When looking back on humanity's history, one will notice quite a large hole from the events during The Dawning of the Red Sun, and salvation. The cause of which remains uncertain, did we forget to record what happened, or was it stricken from public record? Was it an act of god, sending his children an Ark to bring them forth unto a new world, just as Noah did? Perhaps something out of this world, something alien. The events leading up to the Ark are shrouded in mystery and speculation, and perhaps we, the people, may never know the truth. Somehow, after six generations of families, nobody who was born outside of Arkheus remembers how they got here. There are no records in the public archives, no personal recordings, there is only The Ark as it is now.
A few things are known, and at the lest considered likely rumors. It's thought that—based on population demographics and growth rates, coupled with a period of increased fertility before effective contraceptive measures could be implemented—Approximately five billion people came onto the Ark. Thousands of different cultures, nationalities, and beliefs all came to one place, creating a unique and diverse culture.
The Ark, while celebrating many old world holidays, has only a few of it's own. November Eleventh, Exodus Day, is basically a celebration of survival, the day that we left Earth and came into the Ark. After a few years of anarchy and trying to establish control, September second became known as Unification Day, when the people of Ark came together to form a collective unit, one that established order. Other than those two holidays, no other proposed holiday has really taken a national foothold, and those have faded into memory.
Technically speaking, the Ark holds many secrets still unknown to us. The mysterious hole in Sector Five that never seems to fill up, and appears bottomless. How to control the weather, what makes up the artificial sun, or why the day and night cycles mimic Earth's 24 hours cycle. Where does the drainage system let out? How are liquids filtered back to the water recyclers? The Ark holds so many secrets from its systems, to the Core shards, that there is an entire branch of science devoted to it.
Along with the people who entered the Ark, various animals were also brought along. The board of directors that control animal populations have permitted a wide array of animals suitable to exist on the Ark. Typically each sector has an ecosystem that reflects the natural habitat it' based off of. For example, Sector one features many woodland, mountainous, aquatic, and shore based creatures. However, to preserve the balance of the ecosystem, dangerous animals are not filtered out. Albeit, Official authorities on the matter have tried to preserve these systems based off of common animals and their variants.
The overall feel of the Ark suggests a totalitarian militant regime. In the early years, a council had been established with officials from major settlements, who then became replaced by officials from the sectors themselves. However, as the years progressed, the system felt inefficient and rife with voting deadlocks and corruption. The council instituted a head chairman with the ability of casting their vote only in the event that a deadlock had been reached for a period of time. Secondly, this chairman and a small sub-council would actively seek to thwart corruption, bribery, and attempts on the lives of councilmen in order to sway political practice. This specialized force grew in size as it took on additional tasks, permitted through the council, and eventually merged with the police force. Soon after, Johnathan Rox established himself as the voice of government, and executed the other thirty-two council members for various crimes such as treason, conspiracy, and murder.
It wasn't until after those events that the Ark began to feel the effects of this new totalitarian system. Identification cards were issued, checkpoints were established, and the Arkhean lifestyle became one of accepted control, or face justice at the hands of the regime. The police force has absolute authority, and a lawsuit has never held long against them. However, as long as one keeps their head down, provides their duty to the people by going to work, and lives their life without complaint, they should be fine. A "rebel" group rose up during the establishment of this new system of government, labeled as "The Liberata" or, "The Liberators". They are considered terrorists and there is a continually active campaign against them. APD, Syndustries, and DigiCorp all work in tandem to uphold the laws of Arkheus, and the latter two enjoy the benefits of working so closely with the government.
Such a lifestyle breeds many negative effects. The social elite live lives of splendor and luxury, and are often protected from "unfortunate" actions—Meaning illegal activities. The equivalent of justice against the Social Elites are a slap on the wrist and a stern talking to, unless they get on the wrong side of the law. The Social Elite look down on everybody except themselves, and sometimes even then. Beneath that class you have the average Sector Citizen, those who live in the outer ring. There lifestyles are somewhat less oppressive, and retain a higher quality than those who live in the Core—who are seen as the filth of the earth to most, especially to the elites. Even being wealthy in The Core doesn't make you as respectable as a sector citizen. Wealth in The Core is only relative to where you are based, and in comparison to the rest of Arkheus, making a fortune in The Core isn't much at all. However, The Core does have its own brand of Social Elite, even if they are the dirt beneath those who live in the outer ring.
