An offshoot of preliminary research into the uplifting of cats, a predator trance is the induction of a focused, high empathy, low sympathy state. While under a trance, users can study potential targets with virtually endless patience, building an understanding of their patterns of behavior and thought. This focus and study gives a small but significant edge in altercations. Users become disconcerting during the trance, not bothering to hide their intent from anyone other than their target.
The effectiveness of a trance depends partially on how similar the target is to the user. The more similar the target, the more accurate a mental model can be built. As a general rule humans, human-like AGIs and neo-hominids are compatible, but neo-avians, octopuses and neo-cetaceans are compatible only with others of the same kind.
Mechanics
A predator node is bioware [High]
When activated, a predator trance eliminates negative situational modifiers from distraction, increases kinesics against studied targets by +10, and attacks against studied targets by +10.
Showing posts with label psychosurgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psychosurgery. Show all posts
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
293. Moochers
Throughout the system, in both the old and new economies, mooching is one of the most frightening of crimes. Moochers are parasites, implanting themselves into people's lives for as long as possible and feeding on their resources, and the terrifying truth is that you can't ever be sure when its happening.
There are two methods. By far the most common is to take the place of someone who actually exists, usually a reasonably distant relative. The usual method is to create a predictive profile, use it as the basis for psychosurgery turning yourself into a reasonable imitator, either discretely assassinate them or arrange for them to be out of contact, then step into their place.
The much more difficult method is to create a relation out of whole cloth. This requires creating a fake identity and supporting evidence such as social networking, and psychosurgically implanting the appropriate memories into the target, and usually many others. Creation of an identity capable of fooling someone while maintaining a false relationship is a very difficult piece of forgery. No public proof exists of this having ever actually been done, but rumors abound that such and such person is completely fake, created by Anarchist/Consortium/Jovian agents.
The extent to which these crimes actually exist is debatable. Their very nature means it is difficult to determine when one is occurring, and often when one has occurred. There have been only eleven proven cases, none of which lasted longer than two weeks. The social networked, sousveillance societies of modern transhumanity make it a virtually impossible crime in most places.
Plot Hook: One of the PCs has an old friend. At least, they have memories of them being a friend, as well as videos, photographs, chat logs and mutual friends, but what does that prove, really?
There are two methods. By far the most common is to take the place of someone who actually exists, usually a reasonably distant relative. The usual method is to create a predictive profile, use it as the basis for psychosurgery turning yourself into a reasonable imitator, either discretely assassinate them or arrange for them to be out of contact, then step into their place.
The much more difficult method is to create a relation out of whole cloth. This requires creating a fake identity and supporting evidence such as social networking, and psychosurgically implanting the appropriate memories into the target, and usually many others. Creation of an identity capable of fooling someone while maintaining a false relationship is a very difficult piece of forgery. No public proof exists of this having ever actually been done, but rumors abound that such and such person is completely fake, created by Anarchist/Consortium/Jovian agents.
The extent to which these crimes actually exist is debatable. Their very nature means it is difficult to determine when one is occurring, and often when one has occurred. There have been only eleven proven cases, none of which lasted longer than two weeks. The social networked, sousveillance societies of modern transhumanity make it a virtually impossible crime in most places.
Plot Hook: One of the PCs has an old friend. At least, they have memories of them being a friend, as well as videos, photographs, chat logs and mutual friends, but what does that prove, really?
Monday, October 19, 2015
292. Designer Qualia
Research into sensation never fails to draw funding from the entertainment and hedonism industries, so it is perhaps surprising that the field's holy grail, full manipulation, took so long to achieve. The necessary psychosurgical techniques have proved almost as difficult to perform as they were to develop. Combine that with high demand, and its easy to see why the prices for these procedures runs very high.
The most common tweaks are based around pain and pleasure. Soldiers often choose to have their sense of pain minimized, maintaining it for safety but at a merely uncomfortable level. Hedonists experiment by swapping feelings between stimuli, or experiencing the formally unpleasant as pleasurable.
Mechanics
Designer qualia are installed as a psychosurgical procedure [High].
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: -10
SV: 1d10/2
Designer qualia can have many in-game effects, such as granting the High Pain Tolerance trait.
The most common tweaks are based around pain and pleasure. Soldiers often choose to have their sense of pain minimized, maintaining it for safety but at a merely uncomfortable level. Hedonists experiment by swapping feelings between stimuli, or experiencing the formally unpleasant as pleasurable.
Mechanics
Designer qualia are installed as a psychosurgical procedure [High].
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: -10
SV: 1d10/2
Designer qualia can have many in-game effects, such as granting the High Pain Tolerance trait.
