The Roleplaying Game of Transhuman Conspiracy and Horror Your mind is software. Program it. Your body is a shell. Change it. Death is a disease. Cure it. PROGRAM. Extinction is approaching. Fight it. CHANGE. CURE. Origins Award: Best Roleplaying Game • ENnie Award: Best Writing (Gold), Best Cover, Best Product (Silver) FIGHT. Eclipse Phase created by Posthuman Studios Eclipse Phase is a trademark of Posthuman Studios LLC. Some content licensed under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-SA); Some Rights Reserved. © 2009–2014 PROGRAM. CHANGE. CURE. FIGHT. LACK6 FACTIONS70 THINGS CHARACTERS USE 124 The Hypercorps 70 Identity124 ENTER Psiclone70 Social Networks 124 THE SINGULARITY … 16 War Crimes 71 Cred125 STARTING OUT 18 Union Busting 72 Rep125 What Is A Roleplaying Game? 18 Political Blocs 74 Gear125 What is Transhumanism? 18 Inner System Politics 75 Implants126 Post-apocalyptic, Conspiracy, and Autonomist Alliance 76 Psi126 Horror Themes 19 Call for Solidarity 77 Game Rules Summary 127 But How Do You Actually Play? 20 Socio-Political Movements 79 What Do Players Do? 22 Neo-Primitivists80 CHARACTER CREATION AND Where Does It Take Place? 24 Out’sters80 ADVANCEMENT128 Ego vs. Morph 24 Sybils81 CHARACTER GENERATION 130 Where To Go From Here? 24 Religious Groups 82 Character Concept 130 TERMINOLOGY25 Criminal Factions 83 Choose Background 131 Welcome to Firewall 28 Firewall84 Choose Faction 132 What You Really Need to Know 29 Project Ozma 85 Spend Free Points 134 SYSTEM GAZETEER 86 Spend Customization Points 135 A TIME OF ECLIPSE 30 Sol (The Sun) 86 Purchase Gear 137 A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF AN A Quick Primer On Choose Motivations 138 UNFORTUNATE UNIVERSE 32 Transhuman Habitats 86 Final Touches 138 Eclipse Phase Timeline 37 Solar System Map 87 Example Motivations 138 THE SOLAR SYSTEM Vulcanoids88 STARTING MORPHS 139 AFTER THE FALL 38 Mercury88 Biomorphs139 Venus89 Pods142 TRANSHUMANITY38 Earth90 Synthetic Morphs 143 Inequality38 Venusian Rumors 90 Infomorphs145 Clades and Separation 39 First Contact: The Factors 40 Luna91 TRAITS145 TILION’s Jupiter Brain 92 Positive Traits 145 CULTURE AND SOCIETY 41 Mars93 Negative Traits 148 The Longing For Earth 41 Martian Manhunt 95 Nostalgia Jewelry 41 CHARACTER ADVANCEMENT 152 Martian Trojans 96 Changing Motivation 152 Fear and Paranoia 42 Asteroid Belt 96 An Exsurgent Threat? 42 Switching Morphs 152 Jupiter97 Improving Aptitudes 152 Real and Social Distance 43 Europa99 The Rise of Cultural Regions 44 Improving Skills 152 Ganymede and Callisto 99 Specializations153 Cultural Experimentation 44 The Trojans (Jovian Trojan Gender, Sexuality, and Relationships 45 Improving Moxie 153 and Greek Asteroids) 100 Gaining/Losing Traits 153 The Diversity of Habitats 45 Saturn102 SYNOPSIS Improving Rep 153 TECHNOLOGY46 Gate Expedition Report 901127 102 Making Credit 153 Living With Infotech 46 Titan106 Improving Psi 153 WELCOME TO FIREWALL Opening Pandora’s Gate 46 Uranus107 Going Beyond the Known 47 Neptune108 SAMPLE CHARACTERS 154 Muses47 The Edge of the System 109 A TIME OF ECLIPSE Attitudes Toward AGIs48 Extrasolar Systems 109 SKILLS170 Attitudes Towards Mental Alterations 48 Analysis: Myst Trees 111 SKILLS OVERVIEW 172 GAME MECHANICS Travel48 Core Skills: Aptitudes 172 Privacy49 GAME MECHANICS 112 Learned Skills 172 CHARACTER CREATION Low-Tech Existence 50 The Ultimate Rule 114 Specializations173 Life, Death, and Morphs 50 Dice114 USING SKILLS 173 Entertainment and Media 51 A Note on Terminology and Gender 114 Defaulting173 SAMPLE CHARACTERS Lost Lore 51 Making Tests 115 Complementary Skills 173 Metacelebrities52 Target Numbers 115 Skill Ranges 174 SKILLS When to Make Tests 115 Popular Types of Entertainment 52 APTITUDES174 Difficulty and Modifiers 115 POLITICS AND POWER 55 Aptitude-Only Tests 174 ACTIONS AND COMBAT Criticals: Rolling Doubles 116 The Inner System 55 Aptitude Comparison: Defaulting: Untrained Skill Use 116 The Outer System 57 Flats vs. Splicers and Exalts 174 MIND HACKS Simplifying Modifiers 116 KEEPING THE PEACE 58 Narrative Modifiers 116 COMPLETE SKILL LIST 176 Law Enforcement 59 Teamwork117 Academics: [Field] 176 THE MESH Punishment60 Animal Handling 177 TYPES OF TESTS 117 THE ECONOMY 61 Success Tests 117 Art: [Field] 177 ACCELERATED FUTURE The Old Economy 61 Beam Weapons 177 Opposed Tests 119 The Transitional Economy 62 Blades177 The New Economy 62 TIME AND ACTIONS 119 Climbing177 GEAR Action Turns 119 Restricting Dangerous Technologies 63 Clubs178 Types of Actions 119 Control178 Irreproducible Goods 64 RUNNING THE GAME DEFINING YOUR CHARACTER 120 HABITATS66 Deception178 Concept120 Demolitions178 Planetary Settlements 66 REFERENCE Motivations120 Disguise178 Space Habitats 67 Ego vs. Morph 121 Exotic Melee Weapon: [Field] 178 A Diversity of Floating Worlds 68 Character Stats 121 Exotic Ranged Weapon: [Field] 178 The Largest Habitats 68 Character Skills 122 Flight178 Microgravity Habitats 68 Character Traits 123 Fray178 Private Habitats 69 Character Morph 123 Free Fall 179 2 Freerunning179 Gravity198 ISLANDS IN THE NET 242 Gunnery179 Grenades and Seekers 199 Darkcasts243 Hardware: [Field] 179 Hostile Environments 200 Impersonation180 Improvised Weapons 202 MESH ABUSES 243 Infiltration180 Knockdown/Knockback202 Hackers243 Infosec180 Melee and Thrown Damage Bonus 202 Malware244 Interest: [Field] 180 Multiple Targets 202 AIs AND INFOLIFE 244 Interfacing180 Objects and Structures 202 AIs244 Intimidation180 Range203 Muses244 Investigation180 Reach204 AGIs244 Kinesics181 Scatter204 What Your Muse Can Do For You 244 Kinetic Weapons 181 Shock Attacks 204 Seed AI 245 Language: [Field] 181 Subdual204 Transhuman Infomorphs 245 Languages In Eclipse Phase 181 Suppressive Fire 204 Mesh Interface 245 Medicine: [Field] 182 Surprise204 Non-standard AIs and AGIs245 Navigation182 Tactical Networks 205 Mesh ID 246 Networking: [Field] 182 Touch-only Attack 206 Accounts and Access Privileges 246 Palming182 Two-Handed Weapons 206 Mesh Gear Quality 247 Perception182 Wielding Two or More Weapons 206 Computer Capabilities 247 Persuasion183 PHYSICAL HEALTH 206 Software247 Pilot: [Field] 183 Damage Points 206 Elite Exploits 247 Profession: [Field] 183 Damage Types 206 Traffic Filters and Mist 248 Programming183 Durability and Health 207 Slaving Devices 248 Protocol183 Damage Value 207 Issuing Commands 248 Psi Assault 184 Wounds207 Distance Lag 248 Psychosurgery184 Death207 Accessing Multiple Devices 249 Research184 HEALING AND REPAIR 208 ONLINE RESEARCH 249 Scrounging184 Search Challenges 249 Biomorph Healing 208 Seeker Weapons 184 Search Capabilities 249 Synthmorph and Object Repair 208 Sense184 Handling Searches 250 Spray Weapons 184 MENTAL HEALTH 209 Real-Time Searches 251 Swimming184 Stress Points 209 Hidden Data 251 Throwing Weapons 184 Lucidity and Stress 209 Stress Value 209 SCANNING, TRACKING, Unarmed Combat 185 AND MONITORING 251 Trauma209 SPECIAL SKILLS 185 Derangements210 Wireless Scanning 251 Physical Tracking 251 ACTION AND COMBAT 187 Disorders211 Digital Activity Tracking 252 ACTION TURNS 188 Stressful Situations 214 Willpower Stress Tests 214 Sniffing252 Step 1: Roll Initiative 188 Hardening214 PRIVACY AND ANONYMIZATION 252 Step 2: Begin First Action Phase 188 Mental Healing and Psychotherapy 215 Privacy Mode 252 Step 3: Declare and Resolve Actions 188 Anonymization252 Step 4: Rotate and Repeat 188 MIND HACKS 216 MESH SECURITY 253 INITIATIVE188 PSI218 Authentication253 Initiative Order 189 The Nature of Psi 218 Firewalls253 Speed189 Æther Jabber: Asyncs 219 Active Monitoring 253 Delayed Actions 189 PSI220 Encryption253 ACTIONS189 Using Psi 221 INTRUSION254 Automatic Actions 190 Psi-Chi Sleights 223 Preconditions254 Quick Actions 190 Psi-Gamma Sleights 226 Circumventing Authentication 255 Complex Actions 190 PSYCHOSURGERY229 Intrusion Tests 255 Task Actions 190 The Process of Psychosurgery 229 Intruder Status 256 MOVEMENT190 The Human Cognome Project 229 Changing Status 257 Movement Rates 191 Psychosurgery Mechanics 230 Brute-Force Hacking 257 COMBAT191 Roleplaying Mind Edits 231 INTRUSION Resolving Combat 191 Psychosurgery Procedures 231 COUNTERMEASURES257 Combat Summary 193 The Lost 233 Security Alerts 257 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACTION AND COMBAT THE MESH 234 Passive Countermeasures 257 COMPLICATIONS193 MESH CAPABILITIES 236 Active Countermeasures 258 Aimed Shots 193 Meshing Technologies 237 Joint Hacking/Securing 258 Ammunition and Reloading 193 Solarchive Search: Ecto(-Link) 237 SUBVERSION259 Area Effect Weapons 193 Legacy of the TITANs237 Augmented Reality Illusions 259 Armor194 Information Overload 238 Backdoors260 Asphyxiation194 Crashing Software 260 Beam Weapons 194 INTERFACING: AR, VR, AND XP 239 Augmented Reality 239 Eliminating Intrusion Traces 260 Blind Attacks 195 Hacking VPNs260 Information at your Fingertips 239 Bots, Synthmorphs, and Vehicles 195 Scripting260 Æther Jabber 240 Called Shots 197 Virtual Reality 240 CYBERBRAIN HACKING 261 Charging197 Experience Playback 241 Entrapment261 Demolitions197 MESH USES 241 Memory Hacking 261 Falling197 Personal Area Networks 241 Puppeteering261 Fire198 Virtual Private Networks 241 Scorching261 Firing Modes and Rate of Fire 198 Social Networks 242 Shutdown262 Full Defense 198 Mobile Offices 242 Terminate Cortical Stack Feed 262 3 RADIO JAMMING 262 GEAR294 GAME INFORMATION 350 Jamming Radar 262 EQUIPMENT RULES 296 SECRETS THAT MATTER 352 SIMULSPACES262 Acquiring Gear 296 Extraterrestrial Intelligences 352 Simulmorphs262 Gear Modifiers 296 Spoiler Alert 352 Immersion262 Design and Fashion 297 The First Seed AIs353 External Mesh Interaction 263 MESHED GEAR 299 The ETI Agenda 353 Simulspace Rules 263 Radio and Sensor Ranges 299 The True History of the TITANs354 Domain Rules 263 Power299 Infection354 Cheating263 The Fall 354 PERSONAL AUGMENTATION 300 Hacking Simulspaces 263 After The Fall 355 Standard Augmentations 300 AIs AND MUSES 264 Bioware301 FIREWALL356 AI Limitations 264 Using Enhanced Senses 302 History356 Roleplaying Muses 264 Cyberware306 Organization 356 Commanding AIs265 Synthmorphs and Bioware 306 Optional Rule: i-REP 357 AGIs AND INFOMORPHS 265 Nanoware308 Cliques359 Software Minds 265 Cosmetic Mods 309 Methods 360 AGI Characters 265 Robotic Enhancements 310 What Help Can a Sentinel Expect? 360 Infomorphs As Muses 265 Long-term Strategies and Goals 361 ARMOR312 Firewall and Other Organizations 361 ACCELERATED FUTURE 266 Armor Mods 313 THE ETI 361 BACKUPS AND UPLOADING 268 COMMUNICATIONS313 Handling Aliens 361 Cortical Stack Backups 268 Neutrino Communicators 314 Quantum Farcasters 314 EXHUMANS 362 Uploading268 Neurodes362 Backup Insurance 269 Quantum Entangled Communication315 Predators362 Backup Complications 270 COVERT AND ESPIONAGE TECH 315 THE EXSURGENT VIRUS 362 RESLEEVING270 Bugs and Surveillance 315 Biological Nanovirus 363 Resleeving Biomorphs and Pods 271 DRUGS, CHEMICALS, Digital Virus 364 Resleeving Synthmorphs 271 AND TOXINS 317 Nanoplague364 Resleeving Costs 271 Substance Rules 317 Basilisk Hacks 365 Integration271 Drugs318 Exsurgent Strains 366 Alienation272 Nanodrugs321 Using the Exsurgent Virus 368 Continuity Test 272 Other Nanodrugs 321 Roleplaying Exsurgents 369 Infomorph Resleeving 272 Sample Petals 322 Exsurgents 369 FORKING AND MERGING 273 Narcoalgorithms323 Exsurgent Psi 371 Alpha Forks 273 Chemicals323 Exsurgent Psi-Gamma Sleights 371 Beta Forks 273 Toxins323 Exsurgent Psi-Epsilon Sleights 371 Delta Forks 273 Nanotoxins324 Pathogens324 THE FACTORS 372 Gamma Forks 274 Origin and Evolution 372 SYNOPSIS Neural Pruning 274 Psi Drugs 325 Xenobiology 373 Handling Forks 274 EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY 325 Exosociology374 WELCOME TO FIREWALL Merging275 NANOTECHNOLOGY326 Factor Motivations 375 EGOCASTING275 Basic Nanotechnology 326 The Factors in Game 375 A TIME OF ECLIPSE Egocaster Security 276 Advanced Nanotechnology 328 Factor Phenotypes 376 Darkcasting276 PETS330 Roleplaying Factors 376 GAME MECHANICS MORPH BROKERAGE 276 SCAVENGER TECH 330 THE IKTOMI 377 Morph Availability 276 SERVICES330 THE PANDORA GATES 377 Morph Acquisition 277 CHARACTER CREATION SOFTWARE331 The Wormhole 378 Renting Morphs 278 Programs331 Operations378 Custom-Grown or -Designed Morphs 278 AIs and Muses 331 Gatecrashing378 SAMPLE CHARACTERS IDENTITY279 Scorchers332 Anomalies379 Ego ID 279 Skillsofts332 PROJECT OZMA 379 SKILLS Identity Verification 279 SURVIVAL GEAR 332 Methods 380 Circumventing ID Checks 280 Vacuum Suits 333 Project Ozma and Firewall 380 ACTIONS AND COMBAT LIFE IN SPACE 280 Project Ozma Rumors 380 Space Habitats 280 WEAPONS334 Melee Weapons 334 PROMETHEANS 381 MIND HACKS Immigration and Customs 282 Space Travel 283 Kinetic Weapons 335 THE TITANS AND THEIR LEGACY 381 Brand Name Weapons and Combined Deadly Machines 382 THE MESH NANOFABRICATION284 Self-replicating Nanoswarms 383 Arms336 Raw Materials 284 Beam Weapons 338 Nanoviruses384 Blueprints284 ACCELERATED FUTURE Time285 Seekers339 GAMEMASTERING The Programming Test 285 Grenades and Seekers 340 AND ADMINISTRATION 384 Spray Weapons 341 Awarding Rez Points 384 GEAR REPUTATION AND SOCIAL Exotic Ranged Weapons 342 Reputation Gain and Loss 384 NETWORKS285 Weapon Accessories 342 Backups, Record-Keeping, RUNNING THE GAME Social Networks 286 Reputation287 ROBOTS AND VEHICLES 343 and Save Points 385 Aircraft343 Gamemastering Practicalities 386 REFERENCE Using Networks and Rep 287 Exoskeletons343 NPCs and Moxie 386 Favors289 Groundcraft344 Reputation and Identity 289 Personal Vehicles 345 TABLES390 SECURITY291 Robots345 REFERENCES 394 Access Control 291 Spacecraft346 Detection and Surveillance 292 INDEX395 Active Countermeasures 293 CHARACTER SHEET 399 4 CREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCREDITSnCRED CREDITS Original Concept and Design: Rob Boyle, Brian Cross Dedication: This book is dedicated first and foremost to Writing and Design: Lars Blumenstein, Rob Boyle, Brian the people who made Eclipse Phase happen, from ev- Cross, Jack Graham, John Snead eryone who contributed time, sweat, ideas, and money Additional Writing: Bruce Baugh, Randall N. Bills, into it to everyone who picks it up, reads it, and plays Davidson Cole, Tobias Wolter it. This game is by you and for you. Secondly it’s dedi- Editing: Rob Boyle, Jason Hardy, Michelle Lyons cated to my grandmother and to Andrea, both impor- Development: Rob Boyle tant people in my life who died while I was working on Line Developer: Rob Boyle this book and its themes of defeating death. I sincerely Art Direction: Randall N. Bills, Rob Boyle, hope that one day such tragic losses are avoided. Third, Brent Evans, Mike Vaillancourt this book is dedicated to my son Echo, my entertaining Cover Art: Stephan Martiniere working companion on this project. Finally this book Interior Art: Justin Albers, Rich Anderson, Adam Bain, is dedicated to those visionaries, especially the anar- Davi Blight, Leanne Buckley, Robin Chyo, Daniel chists and transhumanists, who are working to bring Clarke, Paul Davies, Julie Dillon, Nathan Geppert, about a fantastic future, starting now. —Rob Boyle Zachary Graves, Tariq Hassan, Thomas Jung, Sergey Kondratovich, Mark Molnar, Ben Newman, OUR RESOURCES Justin Oaksford, Efrem Palacios, Sacha-Mikhail http://eclipsephase.com Roberts, Silver Saaramael, James Wolf Strehle, Daniel —Eclipse Phase website, blog, and forum Stultz, Viktor Titov, Alexandre Tuis, Stan VonMedvey, http://del.icio.us/infomorph Bruno Werneck, and Dr. CM Wong (Opus Artz Studio) —Eclipse Phase-related news and links Graphic Design and Layout: Adam Jury, Mike Vaillancourt http://posthumanstudios.com Faction Logos: Michaela Eaves, Jack Graham, —Posthuman Studios website Hal Mangold, Adam Jury Indexing: Rita Tatum Fourth Printing (second corrected printing), Additional Advice and Input: Robert Derie, Adam Jury, by Posthuman Studios Sally Kats, Christian Lonsing, Aaron Pavao, contact us at [email protected] Andrew Peregrine, Kelly Ramsey, Malcolm Shepard, or via http://eclipsephase.com Marc Szodruch or search your favorite social network for: Science Advice: Brian Graham, Matthew Hare, “Eclipse Phase” or “Posthuman Studios” Ben Hyink, Mike Miller Playtesting and Proofreading: Posthuman Studios is: Chris Adkins, Joe Altepeter, Sean Beeb, Laura Bienz, Rob Boyle, Brian Cross, Jack Graham, and Adam Jury Jérémie Bouillon, Echo Boyle, Berianne Bramman, Chuck Burhanna, C. Byrne, Lars Næsbye Christensen, Creative Commons License; Some Rights Reserved. Nathaniel Dean, Didier Escodemaison, Joe Firrantello, Nik Gianozakos, Gabriel Glachant, Sven Gorny, Björn Gramatke, Aaron Grossman, Neil Hamre, Eirik Bull-Hansen, Matthew Hare, Kristen Hartmann, Karl Hauber, Ken Horner, Dominique Immora, This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Ishindri, Stephen Jarjoura, Lorien Jasny, Evan Jeffrey, Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. Ryan Jeffrey, Jan-Hendrik Kalusche, Austin Karpola, To view a copy of this license, visit: Robert Kyle, Christopher Lavery, Tony Lee, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ CREDITS Heather Lozier, Gianmarco Maggio, Jason Martin, or send a letter to: Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Jürgen Mayer, Robert McCuaig, Darlene Morgan, Trey Palmer, Matt Phillips, Aaron Pollyea, What this means is that you are free to copy, share, and Melissa Rapp, Jan Rüther, Björn Schmidt, remix the text and artwork within this book under the fol- Michael Schulz, Martin Swan, Brandie Tarvin, lowing conditions: Seb Tivig, Kevin Tyska, Liam Ward, Charles Wilson, 1) you do so only for noncommercial purposes; William Wilson, Kevin Wortman, plus everyone who 2) you attribute Posthuman Studios; 3) you license any derivatives under the same license. participated in a game at Gen Con 2008 or For specific details, appropriate credits, and updates/changes contributed errata to our online forums. to this license, please see: http://eclipsephase.com/cclicense Musical Inspiration: Geomatic (Blue Beam), Memmaker (How to Enlist in a Robot Uprising), Printed in the USA Monstrum Sepsis (Movement) 5 “What’s the number?” LACK The words dig their claws into my new vocal cords and yank themselves up and out of my parched throat. My diction is predictably poor, as it always is during the first few minutes following a resleeve. The pitch of the voice is apparent despite the mumbled, sandpaper slur of the words. Definitely a biomorph and my latest sex is female. This much I know in the first few seconds. The model eludes me right now, but I’ll know for certain soon enough, once motion is mine again. Another fury morph is my first guess. The slab is hard. Nothing more than frigid metal with crisp white synth-slick wrapped around it. Typical accommodations for a corp dollhouse. The chill seeps through my skin and wraps around my bones. A cortical cruncher looms over me, waving his welcome-back beam side to side, occasionally catching my pupils. His smug, bored face speaks: “Consciousness confirmed.” The beam clicks off. My question should have made it obvious that I am back, but the guy is a slave to procedure. They all are. Corporate body banks like their employees paralyzed by obedience, unable to think for themselves. I mumble the question again. “What’s the number?” “March 11.” “How many after the Fall?” “Are you for real?” I am paranoid. Yes. I need to know the year every time I return upon a body bank slab. Paranoia is just one of the plagues transhumanity faces these days. I try to snag the data from my new sleeve’s mesh inserts before opening my mouth again. No luck. Asking a sleeve tech for the year is always humiliating. Makes me feel like an amateur, but the circumstances are definitely extenuating, so I press him. Hard. “Answer the fucking question.” The corp sloth gives me the lunatic eye before he answers. “Uh … 10 AF. You haven’t been gone that long. Your last backup … “ He scans his entoptics for the info. “ … 14 days, 7 hours ago.” It takes a second to sink in, but when it does, it stings. It never ceases to shock when time slips away from me. Two weeks. Gone. Completely wiped from my existence. Two weeks ago, there was another me, sleeved in another morph. There was a mission and it led to my death. That is all I know. Either Firewall failed to retrieve the cortical stack off the corpse so I could retain those two weeks, or the fuckers deliberately chose to swipe that time from me. Honestly, though, both possibilities are preferable to having another self bouncing around out there, doing who knows what-the-fuck. Some t-humies get off on