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Fandom Red Queen Operator: Worldbuilding
- Thread starter AtlannianSpy
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AtlannianSpy
Alarmed and Strangerous
It is the year 2128 and the Earth has been permanently disfigured by the destruction of the Resource Wars of the mid 22nd century, the human population has dwindled significantly, but hope is not entirely lost. Technological progress was accelerated sharply by the discovery of Nexite in 2073, a miraculous energy source with self propagating tendencies. Unfortunately Nexite is a double edged sword and its usage runs the risk of mutating people into SEROs, savage, freakishly resilient and highly infectious creatures with supernatural abilities.
Fortunately humanity has a secret weapon in the battle against this threat, HARframes. Short for Human Actualization Restoration Frame, a HARFrame is a robotic skeleton piloted from the inside by a living human brain. Immune to infection by SEROs and enjoying superhuman durability and strength, HARFrames and their operators play a key role in responding to and suppressing SERO outbreaks.
Nation states have struggled greatly in the post Nexite world, with many collapsing outright and the remainder struggling to maintain their territory. PMCs have stepped into this vacuum and enjoy a greatly expanded role and influence at present. PMCs are able to recruit HARFrame operators from all over the world and deliver them to hotspots and outbreak locations.
Red Queen Security is one of these PMCs. A small, but tight knit organisation, Red Queen Security travels the world aboard their floating headquarters, the aircraft carrier Elizabeth. Whereas most PMCs prioritise hiring highly experienced employees with military or other relevant experience, Red Queen Security is famous for taking in young, desperate people whose lives have been torn apart by devastating injuries, disease or SERS. Red Queen provides both HARFrames and high quality training for these misfits, giving them a new chance at life, albeit a life they must risk everyday fighting as mercenaries.
To offset the risks it asks its soldiers to take, the Company takes good care of them, with generous wages and comfortable quarters aboard the Elizabeth. Once Operators pay off the cost of their HARFrame they are free to seek out a normal life anywhere in the world, or even find work with a rival PMC, although many choose to stay with Red Queen. As they live, fight and grow together the operators of Red Queen Security inevitably grow closer and form bonds, it’s not an easy life by any means but it is one they face together.
Technology
Human Actualisation Restoration Frame: Informally referred to as “Hard frames” HAR Frames are full body prosthetics, fully functional robotic bodies that contain a living brain who lives inside and pilots the frame, sending commands and receiving external stimuli through an advanced, computer brain interface. The people who live within and control HARFrames are called “operators''. People opt to have themselves surgically transferred into hard frames for a variety of complex reasons; most commonly in order to circumvent permanent disabilities or terminal illnesses. Others adopt HARframes of transhumanist beliefs or the hope for higher living quality; financial pressures are also a motivating factor as HAR Frame operators enjoy high earning potential in some fields, though HAR Frames themselves also have prohibitive upkeep and repair costs.
HARFrames vary wildly in terms of their capabilities, limitations and costs. High end designs usually try to mimic human senses and experience as accurately as possible and can include things like touch, smell even taste and systems for digesting food and converting it into energy.Generally cheaper, off the market frames are designed with less precise and accurate emulation of human senses, which strongly correlates with negative mental health outcomes such as paranoia, depression and suicidal ideation.
Operator: A hard frame operator, or just operator, is someone who lives within and pilots a HAR Frame. Though Operators can come from all works the word has acquired a certain connotation and political meaning due to a variety of complex factors. Because HARFrames are extremely resilient compared to organic human bodies and completely immune to a wide array of environmental concerns there’s a high demand for them to work in dangerous, high paying fields. Hard frames are over represented in places like the military; private security and dangerous jobs in energy and resource sectors. Because of this, and due to the existing preconceptions and cultural norms around concepts such as transhumanism and so on Operators are often viewed as dangerous or unstable and face discrimination in many arenas.
Tactical Frame: Beyond basic functionality, HAR frames can be heavily customized to suit their operator’s lifestyle choices or profession. Military grade HARframes, usually called Tactical Frames, possess powerful reactor cores, improved carrying capacity and striking power; advanced and comprehensive arrays of sensors and auxiliary computer processors linked directly to the pilot’s brain to allow for rapid analysis and reaction. Most importantly, tactical frames are able to host kinetic barriers unlike human infantry, granting them a potent tactical advantage. Many Operators further customize their frames with additional functionality such as hidden weapons or even additional limbs, however more outlandish forms of customizations come at the cost of a higher risk of self dehumanization disorder.
Self Dehumanization Disorder: A mental disorder that exclusively affects HARFrame operators, SDD occurs when the operator in question ceases to identify as human due to experiencing a drastically different sensory and tactile experience to that of a fully organic human. This detachment from the human experience leads to depression and social isolation as well as erratic, oftentimes violent behaviour. In the most serious cases of SDD the subject expresses signs of narcissism, sociopathy and psychopathy as they have increasing difficulty applying human standards of morality to their own actions.
Many factors can influence the risk of an operator developing SDD, the closer one’s day to day experience is to that of an organic human the less likely they are to trigger an onset of the disorder. A high quality HARframe, with features like precision controls and full simulation of senses like touch and smell and high quality synth-skin provides the user with a more realistic life experience conferring a degree of resistance to SDD onset. Conversely a cheap HARframe with jittery movement, poor quality or no synthskin and no ability to eat food or smell renders the operator much more susceptible to SDD. Another major factor is aftermarket modifications. Many operators in both military and civilian settings enjoy customising their frames with additions such as extra limbs, new sensory capabilities or aesthetic changes. However these additions increase the risk of SDD as they also contribute to non human life experience.
Most experts on SDD agree that one of the main factors in the prominence of the disorder is the social isolation operators experience as a result of negative stereotypes and discrimination. Tragically this is something of a vicious cycle as high profile incidents of SDD driven violence or destruction have played into those same stereotypes.
SDD Threshold: The more resistant a particular HARFrame model is to SDD onset the higher an SDD threshold it is said to have. A high SDD threshold is coveted as it allows the operator to safely add more elaborate or powerful additions to their HARFrame without increasing the risk of SDD.
Nexite: A recently discovered mineral with revolutionary properties, nexite has supplanted most other fuel sources as the main source of power throughout the world and has several other applications of critical importance to various fields. When an electric current passes through a sample of nexite it decays and releases what are known as Sorenkoff particles, after their discoverer. Sornekoff particles are somehow entangled with the sample of Nexite that released them, they float around it in a kind of orbit and certain interactions with the nexite sample induce consistent reactions from its field of sorenkoff particles. Nexite is most prized currently for its ability to generate power as Sorenkoff particles can be manipulated to produce energy which can be converted into electricity relatively easily. Nexite is also used in computing, communication and chemistry with more advances in a range of fields anticipated in the coming years. One property limiting the development of nexite is the extremely debilitating effect sorenkoff particles can exhibit on the human body. Early research and exploitation of nexite often involved insufficient shielding and other safety measures and was hampered by thousands of deaths and crippling injuries. For this reason HARframe operators are preferred for jobs that interact directly or indirectly with nexite and interest in exploiting nexite was the primary factor behind the expanding popularity of HARframes, as governments and mega corporations launched generous subsidization and enticement programs around them. Ironically many who sustained devastating injuries or illnesses due to nexite exposure would become HARframe operators and again find themselves working with nexite once more.
Kinetic Barriers: Kinetic barriers are a defensive technology developed from nexite which are primarily used in a military setting. In simple terms, kinetic barrier devices run a particular pattern of electromagnetic radiation through their nexite crystals, which cause the Sorenkoff particles entangled with the crystal to orbit its position very rapidly at a fixed distance. Because of the precise distance the particles maintain during this phenomenon, their formation becomes dense enough to exert force on physical objects such as bullets, slapping them away in the direction of the particles’ orbit, forming a kind of protective shell. Most kinetic barriers use a precise sensor to detect incoming fire then activate their particles for a fraction of a second to knock away the incoming projectile before deactivating again, allowing the user to return fire or move freely. More primitive models rely on manual activation and are therefore only useful when the user correctly anticipates incoming fire. In the last few decades kinetic barriers have become utterly dominant in warfare and most militarys and private security contractors rely heavily on them.
