User:Ford Prefect
Okay blah blah blah it's Frod Prefect from essbee blah blah blah
Most of everything which follows is still largely in development.
I Saw My Youth In Those Fimbulwinter Stars
Xenosurf Imperfect Works
The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power. — William Shakespeare
He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. — Friedrich Nietzsche
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. — Samuel Johnson
lol what haven't i seen that somewhere already
THE GREAT SURF AND THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
Maybe on Earth, maybe in the future! Two galaxies have come together as part of the great dance that is universal drift - in their slow collision they have created the Great Surf, a dual whorl containing almost two trillion stars. It is Aquarian Age 20XX, deep into the new era of genesis.
DUNAMIS, ANIMUS AND THE ENTELECHEIA
While humanity still lingered in the Age of Pisces, it discovered what would become the essential basis of neurophysics, the noetic sciences, the application of philosophy and dreams to hard reality. By physically interfacing with a biomechanical device which supplants the spinal column, called an Animus, a human being is able to exercise Dunamis. Dunamis is an acausal link to the birth of a universe. Leveraging the very fires of creation, a person is able to turn their intent into reality, actualise vast powers which bend space and warp time. Such a person is an Entelecheia and wields awesome power which cannot be matched by any conventional technology. Further, science has revealed further technologies which can only be used by an Entelecheia. However, amongst humanity only a select few are able to integrate an Animus into their bodies. The cadre who could command Dunamis has since constructed a society in which they control all temporal power.
THE ALEPH
The origin point of the Aquarian Age, the vast network which connects people, data, matter and souls. Said to be built on a foundation of human dreams, the Aleph permeates space itself and naturally available all people without need for specialised equipment. Through the Aleph, it is possible to access information and project freely into the air, download or construct physical objects and transfer oneself to any point in the Great Surf. Its limitations, if any, are nebulous. For normal humans, who lack the power of Dunamis, the Aleph is their best means of attaining personal power - the Aleph Manifestation Principle allows a person to manipulate space, the fundamental forces and otherwise produce superhuman abilities, usually through a device called an AMP Drive. The alien species which inhabited one half of the Great Surf, the Dasyu, also possessed an equivalent system, which the Aleph is steadily subsuming. This forms much of the basis of psychometric archeology into this deceased people.
The Aleph was created by the primogenitors of what would become the four highblood families that, in name, rule the Sangha as its highest phyle.
THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE FORECAST NETWORK
Jealous of the achievement inherent in creating the Aleph, the predecessors of what would become the Rajputs, t builder-nobility of the phyle system, endeavoured to create something equally great. Their ambition was an accurate map of the future, a system by which one could visualise and track all the various worldlines representing alternate, possible pasts, presents and futures. The result after many centuries was the Tree of Life, a 'work-in-progress' forecast of the destiny of the universe. The Tree is almost totally secret, known only to the Rajput caste. Making submissions for the revision of the kernel is considered a sacred rite greater even than astroengineering.
Though the Tree of Life is a closely guarded secret, or at least little more than a rumour, it has given birth to a technology which is more commonly known: the forecast network. A relatively easy to access form of precognition which has use in everything from predicting the weather to surviving in combat. The ultimate expression of information being the king of the battlefield, as more comprehensive information will lead to a more concrete forecast. A standard function of a decent AMP Drive will be an improved forecast architecture.
THE PHYLAI
Social divisions upon which society is based; caste system
The somethinsomething - The four highblood families, those eligible to sit on the Lion Throne. Their Entelecheia are notoriously powerful and are genetically able to interface with the overwhelming Grand Regalia. The most ritually pure phyle, but also the least numerous.
The Rajput - Caste nobility, the grand thinkers and builders of the Sangha. Though in word they are subservient to the highbloods, in practice they rule the Great Surf. Matters of ritual purity are paramount to the Rajput due to political advantage. The 'sacred seven' families of the Rajput control vast financial cliques giving them immense power even relative to other nobles.
The Kshatriya - Caste warriors. Entelecheia on the same level as the Rajput, but their association with blood and killing places them a step behind their Rajput cousins.
