Echopraxia
New Member
EDIT: Decided to expand on the biology of the Forkers to give a more interestin, describable, and RP-usable species.
[Species Sheet]
Name: Homo Imitor, Forker, Clone
History: Cloning was always within the grasp of old humanity, but there was little reaosn to do something so morally complicated and inferior to the cheap, socially necessary practice of normal birthing. Not until Gates.
An ice world: Life could only be sustained in the depths of sinkholes in the ice created by geothermals. It was the only refuge the stolen and blind-jumping ships of some intellegista, fleeing a long forgotten pogrom, could find. There was life, unbelievably, lush and even green vegetation growing on the mountain-islands rising above the ice.
There was another form of life. A parasite - it didn't predate on humans, of course, having evolved completely separately. But it did make a home in their bodies, and it did release as a byproduct certain chemicals with a horrific and coincidental effect on humanity.
Sterility. Inescapable - of the millions of colonists there were no viable births after the parasite took hold. This generation, fearing themselves the last, came close to destroying themselves as they searched for a cure. They never could find a way to undo the parasite, but the could circumvent It another way: Cloning. Make way for Homo Imitor.
Today the ancient parasite has been eradicated (along with all other life native to the planet. Roadkill to humanity's tastes.) But the culture of cloning is so ingrained no one has seen any reason to reproduce naturally.
General Life Span:
A clone body generally lasts 30 years, rapidly degrading from peak performance to infirmity and death in the last few months of life. The consciousness, however, can be transferred easily to another body as many times as needed. Practically all, however, degrade to insanity, suffer amnesia, become apathetic with ennui, or morph to a completely different personality after enough rebirths. Some have been alive for the entirety of the Provisional Authority’s 600 years of existence: they occupy the highest levels and are out of sight.
Appearance: Prominent features are determined largely by the proprietary genetic material of its clan. But as a whole Forkers tend to have pale skin, blemished with identification, medical, and utility tattoos. Particularly notable are the base-60 numerals visible underneath the fingernails: These symbols constitute a Forker’s official name. The clan’s mon is printed underneath the thumbnail. Large black eyes are adapted for superior low-light performance as well as high acuity.
Description:A forkers skeleton is 3d-printed nanofiber (Blue in colour, if exposed). It is the scaffolding from which the rest of the clone body is built upon. It is extremely hard to break, but does flex dramatically. The clone-bodies have been improved in numerous ways: They are not dramatically stronger than a basic human, but they tire far slower and can sustain themselves on far less sustenance. Blood-carried antifreeze prevents frostbite. Shock and pain are dulled in case of injury, and blood clots far faster. A strengthened immune system allows a forker to thrive in even the most squalid condition, and a reinforced digestive track allows any possible food, even that which is raw or spoiled, to be consumed in case of emergency. Augmentations are common but are often quite subtle: A soldier would not want his body to be rendered inoperable by dirt. Common examples include a gastrointestinal shunt, which simplifies living out of a spacesuit for weeks at a time. Joints are replaced, and retinal laser displays are common .Implanted ankle compasses and bone-vibration microphones assist communication and tactical awareness.
Forkers have excellent senses and spatial awareness, even in null-g spaces. Senses are further assisted by low level psionic abilities (not recognised as such by Forker scientists or society). Most Forkers can unconsciously perceive the presence of others nearby, even through walls or other obstructions.
By far the most important part of a Forker, however, is the ‘backup’ in every clone’s head. A socket at the nape of the skill receives a metallic cylinder, not quite long enough to reach the center of the skull. This device, the backup/soulcatcher/cortical stack, stores in its heavily armoured interior a continually updating copy of the owner’s consciousness, fed by a web of impossibly thin wires fed throughout the skull. Generations of engineers have attempted to make this device indestructible; Certainly, it can survive forces which render the body paste or ash. But the heaviest weaponry and the unsearchable void of space or lost territory mean many are lost, especially in war. An FTL/Conventional transponder automatically activates after user death.
Each stored consciousness is encrypted with a one time pad stored deep in PA territory. Theoretically, such encryption is impossible to break even against an opponent with infinite computing power. Engineers have hedged their bets, however, with numerous self destruct and antitamper measures: Oblivion would be preferable to capture.
There is an additional and incidental effect: Captured mind-reader psionics apparently find a Forker’s current impressions obfuscated by the neural-nets interference, and further confounded by the present impressions blurring with half-displayed memories as the backup writes to disk.
