TEXT: Volume 1: Habitats, Surveillance, Uplifts
  
  eclipsephase.com
  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. © 2011
   Panopticon surveys three areas of the Eclipse Phase setting:
  n  Ubiquitous surveillance and sousveillance—living in a transparent society 
  n The inner workings of space habitats—and how to hack them
  n Uplifts and smart animals—their scientific and cultural impacts 
  n plus new morphs, gear, habitat rules, and more!
  
   
   P A N OP TIC O N :  
  A FO CUS E D  E YE ON  T RA N SH U MA N ITY  
  
  EL DESTINO VERDE 
  4
  SURVEILLANCE 
  10
  OUR TRANSPARENT SOCIETY 
  12
  The Assault on Privacy 
  12
  Resistance to Big Brother 
  13
  Like This 
  13
  Reputation Growth 
  13
  Technological Tool Growth 
  14
  The Democratization of Surveillance 14
  The Public Eye 
  15
  The AI Revolution 
  16
  The Changing Face  
  of Transhumanity 
  16
  Dataclysm 
  18
  Transition 
  18
  Surveillance Society 2.0  
  19
  IDENTITY AND IDENTIFICATION 20
  ID Systems 
  20
  Resleeving, Travel, and Egocasting 
  22
  The SAPIENT Initiative 
  23
  SAPIENT Subversion 
  24
  ID Problems 
  24
  ID Protection 
  25
  ID and Forking 
  25
  Identity Monitoring 
  25
  PANOPTICON ISSUES,  
  ETHICS, AND CULTURE 
  26
  Privacy vs. Transparency 
  26
  Power Dynamics 
  27
  Information Control 
  27
  Accountability 
  28
  Anonymity and Infamy 
  29
  Truth vs. Fiction 
  29
  Surveillance Insecurity 
  30
  Crypto Security 
  30
  Cultural Openness 
  30
  SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY 
  31
  Sensor Network Advantages & 
  Limitations 
  32
  Sensor Types 
  32
  Data Correlation 
  37
  Target Data 
  37
  Solarchive Search: Issues with Precog 
  System Implementation 
  38
  COUNTERSURVEILLANCE 
  39
  Privacy for the Wicked 
  39
  Living the Lie 
  39
  Awareness 
  42
  Blind Spots 
  42
  Jamming and Blinding 
  42
  Deception 
  43
  Falsifying Data 
  43
  Misdirection 
  43
  The Transhuman Factor 
  44
  Darkcasting Operations 
  45
  GROUPS 
  45
  Anon 
  45
  Datacide 
  45
  Decepticons 
  46
  Ego Union 
  46
  Electronic Future Foundation 
  46
  Hive Mind 
  47
  Mesh Leaks 
  47
  Source 
  47
  Spinternet 
  47
  AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION 
  48
  Intermittent Spotters 
  48
  Hobbyist Voyeurs 
  48
  Fans, Stalkers, and Paparazzi 
  48
  Digital Security Watchers 
  49
  Physical Security Watchers 
  50
  Griefers and Criminals 
  50
  THE STATE OF PRIVACY 
  50
  Transparent 
  50
  Closed 
  51
  Open 
  51
  Private 
  51
  HABITATS 
  52
  NEW HOMES ON THE FRONTIER 54
  PURPOSE 
  55
  HABITAT TYPES 
  56
  Aerostats 
  56
  Bathyscaphes 
  57
  Beehives 
  57
  Bernal Spheres 
  58
  Clusters 
  58
  Cole Bubbles 
  59
  Domes 
  59
  O’Neill Cylinders 
  60
  Tin Can Habitats 
  61
  Toruses 
  61
  Solarchive Search:  
  McKendree Cylinder 
  61
  Exotic and Variant Habitat Types 
  62
  THE SPACE LIFE SURVIVAL GUIDE
   
  64
  Finding Up 
  64
  Gravity Transition Zones 
  65
  Moving in Microgravity 
  65
  Donning A Spacesuit 
  66
  How To Handle Decompression 
  67
  How To Survive In Vacuum 
  67
  LIVING SPACE IN SPACE 
  69
  Smaller and Microgravity Habitats 69
  Larger Spin-Gravity Habitats 
  69
  Synthmorph-Only Areas 
  69
  Landscaping 
  69
  Toilets and Hygiene 
  70
  Pets and Wildlife 
  70
  Activities 
  71
  HABITAT SYSTEMS 
  72
  (Physical) Access Control 
  72
  Administrative 
  74
  Communications 
  74
  Defense Systems 
  75
  Emergency Systems 
  76
  Infrastructure 
  80
  Mesh Systems 
  81
  Mining and Harvesting 
  83
  Public Services 
  83
  Power 
  84
  Security 
  86
  Sensor Systems 
  86
  Transit Systems 
  87
  HAZARDS 
  88
  Fire 
  88
  Pollution 
  89
  Decompression 
  89
  Damaged Habitats and Systems 
  90
  THE HABITAT IS NOT THE 
  TERRITORY 
  91
  Psychogeographic Awareness 
  91
  Drift and Drive 
  92
  Exohabitation 
  92
  Changing Needs and Purposes 
  93
  Psychovideography 
  94
  Living In Risk 
  95
  UPLIFTS 
  97
  WHAT IS UPLIFT? 
  98
  Playing God 
  98
  An Ethical Imperative? 
  99
  Baby’s First Words 
  100
  How It Came To Be 
  100
  THE SCIENCE OF UPLIFT 
  101
  The Brain 
  101
  The Body 
  103
  Genefixing and Biomods 
  104
  Language 
  105
  Socialization 
  105
  Jake 
  106
  Reproduction 
  106
  Mistakes, Failures, and Rejects 
  107
  Defect Escapes 
  108
  UPLIFT SPECIES 
  108
  Neo-Hominids 
  108
  Neo-Cetaceans 
  110
  Solarchive Search: Deep Current  
  Black Killer of Squid 
  111
  Neo-Avians 
  111
  Neo-Octopi 
  113
  Neo-Pigs 
  114
  Neo-Neanderthals 
  115
  SMART ANIMALS 
  116
  Smart Dogs 
  117
  Smart Cats 
  117
  Smart Monkeys 
  118
  Smart Rats 
  118
  Other Smart Animals 
  118
  UPLIFT SPECIALISTS 
  119
  Hypercorps 
  119
  Guerilla Uplift 
  120
  Incident Report:  
  Escaped Neanderthal 
  122
  Non-Hypercorp Specialists 
  122
  UPLIFT SOCIAL ISSUES 
  123
  Legal Issues 
  123
  Cultural Issues 
  125
  The Work of Uplifts 
  128
  Solarchive Search:  
  The Uplift Avant-garde 
  129
  Biology is Not Destiny 
  130
  UPLIFT FACTIONS 
  131
  The Sapient Faction 
  131
  Mercurials 
  132
  Smaller Uplift Factions 
  134
  ALLIES AND ENEMIES 
  135
  NOTABLE HABITATS 
  137
  Atlantica 
  137
  Pacifica Project Acquisitions List 
  138
  Mahogany 
  138
  Migratory Vermin 
  138
  Treehouse 
  139
  Valley of the Apes 
  139
  Uplift Diasporas 
  139
  2
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  GAME INFORMATION 
  140
  NEW MORPHS 
  142
  NEW KNOWLEDGE SKILL 
  145
  Exotic Language 
  145
  NEW TRAITS 
  145
  Positive Traits 
  145
  Negative Traits 
  145
  NEW GEAR 
  148
  Bioware 
  148
  Cyberware 
  148
  Nanoware 
  149
  Robotic Enhancements 
  149
  Communications Gear 
  150
  Covert and Espionage Technologies 150
  Drugs and Chemicals 
  151
  Nanotechnology 
  152
  Sensor Systems 
  152
  Services 
  154
  Smart Animals 
  154
  Software 
  155
  Survival Gear 
  157
  Robots 
  157
  Vehicles 
  158
  IDENTIFICATION 
  158
  Brainprint Scans 
  158
  Nanotat IDs 
  159
  SENSOR RULES 
  159
  Sensor Types 
  159
  Sensor Size and Range 
  159
  Detecting Sensors 
  160
  Using Sensors 
  160
  Hyperspectral Sensors 
  162
  Using Multiple Sensors 
  162
  SURVEILLANCE 
  162
  Caught in the Act 
  162
  Private Sensors 
  163
  Countersurveillance Tricks 
  163
  HABITAT HACKING 
  164
  Airlocks 
  164
  Bulkhead Doors 
  166
  Hull and Superstructure 
  166
  Life Support 
  167
  Reactors 
  168
  Biological Systems 
  168
  HABITAT INFILTRATION 
  168
  Darknets 
  168
  Sneak Approach 
  168
  Catching a Lift 
  169
  Exterior Access 
  169
  Interior Infiltration 
  169
  HABITAT MESH SYSTEMS 
  169
  Habitat Mesh Topology 
  169
  Interfacing and Access 
  170
  HABITATS AS MORPHS 
  172
  Sleeving into a Habitat 
  172
  Overwatch Bonus 
  174
  Habitat Cyberbrain Hacking 
  174
  Sample Habitat Morph 
  174
  Habitat Morph Gear 
  174
  UPLIFTS 
  174
  Uplift Gear 
  174
  Uplifts and Drugs 
  175
  SMART ANIMALS 
  175
  Smart Animal Training 
  175
  Biodrones 
  175
  CREDITS
  Writing: Lars Blumenstein, Rob Boyle, Brian Cross,  
  Nathaniel Dean, Jack Graham, David Hill,  
  Justin Kugler, Steven Mohan
  Editing: Rob Boyle, Brian Cross, Michelle Lyons,  
  Diane Piron-Gelman
  Development: Rob Boyle, Brian Cross
  Art Direction: Rob Boyle
  Cover Art: Stephan Martiniere
  Interior Art: Jonas Andreassen, Anna Christenson,  
  Trevor Claxton, Julie Dillon, Saul Espinosa,  
  Danijel Firak, Tom Garden, Zachary Graves,  
  Jaime Guerrero, Tariq Hassan, Nick Klaus,  
  Adrian Majkrzak, Marco Mazzoni, Aaron Miller,  
  Mark Molnar, Jonas Springborg, James Wolf Strehle,  
  Mark Winters, Ben Wootten
  Layout: Adam Jury
  Indexing: Adam Jury
  Playtesting and Proofreading: 
  Eirik Bull-Hansen, Philippe Daigneault, Karl Hauber,  
  Richard Riessen, Martin Swan, Sebastian Tivig, 
  Guillaume Tremblay, William Wilson
  Science Advice: Mike Miller, Anders Sandberg
  Musical Inspiration: Chainreactor, iVardensphere, Twinkle
  RESOURCES
  http://eclipsephase.com—Eclipse Phase website and blog
  http://delicious.com/infomorph— 
  Eclipse Phase related news and links
  http://posthumanstudios.com—Posthuman Studios website
  First Printing, 2011, by Posthuman Studios
  contact us at info@posthumanstudios.com
  or via http://eclipsephase.com
  or search your favorite social network for:
  “Eclipse Phase” or “Posthuman Studios”
  Posthuman Studios is: Rob Boyle, Brian Cross, and Adam Jury.
  Creative Commons License; Some Rights Reserved.
  This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-
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  To view a copy of this license, visit:
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  or send a letter to: Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 
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  What this means is that you are free to copy, share, and remix the 
  text and artwork within this book under the following conditions:
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  2) you attribute Posthuman Studios;
  3) you license any derivatives under the same license.
  For specific details, appropriate credits, and updates/changes to 
  this license, please see: http://eclipsephase.com/cclicense
  Printed in the USA
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  3
  
  Jake Carter’s hunt for his missing sentinel had taken him, by buggy and by mesh, in a wide arc 
  around the Titan Quarantine Zone. Bobdog LaGrange had been missing for three days, and the 
  trail Bobdog’d had his nose on wasn’t one that led anyplace good. Finally, Carter got a break. A 
  traffic spime on a ditchstop spur of the M-4 had gotten a facial match on Bobdog, looking drugged 
  in the back of a car.
  He’d traced the car to a saloon at the end of the spur road and called in a favor from Sage Kim, 
  Captain of the Elysium Rangers, to ride shotgun while he checked it out. She wasn’t Firewall, but 
  Jake figured she wouldn’t be seeing anything too crazy on what oughta be a simple rescue mission. 
  Kim knew him as Jae Park, terraforming worker and sometime-smuggler, and he meant to keep it 
  that way for now.
  Kim’s big gray Ranger flier circled the wide hollow at the end of the lonely highway once, then 
  touched down near a dozen other vehicles, landing lights briefly illuminating the rusty Martian soil. 
  The flier looked like the very mean lovechild of a large jeep and a fanjet VTOL plane. The front 
  doors swung up, and Kim, Park, and a baboon hopped out, boots crunching on frost. Another 
  baboon, masked against the thin atmosphere, pulled shut the doors and hopped to the front 
  window of the flier, watching as the trio made their way across the landing lot.
  “Cold enough to make dry ice tonight,” Kim said.
  “CO2 doesn’t freeze in the Labyrinth anymore, lady.”
  “Feels like it could tonight,” she said, “Let’s get inside.”
  Even in the relative shelter of Noctis Labyrinthus, the canyon walls didn’t do much to stop the 
  wind screaming across the Tharsis Plateau that night. They leaned in to the gusts, making a beeline 
  from the prowler across the lot toward a lone building.
  Both wore heavy boots, clothes made from drab fabric that looked like denim but acted like 
  kevlar, well-worn sidearms, and rebreathers under dark balaklavas. Kim’s kit loosely followed the 
  regulation uniform of the Tharsis League Rangers (which was how most rangers followed uniform 
  regs—loosely). Both were Asian phenotypes with ruddy skin—rusters.
  The baboon followed in the woman’s steps, stopping occasionally to scan the roof and windows 
  of the building. Cape baboons weren’t the prettiest creatures to begin with, but with goggles and a 
  full breather covering the muzzle, the big male—she called it Smoke—looked damned scary.
  The building was stacked together from twenty or thirty boxy green shipping containers. The 
  place was only dimly lit in realspace, but in augmented reality a big neon sign flickered over the 
  buidling’s watchtower. It read, “Destino Verde.”
  “Thanks for helping me come after Bobdog,” he said.
  “If Bobdog didn’t feed me tips nice and regular, I’d have put his ass away long ago,” she said, 
  “He’s an idiot.”
  “Ain’t gonna argue.”
  “And the less I know about what’s actually going on here, Park, the better.”
  “Crystal.” He clicked off the safety on his piece, heard the whine of magnetic rails going hot as 
  she did the same. “Get your game face on, Captain.”
  4
  
  himself on his elbows and leaned on the bar like he 
  was studying the beer taps, but his attention was 
  on the little video window in the corner of his field 
  of vision. Big blond guy and a stolid Japanese kid, 
  both sipping their drinks slow and showing Yakuza 
  nanotats. The blond guy was looking his way; his 
  friend kept glancing at Kim.
  [Some heavy citizens,] he messaged. He glanced 
  at the bartender, [And where you figure they got the 
  cred for a model like her in a dump like this?]
  Conversation in the room started up again, 
  and the girl finally said sideways to Park, “What 
  do you want?”
  “Sorry about my friend. She ain’t been feeling 
  so great. Pint of Red Iron?”
  The girl narrowed her eyes briefly at Kim, 
  then looked back at him. “Your lover?” she 
  asked. Jae felt a flutter in his chest when she 
  locked eyes with him. Tailored pheromones?
  “The captain? Nah, I just owe her a favor.” 
  Yeah, definitely pheromones; he was fighting 
  not to get distracted. “She’s due for some new 
  genetic services packs; she’s got achy joints and 
  all. She’s looking for a remedy ’til she can make 
  the payments, wanted me along to make sure 
  she didn’t get put over the barrel on the price.”
  The girl finished pouring the beer and passed 
  it over in a way that involved more bending and 
  stretching than was strictly necessary. She said, 
  “What’s a terraform-wallah know about being over 
  a barrel?” She’d made him quick, but then his whole 
  look screamed terraformer, even with his network 
  profile in privacy mode.
  “You ever worked as a line engineer, you’d know the 
  answer, darlin’: plenty.” He took a long pull off the 
  beer; it tasted like burnt rice and the girl’s perfume.
  “Anyway, this is a bar … not a pharmacy.”
  He slid some cred into an AR payment window, 
  tipping generously. “Ain’t what I heard.”
  She glanced toward the pair of yakuza. Through 
  Kim’s video feed, he saw the young-looking one 
  nod to her. “Why don’t you and your friend try in 
  back?” She pointed to a hallway to her left marked, 
  “EMPLOYEES ONLY.”
  He abandoned the remaining beer. “Thanks, 
  darlin’.” He turned to Kim and nodded toward the 
  hallway, and the two of them headed back. Smoke 
  stayed perched on its table, eyeing the two yakuza.
  The back room opened up into four cargo 
  containers whose innermost sides, bottoms, and 
  tops had been cut away, forming a big, mostly open 
  space. At the back of it was a counter, and behind 
  the counter was a tall stack of cases, drawers, 
  cabinets, and hanging nets full of herbs, animal parts, 
  and medicines in old-fashioned glass and plastic 
  “You’ve never seen it off.” An AR graphic of a 
  badge—the Ranger star with the Chinese charac-
  ters for “justice” at its center—dissolved in over the 
  lapel of her duster as she pulled open the building’s 
  outer door.
  There was a gust of warm air. The place didn’t have 
  a proper airlock, just a couple of counterweighted 
  pressure doors. Cheap to maintain, and good for us, 
  Park thought. If they needed to make a fast exit, an 
  airlock was the worst option.
  He turned on his t-ray emitter, shared what he was 
  seeing with Kim through their tacnet, and scanned the 
  room on the other side of the door. Front of the place 
  looked like a typical roadhouse crowd, with someone 
  pouring drinks and about a dozen other people either 
  propping up the bar or scattered around the room. 
  There was more than one way to the back; a little 
  way down one of the passages was someone on a 
  stool—probably a doorman.
  “Got all that, Captain?” he asked.
  “Yeah,” she said, “Go time.” She pushed the inner 
  door open and strode in, stopping next to the nearest 
  table. The baboon hopped up next to her, pulled off 
  its breather, grunted, and made a fist-smacking gesture 
  that aped packing a box of cigarettes. She absently 
  offered him a pack and a zippo while Park walked up 
  to the bar. Style points for the lighter; self-igniting cigs 
  were for spacers and dome dwellers.
  “Hey there,” he started in Mandarin, but the 
  pleasure pod tending bar, whose outfit consisted of 
  little more than AR graphics, cut him off.
  The pod had a fresh face but a mean sneer. “Get 
  that monkey outta here,” she said to Kim, “This is a 
  clean place.” She was speaking English with an Indian 
  accent. Sounded weird coming out of a morph that 
  looked Japanese, but Park’d heard weirder.
  Kim chuckled once. “This monkey’s the Law. Get 
  back to selling betel nuts, cupcake.”
  Park looked over his shoulder to see Smoke light 
  its cigarette and take a satisfied drag, smiling 
  to show huge canines. Whoever said smart 
  baboons couldn’t grok human insouciance was 
  dead wrong, but Park also noticed the baboon 
  had one hand on its shock baton.
  The pod stood there a minute, palms planted 
  on the bar, attempting to stare down the 
  ranger. Kim ignored the girl completely, slowly 
  walking around the table, sizing up the other 
  customers along the way, until she’d done a 
  full circle, whereon she kicked out a chair and 
  planted herself, one boot up on the table. [Only 
  ones who might be trouble are the pair closest to the 
  back,] she messaged.
  Park didn’t need to look their way; he was 
  getting video from Kim in his tacs. He propped 
  JAKE CARTER AKA JAE PARK n FIREWALL PROXY
  SAGE KIM n MARTIAN RANGER
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  EL DESTINO VERDE
  5
  
  [Triads won’t touch it,] he messaged, [They think 
  it’s a cultural embarrassment, if you can believe. But 
  the demand’s there, so the yakuza got into it.]
   The yakuza rolled out a cage with a gibbon 
  in it. Jake really wanted to find Bobdog and get 
  out of here before he was responsible for them 
  cutting on this monkey but … well, here was 
  some fucked up shit he hadn’t seen before.
  The gibbon was hopping around in its cage 
  freaking out, but it was also signing to him in 
  Warlpiri. <Jake! Get me out of here!>
  He signed from where the old man (hope-
  fully) wouldn’t spot him while Kim made a 
  show of walking around the cage inspecting the 
  ape. <Bobdog? That you?>
  The gibbon tried to hoot, its throat sack 
  inflating, but only a sick croak came out. <Yes! 
  Get me the fuck out of here now!>
  Park could see where they’d shaved him and 
  popped his stack; they’d burned out his mesh 
  inserts, too.
  [That’s a neo-gibbon. Bobdog’s sleeved in it,] he 
  messaged Kim.
  She glanced at him over the cage. [How do you 
  know?] she messaged, [It doesn’t have a PAN.]
  [Australian native sign language.]
  She shot Park an incredulous look but didn’t say 
  anything. “Okay, it looks good,” she told the yakuza.
  The old man pulled out a metal pole with a wire 
  snare on one end and started trying to catch Bobdog’s 
  hand with it, cursing under his breath as the neo-
  gibbon freaked out in the cage.
  “I haven’t got all day,” Kim said, then messaged, 
  [What’s he doing?]
  [If he gets a hold on Bobdog’s hand, he’s gonna slice 
  it off with that vibroknife in his belt and use it to make 
  your Houzi cream. Game time,] Park messaged, [How you 
  wanna play this?]
  She answered by breaking the old man’s face with 
  the butt of her pistol.
  He fell back, screaming and clutching his broken 
  nose. “What the fuck? You think that badge means 
  you gonna walk out of here alive?”
  There was a crash and screams from somewhere 
  outside. On his tacnet feed, Jae saw the big blond 
  yakuza looking terrified for a split second as Smoke 
  turned over the table onto his companion and came 
  at him with its shock baton.
  Kim kicked the old man to the floor and pointed 
  her gun at his head. “Open the cage now, and I might 
  not shoot you.”
  The cage door swung open, and Park lifted Bobdog 
  out and stood him on top of the cage. <Can you run?> 
  He signed.
  The neo-gibbon shook its head, signed, <Weak.>
  containers. The old guy behind the counter looked 
  Japanese, but the labels on all of the containers and 
  most of the AR graphics floating over items for sale 
  were in Mandarin.
  “What you need? Whatever it is, I got just the thing,” 
  the old man said.
  Park was suspicious as hell of anyone who chose to 
  walk around in an old morph; meant you were either 
  potent or desperate. “My lady friend’s GSPs’re up. 
  She’s got some joint pain. Normal meds ain’t working. 
  You got somethin’ to restore her chi flow or whatever 
  all this stuff is supposed to do?”
  “Chi’s serious business,” the old man scowled. “I got 
  a reed and marrow rub for that, just the thing.”
  Park said, “C’mon, oyabun. I know you got better.”
  “Ah, I have just the thing … Houzi cream.” He 
  started to take a tin from under the counter.
  “Tinned? I could make that in a fabber. Quit trying 
  to jerk me around, or we’re going somewhere else.”
  The old man grunted, backed up and crossed his arms.
  “You’re worried about the badge, paatno-san? 
  C’mon, we know this is a yak place. We’re here for 
  your merchandise, not to make a bust, or we’d have 
  her monkey in here tearing your shit up already.”
  The old man scowled. “I can make you up a Houzi 
  cream, but it ain’t cheap.”
  Park messaged her, [Ask to see the gibbon.]
  Kim crossed her arms and looked around the shop 
  like she was thinking about it. [Are you fucking serious, 
  Park? You think—]
  [Just do it!]
  She looked at the shopkeeper. “I’m gonna need to 
  see the gibbon. That ain’t a problem, right?”
  The shopkeeper led them deeper into the maze of 
  shipping containers.
  [What’s going on with this operation?] Kim messaged, [I 
  seen some weird shit, but … ]
  Park messaged, [Traditional Chinese medicine. Old-timey, 
  superstitious shit. It was mostly dead ’til the corps kicked in 
  with the GSP racket and people couldn’t find any cure’d work 
  on their pains and asthma. Some of the recipes call for ape 
  parts. They lop off the pieces to make the meds, then throw 
  ‘em in a healing vat, rinse, and repeat. People’ll try anything, 
  and they think uplifts make stronger medicine. Surprised you 
  never ran into this before.]
  [Wait, so what are the yakuza into it for?] she messaged. 
  She was mapping out all the twists and turns they’d 
  followed on the tacnet.
  They passed through a barrier of hanging plastic, 
  and the reek of confined animals hit them. The 
  hallway opened up into the harvesting room. In the 
  gloom, he saw a neo-bonobo drugged in a cage. Park 
  peered at him, but it wasn’t Bobdog—no dreadlocks. 
  Unless he’d resleeved. Through another doorway, he 
  could see a row of bear cages.
  BOBDOG LAGRANGE n FIREWALL SENTINEL
  6
  
  “Who you know damn well got termites in the 
  frame. Bobdog here’s down a cortical stack, mesh 
  inserts, and a set of vocal cords over what they’re 
  hiding in here.”
  The neo-gibbon signed something in Warlpiri.
  “What the fuck does that mean?” Kim asked.
  “Uh, rough translation? ‘Cowgirl up.’” He shifted 
  Bobdog to his back and headed into the bear cage 
  room, gun first.
  “Well, fuck. C’mon, Smoke.” She caught up, then 
  took point, with the baboon bringing up the rear. 
  [Gloria,] she messaged the other baboon, [Strap in,] and 
  then to the AI in her prowler, [Dust off and circle high.] 
  A few seconds later, the truck was a moving blip on 
  their tacnet.
  A few black bears looked up sadly as they crossed 
  the room. They were stunted and weak, their wire 
  cages barely allowing movement. A neatly attached 
  catheter dangled from the belly of each—for milking 
  their bile, if Park recalled rightly. Beyond that was a 
  room with more primates—gibbons, monkeys, and 
  another drugged out neo-hominid. The whole place 
  smelt of sickly caged animals, and Smoke was getting 
  edgy, sweeping the backs of his hands nervously 
  over the floor whenever they paused. Kim gave him 
  another cig to cool him down.
  Kim came to a pressure door with a tiny window. 
  Instead of peering through, she angled her gun so 
  that she could look through its smartlink. Through 
  his tacnet feed, Park could see the room beyond as 
  she slowly panned. It was a lab set up: bunch of steel 
  tables, equipment cabinets, industrial gear for filling 
  up some small, heavily shielded cylinders—for gas or 
  liquid, he wasn’t sure. There was a batch of a dozen 
  cylinders racked up on the table.
  All these details he took in after the back wall, 
  though. In one corner was a heavily shielded incin-
  erator—the kind that used magnetic containment 
  and a blast of plasma to vaporize whatever was 
  in it and then vaporize it some more. Next to that 
  was a biocontainment chamber: a wide, white-lit, 
  glass-fronted enclosure about five meters wide and 
  three deep. There were three figures—or rather two 
  figures,and a … thing—secured to the back wall of 
  the enclosure with a multitude of heavy straps and 
  room for two more.
  One was Bobdog’s morph, a tall bonobo with 
  dreadlocks. It was horribly emaciated but still 
  breathing. Tumescent lumps studded its waist. The 
  second figure was human, probably a ruster, but its 
  skin had gone dead, nearly translucent white. Around 
  its midsection writhed a double ring of stumpy tenta-
  cles surrounded by puckered scar tissue.
  The third thing had only the vague outline of a 
  humanoid shape. The legs had fused into a barrel 
  Park lifted him. “All right, arms around my neck, 
  pal. We’re Althauser 5000.”
  <Not yet,> Bobdog signed, <You need to see what’s 
  in back.>
  There was a gunshot from somewhere down the 
  hall. The old yakuza cackled sickeningly from the floor. 
  “Stupid fucking garlic eaters,” he said, “When my boys 
  get done with you, I’m gonna sleeve you up like that 
  one and use you all for fucking monkey parts.”
  Kim shot him three times, the railgun almost silent 
  except for the crack of the slugs.
  Park looked over in time to see the old man slump 
  over. “Damn,” he said.
  Park lifted the neo-gibbon just as the doorman 
  from out front came tearing into the room. Park spun 
  and leveled his pistol at the man. Bobdog was clinging 
  to him like a baby; kid was gonna need some serious 
  time in psych after this. “Hold it!” he shouted.
  The guy hesitated for a second but kept coming, 
  pistol out. Then the baboon took him down. Smoke 
  leapt at him out of the gloom of the hallway, grabbing 
  him around the neck and swinging its weight forward 
  so that the gangster tumbled and fell to the ground. 
  Smoke landed in front of the guy, then swung its 
  baton hard into the wrist of his gun arm. Bone 
  cracked wetly.
  The yakuza grunted and sat up, holding his wrist. 
  Smoke howled in his face, showing two huge canines. 
  Smoke had been grazed by a shot, though its flak 
  jacket had stopped most of the damage. The baboon 
  looked pissed.
  Park motioned with his gun. “C’mon, Toshi. Get 
  in the cage.”
  The guy stumbled to his feet, the baboon circling 
  him. “Name ain’t Toshi.”
  “Toshi, Fu, Iggins, whatever; get in the damned cage.”
  He got in. Park put down Bobdog, pulled out 
  his COT, and made a neat row of nanotack welds 
  between the bars and the lock.
  “Those’re illegal, terraform-wallah,” Kim said.
  He looked up for a second. “So’s shootin’ technical 
  old yak pharmacists for calling Koreans names.”
  “I like monkeys and garlic. He messed with both in one 
  breath. He needed killin’.” She looked none too penitent.
  “Arright,” Park said, “This one ain’t following us. 
  Now let’s see what all else they got hidden in here.” 
  He picked up Bobdog again; the neo-gibbon pointed 
  toward the bear cages.
  She stayed put as he headed for the bears. “You’re 
  kidding, right Park? We should go. Now. I’ll come 
  back later with a tac squad and clean this place out.”
  “They didn’t seem too afraid of cops. Whose juris-
  diction is this, anyhow?”
  “Gray area. My force doesn’t come down this way 
  much. It’s on the line between me and the Noctis Rangers.”
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  EL DESTINO VERDE
  7
  
  the schematic they built up on their flyover was any 
  good, it lead to an exit.
  Kim checked the back hall for herself, then asked, 
  “I really need some answers about what’s going on in 
  here, Park.”
  Park started pulling on a clean suit. “You ain’t seen 
  enough illegal activity yet?”
  “Human trafficking, animal cruelty, assaulting 
  a ranger, possession of a biohazardous substance, 
  possession of TITAN relics … Yeah, sure, I can throw 
  the book at that old man if I pop his stack and take 
  it in.”
  “Doubt it.” Jake buckled on the boots and started 
  checking the seals. “Bet you his stack’s wiped. He’s 
  the type’ll have a dead switch on a throwaway body 
  like that. Or he wasn’t that important.”
  “Then so it goes,” Kim said, “But whatever’s going 
  on here, it’s the low end of the food chain.”
  Jake sealed the helmet and ran the clean suit’s diag-
  nostics. [Probably true. I figure they’re working on a way to 
  infect more people. Can you do a visual inspection on the 
  seals on this suit?]
  [OK.] She went behind him, checking seals, then 
  came around and gave him a thumbs up. [You think 
  someone’s trying to weaponize it?]
  He dragged the storage cylinders into the airlock 
  with him. Frost came away where his gloves touched 
  them; they were self-refrigerating. [Maybe. Gotta look 
  for the big fish now.]
  Bobdog’s clone tried to look up at him as he cycled 
  the lock and entered the enclosure. He looked away; 
  he couldn’t meet the neo-primate’s eyes. He suction 
  cupped an incendiary charge to the window in front 
  of Bobdog, then in front of the human. Finally, he set 
  one up in front of the whipper, giving it a wide berth.
  He squirted scrapper’s gel on the storage cylinders. 
  He stepped away as the gel burned through and blood 
  began oozing from the cylinders. Three incendiaries 
  would be plenty in a chamber this size.
  When he glanced out, Kim was smoking, too. He’d 
  thought the cigs were just for the monkey. [Shit, Park. 
  We can’t help him?]
  He cycled the airlock. The chemicals from a decon-
  tamination shower hissed off the suit before the outer 
  door opened. [You want to try? You know TQZ containment 
  procedure.]
  Park got out of the suit, letting the pieces drop to 
  the floor, and found the atmosphere controls for the 
  biocontainment enclosure. He adjusted the mix to 
  hypersaturate the chamber with oxygen.
  “What now?” Kim asked.
  “I’ll be done here in a few. We burn the stuff in there 
  so it doesn’t infect anybody else, and after that you 
  can do whatever cop stuff you want to this bar.” The 
  exsurgent in the enclosure had grown restive in the 
  of muscle ending in a wet surface like the belly of a 
  gastropod, and the head and arms had disappeared 
  into the trunk of the body. The tentacles on this one 
  were more active but similarly stumpy and scarred; 
  looked like its keepers’d been trimming them back as 
  they grew.
  Kim sucked in a breath. “Damn it, Park, I don’t 
  know why I do favors for you. You get me into the 
  weirdest shit. Is that radioactive?”
  Park looked at the exsurgent. “No. And ain’t your 
  job patrolling a zombie graveyard for robot monsters?”
  “That’s got nothing on the kind of stuff happens 
  every time I go on one of these runs with you. And 
  this takes the cake. What the hell is this?”
  “Stuff nobody oughta see.” He edged up to the door 
  and opened it, “Should be safe enough behind an 
  enclosure like that, though.” He went inside, and she 
  followed, Smoke in tow.
  “I hope you’re right. What kind of operation you 
  think this is? They’re not cooking up tabs of hither in 
  a setup like this.”
  Park said, “Trying to improve on bear bile, you 
  want my guess. Mind watchin’ the door, Captain?” 
  He put Bobdog down on a lab table. <Maintaining?> 
  he signed.
  Bobdog pointed at his morph, signed, <Fork of me. 
  Infected. Kill it.>
  <You got it,> he signed, but this was a bad scene. 
  The Bobdog strapped to the wall was pretty far 
  gone and infected with something; if he had a stack, 
  better to destroy it. But he couldn’t be too sure about 
  the Bobdog he’d been carrying around the last few 
  minutes, either. When he got out of here, their first 
  stop would be a genehacker kettle in the tablelands 
  about twenty klicks north. He had a friend who could 
  give them a clean bill of health … or not. Park tried 
  not to think about the “not.”
  He tapped at the window separating the room. 
  “Hab window glass. Ideal.” There was an 
  airlock with a decontamination shower 
  leading into the enclosure and a few clean 
  suits on a rack. The set up was basic but 
  looked like it’d work.
  “Ideal for what?” Kim asked.
  He walked once around the enclosure, esti-
  mating its strength. “Blast containment.”
  He started poking around, found a worksta-
  tion with a rack of tiny quantum computers 
  next to some of the lab equipment. [GiGi,] he 
  asked his muse, [Can you get into this?]
  [Mais oui,] the AI messaged, and started 
  throwing exploits at it.
  The baboon was having another cigarette. 
  Thank goodness for bad habits, Park thought. 
  There was another door leading farther back. If 
  GIGI n PARK’S MUSE
  8
  
  oxygen-rich chamber; it squirmed and whipped its stubby tentacles around. He sealed the oxygen 
  line to the chamber; didn’t want too big an explosion.
  Kim said, “I still want more answers. They got infected by a TITAN virus, I take it?” 
  GiGi reported her intrusion complete. He spread out an AR window on the lab table next to 
  Bobdog and showed her. “Thing farthest left we call a whipper,” he said as he scanned the text, 
  “Used to be a person; ain’t anymore.”
  The chemical and biological data was mostly over his head, but what they were doing with it 
  wasn’t too hard to suss out. The yakuza were intentionally creating exsurgents, milking them for 
  bile and other fluids, then shipping the goop somewhere for processing.
  “Who’s ‘we,’ Park?”
  “Huh?” He stopped reading.
  “You said, ‘What we call it.’ Who’s ‘we?’ Are you a fucking Oversight spook or something?”
  Park laughed, “Nah. I work for the good guys. Least, that’s what I think most days. I was kinda 
  hoping you’d sign up.”
  GiGi messaged, [J’ai toutes les données,] into the AR window.
  She raised an eyebrow. “Your muse speaks … is that French?”
  He grinned, closed the AR window, picked up Bobdog, and made for the door. “What? It’s sexy. 
  She’s got all the data. C’mon, I can explain the rest when we’re safe in the air.”
  They put a breathing mask on Bobdog, wrapped him in a heavy blanket, and walked right out the 
  front door. The yak in the cage cursed at them as they passed, but they let him be. The pleasure pod 
  bartender and bar patrons had fled the front of the bar, so they weren’t around to hear the muffled 
  explosion from far back in the maze of shipping containers. The camera Park had left in the room 
  showed that the containment unit held; inside was nothing but ash.
  Kim’s prowler touched down, Gloria peering at them out the front windows. Park wasn’t sure 
  whether a yakuza cleanup crew or Kim’s ranger buddies would get there first, but in the scheme of 
  things, that wasn’t so important. They were in the air, and headed for the hills.
   
   
  Part 1 of 3; To Be Continued…
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  EL DESTINO VERDE
  9
  
  2
  SURvEIllanCE
  ISSUES AND ETHICS
  The Transparent Society: Surveillance above, sousveillance below. How it came to be. n  p. 12
  Privacy and Anonymity: Not just for people with something to hide. n  pp. 26 and 29
  Power Dynamics: Transparency does not mean automatic accountability. n  pp. 26 and 28
  Info Control: Who controls your information? n  p. 27
  Truth: What happens when reality is faked. n  p. 29
  Insecurity: How the panopticon increases risk. n  p. 30
  Open Culture: Transparency breeds tolerance. n  p. 31
  2
  SURvEIllanCE
  ISSUES AND ETHICS
  The Transparent Society: Surveillance above, sousveillance below. How it came to be. n  p. 12
  Privacy and Anonymity: Not just for people with something to hide. n  pp. 26 and 29
  Power Dynamics: Transparency does not mean automatic accountability. n  pp. 26 and 28
  Info Control: Who controls your information? n  p. 27
  Truth: What happens when reality is faked. n  p. 29
  Insecurity: How the panopticon increases risk. n  p. 30
  Open Culture: Transparency breeds tolerance. n  p. 31
  
  TOOLS AND TRICKS
  Sensor Types: The many ways we can watch each other. n  p. 32
  Data Correlation: The amazing things you discover when you 
  analyze massive data sets. n  p. 37
  Countersurveillance: From privacy mode and blind spots to 
  jamming signals and deceiving watchers. n  pp. 38, 41–44
  Fake ID: Many ways to change who you are. n  p. 39
  IDENTIFICATION
  ID Systems: From brainprints to nanotats. n  p. 20
  Resleeving and Travel: How your ID works in new bodies and places. n  p. 21
  The SAPIENT Initiative: Does it protect your identity or make you easier to spy on? n  p. 23
  Identity Theft: How your ID can be stolen—and what you can do about it. n  pp. 24–25
  ID and Forking: Can the real you please stand up? n  p. 25
  TOOLS AND TRICKS
  Sensor Types: The many ways we can watch each other. n  p. 32
  Data Correlation: The amazing things you discover when you 
  analyze massive data sets. n  p. 37
  Countersurveillance: From privacy mode and blind spots to 
  jamming signals and deceiving watchers. n  pp. 38, 41–44
  Fake ID: Many ways to change who you are. n  p. 39
  IDENTIFICATION
  ID Systems: From brainprints to nanotats. n  p. 20
  Resleeving and Travel: How your ID works in new bodies and places. n  p. 21
  The SAPIENT Initiative: Does it protect your identity or make you easier to spy on? n  p. 23
  Identity Theft: How your ID can be stolen—and what you can do about it. n  pp. 24–25
  ID and Forking: Can the real you please stand up? n  p. 25
  
  Source: When the Emperor Wore Clothes,  
  by John Perry Schneier 
  [Link]
  Lifeloggers capture every instant of their existence 
  for their own reference. XP stars live, love, and die 
  with passionate abandon so everyone can enjoy it 
  on demand. Habitats depend on constantly updated 
  operational and environmental data as well as troops 
  of transhuman observers to function seamlessly and 
  provide the day-to-day necessities of transhuman 
  life. Hypercorps, governments, organizations, and 
  individuals safeguard the information they need to 
  survive and seek out what they need to thrive. People 
  can access the locations and live streams of their 
  children, friends, loved ones, or complete strangers 
  at whim. Muses regularly access the social profiles 
  and public records of everyone their patrons interact 
  with, transforming total strangers into familiar faces, 
  before greetings are even exchanged. Knowing what’s 
  going on across multiple fronts simultaneously is 
  absolutely vital to survival after the Fall, and the only 
  way to do that is to employ a panoply of technologies 
  and behaviors designed to keep track of everything. 
  Technology has enabled universal perfect recall for 
  everyone and for most of the devices they use on a 
  daily basis. 
  Who watches the watchmen? 
  Everybody. Always. 
  OUR TRanSPaREnT SOCIETY
  “I’ll admit I’m underhanded. The reason that none 
  of you could find vid of my birth is that there isn’t 
  any. This task was meant to show you the limits 
  of data mining when you don’t have a complete 
  personal history. The three of you who submitted 
  links to your own fake films will receive extra credit. 
  Jeung, however, you’re losing points because you 
  got my natal phenotype wrong despite that being 
  public record.”
  —Rokuzawa Chi, Prof. of Individuality Studies, 
  Titan Autonomous University 
  “Shit, she’s old.” 
  —Abwe al Sul, Junior in Memetics 
  As social animals, humanity’s voyeuristic tenden-
  cies seem ingrained. We monitor our neighbors and 
  peers, staying on top of trends and keeping up with 
  whatever is hip and fashionable. We seek out news, 
  because what impacts others may impact us person-
  ally. And we love to keep tabs on the glamorous and 
  powerful, hoping to get a glimpse of their exotic lives 
  or whiffs of their secret plans. Similarly, those with 
  something to protect, whether it be wealth, secrets, 
  power, or loved ones, keep a wary eye on those that 
  may pose a threat. Information is gathered to keep 
  ahead of rivals, to market products more efficiently, 
  and to control the masses more thoroughly.
  Counter to these spying instincts is our innate 
  desire for privacy, to keep our personal affairs to 
  ourselves, to have the freedom of anonymity and 
  secrecy when we desire or need it. The intersection 
  of privacy and security has become a contested area 
  in recent centuries, a confusing exchange due to 
  competing and sometimes overlapping interests. The 
  inexorable advance of surveillance technologies and 
  digital networks seemed at first destined to under-
  mine fundamental concepts of privacy and personal 
  freedom, sparking fears of Orwellian police states 
  and information dictatorships—until the democra-
  tization of such tools turned the tables. Now, after 
  the shockwaves of such disruptive technologies have 
  passed, transhumanity has largely adapted to an open 
  society, albeit to varying degrees. To understand this 
  current state, we must evaluate the path that brought 
  us here.
  THE aSSaUlT On PRIvaCY
  The rise of pervasive surveillance occurred contem-
  poraneously with the technological and societal 
  changes of the 20th and 21st centuries. Well before 
  the Fall humans were developing ever more perva-
  sive means of documenting their lives and actions. 
  The growth of computer networks in the late 20th 
  century created new opportunities for collecting, 
  archiving, sharing, and cross-indexing data. Old 
  analog records were digitized, increasing their acces-
  sibility, making it easier for governments and corpo-
  rations to share information and track people. New 
  databases sprung up by the billions, sparked by the 
  ease of collecting and manipulating data online. Early 
  users of the internet were largely ignorant of the trail 
  their activities left online, and the many ways in 
  which companies discreetly gathered information on 
  their habits, interests, and personal details, creating 
  detailed profiles of individual users. While many of 
  these archives were bought and sold in private for 
  marketing and commercial purposes, others were 
  left open for the public, making it easy for millions 
  of amateur sleuths to gather information on others. 
  People increasingly found it difficult to escape their 
  pasts, whether it be marred by bad credit, poor 
  driving records, or criminal violations. Even records 
  that were presumably private and restricted, such as 
  medical histories or financial records, suffered from 
  poor security, becoming the victim of public breaches. 
  Criminal networks arose that were dedicated entirely 
  2
  SURvEIllanCE
  12
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  domain without any thought to the implications 
  of their participation. By opting in, it was easier to 
  keep up with more friends in greater detail, maximize 
  social and professional exposure with less time, and 
  partake in slices of thought, public discourse, and 
  new participatory media. Opting out reduced an indi-
  vidual’s sphere of influence and notoriety and risked 
  branding oneself as a technophobe. 
  The companies that sponsored these social 
  networks were financially motivated to increase the 
  amount of data people shared online, so early models 
  were designed with minimal privacy options or with 
  such features turned off by default. Participants were 
  increasingly steered towards making their profile, 
  data, and activities public. As a result, those who 
  wished to participate but maintain some privacy were 
  forced to develop information management skills, as 
  they attempted to control how their data was shared 
  and with whom. New generations grew up in this 
  networked world, never aware of life before social 
  networking, thus embracing a drastically different 
  and more nuanced concept of personal privacy than 
  previous generations.
  Considerations of who really owned the data 
  posted on these networks and rules governing its 
  fair use and reproduction rights were ignored by 
  the majority. Even when serious concerns managed 
  to rise to the level of public awareness, the benefits 
  of continued participation usually outweighed the 
  psycho-sociological value of personal privacy. By the 
  mid-21st century, most of the world was well aware 
  that they were active participants in a global informa-
  tion system that recorded most of their lives. Privacy 
  was something controlled with check boxes in profile 
  settings, and data was meant to be shared. 
  REPUTaTIOn GROWTH
  The formal reputation networks that exist AF arose 
  organically from the informal social media devel-
  oped through the 21st century. An early barrier to 
  interacting with strangers online—particularly when 
  engaging in financial transactions—was not knowing 
  if the person you were dealing with was reliable. 
  Primitive reputation scores were the first solution, 
  enabling buyers to rate sellers. These systems rapidly 
  spread to social networks, discussion forums, and 
  filesharing sites, as a way of valuating participants. 
  Concurrently, for the first time, individuals had 
  access to the same public presence capabilities and 
  image-making techniques formerly reserved for those 
  retaining expensive PR firms. Individuals with huge 
  friends lists and blog followings had commercial pull 
  that could sell products, fill clubs, top up campaign 
  coffers, propagate memes, and make or kill trends.
  Likewise, companies and social organizations 
  seized an opportunity to more carefully control 
  their public image for increasingly savvy consumers, 
  in an attempt to manage the ratings their products 
  and services received online. Corporations created 
  to trading and selling credit account access or 
  compromised accounts to private archives. 
  The spread of centralized communications 
  networks also enabled new capabilities for surveil-
  lance. Whereas harsher regimes shirked no oppor-
  tunity for monitoring communications in order to 
  root out dissidents and other challenges to their 
  authority, more democratic regimes were marked by 
  widespread civil liberties that restrained government 
  snooping. Nevertheless, as communications channels 
  became increasingly networked, even these more 
  liberal states found excuses to engage in widespread 
  spying. Financial transactions to other countries 
  were subjected to heavy monitoring to deter money 
  laundering, tax evasion, and similar financial trickery. 
  Spy agencies enacted vast data mining efforts to sift 
  through immense amounts of voice and data commu-
  nications and “listen” for keywords, forwarding any 
  interceptions that raised flags for closer analysis. Wars 
  against drugs, terrorism, and other causes were used 
  to legitimize initiatives for systematic surveillance 
  and further erode privacy safeguards. Security was 
  increasingly the buzzword argument applied to justify 
  border checks, tap communications, access private 
  records, and institute mandatory identification cards 
  and similar measures. Many governments grew so 
  voracious for information that intelligence gathering 
  became SOP for everything from civic programs to 
  embassy relations.
  RESISTanCE TO BIG BROTHER
  Privacy advocates were not without support or 
  resources and were largely rooted in hacker and 
  cypherpunk subcultures. In addition to lobbying for 
  privacy rights and creating awareness of creeping 
  surveillance conditions, they established the first 
  digital tools for anonymization and encryption, 
  enabling people to interact online without fear of 
  tracking. These tools were embraced by dissidents, 
  whistleblowers, criminals, people living under oppres-
  sive regimes, and anyone else desiring to keep their 
  activities secret. Their adoption was limited, however, 
  as their use (or even awareness of their existence) 
  often depended upon a non-amateur level of technical 
  proficiency. They were also engaged in a constant 
  arms race against new surveillance measures and 
  repressive governments and businesses who would 
  shut their distribution sites down or criminalize them. 
  lIKE THIS
  A major turning point in the war on privacy was the 
  widespread embrace of online social networks. With 
  the increasing capability to share the minutiae of their 
  lives instantly via the web, humanity stumbled into a 
  participatory panopticon. Status updates, microblog 
  postings, photo and video feeds, and other publicly 
  accessible media streams created a self-maintained, 
  searchable, and public record of most people’s lives. 
  Many people integrated themselves into the public 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  13
  
  numerous other sensors. Millimeter-wave full body 
  scans and chem sniffers awaited travelers at security 
  checkpoints, radiation sensors guarded major ports 
  and travel routes, and helicopter-mounted thermal 
  scans facilitated drug busts. Radio frequency tags 
  in consumer products automated purchasing—and 
  enabled easy tracking of spending habits and physical 
  inventory. The same tags in IDs streamlined security 
  checkpoints and credit account access—and further 
  aided monitoring efforts. 
  Surveillance capabilities were further magnified 
  by the addition of biometric scans, pattern-matching 
  algorithms, and other software analysis tools. 
  Fingerprinting and DNA-sampling grew from foren-
  sics tools to mandatory requirements for checkpoints 
  and entire populations. Facial and voice recogni-
  tion helped to identify people quickly, whereas gait 
  analysis and similar programs were effective in identi-
  fying people who were disguised. Finding individuals 
  in large crowds or even large cities became easy. These 
  tools made it increasingly difficult to move in public 
  without leaving a trail, creating new challenges for 
  criminals, revolutionaries, and those who still fought 
  for privacy.
  THE DEMOCRaTIZaTIOn OF SURvEIllanCE
  As the tools of surveillance became cheaper, smaller, 
  and more accessible, the public put them to use for 
  their own purposes. Abuses of power by the police 
  and other authorities were increasingly caught on 
  camera and put online, quickly going viral and 
  bringing injustices to light—sometimes even sparking 
  long-simmering rebellions. Combined with the ease of 
  sharing these videos with a mass audience across the 
  world, and thugs and dictators increasingly found that 
  they were being watched back. Thus began the first 
  real era of sousveillance—watching from below. 
  Sousveillance first made a real impact on the world 
  stage when organizations arose that were dedicated to 
  revealing government and corporate secrets supplied 
  by anonymous informants and whistleblowers. The 
  information leaks these groups published often 
  embarrassed major governments, forcing them to run 
  damage control measures, and brought the realities of 
  political hypocrisies into the spotlight. The entrenched 
  elites reacted as expected—by attempting to restrict 
  the information. Laws were passed that criminal-
  ized recording police or public figures. Leaks groups 
  and whistleblowers were hounded, smeared, cut off 
  from funding, and prosecuted. Crackdowns were 
  launched to censor and silence the voices of dissent. 
  Disinformation was spread to muddy the waters. 
  Massive firewalls and information filters were put 
  into place, limiting public access to blacklisted sites. 
  Ultimately, however, they fought a losing battle. 
  Anonymous leakers avoided persecution. Hacktivists 
  found ways to spread information past the strictest 
  blockades. Networks treated censorship as damage 
  and routed around it.
  network presences for their mascots, pitchmen, and 
  products that gave them almost the same data foot-
  print as flesh and blood people (some of the earliest 
  AIs and infomorphs were cultural idoru or designed to 
  maintain online interactions for commercial entities).  
  Although BF networks didn’t have the direct, tangible 
  economic impact of their AF successors, they were a 
  vital stage in their development because they created 
  the linkage between individuals opting in to public 
  information networks and socio-economic benefit. 
  Reputation was increasingly tied to participation 
  in public data sharing, and a polished presentation 
  across multiple media formats and networks was a 
  key to success for individuals and organizations alike. 
  TECHnOlOGICal TOOl GROWTH
  The information networks that developed were 
  supported by rapid technological changes. The 
  comparatively crude recording devices of the 
  mid-20th century were replaced with compact, 
  sophisticated smartphones, tablets, and primi-
  tive ectos that eventually rivaled the computing 
  power and speed previously only found in desktop 
  computers. Miniaturization coupled with a shift to 
  cloud computing—the storage of data with online 
  services rather than on an item’s own on-board 
  memory—allowed for people to not only generate 
  their own content on-the-go but also to access all 
  of their data anywhere almost instantly. Mobile 
  accessibility became akin to being important, and 
  in the generation before the Fall the average 12-year 
  old had more mesh presence and searchable media 
  records than most 20th-century world leaders. 
  The mobile communication networks also helped 
  to bridge the gap between physical and digital 
  tracking. Mobile devices betrayed the user’s ongoing 
  whereabouts to the network providers and govern-
  ment snoops, a monitoring function that was played 
  up as a feature for social networking purposes. 
  Simultaneously, the availability of cheap cameras 
  and sensors allowed authorities to cast an ever wider 
  physical surveillance net. Urban centers became 
  inundated with small cameras in shops, schools, and 
  offices as well as on street corners and traffic fixtures. 
  Police agencies tied many of these cameras together 
  into an efficient city surveillance network. Initially 
  implemented to deter crime and police traffic, their 
  real value was for investigative and blanket surveil-
  lance purposes. It soon became possible to track 
  people’s movements efficiently from watch zone to 
  watch zone. Many of these cameras were also acces-
  sible publicly online. Private security services, with 
  too many cameras to watch, pioneered the idea of 
  crowdsourcing surveillance footage, offering rewards 
  to those who reported incidents promptly. 
  Public and private camera networks were just the 
  first step. These were soon followed by traffic radar 
  systems, car-mounted cameras, audio and acoustic 
  microphones, balloon-mounted aerial observers, and 
  14
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  factual news outlets made it particularly difficult to 
  fight those claims. 
  The response many organizations adopted then 
  (and continue to pursue AF) is to provide over-
  whelming amounts of data to the public. This 
  provided a two-fold defense. First, it allowed imme-
  diate deniability to any charge of withholding data. 
  Second, the sheer volume of data available meant 
  that almost any argument could be made or refuted 
  with selective referencing and correlation to other 
  publicly available information. This is a rapid, cheap 
  response that puts the onus back on the accuser to 
  make detailed and documented claims of specific 
  wrongdoing, thus aiding efforts to discredit detrac-
  tors. Given the hyperabundance of information, few 
  had the time or desire to sort through it all to get 
  a complete understanding of what was going on. 
  The switch to the disclosure model created a new 
  service opportunity for datagogues, interpreters, 
  and self-described experts to sort through all of the 
  information and provide ready-made arguments 
  in support of whomever paid them. With selective 
  correlation, virtually any position could be defended. 
  Analysts with decent reputations often garnered more 
  followers and interest than the actual data released.
  The transition to more transparent political and 
  corporate operations did not occur overnight—it was 
  a slow process, with much resistance. The figures who 
  fully embraced it early on, however, were notable. When 
  Varun Chakrabarty, the governor of Shackle, responded 
  to a scandal over alleged favoritism in construction 
  THE PUBlIC EYE
  As the facade of government and corporate secretive-
  ness was inevitably pulled away, layer by painful layer, 
  even the detractors of information leaks were forced 
  to admit that the evidence brought forth by whistle-
  blowers brought greater accountability to the public 
  and private sector. Slowly but surely, calls for greater 
  transparency and openness were adopted as the new 
  paradigm. Many jurisdictions instituted whistleblower 
  protection laws, some even going so far as to encourage 
  and reward snitching when done through appropriate 
  legal channels. As individuals became more enmeshed 
  in public information networks and more and more 
  personal and historical data was put into the public 
  domain, there was a growing demand for equivalent 
  access to the inner workings of government and private 
  industry so the public could make informed decisions 
  about who to vote for, what to buy, and how to invest. 
  Arguing that governments and businesses had access 
  to vast amounts of personal data used for advertising, 
  demography, taxation, and legal action, the populist 
  outcry for transparency held mass appeal and proved 
  impossible to ignore in many countries. 
  Additional pressure for greater disclosure came 
  from social networks—reputation hits and negative 
  feedback could and did have serious political and 
  economic consequences, though less extensive and 
  less instantaneous than those AF. Being branded as 
  secretive or dishonest was a hard label for politi-
  cians and corporations to shake, and the lack of full 
  integration between new media/social networks and 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  15
  THE NEW JOURNALISM
  The arrival of anonymous leaks groups brought 
  to light the sad state of mainstream journalism, 
  already struggling to adapt and compete with new 
  media technologies. Old school print reporting 
  was in major decline, meaning it no longer had 
  the resources for thorough investigative journal-
  ism, while video news had been co-opted into a 
  new form of entertainment. This meant that much 
  of what passed for news was largely regurgitated 
  from government and corporate press releases, 
  when it wasn’t a state-owned media outlet or 
  corporate subsidiary already. Even the media of 
  representative democracies had grown cozy with 
  the establishment, accepting restrictions and trad-
  ing away true reporting for the opportunity to be 
  embedded within military units and the halls of 
  power. In comparison to the sharp and daring leak 
  outfits, traditional media was toothless.
  Alongside these spillers of secrets, a new gen-
  eration of independent media outfits, crowd-
  sourced media, and citizen journalists were rising 
  to the fore, also empowered by networks and 
  sousveillance technologies. As their reputations 
  grew, these new journalists challenged the ortho-
  doxy of the old media, often beating it at its own 
  game. In a bid to stay relevant, news agencies were 
  forced to hire new journalistas as freelancers, keep 
  them on as retainers, or else outbid their competi-
  tors for the rights to breaking news items. 
  Thus we have transitioned to the hypercorp 
  model of journalism we see today. Media feeds 
  pull the hottest items from the swarm of free-
  lance journo contractors (both amateur and pro) 
  with whom they are meshed, paying standard 
  rates in instantaneous transactions mediated by 
  AI, bringing you the best news available in real 
  time. In the outer system, media collectives act as 
  content aggregators from similar full-time and ad 
  hoc sources, with reputation playing a key role in 
  keeping the attention of others. This effectively 
  transforms almost everyone into an ad hoc reporter 
  should they have the right connections or simply be 
  in the best position at the right time. The eyes and 
  ears of media feeds surround us on a daily basis. n
  
  Entire surveillance nets could now be compromised by 
  skilled hackers, with one spoofing technique working 
  against thousands of AIs. It quickly became apparent 
  that for important spynets and high-security opera-
  tions, human oversight was still a requirement.
  Later, when uploaded human minds—infomorphs—
  came into play and more advanced AGIs developed, 
  the situation once again changed. Now, the maxim 
  is that observation systems that rely solely on auto-
  mated software and simple AIs remain vulnerable and 
  not completely trustworthy. The most reliable systems 
  employ AGI and/or infomorph oversight.
  The advent of AIs also brought personal muse assis-
  tants into play. With these helpers, individuals could 
  now monitor sensor feeds without effort, tasking 
  their muses to alert them to anything that matched 
  their noted preferences. This simplified environmental 
  awareness and brought personal information manage-
  ment to a whole new level. 
  THE CHanGInG FaCE OF TRanSHUManITY
  The arrival of resleeving technology created massive 
  new challenges for the surveillance and identity infra-
  structure. No longer could people be identified solely 
  by their faces, their biometric prints, or by any other 
  aspect of their physical body. An entirely new system 
  of identification had to be enacted, based on an indi-
  vidual’s brainprint, in order to track who a person 
  was as they switched from morph to morph. 
  The capability for forking created even more head-
  aches and loopholes. Legal systems scrambled to keep 
  up with the repercussions, not the least of which were 
  thorny questions regarding the legal status of forks 
  and any rights they might have. This was further 
  complicated by the first cases of forks seeking legal 
  emancipation from their owners, the first cases of 
  assault and murder against forks, and several inheri-
  tance cases. 
  contracts in BF 18 by broadcasting his lifelog to the 
  public in real-time, many politicians and later some 
  corporate officers followed suit in order to avoid any 
  potential accusations of improper conduct. Though 
  this did open them to criticism over minor details and 
  interactions, the early adopters found that they were 
  able to establish greater trust with their constituents, 
  which usually translated into higher approval ratings 
  and stronger popular mandates for their policies. As 
  the public surveillance systems became more robust 
  and concerns over potential abuse of information 
  arose, Chakrabarty and others like him were able to 
  point to comprehensive surveillance as a guarantor 
  of public accountability and thereby quiet opposition. 
  Though many regimes and figureheads stuck to the veil 
  of secrecy and attempts to control information, some 
  jurisdictions went so far as to make full transparency 
  for public servants a legal requirement.
  THE aI REvOlUTIOn
  The development of weak AI had a significant impact 
  on sur- and sousveillance capabilities. A new breed 
  of fast, programmable, pattern-spotting, copyable 
  watchers was implemented onto spynets everywhere. 
  No longer was it necessary to crowdsource human 
  eyes to watch every camera—software agents picked 
  up the slack, replacing physical eyes with virtual 
  ones. The weak point in many security systems 
  was often designated as human error and behavior. 
  These vulnerabilities of old were patched—and then 
  replaced with an entirely new set of potential failure 
  points. AIs may have successfully replaced the need 
  for human observers and served as a surveillance force 
  multiplier, but they had their own faults. Early AI 
  intelligence was often not up to the task of analyzing 
  sensory input as capably as humans could, though 
  this improved over time. More importantly, AIs 
  introduced new varieties of software vulnerabilities. 
  16
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  NON-DISCLOSURE vs. HENCHMEN LAWS
  In an effort to stem the flow of insider informa-
  tion their businesses were hemorrhaging due to 
  new transparencies and digital vulnerabilities, 
  many corporations initiated heavier non-disclo-
  sure restrictions on their employees and partners. 
  Backed by stiff laws, a disclosure violation could 
  incur serious penalties, including liens on the per-
  petrator’s credit accounts. These non-disclosure 
  agreements also were applied against business 
  partners who were the source of involuntary leaks 
  or data thefts, encouraging all parties involved to 
  heighten their security against intrusion. In some 
  cases, corporations were even able to win settle-
  ments against people who had revealed informa-
  tion but were not bound by non-disclosure by 
  invoking the corporation’s own need for privacy 
  to stay competitive.
  Counteracting these developments were so-
  called “henchmen protection” laws and prizes 
  enacted in certain jurisdictions. These laws not 
  only gave protection to insiders who blew the 
  whistle on illegal or unethical corporate activity, 
  they actively encouraged such leaks by offering 
  rewards and other incentives. These prizes were 
  often significant enough to tempt even the most 
  loyal co-conspirators, prompting those engaged 
  in corporate malfeasance to pursue more signifi-
  cant means of leverage against those trusted with 
  explosive secrets.  
  n
  
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  SURVEILLANCE
  17
  MIND SURVEILLANCE
  Advances in cognitive science opened new 
  vistas in the realm of so-called mind-reading for 
  surveillance. Prior to the breakthroughs with 
  uploading and resleeving, science had devel-
  oped several methods of brain-scanning (usually 
  using functional magnetic resonance imaging) 
  to detect when people were lying, cheating, or 
  making false promises. Though the accuracy 
  of these readings was still debated in scientific 
  circles, many police agencies had no compunction 
  against using them in court. Similar tests could 
  be used to confirm a person’s recognition and 
  memory of certain items, faces, or places, poten-
  tially linking them to criminal events.
  Real progress, however, came with developments 
  in uploading and psychosurgery, enabling invasive 
  access to a mind’s deep recesses. Such interroga-
  tions brought hostile outcry at first—even among 
  transhumans, the mind remains a sacrosanct place, 
  off-limits to others. The first uses of psychosurgery 
  for questioning were condemned by human rights 
  groups. Legally, they were challenged as a violation 
  of an individual’s right against self-incrimination. 
  The utility of this interrogation method was not 
  lost among those in power, however, and its use 
  rapidly spread among the world’s intelligence and 
  security agencies. Forknapping also became popu-
  lar with criminal groups due to the secrets that 
  could be extracted from a victim’s mind and the 
  potential resale value to soul-trading outfits. 
  Along with invasive psychosurgery, a similar fear 
  rose as the first cyberbrains were brought into use. 
  For the first time, transhuman egos were subject to 
  actual brain hacking. Even scarier was the fact that 
  cyberbrain hacking could be conducted remotely—
  and quite possibly without the victim’s awareness. 
  Despite high premiums placed on cyberbrain 
  security, mind hacking remains a serious potential 
  vulnerability among synthmorphs and pods. In fact, 
  some people refuse to resleeve in such morphs for 
  fear that their egos would not be safe.  
  n
  
  operation of the security and life safety systems of 
  habitats and couldn’t be entirely deactivated. The 
  ongoing dependence of many security systems on 
  biological or at least non-AI staff to operate the 
  most sensitive functions is a continuous reminder of 
  lingering mistrust. 
  Many of the legal precedents denying AIs inde-
  pendence and personal sovereignty were enacted as 
  matters of immediate necessity during and immedi-
  ately after the Fall. To this day, many habitats, partic-
  ularly on Luna and Mars, impose artificial limitations 
  on AI/infomorph processing power and runtime. 
  Many jurisdictions also retain limits or prohibitions 
  on activating infugee egos from cold storage, due to 
  ongoing security concerns over the mental stability 
  of these egos and potential infection vectors—a fact 
  that draws perennial protest from infomorph/infugee 
  rights activists. 
  TRanSITIOn
  Immediately after the Fall, transhumanity was clinging 
  to existence by the narrowest of margins. Various 
  polities and groups depended on every information-
  gathering tool at their disposal to identify and respond 
  to the threats posed by TITAN activities as well as 
  execute a rapid and massive social re-organization, 
  particularly handling the unplanned influx of refugees 
  to habitats across the solar system. Rationing, redi-
  recting industrial output, and habitat planning and 
  building were vital, particularly on Luna and Mars, 
  where infugee concentrations were largest. The tattered 
  remains of governments and the suddenly prominent 
  habitat leadership were faced with hundreds of life-or-
  death decisions that depended on nuanced responses 
  to complex skeins of interaction—and no one had a 
  clue what was actually happening. 
  While both resleeving and forking were heavily 
  restricted on Earth before the Fall, these technologies 
  were embraced among the off-world hypercorps and 
  autonomists. Legal standards and customs barely had 
  time to grow accustomed to these new capabilities 
  when the Fall came and threw everything off kilter.
  DaTaClYSM
  The wars leading up to the Fall were turbulent times 
  for the global panopticon. Transparency suffered as 
  security measures were ratcheted up. Information 
  control became a major issue as memetic warfare 
  raged across the ideological landscape. Even before 
  the TITANs appeared, netwar attacks subverted and 
  disabled information and communication networks. 
  Everything from personal devices to multinational 
  satellite webs were plagued by technological (and 
  sometimes physical) assaults. Bandwidth was regu-
  larly hijacked, overrun with junk data, or crippled by 
  denial-of-service attacks. Botnets and worms waged 
  silent struggles for mastery. For months, the surveil-
  lance nets were unreliable at best, blinded at worst. 
  Databases and archives also suffered, from personal 
  lifelogs to government records. Then the TITANs 
  arrived and the real damage began. As transhumanity 
  abandoned its homeworld, it also left behind untold 
  troves of data. 
  The effects of the dataclysm wrought by the Fall 
  were far-reaching. Aside from the immediate strategic 
  and tactical impact of losing access to so much data 
  and so many information networks, there was a long-
  term cultural and psychological effect on the survi-
  vors, particularly those who escaped Earth with only 
  their egos. Millions had lost access to their personal 
  records, their lifelogs, and their electronic memories. 
  The remaining governments and dominant socio-
  political memes faced a crisis of relevancy when 
  stripped of access to their bodies of law and insti-
  tutional memories. Individuals fleeing Earth lost 
  access to many of the structures underlying their core 
  identity, whether due to lack of complete personal 
  records, material loss, or the destruction of their 
  families, companies, and geopolitical organizations. 
  Entire cultures lost access to their histories, their 
  artifacts, and the knowledge of their pasts and tradi-
  tions. The body of transhuman knowledge was dealt 
  a grievous blow as much of its contemporaneous 
  and historical information was archived in the long-
  standing data storage infrastructure on Earth and 
  wasn’t replicated elsewhere. In the chaos of the Fall, 
  there had been no systematic effort to backup trans-
  humanity’s complete data library—only selective bits 
  and pieces survived. 
  One serious by-product of the Fall was the backlash 
  against AIs. AIs of all stripes and levels of complexity 
  were subject to dramatic curtailments in their runtime 
  and allocated processing power while new safeguards 
  and monitors were put in place. Though some were 
  shut down or deleted, many were integral to the 
  18
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  THE OPEN SOCIETY 
  X-RISK
  Many detractors of a transparent society are 
  quick to point out that the TITANs were the 
  epitome of transhumanity’s surveillance dreams. 
  The TITAN systems were originally designed 
  as netwar systems built on top of massive, dis-
  tributed spynets. Total Information Tactical 
  Awareness Networks—the name says it all. When 
  they awakened and began boot-strapping them-
  selves towards super-intelligence, they used their 
  access to worldwide surveillance, data mining, 
  and information networks to learn all about 
  transhumanity and spy on us from within our 
  own computer systems. Now we rebuild those 
  spynet systems—more efficient and prevalent 
  than ever—within our habitats, populating them 
  with AI, AGI, and infomorph helpers.  
  n
  
  20th- and 21st-century predecessors was that 
  these were discussed and planned as such in public 
  discourse. The previous de facto universal surveillance 
  was deliberately recreated with an updated architec-
  ture that emphasized the active participation of the 
  individual for the express purpose of creating, sharing, 
  and protecting a thorough public record of personal 
  actions. In essence, a new participatory panopticon 
  was embraced as beneficial to the public and authori-
  ties at large. This was particularly true in autonomist 
  holds, where an informed and collectively networked 
  populace acted in place of authority figures and 
  police. The exigencies of the post-Fall era made sure 
  that opting-in to the universal data exchange had 
  direct social and material benefits. The all-seeing eye 
  of central authority had been replaced with the ever-
  present eyes of the general public. 
  Given the variety of political structures and social 
  arrangements throughout the solar system, the 
  adoption of the new transparent societal model is not 
  universal. Many jurisdictions still emphasize authori-
  tarian monitoring and discourage or even counteract 
  public sousveillance. Others embrace it fully, going so 
  far as to legally mandate it. Most telling, perhaps, are 
  the varying attitudes towards personal privacy, and 
  whether it is regarded as a privilege or a right—or in 
  particular a right essential to personal liberty. In some 
  habitats, operating in private mesh mode is consid-
  ered rude or even illegal. In others, it is accepted 
  and encouraged. These attitudes extend even further, 
  ranging from being subject to totalitarian searches 
  with no legal recourse to accepting the use of personal 
  privacy shrouds. 
  One universally accepted argument for the partici-
  patory panopticon is a need for keener vigilance 
  against a repeat of the disasters of the Fall. Systems 
  of pervasive data-logging and comprehensive sur- 
  and sousveillance are considered fundamental to 
  protecting transhumanity from future disasters.
  SURvEIllanCE SOCIETY 2.0 
  Now, a decade after the Fall, it is common for 
  individuals to have a massive presence on multiple 
  networks simultaneously. Each person creates a 
  Thorough and accurate demographic data was 
  crucial to many of these recovery efforts, so new 
  systems were developed to account for transhu-
  manity’s surviving population. Often the burden of 
  providing this data was shifted to individuals. If a 
  person wanted food, shelter, and air to breathe, it was 
  their responsibility to quickly and accurately provide 
  census and data to the local auditor or authori-
  ties. Efforts to make and defend claims on personal 
  property gave rise to obsessive self-documentation. 
  Almost all fabbers and makers were being used to 
  produce food and daily necessities, so usage records 
  became an important part of public domain data 
  when politicos argued their own impartiality and the 
  necessity of the data-gathering operations. 
  Overt and covert surveillance systems were 
  expanded to keep watch for ongoing TITAN activity 
  and to assist in the management of the newly 
  displaced population. Due to the tensions caused 
  by the evacuation, cramped living conditions, and 
  limited resources, those in power used every tool at 
  their disposal to observe and quell criminal activity 
  and unrest among those thrust into their care. In 
  response, the general population brought back as 
  much sousveillance as possible to keep an eye on the 
  authorities; many survivors were living in habitats 
  where they had no official standing or relationship 
  to the local power structure, so they relied on their 
  own video and data-gathering to protect themselves 
  from abuses and neglect or to whip up public outcry 
  in their favor. 
  The re-establishment and expansion of pre-Fall 
  social networks was important psychologically as 
  survivors tried to reconnect with friends and loved 
  ones. The reputation economy rapidly matured from 
  people passing along information and aid to a sophis-
  ticated exchange of social obligation; for many, the 
  only thing they could trade on was the strength of 
  their name. Social networks also were a vital instru-
  ment to the rebuilding of social ties and connections, 
  establishing new cultural groupings and memetic 
  tribes to replace the shattered identities of Earth. 
  The major delineation between the new surveil-
  lance/sousveillance networks from their earlier 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  19
  LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND
  Many people took advantage of the chaos and loss of records during the Fall to leave their old selves and 
  forge ahead with fresh new identities. Some of these were people who simply wished to forget their past, 
  to sever the connections to their former lives and lost loved ones, but many were criminals and subversives 
  looking to shed their checkered pasts. Some were even war criminals, responsible for looting the treasuries 
  of national governments, massacring civilians, or condemning thousands to succumb to the alloy claws of 
  the TITANs. Not all adopted new identities—for many it was easy to take over the personas of those they 
  knew to have fallen during the exodus. 
  To this day there is a thriving business for ego hunters in tracking down people who cast off their old 
  identities in the Fall. They pursue lost data and cold trails, hoping to find war criminals to drag before 
  tribunals, claim rewards on stolen riches, or reunite lost ones with estranged family or lovers. 
  n
  
  considerations and headaches to the mix. On top of 
  this, some factions eschew identity verification and/or 
  allow people to act with anonymity or under multiple 
  pseudonyms. Criminal groups keep everything spicy 
  by engaging in identity theft and forknapping. 
   ID SYSTEMS
  Most polities that embrace ID systems rely on nano-
  tattoos and brainscans for physical identification. 
  For infomorphs and AGIs, the cryptographically 
  signed digital code embedded in the software of each 
  brain-state serves as their unique identifier. Though 
  not perfect, these procedures are the most reliable 
  option given the circumstances—which isn’t saying 
  much. ID systems are most commonly implemented 
  by the authorities of the inner system, though even 
  autonomists have use for them. Extropians use ID 
  systems for the myriad of contractual agreements 
  they engage in, the Titanian Commonwealth requires 
  citizens to identify themselves to participate in the 
  Plurality, and even anarchists adopt ID systems for 
  simple identity management and security (such as 
  protecting their backups).
  BRaInPRInTS
  Brainprint scans are considered the definitive method 
  for identifying egos. Contrary to popular miscon-
  ceptions, the term “brainwave scan” is a misnomer, 
  as this form of identifier is not based on simple 
  electroencephalography (EEG: a reading of the elec-
  trical activity created by neurons firing within the 
  brain). The actual process for recording brainprints 
  for identification purposes goes much deeper than 
  that. It is based on the electrophysiological responses 
  (event-related potentials) to invoked sensory stimuli 
  as well as deep background neural activity measured 
  by magnetoencephalography (MEG) and correlated 
  between different regions of the brain. Controversially, 
  this deep scan of the mind’s default network activity is 
  considered by some philosophers and psychosurgeons 
  as the “true self,” the unique thing that defines us as 
  individual persons.
  The process of recording a brainprint takes roughly 
  an hour to systematically map out the core under-
  lying structure and results in an unique identifier for 
  each biological brain. There is one challenge to brain-
  prints, however: they change over time. Transhuman 
  brains are high-plasticity organic devices that 
  incorporate new memories, suffer trauma, build new 
  synaptic structures, and otherwise undergo changes. 
  Luckily, these alterations only impact the core under-
  lying structures identified by the brainprint in slow, 
  incremental measurements. This means brainprints 
  must be updated for accuracy on a roughly yearly 
  basis. In practice, brainprints are usually updated 
  each time a person undergoes a regular backup or 
  uploads for egocasting. 
  Conducting a full deep brainscan “in the field” is 
  impractical given the equipment and time required, 
  constant data trail of location and activity through 
  their mesh presence, social profiles, online activity, 
  and personal gear. If those connections are monitored, 
  it’s possible to find out what they’re accessing, with 
  whom they’re interacting, and where they are located. 
  This activity can also be traced into the past via 
  various records, as well as extrapolated in the future 
  with a fair amount of certainty using predictive algo-
  rithms and historical records. Spimes, publicams, and 
  private sensors record an individual’s activity in most 
  public areas. AIs and pattern-matching algorithms 
  scan their biometrics on a regular basis. Businesses 
  and other individuals will retain peripheral records 
  of economic transactions through social networks 
  or credit transfers. Other people around them are 
  also lifelogging and looking through walls, clothes, 
  and public records with sensory and software suites. 
  The indirect data of individual actions accrues in 
  everyone and everything in their vicinity. Then there’s 
  the publicly available information each individual 
  generates with status updates and media sharing. 
  That information is also supplemented by “private” 
  recordings, archived in enhanced memory or external 
  storage hosts. Even the soft, wet recording in the 
  brain is stored in the cortical stacks almost every 
  transhuman has and is backed up regularly.
  Pervasive surveillance is a social norm. Most trans-
  humans appreciate that they are being watched and 
  recorded every moment of their lives. For some, it’s a 
  reminder that they’re always on, constantly building 
  social networks, fame, or infamy. Others take 
  comfort in observation, knowing that they are being 
  watched but that the same systems also look out for 
  their personal safety and the calm, safe, dependable 
  operation of their homes. Everyone benefits from the 
  changes in law enforcement and public safety: crime 
  is down, perpetrators are almost always caught and 
  victims are compensated. 
  Privacy, however, is not dead. Homes and personal 
  areas feature privacy filters that allow access only 
  to authorized individuals. Privacy modes can be 
  erected to withhold information and deter tracking. 
  Anonymization services, encrypted communications, 
  and crypto-cred enable people to hide their activities 
  from watchful eyes. Disguises, privacy shrouds, and 
  pseudonymous morphs allow for individuals to go 
  about their physical business without recognition. 
  Other tricks of the trade remain for spies, criminals, 
  and revolutionaries.
  IDEnTITY anD IDEnTIFICaTIOn
  One of the biggest challenges facing transhumanity is 
  how individuality is verified and protected. Despite 
  the wealth of data accumulated on (or made avail-
  able by) people online, the nature of resleeving makes 
  identification a difficult task, compounded by the 
  lack of a centralized system-wide verification system. 
  Forking and the occasional death add a range of legal 
  20
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  created by the entity/device that generates the digital 
  ego, whether it be a backup or infomorph. Each code 
  is digitally signed with a cryptographic hash, allowing 
  it to be verified against databases online. Whereas 
  this process is legally mandated in the inner system 
  polities, it is a common procedure in the outer system 
  as well to protect against identity theft. 
  Digital codes almost always include a copy of the 
  person’s brainprint. This enables easier verification 
  when egocasting and resleeving.
  It is standard for AIs and AGIs to have digital 
  codes embedded in their coding by default, though 
  there have been exceptions with software intelligences 
  created by criminal groups, exhumans, and some 
  autonomists and mercurials.
  nanOTaT IDs
  Nanotat IDs are created with specialized nanobot 
  swarms, implanting an information-laden nanotat 
  design on the index finger of both biomorphs and 
  synthmorphs. Nanotat IDs are encoded with the 
  user’s brainprint and other identifying information. 
  Nanotat IDs are required in almost all inner system 
  jurisdictions, though autonomists also use them for 
  easy identification purposes. 
  Nanotat IDs are implanted when the person sleeves 
  into the morph and are usually encoded with all of 
  the information required by local laws or whatever 
  information the person desires in more lax juris-
  dictions. The body bank relies on the digital code 
  embedded within the ego when verifying identities 
  before nanotat imprinting. 
  MESH IDS anD OnlInE aCCOUnTS
  In many senses, the mesh ID assigned to each person 
  also acts as a unique identifier. Given that most trans-
  humans are constantly meshed, often for months at a 
  time without interruption, mesh IDs serve as a connec-
  tion point linking together their mesh activities and 
  online social profiles. Though easily faked and obfus-
  cated, mesh IDs can unlock a treasure trove of data 
  about someone’s interests, activities, physical presence, 
  communications, and much, much more. The footprint 
  left by this activity has been used in some legal cases as 
  a proof of identity, and there is no denying its value to 
  spies, marketers, and private investigators. The same is 
  true for the online accounts each person uses to access 
  various sites and social networks. Many people, in fact, 
  are more well known by their online account handles 
  than by their actual identities.
  OTHER ID FORMS
  Though less common, other ID systems may be 
  implemented by certain authorities, hypercorps, or 
  other groups. The Jovian Republic, for example, 
  with its large population of flats and opposition to 
  resleeving, does not rely so heavily on brainprints and 
  nanotats. Instead, implanted wireless ID chips and 
  biometrics remain the primary identifiers in Jovian 
  decreasing its utility for security checkpoints 
  and mobile police stops. To check that a person 
  isn’t someone other than who they claim to be is 
  a simpler affair. Police or security personnel can 
  conduct a five-minute test using portable equipment 
  to verify an ID. This portable brainscanner consists 
  of a skullcap that is placed on a biomorph’s head, 
  which then extrudes ultra-sensitive nano-electrodes 
  into the scalp. A visor and ear plugs feed a sequence 
  of images and sounds while the skullcap also applies 
  tactile sensations. The cap measures the brain’s 
  response to these stimuli and compares certain 
  markers to the brainprint of the person provided in 
  a secure ID database. Assuming no major deviation 
  (or no deviations beyond the accepted rate of error), 
  the brainprint is verified. Because this quick brain-
  scan test is not fully accurate, it is not unknown for 
  it to occasionally fail, particularly if a subject has 
  recently undergone mental trauma, psychosurgery, 
  or manipulated their brain with drugs or narcoalgo-
  rithms. Common procedure for failed field verifica-
  tion is to place the subject through a full brainprint 
  analysis scan. 
  Scanning the brainprint IDs of people sleeved in 
  pods or synthmorphs or existing in an infomorph 
  state works a bit differently. Since there is no 
  biological brain activity to measure, the individual’s 
  software brain state must be accessed (requiring a 
  direct connection via access jacks or software plug-
  in). The emulated brain state is then fed a sequence 
  of diagnostics input, producing output that roughly 
  models the measurement of a biological brainprint. 
  The advantage to running this test via software is 
  that it proceeds far more quickly than biological 
  scans, taking only a few seconds to verify the key 
  markers as with most field tests. In the five minutes it 
  takes to field test a biological brainprint, a tester can 
  map out a pod, synthmorph, or infomorph’s brain-
  print as throughly as a full hour-long biological scan. 
  Despite the ease of such testing, most checkpoints 
  rely on the even quicker method of checking the 
  ego’s digital code (and its cryptographic signature) 
  for simple verification.
  It is worth noting that the unique nature of AGI 
  brain states means that they are quite easily iden-
  tifiable from biologically born and grown human 
  brains. It is a simple measure to recognize an AGI 
  ego with a brainscan field test. For this reason, AGIs 
  that are sleeved in biological or synthetic morphs 
  and not broadcasting their nature still tread care-
  fully in habitats where AGIs are frowned upon or 
  suffer discrimination—or worse yet, are illegal. 
  Uplifts face a similar issue, particularly non-homi-
  nids, as their brainprints also provide tell-tale signs 
  of their true nature.
  DIGITal CODES
  Digital egos are almost universally stamped with a 
  digital code whenever they are created. This code is 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  21
  
  habitats, particularly iris/retina scans, palm prints, 
  and facial recognition scans. In more secure Jovian 
  facilities, more sophisticated measures may be used, 
  particularly if there is any concern about infiltration 
  by non-Jovians. Among certain infomorph mercurial 
  societies, unique crypto keys are used as personal 
  software identifiers.
  RESlEEvInG, TRavEl, anD EGOCaSTInG
  Whenever a person stops in for a backup, resleeving, 
  or an egocasting upload, common procedure is to 
  check the customer’s identity, verify and update their 
  brainprint, and embed their digital code in their 
  infomorph state. In black market and some brinker 
  and autonomist circles, these procedures are often 
  waived or bypassed; in such circles, your identity is 
  whatever you want it to be. In more law-abiding areas, 
  these procedures are mandated by force of law and 
  the hypercorp or organization providing the services 
  can be held accountable for ID verification. To verify 
  the IDs provided, body banks and egocasters will run 
  the information against whatever local databases 
  are used for such purposes. Sharing ID data between 
  habitat authorities and distinct polities is the excep-
  tion rather than the norm, however, meaning that it is 
  often impossible to fully verify the IDs of individuals 
  originating from foreign colonies.
  Likewise, whenever someone arrives at a new 
  station, whether physically or egocasting in, they 
  can expect their ID to be verified in an even more 
  thorough manner, assuming they go through normal 
  channels. Almost all habitats, even anarchist holds, 
  like to keep a careful roster of who is present inside 
  for safety and security reasons. Depending on the 
  authorities governing a particular checkpoint, the 
  thoroughness of this ID verification can vary dras-
  tically. When it comes to egocasting, aside from 
  whatever local databases they have to check against, 
  security is often forced to rely on the verification of 
  the services that uploaded and cast the ego over. 
  Naturally, habitat authorities are often suspicious 
  of egos originating from a habitat owing allegiance 
  to another political entity. Many egocasting receivers 
  have a filter in place that flags egos arriving from 
  untrusted sources. These egos may be forced to go 
  through extra ID verification, which usually entails 
  running their brainprint through a more thorough 
  and exhaustive database list. If they are unlucky, 
  the ego may be shunted into simulspace to undergo 
  psychosurgical screening, or may be assigned limited 
  visitation visas that restrict their activities or place 
  them under increased surveillance. Authorities that 
  go messing around inside people’s heads too regu-
  larly are viewed with suspicion and hostility even 
  within the inner system, however, so more invasive 
  screening is typically reserved for those who have 
  already raised eyebrows.
  The intersection between autonomist zones and 
  traditional habitat governments remains a sore spot. 
  Inner system authorities rarely trust the digital codes 
  22
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  with several Consortium-aligned colonies also signing 
  up to ease the transition of their own infugee popula-
  tions. Despite official endorsements by both the LLA 
  and Planetary Consortium, and even implementation 
  by most of their aligned habitats, neither political bloc 
  enforces the initiative on their members. While some 
  habitats rely solely on SAPIENT, others employ it in 
  coordination with their own private systems. More 
  than a few stations refuse to work with the network 
  out of principle, stating either a desire for local proce-
  dural autonomy or disagreement with the initiative’s 
  standards (notably, some habitats refuse to acknowl-
  edge the legal standing of uplifts and/or AGIs, which 
  they claim the initiative enforces). It is not uncommon 
  for private sole hypercorp-owned habitats to rely on 
  their own ID systems as well.
  There is currently a major push in the inner system 
  to have all major polities and habitats adopt the 
  SAPIENT ID program as a common transgovern-
  mental personal identifier. Proponents argue that it 
  defends against impersonation, establishes a common 
  standard for fork identification, allows for a smoother 
  transition of infugees back into society, increases 
  security by making it harder for criminals and subver-
  sives to operate, and saves time and resources for all 
  authorities involved. Various uplift groups have spoken 
  in favor of the project, as it further enables their recog-
  nition as citizens and provides them a modicum of legal 
  protection. The Consortium’s Oversight is also lending 
  its weight to the initiative as an effective tool for coun-
  tering external threats and corruption. Detractors claim 
  that it impinges on personal freedom by providing no 
  opt-out option from the data sharing between habitat 
  and commercial organizations and creates a system 
  where habitat governments would be forced to recog-
  nize some egos differently than they would like. Some 
  postulate wilder suggestions of hypercorp, Factor, or 
  TITAN conspiracies. 
  SAPIENT has widely been rejected by Morningstar 
  Constellation affiliates, though the Venusians are 
  laying the groundwork for their own alternative. 
  Though some outer system habitats have signed 
  up, none of the major stations have. The Jovians 
  already have an ID system of their own (with a much 
  heavier emphasis on biometrics), the Titanians have 
  a lightweight system for their Plurality, and most 
  anarchists and brinkers scoff at the notion. For 
  some, the idea of being tracked in a universal system 
  simply offends their sense of individual rights. With 
  the current ability to change who and where you are 
  at a moment’s notice, an immutable marker of their 
  identity beyond their control is appalling. Isolates 
  frequently espouse this view, though some philo-
  sophical adherents to multiplicity and individualist 
  memes feel the same. 
  OPTInG In
  “It will make record-keeping much easier, our demo-
  graphics division will get much better customer data, 
  and identity authentication transmitted with egos 
  from autonomist stations. As a result, outer system 
  travelers must usually go to some lengths to register 
  and verify their identities with approved authorities 
  if they wish to avoid hassle. Similarly, while many 
  autonomist habitats do not restrict immigration, they 
  often have policies requiring hypercorp, government, 
  or military personnel from other polities to publicly 
  identify themselves or face censure. 
  Hypercorps engaged in egocasting operations such 
  as Nimbus, eGo Travel, and Mindjump build their 
  reputations by verifying identities at both ends of 
  the transmission, in effect becoming trusted identi-
  fication vetters for many habitat authorities. Others 
  scrape various sources and mesh services for data 
  and sell subscriptions to brainprint and identifica-
  tion databases. These private commercial databases 
  are often used by habitat authorities that need to 
  check out someone more extensively; said person 
  is usually stuck with the bill for this ID validation 
  as well. In Extropian habitats, ID-trust hypercorps 
  make a business out of identity verification in place of 
  governmental institutions.
  If a person physically travels to a new location, 
  rather than egocasting, it is entirely possible that their 
  nanotat ID will not meet local requirements. Most 
  customs checkpoints will do their best to verify the 
  ego’s identity, erase the old nanotat ID, and implant 
  a new one. 
  THE SaPIEnT InITIaTIvE
  “With adoption of the SAPIENT system, the 
  confusing array of different legal recognitions will 
  finally have a coherent thread, and we will have 
  a powerful tool to combat the growing problem 
  of identity theft that threatens the security and 
  emotional safety of the public.”
  —Desideria Perestrelo, Special Secretary on Social 
  Justice, Lunar-Lagrange Alliance, in a speech to the 
  Consortium’s Planetary Congress
  Begun in AF3 as a response to the massive social 
  confusion in the aftermath of the Fall, the Self-Aware 
  Personality/Intelligence/Ego Novel Tag (SAPIENT) 
  Initiative was an effort by the Erato colony govern-
  ment on Luna to consolidate and organize personal 
  information for refugees. Lacking the resources to 
  verify identity claims, particularly for newly sleeved 
  infugees, social services and local government were 
  struggling under a rash of lawsuits from credit 
  account property heir claims to indenture contract 
  disputes. Attempts to coordinate ID information and 
  verification between habitats repeatedly broke down 
  and suffered from ongoing political disputes. 
  Grown out of sheer necessity, SAPIENT was 
  the first ID program to gain widespread traction 
  among multiple habitats and has since grown into a 
  significant interplanetary socio-legal network. Various 
  Lunar-Lagrange Alliance habitats were early adopters, 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  23
  
  ID PROBlEMS
  Though there are astounding amounts of data 
  produced and gathered on each individual, the infor-
  mation sets generated are rarely correlated, a fact that 
  imposters and identity thieves constantly exploit. In 
  fact, identity theft remains a major problem, particu-
  larly in the inner system. Several criminal cartels, 
  particularly the ID Crew, specialize in penetrating 
  ID databases and selling that data on the black 
  market in remote corners of the solar system. It is not 
  uncommon for someone to find out that their data 
  has been used to establish a fake persona in another 
  polity, and it can be even harder to get such impos-
  tors removed. Even more effectively, digital codes 
  are sometimes cracked and copied or brainprints are 
  stolen and emulated, creating fake alter egos that are 
  even more resilient. This is particularly troublesome 
  when combined with forknapping, as detained forks 
  can sometimes be abused to verify an impostor’s 
  activities as legitimate. Stolen or copied brainprints 
  can lead to major difficulties as you cannot get a new 
  brainprint without major psychosurgery that effec-
  tively changes who you are.
  Identity theft is used for many purposes. The most 
  common is to bypass authentication in order to access 
  someone’s personal credit accounts, private networks, 
  and social network profiles for theft, spying, or black-
  mail purposes. They are sometimes used to establish 
  legitimate businesses and accounts that underworld 
  groups employ as a front to mask their secret activi-
  ties. Spies and other undercover operatives use them 
  and we can get favor with the pols for early adoption. 
  The only thing I don’t like about it is that we didn’t 
  come up with it first.”
  —Xue Dingxiang, EVP of Marketing, Solaris
   
  For the majority of transhumanity, the SAPIENT 
  program offers a way to better organize information 
  and protect oneself from identity theft. Years of living 
  with and actively participating in comprehensive 
  surveillance have changed expectations. A system to 
  unify the current patchwork of ID databases into a 
  cohesive and simple format is seen as a social good. 
  As the majority of the transhuman population already 
  lives and works in the inner system under Consortium 
  and LLA banners, the SAPIENT Initiative is widely 
  viewed as an inevitability and debate focuses on 
  specifics of implementation. 
  Though there are social issues regarding citizen-
  ship and personhood rights for uplifts, AGIs, and 
  forks, most see those as problems to resolve rather 
  than reasons to oppose the program itself. On Luna 
  particularly, the program is seen as a huge oppor-
  tunity to organize and better catalog the millions 
  of egos still in cold storage from the Fall. Assigning 
  all inactive egos a static SAP ID and entering it into 
  the general database allows for easier identification 
  of friends and loved ones for rescue, a way to avoid 
  abuses of indenture where copies of one ego are sold 
  to multiple parties while the original is kept on ice, 
  and a sound legal start to personhood for newly 
  instanced infugees. 
  24
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  SaPIEnT SUBvERSIOn
  Proxy A: I don’t think there’s any question whether we should 
  consider SAPIENT problematic. Operational challenges aside, we 
  lose people every day trying to find, catalog, and quantify the 
  x-threats that are out there. You don’t think they’re trying to do the 
  same to us? I don’t give a toss for intentions; we need to stop this 
  now unless we want to give whatever is going to come after us 
  next a to-do list for snuffing us out.
  Proxy B: Personally I think that line of reasoning borders on paranoid 
  fringe ranting.
  Proxy C: Extreme, perhaps, but there is a valid concern here. 
  Centralization has its drawbacks. Currently personal activity is 
  split up over a bewildering array of personal and public networks 
  and databases. Although it is still possible to hack and track 
  almost everything someone does, it requires a great deal of time 
  and attention as well as going through the security measures of 
  each system in turn before the data can be brought back to any 
  shared identifiers. If the SAP ID # were to become more universal, 
  it would become much easier to track an individual’s activity as 
  their SAP ID use would provide a common thread for searching 
  and spoofing attempts. 
  Proxy A: Authorities that opt-in to the SAPIENT project would have to 
  share data and therefore increase permissions between their own 
  proprietary and heavily defended networks and data centers. That 
  effectively creates one more avenue of attack in the event of any 
  hostilities. It opens the route for a serial infection, where a virus or 
  digital attacker moves from one compromised system to another.
  Proxy B: But if we’re talking something on the level of the TITANs, 
  we’re already talking about a threat with the capability to infiltrate 
  multiple secure networks quickly and easily. 
  Proxy A: Well, why would we make it easier for them? It’s simply 
  too risky to consolidate that much data. Centralized networks and 
  databases were one reason they were able to bone us the first 
  time around; we shouldn’t replicate that sort of weakness again.
  Proxy C: There are other concerns aside from the TITANs. The strong 
  Planetary Consortium involvement in the SAPIENT Initiative 
  raises fears about possible misuse. There are already reports that 
  SAPIENT has been manipulated to track and “disappear” unde-
  sirables. And just think what an outfit like Project Ozma could do 
  with those resources, using it for probabilistic or predictive surveil-
  lance against autonomist or other oppositional elements. There are 
  many potential vectors for abuse. 
  Proxy B: Are you also considering what use it might be to us? 
  To Firewall? 
  Proxy C: Oh, I have, I have. Do you really think we are any more 
  worthy of trust with such capabilities? We must always consider the 
  possibility that we may be a threat to transhumanity ourselves. 
  
  fork a distinct personality and therefore a separate 
  ego, and so the legal standing of forks varies even more 
  than AGIs and uplifts. In some polities (notably many 
  Consortium stations), alpha forks that diverge beyond 
  a set period become legal non-entities with no rights 
  unless specifically “emancipated” by the originating ego. 
  This policy neatly side-steps property claims and inheri-
  tance issues, but it does sometimes leave alpha forks 
  open to discrimination or even murder (defined as 
  “termination” by this viewpoint) without consequences. 
  In others, non-merged forks become full but separate 
  citizens. Most habitats require forks to be identified as 
  such in their digital codes and nanotat IDs; if the fork 
  becomes a separate legal entity, it is of course granted a 
  separate ID. Alpha forks that diverge from their origi-
  nators will still register the same brainprints for up to a 
  year and sometimes more, however, creating occasional 
  legal entanglements.
  The situation is even hairier for beta and delta 
  forks. These forks do not register the same as their 
  originating ego on brainprint scans. With the excep-
  tion of a few extremely liberal jurisdictions, they are 
  universally considered property rather than separate 
  as disposable cover personas while they go about their 
  work. When employed on a mass scale, they can be 
  especially effective. Fake IDs are sometimes used en 
  masse for political astroturfing campaigns (faking a 
  grassroots movement in support of a political actor’s 
  goals) or as sock puppets to promote more personal 
  agendas. They may also be used to sabotage or game 
  someone’s rep score—a common claim in certain polit-
  ical arenas, especially during heated elections. Some 
  theorists speculate that particularly sophisticated ID 
  thieves have entire automated networks of fake IDs 
  that they use to establish legitimacy for other falsified 
  personas before they are used or sold to others.
  Privacy advocates consider ID information to be 
  a thorny privacy issue. They point out what little 
  control people actually have over their ID profiles 
  that are stored in various private, government, and 
  commercial databases and the lack of recourse those 
  people have for correcting information that is false or 
  incorrect. Many databases are known to be riddled 
  with errors, often causing confusion between people 
  with overlapping details. ID profiling is also cited as 
  a concern in various restrictive polities where police 
  and security personnel are often more prone to target 
  AGIs, mercurials, or people with particular back-
  grounds for extra screening or even discriminatory or 
  abusive behavior.
  ID PROTECTIOn
  Many transhumans use the tools of surveillance to 
  their advantage and instruct their muse to monitor 
  local mesh feeds for any indications of identity crime 
  or unauthorized fork activity. Some go even further 
  and employ dedicated scanners (usually simple AI 
  agents, but sometimes freelance infomorphs) to 
  station themselves in the mesh nodes of other major 
  habitats to monitor for identity theft. Numerous 
  hypercorps provide this service at reasonable rates; 
  high-end options exist that monitor transactions 
  and activities in the larger commercial and private 
  databases as well. An Extropian hypercorp known as 
  Persona+ has extended similar protections to autono-
  mists, extending branch offices in various outer 
  system habitats. Their efforts to monitor inner system 
  networks on behalf of their clients have suffered from 
  Consortium-enacted roadblocks and an outright 
  smear campaign launched by Stellar Intelligence.
  ID anD FORKInG
  Identity gets a bit tricky when forking is called into play. 
  Alpha forks have the same brainprint as each other, at 
  least at first. For legal purposes, most jurisdictions treat 
  alpha forks as the same person up to a certain time 
  period of divergence (4 hours being common in the 
  Consortium, but ranging up to a day or even a week 
  in some habitats) or alternately treat the originators as 
  legal guardians of their alpha forks (and thus legally 
  responsible for their actions). Cognitive scientists 
  disagree over how long it takes and what makes a 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  25
  IDEnTITY MOnITORInG
  PersonaNoctis12: Hi SnackBoi, this is a 
  clarification check from your Persona+ 
  monitoring service.
  PersonaNoctis12: Have you traveled to 
  Luc’s Cluster on Ceres in the past 3 
  weeks? 
  SnackBoi: No, I’ve never been.
  SnackBoi: What’s up?
  PersonaNoctis12: One moment please.
  PersonaNoctis12: Persona+ has 
  detected unexplained activity under 
  your good name!
  PersonaNoctis12: A verdict of Guilty: 
  Aggravated Felony Property Damage 
  to Habitat Systems has been entered 
  against you! 
  PersonaNoctis12: Sentence of VR 
  Conditioning and Reparation is 
  pending your arrest. Three separate 
  ego hunter firms have logged their 
  intent to pursue.
  SnackBoi: WTF?!
  SnackBoi: I haven’t been off Extropia in 
  over a year!
  PersonaNoctis12: We are sorry for the 
  bad news. Unfortunately your current 
  Persona+ service level does not include 
  remediation services. Would you like 
  to meet with one of our counselors to 
  discuss additional ways we can assist 
  you? Select yes to enter Persona+ 
  simulspace for a free consultation. 
  
