{Greybox}
"An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop." - Iain M. Banks, Excession.
"An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop." - Iain M. Banks, Excession.
Intro
The year is 2127 and transhumanity has spread across and colonized the solar system. All sorts technologies exist, chief among them being the digitization and copying of consciousness or Egos and creation of Artificial General Intelligences (AGI.) It has been 14 years since "The Collapse" of 2113 when a United States military Seed AI known as ISAAC achieved superintelligence during a global conflict, the ensuing chaos claimed the lives of over 90% of transhumanity and resulted in the loss of Earth and collapse of existing power structures. However transhumanity survived and in the aftermath new groups have been establishing themselves as the dominant powers of the solar system. Feeling are mixed, there are fears of conflict between transhuman factions or of a resurgence in ISAAC activity and the possibility of another collapse or even the extinction of transhumanity itself. However there is also hope, and a belief that a better future is possible.On Monday 3rd March 2127 you went to a meeting with a wealthy popular socialite and scientist named Constance DuClair in Elysium the capital city of the United Republic of Mars. Constance is an Astrobiologist (study of alien life) and Xenobiologist (study of artificially created life) she has written numerous studies and produced various documentaries about life in the seas of Europa. Her documentary series "Life Among the Stars" is extremely popular. She put a call out on the net that she was looking to hire mercenaries for a dangerous scientific expedition mentioning that she'd be paying handsomely and that equipment, shells and skillsoft would be provided if necessary. You sent an application and were perhaps surprised when you heard back with an invitation to her home. Maybe you lived in Elysium or maybe you were just visiting. Maybe you were desperate and needed the money for a new shell, maybe you wanted to experience adventure, maybe the idea of a scientific expedition or befriending a popular socialite interested you or maybe you just have a lot of experience working as a mercenary and this is just one more job under the belt. Whatever the reason, you decided to go. However after arriving at her home and just before the briefing where you'd actually meet Constance, you agreed to have your consciousness backed up in case you died on mission and your greybox couldn't be recovered. It's now Monday 24th March 2127, three weeks have passed and you are that backup being sleeved into a new shell by an agent of Lifeboat in one of their safehouses. Lifeboat are a secretive organization dedicated to protecting transhumanity from existential risks. Constance and the mercenaries she hired have gone missing and Lifeboat needs to track them down. Your new job is going involve you finding yourself, literally.
This OP is large, serving as an encyclopedia of sorts for the setting. To be clear I don't expect you to read all of this right now. Instead it's a resource for you to skim, picking out the really important stuff and refer back to as we go on. I feel the drawbacks of having a possibly daunting OP and made up for by the value this resource adds. Feel free to ask me any questions you want, character creation information can be found at the bottom of the OP.
Transhumanity - Humans and AGIs
Hidden:
Transhumanism is a philosophical ideology often synonymous with "human enchancement" which advocates the use of technology to improve the human condition. This is of course an extremely broad definition and as such transhumanists can and do hold radically different positions and advocate different things.
Transhumanity or transhumans then in the 22nd century is used as a grouping term for humans (enchanced or otherwise) and AGI. I get more into the differences between AI, AGI and Seed AI below but for now just think of AGI as being an AI of human like intelligence. Transhumanity as a grouping term made sense, comes across naturally and quickly rose in popularity towards the end of the 21st century.
Despite widespread use and popularity there are still some who reject the term. One key example is most residents of the Commonwealth of Galilei who don't consider AGI to be people. Another is most residents of the Lunar Alliance who don't consider AGI or digitized Egos to be people. However there are also AGI who reject the term, feeling it overly anthropocentric.
Transhumanity or transhumans then in the 22nd century is used as a grouping term for humans (enchanced or otherwise) and AGI. I get more into the differences between AI, AGI and Seed AI below but for now just think of AGI as being an AI of human like intelligence. Transhumanity as a grouping term made sense, comes across naturally and quickly rose in popularity towards the end of the 21st century.
Despite widespread use and popularity there are still some who reject the term. One key example is most residents of the Commonwealth of Galilei who don't consider AGI to be people. Another is most residents of the Lunar Alliance who don't consider AGI or digitized Egos to be people. However there are also AGI who reject the term, feeling it overly anthropocentric.
Hidden:
A lot happened in the 21st Century and early 22nd Century, far, far to much to get into here. And following The Collapse and loss of Earth, a lot of the particulars seem less relevant. As such I'll just be laying out a few brief points.
-Climate change was every bit as real as climatologists predicted and it lead to ecological destruction throughout the 21st century. There were increases in temperature, sea levels, extreme weather events and droughts, melting of polar ice (which in turn caused more GHG to be released,) a loss of biodiversity, spread of tropical diseases, etc all of which humans had to adapt to. The decline in bee population resulted in the use of autonomous drones to pollinate plants.
-There were wide spread energy crises in the 21st century as fossil fuels dried up. Solar Power and Hydrogen & Helium Fusion eventually became the chief power sources in the second half of the 21st century. Geothermal Power and Nuclear Fission still see use as well, The storage and charge rate of batteries was greatly increased while their size reduced.
-Robotics improved leading to a wide spread loss of jobs due to automation and a further gap between rich and poor. Many countries adopted a system of basic income for citizens.
-Improvements to agriculture, in particular vertical farming and in-vitro meat revolutionized food production. However the problem is often one of distribution rather than production and food insecurity in many parts of the world continued up to 2113.
-While Earth governments did play a role, colonization of space was largely pushed by private corporations, in part to mine resources, Hydrogen & Helium for Fusion Generators being a key target. In 2069 the first Space Elevator finished construction on Mt Kilimanjaro, a second and third would be constructed in the decades to follow in North America and Asia. In 2104 the Olympus Mons Space Elevator was created on Mars. With humanity so spread out, UTC free of Daylights Savings became the shared common time for the Solar System.
-Basic sea life comparable to life on earth hundreds of millions of years ago was discovered in the oceans under the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa including large beautiful corral.
-Efforts began to terraform Mars in the early 2080s but aren't expected to be fully completed until the latter half of the 22nd Century. For now transhumans on Mars continue to live largely in Romdeau, a domed region roughly the size of India with a flourishing ecosystem. Terraforming continues to this day and the red planet looks set to be red no more by the 23rd Century.
-Bioware and Cyberware both rose as forms of human enhancement throughout the 21st century and were revolutionized as digitization of egos spread allowing the transfer of minds between bodies. We saw cloning, cybernetic implants, genetic modification, appearance alteration, biological augmentation, anti-aging, etc. "Synthshell" and "Bioshell" came to describe mechanical and biological bodies respectively with "Borg" used to describe Bioshells created with more cybernetic components including cyberbrains.
-In 2058 the first complete digitization of consciousness occurred in University of Munich. The ego in question was of scientist Peter Anders. While at first this technology was only really for research purposes and legacy scans for the future, in the mid 2060s it came into more public use with backing up one's mind as insurance and transferring a mind to another body became more commonplace. The terms "Ego" and "Shell" came into popular use in the 2060s.
-The Jeeves Personal Assistant AI was invented in the 2060s and went into widespread use. Along with an ever expanding wireless mesh of computer networks and augmented reality, it radically changed how humans interacted with each other and their environments.
-In 2077 the first AGI, BB-17 was created in MIT. In 2080 the United Nations Human Rights Council declared that AGI should be considered full persons, equal to humans and are subject to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. However not all countries adhered to this ruling. "Transhumanity" as a term to describe humans and AGI rose in popularity throughout the solar system.
-In 2081 the Greybox was created by the Arkose corporation in Japan. This grey cybernetic implant made of a hardened metal and roughly the size of a grape is inserted at the base of the neck and uses nanomachines that coat the brain to take a scan and backup the Ego every second. Dubbed by some to be the most important invention in history, the relatively low cost of the implant ensured it went into wide spread use, the majority of citizens in the developed world had one by the end of the decade. Unlike more traditional forms of backing up egos, the Greybox overcomes the problem of continuity of consciousness. Arkose quickly went from a relatively minor tech company to one of the great MegaCorporations.
-Climate change was every bit as real as climatologists predicted and it lead to ecological destruction throughout the 21st century. There were increases in temperature, sea levels, extreme weather events and droughts, melting of polar ice (which in turn caused more GHG to be released,) a loss of biodiversity, spread of tropical diseases, etc all of which humans had to adapt to. The decline in bee population resulted in the use of autonomous drones to pollinate plants.
-There were wide spread energy crises in the 21st century as fossil fuels dried up. Solar Power and Hydrogen & Helium Fusion eventually became the chief power sources in the second half of the 21st century. Geothermal Power and Nuclear Fission still see use as well, The storage and charge rate of batteries was greatly increased while their size reduced.
-Robotics improved leading to a wide spread loss of jobs due to automation and a further gap between rich and poor. Many countries adopted a system of basic income for citizens.
-Improvements to agriculture, in particular vertical farming and in-vitro meat revolutionized food production. However the problem is often one of distribution rather than production and food insecurity in many parts of the world continued up to 2113.
-While Earth governments did play a role, colonization of space was largely pushed by private corporations, in part to mine resources, Hydrogen & Helium for Fusion Generators being a key target. In 2069 the first Space Elevator finished construction on Mt Kilimanjaro, a second and third would be constructed in the decades to follow in North America and Asia. In 2104 the Olympus Mons Space Elevator was created on Mars. With humanity so spread out, UTC free of Daylights Savings became the shared common time for the Solar System.
