Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Shape-shifting Asurans?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Shape-shifting Asurans?

    Are the Asurans capable of changing their physical appearance at will, sort of like the newer Terminator models? I know they can go from solid to liquid state, but I'm thinking in terms of their human (or Wraith) infiltration skills, and I cannot remember if this was ever covered in SGA. Are they perhaps "locked" in a particular appearance? Any help appreciated!
    "If I should die, think only this of me: / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever [Earth]."
    Earth is gone, but Atlantis must survive... Apoca!fic. Post-Season 5. John/Sam.

    #2
    They can do so at will, but choose a certain appearance. because of their abilities infiltration is pretty useless (their indestructible nature and exotic materials means any half-assed scan would instantly notice)

    EDIT:

    Their nature in general would make infiltration of any kind (other than on a nanite level obviously) fairly useless. They're made of Neutronium, which would make them much heavier than a similar human. They are also much stronger and resilient, so any form of harm would tell them apart anyway. And according to the Milky Way human forms, they're much more efficient with energy which means even something as simple as body warmth would not be the same. So they look human, but everything else would easily break that illusion.

    Not that such a thing really matters though, they can easily extract the information they need from people, and could -in most cases- simply walk in and mindread whoever they want.
    Last edited by thekillman; 23 January 2016, 06:00 AM.

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks for the detailed feedback! Definitely some food for thought there... From what I gather here, though, long-term infiltration in somewhat technological societies would be pretty useless. But let's say they only need (max.) an hour in an agricultural society (that's overpopulated, by the way) to locate and extract a particular person. Would that be feasible?

      Also, since you bring up the scans, are the Genii capable of detecting an Asuran with their level of technology? Do they have any scanning technology available?
      "If I should die, think only this of me: / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever [Earth]."
      Earth is gone, but Atlantis must survive... Apoca!fic. Post-Season 5. John/Sam.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by neela View Post
        But let's say they only need (max.) an hour in an agricultural society (that's overpopulated, by the way) to locate and extract a particular person. Would that be feasible?
        In theory, soggy ground could give an Asuran away. They're entirely made from Neutronium, supposedly a super-heavy unknown element, so they *should* have considerable more mass than a regular human would. After all, Asurans are replicators that make themselves look human, it's a cosmetic thing. Some sort of attack or scratch (exposing the silver nanites), but also possibly body warmth would give them easily away.

        The real question would be: how aware are the humans of the concept of an Asuran? Because to an unsuspecting world, an asuran could be considered weird and creepy, leaving deeper footprints than expected and feeling cold like a corpse, but would they realize what theý're dealing with, and better yet could they deal with one?



        Originally posted by neela View Post
        Also, since you bring up the scans, are the Genii capable of detecting an Asuran with their level of technology? Do they have any scanning technology available?
        It depends on how willing and able the Asurans are to change to fit their appearance. I mean, technically they should be multi-ton super-terminators in terms of capacity, but the series plays fast and loose with this (since they're played by actual humans). Also, a simple Infrared detector would notice the Asurans being colder. earthly technologies like X-rays would also be a dead giveaway.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by neela View Post
          Are the Asurans capable of changing their physical appearance at will, sort of like the newer Terminator models? I know they can go from solid to liquid state, but I'm thinking in terms of their human (or Wraith) infiltration skills, and I cannot remember if this was ever covered in SGA. Are they perhaps "locked" in a particular appearance? Any help appreciated!
          It wasn't until McKay started messing with the base code that the replicators could change their appearance. At least that's what Repli-Keller said in This Mortal Coil.

          Comment


            #6
            Thanks. You just answered what I had in mind.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Bhousden View Post
              It wasn't until McKay started messing with the base code that the replicators could change their appearance. At least that's what Repli-Keller said in This Mortal Coil.
              I thought they said that was when they could change their appearance to match living being; before that they could not imitate living humans or ancients.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by atterodevice View Post
                I thought they said that was when they could change their appearance to match living being; before that they could not imitate living humans or ancients.
                IIRC they were mimicking the Ancients long before McKay started fussing with their base code. They couldn't change their appearance. That part was hard coded to them.

                Comment

                Working...
                X