The Twilight Sector Setting envisions a number of Stellar Nations, each with its own culture and guiding principles.  These give each its own distinct flavor from the centrally planned societies of the Archenar and Oster republics to the organized chaos that is the Orion’s. What each has in common though is how 30^th century technology has affected their economies.

In our version of the 30^th century, technology, primarily through robotics and artificial intelligence and especially where the two converge, has ramped up productivity to a level far beyond what we can conceive of today.  For example US per capita GDP in 2010 was approximately $48,000 US
dollars.  The lowest imagined GDP in our setting belongs to the Mauryans at 126,000 credits or about 2.6 times the current US GDP. An average stellar nation would have a GDP closer to 160,000
credits or about 3.3 times current US GDP.

At the same time this increase in productivity has not been because of human endeavor but because of the increased efficiency provided by human technological creations (robots and AIs). What that leaves us with is impressively rich societies with not enough jobs to go around. Human ingenuity
is still the engine behind the 30^th century economic miracle but fewer and fewer humans are able to provide meaningful contributions to economic productivity.

All that boils down to a 30% unemployment rate being the norm in most Stellar Nations within the Known Galaxy.  That high unemployment rate has necessitated a considerable government dole to keep societal peace.

Now the dole would vary widely in the setting ranging from a low of 7% of GDP for the stingy and relatively poor Mauryan’s to a high of 30% in the Deramus Enclave. So let’s use the Orion Confederation as an example of what the government dole would look like as they fall roughly in the
middle at 18% of GDP.  This would equal annual dole benefits of approximately 28,000 credits per dolee.  Now benefits would range from medical benefits (including longevity treatments) to housing and food allowances as well as some walking about money so you can go to the tri-dee or take that
lunar vacation you’ve been wanting.  In short the benefits would provide for a lower middle class life style as we currently understand it.

Now being on the dole wouldn’t necessarily provide an idyllic life style and so many dolee’s would probably seek supplemental work to provide additional income.  For that reason there would most likely be an underground economy of work for hire and handicrafts (because people will get tired of the sterile monotony of mass produced items) that a great many people would take part in.  The governments in most Stellar Nations would likely look the other way on this underground economy realizing that it is an important tool in creating social stability and is far more valuable in that
role than for any tax revenue it might produce.

How does this affect my game?:

The dole provides ample background fodder for many characters and adventures.  From the
coffin apartment buildings we previously outlined in the article on 30^th century living spaces to an underground economy.  All of these are rich veins to mine for adventure opportunities.

The following are Diogenes Mongoose Traveller stats.  They include information on his BioCon and a simple method of playing AIs that we’ve found works quite well for convention play.

Diogenes can be an important driving force behind the adventure as he is one of the possible patrons detailed in the adventure.  He is keen to find out what happened to the human women he was having a relationship with, Amanda Foster.  Besides being the patron that gets the ball rolling in the adventure he makes a great player character.

Strength  Dexterity  Endurance  Intelligence  Education  Social Standing

   N/A         N/A                 N/A               13 (+2)           14 (+2)               6

Home world:  Terra

Skills:  Admin 1, Awareness 2, Computers 3, Drive (Wheeled) 1, Drive (Grav) 1, Engineer (Maneuver Drive) 1, Engineer (Power) 1, Flyer (Wing) 1, Flyer (Rotor) 1, Investigate 0, Recon 1, Gun Combat (Energy Pistol) 1, Language 3, Mechanic 1, Physical Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Electronics) each at 1, Pilot (Small Spacecraft) 1, Remote Operations 1, Sensors 1, Tactics (Military) 1, Vacc Suit 1, Zero-G 2

Equipment:  Rourke Laser Revolver, Protec suit (armor 4, with Subdurmal Armor total protection is 7), Neural Comm (range 3 km)

Background: An AI named Diogenes has recently lost someone special to him, a human woman with whom he was having an affair. She was abducted at the same time as another man, a former co-worker of hers named Wiley. Diogenes is not well suited to running around in the real world, nor with an investigation of this type, so he seeks help from people better suited than he is to interact with human elements and get his investigation back on track.