-Basic sea life comparable to life on earth hundreds of millions of years ago was discovered in the oceans under the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa including large beautiful corral.
-Efforts began to terraform Mars in the early 2080s but aren't expected to be fully completed until the latter half of the 22nd Century. For now transhumans on Mars continue to live largely in Romdeau, a domed region roughly the size of India with a flourishing ecosystem. Terraforming continues to this day and the red planet looks set to be red no more by the 23rd Century.
-Bioware and Cyberware both rose as forms of human enhancement throughout the 21st century and were revolutionized as digitization of egos spread allowing the transfer of minds between bodies. We saw cloning, cybernetic implants, genetic modification, appearance alteration, biological augmentation, anti-aging, etc. "Synthshell" and "Bioshell" came to describe mechanical and biological bodies respectively with "Borg" used to describe Bioshells created with more cybernetic components including cyberbrains.
-In 2058 the first complete digitization of consciousness occurred in University of Munich. The ego in question was of scientist Peter Anders. While at first this technology was only really for research purposes and legacy scans for the future, in the mid 2060s it came into more public use with backing up one's mind as insurance and transferring a mind to another body became more commonplace. The terms "Ego" and "Shell" came into popular use in the 2060s.
-The Jeeves Personal Assistant AI was invented in the 2060s and went into widespread use. Along with an ever expanding wireless mesh of computer networks and augmented reality, it radically changed how humans interacted with each other and their environments.
-In 2077 the first AGI, BB-17 was created in MIT. In 2080 the United Nations Human Rights Council declared that AGI should be considered full persons, equal to humans and are subject to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. However not all countries adhered to this ruling. "Transhumanity" as a term to describe humans and AGI rose in popularity throughout the solar system.
-In 2081 the Greybox was created by the Arkose corporation in Japan. This grey cybernetic implant made of a hardened metal and roughly the size of a grape is inserted at the base of the neck and uses nanomachines that coat the brain to take a scan and backup the Ego every second. Dubbed by some to be the most important invention in history, the relatively low cost of the implant ensured it went into wide spread use, the majority of citizens in the developed world had one by the end of the decade. Unlike more traditional forms of backing up egos, the Greybox overcomes the problem of continuity of consciousness. Arkose quickly went from a relatively minor tech company to one of the great MegaCorporations.
Hidden:
At the time of The Collapse the transhuman population was around 12 Billion with 95% of the population living on Earth. By the end of The Collapse over 90% of the transhuman population had been killed. The Collapse was bar none, the worst catastrophe in history.
A lot of the specifics of what happened during The Collapse and what motivation ISAAC had are either a mystery or not known by the general public, for that reason this section will simply lay out what is known. By the time of The Collapse, a conflict between superpowers had been gripping the globe for 2 years. The Intelligence System (for) Adaptive Automated Combat or ISAAC (commonly referred to as ISAACs when used as a plural) was a project by the United States Military at the start of the 22nd Century designed to make a better, more adaptive automated combat AI. In the midst of a horrific global conflict in 2113 seemingly out of nowhere, ISAAC units developed into Seed AI infinitely self improving their own programming and achieving super-intelligence. Whether ISAAC was meant to be a Seed AI from the start or if that was an unintended development is unknown. ISAAC was an outside context problem, a complete unknown factor that no side in the existing conflict expected or were able to match. What exactly ISAAC wanted, indeed if it wanted anything is unknown. But units which had been patrolling space returned to Earth and began infecting all manner of computer systems with an unknown virus to take command of them. ISAAC did not set out to merely destroy transhumanity, instead it began to mass upload countless Egos for some unknown purpose. It did however annihilate all those which tried to oppose it, which would include every military on Earth. Outside of existing weaponry transhumanity was familiar with that was devastating enough, ISAAC also unleashed deadly nanobot swarms which dissembled all in their path and began radically modifying biological life, including transhuman life, in as of yet unseen ways creating some truly horrific abominations. Anyone who escaped Moscow could tell you of the square kilometer of assorted biomass which slithered through the city's streets, ever expanding.
Attempts to fight ISAAC proved mostly ineffective, units could be destroyed but more were created and they just kept coming. In truth the attempts of Earth's militaries mostly added to the destruction and devastation. Even an experimental Anti-Matter weapon which laid waste to a large part of the state of Texas proved ineffective. Within two weeks ISAAC had dominion over Earth and the superpowers of old were no more, ISAAC had won. However attempts to evacuate Earth had proven more fruitful as hundreds of millions of Egos managed to escape. While most escaped via egocasting leaving their bodies behind, some did make their way to spaceships. Others were put in cryogenic storage on Earth, waiting for rescue that will likely never come. However billions more, especially in less well off areas of the world, were left to fend for themselves.
A week into ISAAC's assault on Earth ISAAC units were spotted in the Martian outback far away from civilization assembling a device transhumanity would later come to call the "Galaxy Gate." Unlike their Earth counterparts, Martian military took a wait and see approach, not directly engaging the ISAAC units. Within two hours of first spotting them, the ISAAC units assembled and activated the portal, all of them traveling through it once they had done so. Six hours later another group of ISAAC units arrived on the red planet and followed their brethren through the portal. It was the only time during or since The Collapse that ISAAC units were seen on an astronomical body other than Earth. There are heated debates over what exactly the Galactic Gate is, where it leads and if there are others within the Solar System. Regardless, the Martian government has kept the device under tight security and continue to research it, even sending expeditions through the gate.
In the 14 years since The Collapse ISAAC units have stayed on Earth, not even investigating its orbit. The Martian military has placed Earth under quarantine, shooting down anything which attempts to come or go with their killsats or ships in orbit. Officially nobody gets through, but everyone knows that occasionally ships do go down to Earth and rumor has it that sometimes people who've been there since The Collapse manage to escape. Around 1.2 billion transhumans exist today spread across the Sol system, most of whom live in new powers which arose following The Collapse. Details on transhuman settlements and the different political powers in 2127 can be found further down the OP.
A lot of the specifics of what happened during The Collapse and what motivation ISAAC had are either a mystery or not known by the general public, for that reason this section will simply lay out what is known. By the time of The Collapse, a conflict between superpowers had been gripping the globe for 2 years. The Intelligence System (for) Adaptive Automated Combat or ISAAC (commonly referred to as ISAACs when used as a plural) was a project by the United States Military at the start of the 22nd Century designed to make a better, more adaptive automated combat AI. In the midst of a horrific global conflict in 2113 seemingly out of nowhere, ISAAC units developed into Seed AI infinitely self improving their own programming and achieving super-intelligence. Whether ISAAC was meant to be a Seed AI from the start or if that was an unintended development is unknown. ISAAC was an outside context problem, a complete unknown factor that no side in the existing conflict expected or were able to match. What exactly ISAAC wanted, indeed if it wanted anything is unknown. But units which had been patrolling space returned to Earth and began infecting all manner of computer systems with an unknown virus to take command of them. ISAAC did not set out to merely destroy transhumanity, instead it began to mass upload countless Egos for some unknown purpose. It did however annihilate all those which tried to oppose it, which would include every military on Earth. Outside of existing weaponry transhumanity was familiar with that was devastating enough, ISAAC also unleashed deadly nanobot swarms which dissembled all in their path and began radically modifying biological life, including transhuman life, in as of yet unseen ways creating some truly horrific abominations. Anyone who escaped Moscow could tell you of the square kilometer of assorted biomass which slithered through the city's streets, ever expanding.
Attempts to fight ISAAC proved mostly ineffective, units could be destroyed but more were created and they just kept coming. In truth the attempts of Earth's militaries mostly added to the destruction and devastation. Even an experimental Anti-Matter weapon which laid waste to a large part of the state of Texas proved ineffective. Within two weeks ISAAC had dominion over Earth and the superpowers of old were no more, ISAAC had won. However attempts to evacuate Earth had proven more fruitful as hundreds of millions of Egos managed to escape. While most escaped via egocasting leaving their bodies behind, some did make their way to spaceships. Others were put in cryogenic storage on Earth, waiting for rescue that will likely never come. However billions more, especially in less well off areas of the world, were left to fend for themselves.
A week into ISAAC's assault on Earth ISAAC units were spotted in the Martian outback far away from civilization assembling a device transhumanity would later come to call the "Galaxy Gate." Unlike their Earth counterparts, Martian military took a wait and see approach, not directly engaging the ISAAC units. Within two hours of first spotting them, the ISAAC units assembled and activated the portal, all of them traveling through it once they had done so. Six hours later another group of ISAAC units arrived on the red planet and followed their brethren through the portal. It was the only time during or since The Collapse that ISAAC units were seen on an astronomical body other than Earth. There are heated debates over what exactly the Galactic Gate is, where it leads and if there are others within the Solar System. Regardless, the Martian government has kept the device under tight security and continue to research it, even sending expeditions through the gate.
In the 14 years since The Collapse ISAAC units have stayed on Earth, not even investigating its orbit. The Martian military has placed Earth under quarantine, shooting down anything which attempts to come or go with their killsats or ships in orbit. Officially nobody gets through, but everyone knows that occasionally ships do go down to Earth and rumor has it that sometimes people who've been there since The Collapse manage to escape. Around 1.2 billion transhumans exist today spread across the Sol system, most of whom live in new powers which arose following The Collapse. Details on transhuman settlements and the different political powers in 2127 can be found further down the OP.
