General Q and A

About the Bulvon Wood, its entry isn't very clear whether it's a jungle or a marsh. It says its a humid rainforest, but it's wet underfoot, with moldy soil and stagnant bogs. That last part make it sound like it's a marsh area rather than a jungle.

I'll start off with a couple simple ones

how does a predtor react to the force field generated by the Isolon eye?

I seem to have a slight confusion with the imortality of felarya soil. does a person live for all eternity or is their life simply extended (everyone has to die a natural death eventually, right?)

How big is the giant tree? (measurement)

1. Already answered, intense uneasiness, and assuming the effects too place only if you got deep within reach, death from shock.

2. Already answered, it neutralizes damages caused by age, so you can't die from old age, but you can still be killed easily.

3. No one ever returned alive to measure it.

Sean Okotami wrote:

1. Already answered, intense uneasiness, and assuming the effects too place only if you got deep within reach, death from shock.

2. Already answered, it neutralizes damages caused by age, so you can't die from old age, but you can still be killed easily.

3. No one ever returned alive to measure it.

1-2 I wouldnt have known that it was already answered

3. THIS ISNT A JOKE!

Axel Hunter wrote:

Sean Okotami wrote:

1. Already answered, intense uneasiness, and assuming the effects too place only if you got deep within reach, death from shock.

2. Already answered, it neutralizes damages caused by age, so you can't die from old age, but you can still be killed easily.

3. No one ever returned alive to measure it.

1-2 I wouldnt have known that it was already answered

3. THIS ISNT A JOKE!

Im breaking my forum silence since I love the Q and A thread, and what it stands for.

1: The field of the Isolon Eye creates extreme uneasiness and uncomfortablness the closer you get to the Eye itself. The effect tends to vary depending on the individual, so some predators could potentially get closer to Negav than others (although, if you get too close, you are likely to draw the attention of the Isolon Fist, which would be bad). If a predator gets too far wtihin the Eye's field and doesn't leave, the effects will increase to the point of death. For example, a Harpy could not just dive-bomb in and out of Negav to try and grab people. Getting that close to the Eye would kill her, assuming the AA guns and rockets didn't do that already.

2: The healing factor of Felarya kicks in at a person's prime, where any further aging would begin to degrade them. For humans, this occurs at about the age of 26-28 years old. For giants, this is usually around the age of 50. The person will not age past that point, or suffer any negative effects from aging. You can still die though, through injury, poison, magical curses and so on.

3: No one knows for sure. Many kilometers in height. If we go by its size on the Felarya map, you're looking at something the size of a small US state hovering in the air. Its very big, large enough to where entire human cities could be built on is branches, and to where its branches and canopy house their own ecosystem seperate from the rest of the jungle. It is very possible that the Giant Tree is actually the largest living thing in existance.

Lay off the caps, this ain't the place.

Sean Okotami wrote:

About the Bulvon Wood, its entry isn't very clear whether it's a jungle or a marsh. It says its a humid rainforest, but it's wet underfoot, with moldy soil and stagnant bogs. That last part make it sound like it's a marsh area rather than a jungle.

I would say its halfway between a tropical rainforest and a freshwater swamp forest, given the description.

Yay, rcs619 is back, kind of!

Anyway, I'm kind of curious as to how a leviathan mermaid is supposed to find enough food to sustain itself. Something that huge must have to eat a lot to avoid starving...

itsmeyouidiot wrote:

Yay, rcs619 is back, kind of!

Anyway, I'm kind of curious as to how a leviathan mermaid is supposed to find enough food to sustain itself. Something that huge must have to eat a lot to avoid starving...

Working off the wiki and own guesses their metabolism is either really slow so whatever they do eat stays with them for a very long time. Or there is a lot of idiot ship captains who piss them off enough to make them angry. Or there is simply just a lot of fish and other animals available to eat in the waters of Felarya that have yet to be seen or classified by humans that are able to keep these large creatures feed. Or maybe they secretly eat their own charges! O.O (on accident of course... right?)

