STELLA Series (And Other) Vatgrown Zeng-Hu Clones

[12antemeridiem]

Type (e.g. Planet, Faction, System): Zeng-Hu Clone Series.

Describe this proposal in a single sentence (12 word maximum): Allowing for lab-born batch-produced "humans" with letter&number designations in their names.

How will this be reflected on-station? The creation of STELLA, and potentially other lab-born/vat-born clones produced by Zeng-Hu for menial labour & other tasks.

Does this faction/etc do anything not achieved by what already exists? Currently, it is not permissible to play clones with limited intelligence or use dehumanizing letter-and-number designations in human names.

Why should this be given to lore developers rather than remain player created lore? Because I was told that an admin that I was not allowed to play my character without making a lore application.

Do you understand that if this is submitted, you are signing it away to the lore team, and that it's possible that it will change over time in ways that you may not forsee? Yes.

Long Description: See below!

Hi.

So I made a character called Stella D-442 today. The idea was that she was an aging and fairly decrepit clone running on extended life support because of her value as cheap menial labour. I made a bunch of records and flavor text for her, and set up some custom items, but got told while playing that I wasn't allowed to play as her, because human names cannot have numbers in them, only IPCs. D-442 is a designation meaning "Batch D, #442," as the STELLA series were manufactured in large quantities to keep costs down.

Here is a copy paste of the records, flavor text, and story that I made up for her.

MEDICAL RECORDS:

The medical records are lengthy - unsurprising for such a weathered, mass produced clone meant to medically expire after a few decades.

DO NOT CLONE
DO NOT RESUCITATE
CYBORGIFICATION PERMITTED

Lungs, liver, and kidneys appear to have been mechanically augmented with bottom-line Zeng-Hu products repeatedly over the last fifty years, allowing for an extended lifetime. Despite mechanical assistance, the respiratory system is under considerable stress.

EMPLOYMENT RECORDS:

Contracts of numerous STELLA series vat-grown utility clones have been purchased over the last century. Designed for low-grade, intense labour over a period of no more than 25 years, before designed obsolescence.

This one has had its lifetime extended considerably by Nanotrasen - kept "on ice" in between shifts due to genetic degradation, and reassigned to lighter duties.

The general impressions from the dossier suggest a demure and compliant, unthinking, barely-sentient worker who has earned the meager niceties expended on her several hundred times over.

SECURITY RECORDS:

Security records read more like an autopsy report and instruction manual than an actual dossier. Most of the text uses outdated terminology from almost a century ago - ripped straight from the pages of Zeng-Hu batch clone handling manuals.

Designed structural weaknesses of the STELLA series are pointed out in detail, citing a designed lack of burst sprinting capabilities, and several designed weak points in the front and back of their skull, to allow for ease of access and decisive termination.

Based on the lengthy records on hand, this particular STELLA has been remarkably compliant and obedient during its tenure on NanoTrasen stations.

FLAVOR TEXT:

Average in height, with a slim and malnourished profile.
Lanky, greasy hair is cropped into a tight, professional pixie cut.
Slightly hollowed cheeks give way to eerily young, fresh faced features.
Dull, black, unsettling eyes stare out of sunken eye sockets.
A slightly emaciated stomach gives way to visible ribs, and an almost non-existent bust.
Lanky, but eerily lithe and muscular arms seem to be lightly enhanced by synthetic monofilaments.
Her hands shudder involuntarily now and then - ghost signals from malfunctioning glands.
Slim hips give way to thin, lithe legs, supported by monofilament muscular bracing.
Worn down by years of walking and labour, her feet are completely flat.

SIGNATURE

"I am Stella."

Creator's notes:

So. Now that I have you down here.

I created Stella with the intention of interacting with medical on a regular basis, as well as command staff, for direct assignment to departments at the beginning of a shift, and for regular "sustainability" checkups, to see if she's physically prepared for decommissioning. (A threshold which is ambiguous, but generally noted at 'too expensive to repair compared to the value of continued service.)

The moral question of the situation, is what really tugs at me. People, in general, are used to the idea of robots being property, and not having rights. They also rabidly believe that synthetic intelligences should have full rights. But what about humanoid, living and breathing 'robots,' who only just barely classify as sapient. Beings who can only ever achieve an amateurish understanding of subjects, and were designed from the ground up to perform menial, repetitive labor. Are those human? They look human. They're alive.