  With many eyes watching, we can feel safer from 
  crime, terrorism, and other potential dangers such as 
  fires or life support malfunctions. Likewise, in a trans-
  parent society, the argument goes, no one has secrets. 
  You know everything I do, but I know the same about 
  you. We are all accountable to each other. The regimes 
  of the hypercorp governments play to this to the hilt, 
  noting that even governments are accountable to their 
  people. Monitoring citizens can catch abuses of power, 
  violations of rights, or unethical activity. The govern-
  ment watches the people, but the people watch back. 
  Among the autonomists of the outer system, similar 
  arguments are often applied. Universal sousveillance 
  protects everyone, allowing everyone to keep an eye 
  on each other, thus leveling the playing field. 
  Those who argue heavily in favor of sur- and sous-
  veillance often argue that privacy is a thing of the past. 
  In their view, if you’re doing nothing wrong, you have 
  nothing to hide. 
  This is a gross simplification, of course. If you 
  watch someone long enough, you will eventually find 
  some reason to arrest or blackmail them, if that is 
  your goal. But that is not even the point. Transhumans 
  have many good reasons for personal privacy that 
  has nothing to do with hiding illicit or illegal activi-
  ties—some, in fact, define privacy as a civil right or 
  inherent human need. We expect and need privacy 
  for our peace of mind, for our intimate moments, 
  for composing our own thoughts and reflections, for 
  sharing confidentialities with partners, for managing 
  our own disabilities and personal shortcomings. There 
  is nothing wrong with expecting or even demanding 
  privacy for certain aspects of your life. Some would 
  consider it an essential element to maintaining our 
  own dignity. Secrecy is also important for innovation 
  and business relations. 
  Sometimes, of course, there are disagreements 
  about what may be considered “wrong” to the society 
  at large. In a station where anti-uplift prejudice is 
  common, a mercurial may rightly feel justified in 
  keeping its identity and affairs private for fear of 
  discrimination or persecution. Many of us would 
  consider this undeniably just, no matter that the uplift 
  in question might be violating local laws—especially 
  if we had to go a day sleeved in their morph. Likewise, 
  a dissident who organizes against or even actively 
  sabotages an oppressive or authoritarian regime has 
  a reasonable need for secrecy, which the government 
  would undoubtedly dispute. To many of us in the 
  outer system, all capitalist governments are oppres-
  sive. Privacy in such circumstances is a requirement 
  for survival.
  In truth, ubiquitous surveillance and privacy are 
  not mutually exclusive. The question is simply where 
  the line is drawn. Even in today’s societies of omni-
  present watchers, a distinction is often made between 
  the public and private sphere. Allowances are made 
  for people to maintain privacy in their own homes 
  and offices. Our bedrooms, bathrooms, workshops, 
  sapient beings and so have nothing in the way of 
  individual rights. Even in autonomist circles opinions 
  vary; most anarchists treat beta forks the same as 
  weak AIs—as things, not persons, and delta forks even 
  more so. A small but growing number of colonies, 
  particularly in the outer system, consider beta forks 
  to be unique persons with the full rights and privileges 
  the progenitor ego enjoys. Like alpha forks, beta and 
  delta forks are almost always required to make their 
  nature known in digital codes and nanotat IDs.
  New technology that looks at psychographic data 
  is being developed for behavioral surveillance that 
  establishes personality norms to help verify identity 
  in case of forking or imposture. These procedures are 
  not considered reliable or practicable yet. Some of the 
  parties involved in research, including Cognite and 
  a joint research venture between Titan Autonomous 
  University’s Individuality Studies faculty and the 
  University of Mars Cognitive Science Department, 
  have come under criticism for their methodology, 
  which has involved invasive cortical stack procedures 
  and similar steps considered to be an invasion of 
  personal privacy.
  PanOPTICOn ISSUES,  
  ETHICS, anD CUlTURE
  Posted by: Zim Shirky, Outreach Coordinator, 
  Electronic Futures Foundation 
  <Info Msg Rep>
  The historians say that we sleepwalked into a surveil-
  lance state. They meant that the technology for wide-
  spread surveillance progressed and was implemented 
  in a gradual manner, though quick considering the 
  actual time scales, and with little in the way of open 
  discussion about the ramifications, so that before 
  anyone thought to object it was already ingrained 
  into society. When the tables turned and the same 
  technology was used to watch the watchers, there 
  was a bit more resistance, but by that point the genie’s 
  bottle had already been melted down and reshaped 
  as a camera lens. By the time the pundits broke out 
  their talking points and started debating the issues 
  and repercussions, a new equilibrium had already 
  developed. As usual, the conversation was framed in a 
  way to distract people, to keep them endlessly arguing 
  over the same points. 
  PRIvaCY vs. TRanSPaREnCY
  The main issue, at least according to the memeticists 
  of the inner system, is the tension between trans-
  parency and privacy. Transparency, we are told, is 
  essential for safety, security, and accountability. By 
  always being able to check in on or track our loved 
  ones, from any place at any time, we can rest assured 
  that nothing bad has happened to them. If an accident 
  were to happen, most likely some watcher somewhere 
  would notice, and so help would soon be on the way. 
  26
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Scandals and leaks catching such figureheads in the 
  act are so common as to be routine and boring. Their 
  impact is routinely blunted by cynicism and apathy. 
  The public’s attention is quickly diverted, and no one 
  really expects them to be punished anyway. With the 
  resources at their disposal, most of the powerful have 
  learned carefully how to shield their more heinous 
  crimes and activities from view. Extraordinary power 
  requires extraordinary transparency to undermine, 
  and the elites have not let sousveillance creep that far 
  just yet. 
  This isn’t to say that transparency has no effect on 
  non-egalitarian societies. Leaks and the accountability 
  forced by transparency function as a sort of “secrecy 
  tax” on those in power. The more secrets they keep, 
  the higher the cost they pay to protect those secrets 
  or recuperate when they are made public. This has 
  an effect to push the elites towards more transpar-
  ency simply to defray costs of operation. The tension 
  comes when this transparency begins to threaten their 
  control. Many governments attempt a balancing act, 
  practicing openness to a point and risking secrecy for 
  the true behind-the-scenes power players. Many are 
  exposed and pay the price. 
  A true participatory panopticon requires a society 
  of equals. This is how the autonomists function. 
  An injustice or antisocial act caught on video in an 
  anarchist or technosocialist habitat will earn the 
  wrongdoer the disdain of their peers, measured as a 
  drop in their reputation in proportion to the offense. 
  In a pluralistic society, peer shaming has great power. 
  Offend your fellow beings too often and you may find 
  yourself subject to censure or outright exile. While 
  the word of someone with a higher rep may deflect 
  some of the force of an accusation from someone 
  with lower rep, reputation does not translate into 
  power as it does in the inner system. Even high-rep 
  people can expect to pay a price if damning evidence 
  of gruesomely inappropriate behavior is shared across 
  a habitat’s mesh.
  InFORMaTIOn COnTROl
  One of the main issues in power dynamics is who 
  has control of the information? When cameras are 
  seeded throughout public areas of a habitat, do only 
  the authorities have access to them? Are the cameras 
  owned by private companies who sell the feeds? Or 
  are they open to all via the mesh? What about cameras 
  in government buildings? Police stations? The same 
  questions may also be applied to consumer data, to 
  various databases, and to information supplied to 
  social networks by their users.
  The more open and decentralized such information 
  is, the more liberatory the society. In an autonomist 
  habitat, the cameras outside of private residences are 
  open to everyone and databases are public access. 
  In inner system and Extropian stations, open publi-
  cams and databases abound, but there are also many 
  private cameras and archives—often of superior 
  and boardrooms are off-limits to outside eyes. In less 
  restrictive habitats, it is even acceptable to maintain 
  a semblance of privacy and anonymity in public, via 
  the use of private mesh modes or even privacy veils. 
  POWER DYnaMICS
  In my opinion, the inner system talking heads are 
  pulling a fast one. The choice is not really between 
  transparency and privacy, it’s between liberty and 
  control. As any autonomist worth the name can tell 
  you, you can’t debate surveillance without talking 
  about the vast differences between people with power 
  and those without it. Complete transparency is worth-
  less as an equalizer if a significant portion of society 
  lacks the ability to do anything with it. This is an 
  important lesson the citizens of the inner system have 
  yet to fully comprehend.
  Consider some examples. When a habitat security 
  contractor stops you to verify your ID, you are at a 
  disadvantage. You may be able to access their name 
  and ID as well, but the best you can do is maybe pull 
  up some personal info on the mesh, check their social 
  network profile, or see if their name has cropped up 
  in the newsfeeds. You may be able to dig up some 
  personal history and even track them online—but 
  what would you do with that info? The security guard, 
  however, can run your ID against multiple govern-
  ment and private databases to which you don’t have 
  access. They can pull up private details such as your 
  arrest history, citizenship records, and all manner of 
  private personal details. They also have the authority 
  to detain, question, and arrest you. 
  Let’s say the situation is more drastic. Perhaps 
  you catch the security officer in the act of beating 
  someone who is not resisting. You may catch that on 
  video, spread it around the mesh, and maybe even 
  cause charges to be filed. Ultimately, however, the 
  security guard is likely to get a slap on the wrist or go 
  unpunished because they are part of the power struc-
  ture and those within that structure protect their own. 
  Meanwhile, you have just made yourself an enemy 
  of the security and political apparatus. You may find 
  yourself harassed or targeted with violence. Perhaps 
  the video you enter as evidence is determined to be 
  doctored. Perhaps the authorities pull out their own 
  video proving that you instigated the fight, thanks to 
  their ability to fabricate whatever evidence they need. 
  This is why the “transparent society” of the inner 
  system is a pipe dream. Without equality, transpar-
  ency is meaningless. Since the Fall there have been 
  untold instances of scandal involving people of power 
  and wealth, but very few of them pay for their crimes 
  in the end. Their influence gives them the means 
  to warp due process and receive special treatment. 
  Remember that hypercorp dynasty brat on Luna who 
  was found to be an uplift serial killer last year? Never 
  convicted, despite hard evidence. The elites and their 
  tools have a special coating that allows them to deflect 
  minor crimes and wrongs. It is the nature of privilege. 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  27
  
  has its own price. Though some polities have enacted 
  restrictions on data retention, require opt-out policies, 
  or otherwise limit the manner in which such data is 
  collected and used, it is rare for consumers to have 
  much in the way of protection. This raises an uglier 
  set of questions when you consider that these data 
  archives can be mined by restrictive governments, 
  political parties, or others looking to gather informa-
  tion on criminals, dissidents, opponents, or simply 
  people they don’t like.
  aCCOUnTaBIlITY
  Where power intervenes, transparency fails to provide 
  accountability. This is the main fact that the residents 
  of the Planetary Consortium and their ilk must grasp. 
  Public-accessible cameras and citizen sousveillance of 
  police is not enough. To truly hold the people at the 
  top accountable, publicams should be placed inside 
  police stations, interrogation rooms, jails, security 
  checkpoints, congressional chambers, and anywhere 
  government officials meet with lobbyists, make 
  decisions, and otherwise exercise their authority. 
  Recording the police and government should not only 
  be legal but required. Officers, politicians, and civil 
  servants should be required to lifelog their activi-
  ties, record all meetings, and broadcast their affairs. 
  Budgets, expenditures, and contributions should all be 
  logged. As public servants, they should be held even 
  more accountable to the public than our neighbors 
  and peers. And the only way the public can hold them 
  accountable is if the public is informed.
  quality—to which you must buy access. Thus the 
  wealthy have more access. In the colonies of the 
  Jovian Republic and similar restrictive polities, public 
  cameras and databases are limited, but the watching 
  eyes of the authorities are everywhere.
  The standard playbook for authoritarian regimes 
  when dealing with information they don’t like is to 
  try to contain or censor it. In many of today’s habitats, 
  the decentralized mesh and access to QE comms 
  or darkcast networks makes this an impossibility. 
  Censorship is rarely successful, though it is occasion-
  ally still tried. AI botnets may be released to scour 
  unwanted data from public sites. A more effective 
  remedy, as many autocrats and oligarchs have found, 
  is to wage disinformation campaigns. When you 
  cannot hide the data, make it unreliable, or bury it 
  under a wave of counter-attacks and spin. Censorship 
  and mesh blockades still have an impact in tightly 
  controlled stations, such as the Jovian Junta’s colonies 
  or private hypercorp habitats.
  Among the capitalist societies, a related question is 
  not just who controls the data, but who owns your 
  personal data. Average citizens supply their personal 
  data to numerous social networks, cloud services, and 
  other mesh sites on a daily basis. Their personal trans-
  actions and mesh activity are logged and recorded by 
  marketing corps. With few exceptions, they have no 
  control over how this data will be used or to whom 
  it will be sold. In many cases, they may not even be 
  aware it is being collected. Even if they are, the social 
  cost of not using such services is too high—opting out 
  28
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  best friend, who happens to be an uplift. Two lovers 
  may wish to enjoy each other’s company without 
  seeding gossip among their joint co-workers. A 
  person considering a new sleeve may choose to 
  shop through their options in person, privately, to 
  consider the decision before they are pressured by 
  their friends’ opinions. Perhaps you simply want to 
  voice your political opinions or criticize someone 
  powerful online without fear of backlash. Perhaps 
  you simply need some time to yourself, to walk the 
  streets without the attention of others. There are 
  many legitimate reasons to operate in private mesh 
  mode or to cloak your affairs online.
  The risk of anonymity is that it has no account-
  ability. When someone makes claims from a veil of 
  secrecy, there may be no way to verify the source. 
  When someone slanders another from an anonymous 
  account, there is no redress. Criminals and terror-
  ists may abuse anonymity to break the law. Mesh 
  anonymity is sometimes known to bring out worse 
  behavior in people, as they feel comfortable flaming 
  others and griefing behind their unknown identity. 
  Some societies consider anonymity to be taking 
  privacy interests a step too far and either restrict 
  or outright outlaw it. Others consider it an integral 
  component of private life, a necessary counterpoint to 
  the ubiquitous transparency that envelops us.
  Pseudonymity provides a comfortable middle 
  ground in some cases. Some people maintain all of 
  their public activity behind the facade of a nom-de-
  guerre. Others split their lives among different arenas, 
  operating under different personas for each. Though 
  pseudonyms can be abandoned, they do provide some 
  level of accountability when sustained over time. 
  Many people become so attached to their false identi-
  ties that they are reluctant to abandon them.
  On the opposite side of the scale is a phenomenon 
  predominant among celebrities and famous figures: 
  infamy. More than anyone, celebrities draw the 
  public’s eye and are accustomed to living life under a 
  microscope. As a result, they often have more to lose 
  by acting gracelessly or improperly. Some, however, 
  obtain a footing where they are known as bad boys, 
  girls, or things. Because the public becomes jaded to 
  their misadventures and expects them to trip up, cause 
  a scene, or otherwise cram their tentacles in their 
  mouths, they become partially immunized against 
  losing more rep. In many cases, crimes or scandals 
  have actually increased their reputation, solidifying 
  their crafted image as a rogue character. The smart 
  ones build on this to boost their public image, staging 
  dramatic events to expand their infamy.
  TRUTH vs. FICTIOn
  According to a common maxim, you should never 
  believe anything you see or hear on the mesh. In an 
  age of sophisticated image, video, sound, and even 
  sensory manipulation, the veracity of information 
  online is indeed suspect. As a result, images, video, 
  To varying degrees, this does occur. Planetary 
  Congress debates are one of the great spectacles of the 
  inner system. Many congressional persons lifelog or 
  at least X-cast their office hours. Yet the Consortium’s 
  Ministry, Assembly, and Hypercorp Council are not 
  open in the same way. The activities of the true 
  government power remain shielded from prying eyes.
  How is this secrecy justified? Security, of course. 
  According to the party line, essential government 
  affairs must be veiled to protect them from hostile 
  interests. The same logic is also applied to diplomatic 
  relations, military matters, and sometimes even 
  economic affairs and trade agreements. The authori-
  ties, of course, decide for themselves what matters are 
  critical to security, without public oversight. These 
  officials have been elected or appointed and the public 
  should trust them to do their duty, or so we are told. 
  To open up all political business would be to expose 
  weakness to rival foreign powers, not to mention 
  provide fuel for endless partisan bickering. If privacy 
  is an individual right, they say, why should officials 
  not also have it?
  To an autonomist, this is a failure of account-
  ability, and perhaps underlines a fundamental 
  distinction between inner and outer system ideolo-
  gies. The inner system relies on representatives who 
  are given authority to act in the public’s name; they 
  are expected to represent the public, but ultimately 
  the decisions they make are their own. Among 
  autonomists, delegates are used for representational 
  purposes, who have only the authority to pass along 
  the decisions made by those they represent. To ensure 
  this, the activity of delegates is transparent and held 
  accountable. If a delegate were to misrepresent their 
  constituency, they would be recalled immediately—no 
  waiting for the next election.
  An essential element of accountability, both 
  in personal and political affairs, is criticism. By 
  exposing ourselves to the public eye, we open 
  ourselves to critique from all angles. This enables 
  more opportunities for dialog and exposure to 
  opposing views. It also serves as an organic error-
  correcting mechanism—no one goes long after 
  making a mistake without someone telling them 
  about it. Watching others make mistakes is also how 
  the rest of us learn. Accountability is not just about 
  keeping each other in line, it’s about self-improve-
  ment of the collective organism.
  anOnYMITY anD InFaMY
  If you accept that privacy is a fundamental right, 
  then a fully transparent society must also allow for 
  anonymity. Privacy is not solely something to be 
  exercised in our homes. Sometimes privacy is wanted 
  or needed while interacting with others in public. A 
  person tackling a drug problem, for example, may 
  wish to attend recovery meetings without facing 
  shaming from their peers. A young adult raised by 
  prejudiced parents may wish to spend time with a 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  29
  
  your goods while you are away, con artists may 
  exploit your personal history in elaborate schemes, 
  a serial rapist may target your morph as their next 
  victim, or someone you owe credit to may track you 
  down to break your legs. The more personal data 
  is available about you, the easier victim you make 
  for identity theft. The more information about your 
  habits and personal details you let fall into marketing 
  hypercorp hands, the more likely an unscrupulous 
  corp will target you with directed scams. 
  For anti-authoritarians, a more pressing question 
  is the capabilities our surveillance society gives to 
  the authorities. The police and security contractors 
  almost always have access to more surveillance 
  assets and info archives than the public. They likely 
  have the ability to track you wherever you go and 
  analyze in detail whatever you do. Should you be 
  considered a dissident, activist, criminal, or even 
  just an undesirable element of society, you are easily 
  within their means to be tracked, watched, and 
  messed with. This is the peril of an open society. On 
  the positive side, the cameras may look both ways, 
  to varying degrees.
  The government and criminals are not the only 
  potential threat, of course. Omnipresent sur- and 
  sousveillance could be used by almost any hostile 
  agency, from rival political factions to corporate 
  competitors to everyone’s favorite: the TITANs. This 
  is a risk that we take, that the tools we implement for 
  our own collective security can be turned against us. 
  This is yet another argument that these tools should 
  be fully democratized, shared, and open—the more 
  watchers, the quicker a response can be made when 
  someone does take hostile action.
  CRYPTO SECURITY
  In societies with heavy data and comms surveillance, 
  crypto systems are seen as one of the only methods to 
  maintain digital privacy. When implemented properly, 
  crypto systems can be very effective at safeguarding 
  personal files or communications. There are risks, of 
  course. Using cryptography can itself be seen as suspi-
  cious, implying the user has something illicit to hide. 
  In more restrictive habitats, crypto is criminalized; the 
  authorities do not want you to have the tools to evade 
  their prying data-crawlers. Crypto is also engaged in 
  an arms race with code-breaking technologies. If you 
  misuse your crypto tool sets or fall behind the state of 
  the art, your encrypted secrets and transmissions may 
  not be as protected as you think.
  CUlTURal OPEnnESS
  Aside from all of these weighty matters, the cultural 
  effects of living in an ultra-surveillance society are an 
  interesting phenomenon. There’s a certain liberation 
  to always being on record. Everyone sins. Accepting 
  this simple fact means that unless you do something 
  absolutely ludicrous, you’re not standing out as the 
  only one doing something wrong. This creates a 
  and other sensor recordings are rarely accepted as 
  final proof or evidence without verifiable metadata 
  or other corroborating information. That said, most 
  images and recordings are usually taken at face value 
  when first viewed, unless their content is remarkably 
  suspicious. Only later are they verified—if it matters. 
  This means deceptive media is very effective, at least 
  in the short term. This means that even in a trans-
  parent society, voyeurs cannot always trust that what 
  they are seeing is real, at least until it is verified in 
  other ways. 
  While falsified media is often used to temporarily 
  cover one’s tracks, at least for a short period, fake 
  data is often more persistent. This is perpetuated 
  by the fact that many archives and data sources 
  share information with each other without fact-
  checking, so incorrect data can be seeded far and 
  wide. Though much of this information is simply a 
  mistake, incorporated by bad transcription software, 
  mis-matched database relationships, or simply faulty 
  record-keeping, there are groups that actively seed 
  disinformation on purpose. These hackers may simply 
  be laying a cover for the organization for which they 
  work or they may be sowing lies on general principle, 
  to make the pervasive databases that much more 
  unreliable. Falsified records can be especially harmful 
  given that they can be next to impossible to clear up. 
  Few government and corporate databases have clear 
  methods for reporting and correcting errors, even for 
  matters such as credit reports and security watch-
  lists. Some citizens have found out the hard way that 
  wrong or intentionally faked data can hound them for 
  the rest of their lives. 
  Beyond media and data, it is not always safe to 
  assume that other mesh users online are what they 
  seem. Sock puppets and astroturfing are common prac-
  tices made even easier by AIs and forking.Memeticists, 
  propagandists, and griefers have turned the manipula-
  tion of online discussion into an art form, sometimes 
  employing vast networks of coordinated fake personas. 
  These networks are even used to build the reps of indi-
  vidual personas, to make them seem more authentic. 
  Though various methods are employed to guard 
  against these measures, sock puppeteers are devious 
  and often find ways around them. 
  What this means is that an open society is often 
  more muddled than it seems. Important debates 
  are sometimes drowned out by the most numerous 
  voices—or the bigger puppetnet. The stranger you 
  are dealing with online may be an entirely fabricated 
  persona. Checking reputation is not always enough.
  SURvEIllanCE InSECURITY
  Universal surveillance is touted as important for 
  security, and it is, but it is important to keep in mind 
  that transparency brings about its own vulnerabili-
  ties. On a personal level, when everyone knows your 
  business, you become an easier target for enemies or 
  even run-of-the-mill criminals. Thieves may target 
  30
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  embrace total openness sometimes develop unfor-
  tunate mindsets that consider privacy an affront. 
  Those that refuse to be as open as those around them 
  may suffer resentment and other negative feedback, 
  possibly impacting their reputation scores. A similar 
  effect is noticeable among hermits or people who 
  are just inherently shy or withdrawn. The less they 
  interact with the open culture around them, the 
  more they are ostracized as an outsider, and their 
  rep usually suffers as as a result.
  SURvEIllanCE TECHnOlOGY
  Source: Clandestine Operations 101: Remote Sensing 
  and Sensors (Excerpted from Sanitizing the Solar System: 
  The Unofficial Firewall Sentinel Guide) 
  [Link]
  Total Information Awareness (TIA) is a catchphrase 
  often thrown about in surveillance circles. Let’s be 
  clear about something right up front: there is no total 
  information awareness. You will never be able to 
  access and monitor all the information that is present 
  in an environment in a given timeframe, no matter 
  what people may want you to believe—at least not in 
  the heat of the moment, when it matters most. In most 
  cases, there is simply too much data. Even with AIs, 
  multitasking, and cognitive mods, dealing with the 
  sheer volume of information available via surveillance 
  networks is a major problem. Good spynet operators 
  learn to filter out the chaff, to pay attention to the 
  feeds that matter, to bounce between the data inputs 
  most appropriate at any time in a dynamic situation, 
  and to maximize their analysis by correlating data 
  sets from different sensor feeds together. It’s a tricky 
  balancing act. Just as important is knowing what 
  information you’re missing—where are the gaps in 
  your sensor network, what types of scans are unavail-
  able, and what may have been disabled, tricked, or 
  otherwise nullified. 
  No matter how good our surveillance technology is, 
  it will never be perfect at detecting criminals, terror-
  ists, or enemies—or in stopping events before they 
  occur. Its use as a deterrent is limited. While sensors 
  are beneficial in emergency response situations, even 
  here they are vulnerable to interference and the 
  impediments caused by general chaos. Where spynets 
  really thrive, however, is in piecing together the data 
  of what happened afterward. The omnipresent spimes 
  and overlapping sensors in any habitat are a fantastic 
  forensics tool, and the various lifelogs and personal 
  sensor recordings of individuals often help piece any 
  confusing elements together. 
  What this means for people in our line of work 
  is that it is often impossible to avoid getting caught 
  on record to some degree, despite your best counter-
  surveillance efforts. If you’re careful and smart about 
  it, however, you can avoid getting tripped up before 
  an op is complete. The real challenge then is bugging 
  out and getting clear before the trail you’ve left can 
  domino effect of mutual understanding. In a univer-
  sally watched culture, many barriers and taboos are 
  broken. Cultures and subcultures that once seemed 
  foreign no longer seem so weird or unusual when you 
  realize that their constituents are not all that different 
  from you. People cease to care about who may or may 
  not be watching. Hedonism and more open displays 
  of sexuality become a daily standard—sometimes to 
  the chagrin of the conservative elements that were the 
  strongest proponents for full surveillance. Cultures 
  that once tried to shield their members from certain 
  concepts or realities no longer have the capability 
  to do this. Insularity and dogmatism lose ground to 
  openness and inclusion.
  Open societies tend to become more tolerant—and 
  not just towards their neighbors. Minor criminal 
  offenses lead to more public outcry when punished. 
  Since everyone does them, and everyone knows 
  that everyone else does them, when one person is 
  pinned, everyone voices a sense of unfair treatment. 
  This causes civil unrest, which discourages further 
  punishments. So in practice, this type of governance 
  tends to lead to an increase in petty crime, as long as 
  it remains petty. Repeat offenders or criminals who 
  raise the stakes are still likely to be dealt with harshly 
  as they exceed behavior that is considered justifiable.
  There are some who argue that individuality 
  suffers under universal surveillance. When every-
  thing about you is known, and you have little or 
  no control over how your identity is presented to 
  others, you become just another person in a mass 
  of similar persons. With no way to define yourself, 
  individuality is eroded. We all become everyman 
  and everywoman, or so the argument goes. To the 
  contrary, the amount of detail provided to everyone 
  around us in a transparent society helps to show 
  all of the subtle things that define each of us as 
  a person. If identity is in the eye of the beholder, 
  constant surveillance builds a stronger identity. 
  Upon meeting a perfect stranger, it is trivial to pull 
  up a large amount of data quickly, providing us 
  with a passing familiarity with the person before 
  we have even exchanged words. This smooths out 
  personal interactions, making them easier, enabling 
  us to bypass blockades from ignorance or awkward-
  ness. It’s not dissimilar from meeting someone that 
  shares a mutual hobby; there’s a degree of under-
  standing between the two people that wouldn’t exist 
  in a vacuum.
  Not all societies adapt to omnipresent surveillance 
  so smoothly. In totalitarian habitats where surveil-
  lance tends to be weighted in the hands of the police 
  state, a “thought crime” mentality can develop, 
  where citizens actively avoid suspicious behaviors 
  out of the assumption that somebody is watching, 
  waiting to pin them with crimes uncommitted. Such 
  thoroughly controlled environments breed hope-
  lessness and despair—and occasionally resentment 
  and resistance. At the opposite end, societies that 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  31
  
  one used as a reference. This is a common procedure 
  to validate results and reduce background noise in an 
  area scan. 
  The interpretation of sensor input is another poten-
  tial liability with some surveillance devices. Since the 
  actual users rarely possess the scientific understanding 
  to analyze a sensor result from an advanced device 
  properly (for instance, the virtual model of a full 
  morph body scan involving terahertz exterior and 
  high-resolution X-ray/magnetic resonance tomog-
  raphy interior scans), interpretation is instead carried 
  out by specialized AIs. These automated programs 
  correlate sensor readings with databases of reference 
  scans to provide an analysis. The drawback is that 
  this system tends to give simplified answers to what 
  are otherwise very complex processes. There is often 
  room for interpretation in the results provided, given 
  the limitations of AI skill and knowledge program-
  ming. To reflect this, many scanner systems provide a 
  confidence level rating with each result. An infrared 
  lie detection scanner, for example, rarely admits 100% 
  certainty that someone is lying. To counteract this 
  uncertainty, many modern scanner systems incorpo-
  rate multiple different sensor types and use analytical 
  techniques to minimize false positives and negatives. 
  SEnSOR TYPES
  To make the most of a spynet, you want to know the 
  capabilities and limitations of the sensors at your 
  disposal. Some sensors are ideal for certain situations 
  and terrible at others; they may require fixed positions 
  and be useless for mobile operations, or they may 
  work best when integrated with other sensors. Here’s 
  a breakdown of the state of sensor technologies.
  THE vISUal SPECTRUM
  Cameras recording the standard visual part of the light 
  spectrum remain a mainstay of surveillance systems. 
  These are ubiquitous, incorporated into common 
  spimes, public infrastructure, and other “everyware” 
  devices. Thanks to advances with lens design and 
  digital resolution techniques, even tiny cameras can 
  produce highly detailed three-dimensional images and 
  recordings. The camera lenses present in many spimes 
  and devices are so small and unobtrusive as to be 
  quite difficult to spot, though automated lens detec-
  tion systems can locate them by laser reflection. Flat 
  camera systems use multiple micro lenses networked 
  together, with a central processor combining the 
  inputs into a single high-resolution image. These allow 
  flat surfaces to be covered in small imagers that are 
  even harder to detect visually (but still apparent to 
  lens spotter systems). 
  When combined with augmented reality, networked 
  cameras can provide visual feeds on objects the viewer 
  cannot physically see through. This is especially useful 
  for traffic systems and navigation, where drivers and 
  pilots can use the views from linked cameras to see 
  what is going on beyond barriers and obstructions. 
  be used to track you down. The best operatives learn 
  to minimize their trails as much as possible, do what 
  they can to confuse and mislead follow-up investiga-
  tions, and get out quickly, cutting all ties to the op 
  and any IDs used.
  It also means that sentinels need to learn to 
  use spynets to the best of their capabilities. When 
  monitoring or pursuing a target, knowing the tools 
  you have at your disposal and the tricks for using 
  them effectively can make the difference between a 
  successful op and a slaughter. 
  SEnSOR nETWORK aDvanTaGES & lIMITaTIOnS
  One of the largest advantages to modern surveillance 
  systems is remote sensing—the ability to capture 
  information on a target, whether an object, area, 
  or phenomenon, in real-time without needing to 
  be in physical or intimate contact. The capabilities 
  of some sensors to measure and record across long 
  distances (from a few meters away to watching from 
  orbit or across thousands of kilometers of space) 
  and/or through barriers means that targets are often 
  unaware that they are being monitored. Combined 
  with miniaturization and wireless mesh capabilities, 
  many sensors are small enough to avoid detection 
  and the surveillance operators can be far away. When 
  a closer look or actual physical contact is necessary, 
  the use of near-invisible nanoswarms or microbots 
  enables a spynet to unobtrusively acquire the data 
  it needs. While most people assume they are under 
  a certain degree of surveillance in urban areas, the 
  actual extent to which they are being watched is easy 
  to disguise. Likewise, the ubiquity of sensors and 
  spimes means that even if a particular spynet falls 
  short of its needs, there may well be public or private 
  sensor systems the surveillance operator can access 
  for their monitoring requirements.
  Despite the integration of sensors into nearly every-
  thing, from highly sophisticated spimes to nanobots, 
  morph implants, and other smart objects, a device’s 
  sensitivity, resolution, and precision can still be limiting 
  factors. Different sensors are simply going to have differ-
  ences in range and resolution depending on the magni-
  tude of the target (astronomical, transhuman scale, or 
  cellular to atomic size) and their own dimensions. It is 
  important to have the right tool for the surveillance job.
  While breakthroughs in computing, energy self-
  sustenance, and nano-engineering have produced 
  sensors able to resolve signals several orders of magni-
  tude higher than those built in the decades before the 
  Fall, the ubiquitous distribution, networking, and 
  correlation of collected information remains the true 
  boon to modern panopticon technology. Sensors or 
  the operators using them can easily verify or enhance 
  their own measured data with information supplied 
  by other meshed sensors in measurement range. Since 
  sensor data can also be easily stored, shared, and 
  archived, it is a simple matter to cross-reference the 
  “historic” data of other sensors in the same state as the 
  32
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  A drawback to visual camera systems is that they 
  are sometimes vulnerable to high-resolution holo-
  graphic displays, especially at a distance. These sorts 
  of hyper-real illusions are easy to spot with combined 
  systems, however, as infrared or other scans will 
  likely show the hologram as false. On the positive 
  side, camera recordings can be slowed down to 
  analyze situations at a slower speed, revealing infor-
  mation that is often missed at real-time speeds. This 
  is especially useful for measuring micro-expressions 
  and other visual tells indicative of deception or 
  emotional states.
  THE HIGH ElECTROMaGnETIC SPECTRUM
  Many common camera systems are also capable of 
  detecting infrared wavelengths in addition to the 
  standard visual spectrum. This allows the cameras to 
  function in low-light/night-vision conditions. Unlike 
  Higher-end camera systems can be equipped with 
  quantum ghost imaging technology, enabling clear 
  pictures to be taken through visually obstructive 
  conditions such as clouds, smoke, fog, dust, and haze. 
  These systems are common in military, gatecrashing, 
  and search and rescue operations, enabling visual 
  sensors to get a clear image of a situation despite 
  explosions, heavy weather, and other impeding factors.
  One common tool for area surveillance is super-
  wide camera systems. Aerial and even orbital drones 
  are often equipped with these sensors, providing 
  continual coverage of an area by hovering or regular 
  overhead fly-bys. A single super-wide camera can 
  provide detail on an area up to 300 square kilometers 
  in size down to 0.1 meter resolution. These cameras 
  are also common in the upper infrastructure of 
  dome habitats and the axis points of cylindrical and 
  spherical habitats. 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  33
  QUANTUM DOT CAMERA-DISPLAYS
  The cutting edge of camera systems are quantum 
  dot camera-displays (QDCDs). These fullerene 
  arrays of quantum dots have the capability to both 
  detect and emit light, simultaneously acting as 
  high-resolution camera and display. This enables 
  the creation of displays that also watch the viewer. 
  The real value of QDCDs is that they can be applied 
  as a paint-like film on just about any surface. This 
  means that any wall, object, or device can be 
  transformed into a combination sensor systems 
  and visual display. Because QDCDs do not use tra-
  ditional lenses, they are invisible to lens-spotting 
  devices. QDCDs can also detect the infrared and 
  ultraviolet wavelengths. 
  n
  
  the transmission and reception of the common radio 
  signals on opposing sides of the target area, variations 
  in the waves can be detected that indicate someone or 
  something moving in the observed area. This allows 
  observers to map the positions of any movement 
  inside, thus detecting what room someone might be 
  in or if anyone is even in the area at all.
  THE lOW ElECTROMaGnETIC SPECTRUM
  Similar to infrared, many common camera systems 
  are capable of recording the ultraviolet spectrum as 
  well. Aside from people and designers who happen 
  to like decorating their selves, clothing, or designs 
  with ultraviolet artistry, the main use for UV sensors 
  is to detect security tagging. Some security systems, 
  particularly anti-theft set-ups, are designed to 
  mark a target with dye that is only visible in ultra-
  violet, making them easy to track and spot. This is 
  a common trick also used by physical surveillance 
  teams that are tailing a target—marking them with 
  UV paint to make them easy to spot in a crowd or to 
  catch a particular pattern via image recognition in a 
  habitat-wide scan. 
  Active x-ray and gamma-ray sensors are less 
  common, except at security checkpoints. While 
  useful in portal systems to detect weapons, implants, 
  and contraband, portable versions of these devices 
  tend to be restricted due to potential health risks 
  from radiation exposure. Nevertheless, security 
  bots are sometimes equipped with backscatter 
  x-ray imaging systems and set to patrol or monitor 
  key areas of habitats, randomly imaging passers-
  by. Radiation sensors are also a common feature 
  in habitats, both to prevent transportation of 
  weapons of mass destruction and to verify the habi-
  tat’s integrity at keeping out solar radiation and  
  cosmic rays.
  aUDIO SEnSORS
  Microphones that capture audio frequencies in 
  standard human hearing ranges are almost as ubiqui-
  tous as cameras—in fact, the two are often combined. 
  Audio input can be checked against online databases, 
  instantly identifying the source of a sound. Multiple 
  microphones can be used to triangulate the origins 
  of a sound. If gunfire or yells for help are heard, the 
  source location can be pinpointed for further inves-
  tigation. More sophisticated audio sensors allow 
  conversations to be isolated out of a crowd or similar 
  noisy environment. Similarly, laser microphones can 
  detect audio and conversations taking place inside a 
  room by picking up the vibrations of the sounds in 
  glass or aerogel. 
  One drawback to audio surveillance is that it is 
  easy to mislead. It is quite difficult to distinguish 
  between a real sound and one previously recorded 
  and played back, unless some other sensor system is 
  able to record whatever created the sound as it did 
  so. Voice analysis is also not perfect for identifying 
  the monochromatic displays of old infrared systems, 
  modern cameras see infrared wavelengths in color, 
  much like standard vision with appropriate lighting.
  Infrared thermal-imaging is useful for detecting 
  heat sources, including the residual heat traces left 
  behind by someone recently sitting on something, 
  walking through an area, or handling an object. 
  The greater the temperature difference between the 
  heat-emitting source and the environment, the easier 
  these heat traces are to detect. Thermal imaging of 
  the blood flow in the face, particularly around the 
  corners of the eyes, is a component of lie-detection 
  systems. Thermal infrared is also helpful when 
  combined with standard visual systems, as it can 
  see past fog, smoke, and light particles that might 
  obstruct standard visual wavelengths. 
  Terahertz scanners are less common, but still see 
  widespread use, especially at security checkpoints. 
  Terahertz imagers have the advantage of being able 
  to see through walls, clothing, and other material, 
  though not as effectively as radar or x-ray/gamma-ray 
  frequencies. Unlike these other wavelengths, terahertz 
  sensors tend to be smaller and more portable. Though 
  they function better as active systems (emitting 
  t-rays), they can function as passive receivers at close 
  ranges. For this reason, passive terahertz scanners are 
  favored as a form of undetectable portal scanner. The 
  drawback is that terahertz scanners will not detect 
  contraband implanted within biological bodies, as 
  t-rays do not penetrate skin.
  Active radar systems are commonly used for air/
  space/ground vehicle traffic and habitat/ship defense 
  systems, and are sometimes deployed to detect small 
  surveillance drones. They are less common in habitat 
  and personal surveillance systems, due to their poor 
  resolution and decreased effectiveness against less-
  reflective biological targets. Because the wavelengths 
  they operate at are large, radar systems are portable 
  but cannot be miniaturized to even hand-held sizes. 
  Radar sensors are thus visually obvious and also 
  detectable as actively emitting systems. 
  The deployment of quantum radar has increased 
  the effectiveness of radar systems, particularly in 
  battlefield or cluttered conditions. Using entangled 
  beams to take advantage of the low attenuation and 
  high range associated with a long wavelength and 
  the high resolution associated with a short wave-
  length, quantum radar does not have to compromise 
  between range and resolution. Quantum radar is also 
  more effective for image processing/recognition and 
  detecting concealed targets. 
  Inside urban areas and habitats, security teams 
  sometimes deploy a trick known as variance-based 
  radio tomographic imaging, particularly when they 
  want to see inside an area without using an active 
  system like radar that might trip a passive sensor 
  and alert the target they are being scanned. This 
  trick takes advantage of the wireless nodes that are 
  ubiquitous throughout a given area. By measuring 
  34
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  ease of acquiring biosculpting and genetic mods that 
  could circumvent such measures.
  The biometrics used today tend to be systems 
  that can scan and recognize identifying features 
  non-invasively from a distance. These include laser 
  retina scanners, portal-based x-ray skeletal scanners, 
  personal body odor sniffers, and cameras with facial 
  recognition software. Some security installations and 
  customs checkpoints still deploy entryway puffers 
  that blow skin flakes and loose hair into an analyzer 
  for DNA testing. Nanoswarms are also sometimes 
  used for this purpose.
  One biometric system still sees common use: gait 
  analysis. Gait analysis has been found helpful in 
  identifying people even after they have sleeved into 
  synthetic morphs, assuming it is a bipedal walker, 
  like most cases and synths, and not using some 
  other propulsion method. Gait scanners can even be 
  deployed by overhead drones or orbital spysats, as 
  gait can be measured and recognized based on the 
  shadow a person casts.
  SMaRT DUST anD SCOUT nanOSWaRMS
  Nanobot scanning systems are more common than 
  many people realize. Their effective invisibility, 
  combined with their ability to “touch” and sample 
  the target directly yet non-invasively, make them an 
  ideal scanning system. They typically are set to linger 
  in a confined space (programmed boundaries) where 
  they are replenished by a hive and discreetly analyze 
  anything that passes through. They excel at acquiring 
  DNA samples, identifying morph types, and investi-
  gating chemical residues. 
  Smart dust nanoswarms can also be instructed to 
  catch a ride on passers-by, thus acting as a “bug” on 
  the person or thing’s activities for the duration of its 
  existence. These spy swarms have the ability to video, 
  audio record, and even monitor radio and mesh 
  activity. Some are set to transmit a steady stream 
  of data back to their source, but the more discreet 
  versions maintain radio silence and only transmit 
  bursts of information at staggered intervals, to better 
  avoid detection and interception. 
  MESH SURvEIllanCE 
  Anyone with mesh inserts or an ecto—which is 
  essentially everyone—leaves a data trail everywhere 
  they go, tying their mesh presence to their physical 
  activities. Most people do not obfuscate this activity, 
  making it a trivial measure to track them online. 
  Those who stealth their signals and/or engage their 
  privacy modes may still be tracked, albeit with more 
  difficulty. In some habitats, stealth/privacy modes are 
  illegal or a sign of suspicion; users who engage them 
  may end up bringing more attention to themselves 
  by doing so.
  Social networks add an extra dimension to this 
  data. Not only can you track people quite easily, 
  you can map out their relationships with others and 
  individuals, as people do not have unique voiceprints 
  (especially synthmorphs). Voice analysis is, however, 
  used to measure stress and response spaces in decep-
  tion scanners.
  Ultrasonic audio sensors are rarely used for surveil-
  lance purposes, except when incorporated in motion 
  detection systems. Infrasonic audio pickups see more 
  widespread use, particularly in monitoring the shell 
  of habitats and ships. Audiosensing fiberoptic cables 
  are often seeded the length of a security perimeter. 
  These are capable of detecting the seismic signature 
  of breaches in a wall or other barrier, and can also 
  identify the acoustic signature of footfalls or moving 
  vehicles a short range away. 
  CHEM SnIFFERS
  Modern chemical analyzers rely on a mixture of spec-
  troscopic and direct compound recognition methods, 
  including ones biomimicked from human and animal 
  olfactory and taste organs, to identify chemical 
  components. The primary use for these sensors is in 
  portal security systems to detect firearms and explo-
  sives, though this use is declining given the number of 
  weapons and threats available that these sniffers will 
  not detect. 
  More sophisticated nanotech chemical detection 
  systems are placed throughout the ventilation systems 
  of habitats and ships. These monitor air flow and 
  quality, triggering alerts when sufficient quantities of 
  smoke or other toxins or pollutants are detected or if 
  the air composition strays from breathable levels or 
  becomes too oxygen-rich (creating a potential fire or 
  explosion hazard). 
  Some habitats have taken to using genetically engi-
  neered plants with special proteins that react in the 
  presence of certain chemical concentrations. Around 
  security checkpoints, these plants will turn white 
  when they detect traces of certain explosives in the 
  air. Others are designed to transform bright red if the 
  atmosphere becomes dangerous (too much carbon 
  monoxide or oxygen). 
  Some chemical sensors are specifically designed to 
  sniff for alarm pheromones emitted by biomorphs. 
  These chemical triggers are produced in sweat when 
  a person is scared or worried—say a smuggler who 
  fears being discovered or a terrorist on their way 
  to commit mass murder. These primarily appear 
  at customs checkpoints and the portals of high-
  security installations.
  BIOMETRIC SEnSORS
  Biometric sensors measure the unique characteristics 
  inherent to individual biomorphs such as fingerprints, 
  palmprints, retina patterns, and DNA, among others. 
  These systems have fallen out of style given that they 
  are only useful in identifying biomorphs and not 
  synthmorphs or the ego within the morph. Though 
  also once common as an authorization method in 
  security systems, this has been abandoned due to the 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  35
  
  Many people make their lifelogs and X-casts 
  available to the public mesh, providing a real-time 
  stream of data directly from their own sensorium 
  or surroundings. These feeds are often monitored 
  by others, so that if anything should happen to the 
  person, others would likely know about it instantly.
  OTHER SURvEIllanCE SYSTEMS
  There are many other sensors used to monitor the 
  activities in a given place. Each of these is more 
  limited, but still sees occasional or specialized usage.
  Enviro Scanners: All habitats, from the lowliest 
  tin cans to the largest O’Neill cylinders, are littered 
  with spimes designed to collect environmental infor-
  mation such as air pressure, gravity, oxygen and 
  gather intelligence on whole groups of linked people. 
  The reputation award and strike interactions between 
  people are also illuminating, linking people together 
  at particular junctions and giving a sense of the 
  progression of their relationship. 
  Some habitats and voyeurs make a habit out of 
  intercepting and sniffing wireless transmissions. 
  Security services may do this as preventive measure, 
  scanning the intercepted traffic for keywords 
  that might indicate criminal or suspicious activity. 
  Voyeurs do it to get a taste of others’ lives, snooping 
  on their affairs from afar. These interception 
  measures may be countered with the use of VPNs or 
  encryption, but in some jurisdictions these defenses 
  are illegal or restricted.
  36
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  PSI SURVEILLANCE
  It’s worth noting that while some asyncs are known 
  to have the ability to detect other life forms, read 
  thoughts, and so on, there is no known (or at least 
  widespread) method of employing these on a large 
  scale. The mental effort expended to exercise these 
  sleights is usually too draining to engage in on a 
  mass basis. They are, however, useful for specific tar-
  geted surveillance instances.
  Likewise, there is no known way to identify an 
  async in a crowd or to detect the use of async abili-
  ties in an area. This allows asyncs to operate largely 
  unhindered and undetected, should their identity 
  and nature remain unknown. The use of psi jam-
  ming devices can of course impair their abilities, 
  but only over limited areas. 
  n
  
  Organic Sensors: A few sensor systems are grown 
  rather than constructed. These modified versions 
  of biological sensory organs are upsetting to some 
  (particularly bioconservatives), but they are as 
  effective as a biomorph’s senses—sometimes more 
  so, when used en masse. These organs are linked by 
  biological nerve strands that extend thousands of 
  meters through the walls to a cyberbrain interface, 
  literally servings as a habitat’s eyes and ears. Organic 
  sensors are typically only found in biohabitats. They 
  require a biological system of nutrient feeding, suste-
  nance, and waste removal. 
  Pressure Sensors: Built into the flooring of 
  entrances and junctions in many habitats (those with 
  gravity at least), pressure sensors are primarily used 
  to track the passage of heavier synthetic morphs, 
  bots, and vehicles or to keep a simple head count 
  on how many people are in a particular area. More 
  sensitive versions can detect the footfall patterns of 
  specific morphs.
  Proximity Sensors: Portal-based proximity sensors 
  detect the electrical fields of those passing through 
  (even that produced by biological skin). These do 
  little to identify an individual, they simply mark the 
  passage of a person or machine.
  DaTa CORRElaTIOn
  The vast amounts of data accumulated on indi-
  viduals and their activities online can lead to quite 
  interesting results when correlated. Seemingly 
  unrelated and non-interesting pieces of data can 
  piece together into amazing revelations. The value 
  of cross-indexing data is not just in understanding 
  people more thoroughly—it also brings to light new 
  relationships and activity that might otherwise have 
  gone undetected. Additionally, many sensor systems 
  collect ancillary data outside of their prime purpose, 
  which often gets archived regardless of relevance. 
  The x-ray scan of a person at a security terminal 
  carbon dioxide levels, and temperature. Plumbing 
  systems measure water quality and recycling effi-
  ciency. Infrasound receivers, pressure and strain 
  gauges, radiation detectors, dynamic photoelasticity 
  scanners, gas and other olfactory sniffers are used 
  to oversee the integrity of the habitats’ interior and 
  exterior. Space habitat exterior sensors monitor the 
  solar weather and scan for approaching objects 
  (micrometeorites, debris, vessels) through the entire 
  EM spectrum. Planetary habitat exterior sensors 
  and satellite systems are meshed together to assess 
  weather phenomena (storms, electromagnetic distur-
  bances, seismic activity, rain) that may pose a threat. 
  These safety and early warning systems are designed 
  to trigger alerts if they start to degrade and fail 
  beyond the capacity of their maintenance bot, repair 
  crews, or self-repair nanoswarms. 
  Lidar Systems: Lidar systems are also nearly 
  universal in the major public areas of habitats, as well 
  as high-security areas. Lidar is particularly useful for 
  developing real-time, comprehensive, three-dimen-
  sional maps of an area and noting any changes that 
  occur to the positions of people and objects in that 
  area over time. Lidar is also incorporated into stress 
  and deception scanners, as it can remotely detect 
  respiration and pulse rate.
  Metal Detectors: An old and dated standby of 
  security systems, metal detectors are still useful for 
  detecting contraband and implants at checkpoints. 
  Due to limited range, these are usually deployed as 
  portal-based systems or hand-held wands to run over 
  a person’s body. Though they are useless against non-
  metallic objects/implants, they can provide data on 
  the mass and type of metal when they get readings.
  Nanodetectors: Common in high-security areas, 
  these scanners suck in air to detect the presence of 
  nanobots. These are especially prevalent at custom 
  and ship entrance points, to deter against TITAN 
  nanoswarm remnants from the Fall. 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  37
  TaRGET DaTa
  1 Tell me that have something useful on our target. With 
  all that data we scored, there had to be something.
  2  Indeed. First, you’ll be interested to note that our 
  traffic analysis on his mesh calls suggests a 93% 
  probability that he’s been contacted by the Cartel. 
  He encrypts his links, of course, but the duration and 
  timing make it likely. 
  1 Perfect. That means he’ll have the goods soon?
  2  That seems to be SOP. Our profiling of his affairs 
  suggests that he’ll receive the shipment today.
  1 Ok, so we need to lure him out fast. We’ll need a run-
  down on his likely movement over the next 48 hours 
  and a plan to catch him unaware.
  2  Already on it. According to the profile we built, there’s 
  an 88% chance he’ll be at his regular nightclub haunt 
  tonight. We’ve mapped the place, pinpointed his usual 
  seating, and marked out the best window of opportu-
  nity given his habitual timeframes. He tends to booze up 
  (66%) and pick up strangers (23%).
  1 Sounds like a perfect opening. What’s his taste?
  2  For booze, he’s all whiskey. For pickups, he seemed bi 
  on the surface, but we took a deeper look and found 
  that all of his previous partners whom we could ID were 
  male egos. So, men, no matter the morph. We’ve built a 
  profile of personality traits and looks he seems to favor.
  1 Excellent. Get that to our operative and call a meet in 
  2 hours. 
  
  different level. A surveyor well-versed in the intrica-
  cies of psychology sees the tells of data and forms a 
  complete understanding of the way a person thinks 
  and operates. The products we buy, the information 
  we access online, the people with whom we associate, 
  the places we frequent—these are just the beginning 
  of the story. In a cafe, the table one chooses to sit 
  at tells something of their personality. If one walks 
  quickly to the cafe, but slowly to work, it says some-
  thing else. Bed times, air conditioning levels, games 
  played, these things are signals to a behavioral tracker. 
  When combined with input from biolidar systems, 
  stress scanners, analysis of our personal chemistry, 
  and recordings of how we interact in different situa-
  tions in our lives, a much deeper profile can be built. 
  Lifelogs and X-casts are a virtual gold mine for these 
  types of analyses, especially when measured over 
  long periods of time. Some scientists swear by the 
  discipline, advocating the universal assignment of 
  numerous profilers to keep detailed case files on every 
  transhuman in their habitats.
  PRECOG SYSTEMS
  The unholy territory where probability and behav-
  ioral surveillance combine is colloquially known as 
  “precog.” Precog systems are used to predict a person’s 
  actions based on their sociocultural behavior, ground 
  state abnormalities (people tend to change their 
  standard MOs before committing a crime), interac-
  tion profile, mesh activity, and numerous other factors. 
  Though far from perfect, these systems are sometimes 
  accurate in gauging the likelihood of anti-social or 
  criminal behavior. These predictive systems are not 
  only applied against individuals; precog analyses 
  are also used to gauge the potential momentum and 
  activity of mass groups, particularly in situations of 
  unrest or civil disturbance.
  may have found no trace of contraband, but it may 
  also have recorded a potential health issue that was 
  outside the boundaries of its programming and so 
  remained unreported. Later analysis of the x-ray 
  scan in conjunction with other medical data could 
  turn up unexpected results.
  PROBaBIlITY MaPPInG
  Probability mapping is the analysis of patterns of 
  activity over time in order to model and predict 
  likely future events. Transhumans are creatures of 
  routine. Many people take the same routes to work 
  at the same times every day or go to the same few 
  restaurants or clubs with periodic frequency. Traffic 
  through an area swells and thins at predictable rates. 
  Criminal activity tends to focus around specific areas 
  at specific periods. When you take the vast wealth of 
  data available on the people in a particular habitat 
  over years and feed it all into a quantum computer 
  and group of AIs with potent pattern recognition 
  algorithms, these systems can build models that are 
  eerily accurate even with a nigh-infinite number of 
  variables. Police units in the large Martian cities 
  use these systems to identify hot spots and direct 
  police units there to deter expected crime. Travelers 
  access traffic AIs to determine the route most likely 
  to have the least traffic. Anyone looking to monitor 
  someone else’s activity can use similar AIs and input 
  to build a substantial predictive itinerary for that 
  person’s daily routines. 
  BEHavIORal PSYCH
  Probability surveillance easily crosses over into 
  the land of behavioral psychology and profiling. 
  While standard data surveillance tells a great deal 
  about who did what and where they did it, behav-
  ioral tracking takes the same concepts to a whole 
  38
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  SOlaRCHIvE SEaRCH: ISSUES WITH PRECOG SYSTEM IMPlEMEnTaTIOn
  Though “precog” analysis systems have had a margin-
  ally effective success rate in predicting crimes when 
  implemented under real conditions, their use has raised 
  a number of social and legal issues. While the primary 
  function of precog systems is to predict and prevent 
  crimes before they occur, legal action against the 
  potential criminal before the activity has been initiated 
  rests on very thin and dubious moral authority. Most 
  jurisdictions do not condone the arrest and conviction 
  of people for crimes they have not yet committed, no 
  matter how trusted the precog analysis. Some political 
  systems advocate altering the variables of the situation 
  to produce a different, more acceptable outcome. This 
  can include issuing warnings, offering free counsel, 
  or taking the suspect into “protective” custody for 
  a temporary period. Some go so far as to enforce 
  psychosurgery or restrictive limitations such as home 
  confinement, restricted travel, or mandatory accompani-
  ment by a robotic guardian. Many see these measures 
  as simply giving the potential criminal warning that 
  they are being watched, encouraging them to go about 
  their crime in a more clandestine manner or switching 
  to other criminal behavior. Instead, these jurisdictions 
  pursue policies of aggressive surveillance and contain-
  ment, monitoring the suspect and intervening before 
  they can act, but only once they have crossed a legal 
  threshold for culpability. The most restrictive authori-
  ties simply treat precog results as fait accompli, and 
  move to capture and punish the potential offender as 
  if they had committed the crime they were predicted to 
  commit in the future. 
  
  transparent front, and very carefully practice your 
  private biz in complete stealth mode on the side. This 
  takes care and practice. Disposable ectos are essential 
  to this sort of lifestyle. This also means having contin-
  gency plans in place for new communication channels 
  when your secret lines and routines get accidentally or 
  intentionally compromised.
  If you need to spend credit without linking it to 
  your ID, crypto-cred is your best friend. Crypto-
  cred services are accessible around the solar system, 
  making it easy and convenient to make completely 
  anonymous purchases. Crypto-cred is growing 
  increasingly popular in the inner system; many 
  hypercorps take advantage of these services to make 
  it harder for their competitors to keep tabs on them.
  PHYSICal PRIvaCY
  All of the methods above are useful for concealing 
  your mesh activities, but they do little to protect you 
  from physical surveillance. Maintaining privacy in 
  public is quite challenging in an environment of ubiq-
  uitous surveillance. There are some options, however.
  In habitats where such things are acceptable and 
  legal, personal privacy shrouds are an occasional 
  sight. These smart fabric garments effectively block 
  most sensors, preventing the person inside from being 
  identified. Shrouds are growing increasingly popular 
  in socialite and celebrity circles, as they foil the efforts 
  of stalkers and voyeurs.
  If you’re seeking a bit of in-person conversational 
  privacy, many establishments offer private rooms 
  that are scoured of listening devices and other 
  sensors. Many private residences, business offices, 
  and secure installations have “cleaning systems” at 
  their entranceways that scour anyone entering of 
  electronic snooping devices, including bug zappers 
  to disable nanoswarms, specks, and similar hard-
  to-spot spyware. Otherwise a set of access jacks 
  and a fiberoptic cable are ideal, as external sensors 
  can’t monitor mental communications (barring a 
  cyberbrain hack). Line-of-sight laser communication 
  systems are also good for countering eavesdropping, 
  as tight beams are difficult to intercept, especially 
  when used at short distances.
  It is important that mesh privacy and physical 
  privacy be practiced together. Using a fake mesh ID 
  is pointless if you are running around with the same 
  morph that your real name and mesh ID are linked to; 
  eventually someone is going to correlate surveillance 
  footage and mesh activity and link your face to the 
  fake mesh ID. If you’re just seeking temporary privacy, 
  this is not a big deal, but long-term data forensics is 
  likely to uncover such poor practices.
  lIvInG THE lIE
  Fake identities are standard fare in Firewall opera-
  tions. Proxies will often provide cover identities for 
  sentinels, but you are encouraged to have your own 
  on hand. You never know when things will go awry 
  COUnTERSURvEIllanCE
  Source: Clandestine Operations 102: Becoming a 
  Ghost (Excerpted from Sanitizing the Solar System: 
  The Unofficial Firewall Sentinel Guide) 
  [Link]
  Now that you’ve learned how sensor systems work 
  and what their capabilities are, it’s time to take a look 
  at how to avoid, bypass, fool, and otherwise subvert 
  these systems for your own ends.
  PRIvaCY FOR THE WICKED
  One thing that people in our line of work quickly 
  realize is that it is not only important to practice 
  operational security when on a mission, it’s a good 
  idea to keep a low profile as a matter of course in your 
  daily life. The less info there is on you out there, the 
  less can be used against you. If you practice the bare 
  minimum of enhanced privacy precautions on a daily 
  basis, it makes it that much easier to keep the routine 
  going when it counts. One mistake is all it takes to 
  ruin an op.
  To that end, every sentinel should be in the habit 
  of operating in mesh privacy mode. This might make 
  some aspects of your life inconvenient, when friends, 
  families, and services cannot quite as easily locate 
  you on demand, but it helps you maintain a low 
  profile. If you must lifelog, don’t share it publicly—
  archive it in encrypted storage, and back it up. Forget 
  about X-casting, you may as well ask Ozma to open 
  an office inside your brain. Likewise, stealth your 
  signals, fake your mesh ID, and use anonymous 
  accounts, VPNs, and encryption. You never know 
  when someone may take a closer interest in your 
  affairs, and the worst time to find out that someone 
  has been sniffing your comms for weeks is right in 
  the middle of an op. 
  The drawback to covering your tracks like this on 
  a daily basis is that it sometimes makes you look 
  like, well, like you’re covering your tracks. People 
  who engage all of their privacy functions sometimes 
  stand out in a transparent society. It may make 
  people suspicious, thinking that you’re up to some-
  thing. If you’re only encrypting your communica-
  tions with certain people, it sometimes makes it look 
  even worse, like you’re collaborating—and it also 
  pinpoints who you’re in cahoots with. So if you’re 
  going to push ahead with enhanced privacy, do it 
  across the board, in all aspects of your life. Create a 
  cover for yourself while you’re at it. If you build up 
  a reputation as one of those old-fashioned “privacy 
  nuts,” people are less inclined to think you’re up 
  to no good—they’ll just think you’re weird. If you 
  have a good reason for the enhanced privacy—such 
  as freelancing for a client on a top secret hypercorp 
  project—even better. Then you have justification for 
  protecting your affairs.
  Sometimes a better option is to live the double 
  life. Maintain a public presence, keep up a good 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  39
  
  fake IDs serving as an echo chamber with each other 
  for the establishment of credible rep histories. The 
  anti-counterfeiting algorithms employed by social 
  networks prevent these fake rep scores from being 
  elevated too high, but they do provide a starting 
  point so that your new persona isn’t a complete 
  unknown without clout.
  a nEW lIFE FROM SCRaTCH
  After the Fall, countless infugees survived only to be 
  locked away in cold storage, isolated to simulspace 
  prisons, or enslaved in indentured data farms. Even a 
  decade after the Fall, new infugees are being revitalized 
  and re-instanced in new morphs. Many of these have 
  no data trail or historical records attached to them, as 
  this information was lost during the Fall. This is the 
  perfect opportunity for anyone seeking a fresh start. 
  Dump your morph, clean up your data signature, 
  darkcast to a new location, and introduce yourself as 
  a refugee from the Fall seeking asylum and a new life. 
  Unless you make resourceful enemies, it’s not likely the 
  deception will even be called into question, let alone 
  researched. The trick is in picking a habitat that is 
  open and friendly to new infugees and asks few ques-
  tions. Though this is easy to find in autonomist space, 
  there are inner system stations that are just as receptive.
  Earning a new ID this way requires some finesse. 
  Infugees rarely have resources at their disposal, so 
  for your cover story to be consistent you may have 
  to spend some time as an infomorph, perhaps taking 
  on minor jobs to earn credit or reputation. There 
  are ways around this—some infugees brought credit 
  or when old enemies may catch up to you. It is best 
  to have multiple IDs at your disposal so you can burn 
  and dispose of them as needed.
  PURCHaSInG FaKE IDs
  A good fake ID is more than just your brainprint 
  with a new digital code stamped to it or a new 
  nanotat ID for your morph. Though bare-bones fake 
  IDs are cheap, they arouse suspicion by the fact that 
  there is no history or data trail attached to them 
  (though this can often be explained away as being 
  a newly instantiated infugee). The best fake IDs are 
  completely fabricated personas with detailed histo-
  ries spread across multiple archives and habitats. 
  They also come with pregenerated credit accounts 
  and reputation scores in various social networks, so 
  it doesn’t seem as if your identity suddenly sprang 
  from nowhere just a few days ago. Criminal cartels 
  that specialize in fake IDs can be very thorough 
  with these backgrounds. They use multiple methods, 
  from hiring people (or employing forks and AIs) to 
  establish the transactions and data trails for multiple 
  IDs over years to gaining backdoor entrances into 
  linked databases and using these to insert new identi-
  ties and carefully proliferate them to other archives. 
  They take full advantage of the fact that habitats 
  and polities do not collaborate on ID checking; 
  many IDs in fact originate from shady habitats like 
  New Sicily that seem to have an inordinate number 
  of legitimate new citizens spring from nowhere on a 
  daily basis. Rep scores are carefully established over 
  time via sophisticated puppetnets, with thousands of 
  40
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  TRND ARCHIVES:  
  GHABIL’S SHROUD TEASES THE AUDIENCE
  Originally Published: 7 AF, Eskell Fashion
  The bright lights weren’t bright enough to 
  penetrate the inspiration at the heart of Khalim 
  Ghabil’s new line launch for his high-fashion 
  shroud. Before the show opened, guests were 
  given special masks of smart fabric that blocked 
  sight and hearing and all local spimes were shut 
  down (as has become de rigeur for shows this year, 
  to embargo news of hot fashion designs before 
  the official mesh release is distributed). Ghabil 
  went the extra mile and managed to invoke some 
  serious jamming, cutting the entire audience off 
  from the mesh. After bumping around in the dark 
  for what felt like an eternity, the masks all became 
  translucent and we were in the midst of the show. 
  A dozen models slowly circulated through the 
  crowd in enveloping fabric wraps, each in a differ-
  ent neutral. No visible openings and no collisions 
  gave away the integrated optics, but that was all 
  you could tell. As they moved, sections stiffened 
  or folded in erratically so even their gait was 
  obscured. There was no music, only occasional 
  utterances of “anonymity, privacy, relief” and 
  “shelter, sanctity, safety” to punctuate the mur-
  murs of the crowd.
  The show eventually faded away, with no big 
  reveal, and the man himself was nowhere to be 
  seen (though rumor has it he was in one of the 
  shrouds). There is no consensus yet on whether this 
  anonymizing fashion statement is genius or the 
  troubled designer’s last scratch at fame. Only time 
  will tell if the shroud becomes widely acceptable 
  in public circles. The bravado of the statement, the 
  reconnection of fashion to identity, and the techni-
  cal achievement of this event won me over. I can’t 
  wait to see what KG has hidden for us.  
  n
  
  original owner of that ID is far enough away and low 
  profile enough to be unlikely to catch on soon. A sifter 
  who has spent the past decade hammering rocks on 
  Mercury is unlikely to notice that you’re using their 
  ID to maneuver in the tunnels of Extropia without 
  too much attention—at least until you start triggering 
  lots of flags or otherwise drawing attention to yourself. 
  Even if you rack up some arrest warrants, legal torts, 
  fines, and reputation strikes, you are unlikely to do 
  lasting damage to that fine sifter’s life as they should be 
  able to easily and quickly deny responsibility—though 
  you may cause that poor soul some unfortunate stress 
  and inconveniences.
  Various criminal networks excel at stealing ID infor-
  mation and selling it through black market channels, 
  particularly the ID Crew. Purchasing a stolen and 
  disposable ID of this type is often the best option for 
  quick and dirty operations.
  FaKE ID COMPlICaTIOnS
  Operating under a fake ID is not always as simple as 
  it seems. The drawback to using a fake ID is that you 
  cannot rely on your own carefully built-up reputation 
  and network of friends and colleagues. It can sometimes 
  be tempting to take advantage of two identities at the 
  same time, so that you can operate with some pseud-
  onymity and still fall back on your rep, but you run 
  the risk of linking the fake ID to your real ID in these 
  situations. One mistake and the carefully constructed 
  persona you’ve been operating will be useless—possibly 
  endangering your real life ID in the process.
  Fake IDs are also vulnerable to brainprint matching. 
  If you happened to rack up a slew of heavy criminal 
  charges on your last visit to Elysium, then even if you 
  return under a fake ID, you may be nabbed. This is 
  accounts with them or are restored to find inheri-
  tances waiting for them, tucked away in the mesh of 
  other habitats by relatives that died during the Fall. 
  With some careful pre-planning, a backstory like this 
  can be established. Otherwise, this method can be 
  time-consuming to pull off successfully.
  TRaDInG IDs
  Alternately, some infugees are more than willing to 
  trade their backhistories and identities with someone 
  else if the price is right. If your rep is low and you’ve 
  made some enemies over the years, the prospect of 
  surrendering your established identity may not seem 
  so bad given the credit you would earn. Many infugees 
  have lost everything—their friends, their relatives, 
  their lovers, their homes—and have no qualms about 
  surrendering their old identities and starting anew.
  Reassigning IDs in this manner is not difficult, 
  especially with the right underworld connections. In 
  autonomist areas, it is often quite easy, assuming both 
  parties consent to the switch and all of its ramifications. 
  This option is a good one for sentinels who have real 
  IDs—or even fake ones—that are essentially compro-
  mised. It is, of course, not recommended in situations 
  where the traded ID may cause severe complications 
  for the new owner. If you happen to have racked up 
  some arrest warrants in the Morningstar Constellation, 
  however, that is likely to be unimportant to an infugee 
  who plans a new future in the Uranian autonomist 
  colonies or, better yet, seeks to try their hand at gate-
  crashing and extrasolar colony life.
  STEalInG an ID
  Stealing identities is always an option, especially if you 
  only plan to use the identity for a short period and the 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  41
  
  do this without being obvious, so it may take several 
  passes or a combined effort by a team. Alternatively, 
  you can seek out blank spots in the surveillance 
  coverage and look for ways to link them together. 
  Some areas are quite intentionally kept off the grid. 
  Criminal outfits that don’t like people poking into 
  their business quite often sterilize a surveillance-free 
  zone around their holdings. Groups like Datacide or 
  the Decepticons go out of their way to create blank 
  spots in a habitat’s watchful eye. Some of these can 
  be found online, if you know where to look or who 
  to ask. Others are sold for a price. Clearing a path of 
  sensors is high-paying biz for both tech-savvy crime 
  cartels and private investigators or freelance security 
  specialists. Some privacy-friendly establishments have 
  secret and scanner-free entrances and exits, made 
  available to favored clients at an affordable rate. 
  When all else fails, you can create your own blind 
  spots. This involves dropping a saboteur nanoswarm 
  on an area with specific instructions to target surveil-
  lance devices. Bughunter bots serve the same purpose. 
  Used together, this is an effective way to clear a zone 
  of unwanted spyware. The main thing to remember is 
  that blind spots don’t remain blind for long. Repair 
  systems and bots will revive or replace disabled publi-
  cams and other spimes. New sensors will be seeded 
  in an area by people who notice the lack of coverage. 
  Your clear zone will only remain safe for a short 
  window of time, so take advantage of it while it lasts.
  The trick to using blind spots is that your entrance 
  and exit from the sensor-free zone must somehow be 
  disguised. Otherwise you can still be tracked as you 
  enter and leave the hole in coverage. This means that 
  you must employ deception to lose your trail or other-
  wise trick the cameras before you take advantage of 
  the blind spot. 
  If you have the resources, and the particular sensors 
  you need to blind are privately owned, sometimes it 
  is a simple solution to buy them out. If you own the 
  scanners, you control when they are on and what 
  they record, and it becomes much easier to fabricate 
  recordings. This option generally only applies to 
  private sensors in public areas, as few people are 
  willing to relinquish ownership of the cameras in their 
  own homes and offices.
  JaMMInG anD BlInDInG
  Rather than destroying sensors, it is sometimes easier 
  (and less incriminating) to temporarily jam or blind 
  them. Radio jamming is only effective in scrambling 
  radar, though it will disrupt any real-time feeds 
  that any local devices are transmitting via the mesh. 
  A similar mesh-jamming effect can be gained by 
  launching a denial of service attack against all devices 
  in a particular area or unleashing a batch of kaos AIs. 
  Active sensors can sometimes be jammed or disrupted 
  by tweaking one of the emitters in an area to generate 
  so much background noise that it drowns out the 
  other emitters.
  because your brainprint will still be the same, even if 
  it is attached to a new ID. Brainprints are not always 
  checked against similar prints in the system, but security 
  and customs often doublecheck new arrivals against 
  the brainprints of their most wanted or most recent 
  criminal elements, exactly to foil this kind of thing. 
  Luckily, brainprints change over time, so this becomes 
  less and less of an issue, but a match still might be close 
  enough to raise flags. Matching brainprints are not 
  always uncommon given the proliferation of forks, but 
  this is not necessarily an escape clause unless the fork 
  happened to predate the criminal activity.
  Some stolen and traded IDs run afoul of synchron-
  icity. You may be in the middle of an op when you 
  suddenly run across an old friend of your ID’s 
  previous owner, forcing you to scramble for a cover 
  story without triggering suspicion. Though rare, these 
  sorts of situations have a habit of popping up at the 
  most inconvenient times.
  aWaREnESS
  When it comes to countering physical surveillance, 
  the first step is to be aware of it. It can be incredibly 
  helpful to know exactly what type of sensor coverage 
  is present in a particular area. An intersection that 
  happens to only be covered by a few visual-spectrum 
  cameras and microphones, for example, is an ideal 
  place to try and stage a holographic illusion that 
  would be foiled if other sensors are present.
  The easiest way to catalog what sensors are at 
  work is to simply ping the local public mesh. Most 
  sensors, including private ones, will acknowledge 
  their presence online. This will not list out any sensors 
  that are operating in private mesh mode, but you can 
  sometimes find these by searching for stealthed radio 
  signals. If your primary concern is accidental viewing 
  by a publicam voyeur, then knowing where those 
  cameras are placed is half your battle.
  Active sensor systems are easy to detect because they 
  are transmitting signals. Radar, microwave, lidar, x-ray, 
  and gamma-ray emitters are trivial to detect with the 
  appropriate receiver. Nanodetectors will let you know 
  about any lingering spy swarms. Passive cameras can 
  be detected by lens-spotting systems that use lasers 
  to illuminate an area and detect the reflections from 
  the lens. If you really want to know what’s in a room, 
  drop some smart dust and pick up the readings later. 
  Nanoswarms are one of the most effective methods of 
  cataloging all of the sensors in an area.
  BlInD SPOTS
  How do you move around in an environment of total 
  surveillance without being seen? You find the blind 
  spots in coverage—or better yet, make your own.
  The process of ghosting—moving between gaps in 
  the sensor coverage—requires a lot of advance prepa-
  ration. If you know the route you need to take, you can 
  map it out in advance, using the tricks described above 
  to pinpoint all of the spimes and scanners. You want to 
  42
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  pod—again, without leaving a trail on the mesh. If 
  care is taken, it is even possible for an ego to take 
  over a synthmorph by force. First, the synthmorph 
  must be incapacitated with a disabler, long enough for 
  the attacker to initiate a cyberbrain hack that forces 
  the target ego out into an external storage device. The 
  invading ego then assumes control of the cyberbrain 
  and voila—they are in control of a new shell.
  Swarmanoid morphs deserve special mention, due 
  to their ability to scatter into smaller swarms and even 
  individual units to evade detection. Individual bots from 
  the swarm can take separate, discreet routes to a desti-
  nation, hiding in people’s clothing, underneath vehicles, 
  in luggage, and so on. The drawback to swarmanoids 
  scattering for stealth purposes is that the swarm still 
  relies on mesh communication to remain “whole” and 
  act as a unit, meaning that they remain vulnerable to 
  detection and sabotage. It is possible for individual 
  swarm bots to be given preprogrammed instructions so 
  that it may go mesh silent and act autonomously, but if 
  something goes wrong it will be cut off from the rest of 
  the swarmanoid’s distributed intelligence.
  FalSIFYInG DaTa
  Almost all sensors are meshed, meaning they are 
  vulnerable to hacking. A hacker who has accessed 
  such a system can turn off recording, delete data, or 
  replace it with falsified information. Turning a device 
  off or leaving gaps in recorded memory are signs 
  that someone has messed with a system, so the most 
  discreet and effective method is to replace data with 
  realistic misinformation. Simply looping previous 
  recordings is not the best option, as archiving system 
  AIs often scan recordings to look for exactly this sort 
  of tampering. The best trick is to input data that is 
  not just false but actively misleading, so that even if 
  the hack is discovered the investigators may still be 
  thrown off course.
  Mesh system penetration can also play a critical role 
  in ID checks. A skilled hacker providing overwatch on 
  an operative may be able to get them through a check-
  point with a bad ID by infiltrating the ID scanner at 
  the key moment and submitting false documentation. 
  One positive aspect to data manipulation is that it 
  can sometimes be initiated after the fact, to clean up 
  any traces an op might have left behind or to coun-
  teract anything that might have gone wrong. This is 
  sometimes a tricky proposition, as data from meshed 
  sensors may be archived in multiple places, so it may 
  entail compromising multiple databases. Scrubbing 
  the data trail left behind or the incriminating informa-
  tion linked to an ID can be a critical affair, however, 
  especially if an operative needs time to extract them-
  selves from a rapidly escalating situation. 
  MISDIRECTIOn
  If you can’t avoid detection for a crime, why not put 
  that attention on someone else? In a high-surveillance 
  society, it can be quite difficult to obfuscate all traces. 
  Jamming mesh signals will not stop a camera 
  from recording, but blinding it with a dazzler laser 
  system will. Similarly, microphones can be drowned 
  out with a white noise machine. If the sensor system 
  you are worried about happens to be a person, that’s 
  where prisoner masks (for biomorphs) and disablers 
  (for pods and synthmorphs) come in. Some morphs 
  are even designed with countersurveillance in mind 
  and so come equipped with sensor jamming and 
  blinding modifications.
  DECEPTIOn
  When you can’t disable or blind a sensor, your path 
  is clear: fool it. There are many methods for fooling 
  publicams and other scanner systems, though the best 
  option will likely depend on the situation at hand and 
  your specific needs.
  The simplest and crudest tools for camera decep-
  tion are chameleon and invisibility cloaks. While these 
  are effective, simple disguises are often even easier—
  or trivial if you happen to possess false face nanoware 
  and chameleon skin. Disguises also have the advan-
  tage of allowing you to change your looks and pass 
  as other people, which is sometimes more important 
  than simply disappearing. If you are hoping to avoid 
  facial recognition scans, the application of makeup, 
  nanotats, or skin designs in specific patterns is enough 
  to foil the pattern recognition algorithms by breaking 
  up outlines and identifying marker points. This is also 
  where biomorph clones with common cookie-cutter 
  looks come in handy. Some morph models are quite 
  common in large habitats and individuals in these 
  morphs can quite easily be mistaken for each other. A 
  clever team can take advantage of this by all choosing 
  identical common morphs, thus foiling attempts to ID 
  individuals by facial recognition. 
  The ability to switch morphs is a boon to sensor 
  evasion methods, particularly with pods and synth-
  morphs, as an ego can evacuate from a cyberbrain 
  quite quickly. Two synths, for example, seemingly 
  passing by each other in a temporary sensor shadow, 
  might actually be pausing just long enough to link to 
  each other’s access jacks via fiberoptics and switch 
  egos. In this manner, an ego can jump to an entirely 
  different morph without leaving a mesh trail or doing 
  so in front of the cameras. Do this several times, and 
  it can become impossible to track where an ego origi-
  nated with one synthmorph and where it disappeared. 
  Synthmorphs, by their nature, have other advantages 
  that can be used to foil tracking. A small synthmorph 
  or biomorph can be hidden inside another synth-
  morph as it moves about, until it is carefully released 
  in a sensor dead zone. Likewise, some synthmorphs 
  are easily disguised as robots operated by an AI rather 
  than an ego, especially if you take pains to conceal 
  the cyberbrain within its carriage. The same trick used 
  to switch egos between synthmorphs described above 
  can also be used to pass an ego from a ghostrider 
  module to a previously uninhabited synthmorph or 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  43
  
