DanDanDan
Wanna-be DPS insta-locker
Hello, fellow Nation-ers!
I've got quite an idea for a background for a RP, I'm just... not sure where to go with it. Honestly I thought it up better for a story, but then I realized it'd be much more fun to go through this setting with others making their own plots too. Hopefully, you guys can help me out with any other ideas to add or what exactly can be done with this idea to make it roleplay-friendly. Also any criticism on the idea would be greatly appreciated!
The Idea
So the idea came to me after learning about telomeres.
This is a picture explaining DNA replication, with occurs within the cell in order to keep multiplying. DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid, which is essentially what sets DNA apart from, say, RNAs, which are made of ribonucleic acid. Without going into too much information, DNA is replicated every time the cell must undergo division. It grows, replicates DNA and other important information, grows some more, and then divides. I'm sure we've all had many classes learning about the fantastic story the cell undergoes during Mitosis - which is splitting the cell apart resulting in two new 'daughter cells' - so I won't go into it. All that's important is that DNA is fragile and must be protected.
Protein synthesis occurs in steps. Firstly is the untwisting of DNA for the RNA polymerase, an enzyme complex, to create a new strand of RNA. called mRNA, or messenger RNA. This is known as transcription. After that, the RNA goes through some fixing. Nonsense coding called introns get cut out, and exons are mended together. To explain, this: 'Tomorrowday isnt myolso birthrateday' becomes 'Today is my birthday.' However, this isn't all that happens to the DNA. There is a certain 'cap' that is added to each end to protect it. A Poly-A tail and a 3' Cap is attached to their appropriate ends and then the mRNA leaves the nucleus to be translated by a ribosome. From there, each three-letter 'word' of the adenine, uracil, guanine, and cytosine called a codon is read to mean a certain polypeptide. A tRNA brings the polypeptide over, and as the mRNA is read, a chain called the polypeptide chain grows. When the mRNA is done being translated, this chain will be folded into a protein, ready to do its job.
Proteins are very important for living. They're the things responsible for making sure your cells, and therefore you, keep you alive. Blood cells gotta move, the muscles gotta contract, and the brain's gotta dictate! However, we all know these processes tend to slow down as we age. Your metabolism isn't as fast anymore, your skin isn't wrinkle-free, you get pains in the joins, cancers and other diseases become more prevalent. This aging process is because your cells are getting old.
Think about it- you came from a single cell - a single collection of DNA. The same one has been repeated over and over and over again to make up the billions of cells that now make up 'you'. And because of this, the DNA has become weaker, and shorter. Every replication, the DNA strand gets shorter and shorter, cutting off pieces of vital information. Inevitably, we will die, and there's nothing that we can do about it.
Of course, until now. There is a certain unicellular animal that lives 'forever' technically. This is found in real life, although I have forgotten the exact name. The way it works is that it keeps the DNA from shortening. Processes never slow down, and thus remains 'working like a youth!' Think of it like this: imagine being 100 years old, but still look and work like a teenager! Of course things can still kill them, but without any dangers, they could technically live forever. In other words, they stay young forever.
This is where the telomeres come in.
Telomeres are lines of nonsense DNA that are added to the ends of DNA. They code for nothing, and exist only to protect the edges. Since the shortening only happens to the tips, it would only take off the unnecessary stuff, keeping cells youthful longer. Sounds pretty awesome right? These telomeres run out eventually though, and then we die.
Science, however doesn't really help in explaining this, however. Mice, as you know, have a relatively short life-span compared to us humans. Then why do they have longer telomeres!? If we go directly by the idea that telomeres help keep the DNA from shortening and therefore keep as 'younger' longer, then why do mice live for such a short time? This is the misunderstanding that will be the main problem within this story/roleplay.
Thoughts?
Yup, yup. So now, after those walls of text, what do you think? How can I make it role-play friendly? Is it even possible? How about the story? Characters good or bad? What can I do to make them better or are they just flat-out bad?
Any ideas are welcome! Thanks for taking your time to read it!
