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ACCU (Armed Civilian Control Unit)
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Technopedia
Arididite
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BioHumans
- Homo Sapien Crommium
The product of humans and technology, these humans are mostly machine
and chrome. Tougher, faster, smarter, and vastly wider in range
of abilities, they are the specialist of the world as far as Data-thieves
and Cybernetic warriors of fortune. However, they suffer from bouts
of sever depression, and sickness from being so little pure human.
Some can deal with this with a strong will, other have problems ever handling
a single cybernetic lung. The reaction is different.
The fall of cyberspace in 2195 dealt a significant blow to their power base, and even called the necessity of their existence into question.
Eoas
The first documented Eoa sightings date back to the early years of
the BioRiots. Their origin is unknown, and as so far recorded, no
nation has taken responsibility for their creation. Their name is
derived from taking the vowels from the words "Demon Spawn." It is
rumored that this was what they were called by the primitive outlaw groups
who had chosen to live in the barren regions of the non-civilized world.
Eventually, the name evolved from Demon Spawn into Eoa, though how this
transformation came about was never recorded.
Eoas are abominations in the true sense of the word. They are masses of bulbous flesh and torqued metal bones with six legs and thick tails. They average eight feet tall and fifteen feet long not including their tail. With tail included, Eoas have been known to reach a total length of twenty-five feet. A stocky cranial region sports hellish looking eyes and two long horns which lend credibility to their original name. Four-foot metal tusks extend from just below their jaws. Suprisingly enough, Eoas do not have teeth, but instead their mouth cavity is filled with blunt bone protrusions with which the Eoas grind their prey. The tail of an Eoa contains countless small metal spikes along its entire length. An Eoa's skin is rough and bumpy, often broken by metal bones poking through the skin, giving each Eoa a unique and misshappen look. Skin color varies.
Eoas normally roam wastelands and less populated regions, but reports of Eoa sightings have become more and more common as time progresses. Eoas have no known connection with cyberspace. To sum it up, nobody studies Eoas for obvious reasons so not a lot is recored about them.
Fellinum
A man-made metallic substance that is used in large, highly efficient
power reactors. Fellinum is so potent and the reactors are so efficient
that only a few kilograms of fellinum would be needed to power a small
city for an entire year. There are two drawbacks to this use of fellinum,
however. First, fellinum is very difficult to produce. Second,
some of the minerals that are combined to make fellinum are extremely rare.
These facts make fellinum one of the most valuable substances on the earth.
In fact, fellinum is often used as a form of currency. Often times,
when used in this capacity, fellinum is shaped into small rods. A
large purchase might involve a rod or several rods. A small purchase
might involve slicing off a small piece of the rod. These small slices
are known as slices, chips, or rounds. The slices are often exchanged
without any rods being involved. Also, they may be melted back together
to form rods again.
Flesh
Vendor
A merchant who deals in human or non-human body parts. For the
most part, they are not sociable and will avoid contact with the normal
citizens of society. They sell to the highest bidder and will do
anything to acquire fresh body parts. The pure of the world have
the most to fear from flesh vendors due to the high demand for high quality
flesh.
GeneTechs
- Homo Erectus Abominate
About as far down of the humanoid list as possible, and only fitting
because they and their ancestors were once humans who 'volounteered' for
the Genetech experiments that lead tot he Genetech war. There
is no set description for them, there are no templates. There is
little to no knowledge of their lifestyle or anatomy.
Very few facts are known about them, except that it seems, perhaps, that
their state is slowly reversing as the genepool tries to build itself up
before they inbreed themselves out of existance.
Loveroot
So named because of it's benevolent qualities. Strangely,
it is a self occuring root, not of manmade origin. It is believed
to have appeared circe 199X, before the major wars. It is a
sedative, it's bark is a stimulant. The juices can act as a
pain-killer and a relief for allergies, colds, and certain plant and animal
poison. In the wildrness, loveroot grows in patches that make
safe havens for people or animals. Those who sleep in a grove
of loveroot wake up in one piece. It is also nutrious, non fattening,
and when made into a past, acts as a sauve for wounds. Loveroot
also repels most major predators. It's tall growing, colorful
flower is also benevolent. The pollen absorbs pollution from
the air and the petals, when chewed, can relieve a number of stomach or
nervous problems. The hard, rough stem can be chewed slowly like
hardtack. Despite countless attempts to modify, this plant
is resilliant to tampering. And another thing, it's not sold
or harvested. You don't find loveroot, loveroot just finds
you. It will not grow in captivity, and it will not grow if
planeted or grown in any semblance of an order. Refered to
as the 'gracious plant' it is truly unique.
