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[RFC] 'Good Life' faction
[RFC] 'Good Life' faction
#1
Good Life - 04/Oct/2012
Good Life are an extreme faction who many would describe as evil.  However, they do not consider themselves to be bound by normal human morals or ethics.  You may have heard people theorise that "The World would be a better place without humans'. Well, those who call themselves 'good life' aim to achieve that state.
Good Life consider humanity to be an infection on the face of the Earth, and on the entire Solar System, and, they fear, beyond.  A destroyer of the 'natural order' - you could call them 'extreme environmentalists'.  They are inspired by the 'Berserker' series of books by Fred Saberhagen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...rserker_%28Saberhagen%29
One of the main objectives of Good Life is to remove all 'bad life' (humans), by the 'waving of Berserkers, soulless machines dedicated to the destruction of all life.  In the end, when this object is achieved, they expect that they to will be destroyed, so the universe will be returned to life-less perfection.
Unfortunately, handwavium is proving to be a very difficult means of producing Berserkers, and the combat robots that they build invariably turn out to have their own ideas about what their purpose is, in their non-organic lives.  Occasionally they might think they have succeeded, but so far this has proved to be the AIs "keeping their heads down" until they figure-out what is going on.
Good Life rarely directly attack humans, or human places, partly because there are so few of them.  But, mainly because they believe the work should be done by Berserkers.  Opinion is divided among the few who have even heard of Good Life as to whether it is possible for them to succeed.  In general, unless they can build a purely hard tech murderous AI, the answer is believed to be 'no'.
One reason Good Life are relevant is that the products of their work may attempt to join the larger Fenspace community.  Some ask for help in demilitarising themselves, others seek work as part of Great Justice or the Space Patrol.  There is no evidence that any of them have been recruited by Boskone.  One or two claim to be Iain M. Banks 'Culture' fans, and want help to upgrade themselves to become the equivalent of Culture Minds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
Edit: Fixed sp.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#2
If Noah Scott finds out that there are actually people like this in Fenspace, he's going to push hard for them to be classified as Boskonian. They want to commit genocide, after all...
--
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
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#3
Killer 'Wave Bots should be an endlessly frustrating puzzle for those who actually try to put 'em together. The scary looking chromium skeleton Decimator will wander away to paint landscapes or flower arrange or run for mayor of Titan. It would be funny to have a would-be evil organization completely and fruitlessly locked-in to making their death-machines actually want to kill. Mischief should be possible in order to allow for a certain fun level of deviltry. Fen-Space villains  should be allowed certain operatic boons : platoons of minion bots designed for Skeletor's Main Street  parade or for acquiring an obvious 'Steal me, villain!' gimcrack.  The key thing to remember, as far as I'm concerned, is that Fen is inherently not serious. It's, 'Geeks in Spaaaace!' It's LARPing writ super-large. With that in mind, killer robots? Giggle. 
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#4
robkelk Wrote:If Noah Scott finds out that there are actually people like this in Fenspace, he's going to push hard for them to be classified as Boskonian. They want to commit genocide, after all...
Yup.
Genocide is the least of it.  Total extinction of all Life might need some new term.  Omni genocide?  Pan genocide?
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...rserker_probe#Berserkers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anvil_of_Stars
http://blogcritics.org/bo...iew-von-neumanns-war-by/
This would be an example of Berserkers without goodlife - "Anvil of Stars" is an interesting read.  "Von Neumann's War" by John Ringo is recommended, assuming you don't object to stories where a lot o humanity is wiped-out.
http://www.berserker.com/FredsBerserkers.html
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-30-berserker-throne.aspx - free download (probably more elsewhere)
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#5
Don't forget that Saberhage-style Berserkers are already part of http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... Berserkers]the myths of Fenspace. Whether or not the folkloric Berserkers have any connection to these Good Life bozos is probably best left unclear.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#6
Since very, very few peeple will have the combination of madness, drive and techincal skill to be part of the "faction" they should not be a big problem, but they are good enought for some dramatic tension in a fic or two... And for untold myths and paranoia conspiracies that overstate their danger by several magnitudes...
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#7
The "Good Life" bozos may also be part of the "Directive 51/Daybreak" fandom.

Except those guys are determined to brainwash humanity into self-genocide via toxic memes.
''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
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#8
Not sure if "faction" is even the right name for this group... they have neither the influence nor the size. Wink
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#9
Maybe we can use the original typo "fraction" for them... if only because they're playing with only a partial deck...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#10
GMTA Bob.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-

NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
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#11
Fenspace Dictionary:

Fraction: A group of Fen that thinks about themselves as a faction but lack the necessary influence to be one.
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#12
HRogge Wrote:Fenspace Dictionary:

Fraction: A group of Fen that thinks about themselves as a faction but lack the necessary influence to be one.
For reference:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Fraction
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#13
HRogge Wrote:Fenspace Dictionary:

Fraction: A group of Fen that thinks about themselves as a faction but lack the necessary influence to be one.

So why isn't this already in the Glossary? Edit: it is now.

Oh, yes - definitely let's use "influence" as the determining factor, not "size." http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=SOS-Dan]The smallest faction in Fenspace has five members, after all.
--
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
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#14
robkelk Wrote:So why isn't this already in the Glossary?
We have a Glossary in the wiki? Oh... damned...

Quote:Oh, yes - definitely let's use "influence" as the determining factor, not "size." http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=SOS-Dan]The smallest faction in Fenspace has five members, after all.
My thought. Smile
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#15
HRogge Wrote:We have a Glossary in the wiki? Oh... damned...
We hide it very carefully under the "Glossary" link in the main menu on the left-hand side of the page...
--
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
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#16
robkelk Wrote:We hide it very carefully under the "Glossary" link in the main menu on the left-hand side of the page...
Ahh, the special Fen Ninja Power "hide link in plain sight!"
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#17
Ah, the old "Call it a Fen Ninja Power to draw attention away from the Fen ninja powers" trick.
''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
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#18
I think I only found the Glossary, several weeks later, after I'd stopped looking for it...
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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#19
This f(r)actions looks really like one looking forward to a Darwin Award. Wink
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#20
Yup.

I put a bit more in the wiki entry:

http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Goodlife
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
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