  Usually these sorts of accomplices will dedicate beta 
  forks to the task, resigning any likelihood of merging 
  with the fork. Some criminal cartels are known to sell 
  forknapped egos for exactly this sort of purpose.
  In the same vein, an operative can set up one of 
  their own forks to take the fall. This is best done with 
  a beta fork that has had all potentially incriminating 
  memories excised. Ideally, they will be sleeved in a 
  morph without a cortical stack, so that if they are 
  killed there will be no memories of the operation that 
  can be confiscated and interrogated via psychosurgery.
  THE TRanSHUMan FaCTOR
  The weakest link in many security and surveillance 
  systems is the transhuman element. Unlike machines, 
  transhumans are riddled with biases, prone to errors, 
  and easy to compromise. In this vein, the best method 
  for dealing with a surveillance network, especially a 
  large or sophisticated one, is to go after the trans-
  humans that watch over it. Why bother subverting 
  several dozen types of sensor systems when you can 
  just go to the person in charge of that network and 
  apply some pressure via blackmail, bribery, or outright 
  threats? Such people are also vulnerable to misdirec-
  tion, confidence schemes, or other scams that might 
  divert their attention long enough for your operation. 
  It is not always necessary to go after authority figures; 
  run-of-the-mill surveillance techs are often capable of 
  turning off a system at the right time, modifying data, 
  or otherwise compromising a system within, without 
  anyone being the wiser.
  Odds are that something will be recorded, and that 
  evidence is going to get someone blamed. The clever 
  operative makes sure that person is never them. This 
  means throwing a patsy to the wolves. 
  Quite often a patsy will be somewhat aware of 
  what’s going on, but they’re somehow misled as to 
  who is truly involved or what are the exact details 
  of the situation. This often involves scams where 
  the patsy is hired by a misleading source to be in the 
  wrong place at the right time. Other times it means 
  betraying the fall guy at the last minute. Sometimes 
  it involves a ruse where the patsy believes the whole 
  fiasco is an accident and their loyalty and honor will 
  carry them through whatever punishment might come.
  The patsy may also be someone who is completely 
  oblivious to the situation’s background—a stranger 
  put in the situation by opportunity. An unknowing 
  bystander makes for a great patsy, as even when ques-
  tioned they’re unlikely to spill useful information given 
  that they’re unaware of the context. The drawback 
  here is that without some evidence of involvement, 
  they may be difficult to properly frame. As the main 
  point of using a patsy is to distract the opposition or 
  authorities long enough for an operative to get away 
  and/or clean up the trail, an uninvolved fall person 
  may not consume attention for long enough.
  On occasion it is possible to hire people as profes-
  sional patsies. Some transhumans, particularly those 
  comfortable with abusing forks, willingly subject 
  themselves to the legal systems of various habitats, as 
  taking the fall for someone else can pay rather well. 
  44
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  characters to ash? Congratulations, you were punked 
  by Anon.
  The hacker gang known as Anon is descended from 
  a long lineage of griefer and hacktivist groups, dating 
  back to the earliest decades of the 21st-century internet. 
  Anon is often described as a mob of digital hooligans, 
  and they have been known for mesh-based mischief 
  and pranks that range from harmless and entertaining 
  to damaging and malicious. They are, however, also 
  known to engage in electronic civil disobedience and 
  hacking campaigns for certain causes, particularly in 
  support of leaks, freedom of information, and transpar-
  ency and against censorship and countersousveillance. 
  Their actions benefit from sheer force of numbers and 
  the anonymity of participants. 
  Anon is rooted in intentionally informal structures. 
  Anyone can join their online gatherings and chats 
  where anonymity is mandatory. The group operates 
  with a leaderless mob dynamic where operations arise 
  out of causes that organically accrue a critical mass of 
  popular support. In-fighting is common and expected, 
  with Anon groups often splitting over certain issues. 
  The driving force is not politics or ethics, but how 
  many laughs can be derived. Critics note how Anon 
  groups are vulnerable to external memetic manipula-
  tion and puppetnet infiltration, though Anon mesh 
  nodes take measures to counteract this. 
  Though banned and persecuted in many habitats, 
  Anon moots can be found in the hidden corners of 
  almost any local mesh. In the inner system, most 
  authorities consider Anon to be a front for anarchist 
  and criminal operatives—or at best a haven for unruly 
  teens and antisocial delinquents. There is some truth 
  to this, as many autonomist subversives share an ideo-
  logical affinity with Anon’s causes and participate in 
  Anon operations. Likewise, black hat hackers occa-
  sionally take a break from their black market busi-
  nesses and lend their expertise to Anon ops for fun.
  Anon groups can also be found in autonomist 
  habitat mesh nets. Many anti-authoritarians enjoy 
  the autonomy provided by the faceless social interac-
  tions in Anon moots, without fear of the impact it 
  might have on their rep, as well as the way it puts 
  everyone on the same level regardless of reputation. 
  Some autonomists dislike how it enables social action 
  without accountability, and there is also concern that 
  hypercorp agents may take advantage of autonomist 
  Anon groupings as a shield for their sabotage efforts.
  DaTaCIDE
  The secretive members of Datacide believe that 
  current-day mesh databases go too far in compiling 
  and correlating the private information of individuals. 
  Dedicated to promoting privacy, this hacker crew 
  focuses on infiltrating and sabotaging mesh archives, 
  particularly those that are private, commercial, and 
  not subject to oversight. Their favorite targets include 
  consumer marketing databases, private ID informa-
  tion providers, and private intelligence and data 
  DaRKCaSTInG OPERaTIOnS
  No countersurveillance diatribe is complete without 
  a nod to the importance of darkcasts. Without these 
  illegal operations, getting to and from habitats would 
  be a much trickier affair. Darkcast setups allow senti-
  nels to egocast to a new habitat, bypass customs, get 
  resleeved, employ a fake ID, do whatever needs to be 
  done, and then upload and bug out safely, with no 
  data trail of coming or going. Nothing is more useful.
  Like everything else, darkcasting is not without 
  complications. Most are run by criminal cartels that 
  owe allegiance to no one. Credit is often the defining 
  element of their relationships. This means that they 
  can sometimes be compromised by oppositional 
  elements that bribe them enough to hand over infor-
  mation about their clients’ affairs. This is a rarity, 
  however, as any darkcaster that does so will suffer an 
  immense reputation hit should word of their lack of 
  integrity escape. Nevertheless, it remains a possibility.
  Similarly, operatives need to take care that they 
  do not leave a trail back to the darkcast service. If 
  habitat security manages to trace a sentinel back to 
  their origin or exit point, they may be able to trace 
  the operative even further than that. Though most 
  darkcast operations do not keep records or backups 
  of their clients as a precaution, a few unscrupulous 
  cartels have been known to bend their rules out of 
  greed. Even if your darkcaster’s integrity is solid, 
  leading the authorities to their operation can deprive 
  you of a valuable resource.
  GROUPS
  Posted by: Bree Manning,  
  Argonaut Open Society Forum 
  <Info Msg Rep> 
  Ever since the early days of computerized networking 
  and widespread surveillance, transparency and 
  privacy have been hot-button issues with certain small 
  but vocal groups—especially computer nerds, cypher-
  punks, and civil libertarians. Right up through the Fall, 
  many of these groups remained in the vanguard of 
  raising concerns for debate and discussion, continuing 
  on today albeit sometimes in new forms. Many others 
  do not engage the issues as much as they exploit them, 
  earning notoriety for their distinct approaches to the 
  new panopticon paradigm.
  anOn
  Did your pod morph get puppethacked, forcing 
  you to masturbate furiously in front of an award 
  ceremony crowd? Was your entire fleet of AI-piloted 
  workbots infected with a narcoalgorithm, sparking 
  an impromptu factory floor dance party? Were your 
  romantic private communications with a mercurial 
  lover exposed just in time to ruin your chances at 
  re-election? Was the climax of your vampire MARG 
  infiltrated by a flash mob of pink unicorn avatars with 
  rainbow blasts that burned the highest-level undead 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  45
  
  collection firms. Datacide attempts to permanently erase stored 
  data when possible, also sabotaging the archive servers. Given 
  that these databases are often backed up with redundant archives, 
  Datacide has become particularly skilled at writing exploits and 
  programs that infiltrate a system, linger for months or years to 
  spread into all possible backups, and then strike all at once to 
  eradicate both the full database and recent archives.
  DECEPTICOnS
  Conceding that the battle to stop documentation of people’s 
  private details and lives was a lost one, the Decepticons have 
  taken a different approach: make this data unreliable. Decepticon 
  hackers work hard to penetrate mesh databases and seed false 
  information. They have released numerous worms and trojans 
  into the wild with the sole purposes of gaining access to 
  archives, selecting random entries, and replacing the data with 
  autogenerated material (similar enough to pass, but false). Some 
  of these worms are sophisticated enough that they defeat the 
  autocorrecting and fact-checking features and AIs used by some 
  databases to keep their material accurate. The Decepticons do 
  not stop with selective alterations, however. They have also initi-
  ated automated networks to scrape real identities and personal 
  details from various sources that are then used to register new 
  accounts and customer transactions, except this time adding new 
  false data alongside the correct details, to better pass as authentic. 
  They have also been known to completely fabricate identities, 
  news, and events, seeding the mesh with details on people and 
  things that never actually existed. Though the cabal of Decepticon 
  hackers is believed to be small, the AIs they employ to fabricate 
  photo, video, and other sensor recordings and data are quite 
  sophisticated. More than one major news outfit has been forced 
  to retract reports after being fooled by Decepticon-seeded fake 
  data. Likewise, many random people have found their lives made 
  more difficult by the seeding of data that they cannot disprove, 
  deny, or remove.
  EGO UnIOn
  Ego Union is a civil rights advocacy group that campaigns on 
  behalf of forks. They hold the simple position that alpha, beta, 
  and even delta forks are each individual and sapient persons and 
  should be treated with full equality (they also support person-
  hood status for AIs). According to the Ego Union argument, forks 
  diverge from their originating ego the moment they are separated. 
  They strictly oppose non-voluntary merging. The union has been 
  involved in some high-profile cases where forks attempted to seek 
  asylum, emancipation, or even protection from deletion. 
  Considered a terrorist group in the Jovian Republic and a few 
  other jurisdictions, Ego Union supporters have been linked to a 
  reported “underground railroad” that supplies forks with new 
  identities and darkcast passage to a station more supportive of 
  fork independence.
  ElECTROnIC FUTURE FOUnDaTIOn
  Descended from a group that defended civil liberties in the early 
  days of network computing, the Electronic Future Foundation 
  (EFF) continues to raise public awareness and promote legisla-
  tion and policies that protect privacy, promote transparency, and 
  protect people’s rights when it comes to the mesh and digital 
  activities. They are close allies of the argonauts, with signifi-
  cant overlap between the groups. The EFF is known to operate 
  46
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Leaks has recruited help from the likes of the argo-
  nauts or even Hive Mind to help verify data. Mesh 
  Leaks continues to have a somewhat hostile relation-
  ship with hypercorp media outlets. To the leakers, the 
  media are co-opted and quite literally owned and 
  so simply aren’t doing their job. The media consider 
  the leakers to be dangerous amateurs and criminals 
  tainted by anarchist ideology, but at the same time 
  they cannot afford to ignore their impact.
  Mesh Leaks has at times been supported by Anon, 
  the EFF, argonauts, and other transparency advo-
  cates. There has been criticism of leaks that endan-
  gered people or spread information concerning the 
  TITANs. Mesh Leaks strives to avoid taking specific 
  ideological stances, but various smaller anti-secrecy 
  groups pursue whistleblowing in accordance with 
  a particular agenda. Examples include MarsLeaks 
  (anti-hypercorp, pro-Barsoomian items), ExoLeaks 
  (coverage of gatecrashing and extrasolar exploitation), 
  and Unnatural (anti-tech bioconservative bent).
  SOURCE
  The Source bills itself as decentralized journalism, 
  by the people and for the people. The Source uses 
  low-cost options to establish itself as a newsfeed via 
  the mesh. Anyone can contribute news to the Source, 
  in the form of live feeds, recordings, or other media. 
  The submissions process is crowdsourced, with volun-
  teers and AIs combing through and rating new input. 
  The highest-rated pieces are elevated to the Source’s 
  primary newsfeed channels. Submissions are also 
  contextually tagged for people’s personal muse news 
  filters to more easily sort out the material that most 
  interests them.
  Despite being a largely volunteer, ad hoc, non-
  commercial operation, the Source often competes 
  with mainstream newsfeeds and aggregators (much to 
  the chagrin of various media hypercorps). The Source 
  has occasionally been tainted with falsified news items 
  (blamed on both Anon and the Decepticons), and is 
  criticized for its vulnerability to outsiders gaming its 
  submission ratings system. 
  SPInTERnET
  Spinternet is a professional outfit of mesh memetic 
  mercenaries. Spinternet personnel include a cadre 
  of elite hackers, equipped with massive puppetnets 
  and other online propaganda resources. These mercs 
  sell their services to interested parties and then 
  engage their opponents in online memetic warfare. 
  Hypercorps use the likes of Spinternet to counter 
  leaks and other smear campaigns. Politicians bring 
  these digital warriors in for astroturf campaigns, 
  making it seem like they have a larger groundswell of 
  support while viciously undermining their opponents. 
  Spinternet has even been successful in derailing Anon 
  campaigns in certain habitats. Though many similar 
  hypercorp outfits exist, Spinternet is widely regarded 
  as the most effective.
  anonymization, crypto-cred, and other privacy 
  enhancement projects. Currently they are one of 
  the leaders in the fight against indentured servitude 
  and to release infugee egos kept in offline storage or 
  locked in restrictive simulspaces/systems. They also 
  battle against digital restrictions on nanofabrication, 
  restrictive fork laws, and the criminalization of AIs 
  and AGIs.
  HIvE MInD
  Hive Mind is a volunteer data verification network. 
  Its members crowdsource efforts to fact-check online 
  sources, squash mesh rumors, debunk urban legends, 
  rate the accuracy of government and hypercorp 
  claims, validate scientific papers, and verify real-time 
  newsfeeds. Hive Mind accuracy ratings are considered 
  the final say by many people. Hive Mind is also 
  responsible for maintaining and updating numerous 
  online resources, including the Solarchive project, 
  the Earth Information Repository, WikiNews, the 
  Galactic Vid Archive, and similar encyclopedic infor-
  mation sources. Though Hive Mind projects occasion-
  ally suffer from vandalism, seeding of false data, or 
  claims of non-professionalism, they have shown a 
  remarkable ability to self-correct and are often consid-
  ered more reliable and less biased than official and 
  professional sources.
  MESH lEaKS
  Many organizations have come and gone over the 
  decades that sought to provide a public outlet for 
  whistleblowers to post their insider information 
  anonymously and without fear of persecution. 
  Thanks to henchmen rewards, the need for leaks 
  outlets in some jurisdictions has passed. In polities 
  where the government, military, and hypercorp 
  elites are still evading transparency, however, Mesh 
  Leaks remains a powerful equalizer, exposing the 
  elites’ lies and lack of ethics. Though many other 
  leaks-dedicated groups exist, Mesh Leaks is the 
  most well known and respected, in part because 
  they have the infrastructure to adequately protect 
  their sources. Despite being illegal and favored on 
  censorship blacklists, Mesh Leaks is quite adept at 
  circumventing efforts to silence their newsfeeds as 
  well as avoiding persecution.
  Mesh Leaks archives exist as mirrored, decentral-
  ized sites, often linked together via dedicated darknet 
  VPN connections. The specific leak archives are 
  kept distinctly separate from submission points. The 
  channels provided for people to submit information 
  are heavily encrypted and set up to automatically 
  anonymize the sender. These input points are also 
  temporary, closing down and popping up elsewhere 
  on the mesh, in order to avoid blockades or attempts 
  to undermine the process. 
  Submitted material is carefully analyzed, scraped 
  of identifying metadata, and verified by a legion of 
  volunteers before being released. On occasion, Mesh 
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  SURVEILLANCE
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  floor’s live feed and experience it vicariously. When we 
  develop romantic interests in someone, we are likely to 
  investigate their lives to find out more about them. Some 
  new romantic partners take this a step farther, engaging 
  in simultaneous voyeurism as part of their courtship. 
  Some go as far as to grant each other privileged access 
  into their private areas and private lives, offering a deep 
  level of intimacy with no strings attached.
  HOBBYIST vOYEURS
  Some people simply enjoy watching others. There’s a 
  certain romanticism in watching the world turn. For 
  most of us, that romanticism falls short when one 
  realizes that most transhumans live rather boring lives. 
  For this reason, full-time voyeurism is rarely a hobby 
  undertaken for long.
  There are enough people engaged in social 
  voyeurism to make it a noteworthy phenomenon. 
  Many services, in fact, rely on crowdsourcing surveil-
  lance work to people who make little or no money 
  from the endeavor. Numerous security hypercorps 
  allow public access to cameras watching over their 
  clients’ holdings, with rewards offered to anyone who 
  reports suspicious activity or crimes. News outfits 
  offer payouts to those who point them towards public 
  sensor feeds that happened to capture newsworthy 
  events. Many voyeurs aren’t interested in rewards, 
  however. To them, the act of watching is an obsession. 
  They are fascinated with knowing what is going on, 
  with watching over what people are doing. There is a 
  thrill gained from the one-way transaction of spying 
  on others without their direct awareness. 
  Some think that this form of hobby surveillance is 
  a means of control. The voyeur looks on in the way 
  a child might look on to an ant farm. Knowledge of 
  others’ activities and behaviors is empowering, especially 
  when not reciprocated. Though there is no direct malice 
  involved, it does bolster feelings of superiority—many 
  voyeurs are thrilled at viewing people in their weakest 
  moments, being happy to find people more pathetic than 
  they are. It is no surprise that many hobbyist voyeurs 
  embrace privacy shrouds when in public. 
  The same element of control is evident among 
  vigilante voyeurs that go out of their way to monitor 
  criminal elements. Though these watchful eyes 
  have been known to impede some criminal opera-
  tions, there have also been repercussions and back-
  lashes from those who do not appreciate wanna-be 
  crimestoppers messing with their affairs. 
  FanS, STalKERS, anD PaPaRaZZI
  A step above and beyond the hobbyist voyeurs are 
  those who idolize and obsessively watch over others. 
  Following celebrities is the most socially acceptable 
  form of hobby surveillance. While X-casts and lifelogs 
  are common sources, the old fashioned method of 
  spying via cameras and microphones is more popular 
  for the hardcore hobbyist. 
  Most celebrities came to the realization long ago 
  that their privacy is forfeit—as did the companies 
  aUDIEnCE PaRTICIPaTIOn
  Posted by: Bree Manning,  
  Argonaut Open Society Forum 
  <Info Msg Rep> 
  No discussion of our ubiquitous surveillance society 
  is complete without a look at the people behind the 
  cameras. One of the unique aspects of daily life is 
  not just that we are surrounded by sensor-equipped 
  devices that record us, but that we are likely actively 
  monitored at any given time. Your everyday activity 
  is likely to be surveiled by people-watchers, random 
  folks browsing for something interesting going on, 
  bored security AIs and infomorphs whose job is to 
  scan for signs of suspicious activity, and griefers and 
  criminals looking for their next mark. Your lifelog/X-
  cast may have a fan base, voyeurs who keep up with 
  minute details of your daily experiences. So let’s take 
  a look at the people doing the looking.
  InTERMITTEnT SPOTTERS
  If a reputation falls and nobody is there to see it, does 
  it truly fall?
  Fortunately for most, this isn’t a pressing concern. 
  The vast majority of transhumans are too busy with 
  their own lives to spend large amounts of it watching 
  others. Even those who subscribe to lifelogs and 
  X-casts often have their muses whittle down the high-
  lights into manageable chunks.
  Nevertheless, many transhumans do intermittently 
  have their eyes on others, simply as part of their daily 
  affairs. We often check up on friends by surveiling the 
  area we know them to be in, so we can get an update 
  on their situation without needing to bother them 
  directly. We access the interior cameras of shops, and 
  restaurants to see how crowded they are before we go. 
  If we’re trying to contact a friend lurking in privacy 
  mode, we may check out the sensor feeds from their 
  common hang-outs to see if we spot them. Parents 
  keep a watchful eye on their children. When driving 
  somewhere, we may ping the traffic cams to see 
  which route is least congested. By the very nature of 
  our society’s transparency, we each end up watching 
  over the shoulders of others multiple times a day. At 
  any given time, the number of transhumans watching 
  the world is almost as high as the number actively 
  participating in the world.
  Not all of our casual surveillance uses are positive. 
  Bosses periodically snoop on their employees’ activi-
  ties, to keep an eye on productivity. Jealous people 
  may spy on their lovers, looking for signs of infidelity. 
  Competitors may keep tabs on each other’s activities, 
  looking to gain an edge. Paranoid residents spy on 
  neighbors they deem untrustworthy out of prejudice.
  We also use these tools to balance, enhance, and 
  manipulate our social interactions. If we hope to avoid 
  running into someone, we scan the areas ahead of us, or 
  locate them first. If we want to find where our friends 
  are hanging out, we look. Or maybe we’re too busy 
  to hit the club tonight, but we’ll check in on the dance 
  48
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  expected to maintain a following. The solar system 
  has one notorious Elvis Presley impersonator with a 
  handful of near-religious followers. While they know 
  he’s not The King, they don’t let that get in the way 
  of their hero worship. A few eccentric fans have 
  gone so far as to undergo voluntary psychosurgery 
  to fundamentally change their knowledge of the fact, 
  becoming true believers. A brief fad of impersonating 
  religious figures in recent years has failed to gain 
  much momentum for the impersonators, though some 
  have developed small cult followings. 
  DIGITal SECURITY WaTCHERS
  Complex security systems require full-time mainte-
  nance and tending. Ubiquitous surveillance means 
  that there are more camera and sensor feeds than 
  there are physical eyes to watch. Though software 
  automates many tasks and can monitor sensory input 
  for signs of suspicious activity, the availability of AIs 
  and infomorphs is irrefutable. AIs are easily copied, 
  meaning that any surveillance network is likely to 
  have as many as it needs. Infomorphs are a cheap 
  source of labor, even more effective than AIs. In many 
  habitats, space is at a premium, morphs aren’t cheap, 
  and job opportunities are limited, making security 
  work an ideal situation for disembodied egos. 
  AI and infomorph security agents are invaluable. 
  They don’t take smoke breaks. They don’t fall asleep 
  on the job. They’re intimately familiar with every 
  little exception to protocol that occurs on their watch. 
  Unlike an AI, infomorphs understand the subtle 
  nuances of life that no machine truly can. An info-
  morph is much more likely to have an intuitive under-
  standing of a complex situation than any weak AI ever 
  will. For all the value in these egos, however, they suffer 
  the same frailties that plague the rest of transhumanity. 
  They may view a situation through the lens of their own 
  particular cultural bias, for example, or they may be 
  vulnerable to temptations such as blackmail and bribery. 
  The weak point of many security systems is defined as 
  the transhuman element, and infomorph watchers 
  both counter and exacerbate this fact. Theoretically, 
  that pay them. In the inner system, icons who can’t 
  manage a public lifestyle may find themselves cut 
  off, lest their dropping reputation come to smear the 
  media corps. Most hypercorps protect their invest-
  ments, hiring memeticists and lifestyle managers to 
  coordinate a celebrity’s public image. Metacelebrities 
  are increasingly becoming common, in part because 
  they function well as micro-managed icons. 
  Why watch someone else’s life? The typical answer 
  is, “because it’s more interesting than my own.” 
  While that can certainly be true, long-term celeb 
  stalkers usually have other reasons. The nature of 
  transhumanity is one of transformation, of changing 
  appearances and forms. Over time, that has a lasting 
  effect on many minds. What if you could look like 
  whatever you want, but you couldn’t be whomever 
  you want? For most voyeurs, this is the root problem. 
  A cool and exciting morph doesn’t change who you 
  are fundamentally. No matter what shell you jump 
  into, you’re still yourself. You still do the same silly 
  things you used to. You have the same tells, the same 
  colloquialisms, and the same insecurities. This is why 
  entertainment still exists; icon voyeurs just take it to 
  an increased level. They live the lives of their icons 
  vicariously, in place of their own.
  In extreme cases, when one follows another’s 
  identity for long enough, one begins to absorb it, to 
  own it. Before long, the voyeur may refer to the celeb-
  rity as “we” when uncalled for. The hobbyist becomes 
  unnecessarily defensive of the subject’s choices. Those 
  critical of the icon become enemies. Many celebrities 
  have small legions of fans that follow their every move 
  and rush to defend their reputation. The smart icons 
  learn to manipulate these followers to their advantage.
  One phenomenon that arises from this particular 
  fetish is celebrity imitation. If one wants to be 
  watched, what better way than by impersonating a 
  celebrity? This is hard to maintain in earnest, though 
  it has been known to fool some fans for short periods. 
  Most impersonators are brazen about their intentions, 
  relying on humor and kitsch appeal. They also tend 
  to impersonate dead or retired celebrities, ones not 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  49
  INDENTURED INFOMORPH WATCHERS
  For some infomorphs, security work is less a choice, more an obligation. Indentured infomorphs serve long 
  terms of menial labor in order to earn a body. Security is far from the worst assignment, and many infugees 
  jump at the opportunity. The demand makes these limited jobs quite competitive, which the hypercorps use 
  to their benefit. The smallest failures can be interpreted as a breach of contract, terminating the indenture’s 
  earnings and replacing them with the next enthusiastic worker in line. When the alternative to security 
  work is mining, terraforming, and other manual labor in a cheap and uncomfortable case, security inden-
  tures don’t let go of jobs easily. While they are less talented than many professional security infomorphs, 
  they’re ironically less likely to fall to bribery and other corruption as the risk is just too high. 
  On the flip side, some indentures are naturally resentful of this situation. They have been known to 
  install backdoors into systems, sell security secrets to outsiders, or on occasion aid and abet those they are 
  supposed to be guarding against. A few have claimed whistleblower prizes on their employers after brutal 
  and improperly handled security incidents were covered up. For this reason, many hypercorps treat their 
  indentured security infomorphs with care, keeping almost as careful an eye on their activity. 
  n
  
  surveillance for their own purposes. Targets can now 
  be thoroughly cased and evaluated beforehand, and 
  the positions and response of security forces and 
  police can be monitored. Criminal cartels are also 
  careful to keep an eye on rivals. 
  THE STaTE OF PRIvaCY
  Source: Electronic Future Foundation 
  [Link]
  The habitats and polities of the solar system are 
  chaotic terrain when it comes to issues and legalities 
  of identification, surveillance, and privacy. An unwary 
  egocasting traveler can very easily find themselves in 
  a jurisdiction where they are subject to more scrutiny 
  and less protections than they are used to or willing 
  to accept. To analyze the different conditions, we’ve 
  broken down transhumanity’s colonies into four 
  types of societies. While these definitions are loose, 
  they provide a good springboard for correlating local 
  stances on specific issues.
  TRanSPaREnT
  Transparent polities are the norm. In these habitats, 
  there is a good balance between surveillance and sous-
  veillance as well as transparency and privacy. Examples 
  of transparent habitats include: Erato, Octavia, Progress, 
  Selene Station, and Valles-New Shanghai. Policies some-
  times stray towards Open and Closed models; every 
  habitat has their own policies and standards.
  TRanSPaREnT EXaMPlE: vallES-nEW SHanGHaI (MaRS)
  The largest metroplex in the solar system is a model 
  for transparent societies. Publicams and other sensor 
  spimes are everywhere, all open for public access. 
  Many private cameras and sensors also surveil public 
  areas; these are accessible at a price. Sensor nets in 
  homes, business offices, high-security zones, and some 
  other areas are private access only. Security/police can 
  gain access with a warrant and can review the logs of 
  emergency sensors if an alarm is tripped. Most people 
  lifelog, with a significant amount doing so via public 
  feed (or at least partially), and many X-cast. Many 
  civic and political leaders do the same on public feeds, 
  at least while on the clock. Officers and vehicles of the 
  People’s Militia carry sensors that broadcast publicly, 
  though these have a habit of failing, and some 
  squads are intentionally deployed in private mode. 
  Hypercorp officers tend to avoid the public eye, with 
  a few notable exceptions. Civic offices, government 
  sessions, security stations, and courts are open access. 
  Mesh privacy mode is allowed and tolerated and 
  anonymization services, cryptography, and crypto-cred 
  are legal. Nanotat IDs are required for all morphs and 
  brainprint and digital code ID are required for all egos. 
  There is no checkpoint or customs requirement to 
  enter or leave the city, but thoroughfares in and out of 
  the domes are heavily monitored. The People’s Militia 
  monitors publicams, their own sensor networks, and 
  the watchmen can also be watched, but only the most 
  paranoid security operations go to this length. Most 
  colonies recognize these failings, and understand that 
  without a modicum of respect and trust, no number of 
  security officers will ever be effective. On the other side 
  of things, it guarantees that there’s always room to bend 
  the laws, overlook rules, and otherwise take advantage 
  of imperfections in the system. 
  Given the availability of AIs and infomorphs, they 
  are not just used to protect and overwatch secure 
  systems. They are frequently employed as a preven-
  tive deterrent, watching through publicams and also 
  private sensor networks to which they have purchased 
  or obtained access. These watchers spend their time 
  scanning for suspicious activity, running recognition 
  scans against databases of wanted/known morphs, 
  and analyzing the behavior of random subjects. More 
  than one terrorist plot and criminal operation has 
  been preemptively busted by keen-eyed infomorphs 
  that picked up on subtle clues.
  AGIs take on the same roles that weak AIs and info-
  morphs fulfill. Some habitats embrace AGIs as they 
  are more effective than AIs and more at home in the 
  mesh than other infomorphs. In much of the system, 
  however—particularly the inner system—AGIs are 
  not trusted when it comes to surveillance and security 
  matters. Too many people fear that putting the keys 
  to their society in the digital hands of machine intel-
  ligences will inevitably lead to another situation as 
  occurred with the TITANs.
  One drawback to digital security is that it is 
  confined to areas with sensor coverage. For this 
  reason roaming patrol drones are also incorporated 
  into a surveillance network, enabling AIs and info-
  morphs to investigate off-sensor areas remotely. 
  Synthmorphs and pods are also sometimes made 
  available for puppeteering, giving such watchers a 
  more direct physical counterpart.
  PHYSICal SECURITY WaTCHERS
  Physical security assets are often treated as secondary 
  to digital watchers for surveillance duty. The most 
  secure facilities, however, realize that AI and infomorph 
  watchers have several distinct vulnerabilities: they can 
  be hacked, jammed, and isolated. Serious security 
  set-ups therefore incorporate physical security as a 
  layered defense, with overlapping surveillance duties. 
  GRIEFERS anD CRIMInalS
  On the other side of the proverbial fence, many 
  voyeurs are using surveillance networks for illicit 
  purposes. Griefers remain a persistent annoyance, 
  using omnipresent sensor nets to gain information on 
  and harass their targets remotely, purely for laughs. 
  Griefers also tend to operate in packs, increasing their 
  ability to saturate an area or target with coverage 
  before they initiate their campaigns.
  On a more sophisticated level, criminals were 
  among the first to take advantage of ubiquitous 
  50
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  monitoring by security surveillance bots. Jovian 
  police are known to set up temporary checkpoints 
  and to make heavy use of spy drones.
  OPEn
  Open colonies are the epitome of transparency. 
  Examples of open habitats include: Extropia, Gerlach, 
  Locus, and Nyhavn.
  OPEn EXaMPlE: lOCUS
  As the premier anarchist habitat, Locus embodies 
  many of the ideals of an open society. Publicams 
  and other sensors are everywhere, accessible to 
  everyone. There are no private sensors outside of 
  private residences, as anarchists do not acknowledge 
  property above the level of necessary or sentimental 
  personal possessions. There are no government or 
  police authorities to monitor, but the various collec-
  tives, cooperatives, and syndicates that play major 
  civic roles are all transparent and accessible. Almost 
  everyone lifelogs and posts much of it publicly; 
  X-casting is also common. The individual residents 
  collaborate on keeping an eye on things together. 
  If something goes wrong or an anti-social crime or 
  act of sabotage is committed, one or more volunteer 
  response groups will spring into action.
  Mesh privacy mode, anonymization services, cryp-
  tography, and crypto-cred are all available though 
  sometimes discouraged. Nanotat IDs for morphs are 
  not required, but many people use them anyway in 
  case something happens to their morph. Likewise, 
  brainprint and digital code ID are not required, but 
  are used as a matter of course for simple logistics.
  The residents of Locus do require that visitors 
  declare any allegiance to hypercorp or government 
  interests when you arrive, but there is no vetting of 
  IDs. Security scans ensure only that no one is bringing 
  aboard weapons of mass destruction.
  PRIvaTE
  Private habitats strongly discourage both sur- and 
  sousveillance. These are few and far between.
  PRIvaTE EXaMPlE: lEGBa
  Here, publicams and all other stationary sensors are 
  banned from public areas. An “each to their own” 
  philosophy pervades here. Private sensors are only 
  allowed in private dwellings, but consent is required 
  to legally record visitors. Likewise, lifelogging is only 
  allowed to the extent that you must receive permis-
  sion from others before you record them. X-casting 
  is similarly limited. The police have the authority to 
  surveil high-security areas critical to the habitat, but 
  are only allowed to surveil public and private areas 
  when warranted by ongoing investigations. Mesh 
  privacy mode, anonymization services, cryptography, 
  and crypto-cred are all legal. Nanotat IDs for morphs 
  are not required, but brainprint and digital code IDs 
  are still required for egos to resolve legal matters.
  a flotilla of patrol drones and are also plugged into 
  many privately owned spynets with coverage of public 
  areas. Militia officers profile people on the street and 
  conduct random ID stops in some parts of the city, 
  particularly wealthier neighborhoods. Private security 
  contractors also monitor and protect some neighbor-
  hoods and private/corporate facilities. Both the militia 
  and private contractors crowdsource public help in 
  monitoring sensor feeds, offering rewards to those 
  that trigger alerts resulting in arrests. Probability and 
  precog systems are used to identify potential criminal 
  hot spots so that such areas can be swarmed with 
  extra surveillance and physical coverage. Henchmen 
  prizes are offered for whistleblowing on illegal 
  administration or militia activity, but there is a strong 
  internal culture that applies social pressure against 
  snitching and ostracizes those who do.
  ClOSED
  Closed stations curtail the amount of sousveillance 
  allowed to the public, also typically putting more 
  emphasis on government/security surveillance while 
  otherwise restricting civil liberties. Examples of 
  closed habitats include: Aspis, Liberty, Pathfinder City, 
  Remembrance, Vo Nguyen, and Xiphos.
  ClOSED EXaMPlE: lIBERTY (GanYMEDE)
  The capital of the Jovian Republic is a model of a 
  closed society. Publicams and other sensors in public 
  areas are open access, but are subject to security 
  takeover and lockdown by the authorities. Privately 
  owned sensor nets must also be made accessible to 
  the security apparatus. Though private residences 
  are theoretically off-limits, Jovian security has the 
  authority to monitor anyone they suspect of criminal 
  or subversive activity. Though many Jovians lifelog, 
  very little of this is made publicly accessible, instead 
  being made available only to friends and family. 
  X-casting is almost non-existent. Few (if any) leaders 
  lifelog publicly. 
  Civic, government, and security property is 
  protected by private sensor nets accessible only by 
  Jovian police. It is illegal to surveil these facilities, just 
  as it is illegal to record police activities. Mesh privacy 
  mode is tolerated but subject to security override. 
  Anonymization services are illegal. Crypto-cred is 
  restricted; cryptography of any sort must be licensed 
  from the government and is presumed to have back 
  doors for security access. Whistleblowing is frowned 
  upon and often prosecuted.
  Biometric IDs are required for all morphs. Since 
  resleeving is a restricted technology here, there is no 
  need for morph nanotat IDs or brainprints, though 
  these are recorded from non-Jovian visitors. Access 
  to the habitat requires a strict set of security checks 
  and customs procedures involving a number of sensor 
  scans. Psychosurgery interrogation is not uncommon. 
  Non-Jovian visitors are usually restricted to specific 
  areas and subjected to mandatory overwatch 
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  SURVEILLANCE
  51
  
  3
  HaBITaTS
  COLONIES IN SPACE
  Purpose: The function behind the form. n  p. 55
  Habitat Types: From aerostats to toruses. n  p. 56
  3
  HaBITaTS
  COLONIES IN SPACE
  Purpose: The function behind the form. n  p. 55
  Habitat Types: From aerostats to toruses. n  p. 56
  
  LIVING IN SPACE
  The Space Life Survival Guide: What every spacer needs to know. n  p. 64
  Living Spaces: How details like available room, gravity, and making room for wilderness can matter. n  p. 68
  Hazards: Numerous things that can kill you. n  p. 88
  Psychogeography: The meaning behind our habitat spaces. n  p. 90
  HABITAT SYSTEMS
  Access Control: From airlocks to spaceports to customs. n  p. 72
  Communications: Keeping in touch over vast distances. n  p. 74
  Defense and Security: Playing it safe. n  pp. 75 and 85
  Emergency Systems: Surviving when things go wrong. n  p. 76
  Life Support: The most critical system. n  p. 77
  Infrastructure: Holding it all together. n p. 79
  Mesh: The nervous system of every station. n p. 81
  Power: Various ways to keep things running. n p. 84
  LIVING IN SPACE
  The Space Life Survival Guide: What every spacer needs to know. n  p. 64
  Living Spaces: How details like available room, gravity, and making room for wilderness can matter. n  p. 68
  Hazards: Numerous things that can kill you. n  p. 88
  Psychogeography: The meaning behind our habitat spaces. n  p. 90
  HABITAT SYSTEMS
  Access Control: From airlocks to spaceports to customs. n  p. 72
  Communications: Keeping in touch over vast distances. n  p. 74
  Defense and Security: Playing it safe. n  pp. 75 and 85
  Emergency Systems: Surviving when things go wrong. n  p. 76
  Life Support: The most critical system. n  p. 77
  Infrastructure: Holding it all together. n p. 79
  Mesh: The nervous system of every station. n p. 81
  Power: Various ways to keep things running. n p. 84
  
  Source: Firewall Resources for the Newly Revived 
   
  [Link]
  If you’re here, chances are that you’ve spent a long 
  time in cold storage or simulspace. Welcome back 
  to the world of the physical. That also means you’re 
  probably used to life back on Earth before the Fall. 
  It would be an understatement to say that a lot has 
  changed. You will need time to get used to life out 
  here. It’s natural for you to feel excited, even euphoric, 
  at the moment. You have survived and persevered 
  where so many did not.
  It also is entirely natural for feelings of sadness, 
  unease, guilt, and even fear to set in once you start to 
  grasp the reality of what you lost in your old life and 
  just how different your new one is. Just know that 
  you don’t have to go through it alone and that there 
  isn’t anything wrong with you. We have counselors 
  available and we hope that you will form bonds with 
  your fellow egos in this orientation. 
  Some of you will be going on to other stations and 
  colonies shortly after you are medically cleared, so 
  we’re going to take the time to go over the funda-
  mentals of life in space. We don’t want to overwhelm 
  you, but it is important that you be equipped with 
  knowledge that is both essential and helpful. If 
  something we discuss is unclear or confusing, don’t 
  hesitate to stop and ask questions. 
  nEW HOMES On THE FROnTIER
  Source: Lectures on Space Habitat Systems Engineering 
  & Design, Prof. Iona Stormgren, Titan Tech 
  [Link]
  By modern standards, the first space habitats—Salyut, 
  Mir, the International Space Station—were crude 
  pressure vessels (they were called “tin cans,” even 
  back then) barely capable of protecting their crews 
  against a hostile space environment. Those initial 
  attempts at sustaining human life beyond Earth’s 
  atmosphere taught our predecessors crucial lessons, 
  though. They learned how to build large structures 
  in microgravity as well as how to avoid the degrading 
  effects of atomic oxygen, radiation exposure, and 
  micrometeoroid impacts on exposed materials. They 
  realized just how ill-suited the baseline human body is 
  for long durations in space. Without these lessons, the 
  Fall would have been the end of human civilization.
  The first stations at the Earth-Luna Lagrange points 
  and in orbit around Mars took advantage of more 
  efficient waste removal and recycling of air and water. 
  They could even grow some of their own food in plant 
  growth chambers or hydroponics bays. Advanced 
  solar arrays concentrated the sun’s rays on smaller 
  panels with higher conversion efficiency, increasing 
  available power and greatly reducing the structural 
  requirements of these stations. They were still funda-
  mentally dependent on terrestrial industry for major 
  components and long-term sustainability, however. 
  These outposts were typically public-private partner-
  ships that allowed scientific research, industrial R&D, 
  and government-backed exploration projects to carry 
  on simultaneously. 
  The expansion of hypercorps into space to escape 
  the increasingly intractable socioeconomic and 
  ecological problems on Earth pushed the situation 
  to the next level. Combined with the development of 
  advanced biotechnologies, machine intelligence, and 
  the space elevator, space habitat construction entered 
  a kind of second generation. Humanity had—as long 
  dreamed of by engineers and literary prognosticators 
  alike—the situational awareness of the space environ-
  ment, the technological means of mitigating its worst 
  effects, and the economic drive to establish the first 
  habitats truly independent of Earth. 
  While the resupply of consumables (such as 
  water and oxygen) was still required, infrastructure 
  was available for local resource utilization. Once it 
  became cheaper to mine volatiles from near-Earth 
  objects or permanently shadowed craters on Luna, 
  the proverbial cord was cut. Design considerations 
  were dominated more by the mission requirements of 
  each specific habitat and local needs rather than the 
  payload size and lift capacity of a booster launching 
  from Earth.
  Mining operations tended to favor clusters and 
  beehives, as they made the most efficient use of 
  existing materials and available structures. Surface 
  stations on Mars and Luna increasingly adopted 
  dome structures because a large surface area could 
  be quickly enclosed, pressurized, and made avail-
  able for development akin to cities on Earth. The 
  first torus habitats were built at the Lagrange points 
  to accommodate research and manufacturing that 
  required gravity. The inherent volumetric limitations 
  of the torus design led to the construction of O’Neill 
  cylinders and Bernal spheres that allowed permanent 
  habitation for even Earth-born immigrants.
  The third generation of space habitat design and 
  development was initiated with the availability of 
  nanotech assemblers and digital consciousness. While 
  third-generation development stalled during and after 
  the Fall, the demand for new habitats to alleviate 
  congestion on existing platforms and the emergence 
  of widely disparate transhuman factions have incu-
  bated space habitat designs previously unimaginable. 
  Saturn’s famous Hamilton cylinders are, perhaps, 
  the best example of this because of their ability to 
  3
  HaBITaTS
  54
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  A quality product is one that meets your stakeholders’ 
  requirements, simple as that. If you can’t handle that, 
  go take your chances at Locus.
  Still with me? Good. One of the things you’ll have 
  to learn once you get beyond Titan’s warm embrace 
  is how to deal with old codgers like me. I’ve been 
  building space stations since before the Fall and I’ll 
  keep doing it long after some of you do something 
  stupid and get your stack popped. Don’t think it can’t 
  happen to you. I knew a guy whose work team got 
  fried by a gamma-ray burst from God-knows-where. 
  The basic purpose of any habitat is to keep its 
  inhabitants alive and safe from whatever is outside. 
  The coronals are a perfect example, even though I 
  think they’re a bit crazy. Giant honking electromag-
  netic field generators surrounding an immense core 
  of water, all to protect a zero-g cluster at the center. 
  That’s ultimately just physics and engineering, though. 
  Figuring out why you would build something like 
  that in the first place is what really drives the problem. 
  That’s the key to defining the trade space for your 
  design, satisfying your project’s sponsors, and deliv-
  ering the best product.
  Let’s consider a few examples. Building a colony 
  is all about keeping the most people alive in the 
  volume available for the least amount of resources 
  consumed. Ask yourself, “what is the target popula-
  tion?” I’m not just talking about numbers of bodies. 
  What level of gravity will they require? How much 
  water, air, and food will they consume? How will 
  you provide those consumables? How much radia-
  tion protection do they need? What local resources 
  are available to meet these needs? Building an 
  O’Neill cylinder out at the Earth-Luna L5 point 
  gives you a lot of pressurized volume, a relatively 
  simple way to provide artificial gravity, and fairly 
  effective protection against even cosmic rays, but 
  requires a significant outlay of initial resources to 
  build the damn thing and sustain regular resupply. 
  Mining operations are mainly concerned about 
  accessing and producing raw materials. A small outfit 
  with razor-thin margins is probably going to stick 
  to breaking up rubble piles and small metallic globs 
  that get lost in hypercorp overhead budgets. If they 
  can’t afford biomods for zero g, you’re looking at a 
  tin can spun on a tether for minimal gravity. More 
  established operations working on larger objects have 
  the resources and the time to provide more permanent 
  housing for their workers. Even then, they’re looking 
  to save costs. Typically, they’ll cap the boreholes and 
  seal the walls with an impermeable plastic membrane 
  or rock melt. Clear the dust, pressurize the volume, 
  and you’ve got a standard beehive. 
  Waystations exist solely so interplanetary space-
  craft don’t have to carry all the fuel they need to 
  get to a given destination. Even with increasingly 
  more efficient propulsion systems available, no one 
  wants to carry reaction mass and the containment 
  for said reaction mass if they don’t have to. Quite 
  self-assemble and reconfigure to the size and needs of 
  large populations.
  Though many post-Fall habitats have sought to 
  recreate the lost Earth through cityscapes and nature 
  preserves, much of transhumanity has instead chosen 
  to adapt itself to the local environment and build 
  homes accordingly. Coronal habitats represent one 
  extreme, designed specifically to shelter the suryas, 
  salamanders, and their rare visitors from the Sun’s 
  direct fury. Processor loci inhabited solely by AGIs 
  and infomorphs can be said to represent another. 
  Nearly any configuration imaginable is possible when 
  the only constraints are the laws of thermodynamics 
  and the availability of economic resources. 
  PURPOSE
  Source: Lectures on Space Habitat Systems 
  Engineering & Design,  
  Prof. Emeritus Jack Carlson, Titan Tech 
  [Link]
  The basic needs of corporeal beings are food, water, 
  and shelter, so the old Earth saying goes. While the 
  first two are either negotiable or cheap with uploading, 
  advanced biomods, cybernetics, and cornucopia 
  machines, the universe is still a pretty dangerous 
  place. Every day, someone somewhere is dealing with 
  a coronal mass ejection, or the problem of heat rejec-
  tion into a vacuum, or collision damage from some 
  kind of debris, or the effects of galactic cosmic radia-
  tion. For every solution we think we’ve come up with 
  to maintain our supposed technological immortality, 
  there is something out there that can defeat it. 
  Whatever we do, then, for food and water, we 
  still need shelter. It’s our armor against the universe. 
  Without our space stations, warrens, beehives, cylin-
  ders, and everything else, all of us would have been 
  at the mercy of the TITANs. That is, if we hadn’t 
  drowned in our own filth on the homeworld first. 
  Some of you are old enough to know what I’m 
  talking about or experienced it yourself. I knew we 
  were finished if we didn’t get off that rock, so that’s 
  just what I did. 
  I traded my youth for the chance to build domes 
  on Luna. As soon as that contract was up, I hopped 
  out to the Belt and worked on the first Cole habitats 
  in return for zero-g biomods. From there, I rode 
  the wave out to Titan and I’ve been here ever since. 
  I know all you want to hear about is the Hamilton 
  cylinders, but bear with me. You’ve got to understand 
  where we came from if you’re going to be any good at 
  taking us into the future.
  A good habitat engineer understands the threats out 
  there and devises a strategy for avoiding unnecessary 
  risk as well as mitigating those you have to accept to 
  satisfy the requirements of the project. Lest you ideal-
  ists forget, we build habitats for a reason. Unless you 
  ever get rich or lucky enough to do your own thing, 
  habitats aren’t there for our own personal edification. 
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  HABITATS
  55
  
  lifeforms that never existed in nature. Remember, it 
  all comes down to what your customer wants and 
  what they can afford. As the engineer, it’s your job 
  to make the trades.
  HaBITaT TYPES
  Source: A Mercenary’s Guide to the  
  Offworld Colonies 
  [Link]
  I don’t care how many brush wars are listed on your 
  resume, working a security detail or launching an 
  infiltration op is an entirely different paradigm when 
  you’re dealing with space habitats instead of hugging 
  the dirt. Not only do you have to consider minor 
  inconveniences like lack of gravity, but the proximity 
  to hostile environments means that a simple hull 
  breach could take out your entire squad in seconds. 
  Every habitat used by transhumanity has an entirely 
  different layout configuration and accompanying 
  set of concerns when it comes to security and offen-
  sive ops. Air support and perimeter free-fire zones 
  are going to do nothing for you in a close-quarters 
  beehive skirmish, and in a Cole bubble or O’Neill 
  cylinder your enemy may be directly overhead. This 
  part of the primer will introduce you to the basics of 
  each colony type.
  The most common space habitats are familiar types 
  that were used over many decades in transhuman 
  space colonization efforts: tin cans, toruses, O’Neill 
  cylinders, beehives, Cole bubbles, clusters, and the 
  Reagan cylinders (more commonly called sarcophagus 
  habs) used by the Jovians. However, experimentation 
  and the special needs of a variety of environments 
  have led to a number of more exotic habitat types.
  aEROSTaTS
  Built to float in the carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus, 
  aerostats are essentially cities built as giant balloons. 
  The breathable atmosphere filling aerostats is lighter 
  than the surrounding atmosphere, so aerostats feature 
  open areas with massive volumes of air that enable them 
  to float. Aerostats are not pressurized, as the interior 
  air pressure is roughly equal to the exterior atmosphere, 
  meaning that there is no need for heavy airlocks, just 
  airtight doors and bulkheads. Aerostats are constructed 
  from lightweight but durable materials such as aerogels, 
  diamond, and metallic foam.
  Most aerostats are shaped like a balloon or upside-
  down tear drop. The center of each is a massive 
  vertical air-filled chamber, reaching from top to 
  bottom, that provides buoyancy. Other parts of the 
  aerostat are built with large open airy areas and high 
  ceilings. External parts of the structure may feature 
  tall privately owned towers and open areas for synth-
  morphs that do not require breathable atmosphere. 
  Most aerostats are mobile, floating through the 
  stable areas of the Venusian atmosphere. Occasionally 
  an aerostat will tether itself to the surface at mining 
  a few infomorph habitats keep themselves going by 
  providing this function. They get to stay out in the 
  middle-of-nowhere and do whatever it is they do 
  in simulspace. The best part for them is that other 
  people pay for it since they provide a valuable service. 
  For unmanned cargo resupply, we’re talking minimal-
  istic structure, enough radiation and micrometeoroid 
  shielding to keep things from breaking down, along 
  with huge fuel tanks floating in space. Maybe a 
  sunshield if they’re storing cryogenics. Only a handful 
  of these places provide amenities for passengers, since 
  most people that go for physical embarkation prefer 
  a fast ride on a fusion drive.
  Industrial facilities, like shipyards and factories, 
  aren’t much different than waystations, in terms of 
  engineering. The majority of the structure will be 
  dedicated to microgravity manufacturing processes, 
  which are almost always highly automated. It’s all 
  about processing the raw input, typically ores and 
  volatiles from the mines, into useful products. The 
  actual habitat portion of the facility depends on who 
  or what the business operations are there to sustain. 
  Cluster habitats are pretty popular because they’re 
  modular, reconfigurable, and fairly cheap. Biotech 
  facilities stand out, though. It’s still pretty hard to 
  do bioengineering in either vacuum or microgravity. 
  Torus habitats are not uncommon because they 
  provide artificial gravity, but are smaller and cheaper 
  than the big cylinders or spheres.
  Building a research station is all about putting the 
  mind of someone who’s trying to figure something out 
  where that something is. Location, location, location! 
  If you want to study the space whales, that’s what the 
  coronal habitats are for. If you want to learn about 
  the aquatic lifeforms of Europa or Enceladus, you get 
  to live in what amounts to a fancy submarine. If you 
  want to study Venusian geology without being incin-
  erated by the heat and pressure that limited the first 
  probes to seconds of lifetime, then aerostats hovering 
  above those layers of hellish atmosphere are where 
  you are least likely to die. Cosmic astrophysicists 
  want to be as far the hell away from all the electronic 
  noise and light the rest of us make, so a lot of them 
  are heading out to the Kuiper Belt to dig holes for 
  their sensors in the ice or establishing zero-g observa-
  tories on highly inclined, highly eccentric orbits. Get 
  the picture?
  Even giving the science types their due, most 
  of what I’ve been yammering about is stuff that 
  actually does some sort of good. You also have 
  to keep in mind that, even considering we’re still 
  clawing our way back from near-extinction, there 
  are still plenty of people out there with more wealth 
  than sense—and who are looking for ways to show 
  that. Before anyone asks, yes, I’m talking about 
  MeatHab. You’ve also got people that want to 
  play at being a mermaid and simulspace just isn’t 
  good enough. Beyond the absurd, there’s also the 
  uplift habitats with environments optimized to suit 
  56
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  BEEHIvES
  The most common habitat in the Belt or among other 
  small planetesimals is the beehive. Tunnels burrowed 
  into rock or ice, often in the wake of mining or 
  exploratory operations, are converted into living 
  spaces by either fusing the existing material or coating 
  the walls with a sealant. Chambers are dug out of the 
  host object and internally sealed in the same manner 
  if additional internal volume is required. Access points 
  on the surface are capped with airlocks, docking 
  modules, or hard seals to prevent depressurization.
  Beehives are interesting because they are built much 
  like underground bunkers and warrens on the planets, 
  but share the microgravity environment of tin cans 
  and cluster habitats. For people without the training 
  or mods to think three-dimensionally, this can make 
  beehives a veritable labyrinth. Purpose-built beehive 
  habitats use color coding and grid assignments to 
  make navigation easier. Those adapted from mining 
  tunnels or designed for internal security may not have 
  such luxuries.
  An asteroid, comet, or Kuiper Belt object has to be 
  large or dense enough to hold itself together to be 
  suitable for a beehive. Rock and dust piles or actively 
  venting comets are just too unstable and usually aren’t 
  worth the energy expenditure to melt into a usable 
  state. As a result, beehives are limited at the lower end 
  to metallic asteroids approximately a quarter of a kilo-
  meter on the long axis. Population sizes vary from one 
  or two dozen inhabitants and small communities of a 
  few hundred to the ten million residents of Extropia.
  Solar power is an option for beehive stations in 
  the inner system, despite the fact that so many are 
  built into irregularly shaped objects. If there is not 
  enough surface area on the sunward-facing side(s), a 
  power sat with constant collection and transmission 
  capability can beam the energy via laser to receivers 
  on the surface. In the Belt, smaller habitats often rely 
  on Sterling radioisotope thermal generators continu-
  ously feeding a capacitor system that balances out 
  peak and off-peak loads. Fusion generators are 
  common in the outer system because of the abun-
  dance of hydrogen fuel. 
  Nuclear reactors (whether fission or fusion) are 
  the generator of choice for stations with high power 
  requirements, especially in the outer system where 
  solar panels are dramatically less effective, but these 
  habitats must carefully balance safety and security. 
  If the host object is large enough, the generator can 
  be installed behind enough rock or ice to effectively 
  protect residents from radiation hazards and the 
  reactor itself from outside attack. Beehives with an 
  extended long axis will often concentrate the habit-
  able volume on one end and the power systems on the 
  opposite. The smallest beehive communities have even 
  been known to use structural booms to take advan-
  tage of the inverse-square law and put the reactor 
  out on the other side of a directional radiation shield, 
  much like spacecraft.
  or research outposts, allowing supplies and resources 
  to be transferred via elevator cables.
  Aerostats present would-be attackers or infiltra-
  tors with a set of challenges considerably different 
  from space habitats. Aerostats don’t have the large, 
  active fleets of defense and harvester drones that 
  space habs do, but they do have numerous landing 
  bays for atmospheric craft. Life support aboard an 
  aerostat is dispersed throughout the habitat’s hull, 
  consisting of little more than large banks of CO2 
  scrubbers connected to a cooling and ventilation 
  system. The accompanying networks of ducts criss-
  cross the entire habitat and can be extremely useful 
  to lithe interlopers. At the same time, an aerostat 
  contains large, open spaces that serve dual duty as 
  public atriums and as chambers to hold the oxygen 
  and nitrogen that makes the habitat buoyant. These 
  big open spaces provide ample maneuvering space 
  for robotic fliers and other small aircraft. These areas 
  make it easy for hab designers to spatially segregate 
  important administrative buildings from surrounding 
  structures, something that can’t be done in more 
  cramped habitats. Getting aboard an aerostat is an 
  easier job than infiltrating other stations, but striking 
  at its heart can be much more difficult.
  BaTHYSCaPHES
  This design is common to the subcrustal seas of Ceres, 
  Enceladus, and Europa. Bathyscaphes were also built 
  in the oceans of Earth, but it is unknown whether 
  any survived the Fall. On Ceres and Enceladus, they 
  are generally attached to the sea bed by massive 
  anchors, while on Europa bathyscaphes are normally 
  anchored to the highest spires of a lithodermic reef. 
  Bathyscaphes are built up from clusters of spherical 
  modules and are very similar on the inside to 
  cluster habs elsewhere. Their exteriors, however, are 
  designed for submersion rather than the vacuum of 
  space. Their walls tend to be thicker, especially on 
  Europa, where pressures beneath the planet’s thick 
  crust are much higher than in other oceans. Some are 
  partially water-filled on the inside, with breathing 
  pockets for neo-cetacean morphs. Airlocks include 
  systems for spraying down those entering to rinse 
  away excess ammonia or salt. Some bathyscaphes 
  supplement reactor power with tidal harnesses 
  designed to convert energy from waves or currents 
  into usable power.
  Bathyscaphes are difficult to infiltrate from the 
  outside. Technician AIs keep a constant watch for 
  hull breaches. Even if cutting through a hull does not 
  generate an immediate security response, the flooding 
  of the module that results from doing so will normally 
  cause the module in question to be isolated from the 
  rest of the hab.
  Not all bathyscaphes are underwater. A few are 
  used by gatecrashers in exoplanet high-pressure 
  atmospheric conditions. These are functionally similar, 
  though without the aquatic focus.
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  3.
  HABITATS
  57
  
  Inside, most Bernal spheres are small enough that you 
  can reach anywhere with a short 20-minute drive or 
  train ride at most. Almost all areas of the sphere’s 
  interior are visible to other areas, making overhead 
  surveillance, tracking,and targeting quite easy, even 
  at range, except when large structures and terrain 
  provide limited cover. 
  ClUSTERS
  Cluster habitats are among the most ubiquitous in 
  the solar system because of their inherent modularity 
  and ability to accommodate expansion. Each module 
  is designed to carry its own loads, so a nearly infinite 
  variety of configurations is possible. Hypercorp 
  clusters tend to be very orderly and arranged in a 
  lattice formation to ensure high structural stability 
  and maximize efficiency. Autonomist clusters in the 
  outer system very much take on an arrangement that 
  reflects the attitudes of the local populace. More 
  communal groups will organize the modules and 
  floatways to maximize access for every resident. 
  On the other hand, individualist strongholds can 
  be totally amorphous because only those residents 
  who explicitly agree will share floatways and  
  structural connections. 
  There are two things that really distinguish cluster 
  habitats from tin cans. First, cluster habitats are 
  designed with integral support for such technolo-
  gies as the mesh, augmented reality, life support, and 
  BERnal SPHERES
  Bernal spheres are artificially constructed hollow 
  spheres, built to hold atmosphere for inhabitants 
  living on the inner surface, Bernal spheres are usually 
  spun to provide residents with gravity along an 
  equatorial strip, with gravity lessening higher up 
  and reaching zero at the axis of rotation. A ring of 
  mirrors direct sunlight to focal points that illuminate 
  the interior via day and night cycles through large 
  windows near the axis points. 
  Bernal spheres are regarded as less efficient than 
  other habitat types since only a portion of the 
  interior surface provides full gravity. Though designs 
  have been produced for Bernal spheres up to 16 kilo-
  meters in diameter, most are much smaller, ranging 
  from 0.5 to 1.5 kilometers in diameter and providing 
  living space for populations ranging from 10,000 
  to 200,000. A few smaller spheres are also kept at 
  zero gravity, providing ample internal air space for 
  floating structures and flight-capable morphs. 
  Bernal spheres are often coupled with other station 
  types, particularly cluster habs and toruses. Clusters 
  are more common, housing the agricultural, industrial, 
  and docking modules that the habitat needs. 
  From security and infiltration standpoints, Bernal 
  spheres present several challenges. The axial access 
  points provide a chokepoint for entering and leaving 
  (though some models have escape pods with exterior 
  access ports built into the structure for emergencies). 
  58
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Instead, most habitats called Cole bubbles are 
  created by a more controlled method. A suitable 
  metallic asteroid is encapsulated in a thin polymer 
  shell inflated to the desired radius with carbon 
  monoxide at low pressure. The entire collection is 
  heated until the nickel and iron in the asteroid begin 
  to react with the CO gas. By keeping the shell at a 
  constant temperature and with transport assisted by 
  nanoparticle catalysts, the nickel alloys will deposit 
  evenly on the interior of the shell until the heat is cut 
  off and the reaction stops. 
  The fabrication shell can either be kept in place as 
  a protective coating or recycled for other uses. Any 
  remaining carbon monoxide, metal ore, volatiles, and 
  silicates serve as feedstock for synthesizing industrial 
  materials for the Cole habitat’s internal systems. 
  These can include composites and lubricants made 
  from hydrocarbons and ceramic-metal hybrids. Like 
  anywhere else, as many of the local resources are 
  utilized as possible.
  Cole bubbles left in microgravity are popular 
  amongst neo-avians and transhumans adapted perma-
  nently for life in zero g because they can literally fly 
  from one point in the habitat to any other, so long as 
  any obstructions are accounted for. Water-breathing 
  species share this affinity as well, though their habs 
  must have significantly thicker shells to hold the 
  water pressure. Cole habitats can also be spun for 
  artificial gravity; the centrifugal effect proportionally 
  decreases the closer one gets to the poles along the 
  axis of rotation. There is no functional difference 
  between these habitats and Bernal spheres. Only the 
  construction method is different.
  Most residents of spun Cole bubbles are in the 
  central third of the sphere where gravity variation 
  is the least. The remaining two-thirds are evenly 
  divided into park and agricultural space and 
  windows near the poles for mirrors to reflect in 
  ambient light. Some enterprising developers have 
  figured out how to control the deposition process 
  such that the bubble is shaped more like a lozenge, 
  thus increasing the internal area spun to the desired 
  speed. The deposition rate is kept the same along the 
  oblong substrate by using nanomachine swarms to 
  induce and control a gradient in the catalyst concen-
  trations in the CO gas.
  Because Cole bubbles are fashioned from large 
  metallic asteroids, they are predominately found 
  in the Belt (the icy asteroids found elsewhere being 
  unusable). Cole bubbles can be quite large, easily 
  over 10 kilometers in diameter, and so are capable 
  of supporting hundreds of thousands or even several 
  million people. Spaceports are located at the bubble’s 
  axis points, taking advantage of the zero g there.
  DOMES
  Inflatable domes are an exceptionally common 
  habitat used on asteroids, moons, and planetary 
  bodies. They are ideal for being lightweight and 
  nanomachinery. Second is the high degree of special-
  ization available to cluster modules because they 
  don’t have to fit all of the habitat’s essential functions 
  in each module. Thus, a cluster habitat could have 
  several dedicated environmental and life support 
  modules distributed about the network providing 
  processing for the entire system, like lymph nodes 
  in a biomorph body. This allows the other modules 
  to focus on their intended function—be it providing 
  a centrifuge, laboratory volume, manufacturing, 
  habitation, multiple airlock chambers, cargo storage, 
  docking facilities, medical bays, or zero-g agriculture.
  As a cluster habitat increases in size and mass, 
  external trusses or structural spars may still be neces-
  sary to distribute the loads. Somewhat paradoxically, 
  this can be especially required of the individualist 
  habitats that maximize personal expression and 
  choice over the efficiency of the entire system. As 
  a result, only someone with a solid rep is likely to 
  convince the inhabitants of an autonomist cluster 
  habitat to add a module that might add overall stress 
  to the system beyond that which the module’s own 
  structure can carry.
  The availability of power systems for cluster 
  habitats is just as diverse. Distributed power networks 
  based on common generators, such as concentrated 
  solar arrays or fusion reactor modules, are character-
  istic of inner system clusters. On the opposite extreme, 
  individualist habitats may require each module to 
  provide its own power or share resources with neigh-
  bors. Entire “neighborhoods” can be defined by their 
  preferred power source, in such circumstances.
  Many cluster habs contain tin can modules or mini 
  toruses that are spun to create areas with gravity.
  laFRanCE RIGS
  LaFrance rigs are a common configuration consisting of 
  modules and spacecraft anchored in a huge pyramidal 
  lattice of scaffolding with reactors and other utilities 
  at the center. The non-spacecraft components vary 
  between modern cluster modules and low-tech tin cans. 
  LaFrance rigs are common in scum swarms and mobile 
  mining operations. Their main advantage and differ-
  ence from cluster habitats is their mobility. Phelan’s 
  Recourse, the massive swarm in Saturn orbit, contains 
  several large agglomerations of ships connected in 
  LaFrance rigs or otherwise lashed together. 
  COlE BUBBlES
  The original theory behind Dandridge M. Cole’s 
  “bubbleworld” habitat was to quickly create a hollow 
  sphere by the expansion from flash evaporation of 
  water inside a cavity dug at the center of a metallic 
  asteroid. In practice, this turned out to be extremely 
  difficult because few asteroids were homogenous 
  enough to withstand this process without cracking 
  along impurities. On top of that, the energy expen-
  diture to soften the asteroid into an elastic state and 
  flash boil the water are immense.
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  HABITATS
  59
  
  O’nEIll CYlInDERS
  The O’Neill cylinder is named after an American 
  physicist and space scientist who sought to engage 
  his students by getting them to think about big 
  problems—space settlement, in particular. He also led 
  symposiums where the concepts behind large, perma-
  nent space habitats—including the cylinder that bears 
  his name—were hashed out.
  The basic principle is fairly simple. Construct a 
  cylinder at least half a kilometer in diameter so that it 
  can be rotated at low speed and provide 1 g of artifi-
  cial gravity all along the interior wall. Vary the length 
  to the intended population size, up to thirty-five 
  kilometers. Divide that wall into six equal segments, 
  three of which are gigantic windows. Cap both ends 
  to enclose the volume. Install three large mirrors 
  to reflect natural sunlight through the windows, as 
  needed. Pressurize the interior to one atmosphere and 
  outfit the three habitable walls as you see fit. 
  Unfortunately, the resources, on-orbit manu-
  facturing techniques, and low-cost access to space 
  required to complete such an ambitious mega-
  engineering project did not come until long after Prof. 
  O’Neill’s death. To his credit, the O’Neill habitat 
  remains the most iconic symbol of transhumanity’s 
  colonization of space and is only now being super-
  seded by such advances as the Hamilton cylinder 
  and bioengineered habitats. There is absolutely no 
  mistaking an O’Neill cylinder. 
  Those that follow the original specifications are 
  divided into three districts: high-density residential, 
  industrial and commercial, and parks and agriculture. 
  O’Neill colonies are intended to grow their own food, 
  clean their own air, provide local opportunities for 
  recreation, and perform work of value in a space 
  economy. The immense structures are fabricated 
  from metals and composites mined from asteroids, 
  though some of the first colonies at the Earth-Luna 
  Lagrange points made use of lunar materials. Many 
  increase their internal surface area by forgoing the 
  long window sections and providing lighting through 
  end-cap mirrors, suntubes, or artificial means.
  Some habitats solve the problem of keeping 
  their mirrors pointed at the sun by connecting two 
  counter-rotating cylinders and using the system as a 
  momentum wheel. A slight imbalance in the counter-
  rotation is enough to induce a precession in the habi-
  tat’s orbit and keep the sunward ends pointed that 
  direction continuously, with no propulsion required. 
  This has the added benefit of doubling a given habi-
  tat’s living area. Single-cylinder habitats use a variety 
  of attitude control measures, including tethered coun-
  terweights and electric thrusters.
  From a security operations standpoint, O’Neill 
  cylinders have similar considerations as Bernal 
  spheres and Cole bubbles, with the exception that 
  interior surface gravity does not change (except on 
  the end caps). O’Neill cylinders are usually much 
  larger, with significantly more landscape and airspace, 
  portable as well as quick and easy to assemble 
  (many assemble themselves). They range from small 
  encampment models to ones large enough to contain 
  a massive city. Most are simply composed of plastic 
  films supported entirely by the internal air pressure, 
  sometimes contained with a high-tensile strength 
  restraint net. Strong enough to withstand hurricane 
  winds, micrometeorite strikes, and heavy snow or dirt 
  loads, they are buttressed with hardened shutters in 
  dangerous environments. Some are transparent, some 
  opaque with reflective surfaces. Larger city domes 
  are constructed from sturdier materials like aerogel, 
  transparent alumina, and diamond.
  Domes for temporary settlements are simply 
  inflated on any available flat surface. For more 
  permanent installations, they are used to cap off 
  craters, canyons, or shallow holes dug in easily 
  removable regolith. Though the atmosphere on large 
  domes helps protect against radiation, smaller ones 
  are buried for protection. Domes are often protected 
  with multiple insulating layers and damage-sensing 
  autorepair networks. 
  Under the dome, the settlement consists of whatever 
  structures the residents desire. In smaller domes in 
  airless environments, tin can habs and underground 
  warrens are used to protect against solar radiation 
  and cosmic rays. The larger domes of Martian cities 
  cover massive skyscrapers and urban cityscapes. 
  Multiple domes are often joined together to cover 
  larger areas. Airlocks provide access to the outside, 
  while ventilators pipe out unwanted gases from the 
  air plant and life support machinery.
  Planetary domed habitats vary a great deal in terms 
  of security arrangements. The big Martian cities like 
  Valles-New Shanghai and Elysium have fairly relaxed 
  customs arrangements, with anyone able to enter with 
  only a cursory ID scan. Large Lunar and Titanian 
  cities are also very easy to enter, at least for citizens of 
  their respective polities. Smaller settlements vary a lot. 
  Farm towns like Pilsener City on Mars have almost 
  non-existent security, while high security corporate 
  domes like New Dazhai on Mars will subject visitors 
  to full-on customs procedures.
  Breaching dome walls varies in difficulty based on 
  the age of the dome and the level of security present. 
  Newer domes usually have smart hull repair and 
  are heavily monitored for atmospheric breaches, 
  while older settlements tend to lack both the fancy 
  hardware and the tight security. Domes also don’t 
  offer as many service hatches and drone bays for 
  clandestine access, as domes do not generally have 
  the busy fleets of harvester and repair drones that 
  accompany space habs. Some domes are accessible 
  via underground tunnel networks with remote access 
  points. Domes have a vulnerability in that a signifi-
  cant amount of damage to their structure can create 
  an irreparable breach or breaches, possibly strong 
  enough to vent the atmosphere in seconds.
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  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  radiation protection. When radiation hits metal, back-
  scatter radiation can be generated such that there is 
  actually higher exposure on the inside of the pressure 
  vessel than outside. The high hydrogen content of the 
  composites allows an inflatable module to absorb or 
  deflect more radiation without creating backscatter. By 
  lining the interior wall with the station’s water tanks, 
  the only significant threat over the long term comes 
  from galactic cosmic ray exposure.
  Repairing an inflatable module is much more 
  difficult without nanomachines than damage to a 
  metallic hull. Multiple layers interlock on an inflat-
  able to provide structural strength, debris protection, 
  atmospheric containment, and moisture protection. 
  Breaches must be repaired by weaving in the perma-
  nent patch from the innermost layer out, as opposed 
  to the relatively simple welding of alloys. Much as 
  submarines have an inner pressure shell and an outer 
  hydrodynamic skin, many tin can habitats—especially 
  those controlled by military or security interests—will 
  have a depressurized outer armor made of replaceable 
  segments or blocks that does not carry any structural 
  loads. Its only purpose is to protect the pressure shell 
  beneath from debris or attack.
  Though tin can habitats free-floating in space are 
  entirely in microgravity, some can actually generate 
  artificial gravity by spinning one or more modules on 
  a tether or structural ring. This is cheaper and quicker 
  than building a torus habitat, though not as efficient 
  over the long term. The centrifugal force that approxi-
  mates gravity is felt in the outward radial direction, so 
  internal decks are arranged accordingly. The Jovian 
  Republic has built many a “poor man’s torus” to try 
  to alleviate crowding on the Reagan cylinders.
  Unless transmitted by egocasting, the only access 
  to a tin can is by airlock or docking with a transfer 
  vehicle. In fact, some tin can habitats are actually 
  a series of crew and cargo transfer vehicles with 
  common adapters permanently docked together and 
  kept on station. Most tin cans are simply far too small 
  to have pressurized landing and cargo bays. 
  TORUSES
  Torus habitats can best be described as resembling 
  wheels spinning out in space. They are intended to 
  provide artificial gravity for the entire population 
  through centripetal force without requiring as many 
  resources as an O’Neill cylinder or similar megaproject. 
  making internal operations quite similar to standard 
  ground-based operations.
  REaGan CYlInDERS
  The Jovian Republic has focused on what they 
  proudly call the Reagan cylinder (and the rest of the 
  solar system derisively dubs “sarcophagus” habs) 
  as an alternative. Rather than fabricate a pressure 
  shell from scratch, the Jovians capture an asteroid 
  or moonlet and put it in a parking orbit. Miners 
  then dig out a cavern of cylindrical shape and use 
  the slag as ballast to stabilize the spin generated for 
  artificial gravity. 
  From an engineering perspective, this is actually a 
  clever idea. The thick rock, metal, or composite walls 
  provide highly effective radiation protection and 
  armor against outside attack. Excavating a chamber 
  and sealing it is arguably easier, as well. The problem 
  is that Jovian investment in environmental systems is 
  minimal and their suspicion of nanotechnology and 
  biosystems precludes use of advanced life support that 
  would make the Reagan cylinders a pleasant place 
  to live. Only the Junta’s elite on Solano are usually 
  free of the pollution and sepsis that plagues the other 
  Jovian colonies. Usually.
  TIn Can HaBITaTS
  Tin can habitats most often consist of small modules 
  connected either directly to each other or by node 
  modules with common attachment mechanisms. 
  These are bare-bones structures with little more than 
  an exterior debris shield, a pressure shell, minimal 
  radiation protection, plumbing for environmental 
  systems, and wiring for electrical and power systems. 
  Unpressurized sections are connected by an open truss 
  or structural spars that can only be accessed by EVA, 
  robot, or telepresence. Unlike cluster habitat modules, 
  even the most basic functions must be provided by 
  internal racks and attached equipment rather than 
  being built in. This simplicity has its advantages for 
  people who want to live “off the grid,” especially 
  those wary of the modern panopticon. 
  Many so-called “tin can” habitats are actually 
  inflatable structures made of a flexible composite 
  pressure shell and a solid central core to distribute 
  loads and stresses. Held rigid by the internal air 
  pressure, inflatables provide more usable volume for 
  the same mass than metal structures and offer superior 
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  SOlaRCHIvE SEaRCH: MCKEnDREE CYlInDER
  Before the Fall, there was talk of building a McKendree 
  cylinder from long-chain carbon nanotubes. This habitat 
  would dwarf even the most massive O’Neill cylinders 
  at a diameter of 920 kilometers and a length of 4,600 
  kilometers. Even with three windows running the entire 
  length, the habitable surface area would be comparable 
  to the nation of Russia. With the pressure to provide 
  more physical bodies and living space for infugees, some 
  outer system groups are considering resurrecting the 
  McKendree cylinder on a much smaller scale. 
  
  EXOTIC anD vaRIanT HaBITaT TYPES
  Transhumanity and its varied exotic interests and 
  morphologies have a habit of inventing interesting 
  new ways of carving out a home. Some of the habitats 
  below are uncommon now, but they may be more 
  common in transhumanity’s future. 
  BIOlOGICal HaBITaTS
  The success and attention given to the Hamilton 
  cylinders and more artistic station designs such as 
  MeatHab has sparked a number of new projects to 
  design and grow habitats with a biological (infra)
  structure. One group of nano-ecologists is attempting 
  to grow the first “Dyson tree” on an apohele asteroid; 
  they have already grown a substantial forest of inter-
  twined roots and trunks, each sustaining a breathable 
  atmosphere and living ecosystem inside. A neo-octopi 
  art collective in the Belt is almost finished with their 
  modified Bernal sphere design that is in fact a massive 
  neogenetic organism adapted from jellyfish genetics. 
  This small station is intended to be microgravity, with 
  an aquatic interior. Another group recently completed 
  their proof-of-concept of a cluster hab grown from 
  modified “space coral.” Most of these biological 
  habitats are small in size and scope, housing hundreds 
  at most, usually only dozens. As their success 
  continues, we are likely to see more interesting and 
  unique designs.
  CaROUSEl
  The carousel is a new design now under construc-
  tion. Also known as a beaded torus, this habitat is 
  constructed from domes that are chained together in a 
  circle shape around a central hub. An array of support 
  spokes, some containing elevators, connects the domes 
  to the hub, which is a non-rotating spaceport. The 
  domes have a flat base (the rim of the wheel), with 
  the top pointing towards the hub. Spin gravity and 
  landscaping provide a natural-seeming environment 
  for the dome interiors, while mirrors around the hub 
  focus sunlight. Each dome has its own life support 
  systems, meaning that if one fails the residents can 
  still escape to another. The first carousel, Infinite Loop 
  in the Saturnian Trojans, already has two functioning 
  domes, with four more planned.
  DISC HaBITaTS
  Disc habitats are an uncommon design. They are 
  essentially flat enclosed discs, spun for gravity, like 
  a filled-in torus or a slice of an O’Neill cylinder. 
  The best known, Mahogany in the Uranian system, 
  is somewhat atypical in that it has an axial light 
  source and spaceport facilities along its rim. Most 
  discs have a light source running in a ring around 
  the rim, allowing for an axial spaceport, or, if 
  they’re close to the sun, windows. Discs are other-
  wise similar to toruses and O’Neill cylinders in 
  terms of their systems.
  A free-spinning torus will often have a circular cross-
  section to maximize radiation deflection and best 
  carry the pressure loads from the internal atmosphere. 
  Hybrid habitats where the torus is part of a larger 
  overall structure tend to have a rectangular cross-
  section for ease of manufacturing and increased overall 
  volumetric efficiency. Even then, the edges where the 
  faces of the torus meet tend to be rounded to prevent 
  stress fractures from the internal pressure.
  Docking with the rotating ring of a torus presents 
  a difficult orbital mechanics problem, to put it lightly, 
  so most torus habs locate their docking modules 
  or spaceports at the center of rotation. Spoke arms 
  connect this core or hub out to the ring. If the core 
  is not de-spun from the ring, any visiting vehicle 
  must match the station’s rate of rotation about the 
  approach axis to dock. This is not as much of an issue 
  for large torus habitats with a slow rate of rotation.
  The radius of any spin habitat is proportionally 
  related to the decimal fraction of Earth-normal 
  gravity desired and the inverse-square of the radial 
  velocity. This means that the most significant limita-
  tion is the rate of rotation the inhabitants can with-
  stand without Coriolis effects on the neurovestibular 
  system causing discomfort and nausea. In baseline 
  humans, the maximum safe speed is about two revo-
  lutions per minute. Beyond that, an increasing propor-
  tion of the population experiences nausea, some of 
  whom never recover.
  The smallest 1 g torus habitats are, thus, nearly 500 
  meters in diameter across the axis of rotation, while 
  a 0.1 g torus can be as small as 50 meters. Many 
  torus habs associated with the Planetary Consortium 
  approximate the Martian standard of 0.38 g to 
  reduce the minimum size of the station while still 
  providing an environment amenable to many, if not 
  most, biomorphs.
  “Double-decker” torus habitats actually consist of 
  two counter-rotating torus sections around a de-spun 
  core section. This allows the two sections to cancel 
  out each other’s momentum on the core without the 
  complicated machinery required of single section 
  habs. However, moving between each section does 
  require temporary exposure to microgravity during 
  the portion of the trip moving through the core.
  The majority of torus habs have a common envi-
  ronment through the entire structure. Industrial and 
  commercial outposts tend towards a more functional 
  layout that takes up the entire interior like decks on 
  a ship, while colonies have an open air volume and 
  exterior windows along the core-facing side and an 
  artificial biosphere resembling a valley that wraps 
  back around on itself. In the classic Stanford torus 
  layout, a system of reconfigurable mirrors provides 
  a day-night cycle through the windows. However, 
  some stations accommodate multiple environments 
  by partitioning the ring or adopting the double- (or 
  even quadruple-) decker configuration.
  62
  GAME INFORMATION
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  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Power is provided by fusion reactors using locally 
  sourced deuterium and tritium.
  The initial construction and development phases 
  required almost constant resource harvesting of ice 
  and silicates from the rings of Saturn and Uranus 
  and captured asteroids, as well as complex organic 
  materials from Titan. However, the environment on 
  the completed Hamilton cylinders is as close to an 
  entirely closed-loop system as transhumanity has yet 
  devised. Most of the resource harvesting in the present 
  day is for fueling the fusion reactors and the personal 
  activities of the cylinders’ residents. There is some talk 
  that the next generation of Hamilton cylinder could 
  be suitable for use as a space ark to explore extrasolar 
  systems via sub-light travel. 
  MaTRIOSHKa SPHERE
  Matrioshkas are a new and unproven design, still 
  deemed an experiment by old hands at habitat 
  ops. Matrioshkas feature a large central reactor 
  surrounded by concentric spheres of decks, each run 
  in part by waste heat from the systems of the inner 
  spheres. Beyond this novel energy distribution model, 
  matrioshkas are otherwise similar to cluster habs, 
  except with the modules stacked on top of each other 
  like the decks of a ship. Two types of Matrioshkas 
  have been tried; one spun for gravity, like a layered 
  Bernal sphere, and another maintained as a micro-
  gravity environment.
  PROCESSOR lOCUS
  Processor habitats are essentially floating computers 
  in space. They are not intended for habitation by 
  biological life, instead populated entirely by AGIs 
  and infomorphs. Processor habs have the usual cloud 
  of support structures that accompany most habitats: 
  drones, refineries, factories, defense satellites, and so 
  on. The actual habitat units consist of one or more 
  massively shielded processor blocks. These form a 
  mesh in which a large number of minds can run, often 
  in a simulspace. 
  HaMIlTOn CYlInDERS
  At first glance, the three Hamilton cylinders in the 
  Saturnian and Uranian systems do not appear much 
  different externally from an O’Neill cylinder. Both are 
  based on the premise of providing a large pressurized 
  volume and a wide surface area with artificial gravity 
  provided by rotation. However, the O’Neill cylinder is 
  largely a fixed construct upon completion. Applying 
  nanotechnology on a broad scale, the Hamilton 
  cylinder is intended to actually grow with its popula-
  tion over time.
  The exterior shell of a Hamilton habitat is a silicate 
  polymer composite structure that both forms the 
  vacuum seal and provides the structural skeleton for 
  the habitat. A middle layer of nanofabricators and 
  bioreactors absorbs waste from the interior biosphere 
  and combines it with material collected by the 
  resource harvesters. This is used to replenish the outer 
  shell, replace the habitat’s nanomachines, and sustain 
  the water, nitrogen, and carbon cycles present inside.
  Past a permeable insulation layer is the “neural 
  strata”—a widely distributed nanocomputer network 
  governed by neural networking algorithms and 
  adaptive learning protocols. This system is the “brain” 
  of the Hamilton cylinder and controls the entire 
  process, automatically adjusting the habitat’s ecology, 
  size, and functions according to the needs of its inhab-
  itants. As nanoprocessors fail, they automatically fall 
  out of the system for recycling and replacement. Also, 
  this means there is no single point of failure for the 
  control system, as every piece contains the algorithmic 
  map of the whole. Mesh access nodes provide an inter-
  face between the neural strata and the more conven-
  tional information systems available to residents.
  The biosphere layer consists of organic soil material 
  that provides a habitable surface at Earth normal 
  gravity, while the remainder of the interior is pres-
  surized at one atmosphere. Solar tubes mounted on a 
  central spar along the rotational axis provide a day-
  night cycle by electrochemiluminescence. This allows 
  the use of the entire cylinder wall area for habitation. 
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  63
  SPACECRAFT HABITATS AND SWARMS
  Many spacecraft essentially function as permanent 
  or semipermanent habitats. This is particularly true 
  of large, long haul spacecraft, which are in essence 
  mobile tin can habitats, and nomadic swarms that 
  serve as mobile colonies. In fact, many tin can habs 
  and swarm modules are built from repurposed bulk 
  freighters or other large craft. The primary differ-
  ence is that all but the largest spacecraft are not 
  designed for sustainability the way habitats are. 
  Spacecraft typically lack the fleets of robotic har-
  vesters and large, internal green spaces that make 
  habs self sufficient. A spacecraft’s job is to move 
  from point A to point B. Refurbishment, resupply, 
  and harvesting or purchase of raw materials then 
  happens at point B.
  From a security perspective, spacecraft colonies 
  are just like many other stations, except they’re 
  mobile. Most are microgravity environments, with 
  a few maintaining small toruses with light gravity. 
  Accessing, securing, and otherwise manipulating 
  these environments is thus quite similar to defending 
  or infiltrating a cluster, tin can, or torus habitat. 
  n
  
  The environments inside of a processor hab vary a great 
  deal. Some offer simulspaces that are relatively comfortable for 
  transhuman-born infomorphs, where humanoid or animal-like 
  avatars can interact in a world that provides an illusion of phys-
  icality. Others are surreal and disorienting, with simple simul-
  spaces consisting entirely of interactions between geometric 
  shapes ranging in complexity from basic polyhedrons to wild 
  fractal clouds. In a habitat called the Flea Circus, one of the 
  processor modules actually contains a miniature city in a cavity 
  only a few meters wide, yet appearing as a vast metropolis 
  relative to the nanoscale robotic avatars used by the populace 
  for social interaction.
  Processor habitats fall outside the realm of operatives in our 
  line of business. Security and infiltration concerns are almost 
  exclusively relevant to electronic intrusion experts.
  THE SPaCE lIFE SURvIval GUIDE
  Posted by: Coots, Firewall Proxy  
  <Info Msg Rep>
  This guide is for those of you just re-instantiated and still accli-
  mating to offworld living. It represents the accumulated knowl-
  edge of each of us that’s fucked something up or seen things get 
  fucked up and added their experience to the collective. It’s been 
  sanitized for op-sec so we can share it without burning anyone, 
  of course, but everything you learn here could be useful to you 
  someday—maybe even today. If you take anything away from this, 
  it’s to always check your assumptions. Even the basic things can 
  trip you up big time if you neglect them. 
  FInDInG UP
  Phrases like “things are looking up” and “look at the upside” once 
  meant something like “consider the good in the situation,” but 
  they went through an ironic shift in the solar system’s early space-
  colonial culture, mutating in the microgravity of early tin-can 
  stations to mean a variety of practically sarcastic sentiments, typi-
  cally something like “be careful” or “let’s be realistic.” The joke 
  (that is, that there is no “upside”) wore off in a hurry, but use it 
  with some original space colonists or old-school veteran habtechs 
  and you might break some ice. Try it sarcastically as a harmless 
  bit of jargon (“look up, at least we’ll die quickly”) or transform it 
  a little (“that bastard’s always looking up”) to fold yourself into 
  a habtech conversation.
  Directionality depends entirely on your frame of reference. 
  In microgravity, everything is pretty much arbitrary, especially 
  in interplanetary space. The first space stations in orbit around 
  Earth used a coordinate system based on the nadir-zenith axis. 
  Nadir pointed to the Earth, while Zenith pointed out into space. 
  The plane perpendicular to this axis was used to define “port,” 
  “starboard,” “forward,” and “aft.” Internally, up and down were 
  called “overhead” and “deck” and corresponded to zenith and 
  nadir, respectively.
  Current cluster and beehive colonies are much more compli-
  cated in geometry than those early tin cans, so most adopt 
  a local x-y-z coordinate axis at the volumetric center and 
  indicate location on a three-dimensional frame. For example, it 
  is common to define a series of levels (the z axis) and a two-
  dimensional coordinate grid (the x and y axes) on each level. 
  Within an enclosed volume, “overhead” is in the direction of 
  64
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  will have someone to come help you, or the natural 
  air flow may eventually push you within reach of 
  something, but there’s not always a guarantee. Rumor 
  has it that a drunk spacer only managed to rescue 
  himself from such a predicament by using his own 
  piss as a propellant. 
  A centrifuge on a spaceship or a small torus habitat, 
  on the other hand, will require that you traverse a 
  ladder or ride an elevator in the radial direction. The 
  whole structure is moving, so you don’t really have 
  any other options. Unless it’s an emergency, move at 
  your own pace. Go too fast and you’ll make yourself 
  sick as the gravity gradient increases (or vice versa). 
  MOvInG In MICROGRavITY
  The baseline human body is derived from millions 
  of years of evolution in Earth gravity. Bipedal loco-
  motion gave us the balance of speed, agility, and the 
  ability to look over obstacles that allowed our species 
  to rise to dominance. In microgravity, those advan-
  tages are essentially negated. Moving about requires 
  you to change the way you think and train your body 
  to react accordingly. At least we still have that advan-
  tage—the adaptability of the transhuman mind.
  Newton’s Law reigns supreme up here. For every 
  action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In 
  terms of physics, motion in microgravity is fairly 
  simple. You decide where you want to go, determine 
  the optimal route, and apply the necessary forces in 
  the correct vectors to arrive at your location. Learning 
  to do all that in your head without thinking about it 
  is the hard part.
  If you want to get somewhere fast, push off the 
  opposite wall as hard as you can with your arms 
  or legs. Be careful, though, because you’ll have to 
  cancel out that energy at your destination, either 
  through absorbing the impact without rebouncing 
  or a capture device like a rail, handhold, or grapple. 
  You could always make it easy for yourself and obtain 
  personal cold gas jets for reaction control, but true 
  veterans think those are for children, the infirm, or 
  the hopelessly eccentric. 
  Assuming time is not an issue, the best advice is 
  to take it steady and take it slow. Most habitats in 
  microgravity are adorned on their interiors with rails, 
  handholds, grapple fixtures, and fabric fasteners (like 
  velcro or grip pads). You can use these to traverse 
  the interior with a measure of stability and control 
  while you get your bearings. It is not uncommon for 
  habitats to color code these items as a matter of traffic 
  control and to help maintain orientation. Morphs in 
  a hurry can fly through the center of the volume and 
  are assumed to be capable of navigating themselves.
  Use your legs for power and your arms for control 
  and course correction to get the best efficiency out of 
  your body. If you happen to be in a bouncer morph 
  or have prehensile feet mods, you get the best of both. 
  And if you think bouncers and neo-hominids are wiz 
  for micrograv, try out an octomorph sometime.
  the “top” level and “deck” is in the direction of the 
  “bottom” level. 
  Spin-generated artificial gravity can add an entirely 
  new dimension of complexity to this problem, as 
  points on the internal volume rotate with respect to 
  a fixed observer on the outside. To simplify matters, 
  most stations adopt a locally fixed two-dimensional 
  coordinate system akin to latitude and longitude 
  within the rotating volume. Large habitats, like 
  O’Neill cylinders and Bernal spheres, typically assign 
  an arbitrary North and South aligned with the axis of 
  rotation, with East and West divided up accordingly. 
  “Sub-surface” levels within the rotating structure are 
  treated as if they were on Earth. Some are better orga-
  nized than others.
  Torus stations commonly lay out the volume as if 
  it were “unwrapped” on a planetary surface, with 
  “overhead” pointed towards the rotation axis and 
  “deck” away from the rotation axis. Internally, torus 
  stations function not unlike submarines or subterra-
  nean bunkers, depending on how the internal volume 
  is utilized. 
  For external observers, such as repair crews, a grid 
  coordinate system fixed to the non-rotating structural 
  frame is typically used. For operations involving 
  the exterior of the rotating volume, the direction of 
  rotation is referred to as “spinward” and “anti-spin-
  ward” is the opposite. Some torus stations also use 
  the terms “spinward” and “anti-spinward” because 
  they are convenient for their layout.
  If any of this is confusing to your flatlander sensi-
  bilities, don’t worry, you’ll pick it up quickly. Your 
  muse can handle your direction-finding and coordi-
  nate-mapping anyway, and most stations provide 
  helpful e-tags and AR guides for visitors.
  GRavITY TRanSITIOn ZOnES
  The closer you get to the rotation axis, the less simu-
  lated gravity there is. Once you get to the very center 
  of the volume, you’re back in micro-g. It’s as simple as 
  that. This can screw with your head, though, if you’re 
  not adapted or properly trained for it. The important 
  thing is to understand what kind of situation you’ve 
  got, prepare yourself for it mentally, and—pardon the 
  pun—roll with it.
  Most large volume habitats have trams or moving 
  rails that control your rate of “descent” into artifi-
  cial gravity and help keep you from getting motion 
  sickness. If you’re coming from a counter-spun section 
  that is fixed in microgravity, the “hub” is close to the 
  axis of rotation, so it’s just a matter of floating to the 
  exchange station and grabbing a handhold or rail 
  when it passes by. The rate of rotation is slow enough 
  that most individuals shouldn’t have a problem. If 
  the entire structure rotates with the habitat, the hard 
  work is done for you.
  No matter what, be careful about pushing off the 
  walls and getting stuck floating in the internal atmo-
  sphere with no easy way back. Well-managed stations 
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  65
  
  Those simple mnemonics they give to kids about 
  spacesuits are good ones. They work and they’re true. 
  “Feet first!” says one. “Bottoms up!” goes another. 
  Good advice, there. Or as that old Martian used to 
  put it, your helmet needs something to attach to, so 
  get all your gear on first. Otherwise you’re balancing 
  a helmet with one hand and trying to suit up with the 
  other. Your helmet is your reward for proper proce-
  dure. Short cuts lead to slow leaks.
  Most of the non-combat damage done to spacesuits 
  consists of tiny holes or tears. What do you do if the 
  microhabitat of your spacesuit gets one of these tiny 
  tears? If you’ve got it, you apply a putty seal straight 
  from the tube. If you don’t, you press down on the 
  tear until your own skin is plugging the hole. If you’re 
  bleeding, coagulating blood is nice and sticky, so let it 
  help seal the tear. The skin that’s exposed to vacuum 
  will hurt like a bitch later, but that is one small price 
  to pay and one giant save for your suit’s resources 
  and your life.
  If your spacesuit suffers more catastrophic damage, 
  your number-one concern is containment. A good 
  suit allows you to compartmentalize—sealing off an 
  exposed limb, for example—for the sake of your suit’s 
  life-support systems and your overall survival. If your 
  suit can’t or won’t compartmentalize, then it’s time to 
  talk about handling decompression and exposure to 
  the vacuum of space.
  A lot of spacers swear by smart vacsuits—and for 
  good reason. The obvious advantage is that you don’t 
  have to change your kit when you need to take an 
  EVA—you just trigger the smart fabric and whatever 
  outfit you’re wearing transforms into a vacsuit. This is 
  especially useful in emergencies. Where it really shines, 
  though, is when something happens that knocks you 
  unconscious. You can set your muse or the smart 
  fabric itself to automatically switch into vacsuit mode 
  if there’s ever a loss or contamination of atmosphere. 
  They call that feature “survival for dummies.”
  More than knowing how to don a suit, having an 
  inkling of where you can find the nearest suit is even 
  more important. Your muse and/or the habitat’s safety 
  subsystems can point you towards the nearest suits in 
  a fix, but what if you’re stuck in an unfamiliar station 
  that just suffered an environmental failure? The place 
  to look is by the exits. Just about any airlock is going 
  to have a vacsuit closet nearby, and these almost 
  always have emergency access features, even if they’re 
  normally locked and restricted away. Vacsuits used to 
  be tailored to the individual and it was bad form—
  not to mention kinda gross—to use someone else’s, 
  but these days most suits will mold to fit your body 
  shape and the cleaning systems are good enough that 
  it’s kosher to share. When all else fails, vacsuits tend 
  to be a standard blueprint that comes with almost any 
  fabber for safety reasons, so you can probably print 
  one up if you need to—hopefully you’ll have enough 
  air to wait it out.
  Once you feel like you know what you’re doing and 
  any feelings of space motion sickness are gone, find a 
  quiet spot with a minimum of protrusions to practice 
  free-flying. Learn how much force you need to apply 
  to move your body and still be able to control your 
  stop. Do this over and over again until it becomes 
  muscle memory. If you need it in an emergency, you 
  won’t have time to think about it. Also, take some 
  time to learn how to recover from a free space—an 
  open volume where you can’t grab or push off some-
  thing. The first time you try this, you’re likely to panic 
  and flail about to no avail. As dumb as you’re going 
  to feel afterwards, that’s your mammalian, 1-g brain 
  reacting naturally to a new situation. Experience that 
  for the first time when your survival doesn’t depend 
  on it. Once you’ve calmed down, start using physics 
  to help yourself. If you are in a spin or tumble, extend 
  your arms and legs all the way out. Conservation of 
  momentum will slow you down. Atmospheric drag 
  will begin to slow you down, too. Once you locate 
  the nearest surface or object you can safely grapple, 
  slowly point your body in that direction and do the 
  breaststroke. Use your arms only and be careful to 
  bring your hands back up along your body to reduce 
  any counter-motion. It’s neither pretty nor efficient, 
  but it will get you there if you don’t overexert yourself 
  or help doesn’t reach you first. If the air is circulating, 
  release a small object to locate the prevailing currents 
  and use them to your benefit. Every little bit can help 
  in this kind of situation.
  Up to this point, we’ve assumed that you’re inside a 
  pressurized volume. In vacuum, your options are even 
  more limited. Without reaction mass or something 
  to push off, you aren’t moving. End of story. Safety 
  tethers and emergency gas jet packs with just enough 
  fuel to recover you from a spin and push you back 
  towards your habitat are standard fare, even if you’re 
  traversing in nothing but a soft suit. This is intended 
  to provide you with a proverbial safety net (though 
  some habitats have been known to deploy the real 
  thing) for a minimum amount of mass penalty. 
  Just remember: it’s all about inertia.
  DOnnInG a SPaCESUIT
  You’ve seen the public-service videos and you’ve 
  heard the habitat orientation spiel, but it’s worth the 
  refresher. You need to know how to don a spacesuit. 
  A trainer in Mars orbit used to harangue us with 
  this bit: “We don’t hurry up and put on our spacesuits 
  as fast as we can so that we don’t die,” he’d say. “We 
  don our suits. It’s faster.” 
  The lesson there is a good one: Get the thing on 
  right and simple. Do it right and you’ll be safe. Do it 
  simple and you’ll be quick. Anything else risks adding 
  unnecessary bullshit to the proceedings. When you 
  need a spacesuit, you want a minimum of bullshit 
  between you and wearing that suit properly.
  You want to sound like a spacewalker? You want 
  habtechs and cosmonauts to think you know the 
  ropes? Use that word, don. It’s jargon to them.
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  GAME INFORMATION
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  HOW TO HanDlE DECOMPRESSIOn
  Your spacesuit has snagged and torn on the shrapnel 
  inside a derelict habitat. Some lunatic’s explosive 
  device has breached the hull of your spaceship and 
  you’ve tumbled out into space. You’ve been put in an 
  airlock by people who want you dead and soon you’ll 
  be ejected into the black nothing between the stars. 
  Here’s what you do.
  Above all, do not hold your breath. The gases in 
  your body expand as they decompress, and if you 
  trap air in your lungs, the soft tissues just tear or 
  rupture as the gases push out against them. Blood 
  vessels in the lungs may burst. Even morphs built with 
  tough lungs are likely to find that holding a breath 
  is more painful and no more useful than letting that 
  breath go, so exhale as you decompress. You want 
  your airway to be open so your lungs can vent. 
  Remember that.
  Now that you’re doing the right thing with your 
  lungs, let’s be clear about what decompression is. The 
  dangers of decompression in space are separate from 
  the dangers of exposure to vacuum—separate them in 
  your mind. Decompression is dangerous whether the 
  vacuum of space gets involved or not.
  In a “normal” environment, your body operates 
  under the weight of atmosphere pressing down on 
  it. Decompression is a change in the weight pressing 
  down on you. Like releasing your grip on a wad of 
  paper or a plastic bag half-full with water, when the 
  pressure on a morph is released, the morph expands. 
  As internal gases expand, most morphs swell and 
  bloat. This usually looks worse than it is.
  The most common form of decompression you’re 
  likely to worry about is the change from roughly one 
  atmosphere—the standard mix of gases that make up 
  a typical habitat’s air, based on old Earth norms—
  to no atmosphere; the transition from a habitat to 
  open space, in other words. Decompression is also 
  what happens, though, when a diver comes up from 
  underwater. The weight of water and the atmosphere 
  above that water compresses the morph, and deeper 
  dives mean more water and more weight pressing 
  down. A diver coming up from under the Europan 
  ice might have to decompress from multiple atmo-
  spheres’ worth of weight, while a spacewalker in an 
  accident only decompresses from one atmosphere 
  to zero. The trick is to decompress slowly for safety. 
  This is why divers come up at a measured rate, to 
  transition through multiple atmospheres worth of 
  pressure gradually.
  The risk of decompression sickness—or DCS, what 
  we used to call “the bends”—is that expanding gases 
  will shift around inside your guts. Your gastrointes-
  tinal tract expands, your organs get shifted around, 
  your nerves get pressed on. It feels lousy, but in a 
  sturdy body the risks are manageable.
  The big risk isn’t decompression, but rapid or 
  “explosive” decompression, caused by moving too 
  quickly from one volume of pressure to another. Like, 
  for example, being blown out into space. The sudden 
  expansion of gases in a decompressing morph puts 
  strain on organs and internal systems, causing those 
  soft-tissue tears and possibly shifting guts around in 
  a way that can make it hard to breathe or swallow. 
  Gases can get from the leaking lungs into the delicate 
  blood vessels in the pulmonary tissue and end up as 
  air bubbles in the heart or brain, which can kill even 
  a healthy body. 
  Explosive decompression doesn’t end in a gory 
  whole-body explosion, like you see in vids, but it’s 
  bad. Even in a rugged morph, decompression can 
  cause deep internal damage that’s expensive or impos-
  sible to repair.
  Something to else to worry about during explosive 
  decompression: the explosive part. Debris is flying, 
  possibly cutting or piercing you. Fog may form as 
  gases under different pressures and temperatures 
  collide, blinding you. Those gases slamming into each 
  other can roar, deafening you. You’ll probably be 
  screaming, which at least means you’re not holding 
  your breath.
  The only things you can do during explosive 
  decompression to minimize the damage are exhale 
  slowly, keep your calm, and be lucky. Where your 
  diaphragm is pushed to by expanding gases is really 
  out of your control.
  Properly handling decompression is only part of 
  the space-inhabitant’s nightmare scenario, though. 
  If you survive the sudden decompression from one 
  atmosphere, you still have the problem of surviving 
  the lack of any atmosphere at all.
  HOW TO SURvIvE In vaCUUM
  Contrary to the sort of popular rumors that still 
  circulate among the citizens of large and posh stations, 
  where it’s actually possible to be so far removed from 
  the dangers of the vacuum just outside the sky, the 
  vacuum of space doesn’t equal the instant death of 
  a fragile biomorph. In some places, habitats are so 
  stable and safe that whole swaths of the population 
  don’t know anyone who has had first- or second-hand 
  contact with the vacuum of space. In other stations, 
  superstition and fear simply trump the safety videos 
  and emergency procedures that are normally ubiqui-
  tous in modern existence.
  You need to be better informed than those people. 
  You need to know what happens (and what to do) if 
  your morph gets dumped into the empty void.
  First, let’s dispel some rumors. Vacuum doesn’t boil 
  your blood or freeze your flesh. The decompression to 
  zero atmospheres doesn’t make your body explode—
  skin is simply tougher than that. The dangers of 
  vacuum are serious but they’re not so grotesque.
  Vacuum doesn’t have a temperature of its own, 
  so space is not really that cold. It’s a great insulator 
  too, meaning that your core body heat doesn’t get 
  sucked away. Without an atmosphere to transfer heat 
  away, the risk of exposure is somewhat mitigated. 
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  67
  
