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Gothic Post-Transhumanism


Steve

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My newest Star Hero project is a campaign setting that I can only describe as Gothic Post-Transhumanism. Taking some of the concepts of a setting like "Eclipse Phase" and projecting it forward several thousand years into a galactic empire with a "Fading Suns" gothic feel, maybe with a dose of Traveller's imperium.

 

The nobility and the wealthy have achieved a form of functional immortality by transferring their minds into new bodies as old ones wear out or die from mishap or violence, achieving astonishing levels of decadence in some corners of the galactic empire.

 

The yeoman and freeman classes are likely not able to partake of this due to cost, but genefixing long ago improved humanity in general, giving longer and healthier lives.

 

Other species were uplifted to full sentience, such as apes, lions and dolphins. There are also a number of human subspecies, created ages ago by genetic manipulation. AI beings also exist, forming a servant/slave class within the new human empire.

 

The galaxy is populated by mankind and its creations. No true aliens have yet been encountered, but alien cultures formed by mankind's subspecies and uplifted creations exist.

 

A Dark Age fell over mankind, perhaps one of several that have occurred during the millennia since leaving earth.

 

FTL travel exists, but not FTL radio. Such travel requires passengers do it in hibernation, since FTL space drives conscious beings travelling through it gradually insane. Speed is tentatively set at one hour per LY.

 

Because of the timeframe, several created subspecies broke off contact with main humanity, establishing their own cultures during the various Dark Ages. Uplifted apes and lions also established their own culture, one hostile to mankind, regaining star flight at least a century before reestablishing contact with mankind.

 

An AI-based culture exists, but I haven't decided if they are friendly or not to mankind. It is possible I will have more than one AI culture.

 

A monolithic Church exists, having many of the trappings of Middle Ages Catholicism, but I am still working out the details of their beliefs. I will possibly borrow the one from Fading Sun's and file off the serial numbers.

 

More details to come.

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I vaguely recall seeing this over a year ago (or two). Is this the same game where someone had mentioned having HyperSpace beasts that got suppressed by the Nav com signals in Hyperspace but eventually broke free and help kick start the Dark Ages by destroying the Nav-Com system? 

Anyway, it seems like a neat idea. Good luck with it!

 

La Rose. 

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Body changes for the nobility might take on a sort of fashion statement. Some noble families may choose to eschew the "flavor of the month" that others follow and use clones of their original bodies instead. Since functional immortality exists, the need for children drops, so they would likely be notably rare among the nobility and wealthier class.

 

I could see social norms requiring biological forms over synthetic ones, since synths would probably be used by working class types. They would also lack the range of feeling that a biological form would have.

 

The uplifted apes I might give a "Klingon Honor" vibe. I could also follow a "Planet of the Apes" feel and divide species into social classes. Gorillas would be warrior types, and chimpanzees would be scientists and techs.

 

The uplifted lions could also follow this pattern. Lions and Tigers would be warriors, perhaps with a strong code of honor. Cheetahs could be scouts. Perhaps hyenas could be their technicians, since I remember hearing somewhere that they carried feline DNA.

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You might have Dolphins found Only in space, and Orcas could have broken off centurys ago, and are space pirates. The other cetaceans are almost totally ship bound, with an ocaisional "hab" stashed in an otherwise empty solar system. (the only requirement being a ready source of water).

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You might have Dolphins found Only in space, and Orcas could have broken off centurys ago, and are space pirates. The other cetaceans are almost totally ship bound, with an ocaisional "hab" stashed in an otherwise empty solar system. (the only requirement being a ready source of water).

Actually, I might borrow a page from Dune and use whales as Navigators. Their large brains could be used as organic computers, replacing the AIs that used to handle interstellar flight before their rebellion. The uplifted breeds of whales are able to interface with the ship systems through cybernetic implants. It might feel a little bit like Farscape, now that I think about it.

 

My idea of uplifted octopi could also work here, acting as technicians aboard ships with their multiple arms. These two species could prefer remaining shipboard, and humanoids are the ones to leave the ships. Perhaps cetaceans and octopi, with their different brain structures from humanoids, could be more resistant to hyperspace madness, so they don't need to hibernate like humanoids do.

 

I could have these two species function in some sort of guild, maybe like how things work in Fading Suns.

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Maybe that is the secret origin of Uplifting, the weird experience of Hyperflight reminded the crew of whale song. When pilots starting to crack up, a Whale was uplifted to see if it could deal, and when it thrived, Uplift caught on.

 

Why hyperspace is full of hypersong is a mystery, everyone who has researched it has ended up committing suicide so far. :) And Whales don't seem to be baffled at all, but are unable to explain it either. (or won't)

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I actually got the idea of "hyperspace madness" from an RPG called "Cold & Dark" that I found. It attempts to simulate tropes of darker SF stories like the Alien movies.

 

Characters travelling while awake in hyperspace start losing their sanity. I think a common problem is autophobia. Space just feels scary after a while, and being on planets is calming.

 

I was originally thinking that AIs ran ships while they were in hyperspace, since they would not be affected by psychic terror. Since I am thinking AIs rebelled in some sort of Cylon uprising, I could replace them with a substitute, in this case uplifted whales as cybernetic ship's operators. Using an organic "computer" would bring in an element of Dune.

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Somtow Sucharitkul's "Inquestor" series had starships piloted by the brains of whale-like creatures. There was a gengineered society of blind, deaf whalers -- the only people who could stand to hunt the creatures without being overcome by the beauty of their synesthetic songs.