I know for my own Leviathan Mermaid Galaya whenever she needs to eat she will always separate herself from her school of various other sized mermaids and swim down to the dark depths of the Shimmering Sea to feed on the sea creatures down there. Where the truly old and ancient things dwell in the sea where fish of large size's live and are big enough to feed on mermaid's smaller then her. Where what is commonly seen as a weak and powerless fish closer to shore and the sea's surface, but deep down in the dark depths they can grow to far larger sizes and are able to feed something as large as a Leviathan Mermaid.

rcs619 wrote:

Axel Hunter wrote:

Sean Okotami wrote:

1. Already answered, intense uneasiness, and assuming the effects too place only if you got deep within reach, death from shock.

2. Already answered, it neutralizes damages caused by age, so you can't die from old age, but you can still be killed easily.

3. No one ever returned alive to measure it.

1-2 I wouldnt have known that it was already answered

3. THIS ISNT A JOKE!

Im breaking my forum silence since I love the Q and A thread, and what it stands for.

1: The field of the Isolon Eye creates extreme uneasiness and uncomfortablness the closer you get to the Eye itself. The effect tends to vary depending on the individual, so some predators could potentially get closer to Negav than others (although, if you get too close, you are likely to draw the attention of the Isolon Fist, which would be bad). If a predator gets too far wtihin the Eye's field and doesn't leave, the effects will increase to the point of death. For example, a Harpy could not just dive-bomb in and out of Negav to try and grab people. Getting that close to the Eye would kill her, assuming the AA guns and rockets didn't do that already.

2: The healing factor of Felarya kicks in at a person's prime, where any further aging would begin to degrade them. For humans, this occurs at about the age of 26-28 years old. For giants, this is usually around the age of 50. The person will not age past that point, or suffer any negative effects from aging. You can still die though, through injury, poison, magical curses and so on.

3: No one knows for sure. Many kilometers in height. If we go by its size on the Felarya map, you're looking at something the size of a small US state hovering in the air. Its very big, large enough to where entire human cities could be built on is branches, and to where its branches and canopy house their own ecosystem seperate from the rest of the jungle. It is very possible that the Giant Tree is actually the largest living thing in existance.

Lay off the caps, this ain't the place.

srry bout the caps, I'm still a rookie with alot to learn despite my time here. I dont have all of felarya memorised back and front and I hate it when people assume I do


that said... what if the predator was just an average sized naga?

Quote :

that said... what if the predator was just an average sized naga?

Human-sized hybrids can live inside the Eye. The Motamo Docks, for example, is a demi-human settlement that was built a short distance from Negav. It lies inside the Eye's area of effect, allowing its inhabitants (human-sized nagas, dridders and harpies primarily, with other human-sized demi-humans mixed in), to be protected as well. They're in just as much danger of being eaten as a human would be.

Considering that the Eye tends to react to voraciousness, its likely that only human-sized nagas and dridders who genuinely mean no harm to humans will be allowed in. So, a wild naga who is fine with eating humans and can't control herself, would be affected by the Eye just like a giant pred. Although, its largely unclear exactly how the Eye affects human-sized predators. Nekos live within Negav, so either they are not voracious, or the Eye only cares about voraciousness towards humans. Its still kind of vague.

To be fair though, hurting a human within Negav or the near-Negav area is the last thing a naga, dridder, etc would want to do. If they get caught, well, a portion of Negavians don't trust or like demi-humans anyway. If the Isolon Fist or Investigators doesn't get them first, they'd probably be done in by old-fashioned vigillante justice.

TL:DR Human-sized hybrids (Nagas, Dridders, Harpies, Inu, Nekos, and more) can, and do live within the area of effect of the Isolon Eye, with some of them living or working within Negav itself.

rcs619 wrote:

So, a wild naga who is fine with eating humans and can't control herself, would be affected by the Eye just like a giant pred.

Not quite. I believe that the Eye takes size into account, so it wouldn't be quite the same effect.

It takes both into account. You need to realize that aside from voracity, a giant can also cause a lot of collateral damage with their enormous girth, and I doubt and Negavian in their right mind would want to see half a city block trampled.

I was just wondering, do outposts of civilization like Negav have any methods of keeping their populations in check?

I could imagine that overpopulation can become a serious problem when people don't die from old age or diseases...

itsmeyouidiot wrote:

I could imagine that overpopulation can become a serious problem when people don't die from old age or diseases...