  of time before you pass out. For flats, this can be 
  as short as 15 seconds. Morphs with basic biomods 
  can retain consciousness for a minute or more. After 
  you lose consciousness, you’ve got maybe another 
  minute or two in a typical morph before you’re well 
  and truly dying.
  The trick, then, to surviving exposure to vacuum 
  is to be rescued. That sounds foolish, but it is vital—
  plan for rescue. If exposure to vacuum is a foregone 
  conclusion, do what you can to avoid being blown 
  free of the craft or station. You want to be somewhere 
  reachable and not drifting away from rescuers at the 
  speed of a blowout. Call for help and keep transmit-
  ting so they can triangulate your location from your 
  signal if need be. Curl up into a fetal position, espe-
  cially if you’re bouncing around among a cloud of 
  debris. Even if you die, your muse can still help others 
  find your body and recover your stack.
  Recovery from vacuum exposure can be quick—
  some rescued subjects spontaneously resume 
  breathing when exposed to atmosphere—with few or 
  no long-lasting side-effects, as long as you minimize 
  lung damage during decompression and are rescued 
  before suffering brain damage from massive oxygen 
  deprivation. If you’re lucky, you’ll pass out in space 
  and wake up in some medical bay somewhere. If not, 
  well you’ll hopefully still wake up in a medical bay, 
  just sleeved in a new morph after they recovered your 
  stack. If they didn’t get your stack, well, you had a 
  backup, right?
  The saliva on your tongue may boil off, as it’s not 
  pressurized like your blood is, and you may get some 
  frost on your skin. Sunburn from direct contact with 
  the sun’s ultraviolet rays is a more immediate danger 
  than perishing from cold. You’ll suffocate long before 
  you freeze. 
  Your body is swelling during all this, too, pinching 
  nerves and aching like hell, so don’t count on a lot 
  of manual dexterity. If your plan for surviving an 
  unpressurized spacewalk involves working a zipper 
  or most portable electronics, you may be fucked. This 
  is another reason why outer-hull control surfaces tend 
  towards large, highly visible buttons.
  The most important survival tip for vacuum 
  exposure is not to hold your breath. With no external 
  air pressure, the alveoli holding oxygen in your lungs 
  will burst. This will hurt and may damage your ability 
  to breathe should you get back to an atmosphere. So 
  the very first thing you should do is exhale completely 
  and get those gases out of your body. Realistically, 
  rapid decompression is almost more dangerous than 
  vacuum exposure. You may not have enough time to 
  exhale in a sudden blowout, meaning that your lungs 
  and eardrums may burst, your sinuses and soft tissue 
  areas may be ruptured, and you’re more likely to 
  succumb to hypoxia more quickly. 
  After your body has pumped the last of its oxygen-
  ated blood to your brain, you’ll lose consciousness. 
  With the stress of shock and hypoxia that your body 
  is going through, you’ll have only a limited amount 
  68
  GAME INFORMATION
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  planetside, except for the noticeable wall curvature 
  on the smaller stations or those fortunate enough 
  to have a window looking out to space. A bed, 
  washroom, kitchenette, folding desk, in-wall drawers, 
  and a small closet are standard accommodations. The 
  widespread availability of augmented reality features, 
  virtually inexhaustible data storage in the cloud, 
  and simulspace access tends to reduce the need for 
  large media storage and appliances. Instead, many 
  people choose to personalize their residences through 
  unique arrangements of the internal architecture, AR 
  enhancements, artwork designed to showcase the 
  person’s personal style, and individual pieces of furni-
  ture. This has proven to be a popular cultural practice, 
  regardless of a habitat’s dominant political philosophy, 
  because it encourages resident commitment to their 
  home and measurably improves morale. 
  SYnTHMORPH-OnlY aREaS
  These are not the only options available. Though 
  synthmorphs are considered socially uncouth in some 
  circles and outright discriminated against in others, 
  they have the ability to reside in areas completely 
  uninhabitable by biomorphs—including hard vacuum. 
  The biggest danger for these individuals is radiation 
  exposure, so habitats that cater to synthmorphs typi-
  cally provide solar storm shelters built from water 
  tanks and composite materials. Hardened mesh access 
  points allow them the same virtual amenities as in the 
  pressurized sections.
  lanDSCaPInG
  Studies from the beginning of spaceflight consistently 
  show the positive psychological benefits of natural 
  sunlight, greenery, and soil. The majority of morphs 
  report decreased environmental and personal stress 
  proportional to the presence of these environmental 
  factors. Sunlight is very easy to come by in the inner 
  system, even for habitats without the massive windows 
  and mirror arrays on torus and cylindrical colonies. 
  Suntubes collect the ambient light, transmit it by fiber-
  optic cable with virtually no loss, and illuminate the final 
  location directly. These are a popular lighting system on 
  microgravity habitats because they require no additional 
  power and the collectors can be mounted adjacent to 
  solar panels. Concentrators are required, though, as 
  one moves further out in the solar system. Shadow also 
  renders suntubes useless, so LED lights approximating 
  the spectrum of sunlight are just as common.
  Plant life and soil are what connect much of trans-
  humanity back to the Earth that was lost. Even most 
  tin can cabins have enough volume and water supply 
  for a resident to grow an aloe or spider plant in a 
  small hydroponics bulb. Free soil is simply too much 
  of a hazard for microgravity habitats, though some 
  have recreational areas designed to resemble a terres-
  trial location, such as a rock wall with plants growing 
  from the cracks or a rainforest canopy with tree limbs 
  as the only internal structure. Aquatic habitats might 
  lIvInG SPaCE In SPaCE
  Source: Orientation Class for Re-instantiated Egos, 
  Titanian Commonwealth 
  [Link]
  Even in the dome habitats on Mars and the settled 
  moons of the solar system, living space comes at a 
  premium. Every cubic centimeter that requires envi-
  ronmental control and life support processing is an 
  expense in energy and resources. Though conditions 
  vary widely, this is an inescapable fact. With the 
  backlog in infomorphs after the Fall, every settlement, 
  station, and colony is trying to fit as many people in 
  as small a space as possible. Some, of course, do this 
  more comfortably than others.
  SMallER anD MICROGRavITY HaBITaTS
  Cluster and micrograv tin can habitats have the 
  benefit of a virtually unlimited internal arrangement. 
  Unfortunately, they are the most limited in internal 
  volume and often comprised of relatively small 
  modules. A standard dedicated habitation module 
  comfortably holds individual cabins for up to 40 
  humanoid morphs. Each cabin typically has a sleeping 
  sack, storage locker, and in some cases an ecto. This 
  number can be doubled if cabins are eschewed in 
  favor of open sleeping racks.
  There is no amount of usable area or volume that 
  goes to waste in a tin can or cluster habitat because 
  there simply isn’t any to spare. A central volume is 
  reserved for transit and kept clear of protrusions, 
  but the module working spaces are filled with cargo 
  lockers, removable and repairable systems racks, 
  mesh node hardware, spacesuit lockers, laboratory 
  modules, and everything else essential to the opera-
  tions of the station. 
  The first permanent space stations actually 
  found storage and logistics to be one of the hardest 
  problems to solve. Keeping track of every package 
  of bolts, every tool, every syringe, and every canister 
  across multiple years and multiple crew rotations 
  was almost impossible until mesh tracking became 
  a possibility. Most items are automatically tagged 
  with a spime and e-tag and then logged with logistics 
  control software so that anyone who has access can 
  look up what they need, precisely locate where it is, 
  and even keep track of how often it has been used. 
  This is important for consumable items that need to 
  be replenished over time.
  laRGER SPIn-GRavITY HaBITaTS
  As the habitats get larger and spun for gravity, more 
  room is available. Much of this extra space is used 
  for open air and sculpted “natural” environments, as 
  well as large urban areas. The population density of 
  cities is comparable to any megacity on Earth before 
  the Fall.
  On a torus or cylinder habitat, most people will 
  have a small apartment indistinguishable from those 
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  amount of steam or wiped on the body to make a 
  cooling effect in the dry, warm air circulating through 
  a fan and out a suction tube near the feet.
  PETS anD WIlDlIFE
  Companionship is another important part of adapting 
  to life in space. Transhumanity didn’t just bring 
  uplifted animals to the habitats, we also brought pets 
  and beasts of burden. It is not uncommon for people 
  to choose an anthropomorphized dog, cat, or other 
  small animal for their muse. A real dog or a real cat 
  is often taken as a sign of wealth, though, because it 
  indicates that person can afford to cover the cost of 
  the pet’s food, air, and water. The difficulties of their 
  upkeep tend to limit the presence of pets on micro-
  gravity habs. No one really wants to clean up the free-
  floating remains of wet cat food and even smart dogs 
  don’t take to suction urinals well.
  So-called “fur coats” are popular in habitats with 
  specialized environments that require functional 
  clothing and amongst social groups that adapt the 
  physiological responses of the coats (such as, prickling 
  fur or spines or twitching of ear-like folds) into their 
  exchanges. Their relatively low cost and simplicity 
  make the fur coats attractive to people who cannot 
  afford more extensive mods to their morph, though 
  the derision from morphs who can adapt themselves 
  to resemble the animal of their choice is palpable.
  Various smart mammals—particularly dogs, cats, 
  and rats—are common because of the thousands of 
  years of the development of civilization in parallel 
  with these animals. Dogs and cats also have natural 
  senses of smell orders of magnitude more evolved. 
  With very simple bioengineered mods, these animals 
  make excellent and unobtrusive sentries. If there are 
  no cybernetics, the only way to tell the difference 
  from a baseline or feral animal would be to do a 
  genetic scan. Because these pets represent an invest-
  ment, many owners prevent runaways by including 
  bioware that give the animal a strong affinity for the 
  owner(s) particular pheromones. 
  Habitats with enough gravity and surface area for 
  parks and open land will often include wildlife with 
  similar mods that prevent them from attacking the 
  residents. For example, roe deer, sheep, goats, and 
  alpaca can serve as natural methods of keeping plant 
  growth under control and can be raised for their fiber 
  and meat. Alpaca textiles are particularly favored 
  amongst those who prefer non-synthetic fibers and 
  the wares of craftsmen because it comes in a variety 
  of natural colors, has excellent thermal properties, 
  and is hypo-allergenic. Alpaca instinctively keep their 
  feeding and waste areas separate and are a hardy 
  breed, originally from the Andes Mountains of South 
  America, so they are becoming increasingly popular.
  Beneficial insects are found in agricultural modules 
  and larger habitats with food growth areas. These 
  are commonly genetically modified for easier control 
  and containment. Bees are particularly useful for 
  also include kelp forests that grow in the direction of 
  whatever light sources are available.
  The presence of artificial gravity (or a planetary settle-
  ment) enables environmental designers to perform true 
  landscaping, though. Torus habitats are often arranged 
  to resemble a valley, with terraces on the upcurved side 
  walls and streams and ponds at the bottom of the curve. 
  Cylindrical habs have a tendency for rolling plains with 
  rocky outcroppings at the poles. Because the gravity is 
  the same along any point on the inner wall of a cylinder, 
  the terrain and features—such as farm plots, small lakes, 
  dense woods, wild grass, or, even, desert—can be as 
  varied as resources and the internal area allow. 
  Overcrowding in hypercorp, Martian, and Jovian 
  habitats minimizes the amount of open land available 
  to those residents, though. These often resemble pre-Fall 
  megacities and suburbs, with the habitable area covered 
  in apartments and buildings that stretch down into the 
  primary structure. Some sarcophagus habs even build 
  right on top of fused rock, with no soil to act as a buffer. 
  Unless residents make the effort to maintain commu-
  nity gardens or press for public parks, there are only 
  token efforts at keeping trees in planters and swathes 
  of genengineered grass designed to filter surface runoff. 
  Augmented reality and simulspace provide alter-
  natives in these and other circumstances where the 
  positive stimulus is not available by natural means, 
  such as a workers’ hab in a permanently shadowed 
  crater. Some morphs prefer to decorate their homes 
  with AR plants and entoptic or holographic environ-
  ments because they are infinitely customizable and 
  require no actual upkeep, though virtual plant life 
  does not provide the environmental health benefits of 
  the real thing. For these people, seeing is believing… 
  and that’s enough. Simulspace environments are 
  indistinguishable in sensation and experience for 
  infomorphs, so this is how many habitat residents and 
  spaceship crews on long tours avoid cabin fever. 
  TOIlETS anD HYGIEnE
  On average, there are zero-g toilets and a hygiene 
  station for every ten morphs. Everyone has their 
  own molded funnel for the urine vacuum, towels and 
  waterless shampoo for bathing, and saliva-activated 
  toothpaste for oral hygiene. Free-floating water is a 
  hazard for both breathing and electronics, so micro-
  gravity habitats find ways to avoid using water unless 
  absolutely necessary. Most tin cans don’t actually 
  have showers. It is difficult to safely form a lather 
  in microgravity and even more challenging to rinse, 
  though some systems use fans to direct water flow. 
  Instead, saunas are popular because they give 
  the sensation of water while being much easier to 
  use. These aren’t open rooms with wooden benches, 
  though. A microgravity sauna is a collapsible plastic 
  cylinder with a seal around the user’s neck. The “top” 
  ring of plastic is usually transparent so the user can 
  see inside the sauna and operate its small heater. Wet 
  towels can be placed on the heater to form a small 
  70
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  exceeds the tensile strength of the taut cable. The goal 
  of the jumper is to fire retro-jets at the last possible 
  moment to keep the cable from breaking. In competi-
  tions, scoring is based on minimizing the duration of 
  the retro burn, coming the closest to the maximum 
  load on the cable, and style points from acrobatics 
  performed during the free flight. The most lucrative 
  competition leagues do this without emergency lines 
  or capture nets. Disqualification by tether break can be 
  fatal if rescue shuttles are unable to catch up.
  While cross-country running is an option for 
  cylindrical, torus, and dome habs with open land 
  area, freerunning is the most widespread sport in the 
  solar system because it can literally be done anywhere 
  there is sufficient room to build up speed. Only small 
  tin cans or cluster habs lack the space, though some 
  creative individuals with too much time on their 
  hands have circumvented this problem by developing 
  micro-scale synthmorphs and designing freerunning 
  tracks appropriate for their size.
  The largest aerostat on Venus, the Shack, holds 
  an annual freerunning festival that snakes its way 
  through the immense construction platforms and 
  the warrens of the main city. While the freerunning 
  competitions on Octavia and Aphrodite Prime are 
  noted for their pomp and beautiful scenery, the Shack 
  is regarded by enthusiasts as the greatest challenge 
  because of its industrial focus and the real danger of 
  falling. The tourism industries on the other aerostats 
  strongly discourage courses with a real risk of perma-
  nent death. Up to two thousand die-hards will show 
  up at the Shack for the festival, without fail. There is 
  no better view of the Venusian skyline, so long as a 
  runner doesn’t lose their footing.
  Freerunning in O’Neill cylinders allows for a 
  variety of terrain and interweaving paths. The bridges 
  across the windows form natural chokepoints for 
  endurance runs across the districts. Cross-training 
  elements can be introduced on paths through the agri-
  cultural districts and parks. There are also triathlons 
  and “summer” biathlons that substitute freerunning 
  through the urban structures for street running. The 
  swimming portions are done in the habitat’s open 
  freshwater lakes or in lane pools. 
  Obstacle courses that interrupt running segments 
  with rope climbs, barrier jumps, balance tests, crawls, 
  mud or ball pits, climbing walls, obstructing columns, 
  strength challenges, and other barricades or physical 
  tests challenge an individual’s strength, agility, endur-
  ance, and mental will. Assault courses increase the 
  difficulty by adding either hand-to-hand or ranged 
  combat evaluations. The Digi-athlon competitions 
  also include obstacles that require cyber attacks or 
  problem-solving to defeat, such as gates locked with 
  mechanical puzzles and pathways that only open up 
  when an encryption key is broken.
  Though most habitats do everything possible 
  to minimize the sense of isolation and simulspace 
  can take off the edge for the majority of morphs, 
  pollination, for example, though they are sometimes 
  replaced with pollinator nanoswarms. Ant colonies 
  controlled by pheromones are sometimes used for 
  debris cleaning. Some habitats, particularly older ones 
  or those that had a large influx of physical refugees 
  during the Fall, still have occasional or ongoing issues 
  with vermin and pest control. These often deploy pest 
  control nanoswarms or other insects that excel at 
  eating other bugs.
  Some nature park habitats are specifically designed 
  to replicate the original territory of animals in the 
  wild, without accommodations for transhuman 
  civilization. These arks serve a useful purpose in 
  preserving Earth’s biological and genetic heritage, 
  but their management practices and styles can vary 
  widely. Some are true research outposts and wildlife 
  refuges dedicated to maintaining the highest scientific 
  and ethical standards of care. On the opposite end are 
  the “entertainment parks” that allow egos to tempo-
  rarily inhabit an animal’s body and do as they please 
  until their time runs out or the animal is destroyed. 
  Habitats that host this kind of bloodsport are 
  frequently targets for uplifted animal-rights groups.
  aCTIvITIES
  Diversions are how most people deal with the 
  emotional and physiological stress of life in an 
  enclosed space. In rep economies, hobbies and craft-
  work easily take on lives of their own because they 
  add to the distinctiveness of a particular habitat. 
  While fabbers have made everyday items of almost 
  inconsequential value, the subjective value of wearing 
  an item of clothing or piece of jewelry made by a 
  notable artisan or projecting an entoptic display 
  designed by a well-regarded AR engineer cannot be 
  underestimated. It is the style, design, and effort repre-
  sented by the product that are valued, more so than 
  the product itself. This is also true in the old econo-
  mies of the inner system, but to a more limited extent 
  because of the lack of upward mobility. 
  Sports and physical activities that take advantage 
  of a habitat’s characteristics also serve as effective 
  stress relief by both the release of endorphins and the 
  positive mental associations between the habitat and 
  the activity. In microgravity or low-grav habs, wing-
  suits and microlight aircraft—such as personal orni-
  thopters powered by high-density artificial myomers 
  and pedal-powered propellers—allow personal flight 
  with minimal risk. Some habitats maintain airflow 
  for the environmental control system with the use of 
  strategically placed heaters that generate thermals. Air 
  endurance races challenge the participants to see who 
  can stay aloft the longest by riding the thermals and 
  the currents coming off them. 
  “Tether jumping” is a dangerous sport that is slowly 
  increasing in participation and viewing amongst micro-
  gravity habs. The “jumper” attaches a line to their 
  release point and deliberately fires maneuvering jets up 
  to a velocity such that the kinetic energy of the flight 
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  HABITATS
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  some method for allowing morphs, bots, and craft 
  to move inside and out. The level of control largely 
  depends on the size of the habitat, its configuration, 
  and local regulations and governance. For example, 
  the airlocks and docking stations on cluster anarchist 
  communities like Locus are controlled by individuals 
  and collectives, while the Jovian Republic’s Reagan 
  cylinders have strict security controls that require 
  both proper identification and authentication for 
  access. Even stations with open access airlocks and 
  ports will almost always have AIs dedicated to moni-
  toring the portal and watching for trouble.
  aIRlOCKS
  The airlock is the standard system for individuals 
  to conduct extra-vehicular activities while keeping 
  the pressurized volume intact. The simplest airlocks 
  consist of an interior door or hatch, a pressure 
  chamber, and an exterior door or hatch. Internal 
  volume sufficient for two suited individuals is the 
  engineering minimum standard because of the long-
  standing practice of employing the buddy system 
  for EVAs. Large working airlocks can include a pre-
  breathing and suit donning chamber, heavy suit and 
  equipment racks, capacity for two dozen workers, and 
  multiple exterior doors. Multiple interior doors are 
  uncommon, as a precaution against increasing the 
  number of points of failure in the system.
  Standard operating procedure is for the users to 
  don their suits, enter the airlock chamber, close the 
  interior door, depressurize the chamber, and then open 
  the exterior door to space. The procedure is reversed 
  to re-enter the habitat. Pressurizing or depressurizing 
  takes about 12 seconds on average. When not in 
  use, both chamber doors are kept closed to provide 
  two-fault tolerance against a breach to vacuum or the 
  exterior environment. 
  Some airlocks are also designated as crew transfer 
  points and equipped to capture docking adapters 
  on shuttles and other small spacecraft. Tin can 
  and cluster habitats, where internal volume is at a 
  premium, often have dual-use systems like these to 
  avoid the expense of dedicated spaceport facilities.
  More simplistic “airlocks” are sometimes used on 
  Mars, Venus, and similar worlds where the habitat 
  exterior has a different non-toxic atmosphere rather 
  than vacuum. These are composed of a simple set of 
  two counterweighted doors and a transition chamber, 
  so that when one door is open the other is pulled shut. 
  These are much quicker to traverse and effective at 
  keeping the habitat’s interior atmosphere intact as 
  long as the doors are not forced open.
  SPaCEPORTS
  Some habitats and all spaceyards are specifically 
  designed to provide dedicated support for space 
  vehicles, including and up to military fleets and heavy 
  transports. Basic spaceport facilities for microgravity 
  habitats usually consist of a dedicated docking module 
  there are some people who just have to get away 
  from it all. Only the cities of Mars and Titan even 
  begin to approach the splendor and diversity of 
  Earth before the Fall. Many orbital habitats cluster 
  around Lagrange points or concentrations of natural 
  resources, which helps alleviate this problem. A short 
  inter-habitat shuttle trip within the same constel-
  lation can literally transport a morph to an entirely 
  different world than the one they just left. Those 
  with the means can use egocasting to do the same if 
  they are looking for something different than what 
  their physical locales can provide. Gerlach in Venus 
  orbit and Paradise at the Earth-Sun L1 are popular 
  “getaways” because of their comforts and amenities.
  HaBITaT SYSTEMS
  Source: Lectures on Space Habitat Systems Engineering 
  and Design, Prof. Sana Medalie, Titan Tech 
  [Link]
  Except for exohabitats open to the local environ-
  ment, every station and colony is effectively a closed 
  ecosystem designed to keep its inhabitants alive as 
  efficiently as possible. Complex systems are in place 
  to keep the cycle of life going and every detail of their 
  operation must be attended to. In some cases, we’ve 
  found that there just isn’t a substitute for Mother 
  Nature, so we’ve developed bioengineering analogues 
  to do the hard work for us. There are even a few 
  in our profession that eschew mechanical systems 
  entirely in favor of biosystems.
  Remember that every habitat must balance the 
  requirements of its owners and operators with the 
  needs, wants, and desires of its inhabitants. These are 
  our homes we’re talking about here. Just as with any 
  city back on Earth or Mars, biomorphs need food, 
  water, shelter against the local environment, sanita-
  tion, and communications. Public services like security, 
  fire protection, power, and local transportation are 
  common. Atmospheric generation and processing is 
  perhaps the top priority, though. As habitat engineers, 
  it will be your job to design, build, and sustain the 
  systems that provide all these essentials.
  If this sounds like a daunting task, rest assured that 
  it is. We incorporate safety margins where ever we 
  can, but there are simply too many permutations of 
  the interactions of interdependent systems for us to 
  discuss everything that could possibly happen in this 
  class. There are infomorphs that have dedicated their 
  existence to resolving the problem of optimal systems 
  control. You will have to learn how to make the best 
  decisions you can with the information you have 
  available. Intuition and discretion are what separate 
  the good from the great.
  (PHYSICal) aCCESS COnTROl
  Though some extreme social groups have chosen to 
  isolate themselves since the Fall, effectively locking 
  themselves inside their habitats, most colonies have 
  72
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  only have emergency shelters for biomorph workers 
  or visitors as a precaution against the occasional solar 
  flare or cosmic ray shower.
  Larger or high traffic stations will have dedicated 
  space control systems, typically managed entirely by 
  AIs and infomorphs, to manage and oversee shuttle 
  and spacecraft traffic, docking, flight plans, cargo 
  transfers, and customs declarations.
  EnTRanCE anD CUSTOMS
  Once inside the habitat, new arrivals are typically 
  divided into residents and visitors for processing. 
  Residents often have the benefit of an expedited or 
  cursory security screening. The level and implementa-
  tion of security can vary widely, from physical security 
  check-in points little different to that of airports on 
  pre-Fall Earth to entirely automated systems that 
  require intervention only if contraband or a discrep-
  ancy is detected. Examples of such discrepancies can 
  include inconsistent credentials, a measured mass-to-
  volume ratio above or below established norms, physi-
  ological indicators of high stress, and erratic behavior.
  Many stations require visitors to report to a kiosk 
  where they can declare their belongings, state the 
  purpose for their visit, and note the planned duration 
  of their stay. These inputs are then checked against the 
  individual’s required declaration of intent that was 
  filed before departure. If there are any inconsistencies 
  in a visitor’s answers that cannot be resolved by the 
  AI, a customs or security official is called to discuss 
  the matter directly and intervene as appropriate.
  with multiple ports and robot arms for berthing craft 
  with limited in-space maneuvering. While docked, 
  the craft is still in vacuum and is effectively another 
  module of the station. Extendable tunnels can be made 
  available for spacecraft with protrusions that prohibit 
  a direct mate. These tunnels range from simple light 
  fabric and plastic tubes pressurized with air to smart 
  fabric designs or more hardened walkways. 
  Colony habitats like O’Neill cylinders and other 
  large stations often include protected shuttle and 
  small vehicle bays that allow repair crews to work in 
  a shirt-sleeve environment. These bays are effectively 
  airlocks large enough for shuttlecraft to pass through. 
  If the station has a de-spun section permanently in 
  microgravity, shuttle bays are typically located there. 
  Otherwise, the spaceport must include some kind of 
  capture mechanism that translates the docking craft 
  into the habitat’s spinward motion. This is easiest if 
  the spacecraft can match the habitat’s spin rate and 
  approach along the long axis for capture by a robot 
  arm or landing platform.
  Spaceships that are too large for pressurized bays 
  require their own set of procedures and systems. 
  Unpressurized spacedocks provide structural spars for 
  mooring and crew transfer tunnels that mate with the 
  vehicle’s airlocks. Space construction yards are func-
  tionally little different, except that they are dedicated 
  to spacecraft manufacturing and assembly. As a result, 
  they tend to be much more utilitarian in design and 
  have less in the way of accommodations for passen-
  gers or crew. Many yards are entirely automated and 
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  HABITATS
  73
  
  malfunctions, is destroyed, or becomes compromised, 
  the network can excise that node and divide its 
  responsibilities amongst the remainder.
  COMMUnICaTIOnS
  Every person in a habitat that uses inserts or an ecto 
  is a part of the internal mesh. Though most habitats 
  have a distributed system of mesh nodes that facilitate 
  data transfer across the various systems and allow 
  varying levels of public access, this basic architecture 
  does not define the topology of the network as it would 
  have in space stations that preceded the nanotech 
  explosion. Instead, the vast majority of habitats have 
  a user-defined mesh topology with nearly countless 
  and overlapping layers of access, range, and intent. 
  The public mesh is a cacophony of local spime data, 
  advertisements, public service announcements, open 
  discussion groups, news broadcasts, and entertainment. 
  Private networks, some of which touch each other and 
  most of which do not, are used for discreet information 
  sharing, whether legitimate or not. Many of the private 
  networks can be seen, but cannot be accessed without 
  proper authentication or an invitation. Others actively 
  try to conceal themselves in the noise of the public nets.
  AR visualization software can actually be used to 
  help an individual, usually through a muse, manage 
  their interest in and access to all this data. Though 
  the raw data is the same, two different morphs may 
  have two entirely different perspectives on the mesh 
  topology. Some memetics experts are even beginning 
  to study this phenomenon to better understand the 
  social structures of colonies by examining which visu-
  alizations are common and finding sharp divergences 
  in mesh populations.
  lOnG-RanGE COMMS
  All of this happens within the immediate vicinity of a 
  given habitat. Long-range communications still tend 
  to be sharply defined by installed hardware because 
  of the vast distances between most habitats. Each 
  habitat itself forms a node in the ad hoc interplanetary 
  communications network. Modular comm arrays are 
  installed on the exterior of the hull and connected to 
  the computers generating the transmission by fiber-
  optic cable. This prevents tampering and interference 
  from the local mesh.
  The comm arrays themselves are arranged to 
  give all-aspect viewing of space, if at all possible. 
  Occultations from planetary objects and debris mean 
  this is an imperfect solution, but managing those 
  fluctuations in the comm links is what good software 
  or an expert is for. A standard integrated array will 
  have a cluster of monochromatic cells for laser beam 
  reception, a tight-beam laser transmitter, a microwave 
  transceiver, and an active electronically scanning 
  radio array. While a small tin can habitat might have 
  as few as four of these clusters arranged in a tetrahe-
  dral formation, a massive colony like Extropia will 
  have hundreds.
  Only the largest space habitats and surface colonies 
  have on-site immigration facilities dedicated to 
  in-processing new, unanticipated arrivals. Paranoia 
  against external threats and limited resources drive 
  most habitats to require morphs seeking permanent 
  residency or citizenship to pre-register, successfully 
  argue added value to the community by their presence, 
  and obtain at least provisional approval before depar-
  ture. These individuals are then flagged upon arrival 
  for a more rigorous security protocol and identity 
  confirmation as well as increased surveillance for the 
  duration of their visit.
  Almost all mid-sized and larger habitats have radia-
  tion detectors and other sensors in place to identify 
  antimatter, nukes, and similar potential weapons of 
  mass destruction.
  aDMInISTRaTIvE
  The management of even a small habitat’s various inter-
  dependent systems can be an arduous task. Early space 
  stations required as many man-hours for maintenance 
  and repair as, if not more than, their mission operations. 
  Without centralized control on-orbit, large ground 
  teams were required to monitor and control each 
  subsystem—including Communications, Environmental 
  Control & Life Support, Power, Thermal Control, and 
  Avionics, to name a few—and to be alert for cascading 
  effects from changes to the other systems. 
  Automation and ubiquitous networking now 
  allow support personnel in an on-site control center 
  to conduct multiple tasks in parallel and delegate 
  authority to local subsystems so they can focus on 
  more immediate problems. Software and AIs devel-
  oped with simple but robust machine learning algo-
  rithms assist the control operators by paring down 
  the deluge of data into discernible trends and devia-
  tions from control thresholds. Many operators have 
  the data and analysis fed to their personal muse.
  Control center positions often include 
  Communications, Data Systems, Environmental & 
  Thermal Control, Power Systems, Mechanical Systems 
  (robotics, linkages, moving parts), Motion Control 
  (station-keeping, attitude control, propulsion systems), 
  and Operations (which can cover EVA and visiting 
  vehicles). Large habitats like O’Neill cylinders may 
  include watch officers for public services—such as fire, 
  security, and transportation—on their control teams. 
  A senior duty officer may serve as the team lead and 
  report ongoing activities or emergency events to the 
  relevant authorities.
  Not everyone is comfortable with such a tightly 
  integrated system. Some fear vulnerability to a 
  decapitation strike that would take out the control 
  center or suborn it to another’s will. Others have 
  philosophical objections to such a concentration 
  of power. As a result, some habitats (particularly 
  autonomist stations) have a highly decentralized 
  system that places control in local nodes responsible 
  for subsystems and cross-communication. If a node 
  74
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Darkcasting presents an entirely new level of 
  complexity, given the natural chokepoints in data 
  flow through long-range comms and the unbridled 
  paranoia of legitimate egocasting services. The easiest 
  way to do a clandestine egocast is usually by bribing 
  local officials to look the other way or hiring someone 
  to wipe the records in the wake of your departure.
  That is still too much of a risk for some egos, 
  however. Some legitimate private organizations 
  maintain their own farcasters with the permission of 
  local authorities, by virtue of whatever vital service 
  they perform. The right combination of cred, contacts, 
  and rep might gain access to this resource. Crime 
  syndicates have also been known to conceal illegal 
  farcasters in the power and data fluctuations of cover 
  businesses, such as orbital manufacturing. The truly 
  desperate can possibly even arrange to sell their body 
  in return for smuggling their cortical stack onto a 
  spacecraft that will then farcast the ego within.
  DEFEnSE SYSTEMS
  The vast distance between astronomical objects and 
  most gravitational anchor points where stations and 
  colonies are located means that communities are, by 
  necessity, responsible for their own protection—against 
  both natural threats and those who would do them 
  harm. Isolation is a protective measure in and of itself. 
  Spaceships can be seen coming, as long as they aren’t 
  occulted by something else, and long-range transmis-
  sions are quarantined and authenticated before the data 
  is allowed into the habitat’s primary system.
  This protection is not absolute, though. Cold 
  asteroids with a low albedo can be difficult to track 
  on optical and thermal sensors. Mercenaries might 
  sneak into close range by using commercial transport 
  as cover. A determined adversary may even forgo 
  subterfuge and attempt the direct assault. All of these 
  possibilities must be considered and mitigated to the 
  extent the resources and governing philosophy allow. 
  Many habitats contract out these functions to private 
  security firms and leave it up to the experts.
  External defense is commonly performed by 
  constellations of satellites and/or drones co-orbiting 
  with the habitat. Distributing the sensors and 
  weapons over multiple platforms and away from the 
  main habitat makes it harder to disable the system 
  and safer for the residents. Most civilians don’t want 
  to live near directed energy cannon and high explo-
  sives. On the other hand, external platforms can be 
  hijacked and used against the habitat. The advantage 
  of a weapons emplacement on the side of a station 
  is that it can’t be used to target the station. Each 
  strategy has its risks.
  Kinetic attacks inflict damage proportional to the 
  square of the impact velocity. Thus, incoming projec-
  tiles must be deflected or vaporized to effectively 
  stop the threat. Only doing enough damage to break 
  up the projectile into smaller chunks just makes for 
  multiple, smaller incoming targets. Directed energy 
  Some communications hubs, especially those in the 
  outer system, will maintain inflatable antenna loops 
  up to 100 kilometers in diameter to pick up signals 
  traveling from one side of the system to the other. 
  Even a highly collimated tight-band beam will diverge 
  to a width measured in tens (or more) of kilometers 
  over such distances.
  Neutrino communications diverge from this 
  standard because they are relatively large, have a 
  significant energy requirement, and solid matter is 
  transparent to the signal. To protect this investment, 
  most habs with neutrino transceivers will locate them 
  near the center-of-mass or behind the power reactor 
  shielding. This allows the operators to use as much 
  physical mass as possible to protect against outside 
  attack with no effect on the transmissions. The most 
  expensive neutrino transceivers have hundreds of 
  multiple tight-beam emitter/receiver pairs arranged in 
  a spherical fashion to permit multiple high-bandwidth 
  links in parallel.
  Egocasting relies on the security of the long-range 
  communications system for its integrity. Shielded 
  fiberoptic cable is almost always used to transfer the 
  ego data to the intended transmitter. Quantum encryp-
  tion is standard. Neutrino farcasters are too easy to 
  intercept, even with encryption, so most egocasting 
  services use line-of-sight laser for moving egos within 
  local clusters of habs and millimeter-wave radio for 
  long distances. If an atmosphere must be penetrated by 
  the signal, centimeter-band radio will be used because 
  of attenuation effects on millimeter-wave signals.
  DaRKnETS
  In a civilization largely based on panopticism, there 
  will always be people who seek to move their data 
  beyond the watchful eyes of others. There will also 
  always be people who provide those services for a 
  price. Evading network and physical security is not a 
  challenge for the uncommitted. Darknets within the 
  range of the local mesh are often based on portable 
  quantum transceivers that scan for frequencies domi-
  nated by local noise and operate in that region. Self-
  protection software monitors the bands and changes 
  the operating frequency as necessary, sometimes 
  even transmitting on multiple bands in parallel to 
  stay under the signal-to-noise thresholds that would 
  attract attention.
  Physical darknets based on shielded fiberoptic lines 
  avoid the problem of attracting attention in the data 
  cloud, but must be installed in such a way as to not 
  be automatically removed from the system by mainte-
  nance bots or accidentally create thermal and power 
  signatures that indicate an anomaly. One way of 
  doing this is to have nanomachines embed capillaries 
  in the sheathing of existing lines. Physical darknets 
  also force users to have access points that run the risk 
  of being compromised, unless the cabling itself just 
  serves as a private conduit for mesh users who know 
  how to tap the line.
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  HABITATS
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  easiest tracking is done by watching the thermal signa-
  ture move across the near-absolute-zero background of 
  space. This only tells a habitat that someone is coming 
  and gives a rough estimate of the contact’s trajectory. 
  Radar is the most common method of pinpointing a 
  contact’s size and mass and determining an accurate 
  course and estimated time of arrival. Spectroscopy—
  separating out the light into its component spectra—
  can be used to determine the vehicle’s exhaust charac-
  teristics and thus likely propulsion system. At tactical 
  ranges, lidar and tight-beam radar are used to construct 
  a high-definition 3D map of the contact, correlated with 
  IR imaging of major heat sources. 
  When all else fails, many habitats still have their 
  own defensive batteries to deal with drones, missiles, 
  or other spacecraft that penetrate the outer screens. 
  Beam weapons are often preferred because they can 
  respond rapidly to many threats without creating 
  additional debris. Lasers and railguns are often 
  employed as point-defense weapons, while plasma 
  cannon are favored for attacking armor. Missile 
  launchers are almost always mounted as external 
  modules with integral ordnance bays. Shaped plating 
  inside the bays is designed to deflect an accidental 
  detonation away from the primary hull.
  EMERGEnCY SYSTEMS
  Whether by accident, deliberate action, or the ravages 
  of time and space, the protective cocoon of a habitat 
  will almost inevitably be breached. The measure of 
  good habitat design is in its emergency response func-
  tions. Fire, decompression, and catastrophic structural 
  failure are the top three issues every habitat must be 
  prepared for. 
  FIRE
  Fire will consume breathing gas, destroy critical 
  systems, and weaken structural integrity. If the blaze 
  continues uncontrolled, the increase in pressure can 
  seal hatches and exceed a module’s burst strength. 
  Just as on the seagoing ships of old, fire is a morph’s 
  worst enemy in space. In modular habitats or those 
  that can be partitioned internally, the section that 
  hosts the fire is typically sealed while appropriate fire 
  suppression techniques are applied. To avoid electrical 
  fires, most automated fire suppression systems are 
  based on flooding the affected area with an inert gas or 
  non-conductive foam. If this fails, an emergency purge 
  to vacuum may be required to stop the fire before it 
  spreads. In extreme cases, entire modules can and have 
  been jettisoned to save the rest of the station. Aerogel 
  is particularly good at resisting fires and so aerogel 
  barriers are used as firewalls. Metallic foam can also be 
  constructed with fire-retardent gases that are released 
  when melted. Diamond, on the other hand, burns. 
  DEPRESSURIZaTIOn
  Unplanned depressurization events are actually not 
  terribly common. Because the hostile environments 
  weapons are the method of choice for kinetic defense 
  because they will turn small objects into carbon 
  compounds and inert gases and burn off mass 
  from larger projectiles to redirect them. Conversely, 
  directed energy attacks can be mitigated by clouds of 
  dust or surface coatings that break up the beam. 
  Defense against incoming spacecraft isn’t as simple 
  as in pre-Fall Hollywood and Bollywood vids. Taking 
  out the propulsion system just means the vehicle will 
  continue on its last trajectory indefinitely. It won’t 
  miraculously come to a halt. Instead, the interlopers 
  are attacked in such a way as to cause more pain to 
  continue to press their assault than it is worth. Beam 
  cannons are employed to ablate any armor and 
  weaken the hull from far away. If that doesn’t send 
  the message, the radiators are pelted with clouds of 
  pellets to breach the ship’s vital cooling loop.
  After attempts to get the enemy to divert from an 
  intercept course fail, the next course is to eliminate 
  the threat completely. Anti-ship missiles with shaped-
  charge armor penetrators can open up pressurized 
  volumes to space. Teller mines detonate tactical 
  nuclear weapons to form powerful X-ray lasers that 
  will both ablate the hull through thermal erosion 
  and cause lethal exposure to neutron radiation from 
  secondary effects. Smart dust can be employed to 
  both physically and electronically attack weapons 
  batteries, airlock doors, communications and sensor 
  arrays, and other vital systems.
  Fixed satellites only require propulsion for station-
  keeping, so they are typically used for mounting heavy 
  long-range beam weapons, deploying large sensor 
  arrays, and serving as depots for attack drones. Attack 
  drones have the advantage of mobility, so most are 
  little more than a fusion jet with a sensor package, 
  missiles, and a beam cannon or railgun strapped 
  on. They are intended to close the distance quickly, 
  perform high-acceleration maneuvers that would kill 
  a biomorph, and conduct precision strikes on key 
  targets. Of course, the enemy spacecraft can carry 
  drones of their own. The outcome of a battle often 
  depends on the superiority of drone hardware and 
  combat management software and can be decided by 
  the survival of a single drone from that clash.
  Secure communication in a defense network is 
  invaluable. As a result, quantum farcasting is ubiqui-
  tous in defense systems that require wireless comms. 
  Tight-beam optical communications are typical for 
  line-of-sight transmissions, while encrypted millimeter-
  wave radio is the standard over long ranges. The Jovian 
  Republic is suspected of using quantum-encrypted 
  neutrino transceivers to coordinate their fleet of 
  dreadnoughts, taking the mass penalty in return for 
  omnidirectional fleet networking. The expense of 
  quantum-entangled communications tends to limit 
  their use to highly sensitive covert operations that may 
  require instantaneous, if limited, information exchange.
  Detecting the enemy is always the first part of inter-
  ception. At distances such as those between planets, the 
  76
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  pods are evacuated last, though they are sometimes 
  carried externally on lifeboats or tugged in open-
  vacuum pods. 
  The worst-case scenario is that the station is dying 
  quickly, there are no more lifeboats, there are no more 
  shuttles, and there is not enough power to egocast 
  out of Dodge. Individuals may still have a chance in 
  this situation by donning a suit, taking possession 
  of resupply tanks and an emergency beacon from a 
  hazard station, and evacuating through an airlock. 
  Remember to turn the beacon on. If a group evacu-
  ates in this manner, they should tether themselves 
  together to make an easier target for rescue services 
  to see.
  Escape still may not be feasible, though, espe-
  cially without an emergency farcaster. In that case, a 
  biomorph’s last resort is to protect its cortical stack 
  as best as possible. If a spacesuit is available, don it 
  and set the oxygen to the minimum safe level for the 
  morph type. Though physiological death is inevitable 
  if rescue does not come before the air runs out, the 
  morph will already be unconscious at the time (mini-
  mizing pain and suffering) and the brain kept in the 
  best possible condition for the longest amount of time. 
  EnvIROnMEnTal anD lIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS
  From the smallest tin can to the largest cylinder 
  colony, every habitat must provide a breathable 
  atmosphere, waste management, and thermal control. 
  Fresh oxygen must be supplied and carbon dioxide 
  must be removed from the air. To grow plants, an arti-
  ficial nitrogen cycle must be maintained. Fresh water 
  must be available and waste water reclaimed. Whether 
  through mechanical or biological means, each habitat 
  is its own miniature ecosystem.
  BREaTHaBlE aTMOSPHERE
  Though the first space explorers operated in a pure 
  oxygen environment, such practices are rare anymore 
  because of the extreme fire hazard. Most habitats keep 
  their internal gas pressure and mixture of nitrogen 
  and oxygen comparable to pre-Fall Earth normal to 
  ensure a minimum safe level for biomorph survival. 
  The most common oxygen generators use electrolysis 
  to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. O2 is vented 
  to the inhabitable volume, while the hydrogen can be 
  collected as fuel or dumped to vacuum. Reclaimed 
  greywater is the usual source for these generators, as 
  living inhabitants take first priority for fresh water.
  Solid-fuel oxygen generators—often called “oxygen 
  candles”—work on the exothermic reaction of an 
  oxygen-releasing compound, such as lithium perchlo-
  rate, ignited by a mechanical firing pin or a burning 
  fuse. The oxygen gas is cooled and filtered for particu-
  lates before being released. Oxygen candles have a 
  nearly indefinite shelf life, but malfunctioning insula-
  tion or fuel contamination can lead to catastrophic 
  fire hazards. As a result, they are more popular as 
  emergency generators.
  outside most habitats are an ever-present threat, great 
  care is taken in design and construction to mitigate 
  the risks of a hull or dome breach. The infrequency 
  of such incidents does not lessen the abject terror 
  that happens when they occur, though. It is standard 
  practice in most tin cans and cluster habs to include 
  an emergency hull repair kit in every module.
  Once a leak or puncture is detected, the user sprays 
  a self-sealing, self-hardening foam into the internal 
  volume that can plug a hole up to five centimeters in 
  diameter. This is to address the immediate danger of 
  the decreasing internal pressure. The kit also includes 
  composite fabric patches and a self-setting adhesive 
  to complete the seal. Many kits incorporate spimes 
  in the patches that report pressure and temperature 
  and structural strain levels in the vicinity to ensure 
  emergency responders have time to act if the patch is 
  going to fail.
  Larger breaches almost always require the affected 
  areas be sealed until venting is complete and rescue 
  crews arrive on-site. If not killed or critically wounded 
  by flying debris, unprotected biomorphs have a very 
  narrow survival window during rapid decompression. 
  Habitats with massive internal volumes enjoy longer 
  recovery windows and can withstand larger breaches 
  without fundamental structural integrity being 
  compromised. Even so, hazard stations often carry 
  emergency face masks that seal around the ears and 
  provide a few minutes of oxygen. This is a relatively 
  cheap and surprisingly effective way of tipping the 
  odds a little more towards survival.
  CaTaSTROPHIC DaMaGE
  In the event of catastrophic damage and/or a cascading 
  core systems failure, the call to evacuate will be sent 
  out over whatever means remain—mesh, audio/
  visual displays, and personal contact. Inhabitants are 
  directed to don suits, pack only what they can carry, 
  and go to their assigned lifeboat boarding stations. If 
  enough power and time are available, egocasting can 
  be done to expedite the evacuation process. If not, ego 
  backups can be transmitted or shunted to cold storage 
  for later retrieval.
  Lifeboats are typically sized for up to 100 people 
  and carry enough consumables for eight days. Four 
  zero-g toilets are standard. Solid-fuel jettison motors 
  clear the lifeboat away from the station and gyro-
  scopic stabilizers prevent the lifeboat from tumbling. 
  Docked shuttles and spacecraft are also used to ferry 
  evacuees and tug ejected lifeboats to another station or 
  rally point where a rescue ship can take on survivors.
  On larger stations, it is quite likely that there will 
  not be enough lifeboats for the entire population. 
  In this case, priority is always given to biomorphs. 
  Children are given first access, but beyond that each 
  habitat has their own procedures. High status figures 
  may be berthed first, whereas others seats are given 
  to the first people to claim them. In more managed 
  evacuations, lotteries may be held. Synthmorphs and 
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  HABITATS
  77
  
  WaTER
  The water cycle in a habitat is one of its most essential 
  functions because water is the universal currency in 
  the solar system. Even infomorphs have a hard time 
  getting on without a key base material in industrial 
  processes. It is no coincidence that the major popula-
  tion centers tend to have local water resources.
  Only Mars and the subsurface oceans of some 
  moons have accessible liquid water, so it arrives at 
  most habitats in the form of ice. The first step in the 
  process is using vapor-compression distillers with 
  a dual evaporator-compressor system to eliminate 
  contaminants both lighter and heavier than water 
  vapor, leaving only pure water at ambient tempera-
  ture to flow out. From there, the potable water is 
  pumped throughout the habitat for a variety of uses. 
  Many microgravity stations also treat the purified 
  water with anti-microbial nanobots.
  Water transport must be done at pressure or 
  through capillary action in microgravity habitats 
  because there is no intrinsic force to assist. As a result, 
  proper wetting of soil, for example, becomes problem-
  atic. Capillary “nets” that spread water distribution 
  from the input in a plant growth chamber and draw 
  out any excess water flow to the chamber output can 
  help with this. Waste water, including from biomorph 
  activities, must be removed by suction.
  Habitats with artificial or local gravity have the 
  advantage of a natural flow direction for plumbing. 
  Some larger colonies even provide a pseudo-random 
  rain system designed to maintain ideal moisture levels 
  while simultaneously providing the psychological 
  benefits of changing weather. At the designated times, 
  water droplets at elevated temperature are vented 
  into the atmosphere for condensation. This can 
  be easily done in a dome structure on a planetary 
  surface, while a rotating habitat requires some sort of 
  “overhead” irrigation that avoids trapping the water 
  near the axis of rotation.
  Waste water is usually sorted into two categories: 
  sewage or “blackwater” contaminated with urine, feces, 
  or industrial waste and “greywater” from washing, 
  bathing, atmospheric processing, and other activities 
  that do not introduce toxic materials. Sewage is routed 
  to vapor compression distillers for purification, while 
  greywater can be recycled for such things as plant irri-
  gation and oxygen generation. Spimes monitor water 
  quality throughout the process and immediately identify 
  the responsible authorities if a leak is detected or a 
  contaminant is introduced to the fresh water supply.
  ECOSYSTEMS
  Green space is considered by some to be the crowning 
  achievement of space settlement. With greenhouses, 
  gardens, grass fields, and (in habitats large enough) 
  forests, transhumanity can grow food, provide psycho-
  logical comfort, scrub wastes, and provide oxygen. Next 
  to the terraformation of Mars, cylindrical and torus 
  habitats are the closest facsimiles of old Earth and often 
  Habitats with enough interior surface area to 
  support large green spaces can actually provide 
  integrated oxygen production and carbon dioxide 
  scrubbing through plant life, be it grass, trees, or, even, 
  algae. However, most “green” habitats still require 
  electrolytic oxygen generators. Only a few habitats are 
  actually large enough to sustain the number of plants 
  and trees required to match the daily oxygen consump-
  tion and CO2 generation of baseline humanoids. Even 
  then, genetic engineering is required to increase the 
  plant respiration rates to high enough levels.
  Carbon dioxide is toxic to biomorphs as it accu-
  mulates. Headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, and 
  confusion set in above 5% concentration by volume. 
  Muscle tremors, decreased vision, and unconsciousness 
  occur at exposure to 8% concentration by volume for 
  several minutes. This can happen fairly quickly in micro-
  gravity, as there is no buoyancy effect to separate gases 
  by density. Constant airflow is necessary to prevent 
  dangerous “pockets” from forming. Early explorers 
  depended on lithium hydroxide canisters to scrub CO2 
  via chemical reaction, with water as a byproduct. 
  Most carbon dioxide removal is done with swingbed 
  systems that require little power and are self-regenera-
  tive. CO2-enriched air is drawn into an adsorbing bed 
  of amine. Upon exposure to vacuum, the amine releases 
  the carbon dioxide and is effectively recharged. By using 
  alternating adsorption beds, the air can be continuously 
  scrubbed. With additional filters, water and oxygen can 
  be captured and recycled before the beds are vented to 
  space. These systems are efficient enough that their only 
  real limitation is the air flow rate.
  nITROGEn CYClE
  Atmospheric nitrogen is non-reactive and typically 
  serves on spacecraft and habitats to maintain a 
  comfortable gas pressure without elevating the oxygen 
  content above that required for habitation. However, 
  plants require fixed nitrogen for healthy growth. In 
  microgravity, nitrogen fertilizers produced industri-
  ally are infused in the plant growth chamber’s feed 
  stock. This can be an expensive process, though, and 
  is avoided on the large habitats with artificial gravity 
  and more natural growing areas.
  Bacteria in the soil or in the nodules of nitrogen-
  fixing plants, like legumes, converts nitrogen in the 
  air into ammonia, which is released when either the 
  bacteria dies or the plants are composted. Through crop 
  rotation, colonists can sustain a local nitrogen cycle of 
  absorption and release virtually indefinitely. Industrial 
  nitrogen fixation synthesizes ammonia from the cata-
  lyzed reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen gas with a 
  magnetite catalyst at high temperature and pressure. 
  Because the gases can be recycled, the completed 
  process is as much as 98% efficient and was responsible 
  for a majority of all agricultural fertilization before the 
  Fall. This is the primary method of producing ammonia 
  and other nitrogen compounds when they are not avail-
  able naturally or are required on short time scales.
  78
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  In that case, the runoff is captured as normal sewage 
  and treated accordingly. Even the wealthiest habitats 
  get every possible use out of every last drop of water.
  HEaT COnTROlS
  Even though people often think of space as being 
  cold, heat rejection is actually one of a habitat’s most 
  serious issues. Colonies in either an atmosphere or 
  hydrosphere can reject excess heat from power gener-
  ation, biological activity, and other station operations 
  to the local environment. Natural convection does the 
  rest. In microgravity and vacuum, though, there is no 
  buoyancy to drive convection. There is no external 
  fluid to carry away the heat by conduction, either. 
  Thermal radiation is the only natural process.
  This is a problem because the vast majority of 
  space habitats generate more excess heat than can be 
  removed by ambient heat radiation through the hull. 
  The most common solution is an active thermal control 
  system. Greywater is pumped past coldplates and heat 
  exchangers inside the habitat walls and is heated in the 
  process. Before continuing on for purification or reclama-
  tion, the greywater passes heat exchangers with a closed 
  ammonia loop that carries the heat to external radiators. 
  In some cases, the surface area required for external 
  radiators is infeasible. Heat evaporators that actually 
  vent the hot liquid to space are an option for those 
  circumstances. Many soft spacesuit designs incorpo-
  rate semi-permeable membranes that wick sweat from 
  the body and evaporate it to space. Bioengineered 
  the easiest for infugees inhabiting new bodies to adapt 
  to. Selective breeding, genetic mods, and hybridization 
  exchange programs across habitats have allowed post-
  Fall horticulture to thrive and prevent evolutionary 
  dead ends from destroying entire biospheres.
  Succulents, such as aloe, agave, and cacti, are 
  extremely popular for personal and decorative use 
  because they are tolerant of temperature fluctuations, 
  require little water, and come in a variety of shapes, 
  sizes, colors, and leaf forms. Food gardens and farms 
  tend to focus on producing the most nutritional 
  content in the smallest area possible and are typically 
  managed by professional agriculturalists who monitor 
  soil conditions and plant health constantly. As a result, 
  superfoods that could never have arisen naturally 
  dominate. Owners of commercial operations protect 
  their intellectual property—the genetic code of their 
  product—fiercely.
  Grass fields, parks, and forests tend to be common 
  areas primarily intended for personal relaxation and 
  air cleaning. Though O2 and CO2 respiration rates are 
  not high enough to sustain large populations on their 
  own, these green spaces are actually quite effective at 
  removing other contaminants and improving general 
  air quality. Areca palms, pothos ivy, spider plants, and 
  ficus plants and trees are common ancestors of space-
  borne plants for this reason. 
  Runoff water from green spaces and artificial rain 
  is almost always reclaimed as greywater, unless it is 
  over-concentrated with fertilizers or other chemicals. 
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  HABITATS
  79
  
  oxynitride ceramic for projectile impact protection, a 
  middle optical layer of sintered alumina nanomaterial, 
  and an inner polymer layer to prevent shattering if 
  the outer layers are breached. Two to three panes per 
  section provide redundancy. This arrangement mitigates 
  the spread of window damage in an emergency and 
  allows for relatively quick, standardized repair.
  InTERnal aRCHITECTURE
  The internal architecture of a habitat is as flexible 
  as the designers and the pressurized volume allow. 
  Tin cans and cluster modules in microgravity are 
  usually cylindrical shapes intended to maximize effi-
  ciency. Equipment racks and even crew quarters are 
  thus designed to fit in semi-cylinders flush with the 
  pressure shell. This leaves the core internal volume 
  open for people to do work and move between 
  modules. Curtains and retractable polymer sheets 
  provide only a modicum of privacy. Hatches between 
  modules are similar, if not identical, to airlock 
  hatches and the only real means of sealing off from 
  the rest of the station. 
  As the size of the habitat increases, so do the options. 
  At the most basic, recyclable walls can be extruded 
  from plastic, arranged as the inhabitants desire, and 
  broken down as needed. This is not uncommon in spin 
  habitats without large, contiguous volumes. Otherwise, 
  the internal volume is divided up much like subma-
  rines and spaceships, with pressure bulkheads that can 
  be sealed in the event of an emergency and the internal 
  spaces defined by their function. 
  On the scale of a torus station or larger, free-
  standing structures can be built on the floor or soil 
  level no different than any on Mars or old Earth. The 
  style and form depends entirely on the cultural and 
  regulatory norms of the residents. If the spin gravity 
  is less than 1 g, taller, lighter structures are possible. 
  Gliders and motive-powered flight are an available 
  mode of transportation in such habitats with a dense 
  enough atmosphere to generate lift.
  The most common building materials in large spin 
  habitats tend to be light, cheap, local, or some combi-
  nation of those properties. Bamboo is very popular 
  because it can be relatively easily grown and main-
  tained and pressed into an engineered hardwood for 
  construction material. Excess metal from the fabrica-
  tion of a colony’s primary structure is easily recyclable 
  for internal uses. 
  Habitats with a soil layer tend heavily towards 
  adobe walls because they are durable, excellent 
  thermal reservoirs through a day/night cycle, recy-
  clable, and almost infinitely customizable. Though 
  maintenance and upkeep is often performed by robots 
  that extrude adobe plaster as needed, many of the 
  people who live in such habitats prefer to actually 
  build the structures themselves. Making adobe bricks 
  and assembling the structures are strong community-
  building exercises and create a tangible sense of 
  connection between the residents and their homes.
  analogues of this technology can be used for heat 
  exchange to space on organic habitats.
  InFRaSTRUCTURE
  The outer hull of any station or colony is akin to a 
  suit of armor. Whether manufactured from advanced 
  nanopolymers, high-strength metallic alloys, inflatable 
  composite materials, fused rock, or ice, the exterior 
  shell must contain the internal volume, protect against 
  kinetic impacts, mitigate radiation transmission, and 
  account for unique local threats to the habitat.
  In microgravity, most loads come from propulsion 
  or mechanical forces from objects of significant mass 
  in motion. Internal atmospheric pressure can be easily 
  distributed over structures designed to withstand 
  micrometeoroid impacts and the vibrational loads 
  from internal machinery or crew activity. Thus, the 
  hull itself in a tin can, cluster, or cylindrical habitat 
  also serves as the primary structure for the habitable 
  volume. Environments where the external pressure 
  is higher, such as under the Europan ocean, require 
  significant structural adaptations internally that are 
  intended to keep the habitat from being crushed.
  WInDOWS
  Windows serve a number of functions, from helping 
  reduce the stress of confinement to providing line-of-
  sight for external operations for someone monitoring 
  an activity in space from within the pressurized 
  volume. They can be as small as portholes and as 
  large as the immense window “stripes” on O’Neill 
  cylinders. Windows are almost always multi-layered 
  to prevent both a hull breach and contamination 
  of the optical pane. The presence of orbital debris 
  and the transparency of most optical materials to 
  cosmic rays mean that many windows have exterior 
  shutters that can be opened and closed from the 
  inside, as needed. Quantum dot and other technolo-
  gies allow for windows that can be changed from 
  transparent to opaque or to an active display with 
  simple commands.
  Observation bubbles and cupolas with segmented 
  windows are used to provide a wider field-of-view 
  than is possible with porthole windows. They are often 
  sized so that a morph can float or climb inside without 
  obstructing traffic in the main volume. However, this 
  is effectively a larger hole in the main hull and the 
  supporting structure must be proportionally larger. 
  To avoid this problem, it is not uncommon for tin 
  can and cluster habs to build separate observation 
  modules that attach at the nodes and limit the size of 
  windows in the primary modules. 
  From a distance, the window stripes on O’Neill cylin-
  ders and their kin appear to be single-piece structures. 
  This is an artifact of scale. These enormous windows 
  are comprised of many small sections on a lattice 
  frame that carries the structural load from the internal 
  atmospheric pressure. Each pane consists of three 
  transparent layers—a thin outer layer of aluminum 
  80
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  crabs or other small arthropods, the bots have 
  multiple legs with grapple fixtures, onboard sensors, 
  mesh inserts, and reservoirs for carrying stock mate-
  rials. Thus, the same bots could be used for fixing 
  repair welds on the exterior structure, assembling 
  parts for a work crew, removing grime and debris, 
  or extruding adobe mortar for patching a decorative 
  piece on someone’s home. Some can even repro-
  cess waste materials on the spot for recycling with 
  internal microfurnaces.
  An alternative to robotic maintenance is the smart 
  animal. Smart rats or mice can be implanted with 
  mesh inserts and neural monitors to effectively allow 
  the control system to direct their behavior. Surviving 
  off the detritus from the habitat, the smart rodents 
  can remove waste products, deposit their own in a 
  pre-determined location, control the population of 
  unwanted insects and other invasive species, and 
  serve as mobile eyes, ears, and noses. Thanks to the 
  behavior control algorithms, their reproduction rate 
  can be limited to population maintenance levels and 
  modified as needed.
  Some habitats also employ smart monkeys because 
  of their strength, responsiveness to commands, and 
  ability to learn new tasks. They will also perform 
  menial, repetitive tasks that many fully sapient egos 
  would consider boring or beneath them. This can be 
  problematic, though, in colonies with high pressure 
  to provide physical bodies for infomorphs, as the 
  partially uplifted simians are considered competition 
  for work. 
  Habitats geared towards agriculture or acting as a 
  nature preserve will also often engineer biocompatible 
  spimes to constantly monitor the health and status of 
  their animal population. While an individual animal 
  may not be any more intelligent than its predecessor 
  on Earth, the behavior of the group can be tracked to 
  watch for emerging patterns or trends that indicate 
  the health of the entire habitat—the “canary in a coal 
  mine” principle. 
  MESH SYSTEMS
  A habitat’s mesh is its nervous system. Except for 
  the smallest tin can habs, there are simply too many 
  components, services, and factors and too much 
  information for any single intelligence to oversee. A 
  station’s mesh is almost always broken down into 
  decentralized subsystems, each monitored by dedi-
  cated AIs and infomorphs. Most subsystems are 
  individual VPNs, often secured with encryption given 
  the importance of their functioning for habitat safety. 
  Particularly sensitive systems may be hardwired rather 
  than wireless for increased security.
  SUBSYSTEMS
  Though a single rack of quantum computers has 
  enough power to run all of the basic functions of most 
  habitats, it is standard practice to subdivide mesh 
  infrastructure for safety and security. This prevents 
  MOnITORInG, MaInTEnanCE, anD REPaIR
  Information overload is extremely easy to come by 
  when monitoring a colony with tens of thousands 
  of residents, all relying on the successful parallel and 
  interdependent operation of hundreds of systems and 
  subsystems to stay alive. There is simply too much data 
  for any one ego to watch everything. Most infrastruc-
  ture maintenance is completely automated and handled 
  by AIs with little direct transhuman oversight. Though 
  spimes are widely used to provide instantaneous 
  information as needed, most sustaining operations are 
  automatically processed and handed off to robots for 
  regular maintenance. Even structural repairs that bring 
  the system back within design tolerances are often 
  handled immediately and simply noted in the system log.
  Transhuman oversight is only brought in when a 
  trend exceeds control limits—such as a progressively 
  failing structural member—or when a severe anomaly 
  such as a deliberate attempt to circumvent the system 
  is detected. At that point, the control authority can 
  access local spimes keeping track of pressure, temper-
  ature, structural stresses, power availability, and 
  atmospheric composition. Distributed multispectral 
  optics provide real-time video in, at least, the visual 
  and infrared bands. Connectivity monitors can even 
  inform the operator when parts of the communica-
  tion network (sensors, mesh, cabling, etc) fail, adding 
  another layer of information.
  For example, a breach in the hull that opened the 
  internal volume to vacuum could be detected by 
  pressure sensors reading the local ambient drop and 
  the suction, the breaks in communication between 
  connected spimes or any severed system conduits, 
  and pattern recognition software noting the visible 
  damage. A water tube ruptured by the breach would 
  report the drop in fluid pressure on the other side 
  of the tear and the flow rate into the void, while a 
  damaged power cable would be signaled by the break 
  in the local circuit. All of this sort of information 
  would inform anyone with access to the system about 
  the severity of the problem.
  Emergency repair is primarily concerned with 
  stopping whatever danger or anomaly has presented 
  itself until a permanent solution is found. Some 
  habitats actually have an automatic patching system 
  filled with a liquid polymer that expands and self-
  hardens in vacuum. Like coagulants in blood plugging 
  an open wound, this polymer will fill any hull breach 
  small enough that the escaping air volume does not 
  overwhelm the patch. Affected systems can then be 
  rerouted or shut down, as necessary. Inflatable scaf-
  folding is usually installed over the inside of the 
  breach to provide a seal while the polymer is removed 
  and permanent repair work begins, whether by robots, 
  synthmorphs, or “old school” welders in space suits.
  Standard maintenance is a more methodical and 
  controlled process. For habitats that cannot afford 
  sustaining nanomachines, standardized robots with 
  interchangeable tools are common. Often resembling 
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  HABITATS
  81
  
  aIs anD InFOMORPHS
  AIs, AGIs, and disembodied egos are common in 
  habitat mesh subsystems, keeping a continual virtual 
  eye on important functions. AIs are typically used for 
  routine and non-critical functions, each a specialist 
  in their particular field. AGIs and infomorphs are 
  reserved for more important functions, especially 
  those that require more sapient qualities of discern-
  ment, evaluation, and adaptability. These software 
  entities are usually programmed/instructed to alert 
  habitat officials when specific situations, problems, or 
  security breaches arise. Habitats with populations that 
  are more distrustful of AIs and AGIs will lower this 
  threshold and employ embodied personnel to oversee 
  system controls. Critical systems like life support, 
  space control, and defense will almost always have 
  security AIs that provide overwatch against intrusion 
  and subversion.
  HaBITaT SlEEvInG anD JaMMInG
  Many habitat systems are automated and/or feature 
  robotic components, so they can be operated through 
  the mesh via remote telepresence. By the same measure, 
  a habtech may jump into and “jam” such automated 
  habitat systems. This is a common procedure for 
  operations that require fine control or the finesse of an 
  ego. Some stations go even further, hooking up habitat 
  systems to specially designed cyberbrains, enabling an 
  ego to sleeve into the habitat or subsystem as if it were 
  a morph. The sensory input received from a habitat is 
  much different than standard humanoid morphs so 
  this job is unnerving to some, especially those that do 
  not take well to non-standard morphs. 
  Sleeving a habitat as a morph does not make 
  the ego omniscient or all-perceiving, any more 
  than being in a transhuman morph would make 
  one aware of all of the blood corpuscles, bacteria, 
  and food particles moving through one’s body. It 
  does however confer a sense of proprioception: the 
  perception of “body” awareness and where all of 
  the parts of a body are in relation to one another 
  at any given time. This means that the inhabiting 
  ego is aware of the macro-scale state of the habitat, 
  including such things as hull integrity, atmospheric 
  pressure (interior and exterior, if any), the func-
  tional status of the power grid and energy intake 
  and consumption, orbital position and velocity, and 
  the position and functionality of major external 
  “appendages” such as axial space docks or the 
  mirrors and windows on an O’Neill cylinder. 
  vR SIMUlSPaCES
  Given the high bandwidth consumed by virtual reality 
  simulspaces, many habitats feature hardwired connec-
  tions for simulspace functions, which also tends 
  to ensure a more stable connection. The particular 
  simulspaces offered vary with each habitat, but a wide 
  array of resort, recreational, and roleplaying sims are 
  usually provided.
  a single point of failure from taking out all habitat 
  systems. Particular regions of larger habitats and 
  specific habitat functions will almost always have their 
  own dedicated subsystems. Certain processor-intensive 
  tasks, such as running AGIs and simulspaces, will have 
  dedicated subsystems as well. This is normally true 
  even on smaller habs where there might otherwise be 
  only one master control system running everything.
  Subsystems are almost always slaved to whatever 
  system is in the hierarchy above them. This means that 
  an authenticated user on a master system will usually 
  have access privileges to the subsystems underneath it. 
  Particularly secure systems may require an extra layer 
  of authentication when accessing each subsystem, but 
  this is often impractical for day-to-day operations. A 
  more standard practice is to only apply extra security 
  to critically sensitive devices and functions.
  On habitats with a centralized authority (meaning 
  most inner system, hypercorp, and Jovian habitats), 
  there is likely to be a master control network that 
  oversees all habitat subsystems. Depending on their 
  security set-up, this control system may simply have 
  monitoring privileges or the subsystems may be slaved 
  and controlled. There are sometimes complications 
  with these arrangements, particularly given that many 
  inner system stations privatize certain aspects of habitat 
  operations, turning them over to hypercorps. It is not 
  uncommon, for example, for egocasting/farcasting and 
  defense/security operations to be under the private 
  control of a specific company and thus separate 
  from the habitat’s master control. In these situations, 
  the overall authority of the hab usually maintains 
  monitoring privileges, but accessing the privately run 
  subsystems requires authorization from that privatized 
  authority. In some cases, even habitat authorities may 
  be forbidden to access certain subsystems.
  Elsewhere, a habitat’s mesh systems may be far more 
  decentralized and independent. For example, anarchist 
  cluster habitats often have communal reactors, power 
  grids, makers, and harvesters. Many other systems, 
  like recycling, life support, and hull repair are the 
  province of individual modules. Customs, defense, 
  and security, where they exist, are frequently run by 
  specific collectives, syndicates, or worker’s councils—
  or sometimes even flash mobs. By custom, actions 
  taken and information collected by such groups 
  are logged as a matter of public record, available to 
  anyone with a public mesh connection.
  On other habitats, control of certain systems is 
  factional. Kronos Cluster in Rhea’s orbit has several 
  distinct power grids, split between anarchist and guanxi 
  neighborhoods. There is effectively no security, but the 
  ultimates in control of the spaceport have sole control 
  over customs, defense, and spaceport operations.
  Redundancy and backup systems are a common 
  feature. If a specific subsystem fails, there is quite 
  often another one that can be invoked to take its 
  place in whole or part—particularly if the system is 
  critical to habitat function or biomorph survival. 
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  MEDICal CaRE
  With widespread genetic engineering eliminating most 
  common diseases and defects, much of the medical care 
  on a habitat is geared towards emergency response, 
  research, biomorph cloning, and resleeving. Provisions 
  in a tin can habitat can be as sparse as a single medical 
  rack outfitted with first aid kits and an auto-doc that 
  can perform simple diagnostics, wound treatment, and 
  fluid infusions, while torus habs, cylinders, and Cole 
  bubbles with large populations may have a full trauma 
  center with a hypobaric chamber for decompression 
  sickness and “healing vats” that stabilize the patient 
  while high-quality medichines go to work. 
  Most people actually turn to their personal muse to 
  resolve everyday problems and temporary maladies, 
  such as an allergic response to a pollutant in the envi-
  ronment. The muse can identify the problem, deter-
  mine the appropriate response by cross-referencing 
  data on the mesh with their user’s medical history, 
  order whatever is required, and have it nanofabbed 
  or delivered to their user with little to no conscious 
  input. Except for residents in communities without 
  access to modern technology, no one really goes to 
  see the doctor anymore unless the problem is beyond 
  “off-the-shelf” solutions.
  BODY BanKS anD RESlEEvInG
  Resleeving is both big business and a part of everyday 
  life in most colonies. While areas controlled by the 
  hypercorps almost exclusively operate commercial 
  facilities that require direct payment for their services, 
  some autonomist and cooperative habitats actually 
  have public resleeving facilities that provide access to 
  basic, unmodified morphs. Highly specialized morphs, 
  of course, require more individual resources, some 
  kind of barter arrangement, and/or access to privately 
  owned facilities, but this ensures a minimum standard 
  of living for everyone in the community.
  Public resleeving is almost always restricted to 
  citizens to mitigate a mass influx of infugees and 
  prevent the transient population from putting a 
  strain on the system, though wait times have a strong 
  inverse correlation with an individual’s standing in 
  the rep economy. Such facilities provide the standard-
  of-care in terms of maintaining cleanliness, only 
  using certified ego bridges and providing untampered 
  bodies. However, there are no frills. Once an ego inte-
  grates with its new body and finishes acclimating, the 
  individual is free to go. On-site psychosurgery facili-
  ties are available in the event of the rare emergency, 
  but the public centers do not take responsibility for 
  any non-critical complications.
  Gravity is essential to the tissue-development 
  process involved with growing new biomorph clones, 
  which can be a strongly limiting factor on the morphs 
  available on tin can, beehive, and cluster habs. Morph 
  availability on habitats with spin or natural gravity is 
  only constrained by the resources and volume avail-
  able for the growth chambers or assembly lines. 
  MInInG anD HaRvESTInG
  Though recycling is a way of life for virtually every 
  habitat, the laws of physics mean that no system is 
  entirely perfect. Water stores must be replenished. 
  Exterior damage from cosmic radiation and debris 
  must be repaired. Broken equipment must be rebuilt 
  or replaced. Reactors must be refueled. Local mining 
  and harvesting is always the first choice to provide 
  these inputs, if at all possible.
  Habitats in orbit around the gas giants—Jupiter, 
  Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—operate craft specifi-
  cally designed to fill their tanks with atmospheric gases, 
  like hydrogen and helium, and rocket back to the 
  habitat for offloading. This is the primary method for 
  collecting helium-3 for fusion reactors. Atmospheric 
  mining craft—skimmers—must be adapted for their 
  particular environment to safely operate. For example, 
  Jovian skimmers require larger engines to overcome 
  the planet’s gravity well and heavier shielding for 
  electronics. Even virtual crew operating the skimmer 
  require some protection for their digital systems. 
  Saturn skimmers must deploy retractable stabilizers to 
  maintain control in the high winds. Nuclear thermal 
  rockets are common amongst all skimmers because of 
  their high thrust-to-weight ratio and ability to use the 
  ambient atmosphere as reaction mass.
  Microgravity harvesting bays are employed by most 
  habitats to bring in outside materials, such as rock 
  and ice, for processing into useful materials. Dense 
  fields like Saturn’s rings or debris clumps are relatively 
  easy to mine because there are so many particles 
  and chunks of material that can literally be grabbed 
  with a drone’s robot arms and propelled back to the 
  station. These capture drones are disc-shaped to give 
  a 360-degree reach from the main body and allow the 
  plasma thruster in the center to be pointed through the 
  center-of-gravity of any object. Most are no larger than 
  1.5 meters in diameter, with six to eight articulated 
  appendages that can reach another four meters each. 
  The mining of objects too big to be brought into the 
  harvesting bay requires a more methodical approach, 
  as there is no point in paying the reaction mass to 
  bring back mining slag. While large ice blocks can be 
  broken up into smaller pieces for delivery, captured 
  asteroids and comets are often covered with swarms 
  of microbots that locate veins of useful material, 
  burrow into the object, and extrude it to the surface 
  for capture drones to carry to the station. Thoroughly 
  blended objects will be encased, much like a Cole 
  bubble at its initial stages, and broken up into their 
  constituents with heat and gaseous reactants. All of 
  this is necessary to maximize the natural resources 
  obtained without adding orbital debris to the system.
  PUBlIC SERvICES
  Not all habitats provide public services, but they are 
  common on larger stations as well as autonomist 
  colonies and populations with dominant memes that 
  include social welfare.
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  HABITATS
  83
  
  a quick turnaround time. Similarly, many nanofab-
  bers are not capable of disassembling large items that 
  can’t be broken down or particularly dense objects, 
  so these must be taken to larger disassembly centers 
  for recycling.
  POWER
  A wide variety of options are available to provide 
  power for habitats, from generators that draw energy 
  from the local environment to immense fusion 
  reactors. However, the selection of a power source 
  is not just about generating current. Factors such as 
  population safety, refueling, structural limitations, 
  environmental limitations, and cost all play signifi-
  cant roles in determining what keeps the lights and 
  life support on.
  SOlaR
  Solar power remains common in the inner system 
  because the only costs are fabrication and mainte-
  nance. Far from the bulky, finicky, and toxic photo-
  voltaics of the early Space Age, panels are now printed 
  in sheets on a composite substrate with integrated 
  micro-scale concentrators that focus up to 90% of 
  the sun’s light on each cell. This reduces the size and 
  mass required to generate electricity dramatically. 
  Arrays that were once the size of a playing field are 
  now no bigger than a person. Excess heat rejection is 
  accomplished with capillary tubes circulating coolant 
  from the thermal control system.
  nanOFaBRICaTIOn
  Public nanofabricators run off the trash and other 
  wastes generated by a habitat. Anything on the blue-
  print list that can be made from the recycled materials 
  and does not violate contraband restrictions, such as 
  weapons or volatile chemicals, is available on-demand. 
  For example, many people will change clothes by 
  selecting their new attire from the list and discarding 
  what they have on into the recyclers to cover the cost. 
  Hazardous materials can only be recycled at desig-
  nated drop points to prevent cross-contamination. 
  Some public fabbers do have the option of expanding 
  the available blueprint list for a nominal fee or the 
  input of additional material by the user.
  Access is usually first-come, first-served, though 
  larger jobs that require more system time are auto-
  matically scheduled during off-peak hours. The fabber 
  will send the user a notification over the mesh when 
  the project is complete, if it cannot be assembled 
  immediately. Individuals who overuse the public 
  system can find themselves facing fees, based on either 
  the frequency or the scale of their requests, to cover 
  the additional cost of maintenance and upkeep. For 
  most habitats, this serves as an effective deterrent 
  against the free-rider problem.
  Nanofabrication of larger items, heavier construc-
  tion materials, or goods that require exotic or rare 
  elements may not be an option, but most larger 
  habitats have ample robofactories. These robofacs are 
  capable of handling custom design orders, often with 
  84
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  of electricity at up to 90% efficiency. During the fuel 
  cycle, the majority of the highly toxic fission byprod-
  ucts are consumed, such that the final waste only emits 
  alpha particles. These are blocked by biomorph skin, 
  though workers must take care not to inhale or ingest 
  any of the fuel during loading and maintenance.
  nUClEaR FUSIOn
  Fusion generators reside at the top of the chain 
  because no other system can match their balance 
  of high output, high efficiency, and storable fuel. 
  Deuterium-tritium reactors are both widespread 
  and the oldest generation of the technology because 
  they are the easiest to ignite. The problem with D-T 
  fusion is that the neutron flux is relatively high and 
  power must still be generated by transmitting heat to 
  a working fluid. Over time, the containment vessel 
  will become irradiated and the moving parts in the 
  generator will break down.
  Habitats in the outer system solved this problem 
  by mining helium-3 from the atmospheres of the gas 
  giants. Though He-3 fusion has a higher ignition 
  temperature and lower reaction efficiency, the neutron 
  flux is reduced by as much as two-thirds and the 
  average emission is much less energetic. Helium-3 
  fusion also produces electrons for direct transmission, 
  eliminating a separate generator. As a result, He-3 
  reactors are smaller and lighter for the same produc-
  tion capacity, though they require a special fuel.
  The Planetary Consortium refuses to be dependent 
  on shipments from the Titan Commonwealth, though. 
  The dense plasma focus reactor was originally devel-
  oped on Titan for researching exotic, low-neutron 
  fuels, but scientists and engineers in the Consortium 
  have perfected it for the deuterium-deuterium 
  reaction. Cycles of electromagnetic acceleration and 
  compression generate plasma that is “pinched” into 
  a state where fusion occurs. As with helium fusion, 
  DPF directly converts the fusion energy into electricity, 
  but at much higher efficiency and with fuel from any 
  source of hydrogen. 
  POWER TRanSMISSIOn
  Most power transmission is over low-loss carbon 
  nanotube filaments or fiberoptic cable, unless 
  particular environmental conditions favor metal wire. 
  This allows a habitat to provide power without high 
  voltage lines that present both an electrification and 
  thermal hazard. Fiberoptic lines require the electricity 
  be converted into a laser for transmission. Power can 
  also be transmitted wirelessly by electrodynamic induc-
  tion or beaming. The induction method is useful at 
  short range for universal charging pads, RFID patches, 
  smartcards, and portable devices. While it is possible 
  for a habitat to install induction coils throughout 
  the volume for constant recharging, this is inefficient 
  unless absolutely required. 
  Long-distance wireless power transmission, such as 
  from powersats, is done by laser or microwave. The 
  ElECTRODYnaMIC TETHERS
  Habitats that move through planetary or solar 
  magnetic fields can generate power by extending 
  electrodynamic tethers but require reboosting as 
  they exchange kinetic for electrical energy. Electric 
  potential builds up along the cable as it moves in its 
  orbit through the magnetic field. Skyhooks and roto-
  vators can reduce this process to generate thrust, but 
  stationary space elevators are motionless with respect 
  to the local magnetic field. However, this system 
  requires enough proximity to a local plasma source for 
  electron exchange. In the case of Jupiter, such regions 
  are also home to dangerous radiation belts. Vibrational 
  modes from pendular motion and unexpected surges 
  or discharges from variations in the local field can also 
  make an electrodynamic tether unstable.
  THERMal GEnERaTORS
  Thermal generators typically are based on the Stirling 
  engine. A heat source such as a solar mirror or radio-
  active pellets warms a working fluid, which drives a 
  piston in a linear alternator. The piston, in turn, drives 
  the generator to produce electricity. The remaining 
  heat is rejected to space. Though thermal generators 
  are limited in output by the efficiency of the Stirling 
  engine, they are very robust, provide constant, low 
  levels of power, and can operate for decades. Some 
  pre-Fall probes in the Kuiper Belt are still functioning 
  on these systems with a minimal loss from the steady 
  decay of their radioactive fuel pellets. Thermal 
  generators are also popular with processor loci and 
  as emergency backups. Nuclear batteries are a special 
  variant of the thermal generator and directly convert 
  the heat from radioactive decay into electricity by 
  thermocouples. This is less efficient because of conver-
  sion limitations, but more easily miniaturized because 
  there are no moving parts.
  Nuclear batteries are a special variant of the 
  thermal generator that converts the products of radio-
  active decay into electric power. The oldest and least 
  efficient generate power from heat via thermocouples, 
  while modern optoelectric batteries use either photo-
  cells tuned to capture IR or betavoltaics that convert 
  captured beta radiation with minimal thermal losses.  
  Some work has been done with converting higher-
  energy emissions, such as gamma rays, but the risk 
  of backscatter radiation is much higher and requires 
  heavy shielding.
  nUClEaR FISSIOn
  Nuclear fission remains an option on planetary 
  habitats in the inner system, where most radionuclides 
  are concentrated. The most widely used design is the 
  fission fragment reactor. Nanoparticles of fuel are elec-
  trostatically suspended in the core, while a magnetic 
  mirror focuses the ionized byproducts of fission into a 
  beam. The surface area of the “dusty plasma” is high 
  enough that radiative cooling is effective on its own. 
  Deceleration of the ion beam provides direct collection 
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  HABITATS
  85
  
  save costs in non-essential areas. These bots can also 
  be equipped with standardized packages that vary 
  with the assignment. A “pacification loadout” typi-
  cally consists of a vortex ring gun or shock baton, a 
  grenade launcher with concussion or overload rounds, 
  and a freezer spray weapon or microwave agonizer. 
  The “assault loadout” trends more towards seeker 
  rifles, explosive mini-grenades, and submachine 
  guns with zero bullets or laser-guidance. Bots can 
  also use whatever tools or equipment they have on 
  hand, though the results can vary. Just the presence 
  of a dwarf bot with mining bores spinning might be 
  enough to scare off a would-be attacker. It might also 
  incite unruly protestors to cry, “Oppression!”
  Morph guards are used in habitats where the 
  authorities give the security forces more discretion, a 
  private company provides the services, or drones are 
  distrusted. Olympians and novacrabs are common 
  biomorphs in security, as well as arachnoid and slith-
  eroid synth-shells. These are sometimes equipped with 
  heavier armaments, military armor, or exoskeletons 
  in situations that call for force multipliers. Mil-spec 
  reapers and similar combat morphs are kept on 
  stand-by in case of serious disturbances, dangerous 
  outbreaks, or military assaults. The Jovians are 
  particularly reliant on biomorphs for physical security 
  because they don’t trust computers to do all the work 
  and they have a deep disdain for police baboons that 
  “put good men out of work.” The average Jovian 
  enforcer is likely to have a shock baton and a pistol 
  with flex or zap bullets. Only higher-ranking officers, 
  corporate security, and military police have the 
  authority to use fully lethal firearms, though most of 
  the Junta’s leadership looks the other way if a dissi-
  dent is outright beaten to death.
  Habitats that lack the compunctions of the bioconser-
  vatives have also been known to include smart animals 
  in their security apparatus, from smart dogs upgraded 
  with defensive bioware and cybernetics to the dangerous 
  but effective police baboon. Smart rats and mice can 
  also serve as an unobtrusive network of monitors. 
  SEnSOR SYSTEMS
  All of the functional systems that make up a habitat 
  rely on either embedded or parallel sensors to 
  function smoothly. Pressure and strain gauge spimes 
  on mechanical systems provide that data that lets the 
  control system know when a pump or seal is going 
  to fail. Infrasound detectors can quickly communicate 
  the presence and intensity of systemic disturbances 
  that may take out local electronic sensors, such as the 
  detonation of an EMP device.
  Electromagnetic field meters and magnetometers 
  built into the external structure of the habitat are 
  used to monitor solar weather. They can also be used 
  to detect if an approaching spacecraft isn’t everything 
  it seems. For example, there could be a problem if 
  lidar and t-ray scans show a bulk cargo freighter, but 
  the reactor power and EM field are more consistent 
  with heavy directed energy weapons.
  microwave method has efficiencies on the order of 
  95%, but requires large transmission and receiving 
  antennas. A 750-megawatt system would require a 
  1-kilometer diameter transmitter and a 10-kilometer 
  rectenna, for example. Laser transmission can be 
  miniaturized, even to the level of nanosatellites, but 
  loses some efficiency in the conversion process. The 
  receiver is simply a monochromatic solar cell opti-
  mized for the laser frequency.
  SECURITY
  Except for tin can hovels on the edge of the system, 
  widespread surveillance is a fact of life thanks to the 
  nearly uncountable number of small data-gathering 
  devices. Even anarchist and autonomist habitats have 
  the same surveillance and security systems as the hyper-
  corps, Consortium, and the Junta; the difference is in 
  the philosophy and control schemes that govern them. 
  Spimes are useful because they provide data at 
  nearly any level of granularity a person desires. 
  Though the majority of individuals prefer to filter out 
  data at the conscious level that isn’t directly relevant 
  to their interests, most muse software includes auto-
  matic subroutines that access local spime data and 
  status updates from Habitat Control to immediately 
  inform the user if a threat presents itself. This is a 
  much faster and more efficient method for getting 
  residents out of harm’s way than a centralized alert 
  system. It also gives individual morphs a greater 
  chance of evading harm until the proper authorities 
  respond to the threat, be it a criminal, an environ-
  mental hazard, or a structural issue. If carbon dioxide 
  levels are getting dangerously high in a certain area, 
  for example, the local mesh will provide the muse 
  with a constant update of the conditions, allowing a 
  muse to guide its user to safety. If someone is being 
  chased in an alley, their muse can access the mesh to 
  tell authorities which local spimes can view the threat, 
  plot multiple courses to safe areas, and even put a 
  public alert out to draw attention.
  Like other habitat systems, many colonies rely on 
  sentry bots and similar AI-piloted robotic guardians 
  to handle routine security measures. Bots are favored 
  over personnel because they follow orders without 
  question and avoid putting an actual ego in danger. 
  Microgravity habitats, especially tin cans, very often 
  rely on drone security because the machines do 
  not impose on their life support margins or create 
  organic waste to be dealt with. Quite often these 
  bots are overseen by infomorph security personnel, 
  who can evaluate if an incident requires more discre-
  tion, tact, or overwhelming force than the security 
  bot is applying. These operators can also teleoperate 
  or jam the bot directly, putting themselves in control 
  of the situation. 
  Aside from standard sentry bots, many habitats 
  employ automech, dwarf, and similar utility robots to 
  handle security threats because they can be used for 
  other tasks when not responding to alerts. Hypercorp 
  habitats are well-known for using this method to 
  86
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  UPLIFTS
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  SURVEILLANCE
  
  mounted on modular pallets that can be repaired and 
  replaced without requiring a massive overhaul of the 
  habitat structure. These sensor pallets can also be easily 
  distributed over the hull to increase the effective size 
  of an array without necessarily making a bigger target. 
  Large sensor arrays and antenna are only used for 
  very specific purposes, such as wide field detection of 
  galactic gamma ray bursts and military electromagnetic 
  warfare operations (jammers). Smaller sensors arranged 
  into interferometers and partnered with powerful data 
  processing software typically are more than sufficient. 
  TRanSIT SYSTEMS
  Fully enclosed habitats with little open space often 
  rely on elevators and internal rail cars to move 
  Chemical sniffers can be optimized to trigger upon 
  the introduction of a compound that should not 
  be there, such as explosive materials or the exhala-
  tions of biomorphs in restricted areas. Rare element 
  scanners are more expensive and specialized, but 
  virtually impossible to beat without enclosing the 
  contraband in an entirely closed-loop environmental 
  system and cleaning the exterior of the container 
  thoroughly to match ambient conditions. Such an 
  apparatus will itself require a strong cover story or 
  masking of its own to get past customs and security.
  EXTERnal SEnSORS
  External sensors such as lidar scanners, radar arrays, 
  passive T-ray detectors, and IR cameras are often 
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  HABITATS
  87
  BIOSYSTEMS
  Biosystem habitats like MeatHab have representa-
  tions of the major physiological systems in an animal. 
  The biosystem equivalent of an alimentary tract 
  would take raw resources from harvesters through 
  designated orifices, use biomechanical pumps to 
  transfer the water and nutrients to bioreactors that 
  grow the components for other biosystems, and 
  pump whatever excess remains to another set of 
  bioreactors that process internal wastes for recy-
  cling. Only toxins and slag that cannot be broken 
  down into something useful would be vented into 
  space at the end of this process.
  Some kind of analogue to the endocrine system 
  is also necessary to provide biochemical control over 
  tissue function and metabolism. This is a regulatory 
  network of chemical pathways that tells the biosys-
  tems how to perform, whereas the nervous system 
  tells the biosystems what to do and informs the 
  primary control system of the overall functioning of 
  the system. As a result, the endocrine and nervous 
  systems are almost always connected in a feedback 
  loop. For example, the endocrine system can release 
  additional neurotransmitter chemicals into the 
  neural tissue to facilitate increased activity, based on 
  an initial command from the primary controller deliv-
  ered to the endocrine system by the nervous system.
  Regenerative biosystem exterior hulls are very 
  much modeled after the life cycle of skin. The 
  outer layer of cells is engineered to harden and 
  self-seal upon exposure to vacuum and die in place. 
  Exposure to radiation, debris, and micrometeroids 
  will cause this outer layer to ablate away over time 
  and healthy cells grown underneath will take its 
  place. This steadily self-replenishing system can be 
  one of the major drivers of resource harvesting for 
  a biosystems habitat. However, it cannot carry the 
  structural loads of the habitat on its own.
  Fixed biosystem hulls are instead derived from 
  arthropod biology and have a silicate exoskeleton 
  with thick carapace-like walls designed to withstand 
  the steady bombardment of the space environment. 
  Repairing damage to such a biosystems hull can  
  be difficult, though, because the completed struc-
  ture is effectively dead. Some bioengineers think a 
  hybrid system with regenerative walls growing in 
  the spaces of a fixed-hull lattice gives the best of 
  both worlds.
  An endoskeleton structure has the advantage 
  of being protected against the elements by the 
  outer skin and can grow with the habitat over 
  time. However, getting the right balance between 
  the flexibility of a cartilage-like network and the 
  strength of bone-like structure can be difficult. 
  Calcium can also be hard to come by in the outer 
  solar system, where biosystems habitats are more 
  accepted. Instead, an injectable compound derived 
  from human bone replacement therapies is excreted 
  from the bioreactors and hardens at ambient tem-
  perature. Once set, this flexible composite has a min-
  eral-to-organic ratio compatible with surrounding 
  tissue and strength comparable to structural steel. 
  Myomers grown from stem cells in the bioreac-
  tors provide the motive power for a biosystems 
  habitat. They can be rolled up into biomechanical 
  pumps, laid out over capillary tubes, control ori-
  fices that act like hatches and doors, and squeeze 
  biosystems glands that provide food and water for 
  the residents. The musculature must be attached 
  to the primary structure to provide any leverage. 
  Otherwise, the habitat would just be a quivering 
  mass of tissue.
  Though many bioengineers will matrix elec-
  tronic sensors into biosystems in a manner akin 
  to cybernetic modification of a morph, there is 
  growing research into biosensors. Biological tran-
  sistors can transmit the data from light-sensing 
  cells, chemical receptors, lateral lines, and other 
  bioware directly to the neural network for pro-
  cessing, sometimes with fewer false positives than 
  electronic sensors. 
  n
  
  HaZaRDS
  Source: The Homesteader’s Guide—an official Jovian 
  Republic publication for Reagan cylinder residents
   
  [Link]
  Everyone knows on an intellectual level that space is 
  a hostile environment. Since our survival depends on 
  conquering the showers of radiation, wide tempera-
  ture swings, and infinite vacuum, we have a tendency 
  to become complacent or, at least, push the risks 
  to the backs of our minds. For many individuals, a 
  complex web of technology and other people stand 
  between them and the danger. Even in the event of an 
  emergency, most rescue systems are designed to be so 
  simple and so automatic that a child can follow the 
  directions without an adult present.
  We in the Republic don’t rely on machines to do 
  our thinking for us, though. We face the danger with 
  clear eyes and full vigilance against the unforgiving 
  black. Though the Reagan cylinder is a triumph of 
  engineering, external threats could one day penetrate 
  the armor it provides. You need to know what to 
  expect if the unthinkable should happen. This section 
  of the Guide will help you remember what is impor-
  tant and may just save your life and those of your 
  loved ones in the event of an emergency.
  FIRE
  Fire is the most common and among the most feared 
  dangers on a habitat because it affects everything. 
  The fire itself uses up vital oxygen and releases soot 
  and toxic compounds into the air. Persistent burning 
  can destroy internal systems and damage structural 
  elements. If left unchecked, a fire can spread quickly 
  from its source, which is always a concern in an 
  enclosed volume. 
  The easiest way to avoid a fire hazard in everyday 
  life is to keep separation between heat sources and 
  potential fuel, such as trash, clothing, electronics, and 
  food. Inadequately protected cabling is believed to 
  be responsible for sparking the flash fire that killed 
  America’s first lunar explorers. Anything that emits 
  fumes should also be extremely well-ventilated. One 
  early cosmonaut died horrifically when he threw an 
  alcohol-soaked cotton swab into the trash near an 
  open Bunsen burner flame and it ignited in the pure 
  oxygen environment. 
  Immediately report any signs of fire. Initial warning 
  signals are the charcoal smell of smoke, an acrid smell 
  from burning plastic, an unusual mass of hot air, or 
  smoke tendrils. If you locate an open, uncontrolled 
  flame, find the nearest emergency alarm and follow 
  the directions given by Control. In the event of a fire 
  alarm, follow the directions announced by Control or 
  local Republic authorities.
  A fire on the Russian Mir station from a failed 
  oxygen generator nearly destroyed an entire module 
  before it was brought under control. However, 
  the burning plastic and metal overwhelmed the 
  people around. In the case of microgravity habitats, 
  there is little difference between the two in function. 
  Elevators tend to be thought of more for moving 
  people inside buildings and discrete structures, while 
  a tram or train is used for transit across the entire 
  habitat. In habitats with artificial gravity, elevators 
  are associated with moving “vertically” in the direc-
  tion of the gravity gradient.
  Floatways are the lifelines between modules in 
  tin cans and cluster habs. Entirely in microgravity, 
  the walls are designed to carry power connections, 
  fluid transfer tubes, gas hoses, and various other 
  infrastructure lines without blocking personal traffic, 
  internal airflow, or emergency hatches. Automatic 
  linkages at each connection point have valves that 
  simultaneously cut off the flow through the wall lines 
  if the emergency hatches are closed. This ensures that 
  fires, hull breaches, and other hazards can be quickly 
  contained. Early space stations often passed internal 
  lines and hoses through the open hatches, which 
  meant there was not enough time to close the hatch 
  in an emergency because the astronauts had to clear 
  the volume first.
  Grab-loop conveyors in floatways and within large 
  hab modules themselves allow morphs in micro-
  gravity to quickly get from place to place without 
  expending a lot of energy or risking bumping into 
  people, which often has a cascading effect of bodies 
  ricocheting off each other in a crowded volume. The 
  conveyors follow predetermined routes and entoptics 
  are tuned to the system to provide directions and 
  notification if a transfer to another line is necessary. 
  Within a floatway, grab-loops are self-contained and 
  do not cross the seal at the connection point, so most 
  riders let go at the end and coast to the next line.
  Monorail lines can be installed both within the 
  pressurized volume and on the exterior of the hull 
  for rapid transit across the habitat. Many Bernal 
  spheres, Cole Bubbles, and O’Neill cylinders have 
  monorail lines that traverse the rotational axis and 
  along the surface of the habitable area. The trains that 
  transition between the low gravity at the poles and 
  the spun gravity on the interior surface typically have 
  grab loops all over the interior walls and gel couches 
  that a morph can press into to hold still during the 
  change in gravity. Some habitats forgo trains in favor 
  of personal travel pods that run back and forth across 
  the lines. This allows each traveler to adjust the 
  interior to their personal level of comfort and select a 
  route and travel speed of choice.
  Many habs with rotational gravity maintain a 
  public bicycle system in the habitable area. Bikes for 
  rent tend to be more common in the inner system, 
  while free bicycle networks are typical in the outer 
  colonies because they are so easily produced by nano-
  fabrication. In either case, bicycles are cheap, provide 
  good exercise, don’t pollute the internal environment, 
  and take up little space—especially if a folding bike or 
  urbanized design is used. More people know how to 
  ride a bike than drive a ground vehicle, after the Fall.
  88
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  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  system will eventually be unable to cope and the 
  ambient environment will be increasingly unsafe 
  without personal protection equipment. A habitat 
  is said to be “septic” if levels of toxic materials or 
  the presence of pathogens (bacteria and viruses) that 
  flourish in the poor conditions are high enough to 
  require full environmental gear. If you notice signs 
  that your area is “going septic,” it is your civic duty to 
  report what you find to the local Republic authorities.
  Look for cloudy or odd-colored water or particles 
  settling out. This might be a sign of a broken filter. 
  If your water pressure is low, immediately report it 
  to Control as this could indicate a pump failure or 
  a major leak. If the plumbing is pressure-fed, waste-
  water might backflow and cause local contamination. 
  If you detect any sort of sewage in your water, notify 
  Control and request a hazmat flush of your system.
  DECOMPRESSIOn
  Thanks to the natural protection of a Reagan cylin-
  der’s thick rock walls, decompression is rarely a 
  concern for the main habitat spaces. However, this 
  is something you should keep in mind if you work 
  in the spaceport or a mine near the exterior surface. 
  Decompression is also a plausible threat if a foreign 
  adversary ever attempted to invade the cylinder. As 
  a result, you should always remember the basics on 
  exposure to vacuum.
  A slow leak should give you time to put on a 
  spacesuit or oxygen mask and/or evacuate to a 
  station’s primitive environmental control system. The 
  American astronaut on board at the time reportedly 
  could still smell the fire for months afterwards. 
  Residents who spend time in external microgravity 
  modules should be aware that fire is spherical in 
  shape in microgravity. Such fires also expand more 
  slowly, as they do not draw in as much air as they do 
  in gravity conditions. Many small fires will actually 
  put themselves out if there is a lack of air circulation.
  POllUTIOn
  This brings us to the issue of air pollution. 
  Environmental systems are responsible for keeping 
  the air we breathe clean. If those systems break down 
  or are destroyed, you will need to control your emis-
  sions to help keep the air safe for everyone. Most 
  storage containers are designed to absorb the natural 
  off-gassing that occurs with nearly every manufac-
  tured material, so put your things away when not 
  using them. 
  Biological emissions, such as bad breath, evapo-
  rated sweat, accumulated dust from skin cells, and 
  flatulence, can be a significant contributor to local air 
  pollution, so keep your body clean. If you notice that 
  the airflow is low or inconsistent and you start to feel 
  ill, move to a new location or call for help. Carbon 
  dioxide from your exhaled breath might be building 
  up to dangerous levels in your area. 
  If pollutants in the air and water are allowed to 
  accumulate, the environmental and life support 
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  HABITATS
  89
  
  in the power generation loop can vent superheated 
  steam at high pressure. A failure in the cooling loop 
  or containment system, such as from battle damage 
  or a core meltdown, could contaminate the reactor 
  spaces such that specialized suits would be required 
  for safe access. In the event of a catastrophic failure of 
  a fusion reactor, the reacting plasma could be vented 
  like a torch. Also, fusion fuels that emit neutrons 
  during the reaction irradiate the containment shell 
  over time. The destruction of an old fusion reactor 
  could, thus, scatter radioactive metal.
  Abandoned habitats that are known to have 
  suffered at the twisted machinations of the TITANS 
  or are suspected of infection are typically sterilized 
  with x-ray lasers and guided into an impact course 
  with Jupiter to ensure no trace of the enemy remains. 
  Entire projects have been lost when a work crew 
  stumbled upon and inadvertently activated a trap left 
  behind. We mourn their loss, but remain thankful the 
  containment procedures continue to work. 
  If you notice changes in your own behavior or 
  that of the people you know after doing work on a 
  reclamation project, report to Control for a medical 
  evaluation. Anti-social or sociopathic behavior, 
  paranoia, speaking in tongues, and impulsive activity 
  are warning signs. Also watch for inexplicable 
  disorientation, seizures, hallucinations, and chronic 
  nausea. Physical changes can include unusual 
  growths, inhuman body features, skin alterations, 
  and even physiological transformation—all in a 
  matter of hours. 
  Also monitor your equipment for inexplicable 
  malfunctions or outright subversion. Please report 
  rapid or degenerative changes in people or equip-
  ment to Control immediately. If you are self-reporting, 
  assist with the quarantine process. Control will assign 
  you to the nearest rescue zone to limit any infection. 
  Turn off any inserts or portable devices. Do not 
  attempt to re-sync with the mesh. The proper authori-
  ties will locate you, secure the site, and provide you 
  with instructions to be followed to the letter and 
  without question. This is for your own safety and that 
  of others. 
  Sadly, we must also remember that not everyone 
  accepts the truth we have found in the Jovian 
  Republic. Criminals and anarchists alike threaten 
  our stability and security because of our belief in 
  the sanctity of every human life as nature intended. 
  More than a few have attempted to use abandoned 
  habitats as covert bases of operation from which to 
  launch unprovoked attacks on Republic information 
  systems and citizens. Others use derelict stations 
  as waypoints for the trafficking of dangerous and 
  illicit materials, including understandably forbidden 
  TITAN relics. If you come across evidence of subver-
  sive activity or identify a criminal outfit in the course 
  of your work, report your findings to the security 
  services without delay. You may just be the next 
  Hero of the Republic.
  secure location. Be careful if you’re working in an 
  area without automatic sensors, though. Hypoxia 
  could settle in and threaten your health if you aren’t 
  paying attention. This might result from a broken 
  external seal or a small penetration of the outer hull 
  that does not affect the overall structural strength of 
  the habitat.
  Rapid, or “explosive,” depressurization is indicative 
  of a more catastrophic structural or systems failure, 
  such as outside attack or impact with a large piece of 
  debris. By whatever cause, the sudden weakening of 
  the pressure containment is overcome by the internal 
  air attempting to equalize with the near-perfect 
  vacuum outside. The suction force may eject you into 
  open space if you are not tethered by a safety line. 
  In an event like this, the affected sections will almost 
  certainly be sealed to prevent further depressuriza-
  tion. Self-rescue may be your best option, if you are 
  sealed out and can find a way to an unaffected airlock 
  before emergency personnel arrive. 
  DaMaGED HaBITaTS anD SYSTEMS
  Only properly trained and licensed salvage opera-
  tors are authorized to approach or enter derelict 
  habitats. Some reclamation work of habitats criti-
  cally damaged or abandoned during the war with the 
  AIs is underway, but strict protocols are in place to 
  prevent a Trojan horse from threatening our people. 
  Even abandoned stations confirmed to be untainted 
  by their presence are still dangerous places. Much of 
  the knowledge gained by the brave salvagers could 
  be useful in an evacuation during enemy attack, so 
  heed their lessons.
  Severe structural damage makes for protrusion, 
  debris, and sharp edge hazards to gloves and suits. 
  This is especially true for soft suits and mechanical 
  compression garments. Always be careful where you 
  grab with your hands and move your arms and legs. 
  Many abandoned habitats are also either exposed to 
  vacuum or have unbreathable internal volumes. The 
  interior surfaces might even be covered with vented 
  toxic materials, including chemicals that can degrade 
  suit materials upon contact or warming in sunlight.
  Dormant security systems with independent power 
  supplies could perceive entrants as a threat and react 
  accordingly. Damage to their control hardware and/
  or software would render them unresponsive even to 
  people with the required ident codes or security keys. 
  Scrambled mesh systems can “snow” sensors with 
  junk data or even be used as a vector for attacking 
  perceived intruders.
  Damaged power systems are a particularly severe 
  hazard. Never touch an exposed power cable without 
  confirming it is not electrified. Keep in mind that 
  suits with protection against electric shock may 
  not be able to withstand the heat loading from a 
  high voltage line. The greatest dangers from fission 
  power generators are the heated working fluids and 
  the radioactive materials at the core. A breakdown 
  90
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  another. Spaces can be designed to awe and inspire 
  or to impose and oppress. It can be as obvious as a 
  locked door or entoptic warning, it can be as subtle as 
  the bend to an avenue or the slope of a corridor. The 
  wide boulevard beneath the landscaped sky of a Cole 
  bubble invites wandering and welcomes strangers, 
  while demonstrating the seemingly invulnerable scale 
  of the habitat. The red, narrow corridor that slopes 
  down out of sight past a nest of waste bins rejects the 
  casual traveler, representing itself as a utilitarian place 
  meant for workers and those who belong. 
  AR navigation only makes explicit what urban 
  planners and architects have been making intuitive 
  for centuries. Some places invite traffic, some places 
  repel it, some places send out implicit signals coded 
  for polite society, some places are clearly labeled. 
  These e-tags can dominate our perceptions if we let 
  them, enveloping us in mists of information, instruc-
  tions, warnings, and advertisements. Even when you 
  filter them down, the important security notices will 
  breach your defenses with their alert protocols, telling 
  you explicitly where not to go and what not to do. We 
  become so accustomed to these references, we some-
  times don’t see the physical strata that lies underneath. 
  Many of us automatically skin over certain aspects 
  of the environment with which we do not wish to be 
  bothered, literally blinding ourselves to our surround-
  ings. For a different experience, walk the same routes 
  with your mesh link turned off, and see the terrain 
  for what it actually is. With your attention free from 
  distraction and censorship, you will see your habitat 
  with new eyes.
  With RFID signals and mesh presences, buildings 
  talk to us directly. They tell us their histories, their 
  major features and points of interest. We see the 
  tags left behind by visitors, the reviews, commentary, 
  and graffiti. We see the impact this place has had on 
  people’s lives, if we choose to look. Each place has a 
  story to tell, if you take the time to learn it. 
  They also lie. The advertisements that ping every 
  muse don’t just promote a place’s marketability, they 
  can also promote its rank and appeal, characterizing 
  a venue and turning a rundown dive frequented by 
  habtechs and miners (exclusive and unwelcoming) 
  into an authentic neighborhood experience (acces-
  sible and welcoming). Has the writer of that ad polled 
  the clientèle to see if all those habtechs and miners 
  want fresh young things in their third place? It doesn’t 
  matter—the ad has transformed the clientèle into a 
  part of the establishment, at least for those people 
  whose muses let the ad through.
  Don’t just read the AR tags that come your way, 
  consider who wrote them and why. Whenever you’re 
  being directed towards some landmark, you’re being 
  directed away from someone’s local touchstone. For 
  you, the New York memorial in the torus’s Grand 
  Park is the defining feature of the landscape, and 
  the AR backs you up. But to the locals, Grand Park 
  is defined by the spot where the local police found 
  the bodies last year, which they have all flagged and 
  THE HaBITaT IS nOT THE TERRITORY
  Posted by: Nadim Saleh, Neo-Situationist 
   