But they don't have rights. They don't want rights.

They just want to do what people tell them, and go to sleep.

I thought that this would be both an engaging moral and social question that would be fun for people to interact with, even on extended rounds. On secret or other rounds - Stella's suppressed death wish and slow mental degradation can really come to light in unsettling displays of animalistic regression and neuroses.

I would like you to make this canon so I can play this character.

Thank you. : ) < 3

EDIT: I was shown this song by a friend, and it very poignantly drives the point I wanted to make across beautifully.
 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by 12antemeridiem

[niennab]

I believe the lore canonization applications are more meant for broader picture ideas. In that instead of proposing a character (or a series of characters) for approval, you would detail the entire lore for a new thing or place.

In the case of this, it may be better to present your idea with the entire history and details for vatgrown clones. How they came to be, what it means for them in terms of their existence and legality.

On the surface my main concern is that conceptually it may hold a lot of or too many core concepts that synthetics on the server possess, and that overlap could mean redunancy in the lore. However human lore is not my field.

Vatgrown enmasse humans are however an interesting idea.

Edited July 27, 2020 by niennab

[12antemeridiem]

I believe the lore canonization applications are more meant for broader picture ideas. In that instead of proposing a character (or a series of characters) for approval, you would detail the entire lore for a new thing or place.

That's a very good point. I'm going to reply to your post right now - use this as a placeholder/writeup spot for me, and turn it into a more coherent loredump over the next half hour or so. I'll ping you when I'm all done! : )

EDIT: It's all done! (ish)

Okay.

Loredump. I can do loredump. I'll structure this loosely like a wiki article, with timestamps and all that fun stuff to tie it into the universe's lore.

Overview

Lab-born, or "Vat-born" humans are now widely a relic of humanity's checkered past. Designed and patented by Zeng-Hu in the early 2200's during the advent of corporate surveying, strip mining, and widespread colonial investment of the Sol Alliance. While Einstein Engines had the market cornered when it came to the ships traversing and establishing the sprawling Warp Gate network - Zeng-Hu built up a sizeable portion of its capital on the use of primitive cloning technology, fabricating what can loosely be termed as "viable" and "human" clones with limited intelligence, and equally limited lifespans.

Their utility came from their compliance, programmed brainwaves, and reliability. They could be "imprinted" and "taught" to perform fairly complex menial tasks, such as ship maintenance, basic first aid, janitorial duties, or record-keeping. Specific batches and product lines soon exploded out of the initial "MASON" run of clones, designed with offworld mining in mind, such as the immensely profitable "HANNAH" maintenance clones, and the more unpopular "RICHARD" janitorial series.

They were used extensively throughout the 2200s, up to the late 2300's, as political agitation regarding clone rights began to swell, and were ultimately quashed within the Alliance courts system, and quickly fell out of vogue as profitability of batches plummeted with the advent of IPC technology, and more advanced cloning techniques allowed for a different sort of indebted slavery to take hold in high risk trades.

Heads of Staff

Vatborn or lab-born clones are not permitted to serve in any head of staff or command position, as they, ostensibly lack the mental acuity, and legal status as "persons."

Mechanics

The mechanics of vat-born or lab born human clones do not differ significantly from that of a normal human. Many are outfitted with robotic limbs or implants to extend their "profitable uptime," and all are "tape learned" with a basic trade in mind, with the exception of later, general-purpose labor batches. Almost all are designed to work in limited gravity, or require RMT pills due to cellular degradation and muscular dystrophy.

Information for Players Interested in Playing a Lab-Born Human

Job Restrictions:

Put simply, as an early(or late)-run vat born, you are expected to be tape-learned (imprinted with the information) to perform a single set of menial, semi-simple tasks - from hull repair, to janitorial duties. Later runs have a limited ability to learn new tasks in real time, and are much more common in comparison. They are not capable of higher learning.

