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Pets

Cats --can adapt to many environments and situations and seem , as studies show, to have a physiological benefit to the owner. Cats in fact are so adaptable that they must be hunted in antartica, as they take out Penguins by the truckload. They were left/escaped from the many research stations there and prospered...

Dogs -- This is my Dog, his name is Bitey. Dogs are fantastic animals, loyal and extremely trainable with patience... your vargr crew might get insulted, but thats when you sic the dog on them (hehee)

But please, no Dirty, Evil, Monkeys! Hollywood has made them cute, but look closely! You may as well buy a small evil human, prone to breaking things, flinging crap, and chronically "whipping the Bishop" Sure, you can say "What about helper monkeys?" Sure they help, but only till they find a good chance to shiv ya... Iplayed once with a guy who had a Stateroom for his Beaked Monkey, which was pretty cool, up to the "Monkey" part...

I know you said aliens, but that is one thing about most forms of traveller that can be hard to conjecturize by using the brilliantly general Animal Encounter system. "ohhh! a baby Pouncer!" or "what a beautiful Intermittent you have there!" it lays the groundwork for developing pets brilliantly...

I man lives nearby who has a Helper/Seeing Eye Horse, a small pony that wears custom designed sneakers!

http://www.guidehorse.com/
 
Yes, I imagine many people find monkeys' wankiness unsettling. I suspect most helper monkeys are female to avoid some of that unpleasantness. But some ship crews would find it humorous. Vargr would probably like them as living parodies of humaniti.

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Vargr wouldn't be nearly as disturbed at pet dogs as K'kree would be at those ponies. Rub it in!

Don't forget about parrots and similar birds. Some species live as long as humans and can be quite pleasant.

Doesn't Honor Harrington have an empathic "tree cat" pet? I think it is described as a six-legged critter native to Griffon. (Been a long time since I read them.)

Given OTU milieu I wouldn't be surprised if some dinosaurian creatures exist on many planets. You could have a small herbivore smart enough and docile enough to make a pet.

;) That could be cool or not. Mostly depending on what they smell like.

Likewise, creatures related to Virushi could make interesting pets. Miniature versions wouldn't be quite the same though.

On Earth we seem to have only large ursoids, but other planets might have diverged and produced miniature forms. Some might be docile enough and gregarious for pets. Likewise, descendants of horses transplanted by Ancients might be naturally evolved tiny species (rather than produced by dwarfism and selected by husbandry as on Earth).
 
I never saw the point of having pets on a ship, especially an adventuring ship. Radiation, vacuum, getting shot at - I wouldn't want an animal to die 'cause of my stupidity.
 
I'm not sure why Vargrs would be offended by pet dogs any more than Humans would be offended by pet monkeys. It's not like they are at all the same thing.

I can think of a number of other pets that would do well on a ship. Rats are incredibly intelligent, friendly, trainable and can live off the same food humans do. Obviously, they take up very little room.

It really depends what you expect from your pet. If you just want a companion, just about any creature will serve. If you want a useful, working animal, you may be more limited. Of course, in Traveller you have the animals of thousands of world to choose from, not to mention the possibility of genetic manipulation.

Hyperintelligent platypus anyone?

As far as keeping a pet on a ship, humans have taken pets everywhere. It wouldn't take a lot to train a dog to make a bee line for his pressurized crate when the vacuum alarm goes off.

Or for that matter, one could just build a robotic pet and eliminate the whole problem. Indeed, a small robot with emotion simulation may be just the thing in the far futur.
 
Have to agree and take that one step further. If humaniti has been able to raise the intellectual level of bears...etc. then the futuristic pet is something special. Perhaps dogs with the capability of an 8 year old or apes with a similar level of capability.


Savage
 
Man has a long, close and special relationship with the dog. I'd bet that if there were a species we were going to uplift, the dog would make the short list.

(And probably not the cat. Behavior which some find charming in a pet is not so in a fellow sophont. Refering to a person as 'catty' is not exactly a compliment.)

IMTU, several companies 'make' enhanced pets, and even genetically altered animals - a controversial act.

Want a pet elephant the size of a small dog? How about a pegasus (No, it can't really fly). This kind of advanced genetic manipulation is normally found in the rim, where there's a long history of mastery of the biological sciences (for obvious reasons).
 
Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
A bit like the neodogs from Starship Troopers?
{The book - not the film - possibly the cartoon?}
Yes, exactly.

Never saw Neos in the cartoon (by which I assume you mean the 'Roughnecks' series).

Working dogs are selected and bred for intelligence. What if science gave them a little help? Of course, I'm not sure how the Imperium would view 'uplifting'.
 
Originally posted by Corejob:
Never saw Neos in the cartoon (by which I assume you mean the 'Roughnecks' series).
That's the one. I've only seen a few episodes myself, so I didn't know if they appeared in one I hadn't seen. I do know they aren't in the computer game. I wonder if they were in the old boardgame?
 
From OTU I know of only two decent alien examples:

Beakmonkey -- (Might be getting the name wrong) from JTAS.

Treecat -- From JTAS as well.

Treecats scream annoyance and parrotmonkeys have fun with any psionic members of your group.

For the truly annoying pet have a NPC drag a domesticated groat around.

Ha.
 
Handicats - the misbegotten product of an attempt to uplift the great cats and save them from extinction.

No one in their right mind would start this kind of job on a tiger or lion, when housecats are so common.

No one who has ever been on-staff for a cat wants to contemplate giving them thumbs
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Needless to say, the project was abandoned, but there are still cats with hands loose in the universe...

Be Afraid.