BioCon

Strength  Dexterity  Endurance  Intelligence  Education  Social Standing

 12(+2)      10 (+1)          12 (+2)            N/A                N/A                 N/A

Augments:

Neural Comm (range 3 km), Subdermal Armor (TL11, Armor 3), Enhanced Vision (Cybernetic eyes) act as Binocular/IR/Light Intensifier vision (see Core Rulebook pg 90)

AI Rules:

The BioCon’s onboard computer that houses part of your programming when you are using it has a rating of 24, 16 of that rating is needed to house your basic intellect and personality.  The remainder can be used on a 1 rating point for 1 skill level exchange (or 1 rating point for 2 – 0 level skills if you had any).  That’s the amount of skill points (8) that can be downloaded into your BioCon at any one time.  As long as your host computer has a comm link (basically anywhere on the same continent as long as the signal isn’t being jammed) with your BioCon you can change out skills by first uploading the skill(s) to be replaced (time is one minor action per level) and then downloading a new one(s) (again one minor action per level).

Rourke Weapon Systems ‘Light Cobra’ Laser Revolver

The ‘Light Cobra’ is a weapon intended to appeal to those who want a high-firepower laser handgun without having to carry backpacks around with them. The Light Cobra uses heavy cartridges of the same sort used in laser rifles, though its relatively short barrel limits their performance somewhat. Accuracy is excellent out to 250m (slightly more with the long barrel version) but after this the beam begins to scatter and the weapon’s effectiveness drops off rapidly.

Stats:

Type: Handgun, Laser, Heavy

Cost: Cr3,000. TL: 13. Mass: 1.4kg. Recoil N/A

Capacity: 6 Shots. Reloading time: 2 rounds per minor action or fully reloaded in 1 minor action with speedloader

Ammunition: Heavy Laser Cartridge. Damage 4d6

Autofire: Not Possible

In this installment of ‘Slice of Life’ we’re going to look at your living space in the Twilight Sector Campaign Setting.  Where do you live?  What does it look like?  What major appliances do you own? 

First lets give this all some context.  We’re going to take a look at what the typical ‘Coffin Apartment’, Standard Apartment, Condominium and free standing domicile looks like on Terra/Sol in the Twilight Sector.  We’ll look at size, standard fittings and locations.  But first let’s talk about some of the 30^th century tech you can use to dress up the old living space.

Most living spaces in the 30^th century do have a few key technologies in common.  Most are smart places run by computer technology running a household expert program.  The residence responds to the occupants, turning on lights when you enter a room responding to verbal commands like “make me a cup of coffee” etcetera. Your digital butler can tell you how much butter or cleaning solution you have on hand and with your permission order up additional supplies as needed.  It can create a personalized diet for every member of the household and relay that information to your food synthesizer. In short it does most of the domestic thinking for you.

One of the most ubiquitous home technologies is memory plastic. Blocks of this remarkable material can be shaped into any number of preprogrammed configurations, everything from a vase to a couch. This material can be condensed and stored recessed into the floor or wall thus taking up no valuable floor space until it is needed. So when for example it’s meal time a command can be given that activates the plastic to become a table and chairs.  When dinner is done simply give the command for the couch and viola the material morphs back into the floor and returns as your living room couch.

Wireless access to the internet is a part of your living space and because we know what comes in can go out, in some places like the Orion Confederation that has become a personal privacy issue.  In others like the Archenar Peoples Republic it’s just another tool the state uses to keep its population in line.  Monitoring for fire, pathogens or medical emergencies can be a public safety issue and provides an excuse for the state to have some access to your home for at least the performance of these functions.

One of the most common kitchen home appliances in the 30^th century is the flash freezer. It provides ice or instant freezing for your leftovers as long as they fit in its admittedly small dimensions. The average model is only 12”x12”x6”. It can provide a couple of cups of ice in approximately 3 to 8 seconds (depending on the quality of the model you own) and can just as quickly freeze food for later use. Actual refrigerators are now somewhat rare and if present are usually quite small since the storage of raw foodstuffs isn’t really necessary with the advent of Gloop and our next common home appliance the Food Synthesizer. This ubiquitous device is present in most homes or apartment complexes. They range from the fancy with almost an unlimited range of foods that can be provided to much more limited versions for which you have to switch programming every so often so you don’t get bored with what the machine is spitting out.  

For housekeeping cleaner bots are quite common. These are usually 12” diameter flat circular bots, which are 4” tall and equipped with anti-grav.  They roll around the floor cleaning but can also levitate to surfaces to clean those up and with a retractable arm clean up dishes and such.  A single bot can clean 800 square feet in 4 hours.

