The Eternal Dawn

The Eternal Dawn
System Info
World Name: Rebirth Map ID: White 25 Surface Gravity: 11.3 m/s2 Climate: Tropical Atmosphere: Nitrogen/Hydrogen/Methane/Carbon Monoxide, 81 kPa
Population:  30.4 million Population Breakdown: 100% augmented Capital: Theoconception Type of Power: Independent Enclave
Infrastructure
Domestic Support: 100% Wealth: 230 + 300 Industry: 460 Domestic + 120 Fabricator He3: 600 Deliveries - 300 Terraforming Strategic Resources: 100 Delta Dust 54 Condensates 36 Hyperglions 36 Computronium 40 Monopoles Military:

History

The Adharan Schism created two blocs-one moderate, allying with the secular government and then with PACT, and one extremist, which hijacked the long-range exploration ship The New Dawn and left, with its fabricators and rapid-growth systems, ready and waiting to return one day. But they would need to take a few stops along the way, to bolster their strength, to create their armies, and to advance their technology. The slowship took five years, with a then-current database of colonies.

Although a few of the exiles wished to keep going into the Rim, the majority of them were set on finding a stopover point on the edge of unexplored space, a point where they might eventually turn into the first step of their vengeance. Searching for a backwater colony which they could exploit, they chose the colony of Gimlet, and landed their vessel on the far side of their moon, deploying its fabricators. Enhanced exowombs, mind-imprint units, and fabricators produced ready-made soldiers by the batch, waiting for the invasion time.

Gimlet and the Invasion

The colony of Gimlet had been created from a "failed" Longshot, a colony eking out a small safe zone in the middle of a hell-forest, where the predators and biotoxins were no less dangerous than the environments of many hell worlds. In fact, many would have said more dangerous, since radiation is predictable, but a tiger-sized octopod with serrated poison blades, 360 degree multispectral vision, and multiple redundant organs isn't, not in attacking, in territory, or in even dying when shot repeatedly. Even with advanced technology, battlesuits, and armored vehicles casualties were not unexpected as they tried clearing the brush. On the other hand, it created a very hardened group of colonists.

It was rather insufficient when the attacking force screamed through their meager ground-to-orbit defenses, depositing flash-cloned soldiers trained by accelerated VR and mind-imprint, as well as hardened veterans of the Adharan Schism onto major population centers. Despite that, the Gimlet colonists, used to a hard life and a bloody conflict, fought back quite well, but they were outmatched, technologically as well as training-wise. The survivors were forcibly assimilated, enhanced and loyalty-boosted to serve under their new overlords. However, the invaders were not precisely cruel-those who were loyalty-boosted were allowed to become fully serving citizens in the new world order, the Undying Dawn.

The then-Adharans found themselves in control of a world that fitted their ideological preferences-a world where to be king, every man had to be grossly superhuman. The predators there were fast, tough, cunning, often worked in packs, and devastating. The atmosphere was poison, the water tainted. It lacked an ozone layer. It might have been more beautiful than Adhara, but the planet still had plenty of teeth.

And that was exactly how the invaders liked it. A planet that would challenge them, test their bodies to the limit, force them to build better ones.

The Undying Dawn

The sect chose a new name instead of "Singularitan", a name that would hopefully reflect their devotion to the path of continual cybernetic enhancement. Their inspiration came from the vessel that was supposed to be Adhara's first outward light, its salvation during the Breakdown. They would have their salvation-one day.

The Undying Dawn was born on the planet, which they rapidly renamed Rebirth. The Dawnies ventured out into the forests, sometimes to hunt, other times to be hunted. They built and expanded, landing the New Dawn on the planet, allowing the vessel to grow into its new capital city.

Rebirth

The fauna on Rebirth is unlikely to be naturally occurring-many of its adaptations are exceedingly complex, and most of the animals lack legacy code that would imply natural evolution. Even though the higher radiation levels from the blue sun and the lack of an ozone layer and weaker magnetic field make the radiation levels higher and evolution quicker, it's doubtful that something as hostile like this could be natural. It might have been precursors, or an unknown xenosophont, or something altogether more obscure, but few believe it could have been natural.