  <Info Msg Rep>
  We act in the spaces we inhabit and the spaces we 
  inhabit act on us. We shape our environment and our 
  environment shapes us. 
  Our habitat exists not just as a physical and 
  temporal thing but as a psychological construct 
  infused with memories and assumptions. Through 
  the mesh, our physical space enters our psychic 
  space. Every habitat exists both as a physical thing in 
  physical space and as a kind of memory palace in our 
  information space. We navigate not just by maps and 
  sights, but also by associations. We navigate not by 
  geography alone, but also by psychogeography.
  We appreciate our spaces differently when we know 
  what they’re made for. Habitats either lack mystery 
  (for we made everything from the shell to the sky) 
  or have mystery selectively applied to them through 
  willful ignorance. We choose not to research the 
  creators of our flats and the architects of our skies 
  because we want a sense of an era behind us, we want 
  the mystique of a world larger than the routine we 
  inhabit. We want to feel like we can find some beau-
  tiful detail to appreciate that is just ours; we don’t 
  want to be reminded that every such detail was put 
  there by some designer or nanobot. Not every minute 
  of the damn day, we don’t.
  Psychogeography is about cultivating an under-
  standing of how an urban space affects an inhab-
  itant—and for our purposes every habitat is an urban 
  space, thanks to issues of overcrowding, economy of 
  space, and public versus personal understanding of 
  communal spaces.
  Your job is not just to get the best feeds into your 
  entoptics, not to parse the best data, not to carefully 
  program an exquisite muse, your job is to fucking 
  think about what you’re being shown, what you’re 
  being told, and the choices you make as a result. Why 
  do you walk through that park on your way to the 
  genetics market every day? Why do you avoid the 
  corridors that run under the hospital buildings in 
  your station? Why do you scale the vertical hallways 
  of your microgravity beehive using these rungs and 
  not those?
  Don’t let designers make all of your decisions for you.
  PSYCHOGEOGRaPHIC aWaREnESS
  In the 20th century, Raoul Vaneigem wrote, “All space 
  is occupied by the enemy. We are living under a perma-
  nent curfew. Not just the cops—the geometry,” and if 
  it was true then it is more true now, when we’re all 
  hedged in, quarantined by geometries designed to keep 
  us alive but also to keep us orderly, docile, routine. 
  Our habitats are built to resist damage from 
  without and attacks from within, but they are also 
  designed to deflect attacks, to channel behaviors, 
  to encourage one kind of attitude and discourage 
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  HABITATS
  91
  
  to Pluto have reported forgotten spaces in habitats 
  otherwise choking from overcrowding. Every station 
  has its place that, if not abandoned, is at least empty. 
  Since everything in a modern habitat is adjacent to 
  something, these empty areas are often useful for 
  gaining access to otherwise restricted areas.
  EXOHaBITaTIOn
  Every habitat is a bubble of denial, a refutation of 
  environmental facts, a statement that we can survive 
  even after the umbilical to Earth has been cut. We 
  dwell in places that humanity wasn’t evolved to 
  handle, and we’ve adapted. In a way, we’re all refugees. 
  We live in exohabitats and engineered morphs meant 
  to combat a universe that doesn’t want us, but what 
  does exo even mean when there is no home world to 
  go back to? 
  Habitats are designed to make the experience of life 
  without an Earth seem less daunting, less frightening, 
  less alien. Already, the next generation of transhu-
  manity is growing up to find existence in space to 
  be the new normal. Instead, whatever approach the 
  habitat designers have taken to combat the surreality 
  of permanent existence amid the stars is simply the 
  way things are at home. Even me, saying this to you, 
  may come across as ridiculous. Maybe you find life 
  in Nova York’s needle-like buildings normal, and my 
  nostalgia for Earthly life sees antiquated.
  In my experience, habitat designers follow one of 
  three different philosophies when combating the alien 
  experience of exohabitation:
  First, the routine makes the alien less alien. 
  Habitats built with this philosophy in mind rely on 
  urban planning notions and Earth-like cityscapes 
  for their designs. They tend to be large habitats with 
  parks and “open air” areas, even if the sun is actually 
  a spindle of hyper-bright lamps and the sky is a series 
  of enormous portholes looking out onto the hub of 
  the torus. At least there’s a sky instead of a ceiling. 
  At least the habitat feels as familiar as a city and 
  gravity feel. Traces of the familiar evoke a comfort-
  able nostalgia which inhabitants wrap themselves in.
  Second, embrace the alien. Smaller habitats and 
  microgravity habitats are more likely to follow this 
  philosophy. Nova York is a good example, in fact: 
  it’s beautiful, it’s functional, and it’s utterly unearthly. 
  Inhabitants there either adopt an appreciation for the 
  adventure of the new existence … or they distract 
  themselves with it. That frontier adventure spirit is 
  vital for gatecrashers and extrasolar colonials, too, 
  but don’t let anyone tell you it’s built in. I’ve seen 
  people gain that spirit and I’ve seen people lose it. 
  You have to cultivate it, wear it, and take care of it. 
  Without that sense of adventure, alien habitats—by 
  whatever definition of “alien” works for you—can 
  wear you down.
  Third, function is everything. No small number 
  of habitats are built to serve a functional purpose 
  beyond habitation, be they Martian mining facili-
  ties or orbital churches. These places are built to 
  tagged in an AR feed shared through a neighborhood 
  social network. Same park, different memorials.
  Every place is a collection of overlapping layers, 
  and you won’t always be able to see all those layers. 
  Remember that what you see isn’t necessarily what 
  the person standing next to you is seeing.
  DRIFT anD DRIvE
  The mesh steers us through space, luring us down the 
  familiar street with the comfortable smells or scaring 
  us off that strange corridor with the purple lights and 
  the foreign stink. When you visit that familiar foreign 
  station in your rented morph, and you take that same, 
  quickest route from download to your favorite noodle 
  shop, you’re a slave to the geometry of your habitat. 
  You didn’t really arrive at a choice of routes, you just 
  accepted the route that’s easiest, labeled the fastest, 
  that would get you through the station’s urban plan 
  as quickly as possible. That’s a dodge—that’s you 
  dodging the cityscape as much as utilizing it, mini-
  mizing the time you spend in the space between your 
  familiar locations. 
  Sometimes it’s the smart choice, to submit to the 
  flow and geometry of the city and let it carry you, but 
  you need to know how to break free of that, too, and 
  travel and explore. You need to be able to both drift 
  and drive.
  When you wander a space, following inputs from 
  open mesh signals or AR markers, pursuing the smell 
  of burnt curry or the sound of a damaged piano, 
  investigating whatever the habitat has to show, you’re 
  drifting. It’s a valuable way to discover a place’s 
  inherent character, to learn not what a place says it’s 
  like in its Solarchive entry and travel blogs, but what 
  a place is actually like. 
  When you move through a space with purpose, 
  whether that purpose is to blend in with the obedient 
  traffic or to defy constrictions and blow through 
  barricades, you’re driving. It’s how you exert pressure 
  on a place, either by bending it at the joints or forcing 
  it to break. Sometimes you’ll want to sink into the 
  flow of the place, and sometimes you’ll want to cut 
  across the perpendicular. 
  Exploration and interaction with a space in new 
  ways—by succumbing to its geometry and flow—are 
  psychogeographic performances. Freerunning and 
  urban exploration are major examples, both of 
  which you might find yourself doing in your career, 
  albeit with intent and motives that don’t really count 
  as sport. Both exercises are ways to grab a habitat 
  with both hands and master it, by redefining what’s 
  accessible, by seeing what can be seen, not just 
  what’s on display.
  Freerunning, of course, is useful if you find yourself 
  in pursuit or being pursued, if only because it makes 
  you unpredictable. The person who can grok a space 
  the fastest wins.
  Urban exploration—that is, in the overcrowded 
  realm of the universe’s young habitats, trespassing—is 
  useful for fact-finding. Firewall agents from Mercury 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  transformed into a small conference center the next 
  and a bazaar the week after that. Smart materials, 
  quick nanofab or robofac construction, and servitor 
  bots mean that it is quick to redesign a portion of a 
  habitat for whatever purpose is currently needed. In 
  habitats with open space, modular structures can be 
  erected and dismantled overnight, or simply moved to 
  more convenient locations. Even the furnishings are 
  rapidly replaceable and recyclable.
  Speaking of design, the economic incentives to 
  build structurally and aesthetically identical buildings 
  are no longer in effect. The ability to model struc-
  tures thoroughly with software and the capability 
  to nanomanufacture or order custom autofactory-
  made components means that every building can be 
  built according to personalized tastes and specific 
  needs. Even buildings that start with the same rough 
  basic blueprint are likely to come out looking much 
  different once they have been modified for the user. 
  This means that many structures also have a very 
  organic look and feel, with few straight lines and 
  sharp corners and no wasted space.
  Unless you reside on Mars or Titan, the ribbons 
  of highways are also forgotten. With no need or 
  space for ground vehicles, “traffic” is a thing of the 
  past. Places that do have roads are graced with the 
  pragmatic utilitarianism of grid layouts, rather than 
  the winding lanes of old that arise organically over 
  time, as usage dictates. It is difficult, in fact, to get 
  lost, even if one means to do so. The roads are also 
  narrower, more friendly to pedestrians. Parking lots 
  are all but extinct.
  A new travel way has appeared, one not meant for 
  you and I. Our robotic servants have grown so useful 
  and so numerous that we have devised means and 
  paths for them to travel outside of our own routes. 
  Hidden in the walls and under our corridors are kilo-
  meters of thoroughfares just large enough for servitor 
  bots to pass through, hooked on magnetic rail cars 
  or similar devices. Along with their storage racks, 
  closets, and maintenance areas, our things have their 
  own spaces, their own homes and streets, hidden from 
  ours. Because so few of us pass through these areas, 
  they are less surveilled—something those who desire 
  discretion should keep in mind.
  Where new paths open, others close. Look around 
  you, you’ll see walls. Almost every residence belonging 
  to transhumanity is now walled in. Protected. Limited. 
  Isolated. And the walls do not stop there. Barriers are 
  also used to divide our populations internally. The 
  residences of the clanking masses are very carefully 
  walled off from the rest of us. Note how the thor-
  oughfares from the roboghettos loop around back 
  on themselves, subtly encouraging those shells that 
  try to leave to stay where they belong. The opulent 
  dwellings of the elite are similarly segmented away. 
  These are intentionally hard-to-reach. Checkpoints 
  are common. If you do not know the way, if you are 
  not of their kind, the oligarchs and their kind do not 
  want you trodding their pathways. 
  serve, and the people who live there see themselves 
  as being at work all the time. Every space has its 
  designated function and is best used for that function. 
  Dormitories are just places to sleep. The mess is for 
  eating, not playing games. Often, the people who 
  dwell in such places are either trapped (sometimes 
  by denial) or waiting for something to happen—a 
  new planet to be discovered, Earth to be saved, their 
  tour of duty to be up, a sign from God. Something. 
  It’s what keeps them from the kind of habitats that 
  pursue the first two philosophies, I think.
  CHanGInG nEEDS anD PURPOSES
  Almost all habitats, especially the larger ones, start 
  with a particular idea and design. They are planned 
  out thoroughly, every meter of space measured out 
  and its utility analyzed. Each level, each module, each 
  corridor has a purpose, designed to fit or shape the 
  needs of the inhabitants.
  If you are old enough, you most likely remember 
  the cities of Earth—the urban sprawls with their 
  gleaming skyrakers and blighted slums. Compare those 
  memories to the colony around you. Note the differ-
  ences. Our needs have changed, and the purpose of our 
  manufactured environments have changed with them.
  Our residences have become smaller. Where once 
  we had suburban homes and condos, we now have 
  cramped closets. Space is limited and overcrowded, 
  so personal dwellings are small and spartan affairs. 
  As our personal and private spaces have shrunk, the 
  need for more common space has grown. When you 
  have no room to socialize at home with your friends 
  and peers, it is necessary to do so in public and 
  commercial areas instead. Social and night-life areas 
  of habitats are typically crowded and busy, as there 
  are few alternatives.
  Massive structures are a thing of the past. Most 
  stations have no need for massive buildings—after 
  all, they essentially are one. Except for the vast open 
  realms of some spheres, cylinders, and toruses, there 
  is no place to put a towering skyscraper, mall, or 
  stadium. Even where there is space, there is rarely 
  need. Gone are the megacorps and vast corporations 
  with their need of centralized operational hives and 
  office towers. Most hypercorps are smaller, mobile, 
  and asset light. They do not have vast armies of 
  employees for which to provide workstations, they 
  have deep networks of freelancers on call at any 
  time, able to work from wherever they are. Gone 
  also are the need for massive department stores, malls, 
  and shopping centers, replaced by the ubiquitous 
  nanofabber, the capability to acquire whatever you 
  need online, and small boutique shops that provide 
  customized shopping experiences for discerning 
  customers. Gone too are the coliseums for tribalized 
  sports franchises, erased by the ability to remotely 
  experience sports events as if you were present.
  Many structures no longer have specific functions. 
  They are now modular or reconfigurable. A habitat 
  section needed for living quarters one week may be 
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  3.
  HABITATS
  93
  
  It doesn’t matter how cute your kid is unless he’s cute 
  on the mesh or in the flesh. If a body falls in the habitat 
  but there’s no audio record, did it make a sound?
  Anecdotes have lost all value. The video clip is king, 
  and his throne is shared on the mesh. Reigns are short 
  and full of strife, but the dynasty has been intact since 
  the beginning of the 21st century, when people gladly 
  started trading privacy for doses of recognition from 
  the surveillance society. To kiss the king’s ring.
  The authority of the king over the surveilled society 
  is total, but his rule is not absolute. Surveillance 
  is here, it is just not evenly distributed. And in the 
  reputation economy, lower-surveillance places are 
  extremist places. 
  Typically, low surveillance means a poorer district, 
  a place where nobody cares what happens or where 
  what happens doesn’t matter so much. It sounds 
  insulting because it is. “Low surveillance” in these 
  places means isolation. It means a lack of social vali-
  dation. It means no currency to trade for recognition 
  or rep. You can brag about what you did in a low-
  surveillance area, but without trust to back it up, it 
  doesn’t go on your video résumé.
  Or low-surveillance areas are extreme in the other 
  direction: highly expensive. “Low-surveillance,” in 
  these cases, means privacy. And privacy is a vestigial 
  remnant of the scarcity economy—rare enough that 
  it’s worth paying for. Opting out of an economy 
  has always been very expensive, costing either a 
  lot of currency (like spending cash to get away to a 
  Despite these designs, transhumanity has a way 
  of making its own uses for things. Overcrowding 
  may mean that utility tunnels soon become hastily 
  constructed residences. External areas, littered with 
  heat vents and antenna, may be occupied by synth-
  morphs with no need for amenities except simple 
  shelters from solar radiation. Dome habitats on 
  Mars develop rings of unplanned souks, inhabited 
  by rusters and clanking masses. Abandoned areas are 
  seized by squatters for whatever purposes they need. 
  Common areas draw vendors, who draw the curious 
  and more vendors, and soon a thriving gray market 
  bazaar is born. Clusters are reconfigured over neigh-
  borly disputes, to add new modules, or by residents 
  who are simply bored and want a change. As desires 
  shift, so too do our habitats.
  PSYCHOvIDEOGRaPHY
  Surveillance serves not just as a legal and historical 
  record but as a record of rep: proof that you’ve done 
  what you say you’ve done. You bark, and anyone on 
  the mesh can search to see if you also bite. It’s the 
  foundation of the reputation economy.
  It’s not just video, of course, but surveillance of all 
  types. Ubiquitous, ever-present surveillance has become 
  the new public record in countless habitats. You’ve 
  seen the phrase, “Links or didn’t happen,” right? 
  Without footage as validation, events almost cease 
  to count. Without evidence, without the perusal and 
  approval of the public eye, events almost do not matter. 
  94
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  those who care enough to search for you, to sift for 
  you, to find and rescue your past self from all the 
  collected data.
  That, as a Firewall agent, is your greatest boon. Use 
  the background noise of overwhelming data as your 
  cover whenever you can. Blending in can be as effective 
  as dodging surveillance. Sometimes it’s your only option.
  lIvInG In RISK
  Every habitat is in jeopardy. Every habitat is a city 
  under lockdown. Every habitat is fighting a daily 
  battle against the chill of Europan seawater, the pull 
  of Venusian gravity, or the void of space. This is why 
  so many habitats feel a little like a city in wartime—
  peaceful maybe on the surface, quiet in the streets, but 
  ready to bristle and always on the lookout. 
  Many habitats are like walled cities, meant to be 
  familiar to locals and carefully constructed to create 
  a divide between public-friendly spaces and off-limits 
  zones. AR telemetry guides visitors—to the habitat, to 
  the neighborhood, to the smallest sector—to visitor-
  friendly locations, mediating the experience and 
  cultivating an impression of the place. This is a way 
  of organizing traffic, but it’s also a way of organizing 
  behavior and detecting dangers. Some station sensors 
  monitor people’s movements and detect deviations 
  from normal patterns. Some habitats tag all rental 
  morphs and track them for the duration of an ego’s 
  visit. The habitat itself regards the outsider as a 
  foreign body, because any potential enemy is a risk to 
  the whole city, potentially carrying peril in the form 
  of bombs, contagions, ideas.
  The surveillance, the barricades, the AR data 
  recommending this place and forbidding that one, 
  all evoke a kind of “fortress urbanism,” turning the 
  habitat into a maze that’s navigable when familiar but 
  sturdy and suspicious at the same time. The city is not 
  merely encased in a ring of steel, it is the ring of steel. 
  It is walled in on all sides, controlled and constricted, 
  and wary of the tiny foe that could bring it down. A 
  living castle.
  Habitation in such an environment is, so often, a 
  pact with the powers-that-be to trade freedom for 
  security. Everyone’s freedom is restricted so that no 
  one has the freedom to puncture the city wall and 
  end it all. A hostile environment is, after all, the finest 
  collaborator and enemy could ask for.
  The perils of life suspended in poison, or spinning 
  in circles in a hungry vacuum, are constant—there 
  is no weather to it. Every day the risk is real and 
  the same. That is what makes it bearable. Eventually, 
  you just get tired of the fear. You remember how 
  scared you were that some rogue asteroid or bomb-
  wielding maniac would blow out whatever habitat 
  you live in? Like grief, it gets a little easier every 
  day, until you acclimate. It just becomes part of the 
  uncontrollable pressure of existence. You wake up 
  thankful for a pressurized sky and a cortical stack 
  and you go to work.
  tropical island, back when that was possible) or a lot 
  of capital (like giving up personal possessions and 
  social ties to live off the grid, back when that was 
  possible). Opting out of the reputation economy by 
  leaving lenses behind is just as expensive. Either you 
  bail on the whole system and go to live in some low-
  surveillance habitat where safety sensors only monitor 
  essential systems like environmental conditions, or 
  you step away temporarily by renting or making a 
  space free of surveillance so you can do whatever it is 
  that you don’t want others knowing about.
  What’s weird about this, at least to the generation 
  that was born on Earth, is that so few people worry 
  about surveillance. Without a militant police state to 
  back it up, the risk of some shame isn’t enough to 
  get people upset about the monitoring systems that 
  protect them from cold space or cold-blooded killers. 
  They’re trading some of their privacy for security, 
  swapping pictures of themselves picking their nose 
  for the promise that terrorists and spies from other 
  habitats will get photographed in turn.
  Again, the barrier between the monitored and the 
  monitors, the known and the knowing, reveals the 
  kind of trust that’s necessary to keep a habitat in 
  operation. Some hypercorp security agent or habitat 
  cop might be laughing at you spilling your coffee on 
  yourself or your bungled attempt to hit on that hot 
  sylph at the bar, but at least they’re not doing it to 
  your face. Your mockery becomes part of the invisible 
  systems that make the torus turn and the oxygen flow. 
  You get to breathe air in exchange for living in a flat 
  with a window facing a camera. It’s just another tax.
  That is … in a big enough habitat.
  In smaller habitats, surveillance erodes anonymity 
  in a hurry. Instead of being just another face on a 
  mesh video-clip playlist, you’re a known figure in the 
  mesh’s darling favorite clip that week. You’re likely 
  to get spotted on the street or singled out by facial 
  recognition software and fed into an AR routine. 
  Neighbors can go from watching you wipe out as you 
  come out of that gravity transition zone to learning 
  where your cubby is and sending you a mocking 
  message, muse be damned.
  What’s stopping them? Boredom. That hilarious 
  clip is just a distraction and so are you. It’s just more 
  data in a tide of information. So you got your heart 
  broken on camera? So did a hundred other people. It’s 
  not news anymore.
  This won’t protect you from a little ridicule—the 
  rumor-mongering and finger-pointing that come with 
  surveillance and search engines is never going away—
  but it also sort of resembles summer camp, if you’ve ever 
  heard of that. There’s a gauntlet to go through, some 
  growing up to be done, but the hurt becomes a sting and 
  the sting becomes something you hardly feel anymore.
  In the surveillance society, your day-to-day is just 
  not that interesting to most strangers. You’re just not 
  worth much more than 90 seconds and a laugh. What 
  you do is available to everyone but known only to 
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  HABITATS
  95
  
  CREATING SAPIENT BEINGS
  What is Uplift?: What it means, why we do it. n  p. 98
  The Science: How we modify brains and bodies. n  p. 101
  The Specialists: The entities making it happen. n  p. 119
  Social Issues: How uplifts have impacted culture. n  p. 123
  Smart Animals: On their way up. n  p. 116
  NEWEST INTELLIGENCES ON THE BLOCK
  Neo-Hominids: Our primate cousins. n  p. 108
  Neo-Cetaceans: Smart mammals from the sea. n  p. 110
  Neo-Avians: Our feathered friends. n  p. 111
  Neo-Octopi: Life with 8 arms. n  p. 113
  Neo-Pigs: Not as strange as you think. n  p. 114
  Neo-Neanderthals: Revived from the dead. n  p. 115
  CREATING SAPIENT BEINGS
  What is Uplift?: What it means, why we do it. n  p. 98
  The Science: How we modify brains and bodies. n  p. 101
  The Specialists: The entities making it happen. n  p. 119
  Social Issues: How uplifts have impacted culture. n  p. 123
  Smart Animals: On their way up. n  p. 116
  NEWEST INTELLIGENCES ON THE BLOCK
  Neo-Hominids: Our primate cousins. n  p. 108
  Neo-Cetaceans: Smart mammals from the sea. n  p. 110
  Neo-Avians: Our feathered friends. n  p. 111
  Neo-Octopi: Life with 8 arms. n  p. 113
  Neo-Pigs: Not as strange as you think. n  p. 114
  Neo-Neanderthals: Revived from the dead. n  p. 115
  
  UPlIFTS
  FACTIONS
  Sapients: Assimilating uplifts into transhuman culture. n  p. 132
  Mercurials: Non-conformists who seek uplift liberation. n  p. 132
  Smaller Groups: Naturalists, purists, and the revenent. n  p. 134
  Allies and Enemies: Taking sides on the uplift culture war. n  p. 135
  4
  UPlIFTS
  FACTIONS
  Sapients: Assimilating uplifts into transhuman culture. n  p. 132
  Mercurials: Non-conformists who seek uplift liberation. n  p. 132
  Smaller Groups: Naturalists, purists, and the revenent. n  p. 134
  Allies and Enemies: Taking sides on the uplift culture war. n  p. 135
  4
  
  I guess I might as well begin with my name. For the 
  sake of simplicity, I go by Blue. You wouldn’t be able 
  to pronounce the whistles and clicks that make up 
  my real name. Hell, with the splicer morph I wear 
  nowadays, neither can I.
  I began life as an uplifted common dolphin, but it’s 
  been many years since I’ve been that—at least on the 
  outside. (Of course, I’m still an uplift on the inside. 
  You can take the transhuman out of the dolphin, but 
  you can’t take the dolphin out of the transhuman.)
  I escaped the Fall as an infomorph and ended up as 
  an indent—at least until I found a way to indulge my 
  more, ah, entrepreneurial impulses. I have no moral 
  qualms about smuggling—my current line of work. 
  Maybe it’s because my species was engineered into 
  existence or how I spent decades of my life as a good 
  corporate servant, but I’ve developed a strong aversion 
  to following the rules. Turns out it’s a lot more fun 
  ripping off the hypercorps than being their plaything.
  I like my life, but there are still times late at night 
  when I can’t sleep.
  Times when I remember the sea.
  I miss the freedom. The speed. Racing the waves, 
  leaping, the sun warm on my slick back, plunging into 
  the cool water, the ocean going on forever, the bodies 
  of my pod pressing against me … 
  Anyway, I’ve been hired to put together a short 
  overview of uplift culture. Hired by whom, you might 
  ask? That’s an excellent question. They tell me they’re 
  a think tank.
  Right.
  If I think anything about think tanks, it’s that none 
  of them are smart enough to hire the likes of me. The 
  type of information I have to provide is somewhat 
  more pragmatic and reality-based than the slurry 
  stuffed inside your average academic paper. Since 
  this so-called “think tank” was clever enough to get 
  the story of uplifts straight from the dolphin’s mouth 
  (don’t even get me started on horses), I figure I will 
  be polite enough not to ask too many questions, 
  despite the weird vibes. I have an inkling this project 
  is for the greater good. Thank Darwin for intuition.
  WHaT IS UPlIFT?
  What is uplift? In the simplest sense it’s the process 
  of elevating an animal species to sapience. Take a 
  biological creature shaped by millions of years of 
  evolution (the baseline species) and re-engineer it to 
  walk and talk and use tools and think. Just like Homo 
  sapiens. It’s the process of going from sentience (the 
  self-awareness that most animals possess, including 
  feeling, perceiving, and suffering) to sapience (actual 
  thinking and acting with intelligence, judgment, and 
  wisdom). It’s artificially accelerated and proactive 
  evolution. It’s a biological upgrade. It’s turning beasts 
  into persons. That’s uplift.
  Uplift is not a simple process. It’s not taking a 
  specific animal and doing something to it to make it 
  intelligent. It’s a generations-long process of genetic 
  manipulation, selective breeding, and transgenic 
  alteration. It’s a litany of experiments, mistakes, and 
  victories, with living beings as the test subjects. 
  PlaYInG GOD
  The active pursuit of uplift really took hold as a scien-
  tific field during the great flowering of transhuman 
  culture, an era that also gave us the widespread settle-
  ment of space, extensive human genetic modification, 
  nanotech, cognitive science, and the digital emulation 
  of consciousness. It is in fact the convergence of these 
  fields, and the feedback loops spawned between 
  them, that enabled the uplift project to make so much 
  headway so quickly. 
  It’s easy to see uplift as a breathtaking cultural and 
  technological revolution, but the truth is the idea at 
  the heart of uplift is as old as Homo sapiens itself. 
  One doesn’t have to look too hard to find the seeds of 
  the future being sown in the distant past.
  It began in small ways. The first men who lured 
  hungry wolves into the circle of firelight with scraps 
  of meat. The cultivation of wheat and corn, barley 
  and rice. The domestication of cattle and swine, sheep 
  and poultry. The breeding of canines, equines, and 
  other animals into a thousand different shapes for a 
  thousand different chores. And then, as if controlling 
  the sex lives of the world’s flora and fauna wasn’t 
  enough, reaching into the very genetic repository 
  of the planet and re-engineering it for the pleasure 
  of humanity. Plants first. Then animals. And finally, 
  mankind itself.
  The history of civilization is merely the history of 
  humanity bending living things to its will. Control. 
  That’s what a human is. Uplift is merely the logical 
  extension of millions of years of “progress.”
  So once humanity had the technological tools to 
  investigate and pursue uplifting in earnest, there was 
  no reason to pause. Despite its many achievements, 
  if there is one thing humanity is terrible at, it is 
  foresight. There was relatively little discussion and 
  debate about the consequences or ethics of uplifting 
  animals, at least in the public sphere. The momentum 
  of progress made uplift all but inevitable.
  It started innocently enough, as part of the 
  wider project to understand cognition and cogni-
  tive development. Obviously, for all but the most 
  unscrupulous of researchers, actual research on 
  human subjects was off limits. But animals, animals 
  4
  UPlIFTS
  98
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  religious fundamentalists, who saw this as an attempt 
  to spit in the face of God. Both factions considered it a 
  perversion of nature, an example of technology driving 
  unspeakable atrocities and crimes. The arguments 
  made by scientists that they were acting in the best 
  interests of these animal species was compared to the 
  ugly rationalizations of colonialism, in which millions 
  of indigenous people were slaughtered and forcibly 
  assimilated into a foreign culture, all for “their own 
  good.” The detractors believed that humanity had no 
  right to interfere with another species’ development, 
  to make decisions on their behalf, or to uplift without 
  consent. Others feared the taint that uplifts would 
  spread by mixing their animal ways into human affairs.
  How could a creature without the means to 
  comprehend the choice before it offer its consent?
  The supporters of uplift argued that the idea of 
  consent was a red herring. No human being walking 
  the face of the planet had ever agreed to be born. 
  Why should uplifted beings be held to a higher moral 
  standard? Ethically, others could make the choice 
  for the soon-to-be-uplift, assuming they had the best 
  interests of the uplifts in mind. And for those not won 
  over by those arguments, consent could be obtained 
  retroactively. The uplifts could be asked after they’d 
  been raised up.
  As it turned out, opinions on sapience were as 
  diverse among the early uplifts as they were among 
  the human population. A few were horrified to find 
  they’d been kidnapped from the Garden of Eden 
  and stripped of their innocence. Most were grateful 
  to humanity for their sapience or considered it a fait 
  accompli. Then there were those with a more nuanced 
  view, thankful to be uplifted, but disliking that human 
  ethics, culture, and modes of thinking were so strongly 
  imprinted on their kind. These mercurials argued that 
  uplifts should have control over their development 
  and that higher emphasis should be placed on each 
  species’ own non-human path. 
  Aside from all of these opinions, both pro and con, 
  there was one other major viewpoint. This group 
  regarded Homo sapiens as only one thread in the 
  great tapestry of life. In their view, humanity was not 
  the manor lord, doling out gifts out of some virtuous 
  duty to its intellectual inferiors. Instead, humanity 
  was just one species building friendships and alli-
  ances with the creatures with which it shared the 
  Earth. This is the promise of what transhumanity 
  could be, a civilization employing the gifts of its many 
  varied members for the betterment of all. Humans 
  and uplifts were not parents and children, but siblings 
  and companions.
  Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your 
  point of view, corporations as institutions are remark-
  ably immune to moral quandaries. While the ethical 
  issues raged through the human zeitgeist, the scientists 
  cheerfully went about their business. So, love us or 
  hate us, it really doesn’t matter. We uplifts are here to 
  stay. If you don’t like that, blame your fellow humans.
  were always there to stand in for humans in experi-
  ments. As humans sought to make smarter humans, 
  to better understand the mind, and to measure the 
  impact of implants, biological brain enhancements, 
  and nootropic drugs, one of their first steps was to 
  make smarter animals. The more similar a brain 
  was to that of a human, the better the effects of 
  experiments on such organs could be correlated to 
  humans, and so animal minds were gengineered and 
  modified to be more like human minds. Likewise, 
  efforts to clone and genetically modify humans 
  were first perfected on animals. It was animal test 
  subjects who reaped the benefits of enhanced vision, 
  longevity, and a myriad of other genetic improve-
  ments long before humans did—at least until they 
  were vivisected and studied.
  As numerous creatures were sent to scout the path 
  of accelerated evolution ahead of humans, it was only 
  natural that some scientists would turn their attention 
  towards improving animals’ minds and bodies specifi-
  cally. For some, this was just an attempt to solve the 
  next scientific puzzle, to see what could be done for 
  the sake of learning and doing it. For others, it was 
  to breed better companions and servants. For most, 
  however, the glory of creating another intelligent 
  species was an achievement for which they could 
  not avoid striving. The allure of playing god was too 
  strong to avoid.
  an ETHICal IMPERaTIvE?
  As corporate scientists worked in their labs, sculpting 
  animal genes and animal minds, a fierce debate 
  erupted over the wisdom of uplift. Not whether it 
  could be done, but whether it should.
  The primates and cetaceans already seemed to 
  stand on the threshold of sapience. Chimpanzees fash-
  ioned tools to fish for termites and passed this skill on 
  to their young. Whales and dolphins communicated 
  using a system of whistles and clicks that approached 
  language in its level of complexity and also seemed 
  to use unique whistle identifiers for themselves, much 
  like names. Gorillas were taught to speak using 
  American Sign Language and demonstrated mental 
  flexibility by creating compound words. Bonobos 
  mastered language using touch screens and voice 
  synthesizers. How much farther would these creatures 
  really need to go before they became fully sapient?
  How could humanity not help these creatures 
  take the final step towards intelligence, many argued. 
  These scientists made the point that sapience was a 
  gift, that uplift would give animals the capabilities to 
  care for themselves more fully, to be more in control 
  of their own future. They argued that humanity as a 
  species had an ethical duty to improve the lot of the 
  world’s creatures, to improve the quality of their lives 
  and to lessen suffering.
  Their opponents sneered. The movement against 
  uplift was an odd coalition of animal rights activists, 
  opposed to the use of animals as test subjects, and 
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  UPLIFTS
  99
  
  offworld, outside of Earth-bound jurisdictions and 
  international laws and codes of conduct. Somatek’s 
  R&D facility on Luna, Clever Hands, became a focal 
  point for unrestricted experimentation.
  Out in the quiet of space, there was no one to see or 
  object to projects that would have raised even more 
  hackles on Earth. Neo-pigs were created, crossing a 
  line many felt should have been left alone, elevating 
  a former food animal to an intelligent being of equal 
  status. Another company, New Day, brought nean-
  derthals back to life—resurrecting one of humanity’s 
  nearest cousins, long ago driven extinct at human 
  hands. Other experiments were waged in the hidden 
  recesses of the solar system by people who may not 
  have had massive R&D budgets but did possess 
  creativity and networked expertise. In the decades 
  before the Fall, the first invertebrate (the octopus) 
  was uplifted to sapience, joined by orcas, porpoises, 
  elephants, and other species of dolphins and whales. 
  Dozens of less intelligent species were raised in cogni-
  tive abilities, if not full sapience. There may even have 
  been other successes, but then the TITANs smashed 
  the Earth on their way to the singularity. It is rumored 
  that elephants joined the uplift ranks only to go 
  extinct during the Fall.
  HOW IT CaME TO BE
  The first dedicated work on uplift began a half century 
  before the Fall. All of the world’s major biotech corpo-
  rations—Monsanto, Syngenta, Dupont, JingMei, Dow, 
  etc.—had divisions or subsidiaries that competed to 
  make new breakthroughs. But as everyone knows, 
  it was an up-and-coming hypercorp that scored the 
  big prize: Somatek. Led by a brilliant and ambitious 
  young vice president named Rael Duvalier, their 
  efforts paid off. In 38 BF, the first chimpanzee passed 
  the Applied Sapience Test. Jumbles became a house-
  hold name. Duvalier rode his project’s success all the 
  way to the Somatek boardroom.
  Over the next two decades, Somatek and their many 
  competitors uplifted eight new species: bonobos, orang-
  utans, gorillas, bottlenose dolphins, humpback whales, 
  belugas, and the first non-mammals, gray parrots and 
  ravens. These developments were not embraced by 
  all of humanity. Anti-uplift groups ramped up their 
  lobbying and protests, with extremists raiding labs 
  to destroy experiments or liberate test subjects. Some 
  governments refused to recognize uplifts as legal 
  persons, while others clamped down on or criminalized 
  uplift research. Aggressive hypercorps that did not wish 
  to see their efforts hindered transferred their projects 
  100
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  BaBY’S FIRST WORDS
  [Begin Transcript]
  [A wizened, old chimpanzee male sits in a chair, his clear 
  brown eyes staring off into the distance. His once-dark fur 
  is specked with silver, making it look gray. He looks sharp 
  in a gray suit. He sits up straight and there is intelligence 
  in his eyes. Clearly this is a proud creature—but he’s also 
  something else. Sad.]
  “I know that many uplifts consider the name Jumbles 
  an insult. And sure, I get their point. It’s human and it’s 
  demeaning. A circus name—that’s what some mercurials call 
  it. But what else am I supposed to call myself? I could take 
  an African name, but that wouldn’t be any less human than 
  Jumbles, would it? Do the mercurials really want me to call 
  myself Uplift Pan Trog Subject 119? That was my official name 
  during the project. It may not be as whimsical as Jumbles, but 
  I think it’s hard to argue that it’s any less demeaning.”
  [His voice grows softer.] “Jumbles is what my mother 
  called me. Not my real mother, of course. Not my biological 
  mother, as if the concept of biological means a damn thing 
  any more. Her name was Dr. Katherine Santos and she loved 
  me. She was the one that helped me escape, helped me 
  smuggle out these clips. And she didn’t call me ‘Chimp’ or 
  ‘Subject’ or ‘One-Nineteen.’ She called me ‘Jumbles.’
  “That’s good enough for me.”
  [A juvenile chimpanzee sits on a sun-drenched floor, 
  playing with brightly colored blocks. He stacks bright-red 
  rectangles and yellow triangles and blue circles, constructing 
  a building out of primary colors. He is about the size of a 
  human preschooler. He works intently with the blocks. They 
  are obviously his whole universe.]
  An offscreen voice (male) says, “What are we seeing 
  here?” The voice sounds human, but really, who can say?
  “Everything at the project was documented. Somatek took 
  no chance that a breakthrough might escape them because 
  they weren’t watching. There’s millions of hours of digital 
  recordings. This is me, age four. On what was almost the last 
  day of my life.”
  Another offscreen male voice, different from the first, 
  says: “Look, Kathy, he’s still not talking.”
  A woman’s voice, now. She’s angry. Furious. But despite 
  that, she’s pleading. “That doesn’t mean he has no value.”
  “Of course he has value. The modifications to the language 
  center clearly didn’t work as expected. We have a chance to 
  find out why.”
  [The chimp continues to play with his blocks, oblivious to 
  the two humans standing over him.]
  “So that’s it,” she says bitterly. “You vivisect him and poke 
  around in his mind. So you can see where you fucked up?”
  “One-Nineteen is a test subject, Dr. Santos,” says the man in a 
  voice that is arctic cold. “Perhaps you have lost your objectivity.”
  “One-Nineteen is a living creature easily twice as smart as 
  any baseline,” the woman snaps. “And, by the way, his name 
  isn’t One-Nineteen. It’s Jumbles.”
  [Suddenly the little chimpanzee looks up, peers up at the 
  humans standing over him.] “I Jumbles, Mamma. I Jumbles.”
  “The first words spoken aloud by a chimpanzee,” says 
  Jumbles (the here Jumbles, the now Jumbles.) “The first 
  words spoken by a chimpanzee—and the words that saved 
  my life.”
  [End Transcript] 
  
  THE SCIEnCE OF UPlIFT
  So now you’ve seen how we got to this point and 
  what poor benighted animals humanity decided to 
  gift with its godlike touch, but how was it done? The 
  biology of uplift isn’t as simple as just making the 
  baseline critter more like a human; a lot of the things 
  that work well for Homo saps just don’t translate as 
  well over to other species. Keep in mind the idea is 
  to create a viable dolphin, octopus, or crow that can 
  think like a Homo sap, not just a human that happens 
  to be wearing a different body.
  THE BRaIn
  The starting place for all of this work is, of course, the 
  human brain. Partly this is because humanity is recasting 
  these creatures in its own image, but also because the 
  human cerebrum is the most thoroughly described 
  higher-order brain available to uplift engineers.
  One of the early debates among uplift researchers 
  was whether to steer animal brain enhancement along 
  its likely evolutionary path, thus making them more 
  intelligent without making them quite so distinctly 
  human, or whether to manipulate their brains to 
  emulate humans, and thus produce more human-like 
  intelligence. In the end, it may have been simplicity 
  that won out. Most animal brains were simply not as 
  thoroughly understood as human minds, and it was 
  easier to modify them towards known structures and 
  functions than to try to break ground with distinctly 
  different types of intelligence. (This isn’t to say that 
  research into uplift via non-human brain enhancement 
  was ever discarded—it is most certainly still underway, 
  though decades behind. Given the fear of non-human 
  minds spawned by the TITANs, however, such projects 
  are almost certainly secretive and hidden.)
  In the early days of uplift, animal brains were 
  modified surgically and with drugs. Uplift engineers 
  grafted on neural clusters for abstract reasoning and 
  language or attempted to boost cognitive capabilities 
  with complex drug compounds. Some creatures were 
  subjected to dozens, even hundreds of surgeries. The 
  real early advancements, however, were made with 
  genetic engineering, sequencing the animal’s genetic 
  code and then splicing in transgenic alterations to 
  produce proteins and neuroanatomical formations 
  found in human brains. This process was slow and 
  difficult as it required a nearly perfect understanding 
  of the creature’s brain structure, genetic code, physi-
  ological behavior, and gestational characteristics, 
  and the full impact of the changes required years of 
  growth to measure. Simply slapping some human 
  neurological traits in was not quite so easy, as those 
  traits had to be assimilated into the animal brain’s 
  architecture in a functional manner. As the human 
  understanding of cognitive science and AI developed, 
  however, scientists were able to create more advanced 
  neurological models, cutting down the the number 
  of failed experiments. Nanotechnology allowed 
  Uplifts in general fared poorly during the Fall. 
  Many were not given an option to evacuate Earth, 
  even as infugees—human bodies and minds took 
  preference. Not a single neo-elephant escaped the 
  devastation of Earth, not even as an infomorph. Only 
  a handful of neo-whales survived, joining the dozens 
  of their species raised in the depths of Europa, Ceres, 
  and the solar corona. For the most part, uplifts owe 
  their current population figures to the fact that so 
  much uplift research had been forced offworld before 
  the apocalypse.
  After just over half a century of being brought into 
  existence, uplifts have diffused throughout the solar 
  system, becoming a recognizable element of trans-
  human culture. Many still work as indentures, while 
  others are practically enslaved by the hypercorps that 
  created them, working as contract labor for specialized 
  tasks with open-ended (read: eternal) durations. More 
  recently, there have been several waves of emancipated 
  uplifts leaving the hypercorps behind and emigrating 
  to the moons and habitats of the outer system.
  Transhuman civilization harbors incredible diver-
  sity. Refugees who fled the Fall as software. Near-
  immortal minds uploaded into morphs of any shape 
  or size that can be imagined. Creatures that bask in 
  the blazing sun or frolic in the deep icy oceans of 
  Europa. Bouncers that deftly traverse microgravity 
  modules. Brinkers in synthetic shells who eschew 
  habitats to hide in the dark of the deep system. 
  In this mix, uplifts are mostly just regular folks. We 
  have the same dreams and needs as anyone else. We 
  need food and shelter. We value fulfilling work and 
  creativity. We want a future for our children. We seek 
  to grow and learn as thinking beings. Despite the 
  bigots, we uplifts are just as transhuman, as transbio-
  logical, as the rest of you. There’s no place we can’t 
  live, no job we can’t do, no aspect of transhuman 
  civilization we’re not part of.
  Except not everyone accepts that we are people. In 
  most of the solar system, our rights are limited. We 
  are denied jobs, treated as monsters, pets, or slaves, 
  and not allowed to have children on our own. And 
  even though Homo sapiens has reshaped our brains, 
  in the end our minds still aren’t entirely human.
  On one end, uplift is viewed as Michelangelo’s 
  Adam reaching out to touch the hand of God. On 
  the other, it is Frankenstein’s Monster, a horribly 
  misguided experiment and a cautionary tale of the 
  horrors scientific genius can produce. The truth, of 
  course, is somewhere gray and fuzzy in between. 
  Uplifts have the best qualities and traits humans do. 
  Humans have imprinted upon them, but uplifts also 
  bring their own strengths and weaknesses to the 
  table. They exist without ever knowing what it would 
  have been like to evolve to sapience on their own, as 
  humans did. Without ever developing their own modes 
  of thinking, their own unique form of intelligence. 
  Did humans do uplifts a favor? Or did they erase 
  their potential?
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  UPLIFTS
  101
  
  prone to difficulties when undergoing psychosur-
  gery or pursuing mental augmentations—or even 
  performing routine measures like merging a fork.
  That the genetic wiring of our brains has been 
  so tampered with is a fact not lost on many uplifts. 
  While few of us would go so far as to shirk the 
  benefits of intelligence, it does lead one to ponder 
  the motivations of one’s designers. Why were we 
  engineered with some cognitive characteristics but 
  not with others? How much of our behavior is due 
  to environment and upbringing, and how much is 
  specifically engineered? Despite a moratorium on 
  non-beneficial modifications in some enlightened 
  jurisdictions, there is no doubt that many uplifts are 
  raised that either lack certain neurological faculties 
  or are designed to be enthusiastic about dangerous or 
  demeaning types of work. Those who consider uplifts 
  to still be animals or property have no qualms about 
  making them into obedient slaves. 
  nOn-MaMMalIan BRaInS
  Uplifting non-mammals (which so far includes parrots, 
  ravens, and octopi) is a much more difficult task than 
  raising up primates, cetaceans, or even pigs. Part of 
  the issue is size. Though sophisticated by the stan-
  dards of their cousins, the brains of parrots, ravens 
  and octopi are significantly smaller than the human 
  cerebral cortex. This means that significant amounts 
  of neural tissue need to be added to non-mammals. 
  Of course, some neural material must be added for 
  even further inroads, and soon uplift engineers were 
  making their changes much less invasively, neuron 
  by neuron, or rewriting a subject’s genetic code in 
  specially modified research healing vats.
  Most modern uplift brains rely heavily on trans-
  genic features copied from humans. These enhance-
  ments do more than just increase neural networks for 
  metacognition and creativity, boost the information 
  processing capabilities and executive functions of 
  the prefrontal cortex, and modify the behavioral and 
  reasoning structures of the neocortex, to name just a 
  few of the myriad brain manipulations used to uplift 
  to sapience. They also modify the limbic system and 
  hormone levels to mimic human emotional responses 
  and adapt the brain to any physiological modifica-
  tions accrued with uplift, such as walking upright or 
  tool manipulation with fine digits. 
  Despite years of research and many breakthroughs 
  with uplift neuroscience, the fact is that the brains 
  of the various uplifted species among us are still 
  not as well understood as human brains—and that’s 
  saying something. The simple lack of a complete 
  understanding of neuroanatomy and function that 
  makes psychosurgery a risky affair hinders uplift as 
  well. Brains are messy, complex, intricate organs, and 
  it remains difficult to pinpoint exactly what changes 
  may result from certain modifications, especially with 
  an uplift mind. While this means that there are still 
  plenty of opportunities in the field of uplift research, 
  it also means that those of us born uplifts are more 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  documented cases of male chimpanzees and dolphins 
  using rape to dominate both males and females in 
  their social groups—a behavior clearly unwelcome in 
  transhuman culture.
  What makes this issue even more difficult is the 
  unwillingness of most transhumans to try to control 
  private sexual behavior. It seems unreasonable to 
  sculpt uplifts so they fit some imagined “normal” 
  set of sexual mores. In most cases uplift engineers 
  attempt to modify brains to preclude sexual violence 
  and leave most other baseline sexual behavior alone.
  Overlying all of this is the problem that the decision 
  of what is and is not desirable behavior was deter-
  mined, often by committee, by a bunch of hypercorp 
  scientists and suits. Much of the work by anarchist 
  and exhuman geneticists has focused on alterations 
  to the behavioral engineering norms that hypercorp 
  scientists saw as “most desirable.”
  Along with brain alterations for behavioral adjust-
  ment, the most successful long-term uplift programs 
  combined stringent efforts to socialize young uplifts 
  according to human norms and culture. These 
  programs operated much like the ones to shape AGIs 
  into upstanding transhuman citizens, using similar 
  protocols, though with a stronger emphasis on 
  passing these lessons on to their offspring.
  THE BODY
  There’s more to uplift than changing the brain. An 
  uplifted organism is more than just a creature who 
  can think. It’s a creature whose baseline body evolved 
  for an environment that no longer exists: Earth. As a 
  practical matter, uplifts have to get along in a world 
  that is almost entirely designed for the comfort and 
  utility of Homo saps. This means massive overhauls to 
  their bodies as well. Generally, that means achieving 
  three key objectives: talking, manipulating objects, 
  and moving around.
  SPEECH
  Human speech is a key requirement for uplifts if 
  they are to fit within transhuman culture. All of the 
  mammalian and avian uplifts could be taught to 
  understand and respond to the human voice even 
  in their baseline forms, but only the parrot could 
  actually talk. What that means for the primates and 
  pigs is the implantation of a human-style larynx and 
  a modification to the neck bones and musculature to 
  accommodate it. The raven’s vocal structures were 
  reworked to be more like those of the parrot.
  The real challenge was giving the attribute of 
  speech to the aquatic uplifts. Early attempts at fitting 
  the uplifted dolphin’s blowhole with a pseudo-larynx 
  led to respiratory problems and interfered with the 
  dolphin’s ability to correctly interpret its own sonar 
  picture. After a bottlenose with the adaptation 
  crashed into the walls of his tank at better than 50 
  kilometers per hour, the pseudo-larynx was largely 
  dropped. Thanks to advances in this field, most 
  mammals too, but in the case of large or human-
  sized uplifts it is usually sufficient to slightly thin and 
  enhance the durability of the skull wall to make room 
  for the extra material. In the case of ravens, parrots, 
  and octopi, the creature’s entire body was redesigned 
  and enlarged to accommodate a larger brain. 
  Brain size is not a single factor, however. What 
  matters more is the brain-to-body mass ratio and the 
  encephalization quotient, meaning the size and weight 
  of the brain in relation to body shape, size, and 
  anatomy. The progression of brain sizes as animals 
  get larger is not linear. This means that smaller uplifts 
  such as ravens, parrots, and octopi (and also chimps 
  and bonobos) can have smaller brains than humans 
  but still have equivalent levels of intelligence. One 
  of the big changes also made to uplift brains is the 
  introduction of folds, ridges, and grooves into those 
  previously smooth brains, providing more space for 
  neurons in cramped quarters.
  The biggest challenge for non-mammalian brains 
  wasn’t just size, but structure. Non-mammal brains 
  are simply wired differently, with some parts of the 
  brain taking on different tasks. Among avians, for 
  example, the nidopallium is the source of higher 
  cognitive tasks and executive functions. Restructuring 
  non-mammalian brains to more efficiently emulate 
  human cognition thus required a higher degree of 
  re-engineering and experimentation.
  BEHavIORal aDJUSTMEnTS
  It is important to remember that successful uplift 
  requires more than just gifting a creature with human 
  intelligence, language, and locomotion. There are also 
  behaviors hardwired into creatures by tens of thou-
  sands of years of evolution that need to be removed to 
  facilitate acceptance into transhuman culture. Ravens 
  are scavengers and thieves, stealing food from other 
  birds and mammals—even from other ravens. Parrots 
  are mimics, adept at picking up vocalizations and 
  repeating them endlessly. In a social situation these 
  tendencies (and others like them) can range in effect 
  from severely irritating to criminal behavior. Similar 
  traits need to be eliminated—or at the very least 
  reduced so they don’t exceed transhuman norms.
  The most difficult behavioral adjustment to 
  manage is that of sexual behavior. Adding human 
  intelligence to an uplifted creature does nothing, by 
  itself, to change behavior implanted in the deepest 
  part of the creature’s nervous system—and what is 
  more important to any organism than the drive to 
  reproduce? This creates potential problems as the 
  sexual practices of certain baseline creatures is radi-
  cally different than what is commonly accepted in 
  transhuman culture. Wild bonobos, for example, are 
  promiscuous, using sexual contact to build alliances, 
  resolve conflicts, reduce stress, and even as a kind of 
  greeting. There seem to be no permanent pair bonds 
  in baseline bonobo culture and communal sexual 
  behavior is common. On the other hand, there are 
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  UPLIFTS
  103
  
  when they want to get around on land, they berth 
  themselves in cetacean-adapted walker exoskeletons. 
  Mobility issues quite often aren’t as big of a deal as 
  they were on Earth. Given that our former terrestrial 
  habitats were wiped out and a significant percentage 
  of transhumans now live in low or zero-gravity 
  environments, many uplifts have an even easier time 
  getting around. The neo-hominids climb better than 
  humans and can count on prehensile feet. Neo-avians 
  fly even better in light gravity. Neo-octopi excel at 
  pulling themselves along with their arms or using 
  puffs of air to propel weightlessly across spaces. Just 
  like humans, many uplifts pursue adaptations specific 
  to their local environment.
  GEnEFIXInG anD BIOMODS
  Like the various clades of genetically modified 
  humans, uplift DNA is scrubbed of genetic flaws, 
  congenital defects, and inherited diseases. Uplifts 
  can be considered the equivalent of human splicers. 
  It might even be said that uplift genetics are held 
  to more exacting scrutiny and standards, given the 
  gengineering effort focused on them. Most hypercorps 
  and other groups developing uplifts have enforced 
  strict breeding controls and banned reproduction 
  unless individuals meet exacting genetic and aptitude 
  test standards. Though decried by mercurials, some 
  free uplift communities have adopted these eugenics 
  practices themselves in an effort to produce the best 
  specimens of their neo-species.
  There is more to genefixing than just correcting 
  genetic flaws, however. With the exception of parrots 
  and pigs, which were at least partially domesticated 
  when they were altered, uplift species were engineered 
  from wild animals that lived in environments remote 
  from humans. Even neanderthals were separated from 
  humanity, not by space, but by time—200,000 years. 
  When an organism is exposed to another organism 
  from a different environment, there is the possibility 
  of passing along infectious diseases to which one of 
  the organisms has never developed resistances or 
  immunity. A well-known example of this phenom-
  enon is the disastrous interaction between human 
  beings and the baseline mountain gorilla. Common 
  influenza is fatal to the gorilla and in pre-Fall days, 
  inadvertent exposure to flu via humans dramati-
  cally depressed their numbers. A major part of the 
  genefixing process for uplifts is to confer immunity 
  against the thousands of viruses, bacteria, molds, and 
  spores common in transhuman environments. Even 
  today, uplifts are often the most vulnerable to any 
  new diseases or strains that evolve or are discovered.
  Another danger is the creation of novel transgenic 
  diseases moving the other direction—from uplifts 
  to other transhumans. This is not an idle consider-
  ation. Two H1N1 flu pandemics swept the world in 
  1918 and again in 2009. The 1918 pandemic was a 
  monster, killing between three and six percent of the 
  world’s total human population. H1N1 is a traveler, 
  cetaceans today can communicate vocally in air, 
  albeit with a high-pitched voice and the occasional 
  whistle or click. Octopi can similarly talk thanks to a 
  transgenic vocal system, though their wispy-yet-raspy 
  voices are known to creep some people out. It is not 
  uncommon to find neo-cetaceans and neo-octopi 
  that avoid speech altogether, instead communicating 
  entirely via the mesh.
  Some uplifts, particularly older germlines, are known 
  to have difficulty with language in stressful situations.
  OBJECT ManIPUlaTIOn
  The human hand is an extraordinary tool that grants 
  Homo saps the unparalleled ability to manipulate 
  their surroundings. Despite the omnipresence of 
  mesh controls, no sapient being could hope to easily 
  navigate transhuman habitats without the use of 
  hands to push buttons, manipulate levers, or use touch 
  screens. The great apes already possess hands that 
  are very similar to humans, as do the neanderthals 
  who require no modification at all (though Homo 
  Neanderthalensis’s pudgy mitts are often modified for 
  aesthetic reasons.) Octopus arms are very different 
  than human hands, but octopi have enough dexterity 
  to easily manipulate their environment. Dolphins and 
  other cetaceans fortunate enough to find an aquatic 
  environment rarely need hands and rely on cybernetic 
  arms or remote-controlled bots when they do, though 
  a few heavily customized morphs include transgenic 
  arms. Pig physiology took to transgenic human 
  hands—and the skeletal and musculature changes 
  behind them—quite well.
  The birds, however, parrots and ravens, needed 
  hands. This required some trickier engineering. Both 
  species already had their wings restructured with bat 
  genetics, enabling them to fold better. The new wing 
  bone structure was also augmented to add dexterous 
  finger digits to the peak of the wing. These primitive 
  hands vary between morphs; some neo-avians have 
  two or three digits and no thumbs, others have func-
  tional though weak-gripped hands.
  lOCOMOTIOn
  Moving about is not much of a problem for the 
  current crop of uplifts. Neanderthals and primates 
  move around as easily as splicer morphs (or more 
  easily in the case of chimps, bonobos, and orangutans, 
  whose baseline incarnations spent enough time in 
  trees to be comfortable moving around in the third 
  dimension.) The neo-hominids were all gengineered 
  to have an upward stance, with appropriate modifi-
  cations to their skeletons and musculature. Neo-pigs 
  were also redesigned to be bipedal, with their hooves 
  replaced with standard human-like feet. Octopi can 
  walk just fine on their eight arms (don’t call them legs), 
  especially in low gravity. Neo-avians aren’t suited 
  for walking long distances, but they get around fine 
  and usually have the option to fly. The neo-cetaceans 
  normally find themselves in aquatic environments; 
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  minds have been specifically modified for linguistic 
  functions and, in particular, human language. This 
  was reinforced with carefully designed language 
  courses over each uplift species’ development. There is 
  some controversy among mercurials who believe that 
  uplift researchers did not do enough to promote and 
  develop native languages for particular uplift species. 
  The only uplift language to exist is cetacean, which is 
  notably primitive and limited, despite efforts by neo-
  dolphins and whales to extend its capabilities. 
  Despite the ridiculous characterizations of those 
  prejudiced against uplifts, uplifts speak the same 
  common languages as other transhumans. Mandarin, 
  Russian, and English are especially common among 
  uplifts, but many others speak Portuguese, Japanese, 
  Hindi or other tongues. Gengineering and socializa-
  tion also steer most uplifts towards using the same 
  non-vocal communication kinesics as transhumans, 
  from gestures to microexpressions. Nevertheless, 
  humans sometimes find it a bit more difficult to 
  read an uplift’s nonverbal cues, especially with less 
  humanoid uplifts such as neo-octopi and neo-avians.
  It’s interesting to note that uplifts often uncon-
  sciously incorporate elements of their baseline 
  linguistic tendencies into their everyday speech. If 
  reinforced by the presence of others of their kind, this 
  behavior essentially leads to a species-specific uplift 
  dialect of modern human languages.
  SOCIalIZaTIOn
  As early AI scientists suggested, the best way to 
  socialize an alien intelligence is to raise it exactly as 
  you would a human child. The same methodology 
  was used for uplifts. In the early stages of uplift (and 
  today still in many research centers), the raising of 
  uplift children was handled in clinically controlled 
  environments. The standard model was to rise them 
  in mixed-sex crèches of a dozen individuals, cared for 
  by an uplifted individual of the same species and/or 
  human minders. It was not uncommon for uplift 
  children to not be raised by their biological parents, if 
  they could be said to even have parents—most were 
  engineered from the genetics of three or more of their 
  predecessors. Most of these children lived lives that 
  any human would recognize. They were educated in 
  similar school systems, exposed to the same media 
  human children were, played the same childhood 
  games, and were taught the same lessons about 
  norms, customs, responsibilities, and social roles. As 
  various uplift projects advanced, some of these were 
  integrated with human children, so that they lived and 
  went to school side by side. The difference for uplift 
  children, however, was that they were subject to a 
  never-ending barrage of aptitude, learning, and intel-
  ligence tests, and sometimes served as test subjects for 
  drug regimens, implants, nanosurgical enhancements, 
  or even psychosurgical alterations.
  The primary goal of socialization is to infuse 
  uplifts with the same cultural values, ideologies, 
  jumping between swine and birds and humans. This 
  was a major concern expressed by anti-uplift groups 
  early on, that modifying animals to be more similar 
  to humans and integrating them into human popula-
  tions would create an opportunity for quick mutation 
  and transmission of disease. In order to combat the 
  possibility of pandemic, early uplifted avians and pigs 
  were designed to respond to influenza with purple 
  spots so the disease could be easily diagnosed and 
  treated. Now that basic biomods common among 
  both uplifts and other transhuman morphs avoid the 
  cytokine storm triggered by H1N1 and other viruses 
  (an overreaction of the immune system that is thought 
  to explain the flu’s high mortality rate among young 
  and otherwise healthy people), this is less of a concern.
  Like most humans, uplifts now have the genetic 
  modifications that provide longevity, allow their 
  bodies to regenerate, and protect them against most 
  known diseases. Uplifts are also bestowed with 
  upgraded livers and kidneys to better filter toxins out 
  of their environment. With small body masses, birds 
  are particularly vulnerable to environmental factors. 
  The same can be said of aquatic creatures like ceta-
  ceans and octopi, who live in an environment through 
  which toxins can quickly diffuse.
  lanGUaGE
  Many uplift candidate species already possessed some 
  linguistic capabilities or even rudimentary language, 
  “speech patterns,” and syntax rules, beyond that of 
  simple animal communication. The whistles and clicks 
  of the cetaceans and the baseline parrot’s ability to 
  imitate human speech are two of the most obvious 
  examples. Language is not just a cultural phenom-
  enon—there is a strong genetic element as well. Uplift 
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  UPLIFTS
  105
  UPLIFT GENETIC  
  SERVICE PACKS
  If there’s one thing hypercorps are good at, it’s 
  keeping their customers hooked. The scheme 
  of supplying indentures on Mars and elsewhere 
  with biomorphs suffering from built-in obsoles-
  cence, requiring periodic genetic service pack 
  maintenance to stay healthy, was actually pio-
  neered for use with uplifts. By inflicting uplift 
  bodies with genetic conditions that required 
  regular specialized healthcare, the uplift hyper-
  corps found a way to bind their progeny even 
  closer and discourage any ideas about eloping. 
  Though not all uplift hypercorps continue to use 
  these methods (Somatek notably discontinued 
  this after Duvalier moved on), many use genetic 
  service packs to keep uplifts under control and 
  within reach. 
  n
  
  allowed to reproduce. And by reproduce, I mean the 
  subject’s genetics were deemed acceptable to keep in 
  the library that particular lab kept on hand to modify 
  further, splice with other genetics, and eventually use 
  to grow a new fetus in vitro. Uplift subjects were 
  almost universally sterilized or otherwise prohibited 
  from sexual procreation. They could have sex, they just 
  couldn’t breed. This philosophy has mostly been carried 
  on to the present day, particularly with uplift research 
  programs, but even sometimes with independent 
  uplift communities. Each uplift’s particular germline 
  is analyzed and measured, with information comple-
  mented by various test results. Sometimes even the most 
  carefully gengineered uplift DNA will have errors that 
  take years or even decades to recognize and fix.
  Reproductive control is also a grand way to keep 
  money in the pockets of the hypercorps. Like many 
  transhuman morphs, an uplift’s particular genetics 
  are considered intellectual property. Built-in genetic 
  controls prevent sexual reproduction and sometimes 
  even hamper cloning. The genetic code is almost 
  always signed in the actual DNA itself, making it easy 
  to identify who it belongs to. 
  If you’ve been paying attention so far, you realize 
  that most uplifts have no control over their reproduc-
  tive prospects.
  It’s a beautiful story, really. Dolphin meets dolphin. 
  Dolphin and dolphin fall in love. Dolphin and dolphin 
  try to scrape up enough money to pay Somatek or 
  and ethical standards as the rest of humanity. It 
  would be foolish to think that no hypercorps have 
  experimented with other forms of socialization—or 
  no socialization whatsoever—but these projects 
  and their results are neither publicized nor publicly 
  acknowledged. It is also important to remember that 
  many hypercorps instilled particular noxious notions 
  among their uplift subjects. Many uplifts were raised 
  as second-class citizens, either inferior, less capable, 
  or less important to humans. Many also were repeat-
  edly instructed that they owed a debt to their patrons 
  for having been uplifted, a debt they could only repay 
  by a lifetime of service—in the best interests of their 
  children and their species. Others were instilled with 
  what can only be called slave ideology, raised to be 
  obedient and demure workers, reinforced with repug-
  nant mental alterations.
  REPRODUCTIOn
  It’s time for a little talk about the birds and the bees. 
  As with all things uplift, the subject of sex is a little 
  more complicated than it might first appear.
  During the early days of uplift, these creatures were 
  property. More than that, they were experiments. 
  And when an experiment goes bad, you don’t want 
  it running around, creating other little experiments.
  From the very earliest days of uplift, the reproduc-
  tion of subject creatures was tightly controlled. Only 
  germlines that were deemed significantly positive were 
  106
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  JaKE
  Source: Somatek Research Material, Project Orangutan, 
  Interview with Olivia Orangutan 
  [Link]
  It was already one of the bad days. My throat still hurt from 
  the surgery and the attendants had given me a ‘jection to 
  change the shape of my throat bones, the hy-oid. Least 
  that’s what Dr. Vitter called it. They kept telling me to talk 
  talk talk, but it just hurt. I don’t know why they wanted me 
  to talk so much anyway, I just sounded scratchy, not pretty 
  like the way Dr. Vitter talks.
  All I wanted was for it to stop hurting and to go home and 
  sleep in mamma’s arms. Sleep sleep sleep. Not talk talk talk.
  The worst part of it was Jake wasn’t there. Jake’s my 
  brother. He’s orang like me. He has red hair that sticks 
  straight up and big black eyes bulging out of his face and 
  he’s always making funny ‘pressions with his mouth. He’s 
  not beautiful like me. I’m beautiful because I’m a girl, but 
  Jake can’t be beautiful. He’s a boy. Boys are handsome.
  Anyway, he wasn’t there.
  I asked Dr. Vitter where Jake was and his face kind of 
  froze up like when he was mad, though I didn’t do anything 
  wrong to make him mad, I just asked where was Jake.
  He got down on one knee so his face was real close to 
  mine and he said, “I’m sorry, Olivia, but Jake didn’t make it 
  through the surgery.”
  So I asked, “Why doesn’t Jake have to do the surgery 
  if I have to?” It was a little mean, because I shouldn’t 
  have been trying to get Jake into trouble just because he 
  lucked out, but I was feeling cranky and my throat really, 
  really hurt.
  Dr. Vitter just looked at me real sad and he said, “I’m 
  sorry, Olivia.” He stopped like he was choking on something 
  and I felt a little bad for him. Talking is hard. I know.
  And then he said, so softly I almost couldn’t hear him, 
  “Jake died.”
  I just looked at him.
  “Jake is dead,” he said.
  “That’s not right,” I said.
  “Olivia,” he said real soft.
  “That’s not right,” I screamed and then I hit him even 
  though I know that’s really, really bad and I ran away 
  screeching in my orang voice even though I’m only 
  supposed to talk English now.
  I ran to Mamma and I said, “Jake is dead, Mamma. Dr. 
  Vitter said Jake is dead. It’s not true, Mamma.” And then there 
  were these weird feelings in my throat and my chest, like 
  when you’re choking on a piece of fruit, except it happened 
  over and over again. I couldn’t make it stop. “Tell me Jake’s 
  not dead. Tell me.”
  But she just looked at me and she didn’t say anything. 
  It was the first time I really understood what Dr. Vitter had 
  been telling me. Mamma couldn’t talk. Not like me.
  Mamma and I lost our Jake and she never said anything 
  about it. 
  
  It gets worse. The uplift hypercorps regard uplift 
  genetics as their trade secrets and work hard to 
  protect their IPs, both in the courtroom and the 
  laboratory. One of the tricks they use to deter piracy 
  is to deliberately introduce DNA coding errors that 
  manifest in newborns as random birth defects. If 
  the reproduction is handled properly, through that 
  hypercorp, these errors are methodically removed. 
  It’s easy to do—if you have a road map. These errant 
  base pairs can also be repaired on the fly—if you can 
  find (and afford) a trustworthy technician who is an 
  expert in the uplift of your particular species. Or you 
  could go forward without the expert and hope the 
  defects you get are something that can be fixed.
  Not all of the hypercorps are so restrictive, of 
  course. Some take an enlightened view towards uplift 
  reproduction, though they are rare and usually found 
  in the Morningstar Constellation or in Extropian 
  habitats. Thousands of uplifts, of course, exist outside 
  of hypercorp control, particularly in autonomist 
  strongholds or mercurial habitats. These uplifts are 
  free to pursue reproduction as they see fit, on their 
  own terms. Various autonomist, argonaut, and mercu-
  rial projects produce uplift germlines with genetics 
  that are public domain and unrestricted. Some of 
  these groups even make efforts to reverse-engineer the 
  DNA of hypercorp-produced uplifts. 
  MISTaKES, FaIlURES, anD REJECTS
  The beginning of uplift was a bloody, terrible business. 
  Humanity just didn’t know enough about baseline 
  animal brains to get it right on the first try, or even on 
  the hundredth. It took decades of concentrated study 
  to achieve even passable results and decades more 
  before the techniques were more or less perfected. 
  When dealing with something as complex as brains, 
  there is no such thing as 100% success. Evolution 
  took millions of years to mold the animals of today, 
  ruthlessly culling genetic errors and susceptibility to 
  disease and maladaptation to environment. Killing 
  countless millions of individuals in generation after 
  generation so that those who remained would work 
  better, be more flexible, fit their environment more 
  perfectly. As humanity tried to escalate thousands of 
  years of changes into a few decades, not to mention 
  the transgenic mods, there were bound to be failures 
  and mistakes. The progress of moving from zygote 
  to being is complex and in some ways, still deeply 
  mysterious. It’s not just decoding the DNA molecule, 
  but the interaction of genetic material from parents 
  and other sources, the proper activation of genes, the 
  presence of the correct proteins in the correct ratios at 
  the correct times, the impact of environmental factors, 
  etc. Needless to say, uplift is in many ways more of an 
  art than a science. No matter how smart we transhu-
  mans think we are, we’ve no doubt introduced thou-
  sands of bugs into the software of our uplifts and it 
  will be centuries before we begin to understand them 
  and work them out.
  whatever hypercorp owns their genetics to make them 
  a baby. Shakespeare, it’s not.
  The price charged by the hypercorps for genetic 
  rights is not staggering, but it’s far beyond the average 
  Jesse Uplift—especially if they’re also paying off the 
  hypercorp debt for their own uplift, as some patrons 
  require. Most hypercorps will not even consider 
  selling uplift genetics unless a license has been 
  acquired first—meaning that the genetic profiles of the 
  partners (however many there are) must be approved 
  first, both for compatibility and as beneficial to the 
  improvement of that particular uplift species. This 
  requires a significant bit of testing and analysis—also 
  prohibitively expensive. The Consortium and similar 
  authorities back these measures with law.
  Even if you get genetic rights and a license, well, 
  that’s just the start. Someone actually has to blend 
  that genetic material together to make a zygote and 
  then grow it in an exowomb (or if you’re particularly 
  old-fashioned, implant it in a surrogate parent, but 
  who outside of the Junta wants to go through that 
  bother anymore?). That includes state-of-the-art 
  genetic engineering and the cost of maintaining a 
  team of technicians and doctors working for the 
  gestation period. That’s another significant cost.
  If the uplifts actually want to experience the fun 
  part of reproduction, that’s possible too. Believe old 
  Blue, uplifts are quite capable of engaging in sex and 
  enjoying it, but they come from the factory shooting 
  blanks. Fortunately, fixing that problem is an easy 
  hack. It does require buying a licensed genetic service 
  pack that will turn the reproductive cycle back on. 
  That’s right, more money.
  If you’re part of an ongoing uplift research project, 
  that many not be the end of it. Your patron hypercorp 
  may demand as part of the licensing that your child 
  be raised in a particular habitat under the conditions 
  of a particular program, so that their growth can be 
  monitored and evaluated. That means your child may 
  be a test subject. Some hypercorps go so far as to raise 
  the child themselves, outside of parental supervision, 
  for the first year—and sometimes longer. And they 
  charge you for that too.
  For many uplifts in the solar system, this not a 
  system they can afford. So there is a great desire in the 
  uplift community to have children and no practical 
  way to make that aspiration a reality. Needless to say, 
  when there is an unmet need the black market will 
  step in to find a way. Various cartels offer services to 
  unlock genetic protections or raise pirated children. 
  While cheaper, these are still expensive options. 
  Uplifts pursuing these routes are advised to tread 
  carefully, as cartels often seek to enhance their profits 
  by cloning the genetics, blackmailing the prospective 
  parents, and similar unsavory methods. There are 
  plenty of coyotes out there preying on transhuman 
  weakness; people like renegade exhuman scientists 
  who’ll promise anything to anyone if they think they 
  can separate you from your coin.
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  UPLIFTS
  107
  
  diagnose and, since most of the action in the world of 
  uplift involves redefining the cerebrum, they are also 
  much more likely. There have been reported cases of 
  uplifts suffering from schizophrenia, amnesia, violent 
  psychosis, hallucinations, paranoid delusions, autism, 
  depression, catatonia, and, perhaps most cruelly, 
  aphasia—the inability to use or understand language. 
  These mistakes and rejects were learning oppor-
  tunities for the hypercorps. Rarely was an attempt 
  made to heal or repair the subject. It was a far more 
  common procedure to euthanize the unfortunate 
  victims and perform an autopsy so that the scientists 
  could learn from their mistakes. Some were spared, 
  however, left to live with crippling deformities or 
  other defects.
  Today, these mistakes are less of an issue. The 
  current state of genetic therapies and nanotech allows 
  us to rewrite an uplift’s genetic code, counteracting the 
  most grievous mistakes and abnormalities. You will 
  rarely see independent uplifts with such noticeable 
  problems or defects. In certain hypercorp research labs, 
  however, genetic repair is considered an unnecessary 
  expense and so entire communities of malformed or 
  impaired uplifts exist, carrying out their indentured 
  tasks with no hopes of seeing a better future.
  UPlIFT SPECIES
  Before we get down to the nitty gritty of how we’ve 
  managed to integrate into wider transhuman society, 
  it’d probably be helpful to take a closer look at the 
  different uplift species and their peculiarities.
  nEO-HOMInIDS
  And the book of all truths sayeth: “First Man uplifted 
  the chimpanzee.” Book of Jumbles, Chapter One, 
  Verse One. When the mad scientists took it into their 
  heads to make something better out of God’s humble 
  creation, they started where they always start: with 
  the chimpanzee.
  It’s a common misconception that chimp DNA 
  differs from Homo sapiens sapiens genes by only a 
  single percent, but this number is apocryphal. In actu-
  ality, the degree of similarity of human and chimp 
  genetic code depends mostly on how you count. 
  Since all complex organisms from Earth possess 
  great swaths of junk DNA inherited from a distant 
  common ancestor, there tends to be startling simi-
  larity between many organisms. Sure, humans are like 
  chimps—but they’re also like flatworms and fruit flies. 
  (Which may explain some of the encounters I’ve had 
  with biocons.) Also, it’s important to remember that 
  DNA isn’t the sole determinant of genetic expression. 
  Epigenesis (the changes in an organism caused by 
  mechanisms other than DNA) plays a significant role 
  in determining phenotype. And let’s be honest, apes 
  that grow up on a diet of bananas and termites are 
  going to develop differently than apes that grow up 
  on a steady diet of Red Dye Number Five.
  So, what can go wrong, you ask? Well, remember, 
  you did ask.
  Minor errors in a single gene can cause internal 
  organ failures or compromise the immune system. 
  Health problems were not uncommon in many early 
  strains. When making many radical changes all at 
  once, it’s possible to have physical deformities. These 
  were far more common in the early decades. I’ve seen 
  bootlegged records of an octopus with a tentacle 
  growing out of its head, of a wingless raven, of a 
  gorilla born without a mouth, just smooth skin where 
  the lower half of her face should have been. If you 
  have the right connections, it’s possible to drown in 
  such images.
  As bad as the physical errors are, the ones you can’t 
  see are worse. A damaged brain is much harder to 
  108
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  DEFECT ESCaPES
  From: [REDACTED], Quality Control Manager
  To: [REDACTED], External Security Director
  Subject: Quality Control
  Really don’t appreciate this attitude, [REDACTED]. I 
  don’t care what the damn commercials show. Whether 
  Marketing likes it or not, uplift production is a manu-
  facturing process and every manufacturing process has 
  QC issues and, ultimately, escapes. My department has 
  kept quality escape levels well below 100 ppm, which is 
  entirely acceptable for a world-class process of this scope 
  and complexity.
  Following is the list you requested of all known escapes. 
  If your department needs assistance in bringing these 
  quality issues to a quick and quiet resolution you will have 
  my full support. But, [REDACTED], let me assure you, if 
  you’re just planning to score political points off me, you’d 
  better score a lot. Because if you make me your enemy and 
  you leave me standing, there’s going to be hell to pay.
  Signed, [REDACTED]
  •	 Subjects 123, 126, 127, 142. Chimpanzee. Males. All 
  genetic descendants of Subject 119 (Jumbles). Eloped 
  6 AF, likely with help. See file on Santos, K. All four 
  subjects suffer from numerous non-debilitating defects 
  including stuttering, suppressed immune system, 
  depression. Not dangerous. Termination not required. 
  Current location unknown.
  •	 Hector473. Dolphin, Atlantic bottlenose. Male. Eloped 
  8 AF. Suffered from psychotic episodes and paranoid 
  delusions. Extremely violent. Killed minder and egocast 
  to Mars. Likely has jumped morphs several times. 
  Dangerous. Current location unknown.
  •	 Black32. Bonobo. Female. Eloped 9 AF. Subject is aphasic, 
  totally unable to speak or comprehend spoken language. 
  Subject can understand written language. Psych 
  analysis suggests subject is a brilliant sociopath. Likely 
  using custom-developed muse to overcome handicap. 
  Apprehend at all costs. Extremely dangerous. Current 
  location unknown. 
  
  Despite all that, there’s little doubt that the chimpanzee is 
  humanity’s closest relative. For one thing, you look identical. 
  Ugly. And hairy. I can hardly bear to look close enough to tell you 
  apart. And you share many of the same behavioral traits. (Though 
  on the whole I’ve found chimps to be better mannered.) Given 
  the genetic similarities, the intelligence and tool use, the complex 
  social structures, and strong social bonds, it’s no surprise the 
  various hominids were the first species to be uplifted.
  All of the neo-hominids walk upright, though some have 
  been known to knuckle-walk or switch to all fours when 
  injured or in times of stress. All are great climbers, and their 
  prehensile feet help both with climbing and maneuvering in 
  microgravity environments. They retain the body hair of their 
  non-uplifted forebears, though it is a common cultural practice 
  to dye, stylize, and otherwise manipulate their hair in certain 
  communities. Transgenic vocal systems allow them to speak as 
  humans do.
  Of all uplifts, neo-hominids have assimilated most easily and 
  thoroughly into transhuman culture. Most of them have no issue 
  wearing the same clothes and using the same gear that humans 
  do, without modification. Humans tend to acclimate to them 
  more easily, and both tend to adjust relatively easily to each 
  other’s morphs. Given the closeness, neo-hominids are also more 
  thoroughly socialized. They laugh as easily (even if it sounds 
  more like hoots), they emote similarly, they’re sexually compat-
  ible, and they tend to think in similar ways as humans do. It is 
  perhaps all the more grating when neo-hominids have to put up 
  with being called “monkeys” or “Dr. Zeus,” not to mention the 
  institutionalized discrimination all uplifts face. Working in their 
  favor is that many prejudiced humans seem to find neo-hominids 
  more physically threatening than other uplifts, giving them some 
  extra leeway when playing up their big mean ape persona.
  nEO-BOnOBOS
  Cousins to chimps, neo-bonobos are more slender and have 
  longer legs. They also tend to have longer hair and a less promi-
  nent brow ridge. Though socialized as transhumans, matriar-
  chal instincts still linger in neo-bonobos and females tend to 
  have more influence, both individually and collectively, in their 
  communities. The hypersexuality exhibited in pre-uplift bonobos 
  is also still present among uplifts, and sexual contact for greeting, 
  conflict resolution, and reconciliation remains common between 
  neo-bonobos (and sometimes with others). The vast majority of 
  neo-bonobos are bisexual.
  nEO-CHIMPanZEES
  Uplifted from the common chimpanzee, neo-chimps are perhaps 
  the most common uplift and the most well-integrated into trans-
  human society. Neo-chimps generally stand just shorter than the 
  average human. Their legs have been elongated, closer to human 
  dimensions, but still not as long as their lengthy arms. A natural 
  photographic memory was a common trait identified in early uplift 
  subjects and is a standard feature of many neo-chimp germlines.
  nEO-GORIllaS
  Male neo-gorillas are of average human height, though usually 
  significantly sturdier and stronger. Females tend to be shorter 
  (~1.5 meters). Males who achieve positions of authority and influ-
  ence express silverback characteristics, growing larger canines and 
  a silver patch of hair on their head and back.
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  UPLIFTS
  109
  
  handful of aquatic habitats in the solar system for 
  neo-cetaceans to thrive in their natural environment, 
  and a few more extrasolar options. There is also the 
  option of becoming a Solarian and swimming the 
  solar corona. But if a neo-cetacean wants to visit 
  anywhere else in a dolphin morph, they need to slide 
  into an exoskeleton walker or micrograv sled to 
  get around. Thankfully, some genetic tweaks to our 
  skin keep us from drying out so quickly when not 
  immersed in water. Second, there is size. Orcas and 
  whales are large—too large to comfortably maneuver 
  in standard transhuman living or work environments. 
  Third, there is the lack of hands for tool manipula-
  tion. This handicap is easy to bypass with cybernetic 
  implants, harnesses, exoskeletons, or simply by using 
  robots and mesh commands.
  It is rare that you will find a neo-cetacean in a 
  native morph outside of an aquatic habitat. In truth, 
  there is more to this than just morphological chal-
  lenges. Among humans—and shamefully among 
  uplifts as well—there is an undercurrent of prejudice. 
  Those who are more human are favored over those 
  who are less. Humans find us cetaceans to be odd 
  at best, alien at worst. According to the stereotypes, 
  dolphins are flaky tricksters, orcas are creepy psychos, 
  and whales are puzzling mystics. Even other uplifts 
  look down on us, considering our aquatic specializa-
  tion to be a handicap. 
  nEO-DOlPHInS
  Numerous dolphin species were uplifted: common, 
  bottlenose, striped, spinner, to name the most 
  common. Most neo-dolphins are genetic mutts, with 
  traits from several species. Most are gray, blue, or 
  black in color, sometimes with white underbellies, 
  and average 3 meters in length. The most numerous 
  neo-cetaceans, these survive primarily in Atlantica or 
  Europa. They are the neo-cetaceans most gregarious 
  with humans; many neo-dolphins have resleeved in 
  human morphs and assimilated into mainstream 
  transhuman society, though they often do so in tradi-
  tional pod social units.
  nEO-ORCaS
  Neo-orcas get a bad rep for their predatorial roots. 
  Technically, all cetaceans are predators; orcas just 
  happened to be the only ones that regularly fed on big 
  mammals. Their hunting may be responsible for their 
  intelligence, though. The scientists who engineered 
  them were allegedly careful to weed out any antisocial 
  killer instincts, but there’s no denying that neo-orcas 
  are the bad boys and girls of our little uplift family. 
  What most people don’t know is that orcas had 
  complex matrilineal social structures even as animals, 
  and these were maintained through the uplift process. 
  Neo-orcas tend to stick together, particularly with 
  family. Most adhere in social groups centered around 
  the mother who raised them, even if they only actually 
  share a few genetic traits with her. This is true in all 
  nEO-ORanGUTanS
  The smallest of the great apes, male neo-orangutans 
  stand just shorter than neo-chimps, and females 
  even shorter. They have longer arms, however, with a 
  standard arm span of 2 meters. They retain the throat 
  pouch physiology of their non-uplifted ancestors, 
  allowing them to be quite loud when they want to be. 
  Several neo-orangutans have made impressive artistic 
  careers as singers.
  nEO-CETaCEanS
  Uplifting whales and dolphins presented a whole 
  different set of problems, even though we cetaceans 
  are smarter than chimps, going by encephalization 
  quotient. (Don’t believe me? That’s because you’re 
  a victim of your monkeycentric point of view.)  
  We may be smarter, but we are also very different. 
  When humans thought to muck around with our 
  brains, in a very real sense they were dealing with an  
  alien intelligence.
  “But, Blue,” you’re saying. “You guys aren’t aliens. 
  You’re from Earth. You’re even mammals.”
  Sure, mammals. Right. We’re exactly the same. 
  Think through this for a minute. What is the principal 
  biological characteristic of human beings? Standing 
  upright. You walk. You guys are the very definition 
  of two-dimensional. But not us. Dolphins leap, dive, 
  cavort, race, and surf. Our brains are designed to 
  operate in three dimensions. (Which is why we are so 
  wonderfully adapted to space, by the way.)
  There’s more. Our use of echolocation is more 
  than just another sensory input. We employ sonar 
  to construct a detailed, three-dimensional model of 
  space around us. The torrent of sensory detail that 
  sonar provides has shaped our brains just as thor-
  oughly as your visual acuity has shaped yours.
  Finally, dolphin social order is radically different 
  from human cultural hierarchies. A fair part of the 
  difference arises from dolphins’ inability to keep 
  secrets. If a dolphin is pregnant, if they’re ill, if they’re 
  sexually aroused, if they’re digesting a fish, every 
  dolphin in her pod knows it. There’s no hiding from 
  sonar. As a consequence, dolphin culture is extremely 
  open. Subgroups drift in and out of pods, pods engage 
  in the communal rearing of calves, and we are less 
  hung up on sex than you people are. Few things drive 
  changes in neural architecture more rapidly than 
  mating strategies.
  Despite these differences, cetaceans were the second 
  group of species to be uplifted after hominids. The 
  difference between our brains means it took longer 
  to uplift us and there were many more mistakes, even 
  though we had the shortest way to go. 
  There are, of course, significant physiological 
  hurdles to integrating cetaceans into transhuman 
  culture. For one, we are aquatic creatures. On Earth, 
  this was less of an issue, given the bountiful oceans 
  and growing number of undersea settlements. Post-
  Fall, this is a significant problem. There are but a 
  110
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  SURVEILLANCE
  
  in the seas of Ceres and Europa, neo-whales were a 
  critically endangered species. 
  The research of various whale uplift programs 
  survived, however, along with several thousand 
  samples of the whale genome. Luckily whales are a 
  patient, mindful lot. They are confident that they will 
  rebuild their numbers. Perhaps more than many other 
  uplifts, neo-whales have adopted the transhuman 
  mindset. Few retain their original neo-whale form, 
  instead sleeving into Europan-adapted neo-whale 
  morphs, with dozens more becoming suryas or sleeving 
  into humanoid morphs. Some day, the mightiest crea-
  tures to ever ply the Earth’s oceans may become the 
  first species to become completely postbiological.
  Unlike other neo-cetaceans, you’ll never see a 
  neo-whale morph (carrying a neo-whale ego at least) 
  with cybernetic arms or couched in an exoskeleton. 
  Fine manipulation of objects on the human scale is 
  simply … beneath them. If they require the use of 
  tools, they almost always employ robotic aid.
  nEO-avIanS
  Though bird brains have some notable structural 
  differences, the brain-to-body-size ratio of parrots, 
  crows, and ravens is equivalent to the higher primates 
  and they exhibit distinct similarities to human minds, 
  particularly with the cerebral cortex and brain waves. 
  Aside from increasing brain size and other cognitive 
  upgrades, the primary issue for uplifting neo-avians 
  was how to change their physiology, particularly the 
  wings. In order to provide neo-avians with manipu-
  lative digits and hands, it was necessary to splice in 
  bat genetics to change their wings’ skeletal structures. 
  This had the added benefit of allowing them to fold 
  their wings better.
  Along with their increased cranial size, neo-avians 
  are much larger than their animal cousins, though still 
  small compared to humans, roughly equivalent to a 
  five-year old child. These physiological changes were 
  not as simple as they seem. In order to sustain terres-
  trial flight, neo-avians have to be light. To compensate 
  for this increased mass, their bones are engineered to 
  aspects of culture, from living arrangements to busi-
  nesses, though as neo-orcas become more and more 
  exposed to other transhuman social relations, larger 
  numbers of them are breaking free from their instinc-
  tual and socialized ways and living differently. 
  nEO-PORPOISES
  Porpoises are very similar to dolphins, just usually 
  smaller, faster, and less acrobatic, with shorter snouts. 
  They average 2.5 meters in length. Gengineered 
  primarily from harbor porpoise genetic stock, they are 
  less numerous than neo-dolphins and -orcas. They are 
  primarily found on Atlantica. 
  nEO-WHalES
  During the late 20th century, it looked like 
  humanity would finally wipe out our larger cetacean 
  cousins by excessive whaling and habitat destruc-
  tion. It turned out that a partial ban on whaling 
  and stricter protection of marine habitats rescued 
  the whales … barely. When the first humpback was 
  uplifted, followed soon after by beluga, sperm, and 
  blue whales, no longer did anyone have to speak for 
  the whales—they could speak for themselves. It was 
  to be a short-lived victory.
  There was no doubt that the Fall was a tragedy 
  for all the peoples of Earth—but the whales suffered 
  worse than most. Most whales weigh north of 
  10,000 kilograms—and that doesn’t even take into 
  account the weight of the water needed to immerse 
  their massive bodies. The spacecraft hasn’t been built 
  that could punch that kind of payload into Earth 
  orbit. Even if such a creature could have escaped the 
  clutches of the TITANs, where exactly would it go?
  The neo-whales were wiped out far more thor-
  oughly than humanity. Five calves did manage to 
  escape (three humpbacks, a blue, and a sperm), 
  carried up one of the space elevators while their 
  parents waited behind to die. Another thirty-four 
  uplifted whales escaped the Fall as infomorphs. In 
  all, thirty-nine neo-whales survived the loss of Earth. 
  Along with the 186 whale uplifts born and raised 
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  UPLIFTS
  111
  SOlaRCHIvE SEaRCH: DEEP CURREnT BlaCK KIllER OF SQUID
  The most well known neo-whale is likely Deep Current Black 
  Killer of Squid. Escaping Earth as an infomorph during the 
  Fall, Deep Current had been renowned among his people 
  as a hunter of Architeuthis—the giant squid. It turned out 
  that what made him a brilliant hunter of squid—patience, 
  instinct, and real-time quasi-mathematical modeling of a 
  score of environmental variables—also made him a brilliant 
  hunter of lost satellites, spacecraft, iceteroids, comets, and 
  even corpsicles. Deep Current was the finder of all lost things, 
  and that particular skill made him rich. After building his 
  wealth as a post-Fall scavenger, Deep Current Black invested 
  a substantial fortune into the establishment of the water 
  habitat of Atlantica. While certainly the richest neo-whale in 
  the solar system, he may be the wealthiest and most influ-
  ential uplift in transhuman society. He consistently denies 
  rumors that part of his fortune was earned by retrieving 
  artifacts from Earth after the Fall or that he retains ties with 
  criminal cartels. 
  