In case of death, this backup will be inserted into another body. Clone bodies are preferable, but in times of crisis or desperate supply situations repurposed civilian bodies can be stolen through the implantation of a socket, then hijacked by the Forker’s consciousness. This has a detrimental effect on morale and combat effectiveness.
[Species Sheet]
Name: Homo Imitor, Imitor
History: Cloning was always within the grasp of old humanity, but there was little reaosn to do something so morally complicated and inferior to the cheap, socially necessary practice of normal birthing. Not until Gates.
An ice world: Life could only be sustained in the depths of sinkholes in the ice created by geothermals. It was the only refuge the stolen and blind-jumping ships of some intellegista, fleeing a long forgotten pogrom, could find. There was life, unbelievably, lush and even green vegetation growing on the mountain-islands rising above the ice.
There was another form of life. A parasite - it didn't predate on humans, of course, having evolved completely separately. But it did make a home in their bodies, and it did release as a byproduct certain chemicals with a horrific and coincidental effect on humanity.
Sterility. Inescapable - of the millions of colonists there were no viable births after the parasite took hold. This generation, fearing themselves the last, came close to destroying themselves as they searched for a cure. They never could find a way to undo the parasite, but the could circumvent It another way: Cloning. Make way for Homo Imitor.
Today the ancient parasite has been eradicated (along with all other life native to the planet. Roadkill to humanity's tastes.) But the culture of cloning is so ingrained no one has seen any reason to reproduce naturally. Least of all the new benefactors: The Moira.
General Life-Span:
- Clone Body: 30 Years (80% of life operating at peak capacity, very rapid degradation at end of life)
- Consciousness's can be digitised and transfered from body to body, but practically all degrade to insanity, suffer intractable amnesia, become completely bored with life, or become a completely different person after enough rebirths.
Appearance:
- Clans are family/social/economic groups which use proprietary and guarded genetic information to create clone bodies. People within the same clan will have strikingly similar body features.
- Often lanky and pale, large black eyes
- Given the disposability of individual bodies, crude augmentations are common.
- Alphanumeric ID tattoos are ubiquitous
- The individuals of a species have a remarkably blase attitude to self-preservation. Perhaps it is the psychological effect of being freed from the need to reproduce, but Imitor have been known to throw their lives away on a whim or react to body-death, or even mind-death, with unnerving disregard
Attributes:
- Able to sustain severe damage to bodies, and to adapt to an extreme range of temperatures and conditions. If there is a mission, an Imitor will seek to complete it short two limbs and a lung.
- Extreme agility and adaptability. Expert problem solvers.
Name: Homo Imitor, Imitor
History: Cloning was always within the grasp of old humanity, but there was little reaosn to do something so morally complicated and inferior to the cheap, socially necessary practice of normal birthing. Not until Gates.
An ice world: Life could only be sustained in the depths of sinkholes in the ice created by geothermals. It was the only refuge the stolen and blind-jumping ships of some intellegista, fleeing a long forgotten pogrom, could find. There was life, unbelievably, lush and even green vegetation growing on the mountain-islands rising above the ice.
There was another form of life. A parasite - it didn't predate on humans, of course, having evolved completely separately. But it did make a home in their bodies, and it did release as a byproduct certain chemicals with a horrific and coincidental effect on humanity.
Sterility. Inescapable - of the millions of colonists there were no viable births after the parasite took hold. This generation, fearing themselves the last, came close to destroying themselves as they searched for a cure. They never could find a way to undo the parasite, but the could circumvent It another way: Cloning. Make way for Homo Imitor.
Today the ancient parasite has been eradicated (along with all other life native to the planet. Roadkill to humanity's tastes.) But the culture of cloning is so ingrained no one has seen any reason to reproduce naturally. Least of all the new benefactors: The Moira.
General Life-Span:
- Clone Body: 30 Years (80% of life operating at peak capacity, very rapid degradation at end of life)
- Consciousness's can be digitised and transfered from body to body, but practically all degrade to insanity, suffer intractable amnesia, become completely bored with life, or become a completely different person after enough rebirths.
Appearance:
- Clans are family/social/economic groups which use proprietary and guarded genetic information to create clone bodies. People within the same clan will have strikingly similar body features.
- Often lanky and pale, large black eyes
- Given the disposability of individual bodies, crude augmentations are common.
