Our goal is that they be reasonably healthy and of proper carcass mass index during harvest age, without being advanced enough to defend themselves against us. Our return to this planet is scheduled for nine years, eight months, our time. Allowing for Accelerated Gravitational Time Dilation, we will return in approximately twelve thousand, eight hundred and ninety-three years planet time. We have the charter to proceed as necessary to generate a viable product. We must be aggressive. Let’s just say, any enemies we make now, won't be around to trouble us later.
General Reaction:
Laughter, Agreement, scale 6.5 out of 10
Synster:
Prior experience has shown that it is imprudent to rely on a single mechanism to achieve our ends, and we are best rewarded by implementing multiple strategies. We are fortunate in regard to this planet, as we have a grass that grows throughout a great variety of regions that is highly receptive to genetic modification. We can amend its qualities to suit our needs. This enables us to implement not a single, but a multi-pronged approach with this one species to achieve our goals. There is other vegetation that offers potential, and it will be made available for agricultural development. But it is only this one grass that produces a grain, largely poisonous and unpalatable to the human population, which we will modify to enhance its beneficial properties for the purposes of achieving production goals.
This grain, Yngorn, named after the Provenger that discovered it, is currently of minor use to the subject species population, particularly in its non-germinated form, due to a great variety of deleterious effects it inflicts on human physiology. When these populations do find it in quantities that allow for its collection, they are only able to make use of its limited nourishment through soaking it long enough to sprout or have it ferment. In its un-sprouted grain form it is hard on their teeth, dry in their mouths and almost void of flavor. It requires significant effort to access and collect, and considerable processing to be consumed. It is the last thing the subject species would perceive as food. Despite these efforts it is still detrimental as food, as it is small and course, imbued with toxins and proteins damaging to their digestive systems, and relatively deficient in nutrients even when processed. We will introduce strains that will eliminate the high degree of these negative aspects. The resulting plant will retain certain elements of its poisonous characteristics. These effects are by design. They bring us numerous benefits to help meet our goals. These benefits involve the deterioration of subject species health at a measured rate, with the majority of degenerative effects occurring after the subject species’ reproductive and harvest age. This will reduce individuals’ contributions to their society later in life when they are most knowledgeable and experienced, ensuring slow technological progress while simultaneously maintaining the level of civilization necessary for perpetuated population growth. We can count on this grain to provide general nutrient scarcity, impaired nutrient absorption, innate and adaptive immune system responses, and addictive tendencies.
PAUSE
Let me elaborate. Our improvements to the grain will allow it to be accepted as a common food by these primitives. Its characteristics will achieve the desired results of providing suitable caloric nutrition to provide energy for labor and reproduction, while simultaneously eliciting long-term physiological effects that will: one, increase carcass weight and fat marbling of tissues and organs during the harvest age, two, promote accelerated mortality for those in their post reproductive years, removing them from resource competition with the youth of the species, and finally, three, as the Algorithm has exposed, the accelerated mortality will also limit the productive life of those intelligent enough to push technological frontiers. This will force subsequent generations to either relearn, retrain, or rediscover their accomplishments and abilities, rather than benefitting firsthand from the innovators’ continued efforts over an extended lifetime. This is vital to the prevention of any problems with an uncooperative and highly advanced population on our return. This will provide us with fat stock that dies off quickly after the reproductive and harvest age, an almost ideal situation.
PAUSE
There are numerous qualities of this grain that make it favorable to our needs. We have designed a slightly larger grain, making it cost-effective for the carnate to collect. We have retained the grain’s ability to remain dormant under dry conditions through the actions of phytic acid in the grain. This acid acts as a natural preservative, in that it inhibits germination, allowing it to be stored for long periods. It will therefore be available during famine when natural phenomena limit traditional food sources. These times of famine have regularly afflicted and reduced the subject species. Throughout these periods of great need, carnate will come to see this grain as a savior, something which supports the body of their society when it might otherwise stumble and fall, a staff of life, if you will. This is a major mechanism by which it will be gradually adopted by societies that have not undergone the Contact Protocol. It will eventually be perceived by all related societies as a source of energy that is plentiful, reliable, and intrinsic to their culture.
The biological effects on the species’ health are especially important. As I’ve already stated, this quality is vital. During our absence, in the vast amount of time it takes for them to populate the planet, we must have a mechanism to impede their technological development. Limiting the productive length of their later lives is the best method. There are many characteristics of Yngorn that help us accomplish this.
First there are the effects that deprive them of the dense nutrition upon which their species has become dependent throughout their evolution. The qualities of this relatively nutrient deficient grain will actually inhibit nutrient absorption of other foods that are eaten by carnate through the following mechanisms.
