I Really Need to Make the Cosmic Era it's Own Forum Section

[Scrasamax]

I'm going to Ramble

Azure Beetles

There is some connection between the beetles and arcanotech gear. Where the machines are that piece dimensions, the beetles soon appear. They are nominally harmless, but certain conditions can cause them to become agitated where they will swarm and bite. The bite is poisonous and causes severe flu like symptoms and has a very fast onset time. The beetles are opportunistic carrion eaters, and are carriers of conventional diseases, sometimes even diseases that are not insect transmissable.

AISC Politicians

After fighting for legal rights, sentient computers go after politican positions. Presenting the President of the Atlantic Federation, A.A. (ArchAndroid) Hal 9000. The more power and rights delegated to the machines, the more they will take them.

Theme Ideas:

Doomed Love
Pharmacology
Futility
Insane Machines
Unholy Creatures
Dismemberment
Infection
Horrific Body Modification

Genetically engineered plants, animals and 'Plantimals' that exist to synthesize compounds in their bodies. Immobile, requiring regular attention, either being milked, drained, or harvested of pods, lymph nodes, etc for the desired compound. Thoughts: insects that secret hormone pods, plants that produce blood cell reservoirs, etc.

Legend of the Demon Fighters

the resurgent of parapsychic powers isn't just a random incident. The powers have returned to humanity as have enemies of man and earth have. Mislabeled demons and devils, these beings are manifestations of the River of Sorrows, sentient avatars of human suffering and emotional trauma. After the horror of the Resource Wars and the Second Dark Age, they have grown swollen and fat, strong enough to start tearing through the borders between this world and theirs. Places where large disruptions occur become 'Storm Zones' and are affected in very negative ways. Something along the lines of the Chaos Space Marines, zombie outbreak, strange mutations and radiations and unholy possessions are pretty spot on. Toss in a few cosmic horrors for extra color and zest.

The are humans who have been called to fight and kill them. Some use parapsychic abilities, some use heavy gear and weaponry, and others use occult magic, sorcery. These are the demon fighters.

[Scrasamax]

Equilibrium (gun katas)
Ultraviolet (I love Milla)
Aeon Flux, movie and TV shorts (weirdness of arcanotech)
Constantine (metaphysics and the River of Sorrows)
The Devil's Rejects (cultists)
Doom (The Mars colonies, UAC)
The Fog (this is what a blight/storm breech looks like)
The Covenant (a group of teens become parapsychics)
Silent Hill (very bad dimensional breech)
The Golden Compass/His Dark Materials (examination of the multiple part non-corporeal soul and multiple dimensional self expression)
The Last Mimzy (arcanotech rocks)
Teeth
Babylon A.D. (general look and feel)
Max Payne (the disconnect between the dirty outside world and the shiny clean world inside Aesir, also good foundation for megacorp)
Repo! The Genetic Opera (organs for sale, better make the payments)
Speed Racer (a-pod racing with wheels)
Street Kings
The Men Who Stare at Goats (wat)
Surrogates (remote control androids)
The Cell (CogNet nightmares)
The 6th Day (replicants)
Vanilla Sky (CogNet, cyrostasis)
Deathwatch (River of Sorrows, nightmare fuel)
Minority Report (retina scanning based adverts)
Super Size Me (McFood Horror)
The Crow (just and only the first one)
Flatliners (playing with fire)
Robot Jox (how to not do stompy robots)
Total Recall (1990) life on mars, mind manipulation, third breast
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man
Cool World (more CogNet inspiration)
Fortress (creative triple max slam)
Freejack (time travel and body stealing)
The Lawnmower Man (S3 systems, brain rape)
Demolition Man (what are the three shells???)
12 Monkeys
Empire Records (good movie, Liv Tyler underwear, who remembers record stores?)
Hackers (because Fisher Stevens on a skateboard)
In the Mouth of Madness
Johnny Mnemonic (artificial brains, brain couriers, neo-dolphins)
Judge Dredd (eat recycled food, its good for the enviroment and ok for you)
Screamers (dont make smart breeding robots)
Strange Days (brain recordings)
Tank Girl (the third world of the Cosmic Era)
Virtuosity (need to rewatch this one)
Barb Wire (anarch free city, etc)
Chain Reaction (conspiracies against hypertech)
Eraser (arnold and rail guns, thats all I remember)
Multiplicity (cloning blues)
Event Horizon (best example of why arcanotech is bad)
Starship Troopers (best example of the Atlantic Federation)
Dark City (our true masters)
Arlington Road (this one is disturbing)
Fight Club
The Matrix (parapsychic martial arts, CogNet, Viral Intelligence)
The Abyss (seacologies, minisubs)
Leviathan (more sea horror)
AKIRA (Tetsuo!!!)
Robocop (OCP, Delta City)
Top Gun
2001, and obviously 2010
Firestarter (parapsychics)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (the ruined parts of the world)
The Terminator (psychotic anti-seibertronian schlock)
WarGames, Manhatten Project, Real Genius (playing with hypertech)
Blue Thunder
Scarface (life in the shadows of 2nd world arcos)
Videodrome (death to videodrome, long live the new flesh)
Bladerunner
Firefox (cool plane)
The Secret of Nimh
The Thing (cosmic horror s**t right there)
TRON
Heavy Metal (Loc-Nar = arcanotech hell egg)
Scanners
Iron Eagle
The Road Warrior (you know, Mad Max I)
Rambo (now the mold for the average soldier)
Short Circuit (more Fisher Stevens, now suddenly Hindu)