Be VERY Afraid!
 
zurtroni is steal my idea. He is a psi get him.
I working on Himme the Honorable Dame Harriet Indigo Margret Melissa Elise. A black Persian Hemingway weighting 10 kilos with six toes on each paw. The head is a third larger than normal. The paws are thick and wider than normal about one third larger. Has a yellow collar with a small cylinder about one fourth of inch in diameter and two inches long. Two small silver bells are hung on either side of cylinder. Inside the collar is Him. Me 458 L 3 D7845 V999 S14 M5
Which a GenAssist hmm I let the players decide a test, mess, or benefit. But Himme has more int than the average cat and thumbs.
If you could gene touch rats think lower the birth rate and aggesiveness and give the color vision they would be great for running lines. Or how about "the Wereratmen of Wonderbar" the here they angry the armed and want our women.
 
Actually Nimitz and Honor are both from Sphinx. But to call Nimitz (The Treecat) a pet is a huge injustice. He is Sentient, highly intelligent and more friend and companion than pet. By the way he is also telepathic, the problem is Humans aren't telepathic so we can't hear them.
(Especially if you read the last couple of books, "Ashes of Victory" and "War of Honor." I do believe that I may have to import Treecats into MTU once the new game is released. Or perhaps just play in the Honorverse.


Originally posted by Straybow:


Doesn't Honor Harrington have an empathic "tree cat" pet? I think it is described as a six-legged critter native to Griffon. (Been a long time since I read them.)

 
Hi everybody


I'm sorry about being so silent in my own post but I was out of town last week. I had an idea of my own but no way to post it. :(

I also don't know what to call it.
It's basic just a prehensile vine (yes this is a plant). Though not quite as huggable as a cat or playful as a puppy The ____ has it's own charm. They have a pleasant sweet smell that is often welcome aboard starships. And they make a cute little chirping noise when happy. Most keep theirs rapped around their forarm where it will appear to be a piece of elaborate jewelry to the untrained eye. _____ can be trained to grab things on cue, therefor extending the owners reach. They will also grab things on there own. ____ experience the world by touch and so will entwine themselves around anything. New owners should know that the ____ will have to explore their hole body before they are content enough to stay in one place. This will take about five days.

Well there's my pet what'cha think?
Oh! and any ideas for names?
 
Originally posted by Zanrain:
Hi everybody
Hi Doctor Zanrain!

Sorry I've been wanting to do that for a while, you just happened to be the lucky victim ;)

Originally posted by Zanrain:
I'm sorry about being so silent in my own post but I was out of town last week. I had an idea of my own but no way to post it. :(

I also don't know what to call it.
It's basic just a prehensile vine (yes this is a plant). Though not quite as huggable as a cat or playful as a puppy The ____ has it's own charm. They have a pleasant sweet smell that is often welcome aboard starships. And they make a cute little chirping noise when happy. Most keep theirs rapped around their forarm where it will appear to be a piece of elaborate jewelry to the untrained eye. _____ can be trained to grab things on cue, therefor extending the owners reach. They will also grab things on there own. ____ experience the world by touch and so will entwine themselves around anything. New owners should know that the ____ will have to explore their hole body before they are content enough to stay in one place. This will take about five days.

Well there's my pet what'cha think?
Oh! and any ideas for names?
How about Kudzu? Its a cool idea in any case, except for the explore the "hole" body <shudder> what a distrubing typo
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Two things mostly bug me since childhood, small bugs crawling into where they are not wanted (ears, nose, mouth) or even just crawling on me uninvited, and for some strange reason (probably early childhood exposure to the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie among other horror flicks) clinging, wrapping, self aware and motive vines.

ack no not the power againnnnnn.....

OK, 20 minutes of darkness and the power is back on again and lo and behold my panic hit the post button was in time, since my UPS shut down fast since it hadn't fully recharged after the earlier blackout, anyway I pretty much think I completed the post above* when the lights went out, I think I'll take two blackouts in one evenig as a sign to log off, shut down and get some sleep ;)

* well now I have at any rate
 
Originally posted by far-trader
Hi Doctor Zanrain!

Sorry I've been wanting to do that for a while, you just happened to be the lucky victim
Faltered!


How about Kudzu? Its a cool idea in any case, except for the explore the "hole" body <shudder>
Kudzu Vine sounds good, thanks for the tip. About the shuddering, in hindsight I think five days is a bit much so I’ll cut that down to a twenty-four hour period. During that time they will spend several hours coiled around each limb.

Pet store clerks favorite joke.
“Your not ticklish are you?”
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One thing I forgot to mention was that they communicate through pheromones. After about five days of ownership The Kudzu Vine will have developed a vivid impression of the owners pheromones. At this point they become very loyal and, since they can sense your mood, very affectionate.
 
Kudzu seemed the obvious, I was worried maybe too obvious or lacking in sci-fi style. Good for an uplift version of the natrual version but if this is to be an alien species then maybe something else.

I think the 24 hours is much better and the sales comment is a keeper.

I like the pheromone detail too. Maybe owners could have a simple artificial pheromone generator to use for training and teaching tricks on command?
 
Okay guys the Kudzu Vine is a good example of the type of things I wanted to get out of this post. Though cats and dogs will work I already know what those are.
I want to hear of some interesting alien species that will work for pets.

That said, give me some more stuff or...or.. Vine! Sick um!
 
Rizzo Rats from GenAssist.
What a small companion who is smart as fluffy but does not drool on your chin. A companion who cleans their self that your Morris kitty. Who able to tell red from yellow? Can be taught tricks quicker than your younger brother?
Try a Rizzo Rat from GenAssist.
Regular rizzo 100 cr
Speak galantic 200 cr
Working 300 cr
Digital enchanced 400 Cr.
All our rats are unable of breeding.
 
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