avatar fact file

avatar

An avatar (na'vi name: uniltìrantokx meaning "dream walker") is a genetically engineered body, a human/na'vi hybrid, meant to a human mind.

Selected rda humans psionically connect with their avatar bodies in order to explore pandoa without exopacks and to easily interact with the natives.

When an avatar is born (the technical term is "decanted") as a post-adolescent, it looks like a Na'vi and can live comfortably on Pandora, but it has enough human neurophysiology to be used as an avatar, or surrogate body. The human volunteer then becomes a "controller" or "driver". Each avatar is genetically keyed to its respective human controller. Using psionic link technology, the human controller can remotely control the avatar body out in the wilds of Pandora,receiving all sensory input and providing all motor control to the body. Essentially, the controller lives through the avatar, and is completely unaware of his or her human body while linked.

Humans use this method because they cannot live on Pandora without breathing gear, as the atmosphere is toxic to humans, containing lethal levels of carbon dioxide (>18%) and hydrogen sulfide (>1%). The Avatar Program was originally intended to create mine workers who did not need environmental protection systems and could eat Pandoran foodstuffs, but the cost of the mental-link system remained too high for the numbers needed.

Avatars are now used mainly for scientific field work and, when theopportunity arises, to interact with the Na'vi and study them. By communicating with the locals through avatars, which appear less alien to them, the RDA has been trying to bridge the cultural gap and improve relations with the Na'vi. However, this task has been difficult due to communication and negotiation issues. It was hoped that the avatars could act as unofficial ambassadors, but the Na'vi have for the most part viewed these hybrid creatures with a mix of contempt and mistrust, referring to them as "dreamwalkers" or "demons in false bodies." Nonetheless, avatars serve important roles as mediators by relaying cultural information and demands to each party in a peaceful manner, and in some cases by teaching the Na'vi English and basic skills.

Theavatar program scientists take DNA from a Na'vi and from a selected human volunteer . On earth, in genetics labs, they create an in-vitro embryo, which is a genetic composite of the alien and human donors. The cost of each avatar is roughly five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000). The recombinant embryo is grown in-vitro during the flight to Pandora, which takes 3 years ship-time (5 years Earth time due to relativistic effects). In that time it reaches near-adult size, since avatars mature much more rapidly than humans.

Avatars are normally grown 'en-route' to Pandora in an amnio tank, which serves as an artificial womb, while their operators sleep in cryo-hibernation for the journey. During the flight, the avatar progresses from coin-sized embryo to a near-adult size of nine to ten feet (2.75 to 3.0m). A gentle blue light, provided in the tank and falling within the natural Pandoran daylight spectrum, aids the avatar's skin formation and guarantees amniotic fluid sterility. The fluid itself is of similar chemical composition to Pandora's oceans. A nutrient-rich broth is circulated through an artificial placenta, a purpose-designed matrix of spongiform blood vessels and monitoring electrodes.

Engineered hormones are used to stimulate rapid growth and ensure correct organ development and muscle tone during the interstellar journey.

While the avatars in-vitro wince like dreaming babies, when "born" they are not believed to be sentient, having no thoughts or free will of their own. Their sensorimotor and higher brain functions operate only through a psionic link with a human driver. The avatar body is intended simply as an empty vessel for use as a surrogate body by the human operator.

The fully grown avatar is much closer in appearance to the long-limbed Na'vi than to a human. Typical adult size ranges from nine to ten feet (2.75 to 3.0m) tall with blue skin, bioluminescent markings and large eyes with golden irises. Movable ears, a tail and the Na'vi queue, a unique set of nerve endings normally braided into a hair-like configuration protruding from the base of the skull, are faithfully reproduced to be nearly identical to those of the Na'vi. Respiration, musculo-skeletal structure, internal organ function and arrangement are comparable to those of the Na'vi, enabling sustained precision operation in the hostile Pandoran atmosphere and jungle environment. The avatar also possesses reproductive organs but further data has not been released.

The avatar body possesses greater strength and resilience than the body of its human driver , owing this to the carbon fibers reinforcing its bones. This quality greatly improves resistance to accidental damage, such as impacts from falls and other mishaps, especially as a new operator is getting used to driving his or her avatar.

An avatar cannot function independently of its operator - if the operator is not actively linked, an avatar remains inactive in a state of restful sleep. Its autonomic body functions (breathing, digestion,metabolism and other stem-brain processes) operate normally.

§ Critically, the avatar brain and nervous system are modeled to precisely match those of its human operator while still maintaining appropriate Na'vi cellular biology. The avatar also possesses the necessary nervous system pathways required for the control interface.

§ Avatars retain the human configuration of five digits on each hand and foot, as opposed to the native Na'vi who possess four digits on each limb.

§ Avatars possess eyebrows, while the Na'vi are hairless apart from their scalp and a small tuft of hair on the tips of their tails.

§ Avatars display somewhat more human-like body musculature and structure than the Na'vi. (This is especially apparent when comparing the build of Jake Sully to that of the male Na'vi of the Omaticaya clan; Jake's body structure is sturdier than those of the more willowy Na'vi).

§ The Na'vi have large lemur-like eyes, while an avatar's eyes are usually smaller and more human-like.

§ The Na'vi nose is flat and cat-like, while the nose of an avatar has a more human-like central ridge, in some cases quite pronounced.