having multiple selves traipsing all over, but my ego is in check. One Sava is enough misery to unleash on the ‘verse. Shit. My brain is wandering off into morose territory; always does during the first moments following a resleeve. I need a physical context. Something tangible to focus my attention on. I bring my hands in front of my eyes, arms feeling like two-ton sacks of rocks. The fingers are thin and long; the knuckles callused, scarred and misshapen. Obviously the work of many thrown punches, fists connecting with jaws, metal, flesh. Yep. A well-worn fury morph. You get what you pay for, I suppose; or what Firewall is willing to pay for. Why do I do it? As far as the org is concerned, I’m nothing more than a cheap precision instrument, tossed into the recycling bin when I snap in half. There will always be more of me, until the horrors prove too intense, until the files get too corrupt, until I know too much and Firewall decides to wipe me, then some other sap will step in to preserve transhumanity. Preserve transhumanity. Fantastic. Now I’m babbling like a Firewall propaganda tweet! My arms weaken and flop back to my sides. The strength just isn’t there yet. A few more minutes with nothing but my thoughts. On his way out of the recovery bay, the cort cruncher laughs at my feeble attempt at motion. “What’s your hurry?” he says. “Just relax, willya? You collapse onto the floor, you’re gonna stay there until you get yourself up. They don’t pay me enough to babysit newbies.” His flippancy doesn’t help my mood and the melancholy returns. What experiences are no longer a part of my consciousness? Perhaps the thrill of a lifetime. Did I discover true beauty? Fall in love? Have an epiphany? Save a life? I’ll never know. Those memories, that life, that version of me, is gone. The new me, lying on this slab, was never shaped by those experiences. My chest hollows out from the weight of the loss. 6 I gotta shift the thought process. [You’re welcome, Sava. Before you ask, it’s been two weeks. Fuck it. Maybe there was no joy, no revelations. It I don’t have any information on what happened following our was a shit two weeks. I’m certain of it. I was bored last resleeve. Currently, we are in lunar orbit aboard Selardi IV. out of my mind. Better yet, broken and suffering We are outfitted in a CoreCorp-brand fury morph with minor from an epic heartache. My demise was meaningless. enhancements. They will be online shortly. I am pleased to I OD’d on kick, flopping on the floor in a pathetic report the Titanians were victorious and won the Cup.] speed-addled frenzy till my heart exploded. I was Damnit. Would have made a killing on that one. gutted by some low-life scumborn in a back station What did the odds go off at? But before Careza can corridor over some lo-rez black market XP. I’m glad dig up the info, I shut down the operation. Wait. No. the time was wiped. Ecstatic, in fact. Fuck it. Fuck I don’t want to know. It’ll only irritate me more. A them. I don’t need those two weeks. nervous energy starts to itch my entire system and a But these thoughts are lies. I need those two weeks. thick familiar taste begins to coat my tongue. I need I don’t feel whole without them. Hell, I feel incom- a cigarette. plete if even an hour is sacrificed. I have to know. [Yes. I know. The previous occupant of this morph was a Someone knows what occurred. No doubt. heavy smoker. The habit might be difficult to shake this time.] Probably a Firewall proxy, Jesper most likely. He was This resleeve just keeps getting better by the minute. my connect this go round. I remember that much. I hate smoking. Booze, fine. I can handle my alcohol, The wipe would have been his call. And proxies but smoking always makes me feel like shit. Every have a quick trigger finger when it comes to wiping time I get sleeved in a morph with the addiction, I us sentinels. Even a hard-earned rep score can’t save struggle to kick it. Careza continues with her report my memories when Firewall deems the results of a as I try to retain my sanity in the face of an intense mission too sensitive for an outer circle thug like nicotine craving. myself to possess. As long as the fucking job gets done. [@-rep remains intact.] As long as transhumanity perseveres. Finally some good news. At least I didn’t piss off What a shit deal. any allies in the past 2 weeks. How did my life, my lives, come to this? Always in [Indeed. Are you in the right frame of mind for an update the hands of another. on Rati?] Again, the dread, the paranoia. I gotta shake this Rati is my passion. The lover I hold above all others. off. I have to give the org the benefit of the doubt. I’ve She disappeared on me two years ago. No explana- been a sentinel for decades. I like to think I’ve saved tion. The sting still lingers. millions of lives, but I’m just not sure. Let’s skip the update for now, Careza. Do I trust the org? No. But there is an understand- [Understood.] ing, a degree of respect. Though as the years continue Run a newsfeed scan. Check for any major inci- to race by, and the gaps grow longer and more fre- dents in the past 2 weeks. Maybe there’s a clue as to quent, I’m beginning to doubt Firewall’s commitment what we may have been up to. to my preservation. As Careza runs the scan and continues her stan- Suddenly, my muse stirs, breaking my dark reverie. dard sitrep, I shift my attention to the new sleeve. The Several entoptic displays appear in my field of vision, strength to stand is finally there. I push the morph cycling through diagnostic routines as my mesh up and swing the feet onto the floor. Spasms shoot inserts finally come online. Careza’s familiar feminine through every muscle. New morphs always take a bit voice enters my mind. of time in which to acclimate. Luckily, I’m familiar [Welcome back, Sava.] with the CoreCorp fury, sleeved it a few times in the The sound is soothing; like being cradled by past. This one feels like an old pair of shoes, bit worn my mother, or embraced by a lover. The har- and abused, but able to pound the pavement if need monic upgrade was a worthwhile investment. be. The left ankle is a bit tender. I hold it up a bit Careza has learned to use it well. I rarely think to get a look. Bit swollen. Definitely not new sleeve CAREZA ■ SAVA’S MUSE of my muse as an AI. It is my only true friend dysmorphia. Probably a nagging injury. Again, a pain these days. I wonder if it shares the sentiment. in the ass, but you get what you pay for, I suppose. I’ve never shot the thought its way. I keep it to The nanotat encircling the right bicep is rude and LACK myself. I’m afraid of what the response might be. obnoxious, even by scum standards—an entire slith- Hey Careza. Glad to be back. eroid entering the genitals of a female pleasure pod, [You could use a drink, I suspect.] fully animated. Class act, whoever opted to etch that .1.1 .1.1.1 You know me too well, Car. Better than I upon the morph. I hate identifying marks, but again, 1.1 1. know myself. if you can’t afford a clean morph, you take what you .1.1.1.1.1. [Hospitality now has the request. Wait time, approxi- can get. mately ten minutes.] I slide off the table, managing not to fall over in the Thanks. Careza enjoys our conversations process, and gingerly test the ankle. Sore, but it isn’t when my brain has a slight buzz. It is always going to snap off. trying to get me drunk. Put in a request for a patch, left ankle. Bute should 1. 1 be fine. 7 1. . .1 [Phenylbutazone. On its way. And the cocktail will be here No, not scary. Horrific. No other word for something in approximately 30 seconds. Nothing unusual on the news- so vast, so uncaring. Transhumanity could be wiped feed scan.] out completely and it would all just continue on as Figures. before. Horrific. No other way to explain the feeling you have when you come face to face with things truly I plod over to the full-length mirror, beyond comprehension. Hell, no other term could encapsulate transhumanity’s actions towards each standard issue in resleeve waking cham- other—much less what other beings lurking in the void have in store for us. Perhaps that was why. bers, and drop the sheet to take a look To teach me a lesson. To make certain I would JESPER ■ FIREWALL PROXY; SAVA’S CONTACT @ FIREWALL never forget, so I would never cease assisting the at the new me. I spy the cortical cruncher org, because even the briefest glimpse of what is actually out there is enough. lingering in the doorway, my cocktail in Jesper’s fork materializes in my field of vision. [Welcome back, Sava.] his hand, giving my body an appreciative Fuck off, Jesper. You know I hate waking up with lack. look. I don’t recognize myself. [Sorry. Nothing I could do.] His expression is serious and concerned, but his kinesics indicate “Hand me my drink please.” I reach out my hand in he is as calm as can be. What an act! Fucking his direction without even acknowledging his presence. proxies never panic. They hold all the cards He steps into the room, too close to me, and slips the and it’s never their minds that are on the line. drink into my hand. His breath smells like some sort Yeah. Right. Get to the point. You don’t have of sour sausage. me sleeved in a combat morph to get some “Not too bad under the sheet, are you?” he says. “I downtime, so you must have something serious took a peek earlier, but I must say, the slab didn’t do lined up. Are Berk, Pivo, and Sarlo here? you justice. On your feet, the curves really pop. Your [Yes, they have been resleeved in the same facility.] face isn’t much to look at, but that rack is … ” At least my team is with me. People I could I cut him off before I vomit bile into my mouth. “It’s count on. To a certain degree. exquisite. I know. Now shut up and back off before I All right. What are the details? rip the skin off your face and slap you silly with it.” He gets the message and slinks from the room. It is a nice rack. [If nice is defined by proportion, then I would say yes.] Pivo gripped the smooth outer surface of the station with AIs, always so formal. all eight arms. Nano-magnetics at the tips of his vacsuit [You’re approximately 4 centimeters taller than your usual arms were the only difference between a secure hold and proprioception allows for, so watch your head.] an endless drift into the depths of space. He peered up Thanks for the heads up. through his faceplate at the dark orb above him. [That was awful.] Earth. Yeah. Yeah. I know. A smile finds its way onto my His eyes locked on an expanse of dead black ocean face as the banter with my muse lightens my mood. through the ominous clouds. Pivo longed to swim in Looking in the mirror, I try to broaden the smile, to those ancient depths. Born and bred for space, he had get a better sense of my new face. I show some teeth. never once immersed himself in the former ecological Nicotine stains all over them. I take a long sip from niche of his kind. Odds were against his ever taking my cocktail, swish the alcohol around a bit. I can feel a plunge into the salty waters of an Earth ocean. The my blood respond instantly to the sauce. I close my planet was now a plagued death trap. A wasteland of eyes and let out a sigh. Just a few moments of peace skeletal forms. is all I ask. He imagined a time before the Fall, when his [We have a guest, Sava.] Damnit. No such luck. ancestors thrust through blue waters and slipped Who? effortlessly through mazes of coral, or gently floated [Our last Firewall proxy, Jesper, has sent a beta-level fork of along with the current, not bothered by the burden himself. It is rather impatient to speak with you.] of sapience. Perhaps octopi still survived beneath the Connect him. black waters of the present, eking out a brief existence, They just cannot leave me alone, can they? Officially, biding their time, keeping the species true and alive Firewall doesn’t even exist. It’s because of Rati that they until the Earth could be reclaimed, and Pivo would got their tentacles wrapped all around me, through me. join them on that glorious day, abandoning knowl- The whole mess on Mars. That’s where it all started. edge altogether, and returning to the ways of instinct. The last time I saw Rati. All that knowledge they Vacsuit sensors interrupted Pivo’s fantasy, detecting allowed me to retain. But why? Until that day, I had a laser light that bathed his form—contact from Sava never realized just how scary the universe truly was. by line-of-sight laser link. It was the preferred method 8 of communication when a mission required would happen after he had opened up the airlock and discretion. Pivo’s muse processed the message, the rest of the team was inside the station. SAVA ■ FIREWALL AGENT; COVERT OPS SPECIALIST; FURY MORPH and Sava’s voice entered his head. The airlock had been welded shut from the inside. [Something wrong? Why’d you stop moving?] Pivo was prepared for this eventuality, but it made his [Just enjoying the view,] Pivo beamed back. detection by guardian bots a certainty. He composed [Enjoy it on the way down, for hours if you want. himself for a few seconds, focused on the task at hand, Get inside the station before one of the sentry bots then fired up the plasma torch built into one of his finds us.] vacsuit arms. A harsh hot blue glare filled the room. Pivo didn’t bother to respond. There was no Seconds were now his most precious possession. arguing with Sava. No use in defending your He was almost through the inner door when his actions. Pivo began crawling along the shell muse pinged him with a warning from the passive of the station again. The station itself was terahertz sensor. An object was moving towards tethered to the end of a long, black, carbon Pivo’s position rapidly, now only twenty meters away. nanotube cable that stretched all the way A sentry bot would be upon him in soon. down to the planet’s surface—the sole surviv- [Almost through the first door,] Pivo transmitted calmly, ing space elevator. even though it took every ounce of his will to keep Pivo located the breach, a thin scar in the the torch steady. [I have company. Be ready.] station’s metallic hull, the result of an internal [Copy that,] Sava replied. explosion responsible for the station’s demise Finally, Pivo cut through the seal. The octomorph during the Fall. The breach was exactly where slithered four arms through the still smoldering sliced Sava said it would be and the description of its metal, and with a strained yank, pulled the door size was dead-on: a gap barely large enough for from the frame. The door slowly floated away into a human infant to slip through. According to the chamber, the edges rapidly cooling. The interior Sava, years ago, the self-repairing nanosystems airlock door was not welded shut. With a vocal sigh operating in the hull’s metal had malfunctioned of relief, all eight of Pivo’s arms began a frenzied before the breach had been fully repaired. The assault upon the airlock door’s manual controls. level of mission details Sava managed to extract [Few more seconds. Just a few more seconds.] But the from Firewall was scary sometimes. Paranoia seconds had expired. bloomed for a moment, but he quickly dis- In his 360-degree field of vision, Pivo could see the missed his suspicion, compressed his cephalopod security bot thrust into view behind him. The bot PIVO ■ FIREWALL AGENT; NANOTECH SPECIALIST; OCTOMORPH form, and squeezed his body through the breach. unloaded its weapons immediately, the shots ricochet- In blackness, Pivo activated his infrared ing off the floating airlock door. The bot advanced on emitter, casting the room in a light outside the the door, and with a furious swat knocked the obstruc- normal visual spectrum. The interior of the tion aside. It clanged upon the crystalline surface of lifeless station became visible to his enhanced the wall. Just as Pivo pulled the last lever to release the eyes in the eerie altered colors of infrared. Pivo airlock door, blazing plasma fire engulfed him. almost preferred the dark. Ice crystals glittered from every surface, the result of flash frozen moisture in the long-absent atmosphere. Frigid clumps of human remains floated alongside Sava had instructed Careza to surge the neurochem chunks of hull metal in a macabre zero-gravity the instant the airlock portal was open. The muse ballet. Pivo floated through the wreckage and did not fail to deliver. In what seemed like an eternal the gore, lightly tapping aside metal or flesh slow-mo to Sava’s charged brain, the airlock door to clear a path deeper into the room. A female swung open into the station, aided by a thudding steel head drifted slowly by, the face frozen in a leg kick courtesy of Berk, the team’s muscle. With a gaping silent scream. An intact cortical stack flash of thought, Sava’s targeting radar snapped up an dangled from the severed neck. For a second, entoptic display and locked on two targets: Pivo and Pivo considered snatching the stack, but he a sentry bot. The robotic guard dog was already level- was not here to retrieve lost souls. Instead, he ing its weapons, but Sava was faster. Retinal-searing LACK placed two of his arms upon the top of the plasma fire erupted from Sava’s weapon, singeing head and pushed it beneath him, towards the one of Pivo’s arms and slamming the sentry back. A floor. Like so many others lost during the Fall, second shot punched through the bot’s armored cara- .1.1 .1.1.1 this person would remain forgotten here. pace, melting critical components within, rendering the bot a useless pile of fused scrap metal. 1.1 1. Pivo made it to the airlock without incident, .1.1.1.1.1. but he knew his luck would run dry eventu- Sava moved quickly past the cursing octomorph ally. A run-in with hypercorp guardians on a derelict and unloaded two more shots into the smoking bot. station was unavoidable. Sensors may have already [We’re clear,] Sava transmitted. [One down, but there is detected his presence. It was only a matter of time always more. Count on it. Pivo, you shiny?] before bots converged on his position. He just hoped [You scorched my breeding arm, puta.] Pivo shot back 1. 1 that when it occurred (and it most certainly would), it with clear agitation rumbling in the harmonics. 