Black Lance

B

BlueClaw

Spaceman
How exactly did the Black Lance select and modify their members? Did they do it according to high mental and physical attributes, and selected only the strongest to be a part of their group, and then genetically modified them? Or was this Genetic Enhancement conducted on human offspring still in the womb, like in the movie Gattaca ?
Also, I was under the impression that you had to have good physical attributes to be accepted into the Black Lance? If this is the case, then why is there a Black Lancer with glasses working on the flight deck of their main asteroid base? He was taking notes down and checking weapons stocks on the flight deck while Blair jumped some other Black Lancer for a uniform behind several storage crates.
 
The GE program involved taking 'optimum templates' with regards to DNA (including Blair's) and then growing children based on those template to adulthood, training them along the way. That's where Seether and company came in.
This was part of a breeding program, which was meant to, over several generations of selection combined with the bioconvergence plague, make a humanity that was physically tougher and more domineering than any that had come before.

And apparently they got a myopic bugger to do the inventory. ;)
 
Well, groups which define themselves by a particular idealogy aren't always consistent in in how they implement it. When I was taking high school history, I had to do an assignment on war-time (WW1/WW2) propaganda. Most of it was pretty bland, but one that stuck in my mind was a great British poster which satirised how few of the Nazi leadership really fitted their Aryan ideal. The poster had Hitler pointing at his underlings and saying: "The Aryan is

-Blond.....like Hess (drawn black haired as coal)
-Tall......like Goebbels (drawn very vertically challenged)
-Slim.....like Goerring (drawn round as a pudding)
-and Heroic.....like me!

Hmmm, I wonder how how that would work for the Black Lance? "The Black Lancer is...

-Alert (like the guys that let Blair stroll into their base)
-Calm and controlled (Like Seether)
-An Excellent pilot (like every Dragon pilot we met)
-Tactically Brilliant (like the guys lost their Dragon squadrons and the Vesuvius trying to put down the intrepid)

Best, Raptor
 
Well I think that only "Seether" was a GE "product".All the others were normal Figher pilots.
The Glasses-Guy wasnt a pilot.He was just a crew from the ship.
Its pointless to be perfect skilled with eyesighting while he is on the ground.:D

Correct me if IM wrong (LOAF,anybody.......):cool:
 
Originally posted by TCSTigersClaw

The Glasses-Guy wasnt a pilot.He was just a crew from the ship.
Its pointless to be perfect skilled with eyesighting while he is on the ground.:D
Click to expand...

Still, judging from what the Black Lance did at Telamon, I was under the impression that they would have killed anybody that didn't match up to their mental and physical standards.
 
Nah, every Master Race needs slaves, at least until their own population is high enough. Besides, with their superiority complex, I would think that the G.E. types would recoil at the thought of demeaning themseves doing janitorial work and such. Some tasks are just too unpleasant or demeaning for "self-respecting people" to do, yet would be prohibitively expensive to automate, no matter HOW high your technology is. That is why we will always have the "poor, huddled masses"--labor of unskilled humans will almost always be cheaper than the alternatives.
 
Maybe the guy looked at a Kilrathi grenade or something. People do lose part of their eyesight as a result of injury, on occasion.

As for mental standards...the pot calling the kettle black.
 
Originally posted by Ijuin
Nah, every Master Race needs slaves, at least until their own population is high enough. Besides, with their superiority complex, I would think that the G.E. types would recoil at the thought of demeaning themseves doing janitorial work and such. Some tasks are just too unpleasant or demeaning for "self-respecting people" to do, yet would be prohibitively expensive to automate, no matter HOW high your technology is. That is why we will always have the "poor, huddled masses"--labor of unskilled humans will almost always be cheaper than the alternatives.
Click to expand...

But wouldn't the Black Lance, as arrogant as they are, regard it as an insult to have someone of such low stature in one of their uniforms?
 
Keep in mind though, at this point the Black Lance was still trying to maintain their cover as obedient members of Confed's armed forces. Killing people just because they weren't "fit" to wear the uniform would have raised questions.

As for the Black Lance having physical and mental standards, well, given how quickly and throughly they had their scheme blown apart, I would say that the Black Lancers should be demanding a refund from the people who designed them. :D

Best, Raptor
 
Well guys ,why do you keep talking about these "High Standards" of the Black Lance?I dont thing that they are so strict about these.Maybe they are an elite group, but the Telamon Disaster and so have nothing to do with it.They destroy population cause they are weak?I think they were just testing their Bio weapons.

Also,it couldnt be the hole confed`s elite group.How many of the normal Terran Confederation Service`s aces would agree to take part to a "Rebelion"?

I think that time,at the begining of the Black Lance ,Tolwyn joined forces with whoever he can and whoever agreed with his crazy ideas.
he didnt have any options.I also remind you that in the GE program I think that only Seether was a "product" of it.
Well I think!THATS WHY I WANT SOMEONE TO TELL ME ABOUT THIS!!!:eek:
 
To the best of my knowledge Telamon was a test site for the bio weapons. It was remote and far enough out of the way that few people would really care to do anything about the tragedy there.

Personally I think the BL personel were more or less selected for their certain skills. Not necessarily because they were better than anyone in Confed. Some people may have been excellent pilots, others may have excelled at navigation and others in the BL would have other areas of expertise. Keeping track of inventory may have been given to those that weren't as gifted as others in the organization. And I feel that the BL was formed by those people that wanted to be there. I don't think they were forced to serve.

