Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Xagroth wrote:

Enjoy seeing people getting both this and the suicide implant... The farcaster has incredible "legal" uses, but it has added bonuses: not leaving an ego behind blocks not only the chance of an illegal/enslaved fork of yourself, but also something to interrogate by those after you. So yeah, "poor" assassins go for the C-4 block in the head, while rich assassins go for the emergency farcaster. I'm just saying that adding that implant gives too much potential for abuse ^^

That's an excellent point. A Cortical Backup Transmitter would be an awesome tool for the suicide bomber. A backup is ensured by the implant, and destruction of the current incarnation and cortical stack is ensured by heavy ordinance. Martyrdom is now open to anyone who is not philosophically uncomfortable with reinstantiation.

Smokeskin wrote:

It seems like a bad trade off, since I assume you get stereotypical female behavoriam traits instead? Seriously, who wants to deal with all that passive-aggressiveness during tactics briefings, soldiers pouting for weeks over some imagined slight, and who care more about making that bitch from C squad look bad than completing the objective.

Is that the mind inside the morph doing that, or is it a function of the morph's brain?

The Doctor wrote:

Smokeskin wrote:

It seems like a bad trade off, since I assume you get stereotypical female behavoriam traits instead? Seriously, who wants to deal with all that passive-aggressiveness during tactics briefings, soldiers pouting for weeks over some imagined slight, and who care more about making that bitch from C squad look bad than completing the objective.

Is that the mind inside the morph doing that, or is it a function of the morph's brain?

Neither - it was a joke on the extremely silly reasoning given in EP for why most Furies are female ;)

Decivre wrote:

Xagroth wrote:

Decivre wrote:

Escaping a biomorph isn't necessarily hard, it's expensive. Emergency farcasters are damn handy, though. My async almost never leaves home without them.

Were I your devious GM, I'd let you run away a couple of times, and then enjoy your face when I tell you that it seems like the Farcaster was disabled. Or never installed in that morph... Because the operator of the body shop had been hacked to not give you a body with a farcaster :p

Actually, we lucked out on that. One of the characters in our group got a patron in the form of a hypercorp that manufactures antimatter. Because of that, we almost [i]always[/i] gets free emergency farcaster access (we have the blueprints for them), simply by merit of the extreme paranoia of our characters. It's actually an inversion. It's not that our GM will eventually get devious and let us have farcasters for now. It's because our GM was a devious bastard from the get-go that we sought permanent access to farcasters. As a general rule, most of the GMs for Eclipse Phase in this area have a sadistic streak (me included).

In Eclipse Phase, there are horrible things out there... horrible things that you would want to forget by bleaching your brain and scrubbing with iron wool. Deleting your current ego and replacing it with your last good backup could be considered the next logical step. Don't forget that the rules dictate that a character may go permanently insane if they acquire too much mental stress. Such a fate would not be much different than dying as loading one of your backup would be your only option. A farcaster would be no defense against such threats. If anything, by preserving the ego, the acquired mental stress is also kept.

Xagroth wrote:

I swear I read that somewhere, I just don't remember where :( As for "rigid bones": it is better if they are, indeed, soft to a degree. Look for example at lances and other wooden-based polearms: you want them to bend a little, so they won't break. If the bones are too hard, they won't absorb any damage, and you don't want that, at least in legs and arms. The ribcage, on the other hand, could use very hard bones and elastic junctions. It will take away agility, however...

You still need them with a certain degree of density. Human bones are fairly hollow, pocked with holes throughout them.

Xagroth wrote:

The "birthing hips", I don't really see any tradeoff there, frankly...

The male pelvis is reinforced at the pubic arch and has a larger socket point where it connects to the femur. The skeletal structure has a smaller profile and more muscular mounting points for the legs. Also, the musculature within the male pelvis is focused on the exterior skeletal structure, while much of a female's muscles are dedicated to vaginal wall. In simple terms, female bodies traded enhanced hip structure and leg musculature for ability to birth a child. Probably not necessary for a fury.

Xagroth wrote:

Disconnection from fingers, eyes and brain: I wrote birthing hips while thinking "birthing lips"... XD One good thing about female pelvis is that it lowers their gravity center, making them better at resisting projections and other throwing techniques. I assume that the capability for the pelvis to "separate" is removed, but the shape might be kept as long as it won't interfere with regular capabilities.

