A fine powder that sticks readily to any substance and grows like a fungus. It embeds deep roots into whatever it's attached to, making the only way to get rid of it cutting a chunk out of whatever it's attached to and burning it; not pleasant if it's on your skin. The fungus itself is fairly harmless beyond this trait, which isn't saying much since it spreads fairly easily and, without proper containment, can enter lungs and kill transhumans without medichines. However, its curious trait is that it changes colour depending on the moods of any biomorph around it. Any suggestion that this is a pheremonal reaction goes out the window when even those in sealed hard suits are shown to affect the fungus as well. In Asyncs, the presence of the fungus is soothing and, around these individuals, the fungus is utterly harmless. It will not attach to them and the particularly potent (Asyncs with the Level 2 Psi Trait that pass a Control test) can even control the powder, forcing it to retreat from them and their companions.

I created an object which my PCs never found, so I'll save it for some other adventure: The players were infiltrating a Planetary Consortium dumping ground on the exoplanet Vohaul, and the chief of security was a psychotic woman named Miris Hyland. Miris was an extremely good sniper, able to shoot accurately and fatally over long distances from Vohaul's mountaintops despite the haze and atmospheric conditions. She carried an enormous sniper rifle with her, which she interfaced with directly via access jacks when she was using it. The rifle had a small black angular object welded to the side, and wired in to the rifle's electronics. She had discovered a discarded piece of TITAN tech on Vohaul among all the trash and hazardous waste the Consortium had tried to hide: a small black rectangle with a miniscule amount of computronium inside of it. When she did some circuit-bending and hacking to get her Sniper's Aid SnipeSoftware to run gravity/wind calculations on this thing, to help her aim better, it took over the electronics in her high-tech rifle and corrupted her ego. It did help her aim better. The on-the-fly calculations it could do let her see the estimated trajectory of a shot going many kilometers out, regardless of wind or movement, however it brought with it a tremendous [i]urge[/i] to shoot things. It fed off her preexisting sadism and sociopathy. I really wanted to create a sentient or semi-sentient weapon and see what my players would do with it. I had hoped they'd find her amazing rifle after killing her and try to hook it up to their access jacks like they'd seen her do... This was my inspiration (from the Neotokyo source mod). Note the access jacks linked up: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qj01S.jpg[/IMG]

This artefact looks like a heavy cylindrical cannister, with one end a shiny fluorescent. This end is a nanotech attachment point, allowing equipment with the right nanosurfaces to effortlessly pass through. It *is* a cannister, filled with an extremely potent poison. The molecule is designed to permanently gum up the life processes of terrestrial life, not unlike a very clever hacking exploit. Cells simply stop working, remaining in place but slowly decaying. It is catalytic: the molecule is not used up when it kills a cell, but can destroy many more if its absorbed. Eventually it degrades chemically but it takes a while. The result is that if anything from inside the cannister is released it will kill all life in the vicinity. The effect is not instantaneous, but within half an hour biomorphs will rapidly feel tired and die. They will not rot, since the poison also poisons all bacteria and fungi. A place that has been exposed will contain dead and gradually mummifying corpses, but no smell of death. To make it more effective, the cannister can (using its nanomembrane) pack it into nanocapsules that release it under certain circumstances such as contact with a particular genome, when it receives an ultrasound pulse, or just after a certain time.

nick012000 wrote:

That sounds nasty, but I think Toxin Filters and Medichines should help a biomorph survive exposure if this stuff was used in the Fall.

