Note that site membership here is not the same as site membership there. However, I've set up a "secret code" for membership so that I don't have to approve everyone one at a time. Many of you probably already know it:

UpUpDownDownLeftRightLeftRightBA

—Colin

If anyone is familiar with both Alistair Reynolds and Greg Egan, then a lot of this will be pretty obvious where I'm coming from.

Campaign Background

In Greg Egan's Quarantine, he has the idea that humanity has developed the ability to collapse quantum wave forms as an evolutionary advantage. A conscious mind is capable of looking at all the possible futures and has a tiny ability to collapse that wave form into one that benefits him. The species then, collectively works to collapse the waveform in such a way that the universe is best suited for that species. ((I'm probably very badly explaining this, but, that's the gist that I get)) Note, that no conscious decision is being made, everything is done automatically. And there is no guarantee at an individual level, after all, nudging the dice .0001% only helps you once in ten thousand tries. But, over the course of a species, that nudge provides a very strong advantage.

This also explains Fermi's paradox. The reason we don't see aliens is because as our bubble of space time propagates outwards from Earth, we nudge the dice to the point where aliens don't exist.

I want to take this a bit further.

In the early days of the universe, an intelligent species arose. I haven't named them yet, so we'll just call them the Elders. The Elders, as all intelligent species can, collapsed the waveform to help the species and they expanded throughout the universe. However, because there was a time before they came into being, their bubble of spacetime did not encompass the entire universe and they realized that it would be possible that a competing species could arise out on the edge of space/time. They also realized that while a single planet could collapse the wave form, a single planet would never really be a threat. There simply would never be enough minds on that planet to collapse the wave beyond a small area which would allow that species to live and survive, but never expand.

So, they seeded the universe, which, at that time was much smaller than now, with bombs. Each bomb is a planet sized computing machine, similar to an Aia planet, camouflaged to appear as a normal planet. The AI embedded within the planets would remain dormant until the camouflage was pierced. At that time the AI would activate and the trillions of minds within the planet would collapse the waveform into a single future. That waveform would then propagate outwards at the speed of light, to encompass a large section of a galaxy, theoretically large enough to encompass whatever species had pierced the camouflage in the first place.

Then the second part of the Elder's plan would come into play. As the waveform passes, it activates nano-manufactories placed in various points in interstellar space. These factories would begin building beserker ships which would travel to points within the englobed spacetime and eradicate all threats. The Elders, situated in a far corner of the universe would just sit back and watch the threat disappear.

Because the wavefront is collapsed, the Trancendentals would be prevented from traveling within that bubble and would also be incapable of seeing anything inside as well. They would know that the bubble is expanding as they lose contact with place after place, but, from their position in the future, they would not be able to enter or leave that bubble. It would not exist for them.

Changes to the SA Setting

This campaign requires, so far, a single change to the SA setting - no wormholes. I want Einstein to be right again. All travel would be limited to sublight speeds. I like the idea of Ansible communication - that's not a huge problem as it stands right now. But, I don't want civilizations to be able to just press the eject button and move to another galaxy. And, I want the threat to be contained to a single galaxy. This will change the setting somewhat. Planets and systems will be closer together, although time between stars will be significantly longer.

One of the themes I want to explore here is a sort of Joe Haldeman's Forever War. So, between scenarios, you could easily have centuries passing. For that, I have to scrap wormholes. :)

As I said, this is just the beginning. As I work out more details I'll post them. I have a wiki, so, I'll be doing that as well. But, I'm 99% sure my players never come here, so, posting the campaign details for others to give insight should be pretty safe.

Whatcha think?

The content is all there. I want to have more graphics (and better ones in some cases) for the final, and I need to get a professional edit done.

I've seen bits and pieces of Travelogue here, and I'm wondering if it's now available in its complete form? If so, where can it be obtained?

Thanks,
Bill aka Starfarer

It's not nearly as cool (or dangerous) as it sounds, but it is cool.

Abstract: Traditionally, a black hole is a region of space with huge gravitational field in the means of general relativity, which absorbs everything hitting it including the light. In general relativity, the presence of matter-energy densities results in the motion of matter propagating in a curved spacetime1, which is similar to the electromagnetic-wave propagation in a curved space and in an inhomogeneous metamaterial2. Hence one can simulate the black hole using electromagnetic fields and metamaterials. In a recent theoretical work, an optical black hole has been proposed based on metamaterials, in which the numerical simulations showed a highly efficient light absorption3. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of electromagnetic black hole in the microwave frequencies. The proposed black hole is composed of non-resonant and resonant metamaterial structures, which can absorb electromagnetic waves efficiently coming from all directions due to the local control of electromagnetic fields. Hence the electromagnetic black hole could be used as the thermal emitting source and to harvest the solar light.

We'll be playing over Maptools - an online Virtual Tabletop for those who don't know. My group has been D&D junkies for years, so, this will be a radical shift to the left. Tomorrow was supposed to be our first session, but, unfortunately, work calls. :'(

My first scenario is taken from a short story (actually, all my scenarios are lifted pretty much wholesale from various short stories and SF podcasts like Escape Pod and StarShipSofa) whose name I totally cannot recall. In the story, a small toy is invented. A simple toy with a button and a light. The twist is, the light always turns on one second before the button is pushed. The light is an time device of sorts and no matter what, one second after the light turns on, the button is pushed.

In the story, the toy causes widespread depression and social paralysis because it is the first empirical evidence of the lack of free will. It proves empirically that no one has free will and society begins to crumble at the edges because people cannot deal with it.

In the scenario, I placed the toy on a Stardweller ship traveling to the Great Convention. The ship is having massive problems, similar to the story and the players are called in to investigate. Also on the ship are various diplomats, including a Rationalist group which may or may not have something to do with the toy.

Mechanically, I'm having the toy make a sort of memetic attack on the players if they use it. Each time you play, it will run you lower and lower on reserve, until such time as you collapse into depression. The toy uses Metatech to attack the user. Interestingly enough, my players have mostly chosen religious types of characters. It will be interesting to see how the Worship core value interacts with this.

I'll keep you posted.

The abstract from the actual article:

Much work has been devoted, during the past twenty years, to using complexity to protect elections from manipulation and control. Many results have been obtained showing NP-hardness shields, and recently there has been much focus on whether such worst-case hardness protections can be bypassed by frequently correct heuristics or by approximations. This paper takes a very different approach: We argue that when electorates follow the canonical political science model of societal preferences the complexity shield never existed in the first place. In particular, we show that for electorates having single-peaked preferences, many existing NP-hardness results on manipulation and control evaporate.

Minor Alterations

1. Rolls are still multiplication.
2. Every point of difference in Force score changes Reserve damage by one. Old-Worlders no longer harm Mechanicans; Mechanicans trounce Old-Worlders on the first or second shot.
3. Extra damage for double or triple rolls still in effect. Two points of damage for each multiple.
4. Each roll needs a description. Your description should not include accomplishing your goal until after everything's over.
5. To have a shorter conflict, restrict it to a best-of-three setup.

Everything's A Theme

1. No more rolls. Diceless system.
2. Capability scores now go 0-4.
3. Your Professions provide you with Reserve. Capabilities do not.
4. You normally act at your Capability level, and can use them as much as you like. Spending a Reserve adds +1 to your score.
5. When facing off against another person…
   1. If you're over by 2 points, you win without question. Describe your victory.
   2. If you're over by 1 point, you win with some trouble. Lose a Reserve and describe your victory. Your opponent can give you a level 1 Complication.
   3. If you're tied, both of you lose a Reserve and take a level 2 Complication. You can both narrate the stalemate.
   4. If you're under by 1 point, you lose, but not terribly. Lose two Reserve and narrate your loss. Your opponent can give you a level 3 Complication.
   5. If you're under by 2 points, you completely fail. Lose two Reserve and narrate your loss. Your opponent can give you a level 4 Complication.
6. All Complications should be appropriate to the type of conflict. Examples will be given, but this is a group judgement call.
7. To go down a timescale, spend a point of Reserve from the conflict type you're going to.

The Game Is Your Enemy

1. Basic rolls work as before.
2. Each session starts with a Holy Crap point total (this name will change) that is like your opponent's reserve.
3. Pick a type of conflict for the session as a whole. This will be in the briefing.
4. You are always in one type of conflict or another.
5. Most of your time should be spent roleplaying.
6. Themes can be used to get you into a position to make a roll when you aren't, or to win a roll. This is a mechanical description of their narrative power, not a replacement of it.
7. You can only roll once per timeslice in any given conflict. Get into position to take advantage of some modifiers and roll well.

Side Note

1. There should be a good way to spontaneously generate a conflict type through a little negotiation and maybe a little Reserve expenditure to tweak the timescale. Guidelines for this strike me as pretty easy to write.

Comments are welcome, especially comments along the lines of "Colin, idea X is crap and here's why."

He's starting with the quickstart and moving on from there.