[Scrasamax]

Sample Character Information

Arcanotechnician (CT)
Technomancer (SR4)

The arcanotechnician is the mad scientist with emphasis on madness.
Specialties: Clone tech, cyberneticist, genetic engineering, CogNet tech, dimensional science tech, robotics tech

Engel Pilot (CT)

Not all of the giant stompy things are robots, some are cosmic horrors wrapped in armor and carrying weapons. The Engel pilot forms a biological symbiosis with the beast and functions as it's pilot. (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Intelligence Agent (CT)
Face (SR4)

A federal man, the Cosmic Era counterpart to the FBI, CIA, MOSSAD, MI6, and all of the other men in black suits with guns operations. It's not what he knows, it's who he knows (X-Files) The Face is the shadowy counterpart to the Agent. (Lone Gunmen, A-Team)

Mecha Pilot (CT)

A mix of technology (giant stompy robots) and archaic chivalry (knighted warriors) the Mech pilot is the heroic fighting soldier of the Cosmic Era. Mech pilot aces are local heroes in their home states and often commonly known as prominent public officials. (Mechwarrior)

Occult Scholar (CT)

A student of arcane theory, delving into the mysteries of parapsychic lore, storm blights, mutations, and the otherwise strange and horrible. (Ghost Hunters, Supernatural, X-Files again)

Soldier (CT)
Weapon Specialist (SR4)

The infantry and power armor troopers, the poor bloody infantry. Well versed with a variety of skills, and in the militarized Cosmic Era, public heroes. (Starship Troopers, standard military trope)

Super-Soldier (CE)
Covert Ops Specialist (SR4)
Street Samurai (SR4)

Genetically born and bred monsters, arcanotech infused commandos, genetic boosted monsters, strange radiation victims, cyborgs, etc. (Incredible Hulk, Final Fantasy 7, Captain America)

Parapsychic (CT/CE)
Combat Mage (SR4)
Street Shaman (SR4)

Mind over matter, firestarters, mind controlling yuris, the standard parapsychic/psionic (Firestarter, Red Alert 2,Yuri, 'the force')

Parapsychic Martial Artist (CE)

Mortal Kombat, Street Figher franchises

Bounty Hunter (SR4)
Enforcer (SR4)
Smuggler (SR4)
Sprawl Gang Member (SR4)

We don't need their scum. Specialized tracker/fighter, often augmented with toys, and biomods

Rigger (SR4)

A CogNet specialist who deals exclusively with drones, surrogates, and remote technology. Can 'occupy' a machine with their own electronic will.

