mirrorwaving" only works with users of Andalite technology, and the utzum thing was apparently explained because Tobias had morphed Ax and had Andalite DNA in his bloodstream, but idk. I always got the impression that Tobias was part-Andalite, even though he wasn't born that way, only because his father was an Andalite-turned-human nothlit.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: ThinkAgain on April 08, 2009, 12:19:07 AM
I believe that was the Ellimist's doing. In MM4, it's even stated that the ani's were chosen by him as a team far earlier, and the Drode explicitly states how the Ellimist 'stacked the deck' also citing 'the son of Elfangor'

I'm sure the Ellimist left a tad of Andalite in Tobias so the future, and the events you cited, would play out the way they did. Remember, the being sees time.

As far as natural reproduction, it's just DNA. Two nothlits would produce animal offspring. That simple.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: anijen21 on April 08, 2009, 12:42:17 AM
I believe that was the Ellimist's doing. In MM4, it's even stated that the ani's were chosen by him as a team far earlier, and the Drode explicitly states how the Ellimist 'stacked the deck' also citing 'the son of Elfangor'

I'm sure the Ellimist left a tad of Andalite in Tobias so the future, and the events you cited, would play out the way they did. Remember, the being sees time.

As far as natural reproduction, it's just DNA. Two nothlits would produce animal offspring. That simple.

You're probably right. But in a series that got this ridiculous and self-contradictory, it wouldn't be impossible to rationalize that parent's culture would leak down into their offspring. And we haven't even talked about sentient parents becoming different sentient species--then there's the whole talk about cultures getting passed down in addition to physical aspects. For instance, is it ridiculous to think that Aldrea would teach her Hork-Bajir kids some Andalite rituals? No, you get meldings of cultures all the time on Earth. So maybe this discussion is a little more complex than a simple yes/no.
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: senter.pat on April 08, 2009, 02:53:33 AM
ya but the main question was if they would have intelligent children if they bred as non-sentient animals. which i think we decided didnt cuz its just based off the dna. but its true that if they took our forms they would do thier rituals and stuff. but a what rituals would yeerks do? lol
Title: Re: answer me this
Post by: Chad32 on April 08, 2009, 08:22:24 AM
Sure they wouldn't have to enslave people anymore, but it would mean that they could mass produce host bodies and go to war with the Andalites (and possibly win due to overwhelming numbers).
You will never be able to prevent war. You won't even be able to prevent enslavement. This idea is just to help the non-extremist Yeerks by giving them hosts, so they can lead good lives. Without having to worry about involuntary hosts.