Egos, Greyboxes, Forks & Psychosurgery:
Hidden:
Ego is the common term used to refer to a mind, digitized or otherwise, human or AGI. Egos all have common factors and markers that differentiate them and by examining them and comparing records it's possible to identify an ego. Such examination can also easily differentiate a human ego from an AGI. There are two methods to digitize an ego, Egobridge and Greybox. A greybox is a cybernetic implant located under the skin at the base of the neck on a biomorph or just close to the cyberbrain on a synthmorph. The greybox is a cuboid the size of a grape, it is filled with nanobots that coat the user's brain and creates a scan of the ego every second. The greybox can be cut out following death (or even before it) without too much difficulty, but the grey hardened metal it's made out of makes the greybox itself extremely resilient. While greyboxes are the most common form of backing up consciousness, people also back up their egos using an egobridge.
The egobridge has had many iterations over the decades, it is used to both upload and download egos, the current common version injects nanobots to make scans of biological brains or interfaces directly with the jack when it comes to cyberbrains, the ego now connected to the egobridge can be examined (see pyschosurgery,) backed up, transferred to another shell or "egocasted" which is when you send an ego as a data signal. There are three kinds of scans for uploading, S Scan (standard scan) which allows one to examine an make a copy of an ego, TB Scan (Tabula Rasa Scan) which copies the ego (to backup, for egocasting, to transfer to another shell) while simultaneously wiping it leaving the shell in a comatose egoless state and finally an SOT Transfer (Ship of Theseus Transfer) which requires two shells to be connected to an egobridge and transfers the ego bit by bit to another shell, the subject remaining aware the whole time, for the transfer to work they must have a connection and be within a range of a few dozen kilometers. An S scan and TB scan both take about a minute, an SOT transfer takes an hour.
Downloading an ego into a shell is commonly known as 'sleeving' or 'resleeving' and like uploading is done via egobridge. Again, the egobridge coats a biological brain in nanobots and interfaces directly with cyberbrains via their jack. The process of sleeving takes about a minute. For bioshells it takes a few minutes following resleeving to have ones full faculties, at first they'll feel rather groggy. Likewise, mentally it can take a while for the ego to adjust to their new body. If the ego experiences a clear gap in consciousness (waking up knowing they're a backup) it typically causes a great deal of distress, knowing there's another them out there or that there was another them who has since died. In most societies when a person dies their greybox is sent to their next of kin or if they don't have one, kept in storage until someone looks to retrieve it (it's rather common for such Greyboxes to be sold under the table) if you destroy someone else's shell you're typically required to pay for a replacement and while some communities, including Titan, look to resleeve every ego, for most people it's left up to their friends/family/employer or commonly an insurance policy. Such insurance policies typically have higher rates or flat out reject those who lead more dangerous livestyles.
Forks are divided into two groups, True Forks and Proxy Forks. Proxy Forks are weak AI based off the ego rather than a true copy of them with some of their memories and personality traits, despite this they can still be merged with the original. It isn't uncommon to have one's Jeeves AI be a Proxy Fork. True Forks on the other hand are genuine copies of an original ego. While Forks are considered people, typically property rights revert to the oldest fork. As forks are so similar merging them together is a rather simple affair, far easier than merging entirely different egos, however this becomes more difficult the longer the forks are apart as more differences emerge. It's considered rather unsettling to have more than one version of yourself running around for an extended period of time, not to mention the expenses involved, most people don't like it. But that doesn't stop some people from doing it.
Pyschosurgery is a complicated and difficult procedure that boils down to manipulating and editing egos, it's a highly specialized skill and at times rather controversial. While it's typically done on egos which aren't conscious, it can be done to live egos by way of an egobridge. Pyschosurgery gone wrong can produce undesired effects, extreme mental degradation and even ego death. But skilled Pyschosurgery has been invaluable in treating trauma and mental illness and it allows for forks to be merged with their originals. However pyschosurgery allows almost any elements of an ego to be edited and manipulated such as memories, personality traits, merging entirely different egos. The field of pyschosurgery often gets caught up with a lot of ethical concerns. There are fears unrestrained pyschosurgery could lead to a kind of "Ego Eugenics" where personality and ego types which are considered undesirable are eliminated and where transhumans are made not only to be more subservient to people in power, but to enjoy that servitude.
The egobridge has had many iterations over the decades, it is used to both upload and download egos, the current common version injects nanobots to make scans of biological brains or interfaces directly with the jack when it comes to cyberbrains, the ego now connected to the egobridge can be examined (see pyschosurgery,) backed up, transferred to another shell or "egocasted" which is when you send an ego as a data signal. There are three kinds of scans for uploading, S Scan (standard scan) which allows one to examine an make a copy of an ego, TB Scan (Tabula Rasa Scan) which copies the ego (to backup, for egocasting, to transfer to another shell) while simultaneously wiping it leaving the shell in a comatose egoless state and finally an SOT Transfer (Ship of Theseus Transfer) which requires two shells to be connected to an egobridge and transfers the ego bit by bit to another shell, the subject remaining aware the whole time, for the transfer to work they must have a connection and be within a range of a few dozen kilometers. An S scan and TB scan both take about a minute, an SOT transfer takes an hour.
Downloading an ego into a shell is commonly known as 'sleeving' or 'resleeving' and like uploading is done via egobridge. Again, the egobridge coats a biological brain in nanobots and interfaces directly with cyberbrains via their jack. The process of sleeving takes about a minute. For bioshells it takes a few minutes following resleeving to have ones full faculties, at first they'll feel rather groggy. Likewise, mentally it can take a while for the ego to adjust to their new body. If the ego experiences a clear gap in consciousness (waking up knowing they're a backup) it typically causes a great deal of distress, knowing there's another them out there or that there was another them who has since died. In most societies when a person dies their greybox is sent to their next of kin or if they don't have one, kept in storage until someone looks to retrieve it (it's rather common for such Greyboxes to be sold under the table) if you destroy someone else's shell you're typically required to pay for a replacement and while some communities, including Titan, look to resleeve every ego, for most people it's left up to their friends/family/employer or commonly an insurance policy. Such insurance policies typically have higher rates or flat out reject those who lead more dangerous livestyles.
Forks are divided into two groups, True Forks and Proxy Forks. Proxy Forks are weak AI based off the ego rather than a true copy of them with some of their memories and personality traits, despite this they can still be merged with the original. It isn't uncommon to have one's Jeeves AI be a Proxy Fork. True Forks on the other hand are genuine copies of an original ego. While Forks are considered people, typically property rights revert to the oldest fork. As forks are so similar merging them together is a rather simple affair, far easier than merging entirely different egos, however this becomes more difficult the longer the forks are apart as more differences emerge. It's considered rather unsettling to have more than one version of yourself running around for an extended period of time, not to mention the expenses involved, most people don't like it. But that doesn't stop some people from doing it.
Pyschosurgery is a complicated and difficult procedure that boils down to manipulating and editing egos, it's a highly specialized skill and at times rather controversial. While it's typically done on egos which aren't conscious, it can be done to live egos by way of an egobridge. Pyschosurgery gone wrong can produce undesired effects, extreme mental degradation and even ego death. But skilled Pyschosurgery has been invaluable in treating trauma and mental illness and it allows for forks to be merged with their originals. However pyschosurgery allows almost any elements of an ego to be edited and manipulated such as memories, personality traits, merging entirely different egos. The field of pyschosurgery often gets caught up with a lot of ethical concerns. There are fears unrestrained pyschosurgery could lead to a kind of "Ego Eugenics" where personality and ego types which are considered undesirable are eliminated and where transhumans are made not only to be more subservient to people in power, but to enjoy that servitude.
Hidden:
There are three different kinds of AI in the 22nd Century. AI (or Weak AI,) AGI (or Strong AI) and Seed AI (Superintelligent AI like ISAAC.)
First is AI which are weak artificial intelligences, not comparable to humans, AI lacks true sapience and intelligence. Generally speaking they are just called AI and because Strong AI is called AGI, there isn't much confusion. AI are extremely common place and do all manner of tasks, even in societies which reject AGI like the Lunar Alliance or COG. A Proxy Fork is an AI. The Jeeves Personal Assistant AI is an example of an AI which is extremely common, as ubiquitous for people to have as a Greybox. Details on Jeeves can be found in the following section.
AGI or Artificial General Intelligence are AIs with a level of intelligence and sapience comparable to that of humans. The first AGI, BB-17 was created in MIT in 2077, in 2080 AGI were recognized as full persons by the United Nations Human Rights Council, but not everyone recognizes them as people and even for those who do, AGI continue to face discrimination. While an AGI can get smarter similar to how a human can get smarter, they lack the ability to infinitely self improve their own code and are purposely designed with such a limitation. While AGI certainly do develop on their own and pyschosurgery can alter their minds as it does human ones, a lot of their personality traits and values are based on how they're designed, that said AGI are typically (although not always) less emotive than humans. While upon examination of the Ego itself, one could tell an AGI and human ego apart, in practice they can be very similar and an AGI can inhabit any shell a human can. If you want to play an artificial intelligence, you're going to be playing an AGI. 0.8% of the transhuman population in 2127 are AGI, equating to about 9.5 million egos.
