This is our finest technical achievement: the creation of a

whole new race from the start, and not the result of crossing
physical characteristics from several species to make a new one<<

This is indeed one impressive achievement. Just remember, it's not just the
physical characteristics but the internal biochemical systems have to be
developed as well. For those of you who are interested, I've only seen 1
novel 'The DEUS Machine' that talks about the amount of work that would be
neccessary to develop biological organisms from the gene level. Check it
out.

Your body does it automatically, unthinkingly; in the same way the Queen, a

fitting enough

appellation, unconsciously checks and corrects the code.

I do believe there's a proper term for this kind of activity, but for the
life of me I can't remember.

since most DNA in creatures doesn't really do anything, just 'line noise'

'The DEUS Machine' also shows what's hiding in that 'line noise'. But I
won't spoil it for you.

That was... unexpected.

This reminds me of something I once read a long time ago: "This is off
switch, and this is self-destruct switch"

All in all. Good job! I hope you won't make us wait another 2 years for the
next one!