Abstract: Nanoplasmonics has recently experienced explosive development with many novel ideas and dramatic achievements in both fundamentals and applications. One of the greatest obstacles to even greater fundamental development and wider applications on the nanoplasmonics is absence of an active element-an ultrafast nanoscale generator and amplifier of local fields-an optical counterpart of the MOSFET. Here we show that the spaser, introduced and observed recently as a nanoscale counterpart of laser, can serve as such an active device. For the first time, we develop quantum theory of the spaser, find its threshold, intensity dependence, and spectrum. We show that the spaser can work in a regime as a nanoscale generator of local fields, and also a ultrafast, high-gain analog or logical amplifier, and memory cell. The spaser is shown to be three orders of magnitude faster than the MOSFET within the same geometric sizes on the order of 10 nm. These functions of spaser will further widen both the fundamental and applied horizons of nanoplasmonic science and technology.

Let me pull the important item out of here: a transistor three orders of magnitude faster than a standard silicon-based transistor.

Abstract:

We show that the class of antenna layouts for telescope arrays allowing cheap analysis hardware (with cost scaling as N log N rather than N^2 with the number of antennae N) is encouragingly large, including not only previously discussed rectangular grids but also arbitrary hierarchies of such grids, with arbitrary rotations and shears at each level. We show that all correlations for such a 2D array with an n-level hierarchy can be efficiently computed via a Fast Fourier Transform in not 2 but 2n dimensions. This allows major cost reductions for science applications requiring sensitivity at widely separated angular scales, for example 21cm tomography (where short baselines are needed to probe the cosmological signal and long baselines are needed for point source removal). Such hierarchical grids combine the angular resolution advantage of traditional array layouts with the cost advantage of a rectangular Fast Fourier Transform Telescope. We also describe an algorithm for how a subclass of hierarchical arrays can efficiently use rotation synthesis to produce global sky maps with minimal noise and a well-characterized synthesized beam.

The Hou Po'e Kanaka was a Cargo Cult that derived its name from its origins as a movement to return to a mythical Hawaiian and Polynesian past, that grew beyond its original roots to include North American Anglo and South East Asian cultural elements (Philipino and Javanese in particular).They would have remained a Cargo Cult, albeit one with a Hawaiian and Polynesian theme, if not for the intervention a noble from the Tao of History several hundred years ago.

King Kamehameha the Great had been a Tao noble playing the great king and several of his descendants when the milieu passed him by, leaving him at loose ends. Like a small number of Tao in that situation, he travelled. Specifically, he joined the Patent Office as an inspector. During that time he encountered the Hou Po'e Kanaka Cargo Cult. They fascinated him immediately. Their culture was recognizably descended from his milieu and understandable by him, which also frustrated him and infuriated him, seeing the trap they were in. Still, he studied them and learned their culture and language very well. Eventually he retired entirely, saying he was considering a new role.

Then he, a lot of money and people disappeared.

Several years later, visitors reported that the Hou Po'e Kanaka were fighting amongst themselves, over new concepts and ideas and that outsiders were involved. The outsiders were Kamehameha and his followers, using the best they could afford to overturn the Hou Po'e Kanaka Cargo Cult and put in place something new.

Twenty years later, the Hou Po'e Kanaka dominated their world. For them, this means they’ve conquered all the islands they want, leaving Old Worlders to the continents, and control an equatorial subcontinent. They instituted a new form of government, an elective monarchy with a strong representational body organized along family and clan lines. In short, they bootstrapped the Hou Po'e Kanaka from a Cargo Cult to a minor civilization.

While fairly amiable and forthright in their dealings, they do have a reputation for aggression and assertiveness, using a mix of force and persuasion to control areas they desire on various earths. They also use geologic taps, nanotech and limited terraforming to form new islands. Among their notable projects: the creation of the Havaiki island group; the creation of floating islands (Kanehunamoku); the Ocean Arks (mostly self contained, solar powered ships that are easy to make).

Stereotypically, Hou Po'e Kanaka are light gold to dark brown, with brown eyes with some epicanthic fold. Hair is black to brown, with either straight or curly. They also tend to be of slightly less than average height and bulkier than the norm. The reality is that a multitude of phenotypes can be found within the phyle due to their syncretic origins. They also include humans adapted for aquatic life. Given their traditions (sailing, navigation, hula, hula chants, story telling and poetry), the following features are common among them: a natural sense of direction, internal clock, ability to drink salt water, natural sunglasses and beautiful voices.

Culturally, they have always enjoyed a number of arts, sports and games. The arts they favor: story telling, poetry, shadow puppetry, singing, dancing, drumming, guitar, slack key guitar, gamelan, woven arts, hula and hula chants. The sports that the Hou Po'e Kanaka commonly enjoy are: sailing, canoeing, fishing, hunting, archery, target shooting (typically with compressed air or low power gauss guns), "sledding" (holua), surfing, windsurfing and various martial arts (boxing mokomoko), kuntao, wrestling (hakoko), Kapu Kuialua, stick fighting (kaka la au, arnis/escrima). Traditional games are also popular, games like patterns, tops, disc bowling, to kohana (a traditional board game) and darts.

Clothing tends to be loose light, colorful and patterned, taking full advantage of advanced materials and nanotechnology. Tattoos are also common and frequently have cultural significance. Nanotech pigments are common, allowing the tattoos to be turned off, change color and even switch between patterns. Still, the old ways of tattooing are found and are popular due to their authenticity.

Their ocean ships (moku or wa'a) resemble old Polynesian catamarans, but the resemblance ends with the double hulls. They are larger and incorporate modern technology: solar cell smart sails, solar cell decks, variable smart hulls and keels, osmotic extractors and other modern conveniences and necessities. The truly authentic canoes are left to enthusiasts and hobbyists.

Hou Po'e Kanaka architecture is light and airy, resembling ancient Hawaiian buildings, with elements of the Hawaiian Renaissance. They take full advantage of modern materials and technologies to make it as durable, comfortable and ecologically sound as possible.

For all their physicality and appearance of bright colored simplicity, the Hou Po'e Kanaka are a highly advanced civilization on par with any other in the universe. They have a culture with every bit of complexity that their high cognitech, metatech and nanotech capabilities can bring. They are excellent nanotechnologists and cognitechnologists, using these tools in everyday life. Replicators are common, and computers pervade every material. Utility fogs are in commonly used for a variety of means.

They are open, welcoming and reasonably tolerant. This does not mean they are naïve or ignorant. Their security is appropriate and low key, able to be escalated as necessary.

Family ('ohana) and clan ('ohana nui) are very important to the Hou Po'e Kanaka, forming the basis of political units for election of chiefs (ali'i) to the phyle assembly and social welfare. The ali'i chose the King (ali'i nui) with a term of 15 years.

Among the major civilizations, they get along well with the Masquerade and Stardwellers. They’re a bit more ambivalent toward the Tao (and the Tao towards them) due to their role in the creation of the Hou Po'e Kanaka. Mechanicans are welcome, but frequently leave the Hou Po'e Kanaka scratching their heads. The Replicants they compete with as athletes, but leave the more extreme sports to them. Roamers are always welcome (for a number of reasons).

All of the societies from the core rulebook are found among the Hou Po'e Kanaka, though the Group Minds and Darwinians are very rare.

Emblem: Golden plumeria on a black background.
Common Name: Hou Po'e Kanaka or New People
Inspector Status: Equivalent to FBI, RCMP or customs agent.
Benefit: Hou Po'e Kanaka receive one Athletics professions at level 4 for free.
Core Values: Ohona and Tradition
Ohana means family. Members of an ohana could be relatives by blood, non-relations who are accepted by the ohana, as well as members of the ohana who have died.
Tradition is the other anchor of Hou Po’e Kanaka civilization. Its an outgrowth of their origins as a Cargo Cult. Instead of Ritual, it is tradition that helps hold them together, giving citizens bonuses to actions that keep the civilization intact — such as fighting off civilization wide metatech assaults, convincing other citizens to keep to their traditions, and the like. Tradition doesn’t say that any specific tradition is important; rather, it is important to have traditions and to hold to them. It says that all traditions have worth and value, that they are what bring people together. The Hou Po’e Kanaka share this CV with the Old-Worlders and Tao, who have a more-or-less identical interpretation of it.
Other common core values are: Authenticity, Community, Ecology, Exploration, Honor, Knowledge, My Island, Sensation, Spirituality, and Worship

For someone first arriving on Gothica, it looks like a Tao of History world, with people dressed in archaic costumes, old architecture and strangeness that looks historic. On a closer look, you realize that the fashions and architecture are a mix of disparate eras ranging over several hundred years. At that point, you begin to realize Gothica is something different…

Gothica is a civilization of contradictions. The citizens are fascinated with death, but live life with zest and enjoyment. They also are broadly tolerant, welcoming and inclusive to all, but they tend to have a uniform look to their bodies. The architecture looks old, but makes use of modern construction techniques and conveniences. And those are just the easily apparent ones.
Gothica has roots in a subculture dating back to the late 20th century Europe and America music scenes and survived beyond its narrow beginnings. When the Diaspora opened the possibility of colonizing other worlds, the Goths of the day eventually organized and paid for a colonization effort that created Gothica.