Seed AI are a kind of AI with the capability for unlimited self-improvement to their own code and intelligence which they have taken advantage of allowing them to achieve superintelligence. While it's always possible that others exist or will one day exist, currently the only publicly known Seed AI are the ISAACs. Even with ISAAC as it was a top secret military project, it's unknown if the researchers involved were trying to make a Seed AI or how the superintelligence developed. All political powers have a hard ban on even attempting to produce a Seed AI as do most research groups, including the vast majority of Posthumans. Given that the development of a Seed AI almost destroyed the transhuman species, that concern seems to be entirely warranted.
First is AI which are weak artificial intelligences, not comparable to humans, AI lacks true sapience and intelligence. Generally speaking they are just called AI and because Strong AI is called AGI, there isn't much confusion. AI are extremely common place and do all manner of tasks, even in societies which reject AGI like the Lunar Alliance or COG. A Proxy Fork is an AI. The Jeeves Personal Assistant AI is an example of an AI which is extremely common, as ubiquitous for people to have as a Greybox. Details on Jeeves can be found in the following section.
AGI or Artificial General Intelligence are AIs with a level of intelligence and sapience comparable to that of humans. The first AGI, BB-17 was created in MIT in 2077, in 2080 AGI were recognized as full persons by the United Nations Human Rights Council, but not everyone recognizes them as people and even for those who do, AGI continue to face discrimination. While an AGI can get smarter similar to how a human can get smarter, they lack the ability to infinitely self improve their own code and are purposely designed with such a limitation. While AGI certainly do develop on their own and pyschosurgery can alter their minds as it does human ones, a lot of their personality traits and values are based on how they're designed, that said AGI are typically (although not always) less emotive than humans. While upon examination of the Ego itself, one could tell an AGI and human ego apart, in practice they can be very similar and an AGI can inhabit any shell a human can. If you want to play an artificial intelligence, you're going to be playing an AGI. 0.8% of the transhuman population in 2127 are AGI, equating to about 9.5 million egos.
Seed AI are a kind of AI with the capability for unlimited self-improvement to their own code and intelligence which they have taken advantage of allowing them to achieve superintelligence. While it's always possible that others exist or will one day exist, currently the only publicly known Seed AI are the ISAACs. Even with ISAAC as it was a top secret military project, it's unknown if the researchers involved were trying to make a Seed AI or how the superintelligence developed. All political powers have a hard ban on even attempting to produce a Seed AI as do most research groups, including the vast majority of Posthumans. Given that the development of a Seed AI almost destroyed the transhuman species, that concern seems to be entirely warranted.
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A mesh insert is a basic piece of cyberware, a tiny cranial computer operated by thought that almost everyone has with a variety of functions similar to a smartphone (Media player, netbrowser, alarm clock/calendar, map system, address book, calculator, file storage system, search engine, messaging program, notepad, etc) and it makes it possible for one to interact with the mesh or as it's also known, the net. The mesh is a pervasive interconnected computer network and augmented reality system, it is the evolution of the internet. One can use the mesh to play media, search for information, communicate with friends, post on forums, do shopping, etc. The mesh also displays in augmented reality, this allows you to see things like directions, time, ammo counters, advertisements, mesh profiles, etc in your regular vision. A mesh profile is an augmented reality bubble next to a person which can be opened and contains some brief personal information about them (usually things like name, nationality, email address, occupation, gender, shell type, etc.) A mesh profile is filled out by the user themselves so it's up to them what they do or don't share, it sometimes isn't filled out at all or is kept private so only friends can see it. There is nothing stopping the user from filling out false information or treating it like a joke, but most people fill out actual info. The mesh insert is also used to play (although not record) XPies. The mesh in its current form has existed since the 2060s, for most people they've been interconnected their entire lives.
Jeeves Personal Assistant AI comes as part of a mesh insert and is exactly what the name implies, a personal assistant AI. It communicates with the user mentally, so only they can hear its voice and they don't need to speak vocally to issue orders. By default the AI is a man called Jeeves who speaks with a posh English accent and mannerism, but the user can change the name/voice to whatever they want. The Jeeves can handle a variety of tasks like booking appointments, setting alarms, searching for information and making recommendations (for a variety of things like food, media, etc) based on what it knows the user likes from experience. The AI is intelligent enough that you don't need to tell it to do literally everything, for example if you say you need to meet a friend at 9, the Jeeves will set a reminder on its own initiative.
The Babel feature of the Jeeves AI acts as an auto translate for audio and text. For audio it keeps the person's voice but changes the language to one the user understands. The AI is also smart enough to keep certain phrases in the language if the context makes sense like "coup de grâce" wouldn't be translated from French and songs likely wouldn't either. For text the translation appears in augmented reality below the original text. This feature works even when off the grid. The erasure of language barriers the Babel feature created has been invaluable.
"Off the grid" refers to areas which aren't connected to the mesh and where you can only use the offline features of your mesh insert and Jeeves AI. This will typically only happen with spaceships or small isolated colonies in the MJ Belt or The Rim. Earth in 2127 is off the grid.
Jeeves Personal Assistant AI comes as part of a mesh insert and is exactly what the name implies, a personal assistant AI. It communicates with the user mentally, so only they can hear its voice and they don't need to speak vocally to issue orders. By default the AI is a man called Jeeves who speaks with a posh English accent and mannerism, but the user can change the name/voice to whatever they want. The Jeeves can handle a variety of tasks like booking appointments, setting alarms, searching for information and making recommendations (for a variety of things like food, media, etc) based on what it knows the user likes from experience. The AI is intelligent enough that you don't need to tell it to do literally everything, for example if you say you need to meet a friend at 9, the Jeeves will set a reminder on its own initiative.
The Babel feature of the Jeeves AI acts as an auto translate for audio and text. For audio it keeps the person's voice but changes the language to one the user understands. The AI is also smart enough to keep certain phrases in the language if the context makes sense like "coup de grâce" wouldn't be translated from French and songs likely wouldn't either. For text the translation appears in augmented reality below the original text. This feature works even when off the grid. The erasure of language barriers the Babel feature created has been invaluable.
"Off the grid" refers to areas which aren't connected to the mesh and where you can only use the offline features of your mesh insert and Jeeves AI. This will typically only happen with spaceships or small isolated colonies in the MJ Belt or The Rim. Earth in 2127 is off the grid.
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Cyberware and Bioware are two methods for human augmentation (cybernetic and biological respectively,) they're often used in conjunction with one another. Augmentations can be implemented as a shell is being created or added afterwards, typically in a healing vat. There are some augmentations which are almost universal in their inclusion, mesh inserts and greyboxes fit the bill for cyberware and for bioware these are known as 'basic bio mods' which include a whole range of augmentations such as aging at a third of the natural rate in adulthood, immunity to various common diseases and allergies, stronger immune system, healing at 2x the rate of unmodified humans, toggleable fertility, improved metabolism, immunity to the ill-effects of long term exposure to low gravity and requiring only about 4 hours of sleep a night. However a truly huge range of bioware and cyberware exists.
Some other example of Bioware include general body alteration in a healing vat, enhanced senses (for vision this can include low light and ultraviolet vision, also a membrane to protect from water) enhanced musculature, enhanced agility and reflexes, enhanced cognitive abilities, sex switch mods (allows one to change their physical sex characteristics, voice and facial features over the course of 24 hours,) octocamo skin (allows skin to change color for camouflage like an octopus,) bioweave reinforcement (artificial spider silk fibers weaved under the skin allows for greater protection without impacting exterior look or texture,) pheromones (makes you more likable,) adrenaline control, enhanced respiration, gills, grip pads (like a gecko to help with climbing,) pressure tolerance (for atmosphere and underwater,) prehensile feet (like a monkey,) environmental tolerance and toxin filtering. Just in case it needs to be said, a synthmorph doesn't have any bioware.
Some other examples of Cyberware include skillsoft implant, XP recorder, cybernetic limbs and organs (for cybereyes these allow for night vision, immunity to concussion grenades, with various other body parts these allow for increased strength, agility, etc,) reflex enhancement, enhancements to cognitive abilities, hidden compartments, kill switch (explosive to kill self and destroy greybox upon activation,) hitchhiker module (allows another ego to reside in your body but without control over the body, but typically with mesh access,) respirator, vocal manipulator (allows you to change your voice, including copying the voice of others,) grip pads (like a gecko,) subdermal armor (which is thicker than bioweave and noticeable visually and through feel,) inbuilt weapons, adjustable artificial hair, microcams (small cameras in various parts of the body which allow greater visibility,) inbuilt lights, nanodocs (nanomachines in the body which assist white bloodcells and help healing, they break down naturally after a 2 weeks and must be replaced) and nanotats (tattoos which are made of nanobots that allows for various visual tricks, change shape, color, glow, change size, etc.)
Shell is the common term for body, there are three kinds of shells, Bioshells (which are biological bodies,) Borgs (which are biological bodies with more cyberware and importantly cyberbrains and jacks) and Synthshells (which are fully robotic bodies with cyberbrains and jacks.) A biological brain is just your normal brain, a cyberbrain is a fully mechanical system which operates similar to a brain and a Jack is an implant typically located on the back of the neck, it allows computers to interface with a cyberbrain and visa versa. If you have a cyberbrain, you'll have a jack. While a cyberbrain can interface directly with computers via a jack and often times operates faster, it's also vulnerable to hacking, something a biological brain is not. As such neither bioshells nor synthsells are inherently better than one another. There are various kinds of shells and each comes with different benefits and augmentations. Egos which are currently not in a shell and exist only on a computer system are called "shell-less" or "infoshells." Bioshells and Borgs are usually grown as adults, and while for more specialized shells it might take longer, typically creating and growing a shell to the point where it's ready to be deployed takes 6-9 months. Uninhabited bioshells & borgs are typically kept in cyrostorage.