History Paths

A1) Initial Colonization

Longshot Colony (+100 Fabers): The New Dawn was essentially a militarized longshot vessel and during its long flight was further militarized by its own fabricators.

A2) Initial Population

Dominantly Transgene (++Transgene): They were Adharans after all, with many of the same genetic boosts.

A3) Destination

Hell World: Rebirth is the worst kind of hell world-one that looks habitable at first glance and then you realize just how horrible it is.

Adapt (Radical Morphological Change): On the other hand, The Eternal Dawn love horrible.

B1) History of the Colony (Volume 1)

Military Action (+2,500 Military): The inhabitants of the New Dawn prepared their invasion in secret, using fabricators and brain-imprints to create a newly minted army.

Training Grounds (+Doctrine): A newly minted army of badasses!

C1) History of the Colony (Volume 2)

Transgene Migration Invasion (+Transgene, +60 Population): Oh my god Adharans in the trees Adharans in the trees

D1) Breakdown

I'm a Magnate (+Morale): Technically all of the above happened during the breakdown but let's leave that out for a bit. When they found out who their neighbors were, they finally found people with similar ideals. Sure some of them were a bit secular, but agreement was easy.

Perfected Society (+60 Pop, +100 CIP, +doctrines, +transgene): Free from the constraints of the secularists and moderates, the "Dawnies" as the Sphere would soon know them started stealing xenobiology and implementing it in their own citizens.

M1) Socio-Economic

Exhumanize! (++Transgene, +++Supersoldiers): This xenobiology had some serious teeth.

M2) Socio-Military

Series VII Replicants (++ Ground Tech, ++Ground doctrines, +supersoldiers): The Adharan contribution to the war was primarily the Series VII Combat Morph, a grossly superhuman fusion of xenobiology, cybernetic skeleton, and superhuman brain, trained by brain-induction and flash-cloned. Although the early variants had some troubles with lateral thinking and could be easily entrapped or ambushed, the later ones did not, as many League and ZOCU fighters found out to their dismay.

L1) Government

Future Government (++Morale, +Transgene): The Loyalty Chip is a beautiful invention-everyone knows the laws, knows they support the government, and knows their role in the order that god wills. Free will is an illusion, after all. Why not take your blinders away and show you the truth?

X) Development Hell (+2 Global Techlevel, -Tech): You know that little "Building God" project? Yeah, it's currently scheduled to be released in a twin-pack with Duke Nukem Forever. On the other hand, some of that interim research is pretty nice.

Magnate: +Ground Tech, +Aerospace Tech, +5 Shipbuilding, +Cruiser Construction, +Armor Tech, +Railgun Tech

Path Bonuses

(Does not include base tech)
+100 Fabers, +++++++Transgene, ++++Supersoldiers, +2 Global Techlevel, ++Ground Tech, +++Morale, ++Ground Doctrines, ++Doctrines, +100 CIP, +120 Pop, +2500 Military, -Tech, Radical Morphological Change

-Tech used to remove +Aerospace Tech (planning to buy +Mecha Tech with SP)

Technical Advancement

General Tech Level: 18

Railguns +4 (22)

Materials +4 (22)

Transgenics +32 (50)

Ground +7 (25)

Xenotech +14 (32)

Sociology

The Behavior Editation Chip

Early Adharan developments in neural enhancement led to an interesting question of interfacing machinery with living tissue-the machinery was intercepting signals from the brain, interpreting them, and sending signals back to the brain. Adhara originally used those for Cognitive Augs, replacing components of the skull (generally under the eye around the cheek) with cognitive enhancement, but without the constraints of the moderates being a voice for reason, nor the growing secularist influence, the Eternal Dawn took this advancement to a conclusion that had been long-suppressed by religious and ethical boards.

The first human behavior modification processor was developed in the 2140s during the early stages of the Breakdown as the New Dawn traveled from world to world-the vessel had been mostly empty when it had been captured, without most of the supplies for a journey of unknown duration loaded-instead the early members of the Eternal Dawn converted empty storage rooms to labs for their research. They had only willing volunteers at that point, but this would soon change.