I can agree with you on that. if people cant die then the population is extremely difficult to control. Perhaps the immortality can be limited to jsut extended age.

Axel Hunter wrote:

itsmeyouidiot wrote:

I could imagine that overpopulation can become a serious problem when people don't die from old age or diseases...

I can agree with you on that. if people cant die then the population is extremely difficult to control. Perhaps the immortality can be limited to jsut extended age.

Keep in mind. Negav is a special case.

Negav is home to around 900,000 humans, but the actual number who live in Negav permanently are a minority. A great many of the people in Negav are transients. They are adventurers, traders, merchants, explorers and such from offworld. They may only live there certain times of the year, or may only be there temporarily. The majority of Negav's population lives in the low district, and other than the inn-keepers, tavern owners, shop owners and such, the vast majority of people there are offworlders. They are either going to die out in the jungle, or go back home between expeditions. Most of Negav's permanent residents live in the middile district, or high district.

Also, keep in mind, people can still die. How many people die each year from accidents around the home? From accidents while at work? You'd still have people in Negav dying of stuff like that.

Negav is also special because of the dimensional gate. They import nearly all of their essential supplies.

Other big settlements, like Chiotia or Kelerm aren't going to be able to do that. They are going to need to farm, fish, hunt or find some other way to feed their people. That means leaving the safety of the city itself, which is inevitably going to lead to more than a few deaths here and there.

rcs619 wrote:

Axel Hunter wrote:

itsmeyouidiot wrote:

I could imagine that overpopulation can become a serious problem when people don't die from old age or diseases...

I can agree with you on that. if people cant die then the population is extremely difficult to control. Perhaps the immortality can be limited to jsut extended age.

Keep in mind. Negav is a special case.

Negav is home to around 900,000 humans, but the actual number who live in Negav permanently are a minority. A great many of the people in Negav are transients. They are adventurers, traders, merchants, explorers and such from offworld. They may only live there certain times of the year, or may only be there temporarily. The majority of Negav's population lives in the low district, and other than the inn-keepers, tavern owners, shop owners and such, the vast majority of people there are offworlders. They are either going to die out in the jungle, or go back home between expeditions. Most of Negav's permanent residents live in the middile district, or high district.

Also, keep in mind, people can still die. How many people die each year from accidents around the home? From accidents while at work? You'd still have people in Negav dying of stuff like that.

Negav is also special because of the dimensional gate. They import nearly all of their essential supplies.

Other big settlements, like Chiotia or Kelerm aren't going to be able to do that. They are going to need to farm, fish, hunt or find some other way to feed their people. That means leaving the safety of the city itself, which is inevitably going to lead to more than a few deaths here and there.

Accidents sure, but thats only a small percentage even with a world as chaotic as felarya. natural death is a big factor fo our pop contol on earth, without it that presents a problem now. Not that there is anything wrong with imortality, but it does have concequences

Natural death is just one population control measure.

There's...

- Accidents: Household, workplace, and random.

- Murder: Negav is a rough place, especially in the low district and The Pit. Pick a fight with the wrong people and you could very well end up dead. You also have plenty of bandits out in the Chomikai Commons beyond the city walls, and its possible that some of their victims could be killed, either as part of the robbery, or from them trying to defend themselves. You also have the potential for inter-gang, inter-criminal group conflicts.

- Military service: While the Isolon Fist and Investigators are very well equipped and trained at what they do, people dying in the line of duty is inevitable.

- Offworld travel: Adventurers don't live there permanently. They are always coming and going between other worlds and Negav. Same with traders and merchants. A great many of them only live in Negav temporarily and head home after making their fortune, or to restock their supplies. There's also the possibility of Negavians leaving to go to other worlds. Maybe they fall in love with an offworlder, or just get tired of big city life.

- Felarya-related death: Some adventurers are never going to come back from their journies.

So, while there may not be natural death in Felarya, people will be dying everyday, or leaving Felarya to head back home as new people come in. Negav is also a very vertical city in places, which lets more people live within the same space.

