Travis Edmunds wrote:
>
> >From: Damon Agretto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: Re: Outlandish but exceedingly fun.
> >Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 09:28:56 -0800 (PST)
> >
> >Heh. How about the Zentraedi from Macross. Nothing
> >like a 40ft tall giant for fun. Arm them with light
> >cannon and heavy machine guns (for 20th/21st C tech)
> >and they can be pretty dangerous. Feeding them is the
> >problem though...
> >
> >Damon :)
> >
>
> Yes feeding them would be a problem, thus rendering them impractical.
As with most questions, I imagine the reader is supposed to
interpret it so that it makes sense. Here's the original:
> For example, the other day a friend of mine asked me an interesting
> question. He wanted to know what type of species I would use, if I could
> magically have one million individuals of that species, as a ground force
> army. The one stipulation being that my army would have to employ military
> hardware of today's technology.
So you can't use vampires, or episarchs, or Kryptonians,
because allowing them makes the question degenerate. Or put it
this way--anything can come, but they have to leave their powers
with the physics of their home universes.
I'm with Damon, it doesn't say anything about the SIZE
of the million individuals, at least as long as they can move
around on a planet. So bigger is better! Feeding them should
not be an issue; one assumes that an army comes with supplies.
It could well degenerate into a contest to name bigger
species... but I do like the "human consciousness in dinosaur
bodies" things mentioned in Banks's _Feersum Endjinn_, and even
in _Kiln People_ there were dittoes of similar sizes.
---David
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