DisInfect

Infection and disease is an interesting subject for many transhumans. Basic Biomods protects against almost every form of common, naturally occurring disease known to man before the Fall - and many such microorganisms didn't make it off Earth during that event. Sepsis of habitat systems is more a bother for the damage it does to air quality and other quality of life, rather than direct harm to the body. But, there are always tailor-made diseases and even the "nanoplagues" which mimic traditional diseases through nanotechnology. Many toxic elements are derived from biology as well, including a few exotic toxins made by Xenofauna. For this purpose, certain supplements and restoratives are marketed to Transhumans to increase their health. While Medichines are popular, some habitats or users are averse to nanotech in their bloodstream. In this cases, there are alternative solutions.

DisInfect: DisInfect is a health supplement designed to protect the body from infection by outside sources, namely biologic and nanotech. It works by hardening the membranes in the body which are usually vectors for infection and cause a brief burst in stimulation of the immune system. Users also generally claim they feel a slight numbing sensation, and a slightly "uplifting" quality, like they are physically lighter. As this is unhealthy and awkward to maintain for long, DisInfect has a relatively short duration, but a quick onset, ideal to be utilized if one knows they are about to enter an area with an infectious risk. It also has a more limited effect on potential infection from nanological vectors. DisInfect grants a +30 to rolls to resist biological pathogens or toxins, and a +20 to resist nanoplagues or nanotoxins. Due to it's power and relative lack of effects, DisInfect is a fairly complex product which can be quite expensive. [High]

DisInfect is usually sold in small, disposable inhalers which are designed for ease of use, but it also comes in incense or candle form. It has a high demand for its properties, especially among high refugee populations in Earth Orbit and the Jovian Republic, where many citizens still lack basic biomods. The Republic has carefully controlled imports of the drug, the majority of which are taken by the government for use by the military, and several internal pharmaceutical corporations attempting to make their own version. While in the orbital, there is a health black market in the drug which has "fallen of a SLOTV" or off-brand copies made by enterprising pirates which may or may not match up to the real deal. Autonomist agitators are known to steal stockpiles of the drug and freely redistribute them to small communities of friendly ideologies - a practice started after medical corps started disseminating blueprints of the drug which had deliberate errors in them to help damp down on piracy.

Application: Inh
Onset: 1 Minute
Duration: 1 Hour
Addiction Modifier: -10
Addiction Type: Physical

Boreas

Boreas
Type: Icy Moon
Primary Star: K7V (Yellow Dwarf)
Satellite Of: Anemoi (9 Earth Masses)
Gravity: .67 g
Diameter: 8864.68 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 82% Sulfur Dioxide, 16% Argon, 1% Hydrogen, traces of other gasses
Surface Temperature (Mean): -32 C
Day Length: 17 Hours
Orbital Period: 71 Days
Satellites: None
Gate Access: Sunrise Gate, Portal Gate
Notes: High Population of System Bodies, High Radiation, Cryovolcanic Activity, TITAN Remnants, Impressive Terrain, Transhuman Settlement (Weyr)
Boreas is an interesting moon of Anemoi, Sub-Neptunian planet in the outer area of its Solar System, which is heavily populated with 11 other major planetary bodies. Boreas has a shockingly comfortable pressure and gravity, which is offset by its cold temperature, toxic atmosphere and hazardous conditions. Boreas possesses a high volume of surface ice, and has notable cryovolcanic activity, and radiological effects caused by passing through the radiation belt of Anemoi. This makes colonization difficult as Boreas is “geologically” “active”, which disrupts efforts to colonize using the ice layers as radiation shielding. Nevertheless, a small settlement has been built on Boreas, out of an extinct cryovolcano caldera around the Gate, called “Weyr” after an old Earth Sci-Fi, which is held by a mixture of Titanians, Extropian interests (such as Profunda and Ceres) and Inner System Brinkers and acknowledged as a member of the Autonomist Alliance. The Colony is built inside the open area of the caldera itself, thought it extends into tunnels in the walls. A second settlement, tentatively titled Septentrio, was planned in another Cryovolcano formation several hundred klicks away, after a survey revealed it had extant tunnel systems. Unfortunately, this tunnel system appears to be remnants of TITAN activity, similar to Iapetus, though lacking perhaps the large scale computation conversion efforts, simply containing an expansive warren of fractal tunnels with bizarre patterns and conventions etched into the walls. Then the survey team went dark, apparently wiped out by Exsurgents or TITAN security. There is no active energy or data emission from the Septentrio site, but the populus of Weyr has voted to lock down the colony and not explore outside until further security data has been provided. This information has led to a flood of Singularity Seekers into the colony, who have begun attempting to breach the colony perimeter in order to study the TITAN ruins. Many do not return. The Boreas gate is located in the basin of a cryovolcano caldera, with massive walls rising above and around it, dotted with cave and passages through the rock and ice.

Weyr
Station Type: Beehive
Allegiance: Autonomist Alliance
Primary Languages: Skandinaviska, English, Russian
Population: 1750
Weyr is an interesting, and often breathtaking (possibly literally, given Boreas’ atmosphere) settlement, nestled into the body of an extinct Cryovolcano around the Boreas Gate. It was named from an old sci-fi book, after places where colonies of dragonriders lived on a potentially dangerous exoplanet. No dragons yet, but some of the brinker and scum types who have settled in are interested in making a purchase from Fortean. Weyr’s history is a little unusual, as is its government. Technically, it’s an independent autonomist hab, but it’s colonization rights are partially held by Gatekeeper and partially by an extropian enclave made up of interests from several ancap settlements. Habitat-wide decisions are typically handled by populace vote, similar to Titan’s Plurality (though with less social pressure to vote on everything), or quietly by elected station staff. However, Weyr holds both an Extropian Trade Mission and a Titanian embassy, and is considered a protectorate of the Commonwealth. New residents either have to stay in communal housing provided by the holders, or pay a small fee (or call in a favor to vouch for them) to stake a claim on personal space. The center of Weyr is built around the open Gate Plaza, which sits in the center of the volcanic crater. The open caldera itself is capped off with a shielded lens, which protects the interior from ionizing radiation, and helps raise the interior temperature, though Weyr is not pressurized itself, so breathing equipment is required to move in the open areas of the settlement. Around the Gate Plaza are the many common buildings, including communal housing and eating buildings, colony storage and infrastructure and administration functions. There is also an open space where herds of a slightly modified strain of Titanian Caribou are penned. The majority of the population of Weyr lives in personal cave spaces in the walls or base of the volcano itself. Caves are sealed off with flexible pressure seals, small airlocks added, then they can be heated and pressurized like expanded pressure tents. These personal caves can be small enough to equate to a single room or one person apartment, or large and long enough to contain a small Brinker or Scum tribe. Population in Weyr has greatly increased after the Septentrio incident, as both Commonwealth Marines and independent contractors from Medusa have been brought in to bolster security in the colony and maintain the enforced lock-down until the situation can be properly assessed. However, a second group has flooded in, Singularity Seekers intent on studying possible similarities to Iapetus. Many of these Singularity Seekers attempt to break the lock-down though the warren of tunnels under Weyr. Most are caught and turned back (and occasionally exiled from Boreas), but quite a few make it out. Many of these never return.

Jotun Exsurgent (Biomorph)
Called “Jotuns” by one of the last survivors of the survey team on Boreas, these massive Exsurgents tower at nearly twice normal transhuman height, with a skin of hard and jagged crystalline plates and fibers which serve as armor. They’re surprisingly flexible, however, able to climb and fit through many smaller passages in the Septentrio caldera. They have massive claws, ideal for digging through rock and ice, carving further passages beneath the ice. It is unknown what they are doing, or how they live, just that that at least a hundred, if not more, dwell in the Septentrio site, with many of them hibernating between periods spent wandering the enormous tunnel system, carving out further tunnels.

Movement: 4/20
Skills: Climbing 40, Fray 50, Freerunning 50, Infiltration 30, Perception 50, Unarmed Combat 60
Notes: Large Size, Direction Sense, Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Hearing, Vacuum Sealing, Toxin Filters, Grip Pads, Digging Claws, Carapace Armor, Hibernate, Prehensile Feet, Radiation Tolerance, Long-Term Life Support
Attacks: Claws 1d10+6 DV AP -2
Armor: 11/11

Blackbook server

Blackbook Server
Mission: Logistics
Target: Exsurgents
Mission-focused
Territory: Operates Everywhere
27 Proxies
Rich (HR)
Poor (MR)
Pragmatic
Moderate
Active Backup
Trying to live down recent fuckup
Corrupt

Blackbook Server is mostly logistical and networking server ostensibly tasked with coordinating agents to monitor potential exsurgent outbreaks in the Inner System, especially around quarantine zones. It has vast contacts, healthy Sentinel recruitment and a large body of well-organized proxies from across the system, which makes them pragmatic-leaning moderates. Blackbook has one major problem, they’re a corrupt server which funds itself primarily via kickbacks due to their connections with many smugglers and counterfeiters across a wide variety of criminal operations linked to Earth Orbit, Luna, Mars and even further out-system. Many of its proxies work in covert Reclaimer operations or are Guanxi members making profit off the covert intel gathered by Firewall, and using crime to launder their resources. Through their gatecrashing connections, they’re also active in the Backup clique, though these efforts can be seen as being as selfish as anything else. Recently the server had a big setback when a couple of their Registers, Triad bosses on Mars, were grabbed and many of their assets frozen or seized. While the Server managed to keep ties to Firewall well hidden, this has given them a severe lack of equipment and funds to use on their own operations - which only encourages more corruption.

