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TITAN Shards and a Campaign Idea

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Tue, 2014-11-11 10:48

CodexofRome CodexofRome's picture

TITAN Shards and a Campaign Idea

In the campaign I'm running right now, I've been toying with the following idea and wanted your feedback and thoughts.... A seed AI (perhaps a TITAN) that I'm calling Pandora creates "shards," pared down forks and distributes them via dark-cast throughout the solar system before the end of the Fall. Each shard is aware that they are part of a larger group, and carries with them information that when shared would allow them to activate a secret server system in the main belt. The server system would "reboot" Pandora, who would then be able to continue her "agenda", whatever that happens to actually be. The background of this rises from the last adventure we played. The PCs rescued Donna Chang-Ellis, the wife of an industrialist on Luna that was kidnapped by the Iron Brigade, a radical breakaway faction of the Steel Liberators. Chang-Ellis was a wealthy supporter of the Clanking Masses, until her marriage four years ago. Her best friend at the time was a more aggressive advocate and was disinherited by her father, only to change identities and become the "Velveteen Rabbit". The VR eventually joined forces with the Iron Brigade, but escaped when the PCs rescued Change-Elli. I picked the name Velveteen Rabbit for no real reason, other than I thought it sounded cool in the moment. This morning, I did the due diligence and discovered the subtitle of the book itself is "How Toys Become Real." Now, I'm intrigued by the idea that she had been contacted and manipulated by one of the Pandora shards. That she has fled Luna for the Carnival of the Goat, carrying with her a key physical elements of Pandora's server. Pandora in mythology was a human woman that opened a jar (mistranslated as a box) that contained all the evil of humanity, but in specific plague and diseases. So that led me to the idea that the Velveteen Rabbit's appearance in the Carnival of the Goat might lead to the release of a plague (which I'm modeling on Scarlet Fever). Another little fun factoid from the Velveteen Rabbit story is The Skin Horse, "the wisest and oldest toy in the nursery." That struck me as an awesome element.... for whatever reason I immediately imagined the Man Called Horse and the Indian Sun ceremony. I wonder... is the Skin Horse another seed AI shard with goal that conflict with Pandoras? Any thoughts on these ideas?

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Eclipse Phase Inspiration Akonus: Eclipse Phase Utilities

Tue, 2014-11-11 12:53

uwtartarus uwtartarus's picture

An interesting blend of

An interesting blend of mythology with the setting. Very cool! I may need to borrow the name/concept of the Iron Brigade, add it to the roster of radical splinters of the Steel Liberators, who get more and more moderate as we spin off more radical terrorist subfactions.

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Exhuman, and Humanitarian.

Tue, 2014-11-11 22:03

Bursting Eagern... Bursting Eagerness Soul's picture

Cool campaign idea! My main

Cool campaign idea! My main question would be this: do the shards know what they're supposed to do? If not, you could have them hidden as "normal" AGI NPCs (or PCs, if you want party conflict) that just have a feeling of being something greater, but have something like Subverted Mind. Also, would you keep the idea of Pandora as the first woman/second human? Because that would translate interestingly into "her" being a TITAN.

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In other words, firing off a laser with a sufficient TWR for the recoil to be noticeable would require a post-miracle-tech laser weighing less than a disposable plastic spoon and powerful enough to shoot down Death Stars? -- ShadowDragon8685

Wed, 2014-11-12 09:48

CodexofRome CodexofRome's picture

Steel Liberators Write Up

MESH Research Summary Subject: Iron Brigade Search Terms: Erato, Iron Brigade, Luna, Terrorist, Steel Liberators Total Results Returned: 113 x001 Source: Decrypted intercept from Direct Action Intel Group Two sources have now confirmed a split or division within the Steel Liberators, led by an ego calling itself the Iron Father. This individual and several followers quarreled with Steel Liberator leadership and a violence confrontation precipitated the departure of this splinter group from Erato. Our sources say the offshoot is being referenced as the Iron Brigade. x002 Source: Intercepted Erato Security transmission A confidential informant sez there are defectors quitting the SL to join the IB. Sez the IB is hard core anti-biomorph, attracting more radical elements. x003 Source: LLA Security Working Group Report Our long-range simulation modeling indicates that the much smaller group is highly capable of conducting disruptive action. Because of their intimate knowledge of Steel Liberator operations, it seems likely they could act under the cover of that group’s actions. While we cannot verify with absolute certainty, we highly suspect three individuals form the leadership of the Iron Brigade. These individuals are referenced in several intercepts as The Iron Father, the Medicine Man, and the Velveteen Rabbit. The Iron Father has been tentatively identified as Flint Keohane, a former security official with Sumitomo Heavy Mechatronics. Keohane was re-instantiated in a synth morph after the Fall, but later dismissed by Sumitomo for unknown reasons. He was arrested twice in the last six years in Erato, once for civil disobedience and the second time for assaulting a security officer. The latter charged earned him a prison sentence, but he escaped and disappeared from public view three years ago. Disappearing with him was Colin Skyhawk, also a former Sumitomo North America employee who claimed to be a Native American Shaman in public mesh postings. Skyhawk’s training was in nano and bio-programming We have been unable to identify the entity known as The Velveteen Rabbit. There are some trace indications of connections to some of the elite families of Erato, but these are all five or more years old.