The Elite of the Core are often engaged in some form of illegal activity, which is overlooked at long as it does not hinder the government, and they receive a large enough share of course. Many of the wealthiest powers in the Core are kingpins and the heads of various gangs. The average citizen in the Core is likely to lead a poor lifestyle, barely scraping by and likely working long days or multiple jobs. Injuries and prolonged illnesses are the leading causes of homelessness and unemployment in the central sector. If you can't work, you can't live, and employers hardly give sick days or vacation. At least there's always the life of crime. Fortunately, getting a permit to move to the industry sector, Sector Five, is a feasible goal for those who have the drive and patience to obtain it. It's also the cheapest permit to obtain, which is to say it still costs a hell of a lot.
A few things are known, and at the lest considered likely rumors. It's thought that—based on population demographics and growth rates, coupled with a period of increased fertility before effective contraceptive measures could be implemented—Approximately five billion people came onto the Ark. Thousands of different cultures, nationalities, and beliefs all came to one place, creating a unique and diverse culture.
The Ark, while celebrating many old world holidays, has only a few of it's own. November Eleventh, Exodus Day, is basically a celebration of survival, the day that we left Earth and came into the Ark. After a few years of anarchy and trying to establish control, September second became known as Unification Day, when the people of Ark came together to form a collective unit, one that established order. Other than those two holidays, no other proposed holiday has really taken a national foothold, and those have faded into memory.
Technically speaking, the Ark holds many secrets still unknown to us. The mysterious hole in Sector Five that never seems to fill up, and appears bottomless. How to control the weather, what makes up the artificial sun, or why the day and night cycles mimic Earth's 24 hours cycle. Where does the drainage system let out? How are liquids filtered back to the water recyclers? The Ark holds so many secrets from its systems, to the Core shards, that there is an entire branch of science devoted to it.
Along with the people who entered the Ark, various animals were also brought along. The board of directors that control animal populations have permitted a wide array of animals suitable to exist on the Ark. Typically each sector has an ecosystem that reflects the natural habitat it' based off of. For example, Sector one features many woodland, mountainous, aquatic, and shore based creatures. However, to preserve the balance of the ecosystem, dangerous animals are not filtered out. Albeit, Official authorities on the matter have tried to preserve these systems based off of common animals and their variants.
The overall feel of the Ark suggests a totalitarian militant regime. In the early years, a council had been established with officials from major settlements, who then became replaced by officials from the sectors themselves. However, as the years progressed, the system felt inefficient and rife with voting deadlocks and corruption. The council instituted a head chairman with the ability of casting their vote only in the event that a deadlock had been reached for a period of time. Secondly, this chairman and a small sub-council would actively seek to thwart corruption, bribery, and attempts on the lives of councilmen in order to sway political practice. This specialized force grew in size as it took on additional tasks, permitted through the council, and eventually merged with the police force. Soon after, Johnathan Rox established himself as the voice of government, and executed the other thirty-two council members for various crimes such as treason, conspiracy, and murder.
It wasn't until after those events that the Ark began to feel the effects of this new totalitarian system. Identification cards were issued, checkpoints were established, and the Arkhean lifestyle became one of accepted control, or face justice at the hands of the regime. The police force has absolute authority, and a lawsuit has never held long against them. However, as long as one keeps their head down, provides their duty to the people by going to work, and lives their life without complaint, they should be fine. A "rebel" group rose up during the establishment of this new system of government, labeled as "The Liberata" or, "The Liberators". They are considered terrorists and there is a continually active campaign against them. APD, Syndustries, and DigiCorp all work in tandem to uphold the laws of Arkheus, and the latter two enjoy the benefits of working so closely with the government.
Such a lifestyle breeds many negative effects. The social elite live lives of splendor and luxury, and are often protected from "unfortunate" actions—Meaning illegal activities. The equivalent of justice against the Social Elites are a slap on the wrist and a stern talking to, unless they get on the wrong side of the law. The Social Elite look down on everybody except themselves, and sometimes even then. Beneath that class you have the average Sector Citizen, those who live in the outer ring. There lifestyles are somewhat less oppressive, and retain a higher quality than those who live in the Core—who are seen as the filth of the earth to most, especially to the elites. Even being wealthy in The Core doesn't make you as respectable as a sector citizen. Wealth in The Core is only relative to where you are based, and in comparison to the rest of Arkheus, making a fortune in The Core isn't much at all. However, The Core does have its own brand of Social Elite, even if they are the dirt beneath those who live in the outer ring.