For the bedroom memory plastic beds or in lower end dwelling old fashioned Murphy pull down beds are the norm. A high tech option that is gaining popularity is the zero-g sleeping field. These are of course powered by grav plates and because they aren’t really zero-g but low gravity they are surprisingly not that expensive. Since they don’t have to handle as high of load capacities as they might when installed on a skid tractor or in a starship they are very reasonably priced.

Entertainment comes from a number of sources.  Net based VR can be accessed through home Sensoriums, basketball sized devices that can interpret complicated net programs designed to make you feel like you are in the action.  Other far more expensive options like Holographic and Immersive Tech display areas might be available in higher end homes.  For a lower tech option when you just want to veg out, wall sized Tri-D displays can play your favorite shows.  These can also be used to give your home a different feel depending on your mood. A wall sized display of a tropical reef might provide some needed relief from an Antarctic winter in Defiance City.

To start our tour of the various living abodes lets discuss the proverbial Coffin Apartment, the smallest and most standardized type of living space.  Typically a coffin apartment is a 10’x20’ space and so contains 200 square feet of living space.  These are usually 10 feet wide by 20 feet deep.  That’s not a lot of space!  But it could be worse; the Archenar equivalent only comes in at 128 square feet (8’x16’).  Because of the size issues the technology for these apartments is specialized to save space.  Fold down Murphy beds, Murphy couches or Murphy tables (assuming you don’t use memory plastic described previously), toilets that lower into the floor when you want to take a shower, kitchen cabinets flush with the wall, taking advantage of what would be dead utility space in most dwellings. In short the idea is to make these apartments highly configurable based on what the needs are of the occupant at a particular time. So for example when it’s bedtime you configure the space as a bedroom, at dinner time a dining room and for leisure a living room.

Depending on the apartment building you might not have a kitchen at all but access to the communal gloop machine. The cost of your meals being part of your rent or dole benefit.

Residents of these types of apartments range from singles to dolee families. Though some are surprisingly affluent, they might simply be single and only need a small living space. In a large 30^th century urban environment there are plenty of common areas both indoor and outdoor where people can spend their time so that small living spaces will not make them feel claustrophobic.

Average Rent: 250 to 400 cr., but that usually includes a meal plan. The price variation is accounted for by location, location, location!

The next step up in living accommodations is the standard apartment. Still somewhat cookie cutter in shape and accouterments but they are a definite step up from the coffin apartments.  They typically range from 600 to 1,000 square feet in size.

Most come with their own food synthesizers, no more waiting in line at the gloop machine like so many coffin dwellers. Individual spaces (i.e. rooms) can offer multiple occupants some privacy and some status objects like the odd piece of real furniture.

The main upgrade the standard apartment offers is space. The thing most at a premium in densely populated cities like those on Terra/Sol.

Average Rent: 500 to 900 cr.

The next step up is a condominium. The name implies ownership but that is not always the case, some are simply luxury apartments but in the common parlance whether the domicile is owned or rented these types of living spaces are called condominiums. 

Average space in a condominium has a rather wide range of 1,200 to 3,600 square feet.  This of course leads to a wide range of rent or mortgage payments as well.  Price goes up with size and location of course.

Condominiums usually have purpose driven rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, dining rooms etcetera instead of the multipurpose spaces common in lower end accommodations.  Owners or renters are also more likely to have the income to afford some status items like handmade furniture and to be able to afford real food items hence the need for kitchens. However they would likely still be equipped with a high quality food synthesizer for those meals on the run. The use of wall screens becomes commonplace with an average of two or more in each room so the owners can catch up on the latest entertainment programming or set their surroundings to anything from mountain vistas to the latest rave club.

Memory plastic is still used but it’s usually pulled out for spare chairs and such when required to accommodate company or those pesky relatives who stop by to get a look at your place. Prompting comments like;

“Can you believe it Harold? They have a room just for the toilet! It’s nice and all but it just feels a little too ostentatious for my tastes.”

Average mortgage or rent: 1,200 to 4,000 cr.

The final step in living places is a free standing domicile. These can range from the truly outrageous prices charged for a house in the middle of a city to the more affordable suburban homes. But any ‘house’ in a major city is an expensive item that it takes a substantial income to be able to purchase.

In the distant past many futurists believed that as the ease of transportation increased and technology advanced to the point that you didn’t need to physically go into the office that humanity would spread out. Everyone would have their own plot of land and their own house.

