BY LETTER
Deines
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Two Deines discuss the stellar weather on the local pulsar PSR B1749-28 | |
Wealthy social group or subclade of Radiation Nation that live on Hekufast.
The Deines originated on Mykropht III, a pulsar planet in Corona Australis. This world has an unusual microbial biosphere which is highly resistant to radiation, yet uses similar nucleotides and proteins to Terragen life. By studying the local biota and integrating the results with the medical technology already utilised by the Radiation Nation, the Deine family created a new form of anti-radiation treatment known as Xeno-B, which could be used by almost all biological Terragen clades. Xeno-B is a so-called 'soft radnad' treatment, using lessons learnt from the Terragen bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, the Terragen tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus and the Mykrophtian microbe Xenobacter mirabilis. This treatment was made available for sale throughout the Terragen Sphere, and the proceeds of this sale financed a colonisation mission to the pulsar PSR B1749-28, two hundred light years closer to the galactic centre.
Most Deines who live in the PSR B1749-28 system live on the Selenian type world Hekufast, and retreat beneath its surface when the pulsar weather gets too violent. The Deines have continued to receive income from Xeno-B, especially from clades and polities which prefer to use technology devised by modosophonts; in certain quarters transapient-derived technology is treated with suspicion.
New upgrades for Xeno-B have been made available by Deine biotechnicians at regular intervals, and the Deines have always been happy to point out how they rely on this technology themselves, on a world with one of the most challenging environments in the Terragen Sphere. A significant amount of their income comes from licensing agreements. Even though these licensing agreements are extremely cheap, they operate in most regions of the Sephirotic Empires and bring in significant amounts of credit in aggregate. This credit allows Deines to travel widely as tourists in the Terragen Sphere without relying on local hospitality agreements.
In the Current Era a significant number of other radiation resistant clades have migrated to Hekufast, most of them using 'hard radnad' treatment to repair biological damage with hylotech systems that can restore cellular and neurological damage as well. A significant fraction of Deines also use 'hard radnad' repair systems to repair damage which cannot be cured using Xeno-B and its derivatives, but this is considered shocking by traditionalists on this world.
Related Articles
- Deinococcus radiodurans - Text by Anders Sandberg
Bacterium that evolved naturally on Old Earth, and has since been cultured in biohabitats throughout the galaxy. It is easily geneered to form symbiotic unrelated DNA repair systems used by a wide range of radiation-resistant clades and medical procedures, notably the 'Soft Radnads' of the Radiation Nation. - Hekufast
- Radiation Nation
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Updated by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 09 October 2001.
Updated by Steve Bowers
Initially published on 09 October 2001.
Additional Information
Updated by Steve Bowers 20/3/17
