337: EarthCon

ENTRY 337: EarthCon

"We gather here to remember Earth-that-was, and Earth-that-shall-be-again. Transhumans, charge your glasses and raise them high. In toast to the fallen, in memory still bright."
- J-Bird, EarthCon Opening Convocation

Every Earth year, transhumans from across the solar system converge on the Muir habitat on Luna for EarthCon. The population often increases in size by an order of magnitude during the 240 hour event, requiring temporary domes and tin cans to be established to house both the visitors and the exhibits. Parents and guardians bring their children to the greenhouses and micro-farms to smell the scents of Earth-life, take physical tours through reconstructions of Earth city streets, wade in the synthetic oceans of painfully rebuilt beaches, hear recitations of poetry in nearly-dead languages, old recipes followed with strict authenticity to produce foods unknown to most transhumans, experience Earth-gravity in spin chambers, see the artifacts and remnants brought up from Earth, all physical reminders of what transhumanity has left behind. There are rememberances and lessons on who and what was lost, the struggle that culminated in the abandonment of Earth. Visitors wear native costumes long discarded as impractical living in space, some going so far as to resleeve into simulacra of historical characters. Memorials are raised for the dead, oaths renewed, reclaimationist plans discussed, scholarship shared. It is EarthCon, one of the greatest events of the year.

EarthCon Corp. is a non-profit organization that stages EarthCon every year, in cooperation with the Muir Habitat Authority and Lunar-Lagrange Alliance. Admission is explicitly free to all attendees, and necessary materials are often volunteered by participating hypercorps in exchange for the rights to limited advertising, with many hypercorps competing for the most sensational, realistic, or poignant display. During the period of EarthCon, the ECC assumes special legislative control of the Muir habitat and temporary extensions, dedicated to allowing access to any transhuman, and permitting the full participation of all transhumans - no matter their morph, orientation, or affiliation. Troublemakers quickly find themselves shadowed by ushers - cockroach-headed security synthmorphs designed to evoke disgust in most transhumans; and if their crimes are heinous enough (rape, murder, or fire-production not arranged ahead of time with the ECC as a part of the festivities) they are escorted - forcibly if necessary - to the nearest airlock.

Other habitats throughout the system have their own, smaller EarthCons; most of these are licensed from the ECC for a nominal fee and agreement to follow the spirit of EarthCon ("Open access for all transhumans."), and some of the largest and best-organized are staged at Olympus on Mars and at Liberty Station on Ganymede in the Jovian Republic.

Using EarthCon

The future is a study in contrasts, and while many Eclipse Phase campaigns will focus on what transhumanity has gained - resleevings, personal augmentations, space habitats, gatecrashing, etc. - it is also important to remember what has been lost. Not just the planet Earth, it's breathable air and natural wildlife, but the vast cultures that disappeared almost overnight, and the few remaining quickly dying out or becoming isolated. There are transhumans in AF 10 who only known Earth through second-hand memories, if at all, and their trips to EarthCon hold the same emotional resonance for them as a child visiting an elaborate movie set or theme park or museum. Emotions run high and deep, and as the setting for a scenario EarthCon can range from comedy over the reaction of morphs who have never been to the beach before to pathos as still-scarred veterans and survivors of the Fall weep at the memorial to their fallen comrades or leave floating candles to remember the family members that died on Earth. In addition to the bug-headed ushers, the ECC always contracts private shadow security forces to identify and shut down any disruptions to the planned events - and the ECC is willing to defy anyone, even the Planetary Consortium or Jovian Republic or a major hypercorp, who tries to keep anyone out or in other ways disrupt the freedom that characterizes the event. Even if the PCs don't care to participate directly, a minor Earthcon is one of their best chances to show up somewhere they're normally persona non grata.

263: Rep Day

ENTRY 263: Rep Day

Religions have their place after the Fall, from the xenocults and new religions to the old survivals and revivals of past practice, adapted as well as they are able to the new circumstances of transhumanity. However, the general lack of holy days and increasing secularization of habitats has led to a downswing in actual holidays, an absence that has been cited as a cause of mental and economic stress among transhuman populations. Many habitats develop local holidays, often based around significant anniversaries or events in the history of the habitat population, or else regularly-scheduled administrative leave periods, but these artificial institutions tend to be unsatisfying, clinical affairs that lack real emotional resonance. In a time when so much of transhumanity is ultimately transient and has been in their current habitat less than ten years, the anniversary of the founding of the habitat is relatively insignificant.

