Encounter Group #4 Breeders
 

Name: Breeders
Geographical Location: Anywhere, based in 11.
H&M Average:6
H&M Range 2-9
Number found : 2-12 / Patrol
Tech Level: C-B
Power / Resources : Combustion engines, some generated electricity and batteries.
Weapons: Dart guns, shotguns, rifles, gas grenades, explosives.
Special Attributes: Semi-scientists with religious convictions.

The People hunt throughout the country for pure, unmutated, uncontaminated human stock. They are descended from a group of genetic scientists who survived the War. They believe there will be a super-race to emerge from "the Chaos" as they refer to the War.

I really like this Group too.

They make a counter point to all the low tech villains. The Breeders are not overly impressed with the Teams equipment, though they may still be jealous or covetous.

The Breeders can rebuild pre-War items and have a limited capability to manufacture items up to late WW2 equipment. This makes them dangerous enough to a Team or the Project in and of itself. The proximity fuse, guided missiles, the helicopter, the fighter jet, and RADAR are all late WW2 level tech.

The Breeders advanced capabilities in Chemistry makes them a fearsome opponent. Their ammunition may be reloads, but the smokeless powder and the primers are the equal of pre-war. The ability to make various gases makes them valuable and to be feared too. With the ability to make CS and CN , and various sleep gases comes those benevolent and murderous. The Breeders and make medical O2, acetylene, bottled nitrogen, CO2, Helium, and more ominously those that kill (sarin and tabun). The manufacture of explosives and poison gas uses the same compounds as manufacturing fertilizer and pesticides. The Breeders may trade these to communities for foodstuffs and goods to support themselves.

The Breeders make an excellent foil to the Team, and a good nemesis. Breeders could take a Team (and want to for their pre-War DNA), be the Power in and area, the orders coming from the Breeders may even undo the Teams efforts in an area.

Would cloning and child surrogates be possible at Tech level B?

The option is Mendel type breeding programs.

I am considering an insidious group along "Manpower Incorporated / Mesan Alignment" style from the Honorverse or just "Kaminoan" from the Star Wars prequels.

I want them to go all the way back 150 years to the War and probably before that. With some feeling the War lifted considerable "restraints" upon their studies. Maybe sympathizers to Eugenics, of which, there were considerable numbers in the U.S.A..

Giving them links to some of the other encounter groups in anon. Providing soldiers, servants, and slaves for less savory purposes.

Cohorts of child soldiers to Krell raised in creche to be obedient soldiers, as an example.

Bed slaves for the wealthy. Hardy miners or resilient scrappers for the Overlords. Artists and Ballerinas trained from childhood to entertain.

This hides in plain sight efforts to build "better" Men.

Human cloning is not quite possible with the Breeders' level of technology. The Breeders are fully aware of cloning and genetic engineering, they just don't have all the necessary skills and technology (computers and electron microscopes, for instance).

But that's why they need the Morrow Project's technology and data!

This kind of depends on the kind of cloning they want to do. The first sheep to be cloned using nuclear transfer was done in 1984. Dolly, who was cloned in 1996, was famous because it was the first sheep clone done using somatic cell nuclear transfer and not embryonic cells. Nuclear transfer cloning of frogs dates back to 1952. If the breeders only wanted to have a bunch of genetically identical people, they could harvest early embryonic cells and create copies via nuclear transfer into other enucleated human eggs and implant them into surrogate mothers for maturation. None of this requires much more than fine glass tubes and optical microscopes, both of which are easily in TL B-D range. And even though it is not really necessary for cloning, an electron microscope is TL C-D. The first ones were made in the 1930's.

So I am considering the following to make a truly dangerous (worthy) adversary for a campaign, and less a one shot.

A core group of descendants of Pre-War scientists. Whole families that rode out the War due to their isolated lab facility being secure and independent. Even this is two tier with two families having the most influence or power and another half dozen vying for their cut. They have the pre-war library and teaching tools to educate the next generation, though this does still lean heavily toward medicine, psychology, pathology, and other derivatives of Biology. These people reap the benefits of Breeding and genetic manipulation. Trying different approaches, these persons will cull children felt to be insufficient or not up to standards. Those showing mental instabilities or regressions are also immediately culled. These are the only people that know the full extent of the programs. Alphas.

Their surrounded by a first layer of carefully manipulated, cultured, and groomed society of servants, workers, and administrators. Betas. These persons are free of mental illnesses or geneti abnormalities, though their modest "improvements" are related to the tasks that each was created for. These Betas, and still the Executive Officers, Generals, Administrators, Government Officials. While they seldom meet and Alpha directly, they do NOT know who they work for and are loyal too. The top most margin meets the Alphas and then only specifically for what is required. Their personally invested in this keeping the Alphas hidden as that is where their power and comforts flow from.

Working for Betas, are Gammas. Task specific bred workers often highly gifted or specialized for a narrow range of skills. These a absolutely unaware that Alphas exist and only meet Betas as needed. Pilots, accountants, sex slaves, janitors, drivers, soldiers are examples of Gamma genetic templates.

Below this are Deltas, very highly specialized, these are idiot savants that must be raised and cared for by dedicated minders from the Gamma lines. Polyglots that instantly translate from a dozen languages, crypto encoders, mathematicians.

Yes, I need a bottle of soma please.

You know that did xross my mind with the Deltas. Makes a perverse rationale though.

Besides, what good is a villain if their not evil?