Concerning “half-breeds”

[Kaede45]

So I’ve been thinking about how I’m trying to make a sort of cosmopolitan faction, where Humans & Xenos live together & the thought came up about inter-species relations. I know the Imperium is so xenophobic that even the thought is likely considered heretical & the closest we have to a cosmopolitan empire in cannon is the T’au, but they seem to practice segregation to a degree, but I’m sure I’ve heard of at least one half-breed. I believe it was a half-Human, half-Aeldari who was a clone made by either Malcador or Cawl, but I’ve been thinking ”what about other types of half-breeds?” I know that the GSC are also technically half-breeds, but I don’t really count them. I’m talking “mom was X & dad was Y” type half-breeds. How would they function? Would they take more after one species or the other? Are they any different from either of their parents?

 

Additionally, I know that the T’au are divided into different castes & the Ethereals regulate who they can & cannot mate with, but if they could freely interbreed, what would the children of two different castes look like? Would they create an entirely new caste or would they simply be born of one caste or the other? Would the children of a fire caste T’au & a water caste T’au be a “steam” caste or would they simply produce children of either water or fire castes? Would any caste’s genetics be dominant or recessive when compared to any other?

 

Also, what about half-Abhumans? Would they create new Abhumans or be more like one of their parents? Would the Human gene be dominant over the Abhuman gene, thus their children would not be Abhumans at all? Do an Ogryn & a Ratling produce something in the middle or one or the other or would they simply produce a Human?

 

Finally, how would these half-breeds translate to the tabletop?

 

These are just the theories I’d like to explore with this topic. Feel free to chime in with your own theories or answers to these & other questions. As always, thank you very much for your time & of course, God bless.

[Karhedron]

From a biological point of view, half-breeds should be impossible. We are not genetically compatible with chimpanzees despite being close in evolutionary terms and sharing 98% of our genomes. Genestealers get a pass because they are designed to infiltrate other species but anyone else should be pretty much impossible. After all, all life on earth is based on the same 4 letters of DNA. Alien species would likely have an entirely different genetic alphabet.

 

Mixed abhumans might be possible as they are mostly human. You could probably get a ratling/ogryn cross in the same way that a you can cross an Alsatian with a Terrier. The concept of dominant genes only really applies to single trait mutations like eye colour. Humans have 20,000-ish genes so it probably takes hundreds of mutations to produce an abhuman. It is very unlikely that a cross between 2 abhumans would result in a pure human. Imagine have 2 Labradoodles and trying to get pure Labrador or Poodles as puppies. It might be possible in theory but in practice you would have better chances of winning the lottery. Mixed abhumans would probably have a mix of traits from their parents.

 

The only way mixed human/alien hybrids might exist would be with outside assistance/interference such as the case of Ael Wyntor. 

[Dr. Clock]

1 hour ago, Karhedron said:

Alien species would likely have an entirely different genetic alphabet.

I real life I'd agree, but as soon as we allow that the 'alien love gardeners' the Old Ones were going around in antiquity seeding the galaxy with lots of life, there is no reason to assume that they wouldn't have set up the capacity for hybridization whether by design or accident. That's to say that Orks, Humans, a Eldar at the least may come from the same 'original designs', and thus be 'blendable' in a way that 'natural evolution' wouldn't be. 

 

All that's to say that 'by magic or science' is how I'd approach cross-species hybridization in headcanon, as it is highly unlikely that gametes would be compatible across species in their conventional/natural state. 

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.