The Brahmin - Caste priests. Essentially exist to attend to the ritual needs of the Rajput, though lower level Brahmin are expected to also provide guidance to the lower phylai. Their obsession with ritual purity has seen the rise of a religious order which falls outside the phyle system, which is more able to deal with funerals (and Kshatriya).
The Vaishya - Caste bureaucrats. A kind of lesser nobility which serve as the bean counters to the Rajput.
???? - Caste artisans.
The Shudra - Everyone else.
Characters:
Achilles Kirin - Brooding in a messianic way but indisputably brilliant, Achilles is the third daughter of the incredibly powerful House Kirin's main family. Despite her youth, Achilles has made a name for herself as a division director within the Eschaton Initiative, coaxing a weapon into being which can defeat the mysterious Nayuta utterly. Owns a customised interstellar cruiser called the Kerykeion.
Arjuna Fudo - a young, struggling artist on the world of Ithaca. Unable to paint as her heart wills. In defiance of apparently all the laws of the universe, she is able to use the awesome power that is Dunamis without integrating an Animus into her body. After a bloody conflict with operatives of DEVA, Arjuna secures Achilles' pride and joy, the FA Indra.
Karna Fudo - Arjuna's elder brother. A Buddhist monk with a severe sex addiction, struggling to raise a trouble-making teenaged artist.
Rhinegold W.S. Device - of the venerable production line of Devices. An ancient Weapon Servant class Device. Outrageously obsolete by pretty much any standard. Works as a bartender at a swanky casino, and despite his age and freakishly outdated mechanics he possesses incredible experience and skill in combat.
Tenma Sunshine -
Acronyms:
DEVA - Deadly Expeditionary Violence Association. The interstellar armed forces of the Sangha, the most powerful army in all of human history.
ADHA - AMP Drive Heuristic Armament. Giant robot weapon system for use by Shudra; possessing its own instincts, an ADHA works in total synergy with its pilot. 'Adha' comes from the Arabic for 'sacrifice'.
ASTRA - Adaptive Synchronised Transcendent Regalia Armament. The primary weapon of most Kshatriya. Similar in nature to an ADHA though as a baseline more advanced. An ASTRA also serves as a Regalia, amplifying the Dunamis of the pilot. Due to the scale of the Regalia system in an ASTRA, the amplification is huge. An ASTRA with an elite pilot is more than a match for squadrons of capital ships or high-rank Nayuta.
FA - Full Anima (placeholder). A superior kind of ASTRA which possesses its own Animus. FAs are extremely rare and extremely powerful. Represents more military capability than a whole fleet.
PROJECTA F1
The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power. — William Shakespeare
He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. — Friedrich Nietzsche
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. — Samuel Johnson
The Fimbulwinter, the terrifying world of our future! In a world gripped by endless cold, national governments and international law have been usurped by the Commonwealth: a bicameral parliamentary democracy that encompasses all the world and dwarfs the empires of Alexander and Cesar. Supported by the Four Heavenly Kings, the aristocratic financial cliques that control the economic destinies of the people and provide the cutting edge technological foundations of their very lives, the Commonwealth has asserted itself as the inevitable future. It is vast, but it is also efficient, relying on the most advanced information technologies and the most comprehensive knowledge of sociomemetic and biopolitical theory. Within this vastness and this efficiency lies something ominous: as time goes by unnoticed, the Commonwealth becomes more streamlined, less reliant on politicians and civil servants. Decisions seem increasingly as though they are not made by people, but rather by the system, with those decisions merely carried out by people. In some academic circles, they warn of 'the World System', when the Commonwealth's democratic system becomes self-aware and self-replicating, something of a collective intelligence created by legislation and doctrine and convention.
The World System is an idea, and one that is usually discredited on the rare occasions that it arises into the public sphere. There are some, however, who have considered that idea and accepted it. One of these groups are the entities known as Daeva.