Among the few holiday traditions that has really caught on, thanks to a grassroots Mesh movement, synchronized scheduling, and sponsorship by all the major reputation networks is Rep Day. On Rep Day, members of the rep networks are encouraged to introduce new individuals to their rep networks, and exchange gifts and services; most habitats with an operating rep-based economy have favors called in to arrange large parties and celebrations, and various digital media artists, technicians, and artists work year-round producing new entertainment material, freebies, and large rep boosts for small acts of kindness. Most habitats look forward to Rep Day because of the increased demand, which helps to stimulate the local economy, but for many Rep Day is just an occassion to exchange gifts or small favors with their family or friends.

Mechanics

Rep Day is a good opportunity for characters to build their rep by participating in the various activities and providing goods, favors, expertise, or services to the local Rep Day parties. In game terms characters are all treated as if their Rep Level was 10 points higher than normal, with many Trivial favors given away for free. Characters who are particularly generous with their time or resources on Rep Day (Level 3 Favor or higher) receive a number of free Rez Points which they can put toward increasing their rep – 1 RP for all-day participation/1,000 credits worth of donated goods/services; 2 RP for month-long Rep Day preparation/5,000 credits worth of donated goods/services; and 3 RP for year-long Rep Day preparation and planning/200,000 credits worth of donated goods/services.

Seeds

• It may be Rep Day in the rest of the ‘verse, but the local orphanarium is being defunded. They need at least 10,000 credits or a couple really big favors to keep going through the end of the year. No one else in the habitat seems to care—do the player characters?
• Local ne’er-do-wells that take advantage of Rep Day to abuse the charity and good will of others are known as Rep Day Dicks. This year though, the Rep Day organizers have a plan: they ask the PCs to spend the day getting the whole pack of RDDs drunk, high, laid, and otherwise away from the more family-friendly and organized activities. Can the PCs corral and inebriate a pack of dedicated debauchers, or will Rep Day be ruined?

204: Lunar Pimps & Hos Ball

ENTRY 204: Lunar Pimps & Hos Ball

Obscene implants wobbling in microgravity. Representatives from every part of the spectrum of sexual fetish, from the steaming genitals of the transhuman pets straining at their leashes to the streamlined and baroque New Sexes strutting their stuff, custom sex organs on careful display. Guests are allowed on the convention floor, but by tradition the Ball itself is reserved for registered Pimps and their Hos, resplendent in their finest. At the midnight hour the Queens will be crowned, the Grand Pimp named, and then the formal procession will begin, each pimp showing their strut in a loud, lazy parade. A celebration of transhuman sexuality, in every form and flavor.

The Lunar Pimps & Hos Ball is a tradition stretching back to before the Fall, and some say before the legalization of sex workers in most of the Lunar habitats. Originally an informal gathering for socialization and networking, in these later days the Ball has turned into a system-wide trade and career fair, where young hopefuls come to learn about and apply for positions, and hypercorps and groups of all types come together to educate, entertain, and advertise their latest research, products, and philosophies. On the convention floor, amateurs of every size and shape are engaged with interactive sex ed displays, torrents of pornography, meet their favorite himbos and bimbos, listen to talks from industry veterans, and buy or sell nearly anything. The trade floor is more corporate, but with a three drink/narcoalgorithm minimum, and often hosts academic lectures on economic prospects, fetishization tracking algorithms, and other metrics; new products and production techniques are laid out and big deals made on human furniture. The Adult Media Awards are often held the night before the Ball, and it is traditional that the facilities close with the Last Dance in honor of those pimps and hos of old who have passed on.

The Ball itself has a more select audience—invitation only, limited to 200 pimps and their selection of their two best hos. Despite the name, not every invitee is a sex work administrator, but all of them get into the style and mood of the party, and the extravagant escapades make for some of the highest viewer ratings of anything on the ‘Mesh.

Using the Lunar Pimps & Hos Ball

Sex in RPGs tends to be ignored unless it causes Drama. Rape, incest, bestiality, alien abductions and impregnations, etc. are fine to read about if that’s your particular kink, but at the table reading that stuff out loud tends to just make people squirm—and not in the good way. The Lunar Pimps & Hos Ball is primarily about allowing the gamemaster a venue to use sex creatively and positively in their Eclipse Phase game; the kind of openness and weirdness about sex you read about in old New Wave science fiction. From a gaming standpoint, the Lunar Pimps & Hos Ball also presents a collusion of social and hypercorp interests that you rarely get together, so there is plenty of room for corporate espionage, hurt feelings, stolen prototypes, and blackmail. Fun for the whole family!

173: Graviton Trade Talks

ENTRY 173: Graviton Trade Talks

It began, as many things do, when a drunken physicist scribbled something on a napkin. The party was a trade junket at Extropia, with various manufacturing interests discussing the purchase of some novel allotropic alloys from the Factors. In addition to the various official negotiating bodies were various specialists, administrators, and hangers-on at the party, waiting in case their expertise or decision-making powers were called upon. Most of them ended up highly inebriated by hour seven of the meeting; one of them—Jorge-Achmed Long, an experimental physicist, was actually given half an hour of unsupervised conversation with one of the Factors. Which led to the napkin. When Jorge-Achmed sobered up the next day, he realized he’d begun conditional negotiations for purchase of the proof of gravitons.

