HoloVids Rot Your Brain

The most common form of entertainment in the Cosmic Era is the ubiquitous HoloVid. Much like 3D televisions, each viewer has a pair of 'glasses' that allow them to see the programming. The HoloBand, relative of the SQUIDband accesses the visual cortex and aural cortex to stream immersive content into the brain of the viewer. It is some pretty impressive stuff, read 3D visuals, the ability to move around a scene as it plays out, plus all the variety inherent in customizable avatar games.

There are several downsides to the HoloBand. The most distressing is the way the HoloBand teases the reward centers of the brain. This sort of access can allow for serious personality and behavioral problems, especially in the context of instant gratification, ADD, and other attention disrupting conditions. HoloBand users are antsy and become bored and irritable very quickly as real life simply cannot match the speed and stimulation of the HoloVids. Most compulsive HoloVid users are on regular attention controlling medications, and have been since they were children.

Other less diagnosable conditions have also sprung from HoloBand and HoloVid usage. Literacy has begun to slide, and much to the chagrin of the world powers, the height of the Petroleum Age was also the height of world literacy. Most first world nation citizens can only read on a elementary level, and have little interest or desire in reading. The HoloVids are so much better.

BlackBands and BlackVids

HoloBands and HoloVids are regulated as to the level and intensity of the data they can stream into a viewer's head. Black market bands can pump illegal amounts of data, causing euphoria and other drug like reactions from the viewer. This can very quickly erode the chemical production ability of the brain, much like heroin abuse. The wearers are quickly reduced to feeling like machines outside of the bands, and only alive when the band is pumping them with near catatonia inducing levels of signal. Tailored BlackVids can literally be nothing more than programmed emotions, like joy, orgasming, elation, or other emotional highs. On a darker side, as mentioned in the SQUIDband entry, there are black market vids that are recordings of violent or illegal actions, such as rape, assault, or murder with the feedback pumped to methamphetamine levels. HoloJunkies often have bloodshot eyes, gaunt appearances, and a variety of physical tics from band abuse.

Department of Public Information

Also commonly known as the Ministry of Censorship, the DPI and it's related branches in other governments around the world are heavily involved with scanning, censoring, and sanitizing any and all data streams and sources they can find. The DPI is best known for it's Safe CogNet campaigns, advising citizens to avoid unsanitized or unsanctioned data servers and streams. You never know what filth you could expose yourself to, what Malware could infect your systems and corrupt your data and steal your money and identity, or even possibly cyberjack your own augmentations if you have any.

The DPI is often the primary target of cyber warfare, as viewers who only rely on local datafeeds, and sanctioned and santized feeds can expect to be spoon fed nothing more than propaganda, political spin, pablum, and the old bread and circuses routine. Dissenting opinions are presented with obvious flaws, and their are associated 'underground channels' that stream hardcore pornography or criminal based feeds. These are generally staged by the DPI as a way to track would be deviants and wanna be hackers (minimal difficulty to 'hack' these 'dirty feeds'. The porn is staged, and the crimes are also choreographed and 'caught on camera' in such a manner as to dissuade would be criminals. Who wants to be a criminal when every feed they hack ends in the crims getting caught, or beaten, or shot by one of the own in a gang feud. It is all agit-prop and controlled counter-propaganda.

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Hyperdimensional Mathematics Destroy Brain Cells and Sanity

Arcanotech is one of the foundations of the Cosmic Era. From it sprouts the free and clean energy of the Dimensional Engine, the Dimensional Battery, Pan-Dimensional Spectography, Dimensional Heat Sinks, Coalescent Plasma Cannons, and things like Seibertronian brains. Hyperdimension mathematics are to non-euclidian geometry, as NEG is to basic geometry. The stuff is seriously hard.

One of the problems that arised from arcanotech is that a sufficiently sane person cannot physically understand it. The average sane person is too grounded in mundane facts and lacking a fundamental understanding of said theories. Once an engineer or theorist reaches a point of actually and really understanding this esoteric and chaotic form of mathematics their grip on sanity is gone. They are much like Alice in Wonderland, as in their book 1+1 no longer equals 2, but is rather a massive sliding parabolic curve of possible answers.

Sometimes these individuals do strange things, enlightened or deranged by alien thoughts or indescribably inspirations. Sometimes these things are bad. Like mad scientist bad.

That being said, the innate source of arcanotechnology is tainted. Nothing grows from poisoned ground but poisoned crops.

