wordwalker
Auror
Since Thanksgiving's supposed to be about family, here's a puzzler that's been kicking around my head for a while:
A lot of us define magical ability as an inherited trait, but at least one author has floated the idea that in her world it's a straightforward single-gene strongly dominant trait... and a sex-linked one, in that it's carried only on the female X chromosome. That would mean that (if we use the terms "witch" and "wizard," though note that the Harry Potter system is not this simple), combinations of offspring are:
Wizard (Y X1) and "full" Witch (X1 X1) = 50% Wizard (Y X1), 50% full Witch (X1 X1).
Mundane Man (Y X) and full Witch (X1 X1) = 50% Wizard (Y X1), 50% halfbreed Witch (X1 X).
Wizard (Y X1) and Mundane Woman (X X) = 50% Mundane Man (Y X), 50% halfbreed Witch (X1 X).
(And of course Mundane Man (Y X) and Mundane Woman (X X) = 50% Mundane Man (Y X), 50% Mundane Woman (X X).)
but also because of those halfbreeds, there's also
Wizard (Y X1) and halfbreed Witch (X1 X) = 25% Wizard (Y X1), 25% Mundane Man (Y X), 25% full Witch (X1 X1), 25% halfbreed Witch (X1 X).
Mundane Man (Y X) and halfbreed Witch (X1 X) = 25% Wizard (Y X1), 25% Mundane Man (Y X), 25% halfbreed Witch (X1 X), 25% Mundane Woman (X X).
And note, this is "strong dominance" so a halfbreed Witch is every bit as powerful as a full one, just less predictable in her offspring.
(Some rules of thumb: a son simply has either one or the other of his mother's magic chromosomes. A Wizard's daughter is always at least halfbreed Witch, and a Mundane Man's daughter might be half Witch but no more.)
(The magic has to be the X chromosome because a simple trait on the Y is too easy to predict. A Wizard's son is a Wizard, and everyone else is Mundane, yawn.)
Now here's the question: what plotlines can we come up with about some of these combinations, in a society that either favors magical children or favors nonmagical (the effects aren't quite the same, since you can hide powers but probably can't fake them). Let's assume magical and other tests for magic and for genetics don't exist, because they'd make some of the complications we're looking for too clear. For example:
A lot of us define magical ability as an inherited trait, but at least one author has floated the idea that in her world it's a straightforward single-gene strongly dominant trait... and a sex-linked one, in that it's carried only on the female X chromosome. That would mean that (if we use the terms "witch" and "wizard," though note that the Harry Potter system is not this simple), combinations of offspring are:
Wizard (Y X1) and "full" Witch (X1 X1) = 50% Wizard (Y X1), 50% full Witch (X1 X1).
Mundane Man (Y X) and full Witch (X1 X1) = 50% Wizard (Y X1), 50% halfbreed Witch (X1 X).
Wizard (Y X1) and Mundane Woman (X X) = 50% Mundane Man (Y X), 50% halfbreed Witch (X1 X).
(And of course Mundane Man (Y X) and Mundane Woman (X X) = 50% Mundane Man (Y X), 50% Mundane Woman (X X).)
but also because of those halfbreeds, there's also
Wizard (Y X1) and halfbreed Witch (X1 X) = 25% Wizard (Y X1), 25% Mundane Man (Y X), 25% full Witch (X1 X1), 25% halfbreed Witch (X1 X).
Mundane Man (Y X) and halfbreed Witch (X1 X) = 25% Wizard (Y X1), 25% Mundane Man (Y X), 25% halfbreed Witch (X1 X), 25% Mundane Woman (X X).
And note, this is "strong dominance" so a halfbreed Witch is every bit as powerful as a full one, just less predictable in her offspring.
(Some rules of thumb: a son simply has either one or the other of his mother's magic chromosomes. A Wizard's daughter is always at least halfbreed Witch, and a Mundane Man's daughter might be half Witch but no more.)
(The magic has to be the X chromosome because a simple trait on the Y is too easy to predict. A Wizard's son is a Wizard, and everyone else is Mundane, yawn.)
Now here's the question: what plotlines can we come up with about some of these combinations, in a society that either favors magical children or favors nonmagical (the effects aren't quite the same, since you can hide powers but probably can't fake them). Let's assume magical and other tests for magic and for genetics don't exist, because they'd make some of the complications we're looking for too clear. For example:
- In a pro-magic culture, a Witch begins to fear her child is Mundane, meaning that not only the Witch but possibly some of her sisters are halfbreeds and therefore less marriageable -- also, if her husband is a Wizard, he can't be the child's father, but this is only certain if it's a daughter.
- In an anti-magic culture, a secret Witch tells her children to hide their powers -- but since she's halfbreed and/or her husband is Mundane, some children are Mundane and grow up bullied by their magical siblings, and/or bullying them with threats of exposure.