The Dawn's invasion of Gimlet created a golden opportunity to test these computers out. Of the implantees, approximately 20% committed suicide and another 5% were driven insane due to system errors. The rest were assimilated although it was found that the time it takes for the implant to be adjusted to the user's neural structure made it impractical for any but the most long-term plans, especially given hypno-conditioning, neural firewalls, or other installed methods of resisting advanced interrogation which were depressingly common.

What it Is

Although called a "chip" the Behavior Modification Chip is nothing of the sort, as it is a full-sized neural enhancement which interfaces with most of the user's brain, and has significantly higher complexity than most due to just what it needs to read and edit.

What it Does

The Behavior Modification Chip is a particularly insidious system that processes sensory data, then passes it on in a highly edited format. In its basic form, it functions as an augmented reality system much like Adharan aug inserts-data is always at hand, blank walls and environmental features can be decorated, and one can live in whatever society you wish for. It has a few subtler features of course.

The Chip also interfaces with centers which regulate emotion, creating a positive or negative feedback mechanism for rewarding or punishing actions, as well as some low-level behavioral modification. The Chip can create an intense sense of apathy, or perhaps a rush of need to do something rather than stand still. It might not be able to control thought but it can alter it. The subject can be made to suffer from one of many mental disorders, or effects similar to psychoactive drugs. In general it is used to keep the members of the Dawn loyal and content. For them, the world they live in is truly a utopia, where even the walls are things of heart-rending beauty and the worst doggerel is more euphonious than the most beautiful singing anywhere else.

Hypocrisy

Eschatonic Doctrine, which the Eternal Dawn follow, hold that choice is the most important component of life, and that removing the ability to choose is abhorrent. The Modification Chip is anathema to everything the original religion stood for-but the Eternal Dawn are also Eschatonics and hold themselves to be the true believers.

However, the Eternal Dawn are also predeterminists, believing that all meaningful choice is made long before you are born, and the chip is merely guidance to the path that god wishes you to pursue. There are those who seek to run from this path, but the Eternal Dawn know and wish to guide the lost sheep back to the fold. The chip is not control, but guidance, a soft hand on the shoulder that leads you away from sin and apostasy and towards meaning, fulfillment, and rebirth. And if you could choose a preview of utopia ahead of time, who would not do so?

This interpretation is, of course, almost universally reviled among other Eschatonics. Only Eternal Dawn philosophers hold to this philosophy, every other Eschatonic sect unanimously condemning them due to their disrespect of free will in the name of militarism and vengeance.

The Freethinkers

There are a few members of the Dawn who have their Chip behavioral and sensory modification excised-they see the world as it truly is, sacrificing their happiness so they may more effectively protect that of the Dawn. They are soldiers, statesmen, diplomats, those who must understand how diseased and broken the Sphere is, so they may better end the current system and replace it with something anew.

Freethinkers are highly respected members of society, as they are the ones who are willing to give away their taste of immortality in exchange for the opportunity to protect the Eternal Dawn's citizenry against the League, ZOCU, and the heretics of Adhara, often preemptively.

Biology and Biotech

The Eternal Dawn does a healthy black-market trade in biotech, as Dawn-built machinery is often absolute bleeding-edge in this category if nowhere else.

Series VII Combat Replica

The Series VII is, no better than anything else, the 'face' of the Magnate war, battle-armored League or ZOCU troopers fighting brutal urban combat against an enemy which does not think, does not feel, does not second-guess. Deployed nearly as soon as The Eternal Dawn became a co-belligerent with the Magnates in the quest to acquire Theta dust, the VIIs were to phase out imperfect transhuman soldiers with a machine that did not have the same problems. It did not hate the enemy, it could not fear, it could not concern itself with trivialities except for this battle. It was an organism engineered for war, nonsapient, mating a highly edited human brain to a powerful cybernetic implant computer, the brain being trained by neural induction instead of physically learning in its new body. Its body was similarly hybridized, a reinforced skeleton and cybermotors supporting living xenobiology, artificial computer implants managing hormonal levels as well as its complex augmentation system.