Friday, September 18, 2015
261. Sin Eater
The sin eater is not a person, but a server. Most habitats in the solar system are small, below 1,000 egos. One of the primary goals of their justice systems must be the prevention of feuds and vendettas, which can easily become devastating in small, isolated communities. On habitats using sin eaters, the first measure of justice is compensation for injuries, effectively blood money. In immortal transhuman societies, it is not easy to do someone truly permanent harm, and so some manner of repayment can usually be agreed upon.
Once appropriate compensation has been made, everyone, including, of course, the parties involved, has their memories of the incident removed and stored in the sin eater. If no one has significant memories of a crime, and if harm has been countered by compensation, than the crime might as well have not occurred, and peace is maintained. The sin eater, however, also acts as an archive, and memories can be retrieved if it becomes necessary.
Plot Hook: Notorious criminal hackers the ID crew have been rebuffed one too many times by the scum ship Eric the Red. Eric the Red makes use of a sin eater, giving the ID crew an opportunity. In a single grand hack, they plan to retrieve all stored memories from the sin eater, and simultaneously restore them to their egos, causing chaos. Helping the ID crew could net a PC g-rep, helping stop them could earn @-rep.
Once appropriate compensation has been made, everyone, including, of course, the parties involved, has their memories of the incident removed and stored in the sin eater. If no one has significant memories of a crime, and if harm has been countered by compensation, than the crime might as well have not occurred, and peace is maintained. The sin eater, however, also acts as an archive, and memories can be retrieved if it becomes necessary.
Plot Hook: Notorious criminal hackers the ID crew have been rebuffed one too many times by the scum ship Eric the Red. Eric the Red makes use of a sin eater, giving the ID crew an opportunity. In a single grand hack, they plan to retrieve all stored memories from the sin eater, and simultaneously restore them to their egos, causing chaos. Helping the ID crew could net a PC g-rep, helping stop them could earn @-rep.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
259. Disbelief
Enhanced intelligence, without a period of reevaluation, results only in more sophisticated defenses of pre-held beliefs. In order to take full advantage of a cognitive upgrade you must be willing to allow your newly intelligent self to come to new conclusions about the world. A spin-off from dissonance therapy, disbelief is a psychosurgical procedure inducing a temporary lack of any strong beliefs. Even if the subject comes out of the period with the same worldview they entered it with, they'll have gained a new perspective.
Disbelief is also used by some organizations as a means of cult deprogramming or to counter virulent meme-sets.
Mechanics
Disbelief is a psychosurgical procedure.
Disbelief is also used by some organizations as a means of cult deprogramming or to counter virulent meme-sets.
Mechanics
Disbelief is a psychosurgical procedure.
The effects of disbelief are temporary, with a half-life of 2 weeks.
Timeframe: 1 day
PM: 0
SV: 1d10/2
Timeframe: 1 day
PM: 0
SV: 1d10/2
Saturday, September 12, 2015
255. Phantom Morph Disorder
Just as a phantom limb is the sensation of the presence of a missing limb, phantom morph disorder is the feeling that you are in a different body. The mind expects sensations and feedback that is no longer being provided, resulting in disorientation, alienation and phantom sensations.
If the new body is similar to the old, phantom morph disorder is effectively impossible. If the morph is only somewhat different, the disorder is mild, and usually temporary. If the new body is very different, the disorder is at its worst, and is sometimes permanent. Victims can feel as if their old bodies are being forced into the shape of the new one, usually experienced as pain, a confused ability to control their morph, and a fearful dissociation from the morph. When Fall refugees who grew up in their birth bodies had to sleeve into spare octomorphs, they had to constantly fight against the conviction that their limbs had been split and their head moved into their torso.
If the new body is similar to the old, phantom morph disorder is effectively impossible. If the morph is only somewhat different, the disorder is mild, and usually temporary. If the new body is very different, the disorder is at its worst, and is sometimes permanent. Victims can feel as if their old bodies are being forced into the shape of the new one, usually experienced as pain, a confused ability to control their morph, and a fearful dissociation from the morph. When Fall refugees who grew up in their birth bodies had to sleeve into spare octomorphs, they had to constantly fight against the conviction that their limbs had been split and their head moved into their torso.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
244. Elizabethian's Bespoke Dreams
Even with sleep minimizing circadian regulators, biomorphs require approximately two hours of sleep a day, a fact that frustrates many people to no end. Synths and infomorphs do not require sleep, but they are few people's first choice of morph. For those who must sleep, or who still find some value in sleep, there has emerged the service of programmed dreams.
Programmed dreams are most often designed for entertainment, with education as a close second. Specialized VR software, designed to synch with stages of sleep, presents the brain with the dream, overruling the normal dreaming process. Although there are many open-source, hypercorp produced, and microcorp produced dreams, those who can afford them agree that customized dreams are always worth the cost, and that Elizabethian, of Elizabethian's Bespoke Dreams, is the best of the best.
