(Hey, been a while, huh guys? The simple version is basically that I pivoted a lot of my work to my YouTube channel and growing and refining that, which combined with kind of the stagnation I felt while the 2E was being developed and tested meant I didn't feel like firing in on some EP ideas for a while. But since 2E is out and about and I've been reading it and getting a bit back into EP, I've been thinking about occasionally scratching a few ol' ideas off my list, and maybe some new ones. If you want to hear my thoughts on the new edition, check out the most recent episode of our podcast What's Up? w/ Omega & Lucky where me and the co-host get into it. Also considering subbing us for future Actual Plays and other discussions. Otherwise, here's a bit of a look at what has been consuming a lot of my time for the past couple years...)
"Gacha" is a term for a type of randomized mechanic from the Japanese "gashapon" the term for capsule machines. The western way of referring to this mechanic was popularized as "loot boxes". They are commonly a form of monetization, where one redeems in-game items or currency for a randomized reward, and the currency can be purchased with real-world money. It draws its origins from real life capsule toy machines, where one feeds in physical currency to get a randomly distributed toy (often with specific items having specific rarity), or from the "booster pack" model of many trading card games. Over the years, various concerns and definitions have been raised over the system, theorizing it is anti-consumer, exploits addictive tendencies, or is tantamount to gambling - but also it's incredibly lucrative. This means that obviously even in AF 10, the profitability of these models and familiarity means they are still used in certain types of entertainment.
Randomized trading and collectible card games are still popular, though to conserve resources they are often now purely digital and played via AR. The general outlines for a lot of these games are the same, they involve building up resources to play various personalities or entities, who appear in the AR skin and do battle with your opponent - who can be another person or an ALI. There is a wealth of these games, and often amateur game designers will cut their teeth producing such games, with only a few taking off. Some are licensed products in a franchise, others are their own original creation involving specific art styles and "lore" (For instance, Monsters' Duel has an artstyle based on traditional Japanese pop culture, while Spells: Archived has a western look somewhere between fantasy novel cover and a metal album cover. Both are owned and operated by the same hypercorp). There are even sports based games which involve trading of current and historical players, and often integrate into Fantasy Sports teams who compete against other fantasy teams and clubs. While some of these games offer fixed distribution, most are randomized. Players can either pay real money outright, or grind for in-game points which can be converted into boosters. If players can actually trade their libraries, there is also often a secondary market for specific cards of high rarity.
In the AR or vid-game space, there are also many traditional "gacha games", which rely entirely on this randomized mechanic. One's available "units" or other game pieces are entirely random, and one must spend an in-game currency (often premium) to receive new units. Units often have special increases in rarity (rate ups) or are time limited to drive sales, and some games are not well balanced, meaning new units are often required to keep advancing in play. Many of these games use characters from media franchises, or contain original stories set in fictional universe in order to get engagement from players and build a roster. Still others use public domain characters from history and folklore in their own art style, such as Destiny & Chaos which uses characters from many traditional mythologies, or Tactics Crest, which has famous military commanders. Or the even more esoteric collab between Direct Action and Go-nin, Foxhole Girls, which personifies military hardware with an asian pop-artist style. These rely more heavily on gameplay and appealing to classic questions like, "Who was a better commander, Caesar or George Washington" or "What would happen if Hercules and Cu Chulainn fought?". Some do use entirely original rosters, though often with very archetypal setup for why one must collect all these characters - these models often have to try very hard to get noticed in the market.
Other games, especially VR games, may utilize this form of monetization as an extra revenue source. While many allow custom adaptations by the community, quite a few also randomly distribute cosmetic in-game items randomly, adding new "skins" to the simulmorph or various aspects of the game universe. Some of these are quite rare, and often highly valued in the secondary market either just for the prestige, or because they're often designed by the professional art team. Some of these items may be available in non-randomized form, but often require large expenses of in-game, even premium, currency, incentivising the "gambling" aspect. Some games take this a step further, pushing closer to the "gacha" model to randomize actual game elements such as in-game equipment, abilities, characters, etc in the rewards system. If these are mechanically superior, this is often seen as a warning sign for consumers, as those with lots of free time and money can often gain an edge over players with shallow pockets or who lack time to grind.
How these games are handled depends very highly on the "market place". While quite a few polities don't necessarily feel any moral compunctions against gambling, some may not like the monetization angle, others are money driven but note the stigma. The LLA is a more socially conservative locale, who carefully regulates many of these models - requiring rarities to be posted, availability to be clearly stated and leaving exploitive tricks (such as making a unit appear for a limited time, then reappear later permanently without noting) open to litigation. Morningstar operates similarly, trying to enact a more "concerned" hypercapitalism, and avoid the appearance of praying on addicts. Such games are somewhat rare in the Jovian republic, especially as they tend to be less focused on some of the technologies - but may still be made available with some of the same regulations. In addition, if a game deals with sensitive subjects (such as nanotechnology, AGI, Uplifts, Anarchism, etc) it may be censored by the government, in addition to removing blatant sacreligious elements. The Planetary Consortium and allies polities, on the other hand, fully embrace the free market. Little restriction is put on these games other than the default protections one might assume (such as outright scams or frauds), and let the consumers take care of the rest. This tends to mean the most exploitative or profit driven games have smaller player bases or build slowly over time, while more "approachable" games are more acceptable, liked by their players for not being a "blatant" cash-grab or having more respectable mechanics for free or small-budget players which keep them interested.
Extropians have an interesting approach - as obviously they see nothing philosophically wrong with any model where the customer voluntarily pays in, fully knowing the terms of the payment. Extropians may often play the same games as the PC. However, their open source and remixing culture puts them at odds sometimes as well, leading to many "hacked" servers, homebrews, or "custom" games where underlying codes and elements are altered, units and items added, currencies and probabilities changed, etc. Players of these versions of the games are often barred from the "normal" versions, but some of these offshoots get popular on their own. The New Economy also has interesting thoughts on the model. Autonomy isn't restricted, so there's nothing wrong with people playing these games or the gambling aspect, but exploitative monetization is frowned upon also. Like the Extropians, Anarchists and Titanians often have to host their own versions of these games (or are distributed a different version) with the monetization elements removed, and in-game points only used. Some have even integrated this with the rep system, players in good rep standing generate steady amounts of in-game currency to trade in for the randomized materials. Players with bad habits or who have a low rep will find themselves struggling to earn new items, cards or units.
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2019
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Wine Funding
(Sorry it's been awhile again guys, been juggling other concerns and had little time to nail down more H-Rep ideas. If you want to see what I've been up to and keep supporting me, go ahead and check out my YouTube channel here. There's even some Actual Play episodes on it, including one of EP)
Given the prospect of relative immortality, investing in the future is very important for many Transhumans. You can't live forever if you can't provide for yourself forever. While many Outer System communities and cultures work toward this by pooling resources, in Capitalist economies one has to think of things to do in order to preserve and generate that capital. Investing in stocks, bonds or rare materials remains popular, and is how many continue to do it. But for certain customers needs, there are other investments which can be made, such as in works of art, morphs, or even Wine. This is known as Wine Funding or Wine Investing, and can have quite positive returns in AF 10.
Wines can be held for a long period if stored properly, and tend to appreciate in value. They can also be difficult to fake properly, while one can fabricate something with a roughly similar composition to a fine wine, but also doing the work to make it pass various authentication tests as to it's appropriate date and history are often more trouble than it's worth. Wine Funding is not without drawbacks, however, as a physical investment it needs to be stored and insured while also not generating any profit until actually sold, so these costs will need to be offset - leaving only large banks and the wealthiest private individuals to manage these funds. Investing in this way can either be done by buying and selling wine (cases) directly, usually for investment these are sets of 3, 6, 9, 12 or 3, or by investing in a pool which takes all the capital of investors and places it in the appropriate wines. These are usually done with the consultation of brokers or other experts, and surprising amounts of literature circulates the System on the subject.
Historically, the highest quality of Wines which were acceptable for funding came mostly from the Bordeaux region in France, though "cult wines" can also make investments if one guesses the trends and vintage Port also being a solid choice. Naturally, Earth Nostalgia drives the Wine Fund market these days - Bordeaux is still the most popular, but any wine of Earth and of sufficient quality can become a solid investment due to limited supply. This also makes Wine Funding ideal for money laundering - one can easily lie about the source of Pre-Fall Vintages from Earth given the destruction of data and simply say one came across the case and then sell it when you need liquid cash again. Some extraterrestrial vintages have become "cult wines", but in general anything produced after The Fall is too new to have properly appreciated in value to show a return on any investment, leaving the future of the market still with plenty of room to explore.
As noted above, Wine Funding is usually handled by ultrarich hyperelites personally, or through various banks and investment firms. It is most popular in the LLA, the Morningstar Confederacy and on Mars, though most limited on Mars due to the PC's attempts to downplay Earth Nostalgia. Firms will arrange the purchase and storage of wines for their customers, and then can be directed to sell on demand, or when certain thresholds are met. They take their cut of the sales, and usually handle any insurance costs. When allowed by local laws, they tend to use predictive AI systems to track values and physical locations of wines, as well as their overall rarity - to optimally predict the best times to buy and sell. Some funds offer this information freely to all customers, others prefer to only offer it to those who pay for the service. They also have access to all the best authentication technology to determine the proper age and value of a wine. Though often smaller, do not think of Wine Banks as easy targets - due to the rarity and physical presence of their goods, their security systems are some of the sharpest in the Solar System.
And, as noted above, there is still sometimes fraudulent wine investments. Forged wines are rare, and thought of as a sucker's bet, it's hard to produce a high-quality forgery and make your money back. More often you get the usual fraud, lying about the value of wines or selling low-quality wine which is not investment grade at a high price which the investor cannot return. Doing this can depreciate the value of the market, so wine funds tend to take investigations into fraudulent wines and sales seriously. While this is mostly done by individual con men or organized crime outfits in the Inner System, some of this fraud can be linked to anti-Capitalist agitators attempting to "redistribute wealth". Even more of this type of fraud is attributed to anti-Capitalist agitators in an attempt to drive animosity toward the Autonomist Alliance.
While not wholly opposed to it, the non-hierarchical nature of Anarchocapitalism makes Wine Funding a less useful prospect - space is often at a premium price in ancap habitats, which can make investing hard for both individuals and firms, and tends to be done by contracting with "off-site" services. It also can make fraud protection harder depending on fine-wording of contracts, altering legal repercussions which make outside investors wary of the climate.
Interestingly, a similar system can be pulled off in the Reputation Economy - though obviously not for the purpose of investing or returning on capital. Instead the idea is usually to hold on to a wine or similar product until it (or it's maker) gets a certain reputation or level of reputation, then by sharing, trading, using or gifting the wine at the right time one can increase their own reputableness. One can even capitalize on the "investment" in different ways, such as by remixing it, or making XP of it. This is a precarious path, however. Holding on to a product too long without intent to utilize it in some way is often seen as hoarding resources, and will tank your rep.
Given the prospect of relative immortality, investing in the future is very important for many Transhumans. You can't live forever if you can't provide for yourself forever. While many Outer System communities and cultures work toward this by pooling resources, in Capitalist economies one has to think of things to do in order to preserve and generate that capital. Investing in stocks, bonds or rare materials remains popular, and is how many continue to do it. But for certain customers needs, there are other investments which can be made, such as in works of art, morphs, or even Wine. This is known as Wine Funding or Wine Investing, and can have quite positive returns in AF 10.
Wines can be held for a long period if stored properly, and tend to appreciate in value. They can also be difficult to fake properly, while one can fabricate something with a roughly similar composition to a fine wine, but also doing the work to make it pass various authentication tests as to it's appropriate date and history are often more trouble than it's worth. Wine Funding is not without drawbacks, however, as a physical investment it needs to be stored and insured while also not generating any profit until actually sold, so these costs will need to be offset - leaving only large banks and the wealthiest private individuals to manage these funds. Investing in this way can either be done by buying and selling wine (cases) directly, usually for investment these are sets of 3, 6, 9, 12 or 3, or by investing in a pool which takes all the capital of investors and places it in the appropriate wines. These are usually done with the consultation of brokers or other experts, and surprising amounts of literature circulates the System on the subject.
Historically, the highest quality of Wines which were acceptable for funding came mostly from the Bordeaux region in France, though "cult wines" can also make investments if one guesses the trends and vintage Port also being a solid choice. Naturally, Earth Nostalgia drives the Wine Fund market these days - Bordeaux is still the most popular, but any wine of Earth and of sufficient quality can become a solid investment due to limited supply. This also makes Wine Funding ideal for money laundering - one can easily lie about the source of Pre-Fall Vintages from Earth given the destruction of data and simply say one came across the case and then sell it when you need liquid cash again. Some extraterrestrial vintages have become "cult wines", but in general anything produced after The Fall is too new to have properly appreciated in value to show a return on any investment, leaving the future of the market still with plenty of room to explore.
As noted above, Wine Funding is usually handled by ultrarich hyperelites personally, or through various banks and investment firms. It is most popular in the LLA, the Morningstar Confederacy and on Mars, though most limited on Mars due to the PC's attempts to downplay Earth Nostalgia. Firms will arrange the purchase and storage of wines for their customers, and then can be directed to sell on demand, or when certain thresholds are met. They take their cut of the sales, and usually handle any insurance costs. When allowed by local laws, they tend to use predictive AI systems to track values and physical locations of wines, as well as their overall rarity - to optimally predict the best times to buy and sell. Some funds offer this information freely to all customers, others prefer to only offer it to those who pay for the service. They also have access to all the best authentication technology to determine the proper age and value of a wine. Though often smaller, do not think of Wine Banks as easy targets - due to the rarity and physical presence of their goods, their security systems are some of the sharpest in the Solar System.
And, as noted above, there is still sometimes fraudulent wine investments. Forged wines are rare, and thought of as a sucker's bet, it's hard to produce a high-quality forgery and make your money back. More often you get the usual fraud, lying about the value of wines or selling low-quality wine which is not investment grade at a high price which the investor cannot return. Doing this can depreciate the value of the market, so wine funds tend to take investigations into fraudulent wines and sales seriously. While this is mostly done by individual con men or organized crime outfits in the Inner System, some of this fraud can be linked to anti-Capitalist agitators attempting to "redistribute wealth". Even more of this type of fraud is attributed to anti-Capitalist agitators in an attempt to drive animosity toward the Autonomist Alliance.
While not wholly opposed to it, the non-hierarchical nature of Anarchocapitalism makes Wine Funding a less useful prospect - space is often at a premium price in ancap habitats, which can make investing hard for both individuals and firms, and tends to be done by contracting with "off-site" services. It also can make fraud protection harder depending on fine-wording of contracts, altering legal repercussions which make outside investors wary of the climate.
Interestingly, a similar system can be pulled off in the Reputation Economy - though obviously not for the purpose of investing or returning on capital. Instead the idea is usually to hold on to a wine or similar product until it (or it's maker) gets a certain reputation or level of reputation, then by sharing, trading, using or gifting the wine at the right time one can increase their own reputableness. One can even capitalize on the "investment" in different ways, such as by remixing it, or making XP of it. This is a precarious path, however. Holding on to a product too long without intent to utilize it in some way is often seen as hoarding resources, and will tank your rep.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Neo-Shinto
As discussed previously, Shinto is a spiritual and religious practice native to Japan, which has stayed with Japanese cultures in the diaspora through the System and perhaps a bit beyond, as it has some applications which are considered more "cultural" than "religious. However, similar to the Buddhism it is sometimes syncretized with, there have been evolutions of thought and belief connected to Shinto, especially where technology is concerned. While small, these new belief strains have interesting interpretations which may have more interest and concern for Firewall.
Neo- or Techno-Shinto strongly integrates areas of technology, like many new strains or iterations of beliefs. Shinto itself has little commentary on technology, with some folklore saying kami dislike machines or electricity. This is most common in Japanese community clusters in the Outer System, and with AI and Infomorph groups as it promotes AI rights and fair treatment. Firstly, Techno-Shinto theorizes that much as kami personify the energy of natural phenomena, they too may also embody phenomena shaped by man - as we can alter the environment and create new natural order. To this end, an AI is akin to an artificial kami, the spirit which inhabits a system or aspect of the "natural" or artificial order of transhuman life. To get things done, one should be polite, respectful to AI and even make them appropriate offerings to put them at peace (though obviously many ALI are happy simply to perform their accorded tasks). To install an AI into something is to bridge the gap between technology and spirituality, to personify an item and it's natural energy and give it a way to interact with transhumankind. More complex and larger systems require more complex and higher order AI, akin to great features and natural phenomena having more potent and sacred kami. Mutterings about "machine spirits" is probably just an old joke.
Resleeving is a natural process of finding the Ego a new home, much like a spirit can be given a home in a shrine. Occupying the same space where an AI can go reinforced that the Ego can become more divine, and ultimately human minds and the divine spirit of the kami can be one and the same. So, resleeving and even instancing as an Infomorph is acceptable, even encouraged. Artificial bodies are shaped by humans controlling nature's rules to advance themselves. This can even extend to an approval of terraforming, nano-ecology and Reclaiming of Earth. Because it is relatively recent, however, actually identifying any Egos who have reached a "divine state" is still in the process of identification and distillation - for now it is one aspect of an evolving belief system.
Cleanliness and purification are still important to this belief system, but also includes mental and "digital" cleanliness. Perhaps drawn from how many members are infomorphs or AGI specifically, attitudes on mental health take cues from infosec thinking, due to familiarity with the risks of brain-hacking. Damaging or subverting AIs and Egos is an unclean and unholy act, and security methods and updates have almost ritual significance. Scorchers and other viral programs are also unclean of thought. Psychosurgery to cleanse stress, unwanted memories or "unnatural" thoughts and behaviors is similarly encouraged and to be performed with reverence. Firewalls and defensive programs are akin to charms and rituals. DRM is viewed akin to religious mysteries - it might be discouraged but is not outright antithetical. All of this blends to a very odd strain of thought to most outsiders, and even some insiders trying to grasp underlying beliefs. Their views on "classical" kami remain much the same, though many of them feel obliged to investigate "sacred bodies", and several Techno-Shinto philosophers have emigrated to the Sun as a result.
To Firewall, this nigh-deification of increasingly more powerful AI systems can be seen as dangerous. While they officially seem to regard the TITANs and their various physical and digital infection vectors in an almost satanic light, there is still risk from ASI if mishandled. Rumors abound that they have an ASI system, such as a Sibyl or Promethean class unit swarm the Eye. Their beliefs can also be shifted close to Techno-Creationist thinkers, if one continues the trend that a powerful AI is akin to a God, then perhaps the gods were powerful AIs? This is a thorny issue as well for many Sentinels and Proxies. Investigation of Neo-Shintoists is not easy, due to their small size, often remote communities and their emphasis on information security. Initial passes seem mostly harmless, however, an evolving train of thought which seeks to reconcile the spiritual and the technological - and man's place in an increasingly "unnatural" order.