APC

Armored Personnel Carrier
Generic class of armored vehicle designed to carry passengers. These are used by private security or law enforcement as troop transports or even as prisoner transports, and are mostly common in planetary habs though some large and wealthy cylinders also employ them. They have 6-8 wheels, with thick armor made of fullerened composites and aerogels. The most common configuration for the APC is a driver and a commander or co-pilot seat up front, with an optional seat for a gunner, and space to hold around 8 passengers, with additional space for troops to ride on the outside. Some APCs have been modified to dock with Battlesuits or other exoskeletons to “ride” on the outside. APCs feature pressure doors and environmental control systems, which in addition to providing indefinite air also work to counteract chemical, biological or nanotech attacks (Count as Immunogenic system and Guardian swarm). In terms of weapons, APCs typically have an external weapon turret which is controlled from the inside. Typically these are Heavy MGs or Seeker weapon systems, but occasionally they feature even heavier autocannons. They may also have slits or windows in the side for interior troops to fire personal weapons from. Comes equipped with Headlights, Radio Booster and vehicle Radar. [Expensive (50,000+)]

APC Capacity: 11 Handling: +10 Movement Rate 8/40 Max Speed 70 AV 36/36 DUR 400 WT 80

Chang-Er V

Chang-Er V
Type: Terrestrial (Earth-Like)
Primary Star: K1V (Orange Dwarf)
Gravity: 1.31 g
Diameter: 16,731.42 km
Atmospheric Pressure: .97 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 74.4% Argon, 25.6% Oxygen, trace other gases
Surface Temperature (Mean): 19 C
Day Length: 16 Hours
Orbital Period: 467 Days
Satellites: 5
Gate Access: Martian Gate, Set Gate
Notes: Microbial Life, Advanced Alien Artifact, Transhuman Settlement (Pathfinder Research Park and Direct Action garrison)
Chang-Er V (named after the lead scientist on the Gatecrashing team and both it’s position in its solar system and the number of satellites it has) is a remarkably hospitable terrestrial world, with manageable gravity, temperature and pressure, and a breathable atmosphere. It would be a prime site for Pathfinders exoplanet colonization efforts, except for one thing, The Object. Officially classified as the “Chang-Nausia Object” (after the two Gatecrashers who saw it first) and colloquially known as “The Ball”, “The Eye” and “The Orb”, the Object is a massive artifact of presumed alien design, which appears to be a whitish sphere several hundred kilometers in diameter, which hovers over the surface of Chang-Er V, with no known means of keeping it aloft. In fact, it appears to be held from escaping planetary gravity by a series of “tethers” made from carbon compounds, anchored into the surface, which also appear to generate power for the Object by some unknown means. The surface of the object is impenetrable to all forms of scanning, and in fact, warps or distorts many of the more powerful types of scans that attempt to reach it. As far as can be told, the Object is a gravitational anomaly. Its presence counteracts the tidal effects of Chang-Er V’s five captured planetoid moons, and appears to influence the weather surrounding it, producing much gentler patterns in it’s “gravity shadow”. This gravitational shadow seems to extend to a range roughly triple the diameter of the object, corresponding with a large basin in the surface of Chang-Er V, with it’s lowest point directly under The Object, and surrounded by a nearly circular set of mountains. While inside this “gravity shadow”, the gravitational forces of Chang-Er V appear reduced by roughly 33%, equivalent to ~.8 g. Pathfinder has classified this planet and object heavily, settling a decently sized research base into the shadow basin near (but not directly under) the object, and staffed it and the route to the Gate heavily with Direct Action personnel. The Gate itself is located on a flat plateau at the base of the shadow’s mountain range, opposite the Object, preventing the object from being seen from the Gate.

Shadow Watch
Allegiance: Planetary Consortium (Pathfinder)
Primary Languages: English, Mandarin
Population: 2,000
Shadow Watch (named cleverly for it’s position in the “gravity shadow” of the Chang-Nausia Object and its design as an observational research station) is a sizable open settlement in the Shadow Basin underneath the Object. The entire area is heavily fortified, with a tall exterior wall and heavy, low buildings requiring a lot of surface area, with decent amounts of underground construction. This is not just due to the fact that Shadow Watch is built to study an alien object, but also due to the non-zero possibility the Object may fall and impact the surface. As such, most of the habitation is securely underground, functioning as impact shelters, with the high walls designed to ablate the shockwaves of such an impact. It is mostly a research park, with layers of secure housing underground, and multiple research labs and expansive sensor suites trained at the Object. Due to the secrecy, there is little by way of non-mission related structures. Pathfinder has constructed a massive simulspace server system also, which runs many new complex simulations based on observations of the Object and makes new predictions. In addition to the observational labs dedicated to studying the object in every conceivable way, Pathfinder has also built some experimental physics and exotic materials labs here, presumably to concentrate efforts to reverse engineer data from the object and mimic some of its effects. Shadow Watch gets its power from an automated solar plant up in the mountains, transmitted by carbon nanowire along the supply route, but also has several nuclear generators for emergency power buried deep beneath the facility. A maglev railroad and resupply station has been built from the center of Shadow Watch out to the Gate area, including tunneling through the mountains. At the Gate, along the train line and in Shadow Watch itself are heavy security checkpoints and garrisons run by Direct Action, who has a weighty NDA with Pathfinder about Chang-Er V. Nothing comes or goes from Shadow Watch without being scrutinized a few dozen times over. Direct Action has also built a structure known as “The Battlement”, another, semicircular heavy wall several klicks further in from Shadow Watch, which is lined with an impressive array of CIWS cannons, missile batteries, anti-missile lasers and heavy mass drivers, all of which are pointed in the general direction of the Object or its tethers. Speaking of the tethers, rumor has it that Pathfinder has begun scouting for possible explorers to climb up the tethers and make close contact with the Object itself.

ShutIn

Nanodrugs are potent substances, able to directly cultivate mental or emotional states using active nanotech to incur direct feedback or manipulation of the body's biochemistry. While more expensive and often more restrictive due to those qualities, they possess a wide variety of uses due to them. People utilize nanodrugs to help with mathematics, focus and pain tolerance, or stimulate direct emotional states. They can also incur more "negative" changes for recreational or investigative purposes, like temporarily stimulating an allergic reaction which passes quickly, temporarily mimicking mental disorders or temporarily inducing effects similar to neural damage. The most popular nanodrugs combine these sorts of effects. One of these such, is ShutIn.

ShutIn: A nanodrug which directly stimulates feelings of focus and introversion. Commonly used by artistic or intellectual types to study or work, the drug enhances observation, memory and is said to help "remove distraction". For positive aspects, it grants a +10 on Perception tests for the duration, and a +10 to any test to remember events which occurred while under the effects. However, it stimulates antisocial, introverted or isolated feelings, giving a -20 to Networking tests for the duration, and it tries to prevent highly active or risky behavior by playing with the pain response, giving a -30 to all tests relating to pain or its effects. Commonly sold as patches or dissolving tabs. Long-term users of ShutIn may develop permanent anxieties or even phobias of large crowds, open spaces or other social situations.[Low]

ShutIn has an interesting market; it's most commonly seen among university students - particularly those in rigorous educational programs - where it is used as a study or "cram" drug, and also often mixed with other substances. Actors and performers also often use it to prepare, studying or practicing lines, steps and routines in a performance while avoiding distractions, but it is not often used by those with particularly physical jobs or hobbies - the pain response is quite overwhelming if triggered. People with wide social circles may also utilize it to simply relax and "unplug" from a vast network of social media they can't seem to disconnect with otherwise.

Application: D, O
Onset: 5 Action Turns
Duration: 1 Hour
Addiction Modifier: +10
Addiction Type: Physical

Melee Weapon Enhancements

There are many weapon accessories designed to enhance and reinforce the capabilities of ranged weapons. However, while melee weapons do not have the same efficiency or potential as many more advanced systems, there are plenty in the Solar System who still utilize them for any number of purposes and uses. Melee combat is not a lost art, and the advanced technology and materials of the Transhuman future mean there are many optional adjustments or attachments to melee weapons possible which can alter their profiles and make them more dangerous or useful.