Unfortunately due the high density of Sorenkoff particles kinetic barriers need to emit to be effective they carry a high risk of exposure to human operators and require expensive and bulky shielding to protect the user. For this reason kinetic barriers are not really feasible for use by human infantry, unless also equipped with bulky and expensive exoskeletons which limit their mobility. These armoured infantry are usually equipped with heavy weapons and armour to make the most of their exoskeletons, they are a force to be reckoned with in conventional warfare but unsuited to certain niches like covert or guerilla warfare for example. These niches are now normally filled by HARframe operators, who can mount effective kinetic barriers in a much smaller and lighter package as only their brain needs to be kept shielded instead of their whole body. The widespread use of kinetic barriers has thus lead to a huge demand for HARframe operators to fill frontline combat roles in both the private and public sector.
Sorenkoff Exposure Recombination Syndrome (SERS) The Primary drawback of relying upon Nexite based technology is the serious danger that unprotected exposure presents to living creatures. While mild exposure to Sorenkoff particles can trigger a variety of debilitating symptoms the most feared result comes from heavy exposure, which can result in SERS.
Through some unknown mechanism, Sorenkoff particles are able to take over organic cells and trigger a virus like replication effect, which slowly converts the host body into an entirely different lifeform, known as a SERO (Sorenkoff Exposure Recombined Organism)
There is currently no cure for SERS though the spread can be halted by excising the contaminated part of the body, due to the high probability of multiple contamination sites on the body, the patients survival usually requires transplanting their brain into a HAR frame and abandoning their organic body altogether.
SERO (Sorenkoff Exposure Recombined Organism) The end stage of SERS is the host's transformation into an entirely new organism, a SERO. This process is not fully understood, it seems Sorenkoff particles themselves are somehow encoded with the ability to rewrite DNA, similar to a virus. When the particles strike a living cell, they reprogram it to begin reproducing more sorenkoff particles, which expand out to other cells, turning them into a cancer-like growth. As the number of contaminated cells increase they collectively express more sophisticated abilities, gaining the ability to convert host cells into multiple different types of new cells. If not stopped, this process eventually converts every cell in the host body. SERO’s come in many different forms, basic forms greatly exhibit the original host, though with greatly degraded cognitive abilities. These base form SEROs are driven almost entirely by an aggressive hunger for biomass, which they consume and then convert into more Sorenkoff replicating cells. Because they passively emit Sorenkoff particles, SEROs can rapidly transmit SERS to new hosts, resulting in exponential growth of a SERO population from even a single case.
As the number of SERO lifeforms in an area increase, the populace begins to exhibit more sophisticated behavior, becoming capable of banding together and employing simple tactics to secure more food. As the population of SEROs continues to grow new hosts are converted into new, more dangerous variants instead of the simplistic base form. THese variants are generally larger and more aggressive and they also exhibit the natural ability to manipulate Sorenkoff particles, allowing them to form barriers, blades and beams with them. Though base form PSERSOs are relatively easy to subdue, variants are extremely dangerous and can even contend with well trained, well equipped modern military forces in large enough numbers.
The complex forms and behavior exhibited by SERO’s in large numbers has led to the theory that they use Sorenkoff particles as a kind of neural cloud, giving them access to more processing power as the amount of particles in a region increases. This theory invites troubling speculation about the origins of Nexite and what SEROs would be capable of in the case of a truly large-scale outbreak.
Due to the high risk of exposure to personnel attempting to contain an outbreak of SERS, HARFrame operators are highly preferred for such operations. Countering SERS outbreaks is a principal source of employment and revenue for PMCs who specialize in employing HARframe Operators.
Electronic Warfare Electronic warfare is a key aspect of modern, full spectrum warfare and HARframe operators are both particularly capable and particularly vulnerable to electronic warfare. On the battlefield, most Electronic warfare takes place through Long Range, Tight Beam Sorenkoff Emitters, the gold standard for inter HARframe communication. In a typical EW attack, the victim’s tight beam receiver is bombarded with unpredictable, anomalous data to discover vulnerabilities in their internal data processing that allow malicious code or misleading sensory data to be injected into the target’s internal processes.
Once a foothold is obtained, the attacker can inject code which widens the degree of access and control they have over the victim’s systems, eventually culminating in being able to initiate full shutdown, or total control over the target’s actions, though this amount of control usually takes too long to establish in battlefield conditions to be practical: more common strategies include altering telemetry data to induce poor accuracy, cutting off or altering communications with allies and other, more subtle strategies.
The time taken needed to infiltrate and take control of an opponent’s system is determined by the amount of processing power devoted to the task, the EW skill of the attacker and the level of overtness or covertness they choose to employ in their attack: a patient, highly covert attack sends only brief signals, piggybacking on legitimate communications while an overt attack bombards the target with an avalanche of junk data. Overt attacks allow for much faster identification and exploitation of vulnerabilities but are much easier to identify by the victim, alerting them to hostile attackers and allowing them to take active measures to defend themselves. A covert attack may eventually allow an attacker to take partial or full control of their victim without revealing their presence, which can be extremely potent tactically but it can sometimes take so long to be effective as to be non viable.
The more skilled a victim is in EW warfare and the more processing power they allocate to defending themselves, the longer a successful attack will take and the more likely they are to identify their attacker, forcing a switch from covert to overt tactics and alerting the enemy as a whole. As a last resort, a victim of EW can turn off their tight beam receiver, rendering them mostly immune to cyber attacks at the cost of disabling their long range communications with their own allies and equipment. EW attacks can still be attempted through access to a physical dataport on the target but this is more a facet of interrogation than active combat.
Other forms of sensory data, such as visual or auditory, can also be a vector for EW attacks but this requires specialized equipment and training and is usually too slow and suspicious looking to be effective.
politics and society
Resource Wars A devastating series of conflicts driven by competition over dwindling natural reserves. The Resource Wars have no universally agreed upon start and end state as hundreds of discrete conflicts can debatedly be lumped in under the name, but are generally agreed to have begun sometime around 2040 and petered out in the early 2070's. Beginning as a cold war like escalation of tensions and break down in trade between the superpowers of the time, the Resources wars would eventually escalate into full blown world war and a brief exchange of nuclear warheads. In its latter years the Resource Wars dissolved into a disorganised free for all between all nations large as small as the coveted resources dwindled and states lost their ability to maintain their infrastructure and war machines. By 2070 most nation states were effectively defunct and sub entities like corporations, cities and elements of the military were beginning to break away and strike out on their own, setting the stage for the modern geo political stage.
City States Nation States have largely disappeared from the world stage, having not survived the upheaval of the Resource Wars, in their place futuristic mega cities running on nexite have risen up as the primary actor on the political stage. Somewhat resembling the city states of ancient time, these sprawling metropolises dot most of the globe, interacting with each other through a complex web of trade routes, alliances and enmities. Multi city leagues linking up multiple cities occasionally rise up to act as regional powers but these have a tendency to break apart due to infighting or external threats after a few years.
Mega Corporations Some of the few entities to have survived through the Resource wars, a number of mega corporations ply their products across multiple cities, providing everything from candy to war mechs to their customers and reaping in exchange vast profits. The mega corporations are a law unto themselves for the most part, they control their own settlements and resource extraction sites where they exert more or less total control over their employees and freely pursue whatever sinister research and development they believe will most profit them. That said the influence of these companies is not total, they contest with each other for control of different markets and the more stable and well run independent cities are able to play them off against each other to extract generous concessions and good behaviour within the cities.
PMCs Without the infrastructure and population bases to support large armies, most polities in the modern world rely heavily on mercenaries to shed blood on their behalf. Although every city and corporation maintains some kind of security force or militia, these forces are often required to maintain power in the face of internal dissent or to act as a bulwark against external aggression so many day to day operations are contracted out, there is also often a market for "deniable assets" who can perform some act of violence without being traced directly to an employer. In particular, PMCs are preferred for dealing with SEROs and SERS, as they tend to have higher proportions of HARframe Operators who are immune to infection, limiting the change of SERS outbreaks within the often densely packed, poorly organised warrens of the modern cities.
Settlements
Kwon Fort.