Neo- or Techno-Shinto strongly integrates areas of technology, like many new strains or iterations of beliefs. Shinto itself has little commentary on technology, with some folklore saying kami dislike machines or electricity. This is most common in Japanese community clusters in the Outer System, and with AI and Infomorph groups as it promotes AI rights and fair treatment. Firstly, Techno-Shinto theorizes that much as kami personify the energy of natural phenomena, they too may also embody phenomena shaped by man - as we can alter the environment and create new natural order. To this end, an AI is akin to an artificial kami, the spirit which inhabits a system or aspect of the "natural" or artificial order of transhuman life. To get things done, one should be polite, respectful to AI and even make them appropriate offerings to put them at peace (though obviously many ALI are happy simply to perform their accorded tasks). To install an AI into something is to bridge the gap between technology and spirituality, to personify an item and it's natural energy and give it a way to interact with transhumankind. More complex and larger systems require more complex and higher order AI, akin to great features and natural phenomena having more potent and sacred kami. Mutterings about "machine spirits" is probably just an old joke.
Resleeving is a natural process of finding the Ego a new home, much like a spirit can be given a home in a shrine. Occupying the same space where an AI can go reinforced that the Ego can become more divine, and ultimately human minds and the divine spirit of the kami can be one and the same. So, resleeving and even instancing as an Infomorph is acceptable, even encouraged. Artificial bodies are shaped by humans controlling nature's rules to advance themselves. This can even extend to an approval of terraforming, nano-ecology and Reclaiming of Earth. Because it is relatively recent, however, actually identifying any Egos who have reached a "divine state" is still in the process of identification and distillation - for now it is one aspect of an evolving belief system.
Cleanliness and purification are still important to this belief system, but also includes mental and "digital" cleanliness. Perhaps drawn from how many members are infomorphs or AGI specifically, attitudes on mental health take cues from infosec thinking, due to familiarity with the risks of brain-hacking. Damaging or subverting AIs and Egos is an unclean and unholy act, and security methods and updates have almost ritual significance. Scorchers and other viral programs are also unclean of thought. Psychosurgery to cleanse stress, unwanted memories or "unnatural" thoughts and behaviors is similarly encouraged and to be performed with reverence. Firewalls and defensive programs are akin to charms and rituals. DRM is viewed akin to religious mysteries - it might be discouraged but is not outright antithetical. All of this blends to a very odd strain of thought to most outsiders, and even some insiders trying to grasp underlying beliefs. Their views on "classical" kami remain much the same, though many of them feel obliged to investigate "sacred bodies", and several Techno-Shinto philosophers have emigrated to the Sun as a result.
To Firewall, this nigh-deification of increasingly more powerful AI systems can be seen as dangerous. While they officially seem to regard the TITANs and their various physical and digital infection vectors in an almost satanic light, there is still risk from ASI if mishandled. Rumors abound that they have an ASI system, such as a Sibyl or Promethean class unit swarm the Eye. Their beliefs can also be shifted close to Techno-Creationist thinkers, if one continues the trend that a powerful AI is akin to a God, then perhaps the gods were powerful AIs? This is a thorny issue as well for many Sentinels and Proxies. Investigation of Neo-Shintoists is not easy, due to their small size, often remote communities and their emphasis on information security. Initial passes seem mostly harmless, however, an evolving train of thought which seeks to reconcile the spiritual and the technological - and man's place in an increasingly "unnatural" order.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Shinto
Shinto ("way of the gods") is the indigenous spirituality or religion of Japan. It is a broad religion focusing on many ritual practices which many of the Japanese people participate in even if they do not belong to formal sects. It can be used to effectively refer to all "native" Japanese spirituality as opposed to external influences, such as Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. Koshinto ("Old Shinto") is a subset which refers to pre-Buddhist beliefs mostly taken from even more ancient indigenous Ainu and Ryukyuan practices. It's practices are focused on the kami, spiritual or divine entities which represent the phenomena of nature, who are said to be many and are linked to physical places and elements such as rocks and trees. The way or path of the kami is the natural order of things, and through it humans should find the right way to live; with purity, sincerity and honesty.
Many of these beliefs and concepts are deeply cultural to various Japanese clades throughout the Solar System, even if they do not identify as explicitly religious. Wherever you go and find people of a Japanese background, language or cultural influence aspects of these beliefs such as certain festivals, rituals or various charms and amulets persist. Elements of Shinto and Buddhism are syncretized, contributing to the spread and retention of these elements among broader practitioners. And of course, most media libraries have complete versions of the historical works of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.
Shrines are considered to be a physical home for the kami, and a place where humans may connect with them to understand them and gain their blessing. As such, the Fall is said to have been quite disruptive to religious practices and destroyed several shrines. Famous replicas have been built many places, such as on Luna or Mars, in the hope of granting many famous and important deities "new" homes. As on Earth, most of these are private institutions who rely on the congregation or other visitors to remain solvent. Japanese communities will use these shrines as a focus for many cultural festivals. There are quite a few Japanese settlements on Mars, and even some nomads of Japanese ancestry who also may practice elements of harmony with nature and ritual purity, and speak to kami they feel dwell in quite a few of Mars' natural landmarks. "Superstitions" and traditions of respect for nature and the terrain have even bled into some groups not of a Japanese cultural origin. Europa's unique landscape and Japanese influence has also led to similar practices arising. The belief that the most senior and important deity in Japan is solar does not hinder such practices.
Various talismans and amulets, too, remain popular. Shrines and shrine replicas are swamped with ema (wishes), usually by refugees and indentures. Personal amulets (Omamori) are available at your local shrine or Japanese cultural goods store, with the best being handmade and digital amulets (written with digital calligraphy) of lesser quality - and are carried by all manner of individuals who seek protection and good fortune. It was also common to integrate aspects of shrines into homes and other structures, including shrines on top of office buildings. Thus, household shrines are still common, and it is rare to find an operation run by Go-Nin which does not feature a sizable and functional shrine - usually to Inari or the Eight Lucky Gods. Some would say this is further evidence Go-Nin is "behind the times". Street gangs and mercenary groups of a Japanese background will also often use symbolism of the war god Hachiman or the storm god Susano-o.
Beliefs on the afterlife in Shinto are somewhat muddled and dependant on historical periods, and due to syncretism with Buddhism, most are content to follow some understanding of reincarnation, which makes resleeving an acceptable practice. Alternatively, it is felt that one only spends a short time in the land of the dead before being revived. Aspects of resurrection and apotheosis pervade Shinto, so finding a new morph can be seen as simply finding a new home for one's spirit on the path to becoming more divine. Those who practice or simply live near shrines will find their names etched as "family kami" should they permanently die, and they may be honored there or in household shrines. Dead bodies are unclean, however, and so tend to be disposed of with appropriate thoroughness. Those with sufficient piety and time will even perform proper funeral rituals to dispose of a previous morph and pray that any "uncleanliness" leaves the Ego when they are revived. Due to folklore that spirits do not care for machinery and electronics, Synthmorphs are not often the first choice of any practicing Shintoist, but only the most hardline bioconservative shrines bar Synths from entering their grounds. To counteract this belief, pious synthmorphs may even integrate elements of amulets or portable shrines into their shells.
Many of these beliefs and concepts are deeply cultural to various Japanese clades throughout the Solar System, even if they do not identify as explicitly religious. Wherever you go and find people of a Japanese background, language or cultural influence aspects of these beliefs such as certain festivals, rituals or various charms and amulets persist. Elements of Shinto and Buddhism are syncretized, contributing to the spread and retention of these elements among broader practitioners. And of course, most media libraries have complete versions of the historical works of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.
Shrines are considered to be a physical home for the kami, and a place where humans may connect with them to understand them and gain their blessing. As such, the Fall is said to have been quite disruptive to religious practices and destroyed several shrines. Famous replicas have been built many places, such as on Luna or Mars, in the hope of granting many famous and important deities "new" homes. As on Earth, most of these are private institutions who rely on the congregation or other visitors to remain solvent. Japanese communities will use these shrines as a focus for many cultural festivals. There are quite a few Japanese settlements on Mars, and even some nomads of Japanese ancestry who also may practice elements of harmony with nature and ritual purity, and speak to kami they feel dwell in quite a few of Mars' natural landmarks. "Superstitions" and traditions of respect for nature and the terrain have even bled into some groups not of a Japanese cultural origin. Europa's unique landscape and Japanese influence has also led to similar practices arising. The belief that the most senior and important deity in Japan is solar does not hinder such practices.
Various talismans and amulets, too, remain popular. Shrines and shrine replicas are swamped with ema (wishes), usually by refugees and indentures. Personal amulets (Omamori) are available at your local shrine or Japanese cultural goods store, with the best being handmade and digital amulets (written with digital calligraphy) of lesser quality - and are carried by all manner of individuals who seek protection and good fortune. It was also common to integrate aspects of shrines into homes and other structures, including shrines on top of office buildings. Thus, household shrines are still common, and it is rare to find an operation run by Go-Nin which does not feature a sizable and functional shrine - usually to Inari or the Eight Lucky Gods. Some would say this is further evidence Go-Nin is "behind the times". Street gangs and mercenary groups of a Japanese background will also often use symbolism of the war god Hachiman or the storm god Susano-o.
Beliefs on the afterlife in Shinto are somewhat muddled and dependant on historical periods, and due to syncretism with Buddhism, most are content to follow some understanding of reincarnation, which makes resleeving an acceptable practice. Alternatively, it is felt that one only spends a short time in the land of the dead before being revived. Aspects of resurrection and apotheosis pervade Shinto, so finding a new morph can be seen as simply finding a new home for one's spirit on the path to becoming more divine. Those who practice or simply live near shrines will find their names etched as "family kami" should they permanently die, and they may be honored there or in household shrines. Dead bodies are unclean, however, and so tend to be disposed of with appropriate thoroughness. Those with sufficient piety and time will even perform proper funeral rituals to dispose of a previous morph and pray that any "uncleanliness" leaves the Ego when they are revived. Due to folklore that spirits do not care for machinery and electronics, Synthmorphs are not often the first choice of any practicing Shintoist, but only the most hardline bioconservative shrines bar Synths from entering their grounds. To counteract this belief, pious synthmorphs may even integrate elements of amulets or portable shrines into their shells.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Cancer Sticks
Cancer was once a defining challenge for humanity. "Cure for cancer" was a magical solution which would herald riches and fame to whoever produced it. The jump to transhuman technologies has largely solved this problem. While Flats may still sometimes suffer from genetic predispositions, genefix procedures eliminate most of these tendencies in morphs. Implants like Radiation Tolerance (p. 189 Rimward) greatly increase the amount of potentially toxic radiation a morph can endure, which can cause cancers and other diseases as a long-term symptom. And modern nanomedicine procedures, along with more conventional medicines can easily eliminate cancerous cells which arise from carcinogenic exposure. If all else fails, resleeving or rapid organ cloning can avoid the possibility of harm from cancer.
In many places, this has skewed transhumanity's perception of what was once a great killer. Scum and even Ultimates may consume products or enjoy activities which could lead to cancer for thrills and to prove the superior endurance of their morphs. In the Inner System, in the heart of the Planetary Consortium like Progress activities like smoking are a sign of wealth - because long term organ damage and cancer is no problem for anyone rich enough to buy a new set of lungs. In the Outer System habs, these sorts of activities tend to be frowned upon as it "wastes" community resources, but rarely to individuals who engage in entertainments or hobbies which have side effects feel excessive pressure from the community - only the habitually wasteful.
But, there are some ways to market this sort of activity. A common item seen on Extropia and in certain similar cultures is Cancer Sticks. A parody of classic marketing for cigarettes and other tobacco products, the "Cancer Stick" is literally a carcinogenic stick. They can be sucked, smoked, chewed or sometimes dissolved in drink depending on the particular brand and configuration. Even the components can depend on who makes and sells them - but usually their composition is similar to candy or other "treats" which have some attractive taste or smell to them, possibly some additional components to calm, numb pain or even stimulate (meaning they be mixed with other drugs) to give a pleasant experience while also containing various carcinogenic compounds or elements, such as arsenic, asbestos, cadmium, nickel and radon. Lung, mouth, throat and stomach cancers are the most common effects of the Sticks, but depending on the substances a variety of areas can develop symptoms. A common variant on this style is "Radium Gum", a chewing gum made with radioactive elements or isotopes or other carcinogens mixed in.
Both iterations of this idea are often reserved for the fairly well-off, because their use of certain radioactive or heavy metallic elements and compounds is a draw on limited resources - which also happen to be rarer in the Outer System. The inherent medical costs also tend to bracket the users of Sticks to higher incomes. This means that the habit is usually seen among the middle and upper class in the Main Belt and Inner System, a "conspicuous consumption" which can be genuinely habit forming (especially for those with oral fixations), though the Scum "shits and giggles" trade in Cancer Sticks across the system is high - and their components can be recycled into useful materials which often makes them an interesting - if hazardous trade good. The Jovian Republic and many other individual Bioconservative habs heavily restrict or ban Cancer Sticks also, making them an interesting black market and sometimes politically-minded good; boxes of Cancer Sticks tend to show up at the offices and doorsteps of notorious bioconservative politicians as a sign of protest.
In many places, this has skewed transhumanity's perception of what was once a great killer. Scum and even Ultimates may consume products or enjoy activities which could lead to cancer for thrills and to prove the superior endurance of their morphs. In the Inner System, in the heart of the Planetary Consortium like Progress activities like smoking are a sign of wealth - because long term organ damage and cancer is no problem for anyone rich enough to buy a new set of lungs. In the Outer System habs, these sorts of activities tend to be frowned upon as it "wastes" community resources, but rarely to individuals who engage in entertainments or hobbies which have side effects feel excessive pressure from the community - only the habitually wasteful.
But, there are some ways to market this sort of activity. A common item seen on Extropia and in certain similar cultures is Cancer Sticks. A parody of classic marketing for cigarettes and other tobacco products, the "Cancer Stick" is literally a carcinogenic stick. They can be sucked, smoked, chewed or sometimes dissolved in drink depending on the particular brand and configuration. Even the components can depend on who makes and sells them - but usually their composition is similar to candy or other "treats" which have some attractive taste or smell to them, possibly some additional components to calm, numb pain or even stimulate (meaning they be mixed with other drugs) to give a pleasant experience while also containing various carcinogenic compounds or elements, such as arsenic, asbestos, cadmium, nickel and radon. Lung, mouth, throat and stomach cancers are the most common effects of the Sticks, but depending on the substances a variety of areas can develop symptoms. A common variant on this style is "Radium Gum", a chewing gum made with radioactive elements or isotopes or other carcinogens mixed in.
Both iterations of this idea are often reserved for the fairly well-off, because their use of certain radioactive or heavy metallic elements and compounds is a draw on limited resources - which also happen to be rarer in the Outer System. The inherent medical costs also tend to bracket the users of Sticks to higher incomes. This means that the habit is usually seen among the middle and upper class in the Main Belt and Inner System, a "conspicuous consumption" which can be genuinely habit forming (especially for those with oral fixations), though the Scum "shits and giggles" trade in Cancer Sticks across the system is high - and their components can be recycled into useful materials which often makes them an interesting - if hazardous trade good. The Jovian Republic and many other individual Bioconservative habs heavily restrict or ban Cancer Sticks also, making them an interesting black market and sometimes politically-minded good; boxes of Cancer Sticks tend to show up at the offices and doorsteps of notorious bioconservative politicians as a sign of protest.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Way of the Sword
In terms of combat efficiency and effectiveness, ranged weapons (especially kinetic ones or explosives) reign supreme. But there is a certain artistry in melee weapons, and value in their used for a lot of utility and some interesting things can be done with proficiency. Of these, the sword may be one of the more interesting and versatile melee weapons - unlike many others it does not necessarily evolve from a tool for working or hunting - but is a purpose built weapon to fight humans. This lends it a certain romanticism to the sword - which can be seen in the prevalence of swordsmanship both as a skill and sport in many parts of the Solar System.
Design-wise, fundamentally styles, patterns and types of swords remain unchanged, but in order to keep up with advanced in armor technology almost all of them utilize the "monofilament" style blade and advanced composites for sharpness and durability. While fabricators can mass produce swords, there is also something to be said for having them crafted specifically by those with knowledge and talent to do so - and quite a number who make swords are also capable of wielding them. The really daring can bridge into the exotic, utilizing vibroweapons and plasma swords.
Traditional swordsmanship sports persist in quite a few places, including forms of fencing in multiple styles and other HEMA groups on Venus, and the traditional kendo remains prevalent in several locations as well. Cultures with strong history have preserved historical martial arts schools related to the blade, taught for competition, self-defense and preservation of history. New arts and sports even arise, based on new weapons tech or cultural markers. Due to advanced in medical technology "blood sports" of all kinds can be popular in the system, and dueling in many forms has returned as a hobby sport, or even a way to settle disagreements. Numerous Extropian legal houses accept an honor duel as an appropriate way to settle a legal dispute.
These do not do as much to preserve the skills and utility of the sword as the concept of the "Street Samurai" however. Dating back to the 20th century, the idea of using swords as a weapon even when more advanced systems exist is kept alive in popular culture and seen as a marketable skill. Firearms may be restricted for safety or fabrication concerns, very few cultures are extreme enough to prevent a person from openly carrying a sword (in general public anyway). Restriction on longer weapons both by custom and practicality also occasionally makes smallswords, the Japanese daisho pair, and small parrying daggers or other accompanying weapons popular.
Carrying swords is intimidating, offering an air of danger but class to a person. It shows one is armed, and probably not afraid to fight - and that they have enough confidence to use a weapon which can require extensive training as opposed to an iron or a needler. Due to the ease of manufacturing and more common ability to carry this means many freelancers, hitters, troubleshooters and covert operatives train with various blades and may carry them to use - and some gangs focus entirely on utilizing blades thematically over guns (or perhaps, because they can get access to a pile of diamond axes). Additionally, the low-tech nature of a sword may make them preferable when faced with certain high-tech risks, as seen by use of Ultimate Purifiers and Rajput - an Exhuman neurode or TITAN puppet cannot backhack a katana.
Romanticism often turns to mysticism and urban legend, however. Many tales are told about the exploits of those who dare only to use blades. People still insist the classic "Zatoichi" tale of the blind swordsman is true. Legendary blade maker known by the alias "Masamune" is said to produce blades sharp enough to cut bullets like falling leaves - and a colleague (or possibly the same person with an alternate name) known as "Raikiri" can make blades which "cut lightning". And Alexandria the "Atomic Knife" is said to make a blade so sharp the right angle and force will cut an atom. Many have heard the urban legend of Annie Walker, who took only a blazing blue plasma sword into a camp of Martian bandits and killed every last one in revenge. One of the many skills the legendary operator "Jane Excalibur" has said to have mastered though countless lifetimes of forking and resleeving is use of a traditional longsword. While denied by the public media, the anarchist operator known as Thanatos once recovered an asset from Hypercorp hands in a daring highway raid vs Les Ghoules and Oversight armed with only katana and pistol. If you go to Phelan's Recourse, you might find Lou o' Light, who can teach you to cut the top off a small mountain in a single swing. And of course there are urban legends aplenty about hitmen who only fight with swords - such as the Night Cartel's Falconer M. or or the Triad's "101 Blades".
Design-wise, fundamentally styles, patterns and types of swords remain unchanged, but in order to keep up with advanced in armor technology almost all of them utilize the "monofilament" style blade and advanced composites for sharpness and durability. While fabricators can mass produce swords, there is also something to be said for having them crafted specifically by those with knowledge and talent to do so - and quite a number who make swords are also capable of wielding them. The really daring can bridge into the exotic, utilizing vibroweapons and plasma swords.
