Matters of the mind and body
Medical science
Surgical and medicinal technology is extremely advanced, and Alliance medical professionals are trained to treat acute and life-threatening injuries suffered by any Alliance species. Wounds can be healed in minutes, new organs manufactured, and complex surgical procedures conducted with minimal discomfort in field hospital conditions.
Access to care is enshrined in Alliance law, but resources and expertise can be limited on remote and/or developing planets.
Chronic illnesses and disabilities exist, and are caused by a multitude of factors. Alliance care always prioritises quality of life and personal liberty, and citizens have many options for managing their health as they see fit.
Reproduction between different species
Genetic therapies based on stem cells (and their equivalents in other species) allow parents of differing species to produce offspring together. The child is always the same species as one of its parents – hybrids are not possible, and there is no known way to directly bridge that gap between evolutionarily distinct lifeforms from different planets.
Life, death and cloning
Consciousness is distinct and irreproducible. It has thus far proven impossible to move a mind out of one body and into another.
Cloning is possible, though closely regulated. People produced via cloning are new individuals, with no mental or physical connection to the person they were cloned from (except for their genetic similarity as homozygous “twins”).
Medical interventions can reproduce tissue and repair damage, but attempts to turn back the aging process always suffer diminishing returns. Alliance citizens live on average twice the average pre-contact lifespan of their respective species.
All beings in the Alliance age and die. This includes synthetic beings: Anthroids and T/OMs, though long-lived, will eventually succumb to information decay.
Telepathy and telekinesis
No species yet encountered by the Alliance has shown any ability to communicate telepathically. Technology – like the scanners used by DIPLO agents – exists that can “read” emotions and intent, using observable phenomena like microexpressions, bodily tension, electrical impulses and pheromones.
Likewise, no species encountered by the Alliance is capable of moving objects with their minds alone. Manipulating objects without physical contact is possible technologically, via the use of magnetic pulses and energy fields. FABREP machines and Alliance freight systems use this to arrange particles and organise/secure cargo, respectively.
Mind control and memory alteration
Direct manipulation of someone’s consciousness and memories is extremely complicated, and not something that can be done on an ad-hoc basis. The risk of brain damage is high, and false memories or impulses that are too far-fetched can be recognised and rejected by the mind’s “immune system” of personality.
Preservation of the mind is as legally sacred within the Alliance as preservation of the body. Research into technologies in this area is therefore limited, save for study of preventative measures.