What the future was yet to reveal was that while transportation became faster with ever greater numbers of humans ease did not follow. The sheer volume of traffic absorbed the gain in speed.

Technology did indeed advance to the point that you could work from anywhere and you could even dial in virtually to sit in on meetings. However two factors combined to save the office and cities for that matter. Productivity did not increase for virtual workers in fact it declined. Much of the population were not self starters, they needed the proximity of other workers and supervisors to inspire them to productivity. Even beyond that and maybe far more importantly, Man is a social creature and even those who lived far from the city center found themselves coming into the city for entertainment and interaction. Societal Engineers coined the term ‘Human Gravity’ to describe the effect. They found that society creates its own gravity, the more humans that were present the more they are drawn to each other much the same way as the matter in a solar system accretes to form every larger objects with their own gravity.

These social realities of course affected houses. Although they are extremely popular with those who can afford them, owners still want to be close to the center of the human gravity. This fact is just another factor that plays into the old real estate axiom, ‘Location is everything’.

As for the houses themselves they boast the entire range of technology. They are usually run by a powerful computer that takes care of everything from stocking the pantry to sensing when the roof needs repaired and then even hiring the roofer.

Status symbols abound, full kitchens, natural foods, dedicated rooms, custom made handcrafted furniture, virtual reality sensoriums and holographic rooms. The range of amenities and the size of houses is enormous and cannot be easily described.

Average mortgage: 1,500 to 100,000 cr.

A note on metrics, for this article I have used U.S. Customary units of measurement most notably feet and square feet. This is because that is the way I can visualize the size of the areas I’m describing. If you’d rather have the information in metric units the conversion factor for feet to meters is 0.305 and the conversion for square feet to square meters is 0.093. You do the math.

Firstly, I don’t know any of the secrets of the Twilight Sector setting. There may be a secret reason why there’s a nearly exact duplicate of Earth on the edge of explored space, but I’m not privy to it. This blog post is all speculation, not spoilers.

Enough caveats. Let’s talk about the elephant in the Twilight Sector. Why Terra/Sol?

The universe might not be infinite, but there may be an infinite number of universes. Search the multiverse long enough, and you’ll find an instance of the universe with two or more Earths. Scour that subset, and you find a universe where there are multiple Earths and human life. In this interpretation, there’s no big secret behind Terra/Sol – it’s just a co-incidence. This explanation can be unsatisfying to paranoid players, who see conspiracies everywhere, but it’s also refreshingly strange. Existence is just that unlikely.

Even if you subscribe to the natural phenomenon theory, there are ways to build on this explanation. Perhaps there’s some strange warping of the laws of probability in the Twilight Sector, and the characters will find even more unlikely worlds as they explore. A few jumps out, they might find yet another Earth, or copies of themselves, or a world of intelligent tigers.

Another possibility is that Terra/Sol was built by some alien race with an interest in humanity. Constructing a world to order would be an unimaginable difficult task, so the aliens must have had an equally incredible need. Could Terra/Sol be intended as a lifeboat for the human species, or is it perhaps a zoo habitat? Could there be secrets undiscovered on Earth as well as Terra/Sol itself? Alternatively, Terra/Sol could be Earth! At some point in our future, the planet gets thrown through space and back in time. Tens of thousands of years pass – not enough time for the continents to shift unrecognizably, but long enough for almost every trace of human civilization to be erased. This secret goes undiscovered until the player characters find a clue pointing to the ultimate origin of Terra/Sol and the fate of Earth.

A final option is to take a metaphysical approach. The chances of another Earth are so remote that a more likely explanation is that the characters are being deceived. Maybe they’re dead and Terra/Sol is purgatory (or perhaps the meek have found the Earth they’re destined to inherit). The whole campaign could be a computer simulation, a virtual reality running in the nigh-infinite simulation spaces of Deramus, or a what-if scenario being run for the sleeping player characters as they travel slower-than-light in hibernation to a distant colony world.

The mystery of Terra/Sol is too strange not to be explored. Even in a campaign that never touches on the question of the world’s improbable existence, it exists as a taunting enigma, a sign that the characters will never understand all the mysteries of the Twilight Sector.

The ability to place someone in a whole new environment or artificial world has long been a staple of science fiction.  From holo decks to the electronic frontiers of cyberspace our settings have always strove to find new and different places for us to explore. The Twilight Sector in the 30^th century is no different.  Our setting explores both of the major branches of science fiction’s human made artificial worlds, holographic and digital.  This article describes the abilities of holographic technology to create such artificial worlds within the Twilight Sector Setting.