Traditional swordsmanship sports persist in quite a few places, including forms of fencing in multiple styles and other HEMA groups on Venus, and the traditional kendo remains prevalent in several locations as well. Cultures with strong history have preserved historical martial arts schools related to the blade, taught for competition, self-defense and preservation of history. New arts and sports even arise, based on new weapons tech or cultural markers. Due to advanced in medical technology "blood sports" of all kinds can be popular in the system, and dueling in many forms has returned as a hobby sport, or even a way to settle disagreements. Numerous Extropian legal houses accept an honor duel as an appropriate way to settle a legal dispute.
These do not do as much to preserve the skills and utility of the sword as the concept of the "Street Samurai" however. Dating back to the 20th century, the idea of using swords as a weapon even when more advanced systems exist is kept alive in popular culture and seen as a marketable skill. Firearms may be restricted for safety or fabrication concerns, very few cultures are extreme enough to prevent a person from openly carrying a sword (in general public anyway). Restriction on longer weapons both by custom and practicality also occasionally makes smallswords, the Japanese daisho pair, and small parrying daggers or other accompanying weapons popular.
Carrying swords is intimidating, offering an air of danger but class to a person. It shows one is armed, and probably not afraid to fight - and that they have enough confidence to use a weapon which can require extensive training as opposed to an iron or a needler. Due to the ease of manufacturing and more common ability to carry this means many freelancers, hitters, troubleshooters and covert operatives train with various blades and may carry them to use - and some gangs focus entirely on utilizing blades thematically over guns (or perhaps, because they can get access to a pile of diamond axes). Additionally, the low-tech nature of a sword may make them preferable when faced with certain high-tech risks, as seen by use of Ultimate Purifiers and Rajput - an Exhuman neurode or TITAN puppet cannot backhack a katana.
Romanticism often turns to mysticism and urban legend, however. Many tales are told about the exploits of those who dare only to use blades. People still insist the classic "Zatoichi" tale of the blind swordsman is true. Legendary blade maker known by the alias "Masamune" is said to produce blades sharp enough to cut bullets like falling leaves - and a colleague (or possibly the same person with an alternate name) known as "Raikiri" can make blades which "cut lightning". And Alexandria the "Atomic Knife" is said to make a blade so sharp the right angle and force will cut an atom. Many have heard the urban legend of Annie Walker, who took only a blazing blue plasma sword into a camp of Martian bandits and killed every last one in revenge. One of the many skills the legendary operator "Jane Excalibur" has said to have mastered though countless lifetimes of forking and resleeving is use of a traditional longsword. While denied by the public media, the anarchist operator known as Thanatos once recovered an asset from Hypercorp hands in a daring highway raid vs Les Ghoules and Oversight armed with only katana and pistol. If you go to Phelan's Recourse, you might find Lou o' Light, who can teach you to cut the top off a small mountain in a single swing. And of course there are urban legends aplenty about hitmen who only fight with swords - such as the Night Cartel's Falconer M. or or the Triad's "101 Blades".
Monday, April 17, 2017
Homesteading
Historically, "homesteading" refers to both a legal principle of claiming "unclaimed" natural resources which forms a strong foundation in many anarcho-capitalist philosophies, and a self-sufficient lifestyle on a "homestead", a dwelling which may have isolation from those around it but retains it's origin in the original legal principle - or is enabled by a government for physical expansion. Both of these uses of the term have a strong background in space colonization and are now still relevant to certain activities by the Inner System.
Luna and Venus do not have good terrain for classical homesteading either way, and required too much structure and technical assistance to settle. Mars, on the other hand, has much more land availability - and so in the early colonization period it was not uncommon for governments and early corporations to offer "homestead" plots for cheap on scales similar to classical Homestead Acts, often with caveats about terraforming or legal taxation. These systems enabled the diaspora of certain small settlements on Mars pre-Fall, and lead to the small croppings of homesteads, smallholds, compounds, etc which can still be seen in some regions today - though due to the rough environment of Mars, nomadic life was preferred.
After the Fall, the legal issues of "de-nationalization" for many colonies, the rise of the Tharsis League and the Planetary Consortium and their cooperation via the TTO on terraforming issues threw the legality of some prior homesteading for a loop. Relocations due to the TQZ or terraforming was not uncommon, and corporations often got first choice on acquiring new land. But the influence of the Martian city states can only go so far, and the Tharsis League wished to lend structure to the outback in some way - leading to the revival of some legal homesteading acts. This was done to appease rural martians and nationalists, but also had the approval of the Planetary Consortium. For hypercapitalists, the homesteads promote a middle class of consumers who can be marketed to for luxury goods or are otherwise engaged in the system - for the Barsoomians the hope is to gain control of land seperate from the hypercorps and promote self-sufficient living. Ultimately, neither side got their exact desire out of the resulting legal framework - but should political shifts occur strongly one way or the other the League's rules could help promote influence for either side.
The basic way this functions is handled in a Homesteading contract. Similar to an indentureship, but with the focus on land instead of a morph and with different labor expectations. The homesteader buys the land from the Tharsis League (or occasionally an interested hypercorp) for a much reduced fee or in payment over a period of years, usually 5-10. In exchange, they must live on and work on the property for the duration of the contract - after which point the provisions are removed, and the land is fully legally owned by the homesteader who can do with it what they will. Typically "working the land" often has provisions to aid in terraforming operations - which can sometimes breed tension between homesteaders and Nomads. Tharsis contracts are generally fairly plain, other than the requirements to follow TTO guidelines - but also often lack support, being fully self-sufficient farms. Corporate contracts tend to involve more legal complexities and components aimed to bring profit to the corporations, such as a famous instance where Fa Jing homesteaded a large plot of land, but retained the legal right to seize back any land where the Homesteader discovered mineral deposits - basically arranging a scheme where people paid to survey land for minerals.
Homesteading is not as popular on Mars despite it's origins as it is with the Pathfinder corporation on Exoplanets. Homestead contracts are intended to bring in those "middle class" colonists who are already instanced and may not require a new morph but can still provide valuable skills and labor to colonies in non-specialist ways. While these contracts involve more varied terrain and support, many, such as in the Outer System, see them as slightly more predatory - the unspoken constraint being that all supplies must come and go through the Pandora Gates controlled by Pathfinder.
As a legal principle, homesteading is also a huge aspect in asteroid families and regions, like the Main Belt. It's one thing to claim to own an asteroid from several AU away - it is entirely another thing to actually settle on it and begin to work it. This sort of attitude drove the success of many strains of Extropian thinking in early asteroid colonization and mining. While corporations and governments would lay claim to asteroids, very rarely did the greater transhuman community uphold such claims unless the claimant could show they were willing and capable to physically access and produce from the body - cutting down on entities attempting to extort others by holding and selling legal rights to an object they would never practically exert control over. As hypercorps grew in power and influence in the time immediately before the Fall, however, several militant expulsions of "squatters" occurred, which may drive why self-defense is a strong meme in many brinker and Extropian clades.
Even now, there is a strong aspect of the homesteading principle to Belters. If you can land on a rock and live and work it, it's yours. You get first say on who else can work and live on the rock, and have a right to protect yourself from aggression against it. Due to desire to work with independant Belters and Extropians, many less militant hypercorps have taken the hint and prefer to buy out small communities who settle on asteroids they desire. Homesteading is not as popular in the Outer System excepting Extropian circles. The Jovians have no excess land to homestead, and groups such as the Commonwealth do not hold much with the principle for their socialist or communist ideals. That said, there is a similar provision for those who are reputable to live on their own in the Titanian wilderness, both in nomadic and structured form - just that the unspoken contract is that excess resources will be shared with the wider community.
Luna and Venus do not have good terrain for classical homesteading either way, and required too much structure and technical assistance to settle. Mars, on the other hand, has much more land availability - and so in the early colonization period it was not uncommon for governments and early corporations to offer "homestead" plots for cheap on scales similar to classical Homestead Acts, often with caveats about terraforming or legal taxation. These systems enabled the diaspora of certain small settlements on Mars pre-Fall, and lead to the small croppings of homesteads, smallholds, compounds, etc which can still be seen in some regions today - though due to the rough environment of Mars, nomadic life was preferred.
After the Fall, the legal issues of "de-nationalization" for many colonies, the rise of the Tharsis League and the Planetary Consortium and their cooperation via the TTO on terraforming issues threw the legality of some prior homesteading for a loop. Relocations due to the TQZ or terraforming was not uncommon, and corporations often got first choice on acquiring new land. But the influence of the Martian city states can only go so far, and the Tharsis League wished to lend structure to the outback in some way - leading to the revival of some legal homesteading acts. This was done to appease rural martians and nationalists, but also had the approval of the Planetary Consortium. For hypercapitalists, the homesteads promote a middle class of consumers who can be marketed to for luxury goods or are otherwise engaged in the system - for the Barsoomians the hope is to gain control of land seperate from the hypercorps and promote self-sufficient living. Ultimately, neither side got their exact desire out of the resulting legal framework - but should political shifts occur strongly one way or the other the League's rules could help promote influence for either side.
The basic way this functions is handled in a Homesteading contract. Similar to an indentureship, but with the focus on land instead of a morph and with different labor expectations. The homesteader buys the land from the Tharsis League (or occasionally an interested hypercorp) for a much reduced fee or in payment over a period of years, usually 5-10. In exchange, they must live on and work on the property for the duration of the contract - after which point the provisions are removed, and the land is fully legally owned by the homesteader who can do with it what they will. Typically "working the land" often has provisions to aid in terraforming operations - which can sometimes breed tension between homesteaders and Nomads. Tharsis contracts are generally fairly plain, other than the requirements to follow TTO guidelines - but also often lack support, being fully self-sufficient farms. Corporate contracts tend to involve more legal complexities and components aimed to bring profit to the corporations, such as a famous instance where Fa Jing homesteaded a large plot of land, but retained the legal right to seize back any land where the Homesteader discovered mineral deposits - basically arranging a scheme where people paid to survey land for minerals.
Homesteading is not as popular on Mars despite it's origins as it is with the Pathfinder corporation on Exoplanets. Homestead contracts are intended to bring in those "middle class" colonists who are already instanced and may not require a new morph but can still provide valuable skills and labor to colonies in non-specialist ways. While these contracts involve more varied terrain and support, many, such as in the Outer System, see them as slightly more predatory - the unspoken constraint being that all supplies must come and go through the Pandora Gates controlled by Pathfinder.
As a legal principle, homesteading is also a huge aspect in asteroid families and regions, like the Main Belt. It's one thing to claim to own an asteroid from several AU away - it is entirely another thing to actually settle on it and begin to work it. This sort of attitude drove the success of many strains of Extropian thinking in early asteroid colonization and mining. While corporations and governments would lay claim to asteroids, very rarely did the greater transhuman community uphold such claims unless the claimant could show they were willing and capable to physically access and produce from the body - cutting down on entities attempting to extort others by holding and selling legal rights to an object they would never practically exert control over. As hypercorps grew in power and influence in the time immediately before the Fall, however, several militant expulsions of "squatters" occurred, which may drive why self-defense is a strong meme in many brinker and Extropian clades.
Even now, there is a strong aspect of the homesteading principle to Belters. If you can land on a rock and live and work it, it's yours. You get first say on who else can work and live on the rock, and have a right to protect yourself from aggression against it. Due to desire to work with independant Belters and Extropians, many less militant hypercorps have taken the hint and prefer to buy out small communities who settle on asteroids they desire. Homesteading is not as popular in the Outer System excepting Extropian circles. The Jovians have no excess land to homestead, and groups such as the Commonwealth do not hold much with the principle for their socialist or communist ideals. That said, there is a similar provision for those who are reputable to live on their own in the Titanian wilderness, both in nomadic and structured form - just that the unspoken contract is that excess resources will be shared with the wider community.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Fab Food
"Fab Food" should be considered the modern evolution of the 20th century "Fast Food", which originally arose with the rise of the automobile. Now, with the development of nanofabricators (specifically those which can produce food, Makers) food-prep time is at an all time low. However, in the Inner System, many forms of nanofabrication are restricted to the public or require significant investment to obtain in one's own home. Similarly, food and the resultant blueprints are treated as a protected IP by major hypercorps. This means there is a market for maker-produced food which can be whipped up on the spot, or is pre-fabbed waiting for assembly into a final meal to hand to a customer on the go - even if most modern transhumans walk or take public transit.
A typical fab food outlet can be as small as a bulky vending machine - with racks of food and drink to order, or big enough to walk in and form a line, or sit at a table for a quick meal. Most common though are kiosks or alcoves about the size of a traditional food stall/stand. Here you will see many familiar brands and styles, though the names have often changed as a result of rebranding, public pressure or loss of original rights. Groups like Golden-M, Burger Queen, Wendi's, White Palace, Stardoes, The Colonel's, Taco Toll, Pizza Shack, Little Kaiser's, Wyld Zings and School of Subs still exist and "license" official branding and food recipes in blueprint form to franchises. Local installations to match the local culture are also common.
The food seen in Fab Food shops has a little variety, but is built on a theme - it must be quick to make from simple ingredients which can be assembled in a fab and either shaped to form in it or by a quick intervention of a bot or robot waldo, then packaged to go for the customer. The largest and highest quality shops have the proper meat flash cloning in the back, but most kiosks can only have the maker assemble relevant protein strands and apply flavoring substitute. "Burgers" and other sandwich substitutes, processed meat nuggets or strips, chipped and fried vegetable fiber, kebabs, noodles, flatbread, and various other packagings of meat and grain form the underlying menu of most places - in some combination. Much of the selection depends on local tastes. With synthetic flavoring and a rough equivalent in components, most people claim the food at least tastes like historical fast food - but some of this could just be Earth nostalgia. Even so, despite what many see as a low quality, the food is highly convenient, and modern medicine will prevent or alleviate most problems of consuming too much. Drinks are also sold in fab food places - either mixed on the go in a maker, or premade in bulk by fabricators in cans or bulbs to be sold instantly and replaced over time.
Typical setup for a Fab Food shop crews it with one or two bots (Servitors usually) or just a remote waldo setup run by one or more infomorphs - assuming the type of food being served can't be completely replicated in the Maker. These workers move food around in prep units or place them in containers or may assemble several bits of food into a singular item. Occasionally, they interact with customers - but this is not required, transactions are digital and ordering can be done via apps on the mesh or in AR. Operating these systems may be simple AI though many places are wary of AIs operating anything related to nanofabrication - meaning indentured infomorphs are increasingly common - an extremely low paying contract. In places where economics allow it or force it, these may be remotely operated by people at home who lack other job skills; the young (often students) who lack skills and experience, former indentures with no real job market, ex-criminals and others with problems integrating in normal society. A new trend in "premium" Fab Food Shops has arisen as well, where the price and quality are slightly higher, but really the user is paying for a brief interaction with a real human contractor - not an indenture, who is present physically or as a cheery AR avatar - an attempt to cash in on some anti-indenture movements.
Fab Food is all over the Inner System in tightly packed cities, and spin gravity habs. Some also occur in highly populated beehives, though their menus might be a little altered by the requirement to work in micrograv. Extropian habs sometimes work with Fab Food, but are often blacklisted by major franchises due to their more open policy on IP - and their more open stance on personally-owned fabrication. One typically sees them clustered around major areas of transit, such as in sky or spaceports and train stations, or in long rows along major thoroughfares. They mix flashy physical lighting with bombardments of AR ads - some of which will even fight with other ads. These little kiosks are intermixed with "traditional" street food, actual people frying up noodles, or in little stalls with cages filled with live poultry - or tanks of seafood, or with the kebab grilling right in front of you. These "mom and pop" operations compete with major franchises and can stay in business because of their increased "authenticity" of food and charge slightly more, though the food can't be said to be as convenient.
A typical fab food outlet can be as small as a bulky vending machine - with racks of food and drink to order, or big enough to walk in and form a line, or sit at a table for a quick meal. Most common though are kiosks or alcoves about the size of a traditional food stall/stand. Here you will see many familiar brands and styles, though the names have often changed as a result of rebranding, public pressure or loss of original rights. Groups like Golden-M, Burger Queen, Wendi's, White Palace, Stardoes, The Colonel's, Taco Toll, Pizza Shack, Little Kaiser's, Wyld Zings and School of Subs still exist and "license" official branding and food recipes in blueprint form to franchises. Local installations to match the local culture are also common.
The food seen in Fab Food shops has a little variety, but is built on a theme - it must be quick to make from simple ingredients which can be assembled in a fab and either shaped to form in it or by a quick intervention of a bot or robot waldo, then packaged to go for the customer. The largest and highest quality shops have the proper meat flash cloning in the back, but most kiosks can only have the maker assemble relevant protein strands and apply flavoring substitute. "Burgers" and other sandwich substitutes, processed meat nuggets or strips, chipped and fried vegetable fiber, kebabs, noodles, flatbread, and various other packagings of meat and grain form the underlying menu of most places - in some combination. Much of the selection depends on local tastes. With synthetic flavoring and a rough equivalent in components, most people claim the food at least tastes like historical fast food - but some of this could just be Earth nostalgia. Even so, despite what many see as a low quality, the food is highly convenient, and modern medicine will prevent or alleviate most problems of consuming too much. Drinks are also sold in fab food places - either mixed on the go in a maker, or premade in bulk by fabricators in cans or bulbs to be sold instantly and replaced over time.
Typical setup for a Fab Food shop crews it with one or two bots (Servitors usually) or just a remote waldo setup run by one or more infomorphs - assuming the type of food being served can't be completely replicated in the Maker. These workers move food around in prep units or place them in containers or may assemble several bits of food into a singular item. Occasionally, they interact with customers - but this is not required, transactions are digital and ordering can be done via apps on the mesh or in AR. Operating these systems may be simple AI though many places are wary of AIs operating anything related to nanofabrication - meaning indentured infomorphs are increasingly common - an extremely low paying contract. In places where economics allow it or force it, these may be remotely operated by people at home who lack other job skills; the young (often students) who lack skills and experience, former indentures with no real job market, ex-criminals and others with problems integrating in normal society. A new trend in "premium" Fab Food Shops has arisen as well, where the price and quality are slightly higher, but really the user is paying for a brief interaction with a real human contractor - not an indenture, who is present physically or as a cheery AR avatar - an attempt to cash in on some anti-indenture movements.
Fab Food is all over the Inner System in tightly packed cities, and spin gravity habs. Some also occur in highly populated beehives, though their menus might be a little altered by the requirement to work in micrograv. Extropian habs sometimes work with Fab Food, but are often blacklisted by major franchises due to their more open policy on IP - and their more open stance on personally-owned fabrication. One typically sees them clustered around major areas of transit, such as in sky or spaceports and train stations, or in long rows along major thoroughfares. They mix flashy physical lighting with bombardments of AR ads - some of which will even fight with other ads. These little kiosks are intermixed with "traditional" street food, actual people frying up noodles, or in little stalls with cages filled with live poultry - or tanks of seafood, or with the kebab grilling right in front of you. These "mom and pop" operations compete with major franchises and can stay in business because of their increased "authenticity" of food and charge slightly more, though the food can't be said to be as convenient.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Way of the Bow
(Author's Note: Bows are probably a fairly widely homebrewed resource, because they are given as an example, yet remain unstatted. This entry does not assume any particular stats for bows, it is more just a general commentary on their possible place in the universe. My personal preference for stats is picking a few from AUGC by SquireNed to utilize as appropriate)
The bow and arrow is a tool for hunting and warfare which predates history. A simple device, it's primary use in warfare was long supplanted by the development of gunpowder, but for it's simplicity and history the design and methodology has retained even after The Fall. Archery has a strong cultural connotation for many, both as a sport, an art and even in spirituality - folk heroes, legends and mythological figures can be associated with the bow, or are said to govern the art.