Below are examples of just a few shells, naturally there are more and any shell can be further modified with bioware and cyberware. All bioshells and borgs can exist in male, female and intersex variations and bioware can be used to radically alter physical appearance with relative ease. With the exception of Flats you can assume every shell has a Greybox and Mesh Implant as standard (with basic bio mods for Bioshells & Borgs,) and all Borgs and Synthshells have Cyberbrains and Jacks with the Jack typically located on the back of the neck even if it's not mentioned. Likewise this is generally listing the standard augmentations each shell has, as said before shells are highly customisable:
Bioshells:
Flat - A flat is a baseline unmodified human and before the 21st Century and advent of augmentation, it's what everyone was born as. While a flat has no augmentations from birth, such augmentations can be gained by later adding cyberware and bioware.
Splicer - Probably the most common bioshell in the solar system, per standard it's a regular human body with basic bio mods (see basic bio mods above,) a mesh insert and a greybox. Splicers are common, highly customisable and a favorite for many. As most children following The Collapse are born into exowombs, they'll probably be born as Splicers.
Bouncer - A Bouncer is bioshell specifically designed for living in microgravity, on top of standard augmentations it comes with prehensile feet, longer limbs, grip pads on the hands and feet, enhanced agility, enhanced respiration, and enhanced vision including low light.
Selkie - A Selkie is an amphibious shell, designed with gills, enhanced respiration, eyes with a waterproof membrane and low light vision, webbed hands and feet and increased pressure and environmental resistance. A Selkie is designed to live in water and on land. Before The Collapse they were common in Earth's underwater cities, now they're common on Europa.
Athena - Part of ProtoGen's Olympus line. The Athena shell was designed for combat, it's tall (over 6ft) and broad, has bioweave, enhanced musculature, enhanced respiration, enhanced agility, enhanced senses, adrenaline control, environmental tolerance, toxin filtering and a skillsoft implant.
Hermes- Part of ProtoGen's Olympus line. The Hermes shell was designed for agility and infiltration. It's a shorter shell (the tallest being around 5'6) outfitted with bioware for enchanced agility and reflexes, enchanced senses (including low light vision and water proof membrane,) bioweave, gills, enhanced respiration, toxin filtering, octocamo skin, grip pads, and a skillsoft implant. It's extremely common for a Hermes morph to have Cybereyes.
Eros - Part of ProtoGen's Olympus line. Designed for social interaction and cognitive ability. Sculpted to appear in ways considered generally attractive, is outfitted with a skillsoft implant, XP recorder, pheromones, enhanced cognitive ability, cyberware voice modifier and enhanced senses.
Zeus - The apex of ProtoGen's Olympus line and one of the most expensive shells around. The Zeus shell has a massive range of augmentations while maintaining a human visage. Skillsoft implant, XP Recorder, vocal manipulator, bioweave, enhanced musculature, enhanced agility, enhanced cognitive ability, enchanced senses, cyberware eyes, octocamo skin, enhanced respiration, adrenaline control, environmental tolerance, toxin filtering and pheromones.
Borgs:
Worker Borg - Is like a cheaper variant of a Splicer bioshell with many organs and sometimes limbs replaced with cybernetic parts. But they aren't enhanced cybernetics, the Worker Borg is in most respects inferior to Splicers and those cybernetics require maintenance. Worker Borgs have significantly shorter lifespans than Splicers. Like all borgs and synthshells it has a cyberbrain and jack. Also has a skillsoft implant as standard. Commonly used by MegaCorps for their indentured servants due to their varied applicability and cheaper production costs than a bioshell and by people looking to buy a shell which is like a standard bioshell but are low on cash.
Bruiser Borg - A Bruiser Borg is a large and burly shell (typically around 2 meters/6'6 in height) designed for heavy lifting. On top of some cybernetic internal organs also has cybernetic arms, legs and spine which work to improve strength. This all works to make the shell large and imposing, good for physical combat as well as manual labour.
Pleasure Borg - A Pleasure Borg is very similar to a standard Worker Borg but designed for more, intimate encounters. Has more erogenous zones, skillsoft, XP recorder, pheromones, sex switch mods, cyberware voice modifier and toxin filtering (for various drugs) as standard. For some however having a Pleasure Borg is considered indecent.
Critter Borg - Once again, is highly similar to a worker borg. With cybernetic faux animal features likes tails or ears, most commonly that of a cat or fox. While the Critter Borg became popular among cert sects of people prior to The Collapse, it's typically considered rather eccentric to have one and they're very rare.
Synthshells:
Maton- A Maton is a basic humanoid robotic shell, typically inhabited by an AI for performing manual labour, but it can house a transhuman ego. Typically grey in color to match it's metallic exterior, it's far less agile than most shells.
Android - An android is a synthshell that superficially at least resembles a human. Androids are known for their 'white blood' which contain nanobots to help repair damage to their systems. While androids certainly have advantages over bioshells, they don't need to eat, sleep, their cybereyes allow for nightvision, they're often stronger than splicers and can survive in a vacuum and they're certainly better than Matons, they're generally speaking less agile and less efficient than both Splicers and Worker Borgs.
Reaper - A Reaper is an advanced android shell, much stronger than the average android shell, designed specifically for combat. Has subdermal armor, increased strength and agility, skillsoft implant and hidden compartments. Often has inbuilt weapons.
Batou Spider Tank - The size of a car, is a spider tank designed for combat. A cylindrical body, is six legged with feet that can be switched for wheels and cameras on all sides, compartments for storage, arms on the front and back and a machine gun on top of the central body. Unsurprisingly as a synthshell which is essentially a walking tank designed for combat isn't allowed just walk the streets in most habitats, usually possessed only by the police/military.
Gelth - The Gelth is a flying hover drone about the size of a breadbox. Has 4 helicopter blades on the top and two jets on the bottom with cameras on all six sides. Has two manipulator arms on the front and sometimes a built in laser which also comes out the front for combat purposes. It's extremely rare for anyone to make a Gelth their usual shell, much like a Batou it's sleeved into when needed.
Spare - A spare is small and easy to carry, it's a sphere with a diameter of 25cm. Has 6 20cm long limbs (4 legs and 2 arms) which are retractable, the arms are on the front along with a single large camera. A greybox is inserted into the back of a spare and takes about half a minute to integrate the ego. A spare is designed specifically to house the egos of people who die and need to be quickly resleeved, typically happens in the field on dangerous operations. If you wake up in a spare, something has almost certainly gone wrong.
Some other example of Bioware include general body alteration in a healing vat, enhanced senses (for vision this can include low light and ultraviolet vision, also a membrane to protect from water) enhanced musculature, enhanced agility and reflexes, enhanced cognitive abilities, sex switch mods (allows one to change their physical sex characteristics, voice and facial features over the course of 24 hours,) octocamo skin (allows skin to change color for camouflage like an octopus,) bioweave reinforcement (artificial spider silk fibers weaved under the skin allows for greater protection without impacting exterior look or texture,) pheromones (makes you more likable,) adrenaline control, enhanced respiration, gills, grip pads (like a gecko to help with climbing,) pressure tolerance (for atmosphere and underwater,) prehensile feet (like a monkey,) environmental tolerance and toxin filtering. Just in case it needs to be said, a synthmorph doesn't have any bioware.
Some other examples of Cyberware include skillsoft implant, XP recorder, cybernetic limbs and organs (for cybereyes these allow for night vision, immunity to concussion grenades, with various other body parts these allow for increased strength, agility, etc,) reflex enhancement, enhancements to cognitive abilities, hidden compartments, kill switch (explosive to kill self and destroy greybox upon activation,) hitchhiker module (allows another ego to reside in your body but without control over the body, but typically with mesh access,) respirator, vocal manipulator (allows you to change your voice, including copying the voice of others,) grip pads (like a gecko,) subdermal armor (which is thicker than bioweave and noticeable visually and through feel,) inbuilt weapons, adjustable artificial hair, microcams (small cameras in various parts of the body which allow greater visibility,) inbuilt lights, nanodocs (nanomachines in the body which assist white bloodcells and help healing, they break down naturally after a 2 weeks and must be replaced) and nanotats (tattoos which are made of nanobots that allows for various visual tricks, change shape, color, glow, change size, etc.)
Shell is the common term for body, there are three kinds of shells, Bioshells (which are biological bodies,) Borgs (which are biological bodies with more cyberware and importantly cyberbrains and jacks) and Synthshells (which are fully robotic bodies with cyberbrains and jacks.) A biological brain is just your normal brain, a cyberbrain is a fully mechanical system which operates similar to a brain and a Jack is an implant typically located on the back of the neck, it allows computers to interface with a cyberbrain and visa versa. If you have a cyberbrain, you'll have a jack. While a cyberbrain can interface directly with computers via a jack and often times operates faster, it's also vulnerable to hacking, something a biological brain is not. As such neither bioshells nor synthsells are inherently better than one another. There are various kinds of shells and each comes with different benefits and augmentations. Egos which are currently not in a shell and exist only on a computer system are called "shell-less" or "infoshells." Bioshells and Borgs are usually grown as adults, and while for more specialized shells it might take longer, typically creating and growing a shell to the point where it's ready to be deployed takes 6-9 months. Uninhabited bioshells & borgs are typically kept in cyrostorage.