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Selective and Designer Eugenics

Designer babies and gene screening are not new technologies. Parents can have their child's physical characteristics planned ahead of time, hair and eye color, general ideas of where their pre planned son or daughter will develop physically. It is a wonderful Gattaca world, with no diabetes, no cancer, and no uglies or fatties.

Except

That the parents aren't the only group that has a say so in the selective genetics game. There are many other traits that can be drilled in at the cellular level, such as docility, accepting leadership and authority, limiting creativity, or creating chemical dependencies in utero. There are laws against creating sub-races or supermen. Both of these aspects are ignored in varying degrees. Clones and many many middle income children are prescreened to be good and obedient followers. This isn't foolproof or 100% certain to work, but it vastly decreases the levels of rebellious and deviant behavior inherent in children and teens, as well as in young adults. While this makes for terrible leaders and nigh useless soldiers, there are freeborn poor, cyborgs, war clones, and androids to deal with the real fighting and killing. Obey, consume, procreate.

Under Classes

There are certainly examples of Human Minus to be found around the world. This never comes close to the Epsilons and epsilon semi-morons of Brave New World, but there are certainly Deltas. Born to low means, predetermined to enjoy repetitive and low rewarding jobs, lacking ambition or creativity. Human minus is much more likely to be found in places that lack strong robotics and android production ability. Because no genius, or supermodel is going to take out the trash, drive a dump truck or do other menial labor.

Super Classes

Just because there is an interplanetary treaty banning creating artificial supermen doesn't mean that every major power on the planet isn't doing it. They all signed the treaty, smiled, and went back to creating superior humans, the illegal Human Plus. The first Human Pluses created were superior soldiers. Physically more robust, more pack like in mentality, and more aggressive, the clone soldiers were born and bred to kill and die. Beyond that it was to create the new level of humanity, better, stronger, and most importantly, more intelligent. The Federation has the Coordinator Program operating in secret in one of the space habitats. The Coordinators are superior intelligence and agility, better pilots and computer operators than regular humans. Likewise the PRC has it's Instrumentality Project that is creating genetically augmented humans who are able to parapsychically link with computers and machine systems. The most impressive outcome of this project are the mecha pilots who literally become the machine they enter and move it with nothing more than the force of their will and the mech brain. The Fimbulvinter project is creating parapsychic super commandos, while the ACPS Saiko Kurrasha program is likewise creating parapsychic martial artists and warriors.

Plain old human, how can he stand up to this?

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Corporate Comic Superheroes

The comics aren't gone, and they aren't made for kids like they used to be. Almost every major superbrand and Megacorp has a mascot/superhero to market their goods in good faith in whatever nation they are being advertized in. Some superheroes are new renditions of classic characters, such as OCP of the Great Lakes Republic rebooting Superman and OmniMan, defender of Truth, Property, and the Federation Way! Another example is Union Aerospace and it's rebadging and rebranding of Batman as Jet-Man, the stealthy protector of MegaCity New York, armed with his collection of (UAC) hardware, gadgets, and pro-military idealism.

Other corporations just create their own mascots and comic lines from the ground up. They range from the inane to the over the top, and can reach out to any demographic from children, to teens, to adults. The writing and conceptual teams behind these characters likewise run the gamut from hacks to world class writers, creating from some trivial characters award winning stories, and in other cases absolute piles of radioactive filth.

Villains are likewise sourced, either requested by government powers to represent uncool ideas or subversive agendas, or as metaphors for actual rivals of the corporation in question. This can range from the absurd: such as Grand Dragon, the flying cyborg commando rapist racist (If you imagined a KKK klansman wearing jet boots you are a winner) to the surprisingly introspective: Comrade Che, an Apple advert quality hipster clone of Che Geuvara spreads dissent, neon-hepatitus, and promotes unsafe date servers and streams.

We aren't even going to get into the horror and fetish filled realm of the adult comics, I can't go there, I'm emotionally and spiritually not strong enough for that.

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Biogenic Armor Suits

The Chinese have a knack for thinking of some seriously messed up stuff, and with enough disgruntled Nipponese and Korean technochops behind it, they have a messed record of making it happen. The problem with most armor and mecha suits is that they are machines and require lots of repair, rearming and maintenance. This is a total pain in the rear when operating in humid jungles and other not so machine friendly locals. So, the idea was grow biological monsters instead. Replace chitin and bone with ferroceramics and carbon fiber, and grow the meat around,under and through it.

The end result is a spider the size of an SUV. Armed with claws, fangs, and a few other bio-organic goodies. Extra points for anyone who thought of the Zerg or the Tyrannids, because yeah, that's where this is going. But these aren't alive, per se. Life doesn't start until the intensively trained and sedated operator is placed inside of the bio-organic machine. Then, the three ton robo-meat spider comes to life. The resultant creature looks like an animal to machine sensors, and instead of using batteries or reactors, it eats things to keep going. Things like livestock, enemy soldiers, wild animals, and civilians.

