Supplemental worldbuilding questions

[Bluelantern]

My instinct is that the eater of a cloned heart would only be able to shapeshift and not get memories.

We wanted a way to put a Bell on the relevant doorstep and came up with this as a thing to do that was not another plant Bell.

The haut are the ones that are critters right? Give me a reason why they wouldn't have an army of shapeshifted doubles in every planet?

[Alicorn]

Uh... why... would they? Haut are mostly interested in haut things and their ghem support system.

[DanielH]

I asked about Bharaputra on behalf of any Marks who may or may not exist. I feel sorry for Mark not being able to turn into a unicorn (I feel sorry for everybody not able to turn into a unicorn*, including several billion real people, but especially somebody cloned from somebody who can).

If a peryton ate the cloned heart of Miles (where the heart was the only cloned organ), would they be able to look like Miles or would they be taller with better bones?

In general, if a peryton eats a critter's heart, can they turn into the critter form or just the human one?

* Excluding those who wouldn't want to be able to, like presumably Ivan.

[Alicorn]

In Medallion, at least, perytons don't get anything whatever out of eating critter hearts, only from eating genuine human ones.

[Kappa]

I am not making a firm ruling on the subject of a cloned Miles heart before it comes up. I can see either way, but right now I lean towards "taller with better bones".

Well, except that apparently they wouldn't be able to turn into him anyway because he is a critter.

Cloning silently propagates critterhood as long as there is physical continuity between samples - like, actual cells of Miles are used to produce DNA which is used to produce whatever cloned parts. So Mark can turn into a unicorn and a cloned Miles heart is a critter heart, unless someone uses a completely synthesized DNA sample, in which case it isn't.

[Anya]

I am not making a firm ruling on the subject of a cloned Miles heart before it comes up. I can see either way, but right now I lean towards "taller with better bones".

That'd be upsetting for Miles. :(

[Bluelantern]

Uh... why... would they? Haut are mostly interested in haut things and their ghem support system.

1)Because they would miss an opportunity otherwise.
2)Even if they don't want to invade, they will want to know if someone is considering invading them or other systems?

[Alicorn]

You seem to have confused haut with... something else.

[DanielH]

I agree they'd care if somebody wanted to invade them, because that might get rid of their “ghem support system”, but I don't think they'd infiltrate other societies to find out.

[Bluelantern]

You seem to have confused haut with... something else.

They clearly have no sense of awesome n.n

anyway

I haven't read anything besides Northern Lights, and despite reading effulgence I still hold hope to avoid specific spoilers from the series.

So can anyone tell me about ways of inter-world travel in HDM while being spoiler-minimal?