Genetic Engineering

One of several major technological breakthroughs made a few years prior to the Earth-Pluto War, genetic engineering proved to be a major boon to many industries. While certainly present throughout Earth's history, the interplanetary colonial era saw an explosive rise in commercial and military applications, and many new successful designs soon hit the market. Allegedly pioneered by Earth's scientific corps (a point relentlessly disputed by Pluto's government) new developments were able to construct a stable series of personal genetic upgrades for colonists braving the harsher territories within the Sol System. Offering volunteers tougher skin, durable muscles and even additional limbs, it took little time for the major megacorps and military forces alike to see the advantage this posed.

Within just a few months such mass experimentation spread first to specialist forces, with many offered unique and tailor made personal upgrades to enhance their abilities. As the horror stories of early failures and mistakes were quietly swept under the rug, news began to spread of snipers capable of making shots from across whole continents or recon specialists with sensory and memory enhancements unmatched even by industrial grade sensors. With no end of volunteers, it took little time at all for standardized packages to spread to serving infantrymen or even pilots.

While the megacorps saw promise in upgrading their own valued personnel, many CEOs saw this instead as an opportunity for cheap labor or to create a surplus of specialists to bolster their industries. While cloning and gene-forging was strictly prohibited on Earth and its more controlled colonies, several existing corporations made pacts with Pluto instead. Supplying the resource starved gene-engineers with a wealth of new laboratories and equipment in order to level the playing field with Earth, the Plutonians in turn experimented with growing life itself. Eventually this research would bear fruit in the form of In Vitro workers, vat-grown staff born as full adults with all the knowledge and skills their tailored job would require. Many were basic at first, little more than automata capable of answering direct, blunt questions and lacking higher cognitive functions, but many later "models" would soon see drastic improvements.

Gene Templates
Gene Templates are a simple form of genetic modification that uses hormones and developmental triggers to ensure that certain chromosomes and genotypes are "switched" on or off. The template is designed only to target specific strands of DNA, and leave the rest up to natural random selection. Thus, unfavorable birth defects, hereditary diseases, and chemical imbalances can be "cured" before the child is even born, while still allowing room for natural development and genetic variation in every other way.

Originally viewed as radical and unethical, off-world colonies with less than 100% of Earth's gravity were able to justify its use in the eyes of the public, as sapient life had evolved specifically to function in Earth's gravity, and growing in anything less would lead to debilitating physical defects and a drastically shortened lifespan. Therefore, they argued that trying to solely reproduce "the old-fashioned way" in such an environment was unethical, and that it was the responsibility of the parent to ensure their children lived as full a life as they wanted. And so the first Luna Pattern Gene Template was created, to counteract the effects of growing and living in microgravity. It wasn't long after that they figured it was just as unethical to allow them to develop with terminal illnesses and mental disorders when they could have prevented it, and so the Luna pattern was improved upon, and is now applied to nearly every sapient being in the system.

The Luna Pattern Gene Template causes heavy tissue such as bones, muscle, and cartilage, to grow denser and more resistant to decalcification and atrophy. The equilibrium and inner ear are modified to lower susceptibility to motion sickness, nausea, and disorientation during sudden changes in gravity, atmospheric pressure, and orientation. The immune system is modified to identify cancerous cells, along with a wide variety of common illnesses, and release powerful T-lymphocyte antibodies to eliminate them before they become tumors, and the body's cellular bonds are fortified to make them more resistant to the ambient radiation levels found in space. In addition, certain genetic predispositions to terminal illnesses and severe mental illnesses are corrected.