Mysterious messages are mysterious...
Quote:{Incoming Message. Source: C-Sec Grand Central}
{Public Key Decryption Complete}
* I hope this makes more sense to you, because I've read it three times now and still I don't get it.
---Begin Forwarded Message---
{Incoming Message. Source: Saeletra}
{Public Key Decryption Complete}
* Level 1 warning from ITG to C-Sec GateCon / ConCom. Gate destinaton designation PKX-18901 aka "Tellus Secundus" registers strong async activity. Recon team should expect unexpected on surface insertion. Recommend total repeat TOTAL blackbox quarantine of Tellus Secundus, no raw handwavium techno allowed past Grand Central or beyond 100 gate radii if not possible. Blackbox should on no account reach surface of Secundus. ITG predicts possible Comstock Spike if blackboxes are released into wild with unfriendly results. Derived tech OK for surface. No reply necessary.
{Incoming Message. Source: C-Sec Prime}
{Public Key Decryption Complete}
* Makes enough sense to me; our Special Friends think bringing straight wavetech down to Secundus might start something we can't finish. Frankly, we agree with the assessment. Tell Fnord's mob to leave any blackboxes they have at home for this run.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
ECSNorway Wrote:I'm personally wondering if the combination of the Djinn Effect and other new technology might end up making the RL-current "Arab Spring" less of a Muslim-Brotherhood-Love-Fest.
Well, I did say that people who used the term "djinn" were the superstitious sort, rather than saying there actually were any djinni in this setting...
Although, now that I come to think of it, "djinni" might have become a local nickname for infomorphs.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
A private message, sent through some back-channels...
Quote:{Incoming Message. Source: Luna City}
{OpenPGP Decryption Started}
{SenderID Verified: Eimi Anderson}
{RecipientID Verified: Sora Anderson}
{Timestamp Verified: 11:59 (GMT) 12 July 2039}
{Envelope Authenticated}
{Content Decrypted}
{OpenPGP Decryption Completed}
Hey, coz! Heard your friends hit a Nihon morph-fac. Did you grab the genware? If you did, slip me a copy - I want to check it for back-doors and logic-bombs. If we can find some, maybe we can patch over them in the wild and free some slaves without scrubbing their personalities. Oh, and tell me what number "unidentified accomplice" I am for trying to crack their code. :-)
And your dad was pissed off when NBC called yesterday - less about what you did and more about him finding out from the news. Be keen - keep us in the loop! (After the fact.) Better bring him back a souvenir from whereever you're going this time. Get it to me the usual way and I'll get it to him.
Stay safe - we'd miss you if you didn't come home.
E.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
shaderic Wrote:... I don't even know if Biomods would exist in this setting, ...
Not the way they exist in mainline!Fenspace, no.
I'm thinking this setting might have "biosculpts" rather than "biomods" - organ reconstruction, rejuvenation, substantial cosmetic changes, minor physical boosts, but no metahuman abilities. And it would be a medical procedure - maybe even a hospital procedure - rather than something that happens because somebody ate some green stuff from the wrong bowl.
Something like the Catgirling Machine
might be possible if Mal says yes (a dedicated expert system coupled to an autodoc that somebody invented somewhere along the way could do it), but it wouldn't induce the homeostasis effect and the other quirks that the mainline!Fenspace version is known for. Cat-people could end up with a bonus to hearing and might get a slight dexterity/agility increase to go along with their fur and whiskers... but they'd still be biologically human.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Far more common to my mind would be the biosculpts of the "impossible but high demand" kind. The insecure preppies who think they want to look like Barbie Dolls or similar.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Yes, the broad strokes of the Message from Saeletra are perfectly obvious, but the details are mysterious. What does "strong async activity" mean? What about "Comstock Spike"?
It's unfortunate, in any case: the Order planned to use darksci thrusters in their sky-schooner.
(I was just struck by the idea that Tellus Secundus was a Patchwork Planet like in Rifts or TORG. That could get interesting, though it probably introduces too many things to really work.)
Proginoskes Wrote:Yes, the broad strokes of the Message from Saeletra are perfectly obvious, but the details are mysterious. What does "strong async activity" mean? What about "Comstock Spike"?
Let's break it down!