9 1. . .1 [You rather I leave you to the bot next time?] Sava turned Leave reveling in the glories of the past to the bio-cons. I’ll to Sarlo. [Sarlo, get in here and find the console you need. take a future where we step boldly outward into space, thank Berk, we’re going to need to set up defensive positions, to you much.] give hacker boy here time to crunch his bits.] [Let’s cut the politics.] Sava pointed at Berk. [You’re Pivo cut through his vacsuit and detached his an anarchist, I get it.] Then Sava pointed at Pivo. [And damaged arm, cursing Sava under his breath as the you’re on a reclamation kick. Fine.] But Sava’s rant was vacsuit rapidly repaired itself and sealed the gap. interrupted by half a dozen fast moving dots upon the [Hey. Don’t worry, Pivo. You’ve got seven more. And besides, team’s entoptic radars. [Incoming pings. Sarlo, you in yet?] you don’t really strike me as the breeding type anyway.] Sava [Working on it. Fuck. Fuck. Shit.] Sarlo’s childish voice relished giving Pivo a hard time. It was one of the true sounded petulant. joys in life. [Work faster. If these bots have heavy ordnance, we’re Pushing off from one wall to the next, Sarlo moved screwed.] Sava and Berk both unloaded suppression along the chamber with ease and grace. His neotenic fire down their respective stretches of corridor before morph was slighter and even more diminutive the bots even made it to the corners. The bots halted than the average human child sleeve, com- their approach momentarily, taking cover just around pletely augmented and customized to match the bend. More bots began to appear on the radar, SARLO ■ FIREWALL AGENT; HACKER; NEOTENIC MORPH his “preferences.” He had paid a fortune for it. moving towards the position of the first responders. The others never understood Sarlo’s penchant [We’re running out of time, Sar! More bots gathering!] for juvenile human sleeves, so much so that Sava unloaded another round of suppression at the he always kicked in his own credits to ensure bend. Berk kept her weapon quiet, waiting for a bot an augmented neotenic resleeve, even when to make a move into the corridor before lighting Firewall was footing the bill. They also didn’t it up, but the bots remained put. More gathered, know where his seemingly endless supply of and even more appeared on radar, moving to the personal funds came from, nor did they want to. same position. As long as he got the job done. [They’re gonna be all over us any second now!] Two minidrones followed after Sarlo, lighting [Consider this a gift, ladies and gents … ] And with a the area in infrared and actively scanning on final operation, Sarlo seized control of the station’s other wavelengths. [This way,] he said, transmit- entire security system. ting an entoptic map to each team member’s Suddenly, one of the bots turned on the others. overlay. [It’s not far, a hundred meters or so.] A high- Another soon joined it. In a matter of seconds, fumes lighted route appeared on the map. and debris came drifting down the corridor as all-out Sava and Pivo followed closely behind warfare broke out between the bots. Sava and Berk Sarlo, while Berk struggled to keep pace in her lowered their weapons and admired the sounds of armored gynoid shell. Sarlo’s handiwork. [Keep up, flatlander. We’ll be down the gravity well [Damn, Sar! I guess that is why you are one of the best soon enough,] Sava beamed to Berk. hackers in the system!] [Not soon enough for me,] Berk replied. [Applause, applause, ya waify freak!] The abandoned station was eerily quiet. Signs [When you’ve got cutting edge-exploits courtesy of the of long-forgotten violence and desperation leet coding AGIs on Extropia, there’s not a whole lot you lingered everywhere. Floating debris. Ruptured can’t do.] Sarlo delivered the line with a calm harmonic, and frozen bodies. Scorch marks and twisted but Sava was watching his kinesics, and they were off BERK ■ FIREWALL AGENT; HACKER; SYNTH MORPH metal. Death owned this place. the charts. The neotenic’s little heart was beating like When the team reached the control station, a drum roll. Sava opted not to bust his furless balls Sava and Berk took up defensive positions in about it, and instead let Sarlo have his moment in the the corridor while Sarlo and Pivo went to work sun. This had been a “close one,” and another close on the station’s dormant systems. one might not end up in their favor. [I’ll be damned! The mission spec was actually Sava allowed a few seconds of relieved silence right. The station systems are active but dormant. before getting the team back to business. [Sarlo. How Whomever’s guarding this place didn’t wreck the soon till the elevator is active?] systems, they left open the possibility that the space elevator could be activated again.] Sarlo gleefully began his procedures to hack the system. [Who the fuck would want to risk going down to Pivo stuck to the portal, watching as they descended that ball of ash?] Berk piped in. below the soot-filled layer of clouds and the Earth Pivo waved one of his arms in agitation. [Need below came into view. They were in the atmosphere I remind you that some of us happen to think that now, descending on a taut beanstalk stretched reclaiming our home planet is a good idea?] between the Earth and station above, a massive feat of [Reactionary thinking, if you ask me.] Berk replied. engineering built from carbon nanotubes. The shuttle [Shrugging off all of our old nation-state loyalties is car crawled down the elevator cable, bringing them one of the best steps transhumanity has ever made. closer and closer to the ruined planet. 10 Earth’s atmosphere was now choked with a thick must have set violently upon each other, fueled by dust, the color of rust. The winds whipped over the madness or despair. planet’s surface with breakneck velocity, swirling [I wonder what it was like.] Sarlo tossed the thought dangerously in certain pockets. The world’s weather out to the group. systems had been irretrievably ravaged by the Fall, [What?] Pivo replied. when transhumanity had seemingly gone to war with Sava quickly jumped in and put an end to the dis- a group of rogue AIs known as the TITANs. Bombs, cussion Sarlo was yearning to start. [Quit with the phi- raging fires, chemical attacks, biowar plagues, vora- losophizing and the dramatizing. You know I cannot stand that cious nanoswarms—even nukes—had taken their shit.] Sava tried desperately to maintain order and an toll. It was now an inhospitable place, gripped by air of gruff detachment. It was too easy to let the brain nuclear winter. Some of the clouds were formed into wander off into the past and the fate of the millions unusual shapes, defying the high winds, even seeming who perished during the Fall. To counter this, Sava to writhe as they moved—the thriving descendants of always resorted to the diatribe. [Listen. We all know the self-replicating airborne nanoswarms, Pivo suspected. mission specs. We’re locating someone. A courier. Most likely Who knew what other monstrosities waited for them a corpse. Last known position while alive was the base station below, evolved from the remnants of AI war machines? we will drop into when this ride stops. Mount Kilimanjaro. The Earth was off-limits now. Abandoned to the Which, according to quite reliable sources, was once overrun enemy. Though the TITANs were presumed to be by killbots, which are most likely still in the vicinity.] Sava long gone, escaping the solar system via secretly-con- paused for dramatic effect before continuing. [We structed wormhole gates, taking millions of forcibly retrieve something from the courier. What, we don’t fucking uploaded transhuman minds with them—they had know. Only that it is quite valuable to the org. We stick to what left many of their tools and weapons behind. Likewise, we know. I don’t want to hear any more bullshit “what ifs” some of the weapons transhumanity had unleashed and “I wonders.” If your thoughts are anywhere other than on the AIs—and, quite often, themselves—had taken the mission, keep them to yourself. I don’t want to hear them.] on a life of their own. So Earth had been abandoned And with that declaration, the rest of the journey to and interdicted, with hypercorp killsats laced into the Kilimanjaro station was in silence, each confined orbit to shoot down anything that attempted to leave to their own thoughts, not a single ping between them. or land on the planet’s surface. As a reclaimer, Pivo was part of a small but vocal faction that advocated a return to Earth. There was still hope for the planet, they believed. It had always The shuttle rattled to a stop inside the dark cavern- persevered, and this was no time to give up on it. ous hangar. At one time, the Kilimanjaro hangar was Earth needed to be cleansed and terraformed, resusci- the busiest Earth-to-space station port in the world, tating transhumanity’s home. But the reclaimers were servicing millions of customers annually. Now, as a minority. To most survivors of the Fall, the Earth Pivo clung to a shuttle window and stared out into held too many horrible memories. Lives ruined. Loved the black emptiness of the hangar, it seemed as if the ones lost. Their own deaths. It was a monument to place was a soulless vacuum. transhumanity’s arrogance and mistakes, a grim [Ready when you are.] Sarlo pinged Sava, poised reminder that they were not above destroying them- to hack open the shuttle door and allow the stale selves despite all of their advances and technology, or dust-choked air of Earth to waft over the team. Sava perhaps because of them. nodded to Sarlo and the shuttle door slid open with This didn’t prevent some from trying, of course. a rush of decompression. A blinding red-gray dust Scavengers still raided the planet’s ruins, retrieving blasted into the shuttle from the hangar and coated long-lost treasures, cultural artifacts, or even the the shuttle interior almost immediately. preserved mind-states of those who failed to escape. Sava’s first step into the Kilimanjaro hangar landed Some reclaimers had initiated their own secret mis- firmly onto the brittle ribcage of a child’s skeleton. sions, intending to establish a basecamp from which The bones snapped into splinters and powder with a they would begin operating their own reclamation crunch. The floor surrounding the shuttle airlock was projects. Most were never heard from again. carpeted with skeletons entangled in a mass of tattered LACK The team of four rested and prepared equipment clothing. There was no way to avoid stepping upon in the shuttle’s large open lounge, Sava and Sarlo them. One by one, the others stepped from the airlock. in a cramped inflatable survival bubble so the bio- [This place is a tomb,] Berk beamed to the group. .1.1 .1.1.1 morphs could escape the confines of their vacsuits [This whole planet is a tomb,] Sava replied, with an extra echo harmonic allowing the word tomb to con- 1.1 1. for a while. Pivo elected to remain outside the .1.1.1.1.1. bubble and in the vacsuit. Close confines with Sava tinue on well after the phrase was transmitted, added during the descent did not sound pleasant to him. specifically to annoy Pivo, who immediately shut The walls of the lounge were smeared with decades- down the echo in his head with a countermeasure old blood, now frozen into a crystalline brown in from his muse. the depressurized cabin. Whoever the last passengers Sava took a few more crunching steps forward, 1. 1 were to ride this shuttle, fleeing the doomed Earth, then stopped. The rest of the team followed suit. 11 1. . .1 [Something is not right here.] Sava kicked at one of the from the dusty darkness at Berk, who dropped to skeletons. The bones rattled and cracked. [I don’t see the floor and unleashed plasma fire into it. The bot any skulls.] slammed into a pile of bones and rags and set it alight. [Forced uploading,] Sarlo transmitted. [TITAN machines The fire spread quickly, leaping from dry cloth to dry harvested the heads of the dead for scanning.] He shrugged. cloth. The blazing hangar floor now illuminated the [That’s my guess, anyway.] area in the hot orange glow of flame. At least a dozen [Shut up!] Sava signaled the team to silence. [Who insectoid bots hovered in a perimeter around the team, else hears that?] awaiting an opportunity to strike. Another bot dove A low mechanical whir reverberated nearby. [I’m at Berk, its buzzsaw arms slashing wildly. Berk fired, picking it up.] Pivo replied. [Up a bit to the north. About but missed. The bot slammed into Berk’s head and 30 meters.] As if in response to Pivo’s observation, the buzzsaws ground into her neck. Sparks flew in all another whir began, this one behind the team, from directions as metal met metal. She dropped her rifle the south end of the hangar. Another whir from the and pushed against the body of the bot till the saws east joined in the chorus. The sounds were coming were off her neck. [Fucking run you idiots! I’ve got this!] closer, becoming more distinct, more aggressive. Sava fired and dropped a bot, then dashed east, [No visual, yet. This fucking place is so deep and thick with leaping over spreading waist-high flames. [Make for this dust shit, seems to act like chaff too. Infrared is giving me the lounge!] only about twenty feet!] Sava motioned for the team to Pivo elevated onto two arms and ran behind move to the right. [Stay close, we move slow and keep the Sava, his five remaining arms flopping wildly above triggers itchy. The passenger lounges are just east of us. We his head. [Out of the way, ya poke!] Sarlo outpaced start the search there.] The whirs were now all around the slower octomorph, running through the flames them, hovering just outside visual range. towards the lounge. [What the fuck is that?] A flying insectoid bot with Berk flung the frenzied bot into a flaming pile of six articulated arms ending in small buzzsaws lunged bones, scrambled to her feet, and followed after the 12 group, covered in bone bits and dust, the bot swarm The three team members within the lounge gathered in whirring pursuit. themselves just in time to witness a bot latch onto Sava reached the lounge first and the portal was Sarlo’s head from above as he stood up. The machine open. Turning with rifle raised, Sava took cover against stretched two arms out to the side, then plunged their the door frame. Sarlo and Pivo were past the flames spinning blades into Sarlo’s neck. Sarlo’s eyes went wide and Berk was closing the gap, as were the bots. Sava and his body tensed as the saw blades ground through unloaded cover fire that sizzled over Sarlo’s head, knock- flesh and bone, working through his neck in seconds. ing another bot out, but the rest of the swarm remained The instant his head was severed from the torso, the bot unfazed. They just kept coming. Suddenly, more bots swooped around and zipped off over the flames, into appeared out of the shrinking darkness near the lounge. the dark oblivion of the far end of the hangar. [There’s more! They’re flanking!] Sava blasted at the Sarlo’s headless body wavered for a second, then new bots to try and slow down their gambit. Sarlo collapsed, spurting blood in long, lazy arcs. was only thirty feet from the portal when he tripped LACK on a tangle of bones. His boyish body collapsed face first into the dust and human remains. Pivo made an awkward leap over him, skidded across the floor, and Pivo, Sava, and Berk sat in silence. They had managed to .1.1 .1.1.1 squished into the outer lounge wall right near the seal the portal into the lounge, locking out the horrors of the hangar. The headhunter bots could still be heard 1.1 1. door. Sava reached out, snagged the octomorph by a .1.1.1.1.1. arm, and dragged him into the safety of the lounge. hovering outside the portal, occasionally clanging and Berk tried to stop and help Sarlo up, but her momen- grinding their blades against the sealed door. tum was too much and her footing upon the dusty Berk finally broke the silence. [I’m trying very hard not to floor too unstable. She tumbled forward in a roll of think about what they’re going to do with him.] dust cloud, chipped bone, and tattered rags, finally [Try harder. Sarlo knew the odds of survival were slim 1. 1 slamming into Sava in the doorway. when he signed on. We all did.] Sava stood up. 13 1. . .1 [Should we tell him? When he resleeves?] Pivo knew this [Monomolecular wire.] Even though the situation grew was going to set Sava off, but he blurted it anyway. more dire by the minute, Pivo was impressed and fas- [Would that be kindness or cruelty, Pivo? And besides, cinated with the inventiveness of the alien nanotech. there is no guarantee that any of us will survive. So who gives [It laced the door with it. Cuts through anything. Weak tensile a shit? Whenever your last backup was, I sure hope you’re not strength though—you probably snapped it.] gonna miss anything since. Let’s get moving.] [We’re fucked. Let’s face it.] Berk picked her severed hand off the floor. Down the hall, the nanoswarm began to take a visible shape as the nanobots accreted. The swarm was congealing into a fog, creeping closer. With Sarlo gone, Pivo took over the navigation duties. Berk continued, [The entirety of this port is probably filled They were nearing the corporate VIP lounge, the last with this shit. I’m useless at this point. These things are known location of the courier. already all over my systems, my diagnostics are going crazy.] The team moved through dark corridors filled with [So what are you saying, Berk? You done?] Sava transmitted. headless skeletons and mummified remains. Years [Yeah. I’m done.] Berk shook her head in disgust. ago, the corporate forces defending the structure had [Who knows what these little bastards have infected me been overrun by AI war machines, which mercilessly with. I don’t want to risk it. I’d rather resort to a clean back slaughtered everyone inside. The walls were scarred up. Forget this shit ever happened. You keep running if you from battle, covered in dried blood. Destroyed rem- want. I’ll try to buy you some time.] Berk turned and nants of the AI war machines littered the halls as well, ran directly into the fog. The nanoswarm sucked in haunting monuments to the few victories humanity around her immediately and the disassembly began. had in their losing battle. Even as piles of scrap, the Berk’s metal frame began to dissolve as she ran further machines had a menacing presence. and further away from Pivo and Sava, leaving a wispy [Too bad this isn’t a salvage op,] Berk commented. [The trail of nanoswarm behind her. autonomists could use a look at this tech. At the very least, [Get fucking moving fools! This isn’t for my amusement! figure out what the hypercorps might try to do with it.] I’ll see ya the next time around.] A few minutes later, As they entered a long concourse, the remains and Berk’s signal went dead. debris abruptly disappeared, as if cleared out. [I’m getting some strange thermal readings here. Patterns that don’t make sense,] transmitted Pivo. [What is that supposed to mean?] Sava beamed back. Sava and Pivo entered the VIP lounge. When the Before Pivo could give thought to “I don’t spaceport was overrun so many years ago, this was know,” his muse issued a chilling warning: [My the site of the humans’ last stand. Piles of security nanosensors register the presence of unknown nano- personnel skeletons littered the floor just inside the bots in large numbers of a highly sophisticated design, doorway. The charred remnants of a hopeless bar- suggesting a TITAN manufacture. Countermeasures ricade were scattered beside the mounds of bone. have been initiated.] Skeletons draped in torn singed civilian garb were [Nanoswarm. Move! Move!] Pivo broadcasted clustered around the walls and corners, sometimes PIVO’S MUSE in a panic as he launched into a full two-armed three or four deep, as if they had all scrambled as far sprint. Sava and Berk followed Pivo’s lead without as possible from some avatar of death in the middle question. They all knew the dangers of a TITAN of the room. nanoswarm. Unlike the nanobots Pivo often Pivo started an operation to locate the RFID tag made, which were manufactured with particular the courier was supposedly chipped with in his left purposes in mind, and which were neither self-sus- shoulder blade. The code triggered a ping within three taining or intelligent, this particular nanoswarm meters. Pivo pointed a lengthy arm at a small bone was autonomous, self-replicating, adaptive, and pile. [He’s in there somewhere.] capable of making almost anything it needed. Sava stepped over to the pile of three skeletons Even as they fled, individual nanosensors were and began rummaging through the bones, yanking measuring up the three agents, transmitting details out or snapping off all the femurs. [Goddamnit I want on their morphs and gear to the rest of the swarm. a cigarette. This morph has me so tweaked. Haven’t I made A junction came into view ahead, the pathway nar- it clear I don’t smoke? Yet, every time, they sleeve me in a rowing into a smaller tunnel. Suddenly, Pivo stopped, morph nailed with the habit.] Sava handed the bundle of just a meter before the tunnel. [Do not move forward!] bones to Pivo. The others crashed to a halt. [Must be a fury thing. Should just take a few minutes to [What the fuck Pivo!?] Sava looked back down the scan these for the nanoscale etching.] Pivo got to work. hall. [Fucking swarm could be finishing us as we speak!] [Enough time for a smoke, if you want.] [My muse picked up a burst of thermal energy here. The [Yeah. Real funny. How about I grind you up into dust and swarm is up to something,] Pivo warned. smoke you?] Sava sat down on the floor as Pivo sent [But there’s nothing here,] Berk replied, as she waved out a chuckle. her hand across the tunnel entrance. Her metal hand The deceased courier, whomever he was, had been suddenly clanged to the floor, separated from her wrist. entrusted with information too sensitive to transmit. 