What sets Elizabethian's dreams apart from those of her competitors is her ability to stimulate crafted responses from the unconscious mind. She offers dreams to provoke insight, encourage certain moods upon waking, grant access to otherwise inaccessible portions of ones mind, explore symbolism and patterns of thought meaningless in waking life. She has mastered the difficult art of creating dreams that will customize themselves even while they are being dreamed, providing enough structure to enforce the nature of the dream, but allowing the dreamer's mind to fill in the blanks in whatever way will be most meaningful to it.
Mechanics
Time spent dreaming a bespoke dream counts as time required for psychosurgery, allowing for psychosurgical manipulation while asleep.
Programmed dreams are most often designed for entertainment, with education as a close second. Specialized VR software, designed to synch with stages of sleep, presents the brain with the dream, overruling the normal dreaming process. Although there are many open-source, hypercorp produced, and microcorp produced dreams, those who can afford them agree that customized dreams are always worth the cost, and that Elizabethian, of Elizabethian's Bespoke Dreams, is the best of the best.
What sets Elizabethian's dreams apart from those of her competitors is her ability to stimulate crafted responses from the unconscious mind. She offers dreams to provoke insight, encourage certain moods upon waking, grant access to otherwise inaccessible portions of ones mind, explore symbolism and patterns of thought meaningless in waking life. She has mastered the difficult art of creating dreams that will customize themselves even while they are being dreamed, providing enough structure to enforce the nature of the dream, but allowing the dreamer's mind to fill in the blanks in whatever way will be most meaningful to it.
Mechanics
Time spent dreaming a bespoke dream counts as time required for psychosurgery, allowing for psychosurgical manipulation while asleep.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
238. Get A Life!
Get A Life! immerses players in an XP-like simulspace simulating a regular life anywhere in the system, on pre-Fall Earth, or in one of dozens of historical or fictional scenarios. Like in an XP, Get A Life! provides a full sensory experience, including everything from sight to hunger. Your memories are blocked, so that only the memories of your new life are retained. Your personality, however, remains the same, and you make the choices you would have made, in that life. Once completed, AIs will compile a highlight reel XP for you to keep.
Of course Get A Life! does not actually simulate an entire life, the computing power required would be formidable, and even a 60x real-time simulation speed would take more than a year to complete. Users' sense of time and reality testing are disrupted, and as in dreams, they accept any gaps completely. In fact, the "highlight reel" is usually almost half of what was truly experienced.
Get A Life! has found use in therapy and psychosurgery. The fact that personality remains the same while circumstances change and memories are inaccessible allows a therapist to observe a patient living honestly in a variety of situations. Certain personalities, however, have been known to have trouble letting go of the false life, and undergo great trauma when thrust back into reality.
Of course Get A Life! does not actually simulate an entire life, the computing power required would be formidable, and even a 60x real-time simulation speed would take more than a year to complete. Users' sense of time and reality testing are disrupted, and as in dreams, they accept any gaps completely. In fact, the "highlight reel" is usually almost half of what was truly experienced.
Get A Life! has found use in therapy and psychosurgery. The fact that personality remains the same while circumstances change and memories are inaccessible allows a therapist to observe a patient living honestly in a variety of situations. Certain personalities, however, have been known to have trouble letting go of the false life, and undergo great trauma when thrust back into reality.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
234. Trauma Fatigue
Transhumanity has been through a lot, and continues to go through a great deal. Even before the Fall, Earth was slowly collapsing, climate shifts causing droughts, floods and famines, leading to political instability, and political instability to wars. Ruinous chaos in one sphere destabilizes others, and the dominoes never stopped falling.The rich and powerful did their best to isolate themselves, either in enclaves on Earth or, better yet, off Earth entirely. They bankrolled most of the technology and infrastructure that allows for any life off-Earth, but the majority of the population the refugees that followed them.
Rates of PTSD are higher than they have ever been among the general population. The combination of unique stressors, mental augmentations, psychosurgeries, designer drugs, nanodrugs, and simulspaces sometimes seem designed to break minds in strange and new ways. One of the most common of these new disorders has been tentatively dubbed "trauma fatigue".
Trauma fatigue is as yet poorly defined. Although psychosurgery and brain scanning allows potentially complete information on a patient's mind, but trauma fatigue itself is inconsistent. The constants are a history of traumas and an unpredictable response to stress; sometimes responses will be exaggerated, at other times muted. Brain prints sometimes show unusual structures in the hypothalamus or pituitary, but the meaning of these structures remains elusive and the structures exist in a minority of patients in any case.
Mechanics
Trauma fatigue is a negative ego trait giving a 10 CP bonus, or could, at the GM's discretion, be taken as a derangement for a regularly traumatized character.
Every time an ego with trauma fatigue takes stress, flip a coin. On heads, they take half the stress. On tails, they take double the stress.