With the wide spread of knowledge and technology, bows remain fairly simple to make. Almost anybody with survival skills can scrounge a basic "self bow" from line and raw materials, while tools or fabbers can produce a basic recurve or composite bow. While they take a little assembly time, compound bows are also fairly easy to produce using carbon composites - and some designs take it further - shape adjusting smart material bows, or self pulling "automatic bows". Arrows have a similar revolution, from chips of glass and volcanic rock on carbon tubing to monofilament accushot smart arrows. The variance of gravity and atmospheric density, combined with overall greater physical aptitude of transhumanity can similarly make very impressive displays of archery.
Archery is preserved as a traditional sport many places, with target archery still being the most common - but Field archery is practiced on Mars, and the largest and greenest Lunar cities and Cylinder habs which have the available space. As a classical art, archery also persists. HEMA enthusiasts on Venus have recovered or engineered several historical styles, including a revival of the English longbow. Traditional archery is popular on Luna, with their high Indian population - the Sanskrit word for "archery" was eventually applied to all martial arts. Hybrid English-Indian systems and styles are popular in the Outer System. The real place to go for the competitive market in archery sports and arts is Mars, however. North African and Central Asian diaspora have preserved horseback archery, even some attempts at chariot archery. There is enough East Asian diaspora that traditional arts like Korean Gungdo and Japanese Kyudo are still taught, while Indian, European and American influences also exist. And Mars has the space and low gravity for some impressive shooting. Sadly, outside of neo-primitives and the exotically rich, bowhunting and fishing has gone almost completely extinct.
But, archery is not just a sport or an art - the bow is a weapon. While their efficiency is still outpaced by more modern weapons, they have advantages which a skilled user can make good use of. Bows are very quiet compared to firearms, seekers and even railguns which still have a supersonic report. They are much less disrupted by atmospheric effects than energy weapons (especially with the right smart arrow), and have a unique advantage that their ammunition can often be recovered after a fight. All this while retaining a decent range, accuracy and damage profile. The Rajput of the Ultimates swear by the effectiveness of a proper bow in the hands of the adequately skilled and augmented in killing "soft" biomorph exsurgents and small TITAN bots - and doing so quietly. Martian Nomads sometimes use them to pick off small Wild Artificials or neogenic creatures like Causapods. They also occasionally use them to quietly dispose of bandits and corporate busybodies who trespass.
The simplicity and construction of some bows means they can even be concealed past some security measures, so they have been occasionally used in assassination attempts, terror attacks and intrusions. Some bioconservative or even primitivist groups have used simple bows to kill as a public statement, where as quiet intrusion specialists just prefer the low sound level to lethality ratio. This also doesn't discount fantastic phantom thieves and hitmen who just like to show off. The Way of the Bow is alive and well in AF 10, in a multitude of ways.
The bow and arrow is a tool for hunting and warfare which predates history. A simple device, it's primary use in warfare was long supplanted by the development of gunpowder, but for it's simplicity and history the design and methodology has retained even after The Fall. Archery has a strong cultural connotation for many, both as a sport, an art and even in spirituality - folk heroes, legends and mythological figures can be associated with the bow, or are said to govern the art.
With the wide spread of knowledge and technology, bows remain fairly simple to make. Almost anybody with survival skills can scrounge a basic "self bow" from line and raw materials, while tools or fabbers can produce a basic recurve or composite bow. While they take a little assembly time, compound bows are also fairly easy to produce using carbon composites - and some designs take it further - shape adjusting smart material bows, or self pulling "automatic bows". Arrows have a similar revolution, from chips of glass and volcanic rock on carbon tubing to monofilament accushot smart arrows. The variance of gravity and atmospheric density, combined with overall greater physical aptitude of transhumanity can similarly make very impressive displays of archery.
Archery is preserved as a traditional sport many places, with target archery still being the most common - but Field archery is practiced on Mars, and the largest and greenest Lunar cities and Cylinder habs which have the available space. As a classical art, archery also persists. HEMA enthusiasts on Venus have recovered or engineered several historical styles, including a revival of the English longbow. Traditional archery is popular on Luna, with their high Indian population - the Sanskrit word for "archery" was eventually applied to all martial arts. Hybrid English-Indian systems and styles are popular in the Outer System. The real place to go for the competitive market in archery sports and arts is Mars, however. North African and Central Asian diaspora have preserved horseback archery, even some attempts at chariot archery. There is enough East Asian diaspora that traditional arts like Korean Gungdo and Japanese Kyudo are still taught, while Indian, European and American influences also exist. And Mars has the space and low gravity for some impressive shooting. Sadly, outside of neo-primitives and the exotically rich, bowhunting and fishing has gone almost completely extinct.
But, archery is not just a sport or an art - the bow is a weapon. While their efficiency is still outpaced by more modern weapons, they have advantages which a skilled user can make good use of. Bows are very quiet compared to firearms, seekers and even railguns which still have a supersonic report. They are much less disrupted by atmospheric effects than energy weapons (especially with the right smart arrow), and have a unique advantage that their ammunition can often be recovered after a fight. All this while retaining a decent range, accuracy and damage profile. The Rajput of the Ultimates swear by the effectiveness of a proper bow in the hands of the adequately skilled and augmented in killing "soft" biomorph exsurgents and small TITAN bots - and doing so quietly. Martian Nomads sometimes use them to pick off small Wild Artificials or neogenic creatures like Causapods. They also occasionally use them to quietly dispose of bandits and corporate busybodies who trespass.
The simplicity and construction of some bows means they can even be concealed past some security measures, so they have been occasionally used in assassination attempts, terror attacks and intrusions. Some bioconservative or even primitivist groups have used simple bows to kill as a public statement, where as quiet intrusion specialists just prefer the low sound level to lethality ratio. This also doesn't discount fantastic phantom thieves and hitmen who just like to show off. The Way of the Bow is alive and well in AF 10, in a multitude of ways.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Corporations #3
ANDROMEDA MERCHANTS
Major Industries: Food, Makers
AM is a fairly standard Hypercorp mostly based out of Luna and Mars. Their original industry was in supplying meals and food service to prisons and penal indenture in areas in the orbital sphere of the Earth (including the Moon), but as criminal justice mostly phased away from physical prisons, they needed to do some restructuring. After rebranding, Andromeda took their established industry and marketed it more toward both public and corporate spheres. They sell multiple levels of makers, from small personal food prep stations to big industrial scale ones for corporate stations or indenture housing. They also offer pre-prepared meal plans for those who are not able, or do not wish to own a nanotech device in their own homes. There are strong and persistent rumors that Andromeda regularly donates funds to the Ultimates. Their logo is "AM" emblazoned over a galaxy.
APEX PERIPHERALS
Major Industries: Computer Peripherals
Apex is a relatively standard hypercorp based on Progress who develop and sell computer peripherals and accessories. This includes fiberoptic and other connection cables, external holographic projectors, speakers and displays, ecto accessories, simulspace headsets and more. Like many corps, they iterate their designs frequently to encourage consumers to buy again and help prevent piracy - which is rampant for their designs in the Outer System. Despite relative popularity and quality, they are a corp with middling value and success, usually because they sell relatively cheap products and do so frequently. Their logo is a barely stylized "APEX" or "AX-P" on their products.
FU-GREEN SYSTEMS
Major Industries: Batteries, Energy, Weapons
Ostensibly, FGS primary industry is in batteries - both conventional and nuclear - and various charging and connection accessories for their batteries. However, their battery designs almost exclusively are integrated into powered weapons, such as beam weapons and railguns. Not only is Fu-Green compatible with most leading brands of these weapons, they also produce their own blueprints for many common weapons or aftermarket "upgrade" kits for certain high-power components, such as magnetic rails. Early intelligence indicates that several of the controlling members of this corp may be Asyncs and funneling their profits into efforts to conceal or even train Asyncs in hiding. Their logo is an indigo star.
GOTO-COLLINS PRODUCTIONS
Major Industries: Genetics, Robotics, Entertainment
"Bringing you a Magical Life"
Goto-Collins is a company which has grown steadily over the past couple decades and absorbed or integrated several other corps. Originally, as just "Goto Production", they were a "prop-maker" or production company which specialized in custom bioscuplting and robotics or animatronics for props in vids, vidgames and physical locations. Since then, their business has expanded, not only do they do production work, but they also offer custom bodysculpting and cosmetic mods for morphs (both for entertainment or personal use), detailing and customization on bots and smart animals and even custom, to-spec builds of drones or vehicles. Their logo is a lavender mermaid.
HELIOS AEROSPACE, INC.
Major Industries: Spacecraft, Synthmorphs, Bots
Helios is an unaffiliated Hypercorp based in the Vulcanoids and coordinated by a board with owners from several groups who specializes in "Solar"-rated technology. They produce external and integrated shielding and protection systems for spacecraft, bots or external platforms and synthmorphs (such as the Sundiver) to operate in the orbits close to the Sun. This gives them access to a wide variety of technologies and even clients - and they are known for strict political neutrality to provide products to many groups. Some of their tech is even being utilized in Exoplanet systems via the Vulcanoid gate. Their logo is a shield over a sun.
JONES GAMBLING
Major Industries: Virtual/Electronic Gambling
This hypercorp is based on Venus, and specializes in electronic or virtual gambling. They primarily run mesh addresses mirrored across aerostats to handle gambling in traditional games, sports betting and fantasy sports and other methods virtually - all done with simple interfaces. For those with nostalgia, Jones also produces high quality electronic machines which one can place in a place of business, such as slots, pachinko and virtual poker. Due to virtual integration, transfer of money is done fairly quickly and without much fuss - with harsh penalties for those who go into debt officiated by Extropian legal contractors. Many have attempted to draw connections between Jones and several major crime syndicates, but there appear to be none. Their logo is a tan card with "jones" printed on the back.
NEBULA SYNDICATE
Major Industries: Data Mining and Analysis
Nebula is a independent contracting corp who handles data gathering and analysis. Unlike Stellar Intelligence, they are do not perform what might be considered "espionage" work or any advanced forms, but will collect and analyze public data. Their best functions are in traffic analysis (either data or physical movement) to aid governing bodies or corporations, but they can also track memetics, engagement or interaction and general trending and make projections accordingly. Due to their relatively innocuous nature, it is highly suspected that Nebula is either a front for some other organization (Such as Oversight, Sybils, ID Crew, Firewall, etc) or has higher levels who work for one or more groups such as that. Their logo is a purple octagon.
NUCLEAR FRONTIER INVESTMENTS
Major Industries: Investment Banking
NFI is a banking and investment group, split between majority holding in Luna and Extropia. They handle primary physical banking and resource investment and speculations - their name coming from their original business speculating and trading in investments in radioactive isotopes and fissile materials. They have since moved on to handle transactions involving other heavy and rare metals, volatiles, fusibles, antimatter or even low-value trading and banking in common substances such as carbon and silicates. NFI's physical branches also will hold physical materials in secured, shielded containers for clients, meaning that they've been targeted by erstwhile "bank robbers" before, none of whom have had much success. Their logo is an atom inside a box, which represents a bank vault.
NYMPHOODS
Major Industries: Agriculture, Food
Nymphoods is an extropian-based hypercorp who work in foodstuffs and in "agriculture". Unlike some other groups, their work is based heavily in nano-ecology. They not only sell food produced in nanotech enhanced environments, but also home kits to grow food aided by nanotechnology (such as gardener swarms). This advanced tech tends to make their products expensive, but high quality. Nymphoods also owns and operates a restaurant in The Noodle on Extropia which displays the excellence of their food, and is also known for its interesting scene with attractive service staff and modular environment and atmosphere via smart materials. Their logo is the stylized "Nymphoods".
WAYCORP-MICROBREAK FOUNDATION
Major Industries: Environmental Shielding, Stasis Tech
WM Foundation is a bit of a low key, but steadily working hypercorp. They produce a variety of environmental protection and shields for habitats, such as micrometeorite protection, atmospheric seals, various temperature insulation, etc. This includes both external shielding, and protection for various internal facilities, such as for medical facilities or special storage. They also have recently branched into medical stasis tech, such as for morph storage or long term medical care - or even cryogenic preservation. Apparently the company has developed a focus on building habitats and structures to withstand any disaster. Rumors have recently begun circulating, however, that one of their major researchers is actually an infamous con artist. Their logo is a set of connected hexes with W-M overlaid.
Major Industries: Food, Makers
AM is a fairly standard Hypercorp mostly based out of Luna and Mars. Their original industry was in supplying meals and food service to prisons and penal indenture in areas in the orbital sphere of the Earth (including the Moon), but as criminal justice mostly phased away from physical prisons, they needed to do some restructuring. After rebranding, Andromeda took their established industry and marketed it more toward both public and corporate spheres. They sell multiple levels of makers, from small personal food prep stations to big industrial scale ones for corporate stations or indenture housing. They also offer pre-prepared meal plans for those who are not able, or do not wish to own a nanotech device in their own homes. There are strong and persistent rumors that Andromeda regularly donates funds to the Ultimates. Their logo is "AM" emblazoned over a galaxy.
APEX PERIPHERALS
Major Industries: Computer Peripherals
Apex is a relatively standard hypercorp based on Progress who develop and sell computer peripherals and accessories. This includes fiberoptic and other connection cables, external holographic projectors, speakers and displays, ecto accessories, simulspace headsets and more. Like many corps, they iterate their designs frequently to encourage consumers to buy again and help prevent piracy - which is rampant for their designs in the Outer System. Despite relative popularity and quality, they are a corp with middling value and success, usually because they sell relatively cheap products and do so frequently. Their logo is a barely stylized "APEX" or "AX-P" on their products.
FU-GREEN SYSTEMS
Major Industries: Batteries, Energy, Weapons
Ostensibly, FGS primary industry is in batteries - both conventional and nuclear - and various charging and connection accessories for their batteries. However, their battery designs almost exclusively are integrated into powered weapons, such as beam weapons and railguns. Not only is Fu-Green compatible with most leading brands of these weapons, they also produce their own blueprints for many common weapons or aftermarket "upgrade" kits for certain high-power components, such as magnetic rails. Early intelligence indicates that several of the controlling members of this corp may be Asyncs and funneling their profits into efforts to conceal or even train Asyncs in hiding. Their logo is an indigo star.
GOTO-COLLINS PRODUCTIONS
Major Industries: Genetics, Robotics, Entertainment
"Bringing you a Magical Life"
Goto-Collins is a company which has grown steadily over the past couple decades and absorbed or integrated several other corps. Originally, as just "Goto Production", they were a "prop-maker" or production company which specialized in custom bioscuplting and robotics or animatronics for props in vids, vidgames and physical locations. Since then, their business has expanded, not only do they do production work, but they also offer custom bodysculpting and cosmetic mods for morphs (both for entertainment or personal use), detailing and customization on bots and smart animals and even custom, to-spec builds of drones or vehicles. Their logo is a lavender mermaid.
HELIOS AEROSPACE, INC.
Major Industries: Spacecraft, Synthmorphs, Bots
Helios is an unaffiliated Hypercorp based in the Vulcanoids and coordinated by a board with owners from several groups who specializes in "Solar"-rated technology. They produce external and integrated shielding and protection systems for spacecraft, bots or external platforms and synthmorphs (such as the Sundiver) to operate in the orbits close to the Sun. This gives them access to a wide variety of technologies and even clients - and they are known for strict political neutrality to provide products to many groups. Some of their tech is even being utilized in Exoplanet systems via the Vulcanoid gate. Their logo is a shield over a sun.
JONES GAMBLING
Major Industries: Virtual/Electronic Gambling
This hypercorp is based on Venus, and specializes in electronic or virtual gambling. They primarily run mesh addresses mirrored across aerostats to handle gambling in traditional games, sports betting and fantasy sports and other methods virtually - all done with simple interfaces. For those with nostalgia, Jones also produces high quality electronic machines which one can place in a place of business, such as slots, pachinko and virtual poker. Due to virtual integration, transfer of money is done fairly quickly and without much fuss - with harsh penalties for those who go into debt officiated by Extropian legal contractors. Many have attempted to draw connections between Jones and several major crime syndicates, but there appear to be none. Their logo is a tan card with "jones" printed on the back.
NEBULA SYNDICATE
Major Industries: Data Mining and Analysis
Nebula is a independent contracting corp who handles data gathering and analysis. Unlike Stellar Intelligence, they are do not perform what might be considered "espionage" work or any advanced forms, but will collect and analyze public data. Their best functions are in traffic analysis (either data or physical movement) to aid governing bodies or corporations, but they can also track memetics, engagement or interaction and general trending and make projections accordingly. Due to their relatively innocuous nature, it is highly suspected that Nebula is either a front for some other organization (Such as Oversight, Sybils, ID Crew, Firewall, etc) or has higher levels who work for one or more groups such as that. Their logo is a purple octagon.
NUCLEAR FRONTIER INVESTMENTS
Major Industries: Investment Banking
NFI is a banking and investment group, split between majority holding in Luna and Extropia. They handle primary physical banking and resource investment and speculations - their name coming from their original business speculating and trading in investments in radioactive isotopes and fissile materials. They have since moved on to handle transactions involving other heavy and rare metals, volatiles, fusibles, antimatter or even low-value trading and banking in common substances such as carbon and silicates. NFI's physical branches also will hold physical materials in secured, shielded containers for clients, meaning that they've been targeted by erstwhile "bank robbers" before, none of whom have had much success. Their logo is an atom inside a box, which represents a bank vault.
NYMPHOODS
Major Industries: Agriculture, Food
Nymphoods is an extropian-based hypercorp who work in foodstuffs and in "agriculture". Unlike some other groups, their work is based heavily in nano-ecology. They not only sell food produced in nanotech enhanced environments, but also home kits to grow food aided by nanotechnology (such as gardener swarms). This advanced tech tends to make their products expensive, but high quality. Nymphoods also owns and operates a restaurant in The Noodle on Extropia which displays the excellence of their food, and is also known for its interesting scene with attractive service staff and modular environment and atmosphere via smart materials. Their logo is the stylized "Nymphoods".
WAYCORP-MICROBREAK FOUNDATION
Major Industries: Environmental Shielding, Stasis Tech
WM Foundation is a bit of a low key, but steadily working hypercorp. They produce a variety of environmental protection and shields for habitats, such as micrometeorite protection, atmospheric seals, various temperature insulation, etc. This includes both external shielding, and protection for various internal facilities, such as for medical facilities or special storage. They also have recently branched into medical stasis tech, such as for morph storage or long term medical care - or even cryogenic preservation. Apparently the company has developed a focus on building habitats and structures to withstand any disaster. Rumors have recently begun circulating, however, that one of their major researchers is actually an infamous con artist. Their logo is a set of connected hexes with W-M overlaid.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Dreamweavers/Dreameaters
Sleep is vital to life, though transhumans don't need as much of it. Basic Biomods reduces the amount of sleep vs active period, and Circadian Regulation does so further. But, mods like Hibernate allow one to sleep deeply longer. Even though Synthmorphs do not require to sleep, many sleeved in them will use low-power modes to take breaks to rest the mind and kill time. Infomorphs can slow run time and emulate sleeping mind states to rest and refocus. As biological importance is retained, so is cultural importance - which can lead to interesting junctures between culture and technology.