Gunslinger Adept (SR4)

A bullet artist. A soldier can hit a target with a bullet, an adept can miss the target to hit something behind it. (Equilibrium, Wanted)

Hacker (SR4)

A CogNet adept, works online. Specialties: cyber dueling (Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, any other power up series) Cyberwarfare, AI, programming, etc (Lawnmower Man, TRON)

Radical Eco-Shaman (SR4)

oddball. urban primitive, parapsychic. Creche dweller, biosphere restoration, etc.

[Morte]

I shudder to think of the movie Teeth and the fact that you ACTUALLY added it to the list of movie inspirations. I would think that a psychotic (or not so much) Ko Girl would, um, apply?

Another movie perhaps to add is iRobot (3 Laws, little whatchamacallit that projects hologram). Of course, this is probably moot considering the other movies you have added to the list. I'm astounded you didn't add BladeRunner, but again could fall under the same moot points as iRobot. One other movie concept that comes to mind that would be certifiably delicious to add to the Cosmic Era is Toy Soldiers, the 1991 plot about little robot men. Of course, in the Cosmic Era, they would actually be toys for wealthy (or maybe not so) children.

[Dozus]

Another movie perhaps to add is iRobot (3 Laws, little whatchamacallit that projects hologram). Of course, this is probably moot considering the other movies you have added to the list. I'm astounded you didn't add BladeRunner, but again could fall under the same moot points as iRobot. One other movie concept that comes to mind that would be certifiably delicious to add to the Cosmic Era is Toy Soldiers, the 1991 plot about little robot men. Of course, in the Cosmic Era, they would actually be toys for wealthy (or maybe not so) children.

I hate to be "that guy," but the Ghost of Isaac Asimov haunts me so. The film - and the book it is based very, very loosely on - is entitled "I, Robot". The film did have that slightly obnoxious Apple-inspired font, so the mistaking is certainly understandable.

I was also going to add movies that might inspire, but every time I thought I'd come up with one, I see you've already listed it. Quite thorough and diverse. I do back Morte's reference of both Blade Runner and Toy Soldiers.

In regards to books, I think I mentioned in one of your subs regarding Arcanotech that it does read as sublimely Lovecraftian, with its knowledge leading to madness. I might also recommend John C. Wright's Count to a Trillion. Less than halfway through the book jumps forward about a millennium, but references the in-between as post-petrol with the fall of the nation-state, the many attempts at genetic supersoldiers, the early developments of post-human AI, human augmentation, the arcologies of the Hispanosphere, as well as an innovative method of travel via inter mantel bullet trains, et cetera, et cetera. Highly recommended.

[Scrasamax]

Blade Runner is on the list, lol. I forgot about Toy Soldiers, that is a good one. I didn't add I, Robot because I haven't seen it. I read the Aasimov books and had no interest in watching any movies made from the books.

Teeth made it to the list because of the disturbing factor

[Morte]

Blade Runner is on the list, lol. I forgot about Toy Soldiers, that is a good one. I didn't add I, Robot because I haven't seen it. I read the Aasimov books and had no interest in watching any movies made from the books.

Teeth made it to the list because of the disturbing factor

iRobot is passe, okay for someone who hasn't read the books such as I have but even a science fiction nut such as myself found it okay. I'll try to think of any others that might have slipped my mind.

And I still like the idea of a psychotic Ko Girl using the same, um, ability as that of the woman in Teeth.

