Arenamontanus wrote:

I assume the stack works by having an extensive network of nanofibres throughout the brain, recording activity and inferring the network state from it. This would be a real problem in a growing brain. The amount of synaptic remodelling that occurs in infants is enormous, and as the brain grows the changes in size would make the fibre network lag behind. Maybe one could have a growing fibre system at all times (and not just during initial insertion), but that sounds risky. So my guess is that on neuroscientific grounds before six years of age cortical stacks will not work very well. Even if they are implanted the recording will not be enough to reconstruct an ego. After six years of age the brain is still growing (from 1,180 grams to an adult 1,450 grams around age 25) but at a lower rate. So I would guess this is where stacks would actually be inserted, becoming fully functional a few years later. This of course adds to the psychological trauma of the Fall: it killed practically every child under the age of six. Remember those piles of bones at the Kimanjano beanstalk terminal? A concept for a character background: a person who was killed at around 10 years of age. She had a stack and was resleeved, but the ego copy was rather fuzzy due to the ongoing brain growth. So she became a new person, with some features of the previous child. The parents soon began to notice that she was not "their" child but a kind of ghost of it, with different personality and tastes. This led to plenty of unspoken resentment and emotional conflict, explaining whatever issues the current character has.

Actually, the book states that the cortical stack is actually a semi-nanoware storage system, using a network of nanomachines that go through the vessels of the brain and map out its synapses and processes. In theory, the nanomachines are fully capable of mapping the brain no matter what shape and size it may be in. In fact, a cortical stack is likely more energy efficient in a smaller brain, requiring a lower number of nanomachines to constantly map the brain's interior. To that end, I think that Eclipse Phase assume's a high degree of malleability when it comes to brain mapping and compatible minds. Any ego can be mapped into a neotenic morph, which is for all intents and purposes a fabricated child designed to maintain the high level of brain plasticity that a child's body has. If this is the case, then it should be equally possible to do the reverse and map a child's mind into an adult brain (albeit robbing them of that high-level plasticity, and the mind maturation advantages it grants). Lastly, the Lost were supposedly resleeved into their Futura morphs fairly early in their childhood, with their minds growing at accelerated rate in simulspace to match the accelerated growth of their morphs. If we exclude the contamination of the subjects by the Exsurgent virus, then this project may very well prove that resleeving children, and potentially infants, is completely feasible.

Quincey Forder wrote:

another though occured to me: tribes of children that has gone wild roaming the Earth. They could have been infected by some strain of the EV, and truly have become wild children. That would make for an interesting story with a wick twist of the Peter Pan archetype. the PC are sent to Earth by Firewall to catch a weapon traficant who smuggle TITANs tech and hiding somewhere in the South Hemisphere, on a island. A sequel to Mind The WMD, maybe? they get isolated on another island of the archipel where a tribe of these lost children live. And there you have it, a sick mix of Lost and Peter Pan rolled in one

Actually, this could provide interesting plot points. If you are the sort that doesn't mind a more benign take on the Exsurgent virus (it is designed to accelerate the evolution of the mind, and the malevolence and insanity are merely problems with compatibility), then this could provide a unique story idea. The Exsurgent virus has perfectly melded with the minds of these children, and as a result they did not go insane or become all that evil. Unfortunately, attempting to survive on their own has left them uncivilized and potentially hostile to humans for completely different reasons (they fear us). As a result, they utilize their potent psi abilities to avoid us, while living in bodies that never age and potentially never fully mature due to the regenerative nanoplague running through their bloodstreams. This may also be their variant of the insanity and malevolence that the Exsurgent virus normally causes, effectively leaving them both physically and mentally immature for eternity because it is in this state that the Exsurgent virus is most compatible with human physiology.

Quincey Forder wrote:

so the technology makes it possible for even infant to be backed up and resleeved, but what's the legal stance on it? the Ultimates might have a low minimal age for stack implant before they start their training, alike the agoge in Sparta, back in the days; while the PC might have a legal age that is later in life, like 16, the age of conscent.

For the most part, I think that most of the basic implants are granted at birth (mesh inserts, cortical stack, biomods), so I think it safe to say that other than perhaps bioconservatives, most people expect backup to start immediately. Resleeving might be a more touchy issue... chances are that you have to be an adult to use a facility without parent permission, and most parents only allow their children to resleeve under rare circumstances (family trip requiring an egocasting, body heavily injured due to crime or an accident). Of course, then we get into the touchy subject of how we define adults. Thanks to time acceleration, the cutoff point of what an adult is will be difficult to really call. The Lost are only 10 years old as of the start of the setting, and have been effecitvely adults since they were 3. If I go into VR time acceleration and mature within its confines from birth, I could very well get an amount of life experience equivalent to 20 years of life in only 122 days (at 60x pace)... and I would still be in an infant's body by the time I'm a mental adult. Technology makes the law hard, doesn't it? :D

Quincey Forder wrote:

my stance on the EV is that each stain is dispatch by different factions in the EVI, each with their own agenda (meaning that most of the possibilities evoked in the chapter 12 of the core rule book). Each strain the equivalent of the swarmoid carrying the fork of an ETI.

My theory is similar, in that I believe that the Exsurgent virus is intelligent and free-willed, and each strain works differently because they all have different stances on how to affect their targets. However, I think their agendas are likely the same... they work differently to the same goal, whatever that goal might be. I also agree that the various viral media are effectively morphs. However, one thing I have wondered is if the Exsurgent virus is really an ego to itself. Each of the strains may, rather, be very complex AIs (narrow, not general) that simply showcase how much further along the ETI are at designing such things.