 

In fact, the Inquestor series sounds very much like what you describe: Immortal aristocracy, hyper-decadent and commanding godlike technology, and a Galaxy of people who have to live with their whims. The Inquestors have a job to do -- supposedly, preventing humanity from being seduced by false utopias -- but their attitude is pretty much, "Whatever the hell I want."

 

Also makes me think of Moorcock's "Dancers at the End of Time" series.

 

I've never seen Fading Suns or any of your other references, except the first couple episodes of Farscape.

 

May have more comments later.

 

Dean Shomshak

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(Well, and Dune. I get Dune.)

 

Cordwainer Smith's "Instrumentality" future history might supply inspiration as well. The main period of the Rediscovery of Man was a retreat from transhumanism, or posthumanism; this period also included the emancipation campaign of the Underpeople, animals wrought into human form as a labor class. C'mell was the original catgirl.

 

Dean Shomshak

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Perhaps one of the causes of insanity in FTL mode is tele-empathic radiation that only exists in FTL?

 

You might have it that attempts to Gengineer humans to be immune to said radiation created an entire sub-specie of savage sociopaths akin to the Reevers from Firefly and Serenity. That could be a lot of fun to get into.

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What if human's started using whales as navigational tools prior to wide spread hyperspace travel? In this scenario the humans managed to harness whale brains to operate ship nav coms because living brains were generally faster processors of information. So when they invented Hyperspace, they just continued this trend. Soon there after they realized that something was causing the human occupants to go crazy in the hyperspace voids but since they already had a nav system that they readily trusted and could be awake more than long enough to handle any incidental needs, they never questioned what was causing them problem. But the sinister truth is that while the void may cause problems it is actually the whale (brain waves / songs / whatnots) that are the biggest source of problem. 

Humans continued forward with everything and develop a fully functioning interstellar society with all the uplifts that you can imagine. Then they come across a largely water world. Here is where they make their first major mistake, they start uplifting aquatic creatures, including whales. Now actually aware of their lives and the events around them they plot. Over decades the whales wait until there is a large enough number of them and humanity has been left to its own indulgences and implement their prime directive: return humanity to the age of barbarism by removing them from being able to travel the hyperspace corridors. 

With the help of principally the aquatic animals but also in cahoots with some other uplifted creatures in other sectors, they staged a empire wide rebellion. All whale ships that could vacuum their human shipmates and returned home. Those that couldn't would stage coups on their ships with the other uplifts and then arrange to drop them off on a new home world for them. 

 

The colonies that were largely human or where the humans could repress the uplifts remain the sole beacons of humanities last hopes. The whales also set up monitoring stations throughout all of "their" space to project the maddening songs. These would help insure that no other uplifts or humans could get close enough to their home world to pose a real threat. The various apes, lions, etc. where given free-zones where the whales would not go but forbidden to enter sovereign whale space. The humans who were lucky enough to survive in good shape still operate under the fear that they can not travel into hyperspace without causing sever bouts of insanity. 

 

Now some decades / centuries later, the humans (and others) have more or less recovered and are setting out again. The human planets close enough to the aquatic zone still suffer from "the madness" but the very outskirts are luckily far enough away to not worry. And the inner worlds (Terra Prime, etc) are still at war with the aquatics and a few other uplifts. Their access to readied warships and high functioning computers has let them tear out whole sections of space from the aquatics. And they are the principal reason why the Aquatic Alliance hasn't just marched over the rest of the worlds. But neither side is really winning and with their ever dwindling forces, they are on the brink of forced mutual capitulation. 

 

That was an idea that came to me a day or two ago. 

 

La Rose. 

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Iain Banks' novels of "The Culture" offer an example of extreme transhumanism. I've only read Excession, but in that one placing a human mind in a radically alien body apparently is only moderately challenging, while the AIs of the General Service ships have advanced far beyond their creators: Non digital intelligences cannot hope to comprehend the Infinite Fun Zone the AIs created for their recreation. A single General Service ship also proves able to confront an entire alien race bent on war, and win. The Culture isn't gothic in tone, though; more mind-blowing excess of power and possibility. This future doesn't go to 11, it goes to 20.

 

I haven't read it, but from a friend's description, Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps might give a darker tone. IIRC, the premise is that in the past, human civilization created nigh-omnipotent warships and crewed them with immortals to keep the interstellar peace. Only, over the millennia the ships have recruited new members from different cultures and species, their own little societies have changed, and there is basically no comprehension between them and the people they nominally protect. Settlement is so wide that a world might not encounter one of these ships for centuries -- but when one arrives, you have no idea what it will do, and probably no way to stop it.

 

A gothically transhuman future might feature entities of such power and divergence from their human origin that they are effectively gods, or demons. People know some of the ways to alter themselves in the directions of these dark gods, but are viewed with suspicion for doing so. Would-be transhumans also must be wary of the beings they would emulate: Some of them might help humans along the transhuman path for their own ends, but only so far -- the gods are jealous of their power and do not want rivals.

 

Dean Shomshak

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These are some great ideas. Thanks for sharing.

 

Along with uplifted creatures from Earth like great cats, apes, cetaceans and octopi, I'm also thinking of incorporating the Xenovores from the "Alien Wars" setting. They could be yet another competitor to mankind, filling a role like the Reavers from Firefly.

 

I could see spaceborn societies being very different from planetborn societies.

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