Behavior:

Vat born are capable of speech and complex language, as well as expressing emotions. They feel pain. They remember things that have happened to them. But, with a soulless, sad, plodding monotony, they carry out their assigned tasks without complaint. They exist in a quiet, eerie limbo between sentience and sapience. It is possible to have meaningful conversations with people, and even other lab-born - but there is very clearly something not there. Most early batches still in service behave with a stunted, lobotomized behavior pattern, and later batches just barely manage a tentative, winking self awareness that is always snuffed out when it seems to take root. Within warranty, at least.

Speaking like a Lab-Born

Shorter sentences, simpler words, and a disinterest in learning new ones outside of their assigned role are the typical hallmarks of a lab-born. A placid, serene tone of voice is the normal baseline, although when stressed, their designed response is fear or timidity. Some rare cases of menial labour or last-gen batches will respond when pressured with outbursts of childlike violence. Historically, these are terminated or retaped for their behavior.

Physiology

The physiology of vat born vary wildly between runs, and their intended use - whether in zero/low-g environments, or in planetside or high-G locales. Typically, they are identical to humans, with deficient musculature, and genetics programmed with obsolescence in mind. For companies interested in continuing to use a lab-born beyond the intended period, they must waive the warranty by submitting a relatively simple waiver - and administering a retroviral serum designed to "unlock" the pre-programmed markers meant to instigate cell death. Most models are meant to be easy to chase down, and easier to dismantle, sporting weak points in their cranium, and easily broken limbs.

Batch Series List

MASON SERIES
Designed specifically for mass deployment for "by hand" mining applications on distant colonies, "Masons" are stocky and hardy vat born, designed to work well with their peers. Simple minded and cheerful, they gained a reputation for smiling, because it seemed to raise the morale of their human compatriots. Single minded and eager, Masons are the longest-running and most successful of all of the lab-born runs, and often congregate with each other, and have simple, friendly conversations with their counterparts. They live their lives in a lobotomized bliss, and will follow their orders to the best of their abilities. They will often congregate after work shifts, and quietly share everything they have experienced with each other.

HANNAH SERIES
Long haul cryopod ships, especially those carrying settlers to distant worlds, or hauling warp gates made extensive use of the "Hannah" series. Designed from the ground up with zero-g in mind, they are fragile, compared to their compatriots. They were also, arguably, one of the most independent minded and inventive of all of the runs. Meant to be woken up by themselves, or in at most - pairs, Hannah's are typically antisocial, and have difficulty in large groups. They become protective of the things they work on, and were typically meant to exist to perform limited maintenance of ship systems, patch hull breaches, and wake up the next Hannah(s) at the end of their expected 50 year life cycle.

RICHARD SERIES
One of the two most common, publicly-seen lab born, the "Richard" series was intended to perform increasingly unpopular and poorly-paying janitorial tasks on distant colonies and core-world facilities alike. Their absent minded nature, while comical, lead to several expensive re-designs of the product line over its marketing cycles. Richards are often the butt of jokes by their human peers, and have a markedly short life cycle of typically no more than 5 years, due to psychological stresses. Later runs solved much of the absent mindedness, but it is not uncommon for Richards with diverse janitorial skillsets and extended lifetime to become markedly more clumsy as time goes on.

STELLA SERIES
The last official run of vat-born came in the early 2300s, and was iterated on extensively until the influx of Skrellian technology - and the corresponding explosion in medical and robotic sciences made the concept of vat-born obsolete. "Stella's" are the most psychologically resilient and personable of lab-born humans, and are capable of learning a wide variety of menial tasks in real time due to their more developed brains. They can also be "tape learned," like older models, and reset by overlaying a blank "Stella" engram over the existing brain waves with advanced cloning technology. Helpful, demure, and professional, Stellas, while uncommon in the modern setting, were widely used up until the early 2400s.

What is "Tape Learning?"

Tape learning is the usage of imprinted brain waves to achieve a desired skillset, when "flashed" onto existing, mapped, vat-grown brains. Normal humans, or normal dead brains are exceptionally difficult to tape learn due to the lack of consistent neural structure, and will almost always result in brain death. Stella runs are the most common candidates for tape learning, and have the most extensive infrastructure for doing so.

Please give feedback!!! : D

Edited July 27, 2020 by 12antemeridiem

[NewOriginalSchwann]

Hello! This is denied, as we have both better plans for this sort of thing and this is an exception to lore that has been set in stone for years.

 

For any questions regarding cloning, please consult this page.