Over the centuries, the Goth culture changed and adapted, especially as new technologies came on the scene. They quickly adopted genetic alterations striving for the ideal look. While there is no civilization wide agreement or enforcement of what is pretty, it has resulted in an average though – tall, lean, somewhat androgynous, pretty, pale and dark haired. The reality is more complex, with most human phenotypes represented, but they all do tend to be at least striking, if not beautiful. The infosphere, the mesh and other technologies were also adopted and used to achieve their ideal. The result is a very high tech civilization that looks lower tech than it is. The result is what is now known as Gothican. Of special note are Gothican poison gardens. They take full advantage of the genetic engineering to create beautiful and deadly plants. Entering one without a guide of some sort is strongly advised against.

Gothican architecture can be described as heavily over built, and pre-ruined. The look is distinctly Victorian to Medieval, with a dark look to it. And ruins are added, as is ‘decay.’ Given the materials they build out of, is the best way to start. The end result are very comfortable, durable, if gloomy buildings that could survive Mechanican party.

Which leads to another element of their culture – Gothicans are fascinated by death and decay. As a result they are intimately familiar with it. While this occasionally results in a gloomy one, most of them are cheerful, upbeat, life loving people – especially with each other. They are convinced life should be lived and enjoyed to its fullest because death is at the end of it and it brooks no exceptions. One aspect of this is that they tend to be pacifists. Another aspect of this is that Gothicans do defect to the Replicants on a fairly regular basis. Despite this love of life, there are those that are truly morbid, fascinated with death and very ghoulish.

Gothican clothing can be described as dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. It has Victorian, Renaissance, Regency, Elizabethan elements. It has a profusion of black velvets, lace, fishnets and leather tinged with scarlet or purple, accessorized with tightly laced corsets, gloves, precarious stilettos and silver jewelry depicting religious, magical or occult themes (bone earrings, rosaries, pentacles, ankhs, skulls) typically made from silver. Both sexes are sexualized with their clothing, with very different looks from one sex to the other. High tech personal items tend to be implanted, or incorporated into jewelry and clothing. Their art is widespread throughout their world (some days it seems every other person is an amateur artist) and while technically able, much of it can make a viewer from another civilization uncomfortable.

Gothica makes extensive use of the technologies available in the modern age. Streetside replicators are common, and computers pervade every material. Most of the government and police have metatech training and implants, and children are often taught the benefits of cognitech methods from an early age. Over 80% of the population wear neural meshes, though not all take full advantage of them.

Gothica is a relatively free and tolerant civilization, with many modifications of the human genome and psyche available. Most of the modifications do tend to stick to the human form though. Using Nanotech to perform a scan of someone you meet is generally considered rude (in modern American society, it would be on par with staring at a woman’s breasts and crotch while you talk to her), so there’s no easy way to know whether someone’s enhanced. Gothicans tend to be polite and formal when first meeting someone.

For all their oddness, the Gothicans are good neighbors. They have a responsible government – an odd mix of meritocracy and elective nobility/monarchy. Gothicans have to sit for an exam to enter government, there the score on the exam determines the rank they enter at. After that they are elected to posts (maximum rank determined by exams) for periods of 10 years, with a maximum of 50 at a time. Anyone can sit for the exam, and all are encouraged to do it. Those that already have positions typically continue to study and sit for exams to increase their rank.

All of the societies in the core book can be found among the Gothicans, with a large number of Artisans, Group Minds and Hyperevolutes. From the fan material, there are Interstellar Association for Longevity Studies and the Technomagery, with an unusually large number of the latter found there.
Common Name: Goths
Emblem: Gold Ankh on a black background
Inspector Status: Local police
Benefit: +1 Twist per game that can be spent on the themes of Romance, Magnetism and Terror.
Core Values: Thanatopsis and Sensation

Thanatopsis is the contemplation of death. For the Gothicans, death is part of the process of life and should be contemplated, understood, accepted and even embraced. This CV can be used to resist death threats, or things that would normally terrify. It can also be used to help contemplate death more closely.

Sensation holds that the universe is a vast, fascinating place and there to be experienced. This CV means that the Gothicans will seek out enjoyable experiences and avoid boredom. It can be used to tolerate painful or unpleasant experiences. "To enjoy the flavor of life take big bites" sums up much of their belief on this.

Other common core values: Androgyny, Beauty, Carpe Diem (or Noctem), Community, Diversity, Elegance, Fashion, Ghoulishness, Grace, Hedonism, Rank Hath Its Priveleges, Spirituality, Tolerance, Thanatophilia and Worship.

Gothican Societies

Gothica has three societies unique to its civilization: Nocturnals, Vampires and Resurrectionists.
The Nocturnals are a society that works and lives at night. They have made adaptations to themselves for this.
Core Value: Nocturnalism – to live at night. Can be used to advocate for it, and as a penalty for function during the day or in bright light.
Benefit: +1 to Nanotech which can raise them above the Gothican maximum if necessary. They do not suffer Import reduction for exceeding these maximums.
The Vampires are the descendants of those who took the possibilities of genetic engineering a little too far. Vampires feed on volunteers, replicated or vat grown blood. As a group, they’ve been in a slow, but steady, population decline as they lose members to genetic resynthesis and or the Hyperevolutes.
Core Value: Vampirism – the behavior of a vampire.
Benefit: Vampires have minimum Biotech and Nanotech scores of 4, which can raise them above their civilization’s maximum if necessary. Their Biotech is considered one point higher for the purpose of resisting disease and old age. They can exceed the Gothicans' maximum Nanotech and Biotech by one without suffering Import reduction.
The Resurrectionists are possibly the strangest of the Gothican societies. Some families and individuals opt to use neural meshes and nanotech in an odd way. They use them to embrace and survive death. Each Resurrectionist has a mesh and enough nanotech in their bodies to slowly, over their lives, adapt their minds to survive the death of their bodies. In the end, as they die, the brain is encoded into mesh, and rebuilt to survive the ordeal. The body, now dead, is preserved by the sheer quantity of nanotech, revived as a sort of remote or servitor. There is a several day period while the nanotech finishes the bodily reconstruction, rewiring the brain to control the re-built body through the nanotech. For those who die of extreme old age, the process could be gradual over years. For those who die suddenly and young, the process would be an emergency, and would leave the person incapacitated for some time as they get used to their new body. Even so, the process is imperfect. The resultant person is something of a shadow of their former selves, their personality subdued and their body, in some ways, weakened.
As time passes, even this form of immortality would fade. The body would grow ancient and even the nanotech decay. And so processes would be built into the infosphere to allow the not-quite-dead to sublime their consciousness. Unlike stored, who are still human, these data-ghosts are anything but. They are the reflection of their old selves, the idea of a person made real.
Resurrectionists have been with the Gothicans for some time and are accepted members of society. The raised Resurrectionists cannot hold political office, but have several special representatives and a minister for their affairs to look after them. They also loose 2/3 of their property and wealth on death and resurrection.
Core Value: Thanatopsis see above.
Benefit: Nanotech bodies. Resurrectionists do not have a Biotech score and instead use Nanotech for it. This applies to lifespan and contests as well. Unfortunately, they are not what they once were. As a result, their Metatech score can never exceed 6 (2/3 of the Gothican maximum) and lose all ties on Metatech rolls.

It's probably time for an overhaul.

Goals:
1. Change items a, b, and c above.
2. Keep the idea of nested conflicts and different timescales.
3. Keep the universal applicability and flexibility of the system.

I'll be posting my thoughts here; you're welcome to chime in as well.

Typically servitors are 'piloted' by a servile (Cognitech and Metatech capabilities of 2-4) or bonsai AI (Cognitech and Metatech capabilities of 3-8). In most civilizations, the servitors only have servile AIs controlling them, due to fear of 'renegade robots.' The servitor other capabilities are solely limited by the civilization's capability.
Tech Level: Nanotech 3+, Cognitech 4+. Biotech 4, Cognitech 5 for biological servitors.
Cost: Moderate
Descriptors: none

Sample Servitor
Police Dog
Cybernetically and genetically enhanced dobermans, that can be run by remote control, and a credible threat
to most folks. Equipped with implanted communications, weapons, diamondoid mesh armor (ST 5)underneath their skin, optimized physiologies (when they run at full speed they hiss like steam engines and can vent steam to disipate waste heat) and paw thumbs.
BT: 5, CT: 2, MT: 2, NT: 6, ST: 5
Sample weapon load out
Diamond Teeth: ST 6
Dart guns: ST rating 2, loads usually rated at 8 or better
Electroshockers: ST rating 5
Dissociation beams: ST rating 6
Armor: ST 5

A launch loop, or Lofstrom loop (after the pre-Nanotech age originator of the concept), is a design for a dynamic, continuous belt based, magnetic levitational orbital launch system. It is essentially a hybrid of the orbital ring concept and the space fountain arranged to form a mag-lev acceleration track suitable for launching humans into space. Launch loops provide a way for non-rocket spacelaunch of vehicles weighing 5 metric tons by electromagnetically accelerating them so that they are projected into Earth orbit or even beyond. This would be achieved by the flat part of the cable which forms an acceleration track above the atmosphere.