Substitution: the grain will regularly be substituted for their relatively nutrient dense foods; the game and vegetation that they collect during the course of their day. This will result in a deficit of the variety of nutrients necessary for proper cellular metabolism, especially the fatty acids and trace minerals they require for all metabolic functions.
Chemically inhibited absorption: phytic acid that preserves the grain for storage does so by binding minerals. Phytates will also bind minerals offered by all foods during digestion and prevent vital trace minerals from being absorbed through the intestinal lining, further inhibiting healthy cellular metabolism.
Gut Irritation: both the proteins in the grain, and harmful bacterial overgrowth promoted by the overabundance of starch, will create intestinal lining irritation. The starches in the grain will promote the growth of non-contributory bacteria in the digestive system. These bacteria will provide three important deleterious services. One: as already stated, the bad bacteria overgrowth will irritate the mucus membranes causing an overabundance of mucus, thereby blocking some absorption of nutrients by these membranes. Two: through competition for space and resources, these bad bacteria will inhibit the growth of productive bacteria that would have aided in the digestion of nutrients, leading to decreased nutrient absorption. And three: they will aid in the activation of the immune system in the area of the intestinal lining that is overpopulated with the invasive bacteria. This reaction will contribute to the destruction of nutrient absorbing tissues on the intestine wall.
Immune system reaction: The intestine will now be coated with the unusually adhesive grain proteins. They will irritate the absorptive lining and will initiate an immune system reaction, resulting in destruction of the absorptive tissue. This process sounds similar to the immune system reaction to the bacteria, but is actually quite different. The proteins of the grain have unique qualities to make the intestinal lining more permeable.
PAUSE
All the aforementioned mechanisms combine to result in an organism that thinks it is eating well, but having the nutrient absorption and health of one that is not. Much of what is being eaten is rendered unusable by the body. There is one exception regarding the
se obstructions to absorption. Starches and sugars will pass to the body in abundance. After approximately twenty-four years of this process, the human body will begin to feel these negative effects, right around harvest age. For the next ten years, on average, the effects will slowly take hold. At approximately thirty-five years the carnate will be well marbled and replete with the fat that we desire.
The nature of the grain’s powerful starch, amylopectin, which is quickly digested, even under the aforementioned circumstances, will provide them with a great deal of immediate energy when eaten. This effect, as well as chemical effects on the brain, will be mildly addictive. It will also induce a considerable insulin spike which the species’ body is not designed to handle. This will promote general inflammation and fat deposition. The accumulation of fat will accelerate later in life as inflammation takes hold. As the species eats more of this grain it is increasingly starved of nutrients, signaling the brain with a need for more nutrients. This will result in the desire to eat more grain, resulting in greater fat deposition through insulin spikes and continued nutrient deficiency. And so on, and so on. It is a self-enforcing cycle. Beyond the age of most efficient reproduction, this cumulative effect will drive the physiology of the species toward weakness without immediately affecting the quality of their flesh and organs. The first nutrients to be targeted by this decreased capacity for absorption will be the trace minerals that are vital for cellular metabolism. Due to the aforementioned factors, regardless of the nutrient levels of all the foods carnate eat, the presence of a high starch diet will inhibit their ability to use many of these nutrients. Their deficiency of iron, in particular, will be beneficial to the end product, as there will be a slight reduction in that metallic flavor some Provenger experienced during the taste trials.
Over all, the trace mineral deficiency will gradually lead to aberrant gene expression within the species’ cells, the cumulative effect of which will manifest itself in a variety of different disorders, depending on the individuals’ genetic makeup, that will dramatically weaken the individual, eventually resulting in mental and physical decline, and ultimately, premature death. But prior to that ultimate event, this process will promote the deposition of fat both in the body in general as well as surrounding the primary commodity organs.
Their current diet varies considerably through the seasons as they move about, take advantage of animal migrations, reproductive cycles, and seasonal plant availability. Though most of this species suffer from parasites, this seasonal nutritional change, as well as their continual relocation, tends to contribute to a seasonal intestinal biome diversity. Over the short-term, this has inhibitory effects on the proliferation of any one particular bad bacteria or parasitic infestation that would otherwise benefit from any one perpetual food source. With the adoption of agriculture and the resulting sedentary lifestyle, bacteria and parasites of specific types would be more capable of gaining a foothold in the consistently conducive environment. This makes the adoption of infectious disease mitigating habits by humans all the more important. Otherwise, infestations would become so chronic as to impact our long-term population goals. These habits will be part of our Contact Protocol. Obviously these are issues we don’t generally need to deal with in our world, and so are typically overlooked.
