Sounds pretty good to me - different enough to be unique, but straight-forward enough to be comprehensible in game.
Wow, excellent ideas people. I’ll take Esteban’s summary as the current “state of the art” and add my comments.
- Kerrn are born non-reproductive male, they change into females later on in life. (as evidenced by the Fazia/Mamma LP)
*The gene seed acts as a catalyst in the Kerrn body to allow a male to convert into a female. Without the seed the Kerrn reverts back to male status.
I hadn’t thought of the gender-switching concept at all, but it’s growing on me. I’m thinking perhaps kerrn children are gender neutral and, at puberty, their gender asserts itself (perhaps that’s where the seed comes in? A kerrn can only become female if given the seed at adolescence, otherwise they’re male by default?). I’ll give it more thought.
*The gene seed must be harvested in order to yield more gene seeds, this places importance on the maintenance and care of the gene seed. A bad harvest/disaster could wipe out an omshiip/ghetto’s capacity for reproduction.
Awesome.
*The genetic material for the offspring comes from the reproductive male/female Kerrn couple, with slight recombination from the female’s gene seed.
Right, the X+Y+Z chromosome analogy is perfect here. Z being the vaylen failsafe.
*Kerrn without a female partner are non-reproductive, and thus are more focused on their jobs. (in keeping with the Kerrn being created to be workers/soldiers by the Vaylen)
Good.
*Female Kerrn can release the seed in their bodies, if they’ve reproduced the gene seed will most likely have changed. In this manner the stock of gene seed can be crossed and preserved. (the fact that the gene seed still needs to be harvested maintains the importance of omshiip and the gene seed care takers)
I’m not sure what this is saying… that after birth, the seed is expelled and collected by the seed-keepers, with some alteration to its structure? I don’t know that that’s needed, I think I like the idea of it’s being physically integrated into the child, just like the genetic material of the parents (or it’s an integral part of making her who and what she is).
Alternatively, I also like Kaths’ idea of a literal, ritual insertion of the seed into the female as a necessary part of mating.
Jason’s “seed keeper” is actually illustrated in the brick on p.192 (and the ceremonial container for the seeds, oddly enough, is on p. 370). You can see the decorative similarities between the keeper’s costume and the ouside of the box.
-Chris
Honestly, that was just an attempt to reconcile the notion of Kerrn jumping between sexes. We’ve figured out what causes a Kerrn to go female, but how does a female go back to being male? That was an attempt to answer that question.
Mind you, I’ve mostly been thinking this is necessary because Fazia is described as a patriarch, even though it’s involved with child rearing in the book. In other words the female gender seems transient or can be transient for some Kerrn. And it seems that by cannon females have turned to males and vice-versa, though I might be mistaken in this belief. (and correction would be welcome!)
As regards the release of the gene seed I was more thinking of it being part of some ritual, not necessarily associated with child birth. I envisioned it as being something akin to laying eggs. I’m thinking the Vaylen wouldn’t want a reproductive female to go about permantly and would program some way to neuter them. In other words, keep your overlords happy if you want to procreate.
Also, to be honest I was plagiarizing a bit from the Space Marine concept of gene seed (couldn’t help it given the name similarity), where the gene seed is harvested so to speak from individuals and used to expand the Chapter. I envisioned it as being something already biologically programmed into the Kerrn though.
Also, to be honest I was plagiarizing a bit from the Space Marine concept of gene seed (couldn’t help it given the name similarity), where the gene seed is harvested so to speak from individuals and used to expand the Chapter.
Hmmm…perhaps a name change is in order before locking “gene seed” into canon…
The GS could be expelled form the body during Budding or Birth (like a placenta), this would be kept or reintroduced tot he birthing mother.
Cool cool btw.
Checking your illustrations now.
Chris, I would suggest taking a look at plant sexuality. We had reasoned that the plant genetic material the kerrn were created from (Thaynagash) was fairly simple, like an algae.
Certain algae have different reproductive strategies during their lifecycles that include both axsexual reproduction and sexual reproduction.
I also imagine the kerrn would create spores, not seeds. 
I’ll check it out, Thor thanks (though it’s not at the top of my list of priorities at the moment, being mainly concerned right now with the Comoran political structure and the intricacies of medieval peerages).
The idea of spores sounds cool. Regardless, the Kerrn call them seeds…
I think Schpoahs is too hard for them to pronounce.
-Chris
I just wanted to applaud this awesome thread. I’d always been pretty much, “okay, the Kerrn, they’re pretty much like people only stronger and more aware of the Vaylen threat and less prone to vicious political infighting, ho-hum,” and now I’m fascinated.
“So, Kerrn, what’s your goal in life?”
“Vhell, I vould liekh to bekom vemale szumday…”
[awkward pause]