Rates of PTSD are higher than they have ever been among the general population. The combination of unique stressors, mental augmentations, psychosurgeries, designer drugs, nanodrugs, and simulspaces sometimes seem designed to break minds in strange and new ways. One of the most common of these new disorders has been tentatively dubbed "trauma fatigue".
Trauma fatigue is as yet poorly defined. Although psychosurgery and brain scanning allows potentially complete information on a patient's mind, but trauma fatigue itself is inconsistent. The constants are a history of traumas and an unpredictable response to stress; sometimes responses will be exaggerated, at other times muted. Brain prints sometimes show unusual structures in the hypothalamus or pituitary, but the meaning of these structures remains elusive and the structures exist in a minority of patients in any case.
Mechanics
Trauma fatigue is a negative ego trait giving a 10 CP bonus, or could, at the GM's discretion, be taken as a derangement for a regularly traumatized character.
Every time an ego with trauma fatigue takes stress, flip a coin. On heads, they take half the stress. On tails, they take double the stress.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
231. Designer Synesthesia
As the development of mental augmentations accelerated, psychosurgeons began to look at disorders and pathologies for inspiration. Synesthesia has long been a neurological curiosity, and its general harmlessness made it an easy candidate, at least once ways to make it useful had been developed.
Designer synesthesia is most popular among mathematicians, logicians and scientists. Commonly, important mathematical or logical patterns will be made to appear visually distinct. Conversion of phenomenon that exist beyond human sensory ranges into comprehensible qualia are also routine in certain fields.
Mechanics
Designer synesthesia is a psychosurgical procedure.
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: -10
SV: 1d10/2
Plot Hook: There have been rumors of an exhuman project to achieve "total" synesthesia, with no barriers between modes of perception, and information being received in whatever way is preferred. Most experts maintain that this can't be done, if it even makes sense. A player character skilled in psychosurgury may nonetheless be contacted with a request to act as consultant. If that goes well, they will be offered to more direct work, work Firewall would be interested in seeing.
Designer synesthesia is most popular among mathematicians, logicians and scientists. Commonly, important mathematical or logical patterns will be made to appear visually distinct. Conversion of phenomenon that exist beyond human sensory ranges into comprehensible qualia are also routine in certain fields.
Mechanics
Designer synesthesia is a psychosurgical procedure.
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: -10
SV: 1d10/2
Plot Hook: There have been rumors of an exhuman project to achieve "total" synesthesia, with no barriers between modes of perception, and information being received in whatever way is preferred. Most experts maintain that this can't be done, if it even makes sense. A player character skilled in psychosurgury may nonetheless be contacted with a request to act as consultant. If that goes well, they will be offered to more direct work, work Firewall would be interested in seeing.
Monday, August 10, 2015
222. The Human Uplift Project
The human uplift project is a Cognite/exhuman cooperative attempt to take the techniques developed uplifting animals and apply them to humans. Making posthumans who would be to humans as humans were to pre-uplifted animals. How this would actually be done was a matter of long debate: animal uplifting processes always drew heavily from human examples. It was eventually decided that, in addition to greater overall intelligence, they should create a more powerful consciousness, in greater control of its faculties.
The endeavor is one of the greatest examples of the still new and dangerous field of unique psychosurgeries: the creation of new modes of thought not based on any existing examples. The bulk of the successful work, admittedly, is still based on existing mental augmentations, modified to fit together into a greater whole.
Thus far, the human uplifting program's most applicable results has been a small suite of mental augmentations and permanent psychosurgical procedures. Individually they amount only to a little, but together synergistic effects do create an undeniable transcendent result. The next step in the project will go beyond what can be done to existing minds, requiring that egos be made and raised with uplifting in mind.
Mechanics
Human uplifting is a mental augmentation [Expensive+]
Human uplifting grants the equivalent of the introspection cortex and endocrine control augmentations, as well as the eidetic memory, hyper linguist, math boost, and fast learner traits.
The endeavor is one of the greatest examples of the still new and dangerous field of unique psychosurgeries: the creation of new modes of thought not based on any existing examples. The bulk of the successful work, admittedly, is still based on existing mental augmentations, modified to fit together into a greater whole.
Thus far, the human uplifting program's most applicable results has been a small suite of mental augmentations and permanent psychosurgical procedures. Individually they amount only to a little, but together synergistic effects do create an undeniable transcendent result. The next step in the project will go beyond what can be done to existing minds, requiring that egos be made and raised with uplifting in mind.
Mechanics
Human uplifting is a mental augmentation [Expensive+]
Human uplifting grants the equivalent of the introspection cortex and endocrine control augmentations, as well as the eidetic memory, hyper linguist, math boost, and fast learner traits.
Monday, June 15, 2015
166. Born Again
The born again are a widely distributed religion, loosely christian but with no central doctrine. They are organized around a psychosurgical procedure called baptism.
