What do the Ijad look like?

[afny]

I can hope can't I? I like less pointy backgrounds when dealing with games. It gets rather dull when its all "ARRGH I WILL KILL YOU EVERY CHANCE I GET!!" and "WELL I WOULD KILL ALL OF YOU AND NEVER CONSIDER TALKING TO YOU UNLESS WHILE ITS ALSO WHILE KILLING YOU". Thats why I love Heavy Gear, the sure the north and south go at it and are at war with each other, but there is still communication, trade even. Hell, they will even ally against a greater foe if need be.

I think you misunderstood what I said--I totally think the setting you described would fit. I just meant that, given the current state of galactic politics, that kind of integrated community wouldn't be widespread. I think the official lore isn't as "pointy" as it first appears. Sure, there's some ethnocentrism on all sides, but already we've seen examples of both politics, personalities and localities blurring the usual black and white morality play. Obviously we haven't seen the book yet, but the setting seems like LEGO itself: constraining by nature, but modular enough to allow unlimited expression.

[CaGeRit]

Heh you're right, I reread your post, didn't mean to come off hostile.
I hope the Ijad section in the book is long, this is a very interesting concept, at least to me. Brain parasites that aren't evil/all-controlling.

[afny]

Heh you're right, I reread your post, didn't mean to come off hostile.
I hope the Ijad section in the book is long, this is a very interesting concept, at least to me. Brain parasites that aren't evil/all-controlling.

They've got a lot of similarities to the Trill from Star-Trek, with a few key differences. They can bond with anything with a central nervous system (instead of an exclusive sapient humanoid race), so sapient symbiosis is a new thing to them. Also, their setting is much less "advanced" than Trek, and they are they only known alien race, so it's much easier for these questions to take center-stage. Also, the religion, obviously.

[ChaosChild]

There's stuff in the background (the original fluff in update #8 on Kickstarter) about non-bonded humans living in Ijad communities, and being considered "people" by the Ijad so long as they live according to God's will. So integration definitely happens from the other direction and I'm sure there are human communities where Ijad are tolerated, accepted or even welcome.

[Soren]

You remember that really obsequiously religious kid? We all knew one. The one who choose to use his beliefs as evidence that he was just so much better and more special than you, and determined to let everybody know it? Holy balls did I ever hate that kid growing up. You probably did too.

Some Ijad can get like that to people who don't have symbiotes. It produces... friction, sometimes. But then you have the sort of lapsed-Catholic or Amish types who are just swimmingly easy to get along with. So it varies from place to place, and tribe to tribe. But there's an undercurrent in Ijad society from back when they only rode subsapient animals that if you don't have tentacles hanging off the back of your neck, you're... well, a dumb animal. Armored-Of-God are notoriously bad about that.

Some colonies have less-than-stellar policies in hiring, and some UMFL regiments (like the Crimson Phalanx) don't accept Ijad recruits, but there are some hard limits in the Union charter on your ability to be a dick to someone based on religious or ethnic background, and messing with them (which was debated pretty hotly after contact) would destabilize Earth and the colonies. Free Colonial cells are usually egalitarian out of desperation for resources, even when there's a nasty ethnic component to their motivation - not that it doesn't lead to some Tet Offensive machinations where Ijad allies get left swinging in the breeze.

[Dukayn]

You remember that really obsequiously religious kid? We all knew one. The one who choose to use his beliefs as evidence that he was just so much better and more special than you, and determined to let everybody know it?

Aren't most of them running for President now?

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

AW SNAP

Well, really, those guys discovered Jesus later in life. Like when Jerry Falwell offered them a check to run on the millionaire theocrat ticket.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

It occurs to me that we should probably keep this conversation allegorical so we can all stay friends.

[Axhead]

So what color are they? Er.. I mean Ijad, not Republicans... (Everyone knows Republicans are a shade of wrinkly white)

[warhammer651]

Im rather wondering what they sound like. Both within and outside of one's mind. do Ijad have accents to their voice/thoughts when talking to their hosts, or is it accent neutral?