Holographic technology has become big business in the 30^th century.  It is a training platform used by many organizations seeking to teach physical skills and despite the advantages of cyberspace it is still a popular if expensive entertainment platform.  This technology should not be confused with computer based Virtual Reality, the so called cyberspace. Holographic and Immersive Technology (H&IT) creates an overlay on the real world and so the user actually interacts with this overlay on a physical level.  On the other hand cyberspace creates a Virtual Reality that exists solely within the mind of a user.  For teaching physical based skills like combat or sports, anything where muscle memory is a key in the learning process it has been found that an immersion suit or the far more effective Holo chip, H&IT is the most effective training platform to teach physical skills.

For the uninitiated let’s start by defining Holography as it is understood in the 30^th century.  At its core holography is a 3D recording of…pretty much anything that can be seen in the visible spectrum and then transferring that recording to a three dimensional light projector.  The basic technology is light projection that provides a 360 degree view of an object.  Improvements to Holography came by adding quantum computing technology to the equation which provided the processing power to take a static 3D image and impart realistic animation to it, animation that can adjust to a users interaction with it.  Practically what that means is that a holographic vase although only a light projection feels like a physical object to a H&IT user.  This technology created a paradigm shift in the training and entertainment industries that quickly spread.

The Immersion piece of H&IT is a second generation technology that is symbiotic with holography.  IT takes holograms and makes your mind think they are real. It tricks the mind by providing the senses of touch, taste and smell.  Sound is usually provided by a separate audio system that in itself is quite impressive and can augment the sense of touch via vibration. IT is accomplished via a number of technological devices.  Everything from visors to whole body suits but perhaps the most ingenious and effective is the IT chip.  Implanted in a wafer jack this chip actually sends out a series of tendrils into the various centers of the brain connected to the five senses and with the proper authorizations supplants reality in telling the body what it is sensing.

Applications for holographic technology alone are most commonly communications and entertainment. But where the technology has really changed things is when it is combined with IT and creates virtual environments that feel real to the user.  Examples of how this technology has changed the human condition come from a number of fields.  At its most basic level the ability to record and then share a human experience and then allow the user to interact with this recorded environment was and is profound. 

For example during the Mutant Wars the ability of journalists to record the scenes of carnage and mayhem around them down to the smells of the battlefield created the ability for the average man on the street to experience and understand what the war was actually like.  But unless physical interaction with the environment of the recording is needed or desired, a Virtual Environment Overlay (VEO) part of computer based Virtual Reality is a far simpler and cheaper technology to accomplish the same task.

Other examples include sports and entertainment. The popularity of watching sports was even more enhanced when you could experience every event as if you had sideline seats at mid-field. The cold wind whipping your face, the smell of the hotdog being eaten by the fan next to you, all of this made it possible to experience a sporting event that might have occurred many light years from you as if you were actually there.  Then there was the rise of Immersive cinema where a patron could feel like they were literally in the middle of the movie. Once again these effects can also be accomplished by VEO technology far more inexpensively.  However many aficionados of H&IT claim the experience in an H&IT recording is superior and more immersive than a VEO experience of the same recording.

As discussed above many of the uses of H&IT can be approximated through computer based Virtual Reality, especially with the use of VEO technology (which will be detailed in the forthcoming sourcebook ‘Mutants and AIs’).  This experience is usually not as ‘real’ as H&IT but monetarily VR is a much more friendly technology for the average person’s pocketbook.  Where VR can’t compete with Immersive Technology is in training.  With immersive technology it is possible to train people for any number of jobs, especially those with an integral physical element to them. VR cannot train muscle memory, H&IT can. The military was quick to embrace the technology which allowed them to train their personnel in any number of dangerous situations up to and including combat. The usefulness of the technology in training people for dangerous jobs can’t be overstated as they can be put into realistic appearing situations without the threat of real injury.  Other dangerous professions quickly followed the militaries lead. 

Top of the line computer equipment is necessary to run an H&IT simulation or presentation (entertainment such as a movie).  At a minimum a Model 2 ships computer with a quantum core is necessary to run an immersive program.

IT Wafer Jack Chip, TL 15, Cost: 15,000 Cr.

