tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45101094772117932472024-03-08T02:03:14.929-08:00 Farcast An Eclipse Phase Yearbloggreyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.comBlogger367125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-87903761286412107382014-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:002014-01-01T01:00:00.967-08:00FinisOne year and one day later and my work is done, though it feels like I could go forever. To the readers of <em>Farcast</em>, whether you stayed current every day or are just finding this now, this project has been for you. Ideas are free, and so <em>Farcast </em>is free - only the expression takes a little effort, and that work is my gift to you.<br />
<br />
I wish there was some great and original lesson to lend meaning to this work, but I'll settle for a simple, well-known truth: there is nothing here you could not do yourself. There is no game, no setting, no universe that cannot be made richer by your thought and effort and consideration. Read a little, think a little, dream a little. Don't be afraid to go beyond what is in the books, or write what they might never print. Eclipse Phase begins with the published material, but it lives in your heads, in your writing, and in your games.<br />
<br />
To the fine folks at Posthuman Studios and the freelance writers and artists that created the Eclipse Phase RPG: thanks for letting me splash in your pool for a bit.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading, and happy trails.<br />
<br />
- Bobby Deriegreyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-68521857176713766942013-12-31T01:00:00.000-08:002014-06-05T06:32:00.572-07:00365: Greetings from the Future<h1>
ENTRY 365: Greetings from the Future</h1>
<div>
"Entry 000...Test...Transhumanity lives...already lived and died..."<br />
- Luna archive, unknown transmission from Earth, 12:31:01:00:00 BF 1<br />
<br />
"Entry 000: Test Item. Transhumanity lives in a universe where alien intelligences and civilizations have already lived and died, leaving behind remnants for them to paw through, analyze, and reverse..."<br />
- TitanWiki entry on Test Item, published to the Mesh 12:31:01:00:00 AF 9<br />
<br />
For the past year, researchers on Titan have identified bizarre similarities between recent entries to TitanWiki and a series of unsourced radio transmissions from Earth, archived at various receiver stations on Luna. Initially believed to be a case of copyright infringement or an elaborate prank, independent research has proved that the timestamps on all of the Luna archives appear to be authentic...and deep background checks of the contemporary authors of the entries show no connections to the recordings. What is more, the archived messages clearly deal with events, places, and transhumans that take place after the Fall.<br />
<br />
The best theory for the mechanism involved is a closed timelike curve - a concept of theoretical physics that could allow information, even radio transmissions or possibly even physical travel back in time. The idea of such a time machine, usually using a ring laser to bend spacetime, is far from new to transhuman science. However, most physicists agree that a CTC would require either infinite power, a ring larger than the observed universe, or a singularity to be realizable. While the first two options remain unavailable, a few physicists have pointed out that the Pandora Gates do represent singularities - and while no one has yet attempted to construct a closed timelike curve with them, it would at least be theoretically possible.<br />
<br />
While they do not agree on the nature of the phenomena, scientists have pinpointed the source of the transmissions: a "hot spot," just north of the Arctic circle, far away from previous transhuman settlements...perhaps an isolated research lab. No records remain of who might have built it, but obviously the site must have an independent power source, radio receiver and transmitter. Equally obviously, throughout the year the signal has been getting weaker, suggesting that the power source is gradually failing.</div>
<h2>
Using Greetings from the Future</h2>
Time travel is one of the great conceits of science fiction, because it poses one of the great questions: what if? Time travel can open up vast probabilities to player characters, with some interested in using it to go back and change things for the better, others looking to exploit it for their own gain, and more than a few who will start on about paradoxes. If the CTC device exists on Earth and is not a hoax, gamemasters will have to work out many of the details on their own - but here are a few things to remember.<br />
<br />
The CTC device is built around a Pandora gate or equivalent artifact, and has been running apparently continuously for ten years. One characteristic of a theoretical CTC is that time travel before the date it was turned on would not be possible. If the first recorded transmission was in fact the first one, that means that a transhuman could potentially travel back to just before the Fall - to save a loved one, or archive material lost in the present so that it can be recovered in the future - provided that the CTC device is actually set up to allow physical travel; given power and space limitations, it might be restricted to radio broadcasts, but even that could allow important information and information to be transmitted into the past. Also, the CTC device is apparently failing. If it has been running autonomously since the Fall, then it is likely badly behind on basic maintenance and needs to be repaired, and the power source (probably an atomic battery, although geothermal, tidal, wind, solar power, or some combination might be possible) supplemented or replaced - because once the power fails, the window into the past closes. Likewise, the CTC would allow travel from the present into the past, but probably not the reverse - although combined with relativistic time travel (see entry 182), this could be less of an issue.<br />
<br />
If nothing else, the Greetings From the Future make a great way to introduce other Farcast entries to your game.<br />
<h2>
Seed</h2>
<ul>
<li>Firewall has detected a troubling possibility: the remnants of the TITAN forces on Earth may be aware of the CTC device. If they get their mechanical tentacles on it, the TITANs could theoretically transmit back important information on the future to their past counterparts - transforming the "defeat" of the TITANs into a tactical withdrawal. To remove this possibility, the PCs are equipped with a ship and as many weapons as they can hold. Their mission: destroy the time machine!</li>
</ul>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-7447118439721730352013-12-30T01:00:00.000-08:002014-06-05T06:35:22.503-07:00364: Gilgamikael<h1>
ENTRY 364: Gilgamikael</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"What if I told you that everything you thought you knew was a lie? The popular story of the Fall is no more than that, a story - a myth as fabricated as any episode in the Bible, put forward by those entrenched interests that still run this Solar system. Think, for a moment. What do they ask you to do? Fear. Fear the TITANs, fear the exsurgents, fear <i>Earth</i>, as it has become. Fear to ask questions, fear to look too close at the evidence, fear to come to your own conclusions and make up your mind for yourself. Consider: what are they afraid of? I will tell you: they have painted monsters, but what you will find are only people. Transhumans, like yourselves - simply a different path in evolution. A transformation catalyzed by a virus, yes, but perpetuated traditionally. Would it surprise you to learn that there are transhumans that walk the surface of Earth, breathing the burned air? No augmentations, no surgery; they grew new lungs within their old ones, and will do so again when they reached the Smoking Cities. A feat beyond even current transhuman technology, and only the least of their capabilities. Don't take my word for it, however. Look through this telescope here - you can see them for yourself. At this time of year the migrations begin across the Siberian plains..."<br />
- Excerpt from a conversation with Gilgamikael, CLASSIFIED: ECHO ECHO SHAITAN, possible memetic hazard<br />
<br />
"You cannot kill this idea. It will only fork and resleeve."<br />
- Unauthorized Comment, CLASSIFIED: ECHO ECHO SHAITAN, possible memetic hazard<br />
<br />
The very existence of Gilgamikael is a secret. To Firewall and related organizations, they is an exsurgent terrorist that has taken on the trappings of a revolutionary; to the exsurgent cultists themselves they is a rogue who spills secrets and unnecessarily antagonizes the opposition, a demagogue without a populace to represent. Mostly, Gilgamikael sees themself as a teacher, a rebel, a true believer in what they espouse: the exsurgent virus as a tool of transhuman development and revolution. In pursuit of this goal, Gilgamikael uses the rhetoric and vocabulary of the revolutionary, and strives to win hearts and minds rather than just convert egos en masse - although they aren't above the occasional mass-infection event as a way to get the point across.</div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
<table style="border-bottom: medium none; border-collapse: collapse; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><colgroup><col width="74"></col><col width="76"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="76"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="77"></col></colgroup><tbody>
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COG</div>
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COO</div>
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INT</div>
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REF</div>
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SAV</div>
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SOM</div>
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WIL</div>
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MOX</div>
</td></tr>
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19</div>
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18</div>
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25</div>
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23</div>
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30</div>
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10</div>
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15</div>
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-</div>
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INIT</div>
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SPD</div>
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LUC</div>
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TT</div>
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IR</div>
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DUR</div>
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WT</div>
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DR</div>
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10</div>
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1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
30</div>
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6</div>
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60</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
30</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
45</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Morph:</b> Swarmanoid/Unique*<br />
<b>Skills:</b> Academics: Political Theory 40, Academics: Philosophy (Revolution) 30, Academics: Psychology 25, Art: Painting 33, Beam Weapons 45, Blades 44, Fray 50, Freerunning (Microgravity) 25, Infiltration 40, Infosec 38, Interests: Exsurgent Virus 35, Interests: Firewall 50, Interests: Revolutionary Groups 25, Interfacing 20, Intimidation 38, Investigation 44, Kinesics 30, Kinetic Weapons 25, Language: Native English 86, Language Arabic" 40, Language: Persian 40, Language: Russian 40, Medicine (First Aid) 25, Networking: Autonomists 25, Networking: Criminal 25, Networking: Media 25, Profession: Blogger 33, Protocol 25, Unarmed Combat 66<br />
<b>Implants:</b> Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation, Swarm Composition<br />
<b>Traits: </b>On the Run, Social Stigma (Exsurgent, Terrorist)<br />
<br />
* Gilgamikael occupies a unique variant swarmanoid morph; each of the component microdrones is actually a cybernetically-augmented biological "insect" built up from transhuman DNA - the "legs" based on fingers, etc. - and the sleeve is a biomorph, not a synthmorph. Each individual microdrone contains an independent cyberbrain and cortical stack. Although at any given time only one instance of Gilgamikael is in control, but as long as a single microdrone remains, Gilgamikael is backed-up and could return. Each microdrone also is a carrier for a variant of the exsurgent virus.<br />
<h2>
Using Gilgamikael</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Think of the best arguments you could use to promote the exsurgent virus - and put them in Gilgamikael's mouth. Given that the player characters might react badly to a character that looks like a nest of centipedes with human fingers for legs in the vague shape of a transhuman being, it might be best to introduce Gilgamikael by degrees - let the PCs come across his writings, blog posts, graffiti, or other messages first before running into them in person. While the players probably won't buy into his interpretation of the exsurgents as a persecuted minority or the next step in transhuman evolution, it might at least give them pause to consider what Firewall (or whomever they are working for) is and is not telling them.</div>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-82128790926047576352013-12-29T01:00:00.000-08:002014-06-05T06:39:36.299-07:00363: The Cloud Entelechy<h1>
ENTRY 363: The Cloud Entelechy</h1>
<div>
"When you are ready, you may join us."<br />
- The Cloud Entelechy<br />
<br />
"Already, transhumans stand at the threshold of post-humanity. Infomorphs have no physical requirements, need no sleep, suffer no weaknesses of the flesh. They can manipulate their perception of time, program themselves new senses. The only thing they have that truly defines them is a sense of self, a distinction between I and Other. It is the final bond to break in order to ascend."<br />
- Anonymous, <em>Farewell to the Digital Flesh </em>(AF 6)<br />
<br />
"The call it 'the next step' - like being an infomorph ain't enough already. You upload yourself into the Cloud, and then you just...well, you don't cease. All your memories are there, all your thoughts. The thing is, no one can really tell you what it's like except - well, you ain't you anymore. Not an individual. All your memories, all the things that make you, they get added to the collective. One constant thought-stream in the Mesh, a million lifetimes of memories running on virtual processing. It's like...well, we don't know exactly, but they think it's like you're always in the now. There's just that sense of proportion that that's so much bigger than what you can have otherwise, always looking over the memories, comparing them, collating, gaining new insights and building off that. Maybe it's the digital heaven we was always promised. I dunno. I dunno if I could do that."<br />
- Riso Ge'ez, <em>Tired of Nova York, Tired of Life </em>(AF 9)<br />
<br />
"Suicide of the mind and spirit. To surrender inviduality is death of the self. You are more than the sum of your memories and data. Whatever moves and speaks to you through the Cloud Entelechy, it is not your friends and loved ones. They are gone."<br />
- Jaime Bell, <em>Jovian Intelligencer </em>(AF 10)<br />
<br />
"It's not what you think. It's not what it says it is. The minds are still in there, like ants. Processing nodes, that's all. They're working on something, crunching some big number. They're counting the names man, and when the names are done the stars will wink out..."<br />
- Ultragram, <em>Kitty Fisting (for Science!)</em> <em>Anarchist News Rant </em>(AF 10)</div>
<h2>
Using the Cloud Entelechy</h2>
<div>