ITG: a group who have a stake in the Convention. Appear to be analysts of some sort.
async: this is darksci researcher lingo. It's a contraction of "asynchronous waveform" which is technobabble for "freaky shit that might involve brains and quantum mechanics."
(If you know the plot of Peshawar Lancers, you can probably guess what this means vis a vis Secundus. If not, I'll explain it later.)
Comstock Spike: Comstock here refers to Zachary Comstock, the cult leader who (re)invented/discovered a handwavium analogue in the 1880s, used it to build the floating city of Columbia and eventually (probably) met a very bad end somewhere in the skies just before World War I.
So, knowing this we can discern that Saeletra's message is "we've found evidence of freaky quantum brain shit going on down on Secundus, and if they get their hands on handwavium blackboxes it may set off an explosion of nasty people with advanced technology, so don't bring any blackboxes to the surface. Derived tech is OK, though."
The Order's ride will work out well enough, since it's built
by blackboxes but doesn't
incorporate blackboxes into the design, if that makes sense.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Some thought about how CI could be in this variant of Fenspace:
- a research institute specializing on things like drones and upload/infomorph-tech would definitely be useful
- maybe skip the whole "catgirls as victims of accident/experimentation"... the catgirl biomod is one of the more stable darksci biomods designed for fast regeneration... it was later discovered that its also very compatible with upload technology and neural implants.
- "Catgirl Industries" was started by a group of engineers and scientists who wanted to push the frontier of infomorph and uplink tech... despite the name, CI is NOT purely catgirls... but many members switched to this biomod when the first successful (and stable) adaptations of new upload/download tech became available.
What do you think about a drone based upload platforms that join a gatecrasher team? Keeping a human mind in a cyberspace created by a swarm of drones?
"Hmmm let's see, Balding, overweight Diabetic 40-something scientist... can upload into a healthy body that will let him eat what he wants and can find clothes that fit and flatter it easily...." The dumpy professor pondered. "And the downside is that currently the body only works as a female. I'll take it. After all, we're researching upload tech... we'll eventually get something more palatable down the road... and I want to live to see it."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
For a moment I thought of another Comstock entirely...
One that made no less sense come to think of it, it just gave the message an entirely different meaning.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Yeah, my first reaction was the Comstock silver lode...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Proginoskes Wrote:Yes, the broad strokes of the Message from Saeletra are perfectly obvious, but the details are mysterious. What does "strong async activity" mean? What about "Comstock Spike"?
Checking the central repository of trivia on the Internet suggests
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comstock_Lode]this might have some relevance, maybe...
Edit: Never mind.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
A little more planning, and assuming I know what I'm doing (I don't) actual ground action would happen shortly after this piece:
Quote:When they’d first set foot in New Clavius, it was nothing more than a simple lava tube with an outlet to the surface. This time... well, it was still a lava tube, but the tube had been sealed off with a thin layer of diamondoid and scavenged titanium, pressurized and turned into something faintly resembling civilization.
It was here, in a small alcove near the outer locks where their ship waited, that the Order of Saint Grimace made their final preparations for the descent to Secundus.
“Okay, the vultures have put together a map of the main population centers,” Sep said. “Looks like most of our best targets are in the Indian Ocean basin with outliers in North Africa and northwest Pacific.”
“Okay, comedy option,” KJ said thoughtfully. “We pick the most impressive-looking building, land right in front of it and go ‘beep-boop we are travelers from a distant star take us to your leaders.’”
“Ha. No, assuming the locals didn’t shoot us C-Sec almost certainly would for fucking up the contact.”
“Here’s a thought,” Mal said. “Take a look at this shot of the Kashmir valley. Does that look familiar?”
“Let’s see,” Sep replied, peering at the image. “Buildings set around a series of open spaces... this looks like a university.”
“That was my thought. The mission’s to get an idea of the lay of the land, right? Well, a small isolated college town would give us a place to learn the local history and get an idea of what the culture’s like.”
Deidre nodded. “I agree, this isn’t our Earth, we can’t just go swanning into a major city and expect to blend in. And look at this, looks like a landing field?”
KJ took a look. “Certainly looks like some sort of dirigible mooring area. If we’re feeling audacious we could try and land there in daylight.”