Perhaps but there are better ways to do it. Heavier leg bones or denser hip muscles will lower the center of gravity while potentially providing more performance. Besides, a fury is likely to have a dense core anyways, so a lower center of gravity might be moot.

Xagroth wrote:

The farcaster can transmit selected chunks of data, if we take the fiction of the core book as good (the main character there sent only data, not ego nor muse), so it still offers the option of destroying the morph (send no data). Expensive "suicide pill", but...

It's also a fairly visible suicide pill. The containment unit likely has a powerful magnetic field, so I imagine that almost anyone that gives the morph a cursory exam will detect the presence of an emergency farcaster.

Arenamontanus wrote:

It also mean that a MRI machine might cause an accidental resleeving (plus big cleaning bill) - and that your enemies might take you out of commission by fabbing the right kind of electromagnet. Just giving some evil ideas :-)

I would highly recommend informing an MRI technician of any and all cyberware before allowing them to scan you. The emergency farcaster might be the least of your worries should your cyberbrain be ferrous. :D

Xagroth wrote:

The Emergency Farcaster is part of the list of "potentially banned implants", I think it is stated in its entry because some habitats fear the (small) damage it can cause. Anyway, I bet nothing short of an industrial magnet can make the farcaster go off unvoluntarilly... And a bullet to the head is cheaper!

Though in the right situation an industrial magnet might look more like an accident. And I figure the whole 'escaping justice' angle might have something to do with it as well.

Decivre wrote:

But none of this implies the sort of beauty we talk about when we mention sexuality. I don't see why a military morph would have pronounced breasts (I have a female friend who could tell you a thing or two about their effects on the spine), a soft bone structure (if anything, you want a very rigid, very tough bone structure), or birthing hips (a key yet subtle element of human beauty). They will be built for combat, plain and simple. I'm thinking flat-chested women with a bald head, broad linebacker's build and a dense musculature. We're talking Captain America with a vagina.

Not quite. Why would they even need a vagina? Its a reproductive organ after all. Everything not required for its purpose would be stripped out of the design code.

Prior wrote:

Not quite. Why would they even need a vagina? Its a reproductive organ after all. Everything not required for its purpose would be stripped out of the design code.

I think the Scum Enforcer premade character demonstrates that at least some of the market base of the fury morph might not truck with that kind of minimalism. It's really clear that the 'Amazon queen' image plays heavily into the marketing of the Fury morph. Not everything in the universe is boiled down to it's most efficient components.

Prophet710 wrote:

Alright so what about male fury morphs then? Would they be lacking phallus? That would in a sense, become inhibiting considering the male image and the connotation thereof.

Which may be a key factor behind why the largest majority of furies are female.

Tyrnis wrote:

Nothing we've seen suggests that egos sleeved in Furies lack a sex drive, so they're unlikely to eliminate the morph's capability to have and enjoy sex, since that would make for frustrated soldiers of both genders, given that only a small percentage of humans are asexual. And on the male fury in particular, one has to remember that most are still going to need to urinate, so even if sex weren't a consideration, there are certain advantages (minor though they may be) to not making them into life-sized Ken dolls.

I was under the impression that the choice of female sex for the fury morph was intended to curb the issue of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_rape]war rape[/url]. Considering that they have already been programmed with behavior modifications, that's the only real reason I could think of that they would prefer one sex for the design.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

I was under the impression from what the book said females were chosen as the default sex because of the amped up aggression and testosterone production. I really do not see why they would lack a sex drive at all. The Xp and VR I mean you can still get off without doing the act itself and I am pretty sure they make some very...creative toys.

Nah. There were already modifications to the behavior of the morph. Furthermore, there are plenty of other ways they could have curbed testosterone, the least of which are endocrine controls. Even without those, testosterone production within the body could be curtailed at the final stages of morph production, reducing the likelihood of psychological effects. So there aren't many real reasons to force a specific sex. But war rape is a serious issue even today, and I imagine that people still took it seriously in the pre-fall wars. Not necessarily to save civilians from its effects (though that might be a big factor, along with the well-being of female soldiers), but more to keep soldiers' minds on their jobs.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

As to the main topic, I would say it depends. Most would be chipped and that info would be available, even more so if it was not wholly owned by the user. I would not think they would all look the same, as they are unlikely to be mass cloned. Some may have some tell, tell signs. Others might be unable or unwilling to turn off the VR "brand name" of the morph. It would really depend.