As for other cities and settlements, they don't have dimensional gates. They would actually have to venture outside of the city fairly regularly to farm, fish or hunt. So, you'd have a much higher instance of Felarya-related deaths. They'd still have to deal with accidents and the occaisional murder as well. Not to mention, those cities grow at a much slower rate, since they don't have loads of people coming in from offworld all the time.

Is it possible for someone to survive in the Pyrale mountain region? If so what would you need?

Axel Hunter wrote:

Accidents sure, but thats only a small percentage even with a world as chaotic as felarya. natural death is a big factor fo our pop contol on earth, without it that presents a problem now. Not that there is anything wrong with imortality, but it does have concequences

Actually, you're quite mistaken here. Accidental death was ranked fifth of all causes of unintentional death back a few years ago (2007) across all spectra, which was the third leading cause of all death (behind heart disease and cancer) in America for men and the sixth leading cause of death for women (behind heart disease, cancer, brain diseases, chronic respiratory failures, and Alzheimers). For comparison, the only other items on the list not related to disease/illness was Suicide (11) and Homicide/Assault (15).

While a good deal of the issues listed would be either negated or controlled by Felarya's healing soil, recall again (and again and again and again) that the soil is not equal in all places. Down in the south the effects of the soil are lessened extensively and death is far more common. Also recall that not all diseases/illnesses are cured by the Felaryan soil - in fact, some can even be worsened by the effect. Given that heart disease accounts for about 25% of all deaths, that number is the one you should particular focus on. We can say for most of the acts covered under the umbrella of 'heart disease' that the Felaryan soil would prevent or minimize them, which knocks out a good chunk - but we still have cancer to deal with.

The Felaryan soil is not as all encompassing as people try to label it, and to fully appreciate the gesture you have to understand just how people die and what it is from. The Felaryan soil does not protect against parasitic/fungal infections, poisons, venom, curses, and hexes for example. As mentioned previously, it also actually makes some things worse, such as autoimmune system illnesses. The soil works by boosting immune system properties and prevents prime aging (so we can assume the method by which humans age, that is cell death from loss of RNA over life is somehow eliminated).

The idea of immortality is inherently flawed when viewed with almost any current animal's mindset, including that of humanity. The thought process is simply 'reproduction is immortality', that the species continues to survive through the children vice through the self. Thus, regardless of whether or not someone could live forever, they simply will not based on environmental influence which is only more appreciable in Felarya.

I'll try not to beat the dead horse any more than it has already been beaten, but again there are several threads already covering this issue on the forum which are also linked to earlier on. Hopefully when Karbo returns from his trip one of the items he can make his priority is the wiki FAQ, so that this question can stop being asked repeatedly.



As for the Pyrale Mountain question - this is covered in the wiki with regards to if you could survive there. What you would need to survive there is really knowledge (in the form of avoiding the demons of the area as well as knowing where to get those ice flowers in bulk, for example), the ability to operate without electronic equipment or machinery (or the use of metal period, if possible/practicable), and immense luck (for dealing with the random quakes, earthen upshoots, lava flows, etc). Certain areas of the mountains are obviously impassable for certain types of creatures though (the palace comes to mind) regardless of any preparation you may have.

Quote :

While a good deal of the issues listed would be either negated or controlled by Felarya's healing soil, recall again (and again and again and again) that the soil is not equal in all places. Down in the south the effects of the soil are lessened extensively and death is far more common

Isn't the Lamina region the only place the soil doesn't work? Im pretty sure it works everywhere else. Remember, it isn't so much the soil as it is a massive magical field radiating from Felarya itself.

Quote :

As mentioned previously, it also actually makes some things worse, such as autoimmune system illnesses.

I don't believe I've ever seen anyone make that assertion. The healing factor enhances the immune system, and keeps it functioning normally. autoimmune diseases occur from an error, or mistake within the immune system running out of control. I believe the healing factor would prevent that just like it prevents the vast majority of everything else.

Also, cancer occurs from the DNA of a cell going out of control. The immune system can actually kill and combat a lot of forms of cancer, it just gets completely overwhelmed by the speed at which the cancer cells reproduce. A boosted immune system should be able to handle most cancers just fine, assuming that cancer cells can even form at all with the healing effect in place.