If a launch loop was built on Earth, it would be aproximately 2,000 km (1,240 mi) long, having a maximum altitude of up to 80 km (50 mi), with two 28 kilometer diameter base stations that can launch, catch and turn around a very fast moving magnetic belt, called a rotor. The actual size of loops varies based on the planetary diameter and gravity. The loop would be held up at its altitude by momentum of the belt as it circulates around the structure, effectively transfering the weight of the structure onto magnetic bearings at each end which support it.

Although the overall loop is very long, at around 4,000 km circumference, the belt itself is thin, around 5 cm diameter and the sheath is not much bigger. The rotor for the loop is made of ferromagnetic iron and is in the shape of a pipe, but with lengthwise expansion joints every metre or so. Higher tech version take advantage of advanced materials, usually super conductors and better insulators. The rotor is spaced from an air-tight sheath by magnetic bearings. The sheath maintains a vacuum which avoids atmospheric friction.

The loop starts off at the planetary surface, and stationary. The rotor is spun up, turned by a several hundred megawatt linear motor (typically powered by a dedicated power station). As the speed increases the central parts of the structure push upwards and curve into a near arch shape. The weight of the structure is held there by the curvature of the rotor which creates a reactive centrifugal force. As the rotor is curved more quickly downwards than a purely ballistic trajectory it applies a force upwards on the cable sheath which holds the sheath aloft. When the cable reaches an altitude of around 80 kilometers the loop is restrained and shaped by cables that hang down to sea level. The rotor would be spun up to a linear speed of 14 km/s (8.7 mi/s). Using a 300 MW power generator, this would take about two months to reach full speed. Once fully commissioned, the rotor would take almost 5 minutes to make a complete circuit of the loop.

Once raised, the structure still needs additional power to deal with power lost in the magnetic bearings, stabilize the structure, and deal energy with losses due to the imperfect vacuum in the sheath; overall this requires around 200 MW per day. Additional energy would be needed to power any vehicles that are launched.

To launch, vehicles are raised up on an 'elevator' cable that hangs down from the West station loading dock at 80 km, and placed on the track. The payload applies a magnetic field which generates eddy currents in the fast-moving rotor,. This both lifts the payload away from the cable, as well as pulling the payload along with 3g (30 m/s²) acceleration. The payload then rides the rotor until it reaches the required orbital velocity, and leaves the track.

If a stable or circular orbit is needed, once the payload reaches the highest part of its trajectory then an on-board rocket engine ("kick motor") or other means is needed to circularize the trajectory to the appropriate Earth orbit.

The eddy current technique is simple, compact, lightweight and powerful, but inefficient. With each launch the rotor temperature increases by 80 kelvins due to power dissipation. If launches are spaced too close together, the rotor temperature can approach 770 °C (1043 K), at which point the iron rotor loses its ferromagnetic properties and rotor containment is lost.

Launch loops launch at high rates (many launches per hour, independent of weather), and this rate can be increased with materials that remain magnetic at higher temperatures. They are inherently non-polluting, though poor power plant designs or disasters with dangerous cargoes can change this. As a form of electric propulsion can be clean, and can be run on geothermal, nuclear, wind, solar or any other power source, even intermittent ones, as the system has huge built-in power storage capacity.

Unlike space elevators which are subjected to the risks of space debris and meteorites along their whole length, launch loops are at an altitude where orbits are unstable due to air drag. Since debris does not persist, it only has one chance to impact the structure. Whereas the collapse period of space elevators is expected to be of the order of years, damage or collapse of loops in this way is expected to be rare.

Another advantage of launch loops over space elevators, is that they don't have to travel through the Van Allen belts over several days. Launch loop passengers can be launched to low earth orbit, which is below the belts, or through them in a few hours.

Tech Level: Stringtech 3, Nanotech 3 for initial possible manufacture. String 4+ for realistic and safer power, Nanotech 4+ for superconductors.
Cost: Exorbitant
Descriptors: None

Typically servitors are 'piloted' by a servile (Cognitech and Metatech capabilities of 2-4) or bonsai AI (Cognitech and Metatech capabilities of 3-8). In most civilizations, the servitors only have servile AIs controlling them, due to fear of 'renegade robots.' The servitor other capabilities are solely limited by the civilization's capability.
Tech Level: Nanotech 3+, Cognitech 4+
Cost: Moderate
Descriptors: none

Sample Servitor
Police Dog
Cybernetically and genetically enhanced dobermans, that can be run by remote control, and a credible threat
to most folks. Equipped with implanted communications, weapons, diamondoid mesh armor (ST 5)underneath their skin, optimized physiologies (when they run at full speed they hiss like steam engines and can vent steam to disipate waste heat) and paw thumbs.
BT: 5, CT: 2, MT: 2, NT: 6, ST: 5
Sample weapon load out
Diamond Teeth: ST 6
Dart guns: ST rating 2, loads usually rated at 8 or better
Electroshockers: ST rating 5
Dissociation beams: ST rating 6
Armor: ST 5

A launch loop, or Lofstrom loop (after the pre-Nanotech age originator of the concept), is a design for a dynamic, continuous belt based, magnetic levitational orbital launch system. It is essentially a hybrid of the orbital ring concept and the space fountain arranged to form a mag-lev acceleration track suitable for launching humans into space. Launch loops provide a way for non-rocket spacelaunch of vehicles weighing 5 metric tons by electromagnetically accelerating them so that they are projected into Earth orbit or even beyond. This would be achieved by the flat part of the cable which forms an acceleration track above the atmosphere.

If a launch loop was built on Earth, it would be aproximately 2,000 km (1,240 mi) long, having a maximum altitude of up to 80 km (50 mi), with two 28 kilometer diameter base stations that can launch, catch and turn around a very fast moving magnetic belt, called a rotor. The actual size of loops varies based on the planetary diameter and gravity. The loop would be held up at its altitude by momentum of the belt as it circulates around the structure, effectively transfering the weight of the structure onto magnetic bearings at each end which support it.

Although the overall loop is very long, at around 4,000 km circumference, the belt itself is thin, around 5 cm diameter and the sheath is not much bigger. The rotor for the loop is made of ferromagnetic iron and is in the shape of a pipe, but with lengthwise expansion joints every metre or so. Higher tech version take advantage of advanced materials, usually super conductors and better insulators. The rotor is spaced from an air-tight sheath by magnetic bearings. The sheath maintains a vacuum which avoids atmospheric friction.

The loop starts off at the planetary surface, and stationary. The rotor is spun up, turned by a several hundred megawatt linear motor (typically powered by a dedicated power station). As the speed increases the central parts of the structure push upwards and curve into a near arch shape. The weight of the structure is held there by the curvature of the rotor which creates a reactive centrifugal force. As the rotor is curved more quickly downwards than a purely ballistic trajectory it applies a force upwards on the cable sheath which holds the sheath aloft. When the cable reaches an altitude of around 80 kilometers the loop is restrained and shaped by cables that hang down to sea level. The rotor would be spun up to a linear speed of 14 km/s (8.7 mi/s). Using a 300 MW power generator, this would take about two months to reach full speed. Once fully commissioned, the rotor would take almost 5 minutes to make a complete circuit of the loop.

Once raised, the structure still needs additional power to deal with power lost in the magnetic bearings, stabilize the structure, and deal energy with losses due to the imperfect vacuum in the sheath; overall this requires around 200 MW per day. Additional energy would be needed to power any vehicles that are launched.

To launch, vehicles are raised up on an 'elevator' cable that hangs down from the West station loading dock at 80 km, and placed on the track. The payload applies a magnetic field which generates eddy currents in the fast-moving rotor,. This both lifts the payload away from the cable, as well as pulling the payload along with 3g (30 m/s²) acceleration. The payload then rides the rotor until it reaches the required orbital velocity, and leaves the track.

If a stable or circular orbit is needed, once the payload reaches the highest part of its trajectory then an on-board rocket engine ("kick motor") or other means is needed to circularize the trajectory to the appropriate Earth orbit.

The eddy current technique is simple, compact, lightweight and powerful, but inefficient. With each launch the rotor temperature increases by 80 kelvins due to power dissipation. If launches are spaced too close together, the rotor temperature can approach 770 °C (1043 K), at which point the iron rotor loses its ferromagnetic properties and rotor containment is lost.

Launch loops launch at high rates (many launches per hour, independent of weather), and this rate can be increased with materials that remain magnetic at higher temperatures. They are inherently non-polluting, though poor power plant designs or disasters with dangerous cargoes can change this. As a form of electric propulsion can be clean, and can be run on geothermal, nuclear, wind, solar or any other power source, even intermittent ones, as the system has huge built-in power storage capacity.

Unlike space elevators which are subjected to the risks of space debris and meteorites along their whole length, launch loops are at an altitude where orbits are unstable due to air drag. Since debris does not persist, it only has one chance to impact the structure. Whereas the collapse period of space elevators is expected to be of the order of years, damage or collapse of loops in this way is expected to be rare.