Transhumanity is already at the point where efforts to define itself get difficult - transhuman, exhuman, posthuman, AGI, uplift - there gets to be a point where every <em>person, </em>no matter what their exact origin and attribtues, has to deal with the trouble of labeling what they are and what they are trying to be. Most seem satisified enough with finding themselves as an individual, defining who and what they are or wish to become. Others take a philosophical step to the left and want to get past the process of <em>becoming</em>, and to just become - not to pussy foot around with the incremental changes of life, psychotherapy, and resleeving, and simply be. Some of those individuals choose to join the Cloud Entelechy.<br />
<br />
In game terms, the Entelechy is a constant background process running on the Mesh, untold tends of thousands of egos having uploaded themselves and ceased to exist as individuals, their memories and thought processes now incorporated into a single extended batch processing effort spread across the entire Mesh. It may well be a massive AI with the combined skills and abilities of all its constituents, but the processing is so distributed it's difficult to tell if the AI is even conscious or perceives time and space in the same way as other transhumans. It is unquestionably a step from transhuman to exhuman, not through the assumption of a strange and unique morph, but by abandoning many of the common definitions of what a transhuman mind <em>is</em>.<br />
<br />
Gamemasters and players might consider the Entelechy as anything from a retirement plan to a way for transhumanity to finally ascend physical existence. Player characters may be able to interact with it, and find themselves face-to-face in virtual scenarios with icons that look and act and talk like egos they thought long dead or subliminated into the Entelechy. Alternately, the Entelechy might be a cancerous force, a subtle digital expression of the exsurgent virus that ensnares and transforms egos into thinking programs devoid of personality or concept of self. It's not even clear whether there is a single entelechy, or multiple parallel processes that call themselves that. Finding out what the Cloud Entelechy is, and who if anyone is behind it, could be an adventure in and of itself.</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-61816274544660706452013-12-28T01:00:00.000-08:002014-06-05T06:41:51.831-07:00362: Ghost Planet<h1>
ENTRY 362: Ghost Planet</h1>
<div>
"It's eating my fucking suit."<br />
- Fon Zongying, gatecrasher<br />
<br />
The Iktomi are the only extraterrestrial civilization known to have used the Pandora Gates - remnants of their civilization or explorations have been found on several worlds. Of the Iktomi themselves there is little record or remains; no indication of what had happened to them. Yet just recently, in an arid semi-desert planet under two suns, a group of gatecrashers have reported finding what might be the actual physical remains of the Iktomi.<br />
<br />
The planet is called Zongying, and the gate stands in the center of an open pavilion of heavily abraded aluminum girders, arranged into the outline of a pentagonal prism with a floor of aluminum plates. Along the edges are an interlocking pattern of pentagons, formerly painted bright blue and yellow, which are recognized as Iktomi warning/danger/forbidden symbology now mostly faded and covered by dirt. If there were ever walls or ceiling, there is no sign of them now, though certain markers on the aluminum frame suggest they might have been meant to be climbed. Beyond this barrier is the dry valley.<br />
<br />
The Iktomi - if that is what they are - stand like a grove of gnarled, dead trees in every direction. Dark grey twisted carapaces, pale white strands like branches of antlers growing out from within, breaking out at joints and intersection points between the semi-petrified chitinous plates. Many reach for the sky as still white limbs, while the others tangle on the ground like roots, sometimes intersecting or burying themselves in the soil.<br />
<br />
Research on the site is in its infancy, and after the loss of researcher Fon Zongying (after whom the planet is named), biohazard status on travel to Zongying has been upgraded to Synthmorphs-Only. It is believed that the creatures around the site succumbed to a fungal parasitoid that replaced their inner tissues before bursting through their shells - which, in the extremely arid environment, managed to survive longer than on other worlds, though some evidence suggests that they and the gate might have been buried for a period and recently uncovered. Whatever the case, it is clear that the fungal parasitoid is still active, and that is spores (or possibly a symbiotic bacteria) are capable of metabolizing plastic - which is how they got to Zongying, whose remains now form a permanent part of the xenoarchaeological site.</div>
<h2>
Using Ghost Planet</h2>
<div>
Ghost Planet does not necessarily contain the final truth to the end of the Iktomi - but it might hold clues to one possible end. As a civilization that survived for some thousands of years and made use of the Pandora Gates, the Iktomi were in their own way explorers not like transhumanity - and like transhumans, they found strange dangers, and sometimes brought them with them. For the Iktomi, the fungal plague may have been their version of the exsurgent virus, and the destruction it wrought on the population so terrible that they quarantined the entire world. Beyond the strangely grim and silent forest, beyond the bounds of the valley lies what was once a thriving planet - and now is only a ghost world.</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-61077615408906362022013-12-27T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-27T01:00:09.086-08:00361: Jayne Joyce<h1>
ENTRY 361: Jayne Joyce</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I've never been anywhere, really. I can't even remember Earth. It's like...I don't understand why people want to go back, y'know? We should go forward. Out there. To the stars."<br />
- J. J., <em>Starspotting </em>mblog, entry 12 (AF 10)<br />
<br />
Wars and migrations produce a lot of lost, uncared-for children, and even today transhuman society struggles to find the best way to handle their care and development. Orphanages are largely a thing of the past, though the Jovian Republic continues to experiment with the Military Orphan Creche (MOC) program, a Reserve Officer Training Corps-type program where small squads of cadets live, work, and learn together under direction from commissioned officers and NCOs, and many hypercorps have dedicated work-study schools which are effectively the same. Anarchist habs tend to promote foster programs, with single transhumans or small groups adopting underage transhumans for a set period of time; Luna often opts for more permanent adoptions into clans and families, sometimes via arranged underage marriages, with the goal to continue family names and support parents and grandparents as they get older. In the Titan Commonwealth, children are treated almost as small dependent adults, given their own state-issued miniapartment, muse, and a small regular stipend until their majority, with certain limitations on entering contracts and regular check-ups from social workers and guidance counselors. Mars is more eclectic, with many different approaches depending on the habitat, but "wards of the community" tend to have basic mandatory attendance requirements for education, social interaction, play and rest periods that take up most of their waking hours, with the remaining free time spent either in a communal care facility or with a foster guardian, with infants, toddlers, and special needs children receiving the bulk of the one-on-one time and care as necessary.<br />
<br />
Jayne has spent most of her sixteen years on Titan, the last eight of them as the big sister/little mother to the younger children in her apartment building, helping to organize events like Birthday/Resleeving Parties, cleaning up the shared restroom/shower/kitchen areas on her floor, and making up stories to entertain the other kids. In two years her mandatory stipend will end, and her apartment will be reassigned to someone else. The guidance counselor is chiming in more frequently with requests about what her future plans will be, with suggests ranging from applying for scholarships in creative writing to vocational work-study indentured servitude contracts. In her off-time, Jayne likes to watch the crews unload from the ships coming in, and imagine what it must be like out there among the stars.</div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
<table style="border-bottom: medium none; border-collapse: collapse; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><colgroup><col width="74"></col><col width="76"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="75"></col><col width="76"></col><col width="74"></col><col width="77"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
COG</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
COO</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
INT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
REF</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
SAV</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
SOM</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
WIL</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
MOX</div>
</td></tr>
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15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
16</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
13</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
10</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
10</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
-</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
INIT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
SPD</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
LUC</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
TT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
IR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
DUR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
WT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
DR</div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
30</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
60</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
30</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-left: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-right: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; border-top: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 7px; padding-right: 7px; padding-top: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
45</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Morph:</b> Splicer<br />
<b>Skills:</b> Academics: Astronomy 18, Art: Writing 20, Free Fall (Microgravity) 20, Interests: DIY Tattoos 18, Interests: Post-Fall Science Fiction 20, Interests: Space Travel 18, Interests: Titan Geography 18, Interfacing 20, Language: Native Skandinavíska 85, Language: English 80, Networking: Autonomists 5, Programming (Games) 17, Protocol 16, Scrounging 16, Unarmed Combat 16<br />
<b>Implants:</b> Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cosmetic Augmentation (multiple piercings, homemade tattoos)<br />
<h2>
Using Jayne Joyce</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Player characters in Eclipse Phase might not always think of themselves as heroes, especially when they're not actively fighting proper villains. Yet to characters like Jayne Joyce, the PCs are heroes just for what they are and what they can do - to travel from habitat to habitat, tackling any job that comes along, meeting strange new people, upgrading their bodies and minds - those are the things that Jayne admires and dreams about. To her, the PCs are role models and incredibly, impeccably cool. The gamemaster can play this for whatever they think it's worth - Jayne may try to emulate their actions, or tag along with them in their adventures (even stowing away with their transport). She might meet the PCs by approaching them for help with one of the kids on her floor, or she might need rescuing herself from some shady types that want her for unspeakable purposes (like long-term renewable wage slave contracts with exceedingly poor terms and badly defined duty requirements). If the PCs rebuff, use, or hurt her, Jayne Joyce might even turn on her would-be-heroes, becoming a particularly bitter enemy.</div>
<h2 class="MsoNormal">
Seed</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<li>A customary genecheck as the PCs come into port reveaks a genetic match - it turns out that one of the local foster children is directly related to one of the PCs (daughter, sister, niece, cousin, underaged clone, etc.). While Titan law does not mandate that the PC has to assume guardianship, the child's social worker and guidance counselor contact the PC to make them aware of the relationship and suggest a meeting with their newfound relation - Jayne Joyce. Whether or not they agree to come to the appointment, things are complicated when J.J. and the rest of her floor is taken hostage by a group of terrorists trying to extort money from the Titanian government.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-87790448129131369832013-12-26T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-26T01:00:00.666-08:00360: AF Anabaptists<h1>
ENTRY 360: AF Anabaptists</h1>
<div>
"This is a time of trials. Our communities are broken, the old orders broken and gone. We must face the challenges of today while maintaining the essentials of our faith. We will rebuild, we will endure, and we shall do so while staying true to ourselves."<br />
- Julia Yoder, Elder of the Mennonite Church of Mars<br />
<br />
Old Earth religions were almost exclusively based on the mindset of transhumans that were born and lived and died on Earth. Their histories and creation myths centered around the planet and its places, their dogma and popular concepts based on exploded ideas - it was one thing to understand that heaven is not some literal place overhead in the clouds, and quite another thing to stare upwards from the surface of Luna and <i>know </i>that there is no physical heaven there. The erosion of religion in transhumanity owes much to the general exodus from Earth, the physical removal of transhumanity making stark the conceptual distance between physical reality and the many different scriptures. Yet there are always the dogmatic few and faithful; transhumans are creative, obstinate creatures, willing to adapt their belief to changed circumstances.<br />
<br />
On Earth, the Anabaptists were a broad collection of related Christian congregations with similar distinctive beliefs - pacifism, free will, active participation in the church and the community, living simply, worshiping simply, with a lay leadership. The most famous sects in the popular culture were the Amish and certain conservative Mennonites, who held to an order that eschewed much modern technology and culture, living for the most part as humans had centuries before. They did not fight the TITANs when they came, and many chose not to join the exodus from Earth at the time of the Fall. In space, the ragged remnants of the different Anabaptist congregations gathered and held a conference in Nectar on Luna. From the congregation came three principal sects, split broadly along the lines of emerging transhuman sociopolitical movements.<br />
<br />
The Old Order are what many transhumans think of when they hear the term "Anabaptist" - lineal descendants of conservative Amish and Mennonite congregations that wish to preserve their lifestyle as much as possible as it was on Earth, and consist mainly of unaugmented flats; they operate farms and communities in several small established "living museums" on Luna and Mars, where they keep alive relict skills related to farming, animal husbandry, carpentry - these communities are few and under tight restrictions against increased population, but their low-tech "bubble" lifestyles are paid for by contributions from Reclaimers and Bioconservatives seeking to preserve something of old Earth, as well as Mesh feed sales of their daily lives to various hypercorps as a kind of reality media.<br />
<br />