Of course, this doesn't even factor in the ability of magical healing practices, unknown natural remedies or advanced offworld medicine to fight cancer if it could pop up. I just don't think it would be much of an issue in any kind of organized settlement, even if it were possible.

Its been confirmed again and again. The only illnesses in Felarya come from
- Poison/Venom
- Parasites
- Magical curses

Although, I have to wonder how fast-acting allergic reactions would be handled. It could be entirely possible for people in Negav to be dying from bees, wasps, peanuts and shellfish just like people on Earth. Given how quickly those types of reactions go to work, I could easily believe they would be able to overwhelm the body and cause death just like they do in the real world.

But yeah, even ruling out standard illnesses, heart disease and cancer, you still have accidents, murder, and death by Felarya, and between all of them, there should be plenty of population control. Negav still remains a special case because of the gate, but with that, you have lots of people coming and going, and a very large portion of the population being transient.

It's nice seeing you become active again RCS.

I suppose a good question to ask then is = what sort of markets are available in Negav? What sorts of currency/exchange rates like? And pwehaps more importantly, what sort of technology is available, considering the place is a trading hub thats quite bustling with so much offworld traffic, i would imagine the markets vary quite a bit from extremely primitive antiques to vastly OP levels of tech available and everything inbitween... for the right prices.

since there's so many different currencies, I would say that the exchange rates would be determined based on how many times they've seen a particular currency. It'd be based on rarity, so lets say someone from a world that commonly trades with negav is used, since that currency has been seen a lot, it wouldn't be worth as much. Now say someone from Earth somehow managed to find their way, even though our change isn't worth a whole lot, since it's never been seen, it'd probably have a high exchange rate, despite the common material used in quarters or pence, or whatever.

Statistically (and theoretically) speaking, Negav trading with earth would be a nightmare considering our hundreds of different currencies. XD

That's just one idea tho.

rcs619 wrote:

I don't believe I've ever seen anyone make that assertion. The healing factor enhances the immune system, and keeps it functioning normally. autoimmune diseases occur from an error, or mistake within the immune system running out of control. I believe the healing factor would prevent that just like it prevents the vast majority of everything else.

Also, cancer occurs from the DNA of a cell going out of control. The immune system can actually kill and combat a lot of forms of cancer, it just gets completely overwhelmed by the speed at which the cancer cells reproduce. A boosted immune system should be able to handle most cancers just fine, assuming that cancer cells can even form at all with the healing effect in place.

Yeah, except this:

Karbo wrote:

Mhh I won't go into a case by case, I'm simply not knowledgeable enough in medecine to know exactly what a given disease is about ^^;
But I thought the wiki was relatively precise on that particular point...
Basically the immune system get a dramatic boost when in Felarya and regenerate to a certain extent.
A cut of limb clearly won't grow back but a wound will close fast.
But a genetic disease won't be healed because it's about DNA and the soil of Felarya doesn't correct that.

and this:

Oldman40k2003 wrote:

Anime-Junkie wrote:

Yes, it wouldn't cure you. But, depending on the genetics, the symptoms or the cause of the disease it might not mute it at all.
To use an example: diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, which would be made worse by the Felarya effect, as boosting the immune system would just give it more power to attack the body. Any autoimmune disorder would be devastating to a person or creature on Felarya.

While your immune system is getting boosted, you are also "regenerating" (or at least that is what I get out of this sentence fragment

Karbo wrote:

...and regenerate to a certain extent.

), so I think the question of "will your auto-immune disease get better, stay the same, or get worse on Felarya?" depends entirely on the relative strengths of the immune system boosting vs. the regeneration, and how quickly an auto-immune disease destroys things.

That is, lets say that an auto-immune disease kills 400 cells per second, and the human body regenerates at 100 cells per second (under normal conditions). In the real world, a person with this disease would eventually run out of cells and die. Now lets assume they go to Felarya.

Suppose they travel to Felarya, and their immune system gets a 2x boost in strength, as does their bodies' ability to regenerate. That means that they now lose cells at 800 cells per second and gain them back at 200 cells per second. They are now losing cells faster than they were on Earth, and so are dying faster.

