Rejuve Technology


History

Having already discovered Chronostatic radiation in the 22nd century by analysing left over technology from the Forerunner race, the discovery several functional rejuvenation chambers on a planet orbiting Tau Ceti. The technology was not however made practical until friendly relations were made with the race known as the Drakonians.
The first human experiments take place about 4 years later, using convicted criminals. After about 30 years, we are able to reproduce the chambers by an exact-copy process, although we still do not entirely understand how they work. In particular, the software can only be copied--we are only beginning to learn to understand that.
Nobody knows who invented the original rejuve chambers. Technology was reverse engineered and the process was far from controlled until a young computer nerd called Melvin Feinburg decoded the programming system and, with the assistance of the Drakonians the programming of the chambers was modified and corrected to make up for it's inability to process human DNA properly


Timeline

[Late 21st Century] Discovery of chronostatic radiation and the star drive. The forerunners were located all through this section of the galaxy some 4.5 million years ago; they developed the original rejuvenation technology;
[ Early 22nd century] Discovery several functional rejuvenation chambers on a planet orbiting Tau Ceti. The first human experiments take place about 4 years later, using conviced criminals. After about 30 years, chambers can be reproduced by an exact-copy process, although the software and function is still a mystery.
[2147]: Discovery of the Drakonians. Friendly relations established. They begin assisting the human race in improving our Star Drive technology and working on the rejuvenation chambers.


What is Rejuve Technology

Rejuve Technology is the result of three important discoveries.
Chronostatic Radiation
Rejuvenation chambers
The Melvin Feinburg DNA processing technique.
Originally not understood, rejuve technology uses a series of radiating crystals, data storage and several new substances to generate Chroniton Radiation. Chroniton Radiation seams to effect the flow of time within the localised capsule causing cell regeneration. In large amounts the radiation can be dangerous but and until Feinburg's discoveries was unreliable, not even being understood by the Draconians who have been working with the technology.


Benifits and Limitations

With the parts of the machinery being named after the scientists working on the devices many medical revolutions have resulted from it's presence. Rejuve technology can:
Restore lost limbs and heal all injuries
Reverse the effects of genetic diseases such as cancer
Cure STD's and destroy parasites and viruses
Cleanse most forms of radiation from the body
Extend life almost indefinitely
On the reverse side however they have some pretty serious limitations.
The oldest a person can be rejuvenated to is 12.
This is a result of physical memory space and the inability to process changes that occur during puberty.
Each rejuve at the least takes off exactly 2 yrs 9 months 7 days
Believed to be cause of inability to make the radiation dose smaller.
The youngest a person can become is 3 years
This is because serious brain brain damage has been known to occur at younger ages.
Spontaneous transformation to female.
The technology was never designed to handle unpaired chromosomes like in human males, or Drakonian females. A technique was developed to decrease the chance of this happening but one in 1000 males sometimes become female. The process is now reversible.
And finally
Rejuvenation is a one way process. The only way to become older again is to grow older naturally.
Body mass: If the injures results in the lost of body parts, the rejuvenation will rebuild the missing parts, but may lower the end resultant age if there is not enough body mass.




Emergency Rejuvination

As previously stated, the ability of the rejuvenation chamber to heal any injury and deal with most medical problems has been a great benefit to the world of medicine, however the limitations and consequences of rejuvenation make it a severe form of treatment. Able to solve the medical problem it almost always uproots the rejuve from their life and is only used as a last resort. Still, despite the limitations and consequences the presence of the chambers has reduced world wide death rate to less than 10%


Repression and Insertion

Thanks to the innovations created by Melvin in adapting the programming to cater for human DNA, it is now possible both to insert or suppress Y chromosone on a rejuve, so that even if Female was their original gender. This ability to arbitrarily swap an individual's gender is called Repression and Insertion and is a common tool when dealing with violent crimes or crimes that show a disregard for the opposite sex.
It is important to note that Pennies are not the only cases of purposely repressing or inserting the Y chromosone. Psycholos and Voluntaras occasionally undergo the procedure to widen their personal perspective and not all cases of a swapped gender are corrected. Some experimentation has been done with using the process to fix genetic errors.
Does a Rejuve have an adult mind
After many cases of rejuves going by the way-side it was determined that both judgement and emotional maturity of the rejuve are at least partially derived from the physical body. Put bluntly a rejuve may have all the memories of being an adult, but the actual brain structure and brain chemistry is that of a child's, giving rejuves all the judgement and emotional needs and reactions of a child their physical age. Whle easy to say in theory it is often difficult to compare in practice. During rejuvenation the act of maintaining or transferring the memories of the adult individual into a child's body is not perfect. First and foremost the largest part of the human mind in terms of storage is the section used for muscle memory. This means that a freshly rejuved child often looses a lot of their physical skills. For rejuves down to a young age even the simple act of walking or holding their bowels can be a challenge with the control needed for these functions having to be relearned. Thing such as writing, riding a bike, swimming and other fine motor control are often also lost which means a large majority of rejuves require re-training, physical therapy and just good old fashion play time. Similarly, while a rejuve may remember events from their past life, or remember how to perform cognitive skills such as maths, planning, infrastructure and such some components can be lost in the reshuffle of rejuvenation. The easiest way to think of a rejuve is as a child with the memories of an adult. And while having the memories of an adult means they know more than a child, and especially means they know right from wrong they can't always be trusted to think the way an adult should or be made to have the same level of responsibility as an adult.


Size and Cost:

While rejuve chambers are inexpensive to operate, they are costly to build. They are also heavy—the Johnston crystals alone weigh 20Kg each, and a rejuve system usually has 5 of them. But at the battle of Gorm III in 2721, the population of the town of Higgins was exposed to mild chronostatic radiation. The ONLY treatment for this form of radiation poisoning is rejuvenation, (sometimes multiple rejuvenation). However, the town's only rejuve chamber was badly damaged, with 4 Johnston crystals destroyed. The town doctor used it anyway, and it WORKED! BUT—EVERY male who went through the chamber came out female (Y-suppressed), and the maximum age was much lower—between 6 and 8 years. The system was FAR less capable.