In the years prior to the Fimbulwinter, the asteroid 99942 Apophis struck the Earth against all probability. It brought with it the self-replicating crystalline metallic bacteria that modern science came to call 'psycholith'. Defying all compositional analysis, psycholith soon came to deny all common sense: it was a material which turned intent into reality. With sufficient strength of will and a piece of psycholith, a person could harness almost magical psychic force. The 99942 Apophis impact spread particles of psycholith all over the world, to be breathed in by an unsuspecting species. Over time, a burgeoning class of persons emerged who were best suited to unlocking the mysterious powers of the psycholith, a class of person to be exploited by national governments. But it wasn't just people: by chance or design, a symbiosis between early computer intelligence and psycholith was created, and with time that early system evolved into the network of intelligences called Daevas. They are powerful, but inscrutable and vague, their ability to manipulate the real world limited. To eliminate this weakness, they exerted a considerable effort to form a cell of human operatives that would become known as the Order of the Southern Cross.
Part paramilitary mercenary orgnisation, part secret society experimenting in evolution, the Southern Cross has sought to push the boundaries what is means to be 'human', to create a 'complete individual' that is not bound by the circle of the world. In pursuit of this nebulous philosophical ideal, the Southern Cross has co-opted the most advanced technologies available. It started with physical conditioning and meditation. It moved to the pharmacological, and as genetic engineering, mechanical implants, molecular modification and nanotechnology became available the Southern Cross rapidly assimilated it for their purposes. In the Fimbulwinter, the outcome is the Asura: specially selected humans with the highest aptitude for both cybernetic augmentation and psychic power, modified with technology on the farthest end of the spectrum. A fully trained Asura represents a combination of exquisite close quarters combat skill, elite weapons handling, wizard-class electronic manipulation and, with a Daeva granted shard of perfect psycholith, superior psychic abilities. With access to the Order's various weapons, armour and tools, an Asura stands in a whole different world in comparison to black market criminal cyborgs or even the sleek creations of the upper tier corporations. The full scope of their abilities is purely theoretical: even the current Captain-General of the Southern Cross does not approach the 'complete individual'.
For the Daeva, the Asura are indispensable agents, able to interact with the world in ways they cannot. They can take on practically any role, from investigation and infiltration to out and out combat with the Commonwealth. Ultimately, even the Asura do not understand the full motives of their alien patrons, guided mostly by vague proclamations and the better judgement of the Captain-General. Though the Southern Cross itself barely exists as a rumour, its operatives operate reasonably openly, securing further funds or information for the Order. In this capacity they can, for a time, end up working for the Commonwealth, or one of the zaibatsu that control the economy.
The Four Heavenly Kings are the four financial cliques which have SSS+ credit ratings, putting them at the apex of a new aristocracy based on corporate power. Family owned and family run, the Four Heavenly Kings are House Solidor, House Kirin, House Poseidon and House Saint-Cloud; between them they control a third of the world's resource development, full half of its heavy industry and close to two thirds of the international securities exchange. As the heart of economic and industrial activity within the Commonwealth, they hold great influence over the political process, and indeed field their own political parties in general elections. The SS+ zaibatsu wield similar power, even if it is lesser - anything smaller is inevitably absorbed. They share the same trepidation regarding the development of the World System: with their economic and political legitimacy provided by the Commonwealth, the zaibatsu are trapped. They cannot exist without the Commonwealth, but the Commonwealth is evolving to a point where their influence will become irrelevant. In the World System, their power would be essentially illusory.
Incomplete List of Organisations:
The Order of the Southern Cross - Secret society under control of the pseudo-AI Daevas. Player characters are 'Asura', cyborg demigods created using southern Cross techniques.
Pictet & Cie - The world's most trusted bank: relatively small but highly respected financial institution with its origins in 19th century Geneva. It is most notable for issuing the credit ratings which determine standing amongst the zaibatsu. Is the front organisation for the Southern Cross.
The Commonwealth of the Sun - Tremendously powerful world state currently in the process of becoming a living entity.
House Solidor - Immensely wealthy and powerful family that controls the holding corporation and bank Solidor Standard, and by extension a huge number of other corporations. It is one of the 'Four Heavenly Kings', the prime financial cliques that have received the prized SSS+ credit rating. Though too large to truly have a 'specialty', the oldest of their holdings, Solidor Creations, possesses a reputation of artistic quality to its technology and products.
