On 05Oct2024 1930, Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at yahoo.com (via tml
list) wrote:
> Going way back to CT it's always been apparent that psi has a genetic
> component.
> Zho society couldn't really exist, as it is, otherwise.
> But Traveller, early on, became a 'take your pick', 'mix & match' sort
> of rpg universe.

I see the genetic component of psionics as being there, but fairly weak
- there are canon examples of Zhodani nobles with weak psionics, despite
inheritance from both sides and the best environment and training.

Unclear heritability suggests a complex of genes, with many being
dominant but rare or having incomplete penetrance. If they were
recessive breeding psion to psion would quite quickly remove dominant
non-psionic genes.

The Zho's bolster their noble class by recruiting potentially powerful
psions and offering them the chance that they (and their children) can
join the nobility. That this constant drain of psionic potential from
the prole class hasn't, in millennia, effectively removed psionics from
the gene pool does suggest recessive (or, again, incomplete penetrance)
inheritance, in apparent opposition to the noble case. Alternatively, it
is non-genetic and thus can't be filtered out of, or selected for, based
on inheritance and gene lines.

So I go for a weak genetic component that's based on a complex of genes
with some of them having incomplete penetrance so the talent 'skips' one
or more generations, or manifests in someone who lacks talent or
training for anything useful (I think Mongoose lets you be guaranteed a
psionic field if you're trained, but it was possible prior to that to
have a massive psionic stat and no actual abilities).

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>