Balanced Hilt: Utilizing shape-adjusting memory materials and systems of smart materials to adjust the balance and weight distribution in the weapon's grip, the weapon is much easier to handle - both offensively and defensively. This accessory grants a +10 to hit with Combat Rolls using the designated weapon, and a +10 on Fray tests against other melee attacks, provided one can use the weapon to parry. Due to the precision and high-quality of the materials, this mod is costly. [Moderate]

Masterwork Blade: Most weapons and blades are "factory forged" using nanofabrication techniques or conventional machinery to make a standard template of a weapon. But for some, the careful techniques of forging weapons are very much a living talent - though limited to hobbyists scattered throughout the system. These high-quality blades are sharper and sturdier than most. A blade hand-crafted by a master smith are much higher quality than standard fabricated ones by virtue of technique and material selection, granting +1 DV and -1 additional AP, but can be hard to come by due to needing to find a specialist who can make them. This enhancement can only be applied to a bladed weapon. [Low]

Shock Capacitor: This simple modification embeds a small battery unit into the handle of a weapon connected either to the conductive surface of the weapon itself, or new contacts embedded into it. The end result of this is that the weapon now adds the Shock effect (see p. 204 EP "Shock Attacks") on a hit. Due to the small size and the need to not alter a weapon's balance or weight, the shock capacitor can only generate enough charge to add the Shock effect once per Action Turn. [Low]

Thermic Weapon: This modification requires a significant restructure of the weapon involved. Embedding a small nuclear battery in the weapon - then adding a long conducting heating element which runs in it's length, as well as sufficiently insulating the handle. When activated, this causes the Thermic Weapon to begin generating high volumes of heat, which cause significantly increased harm in contact with the weapon, adding +2 DV and -2 AP. Scoring an Excellent Success with the weapon sets the target On Fire (p. 198 EP "Fire"). Thermic Weapons are incredibly dangerous, both to foes and even to the user (be careful not to make contact with the weapon when in use or immediately after) and only slightly less prone to catastrophic failures than a Plasma Sword. [Moderate]

Toxin Alloy: Normally, one uses the best in composites and alloys available to make a blade. But for some assassins, enforcers or just uppity Scum, there are other ways. These ways involve making the blade from volatile heavy metals, some blends even wasting radioactives, which make a dangerous surprise for anyone actually struck with the weapon, as the metal flakes off in the blood causing acute toxicity. Any pod or biomorph which is damaged by a Toxin Alloy weapon must roll a DUR test (DURx2 with Medichines) or take 10 DV (ignoring armor) once per Action Turn for 1 Turn for every full 10 MoF. Characters who pass the test still take -10 on their next action due to pain or discomfort as their body metabolizes the toxins. However, due to the inferior quality of the materials used to produce this effect, reduce the DV and AP of the weapon by 1. This enhancement can only be applied to a bladed weapon. [Moderate]

Collapsible Weapon: This enhancement involves utilizing specialized light materials, smart materials and precisely nanofabbed mechanisms to turn a weapon which cannot already collapse into a collapsing weapon. This means a weapon can be folded up or down from it's full size to a Small size, easily held in a pocket or small holster, as a Quick Action. While folded, the weapon gives a -20 penalty to anyone trying to discern it is a weapon, and grants a +20 on Palming tests to conceal the collapsed weapon entirely. This enhancement can only be applied to weapons which do not already fold or collapse. [One cost category higher than weapon]

Oversized Weapon: Some morphs are Large. While these often gain the benefit of reach on smaller opponents, conventional-sized weapons may not be of ideal shape, balance or length for such a tall or broad morph. In this case, most weapons come with a variation designed for those of exceptional height to use. A Large sized morph using this weapon doubles their DB. A Medium sized morph may use an Oversized Weapon to gain the advantage of Reach (p. 204 EP) against another Medium sized opponent, but if they do not have a SOM of 20 or higher, they take a -20 penalty to all attack rolls with it due to it's awkward size and weight. [One cost category higher than weapon]

Monochrome

Recreational drugs of all kinds are an interesting subject in AF 10. Many people are stressed, poor or suffer lingering trauma from the Fall and other damaging events. Some people may feel oppressed or limited by their governments, while others have incredible freedoms to pursue chemical recreation. Variations, both real and synthetic on many classic narcotics abound, though the enhancement of the transhuman body often makes these less appealing, or the systemic damage too costly to consider when substances like Petals (p. 322 EP) exist. Some cartels operate traditional methods, using hidden or subverted habs to grow and process traditional products (Amphetamines, Opioids and Cocaine) and smuggle them into other habitats to sell - though in many polities in the Inner System, this "smuggling" is more to do with avoiding paying taxes, licensing fees or avoiding quality checks for liability. Much more common, however, is small time dealers and experts developing new, synthetic substances - street and designer drugs which appear out of small clubs, neighborhoods and back rooms in the LLA and Mars, occasionally getting popular enough to flourish and spread to wider markets. One example of this is "Monochrome".

Monochrome: Monochrome is a fairly basic designer drug, which originates in the LLA. Inspired by tales of people so deeply affected by the Fall that they use AR to make their whole world appear in grayscale colors, several enterprising amateurs produced the substance to mimic these effects. Monochrome produces a strong effect of narcotic euphoria, removing "bad vibes" and minorly relieving stress, pain or sadness - and is used by some to counteract long-term depression or PTSD. More striking is the fact that it mutes the vividness of colors or dulls the other senses, sometimes even going so far as to render everything in shades of gray. At GM's discretion, one may gain a +10 bonus to appropriate tests for their euphoria, but take -10 on certain Perception tests (especially as relates to coloration or saturation). Long-term Monochrome users tend to develop unusual pupil dilation and discolored irises, and sensory damage may become permanent [Trivial]

Monochrome is such a popular, common design that it has pervaded all over the Solar System, with some forms even appearing in the tightly controlled Jovian Republic. This popularity makes it relatively cheap and easy to get a hold of. It is commonly sold in small packs of inhalers or liquid bulbs. "Chromers" turn to the drug for a variety of reasons, some pursue the unique aesthetic, others can't afford better quality drugs (including pharmaceuticals) to cope with their problems, and some people just prefer the high. It's popularity leads to variance, some of which are more dangerous - and sometimes not because of conventional side-effects, but also more than one batch of Monochrome has been tainted with something more sinister...

Type: Chem
Application: Inh, O
Onset: 1 Hour
Duration: 16 Hours
Addiction Modifier: 0
Addiction Type: Physical

Hand Shockwave

The Hand Laser (p. 308 EP) is very useful device, bringing the capabilities of a Laser Pulser into a small hand-mount which is concealable, portable, but tends to be low impact on the environment for habitats concerned about their infrastructure. In other cases, the Hand Stunner is available to offer a less-lethal alternative to the Hand Laser, delivering a shock to targets like the Stunner weapon. But there exists another way for a laser weapon to be used, which is normally enabled in a Laser Pulser but not possible in the stripped down design of the normal Hand Laser. This is a form of Pulsed Energy Projectile used by the Laser Pulser which can be integrated wholly into the cybernetic implant - at the cost of the normal firing mode.

Hand Shockwave: Another variant on the Hand Laser, this weapon is functionally identical to the normal base Hand Laser except that the internal construction is deliberately made so it only fires in what is normally "Stun" mode on a Laser Pulser. It uses a two-step laser pulse to generate shockwaves of plasma which erupt in a 1 meter radius of the target, similar to a flashbang, disorienting and knocking aside the target. Such PEP weapons are commonly used by law enforcement, and some prefer this type of approach in implanted weapons. All targets in the area of effect must make SOM x2 tests (SOM x3 for Synthmorphs or morphs with Pain Tolerance), failure meaning they are temporarily stunned and lose their next Action. Critical Failure results in the target being knocked down and being completely paralyzed for 1 Action Turn per 10 MoF. This deals only 1d10 DV, with an AP of 0 and only fires in Single Shot mode - like the variant on the Laser Pulser. A Hand Shockwave holds 50 shots worth of charge in the integrated battery. [Low]

Tactical Sling

The Arm Slide (p. 342 EP) is a very handy attachment to many pistol-sized weapons, allowing them to be drawn in a flash from a concealed position up a person's sleeves. However, this is limited to smaller, lighter weapons which may be a detriment to those in situations where more heavy armaments are required, and even traditional two-point slings take some time to draw. Some get around this solution by using magnetic systems embedded in armor and weapons to hold them in place - but this can be more expensive and requires either additional power draw or constantly active native magnets. Others utilize grip pad materials, which while slightly less expensive, can occasionally have similar awkwardness. Both of these methods are also dependant on armor - requiring specific hardpoint placement and gear to be used. A simpler solution by many is to use double-sided Grip Tape to stick a weapon anywhere - but many regard this as "unprofessional". There are, however, more primitive solutions.

