As I have said before, one of Oscar quirks is than every time the waves a plant, he keeps getting the galactic little cousins of Audrey; the Black Forest in Marduk is (in)famous befause it is full of moving, carnivorous trees, and if you wander off the path, you will never leave.
Since Mardukans are well known drama queens, this may be taken with a grain or salt... so, how salty should I make this?
On one hand, biomoded people do get lethal mods, like claws, and at least one of Noah's AI duaghters awakened and ran away to start a life of crime. But those are people; on the other hand, handwaviums wil not create lethal, mechanical weapons.
Should you be able to biomod an animal or plant so it can, and will, kill a human? Predators are perfectly natural; and let's remember than handwavium loves plotlines, and the traditional end for an evil Mad Biologist is to be killed by their aberrant creations.
Back to the Black Forest example, the trees do eat squirrels and rabbits. Where should I place the line: If some backpacker decides to sleep under that tree, will he awaken humorously covered in vines... or will he end inside the hollow trunk, Ucorn style, never to awaken until the (ridicously armed) Park Rangers find his bones?
My current, personal guidelines (pending the results of this thread) are than if you wave a "natural" critter, to cover some ecological niche -even if it is a weird critter, like a Owlbear or a sentient plant- it will be as dangerous as any normal animal -so your cool T-Rex can, and will, eat the tourists if it gets loose.
But if you purposely try to wave a living weapon -say, a Zerg swarm- you will, at best, get the disney version, wich will eat lettuce and play with cute little rabbits and birdies (and how they arrived to the Oort Cloud is a mistery never to be solved.
Oh, and the trees? They will eat the camper. Fortunately, they aren't that fast, and their pheromones are more approptiate for mammals weighting a few pounds, so you will probably be safe unless you go to sleep under the tree. Thoug you should avoid the center of the forest were the Old Trees live...
(that last part may be more Mardukan exageration. Almost certainly, in fact. You should avoid it anyway, just in case)
Since Mardukans are well known drama queens, this may be taken with a grain or salt... so, how salty should I make this?
On one hand, biomoded people do get lethal mods, like claws, and at least one of Noah's AI duaghters awakened and ran away to start a life of crime. But those are people; on the other hand, handwaviums wil not create lethal, mechanical weapons.
Should you be able to biomod an animal or plant so it can, and will, kill a human? Predators are perfectly natural; and let's remember than handwavium loves plotlines, and the traditional end for an evil Mad Biologist is to be killed by their aberrant creations.
Back to the Black Forest example, the trees do eat squirrels and rabbits. Where should I place the line: If some backpacker decides to sleep under that tree, will he awaken humorously covered in vines... or will he end inside the hollow trunk, Ucorn style, never to awaken until the (ridicously armed) Park Rangers find his bones?
My current, personal guidelines (pending the results of this thread) are than if you wave a "natural" critter, to cover some ecological niche -even if it is a weird critter, like a Owlbear or a sentient plant- it will be as dangerous as any normal animal -so your cool T-Rex can, and will, eat the tourists if it gets loose.
But if you purposely try to wave a living weapon -say, a Zerg swarm- you will, at best, get the disney version, wich will eat lettuce and play with cute little rabbits and birdies (and how they arrived to the Oort Cloud is a mistery never to be solved.
Oh, and the trees? They will eat the camper. Fortunately, they aren't that fast, and their pheromones are more approptiate for mammals weighting a few pounds, so you will probably be safe unless you go to sleep under the tree. Thoug you should avoid the center of the forest were the Old Trees live...
(that last part may be more Mardukan exageration. Almost certainly, in fact. You should avoid it anyway, just in case)