[Scrasamax]

I actually enjoyed Teeth as a cinematic experience, it was IMHO a well made low budget indie movie, plus the female lead has some very nice boobs. It had some truly disturbing moments, as well as some hilarious/horror funny moments (such as the entire scene with the OB/GYN). That being said, I was put off any sort of romance with the wife for about a week afterwards.

Aasimov was a good writer, but I loathed his 3 Laws of Robotics. They were fantastic for creating conflict by contradicting each other and creating horrible paradoxes in logic and good stories. The fact that modern roboticists (or whatever robot boffins are called) use the 3 Laws as guidelines, well I find that frakking horrifying 

[Scrasamax]

10 Most Influential Movies for the Cosmic Era

Aeon Flux (movie and series)
Babylon A.D.
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Total Recall
Demolition Man
Johnny Mnemonic
The Matrix
Judge Dredd
Strange Days
Dark City

[Morte]

I actually enjoyed Teeth as a cinematic experience, it was IMHO a well made low budget indie movie, plus the female lead has some very nice boobs. It had some truly disturbing moments, as well as some hilarious/horror funny moments (such as the entire scene with the OB/GYN). That being said, I was put off any sort of romance with the wife for about a week afterwards.

Aasimov was a good writer, but I loathed his 3 Laws of Robotics. They were fantastic for creating conflict by contradicting each other and creating horrible paradoxes in logic and good stories. The fact that modern roboticists (or whatever robot boffins are called) use the 3 Laws as guidelines, well I find that frakking horrifying

Yeah, but try watching Teeth with your dad, who just so happens to be a major pervert. He loved to pause, rewind, and reply in slow-mo and preferably on zoom with the whole boobs and what not.  Totally ruined the experience for me.

And perhaps they use them as the fact that robotics have not got nowhere near as advanced yet to worry?

[Scrasamax]

I actually enjoyed Teeth as a cinematic experience, it was IMHO a well made low budget indie movie, plus the female lead has some very nice boobs. It had some truly disturbing moments, as well as some hilarious/horror funny moments (such as the entire scene with the OB/GYN). That being said, I was put off any sort of romance with the wife for about a week afterwards.

Aasimov was a good writer, but I loathed his 3 Laws of Robotics. They were fantastic for creating conflict by contradicting each other and creating horrible paradoxes in logic and good stories. The fact that modern roboticists (or whatever robot boffins are called) use the 3 Laws as guidelines, well I find that frakking horrifying

Yeah, but try watching Teeth with your dad, who just so happens to be a major pervert. He loved to pause, rewind, and reply in slow-mo and preferably on zoom with the whole boobs and what not.  Totally ruined the experience for me.

And perhaps they use them as the fact that robotics have not got nowhere near as advanced yet to worry?

My condolences. I live 612 miles away from my nearest biological relative

As for the robotics guys, they are newrds (Nadia G reference, either you get it or you dont)

[Morte]

I just thought of another movie reference!
Please don't castrate me for this but...Battlefield Earth.
There, I said it. Don't get the flensing knives just yet and let me explain. The whole ruined cities part?

[Dozus]

No, I get Battlefield Earth. While it's a terrible, terrible movie for one to spend $15 bucks of one's grocery bagger salary on (it could happen to you, too!), it does have some very vivid imagery. The Psychlos (ugh) aren't human, but their human experimentation, hedonism, and violence could bespeak of a post-apocalyptic society. I'm imagining their little nose tube things as the mark of a drug addict in the Cosmic Era.

[Scrasamax]

No, I get Battlefield Earth. While it's a terrible, terrible movie for one to spend $15 bucks of one's grocery bagger salary on (it could happen to you, too!), it does have some very vivid imagery. The Psychlos (ugh) aren't human, but their human experimentation, hedonism, and violence could bespeak of a post-apocalyptic society. I'm imagining their little nose tube things as the mark of a drug addict in the Cosmic Era.

I am ashamed to admit that I spent $5 to buy a previously viewed copy of the movie but the ruined cities imagery is good. I also really like the notion of a vapor based drug inhaled through a nose tube.