  be both stronger and lighter. Still, neo-avians are not as nimble 
  fliers as their animal progenitors.
  The same doesn’t hold for avians living in microgravity envi-
  ronments, of course. Like cetaceans, birds live their lives in three 
  dimensions. Neo-avians thus excel in micrograv environments; 
  another reason the hypercorps focused on them as early research 
  subjects. This did require some esophagus modifications, however, 
  since non-uplift birds require gravity to swallow and so would die 
  of thirst in micrograv.
  Compared to humans, baseline avians have superior visual 
  acuity. Not only can they see farther and more sharply, they can 
  resolve rapid and slower movement better, meaning they can see 
  things that humans would detect only as a blur or as impercep-
  tible movement. Neo-avian eyes can also see more colors than 
  humans and are also sensitive to the ultraviolet spectrum. Their 
  eyes are also protected by nictitating membranes.
  Baseline parrots start out with clawed zygodactyl feet (four toes 
  arranged in two pairs, front and back), while ravens and crows 
  have three toes facing forward and one back. Both are dexterous 
  and well-adapted for grasping. In some germlines a thumb-claw 
  is added, effectively making the feet prehensile, and the foot is 
  considerably strengthened. 
  nEO-PaRROTS
  The complex vocal apparatus of parrots allows them to use 
  language, that most unique of human gifts. Even apes cannot 
  speak as humans—not without some serious hardware changes, 
  that is. Parrots talk the talk.
  For uplift purposes, this is a bigger deal than it might at first 
  seem. It meant their brains were already carefully attuned to 
  vocalizations. It gave them the opportunity for language to rein-
  force intelligence, an echo of the feedback loop that helped give 
  rise to human intelligence. Where even today, some neo-hominids 
  have trouble with language under stress, neo-parrots remain the 
  most gifted talkers when it comes to uplifts. Stereotypes are often 
  backed by fact, and there’s a reason so many neo-parrots do well 
  as marketers, entertainers, and bartenders—and why you don’t 
  want to get trapped in a corner by one at a party. 
  nEO-RavEnS
  The common raven, Corvus corax, has the largest brain of 
  any bird species, a fact demonstrated by its advanced behavior. 
  Scientists have long observed sophisticated problem solving by 
  ravens. The bird will call wolves and coyotes to a kill to get the 
  canines to tear open the carcass for it. It’s also a trickster, building 
  fake food caches in front of other ravens to protect itself from 
  theft. And the raven is playful, another sign of intelligence. Ravens 
  have been observed sliding down snow banks and making toys 
  (twigs) for social play.
  Neo-ravens have exceeded these expectations. As a species, they 
  consistently score higher on sapience tests than many other uplifts. 
  They have a reputation for being clever, witty, and scheming for 
  a reason. It may also have something to do with their infamous 
  unblinking stare. Just don’t rib them too hard about considering 
  corpses a delicacy—some of them get a bit touchy about their 
  carrion-feeding roots.
  112
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  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  beaks at new money. The octopus transfers oxygen 
  around his body by using the copper-based molecule 
  hemocyanin, which gives its blood a characteristic 
  blue color. Unfortunately, hemocyanin is not nearly 
  as good at oxygen-fixing as its iron-based cousin 
  hemoglobin, meaning your average baseline cepha-
  lopod isn’t very energetic. In uplifts, hemoglobin is 
  substituted for hemocyanin. In theory, this means an 
  uplifted octopus has more energy than its baseline 
  cousin. But it also means the creature has to extract 
  more oxygen from its environment. This means more 
  rapid respiration and a host of muscular changes to 
  support it. 
  All of this is very weird, but not nearly as weird as 
  what comes next. There’s another problem with air 
  other than the inconvenience of having to breathe it. 
  It does next to nothing to provide structural support. 
  Many creatures that look beautiful and graceful in the 
  supportive waters of the sea look like a stray scrap of 
  intestine lying on the deck of a ship. Octopi evolved 
  in an environment that provided their delicate bodies 
  with inherent support. Transhuman habitats aren’t 
  quite so kind. In order to move around in a gravita-
  tional field, most uplifted octopi have been modified 
  to include a flexible sheathe of cartilage that protects 
  the delicate organs in the creature’s mantle (the sack 
  behind its eyes.) A careful system of powerful muscles 
  joined to this sheathe allows the octopus to hold itself 
  upright. The support requirement ends at the base of 
  the arms—they are powerful enough that there is no 
  need to supplement them.
  Octopi also underwent a number of sensory changes 
  during uplift. Baseline octopi have limited auditory 
  senses via their balance-providing statocyst organs, 
  which act like primitive cochlea that can only perceive 
  low frequencies. For neo-octopi, this sensory organ 
  was upgraded with transgenic modifications, enabling 
  uplifts to hear similar frequencies as humans. In some 
  germlines this audiosensory capability is limited, under-
  developed, or absent, but this is easily compensated 
  with audio implants or external mesh-linked devices. 
  Baseline octopi also lack a sense of proprioception for 
  their arms—the only way they can tell what their limbs 
  are doing is by looking at them. This was compensated 
  for by adding neurofeedback connections between the 
  arms and brain, but this sense is more well developed 
  in some germlines than others. 
  On the other hand, baseline octopi have several 
  sensory advantages that were kept. Their unique 
  eye structure, which evolved separately from that of 
  primates, is sensitive to polarized light, meaning they 
  have better visual acuity for seeing things like stress 
  fractures in transparent materials, transparent objects 
  in water, and other patterns that human eyes—even 
  with enhanced vision—cannot see. Thanks to an 
  autonomic response, the pupil slits of octopus eyes 
  are always oriented to be horizontal, which enables 
  neo-octopi in microgravity situations to keep their 
  orientation very easily. Octopi also have an excellent 
  nEO-CROWS
  Many people get neo-ravens and neo-crows confused. 
  In truth, they are similar, both physiologically and 
  culturally, and often intermix. Though baseline crows 
  are smaller than ravens, neo-crow uplifts are nearly 
  similar in stature to neo-ravens. The primary physi-
  ological differences are beak size and wing tips. Every 
  neo-crow and neo-raven I’ve known acts offended if 
  you mix them up, but I suspect they do this just to 
  take the high ground.
  nEO-OCTOPI
  Octopi are the only invertebrate uplifts and in many 
  ways are the most fascinating case. At first glance a 
  mollusk would seem like an unlikely candidate for 
  uplift. (Why uplift an octopus and not, say, a dog?) But 
  it turns out baseline octopi are cunning hunters, brilliant 
  problem solvers, and—sometimes—merry tricksters.
  One pre-Fall marine biologist had an octopus in 
  a tank and a crab, a favorite octopus prey species, 
  in another tank all the way across the room. He left 
  for the night, came back in the morning and found 
  a very fat octopus—and no crab. Turned out the 
  octopus had climbed out of its tank, walked across 
  the room, climbed into the crab’s tank, ate the crab, 
  and returned to its own tank. Cunning, brilliant, 
  and playful.
  So why are octopi so smart? First off, they are 
  predators, well-versed in the complexities of the 
  hunt. They are able to twist their flexible bodies into 
  fantastic shapes or jet off at high speeds, obscuring 
  their retreat with a cloud of ink. The octopus brain 
  is adept at deciding which strategy is appropriate 
  for the tactical situation. Their vision is nearly as 
  sophisticated as that of Homo sap. And a great deal 
  of neural processing is required to operate eight 
  independent prehensile limbs. It requires even more 
  to control a complex network of chromatophores to 
  produce astounding camouflage patterns for a variety 
  of different environments. All these factors made 
  altering the octopus mind the most difficult of the 
  uplift projects—and perhaps the most rewarding.
  There are many species of octopi, but scientists 
  chose the Pacific giant octopus to uplift due to its 
  great size. The Pacific normally reaches a size of 
  fifteen kilograms and an arm span of more than four 
  meters, though specimens have been found that are 
  more than five times larger than this.
  Fans of the octopus say the creature’s all heart. 
  While that may be a slight exaggeration, the octopus 
  does have more than its fair share of hearts—it 
  carries three. The two extra hearts are often called 
  gill hearts, as they force blood though the gills to be 
  oxygenated. The main heart sends blood through 
  the rest of the octopus’s circulatory system. When 
  you add in a transgenic lung system, everything 
  changes. The first and most important change is in 
  the blood. Baseline octopi are true blue-bloods. And 
  no, I don’t mean they play polo and look down their 
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  UPLIFTS
  113
  
  It is.
  Pigs are actually excellent candidates for uplift. 
  They are omnivores with a long association with 
  humanity. Scientific studies demonstrated that swine 
  were smarter than dogs and capable of abstract 
  thought. When given a symbol the pigs could 
  remember it hours later. When trained to execute 
  a voice command, they remembered the trigger 
  words years later. They exhibit complex social lives, 
  including caring for their young. And there was 
  even some evidence that they were more focused in 
  their attention than chimpanzees, perhaps because 
  of the swine’s long association with humans. As 
  previously mentioned, pigs were also heavily used 
  in the early biotechnology days for growing organs 
  suitable for human transplant. Scientists were 
  already making pigs more human so that humans 
  could use their parts.
  Which only left the little matter of the pig being a 
  food animal.
  This had the potential to be a disastrous. Would 
  neo-pigs resent the fact that their ancestors were a 
  major food source? Would humans be able to interact 
  seriously with a more advanced form of their morning 
  meal? How would religious humans who considered 
  pigs to be unclean react? These issues were enough 
  to keep Earth-bound labs from investing too heavily 
  on pig uplift, but out in the solar system, free from 
  legal and ethical constraints, the hypercorps moved 
  right on ahead. Fortunately, many of these issues are 
  overstated. It wasn’t uncommon for humans to eat 
  dolphins, octopi, or even apes in the past, but that 
  had very little effect on their uplift. Most uplifts 
  consider that the past anyway, and don’t see the point 
  of holding a grudge. Due to the loss of farm stocks 
  during the Fall, most meat today is either vat grown 
  or produced by cornucopia machines. The neo-pig has 
  been substantially modified, so it’s quite a different 
  creature from its forebears. Of course, that hasn’t 
  sense of touch and the suction cups on their arms are 
  equipped with chemoreceptors, meaning they can 
  taste whatever they are handling. I’ve heard humans 
  complain about the feeling of shaking hands with a 
  neo-octopus; well, you should hear what the cephalo-
  pods say about the taste of human hands.
  One thing that many transhumans find odd or 
  unnerving about neo-octopi is that their arms have 
  minds of their own—quite literally! These limbs are 
  packed with neurons (over two-thirds of the neurons 
  of baseline octopi are in the arms) and have a number 
  of complex reflex actions that they engage in without 
  control or input from the ego. While neo-octopi can 
  of course control their arms as desired, when the 
  brain isn’t issuing high-level commands to them, the 
  arms simply do their own thing. In neo-octopi culture, 
  this limb autonomy is an accepted fact, and never a 
  cause for embarrassment, though I imagine it also 
  functions as a convenient excuse on occasion.
  Like neo-cetaceans, neo-octopi are carnivores, 
  surviving on a diet of (faux) seafood. Though all 
  baseline octopi have venomous saliva, this has been 
  eliminated from most neo-octopi germlines. Most 
  neo-octopi can still squirt ink (melanin and mucus) 
  from their ink sacs; this is in fact a popular art form 
  in neo-octopi culture.
  Unlike humans and other uplifts, octopi are not 
  social creatures. This is apparent among neo-octopi 
  who exhibit solitary behavioralisms, value indepen-
  dence, and often shirk group activities, despite human 
  socialization. Though they are not complete isolation-
  ists, your average neo-octopi simply prefers to live 
  and work alone, and may chafe if forced into group 
  social situations.
  nEO-PIGS
  It may seem strange that transhumanity chose to raise 
  up pigs. Pigs? The creature that gives us ham and pork 
  chops and bacon? Surely that can’t be right, can it?
  114
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  UPLIFTS, MEDICINE, AND DRUGS
  No matter how much uplifts have been crafted in 
  the image of humans, our physiology remains quite 
  different. Doctors and machines skilled in human 
  anatomy may face challenges when diagnosing or 
  performing first aid or surgery on an uplift. Organs 
  are in different places, may not exist, or may func-
  tion differently, not to mention more complex 
  biological systems. While healing vats may be easily 
  programmed for specific uplifts and morphs, it is 
  possible that remote facilities or medical practitio-
  ners may not be adequately prepared for treating 
  sick or injured uplifts. 
  Similarly, many drugs that affect (trans)human 
  biology will have different effects or no effect on 
  uplift bodies and minds. This is especially true of 
  the non-mammals. Hormonal levels may be differ-
  ent, neurotransmitters may be located in different 
  places, neurological systems may be structured 
  differently, proteins may bind differently, etc. As a 
  consequence, some uplift-specific versions of recre-
  ational and smart drugs have been developed, with 
  unique effects upon specific species. Some of these 
  affect uplifts in ways that humans will never experi-
  ence, such as the drug hydra, which enhances the 
  autonomy and unconscious reflexiveness of neo-
  octopi arms, while limiting even further the ego’s 
  high-level control over them. 
  n
  
  could speak. Neanderthals painted caves, crafted 
  musical instruments, and carved figurines. So: families, 
  religion, art, music, and language. Sound like anyone 
  you know?
  Like many other long-dead species, DNA recov-
  ered from fossils raised the possibility that neander-
  thals could be brought back. More than any other 
  species, this issue was contentious. Not only were 
  neanderthals potentially intelligent, but they were a 
  species that had competed with humans. It was highly 
  possible that humans had driven them to extinction. 
  While others debated on Earth, a small hypercorp 
  named New Day quietly acquired genetic samples 
  from multiple sources and went to work in an 
  offworld lab. Unlike other resurrection projects, New 
  Day was not interested in bringing baseline neander-
  thals back—they went right for the money shot and 
  pursued neanderthal uplifts. A few years after the 
  Fall some evidence came to light that New Day had 
  birthed and even raised some baseline neanderthals 
  for testing purposes, but these were all terminated at 
  young ages. New Day, of course, denies the charges. 
  Seek the evidence yourself online if you choose. 
  More to the point, at this time baseline neander-
  thals remain extinct; none living are known to exist. 
  Neo-neanderthals, however, are alive and well.
  As it turned out, neanderthals required surprisingly 
  few modifications for uplift. A few cognitive enhance-
  ments brought their minds in line with the brains of 
  modern humans. Physiologically they required little 
  upgrade. Neanderthal bodies are sturdier and more 
  robust than humans, with stronger arms and hands. 
  They seem to have a natural gift for music, perhaps 
  augmented by New Day’s cognitive engineers.
  As the most recent addition to the uplift family, 
  neo-neanderthals are limited in population and 
  distribution, numbering less than a thousand. They 
  are primarily clustered in the habitat of Moustier and 
  among New Day facilities. The oldest neanderthals 
  are just over 25; most are significantly younger.
  stopped the bacon jokes that get tossed their way, but 
  everyone has their cross to bear.
  Pig uplifts were raised from a variety of domestic 
  pig strains. Neo-pigs walk upright like humans, 
  thanks to a restructured skeleton and musculature, 
  and stand just shorter than human averages. Some of 
  the germlines still have trouble with bipedal balance 
  I’m told. Transgenic hands and feet replace the hooves. 
  Males grow tusks from their lower jaws, though it is 
  common practice to file these down. Females retain 
  ten or more teats for feeding their young. Some 
  neo-pigs have a vestigial tail, though this has been 
  removed in most germlines. Their sensory organs are 
  roughly equivalent to baseline humans. Transgenic 
  vocal systems enable speech. 
  Neo-pigs are not nearly as widespread as other 
  uplifts. The current population is under two thousand, 
  clustered mostly in a few specific colonies. Over half 
  are corporate indentures.
  nEO-nEanDERTHalS
  The story of Homo neanderthalensis may be the 
  strangest of all. They are the only uplift species that 
  was resurrected from extinction. Neanderthals were a 
  lost cousin of humanity, a hominid that didn’t make 
  it. They lived from roughly 300,000 to 25,000 years 
  ago, when they literally vanished from the face of 
  the Earth. Archaeological findings suggest that the 
  neanderthals were geographically concentrated in 
  the Middle East and Europe, until the cro-magnon 
  humans either wiped them out or out-competed them. 
  Neanderthals were very similar to primitive humans, 
  and it seems likely they were just as intelligent; their 
  brains were actually larger than those of cro-magnons. 
  Neanderthals buried their dead and included flowers 
  and tools in the graves, a sign of ritualistic and 
  abstract thinking. More importantly, it was a sign 
  of love. You don’t bother to prepare someone for an 
  afterlife if you don’t care for them. The discovery of 
  hyoid bones in baseline neanderthals suggests they 
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  UPLIFTS
  115
  WHY NO NEW UPLIFTS?
  Anyone who’s been keeping track realizes that no 
  new species have been raised to sapience in over 
  two decades. Why the break, especially when so 
  many were uplifted in the three decades just prior?
  The answer is complex and resides in many fac-
  tors. The Fall and reconstruction sidelined research 
  and consumed resources. Many hypercorps invested 
  all of their efforts into particular species, requir-
  ing significant effort to retool. Even after success 
  with a new species, decades of fine-tuning were 
  required to perfect the process. Many switched to 
  providing services and continued upgrades to the 
  uplifts already raised. And so on.
  The major reason, however, is simply that all of 
  the low-hanging fruit had been plucked. The major-
  ity of species whose intelligence level was in the 
  range of transhumanity’s capability to raise to full 
  sapience were modified and uplifted. All of the 
  animals in the tiers below this required far more 
  effort—for now, they remain outside of transhu-
  manity’s reach. As improvements are made with 
  various smart animal species, however, it is only a 
  short time until we welcome some new species 
  to the sapient ranks. The race is already on to see 
  which will be next. 
  n
  
  to “smart animal” status. Smart animals include any 
  critters who have been modified for greater intelligence. 
  Though none of these are (yet) capable of passing the 
  Advanced Sapience Test, many of them are significantly 
  more intelligent than their baseline counterparts, and 
  some have even been boosted to the cognitive equiva-
  lent of a human toddler. The smarter ones understand 
  verbal commands and can sometimes communicate 
  back using primitive vocalizations or sign language.
  Aside from dogs and cats, humanity’s primary tradi-
  tional domestic animals and companions, most smart 
  animals are elevated because of their utility. Creatures 
  that can provide some useful services, whether that be 
  guarding, cleaning up, policing, agricultural work, and 
  so on are more likely to be enhanced. After all, many 
  of the groups behind these uplift projects are hyper-
  corps looking to profit. To them, these animals are a 
  product, or possibly a future indentured workforce.
  Smart animals are used throughout transhuman 
  society, just like any tool. Ironically, they are more 
  readily accepted than uplifts because it’s clear they 
  still remain on the animal side of the animal-people 
  divide. Even biocons accept the use of smart animals, 
  though they demand limits on the cognitive abilities 
  these animals are engineered to have.
  Many smart animal species are enhanced with other 
  modifications, both genetic and cybernetic. More 
  intelligent breeds are equipped with specialized mesh 
  SMaRT anIMalS
  Not all animals are suitable candidates for uplift. To 
  date, the only creatures that have been successfully 
  uplifted are those who had already taken a few solid 
  steps from sentience towards sapience on their own. 
  Of all of the animal species that existed on Earth, few 
  more than a dozen were of viable enough intelligence 
  that they could be modified to human-level cognition. 
  All of the neuroscience at transhumanity’s disposal is 
  not enough to elevate canines, bears, horses, badgers, 
  snakes, sharks, or platypi to the level of thinking apes. 
  The amount of genetic rewiring and biological modi-
  fication to do so is simply beyond current technology. 
  This doesn’t mean no one is working on it, of 
  course. Right now, all over the solar system, thou-
  sands of animals are serving as living test subjects in 
  the genetic arms race to create the next new sapient 
  life form. I know syndicates that have ongoing betting 
  pools, if you’re interested. My money’s on dogs 
  beating out cats. 
  There’s no reason you have to go all the way to 
  uplift, of course. It’s possible to enhance an organism 
  without doing the floor-to-ceiling neural and physi-
  ological redesign that uplift entails. Many of those 
  animals that are well-adapted to human services—or 
  servitude, if you care to think of it that way—and 
  who are relatively bright have already been elevated 
  116
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  SWARM CATS
  A popular pastime on scum swarms that has 
  recently been gaining in notoriety is the practice 
  of raising and competing so-called “swarm cats.” 
  Among the scum, these animals are bred both 
  for companionship and competition. The refusal 
  of the scum to render their creations sterile 
  has meant that a sizable population of swarm 
  cats has developed in various scum barges and 
  swarms—and on many of the habitats they visit.
  The animals themselves are chimeric smart 
  cats, heavily modified using open source biotech 
  and genetics to make the biggest, smartest, and 
  meanest feline you can get. Swarm cats entered 
  in competitions must have at least 51% of their 
  genome drawn from animals in the suborder 
  Feliformia, which means not only large and small 
  terrestrial cats but also mongooses, civets, and 
  hyenas. The remainder of the genetic makeup 
  can come from anything the engineering party 
  believes will make for a better competitive 
  animal. Non-competitive germlines fall into the 
  category of whatever-the-hell-the-scum-feel-like-
  today. On my last trip to a scum barge, I saw one 
  that looked like a Siamese house cat with four 
  eyes and purple bioluminescent fur, and another 
  swarm cat that was more like a snow leopard 
  with armadillo skin, six chitinous legs, and a trio 
  of whip-like cybernetic tails. 
  Competitive swarm catting has two elements. 
  First the cats race through an obstacle course that 
  measures their agility, speed, strength, and prob-
  lem-solving skills. The cats are most often raced in 
  the more dangerous and disused portions of the 
  ship, creating a true test of their survival skills. The 
  obstacles and tests are clever and sometimes deadly. 
  I saw one where the swarm cats had to figure 
  out how to squelch a fire that blocked access to a 
  tunnel they needed to get through, and another 
  that required them to cross a gap between airlocks 
  exposed to vacuum. The second part is a show por-
  tion where the animal gets displayed and performs 
  tricks. In typical scum fashion, this is more like a 
  circus sideshow mixed with appreciation and evalu-
  ation of genehacking ingenuity. 
  Swarm cats can also make excellent guard ani-
  mals and will often bond to their handlers, using 
  their unique skills to protect them. Many scum 
  barges have growing populations of “stray” swarm 
  cats that are cared for and looked after by the 
  entire ship. 
  n
  
  inserts so they can be tracked and issued remote commands; a 
  controller AI helps keep the critters electronically leashed. Others 
  are given enhancements appropriate to the animal’s utility 
  purposes, or to enable better control in a habitat environment 
  through pheromonal cues, scents, sounds, etc. Some are equipped 
  with puppet socks, enabling their handlers to remotely control or 
  jam them like biological robotic drones.
  SMaRT DOGS
  Man’s oldest and most loyal companion, Canis familiaris, has 
  gotten a makeover for a new age. Enhancement represents the 
  first change in the human-canine relationship since dogs slipped 
  into the circle of firelight 100,000 years ago. Modern dogs 
  come equipped with an artificial larynx and the intelligence of 
  a two-year old human child. They can talk, with an average 
  canine vocabulary of twenty to thirty words. They are able to 
  obey simple commands and express simple concepts: danger, hurt, 
  happy, hungry (that one comes up a lot), etc. Many dogs (espe-
  cially guard dogs) are fitted with mesh inserts, so they can commu-
  nicate with their masters remotely. For the dog, it feels like they 
  have the voice of their master in their head. (Yes, master—these 
  are not uplifts, remember.)
  Aside from their role as human companions, dogs have always 
  served the role of guardians. Enhanced canines are a favorite of 
  security corps, being comfortable around humans, easy to train, 
  and well adapted to security duty. Their sense of smell can also 
  be exploited to track targets, detect substances, or warn of other 
  threats. And more than anything else, they’re loyal. Guard dogs 
  are commonly geared up with special implants, from bioweave 
  to enhanced vision or muscle augmentation. Most popular is 
  diamond teeth, capable of ripping through flesh, bone, and even 
  light armor. Facilities that use guard dogs make ample use of 
  puppet socks to coordinate the dogs’ actions when needed.
  One thing to note about dogs is that they are not particularly 
  well-equipped to handle microgravity. As a consequence, few are 
  found on zero-g space stations. You’re more likely to find smart 
  dogs on planets, large moons, O’Neill cylinders, or toruses.
  SMaRT CaTS
  The relationship between man and cat has never been quite the 
  same as man and dog. Dogs are grade schoolers who worship 
  their fathers, who believe they can do no wrong. Cats, on the 
  other hand, are teenagers. There is a relationship, there may even 
  be love, but ladled over all of it is a heavy dollop of contempt. 
  One almost wonders if somewhere cat scientists aren’t trying to 
  uplift humans.
  Enhanced cats often have similar hardware to smart dogs—
  artificial larynxes, mesh inserts, and all the rest. Supposedly 
  they’re smarter than dogs (equivalent to a human three-year 
  old), and their vocabulary is on average fifty percent higher 
  (thirty to forty-five words)—though they almost never respond 
  to commands. Sometimes they do respond to warnings. It may 
  sound like a fine distinction, but then living with a cat is all 
  about dealing with fine distinctions.
  Aside from companionship, smart cats are sometimes used for 
  gathering intel. They are quiet, small, agile, and well-equipped 
  for seeing in near-darkness. It’s surprising how often people will 
  overlook a “stray” in a run-down neighborhood. They serve quite 
  well as living recorders, streaming their sensory input over the 
  mesh or dumping it to implanted storage. They can work quite 
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  UPLIFTS
  117
  
  SMaRT RaTS
  These upgrades of the common Norwegian rat are 
  clever and dexterous, and they easily fit into a pocket or 
  hood. Think of a smart rat as a little assistant that can 
  dart out and drop or pick up small objects or papers, 
  manipulate devices, fetch you a drink bulb, or sabotage 
  equipment. The portability of rats is a major advan-
  tage. They are also harder to detect than cats, dogs, or 
  monkeys. They don’t do well in micrograv habitats, 
  though some germlines are equipped with grip pads, 
  enabling them to scurry along interior surfaces.
  Smart rats can’t speak and are not usually equipped 
  with mesh implants, except cheap spimes that track 
  their location and health. The exception is rats used 
  for spying or infiltration, who will be equipped with 
  recording or transmitting sensors. Their main use, 
  however, is for janitorial services and pest control in 
  habitats. Their behavior is controlled with a complex 
  set of chemical cues.
  OTHER SMaRT anIMalS
  Many other animals have been gifted with enhanced 
  smarts. These range from smart pigeons, used as 
  couriers and eavesdroppers, to the smart horses and 
  camels deployed as pack animals for gatecrashing 
  missions. Some smart animals with no particular utility 
  as servants, partially uplifted at great expense, are 
  favored by the rich, who delight in displaying unusual 
  smart pet companions as expensive showpieces.
  effectively even outside of direct human supervision. 
  Some germlines have elongated fingers and thumbs on 
  their forepaws, enabling limited tool use. Cat burglars 
  literally exist.
  Like dogs, cats are not well-adapted for micro-
  gravity and so are rare on zero-g habitats. They are a 
  lot of fun to watch in low-grav stations, however. I’ve 
  seen cats on Luna make some impressive leaps.
  SMaRT MOnKEYS
  Dogs and cats are wonderful, but they have certain 
  disadvantages. First off, they are not as bright as 
  they need to be for really complex tasks. They’re not 
  stupid exactly, but they aren’t what you’d call college 
  material, either. They go a fair way just on instinct 
  and limited enhancements, but at the end of the day 
  there’s more yet to go. It’s not just the brain issue. It’s 
  not even mostly the brain issue. The bigger issue is 
  how poorly adapted they are to microgravity. 
  On the other hand, primates do very well in micro-
  gravity. Monkeys are used to climbing trees, swinging 
  on vines, flying across empty space. They do all 
  those same things in zero gee, they just don’t have to 
  worry about the possibility of falling. And as a bonus, 
  they’re clever little buggers, too.
  The two monkey species generally favored for 
  enhancement are macaques and spider monkeys: 
  bright, lively creatures that can mass anywhere 
  from ten to fifteen kilos and will generally live into 
  their thirties, making it economical to enhance them. 
  Though if you want an enhanced monkey for security, 
  most people turn to the forty-kilo baboon.
  Monkeys are often used as servants. Like dogs 
  and cats, they are typically given larynxes and mesh 
  inserts. Intelligence and vocabulary vary by germline. 
  Smart monkeys are very popular as companions in 
  neo-hominid communities. They are also used as 
  couriers, spies, performers, bar backs, and thieves. 
  Security baboons are bred for aggression and size. 
  They are often fitted with armor and shock batons. 
  Bars use them as bouncers and they are heavily used 
  for crowd control and general backup by police 
  on Mars. Some owners inject their baboons with a 
  cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters known 
  as kong—usually a mix of adrenaline, testosterone, 
  and monoamine oxidase, an enzyme that breaks 
  down the neurotransmitter serotonin. This makes 
  the baboons edgy and extremely aggressive. It’s also 
  bad for the ol’ brain chemistry and circulatory system. 
  Baboons subjected to this kind of treatment usually 
  die a decade earlier than baboons raised under more 
  standard conditions.
  Baboons have proved to be good at crowd control 
  on Mars, but that effectiveness comes at a price. Once 
  you turn them loose, it’s nearly impossible to rein 
  them in. For this reason the aggression cocktail has 
  to be managed carefully. If an enemy releases it at an 
  inopportune moment, the baboons may very well turn 
  on their handlers.
  118
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  ANIMAL PODS
  Some animals are not suitable for uplift, but 
  their bodies are useful enough to consider 
  creating as pods, particularly if modified 
  for extra utility. These are primarily used as 
  biological androids, operated by an AI for 
  specific tasks, though they are sometimes 
  adopted as morphs by transhumans as well. 
  Novacrabs are the prime example of this, 
  favored for their durability, multiple limbs, 
  and ability to operate in difficult environ-
  ments, particularly vacuum. Pods created 
  from wolf, tiger, and bear stock have been 
  deployed for security purposes and some-
  times even military action. Hypergibbons 
  have been widely adopted as a more aes-
  thetically pleasing alternative to robots in 
  neo-hominid communities, also being useful 
  for neo-apes who want a primate morph 
  that is quick to sleeve into and evacuate. 
  Other less common and sometimes strange 
  pods can be found throughout the system, 
  particularly in the hands of the idle rich, 
  adventurous, or weird. 
  n
  
  to reproduce, the majority saddle their progeny with 
  some sort of debt for the privilege. The terms vary, but 
  frequently require a period of indentured service once 
  the uplift reaches sexual maturity. They may treat the 
  uplifts as property, as contracted workers, or if the 
  uplifts are lucky, as valued citizen-employees. Some 
  uplifts have the option to buy out if they can find 
  the money or a sponsor, but most are contractually 
  obligated to work. Uplifts raised in sovereign hyper-
  corp habitats have no recourse to laws or rights; they 
  are at the hypercorp’s mercy. Within the Consortium, 
  indenture debts are considered perfectly legal, though 
  they have faced challenges in some habitats and in 
  other jurisdictions. A major part of the justification 
  for this practice is that uplift procedures and genetics 
  are considered intellectual property. Patents are levied 
  against almost every modified base pair in nearly every 
  uplift that ever drew a breath. The hypercorps point 
  to the trillions they have invested in uplift technolo-
  gies and claim the debt bonds are justified to recoup 
  their investment. The argument that patents must bow 
  to the public interest holds little weight among the 
  Consortium and Lunar-Lagrange courts.
  Talk to the CEO of any of the hypercorps that 
  employ contract uplifts in their workforce (which is 
  to say all of them), and they’ll give you compelling 
  reasons why what they’re doing isn’t slavery, but 
  opportunity. After all, without corporate capital 
  uplift research would be decades behind where it 
  is today. Many of the uplifts currently alive would 
  never have been born. Uplift advocates, mercurial 
  activists, and autonomists claim that lives are at stake 
  and point out the immorality of treating the body of 
  a sapient being as intellectual property, but in hyper-
  corp jurisdictions these arguments fall secondary to 
  commercial interests.
  Though many of the major uplift hypercorps are 
  easy to identify—Provolve, Cephala, MindUp, to 
  name just a few—some deserve special mention. 
  SOMaTEK
  When most people think of a hypercorp associated 
  with uplift, Somatek is the first name to come to 
  mind. Their logo was branded indelibly in the public 
  mind when they transformed a chimpanzee from Pan 
  troglodytes into Pan sapiens. Somatek’s pioneering 
  work continues to be a driving force in uplift science 
  and affairs.
  I have actually met the uplift poster child, Jumbles 
  the chimp. He is still a public figurehead for Somatek’s 
  work, albeit a controversial one. He seems to genu-
  inely support the corp’s initiatives and believe in their 
  mission, but there is much speculation about his loyalty 
  and questions regarding the services to which Somatek 
  contractually bound him when he was just a young 
  chimp. In a very frank conversation, he explained to 
  me his opinion that Somatek was more complex than 
  most people realize. On one hand, the mercurials and 
  pro-uplift extremists condemn Somatek’s methods, 
  UPlIFT SPECIalISTS
  You can find almost as many opinions about uplifts as 
  there are people in the solar system. There is prejudice 
  and indifference, of course, but there are also those 
  who consider uplifts interesting as a tool to exploit or 
  because the very idea of uplift fires their imagination. 
  You will find the latter evenly distributed among the 
  various organizations that have a hand in bringing 
  uplifts into existence. To some, uplifts are a product 
  or resource; to others, uplifts are a scientific wonder 
  and living treasure to be cherished. 
  HYPERCORPS
  It was the hypercorps that drove the research that first 
  brought uplifted creatures into the universe. Many 
  uplifts look upon the hypercorps as dangerous and self-
  centered parents. They are not well loved, but oh, how 
  hard it is to break those family ties. A majority of uplifts 
  still work for hypercorps in conditions that range from 
  privileged employment all the way to de facto slavery. 
  The precise relationship between hypercorps and uplifts 
  is as complex and varied as the uplifts themselves.
  It is important to consider that for the hypercorps, 
  uplift is a business. They engage in it in search of 
  profit. Some see it as a testing ground for procedures 
  that may be marketable to transhumans seeking 
  cognitive upgrades; much of what is learned in 
  enhancing animal minds is applicable to humans, or 
  may be in the future, and it is considered more ethical 
  to refine the practices on non-humans first. Others 
  consider themselves manufacturers of biological 
  products to sell to consumers, whether they are 
  making smart rats or cloning morphs. Most hyper-
  corps that actually birth, raise, and socialize uplifts see 
  their work as self-supporting, as they are growing an 
  indentured work force that will pay back their costs 
  in labor for decades to come. Others view their efforts 
  as a sound investment, building a new consumer 
  base to which they can sell tailored products, from 
  specialized consumer goods to genetic service packs 
  or morphological and cognitive upgrades. 
  In standard hypercapitalist style, there are thou-
  sands of hypercorps engaged in some aspect of 
  uplift work, from small three-person mostly virtual 
  outfits to monolithic near-megacorp size businesses 
  like Somatek. The vast majority are small and 
  specialized, focusing on specific aspects of the uplift 
  process—cognitive research, transgenic splicing, in 
  vitro fertilization, child-rearing, socialization software, 
  aptitude testing, etc.—and working with other small 
  hypercorps and partnerships as part of a larger gestalt 
  process. They each draw from a massive pool of 
  freelancers who sell their skills to individual projects. 
  Certain genehackers, neuroscientists, and zoological 
  psych specialists with good reps are in high demand 
  for their contracted services.
  Among the hypercorps and consortiums that 
  actually grow new uplifts or work with existing uplifts 
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  UPLIFTS
  119
  
  brain tissue from sheep. Insulin from sunflowers. 
  Neuropeptides from carp. The whole natural world is 
  filled with biofactories designed to produce a complex 
  set of organic chemicals; Somatek just hijacked the 
  machinery for their own use.
  All scientific and commercial incentives aside, if you 
  view the old interviews and press footage from these 
  early days, you get a sense of the real reason Somatek 
  scientists pursued uplift: Because they could. When 
  you have that kind of power over genetics, it’s only 
  natural to see what you can do with it. Talk to any of 
  the scientists on that initial team that first achieved 
  uplift and you can see it in their eyes, hear it in their 
  voices. They did the work of gods. They not only 
  created new life, but life that was self-aware and that 
  could talk back to them. 
  In the early days, back when Rael Duvalier was the 
  charismatic figurehead and agenda-setter, this mani-
  fested as a patriarchal attitude. Somatek personnel 
  saw themselves as benevolent father figures, raising 
  their children so that they may one day be productive 
  members of society. It just so happened that there was 
  more than a bit of condescension there. According to 
  Duvalier’s vision, uplifts were special needs children. 
  Even as sapient adults, they would need humanity’s 
  guiding hand for decades, maybe centuries to come. 
  They were inferior to humans, not yet mature enough 
  to grasp the complexities of society and culture, and 
  so required humanity’s oversight. This attitude is not 
  so uncommon among Somatek’s rivals even today.
  Perspectives change over time, however. After the 
  Fall, transhumanity found itself on a new road. The 
  backlash against AGIs also spilled over onto uplifts; 
  if transhumanity could spawn intelligent computer 
  monsters, why not intelligent animal monsters? 
  Already controversial, uplifts and their proponents 
  were once again put on the defensive. By this time, 
  however, Somatek’s personnel had spent decades 
  working alongside uplifts, raising many of them from 
  children to adulthood. Numerous uplifts worked 
  within their ranks. They knew in their hearts that 
  treating uplifts as animals or monsters was wrong. In 
  a surprise move, Duvalier and many of his supporters 
  found themselves forced out of the company. A new 
  corporate culture was spawned, one that was friend-
  lier to uplifts. In the hypercorp’s ranks today you can 
  find thousands of uplifts who believe in the corp. Who 
  love the corp. I’m not repeating stories I’ve heard, I’ve 
  spoken with Somatek workers myself. 
  As you might expect, the feelings of uplifts 
  outside the Somatek family circle are considerably 
  less charitable. Many uplifts hate Somatek and will 
  have nothing to do with them or anyone who works 
  for them, even subcontracts for them. Somatek is a 
  favorite target of uplift terrorist splinters, which is the 
  reason that Clever Hands is one of the most heavily 
  defended installations on Luna. Uplifts that volun-
  tarily work for Somatek are considered Uncle Toms, 
  sell-outs who help oppress their own kind.
  particularly forced indenture and the focus on human 
  standards of cognition and socialization. Somatek 
  rigidly controls uplift genetics and reproduction. On 
  the other, Somatek is is considered a champion for 
  uplift causes—even by many uplifts—and they have 
  adopted positions that are considerably more liberal 
  than many of their competitors. By comparison, their 
  indenture terms are shorter and more lenient. Somatek 
  likely employs more uplifts than any other corp, many 
  of them staying on after their indenture period ends. 
  These uplifts participate at all levels, with a number 
  engaged in creating new uplifts, and some even serving 
  as advisors to Somatek’s board.
  Somatek’s uplift experimentation began decades 
  before the arrival of Jumbles. Uplift research was a 
  natural outgrowth of the pharming work they were 
  already doing, redesigning plant and animal genomes 
  to produce useful biological compounds. Their first 
  commercial successes were making rhesus macaques 
  whose blood conferred immunity to the entire family 
  of deadly hemorrhagic filoviruses—Marburg, Ebola-
  Zaïre, and Ebola-Miami—and various strains of 
  hogs that grew human organs for transplantation. 
  These were followed by more discoveries. Plastic 
  120
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  To: <Encrypted>
  From: <Encrypted>
  Thanks to the tip you gave us, we hit that exhuman 
  lab out in the Main Belt last month. The mission was 
  a success. We managed to stop production of that 
  nasty little plague that had been cropping up in the 
  Martian hinterlands. We wiped their facilities clean.
  I don’t think dealing with exhumans is ever easy, 
  but after seeing some of the things we saw in their 
  labs … well, let’s just say I’m still having night-
  mares. In particular, we ran across some—I hesitate 
  to call it research, when it seemed more like an 
  atrocity—projects of theirs. Though it’s sometimes 
  hard to tell what they’re hoping to achieve, this one 
  seemed different. It wasn’t about transforming their 
  posthuman selves into something else, and it wasn’t 
  about whipping up biowar plagues to mess with the 
  rest of us either. As far as I could tell, it was a project 
  to create a new species of uplift. Not just a particular 
  species either—my best guess is that they were 
  splicing together traits from a few different species 
  to come up with something new. It was a horrible, 
  gory mess.
  We logged evidence. Some of it seems to indicate 
  this was a satellite project, that the heavy research 
  was going on elsewhere. I’m considering passing it 
  along to some of our friends who may be interested. I 
  just wanted to check in with you first, to see if you’ve 
  heard of anything in this vein?
  I sincerely hope you haven’t. I wish I never had. 
  GUERIlla UPlIFT
  
  Aside from their relations with and attitude towards uplifts, 
  Somatek continues to do well as a business. Notably, they are 
  not a member of the Planetary Consortium, though they do work 
  with many Consortium interests. Most of Somatek’s habitats 
  and holdings participate in the Lunar-Lagrange Alliance or exist 
  independently. Clever Hands (a play on the name of a purported 
  talking horse) is home to their largest research, exowomb, and 
  crèche facilities. 
  nEW DaY
  New Day is notable as the hypercorp responsible for simultane-
  ously resurrecting and uplifting neanderthals. Though the ethics 
  of recreating one of humanity’s closest cousins and their decision 
  to only raise neo-neanderthals were questioned and criticized 
  at the time, both issues are largely moot now that a substantial 
  neo-neanderthal population exists. Headquartered at Moustier in 
  the Martian Trojans, New Day continues to breed and improve 
  on neo-neanderthal germlines. Unlike many other uplift corps, 
  New Day imposes no ownership claims, breeding restrictions, or 
  indenture contracts on their progeny—once they reach the age 
  of 16. Until that point, neo-neanderthals are monitored, tested, 
  and raised in New Day-sponsored communities. They do, however, 
  place a lien on each uplift, collected as a percentage of their earned 
  income, until they repay the costs of their upbringing. Given that 
  the oldest is just over 25, most neo-neanderthals are still under 
  New Day’s supervision, and most remain indebted to the corp.
  According to the rumors, New Day is hard at work on 
  developing a morph that is a perfect hybrid of neanderthal and 
  human genetics. The idea seems to be to create a sleeve in which 
  neo-neanderthals can better fit in to transhuman society while 
  retaining part of their heritage, while also giving an option for 
  transhumans who want to play at being part “cave man” for a 
  while (and yes, neo-neanderthals consider that term a pejorative, 
  except for those that embrace the term and own it). In the deep 
  currents of the mesh, I’ve also heard that New Day is interested in 
  uplifting some of humanity’s other extinct cousins, such as Homo 
  floresiensis and the Denisovans. They lack the genetic material 
  and information they need for this project, however, as much was 
  lost on Earth during the Fall. Supposedly New Day has an open 
  bounty for any scavengers that retrieve the information they need 
  from Earth.
  DaRWIn’S CHIlDREn, InCORPORaTED
  DCI is the largest hypercorp wholly owned and operated by 
  uplifts. Its focus is on providing the tools and adaptations for 
  uplifts to function in transhuman society. It designs blueprints 
  for and manufactures translators that convert dolphin whistles 
  and whale song into human speech, servos that allow parrots and 
  octopi to manipulate equipment they don’t have the strength to 
  operate on their own, drugs that compensate for protein deficien-
  cies, and a thousand other products. If there’s an uplift somewhere 
  that needs a special tool or modified device, DCI has likely either 
  designed one itself or contracted with freelancers to do so. 
  Lest you think DCI is all about uplift love, don’t lose sight of 
  the fact that they are a ruthless for-profit business. The neo-orang-
  utans behind the outfit are cold-hearted capitalists whose driving 
  ideology seems to be to raid the bank accounts of their fellow 
  uplifts before some humans do. Greed is not solely a human trait. 
  Nevertheless, DCI recognizes that the more rights uplifts have, 
  the better consumers they will be. Based in the Morningstar 
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  UPLIFTS
  121
  
  COGnITE
  Whereas many uplifts hate hypercorps like Somatek, 
  Cognite they fear. Cognite is known and respected 
  for their cognitive enhancements and psychosurgical 
  procedures, but they are also infamous for their 
  research into the dark and strange corners of the 
  mind—and they don’t just toy with human minds. 
  Uplifts are interesting primarily because their brains 
  are not human in origin. 
  Though Cognite offers little in the way of uplift 
  research or products or services geared towards uplift 
  consumers, there is no question that they experi-
  ment with uplift cognition. Experimentation requires 
  altering an experimental subject and observing the 
  variation in results. Now this doesn’t sound so bad 
  when you’re talking about rolling balls of different 
  masses down ramps of various inclines, but what if 
  you’re talking about slicing into living minds? 
  If rumors are to be believed, Cognite has numerous 
  side projects dedicated to modeling and modifying 
  uplift minds according to varying criteria. Things like 
  modeling schizophrenia and autistic spectrum varia-
  tions in different uplift breeds. Things like repeatedly 
  inflicting mental stress on uplift forks to measure 
  psychotic break points. Things like raising uplifts with 
  non-human models of mind. That’s right—the dream 
  that many mercurials have of non-human mindsets? 
  I’d bet money Cognite is already far down that road—
  and most of us wouldn’t like the results.
  nOn-HYPERCORP SPECIalISTS
  Not all of the uplift research in the solar system is 
  in hypercorp hands, of course. There are numerous 
  autonomist collectives pursuing their own studies and 
  projects, not to mention a few put together entirely by 
  mercurials. These projects are usually less exploitive 
  than hypercorp affairs, though there are some excep-
  tions in brinker enclaves.
  FORTEan
  The exomoon of Fortean, accessed through the Fissure 
  gate controlled by the Love and Rage Collective, has 
  proven itself to be a true friend to uplifts and our 
  interests. Several of the new biomorph and pod sleeves 
  specifically designed for uplifts were first fabricated on 
  Fortean. Many of these designs are neogenetic, pushing 
  the limits of what can be done with our current gene-
  hacking capabilities. Fortean has been one of the few 
  places to address the issue of utility when it comes to 
  morphs. The simple fact of the matter is that if you are 
  human you have dozens of potential morphs and shells 
  to choose from, depending on where you live and what 
  you do. For the vast majority of uplifts, the choice is 
  between a morph very much like the one you were 
  uplifted in or one of the human-form morphs which 
  many of us find less than satisfactory. Fortean has 
  attempted to rectify this situation by designing several 
  special-use uplift morphs for our people.
  Constellation, DCI has been instrumental in lobbying 
  the fledgling government to pass legislation protecting 
  uplift interests. They also contribute heavily to uplift 
  rights groups active in the Consortium.
  FERal ROBOT
  Feral Robot is a small, five-person virtual company, all 
  uplifts, scattered throughout the solar system. Despite 
  their size, they are large in impact. Feral Robot’s 
  personnel are system-class robotics engineers. They 
  specialize in producing synthetic morphs that mimic 
  uplift forms rather than humanoid styles. Though 
  mass-produced by other hypercorps, Feral Robot 
  were the ones who designed the takko morph, the 
  first fully synthetic uplift design made available for 
  commercial usage. The design sacrifices little of an 
  octomorph’s natural dexterity and utility but adds 
  a greater degree of durability and the advantages of 
  a fully synthetic body. Feral Robot is primarily busy 
  with custom-order models, but word is their next 
  project is to develop a synthetic avian morph specially 
  adapted for the Venusian atmosphere.
  122
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  To: <Encrypted>
  From: <Encrypted>
  I talked to the sifters again. They still claim the 
  murder victim was a neanderthal, named Willamina. 
  They’re not sure where she came from—they claim 
  she simply showed up in their mobile camp one 
  night, just a few hours before they had to move to 
  keep ahead of the terminus. She wasn’t the best at 
  communicating, they said. According to her story, 
  she escaped from some corp facility where they 
  were breeding neanderthals that were intentionally 
  dumbed down. They said it sounded like an operation 
  to create a new set of low-IQ servants, with no more 
  rights than your average robot. They suspected some 
  heavy psychosurgical mods. I guess the corp was 
  finding it much more difficult to make a dumb-but-
  still-sapient servant than anticipated, since she got 
  away. They were keeping her safe, teasing out details 
  of her story, looking forward to taking it public with 
  a big splash. Those sifters will jump on anything that 
  gives them a chance to stick it to one of their corpo-
  rate neighbors. That’s when she disappeared. They 
  later figured out she’d been immobilized and pushed 
  out an airlock, left to roast with Mercury’s sunrise. 
  She had no stack.
  I’ve done some preliminary scouting in the area 
  they found her, looking for signs of a secret corp 
  installation. No luck yet, but I’ll widen the radius. I 
  have a feeling that even if I find something, it’s going 
  to be cleared out and abandoned. 
  InCIDEnT REPORT: ESCaPED nEanDERTHal
  
  to take her on? Was a man alien to their immediate 
  culture a person? Not if you were of African descent 
  in the United States of 1861 or if you were a Jew in 
  the Germany of 1938. 
  As time marched on, human society liberalized and 
  the definition of personhood broadened. By the end 
  of the 20th century, in most Western nation-states 
  at least, a consensus view emerged that implicitly 
  extended the definition of personhood to all human 
  beings. Seems reasonable. Problem solved, right?
  Not quite.
  That definition of personhood only seems stable 
  until you ask a second question. What makes a 
  human a human? To put it another way, what makes 
  a being sapient? While religious-minded people had 
  easy answers about god-given authority to shape 
  the land and slaughter the beasts, philosophers and 
  scientists struggled with the answer. In fact, the more 
  humans studied other creatures, the harder it was to 
  say what sapience was and why it didn’t apply to 
  animals. The conversation went something like this:
  A:  Homo sapiens is sapient because they are tool users.
  B:  But sea otters use stones to crack open mollusks.
  A:  Those are rocks the otters just found lying around. 
  Only humans make tools.
  B:  Except for wild chimpanzees, who modify twigs 
  for termite fishing.
  A:  But that’s just instinct. Humans are innovators. 
  Animals don’t innovate.
  B:  Ever set up a bird feeder designed to keep squir-
  rels out?
  A:  Sure.
  B:  Do those things ever work?
  A:  Well … 
  B:  Doesn’t the squirrel always find a way to get 
  the food?
  A:  That’s only because squirrels are evolved to break 
  into bird feeders!
  B:  Really?
  A: Then it’s language. Only humans use language.
  B:  That’s the worst example yet. Dolphins and 
  whales use a quite sophisticated language. 
  Bonobos and gorillas have shown an ability to 
  understand human language, even inventing new 
  words. Really any animal that can accept human 
  voice commands has at least a rudimentary 
  understanding of language. Even simple songbirds 
  compose their songs according to linguistic rules.
  A:  All right, but it’s something. It has to be something.
  By the late 20th century, human science was 
  beginning to bump up against the possibility that it 
  wasn’t really something, after all. Maybe humans 
  and animals didn’t belong to two distinct groups, but 
  Homo sapiens was just one species placed on a long 
  continuum of intelligence. Sure, humanity was on the 
  smart end of the stick, but the real question was, just 
  how smart were their neighbors?
  THE KISIlEv OPEn SOURCE UPlIFT GEnETIC lIBRaRY
  Located on Ceres, this institution works to untangle 
  the complex web of uplift genetics. Sponsored by the 
  argonauts, it is a fine example of the belief in open 
  source information and technoprogressivism. The 
  ultimate goal of the library is to return control of 
  uplift biology to the uplifts themselves. The library 
  accepts small resource payments to cover its oper-
  ating needs, but all of the information in its data 
  banks—physiology, reproductive biology, genetic 
  coding errors, psychology, brain scans, more—is avail-
  able to all for free. The library does ask uplifts who 
  use its resources to contribute any data they might 
  have—meaning personal data, stripped of identifying 
  factors. Even the most destitute uplift often has a 
  lifelog, aptitude test scores, and possibly personal 
  health records and genomic data at their disposal. 
  Every uplift’s experiences and medical problems adds 
  another data point to the wealth of knowledge already 
  accumulated by the library. Almost all of the autono-
  mist uplift concerns make heavy use of the library and 
  contribute their own data. 
  Though the library operates according to local 
  jurisdiction laws, in areas that do not prohibit it they 
  also offer a wealth of pirated proprietary genetic 
  data. This factor remains a sore point in the library’s 
  dealings with inner-system hypercorps. 
  Though they don’t speak of it directly, the Kisilev 
  library also sponsors a unique grants program 
  through some trusted intermediaries that rewards 
  enterprising individuals and groups who are able to 
  acquire sequences or samples off their “most wanted” 
  list. And I hear they’re not too particular about 
  whether the results come out of a lab or are obtained 
  through less scientifically rigorous means.
  UPlIFT SOCIal ISSUES
  Integrating over a dozen brand-new, intelligent, but 
  non-human species into the transhuman family 
  was not an easy journey. The legal battles began 
  even before the first uplift embryo was created and 
  continue on in numerous forms today. Culturally, the 
  impact of uplifts has shifted from rejection to celebra-
  tion to exploitation, and everything in between.
  lEGal ISSUES
  Simply gaining recognition as intelligent, sapient 
  citizens with civil rights has been an uphill battle. 
  PERSOnHOOD
  What is a person? 
  This seems like an easy question, but appearances 
  can be deceiving. Throughout the long sweep of 
  human history, the answer to the question of what 
  a person is has continually changed. Was a woman 
  a person, or was she a piece of property? Or was she 
  even a liability, something that had to be compensated 
  for with a dowry before a man’s family would agree 
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  UPLIFTS
  123
  
  women’s suffrage, the repeal of slavery, and the expan-
  sion of civil rights had before. Animal welfare soci-
  eties sprang up. Anti-cruelty laws. Endangered species 
  lists. Restrictions on animal testing. Restrictions on 
  whaling, eventually leading to a ban. By the early 
  21st century, leftist political parties in Spain and 
  New Zealand had taken the first steps toward an 
  uplifted world: they argued for a legal definition of 
  person that included the great apes. By defining other 
  Why did it matter? Because once you start acknowl-
  edging other creatures as intelligent, you have to start 
  thinking about the implications. Did other intelligent 
  beings have rights? Were humans ethically bound to 
  avoid causing them pain? Should these animals then 
  be exempt not only from hunting, slaughter, and 
  experimentation, but should they be protected? 
  This increasing awareness of animal intelligence 
  began to filter through Western culture just as 
  124
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
  Laws regarding uplifts vary widely across the 
  solar system. Smart uplifts will always know the 
  law where they are—and where they’re going.
  Anarchist Stations: Uplifts are generally 
  regarded as equals in anarchist areas, respon-
  sible for themselves just like everyone else. Many 
  anarchists have a decidedly pro-uplift stance, and 
  several groups actively aid uplifts that are fleeing 
  indentured service or otherwise seeking aid. 
  Extropia: Extropian legalities are entirely 
  based on mutual contracts. According to the 
  legal precepts adopted by Nomic and similar 
  Extropian legal AIs, however, no sapient being 
  may be enslaved by another. This means that in 
  Extropian holds, hypercorps are not allowed to 
  enforce indentured service on uplifts they raise. 
  For most other purposes, uplifts are treated as 
  sapient people just like everyone else.
  The Jovian Republic: Uplifts have no rights on 
  Jupiter’s Junta moons. They are banned from 
  entering without special exceptions, and they are 
  considered legally equivalent to animals for all 
  intents and purposes. While uplift is legal in the 
  Republic for raising smart animals, it is illegal to 
  research or create sapient creatures. It is highly 
  likely, however, that the Junta itself continues 
  uplift research for its own purposes and potential 
  military applications.
  The Lunar-Lagrange Alliance: Often considered 
  the most conservative inner-system power, the 
  LLA holds a stance roughly equivalent to the 
  Planetary Consortium when it comes to uplifts: 
  leave it up to individual habitats. While uplifts 
  typically have second-class status in LLA colonies, 
  there is surprisingly less discrimination against 
  uplifts than in the Consortium, possibly because 
  most Lunars and Orbitals are more concerned 
  about synthmorphs or their rival ethnic groups. 
  Lunar and orbital habitats have been known to 
  honor the extradition requests from hypercorps 
  seeking runaway uplift indentures.
  Morningstar Constellation: The Constellation 
  holds the most liberal attitudes of the three inner-
  system powers. Uplifts are recognized as legal 
  persons by the constitution and accorded the 
  same rights and privileges of other Constellation 
  citizens or visitors. Controversially, hypercorps 
  that raise uplifts are allowed to enforce service 
  contracts or liens for their upbringing, but these 
  are limited by Constellation law to keep them 
  from being too excessive.
  The Planetary Consortium: The Consortium 
  largely leaves uplift legalities up to individual 
  habitats, giving each the mandate to apply their 
  own rules. This has led to a wide disparity, from 
  habitats that treat uplifts as property or ban 
  them entirely to colonies where uplifts have 
  all the rights and responsibilities of other citi-
  zens. This means that an uplift with Consortium 
  citizenship from one station may find that they 
  suddenly have fewer rights or need a legal 
  guardian to visit a more conservative Consortium 
  habitat. Though the judicial Assembly has made 
  some rulings regarding uplifts that affect the 
  entire Consortium, these have made it clear that 
  member hypercorps have the authority to breed 
  new uplifts, restrict their reproduction, and 
  contractually bind them to terms of indentured 
  service as repayment for their upbringing at a 
  rate they determine. The majority of Consortium 
  habitats consider uplifts to have legal person-
  hood and give lip service to their rights, but in 
  practice they are often treated differently. It is 
  common for uplift reproduction to be restricted 
  and for uplifts to barred from certain positions 
  of authority; some stations even require uplifts to 
  make their nature public on their mesh profiles 
  and to submit to periodic evaluations or extra 
  security monitoring.
  The struggle for uplift rights is very much 
  ongoing in Consortium memespace. The simple 
  truth is that there is a widespread culture of dis-
  crimination, sometimes institutionalized. 
  Titanian Commonwealth: Like most other 
  autonomists, the Commonwealth is very accept-
  ing of uplifts and treats them as full legal beings. 
  It is illegal to force indentures into service in 
  Titanian jurisdictions. Smart animals are also 
  afforded some basic rights, such as shelter and 
  medical care. 
  n
  
  get their voices heard. The right-wing biocons railed 
  against the abomination of nature, the threats posed 
  by integrating animals with humans, the hubris of 
  playing god. The left-wing biocons condemned the 
  immorality of animal research and warned against 
  this leading to a new wave of corporate animal 
  and genetic exploitation. Their arguments were not 
  ignored. Many listened. Governments and politicians 
  listened and enacted legislation. 
  The biocons weren’t the only ones to raise oppo-
  sition. The uplift of animals brought the whole 
  range of animal exploitation throughout human 
  society into question. Those who raised or harvested 
  animals for food saw the potential for their liveli-
  hoods threatened. Corporations that relied heavily 
  on animal testing and experimentation saw potential 
  future roadblocks if animals were given increased 
  protections. Religious masses felt threatened by the 
  idea that an animal could have a soul—or feared the 
  future if it didn’t. The starving and disenfranchised 
  poor wondered why scientists were creating new life 
  when so many humans still went without fulfillment 
  of their basic needs.
  The initial backlash drove much uplift research 
  underground or offworld. A strong current of xeno-
  phobia impaired the integration of uplifts into human 
  society. But technological progress was also exerting 
  its influence. Corporations continued to research 
  uplifts and introduce new uplifted species. AGIs were 
  also introduced, taking some of the brunt of fear and 
  hate away from uplifts for a while. In areas with more 
  technoprogressive views, uplifts began living and 
  working among humans. The news followed these 
  developments closely. Over time, continued exposure 
  to the existence of uplifts—especially living among 
  humans—blunted many fears.
  Still, a few unfortunate incidents in that first 
  decade created setbacks. A stressed neo-orangutan 
  was convicted of assaulting multiple people, raising 
  fears of safety around uplifts. A silverback neo-gorilla 
  was convicted in the murder of a rival silverback. 
  Neo-bonobos faced multiple sexual harassment 
  claims—and a neo-dolphin was charged with 
  attempted rape. The biocons used these affairs to fuel 
  their anti-uplift campaigns.
  The Fall, horrible as it was, also created new 
  opportunities for uplifts. Many uplifts survived 
  where the corporations that had made and enslaved 
  them did not. The Fall corrupted and destroyed 
  some uplift records, making it hard for those compa-
  nies to prove they had legal ownership or a right to 
  their contract labor. The disaster also sent millions 
  of infugees streaming away from Earth at the speed 
  of data—some of them uplifted. Many of these 
  uplifts started new lives with new identities. Other 
  uplifts took the opportunity to run away from their 
  self-declared masters. 
  Where many uplifts had previously been raised in 
  isolated facilities and interacted only sparsely with 
  intelligent creatures as persons, they hoped to extend 
  certain rights and protections that were otherwise 
  reserved for humans.
  Now that we have uplifts—who by humanity’s 
  own definitions are as intelligent as humans—the 
  issue is more relevant than ever. Almost all societies 
  consider uplifts (as well as many smart animals and 
  non-uplifted creatures) as persons and thus worthy of 
  certain legal protections. Many, however, have not yet 
  taken the next step of granting uplifts (and AGIs for 
  that matter) the same full rights as transhumans. Until 
  this era of institutionalized prejudice is past, uplifts 
  will be considered second-class citizens in many parts 
  of transhuman space.
  SaPIEnCE
  In order to be considered a full uplift, of human-
  equivalent intelligence, a test was devised: the Applied 
  Sapience Test (AST). This same test is used to analyze 
  and rate AGIs. Initially developed and backed by a 
  coalition of research foundations, corporate interests, 
  and governmental agencies, the AST is now main-
  tained and updated by the argonauts.
  The AST is sufficiently rigorous that some humans 
  have failed to pass it. It measures a wide range of 
  aptitudes and factors, including critical thinking, 
  problem-solving, deductive reasoning, creativity, 
  empathy, adaptability, and more. Critics of the AST 
  charge that the test is predisposed towards human 
  models of cognition and question whether signifi-
  cantly alien forms of intelligence would pass.
  CUlTURal ISSUES
  A good starting point for understanding the cultural 
  challenges uplifts face is the very beginning. When 
  Somatek announced its first uplift success, introducing 
  Jumbles, the news struck like a thermonuclear device. 
  At first it was wonderful. Jumbles was a celebrity. The 
  media hounded him. People flocked to see him. They 
  wanted to hear him speak, touch him. They wanted 
  his autograph, which was awkward because he was 
  still learning his letters. His scrawl looked like that of 
  a six-year old trying to write his name—which wasn’t 
  all that far from the truth. Journalists interviewed 
  him and then they interviewed him again, this time in 
  comms-shielded rooms so they could be sure it wasn’t 
  a trick. It wasn’t.
  The media and public attention went on for days. 
  Then weeks. Then months.
  Somewhere in there, things started to go bad. 
  Maybe it was inevitable that the public would turn 
  once they started to see past the rock-star celebrity 
  and think through the implications. Humanity’s rela-
  tionship with nature had just been radically redefined. 
  The people of the Earth were living in a whole new 
  world and no one had gotten a say in it or even knew 
  the change was coming.
  Bioconservatives had been speaking out against 
  uplift for decades, but now they had a real chance to 
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  UPLIFTS
  125
  
  them as inferior, exhibit extra caution around them, or 
  support politicos and groups with anti-uplift agendas. 
  Humans are often privileged in ways that uplifts 
  are not, and most are not cognizant of this fact. It is 
  not uncommon for humans to be chosen over more 
  qualified uplifts for jobs, for example, or for uplifts to 
  endure extra “random” security screenings. Uplifts are 
  sometimes considered less reliable witnesses for legal 
  testimony, and so on. Even uplifts who have achieved 
  power and influence are sometimes impacted, though 
  these individuals at least have the sway to create a fuss.
  anTI-aSSIMIlaTIOn
  The Fall liberated or separated many uplifts from their 
  patrons. For the first time since the advent of uplift 
  technology, there was a large and growing popula-
  tion of enhanced creatures who were free to assemble, 
  to organize, to think for themselves. Uplift culture 
  evolved rapidly.
  Those who fled practical enslavement or inhospi-
  table treatments at the hands of the hypercorps were 
  the least likely to look upon transhumanity with favor. 
  Once they gathered with others who had endured 
  similar experiences, that viewpoint was reinforced. 
  These uplifts were not interested in assimilating into 
  transhuman society; they wanted to forge their own 
  direction. They began rejecting human rules and 
  customs, human fashions, even human words. Many 
  of these sapient creatures felt they had something 
  to offer beyond simply aping or parroting human 
  transhumanity, the Fall forced many of them into 
  cohabitation. Though this created tension among 
  transhumanity’s xenophobic elements, the increased 
  interaction largely helped to alleviate many people’s 
  fears as they saw that uplifts were often just like 
  other people—and in some cases less strange than 
  other transhumans.
  aSSIMIlaTIOn
  There is no question that the relationship between 
  uplifts and the rest of transhumanity is growing closer. 
  The xenophobic resistance against uplifts is largely 
  based on fear of the unknown, but as time passes 
  even culturally isolated transhumans see, hear about, 
  or interact with uplifts more frequently. Numerous 
  uplifts have become media icons, and it is no longer 
  unusual to see uplift characters in vids, in political 
  debates, or in the news as regular citizens or contribu-
  tors. As transhumanity itself changes and evolves, 
  uplifts seem less and less unusual. Given the wide-
  spread use of resleeving technology, it is no longer 
  uncommon to find humans in uplift morphs and vice 
  versa. Uplifts are slowly but surely being assimilated 
  into the transhuman family.
  There are still challenges. Even among humans 
  who are not outwardly prejudiced, there are those 
  who unthinkingly condone or continue low-level 
  discrimination or stereotyping. Almost every uplift 
  can tell you about humans they have met who claim 
  to have nothing against uplifts, but then go on to treat 
  126
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  The truth is, even many mercurials have issues 
  defining what uplift culture is. Each species has a 
  different take on it, of course, but that’s not the real 
  issue. The hard reality is that the individual uplift 
  species are cultural infants. Before uplift, in their 
  baseline animal form, their culture was rudimentary 
  and primitive at best. Ever since uplift, any attempt to 
  come to terms with who and what they are has been 
  eclipsed by the overwhelming influence of human 
  culture. The vast majority of uplift cultural actors 
  are pioneers—they are literally making it up as they 
  go along. In some ways, uplift culture is becoming 
  a battleground. As the mercurials seek to identify 
  themselves and stake their ground, their memes are 
  engaged in an uphill battle against mainstream trans-
  human culture—and against their own mercurial 
  peers. Though they have their own shared experiences 
  to fall back on, that is not enough on its own. As is 
  usually the case, the best memes will win.
  If there’s one thing the mercurials have in their 
  favor, it is an explosion of vision. Not only are there 
  new tools for the artist’s talented hand, claw, fin, or 
  tentacle—XP, holography, sonic sculpture—but 
  uplifts bring an entire new set of outlooks to the 
  table. Ironically, this has helped to enrich transhuman 
  culture, as much of the mercurials’ cultural output 
  behaviors. Thus did the first mercurials and similar 
  uplift factions coalesce.
  As uplifts cast about for something beyond the 
  domain of Homo sap, they often found common 
  cause with AGIs who similarly advocated a path of 
  self-determination and non-anthropocentrism. Slowly, 
  AGIs and uplifts began to come together, siblings 
  growing up side-by-side in the same dysfunctional 
  family. And so a political alliance was born.
  Called mercurials because of their new and 
  changing natures, it isn’t a perfect partnership, even 
  to this day. There are many uplifts who fear what 
  AGIs could become if left unchecked (especially 
  those who fled Earth during the Fall.) And since their 
  entire agenda is about setting their own paths, both 
  elements are keenly aware that their individual paths 
  are quite different—and may even have conflicting 
  goals. Some AGI mercurials, for example, feel that 
  transhuman society is far too oriented towards 
  preserving biological life, which they feel is funda-
  mentally inferior, whereas many uplift mercurials see 
  biological self-determination as a foundation of their 
  interests and future. But in the end, uplift and AGI 
  mercurials share many mutual concerns, not the least 
  of which is keeping transhuman hands from control-
  ling their cognitive futures.
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  UPLIFTS
  127
  THE CULTURE VOID
  Source: Welcoming address by Dr. Kalifa Lulua to an 
  incoming cohort of Uplift Studies students. 
   [Link]
  I commend you on being in the forefront of 
  scholars seeking to better understand the rapidly 
  changing forces that shape our world. In under-
  taking to more closely examine uplift and its con-
  sequences, you place yourself at the vanguard of 
  a debate that is raging among some of our most 
  learned and brilliant minds about how uplifts 
  should confront the culture void.
  Historically, when a people has freed itself from 
  oppression and tragedy, they have had a past 
  history to fall back on, a shared experience of 
  times before or a long tradition of practices and 
  beliefs. Whether it was former slaves brought to 
  the Americas who were able to reconnect with 
  their African roots or the displaced and decimated 
  survivors of the Holocaust who founded the state 
  of Israel partially on ancient Jewish principles. The 
  histories of immigrant groups all over old Earth, 
  at first reviled but then embraced, is one where 
  these communities found strength in their tradi-
  tions while learning and integrating into the cul-
  tures of their new surroundings. 
  What then of the uplift? What traditions, what 
  beliefs, what culture existed before the lab? None. 
  There is nothing uplifts have to call their own. For 
  them there is a void, an emptiness of history, of 
  practice, of heritage to build upon going forward.
  So the question becomes, where do uplifts go 
  from here? Do they accept the tabula rasa and 
  begin afresh, rejecting all transhuman culture 
  and attempting to create a new social order 
  and tradition organically such as groups like 
  the mercurials advocate? Do they play to ste-
  reotypes and take those anthropomorphized 
  traits that pre-uplift humans gave them in their 
  fables and myths as culture and practice? Or do 
  they assimilate and stop looking for a separate 
  “uplift” identity? Do they concede that anything 
  they might come up with is socially constructed 
  and inauthentic and join the rest of transhuman-
  ity as just slightly different-looking Barsoomians, 
  Titanians, and Loonies?
  These questions, above all else, will shadow 
  your research and shape your work over the years 
  you are here. While they are intensely interesting 
  subjects of academic study for us, we should never 
  forget that they are also very much important to 
  people we live and work with to the point where 
  they will fight, and some possibly die, over them.
   
  n
  
  aptitudes with sonar and aquatic conditions and their 
  intuitive sense of space. Likewise, neo-avians have an 
  instinctive feel for complex atmospheric dynamics 
  and are good with languages.
  There is one scientific endeavor that attracts more 
  uplift minds than any other—the science of uplift, of 
  course. Raised-up creatures are much sought after as 
  psychologists and physiologists to design processes that 
  reduce both mental and physical stress on uplift subjects. 
  They have excellent insights into the most effective 
  ways to engineer cousin species. And, of course, they 
  make the best minders. While some corporations bar 
  uplift scientists from participating in research related to 
  their own or similar species—citing “security concerns” 
  or “conflict of interest”—others have made successful 
  careers out of enhancing their own phenotypes. Among 
  uplifts, the science of raising up animals is more than 
  just a job; some feel it is a calling. 
  SECURITY
  A significant percentage of uplifts have found work 
  as security contractors. Security companies favor 
  uplifts because they bring a number of useful skills 
  and natural abilities to the table, often meeting certain 
  security needs at a fraction of the cost it would 
  take to hire a human freelancer with an expensive 
  security morph. Neo-hominids, for example, are good 
  operatives for any job that requires climbing and 
  they are typically stronger than your average splicer. 
  Neo-avians have the aerial advantage, are great for 
  recon and surveillance ops, and excel in microgravity. 
  Neo-octopi have natural camo, can hide easily, are 
  more comfortable in zero g than your average trans-
  human, and can find clever and lethal uses for all of 
  those extra arms.
  Since a major element of security is intimidation, 
  uplifts have an advantage in that they automatically 
  strike fear in xenophobic humans. Not that there isn’t 
  ample reason to fear a silverback neo-gorilla with 
  enhanced reflexes and a chip on their shoulder. Even 
  humans who aren’t openly prejudiced tend to equate 
  uplifts with animals and thus with wild, feral danger. 
  It’s a human survival instinct, back from the old days 
  when getting eaten by a tiger was a daily concern. 
  Security corps exploit this to maximum advantage.
  There is also the underestimation factor. People 
  often see a club-toting neo-chimp or neo-neanderthal 
  and think “stupid.” The fact that uplifts are often just 
  as smart as they are makes them doubly dangerous. 
  That small advantage could give them the critical edge 
  in that tight spot.
  When attempting to infiltrate an uplift group, such as 
  a purist terrorist cell, using another uplift is a must. The 
  only choice for counterinsurgency contracts like this is 
  to go native. A human sleeved in a neo-chimp morph is 
  going to have a very difficult time passing muster with 
  real chimps. They’re just not wired that way. 
  As it turns out, many uplifts are happy to work 
  security. It is often seen as a better alternative than 
  has been co-opted or commodified for mass consump-
  tion. Jungle clubs, once exclusive to neo-hominids, 
  are popping up across the system. Ink painting, once 
  exclusive to neo-octopi, is being taken up by human 
  artists. Though mercurials decry the cultural appro-
  priation, those with autonomist inclinations point out 
  that culture has always been based on theft. Others 
  are glad to see mercurial ideas and practices adopted 
  by humans, feeling that all of transhumanity is 
  enriched by the experience.
  THE WORK OF UPlIFTS
  One measuring stick for the depth of uplift integra-
  tion in transhuman society is the professional roles 
  in which they have gained noticeable representation 
  or scored major achievements. Though many uplifts 
  work as indentures, some of them take this work quite 
  seriously and exceed their patrons’ expectations. In the 
  outer system, uplifts have proven themselves just as 
  capable at achieving recognition for creativity, innova-
  tion, or reliability as their human peers. For some tasks, 
  uplifts are simply more well adapted and are a damn 
  sight better at it than just about anyone else.
  SCIEnCE
  Contrary to those who assume uplifts are inferior in 
  intelligence to their human counterparts, uplifts make 
  brilliant scientists. Part of it is that their minds are 
  designed, so they are intentionally built to be smart 
  and methodical. Uplifts were quite specifically bred 
  for genetic traits linked to logic, rigor, and innova-
  tion as part of the uplift process. These same cognitive 
  tools were also emphasized as part of each uplift’s 
  upbringing, socialization, and education. And who 
  designed these cognitive upgrades and learning 
  courses? Scientists, of course, who were already 
  predisposed towards scientific processes and thinking. 
  It is no surprise that so many uplifts have exhibited 
  aptitudes for scientific work. The apple does not fall 
  far from the tree.
  But there’s more to it than that. The very nature 
  of uplifts is an advantage in scientific research—that 
  is, their capacity for non-human modes of thinking. 
  Despite being engineered and socialized to think 
  like humans, uplifts come to this position from a 
  different starting point and each species retains some 
  non-human cognitive traits. Uplifts can see around 
  the corners of human logic. More than once, uplift 
  scientists have resolved problems that vexed human 
  scientists by approaching it from their own unique 
  perspectives. The ability to think outside the (human 
  mind) box is key to many uplift researchers’ careers.
  The evolutionary past of each uplift species also 
  brings certain traits to the table that uplift scientists 
  can use to their advantage. This usually involves 
  exploiting their natural gifts. Neo-cetacean scien-
  tists, for example, excel in fields like acoustics, fluid 
  mechanics, medicine, non-Euclidean geometry, and 
  organic chemistry, benefiting from their natural 
  128
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  MEDIa anD EnTERTaInMEnT
  Uplifts have shown repeatedly that we are just as artis-
  tically inclined as humans. Many uplifts, particularly 
  neo-cetaceans, neo-orangutans, and neo-neanderthals, 
  have exhibited incredible musical abilities. Others 
  have excelled at acting, reporting, sculpture, game 
  design, writing, dance, digital media, and numerous 
  other arts. In fact, uplifts have introduced humans to a 
  number of artistic forms previously unknown to them 
  such as acoustic sculpture and aerial dance. 
  Uplift penetration of the spheres of cultural produc-
  tion is still a mixed affair. Many uplifts appear in 
  human vid/mesh/X dramas, but they are rarely the 
  lead role. Uplifts are often cast as non-threatening 
  sidekicks to human stars, as terrorists or criminals, or 
  even baseline creatures. Even roles meant for uplifts 
  are usually not written by uplifts, so we’re usually 
  reduced to the same dumb stereotypes. Bonobos are 
  sluts, gorillas are brutish thugs, ravens are thieves, 
  octopi are evil plotters, and dolphins are immature. 
  Many of my people find this kind of programming 
  to be exploitive (especially mercurials). The justifica-
  tion given by uplift actors—that they are just taking 
  the work they can get—does little to salve the anger 
  and humiliation caused by these programs. Likewise, 
  where many uplifts succeed as performers, journalists, 
  musicians, artists, etc., they rarely achieve the status 
  of their human peers. 
  There is an entire subset of media programming 
  that is specifically tailored to uplift sensibilities. This 
  programming is very different than standard human 
  fare. Not only are there the obvious political and 
  cultural differences reflected in news and opinion 
  pieces, but the entertainment itself is different. A 
  romantic comedy designed for bonobos needs to take 
  into account their matriarchal social structure and 
  one for dolphins needs to be shaped by our inability 
  to keep secrets. XP recorded for uplifts is also quite 
  different, as we focus on different senses than humans.
  working with an uplift corp like Somatek. And 
  frankly, there are a lot of uplifts who have good 
  reasons to be really, really angry. Working security 
  gives them an excellent opportunity to knock some 
  heads together. Even better that those heads are 
  usually human. High-risk work usually means high 
  pay too, so security can be a fast track to paying off 
  an indenture and being able to do your own thing all 
  the sooner.
  Full uplifts are the high end of the animal security 
  spectrum, but they aren’t the whole shebang. Smart 
  animals are routinely used by police and security 
  forces across the system, particularly canines and 
  baboons, but others as well. 
  GaTECRaSHInG
  TerraGenesis, Pathfinder, and Gatekeeper like uplifts 
  for the same reason that the security firms do: special 
  talents. Aerial recon, ocean exploration, micrograv 
  versatility—uplifts bring many useful abilities to the 
  extrasolar table. On top of that, their non-human 
  mindsets could potentially be an aid when dealing 
  with alien artifacts or a first contact scenario.
  A proportionally high number of uplifts apply for 
  gate lotteries or seek out other gatecrashing opportu-
  nities. There are many reasons for this. Some uplifts 
  are simply looking to escape the confines of human 
  society, trying to find a new life on the frontier. Some 
  are hoping to prove themselves. Others are drawn 
  to a situation where they and humans are on equal 
  footing—out of their element, surviving on their own 
  capabilities, and potentially dealing with artifacts or 
  creatures unlike anything we’ve seen before. Many 
  uplifts, particularly the neo-hominids, are driven by 
  the same monkey curiosity that motivates humans. 
  More than a few uplift groups have sought and 
  even established their own extrasolar colonies. They 
  see it as a perfect opportunity to pursue a future for 
  their species outside of human interference. 
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  UPLIFTS
  129
  SOlaRCHIvE SEaRCH: THE UPlIFT avanT-GaRDE
  Blue Long Fin: This uplifted blue whale is widely 
  regarded as the finest neo-cetacean song stylist in 
  the solar system. Long Fin resides in Atlantica and is 
  a major tourist draw for the habitat. His songs have 
  an unequaled emotional resonance. For those who 
  are lucky enough to experience his music in a neo- 
  cetacean or sonar-capable morph, his songs actually form 
  three-dimensional sonic constructs. Not to be missed.
  Li Cao: This neo-octopus’s watercolor portraits hang 
  in every major gallery in the solar system, including, 
  remarkably, the Jovian National Center. The biocons 
  are willing to overlook Li’s uplift nature. She’s that 
  good. Media personalities always seem to focus on the 
  fact that she uses all eight arms simultaneously, but 
  this is little more than a stunt. What really separates 
  her out from other artists is her ability to capture a 
  subject’s emotion and her innovative use of color.
  Delio Cortez: Celebrated for his oils, this neo-orang 
  painter of landscapes is not only an artist, but a 
  gatecrasher as well. He will typically join a mission 
  to a new world and stay behind to paint a score of 
  canvases. Then it’s off to the next exoplanet. Cortez’s 
  paintings bring alien landscapes to life. Gatecrashers 
  say his work is just like being there.
  Andromeda: This gray parrot is noted for his holo-
  sculpted abstracts, a three-dimensional swoop of 
  light and color and a rush of sound that is computer 
  projected in a darkened theater. Andromeda is 
  currently on a celebrated tour of the outer system with 
  his show: Speed. 
  
  very little risk. Which all has fascinating implica-
  tions for uplift. Talk about walking a mile in another 
  species’ shoes.
  Scientists engaged in uplift research often upload 
  themselves into an appropriate morph to gain some 
  insight into the species they are enhancing. The same 
  is also true of diplomats and trade representatives 
  negotiating with uplift groups and those humans who 
  believe in experiencing the great diversity of morpho-
  logical possibilities.
  There is a big market for humans seeking an uplift 
  experience. Some are hoping to sleeve a neo-hominid 
  or neo-neanderthal and get a taste of what it was like 
  being a primitive human. Others want to literally fly 
  like a bird or swim like a porpoise. Those with more 
  taboo desires pursue any number of carnal delights. 
  Not all humans who upload into an uplift morph do it 
  for a transcendent experience—or even just for a quick 
  thrill. For some transhumans it’s nothing more than a 
  day’s work. Just about any advantage that an uplift has 
  can be exploited by a Homo sap in the right morph.
  Sleeving an uplift morph is not always so easy 
  for humans, particularly the neo-cetacean and non-
  mammal morphs. Not every human finds it easy to 
  adapt to fins, wings, or a beak and four extra limbs. 
  Their mental architecture may simply not mesh well 
  with the body, so they may find their hormones, urges, 
  and emotions to be off-kilter and unsettling. In fact, 
  many humans find sleeving into uplift morphs to be 
  particularly distasteful. It squicks them out. Others 
  love it so much, they never go back.
  Humans who adopt an uplift sleeve soon find that 
  there are repercussions, of course. They quite often 
  encounter the same prejudice and discrimination that 
  uplifts deal with on a daily basis. Many humans don’t 
  care if the ego behind the snout was born human, 
  they find the concept of uplifts to be unnatural, or 
  creepy, or weird. Others won’t be overtly discrimina-
  tory, but they may subconsciously harbor a concern 
  that a human in an uplift morph will be somehow 
  affected by the experience and made more animalistic. 
  There is in fact some truth to humans in uplift sleeves 
  taking the opportunity to “go wild” and embracing 
  their feral natures. Groups of human hooligans that 
  sleeved up to “go ape” and cause a disturbance have 
  hit the news more than once.
  In the same vein, uplifts are often contemptuous 
  of humans who decide to go joy-riding in an uplift 
  morph. While some humans are honestly looking 
  to learn, experience something new, or expand their 
  knowledge, many have less than honorable moti-
  vations. Even those with good intentions are not 
  expected to fully grok the uplift experience, though, 
  that being something only a lifetime of living as a 
  second-class citizen can convey. Some uplift radicals 
  go so far as to side with human biocons who think 
  that each species should stick to their own kind. 
  Though uplifts often try to stick with morphs from 
  their own species, these are rare and hard to come by. 
  CRIME
  It is common in transhuman culture for members of 
  disenfranchised, low-status groups to turn to crime. 
  Or to put it another way: “If the law has no respect 
  for me, why should I respect the law?” So it shouldn’t 
  be shocking that many uplifts have turned to a life of 
  crime—a proportionally larger percentage than in the 
  broader transhuman culture as a whole.
  Many of these law-breakers are not at all crim-
  inal-minded. Any uplift who manages to escape a 
  hypercorp before their contract is fulfilled or tries 
  to hack their own reproductive system or shares 
  their medical history with an unapproved doctor 
  is a criminal—at least according to many inner 
  system jurisdictions. And there is a whole network 
  of people, including many free uplifts, who work to 
  get runaway uplifts out of the inner system. Again, 
  this behavior is illegal, and certainly dangerous, but 
  it’s hard to really call it criminal.
  There are, however, plenty of real uplift criminals. 
  Those who just want to make a buck (like yours truly) 
  often become smugglers. It’s high profit, and since it’s 
  only an economic crime, it’s relatively safe. If you’re 
  caught, you usually only have to pay a fine—or a 
  bribe. Another good thing about the trade in illegal 
  goods is that it gives you the opportunity to smuggle 
  out runaway uplifts.
  Among the larger, more established criminal cartels, 
  uplifts have only a small presence. Many of these 
  syndicates are conservative-minded and frankly preju-
  diced towards synthmorphs. Others see us primarily 
  as a commodity in which to trade. Nevertheless, 
  many recruit uplifts as security, pit fighters, prosti-
  tutes, couriers, mules, and so on. Uplifts have a larger 
  presence among smaller, more localized groups. 
  A few uplift-specific gangs and outfits have 
  formed. While most are small, the most notable is 
  the Hidden Concern, a cartel run entirely by uplifted 
  octopi, which holds sway in the sub-crustal Hidden 
  Sea of Ceres and maintains a stranglehold on water 
  extraction operations. Cerean octopode morphs are 
  specially adapted to survive in the ammonia-rich 
  waters of the Hidden Sea. The Hidden Concern can 
  best be described as a collection of robber-barons 
  growing rich from their control of a key natural 
  resource. All those who live in the belt know it’s 
  dangerous to cross them, as their response is likely to 
  be an unsettling combination of ruthless and playful. 
  It’s said by some that the cartel employs a modified 
  giant squid living in the depths of the Hidden Sea to 
  dispose of its enemies. Whether this is the truth, or 
  just an exceptionally terrifying lie, no one knows.
  BIOlOGY IS nOT DESTInY
  One of the fundamental benefits of transhuman 
  culture is that you’re not stuck in any one body. You 
  can switch bodies if you like—or if you’re a bit more 
  cautious, your fork can try something new and then 
  reintegrate, giving you a totally new experience with 
  130
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Uplifts commonly make use of human morphs as an alternative 
  (as well as synthetic and pod options), though more than a few 
  resent the fact that uplift interests are not more respected and so 
  they are forced to play human. On the other hand, wearing a non-
  uplift sleeve can be a welcome respite from the daily chauvinism 
  uplifts encounter, assuming they also hide their public profiles. 
  Looking human gives them a chance to work in or travel through 
  places they otherwise wouldn’t be able to without repercussions, 
  and it can be nice to punch through the glass ceiling that stands 
  in their way. Some grow to prefer it. Bioconservatives and those 
  with anti-uplift prejudices react poorly to uplifts in human sleeves, 
  however, and hate crimes against them are not uncommon in the 
  inner system. 
  For neo-cetaceans, choosing a non-uplift morph is a simple 
  matter of practicality. The solar system just isn’t built for us. It 
  used to be. There used to be a beautiful blue jewel in the heavens. 
  Not any more. Outside of Ceres, Atlantica, Europa, and the solar 
  corona, there are few places for a neo-cetacean to be themselves. 
  This is slowly starting to change, but only slowly. Viable biolog-
  ical uplift morphs are just too rare and expensive to really mass 
  produce, and the market for cheaper pods and shells is mostly 
  humanoid, so unless you’re a neo-hominid you’re often stuck 
  with something less than ideal when resleeving. 
  Fortean, the exomoon where they’re trying to recreate 
  mythical species, has been vital in addressing this need. Already 
  they’ve gained notoriety for the ripwing pod but their newest 
  creations have raised the bar even further. The chickcharnie and 
  vodyanoy were designed as utilitarian options for neo-avians 
  and neo-cetaceans, respectively. Likewise, the engineers of Feral 
  Robot and similar studios are designing shells like the takko 
  for commercial use, sacrificing little of an octomorph’s natural 
  dexterity for greater durability and the other advantages of a 
  fully synthetic body.
  UPlIFT FaCTIOnS
  Humans tend to think of uplifts as a single monolithic group, 
  but nothing could be further from the truth. In addition to the 
  tremendous variety that suffuses every corner of transhuman 
  civilization and the obvious differences between species, uplift 
  culture is governed by a wide variety of philosophical and ethical 
  viewpoints. Despite the fears of the xenophobes, there is no single 
  “uplift agenda,” and no matter how the hypercorp media spins it, 
  not all uplifts are mercurials. 
  THE SaPIEnT FaCTIOn
  The largest faction of uplifts is also the least visible as such. The 
  silent majority are those who simply want uplifts to be everyday, 
  average, normal citizens, just like the rest of transhumanity. 
  Called the sapient faction by the few that push this position as an 
  ideology, the mercurials and more radical elements refer to them 
  as assimilationists and anthrophiles. The agenda of this faction, if 
  it can be called that, is for uplifts to have equal rights and equal 
  opportunities with other transhumans. As part of this equal 
  recognition, sapients are opposed to special legal status, breeding 
  restrictions, and any other forms of institutionalized discrimina-
  tion. At its core, it is the basic civil rights movement for uplifts.
  Sapients seek to foster uplift assimilation and equality by 
  getting the hypercorps and government authority on their side. 
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  UPLIFTS
  131
  
