111: Smoking Oil

ENTRY 111: Smoking Oil

“We exist in a universe of invisible forces, whose nature we may not sense unaided but whose effects we can measure. Understand, this is a mechanistic universe. We arise from base elements, combined according to certain physical laws; our species, our consciousness is the result of a multi-billion year process, our every action contained within a mere shard of the probability space of infinity…yet a fraction of infinity may itself be infinite, and so is our destiny.” – Smoking Oil, Sermon on Olympus Mons

Philosophies and religions that directly contradict science tend to suffer severe feedback in contemporary transhuman societies; the Mesh has raised the signal to noise ratio regarding contemporary technology and scientific thought to the point that gross claims of supernaturalism are difficult to sustain without recourse to blanket denial and faith. A majority of new beliefs exalt science and technology, or at least a specific understanding of scientific principles, and couch their message in particular eschatology or extrapolation of existing scientific theory—and not always a mainstream or accepted theory.

Smoking Oil is a notable exemplar of one such faith, a sect known as the Clankers. Boiled down, the Clankers believe in a strong anthropic principle, though not one that most philosophers would be quite familiar with. To the most earnest Clankers, Smoking Oil reveals the Secret Mathematics that postulates multiple competing anthropic principles, supposedly waxing and waning in influence to make possible the existence of a universe compatible for certain forms of existence that are incompatible with standard human life—and that these Xenopic Principles are gaining influence, so that transhumanity must soon transition to a new form, or go extinct.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
18	15	15	10	19	17	15	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
5	1	30	6	60	40	8	60

Morph: Synth

Skills: Academics: Physics 60, Academics: Psychology 60, Academics: Religion 70, Deception 60, Art: Writing 70, Interests: Fringe Religion 60, Interests: Fringe Science 60, Interests: Xenolife 60, Interfacing 44, Investigation 33, Kinesics 66, Language: Native French 85, Language: English 66, Networking: Autonomists 25, Networking: Scientists 22, Perception 45, Profession: Preacher 70, Profession: Therapist 44, Programming 30, Protocol 55, Research 44

Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Enhanced Senses (Electrical Sense, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Smell, Lidar, Radar, T-Ray Emitter), Mnemonic Augmentation, Multi-Tasking

Mobility System: Walker (4/20)

Traits: Allies (Clankers), Armor (6/6), Social Stigma (Clanking Masses), Uncanny Valley

Using Smoking Oil

Smoking Oil and the Clankers may be played as harmless or as dangerous as the gamemaster requires them to be. In general, Smoking Oil will act as a sympathetic character, soaking in information and encouraging people to talk or express themselves, guiding their personal meditations with carefully crafted questions, gradually leading them to the Clanker philosophy. The full details of Clanker beliefs are left up to the needs and imagination of the gamemaster, but as an individual’s understanding and involvement grows with the small movement, they are expected to take steps to evolve themselves to prepare for the “Xenopic Shift” predicted by the secret mathematics of Smoking Oil’s eschatology, which generally means resleeving from a biomorph into a synthetic morph.