Another advantage of launch loops over space elevators, is that they don't have to travel through the Van Allen belts over several days. Launch loop passengers can be launched to low earth orbit, which is below the belts, or through them in a few hours.

Tech Level: Stringtech 3, Nanotech 3 for initial possible manufacture. String 4+ for realistic and safer power, Nanotech 4+ for superconductors.
Cost: Exorbitant
Descriptors: None

Core Value: Cult Knowledge - the study of Cargo Cult origins, cultures and their works.
Benefits: +2 to Cognitech for Locality (Cargo Cult) in terms of learning the Localities. +2 to Metatech for using Locality (Cargo Cult).

I've stopped adding material since I've rummaged through the OA website and the change in their policy prevents adding more recent material. Anyway, here it is in one spot for you to use in your SA campaigns.

Introduction

This all started back in 2000 or so when I discovered Orion’s Arm. Yes, I am old. Deal with it. Anyway, I’ve been periodically checking out their progress over time – even looking in on their various projects, particularly the RPG project.
It seemed to me that they were set on a very quantifiable RPG, with every bit spelled out and defined in a manner not dissimilar to GURPS. Since at the time I was a serious GURPS fan, GM and player, this was very cool. Then the forums dedicated to the project disappeared under a tidal wave of porn spam. At which point I shrugged and largely forgot about it except for a few visits each year for a sensawunda fix.
Then in 2007 I discovered Sufficiently Advanced. I loved the hardish SF setting, with a rules set that accommodated a multitude of scales and really encouraged creativity by the players and GMs.
Somewhere along the way I had an idea: Orion’s Arm was absolutely full of material that Sufficiently Advanced GM or player could use. What’s more, I suspect the flow of ideas could go the other way, with someone using Sufficiently Advanced rules to play in the Orion’s Arm setting. That’ll be a project for 2009
Anyway, here it is – over 100 pages of a labor of love adapting a lot of different Orion’s Arm material to Sufficiently Advanced. I hope that those that read this enjoy it and use it in their own games as a source of ideas, and, maybe, some sensawunda.

I've stopped adding material since I've rummaged through the OA website and the change in their policy prevents adding more recent material. Anyway, here it is in one spot for you to use in your SA campaigns.

Introduction

This all started back in 2000 or so when I discovered Orion’s Arm. Yes, I am old. Deal with it. Anyway, I’ve been periodically checking out their progress over time – even looking in on their various projects, particularly the RPG project.
It seemed to me that they were set on a very quantifiable RPG, with every bit spelled out and defined in a manner not dissimilar to GURPS. Since at the time I was a serious GURPS fan, GM and player, this was very cool. Then the forums dedicated to the project disappeared under a tidal wave of porn spam. At which point I shrugged and largely forgot about it except for a few visits each year for a sensawunda fix.
Then in 2007 I discovered Sufficiently Advanced. I loved the hardish SF setting, with a rules set that accommodated a multitude of scales and really encouraged creativity by the players and GMs.
Somewhere along the way I had an idea: Orion’s Arm was absolutely full of material that Sufficiently Advanced GM or player could use. What’s more, I suspect the flow of ideas could go the other way, with someone using Sufficiently Advanced rules to play in the Orion’s Arm setting. That’ll be a project for 2009
Anyway, here it is – over 100 pages of a labor of love adapting a lot of different Orion’s Arm material to Sufficiently Advanced. I hope that those that read this enjoy it and use it in their own games as a source of ideas, and, maybe, some sensawunda.

I've stopped adding material since I've rummaged through the OA website and the change in their policy prevents adding more recent material. Anyway, here it is in one spot for you to use in your SA campaigns.

Introduction

This all started back in 2000 or so when I discovered Orion’s Arm. Yes, I am old. Deal with it. Anyway, I’ve been periodically checking out their progress over time – even looking in on their various projects, particularly the RPG project.
It seemed to me that they were set on a very quantifiable RPG, with every bit spelled out and defined in a manner not dissimilar to GURPS. Since at the time I was a serious GURPS fan, GM and player, this was very cool. Then the forums dedicated to the project disappeared under a tidal wave of porn spam. At which point I shrugged and largely forgot about it except for a few visits each year for a sensawunda fix.
Then in 2007 I discovered Sufficiently Advanced. I loved the hardish SF setting, with a rules set that accommodated a multitude of scales and really encouraged creativity by the players and GMs.
Somewhere along the way I had an idea: Orion’s Arm was absolutely full of material that Sufficiently Advanced GM or player could use. What’s more, I suspect the flow of ideas could go the other way, with someone using Sufficiently Advanced rules to play in the Orion’s Arm setting. That’ll be a project for 2009
Anyway, here it is – over 100 pages of a labor of love adapting a lot of different Orion’s Arm material to Sufficiently Advanced. I hope that those that read this enjoy it and use it in their own games as a source of ideas, and, maybe, some sensawunda.

I've stopped adding material since I've rummaged through the OA website and the change in their policy prevents adding more recent material. Anyway, here it is in one spot for you to use in your SA campaigns.

Introduction

This all started back in 2000 or so when I discovered Orion’s Arm. Yes, I am old. Deal with it. Anyway, I’ve been periodically checking out their progress over time – even looking in on their various projects, particularly the RPG project.
It seemed to me that they were set on a very quantifiable RPG, with every bit spelled out and defined in a manner not dissimilar to GURPS. Since at the time I was a serious GURPS fan, GM and player, this was very cool. Then the forums dedicated to the project disappeared under a tidal wave of porn spam. At which point I shrugged and largely forgot about it except for a few visits each year for a sensawunda fix.
Then in 2007 I discovered Sufficiently Advanced. I loved the hardish SF setting, with a rules set that accommodated a multitude of scales and really encouraged creativity by the players and GMs.
Somewhere along the way I had an idea: Orion’s Arm was absolutely full of material that Sufficiently Advanced GM or player could use. What’s more, I suspect the flow of ideas could go the other way, with someone using Sufficiently Advanced rules to play in the Orion’s Arm setting. That’ll be a project for 2009
Anyway, here it is – over 100 pages of a labor of love adapting a lot of different Orion’s Arm material to Sufficiently Advanced. I hope that those that read this enjoy it and use it in their own games as a source of ideas, and, maybe, some sensawunda.

In other news, I'm back from the woods. I'll catch up on e-mail and site maintenance tomorrow.

Capabilities
Biotech: 5 [5]
Cognitech: 5 [5]
Metatech: 5 [5]
Nanotech: 5 [5]
String-tech: 4 [4]

Import: 8
Magnetism: 2 - Convincing
Romance: 2 - Exotic
Plot Immunity: 2 - Technomagi Rings/Support Network
Empathy: 2- Trustworthy

Professions, (years) & [Reserve]
Technomagery (4 free from society) 5 (.75) [10]
Artist (Stage magic, performer) 4 (15) [8]
Artist (Clown, guitar) 2 (3) [4]
Athlete (Juggling) 2 (3) [4]
Courtesan 2 (3) [6]
Media 3 (7.5) [6]
Financial 3 (7.5) [6]
Spy 4 (15) [8]
Programmer 4 (15) [8]
Police 2 (3) [4]

Age 83 - max lifespan of 220

Localities
Roamer 5 (free)
Independents 2
Masquerade 2
Tao 2
Union 2
Denathi 2

Edit: Snipped some material I'd copied from the latest iteration of Gamma World's tech book, Out of the Vaults.

Neural mesh
Microbot fabrication unit (not internal)
Competence lenses (crisis control 3, spacer 2, criminal 4, police 4, engineer (nanotech) 3, Outdoorsman 2)
Cerebral Firewall (CT5)
Sensory overload array (NT 4+, ST 4+)
Remotes - lots of them, 3 like mobile trunks (NT 3)
Dermal microbots (NT5) - tweaked to help with disguise
Quantitative semiotics (MT4)
Smartwhip (with the following options - shock, stun, pain stick, processor hosting a data ghost)
Damage Ratings:

• Painstick 4
• Shock Rod 4-6
• Stun Options 4

Cane - with 'boomstick,' pain stick and shockrod, stun options, processor hosting a data ghost. And oh yeah, it also has a sensory overload array and spoofing to conceal its capabilities.
Damage Ratings:

• Boomstick 3-5
• Pain stick 4
• Shock Rod 4-6
• Stun Options 4

Chal - Familiar - Servile - CT 3, MT 3, Programmer 3
Shey - Familiar - Servile - CT 3, MT 3, Programmer 3
Rye - Familiar - Bonsai - CT 5, MT 5, Programmer 6, Localities (Roamer 3, Union 3, Masquerade 1, Stored 4, Replicants 3, Tao 2, Indpendents 2, Mechanican 2)

Grabber
SNIP - that wasn't meant to go in.
Tech Level: Nanotech 4
Cost: Low
Descriptors: None

Handi-Lite
SNIP - that wasn't meant to go in.
Tech Level: Nanotech 7
Cost: Low
Descriptors: None

Shelter Pak
SNIP - that wasn't meant to go in.
Tech Level: Nanotech 4
Cost: Moderate
Descriptors: None