The only city-state remaining on the Korean peninsula. During the early years in the resource war the peninsula became one of the first area thet went into full-blown war with multiple superpower nations chipping their interest into it. The result was devastating with almost all lands rendered unfit for living due to high nuclear radiation level. During the war Kuontech built a safehaven for anyone who got sick of the war or think this had been escalated way too much, regardless of where they originated from. After the peninsula war ended Kwon Fort becomes the only place habitable in the peninsula, Kuontech uncontestedly rose in power as they claim to have united both South and North Korea while also assimilating all the foreigners who got stranded there.
Delta Green
A chaotic floating city located somewhere in the Florida everglades, Delta Green was founded in response to rising sea levels wiping out Miami and most other settlements along the coast of Florida. Refugees pushed back by the rising tides wielded together pontoons and boats into dense network of bridges, platforms and vessels and later more substantial foundations were put down at a raised height to make them flood proof. Delta Green is a net food exporter, controlling a network of farming settlements that use the small sections of the Everglades with low enough salinity to sustain Pre Resource flood plain crops like rice and sugar. These high demand crops can only be grown in limited qualities however so the bulk of city's food production is in algae and insect protein, both of which thrive in the humid, brackish muck. Bogrot, an alcohol made from fermented algae is considered something of a local delicacy.
Arctic Resource Extraction Platform #3
(Colloquially ARP 3) is a site for one of the more larger industrial mining platforms placed on the newly(in comparison) uncovered lands of the receded Arctic. While having it's moments of being retaken by the frost due to the sudden... Cataclysm, the infrastructure remained in place and prepared for the return of frosts that slowly encroached out once things started to cool again. Since then, ARP 3 remained the most northward placed REP in the Northern hemisphere!
With on sight refinement and mining operations the extension into heavy industry wasn't too much of a stretch for the ARP, given the fact they were heavily isolated, and now currently with the nexite fueled world they had to become a tiny little island of industry in the middle of an ocean of snow, ice, buried resources and whatever horrible monsters existed out there that managed to survive the first two. Due to the type of work, HARframe are more common than one might expect, especially for miners. Security Core focuses more on outside threats while the Resource Expeditionary Force tends to keep an eye on the issues down below, due to the old organic material down below, beneath the ice or simply from the Arctic ocean that broke through by digging... oddly, the local populace is less an issue, when procedures are a party of your daily life since you were born, things tend to be safer than our of immediate necessity.
The ongoing culture of the ARP 3 is that of a tight community, when danger is so close by it puts certain things into perspective, even if you hate the guy next to you, it beats having to deal with the crap around you alone.
"Invention through necessity, and we sure as hell are in need." - 3rd Platform Manager Robert Reid
Exalt
Exalt is a city state located on south-western coast of what was once the United Kingdom. Named after the mega corporation that founded its conceptualisation: Exaltis Industries. Being one of the most recent additions to the world after the resource wars ended, Exalt prides itself on its technological prowess. A number of modern breakthroughs in HARframe and Nexite technology have been discovered here thanks to their top of the line research and testing programs.
Widget City
A successor to the pre war metropolis of the San Francisco Bay area. San Francisco survived much of the turmoil of the resource wars relatively intact thanks to investments in infrastructure and fortifications made by a number of tech firms and investors based in the area. After the collapse of the United States this alliance of companies had plans to slowly reconquer the United States but tensions arose between the five member companies over profit and territory distribution and eventually they turned to open war with each other, sparking the post Resource War world's first corporate war.
The Bay War, as it was known was ended when security forces underneath all five companies executed ruthless coups against their corporate leaders and pooled their resources to settle Widget city, a much smaller, fortified settlement deep within the war blasted ruins of greater San Francisco. WIdget City got its start by scavenging and exporting old pre war tech from the decaying cityscape around it and although local manufacturing has overtaken salvage as the primary industry spelunking for treasure troves of pre war tech is still a popular past time and career. Widget City is also known for its disproportionately powerful military and firm stance of independence against any corporate control, which actually makes it somewhat useful to said corporations as a kind of neutral ground where bargaining can take place.
Corporations
Kuontech
A powerful megacorporation laying claim to the entirety of the Korean Peninsula. Though its debateable whether the company can truly claim to be in control of the entire region as much of it is still irradiated beyond human habitation, no entity has arisen to dispute their claim either.
Exaltis Industries
A powerful megacorporation centred around its corporate founded city state Exalt. Being one of the most recent additions to the world after the resource wars ended, Exalt prides itself on its technological prowess. A number of modern breakthroughs in HARframe and Nexite technology have been discovered here thanks to their top of the line research and testing programs. Exaltis also controls a number of subsidiary companies, including Amano Technologies.
Ascentech Tactical Solutions:
An arms manufacturer primarily focused on the East Coast of the former united states, Ascentech produces reliable, but affordable equipment aimed primarily at enforcer and other security forces of various city states with only a secondary focus on the higher end military markets. This policy has seen the company's products become widespread and popular, as nearly every city state relies heavily on some kind of policing apparatus to maintain order and private military contractors often also find its equipment acceptable, especially when starting our their careers.
Ascentech has a somewhat close relationship with the PMC company Red Queen Security, thanks to their assistance in fending off a hostile takeover by NIKO arms, which Ascentech now controls as a subsidiary. Ever since that event Ascentech has kept RQS supplied with a wide range of their products at a discounted, bulk rate, making them an unofficial sponsor of sorts. Rumour has it it was even an RQS operator who was responsible for coming up with the company's current name, as they used to go by Ascentech Strategic Solutions, which resulted in an unfortunate and widely mocked abbreviation.
Fortunately humanity has a secret weapon in the battle against this threat, HARframes. Short for Human Actualization Restoration Frame, a HARFrame is a robotic skeleton piloted from the inside by a living human brain. Immune to infection by SEROs and enjoying superhuman durability and strength, HARFrames and their operators play a key role in responding to and suppressing SERO outbreaks.
Nation states have struggled greatly in the post Nexite world, with many collapsing outright and the remainder struggling to maintain their territory. PMCs have stepped into this vacuum and enjoy a greatly expanded role and influence at present. PMCs are able to recruit HARFrame operators from all over the world and deliver them to hotspots and outbreak locations.
Red Queen Security is one of these PMCs. A small, but tight knit organisation, Red Queen Security travels the world aboard their floating headquarters, the aircraft carrier Elizabeth. Whereas most PMCs prioritise hiring highly experienced employees with military or other relevant experience, Red Queen Security is famous for taking in young, desperate people whose lives have been torn apart by devastating injuries, disease or SERS. Red Queen provides both HARFrames and high quality training for these misfits, giving them a new chance at life, albeit a life they must risk everyday fighting as mercenaries.
To offset the risks it asks its soldiers to take, the Company takes good care of them, with generous wages and comfortable quarters aboard the Elizabeth. Once Operators pay off the cost of their HARFrame they are free to seek out a normal life anywhere in the world, or even find work with a rival PMC, although many choose to stay with Red Queen. As they live, fight and grow together the operators of Red Queen Security inevitably grow closer and form bonds, it’s not an easy life by any means but it is one they face together.
Technology
Human Actualisation Restoration Frame: Informally referred to as “Hard frames” HAR Frames are full body prosthetics, fully functional robotic bodies that contain a living brain who lives inside and pilots the frame, sending commands and receiving external stimuli through an advanced, computer brain interface. The people who live within and control HARFrames are called “operators''. People opt to have themselves surgically transferred into hard frames for a variety of complex reasons; most commonly in order to circumvent permanent disabilities or terminal illnesses. Others adopt HARframes of transhumanist beliefs or the hope for higher living quality; financial pressures are also a motivating factor as HAR Frame operators enjoy high earning potential in some fields, though HAR Frames themselves also have prohibitive upkeep and repair costs.
HARFrames vary wildly in terms of their capabilities, limitations and costs. High end designs usually try to mimic human senses and experience as accurately as possible and can include things like touch, smell even taste and systems for digesting food and converting it into energy.Generally cheaper, off the market frames are designed with less precise and accurate emulation of human senses, which strongly correlates with negative mental health outcomes such as paranoia, depression and suicidal ideation.
Operator: A hard frame operator, or just operator, is someone who lives within and pilots a HAR Frame. Though Operators can come from all works the word has acquired a certain connotation and political meaning due to a variety of complex factors. Because HARFrames are extremely resilient compared to organic human bodies and completely immune to a wide array of environmental concerns there’s a high demand for them to work in dangerous, high paying fields. Hard frames are over represented in places like the military; private security and dangerous jobs in energy and resource sectors. Because of this, and due to the existing preconceptions and cultural norms around concepts such as transhumanism and so on Operators are often viewed as dangerous or unstable and face discrimination in many arenas.