Tactical Sling: Taking the form of a classic 3-point sling, this accessory for a rifle-sized weapon allows it to be carried on a harness attached to the body of the user. The advantage of this design is that the weapon is not lost on the ground if dropped, and can be quickly pulled up to an active position, even with one hand. This often frees up limbs for quick switching between tasks. The style of the sling is simple, and they can be made from a variety of materials and looks - the most basic often coming in simple matte or drab colors, but others can even be camouflages or chameleonic. While attempting to conceal the weapon it is attached to, one cannot use the Tactical Sling (to do so would make it no longer concealed) but it might assist a character in carrying it. [Trivial]

Revenant pod

Revenant (Pod)
For those who have experienced "death", many find it unpleasant in many ways, and like to avoid it. Others embrace deathliness. Either way, those people who have to deal with death both mentally and with the physical problems (i/e non-functioning morphs) often come up with interesting coping mechanisms. The Revenant Pod is one of these mechanisms. Designed similar to the survivalist pod, the Jenkin, the Revenant has interesting definitions of "survival". Firstly, the only way to properly assemble a Revenant is by recycling - skin and even whole limbs from other pods and biomorphs are used, giving them an often "patchwork" or pallid look as damaged flesh is recovered. Internals such as organs and internal cybernetics are often built from recycled materials. However, the real "survival" of the morph comes from its enhancements. The skin is made exceptionally hard, and many nerves - especially responsible for pain - are deadened. Revenants are almost as bad as synthmorphs at noticing serious injures. The armor and tough cybernetic skeleton mean they absorb a lot of harm - are not bothered by most poisons, and are protected against vacuum and temperature extremes, with cybernetics to supplement the lungs. Emotional Dampers keep them calm and focused, in off-putting, in stressful situations, and ultimately, the Possum Cache allows them to keep functioning over the mesh while Medichines perform basic repairs on the body. Revenants are hardy enough that so long as the cyberbrain isn't damaged, even severed limbs can simply be reattached in time. However, due to recycling concerns, Revenants tend to have blank, often similar faces which means social interactions with them are... unusual to say the least. The deliberately deadened nerves also tends to greatly inhibit rapid reactions and quick movements. This pod is most popular in certain morbid circles of Scum, Socialites and Brinkers - though any habitat with strained resources on morphs (or who has recently experienced large die-off of biomorphs or pods) can turn to the design in a pinch.
Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Insert, Bioweave Armor (Heavy), Cyberbrain, Emotional Dampers, Hardened Skeleton, Hibernation, Medichines, Mnemonic Augmentation, Oxygen Reserve, Possum Cache, Puppet-Sock, Toxin Filters, Vacuum Sealing
Movement Rate: 4/20 (Walker)
Aptitude Maximum: 30
Durability: 40 (w/ Hardened Skeleton)
Wound Threshold: 8
Advantages: +10 SOM (w/ Hardened Skeleton), +5 WIL, Pain Tolerance (2)
Notes: -5 REF, Social Stigma (Pod), Uncanny Valley trait
CP Cost: 40
Credit Cost: Expensive (40,000)

(Revenant is actually a recent idea. I thought of it while trying to come up with new ideas for H-Rep (not that I'm running out of backlogged ideas, just wanted to make sure I could keep it fresh), and decided to do something interesting with the Possum Cache. From there, it moved back to mythology ideas, and generated a zombie-like pod, built from recycled materials which is pretty tough to take out. It can lie in wait for quite some time before springing to life, and with build in Medichines can pop back up even after you think you've killed it. With the x2 Pain Tolerance, it also is remarkably resistant to Wounds. The WIL bonus and Emotional Dampers means they can put up mentally with all the abuse they can take. REF penalty slightly balances this out - the Revenant goes nowhere fast but can take a beating on the way. It makes a bit of an oddball combat pod which could symbolize an interesting history. GMs are encouraged to reduce the price in habs which have an influx of "raw materials" to work with, though the CP cost is important for balancing concerns)

Viper Sword

The Wasp Knife (p. 334 EP) is an incredibly useful weapon which is known for its nastiness. Holding a cartridge in the handle, and armed with an injection system, the knife can pump compressed air or any number of chemical, drug, toxin or even nanotech into a target which is successfully damaged. This is very useful or a lot of reasons, but for some the knife is not the proper way. For this, use of advanced material composites can build long-bladed structures much more like a sword, which can be used for more power and skill by specialists.

Viper Sword: The big brother of the Wasp Knife, the Viper Sword doesn't cause as much harm as a Vibroblade or Monofilament Sword, but has one advantage in the form of an internal arterial structure. When combined with a triple-cartridge system in the base of the weapon, this allows the Viper Sword to be almost instantaneously coated in any Toxin, Chemical or Nanotoxin from storage. It can also be used to cause damage in pressure differential situations like a Wasp Knife, though this requires a stabbing motion rather than a slash to apply. The Viper Sword has a series of three canisters which hold three separate doses of a drug or chemical substance. To apply the effects the target must suffer damage. [Moderate]
AP -1 2d10+2+DB DV

Plasma Moth

The Plasma Moth is an unfortunate tale of experimentation gone slightly wrong. Originally devised by Ringer and Scum genehackers to test the Plasma Sail implant (p. 189 Rimward) using strains based on the Hercules Moth genus, the Plasma Moth has become a well known pest or "environmental hazard" in some places, particularly in the Outer System. Integrated with the Plasma Sail which is structured partially into their wings, and armed with vacuum seals and a variant on Long-Term Life Support's maker nanites, the Plasma Moth is able to exist in hard vacuum for weeks or months without taking in new resources. Due to the much smaller size (though a Plasma Moth is blown up to the same size as say, a Smart Hawk) the Moth only holds enough compressed hydrogen for about a month.

Normally, this would be a great boon for science, to create a new species which is spaceborne, but this has resulted in some problems. The enhanced antennae of the Plasma Moth are sensitive to electromagnetic fields, which helps them maneuver in the magnetic fields of planets, but also often attracts them to powered devices. They also retain the moth's attraction to light, thought to be a celestial navigation tool. The fact that Plasma Moths become pests emerges from this - as the original moths were limitedly conditioned to seek water and other deposits to maintain their nutrient and integrated 'ware stores. This means that Plasma Moths will often attempt to consume water or other volatile deposits, and do actually possess mouthparts - which adults will use to consume carbon deposits - unfortunately often being used on ceramic fibers of certain micrometeoroid shielding or other Transhuman space structures. Certain breeds of the Plasma Moth as also "vampire" Moths, and can consume the blood of living beings - something many and unfortunate Ring Flyer or other biomorph on vacuum duty has run into. Their larvae also are a nuisance, as they are typically born with sufficient nanotech deposits to mature into a Plasma Moth (though some are occasionally born "inert", and only metamorphose into a particularly large and durable Moth), which they often fuel by consuming either plant fibers of an infested hab's life support systems, or if they can get at exposed fiberoptic lines.

While not in burgeoning populations, Plasma Moths are a real space-vermin, and cause occasional problems in the Saturnian neighborhood or attached to Scum Swarms. They can damage hab or ship infrastructure, and block sensor equipment, or even block components of a hab or ship structure, and are large enough to physically damage an unprepared transhuman. Due to their incredibly simple minds, they do not make great "pets". They have even spread to some outlying asteroid or other planetary bodies for resources, where they can assemble sizable "nests". While rare in the Jovian system, the Republic places a bounty on their destruction - and some paranoid commanders feel they are deliberate attack vectors by the Autonomists. Groups like Firewall are also concerned that due to their remoteness and relative mobility, should they be tainted by Exsurgent or TITAN technology, they could represent a dangerous infection vector.

Plasma Moth
Type: Neogenetic
Niche: Outer System, some Scum Swarms
Threat Level: Yellow
Numbers: 1-4
COG 1 COO 20 INT 10 REF 20 SAV 1 SOM 5
WIL 1 INIT 6 SPD 1 DUR 15 WT 3 DR 23
Bite & Scratch: 30 1d10/2, -1 AP
Fray/Armor: 30, 2/2
Perception: 20, Vision 40
Move: 8/40 Winged
Skills: Flight 50, Perception 20, Scrounging 50, Unarmed Combat 30
Ware: Direction Sense, Enhanced Vision, Grip Pads, Long-Term Life Support, Medichines, Plasma Sail, Radiation Tolerance, Temperature Tolerance (Cyronic), Vacuum Sealing
Traits: Small Size (-10 to hit)
Natural Camouflage: When not moving, a Plasma Moth gains a +20 to Infiltration when trying to hide in an environment it has been living in for more than a week.
Stress Test: (1d10/2)-2 SV
Laser Moth Variant: 40, 2d10 DV, 0 AP, SA, Ammo 25, 30/80/125/230
Poison Dust Variant: 50, Toxin: Dermal or Inhaled, Onset: 1 Action Turn, Duration: 3 Action Turns/1 Hour, victims suffer 1d10 DV per action turn (Half with Medichines) for 3 action turns, and must make SOMx2 test (+30 with Medichines) or be paralyzed for 1 hour.
Vampire Moth Variant: Vampiric Proboscis 50, inflicts 1d10 DV, half armor applies. If not removed (with an opposed Unarmed Combat test) the Vampire Moth will continue to drain blood for 1d10+4 Action Turns, dealing 2 DV (no defense) each Turn.

