User:Vivaporius/Sandbox/The Mikaegeny/III

Biology

Anatomy and physiology

As a species, the Mikaeans physically indistinguishable from their human neighbors, possessing the same external physical traits with few notable exceptions. The Mikaean body consists of a torso with two arms, two legs, and a head connected to the rest of the body by a neck. A Mikaean adult's body consists of about 100 trillion cells, not unlike that within a human, though a high proportion of their body consists of undifferentiated stem cells. Mikaean bodies are divided into a nervous, cardiovascular, circulatory, digestive, endocrine, immune, integumentary, lymphatic, musculoskeletal, reproductive, respiratory, and urinary system. Of note is the fact that the Mikaean females lack a true reproductive system, as the task of producing new offspring falls entirely upon the male members of the population.

Physically-speaking, the generally ample and shapely build of a Mikaean female betrays their robust physical strength, of which they have in greater supply than the males of either species. They possess about 15–20% more physical strength than a human male of similar age and weight. Mikaean males are just as strong as human males, but given their scarcity within the general population, they rely heavily upon their female counterparts for protection, which they readily supply. Females have a greater deal of stamina, and fill all the roles that would traditionally be performed by human males. Female Mikaeans boast a muscle density nearly 40–50% higher than in the males of the species, and uniquely enough, without compromising their feminine form. Mikaean females have proportionately larger and more muscular thighs than human females, with adolescent females developing stronger and larger leg muscles as they mature physically.

The average height for a Mikaean of both sexes is about 177.8 cm (5'10"), which has remained the norm within the species for the last four thousand years since their creation. Mikaeans do not suffer from shrinkage as they grow older, as they lack the same rate of senescence as recorded with humans. However, Mikaeans will generally not grow any taller than the norm of 177.8 cm, with anything greater than that deemed to be an abnormality within the individual. Regarding weight, as with height, Mikaeans as a species generally do not deviate from a well-defined norm set by their biology. Mikaean males will generally weight between 68.9-75.7 kg (152-167 lbs), while females within the species weight between 74.8-85.3 kg (165-188 lbs). Due to the uniquely rigid genetic and biological constraints within the species, the physical alterations expected within the majority of mammalian species due to the effects of diet and environment, are astonishingly absent throughout the entirety of the Mikaean population.

Biological variation

Biological variation within the Mikaean species is remarkably limited, even by human standards, where the genetic similarity between any two humans is about 99.5%-99.9%. Notably, there is about 3–4 times as much genetic variation within humans and 8–9 times as much within chimpanzees as there is within the totality of the Mikaean gene pool. Many genetic biologists believe that the size of the Mikaean gene pool may be even smaller as a direct consequence of the species method of reproduction, ensuring that only the same genetic patterns are passed down from generation from generation, likely explaining the universality of the traits commonly associated with the Mikaeans. This is not to say that there is little notable variation within the Mikaean population, but that the majority of this variation is more linked to physical build rather than anything more substantial such as blood type, skin color, hair color, genetic diseases, and cranial and facial features.

Based on this information, one can find the following features common within the Mikaeans. Brown, grey, and hazel eyes are the only three eye colors present within the Mikaean population, with grey eyes being the most common and brown eyes being the least common. Birthmarks such as freckles and beauty marks are present within both the male and female populations of the Mikaeans, and tend to follow a strict pattern throughout the entire race. Freckles only appear across the cheeks and nose of the individual, while beauty marks tend to form below the eyes and on either side of the lip. Hair on males grows to be short, coarse, and curly, while in females their hair tends to grow out into a straight or moderately curly pattern; likewise, the hair within the Mikaean population is universally black in color. Skin color within the Mikaeans is uniformly light brown in coloration, a description which has remained unchanged from the time the Mikaeans departed from Africa to their migration to their present homeland in North America.

Other traits found throughout the species is their congenital myopic astigmatism, a refractive error within the eye causing severe nearsightedness throughout the entire Mikaean race. This visual handicap has long been listed as part of reason the Mikaeans have been adverse to conflict, due to the inability to properly the until the widespread use of corrective lens in their homeland during the mid-17th century. Because of this limitation, the Mikaeans as a species have heavily-relied on the use of corrective lens, which have since became an important part of their racial identity. Furthermore, due to the universal prevalence of myopia among their people, it has been theorized that part of the Mikaeans' preference for conflict avoidance was influenced by their visual disorder, at least until eye glasses became a common accessory within their homeland. Regardless, as the Mikaeans view their myopia as a part of their racial identity, they have steadfastly resisted attempts at its correction, with most patriarchs agreeing not to intervene the matter for the time being.

Despite their lack of genetic diversity, the Mikaeans have shown a remarkable level of resilience in adapting to new climates and environments throughout their history. It has long been theorized that the few instances of significant biological variety within the species has been the direct result of so-called "active breeding" by the Mikaean patriarchs, who proactively alter their offspring prior to birth to adapt to whatever needs they have deemed necessary for their clade. How this is accomplished by the males is remains unknown, but researchers have long surmised that the process may be instinctual, as a patriarch migrates into a new biome where he will actively spawn offspring with the best traits to thrive there within the limited genetic range available to the species. For example, the melanin levels within the Mikaeans appear to be influenced more by the patriarchs than external environmental factors, though Mikaeans have be known to darken (tan) when exposed to significant levels of UV radiation, however not so much as to produce the range of skin tones found within humans.

Psychology