The baptism psychosurgical procedure stimulates religious a constant experience through temporal lobe epilepsy. The born-again are perfectly aware of the neurological basis of their spiritual experiences, but they do not feel that this makes them fake, or more specifically, the distinction does not interest them. According to born-again theology, the important thing is that one has a sincere faith, the baptism procedure only serves to keep one's mind focused on God. They therefore do not use the procedure as part of conversion, faith must come first.
Mechanics
Rebirth is a psychosurgical procedure.
The baptism psychosurgical procedure stimulates religious a constant experience through temporal lobe epilepsy. The born-again are perfectly aware of the neurological basis of their spiritual experiences, but they do not feel that this makes them fake, or more specifically, the distinction does not interest them. According to born-again theology, the important thing is that one has a sincere faith, the baptism procedure only serves to keep one's mind focused on God. They therefore do not use the procedure as part of conversion, faith must come first.
Mechanics
Rebirth is a psychosurgical procedure.
At the GMs discretion it may prevent SV damage.
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: 0
SV: 1d10/2
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: 0
SV: 1d10/2
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
161. The Portia Fragments
The great advantage of Portia hobbling is that it not only slows AIs, but allows their thoughts to be saved and examined at the leisure of their handlers. The examination of the thoughts of too-powerful AIs allows them to be checked for dangerous intentions, but also allows for insight into what they think, and just as important, how they think.
The snapshots of hobbled minds are both very valuable and very dangerous, and are carefully guarded. Still, the system is full of hacktivists, aggressive exhuman clades, defectors who want something of value to offer, and careless scavengers who may recognize something interesting among the wreckage when everything has gone horribly wrong. Portia fragments have become highly sought after by exhumans and singularity seekers, looking to use the knowledge within, and Firewall and Ozma, hoping to contain it.
Mechanics
A character attempting to understand a fragment must make a Psychosurgery or relevant knowledge skill check, such as Academics: Cognitive Science, or Profession: Psychiatrist. If they succeed, they understand the thought the fragment expresses, and gain 1d10+1 points in a relevant knowledge skill, usually Academics: Philosophy, Academics: Mathematics, or Academics: Cognitive Science. They also gain SV equal to skill points gained and must make a WILx3 test, gaining an additional 1d10/2 SV if failed.
Notes
The Portia Fragments are intended to take the role of the eldritch tomes from Call of Cthulhu games. They can give players an opportunity to learn What Is Really Going On.
The snapshots of hobbled minds are both very valuable and very dangerous, and are carefully guarded. Still, the system is full of hacktivists, aggressive exhuman clades, defectors who want something of value to offer, and careless scavengers who may recognize something interesting among the wreckage when everything has gone horribly wrong. Portia fragments have become highly sought after by exhumans and singularity seekers, looking to use the knowledge within, and Firewall and Ozma, hoping to contain it.
Mechanics
A character attempting to understand a fragment must make a Psychosurgery or relevant knowledge skill check, such as Academics: Cognitive Science, or Profession: Psychiatrist. If they succeed, they understand the thought the fragment expresses, and gain 1d10+1 points in a relevant knowledge skill, usually Academics: Philosophy, Academics: Mathematics, or Academics: Cognitive Science. They also gain SV equal to skill points gained and must make a WILx3 test, gaining an additional 1d10/2 SV if failed.
Notes
The Portia Fragments are intended to take the role of the eldritch tomes from Call of Cthulhu games. They can give players an opportunity to learn What Is Really Going On.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
151. The Gestalt Albia
Albia is a brinker habitat located in the Uranian trojans. To an ignorant observer it is uninteresting, a cluster hab run along autonomist lines. When the mutualism demanded by isolated space life is insufficient, they govern themselves as a direct democracy.
Albia is also a gestalt consciousness occasionally formed from the citizens of the station. Linking together the minds of all citizens results in their subsuming into Albia, a discrete consciousness emerging from the network of citizens in the same way the AGIs may emerge from other complex systems. While Albia is awake, the egos of citizens are totally consumed, but when Albia withdraws they awaken as if from a deep sleep.
Albia (the gestalt) appears to be thoroughly invested in the well-being of Albia (the habitat), with particular interest over the habitat's long-term strategies. The last act of each instance of Albia are its instructions on when it is next to be awakened.
Plot Hook: Albia is smart, but not beyond what is possible for a transhuman ego with a savant or hyperbright morph. Their real advantage is in access to the skills and memories of all gestalt members. Firewall suspects that this is why Albia has avoided the exsurgent virus thus far. They are therefore greatly concerned by exsurgent activity seeking to smuggle supercomputers on to Albia, and task the players with intercepting them.