Below are examples of just a few shells, naturally there are more and any shell can be further modified with bioware and cyberware. All bioshells and borgs can exist in male, female and intersex variations and bioware can be used to radically alter physical appearance with relative ease. With the exception of Flats you can assume every shell has a Greybox and Mesh Implant as standard (with basic bio mods for Bioshells & Borgs,) and all Borgs and Synthshells have Cyberbrains and Jacks with the Jack typically located on the back of the neck even if it's not mentioned. Likewise this is generally listing the standard augmentations each shell has, as said before shells are highly customisable:
Bioshells:
Flat - A flat is a baseline unmodified human and before the 21st Century and advent of augmentation, it's what everyone was born as. While a flat has no augmentations from birth, such augmentations can be gained by later adding cyberware and bioware.
Splicer - Probably the most common bioshell in the solar system, per standard it's a regular human body with basic bio mods (see basic bio mods above,) a mesh insert and a greybox. Splicers are common, highly customisable and a favorite for many. As most children following The Collapse are born into exowombs, they'll probably be born as Splicers.
Bouncer - A Bouncer is bioshell specifically designed for living in microgravity, on top of standard augmentations it comes with prehensile feet, longer limbs, grip pads on the hands and feet, enhanced agility, enhanced respiration, and enhanced vision including low light.
Selkie - A Selkie is an amphibious shell, designed with gills, enhanced respiration, eyes with a waterproof membrane and low light vision, webbed hands and feet and increased pressure and environmental resistance. A Selkie is designed to live in water and on land. Before The Collapse they were common in Earth's underwater cities, now they're common on Europa.
Athena - Part of ProtoGen's Olympus line. The Athena shell was designed for combat, it's tall (over 6ft) and broad, has bioweave, enhanced musculature, enhanced respiration, enhanced agility, enhanced senses, adrenaline control, environmental tolerance, toxin filtering and a skillsoft implant.
Hermes- Part of ProtoGen's Olympus line. The Hermes shell was designed for agility and infiltration. It's a shorter shell (the tallest being around 5'6) outfitted with bioware for enchanced agility and reflexes, enchanced senses (including low light vision and water proof membrane,) bioweave, gills, enhanced respiration, toxin filtering, octocamo skin, grip pads, and a skillsoft implant. It's extremely common for a Hermes morph to have Cybereyes.
Eros - Part of ProtoGen's Olympus line. Designed for social interaction and cognitive ability. Sculpted to appear in ways considered generally attractive, is outfitted with a skillsoft implant, XP recorder, pheromones, enhanced cognitive ability, cyberware voice modifier and enhanced senses.
Zeus - The apex of ProtoGen's Olympus line and one of the most expensive shells around. The Zeus shell has a massive range of augmentations while maintaining a human visage. Skillsoft implant, XP Recorder, vocal manipulator, bioweave, enhanced musculature, enhanced agility, enhanced cognitive ability, enchanced senses, cyberware eyes, octocamo skin, enhanced respiration, adrenaline control, environmental tolerance, toxin filtering and pheromones.
Borgs:
Worker Borg - Is like a cheaper variant of a Splicer bioshell with many organs and sometimes limbs replaced with cybernetic parts. But they aren't enhanced cybernetics, the Worker Borg is in most respects inferior to Splicers and those cybernetics require maintenance. Worker Borgs have significantly shorter lifespans than Splicers. Like all borgs and synthshells it has a cyberbrain and jack. Also has a skillsoft implant as standard. Commonly used by MegaCorps for their indentured servants due to their varied applicability and cheaper production costs than a bioshell and by people looking to buy a shell which is like a standard bioshell but are low on cash.
Bruiser Borg - A Bruiser Borg is a large and burly shell (typically around 2 meters/6'6 in height) designed for heavy lifting. On top of some cybernetic internal organs also has cybernetic arms, legs and spine which work to improve strength. This all works to make the shell large and imposing, good for physical combat as well as manual labour.
Pleasure Borg - A Pleasure Borg is very similar to a standard Worker Borg but designed for more, intimate encounters. Has more erogenous zones, skillsoft, XP recorder, pheromones, sex switch mods, cyberware voice modifier and toxin filtering (for various drugs) as standard. For some however having a Pleasure Borg is considered indecent.
Critter Borg - Once again, is highly similar to a worker borg. With cybernetic faux animal features likes tails or ears, most commonly that of a cat or fox. While the Critter Borg became popular among cert sects of people prior to The Collapse, it's typically considered rather eccentric to have one and they're very rare.
Synthshells:
Maton- A Maton is a basic humanoid robotic shell, typically inhabited by an AI for performing manual labour, but it can house a transhuman ego. Typically grey in color to match it's metallic exterior, it's far less agile than most shells.
Android - An android is a synthshell that superficially at least resembles a human. Androids are known for their 'white blood' which contain nanobots to help repair damage to their systems. While androids certainly have advantages over bioshells, they don't need to eat, sleep, their cybereyes allow for nightvision, they're often stronger than splicers and can survive in a vacuum and they're certainly better than Matons, they're generally speaking less agile and less efficient than both Splicers and Worker Borgs.
Reaper - A Reaper is an advanced android shell, much stronger than the average android shell, designed specifically for combat. Has subdermal armor, increased strength and agility, skillsoft implant and hidden compartments. Often has inbuilt weapons.
Batou Spider Tank - The size of a car, is a spider tank designed for combat. A cylindrical body, is six legged with feet that can be switched for wheels and cameras on all sides, compartments for storage, arms on the front and back and a machine gun on top of the central body. Unsurprisingly as a synthshell which is essentially a walking tank designed for combat isn't allowed just walk the streets in most habitats, usually possessed only by the police/military.
Gelth - The Gelth is a flying hover drone about the size of a breadbox. Has 4 helicopter blades on the top and two jets on the bottom with cameras on all six sides. Has two manipulator arms on the front and sometimes a built in laser which also comes out the front for combat purposes. It's extremely rare for anyone to make a Gelth their usual shell, much like a Batou it's sleeved into when needed.
Spare - A spare is small and easy to carry, it's a sphere with a diameter of 25cm. Has 6 20cm long limbs (4 legs and 2 arms) which are retractable, the arms are on the front along with a single large camera. A greybox is inserted into the back of a spare and takes about half a minute to integrate the ego. A spare is designed specifically to house the egos of people who die and need to be quickly resleeved, typically happens in the field on dangerous operations. If you wake up in a spare, something has almost certainly gone wrong.
Hidden:
Using skillsoft requires a skillsoft implant. Skillsoft is a method for downloading knowledge and skills directly into a skillsoft implant which your brain can then access. This could be basic fighting ability, language, driving, love making skills, playing an instrument, all sorts of knowledge and skills can be gained through skillsoft. However those skills are localized to the implant, if the implant is removed you'll begin to lose the knowledge and there's a limit on how much skillsoft can be active at any given time. Skillsoft doesn't make you rival a master, but it does increase your knowledge, ability and makes further learning which isn't dependent on skillsoft a lot easier and faster. Of course downloading new skillsoft also brings the risk of viruses or unintentional alternations the user doesn't desire, for that reason people are understandably quite cautious about the kind of skillsoft they download.
XP (plural XPies) are recorded experiences, an XP recorder implant allows someone to record all their senses to be broadcast in real time or played back later. Someone using an XP then experiences all the same senses the person who made the recording did. As you can imagine there are a lot of uses for this technology, recording important events to be played back later, broadcasting sporting events live and of course, [&@%!]. There is also a black market for illegal XPies depicting things like heists, murders, torture, etc. both from the perpetrator's and victim's perspective.
VR or Virtual Reality is in someways similar to XP in that it overtakes all of a users senses, however it allows them to experience whole other worlds. VR is most often used for games and meetings but there are some shell-less egos which exist entirely in VR, some ego refugees which don't exist in storage live in VR and Juniper is a city orbiting the sun between Mercury and Venus made up entirely of shell-less egos living in VR.
XP (plural XPies) are recorded experiences, an XP recorder implant allows someone to record all their senses to be broadcast in real time or played back later. Someone using an XP then experiences all the same senses the person who made the recording did. As you can imagine there are a lot of uses for this technology, recording important events to be played back later, broadcasting sporting events live and of course, [&@%!]. There is also a black market for illegal XPies depicting things like heists, murders, torture, etc. both from the perpetrator's and victim's perspective.
VR or Virtual Reality is in someways similar to XP in that it overtakes all of a users senses, however it allows them to experience whole other worlds. VR is most often used for games and meetings but there are some shell-less egos which exist entirely in VR, some ego refugees which don't exist in storage live in VR and Juniper is a city orbiting the sun between Mercury and Venus made up entirely of shell-less egos living in VR.
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Fabricators are an advancement upon 3D printing and are the primary way in which most goods are created. They cannot however make objects out of thin air, and creating anything usually takes a few minutes. Fabricators can dissemble junk into base materials and use base materials to construct almost anything they have the resources, blueprints and room to make. Guns, knifes, clothing, clocks, flashlighters, medigel cannisters, uncooked food, mugs, a massive variety of goods come from fabricators.