14 No one knew the true capabilities of the TITANs to intercept and decode, so the courier had been injected with nanobots that etched a nanoscopic encoded message directly onto one of his femur bones. However, he had never made it off the planet. His message had never been delivered. Pivo and Sava had no idea what the information was, but someone at Firewall obviously deemed it worthy of capture. Information on the TITANs perhaps. Or some CEO’s secret family recipe for pasta sauce. [This is the one.] Pivo held out the femur to Sava and tossed the others to the floor. [What does it say?] [I don’t know. Not sure I want to know.] Pivo continued to hold out the femur. [Enough with the drama Pivo. Just get your nanos to read it. We need a copy of the data. If you don’t want to carry, I will.] [I’d prefer that. Thank you.] Pivo set his nanobots to work on deciphering the inscription. When they were done, the intel was transmitted directly to Sava. Pivo wanted no part of it. [So, now what? How do we get out of here? The only way out is the way we came in, and that’s suicide.] Pivo’s complexion changed from a milky green to an almost royal blue. It always happened when helplessness began to settle in. Sava did not hesitate to answer, choosing to speak as opposed to transmit. “We’re not gonna leave, Pivo. Not even gonna try.” Sava raised the plasma rifle and aimed it directly at Pivo’s oblong head. “See you next time, calamari.” Sava pulled the trigger, and a fiery bolt of plasma reduced Pivo to a twitching mass of bloody scorched cartilage atop writhing arms. The arms continued to flop on the floor in a growing pool of blood as Sava sat down next to a pile of bones and leaned against the wall. Sava pulled out a cigarette and lit it. The first inhale was virtually orgasmic. Sava loved to smoke. Upon exhale, Careza pinged. [Shall I contact Project Ozma?] Yeah. Get our lady on the line. A woman’s voice, cold and harsh, entered Sava’s head, so different from the soothe of Careza. [Are you prepared to deliver, Agent Sava?] [That depends.] Sava took another drag. [Perhaps I did not make myself clear during our initial negotiations, Agent Sava. Your options are rather limited. You are unlikely to make it off the planet alive, and we cannot PROJECT OZMA AGENT afford to lose this information, nor can we afford to have it fall into the hands of your organization. You are going to have to follow through, and trust that we will do the same.] [Either you give me her location right now, or I take your precious info with me.] There was a long pause before the woman transmitted again. [You realize there will be consequences, Agent Sava. For you and for Rati.] [Yeah. I suppose so.] The cigarette burned to the filter and Sava flicked it into a bone pile. [So what’s it gonna be?] [We do not bargain, Agent Sava, after a deal has been struck. Do as you will, and we will react accordingly.] The connection with the woman terminated. Sava stood up and walked over to where the courier’s femur lay and picked it up. Pivo’s gore coated the bone. Sava wiped it off and held it up to take a close look. Sorry, Careza. Info payload only. Leave the ego behind. [Understood.] With the flash of a thought, Sava instructed Careza to activate the cortical stack’s emergency farcaster—a one-shot neutrino transmitter, powered by the tiniest amount of antimatter. Sava’s head exploded all over the room, taking the courier’s femur with it. The information contained on the femur, however, found its way almost instantly through the blackest depths of space, landing safely onto a dedicated Firewall receiver elsewhere in the solar system. LACK “What’s the number?” .1.1 .1.1.1 The words dig their claws into my new vocal cords and yank themselves up and out of my 1.1 1. parched throat. My diction is predictably poor, as it always is during the first few minutes .1.1.1.1.1. following a resleeve. The pitch of the voice is apparent despite the mumbled, sandpaper slur of the words. Definitely a biomorph and my latest sex is female. This much I know in the first few seconds. 1. 1 15 1. . .1 ENTER THE SINGULARITY … 2 WHAT IS TRANSHUMANISM? Transhumanism is one of the core concepts behind WHAT IS AN RPG? Eclipse Phase. Check out this quick summary of the Never played a tabletop roleplaying game? Check out cultural and intellectual movement. this synopsis of what a roleplaying game is and then n p. 18 read the description of how they’re typically played. n pp. 18 & 20 ECLIPSE PHASE An “eclipse phase” is the period of time between when a cell is infected by a virus and when the virus appears within the cell and transforms it. During this period, the cell does not appear to be infected, but it is. THEMES Post-Apocalyptic, Conspiracy, and Horror themes are central to the Eclipse Phase setting. Read more here: n p. 19 TERMINOLOGY There’s a lot of jargon in Eclipse Phase, but you don’t need to memorize it all—this is an open book roleplaying game! n pp. 25–27 DEFAULT CAMPAIGN: FIREWALL In the default campaign setting, your character is an agent-on-call—a “sentinel”—for a shadow network known as Firewall. n p. 22 ENTER THE SINGULARITYnENTER THE SINGULARITYnENTER THE SINGULARITYnENTER THE SINGULARITY ENTER THE SINGULARITY 2 We humans have a special way of pulling ourselves up and kicking ourselves down at the same time. We’d achieved more progress than ever before, at the cost WHAT IS of wrecking our planet and destabilizing our own governments. But things were starting to look up. TRANSHUMANISM? With exponentially accelerating technologies, we Transhumanism is a term used synonymously to reached out into the solar system, terraforming worlds mean “human enhancement.” It is an international and seeding new life. We reforged our bodies and minds, cultural and intellectual movement that endorses casting off sickness and death. We achieved immortal- the use of science and technology to enhance the ity through the digitization of our minds, resleeving human condition, both mentally and physically. from one biological or synthetic body to the next at In support of this, transhumanism also embraces will. We uplifted animals and AIs to be our equals. We using emerging technologies to eliminate the acquired the means to build anything we desired from undesirable elements of the human condition the molecular level up, so that no one need want again. such as aging, disabilities, diseases, and involun- Yet our race toward extinction was not slowed and tary death. Many transhumanists believe these in fact received a machine-assist over the precipice. technologies will be arriving in our near future Billions died as our technologies rapidly bloomed into at an exponentially accelerated pace and work to something beyond control … further transforming promote universal access to and democratic control. humanity into something else, scattering us through- In the long scheme of things, transhumanism can out the solar system, and re-igniting vicious conflicts. also be considered the transitional period between Nuclear strikes, biowarfare plagues, nanoswarms, the current human condition and an entity so far mass uploads … a thousand horrors nearly wiped advanced in capabilities (both physical and mental humanity from existence. faculties) as to merit the label “posthuman.” We still survive, divided into a patchwork of restric- As a theme, transhumanism embraces heady tive inner system hypercorp-backed oligarchies and questions. What defines human? What does it libertarian outer system collectivist habitats, tribal mean to defeat death? If minds are software, SYNOPSIS networks, and new experimental societal models. We where do you draw the line with programming have spread to the outer reaches of the solar system them? If machines and animals can also be raised WELCOME TO FIREWALL and even gained footholds in the galaxy beyond. But to sapience, what are our responsibilities to we are no longer solely “human” … we have evolved them? If you can copy yourself, where does “you” A TIME OF ECLIPSE into something simultaneously more and different— end and someone new begin? What are the something transhuman. potentials of these technologies in terms of both GAME MECHANICS oppressive control and liberation? How will these technologies change our societies, our cultures, CHARACTER CREATION STARTING OUT and our lives? n SAMPLE CHARACTERS Eclipse Phase is a post-apocalyptic roleplaying game of transhuman conspiracy and horror. Humans are SKILLS enhanced and improved, but humanity is battered and bitterly divided. Technology allows the reshaping of What if you could take hold of the driver’s seat? ACTIONS AND COMBAT bodies and minds and liberates us from material needs, What if you could take the plot in the direction you’d but also creates opportunities for oppression and puts choose? That is the essence of a roleplaying game. MIND HACKS the capability for mass destruction in the hands of A roleplaying game (or RPG, for short) is part THE MESH everyone. Many threats lurk in the devastated habitats improvisational theater, part storytelling, and part of the Fall, dangers both familiar and alien. game. A single person (the gamemaster) runs the ACCELERATED FUTURE game for a group of players that pretend to be GEAR WHAT IS A ROLEPLAYING GAME? characters in a fictitious world. The world could Have you ever read a book or seen a movie or a tele- be a mystery game set in the 1920s that takes you vision show where a character does something really adventuring around the globe, a fantasy realm GAME INFORMATION stupid, like heading into a basement at night when the inhabited by dragons and trolls and sword-wielding character knows the serial killer is around? The whole barbarians, or a science fiction setting with aliens REFERENCE time, you’re thinking: “I wouldn’t walk down those and spaceships and world-crushing weaponry. The creepy stairs to the dark basement, especially without a players pick a setting that they find cool and want to flashlight. I’d do X, Y, or Z instead!” Since you’re in the play in. The players then craft their own characters, passenger’s seat for the plot you’re reading or watching, providing a detailed history and personality to bring however, you simply have to sit back and let it unfold. each to life. These characters have a set of statistics 18 POST-APOCALYPTIC, CONSPIRACY, AND HORROR THEMES Several themes pervade Eclipse Phase, some with Horror takes many forms, but in Eclipse Phase it is which the reader may not be intimately familiar. more psychological than gore. It is the uncertainty The following helps define these themes so that as of survival, the suspense of finding malevolent players read further into this rulebook, they gain a things among the stars, and fear of the unknown. solid understanding of how Eclipse Phase builds on It is the dread of facing Things That Should Not Be, such themes to create its unique setting. the revulsion when encountering alien things, and Post-apocalyptic is a term used to describe fiction the sickening realization of the wrong and ghastly set after a cataclysmic event has ended human civi- things that transhumans are capable of doing to lization as we know it (usually accompanied by loss themselves and each other. Horror also arises both of human life on an almost unthinkable scale). The from the comprehension that there are scary things exact mechanism of the disaster is usually unimport- beyond our understanding inhabiting our universe ant: nuclear war, plague, asteroid strike, and so on. and that transhumanity may be its own worst The importance of the theme is the human condi- enemy. Despite all of the technological tools and tion. If the world we know is torn away from us advances available to future transhumans, they still and humans suffer horrors beyond imagining in this face terrors like losing control of their own identi- transformation to a post-apocalyptic setting, how ties, their perceptions, and their mental faculties— does humanity cope? Do we survive and thrive and not to mention their future as a species. overcome? Do we lose our own humanity in the Eclipse Phase takes all of these themes and weaves process? Or ultimately fall to extinction? Those are them together in a transhuman setting. The post- the questions that drive this genre. apocalyptic angle covers the understanding of all To conspire means “to join in a secret agreement that transhumanity has lost, the fight against extinc- to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such tion, and how much of that is a struggle against means to accomplish a lawful end.” As such, a con- our own nature. The conspiracy side delves into the spiracy theory attributes the ultimate cause of an nature of the secret organizations that play key roles event or a chain of events (whether political, soci- in determining transhumanity’s future and how the etal or historical) to a secret group of individuals actions of determined individuals can change the with immense power (political clout, wealth, and so lives of many. The horror perspective explores the on) who hide their activities from public view while results of humanity’s self-inflicted transformations manipulating events to achieve their goals, regard- and how some of these changes effectively make us less of consequences. Many conspiracy theories non-human. Tying it all together is an awareness of contend that a host of the greatest events of history the massive indifference and the terrible alien-ness were initiated and ultimately controlled by such that pervades the universe and how transhumanity is secret organizations. Of equal importance is the insignificant against such a backdrop. silent struggle between clandestine groups, waging Offsetting these themes, however, Eclipse Phase a secret war behind the scenes to determine who also asserts that there is hope, that there is some- influences the future. thing worth fighting for, and that transhumanity can and will pave its own path toward the future.n ENTER THE SINGULARITY (numerical values) that represent skills, attributes, action and outcomes, but it is simply an outline and other abilities. The gamemaster then explains of what might happen—it is not concrete until the the situation in which the characters find themselves. players become involved. If you don’t want to walk The players, through their characters, interact with down those stairs, you don’t. If you think you can the storyline and each other’s characters, acting talk yourself out of a situation in place of pulling a out the plot. As the players roleplay through some gun, then try and make it happen. The script of any scenarios, the gamemaster will probably ask a given roleplaying session is written by the players, and the player to roll some dice and the resulting numbers story, based upon the character’s actions and their will determine the success or failure of a character’s responses to the events of the plot, will constantly .2 .2.2.2.2.2 attempted action. The gamemaster uses the rules of the game to interpret the dice rolls and the outcome change and evolve. The best part is that there is no “right” or “wrong” .2 .2 2.2.2.2.2 of the character’s actions. way to play an RPG. Some games may involve more As a group exercise, the players control the sto- combat and dice rolling-related situations, where ryline (the adventure), which evolves much like any other games may involve more storytelling and impro- movie or book but within the flexible plot created vised dialogue to resolve a situation. Each group of by the gamemaster. This gamemaster plot provides players decides for themselves the type and style of .2. a framework and ideas for potential courses of game they enjoy playing! 2.2 19 . .2 BUT HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY PLAY? To play a game of Eclipse Phase, you need the following: • A group of players and a place to meet (real life or online!) • One player to act as the gamemaster • The contents of this book • Something for everyone to take notes with (note- pads, laptops, whatever!) • Two 10-sided dice per player (or a digital equivalent) • Imagination A GROUP OF PLAYERS AND A PLACE TO MEET While roleplaying games are flexible enough to allow any number of people, most gaming groups number around four to eight players. That number of people brings a good mix of personalities to the table and ensures great cooperative play. Once a group of players have determined to play Eclipse Phase, they’ll need to designate someone as the gamemaster (see below). Then they’ll need to determine a time and place to meet. Most roleplaying groups meet once a week at a reg- ularly scheduled time and place: 7:00 PM, Thursday night, Rob’s house, for example. However, each group determines where, how they’ll play, and how often. One group may decide they can only get together once a month, while another group is so excited to dive into the story potential of Eclipse Phase that they want to meet twice a week (they decide to rotate between their houses, though, so as not to overload a SYNOPSIS particular player). If a group is lucky enough to have a favorite local gaming store that supports in-store play, WELCOME TO FIREWALL the group might meet there. Other gaming groups meet in libraries, common rooms at their school, A TIME OF ECLIPSE bookstores that have generously sized “reading GAME MECHANICS rooms,” quiet restaurants, and so on. Whatever fits for your gaming group, make it work! CHARACTER CREATION When getting together for a game, most RPGs use the phrase “gaming session.” The length of SAMPLE CHARACTERS each gaming session is completely dependent upon the consensus of the playing group, as well as the SKILLS limitations of the locale where they’re playing. The particular story that unfolds in a given session can ACTIONS AND COMBAT also impact a session’s length. If playing in a game MIND HACKS store, the group may only have a four-hour slot and the gamemaster and group may have determined— THE MESH through several sessions of play—that this is a perfect time frame to enjoy the story they’re participating in ACCELERATED FUTURE each week. Another group, however, may want an even shorter length of time. Yet another group may GEAR decide that while they’ll usually do four-hour sessions, once a month they’ll set aside an entire Saturday for GAME INFORMATION a great all-day gaming session. Players will need to REFERENCE dive in and start playing and be flexible to decide what will provide the ultimate enjoyment for their gaming group. While the camaraderie of a shared experience of playing face-to-face with a group of friends remains the strength of roleplaying games, groups need not 20 confine themselves to a single mode of play. There are to share that with other players. You never know myriad options that can be used. Email, instant mes- when a specific choice you’ve made in the running of sages, message boards, video chats, phone/voip calls, a campaign is exactly what another gamemaster and text messages, wikis, (micro-)blogs: any and all of his group is looking for. these can be utilized to play the game without having warm bodies in seats directly across the table from THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK one another. Whether you have purchased the print or electronic Finally, when playing groups meet for the first time, version, this book is specifically organized to present they should generate their characters (as opposed to the information you need to know to start telling generating characters by themselves). While a gaming your stories in the Eclipse Phase universe. Below group can decide to generate characters individually, you’ll find a summary of each chapter of the book. often it is far easier once the players are together. A Time of Eclipse: A comprehensive history and This allows those more experienced to help those new setting fully describes the Eclipse Phase universe and to RPGs. Even more important, it enables the entire how humanity transitioned from here to there. See p. 30. group to tailor the characters so there is not too Game Mechanics: The player’s desired actions much overlap in capabilities and style. After all, with become reality within the universe through quick and the wealth of character opportunities available, you easy-to-use game mechanics. See p. 112. don’t want to show up at the table with an almost Character Creation and Advancement: Creating a identical character to the player next to you. unique character can be one of the most enjoyable experiences of roleplaying. Even more rewarding THE GAMEMASTER is watching that character evolve and grow across Once a group has been organized, someone needs to numerous gaming sessions, far beyond anything your step up and take the reins of the gamemaster. Some imagination first envisioned. See p. 128.. groups have a single gamemaster that runs all their Skills: Beyond a character’s innate abilities, their gaming sessions month after month. Other groups skills are what set them apart. This is what your char- rotate a gamemaster, with a single person running acter knows and what they know how to do. See p. 170. a given portion of the unfolding story for several Action and Combat: What is a dramatic story games before handing the work off to another player. without action and violence? When words fail, Once again, the participants should be flexible. Some weapons will blaze. See p. 187. groups may have the perfect person who loves