Let's Overanalyze: Regenerators!

Cafe Society
1

The magical super healing kind, I mean. Because I’m a geek that has learned way too many facts about science and physics to leave it as “a wizard did it”.

Questions (can be answered using technobabble or cites from literature):
*What’s the upper limit to regeneration?
*Would they age faster, or slower, than regular people?
*What happens if one gets cancer?
*What’s the minimum caloric requirement?
*Would any substance affect them worse than it would a normal person? (Like, for example, a regenerator might not be able to get drunk very easily, but what about other stuff?)
*If a regenerator gets hit with a bullet/flying shards of whatever, what happens to these projectiles?

And, of course, the big kahuna, which may not be answerable:
*How the heck does this actually work?

2

Well, in Dungeons & Dragons, these questions are easy to answer. A troll, for instance, has regeneration against all forms of damage except for fire and acid. This means that only fire and acid can actually kill the troll; any other type of damage just renders it unconscious. If you chop the troll’s head off, it will grow back. If you grind the troll into tiny pieces, the largest piece will eventually grow into the full-sized troll. However, regeneration does not prevent a creature from dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Also, regeneration is useless against any type of damage that is not measured in hit points, such as poisons or death magic. Diseases are similar to poisons in the type of damage they deal, so regeneration won’t save a troll from getting sick. It also won’t save you from dying of old age; in fact, nothing can except becoming an undead creature or a demigod. The rules don’t actually say what happens to a projectile that hits a troll, but I’d imagine that if you shot a troll with an arrow and it regenerated the damage, the arrowhead would “pop out” as the wound healed. As for how it all works; well, however it works, it isn’t by magic, since regeneration is an Extraordinary ability that functions even in magic-dead areas.

3

Oh yeah: Highlander-style Immortals seem to use rules similar to this. Old age, starvation, poison, and disease can’t kill them, but most non-decapitating forms of damage can render them unconscious, which gives their opponents time to administer a coup de grace and whack off their heads. This same strategy works with a troll and a gallon of gasoline. :smiley:

4

*What’s the upper limit to regeneration?
I think some characters are able to come back from a single cell. Most either have an achilles heel or bite it far sooner than that. Realistically, there’s no coming back from many types of brain damage. The neurons would grow back, but the memories would be gone forever.

*Would they age faster, or slower, than regular people?
Most regenerators seem to process toxins and other “housekeeping” cellular functions much more efficently than normals, so that would argue for a significantly longer lifespan. However, wound healing involves cell division, so accelerated healing would also mean more cell division shorter telomeres (the non-replicating ends of chromosomes) and quicker cell senesence. Thus, a regenerator who keeps himself relatively safe could live forever, but one who had to regrow half his body every few weeks would age more quickly than a normal human.

*What happens if one gets cancer?
Thankfully, most regenerators also come with a hieghtened immune system, which also implies that other anti-tumor and cellular repair activities are also enhanced. If that’s not the case, or if a cancerous cell could ship past them, the tumor would spread through the system like wildfire. It would also be resistant to radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery on a regenerator is always a difficult prospect. We’re talking from a single cell to the entire body in hours. The regenerator would be in agony as his organs kept functioning (they’d heal) long past the point where they’d shut down for a normal. He’d be begging (if he could still communicate in his nor misshapen tumor-ridden body) for someone to please find a way to kill him.

*What’s the minimum caloric requirement?
The hyper-efficency of a regenerator’s system would require less calories than a normal’s for day-to-day activity. Significant healing, especially regrowing large masses of tissue (such as a limb) would require much more calories and nutrients in general. All that mass has to come from somehwere!

*Would any substance affect them worse than it would a normal person? (Like, for example, a regenerator might not be able to get drunk very easily, but what about other stuff?)
I’m having trouble thinking of any specific substances, but many anti-cancer durgs may turn down the regeneration. Also, auto-immune disease such as arthritis or lupus would be a real bitch.

*If a regenerator gets hit with a bullet/flying shards of whatever, what happens to these projectiles?
The rerowing cells would displace the shrapnel through the body (causing intense pain and perhaps killing the individual if it pierces a major organ unless the regeration is that good) until it’s pushed outside the body.

And, of course, the big kahuna, which may not be answerable:
*How the heck does this actually work?

5

The alien from John Cambell’s “Who Goes There” (basis for the movie The Thing, which I haven’t seen) can regenerate completely, and to a form of its chosing, from a single cell. It also apparently retains its memories during this process, but it’s telepathic, so it might just be “restoring from backup” from other, more complete pieces. It can be destroyed by fire or chemical corrosives, and any given form can be “killed” by electrocution (though it can still take over other living matter).

6

The upper limit is, of course, twelve regenerations. Just ask the Doctor.