Medichines can try to repair the killed cells, which will of course release the toxin and kill other cells... the victim will either die (if the medichines are overwhelmed by a large dose) or have the medichines continually run at maximum across their bodies to tear down and replace cells everywhere, which sounds pretty nasty. Toxin filters might work, except that the toxin will likely be very good at killing all surface cells. Say goodby to mucous membranes, the cornea and perhaps a lot of skin. And this assumes they can handle the toxin. But don't worry, here is a lovely gift from the TITANs that can definitely keep you safe: It looks like a metallic rhombic dodecahedron a few centimetres across, and can sometimes be found packaged together in cases (they slot together perfectly, making a nice spacefilling pattern). It is actually a dormant nanoswarm, and picking it up (or something else) can trigger it. Suddenly the object fractally disintegrates into a swarm ready to act... Except that when removed from the influence of the parent TITANs, the exsurgent virus or malicious software infections (i.e. by sheer luck) it will imprint on the nearest intelligent user - such as the unfortunate person holding the object. It will immediately seek instructions by linking up to them (i.e. burrowing into suits and flesh, sending nanofiber tendrils into the nervous system). In the case of most transhumans this means that it more or less rapes the cortical stack, muse and any implants for information, and uses that info to interface with the host. Essentially the host now has a highly intelligent, amoral, self-replicating nanoswarm as an extra muse implementing whatever it thinks is a command. Which of course can include killing rivals, "convincing" secretly loved ones they simply must have the host, "protecting" them from various things such as people trying to free them, and sometimes "upgrade" their implants or body to TITAN-spec. It leaves enough nanomachines in the body to both regenerate from inside and to act as truly wild medichines - reconstruct you from near death, no problem (it might be a tad painful of course). And yes, it can catch the exsurgent virus just fine. But think of the *power* it will give you!

"Here, I have made all your fears real, master!" Here is another little thing: the buddy brick. The buddy brick is a box-like object covered with visual patterns. These patterns form a YGBM hack that tells the subconscious of viewers that they should have the brick, bringing it with them. Most people just pick it up as a 'souvenir' and stop thinking about it. The real purpose was originally to lure humans into bringing trackers, nanoswarm seeds or headhunters into their nests for easier harvesting. Not unlike some ant poisons. However, as the Fall got weirder buddy bricks with no payload or random payloads showed up. And by their nature they are popular collector's items.

[b]The Smart Box[/b] Coming in all shapes and sizes, the Smart Box seems like a trap for singularity seekers and those simply desiring self-improvement. Innocuous enough, it gives off no radiation or power readings until it is opened. At that point, it unfolds like an octopus and pounces on whomever undid its lock. There, it clamps itself around their head, rendering them unconscious until it has completed its work. When the subject awakens, the box is sealed once again and they feel no different. Scans will indicate no presence of TITAN strains, no trace of the Exsurgent Virus, and so on. In fact, the subject feels better, not worse. Problems that were previously difficult are easier; they recall things more readily, they can read people like books, their mind and body are so much more in tune... For a while, at least. It readily becomes evident to anyone who has used the Smart Box that, for whatever improvements they have now, their weaknesses are glaringly more obvious. An inability to do higher mathematics that would not have previously bothered a hedonistic anarchist now becomes a glaring flaw, just as much as the lack of the skill in arranging the perfect flower bouquet rather suddenly is. Many dedicate themselves to training, buying the best implants, self-improving, etc., until all their efforts soon amount to a frustratingly slow crawl towards a perfection that is hard to reach. It is obvious that they will suffer, unless they find a way to do it faster. That is when most users turn to activating the box again. This time, however, the change is more profound. Not only do they come back even better than before, but their perceptions have expanded. They are improved, their capacity to get better only increases, but what is anyone else doing? The rest of transhumanity is weak, slovenly! The second stage is usually accompanied by a heightened frenzy of self-improvement at a blinding pace. What takes years for others to accomplish takes the subject months, or even weeks. A third and fourth dose from the Smart Box only heighten things further, gifting the subject with an incredible awareness for the universe they live in. Transhumanity seems like insects beneath them, and its flaws are infuriating. Like watching children splash around in mud puddles, while they are able to know and do things that would seem impossible. The fifth and final dose activates the third stage. The subject is filled with an understanding for... Everything. In that moment, they are filled with a single, burning clarity of what they must do. For every subject this is different, but it is usually never something most transhumans consider good. The only certainty is that they all realize that the Smart Box will help them no more; it has already set them on the path, now they must walk it. [b]Behind the scenes[/b] The original Smart Box appeared as nothing so much as a small reliquary decorated with scenes on the Fall. Discovered in the Martian desert, its initial victim has since created dozens to spread throughout the solar system. While Firewall believes it has uncovered and destroyed most of them, there are those who fear that some still remain out there, possibly in the hands of Project Ozma. Whatever means by which the Smart Box takes effect (basilisk hack, async effect, etc.), it doesn't do so overtly. Any attempts to detect TITAN infections fail, save a brain scan searching for an async brain architecture. This attempt gets a bonus/penalty, depending on the stage of alteration. Below is a list of the stages of alteration, each step caused by using the device. -Stage 1: Training time reduced by 1/4. Gains the Behavioural Control (Boosted Self-Improvement) trait. Attempts to detect the subject as an async take a -30 penalty. -Stage 2: Subject gains Psi Trait (Level 1). Disorders from this tend to result in obsessions with flaws or antisocial traits. Training time reduced by 1/3. Subject registers normally as an async. -Stage 3: Subject no longer pays double rez points for raising skills over 60. Training time reduced to 1/2. Subject gains +5 to all Aptitudes. Behavioural Control changes to (Encouraged Self-Improvement). Tests to determine if they are an Async gain a +15 bonus. -Stage 4: Psi Trait (Level 2). Subject's aptitude maximum for all traits is 40. Behavioural Control changes to (Enforced Self-Improvement). Training time reduced by 3/4. Tests to determine if they are an async gain a +30 bonus. -Stage 5: Psi Trait (Level 3). Subject is no longer playable as a character. Tests to determine if the subject is an async automatically succeed, if they can be scanned. In addition to all these traits, subjects who use the Smart Box occasionally have bizarre dreams of Earth. In these dreams, they observe people, making notes and plans for... Something. While they remember it is important, whatever this plan was, it vanishes when they return to the waking world. The drive to self-improve often results in frenzied activity and insomnia, which sometimes causes these dreams to slip into the subject's waking world, making for very disturbing days.

