In the game world I''m working on player death is dealt with by the player''s spirit being transferred to a clone. There are a number of penalties for this but the player can continue with the same character and it gives death some meaning. I''ve been thinking of the type of society that would exist in this world. Clones are expensive and so those with access to them would be the rich or useful minority. There are two empires in the game. The first has a developed world with a large population. People who have clones on this world are forbidden to have children. Thus "cloners" are pitied by many and there isn''t a great deal of resentment. The other Empire is formed of worlds that were colonised a century or so ago and has a need for an expanding population. Cloners can have children. I''m trying to see what the features of these two societies would be. The only book I''ve found that deals with this theme is Jack Vance "To Live Forever." The latest David Brin book and others look more at the loss of individuality in a cloned world which is not what I am after. Any ideas on books? Any comments on the scenario?

Do the clones share the same memories? If so, how? Why are clones expensive? Is it just to keep away the rabble? The first empire's strategy sounds self-defeating: if the useful minority is all cloned, then only useless people are allowed to have kids. Ack.

As for the second empire, why don't they just clone themselves a bunch of idealized colonists? In fact, why don't all the clones from the first empire defect to the second empire and breed like rabbits and then wipe out all the idiots (and their noisy little kids) in the first empire? What's so great about an empire that's preventing all of its intelligent people from procreating anyway? What idiot leader thought that was a good idea?






Edited by - varelse on February 1, 2002 1:06:34 PM

quote: Original post by Captain Insanity
This leads to some really good possibilities, such as a lucrative but highly dangerous trade in smuggling clones and people between the two empires, or perhaps criminals having clones arrested and executed instead of them, other sinister stuff like that.

I LOVE this idea.

Yeah, but lets say that this game goes commercial. It''s supposed to be an action game with the ultimate fight against the big boss, but a year later, the publisher would have a sequel programmed, because you only got a clone of the real bad guy last time, and so on and so on...

You''d never really now if you got the right guy, which could turn the idea down quite a bit.

Otherwise the idea actually really is good.

''loss of individuality! loss of individuality!
loss of individuality! life becomes cheap!
life becomes cheap! life becomes cheap!''

That is such crap, it would be no different than what
identical twins put up with now. Sorry about the rant,
some people just are so completely unable to think
at all, let alone rationally or logically that I spout
off when I can.

Many thanks for the comments

Symphonic - I got "Spares" It''s an interesting read!

Capt. Insanity - you have an evil, twisted mind - can I hire you?

Peaceman - its an MMORPG

Varelse. - In any game there is death. Most don''t bother with explanations, you just return to life and carry on - look at AC for example. That''s obviously a fall back position for us but we thought we would try and give death something more and make it part of a wider experience. So...

By worshiping the Gods you strengthen your soul path. By having the church bless your clone you create a soul portal. When you die your soul flies to your clone with all its memories complete. Atheists have more problems with this but it can be done.

Clones are expensive to create, house and nurture. Once grown to full size they may need plastic surgery to resemble you properly. They need nutrients and exercise to prevent muscle atrophy.

Having intelligent kids isn''t a prerogative of the intelligent. In a world like that of the first Empire, Tsualian, there is a need for population control. To allow people clones and kids would defeat this policy. Also it make cloning acceptable to the masses. The Second Empire was founded from colony worlds. There is a need for increased population but further colonisation from the First is now barred. Therefore you can clone and have kids.