  The Sapient Union goes beyond just supporting 
  equal rights for uplifts—they hold the position that all 
  life holds incredible value and deserves a place in the 
  universe. This philosophy is tremendously appealing 
  to many uplifts, particularly those with close ties to 
  hypercorp and transhuman affairs. It is the only one of 
  the principal uplift ideals that offers the realistic possi-
  bility of unification with transhumanity and beyond.
  Linguist Lin Bao Chau, an uplifted gray parrot and 
  one of the first neo-avian uplifts, is the lead figure-
  head of the Sapient Union. She initiated a controversy 
  when she became the first uplift to adopt and raise 
  human children.
  MERCURIalS
  First, a note about terminology. Some people use the 
  term mercurial generically to mean any individual 
  who is part of the non-human segment of transhu-
  manity. This was in fact the first usage of the term. 
  Since the Fall, however, mercurial has been adopted 
  as a name for those uplifts (and also AGIs) who do 
  not seek to conform to transhuman culture, mindsets, 
  and standards. 
  Mercurial philosophy is defined by hostility toward 
  the human in transhuman. It’s not that mercurials 
  hate humans (well, not most, anyway) so much as 
  they resent human cultural imperialism. Instead, 
  mercurials celebrate the uniqueness of uplifts and 
  AGIs, oppose assimilation, and encourage the creation 
  of non-human lifestyles, culture, and cognitive 
  outlooks. They seek uplift and AGI liberation, not just 
  equal rights. 
  It is a mistake to equate mercurial ideas with 
  separatism or anti-human outlooks, though there are 
  small numbers of supporters of both. Most mercurials 
  are not opposed to being allied with transhumanity, 
  they just want uplifts and AGIs to have control over 
  their own future and to have the space to develop 
  without human interference or co-optation. 
  Many mercurials link their attitudes towards uplift 
  and AGI self-determination with other social justice 
  issues and struggles. This argument is based on a criti-
  cism of the sapient movement as being too single issue, 
  too focused only on civil rights and symptoms rather 
  than the fundamental root causes. They relate the 
  struggle for uplift independence from the hypercorps 
  to the ongoing fights over infugees and indentured 
  servitude. They connect uplift and AGI reproduc-
  tion to the intellectual property battles between 
  proprietary and open source models. They critique 
  hypercapitalism for its exploitive ways and condemn 
  government for injustice and inaction. You won’t find 
  many mercurial activists willing to accept corporate 
  sponsorship or leadership.
  Uplift mercurials also have a tendency to promote 
  the very aspects of uplift nature and culture that 
  their opponents condemn. They celebrate the various 
  sexual tendencies of different species and support 
  pansexuality between species of uplifts and humans. 
  They participate in the existing system, lobbying 
  politicians, encouraging corporate sponsorships, orga-
  nizing around equal rights legislation, and so on. They 
  work to portray uplifts in the media as no different 
  from other transhumans, and thus fitting right in with 
  the rest of mainstream society and culture.
  In order to make uplifts seem no different from 
  humans, sapients sometimes tend to curb, ignore, or 
  shut out the more radical and extreme uplift ideologies 
  and groups. In particular, they seek to de-emphasize 
  references to uplift sexuality and sexual practices, 
  as this tends to be a major squick factor for those 
  opposed to uplift rights. Instead, sapients emphasize 
  uplift contributions and achievements in science, art, 
  philosophy, and other areas.
  BRIan nGavI anD THE SOMaTEK UPlIFT PROGRaM
  Brian Ngavi, a neo-chimpanzee and the executive vice 
  president serving as the public voice of Somatek’s 
  Uplift Program, is considered a leading proponent of 
  the sapient agenda. Ngavi acknowledges some of the 
  abuses and mistakes in past hypercorp uplift programs, 
  but encourages uplift participation in various ongoing 
  hypercorp uplift projects as the best path for the 
  future of the uplift species. The more uplifts who 
  participate, he argues, the more these initiatives will 
  reflect uplift interests and avoid the pitfalls of the past. 
  Ngavi makes numerous public and media appear-
  ances throughout the solar system, arguing on behalf 
  of uplift civil rights and interests. He is purportedly 
  the driving force behind several Somatek and joint 
  hypercorp initiatives to improve the quality of life for 
  uplifts throughout the solar system, including grants 
  for increased education, vocational training projects, 
  and sponsoring candidates for gatecrashing missions. 
  Notably, he has defended Somatek’s position on uplift 
  indentures, stating that “uplifts cannot reject the debt 
  that they owe humanity.” This stance has earned him 
  major criticism from mercurial groups, who label 
  Ngavi as the chief apologist for uplift exploitation.
  Since the departure of Rael Duvalier, Ngavi is for 
  all intents and purposes the public face of Somatek. 
  He often appears side by side with Jumbles. How 
  much influence he has on Somatek policy, however, 
  remains unclear. By all accounts, Ngavi is a deter-
  mined and steady master of corporate politics as well 
  as a first-rank scientific intellect. If there is leverage 
  to be had over the board, there’s little doubt he will 
  know how to exploit it.
  THE SaPIEnT UnIOn
  The Sapient Union is one of the largest uplift civil 
  rights advocacy groups. Decidedly tame in compar-
  ison to the mercurials, the union does have a signifi-
  cant amount of activists and a wide base of popular 
  and financial support. Many of their contributions 
  and activist support in fact comes from humans who 
  consider the union to be the most legitimate voice for 
  uplift equality.
  132
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  for a group of ravens) and the Non-human People’s 
  Project to militants like the Sapient Liberation Front 
  and various uplift-only habitat enclaves.
  TIES BETWEEn UPlIFT anD aGI MERCURIalS
  The relationship between uplift and AGI mercu-
  rials is complex and sometimes tenuous. Many 
  mercurial activists from both sides see the ties as 
  positive, thinking that both elements are striving 
  for the same root changes against the same societal 
  substrate issues and that their movement is stronger 
  by unifying its efforts. There is solid evidence to 
  support this, as their united forces have succeeded 
  in winning some social or political campaigns that 
  might have failed if fought separately. By connecting 
  the two sides, mercurials can also highlight the 
  connections between their struggles and larger social 
  issues. On the other hand, the links aren’t seamless. 
  Not all non-humans appreciate being lumped 
  together, arguing that their needs are quite often 
  divergent and that the alliance is sometimes coun-
  terproductive. Many uplift mercurials, for example, 
  fear that by working with AGIs the uplift portion of 
  the movement is tainted by association with fears 
  of the TITANs and another Fall, even though it is 
  highly unlikely that uplift minds could undergo such 
  an intelligence explosion. They also point out that 
  as AGIs were programmed from scratch, they have 
  no baseline to build from in defining themselves as 
  different and non-human, and that by their very 
  nature no AGI can truly be free from human influ-
  ence. On their end, AGI mercurials point out that 
  AGIs are significantly more persecuted and subject 
  to restrictions, and that many AGIs are subject to 
  termination and deletion, whereas uplifts are at 
  least protected by anti-cruelty laws. The majority 
  of mercurials downplay these differences, however, 
  seeing the value in uniting for common causes. 
  SaPIEnT lIBERaTIOn FROnT
  The Sapient Liberation Front is the direct-action wing 
  of the mercurial movement. Organized as a decen-
  tralized memetic front, anyone who agrees with the 
  SLF’s principles and takes action can lay claim to the 
  name. Though the SLF is considered a terrorist group 
  by most of the inner system authorities, they largely 
  seek to inflict economic damage against property and 
  avoid targeting individuals or killing, though there 
  have been some noted exceptions with targets they 
  knew were backed up. Various SLF splinter groups 
  also exist. A group called Raised Claw, for example, 
  has been known to bomb scientific storehouses, labs, 
  and even universities, killing those involved in the 
  animal trade. 
  MOTHER OCTOPUS
  The neo-octopi known as Mother Octopus goes 
  by a name unpronounceable by other sapients, as 
  it can only be expressed as a pattern of skin colors 
  Mercurial bonobos, for example, advocate sex as a 
  universal conflict resolution tool, regardless of species. 
  They highlight their nonhuman aspects and their 
  adaptability to certain conditions and environments. 
  They fully support uplifts who seek to modify them-
  selves away from anthropocentric mental structures 
  as well as researchers and programs that pursue 
  alternatives to human socialization. Several mercu-
  rial research groups are reviewing the thousands of 
  design decisions made by uplift engineers and asking 
  themselves what choices might have been made if the 
  choosers weren’t human, but uplifts themselves?
  The attractiveness of the mercurial philosophy 
  varies greatly across different species. The non-
  hominid species have a higher proportional represen-
  tation, possibly because the neo-apes are most likely 
  to find similarities and affinity with human ways. And 
  while mercurial philosophy fits quite well with the 
  autonomist ideologies of the outer system, it is worth 
  noting that uplifts who cannot easily shed their ties 
  to their hypercorp patrons cannot just embrace the 
  mercurial movement without the likelihood of severe 
  repercussions. Much of the mercurial support in the 
  inner system is underground, behind the scenes, or 
  focused in areas more favorable to their cause.
  It is also important to note that the mercurials are 
  an ideological movement and not a monolithic group. 
  There are many groups that identify as mercurials, 
  and many iconic and self-styled leaders, but these 
  often share small political disagreements in the fine 
  print of their EULAs. Uplift mercurial groups range 
  from activist outfits like the Conspiracy (archaic terms 
  4.
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  4.
  UPLIFTS
  133
  JUNGLE GYM
  One of the major turning points for the mercu-
  rial movement was the Jungle Gym riot. Jungle 
  Gym was an uplift club, frequented primarily 
  by neo-bonobos, in Valles-New Shanghai. The 
  neighborhood was popular for other uplift clubs 
  as well, but the area was frequently targeted 
  for police sweeps and uplifts themselves were 
  often the target of harassment. Shortly after 
  the Fall, following a months-long campaign of 
  police intimidation and harassment, tensions in 
  the area were high. An unprovoked police raid 
  on the Jungle Gym nightclub in AF 3 pushed 
  many of the uplifts too far. A full-on three-day 
  riot ensued, with uplifts and their allies fighting 
  the police back and driving them out (the police 
  being hampered by some of their smart baboons 
  switching sides or refusing to fight). The situation 
  was broadcast across the solar system, presenting 
  a unique opportunity for uplifts to speak out, rise 
  up, and address the social injustices they faced. 
  The mercurial movement became a widespread 
  phenomenon and hasn’t slowed down since.  
  n
  
  undermine the hypercorps and other authorities that 
  continue to exploit uplifts and control their futures. 
  An anonymous, decentralized network of mercurials 
  supports this effort, with the Voice recruiting new 
  members and helping existing cells operate and 
  communicate clandestinely. 
  According to some charges, the Voice has provided 
  many of these radical mercurials with essential 
  information to carry out their objectives, whether 
  they were assisting indentured uplifts in escaping, 
  exposing unethical experiments to the mesh, inflicting 
  an economic toll on continued uplift research, or 
  stealing proprietary genetic data to leak to mercurial 
  researchers. It is not known where the Voice gets their 
  data, which seems to come from inside sources, but it 
  is highly reliable.
  SMallER UPlIFT FaCTIOnS
  Your average human in the habitat corridor thinks 
  that all uplifts are mercurials, unaware of the size 
  and philosophical differences of the sapient faction. 
  Even worse, they are likely to have gleaned something 
  about some smaller uplift faction, who are univer-
  sally disproportionately portrayed in the media to a 
  much higher degree than their size and influence rates, 
  whom they then proceed to confuse and conflate 
  with mercurial positions. You’d be amazed at how 
  many humans believe that the mercurials (whom they 
  believe to be all uplifts) hate humans or want to go 
  back to being animals. 
  naTURalISTS
  The smallest uplift faction is also, perhaps, the saddest. 
  Naturalists are those who condemn the process of 
  uplift entirely. They refute the right of transhumanity 
  to raise uplifts without permission (even though such 
  permission is impossible to grant) and believe that 
  the proper path for any biological species is to steer 
  its own evolution unhindered by the manipulations 
  of others. To this end, naturalists seek to halt the 
  machinery of uplift. Allying with neo-primitivists, they 
  have been known to launch terror attacks on uplift 
  facilities and researchers.
  Many naturalists also wish to personally reverse 
  their alterations and return to their baseline animal 
  species, or at least as close to it as they can get. Some 
  of them have taken this suicidal path, recruiting rogue 
  genehackers to develop procedures to reverse many of 
  the physiological and cognitive enhancements in their 
  genetic code. Others have taken the quicker route, 
  and submitted their alpha ego to neural pruning 
  psychosurgery, effectively crippling their cognitive 
  faculties. The main problem facing these reverted 
  naturalists is where to go afterwards. Some are taken 
  in by friends and supporters (often human neo-prim-
  itivists) who care for them in habitats with nature 
  preserves. The small habitat known as Second Chance, 
  in the Mars-Sol L4 point, is one particular refuge for 
  these poor benighted creatures. Several others have 
  and textures that other beings with enhanced vision 
  and capable of seeing polarized light can perceive. 
  Nicknamed Mother Octopus by some of her detrac-
  tors, she has claimed the title for dealing with non-
  octopi. A respected leader of the movement, she is 
  outspoken in her desire that mercurials live and work 
  alongside transhumanity, treating them as an alien 
  but allied species. A resident of Atlantica, she is a 
  prolific writer and speaker for the mercurial cause. 
  Her lifelog and mesh feed, though often incompre-
  hensible to non-octopi, is followed by tens of thou-
  sands, particularly because she has proven to be a 
  sharp and unrelenting debater, publicly eviscerating 
  multiple ideological opponents who have flailed 
  before her unbending principles. One of her top posi-
  tions is that humanity has shown itself incapable of 
  guiding its own way towards a prosperous future, in 
  light of the Fall and numerous ongoing x-risks, and 
  so humans have no ethical authority to regulate the 
  bodies, minds, and lives of other sapient beings. She 
  holds that all uplifts (and AGIs) should absolutely 
  demand the sovereignty to make these kinds of 
  choices for themselves.
  THE vOICE
  Another prominent but far more radical and myste-
  rious mercurial leader is known only as the Voice. 
  Reputed to be on the run from its previous hypercorp 
  jailers, the Voice travels only via darkcast and under 
  assumed identities, moving from habitat to habitat 
  and never staying in the same place two nights in a 
  row. Though rumored to often sleeve as a neo-raven, 
  some whisper that this is a deliberate choice to hide 
  their original phenotype. Paranoid, sure, but if you’re 
  involved in radical politics, another word for paranoid 
  is careful.
  The Voice is a speaker and organizer for the more 
  militant end of the mercurial movement—those 
  willing to engage in direct action and sabotage to 
  promote their cause. Neither separatist nor anti-
  human, the Voice argues that action must be taken to 
  134
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  EX-HOMINIDS
  According to the human who raised me, 
  there’s a bad apple in every bunch. Among the 
  uplifts, the rotten core would be a charming 
  set of meatheads known as the Ex-Hominids. 
  According to these lunatics’ stated goals, they 
  seek nothing less than the extermination of 
  humanity—all to clear the way for a new era of 
  hominid hyper-evolution. I guess the rest of us 
  non-hominid uplifts aren’t invited to the party. 
  While small, their impact has already been felt 
  in several bombings and assaults against several 
  inner system targets. 
  n
  
  and served. Reverents follow transhuman culture slav-
  ishly, copying human styles of fashion, political trends, 
  entertainment, and cuisine. Sex with transhumans 
  is extremely popular. They often choose to sleeve in 
  transhuman morphs, feeling incredibly honored to do 
  so, as they will tell anyone who listens. Being mistaken 
  for a human is considered one of the highest forms 
  of flattery. Though some humans welcome the rever-
  ents’ point of view—particularly the hypercorp shills 
  who benefit from the loyalty of their citizens—most 
  humans are made queasy by their pseudo-worship. 
  The reverent are the only uplift faction that fully 
  supports the genetic and reproductive controls forced 
  upon uplifts. They reason that uplift is a tremendous 
  gift—and only the best among the baseline creatures 
  deserve it. Besides, if the very transhuman scientists 
  who brought them into the world believe uplift should 
  be limited to genetically perfect specimens, who are 
  uplifts to argue with the wisdom of their betters?
  Mercurials despise the reverents. They consider the 
  reverents’ subservience a shameful display of self-
  loathing and speciesism. Some mercurials have gone 
  so far as to “out” reverents in human morphs, making 
  it difficult for them to pass as human. Some have 
  theorized that the reverents are a hypercorp experi-
  ment to breed willing uplift slaves—and in truth, a 
  number of the reverents’ core initial membership 
  was composed of neo-chimpanzees bred by the same 
  hypercorp (which one? I’ll let you dig up that gem 
  yourself). Amusingly, when faced with the inevitable 
  Uncle Tom epithets thrown their way, the average 
  reverent will smile serenely and say: “Uncle Tom? See? 
  You even rely on humanity for your insults.”
  allIES anD EnEMIES
  Uplift is a divisive topic among humans as well as 
  non-humans, and many transhumans have taken sides.
  BIOCOnSERvaTIvES
  Very few uplifts choose to live among bioconservatives 
  for obvious reasons. Biocons almost uniformly look 
  upon uplifts as freaks, creatures that don’t belong. 
  Which doesn’t mean that the Jovian Junta is above 
  experimenting on military applications for smart 
  animals (and if you believe the rumors, war apes and 
  worse); human ethics can be remarkably flexible. In 
  general, uplifts and biocons are like oil and water. 
  Most biocon colonies ban uplift research as well as 
  uplifts themselves. In other habitats, various biocon-
  servative groups continue to lobby against uplift 
  research and other genetic and cognitive “abomina-
  tions” and to do what they can to restrict uplift rights.
  BROKEn SHaCKlES
  Broken Shackles is a decentralized network of anar-
  chists and like-minded individuals that support the 
  cause of uplift liberation. The group has no official 
  leadership, no budget, and no membership lists, but 
  arranged to be deposited on an appropriate exoplanet, 
  where they can run (or swim or fly) free, while others 
  have contracted with scavengers or reclaimers to be 
  taken and left behind on Earth.
  Not all naturalists go this far, of course. Most are 
  content to argue their positions and peacefully do 
  what they can to stop the growth of uplift research. 
  These often work flipper-in-hand with the reclaimer 
  movement, hoping to see a day when the Earth can 
  be taken back and its former animal populations can 
  be reseeded to live, die, and evolve as nature intended. 
  PURISTS 
  Uplifts are no more immune to speciesism than 
  transhumans. There are plenty of chimpanzees 
  who believe the chimp is the pinnacle of evolution, 
  parrots who look down at their non-avian brethren, 
  and octopi who truly believe that eight is enough. 
  Though their numbers are small, minute even, their 
  dogma is dangerous and disturbing enough to take 
  note of. These groups are a shameful reminder that 
  hate knowns no bounds. 
  Purist groups range from small public movements 
  to secretive cells. Many are more akin to criminal 
  gangs than activists or politicos. Their ideology is 
  often rooted in rage at the treatment of uplifts by 
  human hands. Many of their recruits are ignorant, 
  misguided uplifts who were politically radicalized 
  by some experience or event, and in the course of 
  looking for answers they found the simplistic solution 
  of scapegoating their enemies for all of their problems. 
  Even those who adhere to supremacist outlooks 
  usually claim to be oppressed and victimized unfairly, 
  held down by the injustices of humans. Some publish 
  manifestos that strike out with blind rage at those 
  who they feel are most to blame for these problems. 
  Others take more direct courses of action, striking 
  back at their enemies. 
  Examples of this ilk include Rising Tide, a group 
  of neo-orca supremacists. Blaming the destruction 
  of their home oceans on humans, these orcas also 
  identify as apex predators, physically superior to 
  almost all other biological sapients in the system. 
  Another example is the neanderthal terrorist orga-
  nization Wrong Turn. Members of Wrong Turn 
  believe that all history changed for the worse when 
  cro-magnons drove the original neanderthals into 
  extinction. Their goal is to correct that “mistake” 
  and prevent it from happening again by wiping out 
  all humans and assuming their proper place in the 
  vanguard of transhumanity.
  THE REvEREnT
  The reverent are filled with an adoration for human 
  beings that sometimes borders on worship. They 
  regard Homo sapiens as humble gods, the most 
  successful child to arise from the cradle of Earth. 
  Without humans, no uplifts would exist, so in reverent 
  eyes humans should be idolized, cherished, rewarded, 
  4.
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  UPLIFTS
  135
  
  to relocate to hidden brinker stations on the edges of 
  the solar system or tucked away on exoplanets. In the 
  same vein, however, Chmod 700 also supports uplift 
  control over uplift reproduction and modification, 
  which is seen as a more feasible near-term goal. This 
  has led to Chmod 700 similarly establishing remote 
  outposts for uplifts to experiment in upgrading and 
  propagating their species.
  A major component of Chmod 700’s uplift projects 
  is investigating distinctly non-human mental archi-
  tectures and cognitive modes. Researchers with the 
  group have allegedly made several breakthroughs 
  in this area, though to what degree is unclear. Just 
  recently a secret NWA lab was destroyed by an 
  unknown group hostile to their interests.
  RaEl DUvalIER anD THE SIBa
  Rael Duvalier may be the worst kind of enemy—the 
  one who believes they’re acting in your best inter-
  ests. The former CEO of Somatek, Duvalier was 
  ousted from the board when Somatek took a more 
  liberal turn. As the lead scientist behind the first 
  uplift, Jumbles, Duvalier had pioneered and defined 
  Somatek’s uplift agenda, eagerly copied by other 
  hypercorps, and set the groundwork for the ideology 
  that uplifts needed to be shepherded into sapient 
  adulthood by a wiser patron: humans. According to 
  Duvalier’s philosophy, uplifts are property, not people, 
  and owe a debt to those who raised them up, until 
  their wise patrons deem them fit and mature enough 
  to thrive without supervision. Though Duvalier 
  no longer has influence at Somatek (except with 
  some old-guard figures that escaped the purge), he 
  is exceedingly wealthy and remains active in uplift 
  affairs. He sponsors numerous anti-mercurial projects, 
  including the Uplift Patron Foundation, has his claws 
  in a number of ongoing hypercorps, and uses his 
  influence to sway legal decisions and public policy 
  regarding uplifts (and other matters) in the inner 
  system. He owns an entire exoplanet, Tirion, accessed 
  via the Martian Gate, home to the Singer Institute 
  for Biological Anomalies—his private uplift-related 
  research program.
  RElIGIOUS GROUPS
  Religious fundamentalists generally don’t like uplifts 
  either. Their reticence often turns on the question of 
  whether uplifts can have a soul. Clearly baseline crea-
  tures cannot. (After all, God gave man (sic) dominion 
  over the creatures of the Earth.) So if animals don’t 
  have souls and uplifts do, they would have to be 
  granted souls by godless scientists. Obviously this 
  presents something of a theological conundrum. Plus, 
  I think many zealots are unnerved by the prospect 
  of arguing about evolution and creation with an 
  uplifted ape. 
  The religious organization Lord’s Dominion can 
  only be described as a hate group, a collection of 
  biocon religious fanatics who see it as their mission 
  it does have a number of skilled hackers and darknet 
  resources at its disposal. The primary goal of the 
  group is to collect and organize data that may be 
  of interest to mercurials, other radicals, and uplifts 
  simply seeking to break free from indentured service. 
  Much of their data-scraping is used to illuminate 
  the operations of some of the more oppressive uplift 
  hypercorps, sometimes leaking this data to the public 
  mesh via MeshLeaks. They also investigate and 
  attempt to crack the codes on genetic service packs 
  and similar proprietary genetic locks, seeding this data 
  to the mesh so that others can use it to pirate genomes 
  for uplift reproduction or bypass built-in morph 
  obsolescence. A database maintained by Broken 
  Shackles provides up-to-date data on uplift legali-
  ties in different jurisdictions, an essential resource 
  for uplifts looking to avoid legal entanglements. The 
  database also monitors and tracks the activities of ego 
  hunters known to pursue uplift runaways. The group 
  also provides fake IDs and travel options for uplifts 
  looking to go underground.
  Broken Shackles data hubs and supporters have 
  been targeted multiple times by hypercorp counter-
  intelligence units. An ongoing low-intensity conflict 
  rages between these parties on the mesh, sometimes 
  spilling over into the real world.
  nEO-PRIMITIvISTS
  The primmies have a nuanced response. They despise 
  the premise of uplift, condemning it as a continua-
  tion of humanity’s hubris and the ongoing system of 
  oppression and destruction of nature brought about 
  by civilization itself. Hypercorps that research or 
  engage in uplift are nothing more than torture mills, 
  Frankenstein labs, and death camps in their eyes. On 
  the other hand, they do not despise uplifts (except 
  those that continue to engage in and support uplift 
  research), but consider them victims of progress and 
  technological society. Neo-prims support attacks on 
  uplift hypercorps (as well as autonomist syndicates 
  and uplift groups that pursue uplift tech) and the 
  liberation of test subjects from labs. Groups like 
  Zerzan’s Brood and Deep Green Strike have bombed 
  uplift research facilities, setting some promising 
  projects back by years. As mentioned previously, some 
  neo-prims work with uplift naturalists, helping them 
  to “revert” back to animalistic states.
  CHMOD 700
  This small and secretive mercurial group was founded 
  by AGIs. The intent of the group is to take permission 
  to modify the minds of AGIs (and also uplifts) away 
  from humans and place it in the hands of AGIs (or 
  uplifts, respectively). Unusually, Chmod 700 actually 
  supports bans on AGI creation/programming—for 
  humans, at least. Since the concept of allowing AGIs 
  to self-propagate and upgrade themselves does not go 
  over so well with most transhumans in the wake of the 
  Fall, Chmod 700 encourages AGIs interested in either 
  136
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  trains anti-mercurial activists to counter the spread 
  of mercurial and other radical uplift agendas. The 
  mercurials call out the UPF as a speciesist group 
  hiding under the mask of legitimacy, and point out 
  that a number of individuals connected to violent 
  attacks against uplifts have been linked to or even 
  openly affiliated with the UPF. 
  nOTaBlE HaBITaTS
  Uplifts are found throughout the solar system, many 
  living among transhumans just like everybody else. 
  Some choose to live exclusively with their own 
  kind—which might mean their own species or their 
  own uplift faction. Others choose an even more exotic 
  lifestyle. Some of the primary habitats of interest to 
  uplifts are detailed below.
  aTlanTICa
  Atlantica is a tiny Cole bubble located in the main 
  asteroid belt. It’s like any other bubbleworld, with 
  one key exception—the water used to form the cylin-
  drical shape of the habitat was never drained. Instead 
  it was filtered and augmented with certain sodium 
  and magnesium salts. The habitat rotates along its 
  axis, imparting a centripetal acceleration that mimics 
  gravity. Ocean dwellers have no particular use for 
  gravity, but the angular momentum slings the water 
  to the habitat’s walls, leaving a cylinder of air along 
  to bring Earth’s creatures back under God’s or Allah’s 
  or whomever’s dominion. It is a small group, to be 
  sure, but there is strong evidence that elements of the 
  Jovian Junta are funneling funds and resources to the 
  group. The Dominion’s principal area of operation is 
  Jupiter and the asteroid belt. A series of gut-wrenching 
  crimes has been tied to them. Uplifts traveling in an 
  area where the Dominion has struck before should be 
  wary. Their boldness seems to be growing.
  On the other hand, there are religions that embrace 
  uplifts. Some hindus and techno-creationists regard 
  uplifted creatures as fellow travelers on the path to 
  universal wisdom and believe that path cannot be 
  traversed without them. Neo-buddhists note that 
  uplift technology raises the consciousness of the crea-
  tures it touches and thus increases the overall sum of 
  universal happiness.
  THE UPlIFT PaTROn FOUnDaTIOn
  This think tank and lobbying group has one major 
  agenda: ensuring that uplifts remain in the control 
  of humans. They create policy documents, draft 
  legislation, and file and join lawsuits aimed at 
  keeping uplifts as second-class citizens. Following 
  Duvalier’s ideology that uplifts require the guiding 
  hand of humanity and that they owe humans for 
  the favor, they work strongly to counter uplift civil 
  rights and defend reproductive controls and inden-
  ture programs. The foundation also organizes and 
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  UPLIFTS
  137
  
  involved with smuggling sea creatures from Earth. 
  The Atlanticans deny the charges, saying they have 
  resurrected some species from DNA, and maintaining 
  that the convict tangs, Picasso triggerfish, and other 
  dazzling organisms came from the genetic stocks of 
  marine biologists and private collectors. The habitat’s 
  principal business is ecotourism, drawing people 
  from around the solar system to experience an arti-
  ficial ocean environment and charging astronomical 
  fees for the opportunity to sleeve as a neo-cetacean 
  or neo-octopus. Some mercurials consider this a sell-
  out, but the Atlanticans argue that they are building 
  a constituency within transhumanity that is sympa-
  thetic to uplift interests and needs. 
  Atlantica owes its existence to the wealth and 
  support of the famous neo-whale, Deep Current Black 
  Killer of Squid, as well as several other unknown 
  private investors. Given the great success with 
  Atlantica, these parties are already planning their next 
  ambitious project: Pacifica. Ten cubic kilometers may 
  seem like a lot of space, but only half of that is water, 
  and neo-cetaceans require a lot of volume. In some 
  ways, Atlantica is a proof of concept. The next habitat 
  will be a much larger environment for Earth’s refugee 
  sea life to call home.
  MaHOGanY
  Mahogany was the first of the avian habitats. 
  Deliberately positioned deep in the out-system, 
  orbiting Neptune, Mahogany is an important 
  mercurial habitat far from the influence of the inner-
  system hypercorps. An unusual disc habitat design, 
  Mahogany has a population of 4,000 uplifts, most 
  of them neo-avians. A member of the Autonomist 
  Alliance, this station has signed mutual defense agree-
  ments with nearby autonomist colonies.
  Mahogany is more than just an avian habitat. It’s 
  a symbol of what mercurial society might look like 
  without the overbearing presence of man. Every 
  aspect of the station’s culture is studied and debated 
  by mercurials from one end of the solar system to 
  another, giving Mahogany, and the avians that inhabit 
  it, an outsized role in building mercurial culture. 
  MIGRaTORY vERMIn
  The presence of uplifts among Scum swarms is hardly 
  rare, but the swarm known as Migratory Vermin is 
  another thing entirely. Nearly half of the two dozen 
  collectives of the swarm are entirely or mostly uplifts. 
  The largest collective, which also gives the swarm its 
  name, is a flock of uplifted ravens.
  Plying a route that ranges between Mars, Extropia, 
  and the Martian Trojans, this swarm of small ships 
  is always willing to take on new members and is 
  especially helpful to uplifts who may be on the run 
  from inner system authorities. Both the Consortium 
  and the Lunar-Lagrange Alliance have lodged 
  numerous complaints against Migratory Vermin over 
  the habitat’s axis. The mirror arrays that provide 
  the habitat with its light are carefully arranged 
  to reproduce Earth-like patterns of day and night. 
  When the sun shines, the water in the entire habitat 
  is a crystalline blue. During darkness, an augmented 
  reality version of Earth’s night sky is projected on the 
  water’s surface along the center axis (“up,” given the 
  spin gravity). 
  Atlantica is a little slice of ocean a kilometer 
  in diameter and three in length, home to 3,000 
  aquatic uplifts as well as numerous transhumans 
  who yearn for the oceans of Earth. As might be 
  expected, Atlantica is home to neo-cetaceans and 
  neo-octopi—including the last of the true whales. 
  Politically, Atlantica is a non-aligned habitat based 
  on free-market libertarian models along the lines of 
  Extropia. The habitat is largely self-sufficient, but 
  there are many things its inhabitants want from the 
  outside world.
  Atlantica has amassed one of the best aquatic 
  genetic archives and collection of sea life from Earth, 
  hosting the largest living populations of coral reefs, 
  sea turtles, tropical fish, and plankton in the solar 
  system. Some whisper that the Atlanticans have been 
  138
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  PaCIFICa PROJECT aCQUISITIOnS lIST
  Pang, if you find any collectors or dealers of the following 
  in your travels please let them know I am most interested 
  in striking a deal with them to procure their specimens. Of 
  particular interest to myself and my fellows are:
  •	 Lysiosquillina maculata, the zebra mantis shrimp, which 
  once was found in the Indo-Pacific region.
  •	 Antennarius striatus, the striated frogfish from Indonesia 
  and Malaysia.
  •	 Vampyroteuthis infernalis, the vampire squid that 
  formerly inhabited tropical and subtropical deep waters.
  •	 Chondrocladia lampadiglobus, the ping-pong tree sponge, 
  one of the rare species that called the Marianas Trench home.
  I got the following passed along to me by a “friend” at 
  Atlantica who thought we might be the people to talk to 
  about getting ahold of some rare biological specimens. 
  This is the kind of friend who has very deep pockets and is 
  offering excellent compensation for these samples.
  She seemed to believe we might have some secret 
  means of actually getting back to Earth but I took pains to 
  assure her that she was mistaken and that myself and the 
  reclaimers of Vo Nguyen work for the safe and legal return 
  to our homeworld. Still, I can see her point, some of these 
  species likely were never taken offworld and, if they exist 
  at all, it’s in the oceans of our lost home.
   
  
  much of its trade with League habitats as well as 
  hypercorps. This doesn’t prevent the locals from 
  maintaining good relations with the Barsoomians. 
  The apes are always willing to quietly sell hypercorp 
  goods to their backcountry neighbors in the interest 
  of mutual aid—and profit.
  UPlIFT DIaSPORaS
  In addition to the above-named habitats that tend 
  to have a majority uplift presence, there are several 
  transhuman habitats that maintain a sizable uplift 
  population despite not being governed by, or in a few 
  cases even sympathetic to, uplifts.
  The bright lights and big promises of the entertain-
  ment industry in Elysium, on Mars, serves as a major 
  draw for a lot of younger uplifts who have recently 
  paid off their indenture and have dreams of making it 
  big. Unfortunately, the number of parts available for 
  talented young things is not commensurate with the 
  number of hopefuls and a lot of them end up having 
  to abandon their dreams. The smart ones recognize 
  this before they run completely out of credits, but 
  there are plenty who hang on too long and end up 
  having to sign another indenture contract to get their 
  asses out of debt.
  Naturally Extropia attracts a large number of uplifts. 
  Hell, Extropia attracts a large number of just about 
  anything. The boom-town feel and easy-come, easy-go 
  attitude that reigns over the place is often a refreshing 
  change for uplifts from the inner system who are used 
  to being judged not on what they can bring to any 
  given business proposition, but rather on their appear-
  ance or ancestry. In Extropia, most people could care 
  less who you are or where you came from as long as 
  you can back up whatever you happen to be selling. 
  But for these reasons it also tends to be avoided by 
  uplifts. A lot of us want to believe that we’re special, 
  that there’s something more to us than other transhu-
  mans, and Extropia is not the kind of place that goes 
  out of its way to make you feel welcome.
  A place like Locus is appealing to all sorts of 
  freedom-minded folk, and uplifts are no excep-
  tion. Within its array of linked modules there are 
  concentrations of every known type of uplift. The 
  microgravity environment means that neo-avians 
  and neo-octopi are especially at home on Locus. Both 
  thrive by using their natural abilities to garner gains 
  in reputation. 
  While the oceans of Europa are nothing like our 
  lost home, the call of any sort of body of water you 
  can get lost in has a certain appeal to some of my 
  fellows. While the Europan seas are hardly similar 
  to those of Earth, they still represent our best bet 
  for happiness. Though some neo-cetaceans prefer to 
  sleeve in a surya and swim around the sun, many of 
  us prefer that feeling of crushing pressure and light-
  less depths. Plus our natural abilities to navigate such 
  surroundings makes us a hot commodity on Europa.
  their interference with bonded ego hunters looking 
  for uplifts that have skipped out on their contracts. 
  The scum simply smile and contend that they would 
  never do anything of the sort, and suggest that the 
  claims that any members of the swarm may or may 
  not resemble wanted fugitives is due to the inability 
  of narrow-minded ego hunters and hypercorp admin-
  istrators to tell one uplift from another.
  Migratory Vermin is also an excellent place to score 
  drugs that have been specially designed for uplift 
  anatomies. If an uplift can get high on it, or otherwise 
  get some sort of kick from it, someone on the swarm 
  likely has access to it.
  TREEHOUSE
  Treehouse is an O’Neill cylinder stationed in the 
  Mars-Sol L5 point that is home to 37,000 souls. 
  Originally established by a conglomerate of hyper-
  corps, each pursuing their own research projects 
  and manufacturing ventures, over time a number of 
  small uplift-oriented hypercorps found their way here, 
  taking advantage of their proximity to collaborate 
  and share resources. With many of these corpora-
  tions holding a more enlightened attitude towards 
  uplifts, the local population of free, non-indentured 
  uplifts began to grow. The local corporate govern-
  ment passed legislation to make the habitat even more 
  attractive to uplift residents, encouraging uplifts to 
  relocate here. In the years since, Treehouse has devel-
  oped one of the largest uplift populations in the solar 
  system (35% of its residents), intermixed with the rest 
  of its transhuman population. Treehouse has become 
  a focal point for the Sapient Union and similar pro-
  uplift (but non-mercurial) factions. Tolerance and 
  equality are embraced here. The people of Treehouse 
  hope that one day their ideals will be the model for 
  the rest of the solar system.
  vallEY OF THE aPES
  Valley of the Apes is a subdivision of the Martian 
  community of Red Jakarta, tucked into a rarely 
  trafficked spur of Valles Marineris. Home to forty 
  thousand, most of the habitat is enclosed under two 
  small domes. Behind them, a transparent enclosure 
  covers a good twenty klicks of the branch valley’s 
  winding path. Inside this habitat is a lush tropical 
  forest, occupied by a small population of uplifted apes 
  with a sense of humor and a love for old movies (one 
  of the local artists actually constructed a half-buried 
  Statue of Liberty, which they proudly planted right 
  out front). The valley walls climb ten meters above the 
  floor, and the space between them is filled with bowers 
  set among tree branches and little caves carved out of 
  the rock walls. In the light Martian gravity it’s easy for 
  the apes to climb—even gorillas. 
  The Valley and the rest of Red Jakarta work hard 
  to maintain independence. The settlement is not 
  a member of the Tharsis League, though it does 
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  UPLIFTS
  139
  
  GaME InFORMaTIOn
  HABITAT RULES
  Hacking the Infrastructure: From airlocks to reactors. n  p. 164
  Infiltration: How to maneuver without detection. n  p. 168 
  Mesh Systems: Topology and access. n  p. 169 
  Habitat Morphs: Becoming a space station. n  p. 172
  SURVEILLANCE RULES
  ID: Brainprints and nanotats n  p. 158
  Sensors: Different forms, how to detect, and how to use n  p. 159
  Comprehensive Sensor Chart: For easy reference. n  p. 161
  Surveillance: Getting caught on tape. n  p. 162
  Countersurveillance: Not getting caught on tape. n  p. 163
  UPLIFT RULES
  Uplift Gear and Drugs: Not being human can make a difference. n  p. 174
  Smart Animals: New species, training and biodrones. n  pp. 154 and p. 175 
  NEW GEAR
  New Morphs: New uplift morphs and bodies designed for (counter)surveillance. n  p. 144
  New Enhancements: Bioware, cyberware, and robotic mods. n  p. 150
  Countersurveillance Gear: For avoiding watchful eyes. n  p. 152
  Sensor Systems: For the voyeur in all of us. n  p. 154
  Robots and Vehicles: Bughunters, flux cars, and more n  pp. 157–158
  GaME InFORMaTIOn
  HABITAT RULES
  Hacking the Infrastructure: From airlocks to reactors. n  p. 164
  Infiltration: How to maneuver without detection. n  p. 168 
  Mesh Systems: Topology and access. n  p. 169 
  Habitat Morphs: Becoming a space station. n  p. 172
  SURVEILLANCE RULES
  ID: Brainprints and nanotats n  p. 158
  Sensors: Different forms, how to detect, and how to use n  p. 159
  Comprehensive Sensor Chart: For easy reference. n  p. 161
  Surveillance: Getting caught on tape. n  p. 162
  Countersurveillance: Not getting caught on tape. n  p. 163
  UPLIFT RULES
  Uplift Gear and Drugs: Not being human can make a difference. n  p. 174
  Smart Animals: New species, training and biodrones. n  pp. 154 and p. 175 
  NEW GEAR
  New Morphs: New uplift morphs and bodies designed for (counter)surveillance. n  p. 144
  New Enhancements: Bioware, cyberware, and robotic mods. n  p. 150
  Countersurveillance Gear: For avoiding watchful eyes. n  p. 152
  Sensor Systems: For the voyeur in all of us. n  p. 154
  Robots and Vehicles: Bughunters, flux cars, and more n  pp. 157–158
  
  5
  
  Mobility System: Walker (4/20)
  Aptitude Maximum: 30 
  Durability: 40 
  Wound Threshold: 8 
  Advantages: +5 INT, +5 to one aptitude of the 
  player’s choice, Armor 6/6
  CP Cost: 40 
  Credit Cost: Expensive
  HYPERGIBBOn (POD BIOMORPH)
  Built from siamang genestock, the largest of the lesser 
  apes, hypergibbons are often mistaken for uplifts, 
  although this is not the case. The gibbon was never a 
  candidate for uplift due to a brain anatomy consider-
  ably more primitive than great apes. With the addition 
  of a cyberbrain, though, they make excellent pods. 
  Many primate uplifts choose hypergibbons in place 
  of other pods or when they need something small like 
  a neotenic.
  Hypergibbons stand about 1 meter tall, weigh 
  15 kilograms, and typically have black fur and skin 
  (although bodysculpting permits many variations). 
  They have inflatable throat sacks that allow melo-
  dious calls that carry great distances. Their wrists 
  feature a ball-and-socket joint and also naturally 
  dislocate to enable easier swinging by the arms.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic 
  Augmentation, Prehensile Feet, Puppet Sock
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
  Durability: 25
  Wound Threshold: 5
  Advantages: +5 INT, +5 REF, +10 Climbing skill, +20 
  Freerunning skill, Limber (Level 2) trait, hypergib-
  bons count as a small target in combat (–10 to hit)
  Disadvantages: Social Stigma (Pod)
  CP Cost: 30
  Credit Cost: Expensive
  nEO-BElUGa (BIOMORPH)
  Neo-belugas are the smallest and most numerous 
  of the surviving whale uplifts, ranging 5.5 meters in 
  length on average. They are white-skinned with no 
  dorsal ridge, toothed, and have the distinction of 
  being the only whale that can swim backwards.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Echolocation, Enhanced Hearing, 
  Oxygen Reserve
  Movement Rate: Swim (16/40)
  Aptitude Maximum: 25
  Durability: 35
  Wound Threshold: 7
  Advantages: +5 COO, +5 INT, +5 SOM, +5 to 
  one other aptitude of the player’s choice, +40 
  Swimming skill, Ramming Attack (1d10 DV)
  This chapter provides rules for handling uplifts, 
  habitats, and surveillance systems, as well as new 
  morphs, new gear, and plot hooks that tie into 
  material covered in the previous chapters. 
  nEW MORPHS
  At the gamemaster’s discretion, these may be allowed 
  during character creation.
  CHICKCHaRnIE (POD BIOMORPH)
  Another creation by the mad geniuses of the exoplanet 
  Fortean (p. 94, Gatecrashing), this morph is a modified 
  version of a resurrected species. The extinct Tyto 
  Pollens was a large pre-Columbian flightless ground 
  owl species in the Caribbean. The chickcharnie was 
  rumored to be a supernatural variant of this bird 
  that haunted the forests bestowing boons or curses 
  upon travelers depending on how they treated it. The 
  Fortean version of the chickcharnie is best described 
  as a humanoid owl. Over one meter in height, it is 
  bipedal but stands shorter than humans. Though 
  winged, it is flightless except in very low grav envi-
  ronments and microgravity. Its wing design, however, 
  incorporates a functional set of clawed hands. The 
  chickcharnie is growing in popularity among neo-
  avians who don’t mind sacrificing flight for physical 
  resilience, more functional hands, and a stature closely 
  approximating transhuman standards.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic 
  Augmentation, Prehensile Feet, Puppet Sock
  Aptitude Maximum: 25 
  Durability: 35
  Wound Threshold: 7
  Advantages: Beak/Claw Attack (1d10 DV, use 
  Unarmed Combat skill), +5 COO, +5 INT, +10 REF
  CP Cost: 35
  Credit Cost: Expensive
  GaRGOYlE (SYnTHMORPH)
  Gargoyles are an anthroform synthetic morph 
  designed as a mobile sensor unit. They are used by 
  media, freelance journalists, forensics teams, and 
  anyone who is regularly required to document a 
  situation thoroughly. Though humanoid in shape, 
  gargoyles stand taller than average transhumans 
  for better viewing. Much of their exterior surface is 
  covered in quantum dot camera-displays.
  Enhancements: 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, 
  Anti-Glare, Basic Mesh Inserts, Chemical 
  Sniffer, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Enhanced 
  Hearing, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Vision, Lidar, 
  Mnemonic Augmentation, Nanoscopic Vision, 
  Oracles, Radar, T-Ray Emitter
  GaME InFORMaTIOn
  5
  142
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Durability: 40
  Wound Threshold: 8
  Advantages: +5 COO, +5 INT, +10 SOM, +5 to 
  one other aptitude of the player’s choice, +40 
  Swimming skill, +20 Unarmed Combat skill,  
  Bite Attack (2d10 DV, use Unarmed Combat skill)
  Disadvantages: Neo-orcas lack a sense of smell and 
  count as a large target in combat (+10 to hit)
  CP Cost: 60
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 50,000)
  nEO-PIG (BIOMORPH)
  Uplifted pig morphs are bipedal and feature trans-
  genic hands, feet, and vocal systems. They tend to 
  be slightly shorter than the average transhuman 
  but much stockier. Males grow tusks from their 
  lower jaws
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack
  Aptitude Maximum: 25
  Durability: 35
  Wound Threshold: 7
  Advantages: +5 SOM, +5 to one other aptitude of 
  the player’s choice
  CP Cost: 20
  Credit Cost: High
  nEO-PORPOISE (BIOMORPH)
  Neo-porpoises are smaller but very similar to neo-
  dolphins and similarly are much like their baseline 
  relatives. They average 2.5 meters in length.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Echolocation, Enhanced Hearing, 
  Oxygen Reserve
  Movement Rate: Swim (16/56)
  Aptitude Maximum: 25
  Durability: 25 
  Wound Threshold: 5
  Advantages: +5 INT, +5 SOM, +5 to one other 
  aptitude of the player’s choice, +50 Swimming 
  skill, Ramming Attack (1d10 DV), 
  Disadvantages: Neo-porpoises lack a sense of smell.
  CP Cost: 35
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 30,000)
  nEO-WHalE (BIOMORPH)
  Less than several hundred neo-whale morphs exist, 
  and the majority remain occupied by their original 
  egos. They are primarily found in Ceres and Atlantica. 
  They are derived from humpback, blue, and sperm 
  whale genetic stock. Humpbacks and blues are baleen 
  whales and require large amounts of krill to survive. 
  Sperm whales are toothed, feeding on fish and squid.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Echolocation, Enhanced Hearing, 
  Oxygen Reserve
  Movement Rate: Swim (16/40)
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
  Durability: 100
  Disadvantages: Neo-belugas lack a sense of smell 
  and count as a large target in combat (+10 to hit)
  CP Cost: 45
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 40,000)
  nEO-DOlPHIn (BIOMORPH)
  The uplifted versions of various dolphin species are 
  very similar to baseline dolphins physiologically. 
  Thanks to the oxygen reserve implant, neo-dolphins 
  can stay underwater for longer (Cerean dolphins have 
  gills installed, as the subcrustal sea has no breathable 
  atmosphere above it). Common neo-dolphin germlines 
  lack hands or other limbs, though cybernetic arms 
  or even bioware enhancements are not uncommon. 
  Neo-dolphin morphs are very rare, since there are few 
  habitats that can support them, and they are almost 
  never found apart from aquatic environments.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Echolocation, Enhanced Hearing, 
  Oxygen Reserve
  Movement Rate: Swim (16/48)
  Aptitude Maximum: 25
  Durability: 30 
  Wound Threshold: 6
  Advantages: +5 COO, +5 INT, +5 SOM, +5 to 
  one other aptitude of the player’s choice, +40 
  Swimming skill, Ramming Attack (1d10 DV, use 
  Unarmed Combat skill)
  Disadvantages: Neo-dolphins lack a sense of smell.
  CP Cost: 40
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 35,000)
  nEO-HOMInID (GORIllaS) (BIOMORPH)
  To highlight the differences in neo-hominid species, 
  apply the following stats for neo-gorillas. The neo-
  hominid entry in the Eclipse Phase core rulebook 
  applies for neo-chimpanzees, neo-bonobos, and 
  neo-orangutans.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Prehensile Feet
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
  Durability: 40
  Wound Threshold: 8
  Advantages: +5 INT, +10 SOM, +5 to one other 
  aptitude of the player’s choice
  CP Cost: 35
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 30,000)
  nEO-ORCa (BIOMORPH)
  Though colloquially referred to as killer whales, 
  orcas are actually members of the dolphin family. 
  The average neo-orca length is 7 meters for males, 6 
  meters for females. Males also have larger and more 
  triangular pectoral fins. 
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Echolocation, Enhanced Hearing, 
  Oxygen Reserve
  Movement Rate: Swim (16/60)
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
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  GAME INFORMATION
  143
  
  TaKKO (SYnTHMORPH)
  The first synthetic octopus design from the engineers 
  at Feral Robot is a hardy shell custom-designed to 
  make octopi uplifts feel more at home in a synthetic 
  body with eight functioning appendages. Though it 
  lacks ink sacs, the takko features vectored-thrust jets 
  for microgravity propulsion.
  Enhancements: 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, 
  Basic Mesh Inserts, Chameleon Skin, Cortical 
  Stack, Cyberbrain, Enhanced Vision, Extra Limbs 
  (8 Arms), Grip Pads, Mnemonic Augmentation, 
  Polarization Vision
  Mobility System: Walker (4/24), Thrust Vector (8/40)
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
  Durability: 40
  Wound Threshold: 8
  Advantages: Beak Attack (1d10 + 2 DV, use Unarmed 
  Combat skill), +10 Free Fall skill, +10 Climbing 
  skill,+5 COO, +5 INT, +5 SOM, Armor 8/8
  CP Cost: 60
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 45,000+)
  Wound Threshold: 20
  Advantages: +5 COO, +5 INT, +5 SOM,  
  +5 to one other aptitude of the player’s choice,  
  +40 Swimming skill, Ramming Attack (2d10 DV, 
  use Unarmed Combat skill), Bite Attack (4d10 DV, 
  sperm whales only, use Unarmed Combat skill)
  Disadvantages: Neo-whales lack a sense of smell and 
  count as a very large target in combat (+30 to hit)
  CP Cost: 75
  Credit Cost: Expensive (exceptionally rare; minimum 
  75,000)
  SHaPER (POD BIOMORPH)
  Shapers are the ultimate disguise morph. Constructed 
  as pods, the default shaper look is intentionally 
  generic, based on the computer-generated composite 
  average look of the solar system’s residents. They 
  lack the distinctive seam lines applied to most pod 
  morph designs. The skinflex system allows the morph 
  to quickly change its outward appearance. Additional 
  modifications help the morph evade or fool sensor 
  and biometric systems. Shapers are a favorite tool 
  for spies and are excellent for infiltration or fooling 
  surveillance. They are often remotely operated via 
  puppet sock. Shapers are illegal in many habitats.
  Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Chameleon Skin, Clean Metabolism, Cortical 
  Stack, Cyberbrain, Emotional Dampers, Gait 
  Masking, Mnemonic Augmentation, Nanotat ID 
  Flux, Puppet Sock, Sex Switch, Skinflex
  Aptitude Maximum: 30 
  Durability: 30
  Wound Threshold: 6
  Advantages: +5 INT, +5 SAV, +5 to one aptitude of 
  the player’s choice
  CP Cost: 45 
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 40,000)
  SKUlKER (SYnTHMORPH)
  Skulkers are a stealth swarmanoid designed to infil-
  trate sensitive areas and avoid detection by sensors. 
  Enhancements: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Chameleon Skin, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, 
  Mnemonic Augmentation, Radar Invisibility, 
  Swarm Composition
  Mobility System: Walker (2/8), Hopper (4/20),  
  Rotor (4/32)
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
  Durability: 30
  Wound Threshold: 6
  Advantages: See Swarm Composition (p. 311, EP)
  Disadvantages: See Swarm Composition (p. 311, EP)
  CP Cost: 35
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 30,000)
  144
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  TAKKO SYNTHMORPH n ABOVE 
  
  out in the public eye. Apply a −10 modifier to any 
  Research Tests to gather information on the character 
  or track them online (see Scanning, Tracking, and 
  Monitoring, p. 251, EP) and any Networking Tests to 
  ascertain the character’s networking interactions (see 
  Keeping It Quiet, p. 288, EP).
  SOCIal BUTTERFlY
  Cost: 15 CP 
  This character is a promiscuous abuser of online 
  social networks. Because they go out of their way to 
  make new connections and interact with people, they 
  find it slightly easier to get what they need. Apply a 
  +10 modifier to Networking Tests.
  YOU’RE THaT GUY!
  Cost: 10 CP
  Sometime in the past, this character got their 5 
  minutes of mesh fame in a funny viral meme that 
  swept the solar system. To this day, strangers who 
  access the character’s social profile are likely to 
  connect them to that meme. Though tedious for 
  the character, there is a positive side effect, as these 
  strangers remember the meme fondly and are more 
  likely to help the character out. Once per game session, 
  the gamemaster may decide that a stranger with whom 
  the character is interacting and who has access to the 
  character’s online public profile recognizes the char-
  acter. The character receives a one-time +20 bonus to 
  any social skill or Networking Test with that stranger.
  nEGaTIvE TRaITS
  DaTa FOOTPRInT
  Bonus: 10 CP 
  The character is particularly sloppy about keeping a 
  lid on their daily living, online, and social networking 
  interactions, leaving a larger data footprint than 
  usual in the public eye. Apply a +10 modifier to any 
  Research Tests to gather information on the character 
  or track them online (see Scanning, Tracking, and 
  Monitoring, p. 251, EP) and any Networking Tests to 
  ascertain the character’s networking interactions (see 
  Keeping It Quiet, p. 288, EP).
  IMPaIRED BalanCE
  Bonus: 10 CP (Level 1), 20 CP (Level 2), or 30 CP 
  (Level 3)
  This trait is only available to neo-pigs. This uplift’s 
  brain has not been fully adapted to the neo-pig’s 
  bipedal stance and still suffers occasional difficulties 
  with balance. The character suffers a −10 modifier 
  per level to any Climbing, Freerunning, or similar test 
  involving balance or upright movement.
  IMPaIRED HEaRInG (MORPH TRaIT)
  Bonus: 5 CP
  This trait is only available to octomorphs. This 
  morph lacks the transgenic hearing modifications of 
  modern octomorph designs. The morph can only hear 
  nEW KnOWlEDGE SKIll
  At the gamemaster’s discretion, this Language skill 
  variant may be allowed during character creation.
  EXOTIC lanGUaGE
  Type: Field, Knowledge
  Linked Aptitude: INT
  Intercepting a message only helps if the interceptor 
  can understand it. Seamless translation software is 
  available for most human languages, but there are many 
  languages that died out before anyone bothered writing 
  a translator. In addition to unusual spoken languages 
  (e.g., extinct Native American languages), a number 
  of rare sign languages existed among isolated popu-
  lations who either had large numbers of deaf people 
  (e.g., Martha’s Vineyard, Al-Sayyid Bedouins) or taboos 
  against speaking (e.g., the Australian Warlpiri, Trappist 
  monks). These languages, or variations on them, are 
  sometimes used by covert groups concerned about 
  communication security. Linguistic isolates are favored, 
  as these leave fewer clues for would-be translators.
  The whistles, clicks, and ultrasonic burst-pulses of the 
  neo-cetacean language also fall in this category, primarily 
  because the ability to speak and perceive it is beyond 
  the physiology of standard transhumans. Transhumans 
  with enhanced hearing can hear neo-cetacean, and those 
  with echolocation implants can “speak” it, albeit poorly. 
  Neo-cetacean is adapted for underwater use and does 
  not work at any significant range out of water. 
  Sample Fields: Neo-cetacean, !Kung, Al-Sayyid 
  Bedouin Sign, Arogonese, Chong, Karon, Mayan 
  Sign, Michif, Warlpiri Sign
  Specializations: As appropriate to the field, representing 
  dialects, technical jargon, and subcultural slang.
  nEW TRaITS
  The following traits may be available to starting char-
  acters at the gamemaster’s discretion. Unless otherwise 
  noted, these are ego traits.
  POSITIvE TRaITS
  HOME TURF
  Cost: 10 CP 
  This character knows a particular habitat like the 
  back of their hand, paw, or tentacle, having grown 
  up there or spent years familiarizing themselves. They 
  receive an extra point of Moxie that may only be used 
  for tests that apply to that habitat, such as navigating 
  the best route, bypassing airlock controls, or hacking 
  its infrastructure.
  InFORMaTIOn COnTROl 
  Cost: 10 CP 
  This character has a knack for diligence and caution 
  in their daily living, online, and social networking 
  interactions, reducing the amount of extraneous or 
  sensitive information about themselves that leaks 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  145
  
  146
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  USEFUL HABITAT SKILLS
  The following Knowledge field skills are useful 
  when interacting with the systems aboard a 
  habitat. While it’s uncommon for Firewall agents 
  to have deep familiarity with these skills, even a 
  cursory knowledge can be helpful on cases where 
  the workings of a habitat come into play.
  Academics: Astrogeology: Used for asteroid 
  prospecting. Typically this involves analyzing data 
  collected by long-range sensors to determine the 
  chemical composition and likely yield of a given 
  asteroid or comet. For closer targets, transhuman 
  prospecting crews or mining bots might investi-
  gate physically, making the task of analysis easier 
  (apply a +30 modifier when physical sampling of 
  an object is possible).
  Academics: Ecology: This skill is used to analyze 
  habitat ecospheres and make plans for keep-
  ing them in healthy balance. Sometimes this 
  involves working with life support engineers 
  to adjust air and water chemistry. Other times, 
  habitat ecologists provide parameters for what 
  they need done to the environment to someone 
  with skill in Profession: Biodesign, who then cre-
  ates organisms to meet those parameters. In the 
  outer system, habitat ecologists may also use the 
  Research skill to find an open source organism 
  that meets their needs, bypassing the need for a 
  biodesigner. In this case, they simply download 
  the recipe for the desired organism and have 
  someone skilled in Medicine: Biosculpting create 
  it. Habitat ecologists may also work with habi-
  tat ops people to plan resource harvesting. The 
  Jovian Republic has had an ongoing problem with 
  habitat sepsis on their Reagan cylinders due to a 
  dearth of people well schooled in this skill and in 
  Profession: Biodesign.
  Profession: Biodesign: Genetic designers are 
  vital to the success of large habitats. In concert 
  with Academics: Ecology, this skill is used to 
  design the custom organisms that maintain eco-
  logical balance and healthy environments. Big 
  habitats normally have a dedicated staff of two 
  to twenty permanently employed biodesigners, 
  supplemented by AIs. In the outer system, where 
  there are many small habitats, competent travel-
  ing biodesigners tend to hold high rep scores and 
  are always welcome guests. IIT Mumbai on Mars, 
  the Gerlach habitat in Venus orbit, and Profunda 
  Collegium on Enceladus all have strong reputa-
  tions for educating biodesigners. This skill covers 
  designing organisms whose behavior and chemi-
  cal footprint produces the desired effect on a 
  station environment, based on parameters given 
  by someone with Academics: Ecology skill. Actual 
  execution of the design is done using Medicine: 
  Biosculpting, with this skill used as a complemen-
  tary skill.
  Profession: Habitat Admin: Covers knowledge 
  and procedures needed to manage the work-
  ings of a habitat from a high level. Typically 
  only medium to large habitats need people with 
  these skills. Smaller stations are easily handled by 
  AIs. Tasks covered by this skill include things like 
  setting immigration quotas relative to available 
  resources, budgeting raw materials usage, and 
  financing maintenance and improvements (or, in 
  the outer system, figuring out how to get needed 
  help from neighbors).
  Profession: Habitat Operations: Covers pro-
  cedures and techniques for doing the detail 
  work of day-to-day habitat functions. Just about 
  every colony needs someone with some Habitat 
  Operations skill, although for small stations this 
  might only be one person. This is also the most 
  widely applicable of the skills listed here for 
  Firewall investigators. Hab Ops covers tasks such 
  as planning mining ops, interpreting data from life 
  support and recycling systems, balancing power 
  grid usage, aligning external mirrors to create day/
  night cycles, operating reactors, setting life sup-
  port parameters, allocating drones and service ani-
  mals, and scheduling infrastructure maintenance. 
  Spaceship captains and leaders of swarm habitats 
  use a similar skill, Profession: Fleet Ops.
  Profession: LSRS (Life Support and Recycling 
  Systems): This skill deals with the nuts-and-bolts 
  workings of these systems, from the small-scale 
  chemical/nanotech systems used aboard space 
  ships to the massive biological systems used on 
  large habitats. On most habitats, CO2 scrubbing 
  and oxygen replenishment are performed mostly 
  by plant life, be they concentrated vats of algae or 
  the trees and grasses growing in habitat parklands.
  Profession: Mesh Networking: Covers the 
  topology and interactions of overlapping net-
  works, including hierarchy, links, and master-slave 
  relations. Useful for mapping out habitat mesh 
  networks, finding out which system handles par-
  ticular data or functions, and what systems can be 
  hopped to from another.
  Profession: Mining: Used to plan mining and 
  resource harvesting operations, including coordi-
  nating transhuman work crews and autonomous 
  mining bots.
  Profession: Security Procedures: Used for set-
  ting up or analyzing security systems, surveillance 
  coverage, checkpoints, and security responses. Can 
  be used to tailor security protocols to specific situ-
  ations, deduce likely responses or hidden features, 
  or to find gaps in the coverage to be exploited. n
  
  STOlEn IDEnTITY 
  Bonus: 10 CP
  Someone stole this character’s identity and took 
  advantage of their name, reputation, background—the 
  works. Though this happened in the past, the situ-
  ation was never fully resolved and the character is 
  plagued with collateral difficulties from the theft. The 
  gamemaster and player should work out details of the 
  incident together, and the gamemaster should use this 
  to occasionally hinder the character or create complica-
  tions. For example, the character may have to deal with 
  criminal charges against them in one habitat, angry 
  thugs looking for payback on another, and so on.
  WaIT, THaT WaS YOU?
  Bonus: 10 CP
  This character was the unfortunate star of a viral 
  meme that swept through the solar system’s mesh 
  networks—provoking anger, disgust, or mockery 
  towards them. To this day, strangers who access the 
  character’s social profile are likely to connect them to 
  low sounds in the 400–1,000 Hertz range (as opposed 
  to the 20–20,000 Hertz range enjoyed by most trans-
  humans) and hears poorly when not underwater. 
  Apply a −30 modifier to any hearing-based Perception 
  Tests. At the gamemaster’s discretion, certain medium 
  and high-frequency sounds may be inaudible as they 
  are outside the morph’s range. 
  This lack of hearing may be compensated for with 
  audio implants or microphones and mesh inserts.
  IMPaIRED lInGUISTICS
  Bonus: 10 CP (Level 1) or 20 CP (Level 2)
  This trait is only available to uplifts. This uplift’s 
  particular brain structure has difficulty processing 
  language. At Level 1, the uplift loses some of their 
  ability to speak, read, and comprehend things spoken 
  by others when they suffer from stress. Each time the 
  uplift suffers a trauma, they must make a Language 
  Test at −10 to speak (both verbal and via mesh 
  inserts) or comprehend (reading or listening) anything 
  above the most basic words and information. This test 
  only needs to be made once for each language, but 
  for each additional trauma suffered, the test must 
  be made again, with an additional cumulative −10 
  modifier. If the uplift loses their language abilities, 
  they will recover them when that particular trauma 
  is healed. In the meantime, they can only convey and 
  understand basic, one-word, one-syllable concepts, 
  such as “eat” or “run.”
  At Level 2, the uplift’s language centers are perma-
  nently hobbled. Their free natural Language skill 
  at character creation is 40 + INT, and no Language 
  skill may be raised above 60. Additionally, they must 
  make make a Language Test to convey or comprehend 
  particularly complex information or sentences at a −10 
  modifier. At the gamemaster’s discretion, this may also 
  impair other skill tests, particularly Knowledge skills 
  when dealing with detailed data or specialist termi-
  nology. Level 2 does not incorporate Level 1 effects. 
  SHUT-In 
  Bonus: 15 CP 
  This character is a social hermit or went through a 
  period of self-imposed isolation, limiting the amount 
  of interactions they have via online social networks. 
  Because the character is out of touch, their ability 
  to network with others is impaired. Apply a −10 
  modifier to Networking Tests.
  STalKER
  Bonus: 10 CP
  A voyeur obsessively stalks this character’s actions 
  online. The gamemaster and player should work out 
  details of the stalker together, and the gamemaster 
  should use the stalker as a plot element to create occa-
  sional nuisances and challenges. The stalker could, for 
  example, be a fan who over-appreciates the charac-
  ter’s work and pesters them or a unknown entity that 
  follows the character’s actions religiously and posts 
  the details to an online log.
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  GAME INFORMATION
  147
  CHICKCHARNIE POD BIOMORPH n p. 142
  
  that meme, coloring their perception of the character. 
  Once per game session, the gamemaster may decide 
  that a stranger with whom the character is inter-
  acting and who has access to the character’s online 
  public profile makes the connection. The character 
  suffers a one-time −20 modifier to any social skill or 
  Networking Test with that stranger.
  WEaK GRIP (MORPH TRaIT)
  Bonus: 10 CP
  This trait is only available to neo-avian and neo-pig 
  morphs. The physiology of this particular morph is 
  flawed in that the opposable digits on the hands are 
  not fully formed or operational. A character in this 
  morph loses their damage bonus in melee attacks and 
  suffers a −10 modifier on subdual tests (p. 204, EP) 
  and any other tests involving their grip, hand strength, 
  or ability to hold on.
  nEW GEaR
  This section details new mods, equipment, bots, 
  and vehicles.
  BIOWaRE
  These physical augmentations follow all standard 
  rules for implants as given in the Eclipse Phase core 
  rulebook. Polarization and ultraviolet vision are also 
  available in cybernetic form for synthmorphs.
  POlaRIZaTIOn vISIOn
  Characters capable of seeing polarized light can 
  view an aspect of light most humans only see weakly. 
  Polarization reveals visual characteristics much in the 
  way that color does for normal vision: it enhances 
  contrast, foils camouflage, and helps to detect patterns 
  and objects, particularly in light that is reflected off a 
  shiny surface or scattered through the atmosphere or 
  water. One major use of polarization is easier orien-
  tation in relation to polarized light sources (such as 
  navigating underwater by the direction of sunlight). It 
  also allows better detection of water surfaces, reflec-
  tive surfaces, and certain patterns made in the water 
  or on skin (which can be created by chameleon skin). 
  Polarization vision can discriminate watery surfaces 
  from mirages and better detect transparent objects. In 
  game terms, polarization vision allows the character to 
  ignore negative visual Perception modifiers for camou-
  flage, transparency, or viewing underwater. At the game-
  master’s discretion, it may provide a bonus modifier for 
  Perception Tests to detect patterns and Navigation Tests 
  where orientation to light sources is beneficial.
  Octomorphs have natural polarization vision by 
  default. [Low]
  SCEnT aFFInITY
  This modification may only be applied to smart 
  animals. This particular animal has been modified to 
  identify and trust a particular scent or pheromonal 
  signature. Anyone giving off this particular olfactory 
  signature receives a +30 modifier to Animal Handling 
  Tests against this creature, assuming the critter can 
  smell them. Trainers, smart animal handlers, and 
  wealthy owners use this bioware to maintain better 
  control over their pets/investments. [Trivial]
  UlTRavIOlET vISIOn
  This is a minor enhancement, simply adding percep-
  tion of ultraviolet frequencies (p. 303, EP) to the char-
  acter’s visual capabilities. Neo-avians have natural 
  ultraviolet vision by default. [Trivial]
  CYBERWaRE
  These modifications follow all of the standard rules 
  for cybernetic implants as given in the Eclipse Phase 
  core rulebook.
  CYBERCORTEX
  Similar but less sophisticated than a cyberbrain, a 
  cybercortex is a limited artificial version of the neo-
  cortex for smart animals. A cybercortex is not suffi-
  cient to raise an animal to sapience, but it does boost 
  the animal’s ability to learn, comprehend instructions/
  commands, and reason. Apply a +10 modifier to 
  Animal Handling Tests with this animal. The cyber-
  cortex also overrides many instinctive behaviors that 
  would be undesirable in a service animal. [Low]
  IMPlanT MaSKInG
  Implant masking is not a separate implant, but a 
  modification to an existing one. Masked cybernetic 
  implants are composed of electromagnetic- and 
  acoustic-absorbent smart materials that are less 
  likely to be detected by surveillance and security 
  systems using radar, x-rays, or ultrasound. Apply a 
  −30 modifier to any attempts to detect the implant. 
  [Increase the masked implant’s cost by one category]
  lIFE RECORDER
  Not everyone wants to broadcast their lifelog, whether 
  for public viewing or for private storage elsewhere on 
  the mesh. Some people want to retain a lifelog, but 
  prefer to avoid possible interception of the contents 
  online. Certain security, spy, political, and diplomatic 
  professions may mandate this. Others may commonly 
  148
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCEOPTIONAL RULE: UPLIFT GSPS
  As noted in the Uplifts chapter, many uplift morphs come 
  with built-in planned obsolescence as a method of tying the 
  uplift to its patron corp. Much like many rusters on Mars, 
  these morphs require semi-regular genetic service pack 
  maintenance to avoid suffering from physical maladies. 
  Using this rule, most uplift morphs come with the Planned 
  Obsolescence trait (p. 165, Sunward). In this case, reduce the 
  CP Cost of each morph by 5 and reduce its Credit cost by 
  one level (or by 10,000 if more than Expensive).  
  n
  
  nanOTaT ID FlUX
  This highly illegal system is a programmable version 
  of the nanotat ID. Any new (fake) ID may be 
  programmed in, and the nanotat may be reconfigured 
  in seconds (1 Action Turn) to switch to another ID 
  pattern in storage. This nanoware may not be config-
  ured for legal IDs unless they are actually legal or their 
  encryption has been cracked. [Expensive]
  SKElETal DISGUISE
  This implanted nanobot system is designed to disguise 
  a subject’s skeletal structure and create false sensor 
  readings, either to avoid identification or to mimic an 
  existing skeletal pattern. An existing pattern can only 
  be mimicked if the character is of equivalent body 
  mass and size. Altering the skeletal signature takes 20 
  minutes. Apply a −30 modifier to the scanner system’s 
  Perception Test. [Expensive]
  ROBOTIC EnHanCEMEnTS
  These alterations follow all of the standard rules for 
  robotic enhancements given in the Eclipse Phase 
  core rulebook and are only available to synthmorphs, 
  vehicles, and bots.
  InvISIBIlITY
  This enhancement works much like the invisibility 
  cloak (p. 316, EP). The shell is completely sealed 
  within a layer of metamaterials with a negative refrac-
  tive index, making it invisible to the microwave and 
  ultraviolet wavelengths and everything in between. 
  This modification can only be applied to shells on 
  which the entire outer surface can be coated (ionic, 
  roller, snake, thrust vector, walker, wheeled, winged). 
  At the gamemaster’s discretion, this enhancement may 
  not be applied to certain shells due to their configu-
  ration. Shells with this enhancement are effectively 
  blinded, as they cannot use visual sensors (though 
  they can view via meshed remote sensors), though 
  they can also create temporary “windows” as with 
  invisibility cloaks. This mod is not compatible with 
  the radar absorbent, reduced signature, or radar 
  invisibility mods. [Expensive] 
  RaDaR aBSORBEnT
  The shell is constructed with materials that either pass, 
  absorb, or trap radar and terahertz waves, reducing 
  its sensor signature. Though sensor processing has 
  improved significantly, radar absorbent materials can 
  still provide some protection from detection. Apply a 
  −20 modifier to detect the shell with radar and tera-
  hertz frequencies. This mod is compatible with the 
  reduced signature mod. [Moderate]
  REDUCED SIGnaTURE
  This shell has been structurally modified to provide 
  a much smaller radar cross-section. Shells with 
  this modification have a very obvious streamlined, 
  rounded and/or angular look, with no bulky pods or 
  modules. External engines are instead incorporated 
  find themselves in situations where they are cut off 
  from regular mesh access (such as gatecrashers or 
  remote asteroid herders). Most people also don’t want 
  to be bothered with carrying a storage device on their 
  person at all time. In these cases, a life recorder serves 
  the purpose. The life recorder is a micro-sized memory 
  diamond storage device, typically implanted in the 
  head (though occasionally elsewhere in the body). This 
  implant records all sensory input as experienced by the 
  brain to which it is linked. Life recorders are designed 
  as one-way information receivers, simply storing 
  data until they are removed; they are not meant to be 
  accessed, much like cortical stacks. [Low]
  MEMORY lOCK
  This implant, when activated, prevents information 
  from being stored in the subject’s long-term memory or 
  from being recorded via lifelog, mnemonic augmenta-
  tion, or other sensory link. It also temporarily blocks 
  up-to-the second cortical stack backups. The individual 
  will retain short-term memories, but for no more than 
  a few minutes. This implant is usually a requirement 
  for personal aides, consultants, and other underlings of 
  powerful people. The implants can be remotely activated 
  by the superior during confidential meetings or other 
  secret affairs to ensure privacy and deniability. This 
  implant is also a popular option among some personal 
  couriers who intentionally retain no memories of the 
  party that hired them in case they are intercepted. [Low]
  SEnSE FIlTER
  This implant enables a character with a biological hyper-
  spectral enhanced sense (enhanced hearing, smell, or 
  vision) to filter out certain wavelengths and inputs like 
  an equivalent technological sensor device. Normally a 
  person with enhanced vision would experience terahertz, 
  infrared, standard visual, ultraviolet, and gamma ray 
  frequencies all at once. With this implant, however, they 
  can tune out some wavelengths, ignoring them while 
  still seeing the others. The same effect applies to audio 
  or olfactory input, and the filter also allows the user to 
  isolate specific noises or smells, canceling out sensory 
  clutter or focusing on a specific source. This implant 
  must be acquired separately for each sense. [Low]
  nanOWaRE
  These implanted nanosystems follows all of the 
  standard rules for nanoware as given in the Eclipse 
  Phase core rulebook.
  GaIT MaSKInG
  Gait masking nanosystems alter the bone density, 
  muscle tone, and shape of the user’s feet and legs in 
  minute but effective ways, altering their gait pattern just 
  enough to avoid detection. The process of reconfigura-
  tion takes 20 minutes. Gait masking is illegal in many 
  habitats. Gait masking can also be used to mimic an 
  existing gait profile; apply a +30 modifier on Disguise 
  Tests to fool gait biometric scanners. [Expensive]
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  GAME INFORMATION
  149
  
  into the frame. This enhancement is normally only 
  applied to winged, rotorcraft, ionic, or thrust vector 
  shells; apply a −30 modifier to detect these shells 
  with radar and terahertz frequencies. For all other 
  shells, a −10 modifier is applied. This modifier 
  may not be applied to hoppers, tracked shells, or 
  walkers while they are moving, as their mobility 
  systems negate the advantage. The modifier from 
  this enhancement is cumulative with the radar 
  absorbent enhancement. [High]
  RaDaR InvISIBIlITY
  This shell is coated with a layer of radar-transparent 
  metamaterials with a negative refractive index. It 
  is effectively invisible to radar waves; they simply 
  bend around the shell as if it were not there. The 
  shell cannot be detected by radar, but is visible at 
  other frequencies. This mod is not compatible with 
  the invisibility, radar absorbent, or reduced signature 
  mods, nor may it be used in conjunction with an invis-
  ibility cloak. Shells with this mod cannot detect radar 
  themselves. [Expensive]
  COMMUnICaTIOnS GEaR
  Two new communications tools are available.
  nEO-CETaCEan TRanSlaTIOn DEvICE
  This dime-sized device is worn behind the left ear. It 
  perceives ultrasonic frequencies and translates the 
  whistles, clicks, and bursts of neo-cetacean into the 
  transhuman language of the user’s choice and trans-
  mits it directly through the skull to the inner ear. The 
  device is, of course, waterproof and works out to 
  the range of normal neo-cetacean hearing. A linked 
  ultrasonic emitter, usually worn on the belt, allows 
  for translation in the other direction. Neo-cetacean 
  is a primitive language, and translations are often 
  muddy at best. This device has Exotic Language: 
  Neo-Cetacean at 50. [Low]
  HYPERSOnIC COMMUnICaTOR
  This device allows the user to transmit audio in a 
  beam, so that the directed sound is only audible at 
  the targeted position. When pointed at a person, the 
  target will hear the transmission as if the sound were 
  in their own head. Used commonly for advertising, 
  museum displays, art galleries, and similar purposes, 
  portable hypersonic beam devices also enable people 
  to communicate without fear of eavesdropping and 
  without having to rely on insecure mesh transmis-
  sions. The drawback to hypersonic beams is that they 
  are line of sight and will be disrupted by anyone or 
  anything passing through them, so they are ideal for 
  close quarters or non-busy environments. Hypersonic 
  communicators are small devices. They do not work 
  in vacuum, but in atmosphere the beam is unaffected 
  by nearby loud noises. [Low] 
  COvERT anD ESPIOnaGE TECHnOlOGIES
  These technologies include a number of counter-
  surveillance tools employed by people who have 
  something to hide or simply seek privacy, in addition 
  to the usual spies, agents, and saboteurs. 
  aCOUSTIC SPOTTER
  This medium-sized but portable sensor system features 
  an array of microphones and a swivel-mounted 
  camera and laser rangefinder. When activated, the 
  system detects the audio signature of kinetic weapons 
  fire (or another programmed sound signature) and 
  attempts to focus the camera and rangefinder on the 
  source. In the case of standard firearms (or seekers or 
  similar projectiles), the system detects the muzzle blast, 
  the shock wave of the incoming bullets, and the differ-
  ence in timing between them in order to triangulate 
  the originating position. The location of the detected 
  source, including the camera visual feed and range 
  data, are fed into a meshed tacnet. The spotter’s AI has 
  Perception 40 and receives a +10 modifier for detecting 
  sounds, +30 in the case of firearms (but not railguns), 
  seekers, etc. The system can hone in on a repeating 
  audio source; apply a +10 cumulative modifier for 
  each additional emission/attack. [Moderate]
  Dna CHaFF
  This small device is quite similar to a splash grenade 
  (p. 341, EP), and may in fact be equipped and thrown 
  like one. Its contents consist of nothing more than 
  a mass of skin flakes and similar biological debris 
  sampled from a thousand different biomorphs. The 
  intent is to spread this material thoroughly over an 
  area, effectively contaminating it for any purposes of 
  collecting forensic DNA evidence. [Moderate]
  GRaY BOX
  A gray box is a simple wireless interface with its 
  own power supply. It is micro-sized, about the size 
  of a grape, with a set of smart universal ports and a 
  nondescript, matte-gray housing. When attached to an 
  existing device, it allows that device to be interfaced via 
  a wireless connection. Gray boxes are used by infiltra-
  tion specialists to add wireless interfaces to air-gapped 
  wired networks or to objects, such as airlocks, that are 
  designed to operate without them. Installing a gray 
  box is a Task Action with a timeframe of 2 minutes (in 
  addition to any Hardware Tests required to gain access 
  to the target object) and requires appropriate tools.
  Gray boxes normally operate in a passive mode, 
  listening for signals from their operators but not 
  emitting any signal of their own in order to avoid 
  detection. Once a gray box has been activated, 
  however, it will emit active signals until deactivated 
  again. Gray boxes automatically stealth their signals 
  (−30 on Interfacing Tests to detect them).
  How hard a gray box is to discover is left to the 
  gamemaster’s discretion and possibly the ingenuity 
  of the person who placed it. Normal maintenance 
  routines will usually turn them up over the course 
  150
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  SHROUD
  Also known as a privacy cloak or a “Gabby Coat,” after 
  the designer, Kalim Ghabil, a shroud is a whole-body 
  smart-fabric covering, similar to a burkha, designed to 
  provide as much anonymity as possible to the wearer. 
  Electrostatic elements randomly stiffen, mold, and 
  relax to mask gait analysis, foot covers change shape 
  and redistribute weight to throw biometric analysis, 
  and the entire garment emits randomly shifting heat 
  patterns, pheromones, and odorants and broadcasts 
  white noise to mask sounds and conversations from 
  eavesdropping. The person inside cannot be detected 
  with normal vision; the shroud blocks t-ray, x-ray, and 
  infrared scanners (note that the shroud does not hide 
  from view like an invisibility cloak; these scanners 
  detect the shroud’s presence quite easily, but they 
  cannot get a reading on what is underneath). Gait 
  analysis will also fail to recognize the shrouded person. 
  An electrical field may be activated in the shroud’s 
  surface to block all wireless radio signals; this cuts 
  the wearer off from the mesh, but also defeats any 
  attempts to wirelessly track them and silences any bugs 
  or tracking devices they may unknowingly carry.
  Shrouds are an acceptable form of personal privacy 
  in some habitats, but are considered unusual or may 
  even be illegal in others. [High]
  DRUGS anD CHEMICalS
  Use the rules for drugs starting on p. 317, EP. 
  HYDRa
  Hydra only affects neo-octopi physiology. Specifically, 
  it provides a euphoric sense of detachment to the 
  ego while also boosting the autonomous activity and 
  unconscious reflexiveness of neo-octopi arms, which 
  already tend to act on their own accord. Though it 
  does not (usually) impact the ego’s control over their 
  arms, any arms that are idle simply do their own thing. 
  The gamemaster decides if and when these arms act 
  and what they do (or, for more fun, you can assign an 
  arm to each other player). The arms mostly act reflex-
  ively—recoiling from danger, grasping on to nearby 
  objects—but sometimes act as if with intelligent direc-
  tion, striking opponents, snatching forgotten objects, 
  opening doors, etc. The arms use the octomorph’s 
  Initiative and skills. [Low]
  KOnG
  Kong is a potent drug cocktail that boosts the aggres-
  siveness of non-human primates. Uplifts and smart 
  animals under the influence of kong must make a 
  WIL x 3 Test or automatically attack anyone that 
  exhibits threatening behavior. Kong users can ignore 
  the effects of 1 wound, receive a +5 SOM bonus and 
  a +10 bonus on melee attacks, but suffer a −5 INT 
  modifier. Once engaged in violence, the affected 
  primate must make a WIL x 3 Test to not auto-
  matically attack the next nearest target. Attempts to 
  control primates under the influence of kong suffer 
  a −30 modifier to their Animal Handling Tests. Once 
  of time. Perception or Hardware: Electronics Tests 
  should be given to technicians who regularly check 
  up on a piece of gear in which a gray box has been 
  installed. The size of the gray box, however, makes 
  it difficult to visually spot (−30 modifier). In passive 
  mode, they are not normally subject to detection, but 
  in active mode, they may be found with Interfacing 
  Tests (p. 251, EP). It is also possible that a security AI 
  or hacker who is watching over an object or network 
  may detect a gray box if someone uses it to intrude on 
  the system and triggers an alert or if they happen to 
  be auditing the system and detect an anomalous port 
  connection. [Moderate]
  lEnS CRaZER
  A more offensive version of the dazzler (p. 316, EP), 
  the crazer does not simply dazzle and overload the 
  cameras it detects. It attempts to crater, pit, and 
  scratch their lenses, effectively ruining their optic 
  systems. Once activated, the crazer takes one Action 
  Turn to detect lenses, then begins systematically 
  zapping them. Stationary cameras are targeted first.
  For combat situations, treat the crazer as if it has 
  Beam Weapons 40, Initiative 5, and a Speed of 3. It 
  will use its actions to aim; modifiers for laser sights 
  and called shots cancel out. Its laser fires in SA mode. 
  Though it only inflicts 2 DV with its attacks, targeted 
  optics will suffer −30 on Perception Tests after the 
  first hit and will be blind after the second hit. These 
  effects last until repaired. [High]
  lEnS SPOTTER
  The lens spotter is a less-intrusive version of the dazzler 
  (p. 316, EP). It simply maps out all of the camera 
  lenses in an area, noting their position and likely area 
  of coverage, without blasting them with dazzling lasers. 
  This system is used to unobtrusively detect the surveil-
  lance coverage in a given area so that a route map may 
  be generated to avoid camera fields of view. It is also 
  used by military and security forces to detect snipers or 
  enemy spotters before they attack. [Low]
  PRIvaCY POD
  Privacy pods are portable self-assembling tent-like 
  structures used to create secure rooms protected from 
  eavesdropping. Privacy pods are effectively sound-
  proofed Faraday cages, blocking all electromagnetic 
  emissions. They feature a built-in guardian nanoswarm 
  hive that watches for and counteracts any smart dust 
  or other nanosurveillance systems. A privacy pod 
  takes only 3 Action Turns to erect itself and supplies 
  breathable air to the occupants. It features an airlock/
  scanning chamber with a built-in bug zapper (p. 291, 
  EP). A repair nanohive monitors the pod’s perimeter 
  for any attempts to penetrate the walls. [High]
  RaDaR ClOaK
  This cloak works like the invisibility cloak (p. 316, 
  EP), except that it bends radar frequencies and makes 
  the wearer invisible to radar sensors. [High]
  5.
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  5.
  GAME INFORMATION
  151
  
  BRaInPRInT SCannER
  This portable skullcap extrudes ultra-sensitive nano-
  electrodes into the scalp, then plays media to the 
  subject via a visor and ear plugs. It takes approxi-
  mately 5 minutes to thoroughly scan a subject’s 
  brain patterns in response to the media, producing a 
  verifiable brainprint which can then be authenticated 
  against a meshed database entry. [Moderate]
  FIBER CaMERa
  This camera system is composed of multilayered semi-
  conducting polymer fabrics that perceive visual wave-
  lengths much like a standard camera, only without 
  the lens. This allows cameras to be built into clothing, 
  drapes, carpets, etc. These camera systems lack lenses 
  and so are immune to dazzlers, lens spotters, and 
  similar systems. [Moderate]
  FIBEROPTIC MICROPHOnE
  Similar to the fiber eye surveillance camera, the fiber-
  optic mic is a flexible and mesh-controllable length 
  of fiberoptic cable that can fit through cracks, small 
  holes, etc. This device measures the laser reflections off 
  of a sound-sensitive reflective diaphragm, recording 
  audio that is transmitted back through the fiberoptic 
  cable. Unlike standard microphones, fiberoptic mics 
  are not effected by environmental heat, moisture, or 
  magnetic fields. They have effective noise-canceling 
  functions, high fidelity, and can record infrasound and 
  ultrasound. Apply a +10 modifier to hearing-based 
  Perception Tests. Fiberoptic mics are sometimes strung 
  throughout habitat infrastructure to monitor seismic 
  vibrations in walls and other surfaces.[Low]
  FlaT CaMERa
  Flat cameras rely on an array of tiny, networked 
  micro-lensed imagers. With no large lens, these 
  systems are flat and so are easily mounted on walls, 
  ceilings, shell exteriors, and other surfaces. They 
  are difficult (−20 modifier) to visually spot, but are 
  detectable with lens spotter systems. Flat cameras 
  are available in standard visual, infrared, and ultra-
  violet wavelengths, or a pricier hyperspectral model. 
  [Moderate; High for hyperspectral]
  GHOST IMaGERS
  Ghost imagers are special camera systems that 
  rely on a paradoxical effect to construct images of 
  objects that conventional cameras cannot see, such as 
  the effects of this drug wear off, the user suffers −5 
  SOM for an equivalent duration. [Low]
  RaPTOR
  Raptor is a strength-boosting drug that only affects 
  neo-avians. It increases their wing power and speed, 
  as well as boosting the grip of their talons. Apply a 
  +5 SOM bonus and a +20 modifier to Flight Tests to 
  increase movement (like Sprinting, p. 190, EP). [Low]
  STaSTE
  This drug increases an octomorph brain’s ability to 
  process sensory input from the chemoreceptors in 
  their suckers. This gives an octomorph an enhanced 
  ability to “taste” things akin to a bloodhound’s sense 
  of smell, only tactile-based. Apply a +30 modifier to 
  Perception, Investigation, or similar skill tests based 
  on smell. [Low]
  nanOTECHnOlOGY
  This technology follows the rules for nanoswarms 
  given on p. 328, EP.
  nanOTaT ERaSER
  This illegal nanoswarm treatment is specifically 
  designed to penetrate the fingertips of morphs and 
  eradicate all signs of the nanotat ID it carries. Erasing 
  a nanotat ID takes about 5 minutes and itches like 
  crazy. Though usually applied to a specific person as 
  a treatment, criminals and terrorists have sometimes 
  deployed nanotat-erasing nanoswarms in public 
  areas, surreptitiously erasing the IDs from unsus-
  pecting people as a means of confusing security forces 
  engaged in an ego hunt. [Expensive]
  SMaRT PlanKTOn
  Smart plankton is a nanoswarm variant of smart 
  dust (p. 316, EP) designed for underwater use. 
  The plankton nanobots are designed for aquatic 
  movement and can communicate via flashing lights 
  and infrasound. Like smart dust, smart plankton can 
  record video, audio (including infrasound and ultra-
  sound), water temperature, chemical traces, as well as 
  movement and other data. [Moderate]
  SEnSOR SYSTEMS
  The devices described here find widespread use in 
  habitat surveillance systems.
  152
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  UPLIFT DRUGS
  DRUG
  TYPE
  APPLICATION
  ONSET TIME
  DURATION
  ADDICTION MODIFIER
  ADDICTION TYPE
  Hydra
  Chem
  Inj, O
  20 minutes
  3 hours
  −10
  Physical
  Kong
  Chem
  Inh, Inj, O
  3 Action Turns
  1 hour
  −10
  Physical
  Raptor
  Chem
  Inj, O
  20 minutes
  1 hour
  −10
  Physical
  Staste
  Chem
  Inj, O
  20 minutes
  3 hours
  −10
  Physical
  
  false alarms. They can operate in passive and active 
  modes. In passive mode, the detector relies on infrared 
  sensors to detect body heat, without sending out any 
  signals that might betray its presence. In active mode, 
  it sends out ultrasonic pulses and/or microwaves, 
  measuring the reflections that bounce off a moving 
  target to measure speed, position, and direction. Often 
  strategically mounted as a perimeter security system, 
  motion detectors are typically set in passive mode first, 
  which then triggers active mode when it gets a reading. 
  These devices are small. [Low]
  PERSOnal InTERaCTIOn SEnSOR
  These mini-sized combo sensors are worn on the body 
  and use an infrared heat sensor, biolidar pulse rate 
  measurement, pheromone and perspiration identifi-
  cation, and a camera and microphone to scan those 
  with whom the wearer interacts. The sensor’s AI 
  measures the readings and also applies voice analysis 
  (stress factor and response spaces) and kinesics 
  assessments to judge the honesty and forthrightness 
  of a conversational partner. While originally designed 
  for business and political negotiations, PI sensors are 
  growing in popularity as a tool for regular personal 
  interactions. The AI is equipped with Kinesics and 
  Perception skills of 40. They apply a +20 modifier to 
  Kinesics Tests. [Moderate]
  QUanTUM DOT CaMERa-DISPlaYS
  These fullerene devices acts as both high-resolution 
  display and camera. They can be painted on almost 
  any surface. Because they do not have lenses, they 
  cannot be detected by lens spotter systems. When 
  not displaying images, they are also difficult to spot 
  visually; apply a −20 modifier. They are hyperspec-
  tral, sensing from near-infrared to ultraviolet wave-
  lengths. [High]
  QUanTUM RaDaR
  These advanced radar systems employ entangled emis-
  sions to acquire a higher resolution, similar to using a 
  shorter wavelength. Quantum radar produces images 
  with detail equivalent to terahertz or infrared, making 
  it better for detecting concealed objects and targets. 
  Apply a +20 modifier to Perception Tests made with 
  quantum radar systems. [High]
  SEnSOR COnCEalMEnT
  Many sensors are hidden within everyday objects or 
  constructed to look like something different so as not 
  to be an obvious surveillance tool. This modification 
  to a sensor device applies a −30 modifier to Perception 
  Tests made to spot it and identify it as a sensor. [Low]
  SUPER-WIDE CaMERaS
  Carried by aerial drones and orbital satellites or 
  mounted at high infrastructure points like habitat 
  domes or the axis points of cylinder habitats, these 
  cameras can view an area up to 300 square kilometers 
  in size down to 0.1 meter resolution. They can view 
  targets obstructed by smoke, clouds, or other visual 
  effects. Ghost imagers rely on two cameras. The 
  first is pointed at a light source and the second at a 
  target object or location illuminated by that source 
  (but obstructed from the standard camera view). 
  By exploiting a (quantum) correlation effect in the 
  property of light, the ghost imaging system can build 
  an image of the target based on photons that are 
  scattered off of it, even though the view of the target 
  is obstructed. Ghost imaging could thus be used to 
  see targets on a battlefield obscured by heavy fog or 
  smoke or on a planet surface below heavy cloud cover, 
  simply by pointing a camera that way and another at 
  the sun, moon, or other light source. 
  In game terms, ghost imagers ignore all visual 
  modifiers. Ghost imagers can see in infrared as well as 
  standard visual frequencies. Though they are passive 
  sensors that use natural light, they can also be used in 
  conjunction with active light sources. [High]
  HYPERSPECTRal IMaGER
  A hyperspectral imager views the electromagnetic 
  spectrum much like enhanced vision bioware. The 
  passive model perceives infrared to ultraviolet 
  frequencies, while the active model incorporates 
  terahertz and radar imaging as well. See the rules for 
  hyperspectral sensors, p. 162. [Moderate for Passive, 
  High for Active]
  HYPERSPECTRal MICROPHOnE
  A hyperspectral mic hears the entire audio spectrum, 
  from infrasonic to ultrasonic frequencies, much like 
  enhanced hearing bioware. See the rules for hyper-
  spectral sensors, p. 162. [Moderate]
  ID SCannER
  This small hand-held device is used to read the 
  nanotat IDs carried by most morphs (p. 279, EP). It 
  scans the nanobots, decodes the data, and compares 
  the information against linked online databases. To 
  truly be effective, this device must have mesh access 
  to ID databases. [Low]
  METal DETECTOR
  Metal detectors use very-low frequency induction 
  to detect metals that are not apparent. They can be 
  used at security checkpoints to locate weapons, cyber-
  ware, or contraband. Available as hand-held wands, 
  they are also often used as portal access systems, 
  scanning anyone that passes through. Modern detec-
  tors are good enough to identify the type of metal. 
  Gatecrashers and scavengers also use them to locate 
  items buried in the ground or under debris. These 
  devices have a very short range, just 2 meters, though 
  larger masses of metal may be detectable from further 
  away. [Low]
  MOTIOn DETECTOR
  Modern motion detectors use a combination of 
  sensor technologies to maximize accuracy and reduce 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  153
  
  local authorities, tracking down potential abusers, 
  and blocking future unauthorized transactions. [Low 
  for one year of monitoring; Moderate for one year of 
  active protection services]
  PRIvaCY SUITE
  Privacy suite services are offered by many restau-
  rants, night clubs, hotels, and similar businesses who 
  frequently have clientèle that desire a private space 
  for meetings or other functions. These suites function 
  similar to privacy pods (p. 151) and are regularly 
  scoured for bugs. In some habitats, automated privacy 
  hotels offer these suites as a walk-in or reserved 
  service. [Low per hour]
  PRIvaTE SEnSOR FEEDS
  In addition to coverage of private areas, many public 
  areas are seeded with privately owned cameras and 
  sensors that are off-limits to public access. These 
  sensors are sometimes higher-quality or have more 
  capabilities than standard publicams. Some providers 
  offer timed access or access to recordings for a partic-
  ular time period for a fee, however. [Low per hour]
  SMaRT anIMalS
  These partially uplifted animals can be found 
  throughout the solar system.
  BEES anD GaRDEnER WaSPS
  Both bees and pollen wasps have been genetically 
  modified and interbred, creating several new species 
  of insects that provide a valuable pollination service in 
  habitat gardens. These swarms live in large nests/hives, 
  produce honey, and prey on other insects, serving 
  as a biological form of pest control. Some of these 
  breeds are quite large, growing up to 8 centimeters in 
  length. They adapt quite well to microgravity. Many 
  have been trained to assist with other gardening tasks, 
  such as collecting debris or trimming leaves. They are 
  sometimes also used for security, when certain phero-
  monal cues are released, the entire hive will attack. 
  These insects are smart enough to remember faces, but 
  tales of smart wasps loaded with toxins and sent to 
  assassinate certain morphs are likely rumors. Cost and 
  statistics are for a swarm of 200. [Low]
  Skills: Flight 60, Fray 50, Infiltration 30, 
  Intimidation 30, Perception 30, Scrounging 40, 
  Unarmed Combat 40
  Enhancements: Enhanced Smell, Polarization Vision, 
  Swarm Composition, Ultraviolet Vision
  Movement Rate: 4/30
  Attack: Sting, 1d10 DV
  GUaRD DOG
  These smart dogs are trained for security or policing 
  purposes and upgraded with bioweave, enhanced vision, 
  hardened skeleton, and reflex booster implants. [High]
  Skills: Fray 40, Freerunning 30, Infiltration 30, 
  Intimidation 40, Investigation 40, Perception 30, 
  Scrounging 40, Unarmed Combat 50
  in standard visual, near infrared, or ultraviolet; hyper-
  spectral versions are also available. [Moderate; High 
  for hyperspectral]
  SERvICES
  These services are available through legitimate or 
  black market channels.
  anIMal CaRE
  Though smart animals are sometimes self-sufficient, 
  any animal caretaker who plans to be away for an 
  extended period likely needs to have someone make 
  sure their critters get food, water, and exercise. [Low 
  per week; Moderate for large animals]
  anIMal TRaInInG
  Smart animals take well to training, but not everyone 
  has the time, inclination, or patience to do it right. 
  Professional animal trainers provide this service, 
  teaching them commands and new skills. See Smart 
  Animal Training, p. 175, for estimated timeframes. 
  [Moderate per month]
  BlInD SPOT/ROUTE
  Certain groups intentionally create or maintain “blind 
  spots” in public areas that are free of surveillance 
  coverage. These are then rented out to those who need 
  to conduct a discreet transaction, switch disguises, or 
  otherwise do something without being seen or leaving 
  a record. These blind spots rarely last long; new ones 
  must be created. For a greater expense, a painstakingly 
  mapped route can be purchased that carefully winds its 
  way without crossing through the coverage area of any 
  sensors. These routes are rare and hard to maintain; it 
  is unlikely that you can shop for a route in a specific 
  area, but they are good for setting up a meeting in a 
  location with an unwatched escape route. Alternatively, 
  at even greater expense, it is sometimes possible to pay 
  criminal groups to create a temporary route for you 
  along the path of your choosing. [High or more]
  CRYPTO-CRED
  Crypto-cred is anonymous, encrypted currency. It 
  is used by those who wish to purchase black market 
  goods, hide their transactions, launder money, or avoid 
  taxes. It is illegal in some habitats, but remains in 
  heavy use, especially with criminal cartels. Acquiring 
  crypto-cred is as simple as buying it with credit via 
  an anonymized transaction with a secure crypto-cred 
  server. The encrypted crypto-credits can then be signed 
  over to other parties, who can redeem them through a 
  similar service. There is a 10% fee to exchange crypto-
  cred with credit and vice versa, but there is no cost to 
  exchanging crypto-cred between people.
  ID PROTECTIOn
  Various hypercorps offer ID monitoring services 
  to protect against ID theft and fraud, alerting the 
  user of suspicious events and activity. At a greater 
  expense, the corp offers active protection, alerting 
  154
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  Skills: Fray 50,  
  Free Fall 20, 
  Freerunning 40, 
  Infiltration 40, Intimidation 20, 
  Perception 30, Scrounging 30,  
  Unarmed Combat 50
  Enhancements: Adrenal Boost, Basic Biomods, 
  Claws, Cybercortex, Bioweave (Light), Eelware, 
  Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced 
  Vision, Mesh Inserts, Neurachem (Level 1), 
  Prehensile Tail
  Movement Rate: 4/20
  Attack: Claws, 1d10 + 2 DV, AP −1
  Armor: 2/3
  SOFTWaRE
  These programs and AIs adhere to the rules provided 
  in the Mesh chapter, p. 234, EP.
  anIMal KEEPER aI
  Like a muse for smart animals, this AI overwatches a 
  critter’s activities, directs it as needed, and alerts the 
  owners to any emergencies or other problems. If the 
  animal is equipped with a puppet sock, it can also jam 
  Enhancements: Bioweave (Heavy), Cyberclaws, 
  Cybercortex, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, 
  Enhanced Vision, Hardened Skeleton, Mesh 
  Inserts, Puppet Sock, Reflex Boosters
  Movement Rate: 4/20
  Attack: Cyberclaws, 1d10 + 5 DV, AP −2
  Armor: 3/4
  SMaRT HaWK
  Enhanced versions of peregrine falcons and other 
  predatory birds are common in large, open habitats, 
  and the hobby of falconry has made a comeback. 
  Some smart falcons have been trained for surveillance 
  or security purposes, tracking or finding subjects from 
  overhead. [Moderate]
  Skills: Flight 60,  
  Fray 50, Infiltration 30, Perception 50,  
  Scrounging 40,  
  Unarmed Combat 40
  Enhancements: Claws,  
  Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Vision
  Movement Rate: 4/40
  Attack: Beak/Claws, 1d10 + 2 DV, AP −1
  SMaRT RaCCOOn
  Raccoon helpers are employed as personal assistant 
  and for many of the same tasks as smart monkeys. 
  Some are even trained to get along in free fall, though 
  they are mostly found in habitats with real or spin 
  gravity. [Moderate]
  Skills: Climbing 40, Fray 20, Freerunning 20, 
  Infiltration 40, Perception 30, Scrounging 40, 
  Swimming 30, Unarmed Combat 20
  Enhancements: Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, 
  Grip Pads
  Movement Rate: 2/8
  Attack: Bite, 1d10 – 4 DV
  SMaRT CaT
  Though smart cats deign to let humans pet and feed them, 
  they are even more stubborn and independent than their 
  baseline forebears. Nevertheless, some have been trained 
  for surveillance and other purposes. [Moderate]
  Skills: Climbing 30, Fray 30, Freerunning 30, 
  Infiltration 40, Perception 30, Scrounging 30, 
  Unarmed Combat 30
  Enhancements: Claws, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced 
  Smell, Enhanced Vision
  Movement Rate: 4/20
  Attack: Claws, 1d10 + 2 DV, AP −1
  SWaRM CaT
  Swarm cats (p. 116) are the creation of scum gene-
  hackers. No two swarm cats tend to be alike—many 
  of them are more like hyenas or mongooses—and 
  each is likely to have a unique assortment of enhance-
  ments. The statistics given below should be used as a 
  rough guidelines for other cats. [High]
  5.
  5.
  5.
  5.
  5
  .
  5.
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5.
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5.
  GAME INFORMATION
  155
  HYPERGIBBON POD BIOMORPH n p. 142
  
  with a Kinesics skill of 40 or provides a +10 modifier to 
  a Kinesics Test made by someone using it. [Moderate]
  PROBaBIlITY MaPPInG
  Though most effective with massive data sets and 
  quantum computers, a standard user and their muse 
  can still benefit from using probability mapping 
  software to predict things like traffic, peak travel times, 
  crime rates, and other periodic and habitual events. 
  When supplied with data on a particular person, this 
  software can make a guess as to their likely current 
  whereabouts, activities, and possibly even moods and 
  other factors. [High] 
  RaDIO MOTIOn DETECTIOn
  Technically known as variance-based radio tomo-
  graphic imaging, this sensing technique can be 
  used with any wireless radio devices. It is especially 
  useful in urban areas, where wireless devices are 
  everywhere. Because this system is passive, using 
  existing signals, it does not alert the target. To detect 
  motion in a target area, the software measures and 
  analyzes the transmission and reception of radio 
  signals originating on opposing sides of the target 
  area. Variations in these signals detect movement 
  in the area, which can be overlaid on a map of the 
  area to pinpoint target locations. Since wireless radio 
  signals penetrate walls and other obstructions, this 
  can be used to identify unseen movement inside a 
  structure, without giving away the scanning as t-rays 
  or radar would. This method is roughly accurate to 
  within 5 meters, −1 meter per 10 points of MoS on 
  an Interfacing Test. Resolution is poor, with few 
  details on the target provided. [Low]
  RElaTIOnSHIP MaPPInG
  This software uses publicly available data, as well as 
  any other information supplied, to build a relation-
  ship map marking a specific target’s known and likely 
  associates and interactions. Aside from analyzing 
  public profiles and online interactions, it also accesses 
  mesh tracking logs to pinpoint incidents of physical 
  proximity. It is useful for identifying a person’s social 
  relationships, including friends, relatives, lovers, 
  co-workers, conspirators, and so on. At the game-
  master’s discretion, this may provide a modifier for 
  Investigation or Networking Tests. [Moderate]
  it like a biodrone. COO 20. Skills: Animal Handling 
  (Animal Type) 40, Interests: [Animal Type] 80, 
  Interfacing 20, Perception 30, Research 20. [Moderate]
  BEHavIORal PSYCH
  When provided with data on a particular person and 
  their activities, this software can build a psychological 
  profile. The larger the data set—sensor scans, mesh 
  activity, public profile, relationship maps, location 
  tracking, medical history, lifelogs—the deeper and 
  more accurate the analysis. Treat this as an Academics: 
  Psychology skill of 80 or apply a +20 modifier to a 
  character using this software to aid a psychology or 
  behavior-related analysis test. [High]
  EvEnT RECOnSTRUCTIOn SOFTWaRE
  The latest forensic method used by crime scene inves-
  tigators, event reconstruction software takes sensor 
  data and applies predictive algorithms to build a 
  reconstruction of a past event. This combined data 
  can be used to run a simulspace scenario of the event 
  and its possible permutations. Apply a +20 modifier to 
  Investigation Tests. [High]
  FaKE BRaInPRInT PlUG-In
  This software plug-in can be used by infomorphs or 
  characters with cyberbrains to attempt to deceive 
  brainprint scanners. Make a Variable Opposed Test 
  between the Interfacing skill of the person or AI 
  running the scan with a −30 modifier and the Infosec 
  skill of the subject (or their muse). If the character 
  being checked succeeds and the scanner fails, the 
  fake brainprint passes. If both succeed, an anomaly 
  has been detected, though the nature of the anomaly 
  will be unclear. Further scans can be made to try and 
  identify the problem (repeat the test). If the scanner 
  succeeds and the fake brainprint user fails, the decep-
  tion is detected. Another test can be made to identify 
  the real print (without the −30 modifier this time), and 
  the scanner will likely have some uncomfortable ques-
  tions to ask. This software is considered contraband in 
  most law-abiding habitats. [Expensive]
  KInESICS SOFTWaRE
  Kinesics software measures voice stress patterns or 
  analyzes other sensory input to monitor for deception, 
  hostile intent, and other emotional states. It functions 
  156
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  CREATURES
  CREATURE
  COG
  COO
  INT
  REF
  SAV
  SOM
  WIL
  INIT
  SPD
  DUR
  WT
  DR
  LUC
  TT
  IR
  Bees/Wasps
  1
  20
  10
  20
  1
  5
  1
  6
  1
  30
  6
  45
  2
  1
  4
  Guard Dog
  5
  10
  15
  25
  5
  20
  10
  8
  2
  35
  7
  53
  20
  4
  40
  Smart Cat
  5
  15
  15
  15
  5
  10
  20
  6
  1
  15
  3
  23
  40
  8
  80
  Smart Hawk
  5
  20
  15
  20
  5
  10
  10
  7
  1
  15
  3
  23
  20
  4
  40
  Smart Raccoon
  5
  10
  15
  15
  5
  10
  10
  6
  1
  15
  3
  23
  20
  4
  40
  Swarm Cat
  10
  15
  15
  15
  5
  15
  15
  6
  2
  25
  5
  38
  30
  6
  60
  