[Morte]

No, I get Battlefield Earth. While it's a terrible, terrible movie for one to spend $15 bucks of one's grocery bagger salary on (it could happen to you, too!), it does have some very vivid imagery. The Psychlos (ugh) aren't human, but their human experimentation, hedonism, and violence could bespeak of a post-apocalyptic society. I'm imagining their little nose tube things as the mark of a drug addict in the Cosmic Era.

I am ashamed to admit that I spent $5 to buy a previously viewed copy of the movie but the ruined cities imagery is good. I also really like the notion of a vapor based drug inhaled through a nose tube.

They have a similar drug in Minority Report, except it is inhaled through the mouth rather than the nose.

Dredd, the remake of Judge Dredd, is also an EXCELLENT example of many of the concepts of the Cosmic Era. I know you have Judge Dredd on there, but I think Dredd with Karl Urban as the protagonist is WAY better than the original movie. They have a drug in the movie called Slow-Mo and buildings like arcologies.

[Scrasamax]

Between parapsychics, arcanotech, and genetic augmentation, some of the low and middle level comic book characters can be created in the Cosmic Era.

Iron Man - almost passe now, since armor suits are mainstream military hardware. Stark would sit at the head of a MegaCorp and his personal armor suit would be geeked out with the most advanced tech the corp could wedge into it.

Batman - also almost passe, an encounter suit and a belt of gadgets, and a few enhancements (augmented strength, agility, reflexes, combat training programs loaded into a chip jack and Batman, hell, Batman Corps are possible.

Etc.

But there are some comic characters I would like to do some work with, maybe collab on, or inspire others to do it.

Punisher
Deadpool
Captain America
The Hulk
Thor
Loki
Black Widow
Hawk Eye/Green Arrow/Captain Archer Man with a Bow and Arrow
Nick Fury
Wonder Woman
assorted characters from X-Men
assorted characters from TMNT

[Scrasamax]

I need slaves to farm out some of the more tedious writing

[Scrasamax]

To Do:

Foot Clan
Mix of Nipponism and cybernetics. Shredder is a low level robotics factory owner, and his Foot Soldiers are predominantly low end unarmed fighting robots, SakiTech could be a local supplier of work bots and bot replacement parts. Nipponism is used to recruit humans into the organization, where they are exposed to stolen genetic modifications, cyberware implants, etc. Shredder has a middle to high end custom light battle suit/unsealed. Based out of New Nuyork Arcoplex.

Couple of Mechs:

Hunchback upgraded to a badass Vulcan cannon carrying monster.

Enforcer used as European main mech, laser and heavy gatling gun

Centurion used as African theatre main mech, big bore gun boom boom

Generic Template Main mech, avg speed, 50-55 tons, good armor, AC/10 or PPC, or 2 Large lasers (Centurion, Enfield, Enforcer, Bushwacker, Griffin, etc)

Generic Template Light mech, good speed 20-25 tons, light armor, light weaponry (Wasp, Stinger, Thorn, Mercury, etc)

Valkyrie joint effort mech for Scandinavia and Federation, multiple variants

Mech systems breakdown

Avengers Stuff:

Captain America - injectable supersoldier
Hulk - irradiated brute supersoldier (scaled down compared to comics Hulk, maybe 3X strength, durability.Can smash power armor, but not throwing tanks
Ironman - power armor elite commando
Hawkeye - gun adept modified to using archery, plus SmartGun system altered for bow
Black Widow - Elite ops, high training and subtle biomods

Tesseract - arcanotech (not adding it to the Cosmic Era, but it is a fantastic example of arcanotech)

Comic Books Stuff

Lobo, Deadpool, Punisher, other ultraviolent borderline incoherent stuff. The Cosmic Era needs its over the top distraction.

[Scrasamax]

Some days I feel like no one is reading this stuff but me.