Simulspace and VR in general are amazing tools. There are entire subcultures who chose to live not only as infomorphs but in VR environments permanently. They can simply exist in VR sensorium servers and persist there so long as the server operates. For those outside, Simulspace is a bit different, and for biomorphs accessing VR is usually done through a headset with a hardline connection which manages brainwave data - allowing the replacement and immersion in the new sensorium. VR is usually accessed in special couches, beds or chairs to keep the body relaxed and prevent harm from any additional movements in the real world. This also means it provides a relaxing space where transhumans might feel able to sleep. This juncture is the origin point of Dreamweavers.
The art or science of dreamweaving is part psychosurgery, part simulspace engineering, and a bit classical psychology. Those with a more technical aptitude might apply neurology directly also. It is possible to engage in Simulspace while asleep or mimic a sleeping state with the technology. While most people engage with it while fully conscious, the interface point itself doesn't necessarily care. However, interacting with VR while your brain is in various states of rest is difficult and complex, limited often to those who have the ability to lucid dream. This is where a good Dreamweaver comes in. Someone with the technical and academic skills to oversee a dreamer and manage both their psyche and the software and hardware it is working with. The profession is a bit fringe in some habs, especially with a more conservative view on technology, but is non-invasive and entertaining or even therapeutic, so it's not uncommon to be able to find one on the Mesh.
A Dreamweaver can perform many services and operations, and usually does so in real space from a very close proximity to the dreamer - though with decent connection they can operate remotely. Because they have access to both a sleeping mind and body, intense trust is needed with a Dreamweaver. This can sometimes lead to intimate relationships between the dreamer and the weaver. The most simplistic option with a 'weaver is for them to record naturally occurring dreams not just as XP (which some people do as a form of "dream journal") but render them in fully interactive VR. This can allow for interactive dream analysis, editing and even "resumption" of a dream which ended or drifted away originally. The more common and complex option is real time dream observation, editing and suppression. Originally devised as a therapy for those with night terrors and other issues, this process has a Dreamweaver observe dreams (as the sleeper perceives them) and use their VR interface to alter the direction or content of the dream. Traumatic nightmares might be gently brightened or ended to shift to a new dream, stress dreams can be de-stressed and dull dreams might be made more interesting. Because this is done in real time, it requires some skill to string together the hybrid of VR programming and psychosurgery commands to shift dreams on the fly - and poor cohesion or design of a dream edit can cause undue stress on the subject - causing them to wake up. Dreamweavers tend to get better at this the more they work with a client (as the process also often helps with insight and psychotherapy as well) and can learn to navigate their particular dreamscape - which promotes long relationships with a good 'weaver.
The most complex service of Dreamweaving is also the best known and most popular. Not only can they record and interact with normal dreams, but via the Simulspace interface a good 'weaver can take over for normal subconscious dreaming patterns and induce specific dreams in the subject. Because of elements of sub- or unconscious interaction with the dream-state, Dreamweavers who actually build dreams often say that they must remain flexible in their design and often made changes on the fly to the program to account for an active dreamer. In these cases, the client tends to "order" certain dreams or themes before they go to sleep, and the 'weaver executes on them, using their knowledge of the dreamer and their own library of software to bring about the desired result. This is not quite the same as utilizing VR normally, while some dreamers (and particularly good Dreamweavers) can induce lucidity in these dreams they aren't fully immersive or interactive like a normal simulspace - they behave more like natural dreams which content or themes have been "pre-picked" by the dreamer and implemented by the 'weaver. Some Dreamweavers make the dreams in real time as the sleeper experiences and reacts to them. Others can implement pre-programmed dream types, and edit them to match the sleeper's personality. Inducing a dream must be done very carefully to avoid causing undue mental stress on the subject. Additionally, being too loose with the controls on a dream can cause the natural sleeper's mind to influence it causing it to go "off script".
It still is a very popular service by those with good money to engineer their dreams, often hiring personal dreamweavers like one patrons any art - or high quality dreamweavers drawing large packs of clientele like a famous surgeon or therapist. Economically, Dreamweaving isn't as strong in the New Economy, as on just pure Reputation it can sometimes be difficult to organize appointments and clients when they are all in good standing in the community - leading to a handful to operate on "first come, first served" basis or involve trading of favors directly. Usually, you find people with the talents exclusively offering it for therapeutic benefits to a broader community, or where Networking can get you an introduction to a 'weaver, who then screens for people they are particularly interested in working with (though being too exclusive can harm one's own reputation). Also very common is that Dreamweavers form small communities and groups who train and practice together, and will offer services to friends and close companions, or work together to handle scheduling in other people from outside the collective to come in and experience their craft, which enhances the reputation of the collective.
Mechanics:
Should the mechanical need to model Dreamweaving come up, the simplest way is to treat it as a specific Specialization of a skill like Programming or Art: Simulspace Design, and have the 'weaver roll that skill as a Task Action which last however long the subject sleeps (and probably shouldn't operate under normal speed reduction, unless you want to wake the subject up early). Success means the dream is woven as it should be, and failure means things didn't quite go as planned. On Critical or Excellent success, the subject might even heal a few points of Stress, but conversely on Severe or Critical failures a particularly "bad trip" should probably inflict some stress.
Or, if you want to get more technical, treat it like a Psychosurgery proceedure (which Programming or Art: Simulspace Design might complement). It has a timeframe of however long the subject is asleep (average 4-8 hours), with a modifier of +20 if you're just suppressing or editing normal dreams, and +0 if you're weaving a dream completely. Oppose with WILx3 as normal. If the surgeon succeeds, things go off perfectly, and if they have a good MoS the subject might heal some Stress or gain some other temporary benefit. If both pass, then the dreamer's subconscious (or conscious if they can lucid dream) may take the dream in unexpected directions - the result is an interesting and memorable experience, but no long term gain. If the surgeon fails or the subject rolls higher on their WIL test, their subconscious rejects or persists in its natural dreams, and the dreamer takes 1 SV (more maybe, if the PS fails worse) and if they pass the WIL test probably wake up in the middle of their sleep.
Additionally, a character who performs dreamweaving services for someone should get a hefty bonus to rolls like Kinesics or Psychology aimed at determining that person's mood, mental state or attitude to the tune of +10-20 as they have a very good look at what the subject's subconscious is like.
[Sidebar] Dream-Eaters:
Not all applications of technology are good, and not everybody who delves into the world of Dreamweaving is interested in helping others - they have more selfish goals in mind. These people who range from antisocial at the best to psycho-criminals as worst are usually called "Dream-Eaters". At their lowest level, Dream-Eaters are voyeuristic and opportunistic. Instead of steadfastly watching over and guiding another's dreams, they might hijack their dream-state for their own amusement, or even utilize XP or VR to experience the dreams they make through another person's POV. Others may copy XP or VR data of dreams without permission, and share or sell them to others (sometimes unedited) in place of their own work. Some Dream-Eaters are con artists, who use the physical proximity and vulnerability of the subject for personal gain - or engage in a tactic known as "inception", where they plant careful triggers or cues in the sleeper's dreams to engage in social engineering. Some may utilize the data gathered on a sleeper's psyche for blackmail or emotional manipulation - while more insidious operators will use their access to a person's Ego and Morph to perform unauthorized psychosurgery or forking of the subject.
These criminals are potent and dangerous, and may be solo operators or associated with big outfits like the ID Crew or Nine Lives. Their actions can be motivated by simple greed to profit off others, or they may have more antisocial or disruptive behaviors in mind. Dream-Eater schemes are often hard to catch without another 'weaver to audit their work - but some get sloppy. Others get found out when people close to the victim realize something is unusual about their behavior or what they say their sessions are like. Due to the risks and damage such close access to a person can cause, the crimes performed by Dream-Eaters are usually treated harshly by most legal systems.
Simulspace and VR in general are amazing tools. There are entire subcultures who chose to live not only as infomorphs but in VR environments permanently. They can simply exist in VR sensorium servers and persist there so long as the server operates. For those outside, Simulspace is a bit different, and for biomorphs accessing VR is usually done through a headset with a hardline connection which manages brainwave data - allowing the replacement and immersion in the new sensorium. VR is usually accessed in special couches, beds or chairs to keep the body relaxed and prevent harm from any additional movements in the real world. This also means it provides a relaxing space where transhumans might feel able to sleep. This juncture is the origin point of Dreamweavers.
The art or science of dreamweaving is part psychosurgery, part simulspace engineering, and a bit classical psychology. Those with a more technical aptitude might apply neurology directly also. It is possible to engage in Simulspace while asleep or mimic a sleeping state with the technology. While most people engage with it while fully conscious, the interface point itself doesn't necessarily care. However, interacting with VR while your brain is in various states of rest is difficult and complex, limited often to those who have the ability to lucid dream. This is where a good Dreamweaver comes in. Someone with the technical and academic skills to oversee a dreamer and manage both their psyche and the software and hardware it is working with. The profession is a bit fringe in some habs, especially with a more conservative view on technology, but is non-invasive and entertaining or even therapeutic, so it's not uncommon to be able to find one on the Mesh.
A Dreamweaver can perform many services and operations, and usually does so in real space from a very close proximity to the dreamer - though with decent connection they can operate remotely. Because they have access to both a sleeping mind and body, intense trust is needed with a Dreamweaver. This can sometimes lead to intimate relationships between the dreamer and the weaver. The most simplistic option with a 'weaver is for them to record naturally occurring dreams not just as XP (which some people do as a form of "dream journal") but render them in fully interactive VR. This can allow for interactive dream analysis, editing and even "resumption" of a dream which ended or drifted away originally. The more common and complex option is real time dream observation, editing and suppression. Originally devised as a therapy for those with night terrors and other issues, this process has a Dreamweaver observe dreams (as the sleeper perceives them) and use their VR interface to alter the direction or content of the dream. Traumatic nightmares might be gently brightened or ended to shift to a new dream, stress dreams can be de-stressed and dull dreams might be made more interesting. Because this is done in real time, it requires some skill to string together the hybrid of VR programming and psychosurgery commands to shift dreams on the fly - and poor cohesion or design of a dream edit can cause undue stress on the subject - causing them to wake up. Dreamweavers tend to get better at this the more they work with a client (as the process also often helps with insight and psychotherapy as well) and can learn to navigate their particular dreamscape - which promotes long relationships with a good 'weaver.
The most complex service of Dreamweaving is also the best known and most popular. Not only can they record and interact with normal dreams, but via the Simulspace interface a good 'weaver can take over for normal subconscious dreaming patterns and induce specific dreams in the subject. Because of elements of sub- or unconscious interaction with the dream-state, Dreamweavers who actually build dreams often say that they must remain flexible in their design and often made changes on the fly to the program to account for an active dreamer. In these cases, the client tends to "order" certain dreams or themes before they go to sleep, and the 'weaver executes on them, using their knowledge of the dreamer and their own library of software to bring about the desired result. This is not quite the same as utilizing VR normally, while some dreamers (and particularly good Dreamweavers) can induce lucidity in these dreams they aren't fully immersive or interactive like a normal simulspace - they behave more like natural dreams which content or themes have been "pre-picked" by the dreamer and implemented by the 'weaver. Some Dreamweavers make the dreams in real time as the sleeper experiences and reacts to them. Others can implement pre-programmed dream types, and edit them to match the sleeper's personality. Inducing a dream must be done very carefully to avoid causing undue mental stress on the subject. Additionally, being too loose with the controls on a dream can cause the natural sleeper's mind to influence it causing it to go "off script".
It still is a very popular service by those with good money to engineer their dreams, often hiring personal dreamweavers like one patrons any art - or high quality dreamweavers drawing large packs of clientele like a famous surgeon or therapist. Economically, Dreamweaving isn't as strong in the New Economy, as on just pure Reputation it can sometimes be difficult to organize appointments and clients when they are all in good standing in the community - leading to a handful to operate on "first come, first served" basis or involve trading of favors directly. Usually, you find people with the talents exclusively offering it for therapeutic benefits to a broader community, or where Networking can get you an introduction to a 'weaver, who then screens for people they are particularly interested in working with (though being too exclusive can harm one's own reputation). Also very common is that Dreamweavers form small communities and groups who train and practice together, and will offer services to friends and close companions, or work together to handle scheduling in other people from outside the collective to come in and experience their craft, which enhances the reputation of the collective.
Mechanics:
Should the mechanical need to model Dreamweaving come up, the simplest way is to treat it as a specific Specialization of a skill like Programming or Art: Simulspace Design, and have the 'weaver roll that skill as a Task Action which last however long the subject sleeps (and probably shouldn't operate under normal speed reduction, unless you want to wake the subject up early). Success means the dream is woven as it should be, and failure means things didn't quite go as planned. On Critical or Excellent success, the subject might even heal a few points of Stress, but conversely on Severe or Critical failures a particularly "bad trip" should probably inflict some stress.
Or, if you want to get more technical, treat it like a Psychosurgery proceedure (which Programming or Art: Simulspace Design might complement). It has a timeframe of however long the subject is asleep (average 4-8 hours), with a modifier of +20 if you're just suppressing or editing normal dreams, and +0 if you're weaving a dream completely. Oppose with WILx3 as normal. If the surgeon succeeds, things go off perfectly, and if they have a good MoS the subject might heal some Stress or gain some other temporary benefit. If both pass, then the dreamer's subconscious (or conscious if they can lucid dream) may take the dream in unexpected directions - the result is an interesting and memorable experience, but no long term gain. If the surgeon fails or the subject rolls higher on their WIL test, their subconscious rejects or persists in its natural dreams, and the dreamer takes 1 SV (more maybe, if the PS fails worse) and if they pass the WIL test probably wake up in the middle of their sleep.
Additionally, a character who performs dreamweaving services for someone should get a hefty bonus to rolls like Kinesics or Psychology aimed at determining that person's mood, mental state or attitude to the tune of +10-20 as they have a very good look at what the subject's subconscious is like.
[Sidebar] Dream-Eaters:
Not all applications of technology are good, and not everybody who delves into the world of Dreamweaving is interested in helping others - they have more selfish goals in mind. These people who range from antisocial at the best to psycho-criminals as worst are usually called "Dream-Eaters". At their lowest level, Dream-Eaters are voyeuristic and opportunistic. Instead of steadfastly watching over and guiding another's dreams, they might hijack their dream-state for their own amusement, or even utilize XP or VR to experience the dreams they make through another person's POV. Others may copy XP or VR data of dreams without permission, and share or sell them to others (sometimes unedited) in place of their own work. Some Dream-Eaters are con artists, who use the physical proximity and vulnerability of the subject for personal gain - or engage in a tactic known as "inception", where they plant careful triggers or cues in the sleeper's dreams to engage in social engineering. Some may utilize the data gathered on a sleeper's psyche for blackmail or emotional manipulation - while more insidious operators will use their access to a person's Ego and Morph to perform unauthorized psychosurgery or forking of the subject.
These criminals are potent and dangerous, and may be solo operators or associated with big outfits like the ID Crew or Nine Lives. Their actions can be motivated by simple greed to profit off others, or they may have more antisocial or disruptive behaviors in mind. Dream-Eater schemes are often hard to catch without another 'weaver to audit their work - but some get sloppy. Others get found out when people close to the victim realize something is unusual about their behavior or what they say their sessions are like. Due to the risks and damage such close access to a person can cause, the crimes performed by Dream-Eaters are usually treated harshly by most legal systems.
Monday, March 6, 2017
Hellfire Clubs
Historically, "Hellfire Clubs" were meeting places for upper class persons of a jaunty or disreputable quality, primarily in Britain. In addition to gentlemanly talks of politics, philosophy and business the clubs would also engage in blasphemy, satire and "immoral acts" - the intention being to shock or scandalize the public rather than proper impropriety. Others were directly engaged in acts would be seen as improper by wider society - pagan rituals, wenching, drinking and gluttony, with one organization famously having the motto "Do what thou wilt". Social clubs under the name of "Hellfire Clubs" have persisted in some places such as Ireland into the modern era.
The landscape of many parts of the Solar System is ripe for the resurgence of such social clubs, particularly in cities on Venus and Mars with strong enclaves of European descent and a high-class populace. The growth of social media and life transparency means that engaging in anti-social or "inappropriate" behaviors can tend to catch up with one quickly, which can mean the end of a career (or a very frustrating setback) for many a young socialite. Additionally, class divides are strong, which can fuel a resentment of the upper crust and drive them to private meeting using their powerful resources. But also, hedonism is popular in many areas, especially due to transhuman resiliency. Food, drink, drugs and sex are all relatively harmless to those with a proper morph and medical care - and worst comes can be easily sidestepped by resleeving. While some of the oligarchy are said to have "Immortality Blues" and have grown tired of many normal pastimes, the hyperelite youth of the Glitterati and other cultures are still amused by the "normal" things, and may desire private outlets.
And of course, the intellectual situation is also ideal - Religion is not as common in these regions in AF 10, and many prominent religious groups are known for their current or classic conservatism - making them ideal for parody. Earth nostalgia and "retro" qualities for many classic fashions recorded from the past couple centuries has arisen, though obviously distorted by time, and many "updated" to fit in with modern technology.
Hellfire Clubs follow many similar internal structures. They meet in restaurants, bars or other social venues, or at members homes. All members are treated as equals, and many may enforce anonymity or lack of Mesh access to prevent leaks and recordings from getting out. Men and women may join, a bit of useful historical accuracy, though depending on "authenticity" all members may still be referred to as "Brother". Meetings tend to be regular, such as weekly or monthly, at appointed times, though to prevent gossip journos from getting a handle on them they especially skilled Clubs may rotate or encrypt scheduling. Membership tends to be invite only, with new members being vouched for by a previous one - and many involve hazing or initiation rituals. Hellfire Clubs may even be virtual instead of physical - though this is not as common due to it's lack of apparent "authenticity". Particularly unscrupulous clubs may also operate by garnering the assistance of local criminal elements to hide or help provide "entertainment".
The actual subject of the club varies widely depending on individual social groupings. Some are simple social clubs with an air of secrecy, a place for people of similar minds or ages to gather and speak about topics without public perception, politics, money or social standing to directly interfere. Many are more in a vein of clubs to party and have fun - where exquisite food, drink and pleasures of the flesh are offered. They may also engage in acts of satire or parody, mockeries of religious rituals of elaborate pagan natures or in blatant misrepresentation of classical Abrahamic religion. Others may engage in political satire, skits or other amusements of a more intellectual nature - or just humble pranks. The most extreme and private clubs engage in acts which are not just socially unacceptable, but illegal: cannibalism, snuff, bloodsports, human or animal sacrifice, bestiality, torture and many others - and these are most likely to be connected to serious criminal outfits.