House Kirin - Immensely wealthy and powerful family that controls the holding corporation Rinne and the financial firm Kirin Trust and Banking, and by extension a huge number of other corporations. It is one of the 'Four Heavenly Kings', the prime financial cliques that have received the prized SSS+ credit rating. It's largest subsidiary, Kirin Prescient Systems, has a reputation of being on the cutting edge of technology, and it is active politically in the form of the Rikken Minseito, which is ostensibly independant and holds a number of seats in parliament.
House Poseidon - Immensely wealthy and powerful alliance of the Hohenzollern and Lohengramm families, created in the wake of difficult financial issues in the early days of the Fimbulwinter. Having overcome its early turmoil, it is traditionally considered the largest of the Four Heavenly Kings, though also considered the most conservative. Uniquely can trace its lineage back to actual nobility.
House Saint-Cloud - Immensely wealthy and powerful family that controls the holding corporation Steam and the bank Crédit Saint-Cloud, and by extension a huge number of other corporations. Of the Four Heavenly Kings it is the only one which originated in banking. As its bank predates the Fimbulwinter it has a similar level of corporate respect as Pictet & Cie, however as it is associated with one of the financial cliques it is still ruthless and distrusted by citizens.
The Majestic XII - Supposed secret organisation orchestrating takeover of the Commonwealth.
The Illuminati - Supposed secret organisation orchestrating takeover of the Commonwealth.
The Templars - Supposed secret organisation orchestrating takeover of the Commonwealth.
[namenotdeveloped] - Notorious terrorist group opposed to the Commonwealth's transhumanist social policies, and in general opposed to transhumanism. It shares this ideology with a number of other groups, including the politically important Old Human Party, but is far more visible and by far the most radical. Though publically denounced by the Old Human Party, a common conspiracy theory is that [namenotdeveloped] is actually under the control of the OHP and used to counter pro-transhuman political opponents.
Fahrenheit - Notorious terrorist group opposed to the Commonwealth on grounds of political ideology. Markets itself as a socially aware group in support of workers' rights, usually presented in the media as radical Marxists. We report, you decide.
Also, there are a number of organised criminal syndicates, which would largely be familiar to anyone who has watched a John Woo film, Eastern Promises or Violent Cop.
General Notes on Technology:
Fairly typical cyberpunk type setting. You can expect the usual sort of thing, mostly, optical camouflage, sweet cars, man-machine interfaces etc.
Genetic Engineering - Basically Eclipse Phase. It's been around long enough that the only people who don't use it, or have never used it, are exceedingly rare and live far out on the ice like super Inuit. Has probably produced a handful of stable clades of human-types, like a subspecies with horns and so on. Mostly for flavour and offering a little more flavour/player options. EDITO: The correct terminology for a human derived subspecies is 'phyle'.
Cybernetics - The meat of stat building. Pretty advanced, from simple organ replacement to full body cyberisation. It's pretty self explanatory; the best cybernetics being used by the Southern Cross, Commonwealth special forces or zaibatsu black projects is pretty neat.
Nanotechnology - I haven't really decided where it ends, but it begins at the usual carbon nanotube, aggregated diamond nanorods stuff; nanotech a vital component in cybernetic modification. Nanoassemblers probably in circulation, limited mostly by computing power.
FEMTOMACHINES - I really like that word. Sometimes I just say it. Femtomachines.
Synthetic life - Robots. Possible PC type. Traditional robots being phased out in favour of 'bioroids', custom grown nantotech lifeforms based on self-evolving tailored DNA. Further implanted with high end cybernetic business, self-repairing spider silk protein armour skin etc etc. Black projects have also produced various strains that have disappeared into the dark places of the cities to reproduce - there are very few animals in the Fimbulwinter, and ninety nine out of a hundred of them are from an ecosystem derived from rampant bioroid projects.
Guns - the most common weapons in the are modular electrothermal chemical weapons firing HVAP or HESH ammunition; Commonwealth/zaibatsu designs typically swing towards modular set-ups with all the usual tacticool stuff like underslung munition launchers and predictive ACOGs. The better Commonwealth weapons are linear motor guns, railguns powered by high density nanowire capacitors. The best projectile weapons are Southern Cross 'glass guns', psychomotive electrostatic linear accelerators firing 'glass' - pieces of transparent, self-correcting, reactive armour piercing nanopolymer. High end Commonwealth ammunition can sort of replicate the effects of glass but aren't as good. Glass guns don't have batteries and rely on the Asura for motive force (hence 'psycho'). There also generic beam cannons, and more exotic stuff like enthalpy reduction rays, homing lasers, black hole guns, vector cannons, shark launchers etc.