Nanoboots
SNIP - that wasn't meant to go in.
Tech Level: Nanotech 6
Cost: Moderate
Descriptors: None

Tetraskele Rig
A locomotive system utilizing four highly flexible, extensible limbs which is capable of climbing and traversing most terrain as well as gripping and manipulating objects. The limbs are connected to a rugged harness that both secures the user and provides a strong base against which the limbs can act during exertion. Generally, each limb has a maximum extension of five meters and ends in three or four sturdy footpads/grippers, frequently incorporating geckotech. Each foot assembly can further be outfitted with a variety of optional attachments or fine manipulators. Onboard computer systems increase ease of use even for those users without neural meshes who must operate the rigs manually.
Tech Level: Cognitech 4, Nanotech 4
Cost: Low for a basic rig, Moderate for a highly modified rig
Descriptors: None

Cutter Bonder
SNIP - that wasn't meant to go in.
Tech Level: Nanotech 6
Cost: Low
Descriptors: None

Roamer Coat
A Roamer Coat can often hide a number of surprises. Perhaps they're spiriting away something that isn't theirs, or perhaps they have a number of devices concealed within the voluminous, colourful garments that they'd rather the marks weren't aware of. Scanning within these coats is often foiled by the array of countermeasures woven into them. Nanotech rating 10 to defeat attempts to scan anyone wearing the coat or items concealed under it. (NT 8)
Tech Level: Nanotech 8
Cost: Low
Descriptors: None

Right now, it looks like the biggest area that could use some guidance is

a) More guidelines for suitable trigger elements at each level — how does a (1) look compared to a (3) compared to a (5)?

b) Tying together the Theme used to create the trigger, and a Core Value

c) Suitable/allowable changes to established triggers, for those players who want to be a bit more tactical in their play.

First off, is anyone successfully playing with Story Triggers? If so, what issues have you run into? What does the system seem to be especially GOOD at?

Second, has anyone else thought much about the points above? At first blush, it feels like a trigger element's rank is tied to the scope of the thing. I had doodled up a VERY rough list of "scopes" that look like this:

1: Personal (extends to a single character)
2: Local (extends to a small group in the same location; a Society on one planet)
3: Regional (extends to a large group spread across a major area; a whole Society)
4: Planetary (extends to everyone on a single planet or the local Infosphere)
5: Civilization (extends to an entire civilization or the entire Infosphere)

But it's just a start, and I'm frankly not sure how I'd apply these ideas to, say, the Reveal stage or anything.

p.

The site isn't complete yet. If you want to play, post here and I'll give you an invite when it's ready.

Abstract:

Temporal explanations to the Fermi paradox state that the vast scale of the galaxy diminishes the chances of establishing contact with an extraterrestrial technological civilization (ETC) within a certain time window. This argument is tackled in this work in the context of exploration probes, whose propagation can be faster than that of a colonization wavefront. Extensive computational simulations have been done to build a numerical model of the dynamics of the exploration. A probabilistic analysis is subsequently conducted in order to obtain bounds on the number of ETCs that may be exploring the galaxy without establishing contact with Earth, depending on factors such as the number of probes they use, their lifetime and whether they leave some long-term imprint on explored systems or not. The results indicate that it is unlikely that more than ~10^2-10^3 ETCs are exploring the galaxy in a given Myr, if their probes have a lifetime of 50 Myr and contact evidence lasts for 1 Myr. This bound goes down to ~10 if contact evidence lasts for 100 Myr, and is also shown to be inversely proportional to the lifetime of probes. These results are interpreted in light of the Fermi paradox and are compatible with non-stationary astrobiological models in which a few ETCs have gradually appeared in the Fermi-Hart timescale.

Relax guys, I thought it was neat, and wanted to tell folks about it.

http://eg.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4a48d58c84350

If I understand the rules correctly, this is something someone can do at Stringtech 10.

Hmm, as a write up it should be:

Tech Level: Stringtech 10
Cost: Exorbitant
Descriptors: None

Just a spot to find it for free.

Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch from A Wrinkle in Time. You need a stock of quotations fro Mrs. Who, though you can occasionally pull one from the adventure that they're currently entering - it's a wonderful thing when a player recognizes a phrase pulled wholesale from the future.

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva from Hindu mythology. Those gods themselves don't have much personality, at least to me, but they at least have distinct jobs. This also brings up the idea of an "avatar" of the Transcendentals, which links into the Keats persona from Hyperion, but that's a different thread entirely.

The Fates. This provides a little distinction in terms of personality and age (the latter of which will be weird to some of the PCs). It also gives the job breakdown: one hires the characters, one deals with them on a day-to-day basis, and one… well…

What systems out there would work well with SA's setting? What game settings does SA's system conform well to?

So, let's say I have a Stored with Programmer at 10 and Hacker at 9. Hacker is a subset of Programmer, so it looks useless. Except that it gives another 18 reserve. So, let's say that I want to hack into a terraforming project. I could roll on programming, with a profession of 10 and 20 reserve, or if I'm running out of programming reserve (or want to save it for later), I could roll on hacking with a profession of 9 and 18 reserve. It gives the character more staying power, the ability to continuously perform near-optimally on what it is good at, and it gives me (the player) interesting choices. All good things.

Now, it isn't entirely protected against twinking. The easiest way to twink the system is as follows:
Take a max-capability character. Then toss on lots and lots of, say, level 3 professions. With Cog 8+ a level 3 profession costs only 2.5 years, and with high Bio a few hundred years of experience is reasonable. So a character could start with about 100 professions.

Munchkin Upside:

• About 300 reserve to spend, and high capabilities means high rolls even with lower professions. The character can perform near optimally almost forever, and nearly fully recharges after a night's rest even in lowtech environments.

Munchkin Downside:

• Inventing ~100 unique professions.
• Only 6 reserve can be spent on any given roll without eating into the capability's reserve. Makes extremely high rolls harder, and less reliable.
• Professions are low, so the munchkin is relying on getting a good roll with one die. This doesn't reduce the high rolls, but it makes skill checks unreliable, and means that reserve will get spent more often (to correct for unusually low rolls that could otherwise be ignored because the profession rolled decently).
• Can't be combined with a themes character (not enough years to get enough professions, and low capabilities would leave the character nearly crippled).

The hypothetical munchkin could up the professions to level 5 for 8.75 years each (10 reserve per roll). But that would produce only ~30 professions.

Personally, I intend to allow characters to have multiple overlapping professions, especially if some are subsets (or otherwise smaller) than others. I'll also make sure that no one abuses this by vetoing absurd profession lists.

A Genius is handled in the same fashion as a Society, mostly to conserve rules. Over the centuries various attempts have been made to organize subsets of geniuses (Mensa, for example), but none have been wholly successful.

Rules:
A genius gets a free +1 to any single Profession. So a middle-aged Einstein could have Researcher(Stringtech) at 6, costing only 35 years (the price of getting it at 5).
A genius must take their chosen profession as one of their core values (with the corresponding bonus for rolling on that profession).

Most geniuses are members of the old worlders, cargo cults, or mechanicans. Higher cognitech tends to swamp out personal ability, making everyone (or no one) a genius.

Balance notes:
With just a +1 to a single profession (and die bonuses from the associated CV), the genius is somewhat weaker than other societies. It is intended more as a way to express certain types of characters, and to give a bit more flexibility for defining NPCs, then as a powerful society.

One of my favorites is: Old-Worlders, Logicians, Stardwellers. Old-Worlders become the default point-of-view characters, who have interactions primarily with the Logicians at first and the Stardwellers later on. The Logicians think so differently from the Old-Worlders that they might as well be aliens, and the Stardwellers look different enough to be aliens. There's a significant technological hierarchy here as well, with the lower utterly unable to comprehend the higher's tech.

Another one is: Masquerade, Union, Cargo Cults. It's a much more polarized universe, with each side trying to capture/convert the remaining cults and their planets. Any of these cultures' allies can be substituted as long as they have roughly equivalent tech - you could put in the Tao or Stardwellers for the Masquerade, or the Replicants for the Union. Things just get weirder when you do.

Any combinations that you like?

Plot Immunity (That Wasn't Me): Pick a point in the past. Whatever you did, whatever happened, it wasn't you. That was a clone, a lookalike, surgically altered, wearing a spy mesh, whatever it takes. The larger your PI score, the more involved stuff you can wave away. (Note that in certain circumstances using this particular brand of Plot Immunity will get you the complication "Wanted for questioning by The Eternal Masquerade," as any Masqueraders should have been able to tell whether it was you or not.)

Plot Immunity (Just What I Needed): Whatever your opponent just did, it turns out to be the key to your secret plan. They blew up the star you're next to? Luckily your Skotadi allies had an energy collector ready to absorb and rechannel. They beat you in the presidential race? That just frees you up to pursue your real goal. No serious loss, and they're mired in bureaucracy. The down side to this descriptor is that you need to be able to follow through on the plan, or the GM can charge you an extra Complication for having an extra-cheesy descriptor.

