Welcome! These forums will be deactivated by the end of this year. The conversation continues in a new morph over on Discord! Please join us there for a more active conversation and the occasional opportunity to ask developers questions directly! Go to the PS+ Discord Server.

Why was Chicago glassed?

28 posts / 0 new
Last post
Sat, 2015-04-04 21:35
#1
CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture
Why was Chicago glassed?
As a quick aside, I haven't read all of Firewall, so the canon Why might be mentioned in there, but I don't really care about that. Chicago got glassed by one of the 'friendly' ASI, and I intend to run an introduction game around that fact. I have some new players that I want to run Eclipse Phase for. In my own tradition, that means the first adventure will be set pre-Fall, with major events happening around them to give them a taste of just how bad 99% of Humanity kicking the bucket really was. This time around, they are going to be the Jörmungandr team that put the beacon down for an antimatter warhead to home in on, in one of the most populated sprawls in Earth. The book says that that team found something in Chicago. I have a few ideas of my own, but I want to throw it to the forums, and see what you come up with. What is under Chicago that warrants an immediate, absolute move to wipe it off the face of the planet. What was so bad that Chicago needed to be glassed, while the Vietnamese Nanofactories that pumped out warmachines were left standing. My first thought was that Chicago was the birth place of the TITANs, and that they were spinning off seeds of themselves to act as foot soldiers in their war against humanity, at least before they got themselves corrupted by the Bracewell probe. Chicago was once home to the Manhattan Project, and in their attempts to beat out the Chinese in creating a viable defensive ASI, the United States took the abandoned freight tunnels under the city and used them to house a massive server farm from which the TITANs were originally built upon. What ideas do you have for why Chicago was taken apart, bit by bit, atom to atom?
—
-
Top
Sat, 2015-04-04 21:53
ShadowDragon8685 ShadowDragon8685's picture
Something like the Necromorph
Something like the Necromorph outbreak from Dead Space, maybe. A horde of mutated, dead-but-still-kicking transhumans being kept in reserve, waiting for the right moment to unleash. Or perhaps something utterly alien that was being constructed by the most thoroughly corrupted TITAN, something that would have brought down enough doom that letting other extreme threats go unopposed and glassing an entire inhabited city was considered worth it. Maybe the TITAN was building a Pandora Gate, or something worse?
—
Skype and AIM names: Exactly the same as my forum name. [url=http://tinyurl.com/mfcapss]My EP Character Questionnaire[/url] [url=http://tinyurl.com/lbpsb93]Thread for my Questionnaire[/url] [url=http://tinyurl.com/obu5adp]The Five Orange Pips[/url]
Top
Sat, 2015-04-04 23:06
ORCACommander ORCACommander's picture
Up until this point I had
Up until this point I had always assumed it was the US military doing it as a scorched earth action since they could not hold the city from the onslaught. I am still fairly certain the titans did not go to war until they were corrupted by the exsurgant virus. Gota say it annoys me a bit that Firewall makes the ETI and bracewell probe very cannon instead of optional cannon like the corebook does. but enough of that. what eldritch horrors could of been buried deep within chicago? how about the actual bracewell probe. that covers 2 factors: to dangerous to leave intact and proof positive of an ETI out there to panic the already stampeding masses into a greater frenzy. Also think of all that industrial capacity the titans could of subverted. that is the biggest reason why cities are bombed in war. 2nd reason for the nuclear list is government nexi and third is military assets.
Top
Sat, 2015-04-04 23:22
kindalas kindalas's picture
Chicago
I always assumed that the city was targeted because it was the TITAN's home server and it was filled with the Seed AI equivalent of backups and "outdated" hardware. However it could have been a gray goo outbreak. Or it could have been a massive manufacturing mega complex for warmachines that was just about to come online. But it would have to be something that was so large it couldn't just be nuked or massdrivered. It could even be the location of the first Pandora Gate whose destruction made the TITANs flee through the other gates using a digital vector.
—
I am a Moderator of this Forum [color=red]My mod voice is red.[/color] The Eclipse Phase Character sheet is downloadable here: [url=http://sites.google.com/site/eclipsephases/home/cabinet] Get it here![/url]
Top
Sun, 2015-04-05 03:14
Trappedinwikipedia Trappedinwikipedia's picture
According to Cassowary, there
According to Cassowary, there was a TITAN mega-structure being built there, I think a Pandora Gate is pretty likely, but it just as easily could have been a TITAN mainframe who opposed Cassowary's goals, or even a non-TITAN ASI which Cassowary fought with. The need for an antimatter bombing makes me think Pandora Gate or some kind of femtomachine megastructure, assuming Cassowary is being truthful. A femtotech megastructure would probably be one of the most threatening things the TITANS could make IMO, as its basically a wannabe Jupiter Brain, or even something more exotic.