But the idea last night was the use of astromechs, like R2D2, in battlemechs. I shot my buddy, an avid Star Wars guy a text about it and he didn't like the idea. I thought about it, and really, the only thing the astromech did was provide something for the pilot to talk to in the movies, and to do random minor things. (especially if you count out R2 from the second trilogy)

I was seeing the rollerbots being used as plug and play special equipment, like a communications dummy, a standard back up pilot/gunner dummy or in the area of black ops, a secure data system, ie the mission specs have been programmed into the bots that are being plugged into your mechs as we speak.

[Scrasamax]

There are corporations
There are the MegaCorporations
And then there are the CorporateNations.

Some megacorps become so large and powerful they are able to establish national sovereignty for themselves through economic means. The majority of megacorps are multinationals that are based out of small nations far tax purposes and have no sovereign status. Some corps are able to basically buy a big enough piece of land that they make themselves into nations, typically industrial nations. These sovereign states typically exist inside another nation or state, much like the native american nations that exist within the US. They have their own borders, passports and are recognized internationally but use US currency and other standards. Union Aerospace in the Atlantic Federation is a CorpNation, as it basically purchase/plundered most of New Jersey and owns the infrastructure and most of the controlling interests of the local economy. Residents can be citizens of the Atlantic Federation (requiring military service, or other federal level service) or citizens of UAC (requiring only working for UAC or one of its subsidiaries).

Corporate Sponsorship for paramilitary organizations

Rebels and terrorists who fight against the enemy of a megacorp can in some cases be supported or compensated by said megacorp. This is much more common in the Pacific region. Nippon's Red Sun Bank regularly supports mainland asia rebels who fight against the Chinese and pro ACPS megacorps. The Aegis Group routinely provides funding to Amerikka Command, as the constant warfare in the middle of North America is profitable to the ChicagoLand based commodities and tech corp.

Slave Wages

Some industrial megacorps and industrial arcologies use a limited form of human slavery to keep the cost of labor down. Wage Slaves don't earn a paycheck, but rather work to support their monthly room and board provided by the corp.

There needs to be something else, since the Tycho Conventions on Human Labor require that humans be provided jobs if they want them over robots and androids.

Corporate Navies

Cargo shipping companies, and cruise lines, and other ship operating companies often fund their own wet navies to protect their ships at sea. These fleets and national/federal fleets work sometimes together, sometimes against each other. Images and thoughts: The Disney Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleets, Princess Cruise Lines submarine fleet protects cruise liners without mucking up the oceanic scenery, and Maersk container ships are escorted by Maersk merchant marine destroyers and light aircraft carriers

I am starting to get a different vibe out of the interaction of corporations and states. It is making me think of the balance of power between the European monarchs and the nobility. Strong Nations are going to have weak megacorps and weak nations are going to have strong megacorps. There will be a constant power struggle between the two factions, as the Government will want/expect to have the final say but the corps will likewise expect the same.

Corps can field para and regular military forces, which can assist federal forces as the case requires. These forces are 'allies' and are not paid like mercenaries, and aren't on the gov't payroll at all. But too much reliance on 'vassal corps' weakens the military of the Gov't and gives the corps the ability to control legislation through the withholding of military support or even aid as the case may be. If Superstorm Sandy had occurred in the Cosmic Era, UAC with it's corp ownership of New Jersey would have had repair crews working the day the storm cleared out and the BOD would have it funded very quickly. The Commonwealth of New England/Atlantic Commonwealth would have struggled with the disaster like every government does, and there would have been politics and infighting over funding, like there was and it would be a slow and arduous process of repair and restoration, like it has been.

UAC could have provided disaster relief to the afflicted areas, in exchange for future concessions from the Commonwealth, or it could have done it anyway just to make itself look really good. Billboard, this community rebuilt courtesy of UAC, carry on citizens!

This would make the Commonwealth gov't look like a bunch of weak pansies who couldn't get their crap in order