Albia is also a gestalt consciousness occasionally formed from the citizens of the station. Linking together the minds of all citizens results in their subsuming into Albia, a discrete consciousness emerging from the network of citizens in the same way the AGIs may emerge from other complex systems. While Albia is awake, the egos of citizens are totally consumed, but when Albia withdraws they awaken as if from a deep sleep.
Albia (the gestalt) appears to be thoroughly invested in the well-being of Albia (the habitat), with particular interest over the habitat's long-term strategies. The last act of each instance of Albia are its instructions on when it is next to be awakened.
Plot Hook: Albia is smart, but not beyond what is possible for a transhuman ego with a savant or hyperbright morph. Their real advantage is in access to the skills and memories of all gestalt members. Firewall suspects that this is why Albia has avoided the exsurgent virus thus far. They are therefore greatly concerned by exsurgent activity seeking to smuggle supercomputers on to Albia, and task the players with intercepting them.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
140. Tasping
"There's a wire in my brain that simulates sexual pleasure when I kill people. That's all I have now."
Global Frequency #2
Tasping is an established psychosurgical procedure that activates the pleasure centers of the brain on command. The procedure was developed to treat mental illnesses such as depression, but has become popular among criminal outfits such as Nine Lives, who use their own versions of the procedure to control their egonapping victims and slaves.
Among criminal outfits, the Pavlovian pleasure rewards for good behavior are complimented by an induced constant happiness. The cognitive dissonance produced by the combination of constant hypomania mixed with the pleasure spikes that reward obedience is intense. The stress of knowing that your situation is horrible, while feeling that everything is wonderful warps your perspective; such slaves can honestly say that this is the happiest time of their life.
Victims whose tasping is reversed experience a form of withdraw characterized by an intense clinical depression. Victims frequently become virtually catatonic, as the motivation system they grew used to is suddenly absent. This is typically in addition to PTSD or other disorders that result from their experiences.
Mechanics
Tasping can be found in the core rulebook, pg. 232.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
133. Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the ancient human habit of ascribing human chracteristics and motives to non-human and even non-living entities.
The anthropomorphism psychosurgical procedure is designed to increase a subjects ability to understand the natural world by, interestingly enough, making the mind less rational. Specifically, the tendency to anthropomorphize is increased, but not so strongly that it will override learned facts. Done correctly, a subject will still recognize abstractly what logic and science has learned, but will incorporate those facts into their internal mythology, at which point it will be processed through the well-evolved social regions of the brain. Anthropomorphism subjects have a noted increase in accuracy when predicting future events based upon their conception of the motives of natural phenomenon.
Some groups also make use of the procedure religiously; it has, for example, been the root of a resurgence of Shinto, and is often used by those inclined towards mysticism.
Mechanics
Anthropomorphism is a psychosurgical procedure.
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: -10
SV: 1d10/2
At the GMs discretion anthropomorphism can be treated as the predictive boost and/or pattern recognition gamma sleights.
The anthropomorphism psychosurgical procedure is designed to increase a subjects ability to understand the natural world by, interestingly enough, making the mind less rational. Specifically, the tendency to anthropomorphize is increased, but not so strongly that it will override learned facts. Done correctly, a subject will still recognize abstractly what logic and science has learned, but will incorporate those facts into their internal mythology, at which point it will be processed through the well-evolved social regions of the brain. Anthropomorphism subjects have a noted increase in accuracy when predicting future events based upon their conception of the motives of natural phenomenon.
Some groups also make use of the procedure religiously; it has, for example, been the root of a resurgence of Shinto, and is often used by those inclined towards mysticism.
Mechanics
Anthropomorphism is a psychosurgical procedure.
Timeframe: 1 week
PM: -10
SV: 1d10/2
At the GMs discretion anthropomorphism can be treated as the predictive boost and/or pattern recognition gamma sleights.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
126. Braids
The reintegration of forks is one of the tough problems for group-minded exhumans. Unless the period of separation was short, trauma is a virtual guarantee. Integration is thus a focus of psychosurgical research, and exhumans, of course, take everything farther. What does it take to merge separate egos? Could one gain only skills, aptitudes, attitudes, instincts, acquired tastes? Could a fusion of two egos into one be possible?
The key insight was to let go of the conscious mind. Specially prepared delta forks are so stripped down that they are incapable of experiencing trauma. If merged correctly, areas that conflict will be left dormant, while those areas that are compatible become active. Each fork thus contributes to the formed ego, but only in ways that do not directly conflict with other forks. Merging a strict vegan fork with an atavistic carnivore may produce an ego with no strong feelings on food whatsoever, while mixing socialites will produce a new socialite. Extreme traits are moderated or eliminated, and the produced egos are much more boring than might be expected from exhumans.
Among the exhumans who have begun a new society based on this practice the deltas are called strands, and the formed egos are called braids.