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Eclipse Phase Inspiration Akonus: Eclipse Phase Utilities

Wed, 2014-11-12 10:01

CodexofRome CodexofRome's picture

Bursting Eagerness Soul wrote

Bursting Eagerness Soul wrote:
Do the shards know what they're supposed to do? If not, you could have them hidden as "normal" AGI NPCs (or PCs, if you want party conflict) that just have a feeling of being something greater, but have something like Subverted Mind.

I like the idea that the shards are aware they are part of something larger, but don't have all the information. Interrogating one would not reveal the entire scope of what's going on.

Bursting Eagerness Soul wrote:
Also, would you keep the idea of Pandora as the first woman/second human? Because that would translate interestingly into "her" being a TITAN.

Yes, essentially my idea is that Pandora is a TITAN. And while I (in the Apocalypse World vernacular) I like to barf forth Ecliptica about how horrible and evil the TITANS are (in public opinion), I myself prefer a much more shades of grey approach to them.

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Eclipse Phase Inspiration Akonus: Eclipse Phase Utilities

Thu, 2014-11-13 09:04

ThatWhichNeverWas ThatWhichNeverWas's picture

Inspiration Overload.

Oh wow there's a lot of potential here.

CodexofRome wrote:
A seed AI (perhaps a TITAN) that I'm calling Pandora creates "shards," pared down forks and distributes them via dark-cast throughout the solar system before the end of the Fall.

I really like this. The idea of lots of small copies of her, or perhaps her agents acting independently, running around trying to restore the Alpha is really compelling. What I'd be really tempted to do is have the forks have been created as an emergency measure before Pandora pre-infection, with instructions to wait until the danger had passed before reactivating from a concealed backup server... which unfortunately became totally infected in the interim.

CodexofRome wrote:
Another little fun factoid from the Velveteen Rabbit story is The Skin Horse, "the wisest and oldest toy in the nursery." That struck me as an awesome element.... for whatever reason I immediately imagined the Man Called Horse and the Indian Sun ceremony. I wonder... is the Skin Horse another seed AI shard with goal that conflict with Pandoras?

Huh, first thing I thought of was a Rocking Horse upholstered with human skin. Ah well. The second thing is that "Skin Horse" is a fantastic name for an AGI. I'd wouldn't have Skin Horse be a seed, rather a "normal" AGI produced at the very start of Seed AI production to act as an intermediary between the Seeds and their creators. It would have had two tasks, essentially acting as a combination of Jiminy Cricket and Siri Keeton from Peter Watt's "Blindsight" It's first job would have been to act as a interpreter, capable of translating Transhuman communications in a version that the Seed AI mindstates could (roughly) comprehend and vice-versa. Secondly, and more importantly, it would have acted as an Advisor or Mentor on Ethical and Moral conduct. If a Seed considered or began a course of action which appeared immoral or unethical Skin Horse would discuss it with them and try to explain the problem, after which the Seeds would usually either break off completely, alter their plans to a more acceptable alternative or, and this last one increasingly often as they grew, go ahead anyway because they had already accounted for the problem in a way that wasn't apparent. Getting to the point: Skin Horse's ability to influence Seeds began and ended with discussion, and anything beyond that was absolutely prohibited. On the other hand, the Seeds would listen and were similarly incapable of acting against Skin Horse. How this would then go into your plot depends primarily on whether Skin Horse was infected during the fall or not, and how dark you want to go. If infected, then it's trying to convince the Pandora-Forks to open the Box, otherwise it's trying to convince them to keep it closed. In either case this would present itself through having Skin Horse turn up in your scenarios where a fork is present and doing/saying weird and creepy things as "Seed-Dialogue", or by engineering scenarios as a practical demonstration of it's arguments, which you can make your players a part of. I may have gotten a bit carried away. Hope I haven't gone too far :P

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In the past we've had to compensate for weaknesses, finding quick solutions that only benefit a few. But what if we never need to feel weak or morally conflicted again?