Top
Sun, 2015-04-05 13:12
UnitOmega UnitOmega's picture
Its entirely possible that
Its entirely possible that Cassowary or any other force which gave the mission go ahead did not know what the TITANs were building there. Just that a lot of TITAN resources and exotic infrastructure was pouring in to the mega-city. In the waning hours of the Fall, could the proto-Firewall afford such a thing in a major population center which was at least still partially filled with un-subverted Transhumans? Obviously somebody didn't think so, considering they gave it the full Aliens.
—
H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Top
Sun, 2015-04-05 14:56
thebluespectre thebluespectre's picture
Joke Answer
It was the only way to get rid of Urkel.
—
"Still and transfixed, the el/ ectric sheep are dreaming of your face..." -Talk Shows on Mute
Top
Sun, 2015-04-05 15:48
jackgraham jackgraham's picture
thebluespectre wrote:It was
thebluespectre wrote:
It was the only way to get rid of Urkel.
Damn it. Stop leaking our metaplot.
—
J A C K   G R A H A M :: Hooray for Earth!   http://eclipsephase.com :: twitter @jackgraham @faketsr :: Google+Jack Graham
Top
Sun, 2015-04-05 15:55
Noble Pigeon Noble Pigeon's picture
Transhuman mentioned the
Transhuman mentioned the existence of a single ur-TITAN where all other TITANs came from. All other TITANs were [i]beta[/i] forks of this thing. Maybe this monster was housed somewhere in Chicago's depths?
—
"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.” -Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union address
Top
Mon, 2015-04-06 17:23
rootoftwo rootoftwo's picture
H2O
"We sent a team down on a recon op, only the orders changed to paint a target zone for orbital bombardment on the surface of Lake Michigan." Firewall p.21. "Cassowary’s actions bloodied the TITANs and probably saved countless transhuman lives, but their most well known action (though never traced to them) was the antimatter bombing of the Chicago-Milwaukee metroplex, the largest conurbation in North America at the time. Cassowary took this action to thwart the completion of a TITAN mega-construction project." Firewall p.170. "The Great Lakes ... form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes The target was the surface of Lake Michigan. The Chicago-Milwaukee metroplex was collateral damage. The real question is what were the TITANs doing with/to the water?
Top
Mon, 2015-04-06 17:58
ShadowDragon8685 ShadowDragon8685's picture
Maybe the water was just a
Maybe the water was just a smoke-screen, and the real question was what they were doing [b]under[/b] the water. That would justify the antimatter. Even regular nukes wouldn't get through Lake Michigan, torpedoes/subs/frogmen/bots would just be destroyed or suborned by a dug-in enemy. Have to use Antimatter.
—
Skype and AIM names: Exactly the same as my forum name. [url=http://tinyurl.com/mfcapss]My EP Character Questionnaire[/url] [url=http://tinyurl.com/lbpsb93]Thread for my Questionnaire[/url] [url=http://tinyurl.com/obu5adp]The Five Orange Pips[/url]
Top
Tue, 2015-04-07 02:14
jKaiser jKaiser's picture
thebluespectre wrote:It was
thebluespectre wrote:
It was the only way to get rid of Urkel.
That, and jealousy that we have the best pizza on Earth.
Top
Wed, 2015-04-08 02:15
SquireNed SquireNed's picture
The Earth Gate.
The Earth Gate. That is my personal opinion, and I'm sticking to it.
Top
Wed, 2015-04-08 21:03
JBRocky JBRocky's picture
thebluespectre wrote:It was
thebluespectre wrote:
It was the only way to get rid of Urkel.
I though it was the emergency upload protocol so they can inhabit their nice new Transhuman Bodies. After all they are from Chicago and did work on SR where FASA nuked their own office.
Top
Thu, 2015-04-09 03:35
thebluespectre thebluespectre's picture
Oops
I seem to have derailed the topic. … ..Did I do that?
—
"Still and transfixed, the el/ ectric sheep are dreaming of your face..." -Talk Shows on Mute
Top
Thu, 2015-04-09 16:17
lets adapt lets adapt's picture
ShadowDragon8685 wrote:Maybe
ShadowDragon8685 wrote:
Maybe the water was just a smoke-screen, and the real question was what they were doing [b]under[/b] the water.
Water-cooling, perhaps.
Top
Fri, 2015-04-10 05:11
Darkening Kaos Darkening Kaos's picture
Why was Chicago Glassed?
Someone summoned a toxic insect spirit and it found it's way into the sewers.
—
Your definition of horror is meaningless to me....... I. Am. A Bay12'er.
Top
Fri, 2015-04-10 05:20
ShadowDragon8685 ShadowDragon8685's picture
Darkening Kaos wrote:Someone
Darkening Kaos wrote:
Someone summoned a toxic insect spirit and it found it's way into the sewers.
I think you're a little lost, chummer. I think you want [url=http://forums.dumpshock.com/]that[/url] egocaster. Good luck in your travels and remember to never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.
—
Skype and AIM names: Exactly the same as my forum name. [url=http://tinyurl.com/mfcapss]My EP Character Questionnaire[/url] [url=http://tinyurl.com/lbpsb93]Thread for my Questionnaire[/url] [url=http://tinyurl.com/obu5adp]The Five Orange Pips[/url]
Top
Fri, 2015-04-10 06:08
Darkening Kaos Darkening Kaos's picture
Why was Chicago glassed? And other irrelevant stuff.....