Tactical Frame: Beyond basic functionality, HAR frames can be heavily customized to suit their operator’s lifestyle choices or profession. Military grade HARframes, usually called Tactical Frames, possess powerful reactor cores, improved carrying capacity and striking power; advanced and comprehensive arrays of sensors and auxiliary computer processors linked directly to the pilot’s brain to allow for rapid analysis and reaction. Most importantly, tactical frames are able to host kinetic barriers unlike human infantry, granting them a potent tactical advantage. Many Operators further customize their frames with additional functionality such as hidden weapons or even additional limbs, however more outlandish forms of customizations come at the cost of a higher risk of self dehumanization disorder.
Self Dehumanization Disorder: A mental disorder that exclusively affects HARFrame operators, SDD occurs when the operator in question ceases to identify as human due to experiencing a drastically different sensory and tactile experience to that of a fully organic human. This detachment from the human experience leads to depression and social isolation as well as erratic, oftentimes violent behaviour. In the most serious cases of SDD the subject expresses signs of narcissism, sociopathy and psychopathy as they have increasing difficulty applying human standards of morality to their own actions.
Many factors can influence the risk of an operator developing SDD, the closer one’s day to day experience is to that of an organic human the less likely they are to trigger an onset of the disorder. A high quality HARframe, with features like precision controls and full simulation of senses like touch and smell and high quality synth-skin provides the user with a more realistic life experience conferring a degree of resistance to SDD onset. Conversely a cheap HARframe with jittery movement, poor quality or no synthskin and no ability to eat food or smell renders the operator much more susceptible to SDD. Another major factor is aftermarket modifications. Many operators in both military and civilian settings enjoy customising their frames with additions such as extra limbs, new sensory capabilities or aesthetic changes. However these additions increase the risk of SDD as they also contribute to non human life experience.
Most experts on SDD agree that one of the main factors in the prominence of the disorder is the social isolation operators experience as a result of negative stereotypes and discrimination. Tragically this is something of a vicious cycle as high profile incidents of SDD driven violence or destruction have played into those same stereotypes.
SDD Threshold: The more resistant a particular HARFrame model is to SDD onset the higher an SDD threshold it is said to have. A high SDD threshold is coveted as it allows the operator to safely add more elaborate or powerful additions to their HARFrame without increasing the risk of SDD.
Nexite: A recently discovered mineral with revolutionary properties, nexite has supplanted most other fuel sources as the main source of power throughout the world and has several other applications of critical importance to various fields. When an electric current passes through a sample of nexite it decays and releases what are known as Sorenkoff particles, after their discoverer. Sornekoff particles are somehow entangled with the sample of Nexite that released them, they float around it in a kind of orbit and certain interactions with the nexite sample induce consistent reactions from its field of sorenkoff particles. Nexite is most prized currently for its ability to generate power as Sorenkoff particles can be manipulated to produce energy which can be converted into electricity relatively easily. Nexite is also used in computing, communication and chemistry with more advances in a range of fields anticipated in the coming years. One property limiting the development of nexite is the extremely debilitating effect sorenkoff particles can exhibit on the human body. Early research and exploitation of nexite often involved insufficient shielding and other safety measures and was hampered by thousands of deaths and crippling injuries. For this reason HARframe operators are preferred for jobs that interact directly or indirectly with nexite and interest in exploiting nexite was the primary factor behind the expanding popularity of HARframes, as governments and mega corporations launched generous subsidization and enticement programs around them. Ironically many who sustained devastating injuries or illnesses due to nexite exposure would become HARframe operators and again find themselves working with nexite once more.
Kinetic Barriers: Kinetic barriers are a defensive technology developed from nexite which are primarily used in a military setting. In simple terms, kinetic barrier devices run a particular pattern of electromagnetic radiation through their nexite crystals, which cause the Sorenkoff particles entangled with the crystal to orbit its position very rapidly at a fixed distance. Because of the precise distance the particles maintain during this phenomenon, their formation becomes dense enough to exert force on physical objects such as bullets, slapping them away in the direction of the particles’ orbit, forming a kind of protective shell. Most kinetic barriers use a precise sensor to detect incoming fire then activate their particles for a fraction of a second to knock away the incoming projectile before deactivating again, allowing the user to return fire or move freely. More primitive models rely on manual activation and are therefore only useful when the user correctly anticipates incoming fire. In the last few decades kinetic barriers have become utterly dominant in warfare and most militarys and private security contractors rely heavily on them.
Unfortunately due the high density of Sorenkoff particles kinetic barriers need to emit to be effective they carry a high risk of exposure to human operators and require expensive and bulky shielding to protect the user. For this reason kinetic barriers are not really feasible for use by human infantry, unless also equipped with bulky and expensive exoskeletons which limit their mobility. These armoured infantry are usually equipped with heavy weapons and armour to make the most of their exoskeletons, they are a force to be reckoned with in conventional warfare but unsuited to certain niches like covert or guerilla warfare for example. These niches are now normally filled by HARframe operators, who can mount effective kinetic barriers in a much smaller and lighter package as only their brain needs to be kept shielded instead of their whole body. The widespread use of kinetic barriers has thus lead to a huge demand for HARframe operators to fill frontline combat roles in both the private and public sector.
Sorenkoff Exposure Recombination Syndrome (SERS) The Primary drawback of relying upon Nexite based technology is the serious danger that unprotected exposure presents to living creatures. While mild exposure to Sorenkoff particles can trigger a variety of debilitating symptoms the most feared result comes from heavy exposure, which can result in SERS.
Through some unknown mechanism, Sorenkoff particles are able to take over organic cells and trigger a virus like replication effect, which slowly converts the host body into an entirely different lifeform, known as a SERO (Sorenkoff Exposure Recombined Organism)
There is currently no cure for SERS though the spread can be halted by excising the contaminated part of the body, due to the high probability of multiple contamination sites on the body, the patients survival usually requires transplanting their brain into a HAR frame and abandoning their organic body altogether.
SERO (Sorenkoff Exposure Recombined Organism) The end stage of SERS is the host's transformation into an entirely new organism, a SERO. This process is not fully understood, it seems Sorenkoff particles themselves are somehow encoded with the ability to rewrite DNA, similar to a virus. When the particles strike a living cell, they reprogram it to begin reproducing more sorenkoff particles, which expand out to other cells, turning them into a cancer-like growth. As the number of contaminated cells increase they collectively express more sophisticated abilities, gaining the ability to convert host cells into multiple different types of new cells. If not stopped, this process eventually converts every cell in the host body. SERO’s come in many different forms, basic forms greatly exhibit the original host, though with greatly degraded cognitive abilities. These base form SEROs are driven almost entirely by an aggressive hunger for biomass, which they consume and then convert into more Sorenkoff replicating cells. Because they passively emit Sorenkoff particles, SEROs can rapidly transmit SERS to new hosts, resulting in exponential growth of a SERO population from even a single case.
As the number of SERO lifeforms in an area increase, the populace begins to exhibit more sophisticated behavior, becoming capable of banding together and employing simple tactics to secure more food. As the population of SEROs continues to grow new hosts are converted into new, more dangerous variants instead of the simplistic base form. THese variants are generally larger and more aggressive and they also exhibit the natural ability to manipulate Sorenkoff particles, allowing them to form barriers, blades and beams with them. Though base form PSERSOs are relatively easy to subdue, variants are extremely dangerous and can even contend with well trained, well equipped modern military forces in large enough numbers.
The complex forms and behavior exhibited by SERO’s in large numbers has led to the theory that they use Sorenkoff particles as a kind of neural cloud, giving them access to more processing power as the amount of particles in a region increases. This theory invites troubling speculation about the origins of Nexite and what SEROs would be capable of in the case of a truly large-scale outbreak.
Due to the high risk of exposure to personnel attempting to contain an outbreak of SERS, HARFrame operators are highly preferred for such operations. Countering SERS outbreaks is a principal source of employment and revenue for PMCs who specialize in employing HARframe Operators.
