Originally posted by Primarch
I quite like that idea Pendall, but I'm not sure about the deliberate engineering of the Kilrathi, unless it was some sort of psycological engineering??
I don't think they *genetically* engineered them, I
think they did a little *social* engineering -- find a
likely race and inflict (apparently) supernatural portents and a Prophet on them to Explain It All. Y'know, sort
of Like the Ten Commandments except with Morays supplying
the lightning from Heaven and an entirely different set
of commandments, e.g.
"Kill, Kill, Kill",
"And do ye unto
your brother what he would do unto you, and do it first".
"Ye have heard it was said, an eye for an eye, but now I
tell ye a head for an eye, and his head, his wife and
children for a head, and his whole clan for a family.
For bloody revenge and violence is the way of Sivar".
"When Sivar comes, he shall separate them into the Predators
and the Prey. And he shall say to the Predators: "Come
in, ye blessed, for thou art bloody and savage murderers.
Thou showest no mercy... and he shall say to the Prey
"Depart from me ye accursed, for thou art weak and
unworthy."
So: a psychological trauma and an artificial religion to
force the Kilrathi down a path their biology already
predisposed them too. It would not surprise me that the entire "Cult of Sivar" was artificially created by Aligned Peoples anthropologists, who studied the Kilrathi to determine what cultural cues they could use to encourage their warlike behavior. The AP then gave the religion to the Kilrathi to force their society down a particular path, expecting it to culminate in the full-blown high-tech soldier caste. Finally, press home the point with
graphic and violent atrocities. Fear, especially
religious fear, is a marvelous motivator of evil behavior,
and religious memories are long.
If you read Dune by Frank Herbert, the Missionaria Protectiva in that book did something similar -- they
planted superstitions on planets in order to influence
their development and to protect themselves.
Respectfully,
Brian P.