Is a chip designed to fit into a standard Wafer Jack or in the case of most new models they come as standard equipment.  The chip allows the user to record and with the aid of communications equipment broadcast up to 10 hours of their personal experiences.  Because of the broadcast ability of these chips they also provide a form of technological telepathy.  By broadcasting a chip user can contact another chip user communicating directly via their chips, this noiseless communication in essence becoming a weak form of technological telepathy. These broadcasts can of course be intercepted or jammed. 

IT Suit, TL 14, Cost 10,000 Cr. (12,000 Cr. For the Deluxe Suit)

IT Suits come in a variety of styles and options but at their heart they cover the user’s body head to toe with millions of sensor pads which react to the visual cues being relayed to the mind via IT goggles.  This quite effectively mimics the sense of touch.  The IT program and the suit and goggles need to be synced for the effect to work. Deluxe suits also come with a scent feature.  The suit can release a variety of chemicals to mimic the sense of smell and to a lesser extent the sense of taste.  Note that a VR suit must be used with VR goggles for the full immersive experience. Where the IT Suit is deficient is the sense of taste.  Without an IT chip the technology has no good way to mimic this sense.

IT Goggles

These goggles can be used in a variety of ways.  Simply to provide a richly immersive experience with entertainment or news programming or as part of a VR Suit to provide an interactive experience in an entertainment program or as part of a training program. VR goggles are available in a number of configurations.  As simple eye coverings similar to glasses, as wrap around goggles and even as contact or bio-replacement lenses.

IT Glasses or Goggles, TL 13 Cost 2,000 Cr.

IT Contacts, TL 14 Cost 2,500 Cr.

IT Bio-replacement Lenses, TL 15 Cost 5,000 Cr.

H&IT Display/Training Area, TL 14 Cost 10,000 Cr. Per 3 Meter Sq.

In order to work properly H&IT needs a place to call home, an area where a training exercise or entertainment program can be presented to users, a holo deck type of environment.  These facilities can be immensely expensive.  What it is, is an area specially constructed with holographic and sonic projectors embedded in the floors walls and ceiling.  Some also contain chemical projectors to mimic smell and to a lesser degree taste.  The size can vary from just a 3 meter square to huge areas hundreds of meters by hundreds of meters.  One of the few limitations of this type of device is in replicating open vistas like plains and the like but clever programming can overcome this problem in most instances.  

H&IT can be used in conjunction with a real world environment and often elements of a real world environment are used in an H&IT display/training area.  They save money and computer processing power. 

How does this affect my game?:

Well this one is a game changer but in a very good way.  The fact that we have fully immersive technology lets a GM do a couple of really cool things.  One off adventures can be used in the middle of a campaign, presented as either training or entertainment.  That especially dangerous adventure you had in mind that would probably kill everybody off but you’re just dying to run can now be played without the worry of permanent player characters death and without you the GM having to hold back and potentially lesson the dramatic impact of the adventure.

The H&IT can be the introduction to an adventure as well.  Players with IT chips would likely be able to find work recording unusual experiences.  For example footage from the front lines of the latest bush war would be valuable to news organizations.  An IT recording of Goliath Corps latest invention would be valuable to its competitors (An IT recording is the perfect espionage tool.).  Any number of IT recordings of dangerous or exotic locals could be sold to clients ranging from movie studios to travel agencies.  So as a plot device the need for an IT recording of place X could be the beginning of any number of adventures.

The possibility of electronic telepathy can also be an interesting sidelight of the IT chip.  Whether you use psionics in your campaign or not this can be an interesting foray into telepathy, and with the possibility of eavesdropping and jamming of the PCs telepathic communications it does not unbalance even a game without psionics.  It would be GM gold to see the bewilderment on the player’s faces when the bad guys cavalry shows up at just the right time because they intercepted the players “Telepathic” communication. “It was like they were reading our minds!”

Special Note:

This article hasn’t really touched on one of the most obvious uses of the technology, pornography or the sex trades.  In the interest of propriety I will not go into detail beyond noting that this technology would have a profound effect in this area.  Sexting for example would take on a whole new meaning!