NeoDragons
A handmade race. Reptiles with DNA modified for increased
growth. These manufactured lizards grow to 200 ft in length,
with large, scaly bodies naturaly, or Plate armor with symbiots.
Dinosaurus Moronits are the main variety: their brains are normally nothing,
and the pure breed are as low on the inteligence scale as most invertibrates,
simply existing to wreak havoc, but not knowing how to very well.
The other varietyare Dinosaurus Sapiens and are augmented in the way of
brains and reflexes. This variety will and can fly gracefully,
and although built for destruction, enjoy simply their long lives and grazing
upon other creatures. Although armed, they rarely attack humans,
in fact, certain ones have been known to be overly friendly to humans,
allowing themselves to be used as great mounts and transporting them across
the world in the shortest of times. Great warriors, loyal friends,
feared enemies.
Nightfly
A nasty creature too small to attack large objects. They
travel in small swarms of 20 to 30, and live in or arround Nightivy.
They shun daylight for no apparent reason. It's weakness lies in
that it must have time to attack and eat it's prey. Their lifespan
is only 12 days, but families and their decendants will stay with one set
of vines for years.
Nightivy
A breed of ivy that blooms and grows at night. Taking it's
predatory tactics from the spider. Entire colonies will form
a web or net, sometimes on the ground, sometimes falling from trees, sometimes
stretched between trees in a true web. This plant produces
a sedating nuero-toxin that does no permanent dammage. But disables
a victim while it's buddy, the subtle meat-eating Nightfly swarm around
the sleeping prey. The Nightivy is nourished from the remains.
At dawn, the nightivy wilts, but the roots live. At night,
a new set of leaves grow. Originaly designed to be snares for corporate
gardens. But too many gardeners and CEO's went for walks.....and
never came back.
Phase
Ravens
The raven, curious and cunning, while also a vile bird, underwent a
transfomration during the Genetech wars. Augmented with what
was refered to as 'a new phase of genetic engineering', the birds reacted
unplanned to the injections. They truly became a new
phase of genetic engineer, as they aquired the ability to phase themselves
into different states: Liquid and Gas. Phase Ravens
live anywhere. Cities, wilderness, oceans, wastelands, anywhere.
Once they adopted a phase from hatching, they tend to stay in that phase.
The Aquatic Phase Ravens are identified as a path of floating black liquid,
propelling itself with oar like wings. Gaseous Phase
Ravens live in the dense smog and pollution ceilings of cities as a bird
shaped twisting mass of black fog. Phase ravens can be dangerous
to humans, but prefer to hunt insects or other birds.
PureHumans
- Homus Sapien Puris
Still kicking, but not very active, man makes up the second largest
category of life on earth, outpopulation the genetechs and bioriot creatures
by almost double. Pure humans are on average now 5'10 to 6'3,
185 pounds with respiratory systems now adjusted to a higher nitrogen and
hydrogen content. They have hair ranging from Blonde, to Brown,
to Black, to the rare White, Gray, and now reappearing Red. Eyes
are colored like always. Other than adapting to a cruel
and everchanging world, Man is ready for most rigours of life in 2195.
Pure Humans have begun to demonstrate new traits. Biokenesis,
Telekenesis, Psionics, and other mental powers are just the begining.
Those with these abilites do NOT react well to cyberware.
Rivot
Bot
Perhaps the rarest humanoid inhabitant of the planet earth. Little
is known about rivot bots, and this is mainly due to the fact that they
tend to disappear at the most inopportune times. They have been spotted
all over the globe, but no two sightings are the same. However, there
are a few common characteristics which have been reported.
They are of normal build, usually around six feet tall, their bodies covered by normal human skin. One can only speculate as to whether they are human or not. Their bodies are usually covered with spikes and razors, although a couple sightings would indicate otherwise. They are deadly opponents, possessing the ability to launch these spikes and razors from their bodies at high velocities. It is theorized that they use elecromagnetic technologies to accelerate these projectiles at near the speed of light.
Since no two sightings have ever been the same, there is no true way to judge their numbers.
Serpentblood
A new degeneration of music for a fallen generation.