While some regard the Clubs as unsavory, immoral, in poor taste or "wasting time", only the most extreme are seen as harmful or dangerous - and even then the hyperelite who move in these circles may not even care for harm done to "lower classes", though public image in places like Morningstar and the Consortium mean that legal action may still be taken if the word gets out. Some Autonomist groups, such as many militant Anarchists, see the Clubs (and the obscured rumors of them on the Mesh) as exploitative, abusive and endemic of hierarchical systems - but Extropian and Scum clades are generally more approachable on the subject of "do what you will". There are even rumors that groups on Titan, such as the oligarhov counterculture, are interested in similar concepts to engage in socially unacceptable behaviors away from the sometimes oppressive transparency of normal Commonwealth life.
The landscape of many parts of the Solar System is ripe for the resurgence of such social clubs, particularly in cities on Venus and Mars with strong enclaves of European descent and a high-class populace. The growth of social media and life transparency means that engaging in anti-social or "inappropriate" behaviors can tend to catch up with one quickly, which can mean the end of a career (or a very frustrating setback) for many a young socialite. Additionally, class divides are strong, which can fuel a resentment of the upper crust and drive them to private meeting using their powerful resources. But also, hedonism is popular in many areas, especially due to transhuman resiliency. Food, drink, drugs and sex are all relatively harmless to those with a proper morph and medical care - and worst comes can be easily sidestepped by resleeving. While some of the oligarchy are said to have "Immortality Blues" and have grown tired of many normal pastimes, the hyperelite youth of the Glitterati and other cultures are still amused by the "normal" things, and may desire private outlets.
And of course, the intellectual situation is also ideal - Religion is not as common in these regions in AF 10, and many prominent religious groups are known for their current or classic conservatism - making them ideal for parody. Earth nostalgia and "retro" qualities for many classic fashions recorded from the past couple centuries has arisen, though obviously distorted by time, and many "updated" to fit in with modern technology.
Hellfire Clubs follow many similar internal structures. They meet in restaurants, bars or other social venues, or at members homes. All members are treated as equals, and many may enforce anonymity or lack of Mesh access to prevent leaks and recordings from getting out. Men and women may join, a bit of useful historical accuracy, though depending on "authenticity" all members may still be referred to as "Brother". Meetings tend to be regular, such as weekly or monthly, at appointed times, though to prevent gossip journos from getting a handle on them they especially skilled Clubs may rotate or encrypt scheduling. Membership tends to be invite only, with new members being vouched for by a previous one - and many involve hazing or initiation rituals. Hellfire Clubs may even be virtual instead of physical - though this is not as common due to it's lack of apparent "authenticity". Particularly unscrupulous clubs may also operate by garnering the assistance of local criminal elements to hide or help provide "entertainment".
The actual subject of the club varies widely depending on individual social groupings. Some are simple social clubs with an air of secrecy, a place for people of similar minds or ages to gather and speak about topics without public perception, politics, money or social standing to directly interfere. Many are more in a vein of clubs to party and have fun - where exquisite food, drink and pleasures of the flesh are offered. They may also engage in acts of satire or parody, mockeries of religious rituals of elaborate pagan natures or in blatant misrepresentation of classical Abrahamic religion. Others may engage in political satire, skits or other amusements of a more intellectual nature - or just humble pranks. The most extreme and private clubs engage in acts which are not just socially unacceptable, but illegal: cannibalism, snuff, bloodsports, human or animal sacrifice, bestiality, torture and many others - and these are most likely to be connected to serious criminal outfits.
While some regard the Clubs as unsavory, immoral, in poor taste or "wasting time", only the most extreme are seen as harmful or dangerous - and even then the hyperelite who move in these circles may not even care for harm done to "lower classes", though public image in places like Morningstar and the Consortium mean that legal action may still be taken if the word gets out. Some Autonomist groups, such as many militant Anarchists, see the Clubs (and the obscured rumors of them on the Mesh) as exploitative, abusive and endemic of hierarchical systems - but Extropian and Scum clades are generally more approachable on the subject of "do what you will". There are even rumors that groups on Titan, such as the oligarhov counterculture, are interested in similar concepts to engage in socially unacceptable behaviors away from the sometimes oppressive transparency of normal Commonwealth life.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Vids #2
In the same vein as the original Vids, a collection of media programs one might find browsing the mesh or one's media library - great for adding a little flavor to your game.
DIAMOND CHEF
A cooking vid/XP series actually run by the Ultimates in cooperation with Go-Nin group. The best chefs in the solar system compete to make dishes out of exotic ingredients - including some which may be toxic to handle. The real challenge comes when the ingredients are from live creatures, or appear in specific and exotic locales requiring the chef's team to send somebody to kill or retrieve what they must cook first.
DON'T VOID THE WARRANTY
This is a romantic vid series (also available in XP) starring a pilot and their ride - the Perfumed Zephyr, sexiest ship in the system (and it's AGI operator). The series comes in a variety of explicit ratings and kinky experiences, from tame, romantic dinner with the ship over oxygen candles to a famous scene where the ship mobs her lover with a squad of four pleasure pods, and proceeds to ravish them in the newly installed smart fluid pressure chamber, both as humanoid and ship.
HORROR PARK
Vid series about a habitat with a nature preserve park populated by masked synth bots which resemble unusual or unnatural creatures who are known to go "technical" and attack guests - guests and monsters are variable.
REBIRTH
A fictionalized retelling of an early Autonomist collective of ships in Earth Orbit, who make the decisions to form a fleet and journey out to the Main Belt and start a new colony to provide new life and liberty to their citizens - and resulting internal conflicts and problems. Has a highly variable program matrix which allows viewers to follow various characters and plots of their own choosing, which can result in different outcomes and makeups for the story.
SKY PIRATES OF ASTERIA REGIO
A somewhat fantastical and swashbuckling vid series which involves romanticised airship combat on a partially atmospheric-terraformed Venus. The allegiance, attitude and personalities of primary characters are often variable - but the primary subject of freebooting in the skies of "free Morningstar" remains the same - and often involves generous aerial stunts, duels with personal weapons and sexy times.
TMI WEEKLY
Weekly newsfeed with XP reporting snippets from "journalism" subcontractor, Tactical Media Implications. Widely considered to the show which is the highest watched while being lowest rated, TMI Weekly utilizes creative editing and leading questions to sensationalize and scandalize, and then capitalize on the latest gossip, rumors and speculation.
TRIANGULUM STRAIN
Series of vid movies related to deadly diseases, which takes place in a variety of locales. Protagonists change from vid to vid, though obviously themes and plots have many similarities. The cause of the disease is also a variable, though among viewers "terrorists" and "aliens" are the most popular.
ULTIMATE FIGHTER
Hybrid XP/Game show by Experia. Pits two fighters of specific styles of martial art (both armed and unarmed) in a carefully arranged "level" playing field which plays either to both style's strengths or neither - they then have an all out fight until one is no longer able to continue. Many people dismiss the show as overly flashy and faked - which "match ups" having little background in realism and the historic origins of a style.
DIAMOND CHEF
A cooking vid/XP series actually run by the Ultimates in cooperation with Go-Nin group. The best chefs in the solar system compete to make dishes out of exotic ingredients - including some which may be toxic to handle. The real challenge comes when the ingredients are from live creatures, or appear in specific and exotic locales requiring the chef's team to send somebody to kill or retrieve what they must cook first.
DON'T VOID THE WARRANTY
This is a romantic vid series (also available in XP) starring a pilot and their ride - the Perfumed Zephyr, sexiest ship in the system (and it's AGI operator). The series comes in a variety of explicit ratings and kinky experiences, from tame, romantic dinner with the ship over oxygen candles to a famous scene where the ship mobs her lover with a squad of four pleasure pods, and proceeds to ravish them in the newly installed smart fluid pressure chamber, both as humanoid and ship.
HORROR PARK
Vid series about a habitat with a nature preserve park populated by masked synth bots which resemble unusual or unnatural creatures who are known to go "technical" and attack guests - guests and monsters are variable.
REBIRTH
A fictionalized retelling of an early Autonomist collective of ships in Earth Orbit, who make the decisions to form a fleet and journey out to the Main Belt and start a new colony to provide new life and liberty to their citizens - and resulting internal conflicts and problems. Has a highly variable program matrix which allows viewers to follow various characters and plots of their own choosing, which can result in different outcomes and makeups for the story.
SKY PIRATES OF ASTERIA REGIO
A somewhat fantastical and swashbuckling vid series which involves romanticised airship combat on a partially atmospheric-terraformed Venus. The allegiance, attitude and personalities of primary characters are often variable - but the primary subject of freebooting in the skies of "free Morningstar" remains the same - and often involves generous aerial stunts, duels with personal weapons and sexy times.
TMI WEEKLY
Weekly newsfeed with XP reporting snippets from "journalism" subcontractor, Tactical Media Implications. Widely considered to the show which is the highest watched while being lowest rated, TMI Weekly utilizes creative editing and leading questions to sensationalize and scandalize, and then capitalize on the latest gossip, rumors and speculation.
TRIANGULUM STRAIN
Series of vid movies related to deadly diseases, which takes place in a variety of locales. Protagonists change from vid to vid, though obviously themes and plots have many similarities. The cause of the disease is also a variable, though among viewers "terrorists" and "aliens" are the most popular.
ULTIMATE FIGHTER
Hybrid XP/Game show by Experia. Pits two fighters of specific styles of martial art (both armed and unarmed) in a carefully arranged "level" playing field which plays either to both style's strengths or neither - they then have an all out fight until one is no longer able to continue. Many people dismiss the show as overly flashy and faked - which "match ups" having little background in realism and the historic origins of a style.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Fruits & Vegetables
Genefixing and editing (usually called "hacking") has much more broadly opened transhumanity's horizon when it comes to plants and especially foodstuffs. Selective breeding and hybridization were standbys of agriculture for centuries but the genetic manipulation technology of the past few decades has caused an explosion of transgenic fruits and vegetables, unique plant genelines and unusual creations of genehacking. Below are a list of only a few examples of what sort of new hybrids can be made in this day and age.
ARAPE
Derived from the marketing idea of the "grapple" or "grape-apple", an arape is a fruit (specificially an apple) which has been hybridized with a grape to produce the proper chemicals and compounds which give natural flavoring to a grape - the result is an authentically grape-flavored apple. Arapes are very niche, and only seen in small amounts in Venus and Mars or in trade with large food producing hypercorps due to their need for orchards, though Arape wine is becoming common as a fad. The name was a bit of a marketing blunder, and the "e" at the end is usually stressed in order to avoid being offensive - in English anyway.
BEER ROOT
While not strictly biologically a fruit, the "beer root" is a rhizome root which has features which resemble natural fruits - in that it's roots naturally produce sugars, and when combined with yeast cultures naturally ferment into alcohol - which can then be extracted. A hybrid of several plant species, Beer Root is intended to allow relatively simple production of what many consider a staple - as the result also has carbs. It is quite popular in some areas such as the LLA and Jovian Republic which are known to have habitat environmental problems, producing sterile food and drink supplements.
BOMB FRUIT
Almost assuredly a Scum-based prank, these derive from several fruit-bearing vines and shrubs but instead of normal sugars and vitamins, the fruits are loaded with explosive or flammable compounds. This makes them unpleasant tasting and slightly toxic to eat, but this is not the point. Bomb Fruit usually come in two varieties - contact and wicked. The contact variety produces chemicals such as nitroglycerin which explodes when sudden pressure is applied, and the wick form actually have a stem which acts like a wick or fuse, burning down until they explode over the course of an Action Turn. Both deal damage roughly equal to a HE Minigrenade in a 1 meter radius.
CANDY TREE
The dream of small children everywhere, "candy tree" actually refers to an entire class of hybrid plant. These have been modified to have a chemical process which not only creates natural sugars, but also crystallizes them similar to hard candies. This results in simple batches of naturally flavored candies in place of fruits - and are excellent for uses in certain kinds of cooking, or just as a treat or luxury. As they are still nominally based on many trees, they often require some space which reserves them for rich or industrial production.
CHERRY LIMES
Based on an artificial flavor, this is a hybrid of the cherry and the lime - which produces slightly smaller, reddish fruit with flavors akin to the cherry but with citric acid added. Many people seem to like the taste, and more importantly citrus provides valuable vitamins for most transhumans they may not obtain other places. This means they can be a common sight among traditional citrus fruits and other hybrids on many habs large enough to have a grow-area.
GOLDEN APPLE
Based on countless mythological tales, the golden apple is a derivative of several apple breeds which draws on metallic elements to produce a skin which is actually "golden" (though a high percentage or purity of gold is not guaranteed). While possibly slightly toxic, metallic levels are generally low enough for humans to consume - at least in measured portions. Because this involves heavier metals and has no real appeal besides novelty, Golden Apples are almost entirely grown and consumed by the upper class of the inner system as a display of wealth and taste.
HOLY BEAN
Developed by a Japanese biotech firm, the "Holy Bean" is supposed to be a wonder plant for basic nutrition. It is fast growing, high yield, and the dry fruits of the stalk are incredibly nutritious - though they may be a bit bland tasting. They can also be derived into a "tofu" like substance which allows them to visibly or via texture replace many other forms of food in the diet. While the patent is still held and used by a major hypercorp, demand for "wonder food" plants has died down as Maker technology progresses - as they can produce basic "nutrient brick" foods which perform similarly much more directly.
LOTUS TREE
Another tree derived from mythology, if a incorrect one. There is a fruit bearing plant called "lotus" which does not resemble the traditional flower, and is believed to be the one described in The Odyssey, but this does not make for as striking a visual image. The result is a short tree or tall shrub which grows a type of lotus flower which has very thick petals, and can be consumed. They are nutritious, but laced with a mild hallucinogen which may disturb short term memory or cause the person who eats one to show inappropriate emotional responses. Some of these trees are rumored to grow the narcotics known as "Petals".
PAINFRUIT
The painfruit is a bizarre "class" of fruits which have been genetically modified to have something resembling a nervous system, and thus experience minimal tactile feedback which can be said to be akin to "pain". As the plant and fruit of it really have no major intellect for the feedback, it's hard to even say it's cruel because it does nothing besides perhap slightly stress any living cells in the plant, but it has become popular with some Exhumans and other fringe types who wish to eat fruit for nutrition but prefer "live" prey of a sort. Painfruit was originally made as a meme for an "anti-vegan" movement, to get back a vegans for talking about how vegan they are all the time.
TUBESTEAK
This unusual plant blends the line between "plant" and "animal", but not in a way like the Whiplash pod. This transgenic base which resembles bananas has fruits which are created to produce animal or animal-like proteins and fats. The result is a fruit which has "flesh" which strongly resembles eating animal flesh, i/e "meat". While the plant's natural system keeps the fruits from spoiling, many people find it uncomfortable or unpleasant to eat the fruits raw - but they taste excellent cooked. This hack was originally made as an alternative to vat growing meat or herding animals, but is still very niche.
ARAPE
Derived from the marketing idea of the "grapple" or "grape-apple", an arape is a fruit (specificially an apple) which has been hybridized with a grape to produce the proper chemicals and compounds which give natural flavoring to a grape - the result is an authentically grape-flavored apple. Arapes are very niche, and only seen in small amounts in Venus and Mars or in trade with large food producing hypercorps due to their need for orchards, though Arape wine is becoming common as a fad. The name was a bit of a marketing blunder, and the "e" at the end is usually stressed in order to avoid being offensive - in English anyway.
BEER ROOT
While not strictly biologically a fruit, the "beer root" is a rhizome root which has features which resemble natural fruits - in that it's roots naturally produce sugars, and when combined with yeast cultures naturally ferment into alcohol - which can then be extracted. A hybrid of several plant species, Beer Root is intended to allow relatively simple production of what many consider a staple - as the result also has carbs. It is quite popular in some areas such as the LLA and Jovian Republic which are known to have habitat environmental problems, producing sterile food and drink supplements.
BOMB FRUIT
Almost assuredly a Scum-based prank, these derive from several fruit-bearing vines and shrubs but instead of normal sugars and vitamins, the fruits are loaded with explosive or flammable compounds. This makes them unpleasant tasting and slightly toxic to eat, but this is not the point. Bomb Fruit usually come in two varieties - contact and wicked. The contact variety produces chemicals such as nitroglycerin which explodes when sudden pressure is applied, and the wick form actually have a stem which acts like a wick or fuse, burning down until they explode over the course of an Action Turn. Both deal damage roughly equal to a HE Minigrenade in a 1 meter radius.
CANDY TREE
The dream of small children everywhere, "candy tree" actually refers to an entire class of hybrid plant. These have been modified to have a chemical process which not only creates natural sugars, but also crystallizes them similar to hard candies. This results in simple batches of naturally flavored candies in place of fruits - and are excellent for uses in certain kinds of cooking, or just as a treat or luxury. As they are still nominally based on many trees, they often require some space which reserves them for rich or industrial production.
CHERRY LIMES
Based on an artificial flavor, this is a hybrid of the cherry and the lime - which produces slightly smaller, reddish fruit with flavors akin to the cherry but with citric acid added. Many people seem to like the taste, and more importantly citrus provides valuable vitamins for most transhumans they may not obtain other places. This means they can be a common sight among traditional citrus fruits and other hybrids on many habs large enough to have a grow-area.
GOLDEN APPLE
Based on countless mythological tales, the golden apple is a derivative of several apple breeds which draws on metallic elements to produce a skin which is actually "golden" (though a high percentage or purity of gold is not guaranteed). While possibly slightly toxic, metallic levels are generally low enough for humans to consume - at least in measured portions. Because this involves heavier metals and has no real appeal besides novelty, Golden Apples are almost entirely grown and consumed by the upper class of the inner system as a display of wealth and taste.
HOLY BEAN
Developed by a Japanese biotech firm, the "Holy Bean" is supposed to be a wonder plant for basic nutrition. It is fast growing, high yield, and the dry fruits of the stalk are incredibly nutritious - though they may be a bit bland tasting. They can also be derived into a "tofu" like substance which allows them to visibly or via texture replace many other forms of food in the diet. While the patent is still held and used by a major hypercorp, demand for "wonder food" plants has died down as Maker technology progresses - as they can produce basic "nutrient brick" foods which perform similarly much more directly.
LOTUS TREE
Another tree derived from mythology, if a incorrect one. There is a fruit bearing plant called "lotus" which does not resemble the traditional flower, and is believed to be the one described in The Odyssey, but this does not make for as striking a visual image. The result is a short tree or tall shrub which grows a type of lotus flower which has very thick petals, and can be consumed. They are nutritious, but laced with a mild hallucinogen which may disturb short term memory or cause the person who eats one to show inappropriate emotional responses. Some of these trees are rumored to grow the narcotics known as "Petals".
PAINFRUIT
The painfruit is a bizarre "class" of fruits which have been genetically modified to have something resembling a nervous system, and thus experience minimal tactile feedback which can be said to be akin to "pain". As the plant and fruit of it really have no major intellect for the feedback, it's hard to even say it's cruel because it does nothing besides perhap slightly stress any living cells in the plant, but it has become popular with some Exhumans and other fringe types who wish to eat fruit for nutrition but prefer "live" prey of a sort. Painfruit was originally made as a meme for an "anti-vegan" movement, to get back a vegans for talking about how vegan they are all the time.
