Deepnight babies

carandol

Mongoose
I'm currently reading the Deepnight Revelation boxed set, which I'm thoroughly enjoying, but one thing is bothering me - babies. You put 4-500 people in a confined space for 20 years, and no babies are born? Was everyone sterilised before coming aboard? Or are Imperial contraceptives 100% effective and dispensed by an implant that never ever goes wrong? Does no-one think, along the way, "I'm not getting any younger and I want children."? Are abortions mandatory? Or is there a creche and a school that's not mentioned? I could make something up, but I'm interested in how others might deal with this. (Most of my players are parents, so it won't go unnoticed!)
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Ken Walton
 
1. Well, going by other science fiction novels, the military probably insists that sperm and eggs get harvested and safely stored away.

2. Birth could be natural, surrogacy or artificial womb.

3. Undamaged contraceptive implants are probably as near infallible as possible, though morning after pills were probably available.

4. Also, pretty sure undamaged condoms fool proof at technological level fifteen.

5. For serving military, bringing a pregnancy to term is probably insubordination, and they will have to resign and find a place with the civilian component.

6. For civilians, it might be breach of contract.

7. Smart commanders would ensure they had excessive life support, or the potential for such, for any eventuality.

8. An unlikely occurrence would be freezing the newborn; more likely freezing the embryo on discovery.
 
Some good ideas there! I'm not sure a military person who got pregnant (or caused a pregnancy) would be that bothered at being demoted to civilian status. Same with breach of contract. If the punishment is 20 years away, its not going to mean much to someone who's prepared to live in the moment. As for high-tech condoms being fool-proof, they're not going to be proof against the fool who's supposed to be wearing one, or decides it's a good idea to make a hole in one (it does happen!)

I've now got an idea for a subplot where female crew members (and men too) are mysteriously disappearing over a long period, and it turns out that there's a secret "colony" of parents with children somewhere in a hidden area in the hull...
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Ken Walton
 
The first expansion book (Riftsedge Transit?) includes a plotline on this particular issue.
 
Cool! I've been avoiding reading the PDFs, because I much prefer print for RPGs. That's something to look forward to!
--
Ken Walton
 
Condottiere has mentioned everything (and more) that I have implemented in my campaign:

All team members were informed in advance that no children would be allowed to be born during the trip and everyone agreed to abide by this by signing their contract. Of course, everyone had the option of freezing sperm or eggs before departure.

On board, all crew members take contraceptives to rule out conception. In addition, there are routine monthly medical checks where pregnancy would be detected. If a pregnancy is detected, the embryo is removed and frozen. The mission guidelines state that such a child definitely will be born, but not during the mission.

However, the journey is not without its dangers and certainly there will be couples who would like to start a family afterwards. For these couples, there is the possibility that they can freeze a child, an embryo. Thanks to the latest genetic prediagnostics, the parents-to-be have the chance to have the later appearance of their child extrapolated on the basis of its genetic profile. This way, the parents can already build up a relationship with the child, even if it will be a long time before it can be born. There is a database on board where children are stored with their names and appearance. Should the parents die during the mission, the child is entitled to the pay that the parent saved up during the voyage.

Since everyone on my ship who wants to has access to anagathics, the chances of the crew members still being young enough to take on their parental role after the voyage are pretty good.
 
I like it, although I think there are more adventure opportunities from crew having babies when they shouldn't! :)
--
Ken Walton
 
Tea Rex said:
However, the journey is not without its dangers and certainly there will be couples who would like to start a family afterwards. For these couples, there is the possibility that they can freeze a child.

AAAHHHH The low berth, The ultimate babysitter. Now we know the kids will not get into trouble while we're at the movies. :)
 
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carandol said:
I like it, although I think there are more adventure opportunities from crew having babies when they shouldn't! :)
--
Ken Walton

I totally agree, but my players are quite strict in this regard. When the "Shandra situation" (see Riftsedge Transit) almost resulted in a mutinity, they put all involved persons not willing to follow the rules in cold sleep. I have to add at this point, that in my setting it is quite safe to use the low berth facilities.

But if you don't have anagathics on your ship, then the people might be more reluctant to miss or even postpone this very important phase in human life. So having children aboard might be a reoccuring discussion throughout the voyage.

And using low berth for baby sitting, this is brilliant! :D
 
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