Innocs, Infopaths, and Cyberwraiths (Oh My)

Another Friday world-building game night for me. And this month we are expanding the background of the “Adaption Files” universe, specifically looking at the Technos – which also include the last of the real Homo Sapiens (although life in zero and micro gravity has already begun to affect them). The post-apocalyptic world of the Darwin virus has impacted their society less than the Nightfolk, but a lot more than some of the descendant species. There are uninfected humans living aboard space stations and the newly developed Lunar, and Martian colonies (with maybe a few deep space research posts).

That said their society is falling apart, no section of their society trusts the other. The humans cannot trust the vaccinated, nano-enhanced Innocs, those who have been vaccinated cannot trust the technologically far superior (and potentially lethal to their nanite immune system) Info-paths (those who have ancestors infected with Darwin Virus strain A5 and potentially still carry the virus) and absolutely no one trusts the artificial intelligences, even when they are restricted to only running personalities copied from the others in the form of Cyberwraiths.

All of which probably makes no sense at all to you the casual reader. Suffice to say the Technos are not the Eusaiveans- but do have some similarities (like the Cyberwraiths and Nanites), but a very different social structure based on individual paranoia, rather than the Eusaivean’s group paranoia and religion.

This episode is meant to examine how this Paranoia vs Society conflict is going to play out over the next hundred years or so (world-building – sometimes we have to build history by the events and try and work out what happened later).

We have already decided that despite being the most human genetically, (including the only only remaining genetically pure, uninfected humans) the Technos have evolved the furthest from natural humans culturally (and are no longer suited to living on Earth due to their low muscle density and life in micro-gravity). I like the contrasts/paradoxes that this kicks up, that in trying to preserve humanity as a species, these people are losing their actual humanity to a monstrous society.

There’s still quite a bit of development work for me to do here, but I should have a basic story to explore this issue by building the right plot Dæmon.

First the conflict Paranoia vs Society is in T13 an Orthodox _ _ ♦ vs Dominion ___ ♣ Conflict… Which throws up some interesting thoughts about locations, descendants and monsters. It also points toward certain character personalities and cores that might be strongly important to the plot. It also means that the conflict is focused between the Infopaths and the Innocs, with the humans and Cyberwraiths being largely bystanders (by virtue of their conflict being inner rather than rational) to that particular aspect of the conflict, (although we can always add a Nature vs Trial subplot to explore the humans versus the AIs if need be, but as yet I don’t really know which way they will jump).

The fragmented and broken society of the Technos probably means that their system is breaking down between colonies, and they may even be on the verge of a civil war (of sorts- war between the various Italian city States may be the closest historical analogy). Which means that I can stage the story against a backdrop of peace talks or trade negotiations to add some additional tension.

Then there is the ever-present threat of the Morphs, those members of their society who are exposed to a live, uninnoculated strain of the Darwin Virus and lose themselves to the infection, becoming monstrous polymorphic beasts.

Should be fun…