Electronic Warfare Electronic warfare is a key aspect of modern, full spectrum warfare and HARframe operators are both particularly capable and particularly vulnerable to electronic warfare. On the battlefield, most Electronic warfare takes place through Long Range, Tight Beam Sorenkoff Emitters, the gold standard for inter HARframe communication. In a typical EW attack, the victim’s tight beam receiver is bombarded with unpredictable, anomalous data to discover vulnerabilities in their internal data processing that allow malicious code or misleading sensory data to be injected into the target’s internal processes.
Once a foothold is obtained, the attacker can inject code which widens the degree of access and control they have over the victim’s systems, eventually culminating in being able to initiate full shutdown, or total control over the target’s actions, though this amount of control usually takes too long to establish in battlefield conditions to be practical: more common strategies include altering telemetry data to induce poor accuracy, cutting off or altering communications with allies and other, more subtle strategies.
The time taken needed to infiltrate and take control of an opponent’s system is determined by the amount of processing power devoted to the task, the EW skill of the attacker and the level of overtness or covertness they choose to employ in their attack: a patient, highly covert attack sends only brief signals, piggybacking on legitimate communications while an overt attack bombards the target with an avalanche of junk data. Overt attacks allow for much faster identification and exploitation of vulnerabilities but are much easier to identify by the victim, alerting them to hostile attackers and allowing them to take active measures to defend themselves. A covert attack may eventually allow an attacker to take partial or full control of their victim without revealing their presence, which can be extremely potent tactically but it can sometimes take so long to be effective as to be non viable.
The more skilled a victim is in EW warfare and the more processing power they allocate to defending themselves, the longer a successful attack will take and the more likely they are to identify their attacker, forcing a switch from covert to overt tactics and alerting the enemy as a whole. As a last resort, a victim of EW can turn off their tight beam receiver, rendering them mostly immune to cyber attacks at the cost of disabling their long range communications with their own allies and equipment. EW attacks can still be attempted through access to a physical dataport on the target but this is more a facet of interrogation than active combat.
Other forms of sensory data, such as visual or auditory, can also be a vector for EW attacks but this requires specialized equipment and training and is usually too slow and suspicious looking to be effective.
politics and society
Resource Wars A devastating series of conflicts driven by competition over dwindling natural reserves. The Resource Wars have no universally agreed upon start and end state as hundreds of discrete conflicts can debatedly be lumped in under the name, but are generally agreed to have begun sometime around 2040 and petered out in the early 2070's. Beginning as a cold war like escalation of tensions and break down in trade between the superpowers of the time, the Resources wars would eventually escalate into full blown world war and a brief exchange of nuclear warheads. In its latter years the Resource Wars dissolved into a disorganised free for all between all nations large as small as the coveted resources dwindled and states lost their ability to maintain their infrastructure and war machines. By 2070 most nation states were effectively defunct and sub entities like corporations, cities and elements of the military were beginning to break away and strike out on their own, setting the stage for the modern geo political stage.
City States Nation States have largely disappeared from the world stage, having not survived the upheaval of the Resource Wars, in their place futuristic mega cities running on nexite have risen up as the primary actor on the political stage. Somewhat resembling the city states of ancient time, these sprawling metropolises dot most of the globe, interacting with each other through a complex web of trade routes, alliances and enmities. Multi city leagues linking up multiple cities occasionally rise up to act as regional powers but these have a tendency to break apart due to infighting or external threats after a few years.
Mega Corporations Some of the few entities to have survived through the Resource wars, a number of mega corporations ply their products across multiple cities, providing everything from candy to war mechs to their customers and reaping in exchange vast profits. The mega corporations are a law unto themselves for the most part, they control their own settlements and resource extraction sites where they exert more or less total control over their employees and freely pursue whatever sinister research and development they believe will most profit them. That said the influence of these companies is not total, they contest with each other for control of different markets and the more stable and well run independent cities are able to play them off against each other to extract generous concessions and good behaviour within the cities.
PMCs Without the infrastructure and population bases to support large armies, most polities in the modern world rely heavily on mercenaries to shed blood on their behalf. Although every city and corporation maintains some kind of security force or militia, these forces are often required to maintain power in the face of internal dissent or to act as a bulwark against external aggression so many day to day operations are contracted out, there is also often a market for "deniable assets" who can perform some act of violence without being traced directly to an employer. In particular, PMCs are preferred for dealing with SEROs and SERS, as they tend to have higher proportions of HARframe Operators who are immune to infection, limiting the change of SERS outbreaks within the often densely packed, poorly organised warrens of the modern cities.
Settlements
Kwon Fort.
The only city-state remaining on the Korean peninsula. During the early years in the resource war the peninsula became one of the first area thet went into full-blown war with multiple superpower nations chipping their interest into it. The result was devastating with almost all lands rendered unfit for living due to high nuclear radiation level. During the war Kuontech built a safehaven for anyone who got sick of the war or think this had been escalated way too much, regardless of where they originated from. After the peninsula war ended Kwon Fort becomes the only place habitable in the peninsula, Kuontech uncontestedly rose in power as they claim to have united both South and North Korea while also assimilating all the foreigners who got stranded there.
Delta Green
A chaotic floating city located somewhere in the Florida everglades, Delta Green was founded in response to rising sea levels wiping out Miami and most other settlements along the coast of Florida. Refugees pushed back by the rising tides wielded together pontoons and boats into dense network of bridges, platforms and vessels and later more substantial foundations were put down at a raised height to make them flood proof. Delta Green is a net food exporter, controlling a network of farming settlements that use the small sections of the Everglades with low enough salinity to sustain Pre Resource flood plain crops like rice and sugar. These high demand crops can only be grown in limited qualities however so the bulk of city's food production is in algae and insect protein, both of which thrive in the humid, brackish muck. Bogrot, an alcohol made from fermented algae is considered something of a local delicacy.
Arctic Resource Extraction Platform #3
(Colloquially ARP 3) is a site for one of the more larger industrial mining platforms placed on the newly(in comparison) uncovered lands of the receded Arctic. While having it's moments of being retaken by the frost due to the sudden... Cataclysm, the infrastructure remained in place and prepared for the return of frosts that slowly encroached out once things started to cool again. Since then, ARP 3 remained the most northward placed REP in the Northern hemisphere!
With on sight refinement and mining operations the extension into heavy industry wasn't too much of a stretch for the ARP, given the fact they were heavily isolated, and now currently with the nexite fueled world they had to become a tiny little island of industry in the middle of an ocean of snow, ice, buried resources and whatever horrible monsters existed out there that managed to survive the first two. Due to the type of work, HARframe are more common than one might expect, especially for miners. Security Core focuses more on outside threats while the Resource Expeditionary Force tends to keep an eye on the issues down below, due to the old organic material down below, beneath the ice or simply from the Arctic ocean that broke through by digging... oddly, the local populace is less an issue, when procedures are a party of your daily life since you were born, things tend to be safer than our of immediate necessity.
The ongoing culture of the ARP 3 is that of a tight community, when danger is so close by it puts certain things into perspective, even if you hate the guy next to you, it beats having to deal with the crap around you alone.
"Invention through necessity, and we sure as hell are in need." - 3rd Platform Manager Robert Reid
Exalt
Exalt is a city state located on south-western coast of what was once the United Kingdom. Named after the mega corporation that founded its conceptualisation: Exaltis Industries. Being one of the most recent additions to the world after the resource wars ended, Exalt prides itself on its technological prowess. A number of modern breakthroughs in HARframe and Nexite technology have been discovered here thanks to their top of the line research and testing programs.
Widget City
A successor to the pre war metropolis of the San Francisco Bay area. San Francisco survived much of the turmoil of the resource wars relatively intact thanks to investments in infrastructure and fortifications made by a number of tech firms and investors based in the area. After the collapse of the United States this alliance of companies had plans to slowly reconquer the United States but tensions arose between the five member companies over profit and territory distribution and eventually they turned to open war with each other, sparking the post Resource War world's first corporate war.
The Bay War, as it was known was ended when security forces underneath all five companies executed ruthless coups against their corporate leaders and pooled their resources to settle Widget city, a much smaller, fortified settlement deep within the war blasted ruins of greater San Francisco. WIdget City got its start by scavenging and exporting old pre war tech from the decaying cityscape around it and although local manufacturing has overtaken salvage as the primary industry spelunking for treasure troves of pre war tech is still a popular past time and career. Widget City is also known for its disproportionately powerful military and firm stance of independence against any corporate control, which actually makes it somewhat useful to said corporations as a kind of neutral ground where bargaining can take place.