The Barsoomian Anabaptists are the most numerous and ethnically and morphologically diverse; many are flats or rusters, though even synthmorphs and informorphs may be welcomed in the community. The Anabaptist beliefs of communalism, pacifism, and economy of lifestyle found broad appeal in the Martian underclasses, and today Mars hosts a number of different congregations with related beliefs, with perhaps a slightly stronger communistic flair than on Earth, but fully integrated with their own rep-based currency (ß-rep) and network (Große Kirche Netzwerke). These are the Anabaptists that transhumans might see everyday, though not recognize.<br />
<br />
"Distant Congregations" is the catchall term for the stranger Anabaptist sects, especially those not in communion with the Old Order or Barsoomian Anabaptists. Principally considered Brinkers by other transhumans, the Distant Congregations have developed more idiosyncratic views toward transhuman society, uplifts, personal augmentations, and resleeving, and are often mistaken for experimental communities. The Go-Nin Group is known to support a particular Mennonite sect that is entirely digital, with the members consisting of infomorphs that operate in a virtual simulation of an Anabaptist agglomerated from records and memories of different Asian Mennonite communities - the individuals serving as living NPCs for an extensive and popular Mesh-based farming game.</div>
<h2>
Using AF Anabaptists</h2>
<div>
Transhumans don't give up their beliefs easily. In the setting of Eclipse Phase it is easy to see how, with the flight from Earth and the radical leaps of technology, old Earth religions might wane. After all, it is difficult to pray towards Mecca-that-was on Mars, or hold out hope for a life to come in a setting where physical immortality is technically available, or put up with any of the antiquated and offensive sex- and gender-related dogma that clings to some of the old religions - especially in a universe with the Sex Change augmentation, among other advances. Yet for many there is more to religion than simply the dogma of the unquiet past or the old scriptures; their beliefs are tied into their communities, their way of life, and their own self-identity. So for many transhumans, it was not a matter of abandoning their faith as it was adapting their religion to changed needs and circumstances.<br />
<br />
This is, like many other ideas, not exactly new. Frank Herbert in <i>God-Emperor of Dune</i>, for example, shows the pitiful remnant of the Fremen kept in an artificial state of stasis, though they had long lost their true identity. Not much different are the Old Order Anabaptists, who present the juxtaposition of how a religious sect that disavows contemporary technology persists in the setting of Eclipse Phase. That they can exist, after a fashion at least, and with some compromises, is interesting - and that is really the gist of how to use post-Fall Anabaptists in your game. Not as a metaphorical stick to beat the player characters with your ideas of what post-Fall religion <i>should </i>be, but as a thought experiment to how such religious individuals might adapt to the settings an themes of Eclipse Phase. Players too might be interested in a character who, even if they do not practice Anabaptist beliefs, came from or was influenced by such a community and chose to follow a path of nonviolent resolution to problems, or was inspired by the concept of simple living <i>not </i>to accumulate all the toys and credits of the 'verse just for the hell of it.</div>
<h2>
Seed</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li><i>Rumspringa </i>has hit on Mars, and some of the adolescents of the more conservative Barsoomian Anabaptists are overdoing it more than a bit. The PCs are hired by a congregation that hopes to channel the local teenagers' interests into a positive focus by taking them on an extended exploration of failed habitats in the Martian wilderness. For their troubles, the PCs will be well-rewarded (5 points of rep in their chosen network, or 10 in ß-rep, plus they cover all supplies), and all they have to do is cajole, prod, and carry six horny, rebellious teenage Rusters through the decaying remains of three stripped habitats.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-56296461663069367252013-12-25T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-25T01:00:08.535-08:00359: Frontier<h1>
ENTRY 359: Frontier</h1>
<div>
"The truth has always been out there. We just have to go find it."<br />
- William Scully<br />
<br />
There is a rumor in the Firewall network, passed from ego to ego, the stories sometimes growing in the telling. The ultimate failsafe, if all else goes wrong - a colony on an exoplanet, a final refuge where transhumanity can retreat, should the inconceivable happen again. Not to make a final stand, but to walk through and bury the gates behind them, to close the door on the solar system for good - because transhumanity is bigger than Earth, more important than sentimental attachment to the sun that birthed it. Survival, at any cost.<br />
<br />
There is a truth to the rumor, though it is stranger than any of the stories make it out to be. When gatecrashing began in earnest, Firewall stumbled upon a single set of coordinates that all of the known gates had in common. They found there a near-Earth compatible world with over two dozen active gate devices, a hub in the gate network. The first gatecrashers dubbed the exoplanet Frontier. If not for what else they found there, perhaps Firewall would have let it become the new home for transhumanity.<br />
<br />
Frontier is an uninhabited world - but it was not always so. The gate complex stands in the midst of a vast prairie-type landscape, a broad sea of grass on a continent the size of Australia. Massive, far-separated pylons dominate the landscape surrounding the gate complex, geothermal-powered terraforming stations that spew out nanites to shape the land, water, and air to something else. Estimates suggest they have been running at least two hundred Earth years. Yet there are no signs of habitation, no structures at all besides the gates and the pylons - except overhead.<br />
<br />
Hanging above the planet are the remains of a stellar empire built by an extraterrestrial race. Broken rings, cracked cylinders, and dying satellites circle the world in a belt of space trash, and every night is marked by the burning debris as decaying orbits bring the detritus falling back to the surface. Samples recovered are, relative to Earth technology, primitive - spacecraft and habitats built by a society with four arms and four-fingered hands that counted in hexidecimal and had barely mastered the transistor, but in such profusion that they represent hundreds of years of sustained exploration and colonization of space...using technology equivalent to the first Earth astronauts.<br />
<br />
Cleary, these alien astronauts did not build the gates. Equally obvious, whatever race did build the gate complex and terraformers on Frontier, they never moved in. Some Firewall xenoarchaeologists suggest that there was a glitch in the terraform software, and that the nanoswarms removed or cannibalized any structures for raw materials. Others suggest that the terraforming was abandoned when it became clear that the planet was inhabitated...or they simply hadn't moved in yet. Until the mystery is resolved, Firewall has kept a low-impact presence on Frontier. There are still protocols in place for transhumanity to retreat here in the event of an extinction event, and storehouses of raw materials, information, and technology have been established in preparation of such an event, but until such time as the mystery of what happened is resolved, Frontier is not acceptable as a colony site...not yet.</div>
<h2>
Using Frontier</h2>
<div>
A mystery, wrapped in an engima, through an artificial wormhole. Frontier may represent the great hope of transhumanity - or the most direct threat to its existence. Even if answers to what happened to the two races whose technological remains have been found on the planet can be found, there is no guarantee that transhumanity will like the them. There's a strong possibility, though few even at Firewall will admit this, that the sudden intrusion of the gate complex led more or less directly to the downfall or disappearance of a race that had obviously been space-capable for longer than transhumanity. If this is the case, Firewall needs to know. The only question is - are the player characters game to explore this Frontier?</div>
<h2>
Seed</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Firewall has manufactured an emergency shutdown test at Extropia, which will leave the Pandora Gate "sealed" for several hours - long enough for them to run an evacuation drill and see if their current protocols are sufficient for moving a substantial population of transhumans and associated equipment through the gate to Frontier. The PCs are assigned roles to assist, and move through the gate with the others as part of the mock-evacuation. However, something goes wrong - the sudden appearance of so many transhumans on Frontier appears to have activated several of the pylons on the other side, and caused the gates to temporarily lock. Cut off from home and with no obvious chain of command and potential immenient threat, what will the PCs do?</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-65498863680680016782013-12-24T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-24T01:00:08.297-08:00358: Honour Stitch<h1>
ENTRY 358: Honour Stitch</h1>
<div>
"Jaeger Heinrich saved this habitat. We honor him by making him a part of us - through him, we live; through us, part of him will continue to live."<br />
- Surgeon General, Opening Invocation<br />
<br />
While a romantic concept, for the most part transhumanity hasn't attached substantial emotional attachment to organ donars since about the time transplant surgery became reliably survivable. Despite the imaginations and fears of writers and the superstitious, the hands of murderers do not influence the receiver beyond the grave, much less their bone marrow or tendons. Today, only the most superstitious or bigoted attach any particular importance to the donor as long as it's a match - and with the popularity and availability of cloned organs, even those points are mostly moot.<br />
<br />
There are exceptions. In the <i>Brittany A.V. </i>scumbarge, a scarcity of clonal technology means that organ harvesting is much more common, and by local regulation transplant organs are individually tagged so that they and their donor histories are visible in augmented reality for medtechs. In the neo-Islamic community on Proteus, where clans and corporate holdings overlap strongly, adopted family members are only accepted if they share some of the blood and flesh of the clan - new members marrying in typically swap kidneys if their blood types are compatible. However, the most prominent of these romantic traditions is the Honour Stitch - most popular among the Mercurials and in the Jovian Republic.<br />
<br />
The Honour Stitch are organs and, less commonly, personal augmentations harvested from the most lauded heroes of the habitats and societies. Most, though not all, of the transhuman donors died in combat, sometimes in conflicts predating the Fall, and the organs are genefixed and universal donor-compatible. The transhumans chosen to carried an Honour Stitch - named for the notable scar purposefully left by the surgery - are selected based on demonstrated service in the spirit of the individual whom the donated organ or augmentation came from. Most Mercurials and Jovians consider an Honour Stitch the highest commendation that a <i>living </i>transhuman can receive, and the stitchbearers are accorded considerable status in their communities, and those who prove unworthy of carrying an Honour Stitch soon find themselves relieved of it...without anesthetic, and often without being sewn up afterwards.</div>
<h2>
Mechanics</h2>
<div>
In place of a typical Rep award of 5 points or more, a character may be offered an Honour Stitch. This is an implanted donor organ or personal augmentation of a fallen hero - no, the PC doesn't get to pick which one. An Honour Stitch is worth double the original Rep award, but only applies if the PC is is in the biomorph with the Honour Stitch - if they resleeve without taking the Honour Stitch with them, the Rep bonus is lost. Likewise, if the Honour Stitch is ever destroyed, the Rep bonus is also lost.</div>
<h2>
Using Honour Stitch</h2>
<div>
Most Rep rewards are just a couple of points added on to a statistic. Honour Stitches are a way to make such a reward more visceral and material, and can combine a Rep award with a minor personal augmentation like a drug gland or cyberclaws. However, given the restrictions on resleeving, this option is probably best for Jovians or other characters that don't resleeve frequently.</div>
<h2>
Seed</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Stitchbearer Marshall Yul Nagoya was a hero of the Jovian Republic who served the state well before defecting - and worse, taking with him an Honour Stitch: the Eyes of Jules (cybereyes that provide Enhanced Vision, Nanovision, and a complementary Oracles nanoinfection). The PCs are hired to get them back, no matter how.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-1519737705907435732013-12-23T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-23T01:00:12.363-08:00357: Cupella<h1>
ENTRY 357: Cupella</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Enforcer and cleaner. Affiliate of the Pax Familiae. Suspected in 18 fatal industrial accidents in the Morningstar Constellation. Reputation: Solid. Trademark: Uncommunicative. Nickname: Cat Mother."<br />
- Stellar Intelligence, <i>At a Glance: Cupella</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The swarmoid that answers to the name Cupella is a high-functioning autistic assassin, believed by most crime analysts to have been built off a highly-pruned fork of a former member of Pax Familiae. Most reports give their M.O. as extremely indirect - rather than engage targets directly, Cupella typically arranges accidents using custom-built or modified equipment, often designed to minimize other loss of life, though the swarmoid doesn't appear to care much for "property damage" so long as the egos can be resleeved. Primarily a solo asset, coworkers of Pax Familiae report that Cupella never speaks or communicates in any way, and the only vocalization or response they give off is a kind of purring noise when happy.<br />
<br />
When not "on the job," Cupella is believed to retreat to specially-prepared living quarters where the swarmoid can interact with their eight pet smart cats and indulge in repeated use of narcoalgorithms provided for by handlers in Pax Familiae. Each of these felines is an uplift in its own right, often with numerous augmentations, and help to care and protect for their beloved 'Cat Mother.' Some analysts go so far as to believe that it is the cats that accept and plan all of Cupella's missions, though the evidence for this is slim and somewhat conflicting.<br />
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
COG</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
COO</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
INT</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
REF</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SAV</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SOM</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
WIL</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
MOX</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
10</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
10</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
-</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
INIT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SPD</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
LUC</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
TT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
IR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
DUR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
WT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
DR</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
40</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
80</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
30</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