Silkmoss
Growing in secluded areas and prized for it's use as a raw fiber, this
plant grows over old building ruins and partialy buried metal.
It is thick, green-gray, and fluffy in nature. It has a great
deal of elasticity and is used to make bandages, rope, and low-level bodyarmor.
The plant is resistant to wear, but water soluble. Only specially
treated Silkmoss can be worn as clothing.
The Tah-nosha
A primordial ooze left in one of Genetechs lost laboratories was found
by an explorer in the heart of the old Americas. After a multi-billion
credit expedition, and the aid of Dragons (who wanted the site destroyed),
the ooze was recovered. Seeking to perhaps use the research
of Genetech to further their own goals, the Takiyoma West coporation began
the process of building it into a full being. They used a bear
embryo to begin the experiment. However, the experiment produced
a being so violent it had to be killed. The second was a Koala
embryo. Before the creatue could be fully cultured, Takiyoma's
personal Technomancer 'Aran' broke into the D-Tech lab (fronted by Takiyoma
West) and found out about secret research. He shut it down
in sense of honor for his coporate bosses, and saved Takiyoma West from
destroying and claiming the rest of the coporation. He did
not know about the ooze, nor the second subject. But it knew he was
responsible for it's freedom in the power-outage and subversion of TWest
computer system. Existing as a base lifeform, it then broke
free and began to wedge its way into the food chain, namely on top.
In two days, D-tech was gone. Empty except for one curious
youth. Unknown are it's base level of inteligence, but
it managed to operate and implant machine and is now augmented with cyberware
for increased mental prowess. It is inteligent, but not sentinent.
It is logical, but not reasoning. It is pure power, but no
control. After finding the cyberware, it understood it's purpose.
The creature then proceded to alter itself with every piece of technology
it could find. Now it is one of the worst lving organisms on
the entire planet. It is 8 foot tall, capable of running
on four strong limbs, or standing on it's hind two and using the front
as massive hands (10 fingers per limb, two opposable thumbs).
It's thick fur hides a hide as strong as tempered titanium, and it's bone
structure extrudes, making it a walking weapon. The bones are
coated with a secreted nerve toxin. The claws are razor
sharp with the same toxin (but the glands are in the fingertips, making
the claws far more dangerous). It can speak rough human words,
understanding little. It has a hinged jaw and can open it's gaping
maw to the extent of 4 foot. It's double hinged vertebrae make
it flexible as a piece of string, and it is tripple jointed in every
joint. It calls itself the Tah-Nosha, which means nothing except
to it's own mind. It is a thinking weapon with no morals or
ethics, and no idea of a target. Except for one thing, one single
thought, which it left on it's own in the database of the destroyed D-tech
labs: Exception Aran. It is unknown wether
it considers Aran an exception to it's rage, or if it is simply two words
it managed to imprint. Either way, Aran has never been
it's target. It can exist in Cyberspace and Realspace, and
is brutal in both. It's rudeamentary psionics allow it to mask
it's very presence in crowds. Though confined currently to
the D-Tech building, it has no reason to leave, unless some fool let's
it free. *note The ooze used to create the Tah-Nosha is NOT
part of Genetech's stock. It is actually the scrap barrel
of DNA. Anything tested and determined too dangerous to ever use
again was added to this ooze. The lab was abandoned, the ooze left,
and that is what Takiyoma West found, expecting to find lost Genetech stock.
The creature is dangerous. It is asexual, and reproduces once
every nine years by sprouting a bud. Luckily, the only
existing one is nine months old, and hopefully will be destroyed before
it can reproduce.
Technomancers
- Homo Virtuas Crommium
In their own category because they are vastly different from BioHumans.
These individuals are almost pure technology. To be a
technomancer, one must be at least 65% to 70% tecnology. True
technomancers have completely artificial bone, muscle and nervous system
structures. As a result, they are blindingly fast in both mental
and physical prowess, and atuned to computers like few others.
On the downside, of the 10% that survive the gruelign 7 day operation to
become Technomancers, only 7% will live long enough to die of natural causes.
Manic Depression, Madness, and Pure Solitude seem to follow this chrome
plated humans.
They also like their techno-toys, and they have the best.
Located on an island in the Atlantic ocean, it is the major attraction of the city located there. Several attempts have been made to close the circus down, but none were successful. Even the Cyberspace Council's move to eject them from the matrix failed. It was eventually decided to let it continue--since nothing could be done about it in the first place.