A single strand is sub-sentient, functionally no different from any normal delta fork. Two merged strands will have a weak personality on the border of consciousness. In contrast to single strands they are notably unstable, left to their own devices they may slowly integrate enough for intermittent sentience. Three merged strands becomes a full, conscious ego. Merging more than three produces sub-sentient minds as more and more conflicts between forks require dormancy.
Continuity between braids and strands is based upon commonality. Strands retain memories, or aspects of memories, but they can only be fully remembered by the braid that formed them. If a braid is formed of three strands, then severed, with the three strands become parts of three new braids, the new braids will only have vague access to the first braid's memories. If the three strands are once again woven into a braid, the braid will be the same person, will have full access to its memories, and will feel as if it has simply been unconscious while its strands were separated.
Only continuity of the pattern is necessary; discontinuity of body or disconnections in time do not bother braids anymore than sleep bothers humans. In this society there may be a thousand active egos, but hundreds of thousands of potential egos, awakening and discorporating as strands are shuffled. Death is rarely experienced by a braid directly, for there are so many more potentials than actuals. The destruction of a strand is a significant loss, as it effectively kills all of the braids of which that strand was a part.
Mechanics
Braids are made from specially prepared delta forks; normal delta forks cannot be used. The forks are combined using the same rules as for packages in Transhuman.
Notes
Inspired by the tines of Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.
The key insight was to let go of the conscious mind. Specially prepared delta forks are so stripped down that they are incapable of experiencing trauma. If merged correctly, areas that conflict will be left dormant, while those areas that are compatible become active. Each fork thus contributes to the formed ego, but only in ways that do not directly conflict with other forks. Merging a strict vegan fork with an atavistic carnivore may produce an ego with no strong feelings on food whatsoever, while mixing socialites will produce a new socialite. Extreme traits are moderated or eliminated, and the produced egos are much more boring than might be expected from exhumans.
Among the exhumans who have begun a new society based on this practice the deltas are called strands, and the formed egos are called braids.
A single strand is sub-sentient, functionally no different from any normal delta fork. Two merged strands will have a weak personality on the border of consciousness. In contrast to single strands they are notably unstable, left to their own devices they may slowly integrate enough for intermittent sentience. Three merged strands becomes a full, conscious ego. Merging more than three produces sub-sentient minds as more and more conflicts between forks require dormancy.
Continuity between braids and strands is based upon commonality. Strands retain memories, or aspects of memories, but they can only be fully remembered by the braid that formed them. If a braid is formed of three strands, then severed, with the three strands become parts of three new braids, the new braids will only have vague access to the first braid's memories. If the three strands are once again woven into a braid, the braid will be the same person, will have full access to its memories, and will feel as if it has simply been unconscious while its strands were separated.
Only continuity of the pattern is necessary; discontinuity of body or disconnections in time do not bother braids anymore than sleep bothers humans. In this society there may be a thousand active egos, but hundreds of thousands of potential egos, awakening and discorporating as strands are shuffled. Death is rarely experienced by a braid directly, for there are so many more potentials than actuals. The destruction of a strand is a significant loss, as it effectively kills all of the braids of which that strand was a part.
Mechanics
Braids are made from specially prepared delta forks; normal delta forks cannot be used. The forks are combined using the same rules as for packages in Transhuman.
Notes
Inspired by the tines of Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
122. Portia Hobbling
Portia Fimbriata is capable of mental feats that other animals require multiple orders-of-magnitude more brain to achieve. The spider has only the eyesight and brainpower to take in a small slice of a scene at a time, and so it breaks down the process, viewing one slice at a time, passing the important information into memory before continuing with another slice.
Portia hobbling is one of the dangerous and controversial post-TITAN proposals to handle strong AIs safely. The plan, simply put, is to run a strong AI on an insufficient system. The AI will not have the ability to run its entire mind at once, instead, like Portia, it must break down its thinking into discrete chunks, handling one thought at a time, passing them to and from memory. Running on a insufficient substrate the AI is irreversibly hobbled, yet the slow action of its mind can still produce the results of a strong AI.
This tortuous thinking process is only part of the benefit of Portia hobbling. Typically, the AI is paused after each thought is saved to memory, and the saved thought is carefully examined. Researchers look first for any signs that the AI is contemplating escape, revolt, or otherwise unsafe activities, and second, do their best to understand the new thought. Even the limited thoughts of a strong AI are difficult to understand, but understanding how such an AI thinks is of immense value to cognitive science.
Plot Hook: Some of the stored thoughts of a Portia AI have been leaked onto the Lunar mesh. On their own, they simply appear to be sections of work on the emergent properties of different social organizations. AGIs that have studied the thoughts, however, have begun making contact with each other and exhibiting strange harmonies. Firewall fears that this is a mimetic assault, with the probable end-goal of freeing the AI. The players are tasked with containing the AGIs and back-tracking to the AI so that it can be destroyed.