the Mind Hacks: The unusual possibilities offered by work involved and is more than willing to run session psi abilities and mental reprogramming. See p. 216. after session, while other groups may decide that they The Mesh: The all-pervasive nature of the mesh all want to take turns both as the gamemaster and ensures that it is a key element to any story. See p. 234. as players. Accelerated Future: The wonders of advanced tech- The gamemaster controls the story. They keep track nologies and how they work. See p. 266. of what is supposed to happen when, describe events Gear: Personal enhancements, weapons, robots, as they occur so that the players (as characters) can and everything in between. See p. 294. react to them, keep track of other characters in the Game Information: The quintessential set of insider game (referred to as non-player characters, or NPCs), secrets for gamemasters. See p. 350. and resolve attempts to take action using the game system. The game system comes into play when char- TAKING NOTES acters seek to use their skills or otherwise do some- Whether a gamemaster or player, you’ll need a way thing that requires a test to see whether or not they to track information. Players will be generating char- ENTER THE SINGULARITY succeed. Specific rules are presented for situations that acters and making changes to those characters from involve rolling dice to determine the outcome (see the session to session. Meanwhile, the gamemaster will Game Mechanics chapter, p. 112). have a host of information to track: notes on how The gamemaster describes the world as the char- the story is unfolding due to player character interac- acters see it, functioning as their eyes, ears, and tion that you’ll need to fold into next week’s session; other senses. Gamemastering is not easy, but the changes to NPCs; changes to player characters that thrill of creating an adventure that engages the other the players are not yet aware off (e.g., a character has players’ imaginations, testing their gaming skills and been mind hacked but doesn’t yet know it); and so on. their characters’ skills in the game world, makes Additionally, some groups enjoy a synopsis of each .2 .2.2.2.2.2 it worthwhile. Posthuman Studios will follow the session that can be compiled and read at a later time .2 .2 publication of Eclipse Phase with supporting supple- in order to enjoy and share their exploits, just as you 2.2.2.2.2 ments and adventures to help this process along, might fileshare clips from your favorite video game but experienced gamemasters can always adapt to show off your skill in taking the bad guy down the game universe to suit their own styles. In fact, (traditionally this has been called “bluebooking”). since Eclipse Phase is published under a Creative This can be particularly useful if a player was unable .2. Commons license, (see p. 5), players are encouraged to attend a given session, providing a quick re-cap to tailor the universe to their style of play and also that they can read before attending the next gaming 2.2 21 . .2 session and thus avoiding a bog-down up-front as ideas for how to handle a situation, or how to take that player tries to catch up on current events in the on a bad guy: these are just some of the things that game. The session scribe can be a shared responsibility can and should be discussed by the gaming group or assigned, all based on what a given playing group in between sessions, and each is an opportunity to finds works best for them. Likewise, some gaming strengthen your imagination. groups audio-record their entire game session, both Another resource is simply watching TV or reading for later reference and for “actual play” podcasts. a good book. Pay attention to how the story is put The old standard of a pencil and paper still works together, how the characters are built, and how the wonders. Digital technologies, however, provide many plot unfolds. Push your imagination and soon you’ll new options for players. From a text file on a laptop be figuring out subplots and who the bad guy is long to a shared wiki, the ability to track large amounts before it’s revealed. Knowing how a story is put of information in a quick and useful fashion—while together enables you to put together your own stories simultaneously making appropriate information during each gaming session. available to each player from session to session—sig- Finally, eclipsephase.com is the official site for nificantly decreases how much time everyone needs Eclipse Phase. If you have questions about the game to spend tracking information. That time can now or want to see how another group of players handles be redirected into the enjoyment of participating in a given situation, post on the forums. The online com- a great story. munity can be just as helpful and enjoyable as a local gaming group. DICE As described in the Game Mechanics chapter (see WHAT DO PLAYERS DO? Dice, p. 114), two ten-sided dice are required to play The players can take on a variety of roles in Eclipse Eclipse Phase. While most players enjoy the feel of Phase. Due to advances in digital mind-emulation tossing dice onto a table, there are many other mecha- technology, uploading, and downloading into new nisms for rolling two ten-sided dice to achieve a 00 to morphs (physical bodies, both biological and syn- 99 result. Players who make heavy use of any online thetic), it is possible to literally be a new person from technologies for game play—such as using online chat- session to session. With bodies taking on the role of ting or video blogging—should find it easy to track gear, players can customize their forms for the task down and implement a quick dice-rolling program. at hand. IMAGINATION THE DEFAULT CAMPAIGN SYNOPSIS All too often, it’s easy for someone looking at an RPG In the default story (also known as the “campaign to be intimidated. So many concepts to grasp, so many setting”), every player character is a “sentinel,” an WELCOME TO FIREWALL ideas that seem overwhelming. Just as described under agent-on-call (or potential recruit) for a shadowy What is a Roleplaying Game?, however, how often network known as “Firewall.” Firewall is dedicated A TIME OF ECLIPSE have you read a book or watched that movie and to counteracting “existential risks”—threats to the GAME MECHANICS decided that you would have done it better? That’s existence of transhumanity. These risks include your imagination at work. Just dive in and you’ll be biowar plagues, nanotech swarm outbreaks, nuclear CHARACTER CREATION amazed at how quickly you can immerse yourself in proliferation, terrorists with WMDs, net-breaking the Eclipse Phase universe. Soon you’ll be spinning computer attacks, rogue AIs, alien encounters, and so SAMPLE CHARACTERS stories with the best of them. on. Firewall isn’t content to simply counteract these Also, don’t forget to tap your resources. Your threats as they arise, of course, so characters may also SKILLS gaming group is your best resource. What’s going on, be sent on information-gathering missions or to put ACTIONS AND COMBAT MIND HACKS THE MESH ACCELERATED FUTURE GEAR GAME INFORMATION REFERENCE 22 in place pre-emptive or failsafe measures. Characters dangers also lurk in odd corners of the system, from may be tasked to investigate seemingly innocuous isolationist posthuman factions to secretive criminal people and places (who turn out not to be), make cartels, as well as pirates, aliens, and others wishing deals with shady criminal networks (who turn out not to remain out of sight. (Explorer/Archeologist/ to be trustworthy), or travel through a Pandora gate Scavenger/Singularity Seeker/Techie/Medic) wormhole to analyze the relics of some alien ruin (and Trade: While the majority of inner system trade is see if the threat that killed them is still real). Sentinels controlled by sleek hypercorporations, many of the are recruited from every faction of transhumanity; smaller or more independent stations rely on small those who aren’t ideologically loyal to the cause are traders. In the post-scarcity outer system, trade takes hired as mercenaries. These campaigns tend to mix a on a different form, with information, favors, and bit of mystery and investigation with fierce bouts of creativity serving as currency among those who no action and combat, also stirring in a nice dose of awe longer want for anything due to the availability of and horror. cornucopia machines. (Free Trader/Smuggler/Black Marketeer/Pirate) ALTERNATE CAMPAIGNS Crime: The patchwork of city-state habitats and When they’re not saving the solar system, sentinels are widely varying laws throughout the system creates free to pursue their own endeavors. The gamemaster ample opportunity for those who would make a and players can use this rulebook to generate any type living from this situation. Black market commodi- of story they wish to tell. The following examples ties and activities include infomorph-slave trading, provide a brief look at the most obvious opportunities pleasure pod sex industries, data brokerage and for adventure in Eclipse Phase. theft, extracting/smuggling advanced technologies After each campaign variant below, a list of and scientists, political/economic espionage, assas- “archetypes” for Eclipse Phase are provided in sination, drug and XP dealing, soul-trading, and parenthesis. Archetypes are the names applied to much more. Whether as an independent or part of the most common character types featured in those an organized criminal element, there are always scenarios. For example, in a traditional detective opportunities for those with a thirst for adven- story, the archetypes would be the Detective, the ture or profit and questionable morals. (Criminal/ Damsel In Distress, the Hard-bitten Cop, and so Smuggler/Pirate/Fixer/Black Marketeer/Genehacker/ on. In a cowboy movie, the archetypes would be the Hacker/Covert Ops) Gunfighter, the Bartender, the Marshal, the Indian Mercenaries: The constant maneuvering of Brave, etc. Players will note that some archetypes fit ideologically driven factions, the squabbling over into multiple story settings. The character creation contested resources, and the rush to colonize new system (p. 128) allows players to create any of the exoplanets beyond the Pandora gates all spark new suggested archetypes. Just as roleplaying games are conflicts on a regular basis. Some of these simmer designed for players to build their own stories, these and seethe as low-intensity conflicts for years, occa- archetypes are just suggestions and players can mix sionally flaring into raids and clashes. Others break and match as they please. out into all-out warfare. Women and men willing Salvage and Rescue/Retrieval Ops: The Fall left to bear arms for credits are always in demand for the Earth and numerous habitats in ruins—but these good wages. Players can engage in commando and devastated cities and stations contain untold riches military campaigns in habitats, between the stars, or for those who are brave and foolhardy enough. in hostile planetary environments. (Merc/Security Potential hauls include: weapon systems; physical Specialist/Fixer/Bounty Hunter/Ex-Cop/Medic) resources; lost databanks; left-behind uploads of Socio-Political Intrigue: The corporations and ENTER THE SINGULARITY friends, family, or important people; new tech- political factions that span the solar system do not nologies developed and lost in the brief singularity always play nice with each other, but neither is it takeoff; valued heirlooms of immortal oligarchs; wise for them to openly confront each other except and much more. Outside of these once-inhabited under extreme circumstances. Many battles are realms, space itself is a big place and lots of people fought with diplomacy and political maneuvering, and things get lost out there. Some need to be saved using words and ideas more potent than weapons. and some are beyond saving. This option lets players Even within factions, social cliques can compete explore the unknown or seek out specific targets on ruthlessly and heated class conflicts can come to contract. (Archeologist/Scavenger/Pirate/Free Trader/ a boil, tearing a society apart from within. In this .2 .2.2.2.2.2 Smuggler/Black Marketeer) campaign, the players can start as pawns of some .2 .2 Exploration: There are plenty of opportunities entity who rise through the ranks as they become 2.2.2.2.2 to be had as an explorer, colonist, or long-range more enmeshed in the intrigues of their sponsor, play scout—perhaps even as one of the few lucky or sui- a group of ambassadors and spies stationed in the cidal individuals who explore through an untested opposition’s capital, or run as a group of activists Pandora gate. Even the Kuiper Belt, on the fringe and radicals fighting for social change. (Politico/ .2. of our solar system, is still sparsely explored; there Socialite/Covert Ops/Hacker/Security Specialist/ may be riches and mysteries still to be found. Many Journalist/Memeticist) 2.2 23 . .2 WHERE DOES IT TAKE PLACE? technologies that allow unlimited data storage and While Eclipse Phase is set in the not-too-distant future, near-instantaneous transmission capacities. With the changes that have taken place due to the advance- micro-scale, cheap-to-produce wireless transceivers so ments of technology have transformed the Earth and abundant, literally everything is wirelessly connected its inhabitants almost beyond recognition. As players and online. Via implants or small personal comput- dive into the universe, they’ll generally encounter one ers, characters have access to archives of information of the following settings. that dwarf the entire 21st-century internet and sensor systems that pervade every public place. People’s TRANSHUMANITY’S HABITATS entire lives are recorded and lifelogged, shared with The Earth has been left an ecologically devastated others on one of numerous social networks that link ruin, but transhumanity has taken to the stars. When everyone together in a web of contacts, favors, and Earth was abandoned, so too were the last of the great reputation systems. nation-states; transhumanity now lacks a single unify- ing governing body and is instead subject to the laws EGO vs . MORPH and regulations of whomever controls a given habitat. The distinction between ego (your mind and personal- The majority of transhumanity is confined to orbital ity, including memories, knowledge, and skills) and habitats or satellite stations scattered throughout the morph (your physical body and its capabilities) is one solar system. Some of these were constructed from of the defining characteristics of Eclipse Phase. A good scratch in the orbit or Lagrange points of planetary understanding of the concept right up front will allow bodies, others have been hewn out of solid satellites players a glimpse at all the story possibilities out of and large asteroids. These stations have myriad pur- the gate. poses from trade to warfare, espionage to research. Your body is disposable. If it gets old, sick, or too Mars continues to be one of transhumanity’s largest heavily damaged, you can digitize your consciousness settlements, though it too suffered heavily during the and download into a new one. The process isn’t cheap Fall. Numerous cities and settlements remain, and or easy, but it does guarantee you effective immortal- more are established each year, though the planet is ity—as long as you remember to back yourself up and only partially terraformed. Venus, Luna, and Titan don’t go insane. The term morph is used to describe are also home to significant populations. Additionally, any type of form your mind inhabits, whether a vat- there are a small number of colonies that have been grown clone sleeve, a synthetic robotic shell, a part- established on exoplanets (on the other side of the bio/part-synthetic “pod,” or even the purely electronic Pandora gates) with environments that are not too software state of an infomorph. SYNOPSIS hostile towards humanity. A character’s morph may die, but the character’s Some transhumans prefer to live on large colony ego may live on, assuming appropriate backup mea- WELCOME TO FIREWALL ships or linked swarms of smaller spacecraft, moving sures have been taken. Morphs are expendable, but nomadically. Some of these rovers intentionally exile your character’s ego represents the ongoing, continu- A TIME OF ECLIPSE themselves to the far limits of the solar system, far ous life path of your character’s mind and personality. GAME MECHANICS from everyone else, while others actively trade from This continuity may be interrupted by an unexpected habitat to habitat, station to station, serving as mobile death (depending on how recently the backup was CHARACTER CREATION black markets. made), but it represents the totality of the character’s mental state and experiences. SAMPLE CHARACTERS THE GREAT UNKNOWN Some aspects of your character—particularly skills, The areas of the galaxy that have felt the touch of along with some stats and traits—belong to your SKILLS humanity are few and far between. Lying betwixt character’s ego and so stay with them throughout these occasional outposts of questionable civilization the character’s development. Some stats and traits, ACTIONS AND COMBAT are mysteries both dangerous and wonderful. Ever however, are determined by morph, as noted, and MIND HACKS since the discovery of the Pandora gates, there has so will change if your character leaves one body and been no shortage of adventurers brave or foolhardy takes on another. Morphs may also affect other skills THE MESH enough to strike out on their own into the unknown and stats, as detailed in the morph description. regions of space in hopes of finding more alien arti- ACCELERATED FUTURE facts, or even establishing contact with one of the WHERE TO GO FROM HERE? other sentient races in the universe. Now that you know what this game is about, we GEAR suggest that you next read the A Time Of Eclipse GAME INFORMATION THE MESH chapter, (p. 30), to get a feel for the game’s default While not a “setting” in the traditional sense, as the setting (which you are, of course, free to change to REFERENCE sections describe above, the computer networks suit your whims). Then read the Game Mechanics known as the “mesh” are all-pervasive. This ubiq- chapter, (p. 112) to get a grasp of the rules. After uitous computing environment is made possible that, you can move on to Character Creation and thanks to advanced computer and nanofabrication Advancement (p. 128) and create your first character! 