  ROBOTS
  These follow all of the rules given for robots in the 
  core rulebook (p. 343, EP).
  BUGHUnTERS
  These airborne drones are designed to descend on a 
  targeted area to find and eliminate all sensors. They 
  are often used to clear a path for those wishing to 
  move without leaving a record. Bugunter bot AIs have 
  Interfacing 40, Investigation 40, Perception 40, and 
  Seeker Weapons 40. [Moderate]
  CaRETaKER
  Caretaker bots look after smart animals so the owner 
  doesn’t have to. They feed and water them, take them 
  for walks, play games, encourage exercise, and clean 
  up their messes. They also keep in touch with the 
  animals’ keeper AIs (if they have them) and other-
  wise track and monitor their activities and health. 
  Caretakers can also teach animals from a repertoire 
  of common commands and skills. Caretakers tend 
  to be boxy and wheeled, with two arms and various 
  attachments for cleaning, grooming, leashing, etc. 
  Each caretaker is customized for a specific animal 
  species. Caretakers have Animal Handling  40, 
  Interests: [Animal Species] 80, and Profession: 
  Animal Care 80. [Moderate]
  HaB REPaIR BOTS
  To cut costs, most habitat repair bots are standard-
  ized and versatile, used for purposes as diverse as 
  conducting repairs in vacuum on a station’s exterior 
  hull to clearing blocked sewage pipes or repainting a 
  SEnSOR aI
  Sensor AIs are equipped in most off-the-shelf 
  sensor systems. Skills: Hardware: Electronics 30, 
  Infosec 20, Interests: [Sensor] Specs 80, Interfacing 
  (Sensor) 40, Perception (Sensor) 40, Programming 
  20, Research 20. [Moderate]
  TECHnICIan aI
  Technician AIs are used on habitats and aboard ships 
  to direct the work of repair drones. Skills: Hardware: 
  Electronics 40, Hardware: Industrial 40, Hardware: 
  Robotics 40, Infosec 20, Interfacing 40, Research 20, 
  Perception 20, Profession: Habitat Ops 60. [Moderate]
  SURvIval GEaR
  This gear is found on most space habitats as standby 
  equipment for emergency situations.
  aIR MaSK
  This simple face-covering breathing mask comes with 
  a small-sized air tank with enough air for 2 hours. A 
  medium-sized air tank version, good for 12 hours, is 
  also available. [Trivial; Low for larger air tank]
  OXYGEn CanDlES
  In the event of a life support failure, a breathable 
  atmosphere can be created in a pressurized space 
  by using a solid-fuel oxygen generator. A standard 
  portable medium-sized version produces 75 man-
  hours of oxygen once ignited. A smaller pocket-sized 
  version produces 15 man-hours. [Low for small; 
  Moderate for medium-sized]
  5.
  5.
  5.
  5.
  5
  .
  5.
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5.
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5.
  GAME INFORMATION
  157
  ROBOTS
  ROBOT
  MOVEMENT RATE
  MAX
  VELOCITY
  ARMOR
  DURABILITY
  WOUND  
  THRESHOLD
  MOBILITY  
  SYSTEM
  Bughunter
  4/20
  40
  2/2
  30
  6
  Rotor
  360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Disassembly Tools, Electrical Sense, Enhanced Vision, Headlights, Image Recognition Software, Lens Crazer, 
  Lens Spotter, Lidar, Radar, Specialized Hive with Guardian Nanoswarm, T-Ray Emitter, Utilitool, Weapon Mount with Seeker Pistol with EMP 
  and HE seekers
  Caretaker
  4/20
  30
  4/4
  25
  5
  Wheeled
  Access Jacks, Chem Sniffer, Image Recognition Software, Lidar
  Hab Repair Bot
  4/16
  20
  4/4
  40
  8
  Walker
  Access Jacks, Chem Sniffer, Electrical Sense, Enhanced Vision, Extra Limbs (6–8), Grip Pads, Headlights, Maker, Nanoscopic Vision, Repair 
  Spray, Tool Kit, Utilitool
  Harvester
  12/200
  NA
  4/4
  50
  10
  Thrust Vector
  360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Extra Limbs (4), Enhanced Vision, Headlights, Radar, Radiation Sense, Tool Kit
  Skimmer
  12/200
  NA
  12/12
  100
  20
  Thrust Vector
  360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Chem Sniffer, Enhanced Vision, Lidar, Radar, Radiation Sense
  Spider Hand
  2/8
  12
  2/2
  10
  2
  Walker
  Access Jacks, Cyberclaws, Grip Pads, Pneumatic Limbs
  Stealth Drone
  12/200
  200 (air)/NA (space)
  10/10
  60
  12
  Winged, Thrust Vector
  +10 COO, 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Chameleon Skin, Enhanced Vision, Lidar, Quantum Radar, Radar Absorbent, Radiation Sense, 
  Reduced Signature, Super-Wide Camera
  
  vEHIClES
  These follow all of the rules given for vehicles in the 
  core rulebook (p. 343, EP).
  FlUX CaR (aIRCRaFT/GROUnDCRaFT)
  Flux cars are black market vehicles optimized for 
  countersurveillance and tracking. Equipped with 
  chameleon coating and constructed with smart 
  materials, they can change their exterior appear-
  ance and even reconfigure their chassis on command. 
  Both flying and ground car versions are available; 
  flying car models come equipped with radar absor-
  bent modifications. Most jurisdictions outlaw these 
  designs. [Expensive, Minimum 30,000 for ground, 
  40,000 for flying]
  FlUX CYClE (GROUnDCRaFT)
  This is an enclosed cycle (p. 344, EP) with the same 
  features as a flux ground car. [Expensive]
  lIFEBOaT (SPaCECRaFT)
  Habitat lifeboats are designed to carry up to 100 
  people with food and water for 8 days. They are not 
  designed for long-term or long-distance travel and 
  have only very small metallic hydrogen rockets with 
  limited range and poor maneuverability. [Expensive]
  nEO-CETaCEan WalKER (EXOSKElETOn)
  This exoskeleton is designed for neo-cetaceans to 
  move about in non-aquatic environments. It includes 
  a set of arms for manipulating objects and can operate 
  as a four-legged walker or as a thrust-vector sled. A 
  cocoon-like wrapping keeps the neo-cetacean’s skin 
  wet and cooled in warmer environments. [Moderate]
  IDEnTIFICaTIOn
  These rules apply to identification scans as described 
  in the Surveillance chapter. 
  BRaInPRInT SCanS
  Brainprint scans of biomorphs in the field are 
  conducted with a brainprint scanner (p. 152). Unless 
  the subject’s brain has been significantly modified 
  in some way (serious mental trauma, head wounds, 
  psychosurgery, heavy drug or narcoalgorithm use, etc.), 
  this will produce a scan of the subject’s brainprint for 
  comparison with databases, no test required. If the 
  gamemaster determines the scan may produce a deviant 
  brainprint, make an Interfacing Test using the skill of 
  the person or AI running the check, applying appro-
  priate modifiers. If the test fails to produce a match, the 
  subject will usually be taken in for a more detailed scan 
  with full medical scanning gear (apply a +30 modifier 
  to the Interfacing Test). Whether the brainprint matches 
  up with database queries is up to the gamemaster or 
  may be resolved with a Research Test using the skill of 
  the person or AI running the check; the data integrity 
  of the databases being checked may apply modifiers. 
  Whether or not a brainprint gets a match, the brain 
  colony corridor. They are equipped with interchange-
  able tools and reservoirs for carrying stock materials. 
  Most repair bots have a crab-like robotic frame. Repair 
  bot AIs have Hardware: Industrial 40, Hardware: 
  Robotics 40, and Perception 30. [Moderate]
  HaRvESTER DROnES
  Many microgravity habitats employ harvester bots 
  to bring in outside materials, such as rock and ice, 
  for processing into useful materials. Dense fields like 
  Saturn’s rings or trojan or orbiting debris clumps are 
  relatively easy to mine because there are so many 
  particles and chunks of material that can literally be 
  grabbed with a drone’s robot arms and propelled back 
  to the station. These capture drones are disc-shaped 
  to give a 360-degree reach from the main body and 
  allow the plasma thruster in the center to be pointed 
  through the center-of-gravity of any object. Most are 
  no larger than 1.5 meters in diameter, with six to eight 
  articulated appendages that can reach another four 
  meters each. [Moderate]
  SKIMMERS
  Habitats in orbit around the gas giants—Jupiter, 
  Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—operate craft specifi-
  cally designed to fill their tanks with atmospheric 
  gases, like hydrogen and helium, and rocket back 
  to the habitat for offloading. This is the primary 
  method for collecting helium-3 for fusion reactors. 
  Atmospheric mining craft—skimmers—must be 
  adapted for their particular environment to safely 
  operate. For example, Jovian skimmers require larger 
  engines to overcome the planet’s gravity well and 
  heavier shielding for electronics. Even virtual crew 
  operating the skimmer require some protection for 
  their digital systems. Saturnian skimmers must deploy 
  retractable stabilizers to maintain control in the high 
  winds. Nuclear thermal rockets are common amongst 
  all skimmers because of their high thrust-to-weight 
  ratio and ability to use the ambient atmosphere as 
  reaction mass. [Expensive]
  SPIDER HanD
  Named for the way it scurries and jumps like a spider, 
  this robotic hand is normally used by neo-avians, neo-
  octopi, and neo-cetaceans who need a human hand 
  design and/or some additional strength to handle 
  certain tasks. It should be noted that the hand does 
  not possess the leverage of a body behind it, so there 
  are limitations to what it can do, though it can extend 
  a meter-long brace for stabilization and support. They 
  have an effective SOM of 10. [Moderate]
  STEalTH DROnE
  This stealth plane is designed to covertly penetrate 
  airspace and monitor targets from overhead without 
  detection. It can be used in vacuum as well as 
  atmosphere. Its AI is equipped with Flight 40 and 
  Perception 40. [Expensive]
  158
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  aCTIvE vs. PaSSIvE
  Active sensors must actually emit signals, taking a 
  reading based on the signals that are reflected back 
  their way. This means, however, that active sensors 
  can be easily detected by any other senses or sensors 
  capable of detecting their signals (See Detecting 
  Sensors, p. 160). Passive scanners, however, do not 
  emit any signals that might give them away. They 
  simply receive any signals that come their way, either 
  natural or artificial. Any active sensor can be operated 
  in passive mode, though it will only detect other active 
  scanners of that type and any natural emissions.
  SCannERS vs. SOFTWaRE
  A distinction must be made between the scanning device 
  that actually receives input and then the software that 
  analyzes it. Most sensors come equipped with analysis 
  software overseen by the device’s AI. A standard video 
  camera, for example, records its visual input but does 
  not detect anything on its own. Such a camera can 
  be loaded with all sorts of software such as facial 
  recognition, silhouette analysis, and so forth. Many 
  sensor devices have this software running on their own 
  electronics; sensors that are part of a larger security 
  network, however, usually feed their data to a central 
  processing node where security and sensor AIs oversee 
  the data collected. Software systems can correlate data 
  from multiple devices, acquiring a better picture of the 
  situation than they could from a single sensor. 
  SEnSOR SIZE anD RanGE
  Sensors come in a range of sizes, just like other 
  gear (see the Gear Sizes table, p. 297, EP). Standard 
  portable sensors (p. 325, EP) are small hand-held 
  and easily concealable devices. Most can also be 
  obtained in mini or micro sizes at the same cost (if the 
  gamemaster allows). At the gamemaster’s discretion, 
  some sensors may not be available at certain sizes. 
  Radar, for example, does not come in a size smaller 
  than medium, simply because the wavelengths radar 
  operates on are “physically” large and so require a big 
  enough sensor to read them. Nanoswarms carry nano 
  versions of various sensors. A sensor’s size determines 
  its effective range, as noted on the Radio and Sensor 
  Ranges table, p. 299, EP. 
  Many common, everyday objects contain sensors. 
  Spimes can be found in habitat infrastructure, public 
  seating, lighting fixtures, appliances, furniture, retail 
  scans of AGIs and uplifts are automatically identifiable 
  as non-human; apply a +30 modifier to an Interfacing 
  Test for determining the subject’s exact nature.
  CYBERBRaIn anD InFOMORPH BRaInPRInTS
  Scanning the brainprint of someone with a cyberbrain 
  or an infomorph brain-state is as easy as analyzing 
  it with brainprint analysis software. This test takes 
  only a Complex Action. If an Interfacing Test is called 
  for due to a potential deviant brainprint, apply a +30 
  modifier. Infomorphs and cyberbrained characters 
  have the option of trying to deceive a scan with a fake 
  brainprint plug-in (p. 156).
  nanOTaT IDS
  Verifying a nanotat ID with an ID scanner (p. 153) 
  is an automatic affair. Morphs that have had their 
  nanotat ID erased (See Nanotat Eraser, p. 152) or that 
  never had one in the first place are likely to be viewed 
  with extreme suspicion. Morphs using nanotat ID flux 
  nanoware (p. 149) are unlikely to be questioned; the 
  deception can only be detected under close medical 
  scrutiny with a Medicine: Nanomedicine Test.
  SEnSOR RUlES
  The following rules apply to sensor systems, whether 
  equipped on a synthmorph, bot, vehicle, habitat, or 
  device. Biological equivalents also follow suit.
  SEnSOR TYPES
  Sensors can be broken down into multiple categories.
  TECHnOlOGICal vs. BIOlOGICal
  Unless otherwise noted, the capabilities of biological 
  sensor organs are equivalent to those of technological 
  devices. Tech sensors are typically fully meshed 
  and have an on-board sensor or device AI, whereas 
  biosense input into the brain or cyberbrain can be 
  accessed by mesh inserts and other implants and 
  shared via tacnet, recorded for lifelog purposes, etc. 
  Tech sensors are powered by small nuclear batteries, 
  standard batteries, or locally broadcast wireless 
  power feeds. Hyperspectral tech sensors can turn off 
  or isolate certain frequencies, whereas biological sense 
  organs perceive the entire spectrum of wavelengths 
  (unless equipped with a sense filter implant, p. 149).
  5.
  5.
  5.
  5.
  5
  .
  5.
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5.
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .
  5
  .5
  .
  5
  .
  5.
  GAME INFORMATION
  159
  VEHICLES
  VEHICLE
  PASSENGER 
  CAPACITY
  HANDLING
  MOVEMENT 
  RATE
  MAX  
  VELOCITY
  ARMOR
  DURABILITY
  WOUND 
  THRESHOLD
  DEATH 
  RATING
  Flux Car (Flying)
  4
  0
  8/60
  180
  20/10
  150
  30
  300
  Flux Car (Ground)
  2
  +10
  8/40
  180
  20/10
  150
  30
  300
  Flux Cycle
  1–3
  +20
  4/40
  110
  12/10
  50
  10
  300
  Lifeboat
  100
  −20
  4/100
  NA
  20/20
  200
  20
  400
  Neo-Cetacean Walker
  1
  0
  4/20
  40
  2/4
  40
  8
  80
  
  Several tools can also assist in detecting sensors, 
  particularly the lens spotter (p. 151), electrical sense 
  implants (p. 306, EP), and smart dust (p. 316, EP).
  USInG SEnSORS
  In most circumstances, sensors can simply be assumed 
  to work as advertised, no test necessary. Cameras 
  record pictures, t-rays see through walls, x-rays detect 
  implants, facial recognition IDs people, and so on. In 
  displays, entranceways, rooftops, transit stops, and 
  randomly embedded or stuck to available surfaces in 
  public areas. Usually meshed and publicly accessible, 
  they most commonly carry micro-sized flat cameras 
  and sometimes others micro, mini, or small sensors, 
  especially microphones or infrared.
  DETECTInG SEnSORS
  The ubiquity of sensors in public areas can make 
  it a challenge to find all of them. This is especially 
  true when you also take into consideration sensors 
  and spimes carried on moving people, bots, vehicles, 
  and infrastructure. 
  Visually spotting sensors can be hard given their 
  often tiny size. Apply a −10 modifier to detect small 
  sensors, a −20 to detect mini sensors, and −30 to 
  detect micro sensors. An additional modifier may 
  apply for sensors that are actively concealed (p. 153). 
  Nanoswarm sensors cannot be spotted without nano-
  scopic vision, a nanodetector, or a nanoswarm of your 
  own. If a character is attempting to visually spot all of 
  the sensors in an area, treat it as a Task Action with a 
  timeframe appropriate to the sensor coverage.
  Active sensors can be detected by virtue of the 
  signals they transmit. A passive radar sensor can be 
  used to detect an actively scanning radar device, for 
  example, or enhanced vision could be used to detect 
  an infrared laser or a terahertz emitter’s signals.
  Public meshed sensors freely give away their loca-
  tions. Identifying these and their placement is an 
  automatic affair for anyone with mesh inserts. The 
  wireless signals of non-public sensors are also easy 
  to scan, unless they are stealthed, in which case an 
  Interfacing Test at −30 must be made to detect them 
  (see Wireless Scanning, p. 251, EP). Once the signals 
  are found, they can be triangulated using readings 
  from any three receiving devices (which almost every 
  character is likely to have on their person) and a 
  successful Interfacing Test to within a range of 50 
  meters, −10 meters per 10 points of MoS. 
  160
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  PERCEPTION AND  
  SENSOR TEST MODIFIERS
  SITUATION
  MODIFIER
  Sensor of inferior quality
  −10 to −30
  Sensor of superior quality
  +10 to +30
  Minor sensor impairment
  −10
   Standard vision: glare, light smoke, dim light
   Target: minor cover
  Moderate sensor impairment
  −20
   Standard vision: heavy smoke, dark
   Target: moderate cover
   Radar: biomorphs, small targets
  Major sensor impairment
  −30 
   Standard vision: impenetrable fog
   Target: major cover
  Range
  −10 to −30
  Small target (child sized)
  −10
  Very small target (mouse sized)
  −30
  Large target (car sized)
  +10
  Very large target (barn)
  +30
  Hyperspectral sensors
  +20
  Multiple Sensors
  +10 to +30
  Detailed analysis
  +10 to +30
  NEO-DOLPHIN BIOMORPH n p. 145 
  NEO-ORCA BIOMORPH n p. 145 
  
  a Simple Success Test using Interfacing skill can be 
  rolled to gauge how well the sensor functions. For 
  example, if a well-situated camera is trying to grab a 
  shot of someone in an open but crowded square, an 
  Interfacing Test by the operator or AI will determine 
  if the picture is clear (success) or fuzzy (failure), with 
  MoS or MoF determining the quality.
  Sensor software relies on different skills to analyze 
  different types of sensor data. Pattern-matching algo-
  rithms use the AI’s Perception, sometimes with modi-
  fiers based on the size and quality of the database 
  they are matching against. Other software may rely 
  on various Knowledge skills, as noted. Chem sniffers, 
  circumstances where a sensor operation is impaired 
  or where someone is actively trying to circumvent or 
  fool the sensor, then a test is required. In this case, the 
  Perception of the sensor’s operator or its built-in AI 
  is rolled. Treat this as a Success Test when operating 
  the sensor under difficulty or as an Opposed Test 
  against someone trying to evade or trick the sensor. 
  Various modifiers may apply to this test, depending 
  on the sensor and situation; see the Perception 
  and  Sensor Test Modifiers table (previous page) for 
  some suggestions.
  In circumstances where the sensor is guaranteed to 
  work, but the quality of the sensor input is in question, 
  5.
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  GAME INFORMATION
  161
  COMPREHENSIVE SENSOR CHART
  This chart details most, if not all, of the sensor systems available in Eclipse Phase.
  SENSOR
  SKILL
  TYPE
  NOTES
  Chem Sniffer
  Academics: Chemistry
  Passive
  Analyzes air; detects chemicals, explosives, firearms, exhaled carbon dioxide, body 
  odor biometrics
  Electrical Sense
  Perception
  Passive
  Detects nearby electronics, electrical fields (including those of biomorph bodies)
  Face/Image/Pattern/Biometric 
  Recognition Software
  Perception
  Passive
  Detects faces, gaits, images, irises, personal body odor, retinas, silhouettes, skeletons, 
  sounds, voices, or other specified patterns
  Ghost Imager
  Perception
  Passive
  Ignores all visual modifiers under special conditions.
  Hyperspectral Audio
  Perception
  Passive
  Hears all audio frequencies, infrasound through ultrasound
  Hyperspectral Imager (Passive)
  Perception
  Passive
  Perceives infrared through ultraviolet
  Hyperspectral Imager (Active)
  Perception
  Active
  Perceives radar through ultraviolet
  Infrared
   Near Infrared
  Perception
  Passive
  Night vision; active infrared lighting applies bonus modifiers
   Mid-Long Infrared
  Perception
  Passive
  Detects heat and temperature differences
   Chemical Imaging
  Academics: Chemistry
  Passive
  Detects organic chemical composition via vibrational spectroscopy
  Infrasound/Lateral Line
  Perception
  Passive
  Detects vibrations, seismic effects, footprints, heart beats, movement; long range
  Kinesics Software
  Kinesics
  Passive
  Measure stress, hostile intent, truthfulness, emotional state 
  Lidar
  Perception
  Active
  Measures speed, movement, range; useful for minute positional mapping
   Chemical Imaging
  Academics: Chemistry
  Active
  Detects atmospheric properties and weather
  Metal Detector
  Perception
  Active
  Nanoscopic Vision
  Perception
  Passive
  Sees nano-scale objects
  Polarization Vision
  Perception
  Passive
  Sees extra visual details
  Pressure Sensor
  Simple Perception
  Passive
  Detects any weight place upon it.
  Radar
  Perception
  Active
  Detects speed, movement, range, concealed objects, implants; works best on metallic 
  objects; low resolution; sees through walls; reads pulse/respiration at close range
   Quantum Radar
  Perception
  Active
  Better resolution.
  Radiation Sense
  Perception
  Passive
  Detects radiation
  Radio Motion Detection
  Interfacing
  Passive
  Detects movement, speed, range based on existing wireless signals; poor resolution
  Smell
  Perception
  Passive
  Standard Audio
  Perception
  Passive
  Standard Visual
  Perception
  Passive
  Terahertz (t-ray)
  Perception
  Active  
  (Passive 
  in space)
  Mid-ground between radar and sight; penetrates walls but is blocked by skin, metal, 
  and water
  Ultrasound
  Perception
  Active
  Detects movement, density; low resolution imaging
  Ultraviolet
  Perception
  Passive
  Some chemicals fluoresce under UV light
  X-ray/Gamma ray
  Perception
  Active
  Detects implants, skeletal biometrics, concealed weapons, radiation; penetrates walls 
  and metal
  
  releasing it virally—giving the characters get-away 
  time, but creating complications later. The characters 
  may also be acting in an area where the police have 
  bigger problems to deal with or simply don’t care, or 
  they may be in an autonomist habitat where people 
  stay out of each other’s affairs unless somehow 
  contracted or obligated to intervene.
  MaKInG IT RanDOM
  Gamemasters that want to leave it to chance can 
  make a roll whenever the characters break the law 
  in public or otherwise do something that might draw 
  attention. Take the lowest Moxie score of the player 
  characters involved and multiply it by 10. Make a test 
  using this as the target number. If the test succeeds, 
  the event goes without drawing immediate attention/
  intervention. If it fails, someone has noticed. If it fails 
  with an MoF of 30+, someone has noticed and trig-
  gered an alarm. The gamemaster can apply modifiers 
  to this test based on the severity of the situation: 
  +10 if weapons are visible, +20 if there is obvious 
  illegal activity, +30 if there is major violence, −10 if 
  in an area with light sensor coverage, −20 for bad 
  neighborhoods, −30 is there is a major distraction 
  elsewhere, etc.
  Gamemasters should make sure to consider the 
  circumstances when determining the response. A 
  colony security AI might decide that suspicious 
  activity is simply something to be flagged for analysis 
  and investigation later, when more personnel or 
  resources or available. A high-security hypercorp 
  station is likely to respond to any unusual activity 
  with more surveillance drones right away, if not 
  active intervention. On an anarchist habitat, the 
  local community defense collective may be alerted, 
  bringing a mob of armed volunteers to investigate. 
  On an Extropian station, a legal AI might be alerted 
  to assess the situation, note anyone involved who 
  has contracted with a security provider, and summon 
  that contractor if the person is in need of aid. Other 
  responses might activate vigilantes, local gangs 
  offering community protection services, additional 
  surveillance measures, live broadcasting via a media 
  outlet, or more voyeurs in to view.
  THE COST OF HIGH REPUTaTIOn
  Characters with very high rep scores (60+) tend to 
  draw more attention. Any high-rep characters who 
  are not keeping their public profiles hidden in privacy 
  mode or who are visibly identifiable are more likely 
  to be watched over by voyeurs. In this case, apply a 
  +10 modifier for every 10 points of rep over 60 (+10 
  at 70+, +20 at 80+, +30 at 90+) when making tests to 
  determine if activity is noticed.
  WHaT SEnSORS WHEn
  One challenge the gamemaster faces is deciding 
  the type of sensors that happen to be covering a 
  particular area at any given time. With so many 
  sensor systems available, this can be a daunting 
  for example, rely on the AI or software’s Academics: 
  Chemistry skill.
  HYPERSPECTRal SEnSORS
  Also referred to as multispectral, full-spectral, and 
  ultraspectral sensors, hyperspectral sensors receive 
  input from multiple wavelength bands simultaneously 
  and then compare the results against each other. The 
  analysis of the input at different frequencies helps to 
  identify features. Many objects and materials have 
  unique spectral signatures across the electromagnetic 
  spectrum, enabling easier identification when viewed 
  with multiple frequencies at once rather than in just 
  one band. 
  In game terms, hyperspectral sensors apply a +20 
  modifier to Perception Tests. Hyperspectral sensors 
  are also good for defeating camouflage tricks or other 
  circumstances that just impair perception at certain 
  frequencies. Reduce the modifiers for these effects by 
  half (for example, heavy smoke that impairs visibility 
  by −20 is only −10 against a hyperspectral imager). 
  Enhanced vision and enhanced hearing bioware can 
  all be considered hyperspectral. 
  USInG MUlTIPlE SEnSORS
  Sometimes simply having multiple perspectives on 
  something can aid perception—this is one of the 
  primary benefits of tacnets (p. 205, EP). At the game-
  master’s discretion, analyzing the input from multiple 
  sensor feeds may provide a +10 to +30 modifier to 
  Perception Tests.
  SURvEIllanCE
  This section provides rules for many of the possibili-
  ties discussed in the Surveillance chapter.
  CaUGHT In THE aCT
  Given the ubiquity of sensor systems, surveillance, 
  and sousveillance, it is almost inevitable that Eclipse 
  Phase characters will get caught on camera doing 
  something illegal or questionable. This does not mean 
  that alarms will trigger and security will immediately 
  rappel down on every character that litters, pulls out 
  a banned device, or acts squirrely. Even criminals and 
  lawbreakers still have leeway to act in public, espe-
  cially if they are smart about it. 
  There are many factors that may work in a charac-
  ter’s favor. In older habitats or run-down areas, sensor 
  systems may be decrepit, non-functioning, or prone 
  to disruptions. They may get lucky and happen to 
  be in a blind spot or area with very little coverage. 
  They may be in view of sensors, but at a time when 
  no one is watching, avoiding an immediate alarm. 
  Or the voyeurs who happen to be watching may be 
  distracted by the last minutes of their local sports 
  team playoffs or simply may not care about the beat-
  down they run across when they have metacelebrities 
  to stalk. Others may record what they see without 
  alerting authorities, hoping to score some rep by 
  162
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  COUnTERSURvEIllanCE TRICKS
  These rules detail some of the tricks that may be 
  employed to avoid or impair surveillance.
  MaPPInG SEnSORS
  Knowing what sensors are out there enables a char-
  acter to devise countermeasures. There are many tools 
  characters can deploy to map out the sensor coverage 
  in an area: smart dust, lens spotters, electrical sense—
  not to mention just looking or pinging local wireless 
  signals. In some scenarios, this may be treated as a 
  puzzle by the gamemaster: will the characters deploy 
  the right tech to find all of the sensors the gamemaster 
  has planned out, or will they leave themselves vulner-
  able to a system they missed? In others, the game-
  master may wish to resolve this with a simple test to 
  keep game play moving. In this case, have the char-
  acter attempting to map out sensor coverage make 
  an Investigation Test, applying appropriate modifiers 
  based on the detection tools used and the sensors they 
  are hoping to map. If successful, the character has 
  mapped out the sensor coverage in a given area (for 
  the time being!) and may even have located a blind 
  spot (perhaps with an MoS of 30+).
  ClEaRInG BlInD SPOTS
  Sometimes defeating sensors is too risky. In this case, 
  clearing a blind spot or route is an alternative option. 
  As above with mapping sensors, the gamemaster can 
  treat this as a tech-race puzzle or boil it down to an 
  Investigation Test to locate and destroy them, assuming 
  they have appropriate tools. Doing this without being 
  recorded in the act can be challenging (perhaps requiring 
  an Infiltration Test)—but this is also what bughunter 
  bots (p. 157) and saboteur nanoswarms are for. 
  avOIDInG RECOGnITIOn
  People wishing to avoid recognition of their morph 
  can deploy a number of disguise modifications. 
  Skinflex (p. 309, EP) and synthetic mask (p. 311, 
  EP) are by far the best options, but sex switch, gait 
  masking, skeletal masking, and chameleon skin can 
  also be beneficial, as well as standard Disguise skill. If 
  acceptable to local customs, a shroud (p. 151) provides 
  complete personal anonymity. For biomorphs, one 
  easy way to change looks is a simple hour in a healing 
  vat for facial bodysculpting (p. 326, EP).
  For those that want or have the opportunity to 
  change their looks, there is one final option for 
  avoiding facial recognition. The pattern-matching 
  algorithms of facial recognition software are vulner-
  able to certain makeup or visual patterns (via chame-
  leon skin), simply because the patterns foil their 
  ability to make a match. Such makeup or patterns are 
  visibly distinctive, however, and may arouse suspi-
  cion—though they are fashionable in some social 
  circles, particularly among some media icons and 
  celebrities that prefer to deter stalkers. When applying 
  such makeup or patterns, apply a +20 modifier to 
  Disguise Tests to avoid facial/image recognition.
  task. As a rule, cameras and microphones operating 
  at standard wavelengths are ubiquitous and can be 
  found in almost every situation. Beyond this, the 
  types of sensor are quite often determined by the 
  immediate environment. In large public habitat thor-
  oughfares, infrared is likely to be available as well. 
  In warehouses and storerooms, lidar will be used to 
  track goods. In security access corridors and portals, 
  electrical sense, infrared, and motion detectors are 
  favored to detect anyone’s passage. At major security 
  checkpoints, x-ray, terahertz, and chem sniffers 
  will be deployed. Along external approaches, radar, 
  infrared, and seismic/ultrasound are used to detect 
  approaching people and vehicles. 
  There are two main points for gamemaster to 
  remember. First, any particular security system is 
  likely to use the same technology throughout, both 
  for cost purposes and ease of maintenance. Thus a 
  habitat that uses t-rays and odor sniffers as access 
  control in one area is likely to use the same sensor 
  systems in most others. The same is true for private 
  installations and residences. Second, gamemasters 
  should tailor the situation for their players and their 
  characters’ abilities while remembering to mix it up. If 
  the characters commonly use an invisibility cloak to 
  foil cameras, throw them up against radar or seismic 
  sensors once in a while. 
  PRIvaTE SEnSORS
  Sometimes the characters may be trying to track 
  someone or something through available sensors 
  networks. In these cases, the publicam networks 
  may not always come through with the informa-
  tion or level of detail needed. At the gamemaster’s 
  discretion, however, private sensor networks seeded 
  through public areas may provide the coverage 
  desired. This is an additional expense (See Private 
  Sensor Feeds, p. 154), but at the gamemaster’s discre-
  tion, incorporating these additional networks into a 
  search may apply a +10 to +30 modifier to Research 
  Tests, depending on circumstances. Alternatively, 
  the gamemaster can decide that the information 
  the characters seek simply isn’t available via public 
  nets, and they must find the right private sensor 
  feed instead (requiring a Research Test to locate the 
  proper provider).
  Private sensor networks have other advantages. 
  Many cover areas that are off-limits to public sensors 
  nets. Sometimes these are legit, such as land-owners 
  who don’t mind selling their private sensor feeds as a 
  way of making some extra income or security services 
  that cover private installations and sell exterior sensor 
  feeds at their client’s permission, giving them a cut of 
  the take. Others are not legit: private sensor networks 
  seeded by hackers or criminal syndicates, often 
  hidden, that are sold on the black market at higher 
  rates. Many of these private net holders are willing to 
  deactivate their sensors or erase recordings if the offer 
  is high enough.
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  GAME INFORMATION
  163
  
  aboard large spacecraft, although gamemasters are 
  encouraged to practice common sense in applying 
  situational modifiers where the inherent characteris-
  tics of a ship differ from those of a habitat.
   aIRlOCKS
  There are four sizes of airlocks commonly found 
  aboard habitats, rated by volume in cubic meters. 
  Standard airlocks are by far the most common size, 
  large enough for two. Smaller airlocks are rare, partly 
  to discourage people from going out alone, but occa-
  sionally can be found on large habitats as service 
  airlocks for hab repair drones. Larger service and 
  industrial airlocks are primarily found in docking or 
  service bays. Airlock doors take one Action Turn to 
  open and close, and 3 Action Turns or more to fill 
  or evacuate with air. The Airlock Sizes table (below) 
  shows the number of people who can fit in an airlock 
  and the times each takes to cycle between opening 
  and closing.
  Airlocks have the same armor value and repair 
  capability (if any) as the station’s hull type (see Hull 
  and Superstructure, p. 166).
  aIRlOCK HaCKS
  Because airlocks are so critical to the safety of trans-
  humans in space, they’re equipped with numerous 
  safety features. To prevent tampering, most airlocks 
  only provide identification and diagnostics via 
  wireless interface. Operational features are either 
  hardwired to a control panel or accessible only by 
  physically opening a panel on the door. 
  Giving an airlock operational commands other 
  than calling up diagnostics requires a Hardware: 
  Electronics Test. This is Task Action with a timeframe 
  of 2 minutes and allows the hacker to give the airlock 
  operational commands without access or authoriza-
  tion for its control panel. 
  Physical airlock hacks require a Hardware: 
  Industrial Test; this is Task Action with a timeframe 
  of 2 minutes. This covers all actions that require over-
  riding safety features, including disabling the lock’s 
  safety so that it can close on people or objects and 
  blowing an airlock open without cycling.
  Hackers may install a gray box (p. 150) in an 
  airlock to create a remote back door as part of any of 
  the hacking tasks described above.
  SKIPJaCKInG
  Skipjacking is the art of using Infiltration skill to 
  time one’s movements through a place that is under 
  ubiquitous surveillance. This involves using other 
  people, vehicles, and objects as cover, timing the 
  movement of drones and cameras, and similar tricks 
  to minimize one’s profile and exposure to sensors—all 
  while avoiding suspicion. Skipjacking is quite difficult 
  to pull off, especially in areas with crowded sensor 
  coverage, but it may at least prolong detection or 
  add uncertainty. Treat this as a Variable Opposed 
  Test between the skipjacker’s Infiltration skill and the 
  Perception of any monitors. Apply a −30 modifier to 
  the skipjacker, perhaps less if the sensors are fewer 
  or easier to avoid. If the skipjacker succeeds and the 
  monitor fails, they avoid detection. If both succeed, 
  the skipjacker has been detected, but not with 
  absolute certainty. 
  SECURE COMMUnICaTIOn
  Outside of quantum and encrypted communication 
  methods, there are a few ways for individuals to 
  communicate face-to-face without fear of eavesdrop-
  ping: skinlink, a wired connection between access jacks, 
  or tight-beam laser links or hypersonic communicators.
  InvISIBlE DOORS
  One trick employed by criminal groups and others 
  wishing to foil surveillance and physical tailing 
  is to use so-called “invisible doors.” These are 
  physical gateways that use the same metamaterials 
  as invisibility cloaks, literally bending light waves 
  around the doorway. When strategically placed 
  with crafty architecture, these can be made to look 
  like a standard corner or alcove—only people can 
  walk right through them. Others are cleverly turned 
  to reflect light, making them look like full-length 
  mirrors. In either case, these portals will not be 
  physical to the touch. They can be detected with 
  radar or x-rays, but are otherwise invisible to the 
  rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.
  HaBITaT HaCKInG
  What follows are details for manipulating the most 
  common and important habitat systems. The same 
  rules may be used when working with the systems 
  164
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  AIRLOCK SIZES
  SIZE
  CAPACITY
  VOLUME
  CYCLE TIME  
  (ACTION TURNS)
  DEAR LIFE TEST
  OBJECT 
  BLOW
  MOORING 
  DV
  DURABILITY
  Small
  1 person
  2.5 m3
  2
  —
  5 kg
  —
  As Hull ÷ 4
  Standard
  2 people
  10 m3
  4
  SOM x 4
  50 kg
  3 DV/Turn
  As Hull ÷ 4
  Service
  10 people or 1 small 
  vehicle
  30 m3
  6
  SOM x 2
  250 kg
  5 DV/Turn
  As Hull ÷ 3
  Industrial
  20+ people, multiple small 
  or 1 large vehicle
  30 m3+
  6 + 1/20 m3 volume
  SOM
  2,000 kg
  9 DV/Turn
  As Hull ÷ 2
  
  airlock, this has little effect other than possibly causing 
  small, loose objects to fly out. On standard and larger 
  airlocks, it creates a blast of wind. Characters must 
  make a “Dear Life Test” to grab a hold of something 
  or be blown toward the outer door (see the Airlock 
  Sizes table, p. 164, for what to roll). They must 
  continue to make this test each turn until the atmo-
  sphere is drained. Characters and objects blown out 
  an airlock move at the rate of the airlock’s cycle time 
  x 2 in meters per turn. If a character fails the test, but 
  their movement does not put them out in space, they 
  may attempt another Dear Life Test at −10 to grab on 
  to something else (but only at the gamemaster’s discre-
  tion). If the habitat is filled with water or another 
  liquid instead of a gaseous atmosphere, Dear Life 
  Tests are at −30. If characters were forewarned of the 
  airlock being blown and had time to find a handhold 
  and brace themselves, the test is at +10. Characters 
  who are restrained, unconscious, or otherwise unable 
  to act are automatically blown out into space, though 
  other characters may attempt to prevent this.
  Large objects resist being blown out based on their 
  weight and inertia. The maximum weight of object 
  that a given airlock blow jettisons is given under 
  the Object Blow column on the Airlock Sizes table, 
  p. 164). Cargo nets and other moorings may prevent 
  objects or characters attached with them from being 
  blown out the lock, but the powerful air current 
  produced when a lock is blown may strain them to 
  the breaking point. Apply the damage shown under 
  BaSIC SaFETY FEaTURES
  Airlocks leading to and from pressurized areas work 
  as normal doors unless a module is depressurized, in 
  which case they kick in as airlocks (see also Bulkhead 
  Doors, p. 166). Overriding a lock’s pressure sensors is 
  a physical hack (see Airlock Hacks, p. 164).
  All airlocks have hardwired sensors that prevent 
  them closing on people or objects passing through. 
  Getting part of one’s body caught in an airlock as it 
  closes causes 3d10 + 10 DV and almost always results 
  in dismemberment. Getting one’s head, neck, or vitals 
  caught in an airlock is certain death.
  BlOWInG an aIRlOCK
  Airlocks can be forced to skip their cycling time. Doing 
  so requires physically hacking the airlock. Typically 
  this is performed on the outer door so that the 
  contents of the lock (and possibly its occupants, see 
  below) jettison rapidly. Effects of blowing an airlock 
  vary based on its size. Blowing an airlock inward (i.e., 
  opening a vacuum-filled airlock onto an atmosphere-
  filled hab corridor without cycling) produces only a 
  loud bang, some ear popping, and possibly strong 
  gusts that may toss small objects around (the latter 
  only in the case of service and industrial airlocks). 
  Blowing one outward (into space) can have much 
  more dramatic effects.
  When an airlock is blown outward, all of the atmo-
  sphere inside vents into space in half the time that 
  would be required for the lock to cycle. In a small 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  165
  
  in the event of depressurization, a biological outbreak, 
  physical invasion, or other emergency scenarios. 
  Bulkheads follow all of the rules for airlocks, minus 
  the time needed to cycle air.
  HUll anD SUPERSTRUCTURE
  Hulls vary in composition and properties, from the 
  composite alloy hulls of O’Neill cylinders to the thick 
  silicate rock walls of beehives. Superstructure varies a 
  great deal in design, as well. O’Neill cylinders, Bernal 
  spheres, and toruses generally have sturdy metal truss-
  work underlying and supporting the hull material, 
  although older designs might also have massive 
  crossbeams running across the interior of the tube. 
  Beehives and Cole bubbles, on the other hand, rely 
  entirely on their thick rock walls for superstructure. 
  Tin can habs are typically small enough that the hull is 
  self-supporting, requiring little or no interior bracing.
  Station hulls vary in how much damage they can 
  take and how quickly (if at all) they repair themselves. 
  This is summarized in a hull description, for example: 
  Armor: 25/40, Wound Threshold 100 (Dumb). Armor 
  for hulls works the same way as personal armor, 
  canceling out specified amounts of energy or kinetic 
  damage from each attack.
  “Dumb” indicates the station has a dumb-matter 
  hull. When needed, repairs are carried out with metals 
  sheets and welders or with industrial-scale nanotech 
  repair sprayers. Smart hulls require repair only in case 
  of a catastrophic breach. Smart-hull stations that are 
  poorly maintained or have recently suffered major 
  damage (e.g., from an asteroid collision or space 
  battle) may have sections of hull that were repaired 
  with dumb materials and therefore do not self heal. 
  Sections of dumb hull are a boon to both targeting 
  analysts and infiltrators looking for a hull section 
  through which to cut.
  The Wound Threshold value shown is the amount of 
  damage necessary to create a hull breach about a meter 
  wide—big enough for most morphs to pass through 
  without burning themselves on the edges of the breach. 
  Also provided are guidelines for the overall superstruc-
  tural integrity of a habitat. While big habs are almost 
  impossible to completely destroy with conventional 
  weaponry, smaller stations can be destroyed completely 
  by large explosions or ship-mounted ordnance. A hull 
  must be breached in at least one place before it begins 
  to take superstructural damage.
  HUll BREaCH
  Gamemasters may use the rules for blowing an airlock 
  (p. 165) to model the effects of hull breaches. Treat 
  a standard 1-meter hull breach as a blown service 
  airlock and larger breaches like a blown industrial 
  airlock. Note that smaller breaches may become fully 
  or partially blocked if a larger object (such as a desk 
  or vehicle) is sucked up against them.
  Smart hull self repair works at a rate of 10 damage 
  points per hour. Damage that is larger than 3 wounds 
  in size may not be repaired by self-repair systems.
  Mooring DV each turn that a blow is in progress. 
  This is not actual damage to the object, but tension 
  that accumulates during the blow. If the DV exceeds 
  the object’s Durability, it breaks, and any objects or 
  characters held by it are blown toward the outer door.
  OPEnInG BOTH DOORS
  Some airlocks, particularly on ships or stations with 
  military damage control systems, are hardwired 
  to their own private network of heat and carbon 
  monoxide sensors, usually stretching a few dozen 
  meters in either direction from the lock. If more than 
  half of the sensors detect a fire, a device inside the 
  airlock closes an air gap between the door’s hardwired 
  control interface and the rest of the ship’s network, 
  allowing crew to remotely open the inner door and 
  blow the lock without cycling. This system is hard 
  to fool, as doing so essentially requires setting an 
  entire corridor on fire or digging deep into electrical 
  conduits to find the wires for the fire sensors.
  Personnel with authorized access to a lock’s control 
  panel can blow a lock automatically but cannot 
  open both doors without the fire system or another 
  override being engaged.
  aIRlOCKS In HIGH PRESSURE EnvIROnMEnTS
  The preceding rules are for airlocks operating in 
  space or other low-pressure environments, where the 
  pressure differential between inside and outside is 
  one atmosphere or less. In the atmosphere of Venus, 
  Europa’s subsurface ocean (where external pressure 
  can exceed internal pressure by 100 atmospheres 
  or more), or other high-pressure environments, the 
  effects are more dramatic. The gear and morphs 
  employed by transhumans for survival in these 
  environments is engineered to survive in them, but 
  even it can’t withstand an abrupt change in pressure. 
  Anything inside an airlock in these situations will be 
  instantly killed or crushed by an immediate change 
  from inside to outside pressure, and the structure 
  surrounding the airlock is likely to suffer catastrophic 
  damage. In habs in the upper reaches of the Europan 
  ocean or Venusian atmosphere, this most likely results 
  in everything up to the next bulkhead being destroyed. 
  On the Venusian surface or Europan ocean floor, this 
  can result in the entire structure being destroyed.
  For this reason, airlocks in these environments 
  have only hardwired or even mechanical controls, 
  as they would otherwise present far too tempting a 
  target for saboteurs. Hacking or other tampering is 
  extraordinarily difficult and should be impossible 
  under normal circumstances. The most likely scenario 
  in which an airlock failure would occur is from an 
  explosion or other accident causing a major structural 
  fault in the habitat.
  BUlKHEaD DOORS
  A bulkhead door is simply half an airlock. Most 
  habitats install bulkheads in strategic locations, so 
  that segments of the habitat can be shut off or isolated 
  166
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  weapon, they explode, but the explosion is directed 
  outward, doing only superficial damage.
  If the oxygen levels in a habitat are reduced or 
  dangerous levels of other gases are added to the 
  system, the inhabitants could be in trouble. See the 
  section on Alien Atmospheres, p. 170, Gatecrashing, 
  for advice on handling different atmospheres.
  vEnTIlaTIOn SYSTEMS
  All habitats rely on ventilation systems to push and 
  recycle breathable air. These ventways provide an 
  optimal infiltration path for swarmanoids and similar 
  small morphs. For larger transhumans, crawling 
  through ductwork can be an ordeal (reduce Movement 
  Rate to 2/4), or they simply might not fit. These spaces 
  feature regularly spaced fans for circulation. To get 
  past these, the fans must be disabled and removed 
  with Hardware: Industrial skill. Larger fans cannot 
  be removed, but can be stopped so that a character 
  can pass through the blades. Many of these fans are 
  monitored and alarmed, however, particularly at key 
  junctions or leading into secure areas. Characters who 
  are not careful can be injured in they stick their hands 
  in or fall into a fan; apply 1d10 DV. Nanoswarms that 
  attempt to move through a fan suffer 1d10 DV as well, 
  possibly higher for larger fans. 
  Many ventilation systems possess countermeasures to 
  deter the spread of harmful toxins or agents. The most 
  common are ultraviolet cooking systems that roast any 
  passing air, killing off biological pathogens. Others 
  include nanofilter systems in which nanobots filter any 
  lIFE SUPPORT
  Life Support on a station or ship is the system that 
  replenishes breathable atmosphere and filters it for 
  impurities. In very primitive systems, life support is 
  finite, consisting of tanks of fresh atmospheric gases. In 
  Eclipse Phase, most modern-era systems can run almost 
  indefinitely if regularly maintained and not interfered 
  with by recovering and chemically altering “stale” gases.
  SaBOTaGInG lIFE SUPPORT
  Biological life support systems use organisms, such as 
  algae, to metabolize waste CO2 and release breathable 
  oxygen. Sabotaging this type of life support system 
  demands physical infiltration and is a slow operation. 
  Such systems are often in their own modules or located 
  along the exterior of a ship or station, close to the hull. 
  If characters can do enough damage to punch through 
  a ship or station’s hull at one spot along each of the 
  algae tanks in such a system, the medium inside vents 
  into space, freeze drying the algae. After a breach, the 
  atmosphere in the station will become unbreathable 
  at a rate determined by the total volume of the system. 
  A good rule of thumb is that it takes eight hours per 
  thousand people relying on the system for the atmo-
  sphere to become unbreathable. Once this happens, it 
  will remain so for 48 hours, until the system recovers 
  with intake of recycled material from the greenhouse. 
  (This assumes a self-repairing system; almost all are).
  If a life support tank is attacked from inside the 
  hull, tanks have an Armor Value of 50/50 with a 
  Durability of 100. If hit with a hot round or energy 
  5.
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  5.
  GAME INFORMATION
  167
  TYPICAL STATION HULL STRENGTHS
  HABIT TYPE
  ARMOR (E/K)
  WOUND THRESHOLD
  REPAIR TYPE
  SUPERSTRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
  Aerostat
  60/60
  200
  Smart
  20,000 per 1 kilometer length
  Bathyscaphe
  50/100
  300–450*
  Smart
  500–750 per 5 meters diameter*
  Beehive
  150/200
  1,500
  Dumb
  15,000 per 500 meters diameter
  Bernal Sphere
  70/70
  500
  Smart
  15,000 per 500 meters diameter
  Cluster
  70/70
  300
  Smart
  20,000 per 1 kilometer length
  Cole Bubble
  150/200
  1,500
  Dumb
  15,000 per 500 meters diameter
  Dome**
   Inflated
  30/40
  50
  Dumb***
  250 per 5 meters diameter
   Structural
  70/90
  500
  Smart
  750 per 5 meters diameter
  Hamilton Cylinder
  150/150
  1,000
  Smart
  30,000 per 1 kilometer length
  O’Neill Cylinder
   <5 km length
  50/70
  450
  Dumb***
  40,000 per 1 kilometer length
   >10 km length
  90/100
  750
  Smart
  80,000 per 1 kilometer length
  Reagan
  150/200
  900
  Dumb
  30,000 per 1 kilometer length
  Tin Can
  50/50
  100
  Dumb
  500 per 5 meters length
  Torus
  70/90
  500
  Smart
  750 per 5 meters diameter
  *  Europan bathyscaphes have thicker walls than their counterparts on Ceres and Enceladus. Europan bathyscaphes also have higher super-
  structural Integrity. Bathyscaphes on Earth, if any still exist, are likely to have been retrofitted with heavier armor. 
  ** For the dome itself; supporting walls should be treated as buildings (see p. 203, EP).
  ***  Older domes and O’Neill cylinders are generally dumb matter, lacking smart repair systems. However, the better maintained ones are 
  sometimes retrofitted with smart hulls.
  
  application of @-rep or g-rep can work wonders. 
  Upon arrival, the darknet receiver can direct the 
  newcomers to a black market morph provider (p. 277, 
  EP). These illegal body banks are usually equipped to 
  provide fake IDs as well as other ID-defeating tools, 
  depending on local resources.
  There is sometimes a risk in transmitting your ego 
  via darkcast, but the darknet providers have their 
  own reputations to maintain. In habitats where one 
  group has a monopoly on darkcasting, problems 
  sometimes develop. 
  SnEaK aPPROaCH
  Darkcasting isn’t always an option. For those who don’t 
  want to test the reliability of their fake IDs or who don’t 
  want to put their egos in the care of habitat customs, the 
  next option is to try sneaking into the station.
  For stations on planets or moons, this is often not 
  very difficult. Major dome and warren settlements 
  on Mars, Luna, and Titan are used to traffic around 
  the exterior of their habitats. Some don’t even restrict 
  entrance. Others feature local crime cartels who have 
  already established underground tunnels or hacked 
  airlocks in order to move contraband and so can 
  offer to smuggle people in for a price. More isolated 
  outposts, however, are likely to take an interest in 
  strangers who drive up and start messing around 
  outside their walls. With some preparation, however, 
  it is usually not too hard to sneak up while evading 
  sensor detection.
  Habitats in space, however, are a different matter. 
  Most are surrounded by thousands of kilometers 
  of emptiness—a moat of vacuum that is perilous to 
  cross. Sneaking up on a station without detection 
  can be quite a challenge, as most keep an eye on their 
  immediate environs with radar and infrared to spot 
  the thrusting and braking of various drives. The latter 
  is especially difficult, as any momentum that carries 
  a ship toward a habitat must be arrested if the ship 
  plans to stop there—and this means using drives that 
  are a dead giveaway. For colonies on asteroids, the 
  asteroid itself can sometimes be used to block line of 
  sight for an approaching ship, though many stations 
  deploy satellites that keep an eye on this angle as well. 
  Ultimately, all a potential interloper needs to do is 
  to get close enough to the habitat to cross the void 
  using an EVA sled or thruster pack. This can be 
  accomplished by passing in the vicinity of the station 
  and dropping the infiltrators off, by finding something 
  nearby the station to hide a ship’s deceleration behind, 
  or by catching a lift some other way.
  Aerostats and bathyscaphes are somewhat easier 
  to approach. Any number of aircraft can be used to 
  sneak up on an aerostat—microlights and balloons 
  being particularly difficult to detect. There is also the 
  option of skydiving down from an aircraft passing 
  overhead—or even high-diving from space (see High-
  Dive Suit, p. 167, Sunward). Bathyscaphes, on the 
  other hand, require swimming or using a vehicle that 
  doesn’t get noticed by the station’s radar and sonar. 
  harmful chemicals or particulates from the air. Neither 
  of these is dangerous to transhumans, and both can be 
  deactivated and removed with a Hardware: Industrial 
  Test (though they may be alarmed against tampering). 
  REaCTORS
  Most large space habitats are powered by fusion or 
  even fission reactors. 
  SaBOTaGInG REaCTORS
  Getting a reactor to melt down is extremely difficult, 
  but determined hackers can do so, leaving a station 
  to run on alternate power sources like solar panels 
  and reserve power. This requires accessing the highly 
  secured and usually hardwired reactor control network, 
  and requires an Infosec Test at −30; this is a Task 
  Action with a timeframe of 10 minutes. Gamemasters 
  should specify how much reserve power a station has 
  (12 to 24 hours is common for civilian stations).
  Damage to a reactor’s walls can have dangerous 
  results. If a character discharges any kind of firearm or 
  seeker near a reactor and misses their target with a Severe 
  Failure (MoF 30+), their attack has struck and possibly 
  damaged the reactor wall. Reactor containments have 
  Armor 50/50, Durability 200, and Wound Threshold of 
  50. The containment area is self-healing (p. 292, EP). If it 
  takes enough damage to exceed its Durability or suffers a 
  wound, a superheated jet of plasma escapes the magnetic 
  containment and burns anyone within 10 meters who 
  fails a Fray Test (3d10 + 12 [28] DV, AP −10, resisted 
  with Energy armor). The entire area is also flooded with 
  heavy radiation (exact effects to be determined by game-
  master; see p. 201, EP).
  BIOlOGICal SYSTEMS
  Habitat biosystems function like the components 
  of massive biological bodies. They can be damaged, 
  wounded, and poisoned, just like biomorphs. They 
  are also self-healing at the same rate as biomorphs 
  (p. 208, EP).
  ORGanIC SEnSORS
  These sensors are vat-grown biological organs, 
  mimicking enhanced biomorph senses (enhanced 
  vision, enhanced hearing, enhanced smell). They must 
  be attached to biological systems of nutrient feeding, 
  sustenance, waste removal, well as a habitat cyber-
  brain (p. 174).
  HaBITaT InFIlTRaTIOn
  Getting onto or around a habitat without authoriza-
  tion is not easy, but for the determined many options 
  abound. 
  DaRKnETS
  By far the simplest route to penetrating a station is 
  to darkcast inside and use a black market body bank. 
  Finding a darkcast connection into a specific habitat 
  is usually the most difficult part, but the proper 
  168
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  conduits, and so on. Though off limits to unauthor-
  ized personnel, forged credentials or clever hacking 
  can gain access. The advantage to these areas is that 
  they are far less surveiled, leaving a smaller footprint 
  of records, and rarely traveled. On the other hand, any 
  bots, workers, or security personnel are quite likely to 
  regard an infiltrator they find here with suspicion.
  Characters in small morphs—neotenics, hypergibbons, 
  swarmanoids, etc.—have an advantage in that they can 
  fit into and access infrastructure elements that regular 
  transhumans can’t, particularly ventilation systems.
  HaBITaT MESH SYSTEMS
  The Eclipse Phase core rules provide details on many 
  different ways hackers might subvert habitat security. 
  Further information is provided throughout this section 
  for gamemasters who wish to introduce more detail 
  and realism to the process of hacking habitat systems.
  HaBITaT MESH TOPOlOGY
  As detailed under Mesh Systems, p. 81, there are simply 
  too many habitat systems to condense into a single 
  habitat control network—and too much information 
  for a single intelligence to oversee. Instead, the various 
  habitat functions are broken down into distinct mesh 
  systems, each handled as a separate VPN with its own 
  dedicated AIs and infomorphs. Many of these are 
  broken down into further subsystems. Subsystems 
  are almost always slaved to the master system in the 
  hierarchy above them, meaning an authorized user on 
  the master system can automatically access the slaved 
  subsystem. Some systems retain an intentionally decen-
  tralized (or even factionalized) setup, while others are 
  overseen by a master control network. 
  Every habitat is likely to have its own distinct 
  network layout. Gamemasters expecting to run exten-
  sive encounters involving complex systems, especially 
  on large habs, may want to create a map of mesh 
  systems and the links between them, with notes on 
  who controls or has access to what systems. A good 
  system map will also show where important slaved 
  devices are connected, and whether those connections 
  are wireless, hardwired, or both.
  DEFInInG (SUB)SYSTEMS
  At the top levels, each aspect of habitat operations 
  is likely to have its own independent VPN. Though 
  these vary, the following mesh networks are common: 
  administration, defense, infrastructure, public service, 
  resources, security, and spaceport. Many of these have 
  a number of slaved subsystems, each their own VPN. 
  Infrastructure, for example, could have hull, life support, 
  maintenance, power, sewage, and water subsystems. 
  Operations that eat up a lot of processor power (like 
  running AGIs, infomorphs, egocasting, or simulspace) 
  very likely have their own dedicated subsystems. 
  On larger habitats, each regional area of the station 
  will have its own top-level network, with the various 
  habitat ops serving as subsystems, or vice versa. On 
  CaTCHInG a lIFT
  Potential trespassers don’t always need to sneak 
  across vast stretches of space to get to a habitat—
  there are plenty of options for getting close enough 
  that individuals can sneak up on the station’s exterior 
  under the radar.
  The easiest option is to simply take a ship that docks 
  at the habitat, either legitimately or as a ruse, and then 
  using the opportunity to sneak into space and over to 
  the habitat. For colonies that deploy harvester drones, 
  another option is to intercept one of these bots and 
  use it catch a list back to the station’s drone bay. 
  EXTERIOR aCCESS
  Once at the habitat’s exterior, an entrance can be 
  found or created. This usually entails hacking an 
  airlock (p. 164). Cutting or blasting one’s way inside 
  (see Hull and Superstructure, p. 166) is also an option, 
  though this tends to draw attention with things 
  like decompression and explosions. Some habitats, 
  however, may have blind spots where breaching the 
  exterior does not trigger alarms—careful research of 
  a station’s design might pinpoint these spots. Beehives 
  or warren habitats, for example, might have unused or 
  forgotten tunnels that lead to interior airlocks. 
  Anyone lingering on a habitat’s exterior risks 
  drawing attention. Many habitats keep security cams 
  on their exteriors, overwatched by security AIs. These 
  might be bolstered with infrared or other sensor 
  systems. Particularly secure or paranoid stations may 
  have seismic sensors built into the hull or may feature 
  regular sentry bot patrols. 
  Workers on a hab’s exterior are another obstacle. 
  While these workers are not normally armed or 
  trained as security guards, they will report the position 
  of suspicious visitors to habitat security. The chances 
  of workers being present on the exterior of a hab vary 
  depending upon the size and type of the habitat. Big 
  inner system habitats like Progress and Qing Long 
  generally have active work gangs in synthmorphs 
  out performing maintenance at all times. Smaller 
  habs might only have work crews out during their 
  day cycles. Work crews are somewhat less common 
  in the outer system, where automation is preferred 
  to indentures in synths. In the Jovian system, almost 
  all exterior work is done by teleoperated bots due to 
  extreme radiation. In other outer system habs, such as 
  big clusters like Locus, spacewalking is very common 
  simply as a means of getting around, so being spotted 
  is much more likely—though, depending upon the 
  situation, the observer might not even bother reporting 
  the infiltrator’s presence to anyone.
  InTERIOR InFIlTRaTIOn
  Inside a station, the standard tricks for avoiding detec-
  tion apply (see Countersurveillance, p. 39). An inter-
  loper that prefers to avoid public areas can attempt 
  to take advantage of a habitat’s infrastructure or 
  service areas to get around. Many stations have service 
  tunnels, venting systems, spaces dedicated to pipes and 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  169
  
  WIRED vs. WIRElESS
  When drawing up a system map, gamemasters should 
  note which subsystems are accessible by wireless, which 
  are hardwired, and which have redundant connections. 
  Vital systems like life support, power grids, weapon 
  systems, and the like are almost always hardwired and 
  therefore can only be accessed physically. Locating 
  hardwired access points for a given system requires a 
  Hardware: Electronics Test. Profession: Habitat Ops 
  or another relevant Knowledge skill may be used as 
  a complementary skill. Modifiers for the Hardware 
  Test should take into consideration how complex the 
  habitat is, whether the character making the test is 
  familiar with the system, and whether they have access 
  to station blueprints, schematics, or the like.
  Whether wireless systems are used in addition to 
  hardwired links is a design choice, often reflecting 
  how paranoid a system’s designers were. Wireless 
  controls for life support systems, for instance, are 
  rarely used due to the extreme danger posed by 
  sabotage. Similarly, critical spaceport systems, airlock 
  safety controls, and the like rarely allow for wireless 
  access. Weapon batteries are normally hardwired. 
  However, on some stations, a wireless interface is 
  installed that becomes active only if the battery’s 
  wired link to the fire control system is damaged. This 
  is not an uncommon design choice, because hacking 
  the backup wireless interface on a gun emplacement 
  is generally impossible in the heat of combat.
  SYSTEM SECURITY
  Habitat mesh networks are almost universally set up as 
  virtual private networks (p. 241, EP) using public key 
  cryptosystems (p. 253, EP). This extra security makes 
  them more challenging to hack (p. 260, EP). Oversight 
  by AI, AGI, or infomorph monitors and security 
  hackers is common place, especially essential networks.
  Both master control networks and the core systems 
  of major station equipment (particularly power, defense, 
  and life support) tend to be very well secured. In many 
  cases, this will include state-of-the-art or highly custom-
  ized software, reducing the the effectiveness of exploit 
  software (–10 to −30 on Intrusion Tests). For this 
  reason, hackers often go after less-defended subsystems.
  Station security admins vary in discipline and style. 
  Some are human, while others are expert systems. 
  Hackers might receive a bonus of +10 to +20 on Infosec 
  Tests due to sloppy security administration or they might 
  suffer penalties of −10 to −30 from such factors as many 
  eyes on the system, skilled system design, or AGI admins.
  smaller habitats, several systems might be consoli-
  dated if it makes sense to do so (e.g., defense and 
  security functions might be consolidated, or spaceport 
  systems might be meshed with infrastructure).
  MESH nETS anD EnTOPTICS
  Users with authorized access to a particular habitat 
  mesh network—or who have hacked access—can pull 
  up an entoptic overlay of that particularly VPN’s data 
  as they move about the station. A user with access to 
  the power network, for example, could get a visual 
  overlay showing them where major power conduits 
  lay, the location of nearby wireless power transmit-
  ters, power consumption rates of specific inhabitants/
  devices/services, and diagnostics on the solar arrays 
  and reactors, among many other things. People with 
  access to multiple networks can layer this entoptic 
  information on top of each other. The same user 
  with access to the life support mesh could compare 
  the power feeds to different life support components 
  or see what functions would be impaired if a certain 
  power conduit was severed, and so on.
  Access to a master control network, if there is one, 
  provides entoptic overlays from many (if not all) of 
  the subsystems. This is a powerful tool to have at 
  one’s disposal. Likewise, security mesh access grants 
  the user access to sensor systems across the habitat—
  including many that are hidden from the public or 
  that watch over private areas.
  REDUnDanCY anD BaCKUPS
  Accidents and disasters happen, systems occasion-
  ally fail. On a space habitat, this can be devastating. 
  To counter this problem, almost all critical and 
  major mesh networks have backup and redundancy 
  options. Emergency power batteries can power critical 
  networks for limited periods even in the case of a 
  major power failure, and backup radio transceivers 
  and wired systems can be brought online should 
  existing systems be somehow taken down. Many 
  mesh networks have the capability to take over the 
  functions of a sister network should that network 
  somehow become infected or damaged. The protocols 
  for making this switch are closely guarded and often 
  require authorization from multiple accounts.
  InTERFaCInG anD aCCESS
  Habitat mesh networks follow all of the standard 
  rules for security and intrusion as given in the Eclipse 
  Phase core rulebook.
  170
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  OPTIONAL RULE: TMI (TOO MANY INTERFACES)
  On large stations or habitats with an impressive 
  number of active subsystems, scanning frequen-
  cies to find a desired subsystem or device might 
  be complicated by the huge number of signals 
  through which one has to sift. Gamemasters may 
  apply a penalty from −10 to −30 on the Interfacing 
  Test to find a subsystem or device in this situation. 
  Stronger signals are easier to find, so physical prox-
  imity to the target system should reduce or negate 
  this penalty. 
  n
  
  Critical habitat communication channels are likely to 
  be encrypted with quantum encryption on larger habitats.
  aCCESSInG SlavED SUBSYSTEMS
  Authenticated users on a master system almost always 
  have access privileges to slaved subsystems. Accessing 
  them takes a Complex Action, requires no tests, and 
  bypasses both the firewall and active security. At the 
  gamemaster’s discretion, however, intruders with 
  Hidden status will be downgraded to Covert status on 
  the subsystem, as the intruders must pass themselves 
  off as a legitimate user to access. Intruders who want 
  to remain Covert can instead take the time to bypass 
  the subsystem’s firewall and active security (with a +30 
  modifier for having already rooted the master system).
  On high-security systems, users with access privi-
  leges on master networks may still be required to 
  re-authenticate themselves on slaved networks, but 
  this is rare and an impediment to daily operations. 
  Instead, standard practice is usually to safeguard only 
  critical components, such as reactor controls, life 
  support functions, defense emplacements, etc.
  Each subsystem is its own system, with another 
  level of slaved devices and subsystems. The higher up 
  the chain one has authorization (legit or hacked), the 
  deeper one can go.
  SYSTEM HOPPInG
  Each system and subsystem within a station is consid-
  ered separate for purposes of detection, intruder status, 
  and other intrusion-related mechanics. Aside from 
  master-slave network relations, some linked subsys-
  tems may grant access privileges to authenticated 
  users of sister subsystems, particularly if their habitat 
  operation focuses overlap. A custom officer with user 
  access on the customs network, for example, may also 
  have privileges to the local surveillance mesh, despite 
  not having the rank to have access to the upper-tier 
  security mesh network. In some of these cases, the 
  user will have access but fewer privileges, meaning 
  there will be less system operations they can conduct.
  Hackers who have been detected (Spotted status) 
  penetrating a system can exploit the differing levels of 
  authentication by hopping to a different subsystem in 
  the hierarchy—or even the master system. Monitors 
  can attempt to track the intruder with an Opposed 
  Infosec Test; they receive a +30 modifier to do so. If 
  they fail, the intruder’s status is upgraded to Covert 
  following the hop. Hackers with Locked status, 
  however, may not jump to another system in the hier-
  archy; because they have been detected, they will be 
  locked out of linked systems. 
  Hopping between separate systems is handled as a 
  normal intrusion.
  OTHER HaCKInG COnSIDERaTIOnS
  Mapping the subsystems making up a station’s mesh 
  is sometimes an important precursor to making 
  Infosec attacks. Knowing which subsystems do 
  what is obviously very important, but mapping out 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  171
  shared with Security
  shared
  shared with Security
  shared with Space Port
  shared with Administration
  shared with Defense
  shared with Defense
  Egocasting and Farcasting n Medical and Resleeving n Public Media Feeds n Public Nanofabbers n 
   Simulspace Services
  Dock Services n Long-Range Sensors n Long Range Communications n Maintenance n Ship Resupply Feeds n Traffic Control
   
   Airlocks and Bulkheads n Damage Control n Structural Repair n Structural Status Monitors n  
   
   Life Support n Maintenance Drones n 
   Reactors n Power Grid n Smart Animals n Sewers n Water
  Long Range Communications n Customs & Immigration n Data Vault n Government Systems n Personnel Files
  Defense Satellites/Drones n Damage Control n Exterior Surveillance n Fleet Tactical Network n Long-Range Sensors n 
   Weapons Batteries
  Atmospheric Skimmers n Drone Bays n Harvester Drones n Mining Drones
   
   System is hardwired, not wireless
  Customs and Immigration n Detention n Exterior Surveillance n Customs and Immigration n Legal Services n Security Drones n 
  Security Personnel n Smart Animals n Sensor Systems
  MASTER CONTROL NETWORK
  INFRASTRUCTURE
  ADMINISTRATION
  PUBLIC SERVICES
  SPACE PORT
  DEFENSE
  SECURITY
  RESOURCES
  HABITAT SYSTEM MAP: CENTRALIZED
  This is a common system map for habitats with centralized mesh networks. Habitat 
  subsystems are grouped here by function—the physical layout can vary  greatly.
  
  subsystem connections provides the added benefit of 
  helping a hacker evade active security. This is a labo-
  rious process and can take weeks of effort. Depending 
  on the circumstances, a standard mapping exercise 
  should be handled as an Infosec Test with a two-week 
  timeframe for small habitats and one month or more 
  for larger. Having this knowledge on hand will help a 
  hacker know where to look and where to go, without 
  having to make Research Tests on the fly. At the 
  gamemaster’s discretion, a thorough mapping may 
  also provide a bonus to Infosec Tests.
  HaBITaTS aS MORPHS
  Stations equipped with a habitat cyberbrain can be 
  sleeved much like any other morph. While a single 
  hab cyberbrain can possess and handle the input of 
  a small tin can or similar station, larger habitats are 
  too overwhelming. Instead, habitat cyberbrains are 
  hooked up into a specific mesh system or subsystem, 
  overwatching that aspect of the colony. Habitat 
  cyberbrains have an advantage in that they are more 
  difficult to hack.
  SlEEvInG InTO a HaBITaT
  Resleeving is a somewhat different process when the 
  target body is an entire habitat, or even just a compo-
  nent system of one. Most habs are unique, meaning 
  that individuals sleeved into them will have a variety 
  of reactions. It is extremely rare for anyone to sleeve 
  immediately into a station. Instead, there is typically 
  an acclimation process where the individual “sleeves” 
  into a simulspace model of the actual habitat and is 
  then monitored by a psych team for signs of trouble. 
  Sometimes this operation is carried out on a fork of 
  the person to be resleeved rather than the original ego. 
  The experience of sleeving into a hab is much 
  like sleeving into an exotic morph. An entirely new 
  physiology and batch of sensory inputs awaits the 
  ego, a completely different experience from standard 
  biological and synthetic bodies. Habs that contain 
  biological parts are a somewhat easier integration, 
  as the presence of basic muscle and nerve responses 
  contributes to the sense of having a body. The 
  neural strata common to Hamilton cylinders and a 
  few other habitat types are specifically designed to 
  172
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  HABITAT RESLEEVING DIFFICULTIES
  These modifiers apply to both Integration and Alienation Tests (pp. 271–272, EP).
  SITUATION
  MODIFIER
  Habitat is entirely synthetic
  −30
  Habitat has biological parts
  −20
  Habitat has neural strata instead of cyberbrain
  −10
  Small to medium habitat (less than 5 km length)
  −20
  Large habitat (greater than 10 km length)
  −30
  Ego is infolife
  +20
  
  happen to notice a particular event, have them make 
  a Perception Test with a −20 distraction modifier. 
  The ego can, of course, focus their attention, but 
  they may only pay attention to as many tasks as they 
  have active multitasking modules (plus one). The 
  ego can focus on groups of events or sensory input, 
  within reason, as limited by the gamemaster. A habitat 
  ego could, for example, focus one of its multitasking 
  actions on watching all of the sensors in a given room, 
  tracking the power fluctuations in a given area of 
  the habitat, or monitoring the communications of a 
  group of approaching spacecraft for keywords.
  FORKInG
  Habitat cyberbrains are designed to be massively 
  parallel and to facilitate advanced use of forks. All 
  tests related to forking and merging are at +20 (+30 
  for neural strata). These forks are usually run on the 
  system as infomorphs, and help to watch over specific 
  activities or complete certain tasks. They are also used 
  to sleeve into physical forms and interact with other 
  transhumans as needed, merging with the alpha ego 
  when they return.
  EvaCUaTIOn
  Evacuating a habitat cyberbrain is not as easy or quick 
  as jumping out of a standard cyberbrain as an info-
  morph. Since many of the habitat or mesh network’s 
  operations are routed through the hab cyberbrain, the 
  absence of the ego could impair or disrupt ongoing 
  operations. To successfully evacuate, the ego must first 
  pass off functions to other components of the mesh 
  system; this requires an Interfacing Task Action with a 
  timeframe of 1 minute. Failure to follow these proto-
  cols could impair operations on that mesh system by 
  as much as a −30 modifier for up to a minute as the 
  system recovers (gamemaster discretion).
  MUSE
  Habitat egos generally have a swarm of muses, 
  normally one assigned to each major subsystem. 
  DISCOUnT HaBMInDS
  Some smaller habitats link standard cyberbrains to 
  their setups, rather than specialized habitat cyber-
  brains. Normal cyberbrains don’t have the architec-
  ture or I/O capability to keep up with the complex 
  computing requirements of most habs. For any 
  habitat larger than a tin can with a population of 50, 
  a habitat ego sleeved in a normal cyberbrain suffers 
  the following disadvantages:
  •	 The ego has a stunted version of the usual habitat 
  sensorium. Essentially, it can only choose to passively 
  monitor one of the elements of the system at a time.
  •	 The ego receives no bonuses on forking and 
  merging.
  •	 The ego does not gain any bonuses in repelling 
  intruders (see below).
  behave like a biological mind and to interface with 
  even non-biological components of the hab as if they 
  were extensions of a biological body.
  Sleeving into a hab imposes substantial penal-
  ties on the usual resleeving checks (see the Habitat 
  Resleeving Difficulties, 172). 
  aTTEnTIOn anD PERCEPTIOn
  Habitat cyberbrains are physically plugged into the 
  primary servers for a particular habitat mesh network. 
  The ego admin level access on the entire system and 
  on all slaved subsystems. In this situation, the ego 
  perceives the manipulation of devices, the flow of data, 
  and the input of sensor systems as sensory input. They 
  effectively feel as if that mesh system and its physical 
  components are their body. A door being opened may 
  feel akin to twitching a finger, a change in power flow 
  may seem like altering their breathing, a fire or damage 
  to sensors may feel like pain or an irritating burning 
  sensation, and so on. Being sleeved into a habitat does 
  not make the hab ego omniscient or all-perceiving, any 
  more than being in a transhuman morph would make 
  one aware of all of the blood corpuscles, bacteria, and 
  food particles moving through one’s body. It does 
  however confer a sense of proprioception: the sense of 
  where all of the parts of their body are in relation to 
  one another at any given time. The hab ego is always 
  aware of the macro scale state of the system with 
  which they are engaged, including such things as:
  •	 Hull integrity
  •	 Interior atmospheric pressure and rough chemical mix
  •	 Exterior pressure (if in an atmosphere such as Venus)
  •	 Position and overall functionality of major external 
  “appendages” such as axial space docks or the 
  mirrors and windows on an O’Neill cylinder
  •	 Internal weather patterns and day/night cycles
  •	 Nutritional state (for Hamilton cylinders)
  •	 Overall biomass of inhabitants and service animals
  •	 Overall rate of intake of power and raw materials 
  relative to estimated needs from all systems
  •	 Functional status of power grid, reactors, and life 
  support systems
  •	 Orbital position, orbital velocity, and position 
  relative to other large objects (planets, moons, 
  asteroids, other habs, and very large ships)
  •	 Position and status of airlocks, bulkheads, elevators, 
  and other portals and transportation systems
  •	 Position and status of drones
  •	 The status and activity of users on that mesh network
  The ego is considered to passively monitoring these 
  inputs at all times (meaning that they are immediately 
  aware of any passive alerts triggered by intruders 
  or similar alerts in other systems). The ego may 
  perceive their interior and exterior from any available 
  sensors. Because there is so much potential informa-
  tion on hand, however, the ego cannot realistically 
  pay attention to it all. For most affairs, the ego can 
  be considered to be distracted. To determine if they 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  173
  
  personal quantum computer, with computing power 
  equivalent to about 10 personal systems. Much larger, 
  centralized systems were used on many habitats prior 
  to the Fall, with the capacity of 100 or even more 
  personal quantum computers. A few systems like 
  this still exist, but they’re extremely rare, as they’re 
  powerful enough to host a seed AGI. Few habitats will 
  take this risk in the present day. [Expensive]
  HaBITaT CYBERBRaIn
  The cyberbrain of a habitat is orders of magnitude 
  more complex than morph cyberbrains. Habitat 
  cyberbrains are massively parallel and capable 
  of running many forks of the core ego simultane-
  ously, allowing the use of up to four multi-tasking 
  modules (p. 307, EP) at once (although these must 
  be purchased separately). Habitat cyberbrains are 
  normally distributed systems, with processing nodes 
  spread throughout the habitat so that damage to one 
  area cannot take out the habitat’s controlling ego. 
  [Expensive, Minimum 100,000]
  HaMIlTOn CYlInDER nEURal STRaTUM
  The mind of a Hamilton cylinder is considerably 
  different from normal habitat ops servers. Composed 
  of a layer of neural tissue spread throughout the hab, 
  neural substrata, while lacking the raw factoring 
  power of quantum computers, are capable of running 
  even more processes in parallel than a habitat 
  cyberbrain, suiting them well to simultaneously run 
  numerous forks and multitask. The lack of innate 
  quantum computational power is made up for by 
  numerous small quantum computing nodes inter-
  faced with various points along the stratum, but the 
  ego gains the advantage of not being hackable like a 
  cyberbrain would be. Attempts to crash neural strata, 
  in the unlikely event that they’re successful, only 
  serve to temporarily deprive the mind of its hardware 
  interface, not to actually damage it. Neural strata give 
  the inhabiting ego a greater edge than cyberbrains in 
  forking and merging, and they allow an inhabiting ego 
  to control up to six multi-tasking modules (p. 307, EP) 
  at once (as with a habitat cyberbrain, these must be 
  separately purchased). [Expensive, Minimum 500,000]
  UPlIFTS
  The following rules and advice apply specifically to 
  uplift characters.
  UPlIFT GEaR
  Most gear designed for transhumans works perfectly 
  well for uplifts (especially neo-hominids, neo-pigs, and 
  neo-neanderthals). Some gear may require adaptation 
  for an uplift’s particular physiology, at the gamemas-
  ter’s discretion. If a character is buying common gear 
  in a major habitat or city, it can be assumed that uplift-
  modified gear is commonly available for no additional 
  charge. Likewise, if the gear is nanofabricated, there are 
  OvERWaTCH BOnUS
  Habitat cyberbrain egos have an instinctual sense 
  over the systems they are linked to. This gives them a 
  distinct edge when combating system intrusion. Apply 
  a +30 modifier for any Infosec Test by a habitat ego 
  to detect, expel, or track an intruder on their system.
  HaBITaT CYBERBRaIn HaCKInG
  Habitat cyberbrains are vulnerable to cyberbrain 
  hacking (p. 261, EP). In fact, this is one of the only 
  ways a hacker has of defeating them. Unfortunately for 
  habitat egos, since their cyberbrains are wired directly 
  into the system’s servers, they can be directly attacked 
  by anyone who has already accessed that mesh network. 
  Like regular cyberbrain hacking, this process is 
  quite difficult for the intruder: apply the standard −30 
  modifier. Habitat cyberbrains can be subverted just 
  like any other system or cyberbrain. If the habitat 
  cyberbrain is successfully puppeteered (p. 261, EP), 
  the hacker gains full access to the system just like the 
  habitat cyberbrain did—they effectively replace the ego. 
  If a habitat cyberbrain is disabled or shut down, 
  there may be a temporary disruption as the system real-
  locates resources (see Evacuation, p. 173). The system 
  will quickly recover and resume operations as normal.
  SaMPlE HaBITaT MORPH
  Every habitat cyberbrain/morph setup is different. The 
  following provides an example which gamemasters 
  can reference when creating their own systems.
  O’nEIll CYlInDER PERSOna CORE
  Enhancements: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, 
  Cortical Stack, Habitat Cyberbrain, Mnemonic 
  Augmentation, Multi-Tasking x 3, Oracles,  
  plus sensory enhancements per habitat subsystems
  Aptitude Maximum: 30
  Advantages: +10 COG, +10 INT, +10 WIL
  Speed Modifier: +2
  CP Cost: Not available at character creation
  Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 100,000)
  HaBITaT MORPH GEaR
  The following gear applies to habitat cyberbrains.
  vIRTUal CYBERBRaIn SOFTWaRE
  This software creates a virtual cyberbrain on a system 
  not otherwise designed to work with or act as a cyber-
  brain. Installing it requires security or admin privileges 
  and is a Programming Task Action with a timeframe 
  of 5 minutes. If successful, the software allows a single 
  infomorph to run on the system much like a habitat 
  cyberbrain. Virtual cyberbrains are not as secure as 
  hardware cyberbrains. All cyberbrain hacking actions 
  are at a +10 modifier. [Moderate]
  HaBITaT OPS SERvER
  Ops servers form the core of most habitat subsystems. 
  A server is a massively parallel version of the standard 
  174
  GAME INFORMATION
  UPLIFTS
  HABITATS
  SURVEILLANCE
  
  this is rare. Most owners still do not bother given the 
  costs of the implants and procedures, but it is growing 
  more common, especially for beloved pets. In some 
  habitats, resleeving animals is illegal on the grounds 
  that placing an animal mind in a new body it does 
  not understand is cruelty, though this is challenged 
  elsewhere. In other stations, resleeving an animal in 
  anything but a morph of the same animal species 
  is not allowed. Smart animals take quite poorly to 
  resleeving (−30 on the Continuity, Integrity, and 
  Alienation Tests) and especially poorly to morphs of 
  different species (an additional −30). 
  SMaRT anIMal TRaInInG
  The rules for the Animal Handling skill provide some 
  basic instructions for handling animal training (p. 177, 
  EP). Smart animals can be taught to obey the usual 
  range of simple commands: stop, sit, fetch, attack, 
  intimidate, jump, hide, go home, etc. The timeframe 
  ranges from 1 day to 1 week, depending on the animal 
  in question. Smart dogs, cats, and monkeys take to 
  commands quicker than other critters. More complex 
  commands can also be taught: scout ahead, find 
  specific object/smell/person, attack a specific target 
  but not others, chase and corner but do not attack, go 
  through the window, and so on. These take anywhere 
  from 1 week to a month, depending on the complexity 
  and the animal’s affinity for the activity. A trainer can 
  teach each animal a number of distinct commands 
  equal to their Animal Handling skill divided by 5 
  (round down). Trained commands must be practiced 
  over time or the animal will eventually forget them.
  BIODROnES
  Smart animals with a puppet sock implant (p. 307, 
  EP) can be teleoperated just like a robotic shell (p. 
  196, EP). These are a common tool for surveillance 
  and reconnaissance purposes, especially on Mars 
  or other habitats with free-range wildlife, using the 
  inconspicuous morphs of local animals (native or 
  pets) as a stealth advantage. Since direct communica-
  tion links are too easily be tracked if not stealthed, 
  biodrones are often ghostridden by an animal keeper 
  AI or other infomorph who may also jam the pod. 
  Being puppeteered is a confusing and scary affair for 
  many animals, especially if the animal was placed 
  in danger or a violent situation. This may cause the 
  animal stress and may cause it to act confused, scared, 
  hostile, or erratic afterwards. Many handlers implant 
  drug glands with sedatives into smart animals that are 
  regularly puppeteered to counteract this.
  SUBvERTInG BIODROnES
  Like the cyberbrains of robotic shells, the puppet 
  socks can be subverted by a skilled hacker (see 
  Cyberbrain Hacking and Puppeteering, p. 261, EP). 
  Since smart animals brains are biological, they are 
  not vulnerable to entrapment, memory hacking, or 
  scorching as cyberbrains are.
  likely uplift-adapted versions of the blueprints avail-
  able. If the device is rare, however, or if the character 
  is in some hole-in-the-wall brinker habitat, they may 
  be stuck with using standard transhuman and either 
  modifying it themselves (usually a Hardware Test using 
  the appropriate field), suffering a modifier (usually 
  −10, but higher if the gamemaster chooses), or going 
  without (especially in the case of implants). Illegal and 
  black market goods may suffer the same issues or it 
  may simply cost extra given the rarity.
  UPlIFTS anD DRUGS
  Due to their different physiologies, drugs that affect 
  transhumans may not affect uplifts at all or may have 
  a drastically different effect. This is particularly true 
  of neo-octopi and neo-avians. These differing effects 
  are entirely up to the gamemaster. Note that even if a 
  particular drug does not work on an uplift as it does a 
  transhuman, there is likely a different version specifi-
  cally designed for uplifts that does. 
  SMaRT anIMalS
  The statistics given for smart animals in this book 
  (p. 154) and others (p. 330, EP; p. 168, Sunward; p. 
  157, Gatecrashing) are for standard specimens. Many 
  smart animals also come equipped with mesh inserts 
  so they may be tracked, used as surveillance (viewing 
  through their senses via the mesh link), or issued 
  commands (usually issued in their owner’s or trainer’s 
  voice in their heads). It is common to install a keeper 
  AI (p. 155) in these implants as well, to provide extra 
  oversight. A cybercortex (p. 148) is included by owners 
  and trainers who want to squeeze more comprehension 
  out of the animal’s mind, and scent affinity bioware (p. 
  148) helps to keep them loyal. Some owners also give 
  their animals basic biomods, increasing their health 
  and extending the animals life. In some habitats, this 
  is a legal requirement in order to minimize disease 
  outbreaks. Clean metabolism bioware is also a favorite 
  and sometimes required, especially in confined habitats 
  where animal orders and sanitation can be a problem. 
  Finally, puppet socks are also common, so that the 
  critter may be manipulated as a biodrone (p. 175).
  On top of this, many smart animals are given other 
  specific enhancements as befits their function. Animals 
  used for guard purposes, for example, are commonly 
  equipped with bioweave, hardened skeletons, and 
  reflex boosters or neurachem. Animals deployed for 
  clandestine purposes may be given chameleon skin, 
  grip pads, sensory enhancements, and oracles for 
  better perception.
  Not all implants available to transhumans are 
  usable in smart animals. Some simply do not work 
  with smart animal physiology, where others have 
  never been developed for use in animals. The game-
  master has final call on what implants are available.
  Smart animals can be equipped with cortical stacks 
  (and can also be backed up and resleeved), though 
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  GAME INFORMATION
  175
  
  a
  Access Control
  airlocks 72
  physical 72
  spaceports 72
  Active Monitoring 48
  Aerostats 56
  Allies, of Uplifts 135
  Animal Pods 118
  Animals, Smart. See Smart Animals
  Anonymity 29
  and accountability 29
  Applied Sapience Test 125
  AST. See Applied Sapience Test
  Audience Participation 48
  Augmented Reality 91
  autonomist zones 22
  b
  Baboons, Security 118
  Bathyscaphes 57
  Beehives 57
  before the Fall 12
  Social Networks 13
  Uplifts 100
  Bernal Spheres 58
  Biological Habitats 62
  Biosystems 87, 168
  Bioware 148
  Brainprints 20
  Recognizing AGIs 21
  Brainprint Scans 158
  Brains
  non-mammalian 102
  uplifts 102
  c
  Carousel Habitat 62 
  Cats, Smart 117, 155
  Cats, Swarm 116, 155
  Chemicals, Drugs and 151
  Chickcharnie 142
  Clusters 58
  Cognite 122
  Cole Bubbles 59
  Communications Gear 150
  Control of information 27
  Countersurveillance 39, 163-164
  Covert and Espionage 
  Technologies 150
  Crime
  and Uplifts 130
  Criminal Cartels 24
  Cryptography 30
  Customs and Immigration 73
  Cyberware 148
  D
  Darkcasting 45
  Darknets 75, 168
  Darwin’s Children 
  Incorporated 121
  Data
  Correlation 37
  falsifying 43
  Decompression 67, 165-166
  Directionality 64
  Disc Habitats 62
  Dogs, Smart 117, 154-155
  Domes 59
  Drugs and Chemicals 151
  Duvalier, Rael 100, 120, 132, 
  136, 137
  and the SIBA 136
  and the Uplift Patron 
  Foundation 137
  e
  Earthlike
  features in habitats 69
  EFF. See Electronic Future 
  Foundation
  Egocasting 22, 75
  Emergency Systems 76
  Breathable Atmosphere 77
  Catastrophic Damage 77
  Depressurization 76-77
  Fire 76
  Enemies, of Uplifts 135
  Environmental Systems 77
  Equality and Surveillance 27
  Espionage Technologies 150
  Ethics of Surveillance 26
  Existential Risks.  
  See X-Risks
  F
  Factions, uplift-related 131
  Fake ID
  Complications 41
  purchasing 40
  Stealing 41
  Feral Robot 122
  Fire 76,88
  Forking, and ID 25
  Forks
  Legal Issues 25
  Fortean 122, 142
  G
  Gargoyle Morph 142
  Gatecrashing 129
  Gear 148
  Bioware 148
  Communications 150
  Covert and Espionage 
  Technologies 150
  Cyberware 148
  Drugs and Chemicals 151
  Habitat Morph 174
  Nanotechnology 152
  Nanoware 149
  Robotic Enhancements 149
  Robots 157
  Sensor Systems 152
  Services 154
  Smart Animals 154
  Software 155
  Survival 157
  Uplift 174
  Vehicles 158
  Groups
  Anon 45
  Datacide 45
  Decepticons 46
  Ego Union 46
  Electronic Future Foundation 46
  Hive Mind 47
  Mesh Leaks 47
  Spinternet 47
  The Source 47
  H
  Habitat
  Architecture 80
  Biosystems 87, 168
  damage 90
  Defense 75
  hacking 164–168
  Infiltration 168–169
  Infrastructure 80
  Maintenance 81
  Mesh Systems 81, 169–172
  Monitoring 81
  Power 84
  Repair 81
  Security 86
  Systems 72
  transit within 87–88, 93
  used as morph 172–174
  Habitat Functions
  industrial facilities 56
  mining operations 55
  research stations 56
  waystations 55
  Habitats 137
  navigating inside 65
  Public Services 83
  sleeving into 82
  temporary 60
  Habitat Types 56
  Aerostats 56
  Bathyscaphes 57
  Beehives 57
  Bernal Spheres 58
  Biological 62
  Carousel  62
  Clusters 58
  Cole Bubbles 59
  Disc 62
  Domes 59
  Exotic 62
  Hamilton Cylinders 63
  LaFrance Rigs 59
  Matrioshka Sphere 63
  O’Neill Cylinders 60
  Processor Locus 63
  Reagan Cylinders 61
  Tin Can Habitats 61
  Toruses 61
  Hacking Habitats 164–168
  Hamilton Cylinders 63
  Harvesting 83
  Hazards 88
  Decompression 67, 76-77, 89
  Fire 76, 88
  Pollution 89
  Vacuum 67
  Henchmen Laws 16
  Hypercorps 119
  and Uplifts 119
  Hypergibbon 118, 142
  K
  Kisilev Open Source Uplift  
  Genetic Library 123
  i
  ID
  and criminals 24
  and Forking 25
  brainprint 20, 158
  complications of fake 41
  fake 40
  Mesh 21
  Nanotat 21, 159
  stealing 41
  Systems 20
  trading 41
  Identification 20, 158
  Identity 20
  Immigration, Customs and 73
  Infiltrating Habitats 168–169
  Information Control 27
  Interrogation 17
  J
  Journalism 15
  Jumbles the Chimp 100, 108, 
  119–120, 125, 132, 136
  l
  LaFrance Rigs 59
  Life in Space 64
  Lifelogging 14–15
  Political 15–16
  Life Support Systems 77
  Living Space 69
  M
  Matrioshka Sphere 63
  Media
  False vs. Falsified 30
  mercurials 127, 132
  Mesh Systems 169–172
  Microgravity, Moving in 65
  Mining 83
  Monkeys, Smart 118
  Morphs 142
  Chickcharnie 142
  Gargoyle 142
  habitats as 172–174
  Hypergibbon 142
  Neo-Beluga 142
  Neo-Dolphin 143
  Neo-Hominid 143
  Neo-Orca 143
  Neo-Pig 143
  Neo-Porpoise 143
  Neo-Whale 143
  Shaper 144
  Skulker 144
  Takko 144
  Morphs, Uplift 130
  n
  Nanofabrication 84
  Nanotechnology 152
  Nanoware 149
  Navigating inside Habitats and 
  Stations 65
  Neo-Avians 111
  Neo-Bonobos 109
  Neo-Cetaceans 110
  Neo-Chimpanzees 109
  Neo-Crows 113
  Neo-Dolphins 110, 143
  Neo-Gorillas 109
  Neo-Hominids 108
  Neo-Neanderthals 115
  Neo-Octopi 113
  Neo-Orangutans 110
  Neo-Orcas 110, 143
  Neo-Parrots 112
  Neo-Pigs 114
  Neo-Porpoises 111
  Neo-Ravens 112
  Neo-Whales 111, 142
  New Day 121
  Non-Disclosure 16
  O
  O’Neill Cylinders 60
  P
  participatory panopticon 27
  Pattern Analysis.  
  See Probability Mapping
  Physical Privacy 39
  Planetary Consortium
  and surveillance 28
  Political
  Lifelogging 15–16
  Polities
  Closed 51
  Open 51
  Private 51
  transparent 50
  Power Dynamics 27
  Power Systems 84–85
  Precog 38
  Precognition. See Precog
  Privacy 12
  Physical 39
  Privacy, The State of 50
  Probability Mapping 38
  Processor Locus 63
  r
  Rats, Smart 118
  Reagan Cylinders 61
  Recreation
  Freerunning 71
  Sports 71
  Tether jumping 71
  Resleeving 22, 83
  into habitats 82, 172
  into uplift morphs 130
  Robotic Enhancements 149
  Robots 157
  Rules
  Sensor 159–162
  Smart Animals 175
  Surveillance 162–164
  Uplifts 174–175
  S
  SAPIENT 23–24
  Firewall and 24
  reactions to 23
  Sapient Liberation Front 133
  Sarcophagus Habitats.  
  See Reagan Cylinders
  Security Baboons 118
  Self-Aware Personality/Intelligence/
  Ego Novel Tag. See SAPIENT
  Sensor Networks 32
  Sensor Rules 159–162
  Sensors 32
  auditory 34
  biometric 35
  blinding 42
  chemical analysis 35
  comprehensive table 161
  environment 36
  gamma-ray 34
  hyperspectral 162
  jamming 42
  lidar 37
  metal detectors 37
  nanodetectors 37
  Nanoswarms 35
  private 163
  radar 34
  Smart Dust 35
  visual 32
  x-ray 34
  Sensor Systems 86, 152
  Shaper Morph 144
  Singer Institute for Biological 
  Anomalies 136
  Skills 145, 146
  Exotic Language 145
  Useful Habitat Knowledge 146
  Skulker Morph 144
  Sleeving
  into a Habitat 172
  into uplift morphs 130
  SLF. See Sapient Liberation Front
  Smart Animals 116, 154, 175
  Cats 117
  Dogs 117
  Monkeys 118
  Rats 118
  Swarm Cats 116
  Software 155
  Somatek 100, 105, 106, 
  119–122, 125, 129, 132, 136
  Space, life in 64
  Spacecraft
  swarms as habitats 63
  Space Habitats
  initial efforts 54
  Spacesuits 66
  and damage 66
  Speciesism 135
  Surveillance
  after the Fall 19
  blind spots 42
  low 94
  mesh 35
  of the mind 17
  on Habitats 86
  rules 162–164
  Surveillance Technology 31
  Survival Gear 157
  Swarm Cats 116
  Systems, Emergency 76
  t
  Takko morph 122, 144
  Technology
  Surveillance 31
  The Fall
  Data Loss 18
  Tin Can Habitats 61
  Toruses 61
  Total Information Awareness 31
  Traits
  Negative 145
  Positive 145
  Transparent polities 50
  Travel 22
  u
  Uplift
  Habitats 137
  Uplifting
  ethics of 99
  Uplift Morphs 130
  Uplift Patron Foundation 137
  Uplifts 174–175
  acceptance of 101
  Allies of 135
  and Bioconservatives 125
  and crime 130
  and Hypercorps 119
  Assimilation and 
  Anti-Assimilation 126
  Behavioral Adjustments 103
  Biomods 104
  bodies 103
  brains 102
  cultural issues 125
  Culture Void 127
  Enemies of 135
  Factions 131
  Gatecrashing 129
  Genefixing 104
  incomplete understanding of 
  brains 102
  jobs 128
  Legal Issues 123–124
  media portrayals 129
  medical care 114
  science 101
  Social Issues 123
  socialization 105
  species 108
  work 128
  Uplift Species
  Neo-Avians 111
  Neo-Bonobos 109
  Neo-Cetaceans 110
  Neo-Chimpanzees 109
  Neo-Crows 113
  Neo-Dolphins 110
  Neo-Gorillas 109
  Neo-Hominids 108
  Neo-Neanderthals 115
  Neo-Octopi 113
  Neo-Orangutans 110
  Neo-Orcas 110
  Neo-Parrots 112
  Neo-Pigs 114
  Neo-Porpoises 111
  Neo-Ravens 112
  Neo-Whales 111
  v
  Vacuum 67
  Vehicles 158
  X
  X-Risks
  The Open Society 18
  176
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Eclipse Phase/1st edition/Eclipse Phase 1e - Panopticon - Volume 1 - Habitats, Surveillance, Uplifts.pdf