For those with the individual genotypes that are especially resilient to the mal-absorptive path of degeneration, there are some naturally occurring proteins within Yngorn specifically that achieve a necessary degeneration through a completely different pathway. I’ve touched on this briefly already. The original potency of this effect has, once again, been reduced by our modifications to make the grain more acceptable as a food.
Using the mechanism that currently regulates cellular tight junctions, or permeability, of epithelial tissue in humans, we can naturally destroy their longevity. We can do it both organically and without the administration of toxins that could affect the end product. We will do this by simply opening their intestinal lining as well as other organs consisting of epithelial tissue, to allow the invasion of undigested proteins throughout their bodies. We have found that proteins in this grain naturally affect their permeability mechanism. These proteins, when collocated with human epithelial tissues, initiate a signaling process which makes the tissue become more permeable by loosening the tight junctions between the cells. All living tissues require this mechanism, of course, as all life needs to maintain a balance, called homeostasis, between what it keeps out, and what it lets in. By increasing what is let in, the immune system is activated in some very detrimental ways.
During the digestion of this grain, the gut lining becomes overly permeable to undigested particles, as well as irritated. The bloodstream will then become exposed to the contents of the intestines through a leaking intestinal lining, potentially throughout significant portions of the digestive system. In addition, once these proteins make it into the bloodstream, they will have the opportunity to affect all other membranes’ permeability in all systems of the body. The intestinal lining, vital organs, vascular system, the nervous system, even the brain itself will not be spared. With this increased permeability, the grain proteins will invoke an innate immune system reaction resulting in a general increase in inflammation, and an adaptive immune system attack on various internal organs to which these proteins resemble or attach.
Depending on the genetic makeup of the individual, their past history of disease exposure, and their current nutrient deficiencies due to the other deleterious effects, the carnate will exhibit different debilitating conditions. Internal organs will be attacked through an autoimmune reaction leading to their eventual compromise. Keep in mind, this will all be occurring in a body that is experiencing high inflammation and nutrient deficiencies that are inhibiting all normal and productive hormonal signaling. In fact, some of their accelerating disorders will actually originate from hormonal imbalances due to these nutrient deficiencies. Ironically, even if they recognize this, and eat nutrient rich foods, as long as they keep eating this grain, or suffer from the intestinal damage already sustained, they will be unable to recover. Conversely, even if they stop eating the grain for substantial periods, the immune system, already activated, can continue its attack for significant periods of time. It would require long periods of abstinence to calm this mechanism; not likely, due to Yngorn’s addictive properties. This will make identification of the problem exceedingly difficult, even as their technology increases.
Once again, the potency of these effects have been carefully calibrated through our genetic alteration of Yngorn, to reach a critical point of maximum effect beginning with the post reproductive years, after certain hormonal changes in the species have been reached.
The Algorithm has considered every variable, and has determined this is the only way we can meet our simultaneous needs: population increase, fattening during harvest age, and physical and mental decline consistent with our need for intellectual and technological growth retardants. In my personal opinion, this grain provides us with a tool to further our objectives beyond anything we could have dreamed. We are truly quite lucky. It is genuinely a multipurpose tool for the Natural Proliferation management technique. For our purposes this grain, along with others in its genus generally called wheat, is truly a super-food.
The importance of the adoption of wheat requires some assurance that it not be abandoned in favor of some other emerging food source; something the Algorithm has difficulty predicting. Therefore, some of the proteins in wheat have been modified to bind with certain receptors in the species’ brain that influence gratification. This will give the grain an increased addictive effect. They will have a tendency to crave it and this will mitigate a tendency to abandon the crop. Adding to this feature is the fact that humans already have relatively well-developed knowledge regarding the fermentation of foods. This includes the uses of their current inedible wheat grains for making alcohol, which they drink.
Their desire to obtain fermentation products is stro
ng. They currently gather some grains, when in season, as they travel. Our scans revealed that they place the grain in a wet leather bag as they collect it, and eat it only if near starvation during a hunt after it has softened or sprouted as they travel. They prefer to save it and bring it back to camp where they contribute it to a communal animal hide that is tended by the sedentary. There it is fermented in water and herbs, and consumed by the tribe. This practice is common throughout the tribes, but is only seasonal when the grains are available. This limits their consumption due to the minimal supply. With the adoption of agriculture and the surpluses that will result, they will have access to their fermented drink year round. We have noticed that this drink tends to promote their reproductive activity, while decreasing their creativity and innovation. Again, this is in line with our desire to increase population while decreasing the technological innovations that accompany the more sedentary lifestyle of a curious organism. These factors have been accounted for in the Algorithm and exert a surprising 18 percent influential effect on the final outcome.
Primal Estate: The Candidate Species Page 41