Even if biomorphs are mass cloned, it's very possible that the final parts of the purchasing process include customizing looks and tailoring them to your needs and desires. For instance, I imagine it to be very common for morph faces to be custom modded to look like a person's original sleeve. If anything, the DNA might be the most obvious branding the morph has.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Off hand I would say without a scan flats, splicers, exalts,mentons Olympians and Hibernoids look more or less like each other. The Exalts and Olmoains may be pretty or in great shape but still within the range of humanity looks wise.

To a degree. I imagine that if you were living in a society with different morphs, you'd eventually be able to pick out the subtleties that set them apart. Flats will obviously look like humans we see today, but splicers will look like "way too healthy" modern humans. Olympians and Exalts might have physical fitness levels well above natural norms. And mentons probably have bigger heads than a normal human. Otherwise yeah, they're probably near-indistinguishable.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Furies could pass for one of the others, if you do not stay around them or touch them. I say the armor and the way the user acts gives them away more then anything.

Actually, I was under the impression that the armor is near undetectable; they only have light bioweave when purchased stock. I still say it's because they look like they are built like a true female soldier... formed for combat, but with a female frame. That's gotta be pretty distinguishable.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Futura's are just to well known,while bouncers, rusters and remades are all to easily viable for what they are. I feel ghosts would be spotable as well.

I can't think of any traits the futura might have that would make it noticeable. I was thinking that they are a bizarre combination of phenotypes that is hard not to notice, but there's nothing really referenced in the books. Unless the purple skin of the sample character is a common trait amongst them. The rest though, I agree. Bouncers have obvious feet, rusters have obvious skin, and I imagine ghosts to have skin splotches that look reminiscent of camouflage, when they aren't using their chameleon skin.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Neotenics could pass for children, if they act it.

Definitely. They are likely easy to notice because it's unusual to spot a person that looks pre-pubescent but has the coordination of a person well past adolescence.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Being female does not stop such things. And removing the sex drive could make it worse to be honest, as people look to strike out and hurt those because they have been denied something. Rape is rarely about just sex.

Of course it is about more than sex, but rape is also less likely to occur from someone who has no sex drive. That's one of the major sticking points in the argument over chemical castration, as it has shown to be fairly effective in curbing the actions of former child molestors and rapists. In fact, the ones that are repeat offenders often claim that their drive and fantasies never went away to begin with.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Also I could have sworn I read somewhere that male furies were to hard to control. They went lone wolf and super macho far to easy. And I am not sure they could curb them to much as they amped them up for combat. Females just may have been a more controllable morph for the alterations or maybe just a cheaper one.

Unless furies were early creations back when transhuman modification was still in its infancy, I find that doubtful. Chemically rebalancing a morph should be fairly easy during post-production tweaks, so there isn't a real reason that male furies should be completely uncontrollable. Because other than our hormonal makeups and the obvious genital and physical differences, there isn't that much difference between genders.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Yeah I think you could pick them up, some of them anyhow. I am not sure a spilcer is all to different looking from a flat however. They mostly have non visible changes..although if they have a gut, its not a splicer. Over all however I would say most are not easily seen at a glance.

Like I said, it would probably be noticeable via health and other factors. The majority of flats probably don't have mesh inserts and utilize ectos... so you'll spot them by the fact that they never mentally interface anything. Furthermore, their ability to search the web rapidly will be heavily curtailed... while they sift through their touch screens, a person in even the simplest splicer can think up a word and search it in no time at all. So the difference in the manner they speak and act is likely immediately noticeable. Then there's the health issue. A splicer is likely to look like a human that is at the peak of natural health. No major blemishes (perhaps scars from major events in life), no major genetic failings (you probably won't see many splicers suffering from alopecia or asthma) and no extreme aging (older model splicers probably still get old, but don't age badly).

