The sudden maturation of a child into a Sime adult at puberty. The process usually takes less than a day. At the climax of changeover the newly developed tentacles burst from their sheaths along the Sime's forearms, ready to take selyn from a Gen. Only children who are going to be channel know if they will go through changeover In the early days, they are not always believed. Children who are not going to be channels do not know if they will be Sime or Gen.
(Source: Jacqueline Lichtenberg e-mail, March 8, 2013) I firmly recall 5 as the number of stages of changeover -- and I also recall 7 as the correct number. I suspect that with time (check the official Chronology ) medical science advanced to where earlier detection of Changeover identified more "stages" and found the dividing lines, defined,published in medical journals, compared notes around the world among various sub-mutations -- found differences, defined them, advanced again.
I'm sure that only the last couple stages would have been apparent to out-Territory Gens before channels.
Even after the time of First Channel ( -533 Unity) there's the whole science of Transfer Mechanics and Changeover Pathology to be developed. During the period between First Channel and The Farris Channel ( -468 Unity) a lot of people did not believe the Farrises could really do what the Farrises claimed they did, or what other observers reported that they did. Long after -468 Unity, the development of data keeping and the subsequent comparing notes among observers of large populations and discovering all the differences among people that everyone prior to that thought were all the same reveals that the Farrises actually can do what others can not do.
There's LEGEND and REALITY, and the two collide to create STORY.
So you can't take a character's statement in a novel or a character's belief in any given novel as the truth of the matter. A little later in the timeline, everything the characters in a novel might have thought could then prove to be false. And a new truth is solemnly believed, which may later be disproved, tweaked, or even reversed, just as in our own history.
In the space age, newer truths yet come to the fore and get solemnly believed, then overturned.
(Source: Index card file marked First Channel) Few who changed over after fifteen (15) years old survived, and those who did were left weak, unable to withstand the first illness or bodily strain that came along.
(Source: index card file, labeled OHT -- Operation High Time --- http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/oht.html) Process of changing from a child to a Sime. Ronald Feldman undergoes changeover while held captive.
Sequence FOUR (4th stage of Changeover): tentacles tiny ropes beneath skin, body temperature rising, nearly Sime normal; Remott gland swollen to near changeover maximum. Person is unconscious.
A common problem among children of Gens: selyn-supply they were born with runs out before laterals are developed enough to receive more selyn. Fear uses up "life" at fantastic rate. Thirty-six (36) chemicals used to aid changeover (pills, liquids, aromatics).
During a later stage, personality characterized by hostility, withdrawal, need for total privacy, vulnerable.
(Source: Index card file, labeled Jacqueline Lichtenberg, February 22, 1977) Puberty and changeover occur simultaneously. By the second or third transfer a boy is able to sire children and is quite willing to do so. Lortuen is a risk at First Transfer.
For females, 4th transfer is generally the onset of menses. 4th Transfer is also the maturation point where anti-Kill conditioning can be imposed most efficiently on a channel's nervous system. (Jacqueline Lichtenberg)
June 3, 1977: "rupture his membranes" or "rupture him" usual method is via a tentacle grip that forces the fluid against the thinning membranes. At the time of House of Zeor, - 15 Unity - this method is thought to create a high chance of leaving a child crippled for life. A Zeor channel will fight to be allowed natural breakout.
June 17, 1977: At Digen's time, but not Klyd's, "proper Sime instruments" for rupturing membranes; liquid to swab on, or the swabs themselves, perhaps a tourniquet-type affair to press the fluids against the membranes all come into use. Some type of grip for a patient's hands has been designed by shape, texture or squeezeability to trigger the extension reflexes; foot-stirrups to brace the abdominal muscles during contractions; possibly mouthpiece both to stimulate extensor contractions and to keep patient from biting tongue -- not a sharp edge to do the cutting.
A channel of higher Proficiency Rating would prefer to go in without assistance -- but other things are to be considered.
(Source: Index card file, labeled UNTO -- written during development of background for the novel Unto Zeor, Forever ) "... children don't know if they will go through changeover unless they are channels."
During the decade of 130 Unity, statistics seem to show the average changeover age going up. Case on record of one 18-years-old who survived. 16 is a little old for changeover.
Nerve tissue beginning to form takes at least a couple of days before it carries selyn currents. During changeover, wounds often heal exceptionally fast. One changeover victim dies of brain hemorrhage.
Out-Territory people going through changeover are sent In-Territory to a boarding school for a year, then are adopted by a family where Simes and Gens live together. Continue school, then get jobs and go out on their own. People can write or phone their families Out-Territory, but many don't. Out-Territory kids cross a tremendous cultural gulf, fighting parents' "anti-Sime" conditioning. Digen says that the kids feel they have nothing in common with their parents.
Didi: laterals mature enough to sense fields, expect breakout in less than half an hour.
(Source: Index card file, labeled Sime Surgeon -- http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/surgeon/SURGEON1.html -- an early draft of UNTO ZEOR, FOREVER) Only a Farris has any control in First Transfer. You don't "turn Sime," you are born Sime, it just isn't detectable till changeover. Tentacles develop rapidly over a period of a few days. The in-Territory schools apparently teach children how to deal with changeover in others, promoting calmness.
Subject's jaw is sometimes dislocated in the throes of changeover. First explosion of Need after changeover: tremendous "new, raw, imperative, deranging." During changeover, body at a peak of cell production. Good time to heal internal problems before breakout.
Intense concentration on the part of the attending channel: "a nudge here, an applied gradient there" guides the production of cells for healing.
First Transfer brings an "indescribable sense of euphoria" -- intense resonances between Donor (or channel) and recipient. An "activated" state. Body(s) singing to the flow resonances.
(Source: Index card file, referring to the changeover of Skyepar Ozik, (who was also known by the name Skip Cudney) a channel. Card labeled SIME SURGEON http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/surgeon/SURGEON1.html) FIFTH stage of changeover (late): Remott gland fully developed, body temperature up, tentacles bare threads, pupils dilated, patient unconscious.
SIXTH sequence: Goes rapidly for a channel.transition to this stage brings more pain, writhing, first selyn flow to the laterals, causing surrounding muscles to go into spasm. Victim should develop some control of selyn flows. Beginning to feel Need which triggered breakout contractions. Aggravated feeling of Need. If breakout contractions begin too early it only wastes selyn too rapidly. Typical syndrome of out-Territory Gens subconsciously trying to fight off changeover to avoid being sime-overwhelmed by fear of Simes, so they use selyn too fast, can't learn to reduce selyn consumption rate.
SEVENTH Stage: Breakout: tentacles must be ready, sufficiently developed "the most precious experience of changeover" is the spontaneous rupturing of the membranes covering the tentacle orifices -- don't want to rupture them manually. An early rupture can mean permanent crippling -- but may be necessary to get selyn into victim prematurely -- hence attempts to slow down "Need" process as long as possible while tentacles developed and fluid in sheaths put pressure on membranes.
Breakout contractions may need stimulation drug. Channel raising showfield steeply to stimulate the sudden panic of First Need after keeping it low to avoid stimulation of Need.
A right of a channel to take First Transfer from a Gen.
(Source: Index card file marked House of Zeor) Simes (at least the Householders) are ready to assume the responsibilities of an adult just after changeover. A hundred years before, life expectency was about 35-years. More Simes died in changeover due to pathological complications. At the time of the novel House of Zeor, 80% survival rate. Ordinary Sime may live to be 60 or 70. In Gen Territory, most changeover victims who hide out don't survive changeover.
Changeover medications include a pink liquid and an orange-colored wafer.