24 n Biomorph: A biological body, whether a flat, splicer, TERMINOLOGY genetically engineered transhuman, or pod. Eclipse Phase uses a variety of jargon to simply convey n Body Bank: A service for leasing, selling, acquiring, or the numerous concepts covered within the pages of this storing a morph. AKA dollhouse, morgue. book. While not all-inclusive, this list of terminology n Bots: Robots. AI-piloted synthetic shells. will allow players to quickly acclimate themselves for n Bracewell Probe: A type of autonomous monitoring deep- their journey into Eclipse Phase. If you read something space probe meant to make contact with alien civilizations. and are confused, don’t worry. These concepts are fully explained in later sections of this book. n Brinkers: Exiles who live on the fringes of the system, as Note that several of the words on this list are well as other isolated and well-hidden nooks and cran- standard scientific terms, often used in astronomy. As nies. Also called isolates, fringers, drifters. Eclipse Phase attempts to remain as close to “hard n Case: A cheap, common, mass-produced synthetic shell. science” as possible—while allowing players to inter- n Chimeric: Transgenic, containing genetic traits from act with the great stories waiting to unfold—such other species. terms are used liberally. n Circumjovian: Orbiting Jupiter. n Circumlunar: Orbiting the Moon. n Aerostat: A habitat designed to float like a balloon in a n Circumsolar: Orbiting the Sun. planet’s upper atmosphere. n Cislunar: Between the Earth and the Moon. n AF: After the Fall (used for reference dating). n Clade: A species or group of organisms with common n AGI: Artificial General Intelligence. An AI that has cogni- features. Used to refer to transhuman subspecies and tive faculties comparable to that of a human or higher. morph types. Also known as “strong AI” (differentiating from more specialized “weak AI”). See also “seed AI.” n Cole Bubble: A habitat made from a hollowed-out aster- oid or moon, spun for gravity. n AI: Artificial Intelligence. Generally used to refer to weak AIs; i.e., AIs that do not encompass (or in some cases, are n Cornucopia Machine: A general-purpose nanofabricator. completely outside of) the full range of human cogni- n Cortical Stack: An implanted memory cell used for ego tive abilities. AIs differ from AGIs in that they are usually backup. Located where the spine meets the skull; can be specialized and/or intentionally crippled/limited. cut out. n Anarchist: Someone who believes government is n Cyberbrain: An artificial brain, housing an ego run in a unnecessary, that power corrupts, and that people should software brain-state. Used in both synthmorphs and pods. control their own lives through self-organized individual n Darkcast: Illegal and black market farcasting and ego- and collective action. casting services. n Arachnoid: A spider-like robotic synthmorph. n Domain Rules: The rules that govern the reality of a n Argonauts: A faction of techno-progressive scientists virtual reality simulspace. that promote responsible and ethical use of technology. n Drone: A robot controlled through teleoperation (rather n AR: Augmented Reality. Information from the mesh (uni- than directly via onboard AI). versal data network) that is overlaid on your real-world n Ecto: Personal mesh devices that are flexible, stretchable, senses. AR data is usually entoptic (visual), but can also self-cleaning, translucent, and solar-powered. From ecto- be audio, tactile, olfactory, kinesthetic (body awareness), link (external link). emotional, or other types of input. n Ego: The part of you that switches from body to body. n Async: A person with psi abilities. AKA ghost, soul, essence, spirit, persona. ENTER THE SINGULARITY n AU: Astronomical Unit. The distance between the Earth n Egocasting: Term for sending egos via farcasting. and the Sun, equal to 8.3 light minutes, or about 150 n Entoptics: Augmented-reality images that you “see” in million kilometers. your head. (“Entoptic” means “within the eye.”) n Autonomists: The alliance of anarchists, Barsoomians, n ETI: Extraterrestial Intelligence. The term Firewall uses Extropians, scum, and Titanians. to refer to the god-like post-singularity alien intelligence n Barsoomian: A rural Martian, typically resentful of theorized to be responsible for the Exsurgent virus. hypercorp control. n Exalts: Genetically enhanced humans (between genefixed n Basilisk Hack: An image or other sensory input that and transhumans). AKA genefreaks, ascended, elevated. affects the brain’s visual cortex and pattern recognition n Exoplanet: A planet in another solar system. .2 .2.2.2.2.2 abilities in such a way as to cause a glitch and possibly n Exsurgent: Someone infected by the Exsurgent virus. .2 .2 exploit it and rewrite neural code. n Exsurgent Virus: The multi-vector virus created by 2.2.2.2.2 n Beehive: A microgravity habitat made from a tunneled- an unknown ETI and seeded throughout the galaxy in out asteroid or moon. Bracewell probes. The Exsurgent virus is self-morphing and n BF: Before the Fall (used for reference dating). can infect both computer systems and biological creatures. n Bioconservative: An anti-technology movement that argues n Extrasolar: Outside the solar system. .2. for strict regulation of nanofabrication, AI, uploading, forking, n Factors: The alien ambassadorial race that deals with 2.2 cognitive enhancements, and other disruptive technologies. transhumanity. Also called Brokers. 25 . .2 n The Fall: The apocalypse; the singularity and wars that n Kuiper Belt: A region of space extending from Neptune’s nearly brought about the downfall of transhumanity. orbit out to about 55 AU, lightly populated with asteroids, n Farcasting: Intrasolar communication utilizing classi- comets, and dwarf planets. cal communication technologies (radio, laser, etc.) and n Lagrange Point: One of five areas in respect to a quantum teleportation. small planetary body orbiting a larger one in which the n Farhauler: Long-distance space shipper. gravitational forces of those two bodies are neutralized. n Firewall: The secret cross-faction conspiracy that works Lagrange points are considered stable and ideal locations to protect transhumanity from “existential threats” (risks for habitats. to transhumanity’s continued existence). n Lifelog: A recording of one’s entire life experience, made n Flatlander: Someone born or used to living on a planet possible due to near-unlimited computer memory. or moon with gravity. n Lost Generation: In an effort to repopulate post-Fall, a n Flats: Baseline humans (not genetically modified). Also generation of children were reared using forced-growth called norms. methods. The results were disastrous: many died or went insane, and the rest were stigmatized. n Flexbot: A shape-changing synthmorph capable of joining together with other flexbots in a modular fashion n Main Belt: The main asteroid belt, a torus ring orbiting to create larger shapes. between Mars and Jupiter. n Forking: Copying an ego. Not all forks are full copies. n Meme: A viral idea. A unit of information transmitted AKA backups. socially that self-replicates and mutates in a manner analagous to genes. n Forknapping: Kidnapping a backup or fork. n Mentons: Transhumans optimized for mental and cogni- n FTL: Faster-Than-Light. tive ability. n Fury: A transhuman combat morph. n Mercurials: The non-human sapient elements of the n Gatecrashers: Explorers who take their chances using a transhuman “family,” including AGIs and uplifted animals. Pandora gate to go somewhere previously unexplored. n Mesh: The omnipresent wireless mesh data network. n Genehacker: Someone who manipulates genetic code to Also used as a verb (to mesh) and adjective (meshed create genetic modifications or even new life. or unmeshed). n Ghost: A transhuman combat morph optimized for n Mesh ID: The unique signature attached to one’s mesh stealth and infiltration. activity. n Ghost-riding: The act of carrying an infomorph in a n Microgravity: Zero-g or near weightless environments. special implant module inside your head. SYNOPSIS n Mist: The clouds of AR data that sometimes fog up your n Greeks: Trojan asteroids or moons that share the same perception/displays. WELCOME TO FIREWALL orbit as a larger planet or moon, but are 60 degrees n Morph: A physical body. AKA suit, jacket, sleeve, shell, form. ahead in the orbit at the L4 Lagrange point. The term A TIME OF ECLIPSE Greeks normally refers to the asteroids orbiting around n Muse: Personal AI helper programs. Jupiter’s L4 point. See also “Trojans.” n Nanobot: A nano-scale machine. GAME MECHANICS n Habtech: A habitat technician. n Nano-Ecology: Pro-tech ecological movement. n Hibernoid: A transhuman modified for hibernation, for n Nanoswarm: A mass of tiny nanobots unleashed into CHARACTER CREATION extensive travel in space. an environment. SAMPLE CHARACTERS n Iceteroid: An asteroid made from mostly ice rather than n Neo-Avians: Uplifted ravens and gray parrots. rock or metals. n Neogenesis: The creation of new life forms via genetic SKILLS manipulation and biotechnology. n Iktomi: The name given to the mysterious alien race ACTIONS AND COMBAT whose relics have been found beyond the Pandora gates. n Neo-Hominids: Uplifted chimpanzees, gorillas, and n Indentures: Indentured servants who have contracted orangutans. MIND HACKS their labor to a hypercorp or other authority, usually in n Neotenics: Transhumans modified to retain a child-like exchange for a morph. form. THE MESH n Infolife: Artificial general intelligences and seed AIs. n Novacrab: A pod created from genetically engineered n Infomorph: A digitized ego; a virtual body. Also known spider crab stock. ACCELERATED FUTURE as datamorphs, uploads, backups. n Olympian: A transhuman biomorph modified for athleti- GEAR n Infugee: “Infomorph refugee,” or someone who left cism and endurance. everything behind on Earth during the Fall—even their n O’Neill Cylinder: A soda-can shaped habitat, spun for GAME INFORMATION own body. gravity. REFERENCE n Isolates: Those who live in isolated communities far n Oort Cloud: The spherical “cloud” of comets that sur- outside the system (in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud). rounds the solar system out to about one light-year from AKA outsters, fringers. the sun. n Jamming: The act of “becoming” a teleoperated drone n PAN: Personal Area Network. The network created when thanks to XP technology. Also sometimes applied to you slave all of your minor personal electronics to your accesing the real-time XP feed from lifeloggers and others. ecto or mesh inserts. 26 n Pandora Gates: The wormhole gateways discovered n Slitheroid: A snake-like robotic synthmorph. after the disappearance of the TITANs. n Smart Animals: Partially uplifted animal species (includ- n Pods: Mixed biological-synthetic morphs. Pod clones ing dogs, cats, and rats). Some other large smart animals are force-grown and feature cyberbrains. Also known as (elephants) are nearly extinct. biobots, skinjobs, replicants. From “pod people.” n Spime: Meshed, self-aware, location-aware devices. n Posthuman: A human or transhuman individual or n Splicers: Humans that are genetically modified to elimi- species that has been genetically or cognitively modified nate genetic diseases and some other traits. Also known so extensively as to no longer be human (a step beyond as genefixed, cleangenes, tweaks. transhuman). AKA parahuman. n Swarmanoid: A synthetic morph composed from a n Prometheans: A group of transhuman-friendly seed AIs swarm of tiny insect-sized robots. that were created by the Lifeboat Project (precursors to n Sylphs: Transhuman biomorphs with exotic good looks. the argonauts) years before the TITANs became self- n Synthmorph: Synthetic morphs. Robotic shells possessed aware and that (mostly) avoided Exsurgent infection. The by transhuman egos. Prometheans secretly back Firewall and work to defeat existential threats. n Synths: A specific type of synthmorph. Synths are stan- dard androids/gynoids; robots that are designed to look n Proxies: Members of the Firewall internal structure. humanoid, though they are usually noticeably not human. n Psi: Parapsychological powers acquired due to infection n Teleoperation: Remote control. by the Watts-MacLeod strain of Exsurgent virus. n Titanian: Someone from Titan, a moon of Saturn. n Reaper: A warbot synthmorph. n TITANs: The human-created, recursively improving, mili- n Reclaimers: A transhuman faction that seeks to lift the tary seed AIs that underwent a hard-takeoff singularity interdiction and reclaim Earth. and prompted the Fall. Original military designation was n Redneck: A rural Martian. See Barsoomian. AKA Reds. TITAN: Total Information Tactical Awareness Network. n Re-instantiated: Refugees from Earth who escaped n Torus: A donut-shaped habitat, spun for gravity. only as bodiless infomorphs, but who have since n Transgenic: Containing genetic traits from other species. been resleeved. n Transhuman: An extensively modified human. n Resleeving: Changing bodies or downloading into a new one. Also called remorphing, reincarnation, shifting, n Trojans: Asteroids or moons that share the same orbit rebirthing. as a larger planet or moon, but follow about 60 degrees ahead or behind at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points. The n Rusters: Biomorphs optimized for life on Mars. term Trojans normally refers to the asteroids orbiting at n Scorchers: Hostile programs that can damage or affect Jupiter’s Lagrange points, but Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and cyberbrains. other bodies also have Trojans. See also “Greeks.” n Scum: The nomadic faction of space punks/gypsies n Uplifting: Genetically transforming an animal species to that travel from station to station in heavily modi- sapience. fied barges or swarms of ships. Notorious for being a n Vacworker: Space laborer. roving black market. n Vapor: A failed mind emulation or crippled fork/info- n Seed AI: An AGI that is capable of recursive self-improve- morph (from vaporware). ment, allowing it to reach god-like levels of intelligence. n VPNs: Virtual Private Networks. Networks that operate n Sentinels: Agents of Firewall. within the mesh, usually encrypted for privacy/security. n Shell: A synthetic physical morph. AKA synthmorph. n VR: Virtual Reality. Imposing an artificially constructed n Simulmorph: The avatar you use in VR simulspace hyper-real reality over one’s physical senses. ENTER THE SINGULARITY programs. n X-Caster: Someone who transmits/sells XP recordings of n Simulspace: Full-immersion virtual reality environments. their experiences. n Singularity: A point of rapid, exponential, and recursive n Xenomorph: Alien life form. technological progress, beyond which the future becomes n Xer: As in “X-er”—someone addicted or obsessed with impossible to predict. Often used to refer to the ascension XP. Sometime also used to refer to people making XP. of seed AI to god-like levels of intelligence. n XP: Experience Playback. Experiencing someone else’s n Singularity Seeker: People who pursue relics and sensory input (in real-time or recorded). Also called .2.2.2.2.2 evidence of the TITANs or other possible avenues to experia, sim, simsense, playback. super-intelligence, either to learn more about it or to .2 become part of a super-intelligence themselves. n X-Risk: Existential Risk. Something that threatens the .2 .2 very existence of transhumanity. n Skin: A biological physical morph. AKA meat, flesh. 2.2.2.2.2 n Zeroes: People without wireless mesh access. Common n Skinning: Changing your perceived environment via with some indentures. augmented reality programming. n Sleight: A psi power. .2. 2.2 27 . .2 WELCOME TO FIREWALL [Incoming Message Received. Source: our environments through care- territory. Though some may be Unknown] less actions. Some arise from our aware of our existence, we bypass [Quantum Analysis: No Interception own creations turned against us, numerous legal and jurisdictional Detected] as the TITANs proved. Other risks hurdles that might otherwise [Decryption Complete] may come from alien intelligences hamper our actions and goals. Greetings, whose motivations we cannot yet Second, our mission sometimes Your references and background fathom, and of whom we may not brings to light information that is have been triple-checked and con- even be aware. Still others may not only dangerous in the wrong firmed, and you are now vetted as threaten us by sheer chance and hands, but might even trigger a sentinel operative. Welcome to the mindless but deadly cause-and- widespread panic if made public. In Firewall, friend. effect of a universe in which we are some cases, the very existence of For those new to our private but an insignificant speck. such knowledge could be problem- network, Firewall is an organiza- Firewall exists to identify, analyze, atic. By retaining secrecy and oper- tion dedicated to protecting and counter these risks. We are all ating on a need-to-know basis, we transhumanity from threats—both volunteers. We are all placing our automatically counter certain risks. internal and external—to our con- own lives at risk in order to ensure Firewall is a decentralized, peer- tinued existence as a species. The the survival of transhumanity. to-peer network. We have minimal Fall may have reminded us that Firewall has existed, under other hierarchy and we answer to no one our ability to survive and prosper names and guises, since before but ourselves. Our node structure is not guaranteed, but our kind the Fall. Numerous agencies with enables us to share resources and has a remarkably short attention a similar agenda banded together talents without sacrificing the SYNOPSIS span. Despite our achievement of in the wake of those cataclysmic privacy and security of our operatives. functional near-immortality, we events to assess our situation and You have been recruited because WELCOME TO FIREWALL continue to face numerous dangers prepare for the worst. Now we of your knowledge, assets or skills, A TIME OF ECLIPSE that may contribute to our extinc- operate under a single umbrella. and/or because you have come into tion. Some of these risks come from We are a private network for two contact with certain restricted data. GAME MECHANICS our own factionalism and divisive- reasons. First, our existence and You have proven your willingness ness, combined with universally operational abilities are protected to support our goals. Our lives and CHARACTER CREATION available technology that could by our secrecy. The less our oppo- existence—and the future of trans- cause widespread destruction and sition knows about us, the more humanity—may rest in your hands. SAMPLE CHARACTERS untold deaths in the wrong hands. effectively we can counter them. So here’s to the future—may we Some stem from our short-sight- Similarly, certain authorities might all live to see it. SKILLS edness, failing to see the dangers be hostile to an organization such [End Message] ACTIONS AND COMBAT in which we place ourselves and as ours operating in their claimed [This Message Has Self-Erased] MIND HACKS THE MESH ACCELERATED FUTURE GEAR GAME INFORMATION REFERENCE 28 WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW [Incoming Message Received. Source: across some alien thing and crap developed technologies that put Unknown] your pants. And you won’t even weapons of mass destruction in the [Quantum Analysis: No Interception feel human anymore when you hands of everyone, but we’re still an Detected] make a call that will cost dozens, adolescent species that has trouble [Decryption Complete] hundreds, or even thousands of overcoming petty tribal bullshit. If Sit down, and grab yourself a people their lives, even if you are you’re really looking forward to fucking drink. saving millions more. exploring the universe as a post- Forget all of that AI-generated So why would anyone be crazy mortal, you’re going to have to intro crap you just read. Here’s the enough to be part of this thing? work hard at it. Survival isn’t a right, real deal. Because it needs to be done. Our it’s a privilege. You’re probably dying to know survival depends on it. To some When you sign up with Firewall, what you’ve been dragged into. people, it’s altruism, defending you put yourself on call. Anytime Maybe you’ve been told the party transhumanity. But really, it’s about some shit goes down in your neck line already: that we’re all that saving your own fucking neck of the woods or that you might be stands between transhumanity too. Sure, you could abstain from particularly helpful in dealing with, and extinction. Or maybe someone taking responsibility and let some you’ll get a call. You’ll be expected whispered to you that we’re a rogue self-described authority take care to drop whatever you’re doing and operation that meddles in heavy of it. But if the anarchists have put everything else on hold as if shit that we have no authority to anything right, it’s that people in your life depended on it—it prob- get involved in and that we some- power can’t be trusted. As often as ably does. When you’re in the field, times get people killed as a result. not, they’re part of the problem. So on an op—”going to the doctor,” as You must be curious. Maybe you’ve Firewall does things the collective we call it—your cell is empowered got a vigilante streak and you’re way. We’re underground, but we’re to act as it sees fit … just keep in looking to spill blood for a good an open source operation. We share mind that you’ll be answering to cause. Would it matter to you if the information and resources towards the rest of us later. You’ll also have cause was a deluded one? Maybe a common goal. We organize in the Firewall network to back you you’re a conspiracy wingnut and networked ad-hoc cells, smart-mob up—though resources are often you’re dying to know what secrets style. We don’t let anyone accrue too limited, so don’t expect us to always Firewall is clutching to its collective much power or control. Everyone save your ass. Other sentinels can be chest. What if those secrets shat- involved in an op has an equal called on to pull strings, but every tered the carefully constructed lies say. We police ourselves. We come time we do so, it threatens to unveil that we all tell to ourselves to keep from all sorts of backgrounds and an agent, create a trail that we need our sanity intact? factions, but we face a common to clean up, and otherwise compli- Everything you’ve