David Cake wrote:
> I still think intelligent animals should be rare and unusual, not a
> randomly occurring thing (except on the heroplane, where they are the
> norm). Thats because I don't really want to think about the havoc
> intelligent animals would wreak on hunting patterns, work practices, etc.
> But I still like the idea and want to have them in my games very
> occasionally.
Sandy wrote:
> INTELLIGENT ANIMALS
> As we know, every so often, an intelligent Gloranthan animal is born.
I see there being two not-incompatible sources of smart bunnies.
- Random generation
In this case, I can see two reasons that could account for
the difference in bunny size from the non-intelligent norm
- Result of the same "mutation" that created intelligence.
- Result of the increased intelligence iteself.
Smarter -> Better provider -> Better diet -> Larger size
- The spell to transform a fixed INT animal to "normal" INT
(the name escapes me). Maybe a bunny parent would have to
learn this spell and cast it on each of their offspring?
In this case, there are also two reasons for the larger size.
- The "being" enchanting the bunny would probably select
a larger than average bunny for the "treatment".
- Same as (1.B) above.
In any case, is the intelligence of the bunny a dominant trait?
Perhaps an intelligent bunny could heroquest for their intelligence
to be passed down to their descendants? I realize this would
probably be a large undertaking, but if enough bunnies tried it...?
For ecological reasons, the bunnies reproductive capacity would
have to drastically reduced. Maybe the smart bunnies have a
myth of how the ancestral bunny traded its reproductive capacity
for intelligence?
- --
Stephen Stair
sstair_at_austin.ibm.com