Fluffy has changed! So has Fido for that matter. In the 30^th Century pets are what you make of them.  Many aren’t even all biological anymore.  A digital dog never grows old, never gets tired and doesn’t throw up on the rug.  If that’s what you’re looking for then digital Fido is the answer for you.  Combine a digital pet with an Agent or if you want to go all out an Intellect program then you can have a pet sensitive to your every whim.  Snuggling when you’re down, leaving you alone when you’re angry and playing when you’re bored.  Your pet can even carry on a conversation with you with the correct programming.  Replace the faux fur every few years and, viola, Fido is immortal, something that can be handed down from one generation to the next and is probably a better repository of family lore than Grandpa.

Combining digital and biological nets you even more options.  A BioCon dog outfitted with an intellect program can be hard to tell from an uplift.  Implanting digital brains in biological organism’s accounts for some of the extremely unusual pets seen in the 30^th century.  Things like talking goldfish and snakes.  Beyond that even we reach the realm of the truly bizarre.  Flying talking cats, a Chimera (with or without mechanically added fire breathing), a miniature dragon or an neon pink talking purse dog running an intellect program that probably makes it smarter than the person toting it around. 

Besides the bizarre these unusual pets have actually taken on useful roles.  The Cheshire cat might now be running an EdSoft program providing a useful learning tool for your toddler all the while entertaining them.  The BioCon mastiff with augmented muscles running an intellect program makes for a more than adequate night watchman.  Needless to say a DVM now has more to keep up with than a doctor and a second degree in computer science might be in order.

How does this affect my game?: That is only limited by you and your players imaginations.  Pets would now make very useful intelligence gathering assets.  The Villain with the Neon Pink purse poodle now becomes just that much more memorable especially if the damn thing is hurling insults at the players.

The tools you need for creating unusual pets are all contained in the TCRB mostly around page 92 where Software is discussed and the previous page which discusses non-ship computer hardware.  The Encounters and Dangers chapter of the TCRB starting on page 69 also is a good source for inspiration on what an unusual ‘pet’ might look like.

We do however want to have a central repository for this information and this blog seems to be as good of a place as any.  So below you will find the news events we’ve released so far that are official campaign information.  Do with them as you will.

Galactic News Service Wirefeed

Thursday, March 3, 2991 (received 14:25 UTC. Earth)

Mauryan Empire (GNS): An Interstellar incident was touched

off when the private yacht Daddy’s Pride strayed off course

into Mauryan Empire space and is now being held by Mauryan

authorities under espionage charges. The yacht reportedly only had

two passengers: Myron George, CEO of Apollo AeroSpace, one of

the largest shipbuilders in Terran Space, and a second individual who

remains unidentified as of this report.

This is only the latest round of saber rattling by the Empire. Two

months ago an Empire patrol attacked and destroyed a system

defense boat in the Anroy system well within Terran Union Space.

Despite deep philosophical differences the Oster Republic has

repeatedly defended the Mauryan Empire even threatening military

action if the Terran Union should use force to respond to Mauryan

encroachments. The Empire has been accused of gross human rights

abuses by the Terrans which has lead to the current state of tension

and occasional raiding along the two nation’s common border.

The Oster Republic has supported the Mauryan position that Terran

accusations amount to interference in Mauryan internal politics. Off

the record several Terran diplomats accuse the Oster Republic of

cynicism stating “the only common ground the two nations possess

is their opposition to anything Terran.”

Saturday, May 14, 2991 (received 09:39 UTC. Earth)

Earth/Terran Union (GNS): A joint mission between the Orion

Confederation, Terran Union and the Union of United Planets will

attempt to look back in time to determine the origins of Terra/Sol.

The project, announced on Earth will send a mobile observatory to a

position far enough distant from the Terra/Sol system to detect light

emitted by the star at least 1,000 years ago. This is expected to take

the mission far into unexplored space.

Estimated cost for the mission is 1.68 trillion credits. The mission will

involve the use of at least one Dreadnought which will be provided

by the UUP. The Dreadnought will depart UUP space directly

opposite Terra/Sol and continue into unknown space.

Thursday, June 23, 2991 (received 22:13 UTC. Earth)

Solteir/Terran Union (GNS) – The Aquatic Sentience Institute

on this waterworld suffered a bomb attack today. Six Dolphin

and two human researchers were killed and eleven other

sentients were injured. The Institute is currently attempting to uplift

Orcinus orca, commonly known as the Killer Whale.

Credit for the blast was immediately claimed by the ELF, the Exolife

Liberation Front. The environmental organization has long opposed

additional uplifts by humans and has previously been responsible

for over a hundred attacks on organizations or facilities known to

engage in uplift research. Since the ASI is owned and directed by

uplifted Dolphins it’s unclear if ELF has broadened their opposition to

oppose any uplift activities.