TUBESTEAK
This unusual plant blends the line between "plant" and "animal", but not in a way like the Whiplash pod. This transgenic base which resembles bananas has fruits which are created to produce animal or animal-like proteins and fats. The result is a fruit which has "flesh" which strongly resembles eating animal flesh, i/e "meat". While the plant's natural system keeps the fruits from spoiling, many people find it uncomfortable or unpleasant to eat the fruits raw - but they taste excellent cooked. This hack was originally made as an alternative to vat growing meat or herding animals, but is still very niche.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Currency
Below is a list of currency systems or common trade standards which function like currency in the Solar System. This list includes not only the previously explained materials appearing in EP, but also some new ideas which might introduce local economic flavor to your game besides just tracking "credits".
ANTIQUE COINS
Historic Earth coins minted of metal are used as a trade good or currency system in some places, and are harder to fake than bills or "old money". Specific coins in some amounts are considered "standard" for purposes of anonymous payment.
CREDIT
Aka "Inner System Credit", an electronic monetary system backed by all major capitalist factions. Credit can be transferred electronically, or through certified credit chips (which are anonymous). Some habs even use physical bills.
CRYPTO-CRED
Cryptocurrency. It is acquired through anonymous services, can be transferred anonymously to another party and then is redeemed through a similar service. Has a 10% fee to transfer to or from Credit
G-YEN
Short for "Gigayen". This corporate scrip is issued by the corporate empire of Go-Nin group among all their employees and subsidiaries. While many employees are still paid in credits in some form, those working in Go-Nin run habitats, laboratories or exoplanet facilities may be paid all or partially in G-Yen instead, which can be spent at "company stores" for goods and services. G-Yen is almost entirely useless except to Go-Nin employees.
KERMA
Currency used on habitat 500 Bushels. A bronze coin marked with the current government executive based on the year. Each Kerma has a value roughly equivalent to "One bushel" of product and thus is highly valued in their society.
KRONER
Titanian currency, worth the approximate market value of 1 TB of qubits. This social currency is "paid" to microcorp workers under government charter and reinvested in other microcorps or social programs to drive the greater economy. Loopholes allow it to be converted to credit.
M-CREDIT
Aka "Mutualist Credit". These credits are issued and created at the moment of a transaction, thus acting like an interest-free loan. Has a 1-to-1 exchange with Credit, and Mutualists won't allow a person to get deep a negative balance to pay back.
NOYO
Currency which only exists on the asteroid hab of Nova York. The Noyo begins devaluing immediately when issued - though the rate of devaluation is increased or decreased based on internal reputation metrics. Standard devaluation takes 1-2 months.
PELLETS
Pachinko is still a popular business/hobby in several parts of the Solar System, and their use of pellets or balls to get around many gambling regulations remains. This means that pachinko Pellets can easily double as a form of currency - with an exchange rate determined by your local pachinko business. This means that as a substitute for credit the value of a pellet is often determined by local business or criminal interests.
STACKS
Groups like Nine Lives, or the habs they control like Legba, often accept transfer of Cortical Stacks or human egos as currency of a form. There is no exact price for an individual stack (though most have a minimum value floor) and it depends on the nature of the Ego inside the Stack.
WATER TOKENS
Water tokens are an old form of currency, still utilized by some habitats or corporations who do not have perfect access to water. The token is a physical token or chit which is "valued" at a certain volume of (usually combinations of 1 liter) which can be exchanged with the local government or corporate venue in exchange for the amount of water. Since that volume of water can be calculated to have a cost, they might also be exchanged for other goods or services.
ANTIQUE COINS
Historic Earth coins minted of metal are used as a trade good or currency system in some places, and are harder to fake than bills or "old money". Specific coins in some amounts are considered "standard" for purposes of anonymous payment.
CREDIT
Aka "Inner System Credit", an electronic monetary system backed by all major capitalist factions. Credit can be transferred electronically, or through certified credit chips (which are anonymous). Some habs even use physical bills.
CRYPTO-CRED
Cryptocurrency. It is acquired through anonymous services, can be transferred anonymously to another party and then is redeemed through a similar service. Has a 10% fee to transfer to or from Credit
G-YEN
Short for "Gigayen". This corporate scrip is issued by the corporate empire of Go-Nin group among all their employees and subsidiaries. While many employees are still paid in credits in some form, those working in Go-Nin run habitats, laboratories or exoplanet facilities may be paid all or partially in G-Yen instead, which can be spent at "company stores" for goods and services. G-Yen is almost entirely useless except to Go-Nin employees.
KERMA
Currency used on habitat 500 Bushels. A bronze coin marked with the current government executive based on the year. Each Kerma has a value roughly equivalent to "One bushel" of product and thus is highly valued in their society.
KRONER
Titanian currency, worth the approximate market value of 1 TB of qubits. This social currency is "paid" to microcorp workers under government charter and reinvested in other microcorps or social programs to drive the greater economy. Loopholes allow it to be converted to credit.
M-CREDIT
Aka "Mutualist Credit". These credits are issued and created at the moment of a transaction, thus acting like an interest-free loan. Has a 1-to-1 exchange with Credit, and Mutualists won't allow a person to get deep a negative balance to pay back.
NOYO
Currency which only exists on the asteroid hab of Nova York. The Noyo begins devaluing immediately when issued - though the rate of devaluation is increased or decreased based on internal reputation metrics. Standard devaluation takes 1-2 months.
PELLETS
Pachinko is still a popular business/hobby in several parts of the Solar System, and their use of pellets or balls to get around many gambling regulations remains. This means that pachinko Pellets can easily double as a form of currency - with an exchange rate determined by your local pachinko business. This means that as a substitute for credit the value of a pellet is often determined by local business or criminal interests.
STACKS
Groups like Nine Lives, or the habs they control like Legba, often accept transfer of Cortical Stacks or human egos as currency of a form. There is no exact price for an individual stack (though most have a minimum value floor) and it depends on the nature of the Ego inside the Stack.
WATER TOKENS
Water tokens are an old form of currency, still utilized by some habitats or corporations who do not have perfect access to water. The token is a physical token or chit which is "valued" at a certain volume of (usually combinations of 1 liter) which can be exchanged with the local government or corporate venue in exchange for the amount of water. Since that volume of water can be calculated to have a cost, they might also be exchanged for other goods or services.
Friday, February 17, 2017
Captcha
"CAPTCHA" is a term for a type of challenge-response test developed around the turn of the 21st century in order to verify a user was human. Earliest versions involve typing words shown in distorted images, which early computer "bots" (little more than software agents running scripts to perform actions in place of the user) could not identify properly. Later iterations often involve image comparison linked with a text description. Because this was a computer administered test to determine if a user was human, Captcha and similar technologies are sometimes called a "reverse-Turing test".
Obviously, as AI technology has gotten more sophisticated and ease-of-use and access to scripting knowledge has become easier and more widespread, the issue of verifying human users over weak AI or even basic software agent programs (which can be little more than a software script which posts "FIRST!" on every new XP upload by another user) has become more complex - but is still regarded as highly important, especially in polities with strict controls on AIs of all forms, from ALI to AGI. There are still a number of verification solutions.
First and easiest is many individual sites on the mesh, or services which might be connected to by a bot require a simple "Yes/No" verification if the subject is a transhuman (some phrase this as "sapient" or "not an AI", etc). Legal restrictions and basic code limitations prevent most ALI from directly lying when asked to verify - which works for many basic services. Of course, this does nothing to prevent ALIs which have been specifically coded to deceive or be able to break local laws, or many sub-AI agents who do not have any intelligence to shackle, just simple outputs and actions. For mesh sites which require more specific verification, users are often required to link an Ego ID, or another account, such as on one of the major social networks. This satisfies most that the user is a transhuman agent, and they can function normally. Building fake IDs and accounts for AIs and software bots is possible, but can be time consuming - and generally AI or scripts of their own can catch spammy or fake responses such as on a mesh forum and remove them, and most Social Networks have functions to flag spam or bot accounts and delete them. Many of them also tend to accumulate low rep scores naturally.
This more relaxed style is not enough for some groups and even governments, however. Very strict security or transparency habs may require a rather intrusive verification process which double-checks the Mesh ID of a device against a registry, identifying the type of device and who it is supposed to be owned by - and may reject devices with anomalous IDs or with obvious fake registry. Others may check metadata so that certain activities can only be performed from a device registered as a mesh insert or home server to try and make sure an Ego is behind it - which has a tendency to catch script kiddies stupid enough to try and run spambots or exploits right out of their own brains.
The most sophisticated and reliable of these systems, however, resemble the old CAPTCHA model, and other derivative standards. The simplest (but sometimes most time consuming) involves XP snippets. Software bots and ALI may be unable to properly "play" XP, and lack the complete neural modeling to experience all the elements of a full XP sensorium based on a biomorph. This catches many outright, and they are also generally unable to correctly answer the following questions about the system. X-CAPTCHA systems like this have very complex databases of possible snippets to play, but are still theoretically vulnerable to sweatshop AGIs or Infomorphs who might build a big enough database of correct responses to the challenge to bypass them - meaning that this option is not as secure for sites or apps without access to large servers, and usually involves contracting an external service. The best of these is an Extropian firm run by an AGI with an extensive amount of freelancers and forks to process and edit the XP library and randomly distribute around the system. The Argonauts also have a very strongly tested open source version - which unfortunately utilizes open source media libraries, meaning a handful of hackers have been able to get lucky in the past.
The Argonauts other solution isn't as guaranteed as the XP one, but is very good also. Based on advanced plagiarism checking algorithms developed for academic purposes, these systems ask short but subjective questions, and can check them for originality and authenticity - usually matching them with the responses expected from an Ego - and advanced ones can even keep a history and double-check similarities to a specific person, which can track alt accounts or stolen accounts. While it has some flaws, generally this system is sophisticated enough for those who wish to ensure that users aren't doing anything against terms of service involving bots or AIs. Others go old school, dropping the "reverse" and just administering a variant of the Turing test. This is common on tight-knit communities with many available active users. While the test itself is not perfect, generally most transhumans can ask the right questions to tell if a user is a basic chat-bot script or an ALI, especially if they are a more focused or specialized community with specific interest to check. Some argue this has a tendency for exclusivity - as many in a community may not claim a user is "authentic", but those with genuine passion can usually find it in other people, something an ALI cannot easily emulate.
It should be noted that Muses, having very sophisticated personality parameters, can often bypass these systems - however a Muse AI is almost never not paired with a transhuman and rarely acts outside their user's self-interest. This means that most locales and services do not necessarily mind if a Muse accesses their sites or apps, as they do so on behalf of a person - and they are still typically constrained by basic AI limits. Forks too, can complicate the issue. Alpha forks are just people, though they may not be distinct legal entities. Beta forks are more limited for space and focus, but their inclusion of memories and personality traits for context may mean they can pass many verification forms on the right device - but can often be matched to their Alpha. Deltas, being little more than a pruned AI template or skillsoft collection do not pose well as humans, and their amnesiac status means many subjective tests can catch them. Either way, use of forks to engage in fraudulent activity is usually restricted by local laws. Other locations or mesh sites don't care in the slightest if users are "human" or not - they utilize active and passive moderation to remove any harmful software bots or ALI users along with transhuman users who violate the terms of their services.
Obviously, as AI technology has gotten more sophisticated and ease-of-use and access to scripting knowledge has become easier and more widespread, the issue of verifying human users over weak AI or even basic software agent programs (which can be little more than a software script which posts "FIRST!" on every new XP upload by another user) has become more complex - but is still regarded as highly important, especially in polities with strict controls on AIs of all forms, from ALI to AGI. There are still a number of verification solutions.
First and easiest is many individual sites on the mesh, or services which might be connected to by a bot require a simple "Yes/No" verification if the subject is a transhuman (some phrase this as "sapient" or "not an AI", etc). Legal restrictions and basic code limitations prevent most ALI from directly lying when asked to verify - which works for many basic services. Of course, this does nothing to prevent ALIs which have been specifically coded to deceive or be able to break local laws, or many sub-AI agents who do not have any intelligence to shackle, just simple outputs and actions. For mesh sites which require more specific verification, users are often required to link an Ego ID, or another account, such as on one of the major social networks. This satisfies most that the user is a transhuman agent, and they can function normally. Building fake IDs and accounts for AIs and software bots is possible, but can be time consuming - and generally AI or scripts of their own can catch spammy or fake responses such as on a mesh forum and remove them, and most Social Networks have functions to flag spam or bot accounts and delete them. Many of them also tend to accumulate low rep scores naturally.
This more relaxed style is not enough for some groups and even governments, however. Very strict security or transparency habs may require a rather intrusive verification process which double-checks the Mesh ID of a device against a registry, identifying the type of device and who it is supposed to be owned by - and may reject devices with anomalous IDs or with obvious fake registry. Others may check metadata so that certain activities can only be performed from a device registered as a mesh insert or home server to try and make sure an Ego is behind it - which has a tendency to catch script kiddies stupid enough to try and run spambots or exploits right out of their own brains.
The most sophisticated and reliable of these systems, however, resemble the old CAPTCHA model, and other derivative standards. The simplest (but sometimes most time consuming) involves XP snippets. Software bots and ALI may be unable to properly "play" XP, and lack the complete neural modeling to experience all the elements of a full XP sensorium based on a biomorph. This catches many outright, and they are also generally unable to correctly answer the following questions about the system. X-CAPTCHA systems like this have very complex databases of possible snippets to play, but are still theoretically vulnerable to sweatshop AGIs or Infomorphs who might build a big enough database of correct responses to the challenge to bypass them - meaning that this option is not as secure for sites or apps without access to large servers, and usually involves contracting an external service. The best of these is an Extropian firm run by an AGI with an extensive amount of freelancers and forks to process and edit the XP library and randomly distribute around the system. The Argonauts also have a very strongly tested open source version - which unfortunately utilizes open source media libraries, meaning a handful of hackers have been able to get lucky in the past.
The Argonauts other solution isn't as guaranteed as the XP one, but is very good also. Based on advanced plagiarism checking algorithms developed for academic purposes, these systems ask short but subjective questions, and can check them for originality and authenticity - usually matching them with the responses expected from an Ego - and advanced ones can even keep a history and double-check similarities to a specific person, which can track alt accounts or stolen accounts. While it has some flaws, generally this system is sophisticated enough for those who wish to ensure that users aren't doing anything against terms of service involving bots or AIs. Others go old school, dropping the "reverse" and just administering a variant of the Turing test. This is common on tight-knit communities with many available active users. While the test itself is not perfect, generally most transhumans can ask the right questions to tell if a user is a basic chat-bot script or an ALI, especially if they are a more focused or specialized community with specific interest to check. Some argue this has a tendency for exclusivity - as many in a community may not claim a user is "authentic", but those with genuine passion can usually find it in other people, something an ALI cannot easily emulate.
It should be noted that Muses, having very sophisticated personality parameters, can often bypass these systems - however a Muse AI is almost never not paired with a transhuman and rarely acts outside their user's self-interest. This means that most locales and services do not necessarily mind if a Muse accesses their sites or apps, as they do so on behalf of a person - and they are still typically constrained by basic AI limits. Forks too, can complicate the issue. Alpha forks are just people, though they may not be distinct legal entities. Beta forks are more limited for space and focus, but their inclusion of memories and personality traits for context may mean they can pass many verification forms on the right device - but can often be matched to their Alpha. Deltas, being little more than a pruned AI template or skillsoft collection do not pose well as humans, and their amnesiac status means many subjective tests can catch them. Either way, use of forks to engage in fraudulent activity is usually restricted by local laws. Other locations or mesh sites don't care in the slightest if users are "human" or not - they utilize active and passive moderation to remove any harmful software bots or ALI users along with transhuman users who violate the terms of their services.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Martial Arts
Martial Arts have a long history with humanity, and many consider them a fundamental aspect like many other skills and arts. Additionally, with many early space habitats and colonies having heavy restrictions on personal weapons - the need for self-defense once again arose. This has persisted as some restrictions persist even if the safety concerns are just cultural paranoia, and as some habitats focus more strongly on security for the state than the individual. Martial Arts is also deeply cultural, and as such is attached to many communities and groups. The Chinese diaspora and strong cultural connection to "wushu" as an art and in art means that it's hard to find a Chinese-speaking neighborhood anywhere which does not teach one style of the traditional Chinese martial arts, such as Kung Fu. In the LLA, where fitness is as important a cultural aspect as traditional heritage of Earth, many popular styles have remained for fitness purposes, such as Muay Thai, Karate, Jeet Kune Do and Tai Chi. The indian influence on Luna has also kept Kalaripayattu alive. On Mars, the strong media engine and cultural diversity has kept alive many more martial arts for sport, self-defense and entertainment; including Krav Maga, Silat, Taekwondo, Capoeira, etc.
Mixed martial arts and new "synthetic" martial arts also emerge and gain popularity. The difference in environmental conditions, in morphologies, in simple capabilities of the transhuman body, have led to a wide variety of developments in the areas of martial arts. Skillsoft and Teaching software increase the ease of the spread of many styles, as well as teaching XP being a great method for low-level learning of techniques and forms. Gangs routinely drill in basic armed and unarmed arts. Combat sports are made prevalent by the ease of healing and resleeving, leading to events like chess boxing on Titan, cage match fights in many underground rings and the popular "Ultimate Fighter" series by Experia. Almost all security and military personnel drill in hand-to-hand exercises, and for mobile operative who resleeve frequently and may leave their equipment behind, having unarmed or simple weapon combat skills can be invaluable. Below are some examples of modern martial arts in AF 10
ALPHA ARTS
"Alpha Arts" is the name for an unofficial collection of fighting techniques used and popularized by many Exhumans, such as Predator clades. It is a synthetic martial art which draws on classic techniques from multiple sources, but combines them with unorthodox use of natural weapons, such as claws, tails and even biting jaws - and also has techniques which allow for more exotic morphs such as utilizing extra limbs or extra senses. It can work in any sort of gravity situation, and is generally designed as an overwhelming and intimidating style which takes advantage of basic transhuman fears and weaknesses to take out an enemy with an unexpected trick - making it advantageous against many classic martial arts. Naturally this reputation means that it is a popular style with rebellious, "edgy" youth across the Solar System.
BEARCAT WRESTLING
This is a style of folk wrestling, popularized in certain Scum Swarms or other Scum-like cultures. It is fought bare-handed, usually naked (unless the environment doesn't allow) and utilizes grapples and holds which can be used with or without gravity and by basically any morph which has opposable thumbs. As many swarms have little or no gravity available, the style focuses on short strikes, throws and counter throws to break holds and gain distance and submission holds for the finish. As a sport the style has many variants of rules to constitute a win, but for defensive purposes it should also be noted that many of Bearcat Wrestling's techniques are designed to work even if the user is slowed down by wearing something like a vacsuit.
CANNE DE MATINEE
While not as paranoid as classic orbital or other Near-Earth habs, Venus also still has some concern over the use of penetrating ranged weapons as a self-defense choice. This means melee weapons are among one of the more popular options for a person who seeks to defend themselves, and the effort to create more uniquely Venusian culture and influence from several european cultures led to the creation of Canne de Matinee ("Cane of the morningstar"). This style is an armed style, focusing on blunt weapons of multiple sizes, from batons, to canes to staves. While it can be a sport, it is primarily defensive, focusing on parries, disarms and incapacitating strikes. In addition to classical weapons, Canne de Matinee also teaches techniques to utilize weapons which collapse or which have stun elements.
