Prompt of the week!

[dmeck7755]

Tehta, lovely! It’s both warm and distant, very fitting for Ensi. And you are absolutely right, she wouldn’t get pregnant by accident.

Now that you pointed it out, I wonder if someone could have the power to tell whether a month is likely to result in a pregnancy of a fetus that would be immune if they were to born (i.e. tell whether the egg that month has the immunity genes or whatever). I don’t think any of our Hotakainens do, but someone with deep skill in fertility magic?

That would be a really cool thing.  But if it could be discerned, wouldn't there be more immune people around?  Unless it is a very rare talent and better living could be attained nearer populations centers?

[tehta]

I'm going to theorize that it could be possible to tell for an egg, and maybe for an individual sperm, but, well... The latter are kind of too small for a noita to sort easily, even if they're Eyes of Ants or something. So there's still room for randomness.

(Er, please let me know if that comment is above this board's rating. I'm only talking about the science.)

I'm also not sure that immunity is as simple as a single recessive gene.

[Buteo]

There's a fanfic on AO3 that (if I recall correctly) posits a three-gene requirement for immunity. All three must have the correct allele (form of that particular gene) for immunity to be produced.
I was particularly happy to see this piece, although I had to read it in translation, because it was so similar to my own hypothesis.

[Jitter]

Tehta, there’s absolutely nothing to warrant a rating?

And yes, I mean that the power would increase the odds by choosing the more-likely-to-result-in-immunity months on the egg side of things, but still the sperm are random. So, not that it would make immunity of the child certain. It could also explain why some communities have high immunity while in others it’s rare. I mean the differences between the various settlements in Saimaa.

[tehta]

I was just thinking that, in some places, the idea of a noita sitting around and using tiny creatures to sort through sperm might be considered inappropriate for children. I mean, it could be happening in a bedroom!

[Jitter]

Yeah, well, you are probably right. But we are not playing by the rules of what could be considered inappropriate anywhere at all. We wouldn’t really be having this Forum, if we were So, carry on!

[dmeck7755]

There's a fanfic on AO3 that (if I recall correctly) posits a three-gene requirement for immunity. All three must have the correct allele (form of that particular gene) for immunity to be produced.
I was particularly happy to see this piece, although I had to read it in translation, because it was so similar to my own hypothesis.

I'd be interested in reading that story.  If you every come upon it again, please let me know

[dmeck7755]

I was just thinking that, in some places, the idea of a noita sitting around and using tiny creatures to sort through sperm might be considered inappropriate for children. I mean, it could be happening in a bedroom!

They don't have a huge "shelf life" So the noita needs to be quick!

[wavewright62]

Great to see the Wanderer again!  the character is so evocative, and this works. 

Nice, sex-tuple tehta, and a good insight into Ensi.  Happy midsummer indeed. 

(I gotta admit, I also just closed down a WIP for the night, a story I parked for a couple of years and have only just started chipping away at again for the last couple of weeks.  I was hoping to finish the durned thing this weekend, ready or not, but now it looks like I may not. No spoiler, but it also concerns Ensi and 'Ukko-Pekka' and their liaison.  It doesn't feature magical methods of sorting gametes, so gotta hand y'all that one!)

[Buteo]

I'd be interested in reading that story.  If you every come upon it again, please let me know

there
I will do so. It's one of the ones I'll be looking for, there are some I've been thinking of re-reading.

You know, there might be a sperm-sorting shortcut available to a mage: Instead of searching for the gametes that carry immunity, do a spell for the couple involved that draws an immune sperm to an immune egg. Perhaps a more complex version of the spell could prevent fertilization if there was no possibility of the potential child being immune.

[Jitter]

Or a combination of the two magics: the noita can tell which month is promising, and the seidur provide a sorting disk with a pattern that leads the ”immune” and ”non-immune” sperm.

[Buteo]

Jitter, I like that idea!

[JoB]

Or a combination of the two magics: the noita can tell which month is promising, and the seidur provide a sorting disk with a pattern that leads the ”immune” and ”non-immune” sperm.

[head of Dagrenning Program kisses his budget goodbye, reaches for the booze, and wishes he had never tried to fix those "technical and communication difficulties" that stood in the way of getting the Finns involved]

[thegreyarea]

Just to add to this discussion:
What about a technical way to sort the immune sperm and ovule from the rest? Dip the collected material on a rash-contaminated medium. The disease will kill or mutate (?) the non-immune cells, then you just has to filter the surviving ones and proceed to the in vitro fertilization. Rinse and repeat if necessary...
(Sorry, not magical at all, and the magical approaches are much more fun!)

[JoB]

What about a technical way to sort the immune sperm and ovule from the rest? Dip the collected material on a rash-contaminated medium. The disease will kill or mutate (?) the non-immune cells, then you just has to filter the surviving ones and proceed to the in vitro fertilization.

The limited ex-corpore lifetime of sperms might throw a wrench into that, and I have a hunch that we better leave the discussion of "syngamy first, then filter" to the post­-Rash folks and their beliefs.

In the meantime, we can instead help by coming up with some wording to soothe the thoughts that non-immune mothers about to have rash-exposed gametes or zygotes (re-)implanted might be worrying themselves with. (Offspring of immune parents is supposedly guaranteed to be immune as well, and does not need any sorting methods of whatever shades and grades of magic involved, remember?)