Monday, August 1, 2991 (received 08:21 UTC. Earth)

Uttica/Shenzhou (GNS) – Unforecast solar flares in this system

resulted in the deaths of over 8,000 asteroid miners working the

rich inner belt of the Uttica system. Uttica’s solar primary has

long been prone to flare activity. In previous decades, this has been

extremely predictable, but the latest outburst gave only a few hours

warning. The flare was also the largest on record based on in-system

and pre-settlement findings. Stellar scientists are at a loss to explain

the event, but are currently investigating to learn what they can.

Tuesday August 9, 2991 (Received 12:55 UTC. Earth)

Terra-Sol/Orion Confederation (GNS) – Another ritual

kidnapping and brutal slaying has occurred today in the Republic

of the Plains on Terra-Sol. Dubbed as the “Yamaguchi Ripper”,

these flagrant criminal actions have become magnified by the

reluctance of authorities to shed any light on their nature.

“We see these kind of events come and go in modern society,” said

Police Spokesentient Hobarth Hulmann-Orlanski-Babangida, “Kansas

City is home to 43 million Sentients, 42 million of which are biologicals.

These things happen from time to time, so while the murders and

abductions are themselves serious criminal acts there is no need for

this sensationalism. Rest assured, the Kansas City Police Department is

dedicated to finding this killer and bringing them to justice.”

The Casual Observer: Weekly Galactic News

‘All the News the Rest of the Galaxy won’t print”

Local Police today reported the discovery of the body of infamous Terra/Sol scientist Professor Johan Ivach.

From 2940 to 2980 Professor Ivach was regarded as one of the finest minds in the sector. His outstanding work on T-Space physics, Quantum reality and Time-Space divergence were required reading at many Twilight Sector Universities.

However from 2980 onwards mainstream science asserted his work took a downturn into bizarre theories and speculations on the nature of T-Space. The professor asserted that although Tachyons only exist at a speed beyond that of light, Tachyon space still carried the same potential to spawn life as our so called normal space. The professor had not been in the public eye since his ill fated 2987 expedition which culminated in the loss of all hands aboard the lab ship Estevanico.

With his reputation in ruins Ivach vanished from the public eye and has not been seen until now.  Authorities refused to comment on the cause of death or the condition of the Professor’s body when it was discovered. 

This reporter is left to wonder after the good Professor’s fate.  Was it a foregone conclusion after showing the audacity to challenge the scientific establishments Unified Theory of Transluminal Space?  We at the Casual Observer will continue to investigate!

July 3, 2991, Chet Leewood:

Albion, Orion Confederation.

Suppressed research form an Albion government laboratory indicates that a highly adaptable Alien virus is to blame for this planets high incidence of so-called “Natural Mutation”. 

Similar to other reports this publication has received over the past twenty years from a number of government sponsored researchers not just in the Orin Confederation but in Terran Union Space as well. 

This mounting evidence can only lead us to conclude that the real story behind humanities so called “next evolutionary step” is more than has been provided to the general public.

We at the Casual Observer will continue to investigate!

Star of the Plains August 7, 2991

Remembrance Day

Kansas City – Sylvia Cruz

President Smith today marked the 109^th anniversary of the loss of the Battleship Kansas to thwart the APR invasion of Terra/Sol.  He places a wreath at the Soldiers and Sailors memorial before making a few brief remarks praising the courage and sacrifice of Plainsman in support of the Confederation during the war.  The event was attended by many of thethe relatives of those lost.

ROP Supports Texas

(The Star Grid Service)

Foreign Minister Gerald Laughing Bear today reiterated that the ROP supported claims of the Republic of Texas to sovereignty over a 15 square mile section of land now south of the Rio Grande after a shift of the river in 2889. Several artillery duels have occurred over the last several weeks…

Aztec Empire Bans Press

(EP) – Mexico City

Aztec Press Secretary Manual Norova today announced that the foreign press would be banned from the southern province of Quintana Roo where Huastec rebels, who are reportedly receiving help from the Andes Free State, have launched an offensive.  In part the statement read: “The Son of Heaven, Coyote a Quesquatal has decreed that foreign wordsmiths are to no longer have access to the Quintana Roo as they are easily deceived by the Crow Shaman of the Huastec.  If they are so gullible I must protect them from this deception.”