45</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Morph: </b>Swarmoid</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Skills: </b>Animal Handling (Cats) 30, Art: Found Art 25, Beam Weapons 20, Climbing 22, Demolitions 24, Disguise 18, Free Fall 18, Flight 18, Fray (Full Defense) 20, Hardware: Armorer 20, Hardware: Electronics 20, Hardware: Industrial 24, Interests: Crime Scene Investigation 14, Interests: Felines 24, Interfacing 16, Language: Native Italian 84, Language: English 84, Networking: Criminal 23, Profession: Cleaner 30, Protocol 15, Scrounging 14, Spray Weapons 20 </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Implants: </b>Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Carapace Armor, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation, Skillwires, Swarm Composition</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Traits: </b>Addiction (Narcoalgorithms, Moderate), Animal Empathy, Mental Derangement (Autistic)</div>
<h2>
Using Cupella</h2>
<div>
How do you fight an accident? Cupella is an NPC that isn't designed for the PCs to interact with directly; the swarmoid strikes from unexpected directions, using things most PCs wouldn't consider a weapon or acting at a scale beyond general conception. A regular assassin might use a sniper rifle with special targeting software and smart ammunition to get the target's cortical stack; Cupella is likely to have a "water main" break and soak the target in nanite disassembler, or line the street with monowire and herd the target into a trap using controlled explosives. Aiding and abetting Cupella in these projects are the eight smart cats, who typically scout out the scene ahead of time and keep track of potential problems like the NPCs, sometimes ingratiating themselves into the target or the PC's lives before the hit goes down. The gamemaster may also choose for the smart cats to be the actual "brains" behind the operation, with Cupella as just a harmless figure being manipulated by their cats.</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-77200360040508128282013-12-22T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-22T01:00:05.574-08:00356: The Mind Parasitoids<h1>
ENTRY 356: The Mind Parasitoids</h1>
<div>
"Oh my ghost, it's adorable!"<br />
- Fan Wong, gatecrasher<br />
<br />
On the exoplanet they evolved, the mind parasitoids are the highest form of life. Xenobiologists believe that the hot-pink invertebrates faced unusual competition in their path to dominance over their primeval swamps, likely facing all manner of close relatives parasitoids in competition for resources - most especially host animals - and were forced to develop multiple methods of influencing and altering the behavior of their hosts, and a degree of social organization similar to Terran insects in scale and complexity, actively "farming" certain hosts for food substances and directing other hosts to build dam-nests to create pools for the mind parasitoids to breed in. As near as researchers can tell, at least a thousand years before transhumanity opened the Pandora Gate to their homeworld, the mind parasitoids had spread to every habitable corner of their globe, and stood unchallenged as the nonsentient lords and masters of their world.<br />
<br />
To the mind parasitoids, transhumanity must have seemed a frustrating prey. Their skin lacked the chemical gateways that the invertebrates' venom had evolved to pass through the skin and into the nervous system, and their anatomy and biochemistry were very different from the mammaloids that roamed their home exoplanet. All the careful tricks of nature that had made the mind parasitoids absolute in their environment utterly failed them against transhumanity. Worst for them, with their great big eyes and hot pink dermis, transhumans considered them almost irresistibly cute.<br />
<br />
While xenobiologists are continuing their studies just to make sure that there's nothing harmful in the mind parasitoid's biology or biochemistry to transhumanity, the gatecrashers that discovered their unnamed homeworld are already planning the media blitz and crunching the numbers on the pet trade, with early responses from focus-groups being <i>very</i> positive.</div>
<h2>
Seeds</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>A synth researcher outside the loop of the mind parasitoid main group suspects that the critter's cuteness is more than skin deep - and that the extraterrestrials harbor a bacteria similar to <i>Toxoplasma gondii </i>that is warping transhuman biomorphs to show more affection to the alien brain slugs and possibly spread the infection. The truth is more alarming - the mind parasitoids have a low-level psi power that accomplishes the same thing.</li>
<li>Scientists working on "accessories" for mind parasitoid pet owners have designed an interface patch augmentation which can allow the alien invertebrate's native abilities to function on cats, rats...even transhuman biomorphs. Live tests are being run on the exoplanet to see how the mind slugs and their hosts adapt, with the PCs brought in for security. The results are frightening as the transhuman-hosts start building things...and become outright dangerous when the PCs notice a transhuman-host installing an "interface patch" and mind parasitoid on an unwilling researcher!</li>
<li>The pet approvals have come through and a bounty has gone up for mind parasitoids - the player characters are sent out with a quota for 1,000 healthy specimens, with a bonus for more. All they have to do is brave the dangers of an alien swamp and a semi-sentient hive of hot-pink alien slugs.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-61832311692921670672013-12-21T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-22T06:05:42.468-08:00355: K-Mach<h1>
ENTRY 355: K-Mach</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Three tons of armor and myomer fibers, driven by high-performance atomic batteries guaranteed to last thirty years and survive a point-blank shot from a railgun. Armed with an integrated particle beam rifle, 360-degree field of vision with overlapping lidar, radar, and t-ray emitters. Integral on-board AGI to assist with targeting and multitasking. You probably think you're a bunch of bad asses, don't you? Well let me assure you that your kriegmaschines are only the bare minimum equipment you need to survive against warbots and hunter-killers."<br />
- Marshall Rideck<br />
<br />
Before Reapers and Furies became the go-to combat morphs of transhumanity, the battlefields crawled with massive, deceptively fast humanoid mecha, most notably the popular kriegsmaschine (K-Mach) design. The K-Mach represented a transitional stage between biomorph-operated powered exoskeleton vehicles and resleeving directly into combat craft; while the military had long used teleoperated drones for a variety of combat tasks, the transition from a primarily biomorph-based armed force to a mobile tactical mechanized force was problematic and exacerbated by the logistical complexities of the Fall. While most military R&D had focused on egos directly integrated into and controlling traditional vehicles like tanks, aircraft, and orbital weapons platforms, transhumanity needed a morph that resleeved egos could adapt to quickly. The compromise was a three-meter tall, three-ton mobile weapons platform that could run, jump, and shoot like a trained soldier, but was armored like a combat vehicle and with integrated weapons that could easily be swapped out in mobile resupply centers. The K-Machs brought the fight to the enemy, sometimes going toe-to-toe with the often much more heavily armed warbots.<br />
<br />
After the war, most of the K-Machs were retired or decommissioned and converted to civilian interests. While powerful, K-Machs were expensive to make and maintain, and most transhumans prefer the much smaller and cheaper Reapers. However, used K-Machs still retain a certain value - especially modified ones or those that took place in important battles, and some veterans like to keep theirs around, even if it's just in storage most of the time.</div>
<h2>
K-Mach Stats</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
K-Mach are synthmorphs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Enhancements: </b>360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Anti-Glare, Basic Mesh Inserts, Chem Sniffer, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Cybersword (retractable Blade, 2d10 + 6 DV), Electrical Sense, Enhanced Vision, Heavy Combat Armor, Lidar, Magnetic Vision, Mnemonic Augmentation, Pneumatic Limbs, Radar, Reflex Booster, Structural Enhancement, T-Ray Emitter, Weapon Mount (articulated, 2)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mobility System: </b>Bipedal Walker (4/20)<br />
<b>Aptitude Maximum: </b>30 (REF and SOM 40)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Durability: </b>60 (w/Structural Enhancement)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Wound Threshold: </b>16 (w/Structural Enhancement)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Speed Modifier: </b>+1 (Reflex Booster)<br />
<b>CP Cost: </b>110</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Credit Cost: </b>Expensive (minimum 125,000)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Traits: </b>+10 REF (+20 with Reflex Booster), +20 SOM, Armor 20/20, Comes equipped with 1 integral weapon in weapon mount (Particle Beam Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Pulser, Railgun Machine Gun, Seeker Rifle, or Torch), Large Morph</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-76350839335760312272013-12-20T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-20T01:00:04.293-08:00354: Bioreactor 12<h1>
ENTRY 354: Bioreactor 12</h1>
<div>
"I'm calling it, give the order to pull back."<br /><br />
"Ma'am - you can't <i>do </i>that."<br /><br />
"I just did. We're closing the Zone, lieutenant. No one in, nothing out."<br /><br />
"But ma'am, this technology..."<br />
<br />
"Is going to be buried under dust. If I had my way I'd throw asteroids at it for a thousand years. Now you will obey my order, or else."<br /><br />
"Or else wha-"<br />
<br />
<blaster crackle><br />
<br />
"Anyone else want to be a statistic?"<br />
<br />
- excerpt from <i>When Gods Quake</i>, Mesh dramatization of the Final Battle of the Zone (AF 7)<br />
<br />
TITANs technology was advanced and often ugly, but not inscrutable. During the Fall the transhuman forces did capture, utilize, and reverse-engineer pieces of it, and most morphs and spacecraft today incorporate design elements, material science, or software that ultimately have their origin in the conflict. Other technology was placed under unofficial interdict, a pact of tacit agreements and bizarre cooperation between different authorities to impede and impound any research involving certain categories of TITANs tech; while no one authority or group of interests could police all transhuman research to make sure no-one would develop those terrible weapons again, they could at least bury what remained in the Zone on Mars where no one could get it. Still, every now and again someone would dig something up, or an area of research would veer a little too close to a forbidden topic, and then the offending corp or researcher would find their budget slashed, their resources re-aligned, their research archived and the archives lost...<br />
<br />
Bioreactor 12 (codename: WAR WOMB) was, according to Firewall intelligence, the last such device the TITANs brought online in the Zone, though there are no records of it being operational during the final conflict. Believed to be initially developed from colony ship designs from old Earth, the bioreactor spliced together limited sets of DNA from asyncs and force-grew the resulting clones, installing low-sapience AGIs in their cyberbrains to create a disposable army of supersoldiers with a selection of sleights. When the artillery barrages gave way to corridor-by-corridor fighting, these proto-exsurgents pumped out by the bioreactors were a nasty surprise that delayed final victory by weeks; only the lack of raw materials kept the TITAN's from pumping out enough async puppet-soldiers to overwhelm the front line and make an effective counterattack, but one by one the bioreactors fell - all except for Bioreactor 12, kept miraculously intact after the final siege.<br />
<br />
The basics of the bioreactor technology are rather well-known - there are few habitats that don't have the technology for cloning and resleeving, it is the experience of the brutal async close combat that brought about the mutual decision by the Jovian Republic, Lunar-LaGrange Alliance, and Planetary Consortium to not develop equivalent technology - partially because it would mean tampering with the Exsurgent Virus, and partially because if any single group developed the technology, the others would be locked into a race to develop their own bioreactor capability, spurring military brinkmanship that transhumanity can ill afford. So Bioreactor 12 sits in the Zone, by its very existence possessing the deadly potential to spark yet another conflict. The shadow of the TITANs still falls over transhumanity's future.</div>
<h2>
Mechanics</h2>
<div>
To function, a bioreactor needs to be equipped with a sufficient power source and a steady supply of raw hydrocarbons, which nanite stacks break down into acceptable organic compounds for the cloning process. The asyncs are equivalent to Ultimate Mercs (see <i>Eclipse Phase</i>) with Psi (Level 2), Psi Assault 50, Sense 50, and typically 4-5 sleights of the gamemaster's choosing.</div>
<h2>
Using Bioreactor 12</h2>
<div>
Bioreactor 12 isn't your typical MacGuffin, because by itself the technology is not unique, irreplaceable, or irreducible - while current transhuman tech might struggle to achieve the ability to selectively create asyncs and chose the sleights they'll have at the moment, the underlying principles of genetic manipulation, forced growth cloning, augmentation, and resleeving are all fairly well understood. The danger of Bioreactor 12 is not that the tech exists, but that it might be <i>used</i> - the powers that be in the Solar system are afraid of a cold war developing where each side attempts to create armies of async assassins and commandos, and if such research ever hits the production stage then it's only a matter of time before the <i>really </i>nasty TITANs tech starts coming in to play. So preventing the spread of bioreactor research amounts to an elaborate gentleman's game, where none of the major players want that particular option to come into play - but because it's secret, not everybody has gotten the memo, and Firewall and the other agencies are constantly at work to keep it under control. Some far-thinking transhumans worry that transhumanity is stunting its own growth by not pursuing these technologies, but so far the censors have won out, stifling the research before it leads to additional conflict.</div>
<h2>
Seed</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Strange heat signatures have been recorded in the Zone, and silent alarms are going off: every sign is that Bioreactor 12 has just gone online, and production could start at any moment. No one outside the Zone knows if this is a timed delay, a resurgence of the TITANs, an espionage mission into bioreactor tech that went wrong, or just some nutter that broke through the perimeter and managed to turn it on. Whatever the case, military forces are quietly aligning around the Zone and tensions are running high; the PCs are asked to sneak into the Zone and ascertain the situation before the powers-that-be declare it time for a full military strike. As a mark of trust, the PCs are given a sat-beacon that can call down a tungsten rod from an orbital weapons platform on its own position - of course, with a radius of destruction of 500 meters, the PCs had better be ready to run or resleeve if they have to use it.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-33905861044848859142013-12-19T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-19T01:00:11.305-08:00353: Junyo<h1>
ENTRY 353: Junyo</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"People are a sometimes food."<br />
- Long Pig Monster<br />
<br />
