336: The Seeds

ENTRY 336: The Seeds

"We will not make the same mistakes. We will be prepared for all contingencies. Next time...and we feel there will be a next time...we will be ready. If not for the enemy we must face, than for what comes after."
- The August XXX, Firewall Council Meeting Notes

Since the Fall, Firewall has worked to protect transhumanity from exsurgent threats - both those that arise within and without. Yet its actions are not limited simply to foreseeing or defeating those agencies that wish to cause extermination to transhumanity, but the preservation of transhumanity itself in some form in the event of a similar catastrophic event on the order of the Fall. While most transhumans cannot bring themselves to even consider such scenarios, Firewall is determined that if - when - the next Fall occurs, something of transhumanity will survive, and will have the means to continue.

The Seeds are one of Firewall's long-term projects. Each Seed is a singular artifact designed and produced with the latest nanotechnology and containing a precis of transhumanity's accumulated scientific and technical knowledge, compiled and constructed without regard to who owns or claims the intellectual property involved. Firewall has designed the Seeds as providing everything needed to rebuild a transhuman technical base, literally from scratch. Once complete, the Seed is hidden away in a transhuman population calculated as statistically likely to survive a major extinction event - often small, but long-lived habitats away from major population centers like Mars, Titan, or Luna. Currently there are five Seeds scattered throughout the transhuman dominion, with the Sixth Seed in planning and production stages.

Using The Seeds

The Seeds may be the future of transhumanity, and if the gamemaster wants to treat them as mere MacGuffins to be fought over and won or sold or lost, that's fine. However, the PCs associated with Firewall may also be brought in to assist with the production of the Seeds, or hiding/protecting them, or seeding clues to their location so that survivors of the next extinction event can find them. Player characters may also desire the Seeds for themselves - each represents a pinnacle of nanotechnology, and once activated could do almost anything. Rather than be a meaningless MacGuffin, it might be interesting for the gamemaster to set specific capabilities for each of the Seeds. Some possible forms and capabilities might include:

•  A "nano-bomb" designed to disassemble an entire asteroid and re-assemble it into a full-sized, functional space habitat.
• A "living Seed" in the form of a synthmorph with AGI that acts as a living repository for technical knowledge.
• A nanophage that bonds with the nearest transhuman(s) and establishes a mini-Mesh between their minds, directing them to build.
• A sizable hidden cloning facility capable of regenerating a sustainable transhuman biomorph population when activated.

If a gamemaster is interested in a campaign, the different Seeds might actually be designed to integrate with one another, to make a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts - a machine that could terraform an exoplanet, at least in theory.

Seed

• Not everyone approves of Firewall's attempts to save transhumanity - or at least, doesn't agree with their philosophy of willing to write off the bulk of transhumanity so some fragment of it can survive. The Aggies are a former Firewall action cell that has determined to hunt down and expose or destroy the Seeds, in an effort to force Firewall to stick to its mission of protecting all transhumans, not just a chosen statistically-likely few. Firewall contacts the PCs to hinder and reason with them, but when the talking is done and the guns come out, which side will the PCs choose?

217: Gash

ENTRY 217: Gash

Nanoinfection-based birth control did not exactly take off when first introduced. By the time they came around, various forms of birth control implants for both men and women had been around for decades and offered very good rates of protection and hormone balance, so the early nanite systems offered few advantages beyond the ability to be programmed remotely—and that turned into a disadvantage during the much-publicized case of a computer virus that caused six transhumans to spontaneously abort when their deactivated but still present nanite birth control systems were caused to reactivate.

Still, after the technology was mostly abandoned to commercial development, amateurs and hobbyists took up the challenge. Most of them focused on adding additional functionality, sensors, and especially security controls. A number of workable products made it past the alpha stage of development and were made available on the Mesh for personal testing…which is when the first cases of gash were reported.

Exact details on the gash nanoinfection are obscure, even today. It is known to commonly spread through unprotected (or perhaps more accurately insufficiently protected) sexual intercourse, with the nanites able to pass through latex and most other porous materials. Victims are subject to irregular hormone surges often resulting in acne, mood swings, bloating, and sensitivity or development of secondary sexual characteristics such as beards and breasts. The single most common symptom is a periodic shedding of the urinary tract wall, resulting in a bloody or pinkish discharge, which is especially likely to occur immediately after sexual contact. This is believed to have been an effort by the designer to “flush out” possible urinary tract infections, but has become widely known as “the artificial period” or even “the male period,” even though the infection affects all transhuman biomorphs regardless of gender.

Efforts to eliminate gash nanoinfections have been stymied by the rather short duration—most instances last only two weeks before they deteriorate to the point of ineffectiveness—as well as by the security countermeasures programmed into the nanites, which makes remotely deactivating or controlling them very difficult. Still, a single sexually-active transhuman infected with gash can represent a tremendous health risk to a small habitat, and Mesh sleuths are working to track down the afflicted source code and work on effective treatment methods.

Mechanics

Gash is effectively a long-lasting nanotoxin (Eclipse Phase, p.324), with the symptoms given above—these are more embarrassing and personally distressing than long-lasting or mechanically relevant. Nanodetectors can detect this nanotoxin, and nanophages provide complete immunity to infection unless the character chooses to allow it.

Using Gash

Gash is nasty, unpleasant, and often a terrible surprise, and a gamemaster can ask little more for what is effectively a science fiction STD. As with pregnancy and cancer, sexually-transmitted diseases rarely form a part of the typical gaming experience, and when they do it is usually more of a plot point than an actual health threat or the main focus of the game—and so gash has been provided to assist gamemasters that want such a plot point in their game. The most common use of gash in a game is either for one of the PCs to catch it (as their special bonus prize for sexy fun time) and have to figure out what is happening to them and how to cure it (which mainly involves a treatment to counteract the symptoms and wait for the nanoinfection to degrade to ineffectiveness), or for infections to be loose on the habitat and having to track down who or what is responsible and stop it. Other options are of course possible: a particularly nasty version of gash could actually pose a serious health risk, or a particularly lurid villain might deliberately infect certain individuals in an effort to catch their genetic material during a “discharge;” it is up to the gamemaster how anatomically detailed and gross they care to make their plotlines. As a plot point, gash can also make an interesting way to “track” a sexually-active target, by tracing them through their infected partners.