I also don't think that the BL were actually part of Confed. At the end of WC IV Blair is addressing the senate and asks if anyone has question Tolwyn about his Black Lance forces. Tolwyn goes on to say he would have brought it to the senates attention in all due time( ha, yeah right). The BL is Tolwyn's little secret.
 
Well "Im thinking" you are thinking exaclty as I do!:D

Thats what I was trying to say down there!!:p


But there is one thing left for someone to answer:

Is Seether the only one pilot who took part to the GE program?
Thats what I believe.I dont think all the BL pilots etc are "products" from this program.!:rolleyes:
 
the other pilots were possibly brainwashed in some way or another, but i do agree, Seether was the only "product" think about when you lose the verbal quarrel with tolwyn at the end of the game. (how paladin acts). but it is also possible paladin had no idea to tolwyns scheme.
 
I knew I always had a problem with the way the BL was set up and thanks to this thread getting me thinking, I know why. I did a little digging and a little math and come up with this:

Seether is a product of GE using DNA that included Blairs. Blair was born in 2630 (accodring to our CIC timeline). HIs service aboard the Tiger's Claw began in 2654 (making him 24). Robert Rusler who played Seether was 30 yrs old in WCIV. Let's say he's playing a younger character (like most actors do, Hamill was 44 playing a 41 yr old in WCIV) by 5 years that would put Seether at 25. Twenty five years ago (from 2671) Blair wasn't even on board the Tigers Claw yet, so how did Tolwyn know to use his "superior" DNA if he hadn't even flown a combat mission? I guess we could go back to Tolwyn seeing Blair during WC:A and using his DNA then, but that raises another question. Was Tolwyn already that insane 25 yrs before WCIV? Did he have the ability as a Commodore to set up such a program as the BL? I pretty sure there are a few holes in my thinking so feel free to pick it apart. After all, this is all in fun. :)

C-ya
 
Originally posted by Viper61
I knew I always had a problem with the way the BL was set up and thanks to this thread getting me thinking, I know why. I did a little digging and a little math and come up with this:

Seether is a product of GE using DNA that included Blairs. Blair was born in 2630 (accodring to our CIC timeline). HIs service aboard the Tiger's Claw began in 2654 (making him 24). Robert Rusler who played Seether was 30 yrs old in WCIV. Let's say he's playing a younger character (like most actors do, Hamill was 44 playing a 41 yr old in WCIV) by 5 years that would put Seether at 25. Twenty five years ago (from 2671) Blair wasn't even on board the Tigers Claw yet, so how did Tolwyn know to use his "superior" DNA if he hadn't even flown a combat mission? I guess we could go back to Tolwyn seeing Blair during WC:A and using his DNA then, but that raises another question. Was Tolwyn already that insane 25 yrs before WCIV? Did he have the ability as a Commodore to set up such a program as the BL? I pretty sure there are a few holes in my thinking so feel free to pick it apart. After all, this is all in fun. :)

C-ya
Click to expand...

The novel does state that Blair was being watched, even back at the Academy, as a prospect for the templates. They may have taken the samples then, and started the GE program at that time, if they had no 'forced growth' technologies (cloning has not been proven to exist during WC's time, or at least we haven't seen it).

And Tolwyn wasn't in the Black Lance way back when - he did seem to join sometime around the end of WC3, as noted in 'False Colors' where he talks about the Belisarius Group's mechanitions... and the secret that he kept even from Bear - the secret that's the Black Lance, which the destruction of Belisarius hides.
 
The GE project was a legitimate black ops effort to create a super-soldier during the war... presumably Blair was being watched while he was at the Academy for a number of reasons.

- He showed promise as a pilot.
- His father was an excellent pilot and a war hero.
- He was a Pilgrim.
 
Originally posted by Haesslich


The novel does state that Blair was being watched, even back at the Academy, as a prospect for the templates. They may have taken the samples then, and started the GE program at that time, if they had no 'forced growth' technologies (cloning has not been proven to exist during WC's time, or at least we haven't seen it).
Click to expand...
perhaps this is just idle speculation... but we have this technoligy now. They may lose it somewhere down the line... but from what I can tell WC's earth is pretty peaceful pre-pilgrim war...
 
Originally posted by Manic

perhaps this is just idle speculation... but we have this technoligy now. They may lose it somewhere down the line... but from what I can tell WC's earth is pretty peaceful pre-pilgrim war...
Click to expand...

There's just one problem: what we do right now is only the first step towards cloning in the sense that we've seen in science fiction: it takes a lifetime to grow a clone right now, and the clones we create either fail to live to maturity or develop major genetic problems. :p Like accelerated aging due to a rather bad copy...

What they can't do is create exact duplicates of people with all the traits they want duplicated; the genetic potential is there but that's all that we can guarantee right now, at best. TC puts it most correctly: the crazy Star Wars fashion is more likely what they want.

This involves growing the clone in a short period of time (instead of taking 20+ years to get a useable batch) and also making sure that what you want is duplicated without having to account for environmental factors or genetic hiccups that may destroy the potentials and abilities you're seeking to duplicate in the clones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top