Chopping - Setting in part based on kung fu, so it basically has all the swords, spears, axes and sharp stick you can image. Starts at knuckle gloves that are electrified/shotguns/shaped charges, moves up to jet propelled impact hammers, piledrivers, progressive vorpal blades, all the way to conceptual cutting based on high speed computation and 'living' sentient weapons which contain cyberspace-evolved primordial intelligences. Incidentally you can get gun based sentient weapons too, but they're somewhat rarer.
Artificial Intelligence - I'm sort of all over the shop with this. One one hand it needs to common enough to warrant robot PCs (maybe), and on the other the setting is sort of premised on it being really weird and unusual. I'll work around it somehow. Generally speaking the only big AGIs are the part-psycholith Daevas, who are strange and inscrutable.
The Commonwealth of the Sun and the Seventh Republic
Informally referred to as 'the Commonwealth' and less commonly as 'the Seventh Republic'. It is the sole sovereign State in the Fimbulwinter, and by law is sole hegemon of the solar system (the relevant provisions are set out in Chapter V of the Hammurabi, the Constitution of the Seventh Republic). It is a federal system which shares sovereignty between the world level and the 'Polis' level, Polis (plural Poleis) being the preferred terminology for demarcated administrative zones. There are currently 777 Poleis in the Commonwealth. The Hammurabi sets a strict separation of powers:
The Executive - Chapter I of the Hammurabi vests executive power in the President of the Seventh Republic and Prince of the Sun charging him, her or it with the execution of Commonwealth law, alongside the responsibility of appointing Commonwealth executive, diplomatic, regulatory, and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers, on the advice and consent of the Senate (it should be noted that the Article on 'concluding treaties with foreign powers' exist as a precautionary measure). The President is head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the Universal Peace Enforcement Organisation. 'Prince of the Sun' is ceremonial title referring to specifically to the wider solar system. The President is assisted by the Vice-President, who is sitting Speaker of the Senate, and Cabinet.
The Legislature - Chapter II of the Hammurabi vest legislative authority in the Parliamentary Diet of the Sun, as well as defining the scope of its powers and duties. The Diet is bicameral, with legislative matters chiefly being tabled in the House of Assembly, while right of review and second opinion is held by the Senate. The correct terminology for a parliamentarian sitting in the House of Assembly is 'Député', or Envoy, indicating that they are sent from and representing the Poleis. The party with the majority in the House of Assembly elects the Chancellor, who consults directly with the President on matters of import - essentially the second most powerful person in the world. The second largest aligned group in the Diet forms the opposition, which is widely considered the preferred platform for running a successful bid in the next election, so seats are hotly contested.
The Judiciary - Chapter III of the Hammurabi vest all judicial authority in the Grand Chamber of the High Court of the Seventh Republic. All courts in the Commonwealth flow from the Grand Chamber, which possesses ultimate appellate jurisdiction as well as original jurisdiction in a small number of circumstance, usually relating to matters of Constitutional law. Typically the Grand Chamber is rarely convened on appellate matters as its jurisdiction is entirely discretionary, and traditionally a refusal to hear a case will be taken as affirming the decision of a circuit High Court. There is a well known distaste for the zaibatsu within the Grand Chamber which no President has ever been able to eliminate, and some commentators believe that this has harmed the quality of their judgements in the past few years. The Grand Chamber is situated in former Switzerland and has permanent secondment of operators from the Special Operations Executive to provide security (this group is colloquially referred to as the 'Swiss Guard'). The Grand Chamber swears in the highest officers of state.