heard, good or enemy—and we fight to win. There cates matters. Self-reliance is key. bad, about Firewall very well may is no alternative. One last thing: don’t ever, ever be true. We’re not angels. We lost Maybe you’ve heard of the Fermi forget that we have enemies. I’m the sheen on our ideals when the Paradox? That question asked why, not just talking about the nutjob WELCOME TO FIREWALL TITANs forcibly uploaded their first with a galaxy so huge, there were so who wants to nuke a habitat to human mind. Right now, you should few signs of other life? Even though make a political statement or the be asking yourself what the fuck you we’ve met the Factors and seen neo-luddites who think biowar just signed up for. I did. evidence of other aliens, our galactic plagues will teach us all a lesson, Truth is, Firewall is lots of things. neighborhood should be crawling I’m talking about the agencies that Most of it is good, but a lot of it with intelligence—but it’s not. know Firewall exists and consider it so fucking horrible you’ll be think- I’ll tell you why. The universe a threat. If they tag you as a sentinel, ing about planting a bullet in your is not fucking fair. If transhuman- your days are numbered. Maybe stack and resorting to an earlier ity were wiped out, the galaxy your backups too. So watch yer .2 .2.2.2.2.2 backup just so you can forget it all. If you have any romantic visions wouldn’t even notice. Just look at the Earth. That planet still exists, friggin’ back. So that’s the real deal, as honest .2 .2 2.2.2.2.2 about being a hero, drop them now. still supports life, even though as I can give it. Welcome to our secret You won’t feel like a hero when we’re far gone. Reality is an uncar- clubhouse, comrade. Remember: death you airlock some kid because he’s ing asshole. Forget all that utopian is just another day on the job. carrying an infectious nanovirus. crap about living forever. We’ll be [End Message] You won’t feel brave when you run lucky to survive another year. We’ve .2. [This Message Has Self-Erased] 2.2 29 . .2 A TIME OF ECLIPSE TIMELINE A one-page listing of important events, both pre- and post-Fall. n p. 37 HABITATS With the Earth destroyed, transhumanity now resides in various types of space habitats or settlements on planets, moons, or asteroids. n pp. 66 and 86 ECONOMY Three economies exist—the Old Economy, based POLITICS on industrial consumer capitalism; the Transitional A major ideological and memetic conflict is underway Economy, with both publicly- and privately-owned between the capitalist cyberdemocracies of the inner system cornucopia machines; and the New Economy, where and the libertarian autonomists of the outer system. Read more most people can freely use cornucopia machines to about their differences here. n p. 55 create goods as long as they possess the material components. n p. 61 AROUND THE UNIVERSE FACTIONS Explore different parts of the universe; read an Transhumanity is a fractured species, divided into numer- overview of the solar system, check out the map, or ous cultural and socio-economic groups and classes, each learn about exotic extrasolar systems. n p. 86 competing for influence on their collective future. n p. 70 System Gazeteer n p. 86 Hypercorps Hypercorpsnn p. p.70 70 Star Map n p. 87 Political PoliticalBlocs Blocs nn p. p.74 74 Extrasolar Systems n p. 109 Socio-Political Socio-PoliticalMovements Movements nn p. p.79 79 Religious ReligiousGroups Groups nn p. p.82 82 TECHNOLOGY Pervasive advanced technologies have profoundly Criminal CriminalFactions Factions nn p. p.83 83 affected people’s daily lives, from the wireless mesh Firewall Firewallnn p. p.84 84 and personal AI muses to backups, egocasting, and morphs. n p. 45 PANDORA GATES These mysterious wormhole gates allow instantaneous travel to 3 distant star systems, opening the galaxy’s door to transhuman- ity. Presumed to be artifacts abandoned by the TITANs, are these devices a danger or an opportunity? n p. 46 SEnA TIME OF ECLIPSEnA TIME OF ECLIPSEnA TIME OF ECLIPSEnA TIME OF ECLIPSEnA TIME OF ECLIPSE A TIME OF ECLIPSE 3 This chapter provides a complete overview of the your mouth, I could really care less what they teach Eclipse Phase universe. It starts with a history, goes you. For it is most certainly lies. I’ve lived in the inner into detail on the setting, covers factions, and then system. I know the rules and the deceits told in the wraps up with a system gazetteer. name of civil order and “national security.” Nations! Ha! Even at the onset of the 21st century, nations were starting to go into decline. It just took The following is a transcript of an audiofile recov- everyone a while to realize they were obsolete. ered after the catastrophic decompression event Do you remember the great nations of the world? on Walther-Pembroke Station. The audiofile is Are you old enough to remember how they sat around believed to be a recording of Donovan Astrides and debated whether the major climate shifts they and to be a summation of his unpublished work, were creating were even real? Even when many of A People’s History of an Unfortunate Universe. n them agreed that something needed to be done, none of them stood up to do it. The leaders of the world carried on with business as usual, secure in their privilege, as droughts ravaged Africa and Central A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF AN Asia, Europe froze, and severe weather wreaked havoc everywhere. People across the globe were feeling the UNFORTUNATE UNIVERSE pinch of starvation or rampant epidemics, but the [Sounds of scratching on the microphone, creaking of leading nations were more concerned about the refu- furniture, the noise of a woman clearing her throat] gees pouring over their borders and polluting their lily What? white paradises with their customs and languages and [Indistinct murmuring] willingness to work for a pittance just to survive. Fuck you. I do this how the fuck I want, though The wars over oil and energy were only worsened it was nice of you to put me in this nice young by wars over the weather and water that followed. woman’s body. Unstable regimes rose and fell or were pushed over [Sounds of hands running along fabric] the edge, all in pursuit of precious liquids. The great SYNOPSIS Does my vulgarity shock you, corporate lackey? No nation states transformed into fortresses, steeled matter, I’m sure you can edit it out for your proles. against the twin threats of the barbarians threatening WELCOME TO FIREWALL Now—you asked about my book? Is it a history book them on the outside and the masses of their poor and you ask? No. It is an anti-history book. I shall tell you dispossessed internally, all of them wanting to come A TIME OF ECLIPSE about the future. in only for a little drink. [Mumbling, questioning tone] You know, I’ve actually heard some conservatives GAME MECHANICS What does it hold? The future, you mean? refer to that period as a golden age, a peak time for [Indistinct “Yes.”] the corporations and the rich. It’s certainly true that CHARACTER CREATION No. I don’t think you care about the future. What it was a golden age for repression—and profits. If you SAMPLE CHARACTERS you really want to know is: will you get the future were in that lucky fraction of a percent of the popula- you want? And that is an easy question to answer. No. tion who could afford it, it was certainly a good time, SKILLS No, you will not get the future you want. Because you but for the majority of humanity it was a time of are stupid enough to ask this stupid question about horrors. Global inequality was larger than ever before. ACTIONS AND COMBAT the future. Robots were taking jobs away from human hands. [Silent pause] This was a time of radicalization. Failing govern- MIND HACKS I remember reading a scan of an old real print ments no longer supplied people’s basic needs. The comic once. The character in it was railing against the globalized poor turned to local tribes, fundamentalist THE MESH imaginary people of his imaginary world, taking them groups, political radicals, and criminal networks for ACCELERATED FUTURE to task about their dissatisfaction with the future they the means to survive. Insurgent groups flourished, but lived in. But it was really aimed at the stupid people they depended on the black market to survive, and GEAR who wanted their stupid little futures and who were soon their leaders were more concerned with making too stupid to see that the future is now. It’s always money than making change. GAME INFORMATION now. Except it isn’t anymore. The TITANs changed The nation states, as always, resorted to repres- that. The future is now yesterday, and last week, and sion. Civil liberties were restricted and surveil- REFERENCE ten years ago. Especially ten years ago. But the future lance increased. Automated weapons systems were is also back on poor old Earth—it’s a legacy of where deployed first against guerrillas and terror cells, then we’ve been and what has come before. against agitators and demonstrators. I remember the Do they teach you history on Venus, in your sealed first time I saw those police drones at a demonstration compounds and resort aerostats? No, don’t open in support of a worker’s strike in Long Beach. The 32 drones ordered us to disperse once, only once, before themselves in sympathy with their earthbound they opened fire with their “nonlethal” weapons. compatriots and announced a manifesto for a more Nonlethal my ass. Three people died that day and humanistic approach to solar system colonization. dozens were injured. The mainstream media ignored Numerous scientists and engineers, who had previ- it even if the bloggers didn’t. ously worked as pawns in corporate space expan- Meanwhile, the privileged elites continued to sions, adopted a technoprogressive stance. That’s prosper. Longevity treatments expanded lifespans— how the argonauts were born, you know, taking for those who could afford it. Major crackdowns their name from a previous group of scientists who swept up off-brand pharma and stifled bootleg advised the US government and Pentagon on science procedures by pioneering biochemists, even while and policy called the Jasons. Faced with reprisals worldwide life expectancies dropped for the first time from their corporate masters, a number of argonauts in decades. Why extend the lives of so many poor defected from the hypercorps, in some cases taking people when expert systems as smart as any human key resources and research with them, while others could be built in a fraction of the time it would take went underground. to educate an actual person? When robotics and This is when the hypercorps really took off, though, drone technologies allowed menial jobs to be turned those shark-like bastards. They let the nation-states over to uncomplaining and unpaid labor? The rich and lumbering multinationals of old take the brunt had their high-pricetag designer chimeric pets to keep of the global rage and assault. They took advantage them company anyway. of the chaos to slip free of the old moral and ethical Not all of the upper classes were wallowing in restraints on human experimentation and from the opulence while the planet around them starved and legal purview of the nationalities that had birthed drowned. A few were looking ahead at the changes on them. They embraced the opportunities of numerous the horizon, scheming how to stake their claim. Some new technologies and the drive into space. It was their of these worked to expand their dominion, building research labs that cooked up the first sentient artificial a space elevator in sub-Saharan Africa and sending intelligences, the first gengineered human clones, and robotic probes out to map the solar system in detail. the first true uplifts: chimps and dolphins brought They even founded the first stations on Mars and into awareness as corporate experiments and slaves. Luna then, more than fifty years before the Fall. As the last of the old states became increasingly The ecopocalypse wasn’t going away, however, no desperate to cling to their power and land, the matter how much those in power tried to ignore it. hypercorps extended a helping hand. They offered Severe winters and droughts continued to pound at debt-bondage terms to those who were willing to sign us. Rising ocean levels devastated coastlines world- over their rights and humanity for a trip offworld, to wide with massive flooding. A few last-ditch efforts to work as indentured servants on corporate colonies undertake mega-scale geoengineering projects created and stations. Hundreds of thousands took the offer as as many problems as they fixed. These were viewed an alternative to the crushing poverty and chaos on with cynicism anyway, as some were thinly disguised Earth. The business of resource exploitation exploded test runs for terraforming techniques being prepared across the solar system as stations were established for offworld deployment. as far out as the Kuiper Belt. Voices that spoke of It often seemed as though the eyes of the fortunate respecting biodiversity and natural ecologies were were no longer focused on the world around them, ignored as the hypercorps toiled to reshape planets but rather on the heavens above. The completion and moons to their will. of the first space elevator and the first mass driver This was the state of things until about twenty on our moon kicked off a new space race and the years before the Fall. Though many of the old oppres- A TIME OF ECLIPSE competition was on to stake claims around the solar sor states had been struck down, new ones arose, and system. All this new expansion was powered by the the various global insurgencies oscillated between first mass-produced efficient fusion power plants and making radical changes and falling into the same the establishment of helium-3 mining enterprises. old tribal warfare traps. Reactionary religious and Back on Earth, though, the hammer finally fell. political forces on Earth also railed against the hyper- Insurgents adopted fifth generation warfare tech- corps’ agenda, resulting in some terrorist attacks and niques, sharing open source methods of resistance, sabotage strikes and culminating in a failed attempt utilizing swarming attacks on critical systempunkts. to disable the space elevator by an Islamist suicide People crushed under years of oppression rose up in cell. The hypercorps were quick to retaliate, ordering .3 .3.3.3.3.3 these opportunities and smashed at the state and cor- an orbital bombardment using high-density objects .3 .3 porate apparatus that had held them down. Nation against the headquarters and compounds of several 3.3.3.3.3 after nation fell to insurgencies manned by those who key opposition leaders. Though effective in decapitat- had fought in thousands of little wars over fuel, ponds, ing several terrorist networks, the mass destruction and bread crusts. sparked outrage against the hypercorps, creating a Most states fought back by becoming more totali- deeper rift between Earth and offworld interests. .3. tarian and repressive, but the tide of rebellion spread The hypercorps remained out of reach, however, offworld as a series of outposts and stations declared though they were not completely immune from 3.3 33 . .3 Earth’s troubles. The workers and colonists brought the ability to download back into a separate human from Earth transported many of their ethnic, politi- brain or cyberbrain. The already long-lived hypercorp cal, and socio-tribal grudges with them, leading to masters no longer had to fear death by accident or several outbreaks of violence in habitats and orbital injury. This technology also made its way into the stations. Some also harbored allegiances opposed hands of others, despite the costs. Experimentation to hypercorp interests, illustrated by isolated acts with other bodies—both biological and synthetic— of preservationist sabotage and religious terrorist became a new playground for culture. And let’s not attacks. Various criminal networks also came along forget those who willingly shook off the shackles of for the ride, expanding their black markets and vice the flesh to experience the virtual life and dive deep trades wherever humans went. into their own dreamscape realities. As the hypercorps expanded, so too did their politi- While we all enjoyed our new toys, though, Earth, cal opponents: the anarchists, socialists, argonauts poor Earth, continued to die a slow death. I can still and others who worked diligently to establish their recall the speculation that it might take centuries for own independent presence, mostly in the outer system, the planet to totally slide into ecological devastation. further from hypercorp reach. The hypercorps even It was frustrating, everywhere you turned it seemed contributed to this growth by sending their criminals that someone was lamenting the state of the mother- and undesirable elements into exile beyond Mars. world, but no one wanted to do anything. It was too Both sides invested heavily in research and new expensive, or too far away, or too dangerous. We all technologies. Advances in biotech, nanotech, AI, and have blood on our hands from that time. We stood cognitive science were now moving so rapidly that by and watched from our places in orbit as the world major breakthroughs were made on a yearly basis. burned around our brothers and sisters. We thought Developments in one field created a recursive boost we had time, we thought the world was slowly dying in the others, creating a feedback loop that spawned and that we could find the cure. We didn’t plan on immense technological improvements. Offworld, the TITANs. genetic modifications were widely adopted, and new We all remember the Fall. It was only ten years transhuman adaptations became a common sight. ago, but I never cease to be amazed at how confused Sapient AIs were born, equivalent to humans in intelli- people’s memories are of that time. Part of that is gence, sparking controversies over their use and rights propaganda perpetuated by people like you, of course, as persons. We even created new synthetic life forms and part of it is that most of us are afraid to really that were part biological and part robotic. Despite look back and examine how we humans managed to some being so repulsed by this development that they fuck it up so badly. SYNOPSIS dubbed these new types of beings “pod people,” it cer- We like to pretend that the TITANs exploded on tainly didn’t stop pods from being rapidly absorbed the scene, wrecked up the place, and then disappeared WELCOME TO FIREWALL into corporate workforces and brothels, nor did many as quickly as they appeared. The truth, as always, is people care enough to support claims that, as sapient more complex. We claim to know that the TITANs A TIME OF ECLIPSE beings, pods should have their own civil rights. somehow evolved by accident from a military netwar GAME MECHANICS Two breakthroughs in this period deserve specific system, or so the theory goes. That is what their name mention, not least because of their impact on our means: an acronym for Total Information Tactical CHARACTER CREATION human—now transhuman—society. The development Awareness Networks. No one knows for sure where of the first nanotech assemblers signaled a paradigm these first seed AIs came from, though—or if they do, SAMPLE CHARACTERS shift for economics. Available only to the upper they’re keeping quiet. Perhaps the TITANs were inten- strata of the hypercorps at first, these elites jealously tionally designed to be a recursively improving, self- SKILLS guarded these machines, capable of building almost aware digital intelligence. Perhaps the military boffins anything from the atoms up. They placed all sorts of thought they could keep such an intelligence under ACTIONS AND COMBAT restrictions on their usage and availability, claiming their control and that it would give them the edge MIND HACKS that the capability to construct drugs, weapons, or they needed. Perhaps there was only one at first, and other restricted items was a security risk that required it quickly created hundreds if not thousands of copies THE MESH them to be strictly controlled. Open source advocates of itself. No one even seems to know how many of promptly set to work undermining blueprint controls them there were. ACCELERATED FUTURE and seeding their own open source designs, of course. According to the written history—vetted by the Likewise, within months, criminals and anarchists hypercorps, natch—we now know that the TITANs GEAR