Quoted By:
“The first option is the Swall <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">Egg Gene</span></span>. As you may be aware; the Swall were an egg-laying species with a very strong K selection bias. They reproduced rarely, but the female would put as many resources as she possibly could into her child. This wouldn't change Jaxtian females into an egg-laying species, but it would solve a small issue. You see, with all our genetic tampering, Jaxtians remain young and healthy for much longer, with an average lifespan of 100 years, but Jaxtian females still have a finite amount of eggs that they are born with. Once they run out, even chemically staving off menopause cannot bring back their eggs and fertility. With this, the Jaxtian female will be able to produce her own eggs throughout her lifespan; meaning Jaxtian women could have children well into their 60s, 70s, 80s, maybe even later, depending on longevity. While there are no exact numbers yet, this will likely <span class="mu-i">significantly increase</span> our population growth rate.”
“The second option is the highly sophisticated Swalli <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">Inner Ear</span></span>. As an aquatic species with highly developed senses, this would give better senses to Jaxtians. The Swall always had unique senses many Jaxtians couldn't even imagine having; ability to sense their blood pressure and blood-nitrogen levels, atmospheric and water pressures, some limited tetrachromacy, even an innate sense of which way is “up”. Sounds hard to believe, considering Jaxtians already have excellent spatial thinking, being natural climbers. Still, this improvement will likely led to better piloting skills... and of course, the potential to influence Starsight, given the connection between that mysterious ability and senses other then sight. However, I should mention there was never a recorded Starseer among the Swall, so correlation does equal causation in this case.”
“The third and final option is the most radical. This one involves stealing a major part of Swall <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">Brain Development</span></span> and construction of the lower brain-stem and just up and putting it into the Jaxtian brain. In other words, making Jaxtians more intelligent, or at least as smart as the Swall were.”
<span class="mu-b">”...I thought the Swall weren't as intelligent as Jaxtians?”</span>
“On average they were not, but that was due to disgenics. Larger swathes of Swall with negative traits and low IQ because their governments refused to separate the fruit from the stem. Swall geniuses on the other hand were smarter then Jaxtian scientists; despite their limited resources on one planet their rate of advancement was scary fast and was a looming threat- until Wrix Val eliminated them.”
<span class="mu-b">”So because of the large jump in intelligence and change to brain-construction, this is why it would be considered radical.”</span>
“Well that, and because it takes away our tails.”