Wirewitches
Wirewitches usually begin life as normal humans. Somewhere along
the line they are infected with a microscopic bio-mechanical parasite.
These 'technosites' spread through a host body, fusing and meshing with
each individual cell. The results are new, hybrid cells which exhibit
totally new behaviors. Each cell is a perfect union of flesh and
machine. But since this fusion takes place on a cellular level, wirewitches
still look human.
They have pale, bluish skin--a result of their cellular structure. Their eyes have no obvious retinas or pupils, but instead appear as monochromatic blue orbs. The molecules in their eyes are hyper-excited and the surface of their eyes appears to have a liquid fluidity. Their heads are always shaved, but each wirewitch will have an area of their head which is not shaved. From this area, they will grow a long stalk of hair. This wire-like hair is extremely long, often reaching to the ground.
Wirewitches exhibit total control of every cell in their body. This provides them with some abilities such as limb regeneration, above-normal agility, and muscle control. Due to their body/circuitry, wirewitches are able to access cyberspace directly without external hookups. They maintain a constant connection to the matrix.
The wirewitch 'family unit' is the coven. A coven consists of four females (witches) and one male (warlock). Though the male is most often the strongest, fastest, and most powerful, one of the elder female witches is usually selected to lead a coven. Though wirewitches can reproduce as normal humans can, the method most commonly practiced to order to procreate is by infecting other normal humans. Skin contact is all that is necessary for the transfer of the technosites. Obviously, this method is much faster than normal birth.
Wirewitches mostly keep to themselves. They are lethal as enemies and still deadly as friends. It is for this reason that covens are well respected, and most sane beings keep their distance.
Matrix
Interface Unit
Any device used to connect a computer system (especially an implanted
system).
Metal-plastic
alloy-polymer (MPAP)
The comet brought with it many chemical compunds that previously did
not exist on the earth. MPAP's were one type of these substances
that were found to be useful. MPAP's usually have some of the characteristics
of both plastic and/or metal, although some of them are not similar to
either.
Metaskin
The skin of wirewitches. It refers to the metal/skin nature of
wirewitch flesh. This term was not used prior to the arrival of the
Comet--which was responsible for major genetic mutations in wirewitches.
One effect was a toughening of their skin.
Omnidriver
A small PLE-powered device that uses nanotechnology to change its shape
so that it can mimic several different types of other tools.
Photon
Redirectors
Devices used for bending light around an object. It works from
all possible angles, so that no matter the viewer's position, they will
see right through the object.
Pulse
Displacer
A handgun styled weapon which fires short pulses of highly focused
energy. The pulses strike the target with more of a physical force
than explosive energy, more often than not knocking a target back or down.
Broken bones usually result. Only continued assault with a pulse
displacer would be fatal since it is used mainly for disabling a target.
Pulse
Shielding
An invisible barrier created by focusing and accelerating atoms in
a thin beam. No matter is able to pass through this beam without
being destroyed. By moving this beam in a back and forth motion,
a wide area can be protected. The most common application of this
technology is to secure doorways or narrow passages, although larger areas
can be protected with larger power sources.
Skinsuit
A one-piece garment which covers the entire body. Though there
are many different styles, the basic design calls for a material which
adjusts itself to a person's particular body shape. The material
can stretch and contract within certain tolerances. Skinsuits are
form-fitting, but do not restrict movement as many other forms of clothing
have a tendency to do.
Sonic
Shower
Much of the earth's water supply has become contaminated. Due
to this shortage of water suitable for drinking, many areas of the world
have had to institute rationing policies. The sonic shower was invented
in order to compensate for this lack of clean water available for bathing.
It breaks up dirt and removes it from the skin by bombardment with low
frequency sound waves. Continued exposure has been known to cause
skin damage, so sonic showers are never used by one person for a long period
of time.
Technosites
A microscopic bio-mechanical parasite which infuses itself with every
cell in a wirewitch. They were originally developed as Technacatamine22
by Technicia Defense Organization. This was referred to as Project
22. Modern technosites bear little to no resemblance to their original
form, due to the Comet, genetic mutations, and self evolution.
Witchkiss
This is the most common way in which wirewitches create other wirewitches.
It is a physical kiss between a wirewitch and some other being. The
physical contact provides a quick method for transferring technosites internally
to the victim.
