Just before the fall, Mother's Milk of Extropia were developing a medichine variant that would be passed from mothers to offspring, intended to save animal breeders and engineers significant amounts of money. They had created a successful prototype in a breeding population of smart rats, and were poised for full commercial release when the rats escaped during the chaos of the Fall. Mother's Milk went under, but their legacy remains.
Everlasting rats are smart and immortal. Rats can be smart to begin with, smart rats are genetically engineered to be even smarter, and their medichines mean that everlasting rats never stop learning. An everlasting rat will know the habits and schedules of every transhuman in the area. They recognize types of robots and vehicles, avoiding them or hitching a ride. They exploit the fractured landscape of Extropia, simply shifting to a neighbor whenever one person or organization attempts pest control. The sophisticated games of hunting and evasion by everlasting rats and smart cats have inspired a children's story and a pamphlet on small-unit tactics.
Their medichines render everlasting rats virtually immune to poisons and toxins, and the enhanced healing means a full recovery from any non-mortal wound. Currently, the only way to control the population is with rat-oriented disassembler swarms (generally discouraged by worried neighbors), tailored nanoplagues (generally discouraged by everyone) and engineered predators, mainly smart cats, cheshires, and small bearcats.
Mechanics
Everlasting rats are as smart rats, plus medichines.
Showing posts with label extropia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extropia. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
49. Consensus Societies of Extropia
On Extropia there is no central authority. The organization with the strongest claim, Extropy Now, exists to provide a haven for libertarians and anarcho-capitalists, and therefore avoids exercising any of its power. Large and complex markets have arisen, providing legal systems, security, arbitration and adjudication as paid services. Even with the advice of muses, expert systems and AIs, however, the potential interactions between these services can be inconvenient and unpredictable.
Like attracts like for both comfort and convenience. The interactions of competing legal systems, security contractors and private magistrates can become a headache for all involved. It is easiest to interact with those who share your expectations, and with whom you share a common adjudicator. Extropians are steadily conglomerating into sub-societies of shared legal systems, security arrangements and acceptance of arbitration: consensus societies.
The largest and most prominent examples of consensus societies are the Caliphate and the Commons. The Caliphate is ostensibly Extropian and autonomist friendly and the Caliph has deliberately downplayed formal authority: they use the open source legal system OpenSharia, and maintain no military or police system, being instead safeguarded by volunteer militia.
The Commons is populated primarily by refugees from commonwealth nations. They have created a legal system based primarily on the traditions of English common law, adjudicated by a hierarchy of elected judges, and enforced by volunteer police.
Plot Hook: Extropy Now, owners of Extropia, have become concerned with consensus societies, fearing that they will grow into states. They are looking for discrete social engineers, memeticists and hackers to non-violently undermine and collapse the Caliphate and the Commons.
Like attracts like for both comfort and convenience. The interactions of competing legal systems, security contractors and private magistrates can become a headache for all involved. It is easiest to interact with those who share your expectations, and with whom you share a common adjudicator. Extropians are steadily conglomerating into sub-societies of shared legal systems, security arrangements and acceptance of arbitration: consensus societies.
The largest and most prominent examples of consensus societies are the Caliphate and the Commons. The Caliphate is ostensibly Extropian and autonomist friendly and the Caliph has deliberately downplayed formal authority: they use the open source legal system OpenSharia, and maintain no military or police system, being instead safeguarded by volunteer militia.
The Commons is populated primarily by refugees from commonwealth nations. They have created a legal system based primarily on the traditions of English common law, adjudicated by a hierarchy of elected judges, and enforced by volunteer police.
Plot Hook: Extropy Now, owners of Extropia, have become concerned with consensus societies, fearing that they will grow into states. They are looking for discrete social engineers, memeticists and hackers to non-violently undermine and collapse the Caliphate and the Commons.
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