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

Well see I was unsure, it might well be, but then it might not. As for form, I say it would be hard to tell them just based upon the form itself, they could be lumped in with Olympians and Exalts in physical appearance. The real give away I think would be the user, not the morph.

I still find it hard to imagine that a perfectly-honed combat morph would look like a sultry 20-something with a big rack. But I suppose I could see them looking similar to olympians and exalts.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

I was thinking they would stand out. They were all made in one "Line" and highly published. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me they where made to highlight what kind of ego was inside, they wanted to show off the grand achievement. It just kinda failed.

Maybe, but I can't picture what traits that would be. I don't think it would just be Futura project logos on the skin. It would be nice to know how they are distinguishable.

My opinion is that you've got to work backwards on this one. If you want the Lost to be able to blend in at all, and you want Lost characters to be able to use Futura morphs, then the Futura morph has to be pretty difficult to discern, especially considering the frothing witch hunts described in Sunward's starting fiction against them.

Eh, the sentence it's used in seems to imply to me it's more from the perspective of a person considering inhabiting it than someone who sees one on the street. It also implies that there are eccentric hyperelite collectors who wear them as a statement of wealth and taste.

Seekerofshadowlight wrote:

I can't really see collectors wanting them if they could not stun a crowed by wearing em out now and then.

I don't know. With hyperelite collectors, who cares if the "crowd" knows you own a Futura? You're not out to impress the crowd. You're no mere metacelebrity; you're an ageless God. When you wear your Futura morph there are probably only fifty people in the system who can recognize what it is... and you know them all by name. Sure, some of your collection is for the public: the Arthaus Splicer made by a famous Anonymus graffito, the perfect replica of Michelangelo's David, the antique Synth, part of the first batch of commercial artificial body replacements. You lend those out to museums, galleries, and you wear them to make a stir - to be seen. But there are certain parts of your collection just for you, and for those other collectors who know you have the thing that they want and hate you for it.

I'll agree with that, however I was responding to the idea that "It also implies that there are eccentric hyperelite collectors who wear them as a statement of wealth and taste." Which means others wold have to know what it was. Not much of a statement if only you know it.

As I view it, Futuras are noticed by people who know about them. They have no tell tale traits, and only are modified Exalts. The main telling sign of them would be locations of implants based off their core model design, which an enthusiast would be aware of. A true genetic test would be needed, to me, to tell the difference. Even then, without the futura genetic blueprint, it is just an off habitat produced exalt by an unknown designer. If they were noticeable, than quietly releasing them into general population (pg 233) would have not been quite the issue. Collections are shown off to people who would appreciate its significance. Shown to a unknowing person: "This is my Futura morph, took quite a bit to get a hold of." "Wasn't that something to do with the lost project? Why would you even want one of those?" Versus shown to someone knowledgeable: "This is my Futura morph, took quite a bit to get a hold of." "Interesting, do you have proof of this? I have heard many claims that were fakes in the past." Evidence is shown. "That is quite the model, looks largely unmodified from the base design. A vintage Futura is quite the trophy."

