Re: [HoE] Skinnies [SPOILER] (fwd)

["Robert H. Middlemiss" <rhm001@ns1.wmdc.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 16:51:48 -0500 (EST)
From: "Robert H. Middlemiss" <rhm001@ns1.wmdc.edu>
To: hoe-owner@gamerz.net
Subject: Re: [HoE]  Skinnies [SPOILER] 

OK, musing it is. There are some interesting ideas to start with, but how
abot:

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>So, an analogy presents itself: Feul is to vehicles as [BLANK] is to
>living things.  Fill in the blank, and I think it'll be a major clue. 

Simple...FOOD. Now, I'm not suggesting that the skinnies, or the sykers
for that matter, could live totally off of the stuff, but rather that it
works like, well, "brainfood". Something like a highpowered version of all
those memory-helper pseudo-medications that are out there today. "Food for
thought" if you will. Is it a major I clue? Probably not, and maybe not
right, but it does make some sense...

>So, whatever inhabits the Sykolite is somethign that lives in the Hunting
>Grounds but is willing to cooperate with mortals for no compensation to
>itself.

Whoa, pardner, gotta disagree here. No compensation? As you so rightly
pointed out a little after this, the skinnies aren't exactly normal, even
compared with the rest of their people, and unless the gov't was giving
them chemo on the side, the sykers going bald wasn't expected either. Now,
I'm not saying that these are more manitous or anything. By no means. But
there do seem to be side affects. Going along with what I said earlier,
I'd guess that whatever, or whoever helps with a little brain boosting
needs to borrow some physical essence from the alien bodies to do it. The
sykers are only losing hair, because, like you said, it's still early in
their development on a comparitive scale.

>Sykers' hair falls out, but the skinnies appear to be entirely warped. 
>Perhaps the Syker hair loss (which is never adequately explained) is just
>a minaiture version of what happens to the skinnies, whose entire bodies
>become emaciated.  Now, it states in Brainburners that all anouks have
>minor powers, similar to the skinnies, but much less potent. It also
>states that syker powers are genetically determined (as in, peopel who
>can be sykers have that potential from birth).  If anouks are, as it
>would seem, a race that has a genetic code which is much more condusive
>to syker  powers, then could the skinnies ismply be their verisons of
>sykers?  I  doubt it.

See the above note.

>Well, if Ghost Rock is made of tortured souls, then perhaps Sykolite is 
>made of pure Hunting Grounds-type energy?  That seems a little weak to
>me. Any ideas here?

What about the possibility that the sykolite is made up of a few good
souls, like say, either those who got killed in the Hunting Grounds (the
Old Ones or the Harrowed who were with the Prospector) or some of the
people who got killed by Stone? If they more or less "volunteered" to get
themselves trapped, that would at least partially explain both what
happened to the "good souls" -we already know what happens to the "bad"
ones- and why it makes a softer noise, more of a sigh than a scream- of
coiurse thats just my guess, like everything else...