“Maybe,” said Mal.
“So this looks like our best choice?” Tina said. “Awesome, we’re going back to college.”
The main problem I keep running into is how to insert Our Heroes into the novel's plot at the right time and place, which is why this is happening in fits and starts and not as a whole narrative.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Take your time with it. It'll come to you. This is the sort of stuff I ponder over at work when I turn my brain off and let my hands do the job.
An industrialized world, with airships and signs of mass destruction...
And you're setting down in the middle of a university town.
... You didn't put down in the Wulfenbach Empire, did you?
i would suggest ignoring the storyline and just use the universe considering that the storyline would be sometime around the 1990's or whenever it was first published.
Lantern City
Uranus is a pretty dark world in the visual spectrum; the planet only receives 1/400th the amount of sunlight as Earth, and that’s not a whole hell of a lot. To make matters worse, Uranus’s extreme axial tilt means that entire hemispheres will spend decades cut off from even that much sunlight during the average trip around the sun. In short, there’s not a lot of light unless you bring your own.
Which is what the Fen explorers did.
After the discovery of the Oberon Gate, the Fen built two facilities on the moon. The first naturally was an enclosure designed to support gate operations, anchored around the long, deep box canyon in which the gate was first found. The second was Stratford-upon-Oberon, a settlement which was intended to support the gate facility, sited twenty kilometers down the canyon and up on the edge of the cliff for security’s sake.
Stratford is built out of a combination of large domes and spindly freestanding towers connected by walkways. It’s earned the nickname “Lantern City” because the permanent settlers in a fit of quirkiness have largely embraced the darkness of the Uranian system. Only a few areas in Stratford have full Earthlike illumination, mostly agricultural domes as well as a few small park zones for psychological reasons. Everywhere else, the city is lit by small individual streetlights, building lights, neon signs etc. In the dim light of the sun, the effect shrouds Stratford in a twilit haze.
The city of Stratford-upon-Oberon has roughly 40,000 permanent residents, with as many as 150,000 transient residents at any one time. Most business involves the gate, of course, but helium mining is also a major industry (Uranus’s atmosphere being far less turbulent that Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune) as well as scientific studies of the Uranian system itself. City defenses are under Convention Security jurisdiction, and have a “shoot first, sift the debris for answers” policy regarding unauthorized approaches towards the gate exclusion zone.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
----------
The Outlaw Accident.
Jan 31, 2024.
One of the early Outlaw class cruisers collides with an unidentified object while on approach to re-entry of the Continental US. The crippled cruiser breaks up on re-entry, showering most of the Southern States with heavy metal debris.
The Dragon Wagon was owned by the bounty hunter Misty Carlson and her Partner. She is killed when her pressure helmet is punctured by debris. Her partner survives, but he suffers severe injuries, becoming one of the first recipients of a full cyber conversion to save his life. 5 people are killed on the ground when an engine nacelle falls on a house in Lubbock, Texas. Dozens more are injured by the shockwave hundreds of tons of metal and composites create as it barrels out of control through the atmosphere.
The legal ramifications get played like Tennis through the courts as insurance companies struggle to pass the buck on liability. The crew are absolved of wrongdoing, with blame being apportioned in full to the still-unidentified flying object struck..
As a result of this accident, re-entry over land was forbidden worldwide, with the exception of parts of Siberia, Antarctica and in cases of genuine emergency.
Misty's partner continues Bounty Hunting for several years under the handle 'Jet Jaguar'.
--------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
The Outlaw Accident was the proximate reason behind the Low-Earth Orbit Clearance Project. Earth's various "space powers" and the corporations based in cislunar space send specialist crews out to remove the various orbital debris that has proven to be flight hazards, salvaging any still-useful components from the satellites and recycling the smaller debris and what can't be used from the larger items.
Greenwood and Stella Via are the leaders in this project (with both Marsden and Anderson taking personal interest in its progress), coordinating their efforts with each other and the government agencies. None of them are making a profit on the project. The space agencies are taking part because their governments have ordered them to, while the two space-based companies are taking the long view and treating the project as an investment in humanity's future.