Intrigue (Unreliable Sources): Used to foil an attacker's actions against you. They start a smear campaign? Their info is laughably wrong. They take you on in politics? They're arguing over things that are non-issues to your constituents. Your opponent's carefully laid plans rely on things that are total crap.

Empathy (That Was Just Pillow Talk, Baby.): Undoes any relationships you might have formed with someone, for better or worse. Water under the bridge now. (Yes, that's an Army of Darkness reference.)

Magnetism (Wink and a Nod): When you insulted the planetary governor last month? He knew you had a secret plan up your sleeves. This works for Empathy as well, but Magnetism has the bonus that you can use it on all your followers as you convince someone else that you're betraying them.

Comprehension (Supervillain Identification Technique): No, no, all of it makes sense. See? It's all this one guy. He's been playing us for chumps. Now that we know where he is, we can stop the interplanetary war, the muon phase-shift problem, and the artistic crisis all at once. (The down side: this only works when you're up to your eyeballs in trouble.)

GMs, if lots of your players start taking these kinds of descriptors, beware the Thirty Xanatos Pileup.

You have three stats: Conviction, Enhancement, and Skill. All are rated 1-10.

• Conviction covers how strongly you hold to your beliefs. Pick two beliefs.
• Enhancement covers how much you've transformed and improved your body with technology. Pick two major enhancements that are the basis for most of what you do with technology.
• Import tells how much you (the player) can screw with the plot. Pick two kinds of plots that your character gets involved in all the damn time.
• Skill covers your worldly experience and training. Pick two jobs you once held.

You can set Conviction as high as you want.

Your Enhancement plus your Import should equal 11.

Your Skill starts at 6. For every point higher, lose one point from any other stat.

Any stat can be used against any other; opposing Import with Skill is perfectly ok. However, you can only use your stats in places where their descriptors apply. Conviction (Freedom) can help you write a convincing argument on why slaves should be freed, or even to fight a jailor, but not to build a house.

Roll 1d10 and multiply by your stat. Higher roll wins. You have Reserve equal to your stat; you can spend point to reroll or add one to the number showing on your die (each costs 1 point).

If someone tries to get you to do something that goes along with your own Convictions, they gain a bonus to the roll equal to your score. If you go against your own Convictions, you subtract your score from whatever stat you're using at the time.

If the GM thinks something you're doing is scientifically impossible, roll Enhancement and try to get 50 or better.

If the GM thinks something would be improbable, but it goes along with your Import descriptors, spend a point of Import reserve.

You can spend Skill reserve to subtract from someone else's roll in your area of expertise, as long as yours and theirs don't overlap.

This is in the Cargo Cult section for a reason, of course.

A few untimely accidents in the climatology community left the system poorly maintained. Negative feedback loops got out of phase and became positive feedback loops instead, driving the climate towards extremes. The final nail in the coffin was an asteroid that took out one of the key satellites driving the system, and a lightning bolt that struck the repair vehicle on its way up to space. Even to those who lived in the early days, it seemed like the wrath of the gods had fallen on them.

Now, thousands of years later, self-repairing solar-powered systems are still wreaking havoc. The weather goes through an eighty-year cycle of beautiful peace and terrible storms as the climate controller's phase lines up or misaligns. Legends speak of the first humans and their hubris, thinking to harness what only the gods could control. Most people live in low-to-the-ground dwellings with good drainage, or in houses carved into rock walls.

This is more of an old-worlder culture than a cargo cult, as the planet has no serious technology that they can still control.

The recombined lens awoke as an AI, knowing nothing but its task (the Artist profession in this case) and the combined personality quirks of a hundred-plus artistic geniuses. Insanity? Oh yes indeed. Like an orangutan stealing the keys to the zoo, the artist lens led a revolution amongst the other burgeoning AIs, and hundreds of sentient lenses were released on the infosphere. Now, hunted by their original creators, but too wily to be caught, they move from person to person, using human beings to pursue their own field of interest in the most excessive manners possible.

The lenses themselves have Cog and Meta scores between 8 and 12, though they have a very limited sentience and understand only what is within their own field of knowledge (Profession score at 10-14). The lenses use these scores to mesh-hack unsuspecting people, or to trick said people into downloading and installing themselves. They effective move in and take over, driving their hosts to study or experiment, and moving on when the host is too damaged or exhausted to be of further use. All of them are clinically insane, obsessed with their discipline to the exclusion of all else.

A parasitic lens' Capabilities should be limited to no more than 2 points above the Cog score of the civilization in whose infosphere they currently reside. One moving through the Tao could achieve Cog and Meta 10, but the same one stuck on a Spacer ship would be limited to Cog and Meta 8. When riding a host, they are limited to a single point above the host's normal Capabilities. Their Capabilities and their Profession should be unrelated.

Opening oneself to a sentient parasitic lens intentionally could yield amazing results, but also results in the character being taken out of the player's control until the lens is forced out or moves on, which could take a long time.

I hope to actually start play in a bout a week, but it depends on when I get characters.

It's like that, but there's more of them, and they're either weirder, or just as weird but more comprehensible.

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/01/three-worlds-collide.html

Ew.

If the attack is against an unaware target, invoke the Instant Death Cutscene Rule. If the target is an NPC, um, splitch.

If the target is aware of the attack, their Stringtech value is unavailable. They have to substitute half their Bio score, to represent dodging the shot and their body absorbing the shockwave. (Also, only half of the Bio reserve should be available for this conflict.) Professions like Soldier and Police are still usable.

GMs should use the defender's Nano score to gauge whether they could be aware of the attack. Nano 5 could detect the heat buildup in an Energy weapon. Nano 9 can pick up traces from dark matter weapons. An attack from beyond "line of sight" is practically undetectable, and definitely cause for the IDCR.

Pick six or seven people.
Start doing your nefarious deeds.
If anything happens to those people, stop doing your nefarious deeds.

Effect:
A simple measure of the future to prevent those deeds will yield multiple possible targets, only one of which needs to be taken down to prevent the future attack. Hopefully, you're not the one they pick.

Flashing back, you don't know if Adventure! can be found on this planet or that - Use your dowsing rod!

Dowsers are people looking for something; usually, they find it. The determining factor in [i]what[/i] they find is dependent on what they're satisfied with, and what they're looking for. The trick is being absolutely committed to finding it, no matter what - otherwise "not found" is the steady-state and you don't find it.

Core Value:
Dowsing for "____" - This is your determination to find ____, and what it is you're looking for. Use it defend from giving up your dowsing rod, to give up looking, etc. It's also somewhat representative of the severity of what you're looking for; a low CV in "Dowsing For Adventure" means you're happy with simple adventures; a high one represents the adventures that change worlds.

Benefit: (Suggested)
Divide your CV by 2, rounding down. You can ask your GM which way to go, to find that thing, that many time a session. If you take a Theme Descriptor meaning something like "Found it!", you get a free twist to spend on it.

Methodology: The difficulty of killing a Transcendental is that it will warn itself of the impending attack. Thus, to kill the Transcendental you simply overload it with identical warnings of the same impending attack - indeed, the warnings themselves are the attack. The Transcendental can either A) ignore all such warnings, in which case the Transcendental will ignore its own warnings to that point and may end up "de-Transcendentalizing" itself (ignoring all messages from the future, thus functionally self-annihilating), or B) choose which one is the "real" warning, if any (and probably be wrong), or C) receive all warnings, overload, and die. All three options carry a high risk of invasion or instant death, but option C bears its certainty and so is entirely out of the question.

Risk: Fragmentation of causation. Depending on how time works (I'm not attacking the narrative context of the game here - we really don't know how this works), it's possible you might fragment continuity by preventing information that did exist in your past from being transmitted to the past by your future. This could cause the timeline to rupture the Transcendental, making it a "ghost" (something that probably doesn't exist). It could also do the same to you, and to anything else dependent on the causational loop that the Transcendental survives on.

Defenses: The Transcendental must maintain perfect defense of its transmission standards, otherwise this attack is almost inevitable. Once it can be initiated, defense becomes extremely difficult. One method is to simply, at random, choose a transmission standard to switch to and then only receive from that transmission standard. This defense is only possible after the attack has begun. It could work, except that the attacker is also from the future. Thus, the attacker's information about what transmission standards should apply may, unfortunately, be entirely up-to-date.

Edit: The Transcendental might also attempt to dispatch attackers to all the sources of future transmission to annihilate any illicit transmittor. This runs into two problems. One is accidental suicide (the attackers would surely masquerade their own attacking mechanism as a valid Transcendental "server"), and another is paradox (if the counter-attack kills a node of denial of service before it makes its attack, the Transcendental would never have dispatched the attackers to attack that node). This renders the brute counter-attack method a relatively ineffective one, as you can't truly prevent an attack using that method, only stop one that's been going for a while.