Corporations
Kuontech
A powerful megacorporation laying claim to the entirety of the Korean Peninsula. Though its debateable whether the company can truly claim to be in control of the entire region as much of it is still irradiated beyond human habitation, no entity has arisen to dispute their claim either.
Exaltis Industries
A powerful megacorporation centred around its corporate founded city state Exalt. Being one of the most recent additions to the world after the resource wars ended, Exalt prides itself on its technological prowess. A number of modern breakthroughs in HARframe and Nexite technology have been discovered here thanks to their top of the line research and testing programs. Exaltis also controls a number of subsidiary companies, including Amano Technologies.
Ascentech Tactical Solutions:
An arms manufacturer primarily focused on the East Coast of the former united states, Ascentech produces reliable, but affordable equipment aimed primarily at enforcer and other security forces of various city states with only a secondary focus on the higher end military markets. This policy has seen the company's products become widespread and popular, as nearly every city state relies heavily on some kind of policing apparatus to maintain order and private military contractors often also find its equipment acceptable, especially when starting our their careers.
Ascentech has a somewhat close relationship with the PMC company Red Queen Security, thanks to their assistance in fending off a hostile takeover by NIKO arms, which Ascentech now controls as a subsidiary. Ever since that event Ascentech has kept RQS supplied with a wide range of their products at a discounted, bulk rate, making them an unofficial sponsor of sorts. Rumour has it it was even an RQS operator who was responsible for coming up with the company's current name, as they used to go by Ascentech Strategic Solutions, which resulted in an unfortunate and widely mocked abbreviation.
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AtlannianSpy
Alarmed and Strangerous
Armory
This section is a compendium of weapons, equipment and augments that your character can make use of. You don't have to choose from the equipment here, you can create your own but the list here may serve as inspiration or help you round out your selections. You can also add to the armoury list if you come up with a cool idea and don't mind other players using it, anything you add to the armoury is open for other players to use and may even appear in the hands of npcs and enemies!
Weaponry
Small Arms
NIKO Arms 2311 Sidewinder
A compact and reliable sidearm chambered in the needle shaped 2300 calibre, widely touted as the smallest cartridge effective against kinetic barriers. Marketed primarily towards enforcers and personal defence, the sidewinder is of limited use against military grade barriers, but repeated, accurate shots with it can still sometimes disable them often enough that the Sidewinder sees use as a fallback weapon in those scenarios. The Sidewinder also touts a high degree of modability and is compatible with popular additions like high capacity magazines, improved holographic sights, an effective sound suppressor and NIKO arms proprietary explosive tipped 2300s, which improve performance against barriers and armour.
BG6 Bullwhip
A heavy duty magnum revolver, the Bullwhip was designed from the ground up to bring a classic revolver design into the modern age of kinetic barriers. The G6 cartridge the bullwhip uses takes advantage of its sturdy frame to deliver a bullet that far outstrip other handguns on the market in terms of kinetic output and barrier busting capability. The obvious downsides to the bullwhip include its bulk and weight and low ammunition capacity.
Mk 462 MWS
Arguably the gold standard for mass produced infantry weapons, the 462 makes use of an innovative, top loaded bullpup design to maximise magazine size and barrel length in a surprisingly small and easy to handle package. Chambered in .5622 Intermediate for reasonable anti-barrier capabilities and packing an impressive 52 rounds in its standard magazine, the 462 offers the common soldier light machine gun like firepower in an assault rifle sized package.
Leona arms KA Vanguard
a full length heavy assault rifle, of the kind that are becoming more popular recently due to the good anti barrier performance they offer. The vanguard was designed with HARframe operators in mind, so weight was largely discarded as a design constraint in favour of ruggedness, reliability and relative compactness.
Kurinka Diplomat
Marketed as the diplomat due to its role in the infamous Widget City embassy incident of 2162, the diplomat is a compact, high capacity, semi automatic sniper rifle designed with urban environments in mind, rather than the open terrain where extreme range shooting is likely to come into play. Lacking the raw punch of purpose built anti barrier rifles, the diplomat excels more at suppressing targets, sometimes requiring multiple, accurate shots in quick succession to put down a military grade tactical frame.
Rujveida Cobra26
A reliable, pump action shotgun capable of accepting a variety of lethal and non-lethal rounds. The cobra's heavy frame might be a downside for human users, but in the hands of a HARframe operator it simply means lower perceived recoil and more durability even when used as a bludgeoning implement.
1340 Spitfire
With its easily concealable form factor and blistering rate of fire, the spitfire is a favourite of cartels and other groups where accurate fire tends to fall by the wayside. The same advantages make it attractive to security details, who can lay down oppressive hails of fire to hold back attackers until a vip can be safely removed from danger. In military theatres the spitfire's voracious consumption of ammo and limited penetration make it a less enticing proposition, although customised calibre conversions to more modern cartridges like the 2300 are reportedly becoming more popular.
Exaltis Industries Paladin EX-57
A submachine gun rated highly for its ease of use among new contracts. Its rate of fire is low compared to the standard, but the lower recoil and higher stopping power makes sure that each bullet counts.
melee weapons
Luska Keenedge combat knife
Utilising a standard, edge aligned Sorekoff particle cycler, the Luska is a classic combat knife design updated with modern particle cutter technology with no frills but a lot of utility. While many operators acknowledge the changing landscape of modern combat by fielding a larger, more purpose built melee weapon, the Luska is an excellent kit addition for Operators who prefer to engage at range and only need a melee weapon as a fall back for specific situations.
Luska Expeditionary
a machete patterned particle cutter, the Expeditionary is popular in regions with dense plant growth such as jungles, swamps and the like where it can be used to blaze a trail or separate a head from a neck just as easily.
Kanazawa Industries Namikiri Vx50
The latest in the line of Kanazawa's popular "particle katanas" the Namikiri leverages the wisdom of hundreds of years of martial arts tradition on the modern battlefield. Featuring an improved hilt design, with a magnetic attachment option for those with metal hands, the Namikiri also fields a newly introduced bi-directional particle cycle that senses and moves with the swing of the user rather than fighting against it. AN elegant weapon for a thoroughly uncivilised age.
Sanduski Tech Kingmaker
Although single file particle emitters designed to cut are generally more popular for melee combat, blunt force "flat field" emitters meant to slam into and push away the target are growing in popularity as well, especially in settings where non lethality is desired. The Kingmaker is the first attempt to mount a flat field emitter to the convenient, concealable form factor of a knuckle duster or brass knuckles and the result has proven quite successful. Admittedly the small size of the Kingmaker, while its greatest selling point, is also a limitation as their is little room for a full size battery pack so the Kingmaker tends to run short of juice during drawn out brawls.
Ascentech Adjudicator 300
A flat field emitter built into the more conventional form of a nightstick or baton, the adjudicator series is most notable for variable strength field, making it ideal in enforcer work, where the weapon might be used to "gently" disperse an angry mob or blast away a rampaging SERO. Responding to complaints about the Adjudicator 200's "dystopian" and "oppressive" aesthetic, the 300 is now also available in arctic white!
Lumicielle Photon Saber
A blade of pure particle cutter that can easily cut through armor. Due to it lacking physical blade it is not a good dueling weapon. Easily overheat itself.
Amano Technologies Ryuten Mk. 2
An older generation model of Amano's Ryuten line of swords. This wakizashi is a smaller curved sword suited to indoor fighting and parrying, though there has been a recent rediscovery of the Niten Ichi-Ryu style of dual swordsmanship with which this particular model was built in mind. Sorenkoff particles are infused into the blade itself, rather than surrounding it which cause this model to become much more durable as a result.
Miscellaneous Equipment
Kanazawa Industries Kamikaze Set
A set of disposable wasp-shaped drones designed to explode after reaching their target. Hive network technology allows several unit of drones to operate as one as to not unnecessarily burden the operator's processing.
Garda Frontier Solar Bloom
A set of drones in the shape of floating flowers that can shoot continuous plasma beams. Power-hungry and slow to rotate during the beam use.