Blueprints, in capitalist economies at least, are typically DRM locked by the companies who create them, although people do work to crack the DRM or create knock offs. Then by using a fabricator payment goes to the owner of the fabricator and often to the creator of the blueprint. Fabricators are usually programmed with restrictions on what they can and can't produce, you might have fabricators which can't produce guns or explosives for example.
While there are obvious military applications of nanobot technology, applications ISAAC's self-replicating nanoswarms took great advantage of, it hasn't had much success as of yet for transhumanity. Nanobots carry out specialized orders locally, the requirements to make it into a targeted and stable weapon are quite different. There are also the fears of what destruction a nanoswarm weapon could cause and the possible existential risk it poses to transhumanity.
Blueprints, in capitalist economies at least, are typically DRM locked by the companies who create them, although people do work to crack the DRM or create knock offs. Then by using a fabricator payment goes to the owner of the fabricator and often to the creator of the blueprint. Fabricators are usually programmed with restrictions on what they can and can't produce, you might have fabricators which can't produce guns or explosives for example.
While there are obvious military applications of nanobot technology, applications ISAAC's self-replicating nanoswarms took great advantage of, it hasn't had much success as of yet for transhumanity. Nanobots carry out specialized orders locally, the requirements to make it into a targeted and stable weapon are quite different. There are also the fears of what destruction a nanoswarm weapon could cause and the possible existential risk it poses to transhumanity.
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Agriculture advanced significantly over the decades, a lot of which was out of necessity due to a changing climate back on Earth. While animal husbandry still exists and eating 'real' meat and 'real' milk is desirable among the rich, it is typically seen as more of a delicacy with most meat grown in-vitro using nutrients from plants which also means most food is vegan friendly. When it comes to crops, vertical farming along with GMOs have allowed for far more efficient food production. It is also extremely valuable for helping to produce and regulate oxygen with an oxygen farm of trees being common on habitats and ships.
Fusion generators are the chief source of power in the 22nd Century, they are typically fueled by Hydrogen & Helium, fusion energy is used to power ships. Solar Power is the second most common form of energy, more so in the core system where solar energy is in abundance. Geothermal power and fission power are less common but still exist. The storage and charge rate of batteries has greatly increased while their size has reduced.
Medicine has seen a great many advancements, especially with the advent of bioware and cyberware which are listed under their section above. Likewise while there are some worrying applications of pyschosurgery, it has been invaluable in treating trauma, phobia and mental illness. Medigel works like a fit all bandage, it coats wounds from the outside, eases the pain and speeds up the healing process. The majority of bioshells have immunity to a variety of diseases (flu, cancer, measles, etc,) but there is still medicine to treat them. Typically more traditional surgery is only required for extremely specialized cases due to the existence of healing vats. Healing Vats are large cylinders built using transparent aluminium and filled with a light-pink "healing goo" that consists of nanomachines and nutrients, they are used for general healing, regeneration, infusing bioware & cyberware, body alteration, etc. Time spent in a healing vat can range from hours to days depending on the procedure. People submerged in healing vats are usually unconscious while in them, especially for more invasive surgery, but some stay awake and make use of their mesh insert to pass the time.
Fusion generators are the chief source of power in the 22nd Century, they are typically fueled by Hydrogen & Helium, fusion energy is used to power ships. Solar Power is the second most common form of energy, more so in the core system where solar energy is in abundance. Geothermal power and fission power are less common but still exist. The storage and charge rate of batteries has greatly increased while their size has reduced.
Medicine has seen a great many advancements, especially with the advent of bioware and cyberware which are listed under their section above. Likewise while there are some worrying applications of pyschosurgery, it has been invaluable in treating trauma, phobia and mental illness. Medigel works like a fit all bandage, it coats wounds from the outside, eases the pain and speeds up the healing process. The majority of bioshells have immunity to a variety of diseases (flu, cancer, measles, etc,) but there is still medicine to treat them. Typically more traditional surgery is only required for extremely specialized cases due to the existence of healing vats. Healing Vats are large cylinders built using transparent aluminium and filled with a light-pink "healing goo" that consists of nanomachines and nutrients, they are used for general healing, regeneration, infusing bioware & cyberware, body alteration, etc. Time spent in a healing vat can range from hours to days depending on the procedure. People submerged in healing vats are usually unconscious while in them, especially for more invasive surgery, but some stay awake and make use of their mesh insert to pass the time.
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Domes, hives, space stations & space ships and tin cans are the main types of transhuman habitats.
Domes, often called "Hab Domes" are large circular habitats with high roofs made of transparent aluminium allowing one to see the exterior world. They are typically 25km squared in area, although some are bigger or smaller. They house their own atmosphere and typically are home to rich biodiversity. The Romdeau dome on Mars is a massive domed habitat roughly the size of India.
Hives are underground habitats dug into rock typically on aseteroids and moons. While they're sometimes made using existing caverns, typically they are carved out by transhumans. While typically they don't, like domes they can house rich biodiversity. While they don't have a sight of the outside world and are less fancy than domes, the creation and maintenance of hives is far less resource intensive. On smaller asteroids Hives habitats exist in microgravity as the gravity of the rock isn't great enough to offer firm footing.
Space habs consist primarily of space stations and ships. Ships are covered under transport, but they typically have internal life support systems, exist in microgravity (with the rare exception of Wheel Ships) and are fusion powered. Likewise space stations are typically fusion powered, most are Wheel Stations which have internal life support and are shaped like a wheel that rotates in order to produce gravity by centrifugal force. A smaller number are tin cans, these are detailed below. Two O'Neills cylinders exist in the solar system, one in orbit around Mars and another around Venus. They're like massive 3 pronged space stations which similar to Wheel Stations use centrifugal force to produce gravity.
"Tin cans" are rarer these days but they're also the cheapest kind of transhuman habitats, not significantly different from habitats like the International Space Station of old and are build in space and on planetary bodies. Little more than metal shells with their own internal life support systems, tin cans aren't particular desirable but serve their function well enough and are much easier to produce than other habitats.
Domes, often called "Hab Domes" are large circular habitats with high roofs made of transparent aluminium allowing one to see the exterior world. They are typically 25km squared in area, although some are bigger or smaller. They house their own atmosphere and typically are home to rich biodiversity. The Romdeau dome on Mars is a massive domed habitat roughly the size of India.
Hives are underground habitats dug into rock typically on aseteroids and moons. While they're sometimes made using existing caverns, typically they are carved out by transhumans. While typically they don't, like domes they can house rich biodiversity. While they don't have a sight of the outside world and are less fancy than domes, the creation and maintenance of hives is far less resource intensive. On smaller asteroids Hives habitats exist in microgravity as the gravity of the rock isn't great enough to offer firm footing.
Space habs consist primarily of space stations and ships. Ships are covered under transport, but they typically have internal life support systems, exist in microgravity (with the rare exception of Wheel Ships) and are fusion powered. Likewise space stations are typically fusion powered, most are Wheel Stations which have internal life support and are shaped like a wheel that rotates in order to produce gravity by centrifugal force. A smaller number are tin cans, these are detailed below. Two O'Neills cylinders exist in the solar system, one in orbit around Mars and another around Venus. They're like massive 3 pronged space stations which similar to Wheel Stations use centrifugal force to produce gravity.
"Tin cans" are rarer these days but they're also the cheapest kind of transhuman habitats, not significantly different from habitats like the International Space Station of old and are build in space and on planetary bodies. Little more than metal shells with their own internal life support systems, tin cans aren't particular desirable but serve their function well enough and are much easier to produce than other habitats.
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Communications on the same planetary body or space station are essentially instantaneous, made all the easier with the interconnected mesh. Interplanetary communications however are longer, the time it takes for data sent to be received is called data lag. In the core system data lag is only a few minutes. In the Rim its hours, it takes 3 hours to send data from the Core system to Titan. Significant research is underway into quantum communication which would make it instantaneous, but any success on that front is still a while off. The most common way for transhumans to travel across space is by "egocasting" where their digitized ego is broadcast across space and received at its location where it's then sleeved into a shell. Millions escaped Earth during the collapse by way of egocasting, these people became known as "ego refugees".
Physical interplanetary travel is conducted by way of fusion powered ships, they are typically used to transport goods or people when egocasting isn't viable. Transparent aluminium is used for exterior windows. They're much faster than space ships of the 20th century, but still far from faster than light travel. While engineering research is underway into making better solutions to artificial gravity and some massive "wheel ships" in the style of wheel stations with artificial gravity exist, typically space ships have microgravity. Many transport ships are populated entirely by snythshells due to their reduced needs, chief of which being oxygen and food. Bioshells which aren't in use are typically held in vacuum sealed cyrostorage regardless, so they wouldn't be harmed by low oxygen levels.
For reasons related largely to practicality, large spaceships don't land on planetary bodies. Instead they tend to dock at space stations, space elevators (although there is only one still in use) or park in orbit. Instead it is much smaller ships (ones which typically fit half a dozen to four dozen people) which fly to and from planetary bodies, a large ship will likely have a shuttle onboard which fulfill this purpose. Naturally larger ships can carry more and have more powerful engines.
For more terrestrial travel, rail transport and bicycles are extremely common within colonies themselves as are automated electric cars and buses (which can always be reverted to manual control.) VTOLs are jet powered aerial vehicles that combine the best elements of aeroplanes and helicopters with an exterior appearance similar to that of a helicopter, they make up air transportation. Submarines are common in the seas of Europa. For travel outside colonies on rough terrain, the Mobile Omni-Terrain Outdoor Rover (or MOTOR) is a large vehicle with massive wheels designed to survive drops from high altitude and explore all manner of terrain.
