NerdyVampire Posted May 30, 2022 Share Posted May 30, 2022 Only three years ago, a secret collaboration between Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and NanoTransen resulted in a prototype device, dubbed NERP. A relatively disarming name, with a very dire function. But during its hours of completion, a raid by a shadowy organisation destroyed the accumulated and well-hidden data, and stole the prototypes of each iteration. It is unclear exactly how many of these escaped, but their existence could shatter the reality of the masses. The NERP is a new item that can be purchased from the uplink at maybe 3-4 TC. It comes as a nanopaste-like tube, except colored appropriately for the antaggy design, maybe purple/red or darkgreen/black. It must be applied to an organic body, at which point the nanobots hastily install an underlying electrical neural pathway into the body, allowing certain machines to be installed into that body; positronics, man-machine interfaces and possibly subverted maintenance drones. When installed in this way, the player inhabits the organic body, allowing them control and use its motor-functions as before. The only way to determine that it is synthetically controlled is with an EMP, medical scan or otherwise thorough bodily examination. Maybe there is a visible cue on their head, pushing them to wear a hat to conceal it, or their hands are unnaturally cold to the touch. The lore implications for the existence of this are quite massive. With it, an organic might 'bequeath' their body to an IPC friend, an elderly human might have their brain installed into an MMI and hence into a younger person. Synthetics might infiltrate society on a whole other level, and even an incarnation of Glorsh might claim to be present and having been present inside a Skrell this entire time (as downloaded to a positronic). A number of gimmicks can be formulated this way: The traitor is playing an IPC and want to experience the full rights of a biological being. They decide to assault and murder a crewmember, and with the help of a fellow traitor they install themself into their body to take their place. The traitor machinist have been activating positronics in their lab, but rather than give them a cyborg body, he has managed to get his hands on the corpse from the morgue, and suddenly the unfortunate assistant is walking again. An elderly traitor crewmember are feeling the weight of time and sets about to both recruit a willing helper and find a suitable host to become his new permanent resident, while at the same time figuring out how to get rid of this old body. (event) A dignitary from the Dominian Empire has come to the station, but after suffering an accident it is revealed that they are, in fact, a positronic mind controlling their body, calling their intentions and diplomatic immunity into question. I think there are some good possibilities with this item, though I do not know how hard it would be to code. Let me know what you think. Link to comment
Gromnax Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 We might go further with this. The object could allow anyone to transfer their consciousness in a new body. It could only be used on a body without anyone inside, though. If we go even a bit further, it could be an implant allowing to remote control a body with a PDA-like tool. This would allow for quite the gimmics. +1 Link to comment
NerdyVampire Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 On 31/05/2022 at 17:44, Gromnax said: We might go further with this. The object could allow anyone to transfer their consciousness in a new body. It could only be used on a body without anyone inside, though. If we go even a bit further, it could be an implant allowing to remote control a body with a PDA-like tool. This would allow for quite the gimmics. +1 I like it, but if it is to transfer consciousness without extra hands it should cost more TC imo. The idea was also to facilitate a bit more antag cooperation. But I was willing to spend double the amount of TC, I don't think it would be too much for a one-time transfer. For a remote controlled body I would incur some penalities, like reduced speed and bodily strength. Link to comment
MattAtlas Posted June 2, 2022 Share Posted June 2, 2022 Not the hardest thing to code as a lot of the backend necessary is present already (if not all). Balancing is the only issue as acquiring what is essentially a second life for 3TC is a bit... well, questionable. Link to comment
NerdyVampire Posted June 2, 2022 Author Share Posted June 2, 2022 6 hours ago, MattAtlas said: Not the hardest thing to code as a lot of the backend necessary is present already (if not all). Balancing is the only issue as acquiring what is essentially a second life for 3TC is a bit... well, questionable. It is not exactly a second life though, you don't have it as a backup since you still need to kill off your own body to make the transfer, and to do that you will need help from someone else since you cannot manipulate your own MMI brain / posi. If you do have a partner though, you can escape a maimed body and other penalties this way. But the TC cost is the easiest thing to fix anyway I'd assume 😆 Link to comment
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