In one campaign I'm running we had a wonderful encounter with a Exsurgent Scientist, who created a bunch of alpha forks of the PC's to experiment on. Their introduction to the thing was to wake up in a resleaving clinic, with a curtain to the side, and a set of monitors and recording equipment next to the door. They of course go to the monitor computer to see what's going on, only to see that their muses have autotagged some security footage as "relevant" to them. Skipping over hours of footage, each PC's watches the Exsurgent tie down one of his forks, and inject it with a long needle full of *something* clear. The Exsurgent waits for a set time, and then kills the fork. Another tag on the video shows Fork#2 getting the same treatment, only with a *opaque* liquid in the needle this time. Injection happens, Exsurgent waits, after a minute the Fork#2 begins trashing/seizing as their skin discolors, and a thin metal filament grows up and out of their chest. It eventually grows like a plant, to form some kind of fractal-bush antenna sticking out of their now dead chest. Finally, the last tag shows #3 waking up (the current fork the PC is playing), only instead of being strapped to a table, they are injected with the *opaque* fluid right in the decanter their morph is floating in (think healing vat). That's it, nothing seemed to happen to them, they watch themselves wake up, and they are back to the present, wondering wtf is going to happen. There's a pile of dead forks behind the curtain, and they begin to get a headache... This artifact is the normal Watts-Mcleod strain mixed with a little extra: it grows a complex nano antenna hidden inside the morph. The antenna connect right up to their brain/cyberbrain and gives a backdoor into their skulls. My Players figured this out a couple games later when a TITAN created ship informed them that they were "crew". What it actually does in our game is provide a continuous XP broadcast to the TITAN ship from each PC. The ship's "Pilot" talks to them all the time, and gives them assignments as "crewmen". They haven't tried to disobey a order from the "Pilot" yet, because they think something bad will happen. I haven't decided yet if that is true.

My impressions of TITAN artifacts is that they have: -No obvious function, -No discernible aesthetics, -and violate most of the laws of conventional physics. I tend to model them after (Reynold's) Revelation Space's Clockmaker Artifacts. Examples: A silvery metal box, about the size of a brick. It is made of no known substance, indeed it does not even register on any sensors. Every known particle and wave passes through it as if it wasn't there. There is no obvious means of entry, or lock of any sort. or: A cylinder roughly 1 meter in length and 15 cm in diameter. The last 10cm on one end tapers to a point. This point emits stable Pions (pions are notoriously unstable).