Plasma Moth Larvae
Type: Neogenetic
Niche: Outer System, some Scum Swarms
Threat Level: Yellow
Numbers: 2-8
COG 1 COO 5 INT 10 REF 5 SAV 1 SOM 5
WIL 1 INIT 3 SPD 1 DUR 5 WT 1 DR 8
Fray/Armor: 20, 0/0
Perception: 20, Vision 40
Move: 1/4 Snake
Skills: Climbing 50, Perception 20, Infiltration 50, Scrounging 50
Ware: Direction Sense, Enhanced Vision, Grip Pads, Long-Term Life Support, Medichines, Radiation Tolerance, Temperature Tolerance (Cyronic), Vacuum Sealing
Traits: Small Size (-10 to hit)
Natural Camouflage: When not moving, a Plasma Moth Larvae gains a +20 to Infiltration when trying to hide in an environment it has been living in for more than a week.

Vids

A collection of ideas for vids, XP and news programs one might find browsing their media feeds.

100 AF
Very bioconservative show made in the LLA about the exploits of a small human colony attempting to reclaim the Earth 90 years in the future, after a massive war where 99% of AGIs and Uplifts died to defeat the TITANs and retake the Earth.

GATECRASHED

A horror/survival vid series about a team of Gatecrashers stranded away from home, being stalked by some hostile entity. They must survive and try to make it back home in a variety of alien environments. 

HEART MONITOR

Vid series about an AGI surgeon assigned to a large Martian city. They are not well liked, but are skilled, and must overcome both social issues and medical dilemmas. 

JINGCHA

Regular XP reality series produced by aggregating XP and sensor feeds from contracted police and security forces throughout the Planetary Consortium. Criticized in Autonomist circles for "glorifying" state authority or police brutality when showing the "choicest" clips of officers making arrests or breaking up protests. 

MARS MINUTE

Reactionary news XP/vlog show from Mars, with a crew who "attack" trending or viral topics and celebrities, often making quick jibes or ill-natured comments. 

REALITY-EX

Supposedly a "news" show, this weekly reality show explores conspiracy theories of cryptids, wild artificials, parapsychology and possible "TITAN outbreaks" in the inner system, often showcasing XP footage submitted by fans. Quality of the XP is markedly terrible. 

RELEASE THE KRAKEN

Weekly XP/vlog hosted by "Preston Crowley", an Octopus uplift from Experia. Show cases unusual locales, current events and extreme activities in the Inner System. Mysteriously cancelled during the first season, pirated episodes still circulated. 

TRIAD

Award-winning Crime drama vid series about a up-and-coming member of a local Triad gang, and the trials they must overcome in daily life and as a member of organized crime. 

(Shout out again to RPPR and Know Evil for "100 AF" and "Release the Kraken", the summaries relayed here are less core focused to that campaign, and more broadly applicable to a GM who either wants to utilize those ideas for something, or just include them as part of a "lore")

Indra

Indra
Type: Terrestrial (Martian)
Primary Star: G4V
Gravity: .87 g
Diameter: 11348 km
Atmospheric Pressure: 1.03 atm
Atmospheric Composition: 40% Methane, 40% CO2, 16% Hydrogen, trace other elements
Surface Temperature (Mean): -3 C
Day Length: 23.27 hours
Orbital Period: 489 Days
Satellites: 4
Gate Access: Pandora Gate
Notes: Archaeological Traces, Alien Artifact
To some, Indra is one of the most horrific and terrifying Exoplanets ever discovered. While TITAN remnants, environmental disasters, and the fact that it seems like there are no living extraterrestrial civilizations connected to the Gates, are their own kind of fear, Indra offers its own unique brand of cold, calculating terror. At first, it seems like no unusual planet - a young Martian world outside of the habitable zone, which has enough geological activity to continue stimulating a carbon cycle, giving it a relatively thick atmosphere which even retains liquid water around the equator. It's believed that this cycle has continued for such a relative long time is due to tidal activity of Indra's four small moons, but researchers quickly determined it's much more likely to do with the abnormally high number of deep impact craters on Indra's surface. This is when researchers were in for a huge shock. A survey by experts in colonization found that wherever was considered statistically appropriate to place a colony on the surface of Indra, there was a crater. A survey was done of the crater the Indra Gate was found in, revealing traces of alien civilization buried under the impact site. Exploratory missions found similar traces in the nearest craters. Then TAU simulations modeled the events necessary to form such craters, and came up with the most likely conclusion that it was formed by a kinetic bombardment from orbit, such as with a heavy metal rod. These generated destructive forces in excess of "city-buster" strategic nuclear weapons. While it hasn't been completely proven, it's believed that all of Indra's unusual crater sites contain traces of an alien civilization which were bombed from orbit with a kinetic strike weapon. There are no other archaeological traces in the system, and the Gate's position seems to indicate the gate locale was struck also, though the Gate itself was not completely destroyed or was otherwise able to self-repair. The sheer destructive force involved renders most dating moot, though the best guess is from 500,000 to over a few million years ago based on geologic strata. No organic remains have been found at this time, and structural remnants seem very simplistic, lots of worked stone though some worked metals have been recovered. Lots of questions remain, of course, since Indra has no biosphere to speak of it's incredibly unlikely the population was native, but most carbon-based biology wouldn't have got along well on the surface of Indra either. It's possible that relatively fragile environment domes were placed over these simplistic cities and have since been completely eliminated. Certain elements of Titan Autonomous University are eager to begin extensive archaeological surveys and digs of the planet, but Gatekeeper corporation and Titanian Fleet Intelligence are much more conservative. There are very real concerns that any species advanced enough to wipe out all civilization on a planet may have further countermeasures or even detection methods in the system which a large-scale operation could run afoul of. Rumors even abound that telescopes have picked up inert objects in orbit which could be artificial satellites.

Excerpt from an Interview with Calixte Traverse, former TAU researcher and Gatekeeper contractor - Recorded on Phelan's Recourse
"Ah, such is the life of an exile...  Oh, you're wondering why I'm expatriated? Well, it's a funny story, [humorless laugh]. See, the Commonwealth is so transparent that if I or and of the others from the Indra team actually return home, we'll be legally required to disclose lots of information about the planet Intel or Gatekeeper would rather keep quiet. Not to mention that if we 'officially' return, our employers or home institutions have to disclose what we were doing and file our reports - or admit they lost them. And in the Plurality, there's always some nosy prick who asks these sorts of questions, so just keeping quiet would probably run into some legal tangle which would end up with the Commonwealth embarrassing itself. So it's only the remaining team members who didn't elect for psychosurgery and some deeply buried servers in the Orchestra that know. If you asked the right question, you could probably get the report, but that's up to what the AIs think is 'need to know', huh? So, I just stay here in the Recourse where I can get the news, make a couple votes so my rep doesn't tank to bad, and Gatekeeper can get a hold of me for follow-up questions."
[pause, sounds of drinking from a flask]
"Oh, you want to know what we found? So, it's public knowledge Indra was bombed back pre-stone age, yeah? Not that we can actually figure out what age the original colonists were in, but anyway... there's a lot of public debate in RNA and ExploreNet circles as to what form the kinetic bombardment took. The fact that research teams are pretty sure they've eyeballed what are otherwise very stealthy satellites has led to the most prominent theory that some kind of orbital weapon system was activated, like they were a gate-faring colony that went rogue and was razed, or they experienced a Fall-type scenario and their own weapon systems turned against them. This is the safer answer. I can tell you, since there's no official evidence and nobody will believe my drunken ramblings, that this is abjectly false. I know because I was part of a global survey team that went farther than any teams have officially gone. We were scouting other potential anomalies, and to try and confirm the situation at some of the more far-flung craters. So we got deep in the south, where there are some big glaciers and we found a region relatively devoid of natural phenomena. In the middle of this basin or whatever, there's a big shallow scar, like a canyon but with no flowing water or lava or anything to carve it out. Plus it was huge. We follow the thing for like a day, and come to the end, and find out what caused it."
[pause, sound of another drink]
"There's a structure buried in the crust there. Ground penetrating radar says it's roughly analogous in shape to something like one of the Commonwealth's destroyers, only maybe 3 times the size. Best guess is it's like 1.5 million years old, and it sure as hell looks like some kind of spaceship. Only its top most areas were sticking out above the ground, you'd never tell what it is from a distance. We examined as much of its surface as we could, but couldn't get far. It's made of some very advanced composites, it seemed very resilient. Sensors penetrated very poorly and it seemed like it was almost completely undamaged, at least on the top side. So yeah, whoever fucked up Indra real good did it with fucking huge spaceships. The freakiest thing about the Dreadnought - that's what we called it - was that our instruments picked up very faint neutrino emissions and magnetic field disruptions around the object. So I can tell you, that big girl is not dead, she's just sleeping. That's why nobody tried real hard to crack it open, either. If it really is like a destroyer, and it seems like it still has some kind of power supply, there's a worry that there might be some kind of antimatter containment still left - and a rupture would not be very helpful. But somebody will do it. Once it goes public, somebody will knock her open and go inside. Hell, they pay me enough I might try."
[long pause]
"What I always found most curious about her... the Dreadnought I mean... was that to me, the ship always seemed... organic somehow? I mean, that's not my specialty, I'm mostly maths, a little geo. But there was something about it's design, it's shape. How it felt when you touched it. If felt like something alive. That's why I said it seemed like it was sleeping... it's the only analogy I can think to use. I wonder if she dreams?"