RQS mk37 fragmentation grenade
A high quality fragmentation grenade designed and manufactured aboard the Elizabeth to save on procurement.
Ascentech Silkscreen Obfuscation grenade mk8
A modern smoke grenade, it releases both chemical smoke and tiny, reflective shards of metal that confound a variety of sensory devices in addition to simple optic feeds.
Garda Frontier Osmanthus Flier V4
A scout drone equipped with high quality A/V feeds and a carbon steel shielding that improved its durability from the last generation. While it trades for this in speed it more than makes up for it with its customizable UI to fit any mission.
augments
Ascentech Escutcheon 3.1 Kinetic Barrier suite
A cost effective but reliable shielding package, the escutcheon offers all of the modern safety features (iff cutouts, 3.57 metre sensor bubble, manual overrides and so on) at price point suitable for mass deployment, albeit without the sheer resilience that truly high end kits can offer.
Jaguar Active camouflage system
a light sensitive skin sheathe able to change colour in real time to match nearby scenery, producing a pseudo invisibility or active camouflage effect. Rapid motion can result in the system being outpaced, producing a blurry silhouette instead of seamless invisibility, but paired with proper stealth tactics the Jaguar can be highly effective for eluding visual detection.
Wildcat vector thrust system
A series of linked jet thrusters positioned at the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles of a HARframe, The wild cat system can be used to accelerate dashes, dives, jumps an even punches, kicks or other close quarters tactics to blistering speeds. The system is not capable of full flight or even hovering, though it can be used to change trajectory in midair, or boost regular jumps into gravity defying leaps.
Forsythe Engineering multi purpose Drone Bay
A combined charging dock, rearming station, launcher and concealed storage solution, a drone bay allows and operator to field larger, reusable drones with heavier armaments rather than shorter range, disposable drones normally launched by hand
witchlight sorenkoff projector
The witchlight is a "hardlight" particle emitter able to project constructs of organised sorenkoff particles in a variety of simple shapes and configurations at short to medium ranges. Most often the witch light and similar devices are used to produce temporary cover at short notice, but its versatility allows it to be used for many other purposes
Sky-hook duo, paired mag-ac cable launcher
twin pair of magnetically accelerated grappling hook devices mounted within the forearms of a HARframe. The skyhook system is both a mobility aid: able to launch a grappling hook up to 200 metres away and rapidly retract its cable while bearing the weight of a fully armed and armoured tactical frame and a restraining device, able to pierce and pull in manoeuvring opponents. In a pinch the skyhook even makes for an adequate offensive weapon, able to pierce through armour at close range thanks to its heavy weighted grappling harpoons, which travel just slow enough to avoid tripping the sensors of most kinetic barriers, though that does mean an opponent with sharp reflexes can manually trigger their barriers to deflect it.
SDD counterweight augments
Kuontech Foodware Armament v.1:
An artificial set of digestive system designed to mimic that of a human body. It also capable of transforming the food eaten into energy. This is the commercial model that is designed to be affordable so the taste receptor are rather dull compared to the real thing.
Lucidia dream engine
A software package and life support plugin designed to allow HARframe operators to experience true sleep cycles and dreaming to promote their mental health. The lucidia is an accelerated cycle model dream engine, meaning it is capable of running the human brain through an entire sleep cycle in just under an hour. Critics argue that these accelerated cycles are less effective and restful in the long term, but for some people there are too few hours in the day to spend more than one of them dreaming.
Narcissus Hair Mod
Have you missed having to deal with the slow encroach of the eventual hair stylist visit? Now you can relive that part of your life with Narcissus! Don't let the name fool you, this mod allows one to relive the feeling of growth through technology. Grown at a rate of your own choosing, the hair mod simulates constant growth of hair upon most if not all Simskin brands! Beards, moustaches, bangs, ponytails you name it!
Sensera Olfactory Soft Sim
An olfactory simulation system allowing the bearer to render smells in real time, though as it's a low end model the precision of the simulation is dulled compared to luxury models.
HARframe models
Kuontech Explorant X9. A frame designed to explore and pacify high-radiation sites and minefields. High battery capacity enables it to keep going even when the opportunity to resupply is scarce and made with reinforced material to withstand one or two explosions should it comes down to it.
Forsythe Engineering VK1205 Viking A frame designed for the private security market, the Viking was designed to strike an even balance between performance and cost effectiveness, with decent overall performance with the exceptions of slightly below par battery capacity out of the box. Notably, the Viking was designed for high compatibility with augments and other upgrade packages, hoping to appeal to operators planning to upgrade their frames over the course of their careers and features a wide range of hardware ports and software adaptions to facilitate a truly customizeable HARframe experience.
Rook MK I A relatively heavy front-line support model with more intention to provide a hardy long lasting frame capable of withstanding frontal assault and providing support of various assignments but is very rarely ever sent in alone. Hosting a suit of strong armor with plentiful batteries for it's class alongside a standard array for sensory, processing power and just straight up muscle. This lumbering frame is more about holding fast and holding hard. it takes a calm and careful minded operator to understand that the best place for this frame isn't in chasing an enemy.
Liddel Engineering GC5-1
This section is a compendium of weapons, equipment and augments that your character can make use of. You don't have to choose from the equipment here, you can create your own but the list here may serve as inspiration or help you round out your selections. You can also add to the armoury list if you come up with a cool idea and don't mind other players using it, anything you add to the armoury is open for other players to use and may even appear in the hands of npcs and enemies!
Weaponry
Small Arms
NIKO Arms 2311 Sidewinder
A compact and reliable sidearm chambered in the needle shaped 2300 calibre, widely touted as the smallest cartridge effective against kinetic barriers. Marketed primarily towards enforcers and personal defence, the sidewinder is of limited use against military grade barriers, but repeated, accurate shots with it can still sometimes disable them often enough that the Sidewinder sees use as a fallback weapon in those scenarios. The Sidewinder also touts a high degree of modability and is compatible with popular additions like high capacity magazines, improved holographic sights, an effective sound suppressor and NIKO arms proprietary explosive tipped 2300s, which improve performance against barriers and armour.
BG6 Bullwhip
A heavy duty magnum revolver, the Bullwhip was designed from the ground up to bring a classic revolver design into the modern age of kinetic barriers. The G6 cartridge the bullwhip uses takes advantage of its sturdy frame to deliver a bullet that far outstrip other handguns on the market in terms of kinetic output and barrier busting capability. The obvious downsides to the bullwhip include its bulk and weight and low ammunition capacity.
Mk 462 MWS
Arguably the gold standard for mass produced infantry weapons, the 462 makes use of an innovative, top loaded bullpup design to maximise magazine size and barrel length in a surprisingly small and easy to handle package. Chambered in .5622 Intermediate for reasonable anti-barrier capabilities and packing an impressive 52 rounds in its standard magazine, the 462 offers the common soldier light machine gun like firepower in an assault rifle sized package.
Leona arms KA Vanguard
a full length heavy assault rifle, of the kind that are becoming more popular recently due to the good anti barrier performance they offer. The vanguard was designed with HARframe operators in mind, so weight was largely discarded as a design constraint in favour of ruggedness, reliability and relative compactness.
Kurinka Diplomat
Marketed as the diplomat due to its role in the infamous Widget City embassy incident of 2162, the diplomat is a compact, high capacity, semi automatic sniper rifle designed with urban environments in mind, rather than the open terrain where extreme range shooting is likely to come into play. Lacking the raw punch of purpose built anti barrier rifles, the diplomat excels more at suppressing targets, sometimes requiring multiple, accurate shots in quick succession to put down a military grade tactical frame.
Rujveida Cobra26
A reliable, pump action shotgun capable of accepting a variety of lethal and non-lethal rounds. The cobra's heavy frame might be a downside for human users, but in the hands of a HARframe operator it simply means lower perceived recoil and more durability even when used as a bludgeoning implement.
1340 Spitfire
With its easily concealable form factor and blistering rate of fire, the spitfire is a favourite of cartels and other groups where accurate fire tends to fall by the wayside. The same advantages make it attractive to security details, who can lay down oppressive hails of fire to hold back attackers until a vip can be safely removed from danger. In military theatres the spitfire's voracious consumption of ammo and limited penetration make it a less enticing proposition, although customised calibre conversions to more modern cartridges like the 2300 are reportedly becoming more popular.