Cloned meat farms, resleeving, recycling corpses for their elements as a regular process - cannibalism hasn't been this easy and accepted a practice among transhumanity since the Pleistocene. With the removal of bodily death as a major concern, transhumans eating other transhumans has lost a lot of its moral force on most habitats, allowing plenty of transhumans to engage in the practice of tasting human flesh (cloned or real) perfectly legally. For example in Nova York, Takonashi 2.0 serves human sashimi culled from fetal clones; and in the Jovian Republic elite military orders partake in ritual feasting on enemy hearts. The surprising thing to most sociologists is that given the opportunity to engage in a formerly taboo activity, most...don't. The novelty of chomping down on a recognizable-as-human-limb wears off fairly quick, leaving the customer to worry about prion disease, cost, and taste.<br />
<br />
Prion disease is a danger when consuming any protein source, though transhumans eating transhumans represents a considerably higher risk of transmission and transmissible degenerative diseases like kuru are known to persist in transhumanity. Price is a greater concern; "natural" human flesh is generally more expensive than forced-growth clones which is generally more expensive than edible shaped "meat" constructs built up with human muscle tissue; fat, bile, blood, and bone marrow are available for gourmands, and represents a minor side-industry for "scraps" in the medical cloning industry. Taste is the major issue - transhumans, as a rule, don't taste particularly better than pork or veal. There's no special flavor to the meat, and "natural" transhuman flesh in particular is typically chock-full of pollutants, stress chemicals, drugs, and augmentations that sour the taste. So while transhumanity has accepted that they can use each other as food, there are few popular restaurant chains based on the concept (and of those, only Fried Fingers is interplanetary), and most transhumans that do care to indulge prefer going out to a restaurant with certified prion-sniffers and rated chefs than trying to take home a steak or rump roast and figure out how to cook it in their quarters without violating the fire/heat source safety protocols.<br />
<br />
Junyo is an assistant chef specializing in the preparation of transhuman meat. He first got his taste of it on the <i>Jenny Greenteeth</i>, a scum barge known for its food riots and rolling brownouts in AF 2, 4, 5, and 7, but unlike his peers he turned that into a passion for cooking, moved to Nova York, and enrolled in culinary school. For now he works for Takonashi 2.0 in Nova York, employed as a "guest chef" appearing at other restaurants in the solar system and preparing special meals for clientele, though he still dreams of getting enough favors and connections to one day open his own place - perhaps with an attached butcher shop.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
COG</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
COO</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
INT</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
REF</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SAV</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SOM</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
WIL</div>
</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
MOX</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
14</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
16</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
-</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
INIT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SPD</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
LUC</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
TT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
IR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
DUR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
WT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
DR</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
40</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
80</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
40</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: none solid solid none; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
60</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Morph: </b>Nova Crab</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Skills: </b>Academics: Anatomy 30, Academics: History (Cannibalism) 50, Art: Cooking 50, Blades 25, Free Fall (Microgravity) 18, Interests: Butchery 24, Interests: Cannibalism Cooking Styles 34, Interests: Cloning 25, Interfacing 16, Language: Native Malay 90, Language: English 85, Networking: Media 20, Networking: Science 11, Perception (Taste) 60, Profession: Chef 30, Protocol 25, Unarmed Combat (Claws) 35</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Implants: </b>Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Carapace Armor, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Enhanced Respiration, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Taste, Gills, Mnemonic Augmentation, Oxygen Reserve, Puppet Sock, Temperature Tolerance, Vacuum Sealing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Traits: </b>Addiction (Human flesh, Moderate), Armor (11/11), Mental Derangement (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)</div>
<h2>
Using Junyo</h2>
<div>
The selling point for cannibalism is that it <i>is </i>taboo, and lacking the taboo element cannibalism in science fiction is usually a bit of exploitative shock (cf. Long Pig in <i>Transmetropolitan </i>or Soylent Green), and after that is generally just a minor (occasionally blackly comedic) background element. Horror tends to go the other way, hyping up on the visceral and bloody violation implied by historical cannibalism, which is restricted either to extreme hunger or psychosis. Eclipse Phase as a game of science fiction and horror can go either way as needed - eating a cloned ancephelous baby ("human veal") that appears on a porcelain plate and comes with a 400-credit bottle of wine or a couple of kids noshing on original recipe deep-fried hands from Fried Fingers are exploitative but probably background noise; a group of starving astronauts breaking open the cryogenic tubes to eat the sleeping colonists in their slowship or an exsurgent creature cracking a victim's skull and slurping out their living brain are scenes designed to evoke the horror of the setting.<br />
<br />
Junyo can swing either way as the gamemaster needs. As a transhuman deep in the food industry of processing, serving, and selling transhuman meat, Junyo can be the mouthpiece of the science fiction practicality behind the practice; on the other hand as someone that probably had to gut and eat a friend more than once and now engaged in an industry where his powerful claws clip through transhuman flesh and limbs every day, he might just be psychotic and feeding his personal addiction. In either depiction, Junyo tends to be highly devoted to both his job and an advocate of consuming transhuman flesh - he doesn't play down the disadvantages, but is more than willing to highlight that the general distaste towards transhuman flesh is based off of antiquated moral codes, dying religions, and poor preparation - and is willing to underline the last bit by preparing small appetizers for the player characters (a great excuse to break out the game snacks).</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-53814200361188219772013-12-18T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-18T01:00:09.398-08:00352: Operation Orphan<h1>
ENTRY 352: Operation Orphan</h1>
<div>
"You've heard that during the Fall that there were transhuman collaborators on the side of the TITANs. The show trials and media have cast them as civilian administrators trying to keep their people alive, or lone opportunists taking advantage of a situation for their own personal gain. The truth is that an entire faction went over to the TITANs - a group of traitors that sold out Earth and the rest of transhumanity. That organization still persists, existing in secret among us. A mutual support network for the greatest criminals in our history, helping each other stay hidden. Our job is to root them out, to find what those others they are hiding...and, ultimately, to destroy them. Understand: this is not about justice or revenge, this is a matter of survival. When the next war comes - when the TITANs return or extraterrestrials invade through the gates or whatever it might be - we must stand united. If you can agree with that, then welcome to Operation Orphan."<br />
- Ezel Idis, Chief Executive Officer, Operation Orphan<br />
<br />
"That's what you could never wrap your minds around. We're just like you. The survival of transhumanity, at any cost. You call us traitors, but for us it was just another survival strategy. We wanted to cover all the bases. The only difference is, you forgot..."<br />
- Recording of interrogation session #04546, subject "Doubleblack", AF 8<br />
<br />
Trust underpins transhuman society. Anarchists raise their children on games to illustrate the prisoner's dilemma, Jovian military academies emphasize the importance of trust in the command structure, reputation networks depend on layers of trust as much as the underlying technology - for it is important not just who votes and how many, but who counts the votes. In the aftermath of the Fall, when the invisible machinery of society was so broken down and in need of rebuilding, trust became even more important. Transhumans needed to work, to learn, to about the business of living, and be able to rely on each other. In this respect at least the TITANs did transhumanity as favor: they presented a single great Other, an enemy that all transhumans, regardless of faction or politics, could unite against. Or, almost all.<br />
<br />
The TITANs and their collaborators are guilty of genocide. Entire species were destroyed during the Fall, the entire Earth reduced to a poisoned, ash-choked world of burning skies and caustic seas, and the TITANs have left their tainted footprints on every other world in the solar system. Yet because they are not human, it is difficult to countenance the TITANs as explicitly evil - powerful, devastating, and disastrous, but too alien to describe as cruel, vicious, or tyrannical. The collaborators, however...those are transhuman. They knew full well what they were participating in the extinction of their own species, their own world, and they chose to help. They are the worst traitors imaginable, all the worse because they are not stupid thugs.<br />
<br />
Firewall's Operation Orphan has been tracking the collaborator network ever since the Fall. What they have found is evidence of more than just a few well-meaning admins or opportunistic rogues, but an entire clandestine organization dedicated to support the TITANs - and currently preparing for their return. These are not madmen or exsurgent cultists, whose motives could be explained away by illness or neural damage, but apparently sane, frighteningly intelligent and competent transhuman operatives who believe in their goal. There are even some implications, though the more senior Firewall members at Operation Orphan still find it hard to credit, that this nameless group of conspirators may be a rogue faction of Firewall dedicated, according to their own claims, of pursuing every method of transhuman survival - even the least palatable options. Ezel Idis dismisses this claim as classical psy ops, misinformation spread to sow doubt and discord. Yet as evidence piles up, the shape of the collaborators' mutual aid network does bear a striking similarity to Firewall...</div>
<h2>
Using Operation Orphan</h2>
<div>
Firewall's Operation Orphan is a good set-up for a darker kind of spy game, calling back to the hunt for former Nazis gone into hiding after World War II and support networks like ODESSA - and if the gamemaster and players like hunting down war criminals and bringing them in to face the long-awaited consequences of their crimes, then that's fine. However, the possibility remains that the interrogated collaborators are telling the truth - that the collaborator network is nothing more than a splinter faction of Firewall, seeking to fulfill the ultimate mission of transhumanity's survival by pursuing a different strategy. This adds a layer of moral ambiguity and philosophizing that might make for some interesting in-character debates beyond "shoot the bad guy in the head and take their cortical stack." Or perhaps the whole thing is just a con, one more ruse that the conspirators have cooked up to try and escape from their betrayal.</div>
<h2>
Seed</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Rumor has it that the Jovian Junta unofficially offered asylum to several collaborators after the defeat of the TITANs on Mars, using their resources and knowledge to spearhead military development. Operation Orphan has been sniffing around several transhumans from Mars for years, but recently they believe they've made a break - a series of clandestine meeting and communications on Ganymede between several suspects, all out of character. One of the suspects is scheduled to head off alone on a deuterium-mining operation at Blazing Loch, and the PCs are asked to subdue and capture the suspect for questioning. A cold trek through the hinterlands, tracking the most dangerous prey...who might well turn the tables on the PCs.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-10940154247275748172013-12-17T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-17T01:00:08.184-08:00351: Comet For Sale<h1>
ENTRY 351: Comet For Sale</h1>
<div>
For sale: Encke's Comet. Gently used. Inquire within.<br />
- Mesh Ad<br />
<br />
Comet habitats have never really taken hold of the transhuman imagination. While the nucleus of comets are equivalent to sizable asteroids several kilometers in diameter, and comets often contain hydrocarbon compounds and water ice which are relatively easy to mine, the often erratic and sizable orbits are a turn-off, and the delta v necessary to lock trajectory and close with a comet through its thin atmosphere (<i>coma</i>) can make embarking or disembarking more complicated than an orbital habitat in some respects.<br />
<br />
One of the few serious efforts at comet habitation was Encke's Comet - with a nucleus of 4.8 kilometers and an orbital period around the sun of 3.3 years, it seemed an ideal candidate as a sort of roving trading or scientific post. A development corporation was established, landed on the comet, and drilled down beneath the crust to carve out a series of chambers, roughly half of which were furnished and functional by the time the credits ran out. Worse, the construction period took so long that the comet was headed away from the sun by that time, and the majority of the crew abandoned Encke's Comet save for an AGI caretaker called Yngvi as it headed out to its aphelion of 4.11 AU and back.<br />
<br />
The return of Encke's Comet in AF 7 sparked a renewal of interest, but legal troubles where encountered when the AGI caretaker claimed squatters rights; few of the original parties chose to contest it, and after a brief bout of fund-raising development on the comet renewed. This time, Yngvi focused on the installation of antimatter drive engines, intended to function as directional thrusters to help steer the comet to make flyby passes of certain habitats and thus increase its commercial utility, but found itself unable to procure antimatter due to the interference of the Jovian Republic (which already viewed the comet as a potential interloper and threat). Yngvi and Encke's Comet moved away from the sun once again.<br />
<br />
Having now just returned in AF 10, Yngvi is tired of playing caretaker and is looking to sell the comet and settle down, possibly getting a little apartment on Titan. Beginning asking price is 250k credits, though Yngvi is willing to act as the banker in the transaction as long as it gets a down payment of 20% in cash.</div>
<h2>
Using Comet for Sale</h2>
<div>
Encke's Comet makes a good setting for a one-shot adventure, a fitting lair for a brinker or setting villain, or a quirky fixer-upper for enterprising player characters that don't mind being stuck on a fast-moving ball of dirty ice for a three-year tour of the Outer Rim. Being relatively large, isolated, and moving, comet habitats combine aspects of long deep space voyages and being stranded on an alien planet - although in this case, at least for a third of the trip the comet should be reachable by various transhuman habitats with fast ships, so in that respect it can allow player characters to visit many settlements they might not ordinarily get to in the course of their adventures.</div>