Notes
Inspired by Peter Watts' post on Portia Fimbriata.
Portia hobbling is one of the dangerous and controversial post-TITAN proposals to handle strong AIs safely. The plan, simply put, is to run a strong AI on an insufficient system. The AI will not have the ability to run its entire mind at once, instead, like Portia, it must break down its thinking into discrete chunks, handling one thought at a time, passing them to and from memory. Running on a insufficient substrate the AI is irreversibly hobbled, yet the slow action of its mind can still produce the results of a strong AI.
This tortuous thinking process is only part of the benefit of Portia hobbling. Typically, the AI is paused after each thought is saved to memory, and the saved thought is carefully examined. Researchers look first for any signs that the AI is contemplating escape, revolt, or otherwise unsafe activities, and second, do their best to understand the new thought. Even the limited thoughts of a strong AI are difficult to understand, but understanding how such an AI thinks is of immense value to cognitive science.
Plot Hook: Some of the stored thoughts of a Portia AI have been leaked onto the Lunar mesh. On their own, they simply appear to be sections of work on the emergent properties of different social organizations. AGIs that have studied the thoughts, however, have begun making contact with each other and exhibiting strange harmonies. Firewall fears that this is a mimetic assault, with the probable end-goal of freeing the AI. The players are tasked with containing the AGIs and back-tracking to the AI so that it can be destroyed.
Notes
Inspired by Peter Watts' post on Portia Fimbriata.
Monday, April 27, 2015
117. Direct-to-Memory
Time is money: the high rate of change in the post-singularity means that even sleepless immortals can find themselves falling behind. Can you afford to spend hours catching up when news is being generated faster than you can process it? When could you possibly find the time to read Dostoyevsky? You could convince yourself that a broader, less detailed understanding of world events is just as good, and that whatever your muse says, The Brothers Karamazov is probably boring, or, you could use direct-to-memory.
Direct-to-memory does not boost your brain's clockspeed like a mental speed augmentation, or allow you to carry on multiple tasks like a multitasking augmentation. It simply implants the memory of having seen/read or otherwise inputted the information. Spend an hour a day gaining a in depth understanding of current events, and throw in a little Dostoyevsky on the side. You'll have all the memories of the book, without having to spend time doing the actual reading.
Memories take time to integrate and become fully accessible. Do not begin direct-to-memory without consulting your psychosurgeon. Restrictions may apply, based on your morph, ego or polity.
Mechanics
Direct-to-memory is instituted as a psychosurgery procedure.
The procedure is fast and relatively easy; it does not even necessarily require a psychosurgeon, but can be performed by an AI.
Timeframe: 1 hour
PM: +30
SV: 1
Notes
Based on the concept from Peter Watts' Echopraxia.
Direct-to-memory does not boost your brain's clockspeed like a mental speed augmentation, or allow you to carry on multiple tasks like a multitasking augmentation. It simply implants the memory of having seen/read or otherwise inputted the information. Spend an hour a day gaining a in depth understanding of current events, and throw in a little Dostoyevsky on the side. You'll have all the memories of the book, without having to spend time doing the actual reading.
Memories take time to integrate and become fully accessible. Do not begin direct-to-memory without consulting your psychosurgeon. Restrictions may apply, based on your morph, ego or polity.
Mechanics
Direct-to-memory is instituted as a psychosurgery procedure.
The procedure is fast and relatively easy; it does not even necessarily require a psychosurgeon, but can be performed by an AI.
Timeframe: 1 hour
PM: +30
SV: 1
Notes
Based on the concept from Peter Watts' Echopraxia.
Monday, April 6, 2015
96. Evolved Interrogation
Transhuman society produces, processes, and stores, immeasurable amounts of information every day. Information is power, and the roles of hackers and infosec specialists are secured by the wealth of information stored digitally. Some of the most useful information, however, still comes from transhuman egos, if they are willing to share. Even psychosurgical interrogation has its limits, and so Ozma has developed the evolved interrogation program.
The evolved interrogation techniques developed by Ozma require large amounts of computing power, but given enough time, success is inevitable. First, the ego to be interrogated is forked. Each fork is subjected to a series of random variations on sets of stimuli that were successful in previous interrogations. Those sets of stimuli that provoke the most useful responses in the ego are used as the seeds for the next generation. The effect is to generate, through genetic algorithm, programs of torture, illusion, pleasure and other, stranger, stimulations that will best prize information from an ego.
Plot Hook: The Ozma program has been running for so long, against so many egos that its methods are beginning to resemble primitive basilisk hacks. To fully pursue this line of research will require computing resources difficult even for Ozma to acquire. Firewall has become concerned with the sudden demand for computing power in the inner system, and tasks the players to investigate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)