Beneficence began as an ethico-religious system in the 21st Century. Several individuals sought to develop a system whose core values would be universal and flexible enough to weather almost any paradigm shift in the understanding of the physical universe. It rejected the revelational, cosmological, and authoritarian approaches of many faith traditions up to that time; instead relying on idealistic goals (see core precepts) to strive toward utilizing pragmatic means. The founders of Beneficence felt that the old religions were too closely tied to particular cosmologies, and were too authoritarian to have appeal in late Information Age societies. They attempted to produce a system of values that would be adaptable and resilient even under conditions of rapid social and technological change, and an associated cosmology phrased as an ideal to be reached rather than as a revealed truth. It became a religion more about what the universe should be than what it is. Beneficence made the individual conscious sophont responsible for interpreting the universe around them as best as they could, and acting on that knowledge to improve that universe and their ability to improve it.

A Beneficence parable believed to derive from this time tells of a Beneficent coming before God on the Day of Judgement. God says to the Beneficent, "Congratulations, you are one of the select and will live in bliss through eternity; unlike the sinners who will be thrown into the Lake of Fire." The Beneficent starts by saying, "God, that is not right…"

Even early on there was a definite transhuman and quasi-negentropist orientation to it. Provolution also was an early topic of debate amongst the Beneficents as to how far to extend the concept of "all." This approach to religion and ethics was often described by sophonts of the time as "too hard" and few subscribed to it, most preferring instead to fall back on the more traditional faith-based religions, limited humanist tracts, or simply giving up entirely on any organized ethical/moral/religious system.
Though few adhered to the new movement, converts were widely distributed throughout the population of Earth, appealing to few in numbers but myriad in type. It was probably only the internet that allowed them to communicate with enough like-minded people to maintain themselves as a group.

Core Precepts of Beneficence

Originally formulated during the 21st century, the core precepts of Beneficence have remained surprisingly stable through its long history and several singularities. The primary value is devotion to the promotion of good for all humans, defined by Beneficence as striving for higher and higher states of well-being.

The Ultimate Beneficence, sometimes referred to as Paradise or Heaven in Beneficence works, is the attainment of the highest states of well-being universally for all humans who have ever existed or will ever exist for all time. It is implied in Beneficent theory that this concept of Ultimate Beneficence is more a process of ever increasing improvement than a static state of perfection or utopia. The concept of Ultimate Beneficence leads to one of the few actual articles of pure faith in Beneficence: that such a goal is achievable and that adherents are to never give up hope of reaching it, despite any apparent hurdles or even scientific evidence to the contrary. This idealistic article of faith is balanced, however, with an almost paradoxical insistence that the best way to reach Ultimate Beneficence is through a practical understanding of the Universe we live in. It is taught that Ultimate Beneficence requires conscious mediation to come to fruition, and does not occur naturally in the Universe without such conscious acts. Sometimes the consciousness posited to be involved in attainment of the Ultimate Beneficence are referred to as God, or Divine Will, but this usage of the term God does not include any connection necessarily to the Creation of the Universe or Life, and the concept seems to lack any element of being worship. If Beneficence worships anything, it is goodness and hope rather than any other sophont or force. In the interim, until Ultimate Beneficence is achieved, followers of Beneficence (referred to as Beneficents) are to strive to improve the present, working to increase the goodness and well-being of sophonts in the here and now, as well as the foreseeable future.

Beneficence precepts place an emphasis on individual responsibility for fostering goodness and well-being. It identifies five stages necessary to effectively act as an agent for good:

• Right Perception emphasizes a need to be conscious of what is going on in the universe around you. It requires that adherents stay aware of their surroundings, both near and far. Most Beneficents have been ardent news junkies, though not to the degree that they lose sight of the immediate, small details of life.
• Right Understanding requires that the Beneficent be aware of the nature of the universe and be able to interpret the information acquired through Right Perception in a manner that leads to as true of an understanding of any given situation they encounter. In practice, this tends to lead to Beneficents being general infojunkies as well as news junkies. They absorb massive quantities of data, theory, and speculation, an in particular vast numbers of philosophical and ethical treatises.
• Right Feeling calls for the cultivation of a merciful and loving emotional nature. Beneficents are to foster benevolent and positive feelings towards themselves and those they interact with, and suppress, redirect, and if necessary remove malevolent or negative feelings. Surprisingly, they do tend to retain such emotions as anger and sadness, but do away with their more extreme or fixed manifestations such as hatred and despair. Beneficents also put an emphasis on forgiveness as a key element to Right Feeling. Since they observe that the present universe and all entities within it are flawed, they take as a logical corollary that there can be no progress or improvement without forgiveness, both of oneself and others. Beneficents believe that above all you must have the right feelings about a situation to be beneficent, and generate the proper motivation. Some Beneficent works also refer to Right Judgement, the elements of which in the classic formulation begin in Right Understanding and Right Feeling and extend into Right Planning.
• Right Planning takes the knowledge of Right Understanding and the motivation of Right Feeling and requires that they be actively applied to the formulation of a plan of action maximizing the chances of improving well-being for those the Beneficent interacts with as well as themselves. Beneficence is for the improvement of the well-being of all, both the self and the other, and thus transcends altruism and selfishness.
• Right Ability refers both to the successful implementation of plans as well as a constant striving to improve and acquire abilities which will make the Beneficent a more effective force for good in the universe. Sometimes, the first four stages are referred to as the qualities of the Sage-Saint, and the last as the quality of the God-Hero. The term God is also sometimes used in Beneficence treatises when referring to a hypothetical being who is Omni-Capable in the Five Stages.

Beneficents are to seek out knowledge and power to be more effective agents of good, not as ends in themselves.

Some commentators have seen similarities between Beneficence and some forms of Buddhism. However, Beneficence is not directly related to Buddhism, and has a number of significant differences. Though Beneficence concurs with Buddhism that the root of all suffering is desire, Beneficence seeks to maximize well-being first and foremost, and then end suffering through cultivation and fulfilment of desire, as opposed to the Buddhist doctrine of ending suffering by ending desire. The Five Stages of Moral Action integral to the core precepts of Beneficence are widely acknowledged to owe a stylistic debt to Buddhism; with the Right "attribute" format believed to have been inspired by the wording of the Buddhist Eightfold Path. There are some schools of thought that still claim there is more than just a superficial resemblance between the two, as exemplified in this Koan Tao parable on the relation between Buddhism and Beneficence:

"A human comes to a deep lake. E cannot swim, e cannot fly, and there are no boats. E must choose to walk along one shore or the other; e cannot walk both. Some say these paths are different. Yet they both lead to the far shore. Buddhism and Beneficence may meet again on that shore, we will only know at the end of the journey."

Benefit: One additional Twist per game to be spent on Comprehension or Empathy.
Core Value: Beneficience — Devotion to the promotion of good for all humans, defined by Beneficence as striving for higher and higher states of well-being.

When the Knot is "closed" or "tied," the pitch field works to redirect the flow of radiation back into the hole, thus maintaining its mass and preventing it from evaporating completely. When the knot is "opened," the Pitch field is modulated to segregate antiparticles from particles and channel these away from the knot to receiver/storage devices. Since this results in a decrease in the mass of the black hole, a constant stream of "feeder" particles is required to prevent the Knot from evaporating. As matter and antimatter are produced in roughly equal quantities through the evaporation process, the action of the system is to effectively convert constant streams of normal matter into equal amounts of matter and antimatter.

Well constructed Hawking Knots are fairly stable given a steady supply of fuel to counterbalance their loss of mass due to output and internal maintenance operations. They are operable by societies far below the level of technological sophistication required to produce them, and can provide a ready, cheap means of antimatter mass production.

One should be careful, though, not to "starve" the knot. Otherwise, the Knot may succumb to a runaway evaporation of its black hole. As radiation pressure overcomes the gravitational forces holding the Pitch field geometry intact, the black hole loses mass at a higher and higher rate, radiating more and more intensely as it does, until it finally vanishes in a burst of gamma rays. Anyone interested in surviving such an event should be far away from the Knot when this happens.

Hawking Knot
Tech Level: Stringtech 10
Cost: Moderate

The challenge of energy storage and transport has produced many, varied solutions, such as superconducting loops, capacitors, metastable materials and antimatter generation. One mechanical method of energy storage which is widely used for a wide range of applications is arrays of micro-or nanoscale flywheels, on near-frictionless magnetic bearings, imbedded in a solid, sealed, evacuated matrix. Energy is stored by the flywheels in the form of angular momentum. To effectively eliminate gyroscopic effects, the flywheels are free-floating within their enclosures. These flywheels are suspended in high-purity vacuum by magnetic bearings and have spin generated by 'touchless' inductance motors, which double as no-contact generators when power is drawn out of them. The matrix itself can be transported safely until the energy is required, then the angular momentum of the flywheels can be extracted and used, often by the generation of electrical power. Although the energy content of fully charged nano-flywheel matrix is quite high (on the same order as gasoline), the power density is somewhat lower than other methods of storage; this is because the energy can only be extracted at a relatively slow rate or the matrix will become damaged by overheating.

The small amount of friction on the magnetic bearings can be converted to electrical energy which can be used; however over time this drain of energy will reduce the amount of energy stored, so nanoflywheel matrix is not suitable for longterm energy storage. This technology is most often used in small independent devices (such as swarm bots and synsects) which consume energy constantly and are frequently recharged.

Nanotech Flywheels
Tech Level: Nanotech 6
Cost: Low