A vital duty of the Grand Chamber is ensuring that that elections are carried out Constitutionally. Term limits are set at three years for Commonwealth Senators, four years for Envoys and five years for the President. Each Polis possesses a single seat in both Houses of the Parliamentary Diet of the Sun; each Polis elects their Senator directly, but their Envoy is selected indirectly. Every four years each Polis elects a sitting government, with the majority being entitled to send their leader to the Diet as Envoy. In order to gain a majority in the House of Assembly, a party must win a majority in a majority of Poleis. Presidential elections are world-wide, and all voting is done based on a preferential system. Voting is required by law, and those who do not vote can face a significant fine: the rationale is that all elections must be subject to the will of the people as a whole. Typically there is over 90% participation of those on the electoral roll.
Due to the different term limits on various arms of government, this electoral system is intense. In a hundred year period, there will be sixty election years; at most there will be a two year gap between election years, two, three or even four election years in a row. A quarter of election years will be 'double elections', years when an election for one office coincides with another, and there will be one 'triple election', the significance of which cannot be overestimated. This cycle has encouraged parties to engage in near constant campaigns of fluctuating intensity, targeted across all spectra of the interconnected, information-dense augmented reality of the Fimbulwinter. Modern political parties are essentially sleek machines able to produce the money and drive necessary to keep up across the globe; it has been calculated that a single Delegate seat at the Polis level can cost up to fifty million dinar to win, with literally thousands of Delegate seats required to capture the majority in the Diet. As a result, independent politicians are entirely unheard of and even minor parties are huge mechanisms capable of raising billions of dinar at short notice, with reasonably close ties to various zaibatsu.
Major parties traditionally dominate the House of Assembly. Major parties universally stand for high degrees of economic liberalisation and tend towards the left and centre-left socially: notable parties include the Union for a Popular Movement, the Liberal Demarchists, the Rikken Minseito, the New Komeito and Citizen's Republic. Centre-right parties include the Rikken Seiyukai, the Republican Democratic Coalition and the Liberal-Conservative Party. The Senate, which is somewhat less intense come election time, is traditionally the home of the minor parties, particularly the Greens, the Old Human Party and Machine People Dignity.
The current political system is contributing to the development of the World System; the rapidly cycle of elections is beginning to outpace human involvement. The public is so constantly bombarded by political media and outright propaganda that their only real response is apathy, reducing their involvement in the process to clockwork selection of what seems to be the most popular party. The parties themselves are almost automated: legions of mad men in constant motion to create the most convincing image of the best government with less and less understanding of their own ideology.
Phyle
Even before the Fimbulwinter, transhumanism was in vogue. Literally, it was in Vogue. As geneering became safer and more affordable, it rapidly changed the face of humanity: with each passing year more and more parents were opting in to oocyte and sperm selection, embryo screening and even direct tweaking. Each generation was more extensively tweaked than the last, systematically eliminating hereditary diseases and slowly shifting the bell curve to the right. As the technology matured, there were some who were more radical in its usage: aiming less for gradual improvement, and instead reaching for the limits of what genetic engineering offered. Governments tried to engineer advanced specialists with abilities outside the norm for humans; the wealthy attempted to separate themselves from the masses.
The result are the Phylai (singular Phyle), distinct sub-groups more dramatically demarcated than mere ethnicity. Though all still human, in a sense, visual appearance and genetic make-up can be significantly different. A selection of Phylai:
Spriggan - a very distinctive Phyle with an origin predating the Fimbulwinter. The name doesn't come from Celtic myth, but rather the Celtic language: Spriggan translates as 'striker', and refers to their origins as engineered soldiers specialising in psycholith manipulation. Their most notable trait is that they universally posses horns; size and shape varies, as does colouration. Historically the horns were supposed to serve some sort of practical purpose, but it is hard to pinpoint one that isn't 'very good at headbutts'. The popular image of a Spriggan is red-skinned, white-haired and golden-horned - red, white and gold serves as a sort of unofficial 'Spriggan tricolore'. Red Spriggan are most common, but they come in a variety of different colours and shades: typically they are red, blue, black or white. The average Spriggan possesses denser muscle and bone than most other human derived Phylai, with adrenal and endocrine systems tuned for rapid-response. Combined with their boosted immune systems, this makes Spriggan ideal for saturation cyberisation. These qualities also give the impression that Spriggan are more adept with psycholith, though they are only really superior on paper.