Suppose they travel to Felarya, and their immune system gets a 2x boost in strength, but their ability to regenerate gets an 8x boost in strength. That means that they are now losing cells at 800 cells per second, and gaining them back at 800 cells per second. Under these conditions this person has stopped dying, but the damage already done is not getting repaired.

Finally, suppose that they travel to Felarya, and their immune system gets a 2x boost in strength, but their ability to regenerate gets a 10x boost in strength. That means they are now losing cells at 800 cells per second, but gaining them back at 1000 cells per second. This person is not only not dying, but is in fact getting better, as damage is getting healed. They aren't cured of their auto-immune disease, but so long as they stay on Felarya they will be asymptomatic.

So, if the goal is a Felarya where people with auto-immune diseases don't die, we need merely adjust the relative strengths of regeneration vs. immune system boosting.

Cancer is a much trickier thing to deal with, and I have not yet given it enough thought.

...and there are more as well. The threads that contain these discussions have been linked to previously. You also realize that progression forward with cancer treatments is not by immune system application but instead by target chemo (ie such as the use of nanomachines to deliver chemo, or the use of specialized bacteria that can 'light up' a cancerous region). Radiation health is not my specialty, but I'm fairly certain I can say without question there are very few here with the on-hand knowledge to contest what I do know due to my job. Cancer is not so simple as you make it out to be, and the effects of the soil as they are laid out in the wiki and defined by Karbo mean that it is more than a sufficient threat for those living on Felarya who do not possess advanced medical or magical technique.

Given that Karbo calls out the DNA/RNA illness correction as impossible, I have to maintain that the way aging doesn't occur is that the RNA loss is simply prevented by using some sort of chemical limiter (such as the biological discussions about telemerase caps and the like), and not by direct effect. However, you also seem to have lost recollection that a lot of people coming to Felarya are transient, and their illnesses may not be curable by the time they get there. They might come to Felarya seeking that miracle cure/heal, but if the problem has already manifested too far from whereever they came from, they're still going to die. Sure, there will be some societies with technological advancement to the point where curing such things is possible, in which case however those who know of such a thing would not be staying on Felarya to wait on the soil but instead be going directly to said world via Felarya's gates.


As for the effects of the soil, Lamina is the only current region in the wiki that I know of where the effects are vastly lowered (and Lamina is a huuuugge region), but there could be other regions as well (realms not yet explored, such as that mystical other continent). Also, where did you get the magical field from? That's not something I could find reference to, except that Lamina has a field affecting magical use (including the soil). Given that you can take the soil away from Felarya and still get some sort of healing effect from it (recall it works about 20%), even if it was a field the soil is still playing some sort of part as a capacitor at the very least since it can be used in such a way.




As for currency, the wiki has a short article on exchange and carrythrough here, including a discussion about things you could see being bought and for what price they would fetch.

Since it isn't covered in detail, I'd personally think that the way currency exchange is handled is either by strength of trade or by material of the coin. For example, you have a trader from another realm who is dealing with goods that are either required or greatly desired, his money is going to be worth something for otherwise they'd have to deal in direct barter.

Elsewise, perhaps you have metallurgic mages/alchemists who can determine the material of a coin used in money and if that material is worth something the exchange rate could be based on that - I think you might particularly see this with societies that have access to something that Felarya doesn't have, or doesn't have in quantity. Again though, that material has to be something desirable such that it makes the implied worth of the coin a set value.

Regardless, the implied worth is going to be the important part (Spice and Wolf, anyone?).

Another interest you might happen across with regards to currency trade is that there are probably subsectors in Negav where groupings of one realm or a common sect of realms meet, in which case money exchange there might be done with their own local currencies and no exchange exists at all - especially given that Negav in some cases handles goods that can't even be brought to Felarya or used there (spaceships for example).

aethernavale wrote:

rcs619 wrote:

I don't believe I've ever seen anyone make that assertion. The healing factor enhances the immune system, and keeps it functioning normally. autoimmune diseases occur from an error, or mistake within the immune system running out of control. I believe the healing factor would prevent that just like it prevents the vast majority of everything else.