Physical interplanetary travel is conducted by way of fusion powered ships, they are typically used to transport goods or people when egocasting isn't viable. Transparent aluminium is used for exterior windows. They're much faster than space ships of the 20th century, but still far from faster than light travel. While engineering research is underway into making better solutions to artificial gravity and some massive "wheel ships" in the style of wheel stations with artificial gravity exist, typically space ships have microgravity. Many transport ships are populated entirely by snythshells due to their reduced needs, chief of which being oxygen and food. Bioshells which aren't in use are typically held in vacuum sealed cyrostorage regardless, so they wouldn't be harmed by low oxygen levels.
For reasons related largely to practicality, large spaceships don't land on planetary bodies. Instead they tend to dock at space stations, space elevators (although there is only one still in use) or park in orbit. Instead it is much smaller ships (ones which typically fit half a dozen to four dozen people) which fly to and from planetary bodies, a large ship will likely have a shuttle onboard which fulfill this purpose. Naturally larger ships can carry more and have more powerful engines.
For more terrestrial travel, rail transport and bicycles are extremely common within colonies themselves as are automated electric cars and buses (which can always be reverted to manual control.) VTOLs are jet powered aerial vehicles that combine the best elements of aeroplanes and helicopters with an exterior appearance similar to that of a helicopter, they make up air transportation. Submarines are common in the seas of Europa. For travel outside colonies on rough terrain, the Mobile Omni-Terrain Outdoor Rover (or MOTOR) is a large vehicle with massive wheels designed to survive drops from high altitude and explore all manner of terrain.
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Electromagnetic weapons, specifically railguns came into prominence during the latter half of the 21st Century. They use electromagnets to fire a bullet at high speed, as no explosion is involved it's a lot quieter than traditional firearms but the bullet traveling through the air still makes noise. A battery pack is required to power the gun, it was the increased storage capacities of batteries and reduced size which made railguns more viable, battery packs can last for hundreds of shots. Likewise the gun itself still needs to be maintained, the rails replaced. The recoil is slightly lower than that of traditional firearms. The magazines for railguns typically carry either basic metal rounds, armor piercing rounds (designed for piecing metal) or anti-personal rounds (designed for piecing flesh.) Explosive rounds which detonate upon impact also exist but aren't as commonly used. Likewise there is tracer ammo which can implant a tracking device. No oxygen is needed to operate a railgun, it can be fired in a vacuum or underwater. All railguns can come with different attachments, typically scopes and sights. Ammo between heavy pistols and sub-machine guns are interchangeable, every other weapons type requires their own ammo.
Heavy Pistol - A large pistol which can be held in one or two hands. Has semi-auto, 3-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 15 round capacity.
Submachine Gun - Something of a mid-point between heavy pistols and combat rifles, similar in size to a FN P90. Has semi-auto, 3-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 30 round capacity.
Combat Rifle - The size of an average assault rifle. Has semi-auto, 3-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 30 round capacity.
Sniper Rifle - Size is a mid point between a combat rifle and heavy rifle. An adjustable scope is used for aiming, can fire a bullet up to 4 kilometers. Only has semi-auto mode. Typically has a 10 round capacity.
Heavy Rifle - Around the size of a Light Machine Gun. Has semi-auto, 5-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 150 round capacity.
Stunner pistols & stunner rifles are gas powered semi-automatic weapons which fire blue electrogel pellets. Much like railguns, the gas which powers them must be replaced along with the ammunition. The electrogel pellets burst upon impact and unleash an electrical charge designed to stun the target, it'll often take a couple of shots to bring someone down. Stunner guns were designed for police and security forces in the mid 21st century as a non-lethal alternative to firearms. Stunner pistols typically have 10 round capacities and stunner rifles 20 round.
Laser Rifles are slightly larger than Combat Rifles. While the laser they fire is invisible, they typically have a large coloured laser pointer attached so one can tell where they're aiming. As they transfer heat and not kinetic energy, laser rifles don't have recoil, the noise they make is minimal and they can be fired in a vacuum. Is made weaker by atmospheric affects like dust, smoke and rain. The Laser Rifle fires a continuous beam of focused light which is diffused upon hitting a target, the extreme heat cuts and burns into what it hits. The laser uses an immense amount of power, a typical battery pack lasts about 60 seconds before it needs to be replaced.
A wide variety of explosives exist in 22nd Century, often more powerful than ones which existed in the past.
Frag Grenades - The explosion unleashes lethal metal shrapnel, same concept as the grenades which have been used for centuries.
Concussion Grenades- The explosion creates a loud noise and bright light which disorientates people. With proper augmentation or equipment can be filtered out.
CS Grenades- The grenades releases tear gas which irritates the eyes and lungs. With proper augmentation or equipment can be filtered out.
Smoke Grenades- Releases smoke to make visibility more difficult, also makes lasers less effective.
EMP Grenades- A relic of the mid 21st century, was useful on Earth where older technology was common place and worked alongside shielded electronics but these days? Most important electronics are shielded so EMP Grenades aren't very useful.
Grenade Launcher- The spring powered mechanism fires any of the above grenade types, the most common type has 6 chambers. Can also exist as a single chamber underbarrel attachment for a combat rifle.
Rocket Launcher- Rocket launchers fire rockets and are typically used against vehicles as opposed to infantry. Many come with targeting systems which allows the rockets to follow their targets in the air.
C6/Sticky Grenades- C6 is plastic explosive, it is commonly used for bombs that are detonated remotely but can also be shaped into sticky grenades.
Ultrathermite- A common highly powerful explosive used for mining and combat. Isn't used for grenades, but does see use as bombs.
A variety of melee weapons exist like knifes, axes and batons, typically sharper and harder than they were in the early 21st Century. There are types of cyberware and synthshells which incorporate inbuilt weaponry. While powder weapons still exist they are far more likely to be housed in collections than see any actual combat.
Heavy Pistol - A large pistol which can be held in one or two hands. Has semi-auto, 3-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 15 round capacity.
Submachine Gun - Something of a mid-point between heavy pistols and combat rifles, similar in size to a FN P90. Has semi-auto, 3-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 30 round capacity.
Combat Rifle - The size of an average assault rifle. Has semi-auto, 3-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 30 round capacity.
Sniper Rifle - Size is a mid point between a combat rifle and heavy rifle. An adjustable scope is used for aiming, can fire a bullet up to 4 kilometers. Only has semi-auto mode. Typically has a 10 round capacity.
Heavy Rifle - Around the size of a Light Machine Gun. Has semi-auto, 5-burst and full auto mode. Typically has a 150 round capacity.
Stunner pistols & stunner rifles are gas powered semi-automatic weapons which fire blue electrogel pellets. Much like railguns, the gas which powers them must be replaced along with the ammunition. The electrogel pellets burst upon impact and unleash an electrical charge designed to stun the target, it'll often take a couple of shots to bring someone down. Stunner guns were designed for police and security forces in the mid 21st century as a non-lethal alternative to firearms. Stunner pistols typically have 10 round capacities and stunner rifles 20 round.
Laser Rifles are slightly larger than Combat Rifles. While the laser they fire is invisible, they typically have a large coloured laser pointer attached so one can tell where they're aiming. As they transfer heat and not kinetic energy, laser rifles don't have recoil, the noise they make is minimal and they can be fired in a vacuum. Is made weaker by atmospheric affects like dust, smoke and rain. The Laser Rifle fires a continuous beam of focused light which is diffused upon hitting a target, the extreme heat cuts and burns into what it hits. The laser uses an immense amount of power, a typical battery pack lasts about 60 seconds before it needs to be replaced.
A wide variety of explosives exist in 22nd Century, often more powerful than ones which existed in the past.
Frag Grenades - The explosion unleashes lethal metal shrapnel, same concept as the grenades which have been used for centuries.
Concussion Grenades- The explosion creates a loud noise and bright light which disorientates people. With proper augmentation or equipment can be filtered out.
CS Grenades- The grenades releases tear gas which irritates the eyes and lungs. With proper augmentation or equipment can be filtered out.
Smoke Grenades- Releases smoke to make visibility more difficult, also makes lasers less effective.
EMP Grenades- A relic of the mid 21st century, was useful on Earth where older technology was common place and worked alongside shielded electronics but these days? Most important electronics are shielded so EMP Grenades aren't very useful.
Grenade Launcher- The spring powered mechanism fires any of the above grenade types, the most common type has 6 chambers. Can also exist as a single chamber underbarrel attachment for a combat rifle.
Rocket Launcher- Rocket launchers fire rockets and are typically used against vehicles as opposed to infantry. Many come with targeting systems which allows the rockets to follow their targets in the air.
C6/Sticky Grenades- C6 is plastic explosive, it is commonly used for bombs that are detonated remotely but can also be shaped into sticky grenades.
Ultrathermite- A common highly powerful explosive used for mining and combat. Isn't used for grenades, but does see use as bombs.
A variety of melee weapons exist like knifes, axes and batons, typically sharper and harder than they were in the early 21st Century. There are types of cyberware and synthshells which incorporate inbuilt weaponry. While powder weapons still exist they are far more likely to be housed in collections than see any actual combat.
. Your making my brain hurt more than it needs to 
I didn't go overboard with this, now did I? 
. ) 