Ute

Ute: also known as “Utility Vehicle”. This four-wheeled car features big tires and a rugged self-adjusting suspension and all wheel drive for maximum handling and utility on rough terrain. This vehicle is most common on Mars and certain Exoplanet colonies, but has variants which are used in other areas. It operates off a nuclear battery for an indefinite operating time. It has an enclosed cab, but not pressurized. The primary selling point of these is the large cargo bed in the back, which offers a high amount of utility between models and designs. Some are just flat beds, while others feature interior or exterior storage containers and other systems, such as seating for passengers. Some models feature netting or other soft covers to protect the materials in the back. Comes equipped with Headlights, Radio Booster, vehicle radar and Heavy Bumper normally. [Expensive]

Redneck Technical variant:
A common sight in the backwoods regions of Mars, the “Technical” version of the Ute features additional armor plating, bulletproof tires, a boosted engine and a turreted weapon mount placed in the back, though that usually restricts the amount of passengers which can be hauled. These are common among Barsoomian groups, rural police forces and scouts or security vehicles for Nomad tribes. Typically they are armed with a Heavy Machine Gun mount, but some of them have even heavier weapons like seekers. They add Heavy Armor, Articulated Weapon Mount and Ablative Patches. [Expensive (30,000+)]

Snowcrawler variant:
A version of the Ute vehicle for colder planets such as Titan, or other Exoplanets. The primary alterations is that the wheels are replaced with a highly flexible track system. This dramatically decreases the max speed of the vehicle, but gives it much better traction and maneuverability on icy surfaces. The Snowcrawler also has a pressurized, enlarged cab which is heated and has other life support functions, and has a T-Ray emitter to help see. Holds 50 hours of Air. [Expensive]

Ute Capacity: 2 (more as cargo) Handling: +0 Movement: 8/32 Speed 40/100/120 AV 26/30 DUR 200 WT 40
-Redneck Technical Capacity: 3 Handling: +0 Movement: 8/40 Speed 40/100/120 AV 42/48 DUR 200 WT 40
Snowcrawler Capacity: 3 Handling: +10 Movement: 4/16 Speed 60 AV 26/30 DUR 200 WT 40

Rust Duster

While a major slice of the population on Mars (particularly in the Outback) is drawn from Asia and North Africa - there's a certain aesthetic to frontier living which has permeated popular culture, not hurt by the media machine of Elysium or influence from the large North American population in the New Pittsburgh neighborhood of Valles-New Shanghai. This is the style of the classical "Western" of twencen films and TV. And, given some parallels, it's easy to see why a definitive genre grasps the minds of local Martians. Some of these considerations are as much practical as aesthetic, however. Smart Clothing (p. 325 EP) is nigh universal in many habitats for it's versatility and limited protections from temperatures, but is not quite so inexpensive as to be in the hands of literally everyone, especially in far flung corners of Mars away from retail stores. Cold Weather Gear (p. 167 Sunward) is a good alternative for many Martian morphs, but is intrinsically suited for Martian mountains and highlands, and in general is suited for those with a focus on working in extremes of temperatures. For those who live in the plains and lowlands, the Nomads of mars have their own variation.

Rust Duster: Variant on Cold Weather Gear, this outfit looks like a hybrid between a long coat and a rain poncho, and usually comes with a hood, mask or other face-covering. Both the way the coat is designed and the material it is made of is intended to protect the wearer from the dust and dirt common on Mars - both blown in storms and which can be kicked up by everyday movement. It also protects for temperatures as low as -40 C, though this is not it's primary purpose. Equipped with some sturdy gloves and boots, protective eyewear and a breather backpack, even non-adaptive morphs in a Duster can brave common conditions on Mars - though not up in the highlands. The material is also fairly heavy and dense, offering an Armor Value of 2/4 [Trivial]

Horizon's First

Posted By: Nephelae, Sentinel

At first brush, Horizon's First is a simple Brinker group who have mixed survivalist memes with an unusual religious or spiritual focus. A couple years after the Fall, they laid claim to 10199 Chariklo, the largest centaur body which lies in-between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, and is unusual for a minor planet in that it has rings. There they set up a titular settlement, Horizon's First. However, a comprehensive analysis of their activities over the Mesh, and observed remotely by their "neighbors" in the Uranian and Saturnian neighborhoods starts telling a different story. On its surface their belief system as laid out by their leader "The Ascending Master", seems like an odd kitbash of "New Age" beliefs mixed with an extreme cherry-pick of the Baha'i faith's principles like unity of religion and humanity, with a pinch of Xenodeism on top. And while not widely publicized, in certain circles their leader is known to have a bit of a "shopping list" which could be worrisome to Firewall. Combined with a deep dive of their ethos and the fact that Horizon's First is actively interested in not just recruiting, but developing new egos (i/e children) means they should be considered a possibly expanding threat.

ORIGINS AND BACKGROUND

The core beliefs of Horizon's First are laid out in the Ascending Master's seminal work The First Over The Horizon. In it, the Master gives the account that while fleeing the Fall on Earth, he had a cosmic revelation while traveling with some Brinkers. His "limited" mind wasn't capable of fully understanding this insight, but he knew it was his mission to communicate it to the best of his ability. The result is a very esoteric, stream of consciousness work written while he was travelling very far out-system. Parts of it are confusing, nonsensical, or appear contradictory, but are at least all in the same theme.

Roughly, the text communicates that he had a burst of insight from "cosmic energy" that flowed through him, revealing underlying truths of the universe. The "cosmic energy" that binds and flows in all creation spawned vast alien intellect(s) likened unto God, and from them all sapient life in the universe originates. When such life collectively reaches a point of metaphysical or spiritual purity or perfection, they ascend from their physical forms to achieve oneness with the cosmic godhead. Armed with this knowledge (among other beliefs) he took the alias "Ascending Master" and began to disseminate his work among communities as his ship passed, gaining a few new followers here and there. Eventually he realized he would need a home base to continue development of his theology and philosophy, and with his first batch of followers he was able to take hold of the claim on Chariklo.

The early years of the "faith" were fairly uneventful, which is probably why nobody was taking notice of them. As a group, Horizon's First set up on Chariklo and began trading some of the valuable materials extracted from the D-type body, mostly for basic hab supplies and for a decent stockpile of armaments to protect themselves - this is how they got their reputation as "survivalists". They also traded a lot of obscure or specific academic or scientific knowledge in this time, or offered a place for other Brinkers and Out'sters to come study academic works which some habs didn't always have time or effort for. It was at this time that The First Over The Horizon was formally published on the Mesh, which attracted small handfuls of Xenodeists or New Age spiritualists in the neighborhood. The cult grew to a couple hundred adherents in this time, but generally people didn't take them seriously, saying the First was a "bad petal trip".

This is where things start getting weirder. First, the Ascending Master publishes his second work, which is much more solidly written and is less about "cosmic truth" and more about daily practices of the cult. Called Attuning The Aura To the Cosmic Essence, this second work reads somewhere between self-help book and Singularity Seeker manifesto. It talks a lot about "expanding the mind" and "cleansing the spirit" and about how to "let the cosmic energy flow through you". How one does this involves a lot of meditation in time accelerated simulspace, tripping on linkstate, and experimental neural enhancers. Then, data about Cognite's FUTURA project (thanks, corporate moon parents) and the Pandora Gates goes public. It's not well recorded, but apparently the AM had made some broad predictions which could be interpreted as being fulfilled by this information. Combined with his release of a more relatable work, the cult gains following in the neighborhood and even in other regions in the solar system, roughly doubling the size of the group to several hundred.