Physically the Series VII stood approximately 1.8m tall and massed 120 kilograms without its nearly-symbiotic suit of battle armor, heavily built to carry greater loads into combat and survive greater injury. Every survivability augmentation that had been pioneered by the Adharans and enhanced by the Dawn had been packed into its frame, creating a machine that could survive significant organ trauma and blood loss before its biological systems shut down-and even then, its cybernetics could often at least let it get its revenge. VIIs virtually lived in their battle armor, with bioelectrical organs to recharge it when not in combat, and could live off the land by consuming virtually any organic matter for fuel due to their toxin filters and powerful digestive system.

The initial deployments of the VII were overwhelmingly successful-their tactical deployments had not been mapped, their combat responses new and not trained for. Without knowing how to fight them, how to exploit the flaws that cropped up in their tactical programming, they were devastating foes with expert-level marksmanship, a complete lack of fear, and a strongly developed altruistic sense. However, once the initial shock wore off, post-combat analysis quickly started finding flaws in their design. Their brain was limited in complexity to increase thought speed, and paired with an advanced computer to provide tactical and decision-making assistance, but this made them predictable. It was easy to lure VIIs into an ambush if one knew how to set it up, and it did not take long before the tables had turned.

To counteract this, two projects were initiated. The Series VIII and IX projects, the latter being a full successor and the former being an "officer" design with sentience built back in. Series VIIIs (or Series VII Officers) have their skulls, which were originally heavily reinforced with armor plate, thinned significantly to allow the use of a brain which is significantly larger, although still smaller (but more efficient) than a human one. VII Officer-types are generally roughly equivalent to Alphas or other common transhumans in intellect, although they still have the same instinctual mastery of combat tactics and marskmanship common to all VIIs. VII Officers were fully sentient and capable of advancing past their station, and as such did not have the same "terminator" genes built in as they were not war materiel. The consequences, however, of the VII Officer and the IX are interesting as they are not volunteers, which means that their slavery is unconscionable in the Dawn religion. Therefore instead of being fully engineered they are mind-patterned after willing volunteers, who in return gain additional respect and reputation. After the mindstate's fixed military service, it is free to take any career it wishes, change its body, or do anything it wishes to.

Proliferation

The VII had been quickly adopted throughout the Magnates before its flaws came to light, but even then it was more than adequate if properly employed, whether with Magnate officers there to keep them from running into traps, or with the officers designed to lead them. Their success, as well as their programmable loyalty, precision, and lack of sentience to question its orders, made them desirable for several other nations in the Sphere as well. It's always nice to have some bodyguards who will never question you, or think for themselves, or do anything but watch out for you.

A black market trade rapidly developed in this advanced combat bioroid, causing the design to proliferate throughout the Rim, although only a handful of powers have the technical know-how to do more than maintain them, as their complex genetic code is prone to failure if edited, and their birthing requires significant high-tech infrastructure that most Rim powers do not have.

Military Test

Type 1 Disciple Combat Frame
A post-Magnate war design based on the ZOCU Peltast built by the Order of the Eternal Dawn, the Disciple is designed as a "trooper" machine, intended primarily to engage ground vehicles, other mobile suits, and fighters. Primarily armed with a high power automatic railgun, enemies believing it defenseless in close combat have found out to their dismay that the rifle is not bulky due to primitive technology, but rather due to its heavily reinforced frame, allowing it and its bayonet to be used as a devastating close-combat weapon in its own right. Due to intellectually-augmented Eternal Dawn scientists and a bit of judicious technical theft, the Disciple is on technical parity with designs such as the Hoplite and EU combat frames, although it suffers due to its smaller size compared to the Leopold.
Combat Frame, 1 Expansion
Speed 5+4 (9), Agility 5+4 (9), Evasion 4+4 (8), Armor 6+5+1 (12), 4 Hits
Internal Space: 16

3 x Fusion Reactor (Space -2, Power +12)

5 x Armor (Armor + 5, Agility - 1.67)

4 x Vernier (Agility + 4, Evasion + 2)

4 x Thrusters (Speed + 4, Agility + 2, Evasion + 2)

External Space: 14

1 x Automatic Railgun (Space -8, Power -2)

1 x Railgun Reinforcement & Bayonet [Alpha Edge/Pole] (Space -4)

1 x Applique Armor Plate (Space -2, Armor + 1, Agility -.33)

Available Power for External Systems: 4 (2 used)