<h2>
Seeds</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Lionel Beauchamp believes that the Tunguska Event was caused by a fragment of Encke's Comet breaking off and exploding above Earth - and wants to prove this to show that comets are weaponizable. Lionel and his fellow space pirates have boarded and taken control of Encke's Comet, and Firewall believes they plan to make a test strike on Luna. The PCs are the only ones in a position to stop them, since they are near to where Encke's Comet will pass.</li>
<li>Sauvegarder Comète Encke (SCE) is a grassroots mesh-based organization that wants to cease further development on Encke's Comet. They've raised 20,000 credits, but Yngvi is unwilling to sell the comet to them or place it under trust. The PCs are asked to negotiate a settlement, possibly with an eye towards turning Encke's Comet into a Universal Park - but they will have to work against a third party, a Jovian miner named Maria Manuel Escopetarra that wants to buy the comet just to strip it of its hydrocarbons.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-61348830994116521892013-12-16T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-16T01:00:07.287-08:00350: Charge Craters<h1>
ENTRY 350: Charge Craters</h1>
<div>
"Omar Patang was walking up the leeward edge of a crater near the Lunar north pole, scouting water ice. The spark came suddenly, and shorted out his suit. Unhurt, Omar managed to walk back to his landcraft before the oxygen in his tank gave out. Dozens of other transhumans haven't been so lucky."<br />
- <i>Charge Craters: The Hidden Menace</i>, Lunar Chamber of Commerce<br />
<br />
Even before Luna was permanently inhabited, scientists had theorized that under the right conditions certain crater rims - particularly near the poles - could become electrically charged from ions deposited by the solar wind. A given crater can build up a few hundred volts of static charge before eventually discharging naturally, either in an arc of incandescent dust or a spark to a transhuman's boot.<br />
<br />
Static electricity is not a new or unexpected danger to Lunar exploration, and most transhumans who make a profession of moonwalks are aware of the possible dangers. Most vacsuits nowadays are designed as ESD garments, or with extra shielding on essential electrical equipment. Many charge craters have been identified and physically marked with signs and augmented reality tags to prevent random hikers and prospectors. Still, at least a few transhumans a year manage to fail to heed the warnings or take proper precautions, and ends up with a nasty shock or damaging their suit, and on average at least one will die, lending their name and likeness to the legendarium of charge crater ghost stories.</div>
<h2>
Seeds</h2>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Lunar habitats have to deal with the build-up of static charge too, especially when the moon brushes the Earth's magnetosphere. The static can play hell with sensitive electronics, shorting out many sensors or causing them to give erroneous readings - and a clever yegg named Jowls thinks this is the perfect time to pull off the heist of a century. A remote secure server farm contains vast amounts of privileged financial data for companies in the Lunar-LaGrange Alliance - with most of the surrounding sensors disabled, all Jowls needs is for the PCs to get him to the front door so he can crack in and siphon off enough data to make them all millions of credits. Of course, that means an extended moonwalk and breaking in to a secure, static-sensitive complex...if they blow the doors or fail to take the proper precautions going in side, they'll fry the whole thing and be left with nothing for their troubles.</li>
<li>Authorities are tired of idiots getting killed by charge craters, and have decided from this point on anyone stupid enough to be killed by them will have their body left to rot their for all time as a warning to others. This "Darwin Warning Statute" has infuriated the families and friends of at least a few of the dumbasses that get themselves killed every year, but until the law goes into effect they have little case in the eyes of the media - so the would-be victim's rights group seek to hire the PCs to stage an accidental death at a charge crater so that they have a case to rally to.</li>
<li>Normally charge craters only build up a couple hundred of volts - more than enough for a shock, but only a danger to those with sensitive equipment and unshielded suits. However, lately scientists have been measuring a crater with a charge of 40,000 Volts...and rising. The local lunar scientists have set up a crowdfund reward for anybody that can go there and figure out what is causing the abnormality.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-80562945562026790652013-12-15T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-15T01:00:00.665-08:00349: Grey Boy<h1>
ENTRY 349: Grey Boy</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Some egos resleeve like they're changing clothes. Some stick with the meatsack they're born in 'til they die. A couple want to explore a new body, or think that resleeving will solve all their problems. Me? I guess I wanted to make a statement. Take a step that I couldn't step back easy. It's about commitment, see. If you want to push your limits, to see how far you can go, you can't leave yourself an easy out. So when I went grey, I went all the way. See, lot of exhumans take the easy way out - abandon the whole humanoid form, go for something that looks <i>exotic</i>. Not many of 'em twig that being exhuman is more than a weird morph, it's a state of mind. You gotta change your perceptions, not just your look."<br />
- Grey Boy, interview with <i>Exhuman Spotlight</i> (AF 8)<br />
<br />
Deep down, most transhumans are the same - whatever they might look like on the outside, biomorphs share anatomical and genetic similarities to other Earth-based life, the majority of synthmorphs and pods are generally humanoid, and almost all transhuman egos are recognizable as human. Key word: almost.<br />
<br />
Grey Boy designed the greymorph from the ground up, based on a theoretical left-handed Z-DNA structure. On the outside, the greymorph looks like a pop culture reference a century or so out of date, but on the inside it is as alien as transhuman science can get - instead of bones, for example, it has a flexible cartilaginous endoskeleton with an arrangement of "floating" bony plates protecting critical organs. It has orifices most transhumans would need a degree just to name, and one of the byproducts of its respiration and digestive systems is a nerve gas. More than that, the greymorph brain was deliberately designed to be hard for contemporary transhuman technology to sleeve in and out of - as alien as Grey Boy could make it and still be able to interact with transhumans. One sleeved in, it took three years of therapy for Grey Boy to adapt to the greymorph, to learn how to operate things that look like knees and elbows but really aren't, to parse sensory information his new brain fed him as colors he didn't have names for, and why chalk tasted like candy to him now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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COG</div>
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COO</div>
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INT</div>
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REF</div>
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SAV</div>
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SOM</div>
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WIL</div>
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MOX</div>
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20</div>
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12</div>
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20</div>
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13</div>
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20</div>
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14</div>
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21</div>
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-</div>
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INIT</div>
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SPD</div>
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LUC</div>
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TT</div>
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IR</div>
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DUR</div>
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WT</div>
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DR</div>
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7</div>
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2</div>
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42</div>
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8</div>
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84</div>
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40</div>
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8</div>
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65</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Morph: </b>Greymorph (Unique Biomorph)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Skills: </b>Academics: Genetics 80, Academics: Philosophy (Anarchy) 34, Art: Fingerpainting 24, Deception 25, Fray 36, Free Fall 30, Gunnery 19, Infosec 25, Interests: Pre-Fall Science Fiction 40, Interests: Tobacco 22, Interests: Xenobiology Culture 40, Interests: Xenopsychology 35, Interfacing 30, Language: Native Czech 80, Language: English 75, Language: Russian 60, Negotiation 35, Networking: Autonomists 15, Networking: Criminals 15, Networking: Firewall, Networking: Scientists 25, Profession: Geneticist 37, Protocol 21, Unarmed Combat (Claw) 40</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Implants: </b>Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Bioweave (Light), Circadian Regulation, Clean Metabolism, Cortical Stack, Poison Glands (Nervex, Psi-Opener), Enhanced Senses (Echolocation, Enhanced Vision), Eidetic Memory, Fractal Digits, Hibernation, Medichines, Neurachem (Level 1), Oxygen Reserve, Toxin Filters<br />
<b>Traits: </b>Addiction (Nicotine, Minor), Greymorph*, Morphing Disorder (Level 3), Social Stigma (Exhuman), Claw Attack (1d10 DV, use Unarmed Combat skill)<br />
<br />
* Greymorphs are treated as xenomorphs in terms of being affected by psi (see <i>Eclipse Phase </i>222) - asyncs suffer a -20 modifier and +1 strain using sleights against them - and are unaffected by Enhanced Pheromones (<i>Eclipse Phase </i>305). In addition, Greymorphs may only ever create delta forks (<i>Eclipse Phase </i>273-4).</div>
<h2>
Seeds</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<ul>
<li>Having spent the last several years acclimating to his morph and finding himself, Grey Boy is at the point where he's happy being on his own - unfortunately, the universe has other plans. It turns out having an "alien perspective" is a marketable quality, and he's getting besieged with offers from everyone from xenocultists looking for an alien love messiah to hypercorps looking for insight on the Factors. Firewall hires the player characters to make contact and convince Grey Boy to lend his unique perspective to protecting transhumanity - a transhumanity he no longer really feels a part of.</li>
<li>Grey Boy keeps his ear to the ground on developments, and hears a rumor of a Jovian Junta military black research project - a psi-opener tuned to xenomorphs. Intrigued, he hires the PCs to steal the research - all they need to do is bust into the heavily-fortified military habitat and copy the files. Of course, there is the minor problem that the Junta was experimenting with the psi-opener on live xenomorphs...who are now loose in the compound.</li>
<li>A new drug is making the pretty young morphs in the club sick - and the media is reporting that Grey Boy has gone missing. The PCs are hired to look into one of the drug deaths, and the clues they follow just might take them to a xenocult that's harvesting Grey Boy for his secretions - the drugs to raise funds, the nerve gas to stockpile as a terrorist weapon - but the leaders are stupid enough to let the nerve gas bleed into the psi-opener, hence the club kid deaths.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br /></div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-27769769081804369592013-12-14T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-14T01:00:02.528-08:00348: Ymir<h1>
ENTRY 348: Ymir</h1>
<div>
On one end of the Fissure Gate, gatecrashers stepped through onto an icy, airless moon orbiting a great banded gas giant - and stared up at the shapes moving along edge of the storm fronts. They called the gas giant Ymir and the extraterrestrials frost giants, and the name stuck. The frost giants are huge non-sentient invertebrates, some hundreds of meters long, armored in methane ice against the winds and could, their bouyancy controlled by internal gas bladders, filtering the gases they "swim" through for water ice and other nutrients. The frost giants travel in throngs with the oldest, largest frost giants in the front, and sometimes make group "dives" into the lower atmosphere, only resurfacing hundreds of kilometers away. Most xenobiologists believe that the creatures are native to Ymir, and speculate that the upper atmosphere contains myriad smaller organisms that the great frost giants feed on, but studies have been extremely limited so far, and an opposing camp believes their biology is based on the metabolism of methane. For the most part, portable telescopes have captured video feeds of the frost giants "swimming" through the upper atmosphere at the forefront of the storms, which have proven very popular on the Mesh - even spawning the expected commercial clothing and toy lines from their images.</div>
<h2>
Seeds</h2>
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>An expedition has been planned to travel through the Fissure Gate, travel to Ymir, capture one of the smaller frost giants (only 8-9 meters long), transport it back through the gate, and from there release it "into the wild" of Jupiter's upper atmosphere. It's a dangerous, technically difficult operation with quite limited scientific impulse behind it, but a Mesh crowdfunding initiative has raised over 200 million credits for the plan, based more or less solely on the idea that having frost giants swimming around Jupiter will be awesome. The player characters are hired on to help wrangle the frost giant - or maybe just as bait for one.</li>
<li>There are other mysteries of Ymir than the frost giants - notably, whether the planet is suitable for gas mining and other commercial exploitation. An anarchist collective with hypercorp partnership is exploring the possibility of turning the moon the gate is on - really, just a largish asteroid - into the anchor point for a space elevator that could be used to pump gas up to station for processing and transport back to Chat Noir. Opposing groups of anarchists use the guise of environmentalism to try and get the PCs to disrupt the operation for free, claiming that the project will endanger the frost giants.</li>
<li>A giant-watcher - one of those transhumans who has set up camp on the moon to monitor the strange extraterrestrials - has detected a solitary specimen that has drifted far away from the other throngs of frost giants and behaving very erratically. Enlisting the PC's help to investigate, they discover the errant creature is long dead - a floating corpse kept aloft by its intact gas bladders, tossed about by the winds. A tremendous prize for science if they can get it out of the atmosphere, certain to cement a rep among scientists and gatecrashers.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-8491026209803700052013-12-13T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-13T01:00:08.088-08:00347: AF Healthcare<h1>
ENTRY 347: AF Healthcare</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Every transhuman is their own physician."<br />