CHANG'E KUNG FU
The Chang'e school has two competing origin stories. Some say it was developed by particularly cunning Lunar triad and tong members, to get around weapon laws and develop an "honorable" way, while others claim it was developed by anarchist-sympathizers among Chinese vacworkers to fight back against oppressive overseers. No matter the origin, the Chang'e style (named after the Moon goddess) is very popular in the Inner System. It borrows techniques from several other Kung Fu styles and applies them to be used in low or zero gravity situations, including several "mid-air" techniques done while free-floating. Chang'e is also notable because several of it's forms and techniques account for or rely on the prehensile feet of a Bouncer morph.
MARTIAN SUN-FENCING
Sun-Fencing is a post-Fall art and sport, mostly practiced by the Nouveau Riche of Mars. It started as an improvised style using welding or cutting tools by early Barsoomians and evolved into a sport which uses thermic rods modified to be balanced like swords - which leads to limited time "rounds" and a blows with are incredibly damaging even with safety gear making it a very "rocket tag" sport. In addition to the formal setting, Sun-Fencing techniques can still be used with improvised tools, and more commonly with the exotic Plasma Sword (p. 179 Firewall). The style focuses mainly on parries and dodges, with attacks utilizing minimal energy and exposure to make strikes on vital areas which are greatly amplified by weapon choice.
PRIMAL
Primal is the premier martial art for hominid uplifts, though other groups study the techniques. It was developed by a couple of Neo-Gorilla Mercurials who synthesized elements from multiple human martial arts to take advantage of the strengths and structure of the uplift form. It focuses mostly on grapples and strikes, utilizing powerful upper body strength to overwhelm and rapidly incapacitate an enemy. Intimidation and dominance displays also are a key feature of Primal and "matches" using the art. Due to the pervasiveness of discrimination against uplifts in some habitats, Primal and it's variants for each Neo-Hominid subspecies are very widely distributed as a self-defense art.
RAVEN SCHOOL
This is a relatively recent art, developed in the past few years when Neo-Avians realized they were one of a few groups without a dedicated style. It was named because they decided Corvids had the most intimidating name. The style emphasizes use of the talons on the feet and the natural weapon of the beak, while the wings and wing-hands are used to block, distract or are left free to evade. The style also teaches techniques adapted from many predatory birds for swooping and diving in flight to attack. Raven School is generally considered very dangerous and even under-handed, it focuses in vital area strikes to cause serious injury and incapacitation and then use the mobility of the avian form to escape or evade.
STEEL FIST
Steel Fist is a mixed martial art which combines several technique styles to yield maximum efficiency in a synthmorph body. It was developed by synthmorph activists like the Steel Liberators as a self-defense technique and a way to combat oppressive groups even without weapons. Steel Fist drives power in hard strikes and focuses less on grapples or even defense - instead utilizing the hardiness of the synthetic form to prevail against most opponents. Steel fist is very harmful, the innate damaged added by using hard metal or plastic to strike means simple jabs and elbows can deal as much damage as a baton or bat would. Some use it to emphasize the "softness" of biomorphs, but to others it is a technique focused on protecting oneself from a more numerous oppressor. Other similar techniques might be called "Rock-Sock", "Metal Element Kung Fu" or "Lauh-Vinaashak".
SYSTEMA AQUA
Systema Aqua is another mixed martial art which originated on Europa - as several colonial communities there had cultures of martial arts. It borrows from several styles and philosophies and adapts them to be used underwater. While similar to microgravity, water's higher resistance slows techniques and requires them to use more force - Systema Aqua adapts moves which can cut through the water with less resistance, and emphasizes strength and resistance training. The style also can use holds or locks to disable an opponent or target breathing equipment. The style can be used barehanded or with a small knife or one-handed spear. While not widely popular it has found certain niches in aquatic habs among transhumans or humanoid morphs who feel they may be at a disadvantage compared to others. Similar styles exist, such as "Aquanaut Boxing" or "Water Dragon Style Kung Fu".
TAKO-JUTSU
Tako-jutsu (lit. "Octopus Technique") is a martial art designed by Japanese uplift scientists as a way for Neo-Octopi to train and adjust to using their tentacles for complex dexterity and other uses. It combines the theory and style of schools like Jujitsu or Judo with the flexibility of tentacular limbs and multiple appendages, focusing on throws, holds and counters. While Neo-Octopi are often solitary, the school has remained around both among new uplifts and old as a practical tool of exercise, self-discipline and defense. Rumors abound but are unconfirmed that the Hidden Concern has spent time expanding on Tako-Jutsu to include not just basic exercises and defensive skills, but lethal killing and assassination techniques as well.
TARIQ ALSSAHRA
Aka "Way of the Desert" in Arabic. This style was developed among Martian Nomads during the early Martial Arts boom on Mars. While North Africa and the Middle East do not have very many unarmed techniques, some nomadic clans were able to borrow elements from French Savate and Turkish Sayokan to build a practical self-defense style. This style is pragmatic, using hands or feet and can be combined with knife techniques. It focuses heavily on using terrain and conditions to your advantage - actively practicing strategy for rough or uneven terrain and approaches for confined spaces (such as inside a tin can or rover) or while riding in a vehicle. It focuses more keenly on tactical thinking and application of theory than rote forms - and is moderately popular as a wholly "Martian" style.
"THE PATH"
"The Path" is the simple name for the style of unarmed combat developed and taught by the Ultimates. This mixed martial art borrows "the best" techniques and philosophy from thousands of years of combat, allowing one to pick the "appropriate" response to any other style of fighting. The other key thing about The Path is that many of its forms and techniques have been adjusted so they can only be fully performed by a morph with natural capabilities beyond that of a normal human. The speed and strength with which they are executed pushes the limits of the transhuman body. Because of this, outside of the Ultimates the only people who can generally afford to learn The Path are the wealthy or otherwise resource-rich, who can individually or communally afford the advanced morphs which can make use of this style.
TITANIAN KICKBOXING
Titanian Kickboxing is a sporting and self-defense mixed-martial art drawn from their chess boxing sport. Even if one doesn't chessbox (or its many variants), kickboxing gyms are popular as exercise or self-defense, especially in New Quebec. It draws a bit from traditional sports boxing or kickboxing, and martial art sports like Savate and Sanshou. It uses both punches and kicks, and occasionally throws, sweeps or elbow and knee strikes in self-defense variants. Due to the culture and practical nature of Titan, many defensive techniques involve deflection or evasion in order to stall (as rounds are timed - and security or helpful citizens can't be far off) and many attacking techniques involve painful incapacitation strikes - as for self-defense this is an ideal approach, and such attacks can cause distracting injuries in a match.
ZERO-GRAVITY COMBATIVE TECHNIQUES
"ZGCT" was developed several decades ago by the US Military as a technique for real-world hand-to-hand combat in microgravity. It uses hands or knives, and draws from multiple styles to build a technique and strategy where one can utilize any unanchored limb to attack and can often use inertia and counter-force to their advantage to disable an opponent or gain distance. It also incorporates several bracing and recovery techniques which are useful in a micrograv fight. This is an aggressive, combat style, and typically not for self-defense or sport. All modern militaries either adopted the technique or developed their own similar style - and after the Fall almost every professional military or security operator who might encounter microgravity is familiar with the basics of the style.
Mechanics:
Besides just as a "fluff" or "color" element, there are a couple of ways to apply these Martial Arts or any others to the mechanics of Eclipse Phase. The simplest is to treat an individual style as a Specialization for Unarmed Combat (or another appropriate combat skill in the case of an armed art), which applies it's +10 bonus to situations where the style would apply (Such as using a morph with Tentacles for Tako-jutsu, or fighting in low gravity as a Bouncer for Chang'e Kung Fu). This is a very quick, but slightly limiting system, as the bonus is fixed and a character can only ever learn/benefit from a single style (unless spread over multiple combat skills).
An alternative is to treat the Martial Art in question as a knowledge skill. Preferably an Interest, but an Academics or Art could even feasibly be applied. In addition to allowing a character a good outlet to know about techniques, history and practitioners of an art the Knowledge skill can be used to complement appropriate Combat skill checks or even other checks such as Fray when their knowledge of that style applies. This is ideal for characters who have styles which involve multiple forms of attacking (such as a style which is applicable both to empty-hand and knives), and characters who want to learn multiple styles. It also allows much more granularity in skill level with the style; an Ultimate master of The Path might have it rated at a level of 80, while a college athlete only just taking up Martian Sun-Fencing might rate it at 20-30 points.
Mixed martial arts and new "synthetic" martial arts also emerge and gain popularity. The difference in environmental conditions, in morphologies, in simple capabilities of the transhuman body, have led to a wide variety of developments in the areas of martial arts. Skillsoft and Teaching software increase the ease of the spread of many styles, as well as teaching XP being a great method for low-level learning of techniques and forms. Gangs routinely drill in basic armed and unarmed arts. Combat sports are made prevalent by the ease of healing and resleeving, leading to events like chess boxing on Titan, cage match fights in many underground rings and the popular "Ultimate Fighter" series by Experia. Almost all security and military personnel drill in hand-to-hand exercises, and for mobile operative who resleeve frequently and may leave their equipment behind, having unarmed or simple weapon combat skills can be invaluable. Below are some examples of modern martial arts in AF 10
ALPHA ARTS
"Alpha Arts" is the name for an unofficial collection of fighting techniques used and popularized by many Exhumans, such as Predator clades. It is a synthetic martial art which draws on classic techniques from multiple sources, but combines them with unorthodox use of natural weapons, such as claws, tails and even biting jaws - and also has techniques which allow for more exotic morphs such as utilizing extra limbs or extra senses. It can work in any sort of gravity situation, and is generally designed as an overwhelming and intimidating style which takes advantage of basic transhuman fears and weaknesses to take out an enemy with an unexpected trick - making it advantageous against many classic martial arts. Naturally this reputation means that it is a popular style with rebellious, "edgy" youth across the Solar System.
BEARCAT WRESTLING
This is a style of folk wrestling, popularized in certain Scum Swarms or other Scum-like cultures. It is fought bare-handed, usually naked (unless the environment doesn't allow) and utilizes grapples and holds which can be used with or without gravity and by basically any morph which has opposable thumbs. As many swarms have little or no gravity available, the style focuses on short strikes, throws and counter throws to break holds and gain distance and submission holds for the finish. As a sport the style has many variants of rules to constitute a win, but for defensive purposes it should also be noted that many of Bearcat Wrestling's techniques are designed to work even if the user is slowed down by wearing something like a vacsuit.
CANNE DE MATINEE
While not as paranoid as classic orbital or other Near-Earth habs, Venus also still has some concern over the use of penetrating ranged weapons as a self-defense choice. This means melee weapons are among one of the more popular options for a person who seeks to defend themselves, and the effort to create more uniquely Venusian culture and influence from several european cultures led to the creation of Canne de Matinee ("Cane of the morningstar"). This style is an armed style, focusing on blunt weapons of multiple sizes, from batons, to canes to staves. While it can be a sport, it is primarily defensive, focusing on parries, disarms and incapacitating strikes. In addition to classical weapons, Canne de Matinee also teaches techniques to utilize weapons which collapse or which have stun elements.
CHANG'E KUNG FU
The Chang'e school has two competing origin stories. Some say it was developed by particularly cunning Lunar triad and tong members, to get around weapon laws and develop an "honorable" way, while others claim it was developed by anarchist-sympathizers among Chinese vacworkers to fight back against oppressive overseers. No matter the origin, the Chang'e style (named after the Moon goddess) is very popular in the Inner System. It borrows techniques from several other Kung Fu styles and applies them to be used in low or zero gravity situations, including several "mid-air" techniques done while free-floating. Chang'e is also notable because several of it's forms and techniques account for or rely on the prehensile feet of a Bouncer morph.
MARTIAN SUN-FENCING
Sun-Fencing is a post-Fall art and sport, mostly practiced by the Nouveau Riche of Mars. It started as an improvised style using welding or cutting tools by early Barsoomians and evolved into a sport which uses thermic rods modified to be balanced like swords - which leads to limited time "rounds" and a blows with are incredibly damaging even with safety gear making it a very "rocket tag" sport. In addition to the formal setting, Sun-Fencing techniques can still be used with improvised tools, and more commonly with the exotic Plasma Sword (p. 179 Firewall). The style focuses mainly on parries and dodges, with attacks utilizing minimal energy and exposure to make strikes on vital areas which are greatly amplified by weapon choice.
PRIMAL
Primal is the premier martial art for hominid uplifts, though other groups study the techniques. It was developed by a couple of Neo-Gorilla Mercurials who synthesized elements from multiple human martial arts to take advantage of the strengths and structure of the uplift form. It focuses mostly on grapples and strikes, utilizing powerful upper body strength to overwhelm and rapidly incapacitate an enemy. Intimidation and dominance displays also are a key feature of Primal and "matches" using the art. Due to the pervasiveness of discrimination against uplifts in some habitats, Primal and it's variants for each Neo-Hominid subspecies are very widely distributed as a self-defense art.
RAVEN SCHOOL
This is a relatively recent art, developed in the past few years when Neo-Avians realized they were one of a few groups without a dedicated style. It was named because they decided Corvids had the most intimidating name. The style emphasizes use of the talons on the feet and the natural weapon of the beak, while the wings and wing-hands are used to block, distract or are left free to evade. The style also teaches techniques adapted from many predatory birds for swooping and diving in flight to attack. Raven School is generally considered very dangerous and even under-handed, it focuses in vital area strikes to cause serious injury and incapacitation and then use the mobility of the avian form to escape or evade.
STEEL FIST
Steel Fist is a mixed martial art which combines several technique styles to yield maximum efficiency in a synthmorph body. It was developed by synthmorph activists like the Steel Liberators as a self-defense technique and a way to combat oppressive groups even without weapons. Steel Fist drives power in hard strikes and focuses less on grapples or even defense - instead utilizing the hardiness of the synthetic form to prevail against most opponents. Steel fist is very harmful, the innate damaged added by using hard metal or plastic to strike means simple jabs and elbows can deal as much damage as a baton or bat would. Some use it to emphasize the "softness" of biomorphs, but to others it is a technique focused on protecting oneself from a more numerous oppressor. Other similar techniques might be called "Rock-Sock", "Metal Element Kung Fu" or "Lauh-Vinaashak".
SYSTEMA AQUA
Systema Aqua is another mixed martial art which originated on Europa - as several colonial communities there had cultures of martial arts. It borrows from several styles and philosophies and adapts them to be used underwater. While similar to microgravity, water's higher resistance slows techniques and requires them to use more force - Systema Aqua adapts moves which can cut through the water with less resistance, and emphasizes strength and resistance training. The style also can use holds or locks to disable an opponent or target breathing equipment. The style can be used barehanded or with a small knife or one-handed spear. While not widely popular it has found certain niches in aquatic habs among transhumans or humanoid morphs who feel they may be at a disadvantage compared to others. Similar styles exist, such as "Aquanaut Boxing" or "Water Dragon Style Kung Fu".
TAKO-JUTSU
Tako-jutsu (lit. "Octopus Technique") is a martial art designed by Japanese uplift scientists as a way for Neo-Octopi to train and adjust to using their tentacles for complex dexterity and other uses. It combines the theory and style of schools like Jujitsu or Judo with the flexibility of tentacular limbs and multiple appendages, focusing on throws, holds and counters. While Neo-Octopi are often solitary, the school has remained around both among new uplifts and old as a practical tool of exercise, self-discipline and defense. Rumors abound but are unconfirmed that the Hidden Concern has spent time expanding on Tako-Jutsu to include not just basic exercises and defensive skills, but lethal killing and assassination techniques as well.
TARIQ ALSSAHRA
Aka "Way of the Desert" in Arabic. This style was developed among Martian Nomads during the early Martial Arts boom on Mars. While North Africa and the Middle East do not have very many unarmed techniques, some nomadic clans were able to borrow elements from French Savate and Turkish Sayokan to build a practical self-defense style. This style is pragmatic, using hands or feet and can be combined with knife techniques. It focuses heavily on using terrain and conditions to your advantage - actively practicing strategy for rough or uneven terrain and approaches for confined spaces (such as inside a tin can or rover) or while riding in a vehicle. It focuses more keenly on tactical thinking and application of theory than rote forms - and is moderately popular as a wholly "Martian" style.
"THE PATH"
"The Path" is the simple name for the style of unarmed combat developed and taught by the Ultimates. This mixed martial art borrows "the best" techniques and philosophy from thousands of years of combat, allowing one to pick the "appropriate" response to any other style of fighting. The other key thing about The Path is that many of its forms and techniques have been adjusted so they can only be fully performed by a morph with natural capabilities beyond that of a normal human. The speed and strength with which they are executed pushes the limits of the transhuman body. Because of this, outside of the Ultimates the only people who can generally afford to learn The Path are the wealthy or otherwise resource-rich, who can individually or communally afford the advanced morphs which can make use of this style.
TITANIAN KICKBOXING
Titanian Kickboxing is a sporting and self-defense mixed-martial art drawn from their chess boxing sport. Even if one doesn't chessbox (or its many variants), kickboxing gyms are popular as exercise or self-defense, especially in New Quebec. It draws a bit from traditional sports boxing or kickboxing, and martial art sports like Savate and Sanshou. It uses both punches and kicks, and occasionally throws, sweeps or elbow and knee strikes in self-defense variants. Due to the culture and practical nature of Titan, many defensive techniques involve deflection or evasion in order to stall (as rounds are timed - and security or helpful citizens can't be far off) and many attacking techniques involve painful incapacitation strikes - as for self-defense this is an ideal approach, and such attacks can cause distracting injuries in a match.
ZERO-GRAVITY COMBATIVE TECHNIQUES
"ZGCT" was developed several decades ago by the US Military as a technique for real-world hand-to-hand combat in microgravity. It uses hands or knives, and draws from multiple styles to build a technique and strategy where one can utilize any unanchored limb to attack and can often use inertia and counter-force to their advantage to disable an opponent or gain distance. It also incorporates several bracing and recovery techniques which are useful in a micrograv fight. This is an aggressive, combat style, and typically not for self-defense or sport. All modern militaries either adopted the technique or developed their own similar style - and after the Fall almost every professional military or security operator who might encounter microgravity is familiar with the basics of the style.
Mechanics:
Besides just as a "fluff" or "color" element, there are a couple of ways to apply these Martial Arts or any others to the mechanics of Eclipse Phase. The simplest is to treat an individual style as a Specialization for Unarmed Combat (or another appropriate combat skill in the case of an armed art), which applies it's +10 bonus to situations where the style would apply (Such as using a morph with Tentacles for Tako-jutsu, or fighting in low gravity as a Bouncer for Chang'e Kung Fu). This is a very quick, but slightly limiting system, as the bonus is fixed and a character can only ever learn/benefit from a single style (unless spread over multiple combat skills).
An alternative is to treat the Martial Art in question as a knowledge skill. Preferably an Interest, but an Academics or Art could even feasibly be applied. In addition to allowing a character a good outlet to know about techniques, history and practitioners of an art the Knowledge skill can be used to complement appropriate Combat skill checks or even other checks such as Fray when their knowledge of that style applies. This is ideal for characters who have styles which involve multiple forms of attacking (such as a style which is applicable both to empty-hand and knives), and characters who want to learn multiple styles. It also allows much more granularity in skill level with the style; an Ultimate master of The Path might have it rated at a level of 80, while a college athlete only just taking up Martian Sun-Fencing might rate it at 20-30 points.
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