- Alphanumeric ID tattoos are ubiquitous
- The individuals of a species have a remarkably blase attitude to self-preservation. Perhaps it is the psychological effect of being freed from the need to reproduce, but Imitor have been known to throw their lives away on a whim or react to body-death, or even mind-death, with unnerving disregard
Attributes:
- Able to sustain severe damage to bodies, and to adapt to an extreme range of temperatures and conditions. If there is a mission, an Imitor will seek to complete it short two limbs and a lung.
- Extreme agility and adaptability. Expert problem solvers.
[Faction Sheet]
Name: Provisionary Authority
Type of Government: Technocratic council, oligarchy
- "Executive Directorate" (7 elected members, 5 appointed members): The ruling few
- "Functional Directorate" (140 members appointed by EXECDIR elected members): Experts subordinate to each member of the EXECDIR, providing expert council to their directors and able to operate with their director's authority.
Leader(s):
- Shriv Kasbah-Hefk (EXECDIR Chair)
Home Planet: Gates
Capital Planet: "Gates": Formerly a sub-standard world, extensive terraforming and dramatic orbital mirrors turned its frigid icesheets to azure seas and revealed the snaking archipelago beneath. It is a prideful demonstration of their skill as craftsman and willingness to bend planets to their will.
Ethics: The Imitor are cunning, pragmatic, and ruthless. They are not sadists: They take no pleasure in pain they might cause roadkill (Whether it be the collateral damage of a speedy campaign, or the death of species and cultures in terraforming and "Moirafication" operations.) but it does not faze them. The continuance of their Clans is priority one. Recanting on one's word, however, is bad practice and they can be depended on to honour an agreement.
Clan > Honour > Justice > Morality
History:
- Stranded in Moira space by faulty and overambitious FTL technology.
- Cloning necessary for survival.
- They were discovered when the early Moira expanded into their area of space. The colonists had hardly expanded to 5 systems - they were hopelessly, impossibly outmatched. But they did fight shrewdly enough to gain the notice of the Moira command, and the insurgent alliance they forged with others under the Moiran jackboot looked like it might prove an annoyance.
- A deal was offered: Destroy the very insurgency they had created and submit to Moiran rule. In exchange, they would make up a third caste, an intermediate between Moirans and outsiders. They would be Auxiliaries and hatchet-men, strong in areas where the brutish species was weak. With no other option the Imitor leaders agreed.
- Clans are largely self contained and in a low-key, diplomatic competition for influence and power.
Military
The Auxiliary Legions are designed with close cooperation with allies in mind. Often focussing on manoeuvre and potency to the detriment of armour and creature comforts.
Imitor Infanteer
- Grey cloaked and lightly equipped, featuring a jumpjet. An Infanteer would be most happy to outmanouvre an enemy and shoot him in the back, preferably from rooftop level.
- Very close communication and coordination, even on the section level, with the heavy guns of orbiting warships.
- Against a more formidable foe, they are known to dig underground and fight, vicious and desperate, from expertly constructed tunnels and ad-hoc bunkers. Tenacious to the end and confident in immortality they never surrender as long as there is one magazine, one grenade, one bayonet, or two strangling hands.
[Character Sheet]
Name: Vice-Marshal Jilt Arlton-Zelir
[Note on name nomenclature. (GivenName) (Armoury of Manufacture)-(Clan). A number records the generation and precise details of a clone, but this is the private and guarded "True name"]
Morality: Lawful Neutral
Age: [unknown]
Species: Homo Imitor
Appearance: She looks like all others of the Zelir clan. Pale, lanky, with short cropped black hair, and piercing eyes. It is how she carries herself that makes her stand out. Every movement careful, always scanning the room and aware. More than just a soldier: A survivor.
Paraphernalia:
- Black coverall uniform (Standard) with Vice-Marshal shoulder insignia. Her name and number are prominently displayed.
- White leather combat belt, holding a ceremonial shashka, a holster with a streamlined and deadly neural flayer pistol, a folded zero-atmo mask and a map case.
History:
- Of unknown age and origin: She is likely one of the rare immortals, those who's psyches do not degrade or break apart over endless lives and rebirths.
- She was recovered, burned to a cinder and minutes from death, on the battlefield of Tannhauser. Her cortical stack was heavily damaged and missing most of its metadata. Amnesic, but for the talent of command and killing, she was given a new body and immediately sent back to the front. She entered the war a nameless private and left that hell of a planet, months later, a battlefield-commissioned Captain.
- Clanless, she was 'adopted' by the industrialist Zelir clan, who were responsible for the crushing of a human rebellion on Tannhauser where she was found.
- Currently an officer in PAN:Combined, chosen for her caution and political aloofness.
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