A woman's perspective of furies and their appearance. In a future of ablative and NERA armour, personal sensor suites, and hand held rail guns, warriors needing pure, unadulterated strength is a thing of a bygone era. Stealth, mobility, intuition, awareness, and coordination, not only within one's body but within group cohesion, becomes of utmost importance. Whomever figures out where their target is and can move into position first wins As to intimidation factor, fury would not to be "ripped". Would she be built? Yes, but no more than she'd need to be. Curves and breast would not be out of the question (although breast do become annoying sometimes); and a wider pelvis with a wider stance increases stability and helps lower center of mass (both of which is important in accurate, long distance shooting). As I have found over the years, the size of your muscles doesn't mean much if you do not have an imposing presence. Size. Size matters. You may have the muscles of a greek god, but if you're only 160cm tall, no one is going to take you seriously. I'm 200cm tall at 104kg, and I have a bit of a mouth. The only time someone starts trouble with me physically is when I'm sitting. Then I stand. Something about being a full head and shoulders taller than someone can really make one think twice. A fury would be tall, muscular, but not extremely lean. Chances are, they'd stand out in a crowd, literally. Fat has its own advantages, such as a bit of padding to ease blows. And, as warfare tech becomes increasingly more and more kinetic, armour spreading out the energy does still pack quite a wallop. It's always better to bruise fat than it is to bruise muscle and connective tissues. Behaviour wise, look towards more feral mindsets, such as primeape's pack behaviours, or wolves. There are strong group cohesion within the females, while males tend to be outcasts or loners, usually "ruling" over the rest... at least as long as the females decide to put up with them. Males tend to compete and fight amongst themselves, the winning one usually expelling the loser. A major difference between a domesticated animal and a more feral one lies within base epinephrine levels during brain formation and over all life. Fury morphs have larger, more active adrenal glands. In masculine mindset, this leads to a, "there can only be one," mindset and scenario. In a more feminine mindset, this leads to a greater group cohesion and loyalty, but god help you if you're shunned by the group (for instance, watch what happens to murderers within macaque groups). You can actually see this within humans too, in girl cliques and the competitiveness within larger group male friendship... now imagine this ramped up a bit. Also, (and it's been said) furies are Rangers or Force Recon. Precise killers, but they can also be a friendly, humanitarian face. Reapers are just a mechanised armour division. Sorry for the generalisations and inane ramblings. She isn't me, but this is one sort of look I can see a fury morph having, assuming she keeps up her fitness levels (more of a bouncer, less of a soldier). http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eURvYe_Zp4s/TcqOX9YWxjI/AAAAAAAAAiI/w2kjXkq6aG...

Prophet710 wrote:

So with this assumption, I would again like to bring up male furies. With mental and chemical considerations in mind, say female furies from what would be basically known as a SEAL team. Male furies could be more of a clandestine asset then? Like Jason Bourne?

Jason Bourne seems like he'd be more of a ghost morph type. Maybe more like Vin Diesel or Bruce Willis characters.

I have a question about biomorph appearance or rather sylph appearance. As stated, "good looks" come easy for everyone so sylphs must have godlike appearance. Is there any pictures of people that might fit these descriptions or any drawings that might give an idea of how such people might look like?

Xagroth wrote:

Otohime, while I agree big tends to equal impressive, in a battleground you tend to go for the "tank philosphy", which in this case points to the smaller soldier because it's the harder to hit. I bet that, Dverger aside, Fury morphs are the more densely made of all, and that they have been built with the bare minimun of height and width for their superb performance. Also, on the intimidation line, I bet a sniper gives more fear to an enemy unit than a big soldier in front of them ^^.

Well, not exactly. Snipers do give more fear, but there are other, practical reasons to wanting a fury morph to be tall. Taller morphs have longer legs, and are able to cover more ground quickly, thereby increasing their mobility. Taller morphs can carry more than a shorter morph; and a taller morph is able to apply more torque with the same amount of muscle than a shorter morph. A taller morph can shoot larger, more heavily recoiling firearms for longer with less fatigue than a shorter morph because of our frame's tendency to increase the impulse length on the user; and we have more control over select fire systems because of our size, regardless of strength. On the mobility front, I am able to do things and reach places other people at work cannot. 'Don't get a ladder, get [Otsu] to do it.' I can reach higher ledges than others and pull myself up; and I am able to reach farther. That being said, there are some disadvantages to being tall. Smaller weapon systems are cumbersome for me; I have a hard time fitting in various vehicles comfortably and I cannot fit in a Humvee; and there are a few crawl spaces that I cannot fit into (namely because my butt wont fit, lol) that only the smallest on our crew can fit through (she's like the size of a child, though). However, over all, height is a major advantage in [i]everything else[/i]. The only time you want a small, short person is when you need a pilot. You're able to fit more equipment into the frame and a smaller pilot means less weight over all.

Xagroth wrote:

As for the AGI morph selection, I tend to see them like extremely practical characters, also note that they only find easy to "sleeve" into the infomorph state, so other morphs they get will tend to be dependant of what they want to do, and I bet they will usually prefer morphs with cyberbrains. For example, if they are going to work into the Mars surface, I doubt they will choose a Takko, but in a space station it might be one of the best choices.

I didn't think it was possible for an AGI to sleeve in anything else but a cyberbrain? And yeah, I can see how a Takko would have a major disadvantage on Mars surface. Never thought of that. Thanks!