- LGM of Mars<br />
<br />
"Hold on, let me check MeshMD."<br />
- Earl Boutain<br />
<br />
Not everyone can take a trip into the nanobath every time they get a cut or a sniffle, but most habitats and transhumans recognize the need for general, preventative, and emergency care. The exact form of that care and what's available depends largely on the resources available: larger and more established habitats tend to have dedicated on-call medical facilities subsidized by hypercorps or political bodies, staffed by physicians who have passed through a formal course of instruction supplemented by practical experience, and supported by trained nurses, medical technicians, and specialists. Smaller habitats make do with what they have - often little more than a dedicated nurse with a Mesh-based education and certification (or skillwires) with locally 3D-printed tools, and probably an agreement with to wave fees and restrictions so that traveling physicians can farcast in to deal with emergencies beyond local capabilities. Anarchist and Autonomist habitats rarely even have medical farcast agreements in place, relying on Mesh-based medical knowledge and expert systems to diagnose and treat injuries and illnesses to the best of their ability.<br />
<br />
Most transhumans out on the Rim trust the calm, reassuring voice of their medkit over the confusion of Mesh-based medical databases, though in reality the medkit expert system is often based off of and regularly updates from the sprawling, discipline-jumping wikis which touch on everything from chemistry to medical engineering to genehacking to psychology. In the Main Belt, where miners and prospectors are often alone for months on end with very limited supplies and regularly deal with vacuum-walks and high explosives, most habitats keep live medical personnel on-hand at the communication stations to give advice and opinions, perform virtual triage, and to help direct potentially lethal injuries to the nearest station or habitat. Prospector hypercorps that operate in the Belt recognize medical necessity as one of the few legitimate reasons to ransack remote or currently-uninhabitated facilities, and most have signed the Reciprocal Emergency Medical Agreement that forces hypercorp employees to lend aid and assistance in medical emergencies under most circumstances.<br />
<br />
While most transhumans think of healthcare in terms of medical emergencies or life events, the most pressing issue for most habitats is the ongoing management of infectious disease, which in the relatively high-radiation, high population density habitats tend to spread and mutate quickly. Traditional antibacterial agents produced by natural or genegineered micro-organisms tend to be as scarce as natural food; most habitats rely on synthetic antibacterial compounds that they can manufacture locally - and even then, habitats are regularly ravaged by antibiotic-resistant superbugs, which are usually only kept in control by counter nanoinfections and smart viruses. Animal, plant, and even some mineral-based medicines too are relatively rare, though genehackers with a philanthropic bent have made some progress in publishing open-source gene sequences to produce certain substances, with instructions on how to work them into common workhorse bacteria or drug glands.</div>
<h2>
Using AF Healthcare</h2>
<div>
This brief article barely scratches the surface of an ocean that is as deep as you desire it to be; the gist is that healthcare in Eclipse Phase is varied and limited by local restraints - often medical knowledge is in good supply, but medical experience and many common medicines of today are relatively scarce. On the other hand, in the face of extreme need transhumanity has applied their greater technology to the task, so that in the event of medical emergencies a habitat could literally download a doctor into a waiting morph (or have medical staff fork themselves repeatedly to deal with a sudden rush in demand), a surgeon on Luna can operate a surgical pod on Titan, and even in a Brinker stronghold you can download a step-by-step guide on how to facilitate the birth of a transhuman baby through the Mesh. The emergencies are good fodder for adventures, or for when the PCs themselves get hurt and need treatment, but for most transhumans though, healthcare is not about treating beam weapon burns, bullet holes, and slight explosive decompression - it's getting a drug gland that looks like a third nipple but releases anti-migraine medications, figuring out whether the growths on their back indicate it's time to upgrade the radiation shielding, check-ups for micronutrient deficiencies, and all the other regular day-to-day stuff of life. Background, in other words, but potentially important background that can be used to heighten tension in some scenes, or provide solutions when the PCs think they're out of options.</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-80776825111975090922013-12-12T01:00:00.000-08:002014-03-27T10:35:05.441-07:00346: Mr. Attercop<h1>
ENTRY 346: Mr. Attercop</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"You wouldn't believe how much he enjoys being a giant spider."<br />
- Sheena Brideswell, "Mrs. Attercop (I)"<br />
<br />
An ancient Earth philosopher once wrote on the hierarchy of needs - a construct to help try to understand and express how transhumans prioritized their internal and external lives. At the base were physical needs - food, water, shelter - and progressed upwards in extraction to more intangible mental, spiritual, and emotional fulfillment. At the apex was self-actualization - which definition depended slightly on whom was talking about it, but was considered the goal of realizing one's own potential to its greatest extent. It was a goal that was not possible when mere physical needs were a concern, or even the needs of friends, employees, and dependents.<br />
<br />
Synthmorphs, makers, and the post-scarcity economy rather shot a hole in the old hierarchy of needs. Most transhumans don't have to worry about things like breathable air, potable water, and basic nutrition or electricity. The Mesh provides near-infinite entertainment, all the games, porn, viral images of juvenile animals, and transhuman interaction that most people ever need. Most of transhumanity may not exactly be happy, but with their physical needs taken care of and plentiful of mental stimulation, all that is left - all that remains for the majority to seek and solve - is the fulfillment of their emotional needs, and self-actualization. Some find purpose in the defense of transhumanity, the pursuit of political power, or the creation of art. For Mr. Attercop, the first step was resleeving into an arachnoid morph.<br />
<br />
Mr. Attercop has no greater purpose to his life than to be a giant spider. It is his bliss, his goal, and though his wives and children don't always understand it, they are supportive of him and love him. He doesn't consider resleeving to have even been a choice - simply a realization of who and what he always was.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-collapse: collapse; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
COG</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
COO</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
INT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
REF</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SAV</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SOM</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
WIL</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
MOX</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
25</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
-</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
INIT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
SPD</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
LUC</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
TT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
IR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
DUR</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
WT</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
DR</div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left: windowtext 1pt solid; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top: windowtext 1pt solid; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
40</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
80</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
40</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: windowtext 1pt solid; border-left-style: none; border-right: windowtext 1pt solid; border-top-style: none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 55.35pt;" valign="top" width="74"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt;">
60</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Morph: </b>Arachnoid</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Skills: </b>Academics: Arachnology 40, Academics: Mythology (Spiders) 40, Art: Storytelling 25, Fray 20, Free Fall 26, Infiltration 44, Interests: Arachnoid Morphs 50, Interests: Cooking 24, Interests: Web Design 23, Interfacing 26, Language: Native French 90, Language: English 80, Networking: Firewall 10, Networking: Media 20, Perception (Lidar) 36, Profession: Teacher 30, Profession: Tour Guide 30, Protocol 25, Unarmed Combat 40</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Implants: </b>Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Enhanced Vision, Extra Limbs (6 Arms/Legs), Lidar, Mnemonic Augmentation, Pneumatic Limbs, Radar</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Mobility System: </b>Walker (4/24), Thrust Vector (8/40)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Traits: </b>Armor (8/8)</div>
<h2>
Using Mr. Attercop</h2>
<div>
Few transhumans are as comfortable in their own skin as Mr. Attercop. He has embraced being an arachnoid morph to a degree beyond most; there is a bubbly undercurrent to everything he does that shows he's having a great damn time, and it's almost infectious. Player characters will probably meet him as a colorful extra and/or a local Firewall contact; while he normally gets by as a tour guide, teacher, and odd-job man, having found his own blissful calling as a giant mechanical spider he likes to be helpful and interact with others. Left to his own devices he dotes on his two wives and their children, plans out low-gravity webs that he likes to spin using a variety of filaments, and strike up new friendships so he has someone to tell his stories to.<br />
<h2>
Seed</h2>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Mr. Attercop has an early, damaged fork, split off before he resleeved into the arachnoid morph. Unable to resleeve himself due to a morphing disorder, this fork has become deranged. Calling himself the Wolfspider, he has begun to hunt and kill other transhumans on the habitat in the manner of a giant spider - with the suspicion and blame landing immediately on Mr. Attercop. The PCs may be asked to investigate by the habitat, Attercop's wives, or even Firewall.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-49212953861625539622013-12-11T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-11T01:00:10.703-08:00345: Kinaara<h1>
ENTRY 345: Kinaara</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Some said we would be the last generation. From now on, there would be no aging out. Endless immortals, moving body to Mesh, Mesh to body, down through the centuries. No more funerals, no more retirement. We would never outlive our parents and grandparents, never have that closure, never fill their place, never set down our own rules or figure things out through our own struggle. Where would it go from there? How far would parental rights and privileges extend, how great are our responsibilities to care for the ageless? Fuck all of that."<br />
- Elie Kham Sangabat<br />
<br />
"In the Planetary Consortium, 83% of CEOs are over a century old. 93% of those are sleeved into bodies in their biological prime-of-life. Over 60% have children, and 43% grandchildren or more distant descendants. None of whom need ever die in the traditional or legal sense. Polls show that the bulk of these centurions do not see any reason to retire from their positions while still able - and with resleeving, can retain their careers almost indefinitely. Adolescents have to compete for opening positions and internships with fresh-faced octogenarians who have lifetimes of experience over them, sending unemployment for the under-30 demographic to more than 89% in some habitats. The youth have been effectively marginalized, and their only options are an extended, possibly eternal adolescence or a complete break from the institutions that have disenfranchised them."<br />
- <i>Kinaara: A Preliminary Investigation </i>(AF 9, Planetary Consortium Press)<br />
<br />
Death is an opportunity space in transhuman society. Wealth is passed on, previously occupied positions are opened, roles and responsibilities reshuffled. Extended lifespan brings with it stabilization, but also stagnation - political, economic, and often moral power is invested in the emerging gerontocracy. With the advent of advanced age-retardation technologies, forking, and resleeving, the problems involved have been exacerbated; with any transhuman able, at least theoretically, to look and feel as young as they want, there is no need for actual young people. Why bring a shy virgin to your bed when you can hire a 120-year-old whore in the body of a 19-year-old Olympian? Why hire the kid who has never held a job, when you can hire the octogenarian with 60 years of programming experience? The transition from old economies to rep networks was led in part by the disenfranchised class of middle-aged transhumans looking to develop an alternative to the ageless fiscal authority of their parents; now their children are stuck in the same position, unable to generate the credits or the rep to come into their own.<br />
<br />
The first kinaara arose on Luna, among the disaffected youth of Indian and Asian families, tired of the emotional blackmail and suzerainty of their older relatives. Legally emancipating themselves from their biological families, the youth joined together into kinaara cliques to pool their resources and gain rep as a group. Small, poor, and inexperienced, the kinaara act for mutual support to get by, and tend to live out on the edges of habitats where space is cheap, taking the nastiest and least desirable jobs - but away from the domination of their parents' and grandparents' rep and money, they can at least start to earn a living on their own.</div>
<h2>
Mechanics</h2>
<div>
At the gamemaster's discretion a group which has established a formal and distinctive identity, like a kinaara or a team of player characters, may establish a Group Rep with one or more networks. This works much the same as other forms of rep, save that any group member may contribute Rez Points toward buying up the Group Rep (the usual limit of 1 RP/+10 per network per month remains in effect), and any group member may also request favors or burn Group Rep - even without consulting the other members.</div>
<h2>
Using Kinaara</h2>
<div>
The kinaara cliques are small groups of youth that have no feasible chance of rising according to their own merits in a society which has no place for the poor and inexperienced. Some accept living under the financial and social control of their parents and grandparents for their entire lives; many don't even understand that they have a choice in the matter. Others self-destruct, sometimes only to find that suicide isn't an easy option. The kinaara preferred a clean break: emancipation from family, including the legal, social, and economic ties, and the opportunity to sink or swim on their own with their new affection-group of like-minded, like-age compatriots. Some groups fall apart, but most are having a good time at least trying to make a go of it. The kinaara represent both the hope and desperation of transhumanity as it transitions into a society of digital immortality, and PCs might approach them as friends, enemies, or role-models. The PCs may even start out as a kinaara, which is as good a reason as any for them to get together for a campaign and go on adventures.</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-65497121715548033442013-12-10T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-10T01:00:08.452-08:00344: Third Run<h1>