Meta: And that gives Fee and the Toy Box a reason to show up in the new setting...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
robkelk Wrote:The Outlaw Accident was the proximate reason behind the Low-Earth Orbit Clearance Project. Earth's various "space powers" and the corporations based in cislunar space send specialist crews out to remove the various orbital debris that has proven to be flight hazards, salvaging any still-useful components from the satellites and recycling the smaller debris and what can't be used from the larger items.
Greenwood and Stella Via are the leaders in this project (with both Marsden and Anderson taking personal interest in its progress), coordinating their efforts with each other and the government agencies. None of them are making a profit on the project. The space agencies are taking part because their governments have ordered them to, while the two space-based companies are taking the long view and treating the project as an investment in humanity's future.
Meta: And that gives Fee and the Toy Box a reason to show up in the new setting...
Very much fits with what I've imagined Marsden's character to be, and he'd definitely run a program like this as a non-profit.
He'd probably also run a forensic on the collider to try to find out what it was... if it's still completely unknown then I'd assume it ricochet'ed off somewhere and its new orbit was never successfully determined.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.
Trying to figure out what my incarnation would be here.... Hrmmmm....
-------
After a somewhat lackluster, but highly educational tour of duty in the US Navy, Benjamin Rhodes handwaviumizes an old Mazda B2500 extended cab pickup into a viable spacecraft and calls it the Scrappy Doo Express (for the truck's seemingly dogged determination to punch over its own weight). With his trusty AI companion, Asuka Shikinami-Langely, they have started out as couriers, leveraging his truck's cargo capacity to great effect. However, given their militaristic backgrounds, they are starting to become somewhat restless.
-------
Given my own mischievous leanings, I'm wondering if Mal's contingent wouldn't mind having Ben around. He'd still be fairly fresh from the Navy, with a bevy of useful skills like using and maintaining small arms, crew served weapons, and major caliber guns. His experience would also include explosives ordnance handling, storage and inventory; maintenance of damage control equipment (emergency lighting, fire fighting equipment, and even fittings such as doors, hatches, scuttles, valves, and dampers of all sorts); shipboard firefighting, mass casualty, and first-aid; and last (but not least), hazardous materials management (big guns need lots of grease, oil, and paint).
Non-handwavium quirks include:
- Unwitting Ninja: an uncanny ability to sneak up on people, even unintentionally. (For real - I have to wear something jangly if I don't want to surprise the hell out of someone.)
- Mildly Autistic: while not diagnosed, he suspects this as he tends to distance himself from the 'human factor' in many things. While it makes him seem like an asshole at times, it is useful at others when an objective eye is needed.
- Human Gyrocompass: excellent sense of orientation, though at times a weakness as he is sensitive to movement. Can take several days to readjust to free-fall if he spends more than a month in a gravity well.
- Slow is Steady: a preference for quality over quantity. He will use all available time for a project to achieve the best possible results, even going as far as to experiment.
- Stubborn: as a mule. If you cannot provide incontrovertible proof, then he is going to stick to his guns. With concessions, though, he can be persuaded to compromise.
- Better Mousetrap: always looking a better way to do things.
- Engineer Inside: mechanically inclined and excellent at troubleshooting. If he fixes it, it will stay fixed longer and run smoother.
- ADD: looses track of things easily. This has enforced a certain degree of organization that can appear obsessive-compulsive from a distance.
Thoughts?
No need to specify "Non-handwavium quirks" - in this setting, handwavium doesn't produce quirks.
(The way I understand it, it also doesn't turn ground vehicles into spacecraft... Maybe the
Scrappy Doo Express is an older-model de-milled Navy space launch that he purchased when he mustered out? This stretches believability a bit, but isn't impossible.)
Maybe somebody should post Mal's early notes - the ones he emailed to (at least) me... In most cases, that would be redundant, though - the information's been posted here, or altered and posted here.
But, re-reading the email, I see there are a couple of nuggets that aren't here yet. I'll risk the Wrath of Mod, and copy and comment on them:
Quote:hw engines more restricted than orig fork; can do stupid-fast torchship speeds, but still take at least 3-5 days to cross Earth-Mars at conjunction.
Which gives a reason for there to actually be something at the L1 point...
