Hi Cort! Kind of a cosmology question. Since we have at least a couple medically savvy characters and a lot of characters based in modern or near future tech level Shadows, what would we know about what our family's DNA does when checked by a DNA test? Are there genetic markers for Unicorn DNA? Does royal DNA break DNA tests or give inconclusive results?
Obviously I'm curious about ways to confirm the genetics of Theo and Blake. I'm assuming that the cyberpunk capitalist dystopia that Tiberius frequents has some over-the-counter genetic testing tool. (RUMyParent, a trademark of the Nevermore Corporation.) This occurred to me as more "neutral" than trusting than asking Theo and Blake to trust Aunt Fiona with a sympathetic magic token. (You know, when we're not hauling ass around the Golden Circle in the wake of a series of shit shows.)
Knowledge Check | 1d20+12
27
Thu, Apr 11th 2024 05:24
Edited on Sat, Apr 13th 2024 03:43
There are familial DNA markers, but they are not as clean an indicator of you might think. The Royal line is a small genetic sample and most of the noble families and near Shadows are descended from very near Shadows of the Royals. So you can indicate genetic similarities, which would imply he was at least of or near to the royal family if they came back positive, but it would not necessarily indicate he was directly of the blood (e.g. an Amber noble and an Amberite would have very similar genetic markers).
If the DNA was identical, then that would be one thing, but no one has really done a study on exactly what markers indicate royal blood, at least at a level of detail that would be able to differentiate "son of Oberon" vs "son of Shadow of Oberon", if that were even possible. No one has ever matched ability to walk the Pattern to any particular gene sequence, given how Merlin was able to do it with his heavily Chaos tainted DNA, it might not even be based on pure genetics.