Pasiphae conceived the Minotaur, but not in the salacious way the imaginations of the Greek mythographers would have it. They said that she (like her sister Circe) practiced witchcraft, but they could not understand the advanced biological sciences the sisters' could command. They were the "children" of titans and immortal. They both had access to bio-assemblers that could splice the genetic material of different species. Circe was an artist, after a fashion; Pasiphae created her Minotaur for revenge.
Minos was an unfaithful husband. Pasiphae, with the help of her pupil, the genius Daedelus, sought to publicly shame her husband by the creation of the Minotaur. She blended the genetic material of a sacred, sacrificial bull and her husband's own. Minos hide the creature from public view, but the beast's hunger demanded sacrifice.
As the stories have it, Prince Theseus eventually killed the Minotaur. Minos's shame was widely known, and Pasiphae likely cared little that she was slandered, as well.
That still didn't stop Minos's philandering. It's said that later Pasiphae created sexual transmitted nanites that would consume any woman but her herself and infected Minos with them.
Pasiphae's Laboratory:
The laboratory of Pasiphae (or Circe) contains a small assembler device capable of making almost anything it has plans for, but mostly used to biotechnological purposes. It can produced any of the drugs and medications listed in the Mutant Future book, and thereotically almost any handheld equipment, but would be limited by the plans in its computer databank.
Near the assembler is a larger tank full of a light green nanomachine goo, that can either dissemble and scan anything biological put into it or "build" a biological entity to certain specifications. It can used to replicate the activities of all the medical devices listed in Mutant Future.
All the devices work on voice command, but they are still complexity Class 3 (on the Technology Roll) to get anything useful from.
12 comments:
"It's said that later Pasiphae created sexual transmitted nanites that would consume any woman but her herself and infected Minos with them."
Damn, that is an awesome idea. Why is this not the plot of a body-horror sci-fi flick already?
I can only guess that body horrors writers just don't read enough Ovid.
Which is interesting because Ovid is just about the source of body-horror in the Western imagination.
Damn it, not I am kick myself for not assigning any Ovid back when I did a course called Uncanny Bodies. Missed opportunity.
(I have a soft spot for Ovid because he's one of the few classical authors I've ever taught.)
This is great stuff - very clever and evocative. I love the mixture of classic Greek mythology with a science-fiction twist.
Let's see some more!
@Jack - Good point! He's interesting (beyond the horror thing) in that he really sort of resynthesizes classical mythology.
@Martin -Thanks!
Those are some nasty nanites. Talk about a woman scorned...
I'll bet it burns when Minos pees, too.
Probably. Just to add insult to injury.
I can imagine modern day tomb raiders had better wear some very well sealed encounter suits before the try to raid her laboratory!
This is a very cool setting concept.
Thanks!
Interesting, but I don't know about mixing talk of genetic material with Greek mythology. Generally think legendary narratives work best without science talk.
This is recasting the myths as a science fantasy. If you don't like that bit, you probably aren't going to like this whole series. :)
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