Yes, to the very last they all go mad.

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This was a quick and dirty shot from the hip submission. The quote from the top of the page, from the Land of the Dead is what fired it off. In the end a sob story is a sob story. As for being a robot, that is the Manchurian Candidate, programmed to do a certain task, and then all the programming is buried under layers of conditioning until the candidate has no idea that they are a hidden weapon, an organic machine. Not really a robot, actually,just thought programmed like one. Go to Comment

Random thought, I think I can use this submission to start bringing in some NOD stuff that has been sitting in the Thoughtpot for a while. Go to Comment

The Sons of Scorpions are largely based off of the Dreadnoks from GI Joe, but expanded out to be a bunch of mutants, cyborgs and other types that should seriously be able to give regular police and national guard types something to be afraid of.

I'm loving how well it's growing Go to Comment

A fixer is a professional guy who knows a guy. They come from the Shadowrun game system. A fixer is a professional go between for criminals who do the dirty work, the proverbial shadow runners, and the people who want to hire them. This creates plausible deniability, keeping legitimate employers from getting in trouble for hiring thieves and criminals to undermine their rivals. They also do criminal underground legwork, they find jobs, and help supply black market goods for PCs. The fixer can also on occasion sell hot goods or find buyers for stuff PCs have taken. Your fixer is something like a manager, promoter, and advisor all rolled into one. This being said, all fixers are different, and can range from government agents working undercover, illuminati agents, etc etc etc Go to Comment

Only voted Go to Comment

He should have been called Oporr the Mad or perhaps some derogatory term or sobriquet like The Kin Slayer, or something like that. I like the idea, and rarely are dwarves described as fecund and having many children. I like. Go to Comment

I thought about that, actually. The virtual level of engagement, abstract virtual engagement. It is certainly a level in the Cosmic Era, and I guess that it would be on a lower level than man to man since its virtual representations battling. But on the other hand there are some very real levels where things as big as mecha can be hacked Go to Comment

Update: Added Computer to Computer Go to Comment

You are correct, the only wetware fast enough to handle actual cyber combat are going to be cyborgs, or humans who are actually plugged into the network ala Matrix style, and certainly not sitting at a computer terminal and keyboard. Go to Comment

I think it would be interesting for Dwarven heraldry to be just as 'colorful' as human and elfin heraldry, but in a totally different way. Dwarves traditionally 'see' fine in the dark and are also typically granted infravision or some other low level sight. Well, rather than using pigments and dyes for their shields and devices, what if they used different metals, alloys or stone inlays? To something that lives underground and would have a greater visual depth for stone and metals this would be obvious to them. A human or elf looking at dwarven work would likely miss a great deal of it as their experience with the material is limited, and in the case of humans, are simply not able to see on that wavelength.

Thus, a steel shield might have several iron inlays. To us, its a piece of metal on a shield,big deal. To a dwarf, the difference between iron and steel,even at hundreds of feet could be the difference between Black and White. This could be more pronounced when stone inlays are used, a diagonal strip of granite on a steel background will look completely different from that same strip of granite on iron, or jasper on steel. Go to Comment

Excellent idea, and sure to spring board out other Seven Wonders of the X World Go to Comment

This is one of those things that would end up as a sidebar or foot note in the vehicles and equipment section of the Cosmic Era game book. Go to Comment

Update: Started as an image of the Wading Pool area, a shallow pool mixed with a techno rave club. This place would NEVER exist in a million years. I can imagine the insurance rates for a heavy alcohol use pool would be astronomical, plus an unending litany of litigation against sexual harassment, pool related injuries, slip and falls, etc would put such a place out of business in approximately 18 minutes. I still like the imagry, and in a underground or screw it anyway setting, this could be fun. It additionally presented the challenge of disarming the PCs and their adversaries. No guns, no concealments, no trenchcoats, no heavy weapons. It's what is waterproof and what can you carry in a bathing suit.

CULT OF DONE Go to Comment

I like how the five room dungeon plan can be used to break up a setting into usable segments. Go to Comment

Update: I made several attempts to rewrite the Baroness from GI Joe. This was one of the better, but abandoned attempts that I reached a point that I wasn't pleased with what I had written. Where is she going? Vamp activist turned terrorist? I'm having a hard time with it. So, there is something here, not what I wanted, but something.

CULT OF DONE Go to Comment