A few years ago, AM published his next two books, one forming the third of his scriptures. That one is The Coming of the Ultraviolet Children, which outlines a concept of "Ultraviolet Children". It becomes the mission of Horizon's First to locate these children and make sure they have a healthy spiritual upbringing so they may enhance humanity's spiritual perfection - and also to generate as many "ultraviolet" children as possible. The second work, The Fall and the Age of Aquarius is much more akin to a political or philosophical work than a scriptural one. It outlines how the era of the Fall marked the transition to the "Age of Aquarius" and that freedom, technology and enlightenment should spread "unbound" throughout the cosmos - but his ideas on what this "unlimited" spread means sounds a bit more like Exhumanism than Autonomism. This is also when people nearby start getting concerned about Horizon's First. Instead of trading, they start raiding, sending fast ships on attacks against even well hidden enclaves. Scarier is not that they take resources and kill the people - but that they apparently capture children or other young egos and take them back to their hab.

From this point on, Horizon's First are implicated in shadier and shadier business from hereout. Agents are caught trying to break quarantine on Iapetus and Pathfinder. False identities crafted by the group are thrown off of Chat Noir - and based on the Fissure Gate's more lax screening some more probably were able to go through the Gate. Other members have been tagged meeting with Exhuman agents in the fringe, trading their stolen supplies for xenotech samples or TITAN relics. Titanian intelligence pinged they even seem to have build some kind of signals receiver or SIGINT array into Chariklo which is purportedly bigger than their habitation space. I've even heard some talk Horizon's First members have asked about Sibyls. All the while, most "knowledgeable" people dismiss the group as some spiritualist nonsense, but AM's works have spread throughout the solar system, and he still gets new converts. Rough estimates have Horizon's First as holding over 2,000 people in morphs. And room for plenty more.

And these people are not a joke. I was visiting Gerlach for some other Firewall business, and was approached by a couple of guys from the group. They hit me with a drug which temporarily blocked my Psi abilities. They must not have known I was a literal surgeon though, and neither of them had morphs loaded for combat. Picking through the stacks, Firewall says they were little more than suicide forks, sent on esoteric missions to "find lost children".

BELIEFS

As noted above, the core belief outlined in The First Over The Horizon is that the universe was created by a burst of "cosmic energy" from a place even outside this universe, and that confluences of it generated an ultimate cosmic being or beings (the work moves back and forth on plural or singular beings) of pure thought who are akin to what we interpret as "God". From this source, all sentient life in the universe originates. All representation of God or Gods are seen as our reflection of knowledge of the cosmic god, and thus are all one in the same, as are all religions - an ideal cribbed from Baha'i. Out religions and gods appear different because we were not as spiritually evolved as a species as to have the "pure" cosmic knowledge yet. The work explains the Fermi Paradox by saying that all species who ultimately achieve a metaphysical perfection ascend to become one with the cosmic God - leaving only their ruins behind. Those who fail to ascend are destroyed by natural forces of the universe - entropy, evolution, etc. Later editions of The First even cite the Iktomi and ruins of Moravec as examples. The work concludes that transhumans must study and harness the cosmic energy, and spread the ideals of spiritual purity to all members of the species so we might ascend.

The second work, Attuning The Aura To the Cosmic Essence is a much more practical manual of how to actually accomplish these sweeping goals. It posits that humanity entered the period in which they can ascend, as seen by the TITANs, our "children". The TITANs were able to surpass transhuman understanding of the cosmos and elect to ascend - their attempts to include us their creators in this endeavor explains the mass uploading. However, transhuman minds were still "too weak" to appreciate this revelation, causing the chaos and failure of the Fall and the TITANs to finish their ascension and leave transhumanity behind. The work then posits that transhumanity must overcome their weakness and expand their minds so they can focus their minds, and harness cosmic energy and obtain "great revelations" about the understanding of the universe, before finally ascending to join the Cosmic Unity. How one accomplishes this is done through a multitude of paths, the simplest is to study The First, and then moves on to spending high amounts of subjective time to accelerate enlightenment, or share XP and other data from other transhumans to "crowdsource" new revelations - but it ends with concepts of psychosurgery, memory and behavioral editing, nootropics all the way to experimental cognitive enhancements and mind states which are borderline Exhuman. This work also discusses the concept of "Akashic Records", that ascendant civilizations will have left metaphysical repositories of their knowledge and insight, and that accessing these will speed transhumanity on their path to ascension. Of course, Attuning also counts TITANs as "ascended" meaning that their relics should be sought after also.

The last key scripture, The Coming of the Ultraviolet Children outlines a new concept which is vital to enlightenment. This is that children will appear in transhumanity, since we are so close to ascension, who are gifted with high concentrations of the cosmic energy. These children will be gifted and stand apart from their fellows, and it is vital to raise them to speed their enlightenment, so they might guide the rest of us with them. It says these children will be able to wield cosmic energy and make things which seem impossible happen, and if they have the proper will can defy our understanding of physics. It in a less broad sense, the work also states the group Horizon's First must both actively locate "Ultraviolet" children, but also do their best to cultivate their own - using techniques outlined in Attuning to ensure they begin life with elevated levels of cosmic energy.

The Fall and the Age of Aquarius is much less esoteric and spiritual, and more political. It states that in the Ascending Master's opinion, Transhumanity entered the "Age of Aquarius" around the period of the Fall, signaling a transition in the cosmic energy around our solar system and species, stating that as the age culminates we shall achieve "spiritual perfection". How this is done is by spreading ideals of perseverance, freedom, technology, democracy, etc, in accordance with historical spiritual symbolism. However, a critical analysis of this work shows that this "spread" of these ideals is much more self-serving than it would appear. Concepts like freedom and perseverance are vaguely defined and then encouraged to be against persecution and "arbitrary" limitations society puts on itself which stand in the face of ascendant practices. The kinds of technology encouraged not only increase health and longevity, but befit the practices of improvement outlined in their spiritual works. The ideal of democracy naturally assumes the majority of people will desire enlightenment and spiritual health.

Ultimately, it's no surprise that both this faith is small, but that it has had a steady influx of converts. Recontextualizing the Fall as a failed "enlightenment" may help people rationalize the tragedy, and "cosmic unity" suggest some ultimate goal to life which could be "listless" for an otherwise immortal person. Later works contain information and guidance to improve as a person and become "more enlightened", and encourage the development and raising of children - something people think about but rarely do in our current era.

OPERATIONS

The settlement also titled "Horizon's First" is the group's primary center of operation. It's a beehive dug into Chariklo, and the group mostly uses the resources gathered by clearing out living space to supply themselves. The minor planet has enough mass to hold many more than the 2,000+ currently living there, which means the cult also tends to offer decent living space. Comfortable living is important to mental health, after all. No clear intel exists on what Horizon's First is like inside, visitors are limited and tend to be stuck in "public areas". Horizon's First seems to operate a bit like a Mutualist enclave or Scum swarm, they'll spend and take cash for certain things, but internally operate on something resembling collectivist democracy. Some of the members even have respectable rep on RNA or @-List. Of course, since all "citizens" are adherents to the faith of Horizon's First, they "vote" in line with the spiritual works and authority of the Ascending Master.

Sensors and some observant Brinkers who stopped in can make some guesses however. Upper levels seem consistent with habitation, and seem to expand outward from the central dock as they need more space. Here the members of the group live, eat and perform the practices of spiritual cleansing and focus. More "metaphysically pure" members gain access to additional amenities, including better food, better augments, private simulspaces and "companionship" in the form of pods. Otherwise, the lifestyle is pretty ascetic. While they don't discard physical pleasures or enjoyment, the faith encourages they take second-place to mental enjoyments. Deeper is the standard infrastructure, power, life support, all that. But even deeper in the planetoid are the real works. Storage and manufacturing facilities, mini-labs working on simulspaces and neural enhancements, and personal "meditation space" for the Ascending Master. Mercantile Brinkers who have visited guess that the Horizon's First group are gathering organic compounds from the body to be ready to grow a large number of morphs.

The outside of the centaur are also crawling with weapon emplacements. Their exact number and strength, however, isn't nailed down. Some estimates state that a good defensive collective, brinker posse or pirate band could slug it out with them - others say there's enough firepower to take on a Jovian carrier group.

Also of note on Chariklo is the large antenna array they've built into the surface, which has more surface area than their hab does. At first, it seemed like some kind of spying or other SIGINT rig, but based on the ideas laid out in their works and the consistent behavior of the group - it seems more likely Horizon's First is running their own SETI program, hunting for alien or TITAN data transmissions. Theorists in Firewall even say they may be hunting the Solar System for "Bracewell probes", a concept of using autonomous drones for long range, long term communications with other species. Given the nature of Horizon's First, we should hope they don't find anything like this, they'd almost assuredly access it immediately and try and plug their brains into it.