liberated their own assemblers, and suddenly an took several days after they “woke up” to scan the economic conflict was born. Some were put to use world around them, to learn about us. In their initial GAME INFORMATION feeding the black market trade, while others were stage they were relatively benign, leeching network REFERENCE used to establish habitats and colonies with post- power and resources only where there was enough to scarcity economies that no longer relied on wealth, spare and extending their senses beyond their cradle property, or greed. on Earth. Perhaps they were absorbing everything At the same time came the ability to map the human they could to understand us. Perhaps they were indif- brain and digitally emulate the mind and memories ferent. Or maybe they really were planning to destroy made “uploading” possible—followed closely by us, as the vids all say. 34 I remember this time. I remember that when this something was wrong. This was a turning point, a new round of conflicts re-ignited on Earth, there chance for transhumanity to realize that we collec- was no word of anything about seed AIs or TITANs. tively faced a new enemy, but the finger-pointing and For months and months, it was a simple escalation direct conflict continued. Even when the first open of hostilities. It started with claims of netwar opera- attacks by the TITANs came in earnest, crashing tions and major intrusions, sparking some alarm and major systems, taking control of critical infrastruc- retaliatory attacks. Aggressive stances led to incrimi- tures, and wreaking havoc and destruction, we treated nations, then border conflicts and raids, followed by it as a new front in the war and never stopped taking missile strikes and outright hostilities. Old grudges shots at each other. and sleeping enemies suddenly awoke and turned There is still debate over whether we should have their renewed wrath against old foes. Brush wars, tried to talk to the TITANs, whether they would have corporate rivalries, and ideological disputes flared up been willing to listen to us, whether they even saw us A TIME OF ECLIPSE as insurgencies and rebellions were suddenly every- as something more than we see rats and roaches and where. At the time, it seemed like a not-so-unusual other forms of vermin. But it’s all academic. The fact spate of violence had taken a drastic turn and was is we didn’t. The people who made the decisions, the rapidly spiraling out of control. ones who had to put it all on the line at the time, saw According to the party line, this was all a carefully the TITANs as a threat. And they acted accordingly, concerted effort, the first stage in the TITANs plans. trying to purge them from their systems or capture Perhaps it was, though I remember some military them for future study. officials once claiming that the TITANs were brought The philosopher Thomas Hobbes once spoke of the online because of this violence and not before then— war of all against all. Whatever he imagined could not .3 .3.3.3.3.3 an opinion that was quickly silenced. Then again, have been anything close to the conflict ignited by the .3 .3 maybe we really were played—played by greater intel- TITANs. We killed ourselves by the millions, wield- 3.3.3.3.3 ligences who could barely be bothered to deal with ing the nuclear fire and the silent death of bioplagues us themselves when they knew we were more than indiscriminately. Among this carnage walked the willing to murder and annihilate each other. TITANs, taking control of our machines as though When the first reports of strange automatic facto- we were children, harvesting millions of minds with .3. ries cranking out large numbers of robotic weapons forced uploads for unknown purposes. Every strike systems broke, no one knew who to blame, but clearly we launched against the TITANs was met with untold 3.3 35 . .3 disaster and ruin, all our artifice and devices turned In the aftermath, we stood among the smoking against us in our moment of need. ruins of transhumanity and surveyed all that had been The Fall was a horror. Factories sprang up like a lost. Of all the billions that existed before the Fall, blight in the most ravaged and deserted places on fewer than one in every sixteen survived, and of those Earth, pumping out legions of dread war machines. fewer still retained a corporeal form. Nevertheless, Advanced nanoswarms—far beyond our own capa- the surviving habitats and stations were overcrowded, bilities—infested everywhere, mutating to deal with with tensions high. Vast numbers of infugees circu- any threat they encountered. Biological nanoviruses lated online, as there were simply not enough bodies ripped through human populations, inflicting irre- on hand to accommodate them all. Some were placed versible neurological damage. Potent infowar worms in permanent storage, where they remain forgotten. penetrated even hardened systems, shredding our Others were shunted into virtual reality, given no crucial networks with ease. Prisoner populations were choice but to live their lives in simulated environ- rounded up for forced mind emulations, suffering a ments. A lucky few were given the chance to work luckier fate than those who were merely decapitated as indentured servants, often to build new habitats, by head-collecting drones or pierced by robots with working on the promise of a body of their own neuro-scanning proboscises. Neuropathic viruses someday. You’ve no doubt seen them, working in turned some humans into pawns of the TITANs, cheap mass-produced synthmorph bodies in menial turning them against the rest of us. Other reports or dangerous tasks, segregated from the rest of us. spoke of strange, alien happenings and unimagi- Those left dead or bereft of a body were the least nable terrors. We found ourselves fighting a rearguard of our problems. Our war with the TITANs had left action against coming extinction. The plot of a the Earth a smoking, irradiated, toxic wasteland still hundred novels and movies was made manifest in our populated by dangerous machines and plagues. The lifetimes, the doom of transhumanity at the hands of newly formed Planetary Consortium, composed of the machines. hypercorp interests among the Martian and Lunar For over a year they stalked and destroyed us. colonies, placed Earth and the space around it under There seemed to be no hurry on their part to bring us quarantine. The official reason is that it’s for safety to an end, and why would there have been? Nothing reasons, allegedly to keep any remaining threats from we did affected them. They were data and information, escaping Earth’s confines. Or perhaps we could not they were thought and impulse, they were everywhere stand to look at our homeworld in such a state and and nowhere, and there was nothing we could do that face what we had done to ourselves. they could not turn back against us. Their influence Even now, ten years later, we are told that the Earth SYNOPSIS spread outward from Earth, with outbreaks in orbit, is dangerous, that it holds risks and surprises. That’s on Luna, Mars, and many other places. Everywhere partly true, I believe—there are surprises alright, but WELCOME TO FIREWALL we had a foothold, the TITANs followed. the Planetary Consortium wants them all for itself. Perhaps you remember that point when it became [Rustling noises, murmurs] A TIME OF ECLIPSE clear that transhumanity might not survive. I do. Of course I’m talking about a Pandora gate. The GAME MECHANICS Millions must have seen the signs. And so the great one the TITANs left behind on Saturn’s moon was diaspora began, the teeming masses doing whatever just the first. You’re a fool if you think that there are CHARACTER CREATION they could to flee Earth. Ships were diverted, even only five in the entire system. I’d be willing to bet built, to help people escape. Those who could not buy nearly anything that there’s one down there on dear SAMPLE CHARACTERS their way off the planet did their best to send their old Earth. digital backups, in the dim hope they could acquire a Have you ever seen a gate? No? Of course not. The SKILLS new body. Perhaps one in ten escaped. hypercorps keep them locked down. Not like out You might hear that we banded together to stop in the wild, wild outer system. Sure, the Gatekeeper ACTIONS AND COMBAT the threat, that in our darkest hour we forgave Corp lets anyone with a death wish and the minimum MIND HACKS ancient grudges and simmering hatreds in the face training take a jaunt through the original on Pandora, of extinction. That would be a lie in the face of the but if you’re lucky enough to come back, they own THE MESH ten thousand shot down over Buenos Aires by North everything you find on the other side. I suppose it’s American forces as they sought to escape or the com- the chance for a certain type of adrenaline junkie “to ACCELERATED FUTURE promising of network security on over two dozen boldly go” and all that nonsense. habitats in Lagrange orbits by corporate competitors The extrasolar colonies—now, those are an all new GEAR as their rivals strove to fight off a TITANs attack. We frontier. You inner system types are so predictable were just as gleeful to destroy ourselves. with your rush to colonize and expand and own GAME INFORMATION Then, as quickly as they appeared, the TITANs everything, as if the universe is just there for your REFERENCE vanished. Over the course of a week, the attacks and rich overlords to claim for themselves. I expect your disturbances trailed off and then stopped but for an extrasolar colonies are expanding quite nicely, given occasional outbreak. The retributions and attacks by the sheer number of poor debt-conscripted souls our own kind continued for a few more months, but you toss through. You probably have grand schemes the damage we did to ourselves was nothing com- of building galactic empires. Us. Transhumanity. A pared to what the TITANs had done. galactic civilization. 36 ECLIPSE PHASE TIMELINE All dates are given in reference to the Fall. • Space expansion opens up legal/ • Large-scale netwar incursions break out BF = Before the Fall. AF = After the Fall. ethical loopholes for tech develop- between rival states on Earth, sparking (e.g., BF 10 = 10 years before the Fall.) ment and allows for increased direct numerous conflicts. These attacks are human experimentation. later blamed on the TITANs. BF 60+ • Human cloning becomes possible and • Massive netwar ensues and major • Crisis grips the globe in the form of available in some areas. systems crash as TITANs begin open drastic climate changes, energy short- • Development of first transhuman species. attacks and wage war with autono- ages, and geopolitical instability. • First dolphins and chimpanzees uplifted mous machines. • Initial space expansion creates sta- to sapience. • Conflict quickly spirals out of control. tions at the Lagrange Points, Luna, and • Fusion-drive spacecraft enter common The use of nuclear, biological, Mars, with robotic exploration of the usage. chemical, digital, and nanotech entire system. weapons reported by all sides. • Extended colonization and terraforming • Construction begins on a space elevator. of Mars continues. Belt and Titan colo- • TITANs engage in mass forced upload- • Medical advances improve health and nized. Stations established throughout ing of human minds. organ repair. The rich pursue gene- the system. • TITAN attacks expand to other parts fixing and transgenic pets. • The starving masses volunteer them- of solar system, heaviest on Luna and • Computer intelligence capabilities selves for indentured servitude on Mars. Numerous habitats fall. equal and exceed that of the human hypercorp space projects. • TITANs suddenly disappear from brain. True AI not yet developed. • Augmented reality becomes widespread. the solar system, taking millions of • Robotics become widespread and start uploaded minds with them. • Most networks transformed into self- to replace/invalidate many jobs. repairing mesh networks. • The Earth is left a devastated wasteland, a patchwork of radiation hotspots, ster- • Modern nations expand their high- • Personal AI aides become widespread. ile zones, nanoswarm clouds, roaming speed wireless networks. war machines, and other unknown and BF 20–0 hidden things among the ruins. BF 60–40 • Earth continues to suffer, but the pace • Efforts to undertake mega-scale geo- of technology allows for some interest- AF 0–10 engineering on Earth cause as many ing developments. • A wormhole gateway is discovered on problems as they fix. • Expansion throughout the system, even Saturn’s moon Pandora, presumably • Major colonies established on Luna into the Kuiper Belt. left by the TITANs. Four others are later and Mars; outposts established near • Transhuman species become widespread. found (in the Vulcanoids, on Mars, on a Mercury, Venus, and the Belt. Explorers • Nanotech assemblers become available, moon of Uranus, and in the Kuiper Belt); reach Pluto. but are strictly controlled and jealously these are collectively referred to as • First space elevator on Earth finished. Two “Pandora gates.” guarded by the elite and powerful. others in progress. Space traffic booms. • Uploading and the digital emulation • Expeditions are sent to extrasolar worlds • Mass driver built on Luna. via the Pandora gates. Numerous exo- of memory and consciousness made • Terraforming of Mars begins. possible. planet colonies established. • Fusion power developed and working • More species (gorillas, orangutans, octopi, • First contact with the aliens known A TIME OF ECLIPSE plants established. ravens, parrots) uplifted to sapience. as the Factors shocks the system. • Genetic enhancements, gene thera- Claiming to act as ambassadors for • Pods see common usage, amid some pies (for longevity), and cybernetic other alien civilizations, they provide controversy. implants become available to the little information about life outside wealthy and powerful. the solar system and warn transhu- The Fall • First non-autonomous AIs are secretly mans away from both seed AI and the • Simmering tensions on Earth escalate Pandora gates. developed and quickly put to use in into outright hostilities and warfare. research and netwar. • An attempt to raise a generation of .3.3.3.3.3 • The TITANs evolve from a high-level children using force-grown clones and • Experience playback (XP) technology .3 developed and put into public use. distributed netwar experiment into self-improving seed AIs. For the first time-accelerated VR fails miserably when most die or go insane. Dubbed .3 .3 few days, their existence is unsus- 3.3.3.3.3 the Lost Generation, the survivors are BF 40–20 pected. They advance their awareness, viewed with repugnance and pity. • Violence and destabilization wrack the knowledge, and power exponentially, Earth; some conflicts spread into space. infiltrating the mesh both on Earth and AF 10 • Argonauts split from hypercorps, taking around the system. .3. resources to autonomist habitats. • Present day. n 3.3 37 . .3 Well, galactic squatters at least. That was made clear when the solemn crossing guards of the cosmos THE SOLAR SYSTEM showed up and issued us a warning that we were dabbling in Things What Ought Not To Have Been. AFTER THE FALL Maybe the Factors are telling us the truth, maybe Before the Fall, the solar system had a population of they are acting as ambassadors for a collection of approximately eight billion, with all but five million spacefaring alien species that want to warn us away of these people living on Earth. The Fall wiped out from Forbidden Technology—y’know, the technology almost ninety-five percent of transhumanity, and we’ve already been burned by and of course have today the population of the solar system is slightly less no plans to actually abandon. Think about the Two than half a billion, with almost all of these transhu- Commandments they have given us: thou shalt not mans living off the Earth. The lifestyles of these people create self-improving AI, and thou shalt not use the were almost unimaginable thirty years earlier—the Pandora gates. Oops. Do you think they know? About vast majority are immortals living in sealed habitats what happened with the TITANs? That even we don’t on hostile alien planets or in sealed space colonies, the know where they went and that we’re kind of afraid largest of which hold more than a million inhabitants to find out? Surely they know that we’ve been using and are many kilometers long. the gates and have spread beyond our little backwater, In this vastly changed setting with its vastly and maybe that’s their real fear. But why do we even changed inhabitants, the core concerns of trans- listen to what some highly evolved slime mold tells us humanity remain much the same. People seek both to do anyway? material abundance and social status, and they wrap Taking risks, that’s the price of progress, no? Let’s themselves in various public and private ceremonies. face it, we need some hope. We need a new Earth to Like generations of humans before them, transhu- replace the one we destroyed, a place where we can go mans separate themselves into different cultures and breed like rabbits and fuck it all up over and over and subcultures, all of which enjoy a wide variety of again. We need to know that we can expand beyond physical and virtual entertainments. Politics and eco- this solar system, because right now it’s feeling a little nomics remain vitally important and, as always, those confining, like we could be easily trapped and wiped who are wealthy, powerful, and famous have a large out if the TITANs ever return. We need to know that degree of control over the lives of those who are poor, we have a future. We need to know that we can make relatively powerless, and unknown. it through our own efforts. That we won’t do our- selves in on our own. SYNOPSIS The Lost proved that. It was a noble objective, to TRANSHUMANITY speed a new generation of children to adulthood, but Humanity as a concept has been replaced with WELCOME TO FIREWALL the process was flawed. Taking force-grown clones, transhumanity. Most people now alive left Earth as raising them in VR, and then dumping them into adult infomorphs and were subsequently resleeved into new A TIME OF ECLIPSE bodies after they’ve only been alive for a few years morphs. Bodies are things that can be modified and of objective time—but over eighteen years of their replaced, much as someone can alter or exchange a GAME MECHANICS subjective time? An entire childhood, having only suit of clothing. Identity is centered in the mind, which CHARACTER CREATION each other and AIs for company. It’s enough to fuck can exist as a disembodied infomorph living in virtual anyone up. It was a grand experiment, but it failed, worlds or dwelling in a vast array of strange and SAMPLE CHARACTERS and now we have another reminder of our failures exotic morphs. While there are bioconservatives who living among us. resist these many changes to identity and physicality, SKILLS That’s us, in all our glory. Ten years after the Fall they are very much in the minority. and we remain a broken, squabbling mess, jailed by To most people, transhumanity has also been ACTIONS AND COMBAT slime molds, beaten by uppity software, and yet our expanded in scope to factor in non-human persons own worst enemies. Spreading out from a home we such as AGIs and uplifts, though the rights and status MIND HACKS don’t even have any more. Our numbers reduced and of these sapients is sometimes contested. THE MESH dwindling further with each passing day. Who will As transhumans continue to absorb the ramifica- save us? We don’t even want to save ourselves most of tions of this new way of life, they face a new crop ACCELERATED FUTURE the time. Or so it seems. of problems and issues. Two of the largest and most But if we don’t, there’s no future. And I, for one, important are the increase in inequality and the splin- GEAR have not lived this fucking long to give up now. You, tering and separation of transhumanity into many me, we’re effectively immortal. The entire galaxy is different clades. GAME INFORMATION waiting out there for us. We’d be stupid not to go see it. REFERENCE INEQUALITY The technologies first developed in the decade before the Fall and refined in the decade after its end have transformed humanity. In all but the most backwards, End Transcript n impoverished, and repressive regions of the solar system, the vast majority of humanity is smarter, 38
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