obsessive nerdiness of jenova doom

[jukeboxhound_backup]

I'm not a medical student (though I'd become one if it meant taking gross anatomy all the time).  Just...keep that in mind.  Otherwise, here are unbelievably dorky notes on the whole Jenova thing, how she infects a host, and how YOU can resist it!

(Originally started as a way for me to figure out the details of Imperfect Tense, and it just kind of snowballed from there when I brought it up with artimusdin.  I think I took out any fic spoilers, though.)  *head-desk*

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OBSESSIVE NERDINESS OF JENOVA DOOM

 

Dead J-Cells (+mako) à SOLDIER enhancements

(What do cells provide  that mako doesn’t?)

--Just strengthening of the original enhancements?

 

Live J-Cells (+mako)

Enhancementsà Jenova’s ‘psychic influence’

(What would happen if a specimen had cells, living OR dead, without the mako?)

 

Mako (basic physical enhancements) + Cells (inert infection)

--if balanced, produce SOLDIERs

--if not balanced, produce madness/mutation/death

--if cells are alive, produce ‘super-SOLDIERs’ (i.e. Sephiroth, Cloud)

            --(ignoring CC/DoC canon)

--Jenova herself (as the ‘psychic’ factor) acts as the catalyst between inert mako/living cells; mako (being magic and part of the Planet) amplifies her Voice, which activates the cells

--both are necessary for her to properly take over a host, but at the same time she can’t without the presence of both

 

Regular SOLDIERs

Two possibilities on why they were given dead cells, since Hojo wouldn’t waste even inert cells on random specimens without a reason:

1. Create a sleeper army for when Sephiroth takes over

--creates an issue; if dead cells can be ‘reawakened,’ then either they aren’t actually dead and are just hibernating, or Jenova is capable of entirely regenerating herself (which she can’t).

2. Covert pre-clone experiments

--Gast died and took the secret of Sephiroth with him, so this could be Hojo’s way of discretely trying to reconstruct whatever Gast did.  An imbalance here, a tweak here, and he could start gathering the foundational information for the first clone experiments

--also explains why his clones were…less than perfect

--also, if dead cells produce lesser effects than the fully living ones, the changes wouldn’t be so obvious or dramatic and therefore endanger his funding/career/life

 

Jenova herself…

Originally a space virus that infected a Cetra? 

--explains her humanoid form in the Nibel reactor

--how single cells are just as potent as one of her whole body parts

--also, viruses don’t fossilize well, so incubation within a host would prevent decay (thus allowing Hojo/Gast to harvest them)

 

Viruses are a primitive form of self-replicating DNA

--Jenova is like a time capsule for life…fascinating

--‘enveloped virus’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus): protects itself against enzymes (like mako?  And because mako is part of the Planet/Lifestream, it may not recognize the J-vector once it’s hidden within the organic host cell, and through the host cell itself the Jenova virus can resonate with other Jenova-cells using the mako)

--explains the ‘finite’ source of Jenova cells; viruses cannot replicate without the use of host cells

 

Cures:

Because they replicate within host cells, it’s difficult to eliminate them without killing the host

--vaccinations (dead J-cells…was Hojo unknowingly providing a vaccine to his own project?)

            --may have been why Zack, as a SOLDIER, wasn’t used as a clone prototype like Cloud was

--antiviral drugs

            (But what about the rain that Aeris made in AC?)

--Lifestream diluted through the water, cleansing the Geostigma; osmosis through the epidermis

 

Resistance:

If Jenova is using the mako (Lifestream?) to infiltrate the host’s mind…

--explains the ‘psychic resonance’ between her and her cells, and her and the host

--would require a stronger will than her own to resist (think of a lifeline in a storm)

--given human nature, this will would have to be focused on a specific goal, probably a selfish and immediate one (i.e. a mere idealism like ‘morality’ wouldn’t work, because it’s too remote from a person’s soul; goals are always stronger when it’s personal)

--for Cloud, this was preserving Zack and ‘living his dream’; having such a personal/emotionally invested goal allowed him to retain some sense of independence, while the other clones didn’t (yay for being stubborn)

--Sephiroth didn’t have anything so personal; dispassionate childhood; he was consumed with doubt, loneliness, and anger, which would distract any sort of focus and leave him vulnerable to manipulation (Jenova)

--also a require a fair understanding of one’s self, or at least a steadfast, unalterable truth

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Subject to revision, because I really do find this fascinating.  *cough*  Dialogue welcome.