Operations off Horizon's First itself are just as concerning, and frankly, just as unexplored. Without access to their local networks, it's hard to tell exactly who are members coming and going - and the cult's leadership has gotten smarter in the last couple years, contracting out Brinkers and even Exhumans to make acquisitions for them. Even so, Firewall has been able to scope out a couple major and consistent areas of interest to the group, which their members are known to leave the hab for.

First is the standard recruitment and dissemination of their teachings. This is pretty simple for them, but low key. AM's works are circulated on the mesh every once and awhile, and given a large enough readership, always manage to snag at least one or two interested parties. Members also go out and "preach" ideals as well as offer more concrete technical assistance (usually with Simulspace or implant tech). I've been hearing they've been managing to snag small batches of former indentures or infugees out of Long Haul for a few years, even if the local Anarchists disapprove. Suppressing the works would be hard, as the Argonauts and Titanians have both archived them for "cultural purposes".

The next largest operation we can see is their efforts to develop new technologies to enhance simulspace time-dilation and transhuman cognition, closely matched with their search for "Akashic Records". This research is much more diverse. Horizon's First directly or indirectly makes a regular battery of inquiries into xenoarchaeology, cognitive enhancement and computer science across the solar system. We're not sure how much they get back out of this through conventional methods, but there are a lot of groups who mesh with them on this front, especially since The Fall and the Age of Aquarius champions open source technology and technoprogressivism - in it's own way. And, less obviously, Horizon's First occasionally sells some of their tech and services to raise capital to fund efforts to more directly obtain technology, including some limited TITAN and alien tech samples. Best guess, they haven't gotten anything big enough to be real useful or dangerous, but it might have given them an edge on some new developments. Some of their black market contacts have made waves at acquiring child Egos, too.

More recently, reports from very personal circles has it that Horizon's First has gotten very interested in Psi phenomena and asyncs. Parapsychology and quantum mysticism was always referenced in the group's beliefs, but it's only been a couple of years since they've been making overt moves. In addition to gathering together just about all legitimate public data on Psi theories, they've also made aggressive moves to buy up some relics of Cognite's FUTURA project. This includes the original geneline for the Futura morph, samples of the ALET simulspace programs the project used, even some of the original creche servers. Their use of Psi-Inhibitor drugs means they've probably actually garnered some knowledge in these departments. Rumors of capturing or recruiting Asyncs persist in the right networks. It's unknown if they've drawn a connection between Psi and the exsurgent virus - but they aren't actively looking for TITAN nanoplagues. As far as we know.

There's also something we haven't confirmed yet, but it seems like AM is eating his enlightenment wheaties, and has had another burst of insight. This has led to a big push in the group very recently into data forecasting and predictions. Data sniffing has them grabbing up every bit of data they can find on prediction or forecasting systems, from Titan's Orchestra to economic AI used by the Planetary Consortium. There's also whisperings in the deep mesh that people working with or for Horizon's First have started asking questions about something(s) called "Sibyl", but that's outside of my nominal clearance or expertise.

CONCLUSIONS & FINAL THOUGHTS

These guys are bad news in a lot of ways. Their ethos is nonsense, and they may never accomplish anything, but if they actually get a hold of some serious tech or artifacts, this situation could go fractal at any moment.

My best guess from looking at it, the Ascending Master is an Async. He got WML during the Fall and it's stages provided his "cosmic insight". Other members of the senior leadership may also be Asyncs. That's if we're lucky, and he didn't catch a more insidious hack driving him to collect TITAN artifacts. More concerning is their militant aspects. They're armed, and aren't afraid to attack others for resources (including children). Supposedly, Transhumanity can only properly ascend when we all achieve that spiritual purity collectively. This means ultimately everyone will have to be converted or killed off for Cosmic Unity to happen.

Obviously, they can't do that with a couple thousand. But give them more time to develop their enhancement schemes, or start producing new generations of Horizon's First members in accelerated learning, and their numbers could balloon pretty quick. If they get Extrasolar, this could become a situation like we think we're seeing with Rorty. Worse, I think, is if they actually get some novel augmentations going, and they get more acceptance in the system. That'll be a lot harder to cap than a hostile takeover.

They're also clearly interested in the Lost. All these inquiries about FUTURA, and the fact that many qualities exhibited by my (spiritual) brothers and sisters fit the description of "Ultraviolet Children". Being revered as spiritual leaders and guides would play to a lot of Lost too, which could subvert or alter the course of the organization - and not for the better. The sudden interest in forecasting spooks me too. If they get some legs, and use that to enhance their other research, they'll be small but faster moving than us.

I recommend to any Proxy who reads this report working in this area of operations to start actively recruiting assets to try and get a better picture of these guys and what they're doing.

PEOPLE

• The Ascending Master, real name believed to be Andre Villeneuve. A french national, he went to school in the US, probably on the west coast. Apparently funding for his education fell through, forcing him to make a living in cheap cons, usually involving motivational speaking or self-help. He escaped the Fall with a small cadre of Survivalists who apparently organized the takeover of an evac transport, and set course for the brink. His revelatory experience and philosophical musings are well chronicled, and he thinks of himself as a spiritualist guide and an author. He spends a small amount of his "physical" time in introspective meditation, but much more subjective time due to simulspace acceleration. The rest of his time is mostly spent managing the day-to-day functions of the hab, directing their research and inquiries or in private experimentation. He's reported to have 13 "Spiritual Consorts" who live with him in a quite spacious apartment in the bowels of Horizon's First.
• Aquaria Prismarine, real name unknown. An original generation follower, and AM's first "spiritual consort". She was reportedly rendered infertile either by a transhuman bioweapon, or a TITAN nanoplague in the time around the Fall. This explains her deep attachment and connection to the cult as their Sage of Wellness and Learning. Aquaria oversees both the group's mundane medical/augmentation research, and their more esoteric practices such as faith or crystal healing - which are reportedly enhanced with nanotech to actually be more effective. She also is in charge of the oversight and educational planning for all children in the domain of Horizon's First.
• Alexandrite Serpentarius is the "Sage of Personal Defense" and AM's 13th Spiritual Consort. She oversees the personal protection of AM when he appears before visitors, and in general seems to be his enforcer in the habitat, carrying out his personal orders to maintain "security" in the beehive. She also helps train agents in personal combat. Behavioral analysis indicates that Alexandrite is probably an Async, most likely a member of the Lost Generation recruited by AM.
• Kramp is a young up-and-comer in the group, leader of a small subset known as the Factorials. The Factorials believe that the Factors, as representatives of an alien conglomerate and due to their unique biology, are the key to rapid advancement toward enlightenment. They state that Horizon's first should actively pursue technology trade with the Factors. This is a minority view, as most regard the Factors as "failure species" due to their words to avoid Gates and AI. While unpopular, Factorials are allowed to exist due to AM's commitment to the concept of "democracy".
• Sattva, reportedly AM's eldest child with one of his Spiritual Consorts. While their morph appears aged around 8 or 9, it is believed their Ego may have reached a subjective experience of upward of 15 years. Sattva is a "confirmed" Ultraviolet Child, though it is unknown if this means she is an Async like AM is theorized to be. Sattva is the center of another internal movement known as the neoteny or paedocracy movement - which pushes that if Ultraviolet Children are key spiritual guides, then they should begin to shape the future and goals of Horizon's First. So far, these theorists have been internally suppressed by AM's inner circle.

PLOT HOOKS

• Horizon's First has recently imploded, probably after interference from an outside body like Firewall. This has scattered their membership to the winds, but now means they have an angry body of militant singularity seekers armed with experimental cognitive enhancements out in the system, hunting for more alien or TITAN artifacts. And they'll be much harder to stop when spread out so much.
• Horizon's First and the Ascending Master have actually obtained some of the creche servers from Cognite's Futura project. Now he plans on running his own version of the project, but using advances in morphs and time dilation technology. If this plan is successful, the cult could have an army of tens of thousands in a few short years, sweeping through the Outer Fringe
• Horizon's First has managed to ally with or capture a Sibyl AI, and used their massive forecasting power to locate an Akashic Record (actually a Bracewell Probe). While incapable of acting on it, if the Sibyl is exposed to it, it could be a huge calamity for the solar system. Alternatively, if the Titanians are in possession of the probe, this could lead to huge public scandal on the subject.
• The Factorials have actually managed to arrange a meeting with a Factor or one of their transhuman agents, with intent to trade for advanced technology samples. But, in addition to groups like Firewall wanting to subvert this, particularly aggressive members of the paedocracy see the factorials as heretics and seek to stop their efforts.
• Horizon's First is but one cell in a number of Singularity Seeker groups whose leaders are contaminated by the Stockholm virus, forming an ever growing network of TITAN servitors who will ultimately come together for some goal, the details of which are highly inscrutable to the "unenlightened".