That was five years ago, and the official beginning of the Graviton Trade Talks, a series of negotiations between the Factors and the Planetary Consortium that still have not culminated one way or another. A large portion of the negotiations involve both parties determining exactly what is on the table. Despite the Initial Drunken Napkin Agreement (IDNA), the Factors have been clear that gravitons as massless particles that mediate the force of gravitation is not quite correct, but they’re being cagey about giving up more details to the point that entire teams of physicists have spent the last couple years of their careers combing over every statement any Factor at the Graviton Trade Talks has ever made, looking for clues as to the real nature of gravity. What is clear is that the Factors themselves are not certain they want to trade over anything related to graviton-tech to transhumanity, or more importantly what the going market price should be.

Using the Graviton Trade Talks

As an ongoing event of some minor importance, the Graviton Trade Talks are a nice background element to roll out in any game—an easy go-to for small talks, news, etc. “Major disappointment today at the Graviton Trade Talks…” “Chief instigator of the Graviton Trade Talks Jorge-Achmed Long vomited on the Factor ambassador today, who apparently thanked J-A for the contribution of nutrients…” “Hey, I heard the Martians are trying to undercut the Consortium at the Trade Talks, cut the rest of the solar system out of the deal…damn Rusters…” and so on and so forth. Likewise, the trade talks are a good place to place any physicist or Factor NPC that the gamemaster needs for an adventure. As with trade talks in general, the Graviton Trade Talks are also an excellent setting for general espionage activities, particularly if the Factors can ever be convinced to bring out an example of their graviton technology.

Seed

• The PCs are hired to bug the Graviton Trade Talks. Security is tight, but their employer has noted a potential weak spot: chief instigator Jorge-Achmed Long, who has a taste for male company after a long day of talking physics. If the PCs can get invited back to J-A’s living quarters they’ll bypass most of his security measures…and from there it’s a relatively painless and easy process for them to attach the surreptitious neutrino farcaster listening device to J-A’s cortical stack. Well, painless for them.

086: First Spawning

ENTRY 086: First Spawning

In the floating bubble-cities of Europa, transhuman aquatic biomorphs prepares for the First Spawning, an organized mass water birth to herald the first generation of transhumans that are born as aquatic biomorphs. Though the parental units represent a diverse range of modified human and human-derived morphs, they are united in their desire to establish a generational presence beneath the ice of Europa—to make a solid biological commitment to stay and make it a transhuman world for their children and their children’s children to inhabit. Expectant parents stroll the promenades and practice their birth exercises, discussing the mostly-untested philosophies of amphibious childcare, looking forward to the big event.

Even as the date of the First Spawning draws close, detractors and critics continue to find flaws with the program. The newborn children growing in their parent’s wombs are, they argue, already obsolete, the genetech that went into their design already months old. None of the Europan habitats are yet self-sufficient, though those holding first spawning events have already begun to plan for how to house, provide, and educate their forthcoming charges.

Using the First Spawning

The First Spawning, whether it is a success or a disaster, will prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of Europan colonization, provided the Europan habitats prove stable in the long term. In game, whether or not you choose to feature the First Spawning directly it can provide a basis for showcasing a key division in Europa, between those who seek to expand by traditional methods (i.e. standard or modified human reproduction) and those who try more novel methods (i.e. mass production of aquatic synthmorphs). The different views of the future espoused by groups promoting one method over the other can provide a good impetus for adventures, especially when contrasted with those Europans whose only concern is for immediate survival in the present.

Seeds

• Europans are taking any rumors of disruption or potential security risks of the First Spawning very seriously; in some cases this has led to “temporary” restrictions on personal freedoms and heightened public surveillance. A group of asexual morphs ask the player characters to help them evade the authorities so that they can stage a harmless “artbombing” in protest against the new restrictions.
• While the First Spawning is the first organized birthing event on Europa, it is far from the first live birth. Individual pregnancies carried to term on Europa have faced a number of difficulties given the environment, morph design, and lack of medical care; some transhumans have been trying repeatedly for live birth for years. With the First Spawning, these transhumans have now received the help and resources they require to successfully conceive and carry a child to term…but the latest medical scans show some of the fetuses have already developed serious defects commensurate with exposure to exsurgent viruses. Foul play is suspected, and the PCs are asked to come in as independent investigators to discover the culprit, before the entire First Spawning is infected…