253: Recess

ENTRY 253: Recess

“Youth, on your schedule, on your terms.”

- Recess viral advertising campaign

Many transhumans throughout history have tried to figuratively recapture or relive their youths; only now in the time of pods and resleeving can this actually be accomplished. Rejuvenation, resleeving into a younger cloned body, even a neotenic morph are available for those transhumans with the pull or the credits to feel young again—the supple body, the boundless energy, the smooth skin and fresh eyes. For those that cannot afford to be a child full-time of course, there is always Recess.

Situated on Gerlach, Recess is a collaborative role-playing environment where customers take command of neotenic morphs adapted as pods, puppet socking their charges and living vicariously through various scenarios, from a night with parents to a day at school. The most popular scenario is a literal infinite recess on a multi-microgravity level playground-city, where there are no “adult” morphs around, and only employees (either real neotenics or other puppeteers) to keep the peace and help make friends, leading activities like rival playtime gangs.

Specialist scenarios catering to more rarified tastes are also available, reproducing elements of childhood punishment and embarrassment, sexual encounters, and even an annual and quite brutal “child soldier” re-enactment which has appalled many and yet been lauded for accurately representing the physical and psychological trauma, thus discoursing its proliferation. Many habitats aware of these less-savory elements of Recess’ business have seen fit to limit their inhabitant’s access, but the permissive administration of Gerlach allows the business to continue so long as all egos enter into the process with full consent.

Using Recess

Recess is basically a good locale for letting PCs interact with neotenics and as neotenics, either by resleeving or puppeteering one of the available neotenic pods…and there is considerable reason to do so. Recess’ clients include hypermedia executives to burnt-out petal abusers, politicians with unpopular kinks and bored house-husbands, all eager to shed their old skins and experience life as children again. The distinction of neotenics is that while they may look like children, they are not—and nowhere is that quite so obvious as when a group of mature egos is piloting a group of childlike bodies in a three-story microgravity playground with no obvious supervision. Even outside of the “special scenarios,” violence (even sexual violence) is a possibility, and we’re not talking about Jhassa stealing Corban’s crayons… As always, the gamemaster should decide how visceral and gritty they want to play this at their own table; adults in the bodies of children can get as dark as an episode of CSI: Special Victims Unit, or be a relatively light frolic where people really do just act like kids, complete with tantrums and poor bladder control.

Seed

• A special “group enrollment” into the child soldier annual event has the management staff of Recess worried. The PCs are quietly approached and offered free enrollment passes (valued at up to 10,000 credits each) if they can track back the client. Doing so leads to a brinker community on the dark side of the Moon—who is using the virtual child soldier simulation to help train real child soldiers. If the PCs can obtain hard evidence (or sufficient testimony), then Recess will cancel the event and alert the lunar authorities.