Exaltis Industries Paladin EX-57
A submachine gun rated highly for its ease of use among new contracts. Its rate of fire is low compared to the standard, but the lower recoil and higher stopping power makes sure that each bullet counts.
melee weapons
Luska Keenedge combat knife
Utilising a standard, edge aligned Sorekoff particle cycler, the Luska is a classic combat knife design updated with modern particle cutter technology with no frills but a lot of utility. While many operators acknowledge the changing landscape of modern combat by fielding a larger, more purpose built melee weapon, the Luska is an excellent kit addition for Operators who prefer to engage at range and only need a melee weapon as a fall back for specific situations.
Luska Expeditionary
a machete patterned particle cutter, the Expeditionary is popular in regions with dense plant growth such as jungles, swamps and the like where it can be used to blaze a trail or separate a head from a neck just as easily.
Kanazawa Industries Namikiri Vx50
The latest in the line of Kanazawa's popular "particle katanas" the Namikiri leverages the wisdom of hundreds of years of martial arts tradition on the modern battlefield. Featuring an improved hilt design, with a magnetic attachment option for those with metal hands, the Namikiri also fields a newly introduced bi-directional particle cycle that senses and moves with the swing of the user rather than fighting against it. AN elegant weapon for a thoroughly uncivilised age.
Sanduski Tech Kingmaker
Although single file particle emitters designed to cut are generally more popular for melee combat, blunt force "flat field" emitters meant to slam into and push away the target are growing in popularity as well, especially in settings where non lethality is desired. The Kingmaker is the first attempt to mount a flat field emitter to the convenient, concealable form factor of a knuckle duster or brass knuckles and the result has proven quite successful. Admittedly the small size of the Kingmaker, while its greatest selling point, is also a limitation as their is little room for a full size battery pack so the Kingmaker tends to run short of juice during drawn out brawls.
Ascentech Adjudicator 300
A flat field emitter built into the more conventional form of a nightstick or baton, the adjudicator series is most notable for variable strength field, making it ideal in enforcer work, where the weapon might be used to "gently" disperse an angry mob or blast away a rampaging SERO. Responding to complaints about the Adjudicator 200's "dystopian" and "oppressive" aesthetic, the 300 is now also available in arctic white!
Lumicielle Photon Saber
A blade of pure particle cutter that can easily cut through armor. Due to it lacking physical blade it is not a good dueling weapon. Easily overheat itself.
Amano Technologies Ryuten Mk. 2
An older generation model of Amano's Ryuten line of swords. This wakizashi is a smaller curved sword suited to indoor fighting and parrying, though there has been a recent rediscovery of the Niten Ichi-Ryu style of dual swordsmanship with which this particular model was built in mind. Sorenkoff particles are infused into the blade itself, rather than surrounding it which cause this model to become much more durable as a result.
Miscellaneous Equipment
Kanazawa Industries Kamikaze Set
A set of disposable wasp-shaped drones designed to explode after reaching their target. Hive network technology allows several unit of drones to operate as one as to not unnecessarily burden the operator's processing.
Garda Frontier Solar Bloom
A set of drones in the shape of floating flowers that can shoot continuous plasma beams. Power-hungry and slow to rotate during the beam use.
RQS mk37 fragmentation grenade
A high quality fragmentation grenade designed and manufactured aboard the Elizabeth to save on procurement.
Ascentech Silkscreen Obfuscation grenade mk8
A modern smoke grenade, it releases both chemical smoke and tiny, reflective shards of metal that confound a variety of sensory devices in addition to simple optic feeds.
Garda Frontier Osmanthus Flier V4
A scout drone equipped with high quality A/V feeds and a carbon steel shielding that improved its durability from the last generation. While it trades for this in speed it more than makes up for it with its customizable UI to fit any mission.
augments
Ascentech Escutcheon 3.1 Kinetic Barrier suite
A cost effective but reliable shielding package, the escutcheon offers all of the modern safety features (iff cutouts, 3.57 metre sensor bubble, manual overrides and so on) at price point suitable for mass deployment, albeit without the sheer resilience that truly high end kits can offer.
Jaguar Active camouflage system
a light sensitive skin sheathe able to change colour in real time to match nearby scenery, producing a pseudo invisibility or active camouflage effect. Rapid motion can result in the system being outpaced, producing a blurry silhouette instead of seamless invisibility, but paired with proper stealth tactics the Jaguar can be highly effective for eluding visual detection.
Wildcat vector thrust system
A series of linked jet thrusters positioned at the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles of a HARframe, The wild cat system can be used to accelerate dashes, dives, jumps an even punches, kicks or other close quarters tactics to blistering speeds. The system is not capable of full flight or even hovering, though it can be used to change trajectory in midair, or boost regular jumps into gravity defying leaps.
Forsythe Engineering multi purpose Drone Bay
A combined charging dock, rearming station, launcher and concealed storage solution, a drone bay allows and operator to field larger, reusable drones with heavier armaments rather than shorter range, disposable drones normally launched by hand
witchlight sorenkoff projector
The witchlight is a "hardlight" particle emitter able to project constructs of organised sorenkoff particles in a variety of simple shapes and configurations at short to medium ranges. Most often the witch light and similar devices are used to produce temporary cover at short notice, but its versatility allows it to be used for many other purposes
Sky-hook duo, paired mag-ac cable launcher
twin pair of magnetically accelerated grappling hook devices mounted within the forearms of a HARframe. The skyhook system is both a mobility aid: able to launch a grappling hook up to 200 metres away and rapidly retract its cable while bearing the weight of a fully armed and armoured tactical frame and a restraining device, able to pierce and pull in manoeuvring opponents. In a pinch the skyhook even makes for an adequate offensive weapon, able to pierce through armour at close range thanks to its heavy weighted grappling harpoons, which travel just slow enough to avoid tripping the sensors of most kinetic barriers, though that does mean an opponent with sharp reflexes can manually trigger their barriers to deflect it.
SDD counterweight augments
Kuontech Foodware Armament v.1:
An artificial set of digestive system designed to mimic that of a human body. It also capable of transforming the food eaten into energy. This is the commercial model that is designed to be affordable so the taste receptor are rather dull compared to the real thing.
Lucidia dream engine
A software package and life support plugin designed to allow HARframe operators to experience true sleep cycles and dreaming to promote their mental health. The lucidia is an accelerated cycle model dream engine, meaning it is capable of running the human brain through an entire sleep cycle in just under an hour. Critics argue that these accelerated cycles are less effective and restful in the long term, but for some people there are too few hours in the day to spend more than one of them dreaming.
Narcissus Hair Mod
Have you missed having to deal with the slow encroach of the eventual hair stylist visit? Now you can relive that part of your life with Narcissus! Don't let the name fool you, this mod allows one to relive the feeling of growth through technology. Grown at a rate of your own choosing, the hair mod simulates constant growth of hair upon most if not all Simskin brands! Beards, moustaches, bangs, ponytails you name it!
Sensera Olfactory Soft Sim
An olfactory simulation system allowing the bearer to render smells in real time, though as it's a low end model the precision of the simulation is dulled compared to luxury models.
HARframe models
Kuontech Explorant X9. A frame designed to explore and pacify high-radiation sites and minefields. High battery capacity enables it to keep going even when the opportunity to resupply is scarce and made with reinforced material to withstand one or two explosions should it comes down to it.
Forsythe Engineering VK1205 Viking A frame designed for the private security market, the Viking was designed to strike an even balance between performance and cost effectiveness, with decent overall performance with the exceptions of slightly below par battery capacity out of the box. Notably, the Viking was designed for high compatibility with augments and other upgrade packages, hoping to appeal to operators planning to upgrade their frames over the course of their careers and features a wide range of hardware ports and software adaptions to facilitate a truly customizeable HARframe experience.
Rook MK I A relatively heavy front-line support model with more intention to provide a hardy long lasting frame capable of withstanding frontal assault and providing support of various assignments but is very rarely ever sent in alone. Hosting a suit of strong armor with plentiful batteries for it's class alongside a standard array for sensory, processing power and just straight up muscle. This lumbering frame is more about holding fast and holding hard. it takes a calm and careful minded operator to understand that the best place for this frame isn't in chasing an enemy.
Liddel Engineering GC5-1
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