Re: Let\'s get the roots of the Family Tree
Woo-hoo! Shadow nitpicking!
Thanks for bringing up an interesting matter, DGarye. While I find many of your assumptions (especially those about Sheridan) to be unfounded, the rest more than make up for it. I hope that you don't mind if I give them a healthy nitpicking.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Valen was the great-great-grandfather of Sheridan.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Nope. Sinclair was a contemporary of Sheridan, he changed into a Minbari and traveled back in time. Oh sure, they had a common ancestor sometime in the Stone Age. Just like you and me.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Valen's Minbari wife was the great-great-grandmother of Delenn.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Exactly. She was an ancestor of Delenn, but was she completely Minbari? Did Sinclair manage to find Catherine Sakai? A spoiler from the book "To Dream in the City of Sorrows":
<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>Catherine Sakai is lost on a mission near the Sector 14 time rift. After Sinclair's journey into the past, Marcus receives a letter from Valen. The message is simple: "I found her".</font></td></tr></table>
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Humans and Minbari cannot be related without the above scenario.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
They can. Being related is defined as sharing some genes. The exchange does not have to be mutual. Numerous of the Minbari have some Human genes, but Humans have no Minbari genes (perhaps with the exception of David Sheridan).
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Delenn morphed into a semi-bonehead because she was part Minbari and part Human.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I doubt it. She became as Human as she could, but her Minbari physiology set limits to how far the transformation could go. See my guesses below. We don't know if having Human genes was essential, but it certainly was beneficial.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Sheridan was simpatico with Vorlons because he had a ancestrial link to the Minbari who are indirectly related to the Vorlons...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
No.
There is no hint of the Minbari being related to Vorlons. Sheridan befriended Kosh for personal reasons. Kosh wanted to teach him something and kept annoying him, so Sheridan decided to find out what the damn pest had to say.
The Minbari have very probably been manipulated by Vorlons -- just like the Humans, Drazi, Brakiri and Vree. Practically everyone has been manipulated by the Vorlons, perhaps with the exception of the Centauri, Drakh and Pak'ma'ra (the latter probably ate the Vorlon who came to create telepaths).
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>obviously is a chromosome altering machine but not a DNA altering machine<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Resolving incompatibilities on protein level would require going far deeper than chromosomes. Cutting and pasting chromosomes is something I could do with a few years of study and proper equipment (yes, I have already studied some biology).
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Second, John S. obviously had more going than suspected. He did have some telepathic abilities (at least with Kosh)...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Kosh first appeared into his dreams when Sheridan was in a tranquilized and delirious state after his abduction by the Streib. Kosh also appeared to G'Kar when he had taken dust. When Kosh was killed by the Shadows, some part of it remained alive in Sheridan. That last piece of Kosh died when attacking Ulkesh Naranek.
Sheridan did not become telepathic, but at least partially immune to telepathic control. Lyta did not notice him sneaking up to her. It may have been due to his encounter with Kosh or due to the modifications Lorien made to keep Sheridan alive.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>his travels in B4 had to be mind altering if not DNA altering<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Aging is as much DNA altering as standing near a nuclear reactor. But for Sheridan, his brief disappearance did no harm.
To Sinclair it did great harm only because he and Garibaldi had participated in evacuating Babylon 4 -- with no adequate protection.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Plus, who is to say where he went when he went 'into the light', maybe back in time to be Sinclair's father?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Why would that be needed? It would have no point aside from practical jokes. Hardly a thing a dying man would even consider. It would be even less likely that Lorien would act as somebody's temporal taxi driver.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Zathrus did say something about The One which I believe meant that Sheridan and Sinclair are from the same roots<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
What Zathras meant was that they are united in their task -- to end the Shadow wars. Given the need to survive, all of the younger races should have been united in that task.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>but it seems obvious that Delenn and Sheridan are, at minimum, historically related<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Delenn has always had some Human genes which she inherited from Valen. Sheridan is Human and thus very probably related to Sinclair. Whether their common ancestor lived in the stone or bronze age is irrelevant. They had a common ancestor just like you, me and every living thing on this planet, some exotic bacteria excluded.
It it less worthy of mention than the fact that Sheridan once had a bad cold, during which a malfunctioning adenovirus forgot a couple of genes into his cells.
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And now the speculating part:
From the point of view of modern biology, the chrysalis device is incredibly advanced. Changing a person's body in such a manner is impossible by todays standards, very likely to stay impossible forever.
Many kinds of animals undergo transformations, but these are all based on cells dying and others cells replacing them. A catepillar can transform into a butterfly, but very few of its original cells survive. Most are broken down or reorganized beyond recognition.
In case of a sentient being, there is a clear and unbreakable border to modifications. You can not rebuild the brain without destroying the personality. The chrysalis machine transformed Sinclair into a Minbari and Delenn into a Human, but preserved their personality and memories. This sets strict limits to what could have happened.
How could such a transformation be possible? How much of Delenn remained Minbari and how much of her became Human? I believe that this is a case where we should consider the easiest possibility true.
In my opinion it was like this: the rebuilding did not touch difficult things. The brain is an organ better left unmodified. Bones are impossible to break down and rebuild in adult form. The rest can be rebuilt freely.
Old lungs can be broken down while new ones grow. An old heart may be switched off when the new one has started functioning. But support structure must remain (which explains why Delenn's headbone also remained) and the brain must be left unmodified.
Even such a devious trick would leave difficult compatibility problems. Many genes would have to be deleted, added or rewritten. The new body would have to be able to sustain the old brain. This would explain a large portion of Human genome in Valen and a large number of Minbari genes in Delenn.
Great parts of the immune system would have to be modified -- essentially it would mean forcing two different immune systems co-exist in one body without attacking each other. Neural incompatibilities would have to be solved by heavy rebuilding in areas of the brain which act as an "interface" with the rest of the neural system. Memories and personality would remain unharmed, but adjusting to new senses and learning to use a new body would be quite difficult.
This is my humble opinion of how it could be done. Unbelievably difficult, but perhaps possible after a million years.
[This message has been edited by Lennier (edited December 11, 2001).]