Quote:as of scenario start FTL travel is just becoming the next big thing out of hw tech. greydarkmadsci has developed a drive similar to 2300’s stutterwarp. The main drawbacks are it’s short range (~8 ly) and takes a long damn time to get anywhere (45 days to Proxima). The exploration/colonization of Centauri is the big prestige project for a bunch of danelaw governments.
To put things in perspective, a
Traveller Jump-1 drive is roughly three times faster than the stutterwarp, but stutterwarp has longer range.
(And Mal's notes had Kohran inventing the stutterwarp. I'd prefer she be the leader of the team that invented it - modern scientific research isn't an individual activity, although it's reasonable for her to be the one who had the first flash of inspiration.)
Quote:THE PROFESSOR: Is a myth. Really.
I think we can all get behind this one. As lovely a character he is for original-recipe Fenspace, he doesn't fit extra-techy Fenspace.
(Digression: We have to come up with better names than that for the variant.)
And the bit that is very much open for debate (ECSNorway, Dartz, and I changed the bits about our characters, too):
Quote:BENJAMIN RHODES: Early adopter, first person to settle Ceres as anything more than a curiosity. Operates a PMC - Roughriders Unlimited - that operates as local defense for the major asteroids and several space stations in the trans-martian volume. Currently looking into the madsci world for personal reasons; he and his infomorph wife would like kids, but her bioroid morph isn’t designed for pregnancy.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
robkelk Wrote:No need to specify "Non-handwavium quirks" - in this setting, handwavium doesn't produce quirks.
Okay, this is something I missed too...
Since the topic came up, let’s talk rockets for a minute. Bear in mind that I don’t have the tools or time handy to really get deep & spergy about the subject, so this will all be a bit… limited.
Okay, so. There’s all sorts of spacecraft operating in the solar system thanks to the Handwavium Revolution. As with everything handwavium-related, they can be sorted into lightsci, graysci and darksci with the occasional burst of madsci.
LIGHTSCI
Lightsci rocketry is probably the most well-understood and common form of spacecraft in the solar system. Most spacecraft operating in the system (as well as outside the system) use one form of lightsci propulsion system or another, divided by local resources: short-distance lunar hoppers for example use rockets powered by oxygen and aluminum, two elements that are very common on the moon, while Martian rockets tend to use oxygen and carbon monoxide since that’s what’s handy there.
Large payloads (asteroid ores, packaged volatiles, stuff that doesn’t have to be anywhere in a hurry) are pushed along by slow-burning electric propulsion systems, solar sails or are simply kicked into transfer orbits by mass drivers. Aldrin cycler stations run between Earth, Mars and the outer system as well.
GRAYSCI
Lightsci rockets are common, but it’s graysci rockets that keep the solar system stitched together. These designs have a basis in lightsci theoretical propulsion systems but for one reason or another aren’t quite wholly lightsci. The main graysci technologies used generally involve fuel consumption; a wave-derived engine uses less fuel than the lightsci calculations suggest it needs.
The torchship, a continuous-thrust rocket that allows for direct flight to and from places, is the great sign of the modern era (as well as one of the symbols of the Fenspace Convention). Torchships carry passengers and cargo from Earth to Mars, Jupiter and all over the system. Earth-built ships use a muon-catalyzed inertial confinement fusion drive (aka ‘the Sakharov Drive.’ Not that noted Russian genius Andrei Sakharov had anything to do with it, mind; the name was bestowed by Fen engineers who noted the similarities between the prototype engine and the one used by the
USSR Cosmonaut Alexi Leonov in the novel 2010.) that can boost at a leisurely one-third gee, arriving at Mars in around five to ten days depending. Fen ships use similar engines, though ships running out to the edge of the system may use antimatter-catalyzed fusion rockets for a little extra burn.
DARKSCI
Darksci technology is traditionally used less in propulsion than in crew safety/support systems. Inertial control and artificial gravity are the major darksci techs used (for obvious reasons).
Darksci thrusters all tend to be some form of gravitic engine or ‘reactionless drive,’ which drives most researchers batty trying to figure out how they work without destroying the conservation of momentum. The current hypothesis is that the engines are reacting, but it’s against something in a higher dimension or otherwise inaccessible to current observation. Reactionless engines are more often found in Fen craft than others, though high-value ‘Danelaw ships use them when necessary.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"