Recreation Commons (OOCness): [PlanetFall]

Sarodinian

Sarodinian

One Thousand Club
"The entire character of a base and its inhabitants can be


absorbed in a quick trip to the Rec Commons. The sweaty


arenas of Fort Legion, the glittering gambling halls of


Morgan Bank, the sunny lovers' trysts in Gaia's High Garden,


or the somber reading rooms of U.N. Headquarters. Even the


feeding bay at the Hive gives stark insight into the sleeping


demons of Yang's communal utopia."


-- Commissioner Pravin Lal,


"A Social History of Planet"


Our OOC stuff goes here. Enjoy!
 
I'm still trying to create my character, but I was thinking about the topic of killing.


And actually I realized one thing that might sound very jaded. But why do the transhumans still have qualms about killing ? Why does terrorism still work ?


Death isn't 'permanent' unless people start taking out entire habitats out at once.


Going in guns blazing (with silencers) is a valid tactic in most situations. And if you really need to interogate someone, kill him, grab his cortical stack and do it somewhere in private.
 
Continuity error, for one. Plus it's a huge amount of property damage. Plus disgust at killing is natural. It is not a learned trait, but one that grows into human minds. Even pre-sentients mourn their dead. It's indelibly ingrained in our psyche that dead=bad, and dead body=dead. It's not deletable. It's not like "killing" and "not-killing" are like "Pepsi" and "Coke". People who kill without moral compunctions are considered psychologically damaged, and it's because they are. Transhumanity hasn't grown beyond that, and there's no reason for them to.


Still, killing does seem to have become more common and acceptable in Eclipse Phase than it is in our modern human times. Duels to the death and what seems to be an incredibly relaxed stance on firearm control are both symptomatic of this attitude. So, if you're criminally-minded, and planning to get away with whatever you do, yes, you're more likely than a 21st century human to actually attempt to kill. But it's still pretty serious business. Especially if you've got some kind of religion involved.
 
Thing is, in this setting, putting a bullet through someone's head isn't killing. It's much more the equivalent of wrecking someone's car. It's probably even less troublesome than beating them to an inch of their lives.


And I'm not talking about massacring people just because you can. That's just being sick in the head. But removing obstacles with lethal force seems to be a very rational option, that doesn't even need much justification. After all, by breaking and entering you're already causing property damage, so what's a morph or two in the process. Now ... purposely targeting the cortical stack for destruction. That's nasty.
 
If you read the book more closely, killing in most habitats in Eclipse Phase IS merely considered property damage. You're forced to pay for the person's new morph and maybe for the inconvenience, if the offense was an accident. If it was manslaughter, probably the same (though with an additional punishment attached as a warning). Deliberate, pre-meditated murder, however, is still a sign of someone who's clearly a dangerous individual and might get you psychosurgery'd. Killing a lot of people while (especially while doing something criminal) might get you psychosurgery'd into a nearly zombified state or just have you perma-death'd.


Inflicting perma-death will get you tortured to perma-death.


Also, Firewall "cleaners" do a lot of the things you're talking about.


So, to put it another way, killing someone is NOT the problem it used to be if it's an accident or manslaughter. However, murder is still problematic. It's equivalent to assault and rape rolled into one, and that must always be taken seriously, even in a world where the aftermath of it can be reversed.


Edit: Just want to recommend that, if anyone hasn't read it, you take a look at the Hob arc of Dresden Codak.


http://dresdencodak.com/2007/02/08/pom/
 
And, like I said, transhumanity is still based in humanity. We can't stop feeling revulsion at killing any more than we can at rape or torture, even if it has certainly become less damaging (would we become slap-happy about rape and torture if we could recover from those with a few thousand bucks and a day in a box? I like to think not).
 
You would be surprised. But I've yet to really establish the current tech tree for the factions beyond a vague notion. Nanotech is new, and industrialization of it is something the Morgans are only just beginning.
 
Hive Drone:
+10 Fray


+10 to any Weapon Skill of your choice


+10 to any 2 Hardware: [Field] Skills of your choice.


+10 Networking: [Hive]


+10 Building Skill


Must start with a Case, Flat, Splicer, or Worker Pod morph.


May not start with more than 2000 Energy Credits.


Common Morphs: Case, Flat, Splicer, Worker Pod
Click to expand...
Actually now I have two questions regarding this Faction template.


First of all, the Building Skill, is that a generic bonus to building stuff ?


And secondly, what do you mean with the may not start with more than 2000 Energy Credits ?
 
Okay, I'm working on my AGI but I wanted to ask. Are these characters to be working together what with so many different factions? Just curious since I wasn't aware of whether this setting would involve Firewall or not.
 
It'd probably help us with our characters if you gave us a little more to go on in that respect. I mean, if your 'reason' runs entirely counter to what we want to do with the character we made, that's gonna suck for everyone, isn't it? Character creation should be a little more back and forth, guy.


Incidentally, since Gaians are the only possible contenders for my loyalty other than University, I'm gonna wait until you've posted them before I do my finishing details.
 
I'd have to agree, lack of information is also delaying me a little. Aside from pulling my hair out trying to make an AGI infiltrator Synth unit and trying to have enough points and cash for it.
 
Hmm...the Gaians seem like the best match for my character, but I don't want to cough up the points to be an Async. But maybe I will anyway. Psychic powers are fun.


I'll stick with the Gaians, but I'll wait until you've posted the mechanics before I adjust my build.
 
So people keep telling me. Yes, I know. I still have some stuff to put up anyway, so I didn't see a problem leaving it one short until I got my backstory written down.
 
OK. I should have enough information to begin this game very soon. I'll be beginning each character's thread once I get some indication from the character's player that they're ready to go.


And Intro Thread is up! Will get character threads going soon.
 
things such as striking looks are probably targeting something so deep in the human DNA structure that there's really not that much you can physically do about it.


Several studies have indicated that even males from mammalian species who are unable to perform, still are attracted to sexually available females of that species. So why would humans be any different.
 
I wasn't disagreeing that such effects exist, merely that this is Eclipse Phase and the first two lines in the game inform you that your body is a shell and your mind is software, both of which are open for change. It was just funny to say "It can't be helped" when you can hop into a robotic body and rewrite your very neural structure.
 
To be fair, Anaxes is hardly human anymore either. She looks like one, she has genes at least somewhat similar to one, but she's no more human than a neo-simian.


A transhuman doesn't need a human shell to be considered a transhuman. You might call them posthuman even, but the word human still sneaks in there.


Edit: I should add that you're a machine either way, too. The only difference between the two is the substrate you exist on and how easy it is to modify.
 
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