ENTRY 344: Third Run</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Can it be synthesized?"<br />
- Mo Kohen, Chief Technology Officer of the Tharsis League<br />
<br />
There are still monopolies. Chemistry is the science of processes, and while most transhumans think of chemistry in terms of the end products, chemists and chemical engineers know that the real difficulty in any synthesis are determining the processes involved, and the more complicated or obscure the molecules involved, the more difficult it can be to reverse-engineer how to make a given substance. When it comes to biological substances like flavinoids or aromatic compounds, which are typically synthesized using genetically-engineered organisms, reverse-synthesis can be difficult or almost impossible. So it is that a few hypercorps, habitats, and even individuals can have a virtual monopoly on certain substances, simply by keeping their processes and raw material trade secret. While eventually competitors will be able to create comparable products, by refusing to patent their processes or copyright the genetic codes involved, the monopolists require chemists and genehackers to work from scratch, trusting entirely in secrecy rather than legality for protection of their intellectual property.<br />
<br />
On Mars, the most important monopolist is the small incorporated habitat of Third Run, a predominantly ethnic Indonesian enclave independent of the Tharsis League. Third Run is the only producer of nutmeg, mace, and related essential oils in the solar system, and the export of these materials is the basis of their wealth. While it is assumed that the Third Run community has access to the original genetic material of <i>Myristica fragrans, </i>and possibly other species, the habitat is too small to contain whole nutmeg trees, suggesting that they use some other method to produce and harvest the spices. Many hypercorps maintain a sizable bounty for any industrial spy that can crack the secret of Third Run's production processes and/or return with a sample of nutmeg genetic material, but so far the paranoid, security-conscious community of Third Run has prevented any leaks, spending a considerable portion of their nutmeg export earnings to keep their security state-of-the-art.<br />
<br />
Generally isolationist, Third Run has accepted a few hypercorp visitors over the years. All of them report that beyond the airlocks the atmosphere is kept near-tropical, and the scent of spices and human occupation are omnipresent and nearly overpowering at first. Reportedly, the culture of the habitat places severe emphasis on personal responsibility and celebration of individual effort, but also a closeness to community, lack of personal space and property, and near-xenophobia towards outsiders, along with a graded security/taboo concept where access to certain areas/substances/individuals was restricted based on practical and social necessity. Outsiders were warned that they were not permitted into any region marked with yellow indicator lines - which corresponded with sealed portions of the habitat believed to lead to medical and lab areas - and were not allowed to enter until they signed a contract agreeing to abide by these restrictions. The few individuals who have violated the yellow line never returned from the habitat.</div>
<h2>
Using Third Run</h2>
<div>
A tough nut to crack, Third Run is primarily presented as a challenge for player characters looking to practice their breaking & entering skills, and in many respects represents a classical dungeon scenario for Eclipse Phase. However, this is a carefully-set-up ruse - an elaborate headfake or honey trap designed to discourage and mislead thieves. Security increases the farther the PCs get into Third Run, but the secret of the habitat doesn't lie in it's mythical, heavily-guarded "production" facilities, but in its inhabitants. The genetic material for nutmeg was coded into a pair of diseases (nutmeg is viral, mace is bacterial) that forms a chronic infection in the population of Third Run, and the nutmeg, mace, and related substances are carefully harvested by individuals and processed discretely under the guise of waste management. The Third Run inhabitants carefully monitor and track the expression, spread, and treatment of their disease, as prolonged episodes can lead to hallucination, illness, and death.<br />
<h2>
Seed</h2>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>A disaster in Third Run: the mace bacteria has mutated to become resistant to typical antibacterial treatments, the an outbreak of "mace pox" threatens to get out of control. Third Run microbiologist Peya is sent out to obtain the technology necessary to contain the disease, and the player characters are hired as her bodyguards and helpers, as Peya has never been outside Third Run before. While her yellow tattoos mark her as taboo to the inhabitants of Third Run, in the crowded habitats which do not recognize her society's customs the prospect of personal contact is disturbing and horrific to her. Unfortunately for Peya and the PCs, some bounty-hunting chemists think this is an ideal chance to grill Peya for some answers to the secrets of Third Run.</li>
</ul>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-73443696134407555672013-12-09T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-09T01:00:13.819-08:00343: Space Lightning Strikes<h1>
ENTRY 343: Space Lightning Strikes</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Initial probe shows that the atmosphere has a high-oxygen content and no toxic gases, but we'll send you through with full breathing gear just in case. We also think that the other side of the gate opens into an artificial construct - there's no sign of life, but we want you to be careful anyway. This could be a first contact scenario."<br />
- Mission Briefing<br />
<br />
The latest gatecrashing expedition is to an exoplanet that doesn't even have a name yet; the scientists are still arguing whether it should be Perdurabo or Voltron. Atmosphere is breathable, gravity is a little heavier than Earth-normal but not grossly so, temperature is a very reasonable 78 C, radiation levels are well within acceptable limits, and the first probe shows that the gate is semi-enclosed by what appears to be an artificial structure. While it's not clear yet whether or not this is another Echo V, that's what everyone appears to be hoping for.<br />
<br />
The most worrying thing so far is the complete lack of any signs of life - even microbial or plant life. The initial probe sent through came back as clean as when it had been sent. The current hypothesis among the scientists is that the world did once have carbon-based life, but some extinction event killed <i>everything </i>on the planet, leaving only an oxygen-rich atmosphere that would someday perhaps deplete itself.<br />
<br />
As the gatecrashers make their last prep and step through, the gentle patter of rain strikes their helmets. There's a hole in the ceiling, and through it they can see streaming grey clouds and flashes of lighting. If they take off their helmets, the air tastes of ozone. Around them, all is dust - scattered bits of rust-encrusted machinery, faded images on the wall, bits of something that almost looks like paper. A little exploration outside the room shows them that they're in a building, part of a larger complex - clearly artificial, or at least artificially expanded from some natural feature like a hill or cliff.<br />
<br />
They're also not alone. The noise of their coming attracts a graying, bedraggled member of the Factors. The surprising contact is set off against a bolt of lightning suddenly coming down and hitting their gate, knocking it out of operation.<br />
<br />
Alone on a dead world, cut off from home, with no chance of rescue and only a single extraterrestrial to keep them company. Game on.</div>
<h2>
Using Space Lightning Strikes</h2>
<div>
A basic set-up for a rather high-concept scenario, no different in many ways from an episode of <i>Stargate </i>or <i>Sliders </i>- but hey, call it an homage. The PCs are hired for a bit of gatecrashing, are given plenty of time to prepare and get whatever equipment they need, step through into a dead world, meet a lonely shipwrecked Factor who has apparently been living off of freeze-dried local food for years, and then! Lightning strikes. The rules of the game change. What was supposed to be a bit of exploration has turned into a desperate struggle for survival, and their only chance of going home might be to get the gate fixed. A lot of the scenario depends on the player character's own ingenuity and approach - if they are hostile to the Factor (whom they might well not be able to talk to right away), getting out of here is going to be very difficult. Don't be afraid to let the player characters envisage (even plan out) staying on Perdurabo/Voltron for possibly months or years as the PCs and the Factor work out a means of communication and then apply their joint technical skills to repairing the gate. The gamemaster's saving throw is that even if the PCs and Factor fail - which they might well - the gate is still operable, and in a couple months the corporation that hired them will try to send another team through, and the PCs (and Factor) can escape then. But give them the chance to get out on their own merits first.<br />
<br /></div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4510109477211793247.post-16668811913894662842013-12-08T01:00:00.000-08:002013-12-08T01:00:03.229-08:00342: Smile, Akira<h1>
ENTRY 342: Smile, Akira</h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Industry is, for the most part, automated. Intellectual labor is reduced by the omnipresence of computing power, and in no short supply thanks the ease of resleeving - a single intelligent, skilled ego can theoretically be forked to fill as many positions as necessary, and even where this is not feasible skillwires can make up a large part of the difference in terms of filling the need for skilled and semi-skilled labor. The bulk of the transhuman workforce is thus relegated to non-autonomous, non-skilled service - emotional labor. These are the transhumans who are the face of the hypercorps, not just the big media personalities but all the minor actors, service reps, wait staff, call staff, and others that essentially exist to interact between the hypercorp and the transhuman customer, and it is their actions and appearance that influence the customer and give them their impression of the hypercorp as a whole. Customer service metrics clearly show the correlation between happy, helpful, empathetic service employees and customer evaluations; follow-up deep studies of buying habits and spyware track-backs of reviews confirm the causative relationship. So when the customer comes calling, the hypercorp representative will always meet them with a smile.<br />
<br />
Akira once did a calculation, and determined that he had spent six years of his life smiling. Three days later the habitat authorities found the mutilated body of a fifteen-year-old splicer; the ego in the cortical stack was heavily deranged and could only repeat the word "Smile" - her parents opted to restore their daughter from a four-day-old backup. Akira, a trusted low-level hypercorp employee, was never even questioned or implicated in the crime. Every day, all day, he would sit and flash customers his smile, sometimes for sixteen hours on a shift. Even that was sometimes not enough; his manager came to talk to him one day and said that kinesics programs showed his smile didn't look <i>real enough</i>, that secondary behavioral characteristics suggested tiredness and insincerity. Fortunately, the corporation had a program - a mild prescription he could take while he was at work, and a minor cosmetic augmentation to help his face shape and hold his smile more comfortably. It was important, Akira's manager emphasized, that he do his best to be the face of the company.<br />
<br />
That was when Akira started thinking about his next victim.</div>
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COG</div>
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COO</div>
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INT</div>
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REF</div>
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SAV</div>
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SOM</div>
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WIL</div>
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MOX</div>
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18</div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
13</div>
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18</div>
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13</div>
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10</div>
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18</div>
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15</div>
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-</div>
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INIT</div>
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SPD</div>
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LUC</div>
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TT</div>
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IR</div>
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DUR</div>
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WT</div>
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DR</div>
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7</div>
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1</div>
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30</div>
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6</div>
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60</div>
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30</div>
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6</div>
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45</div>
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</tbody></table>
</div>
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<br />
<b>Morph:</b> Splicer<br />
<b>Skills:</b> Academics: Art (Manga) 25, Academics: Psychology (Sociopaths) 20, Art: Drawing 20, Blades 35, Deception (Smile) 70, Free Fall (Microgravity) 20, Interests: Comix & Cartoons 30, Interests: Serial Killers 40, Interfacing 23, Language: Native Japanese 85, Language: English 80, Language: Korean 75, Networking: Autonomists 5, Networking: Hypercorps 5, Profession: Customer Service 50, Protocol: 45<br />
<b>Implants:</b> Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cosmetic Augmentation (Smile augmentation), Emotional Dampers<br />
<b>Traits:</b> Addiction (Antidepressants, Major), Mental Derangement (Smile Mask Syndrome)<br />
<div>
<h2>
Using Akira</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Akira spends the bulk of his waking life pretending to be happy. This depresses the ever-living shit out of him. Every day, for hours on end, talking to people that don't know or like him with a smile plastered on his face - his face <i>altered</i> to let it assume and hold that smile longer, going through the motions of having one emotion while he feels dead inside. But he doesn't have the rep or the skills to do much else, and his ever-rotating series of bosses continue to put pressure on him to do his best, micromanaging him closer and closer to a smiling nervous breakdown. The player characters might even start feeling bad for him until they find out his hobby is killing people. As a minor hypercorporate wageslave, Akira might be a useful contact - which makes it all the more interesting when, after being mildly helpful in several sessions without asking anything in return, Akira suddenly calls in a favor and asks for the PCs to dispose of something for him - like a necklace of teeth. As a straight-out antagonist, the player characters might be hired to track down the sadistic serial kidnapper that always horribly mutilates his victims, few of whom can do more than describe his omnipresent smile.</div>
</div>
</div>
greyirishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613850313903205301noreply@blogger.com0