Wednesday 1 August 2012

Neosapien

The Neosapiens are depicted as seven to nine feet tall humans with pale blue skin. Throughout the series they are demonstrated to be the products of selective genetic engineering having numerous traits which distinguish them from humans. They are depicted as having four fingers on each hand, two of which are opposable thumbs (effectively doubling their grip strength), with four toes and are completely hairless.

Every Neosapien depicted includes a brightly-colored tattoo, a so-called brood mark, on their foreheads, which denotes what brood they were created in. The brood mark is unique for every Neosapien and helps to distinguish them from each other, (presumably for the benefit of humans, as Neospaien characters comment more than once that human think all 'Neo's' look alike. A quiet reference to racial bias which is a common undertone in the series). Their lack of visual distinctiveness is likely due to their status of being artificially engineered from stock genes. Although there are Neosapien characters depicted of both male and female traits, they are effectively neuter with no reproductive capability of their own. Toward the close of the series the creation of a final Neosapien brood with human reproductive capability is offered as a means to advance equality between the two races.

Neosapiens are depicted as possessing many physical traits far superior to humans. These traits include greater strength, speed, stamina, hearing, and vision. In addition, they require very little food, have no need to sleep, and have a much greater life expectancy than Terrans. Indeed, Neosapiens have been genetically optimized in virtually every bodily attribute. This optimization is depicted as the result of the Neosapiens' creation as a slave race, and in the series they were primarily exploited to mine the hostile environments of newly-colonized Mars.

In addition to their physical attributes Neosapiens' are shown to have a number of psychological differences from ordinary humans which vary from beneficial to encumbering. These traits manifest themselves in a greater predisposition to logical conclusions and an Eidetic memory. However, they are burdened by a lack of creativity and imagination. This is often exploited in military contexts with Neosapiens having poor reactions to unexpected, illogical, or deceptive behavior. (More than once humans are shown escaping danger by 'playing dead' and other such behavior.) While very few Neosapiens are shown to expect this kind of behavior from humans, a small few are shown to expect illogical behavior on the part of humans and act accordingly. (Though still logically, thus having them react logically to illogical situations)

There are other minor differences between the two as Neospapiens are purported to be un-scannable by the 'Mind-Scanner" technology of the fiction. Meanwhile dogs are able to recognize their scent from afar and generally behave aggressively towards them.