Also, cancer occurs from the DNA of a cell going out of control. The immune system can actually kill and combat a lot of forms of cancer, it just gets completely overwhelmed by the speed at which the cancer cells reproduce. A boosted immune system should be able to handle most cancers just fine, assuming that cancer cells can even form at all with the healing effect in place.

Yeah, except this:

Karbo wrote:

Mhh I won't go into a case by case, I'm simply not knowledgeable enough in medecine to know exactly what a given disease is about ^^;
But I thought the wiki was relatively precise on that particular point...
Basically the immune system get a dramatic boost when in Felarya and regenerate to a certain extent.
A cut of limb clearly won't grow back but a wound will close fast.
But a genetic disease won't be healed because it's about DNA and the soil of Felarya doesn't correct that.

(And more stuff)

Ah, but Cliff never said the genetic sequence would be healed. He said the tumor would be combated. There ARE systems in place in the body to eliminate tumors. They are usually just insufficient. However, if that were to change, cancer itself would pose less of a problem. The CAUSE of cancer would not be cured, but perhaps the symptoms would be.

True. Autoimmune disease would not be healed. Cancer, however, does not fall under the same category, and should be examined more closely in this context.

ZionAtriedes wrote:

Ah, but Cliff never said the genetic sequence would be healed. He said the tumor would be combated. There ARE systems in place in the body to eliminate tumors. They are usually just insufficient. However, if that were to change, cancer itself would pose less of a problem. The CAUSE of cancer would not be cured, but perhaps the symptoms would be.

True. Autoimmune disease would not be healed. Cancer, however, does not fall under the same category, and should be examined more closely in this context.

But he's mistaken about how the body's natural immune system responds. The way cancer gets away with things as it does is because it starts with healthy cells that mutate into unhealthy daughters that survive to reproduce again; the reason it's deadly is because cancer can merge into organs which is a rather unique item for cells. Generally speaking, a cell is a cell is a cell; it doesn't and cannot change what it is (some cells obviously break this rule, like stem cells - cancer is another). Additionally, cancer can occur inside the immune system - indeed, this is a common type - in which case, Felarya's bonus to your natural defenses again because your worst enemy.

While the mechanics are still limited to theories, the most predominant ones have it that as a cell mutates and survives shed bits of antigen that identify them as mutated cells mixed within the bits of protein that are shed by normal cells that are attacked by the immune system. At some point, the cells either occur faster than the immune system response or the immune system winds up missing the markers of malignant cells, or the cancer cells hide their mutations by putting out conflicting items making the immune system fail to respond.

It is extremely rare to see the body actually form antibodies against the cancer though (because the body doesn't associate it with a foreign entity, merely a 'malfunctioning' cell), instead what you have happening is the mutated daughters are being attacked by macrophage, natural killer cells, and cytotoxic t cells when the immune system identifies them in order to prevent system failures. The antibody approach is something to be associated with being attempted by us ('natural immunity' is very rare) and is usually coupled with toxins, drugs, or radioactive substances in order to intentionally target specific items.

Other attempted approaches would be the 'teaching' of the immune system to respond to mutated cells or the use of mice to do DNA responses - again though, all of these are external items that have to be applied through foreign means to the body's system. Nature does not generally take this course naturally, in fact nature generally chooses cancer. This is another reason why cancer is so dangerous - if you remove a cancerous mass from the body it can continue to survive and thrive in a petri dish outside of the body. Indeed, this is one of the places that realization of how telemerase worked came from. Additionally, when you do remove a cancerous mass from the body all the nodes that have expanded from the 'brain' you removed become 'brains' themselves, extending further nodes and more rapidly killing the person.

It is far more likely therefore that with cancer the chances of that person surviving rely on them getting advanced medicinal or magical healing, something that can remove the root cause directly and isn't just a whole body bonus effect. Yes, you could boost the immune system and that would probably have an affect on certain types of cancer, or perhaps stave off the effects/damage of others, but the more genetically aligned cancers, those that attack immune systems, or those that deliver effective responses to the immune system will not be cared for by Felarya's soil/water. Which is... quite a few cancers. Given that cancer was the #2 killer, and constituted 25% of the entirety besides, I'd say the absolute most Felarya's affects could knock that number down (without additional help of some sort from science/magic) to say 12~20% instead.