[Soren]

I envision the symbiotes as being a lot like tree frogs, so, ridiculously bright colors.

They don't speak with accents, although they do tend to avoid contractions for some odd reason.

[Zero Revenge]

I envision the symbiotes as being a lot like tree frogs, so, ridiculously bright colors.

They don't speak with accents, although they do tend to avoid contractions for some odd reason.

If... Tree Frogs = Ijad
and... Tree Frogs = Drug Trip when licked.
then that means that... Being synced with an Ijad = Like being on constant Acid.

[warhammer651]

I envision the symbiotes as being a lot like tree frogs, so, ridiculously bright colors.

They don't speak with accents, although they do tend to avoid contractions for some odd reason.

If... Tree Frogs = Ijad
and... Tree Frogs = Drug Trip when licked.
then that means that... Being synced with an Ijad = Like being on constant Acid.

And Now I'm imagining a mafia-esque syndicate that sells Ijad as drugs. or possibly harvests hallucinogens from them.

[afny]

I envision the symbiotes as being a lot like tree frogs, so, ridiculously bright colors.

They don't speak with accents, although they do tend to avoid contractions for some odd reason.

If... Tree Frogs = Ijad
and... Tree Frogs = Drug Trip when licked.
then that means that... Being synced with an Ijad = Like being on constant Acid.

And Now I'm imagining a mafia-esque syndicate that sells Ijad as drugs. or possibly harvests hallucinogens from them.

What your talking about sounds much closer to prostitution. I don't think Soren meant that the Ijad are innately hallucinogenic, but it's my understanding that they can do crazy stuff to your brain when attached to it, like flooding it with dopamine constantly. Obviously stuff like this would be "immoral", but if both parties are WILLING there's bound to be some gray area. The interesting thing is that the Ijad might themselves be the instigators of this trade, making them something of a drug dealer/prostitute hybrid. There would surely be complications as I doubt many of these couplings would result in true symbiosis, seeing as they are founded on lust for a high and greed, respectively.

[Zero Revenge]

I don't think Soren meant that the Ijad are innately hallucinogenic...

...No kidding. I was making a joke through inference. :\

[afny]

I don't think Soren meant that the Ijad are innately hallucinogenic...

...No kidding. I was making a joke through inference. :\

Well, harboring a second individual within your consciousness DOES sort of have some overlap with the effects of LSD. A certain amount of "ego death" would just HAPPEN, and you'd sort of have to rebuild your perspective of yourself after bonding, and again if you were to separate. The whole process of mental symbiosis could EASILY be described as psychedelic.

[randolph]

Well, harboring a second individual within your consciousness DOES sort of have some overlap with the effects of LSD. A certain amount of "ego death" would just HAPPEN, and you'd sort of have to rebuild your perspective of yourself after bonding, and again if you were to separate. The whole process of mental symbiosis could EASILY be described as psychedelic.

From the 0245 NYT Best Seller list:
Our Symbiotes, Ourselves
Men Are From Mars, Ijad Are From Celiel
A Scrambler Darkly

[Ced23Ric]

Good god, Randy. A Scanner Darkly, really? Damn. RDJ is such a hilarious actor. Makes me think of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang again.

[randolph]

Good god, Randy. A Scanner Darkly, really? Damn. RDJ is such a hilarious actor. Makes me think of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang again.

Can't help it, I'm a Philip K. Dick fan (Besides, we were on an altered-state-of-consciousness tangent, PKD and Hunter S. Thompson are the obvious references.)

[Axhead]

From the 0245 NYT Best Seller list:
Our Symbiotes, Ourselves
Men Are From Mars, Ijad Are From Celiel
A Scrambler Darkly

Awesomeness.

Only a few treefrogs provide psychodelic effects, many of the others emit severe neuro-toxins. Since they are described as being soft, highly visible and vulnerable on their own this kind of defensive mechanism would make sense. That being said, the ability to control the neural activity of another being is also a pretty severe form of neuro-chemical defense.