ShadowDragon8685 wrote:
Good luck in your travels and remember to never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.
I prefer to always be inconspicuous, they might be reloading....
—
Your definition of horror is meaningless to me....... I. Am. A Bay12'er.
Top
Mon, 2015-04-13 10:21
ThatWhichNeverWas ThatWhichNeverWas's picture
Such... Value...
Promethian monitors made an alarming discovery in the Metroplex - local businesses were reducing their prices drastically, enticing others to come with once-of-a-lifetime deals. Realizing that bargains of that magnitude could only come from the Mad or Exsurgently Infected, and knowing that Transhumans could not resist the siren song of quality goods at low low prices, they reacted the only way they could. They went on down, with nuclear fire.
rootoftwo wrote:
Cassowary took this action to thwart the completion of a TITAN mega-construction project." ... The real question is what were the TITANs doing with/to the water?
A TITAN megastructure... or an exsurgent one? The "structure" was drinking.
—
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?
Top
Fri, 2015-04-17 11:57
FrivolousVector FrivolousVector's picture
I would say a Pandora gate
I would say a Pandora gate would be your best option, followed by the Femtotech grey goo scenario. It's fair to posit that each iteration of the Fall for other species may have incorporated one or more of these constructs. So if there's any single thing that killed the entirety of the Iktomi, maybe that was it. The real question is - with the war going so well, why didn't they try to build *another* one.
—
Sudo drop your weapon.
Top
Fri, 2015-04-17 14:29
macd21 macd21's picture
thebluespectre wrote:It was
thebluespectre wrote:
It was the only way to get rid of Urkel.
U.R.K.E.L. Unstoppable Robot-Killing Energy Launcher, a weapon created by the US military to destroy all AI in the solar system. Couldn't have that now, could we?
Top
Fri, 2015-04-17 18:06
ORCACommander ORCACommander's picture
FrivolousVector wrote:I would
FrivolousVector wrote:
I would say a Pandora gate would be your best option, followed by the Femtotech grey goo scenario. It's fair to posit that each iteration of the Fall for other species may have incorporated one or more of these constructs. So if there's any single thing that killed the entirety of the Iktomi, maybe that was it. The real question is - with the war going so well, why didn't they try to build *another* one.
Who says we have found it yet...
Top
Fri, 2015-04-17 18:15
uwtartarus uwtartarus's picture
macd21 wrote:thebluespectre
macd21 wrote:
thebluespectre wrote:
It was the only way to get rid of Urkel.
U.R.K.E.L. Unstoppable Robot-Killing Energy Launcher, a weapon created by the US military to destroy all AI in the solar system. Couldn't have that now, could we?
New Headcanon.
—
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
Top
Fri, 2015-04-17 19:29
UnitOmega UnitOmega's picture
Actually, material in Sunward
Actually, material in Sunward points to there being a Pandora Gate (or other similar exotic high energy reaction) buried under a few km of ice in the Antarctic.
—
H-Rep: An EP Homebrew Blog http://ephrep.blogspot.com/
Top
Sun, 2015-04-19 01:36
The Doctor The Doctor's picture
rootoftwo wrote:The real
rootoftwo wrote:
The real question is what were the TITANs doing with/to the water?
Active cooling for something with truly scary power requirements?
—
[img]http://drwho.virtadpt.net/graphics/info_userbar.jpg[/img] [img]http://drwho.virtadpt.net/graphics/argo_userbar.jpg[/img] [url=https://drwho.virtadpt.net/graphics/blankbadge.png][img]http://drwho.vir...
Top
Sun, 2015-04-19 01:47
The Doctor The Doctor's picture
Darkening Kaos wrote:Someone
Darkening Kaos wrote:
Someone summoned a toxic insect spirit and it found it's way into the sewers.
Maybe they found out who Saeletra really was.
—
[img]http://drwho.virtadpt.net/graphics/info_userbar.jpg[/img] [img]http://drwho.virtadpt.net/graphics/argo_userbar.jpg[/img] [url=https://drwho.virtadpt.net/graphics/blankbadge.png][img]http://drwho.vir...
Top
Sun, 2015-04-19 16:02
consumerdestroyer consumerdestroyer's picture
ETI Phone Home
I don't know if I'm gonna make this canon in my own game, but just from reading bits about it happening in core and Rimward, I sort of half-decided to myself as GM that the Prometheans were trying to stop the construction of some kind of direct conduit to the ETI under the not-yet-glassed Lakes (even just a direct line of communication could have brought untold devastation instantaneously from elsewhere in the galaxy, potentially), so I might make the megastructure some kind of super-secure housing for an egocast of a fork of the ETI that Cassowary only understood as alien hardware meant to house alien software...and that's enough, given the scale of the hardware, to justify atom by atom demolition of the area.
Top