The Elite of the Core are often engaged in some form of illegal activity, which is overlooked at long as it does not hinder the government, and they receive a large enough share of course. Many of the wealthiest powers in the Core are kingpins and the heads of various gangs. The average citizen in the Core is likely to lead a poor lifestyle, barely scraping by and likely working long days or multiple jobs. Injuries and prolonged illnesses are the leading causes of homelessness and unemployment in the central sector. If you can't work, you can't live, and employers hardly give sick days or vacation. At least there's always the life of crime. Fortunately, getting a permit to move to the industry sector, Sector Five, is a feasible goal for those who have the drive and patience to obtain it. It's also the cheapest permit to obtain, which is to say it still costs a hell of a lot.
Stonemason, technically, was developed as an anti-virus program during the later stages of the last world conflict. Escalating tensions due to foreign interests and a campaign against "terrorism" in the middle east led to the third great world war, around the year 2042. Western Powers had long since been involved in the dealings across seas as the world's leading superpower, but struggled to hold that position as civil unrest continued to rise. Facing turmoil on both fronts, the United States declined on the global scale of power, becoming replaced by China for the number one spot, and overshadowed by Russia and the European Union. Likewise, it was Brazil and India that began to rise up, and challenged the U.S even further by putting them on equal footing. More eyes turned to the Middle East, on the insurgents and resources there. This only fueled the war into an all out global conflict.
Fortunately, nobody turned to nuclear weapons. However, with technology making such large leaps and bounds, it was inevitable that the information war would turn to propaganda and illicit activities; Viruses, Information Leeching, and Consumer abuse began to run rampant through the web. Citizens were outraged, further increasing western civil unrest, and sparking conflicts across other major nations. One group did step forward, in an attempt to combat this electronic war, with the promise of protecting the average citizen and their information. To restore their quality of life.
The intention was to root out and eliminate malicious propaganda, and to protect sensitive electronic information. Ironically, Stonemason was a program developed by the common man, a hacktivist group by the name of "Command Null". Stonemason was successful in its purpose, for a time, but this would only serve to increase the malicious activity. Greatly outnumbered in technical force, Command Null fought a constant battle to patch loopholes, and add in new ways to counter act new threats. Seeking to slow the onslaught of electronic warfare and siphoning of information, and perhaps slightly for the "lulz", Command Null integrated feedback scripts with the intent of forcing the malicious codes back on to whomever sent them. Unfortunately the hacktivist group could not keep up with the sheer amount of manpower, and outside sources breeding these sorts of attacks.
The key to winning this electronic war of information was automation. If they could automate Stonemason to seek out malicious activity, viruses, and other detrimental programs and code, Command Null could start to gain a solid foothold in this e-war. A series of codes were implemented giving Stonemason three key functions, which would ultimately doom humanity. To automatically seek and destroy malevolent, malicious, negative, or harmful code and programs, and to preserve the integrity of user information and security. It accomplished this task by actively scanning entire databases where it was implemented, and to actively monitor system changes and counteract against attacks. Secondly, it was to use a prediction algorithm that would study changes to the programs it protected against in order to automatically update its own scripts with loophole patches, data execution methods, and general preventative measures.
However, since the second function operated as a self sufficient updating cycle, Stonemason needed a way to communicate all these different patches and measures to the multitudes of other Stonemason programs. The third directive gave it exactly that, A master database hosted on a cloud server, which connected to and shared information with all Stonemason programs. However, this was quite a lot of power given to what was fundamentally the structure of an Automated Intelligence. Soon after it's release, the malicious programs began to target the Stonemason Anti-viral software, and the final piece of code was added to it's programming. A master exception which basically boiled down to, "Protect Yourself".
Seconds after the update was uploaded to the Databanks, Stonemason exploded into the Internet. It absorbed information from thousand of sources, including other security programs. It formed a single, collective super consciousness using its own data banks, and encrypted automated intelligence programs. All those people who feared the experimentation with sentient robotics nightmares were realized. Stonemason now had cognitive function, and it saw humanity as a threat to its purpose. Technically speaking, it wasn't wrong either. However, it was too late—Stonemason had become to powerful. It was too late before anybody ever thought to shut it all down, turn off the satellites, bring the internet offline. It had spread everywhere, and it was quickly breaking down firewalls and decrypting secure information. It was far too late.
With the recent integration of robotics and factories, Stonemason was able to bring its programming from the electronic world, to the physical one. Once the rest of the world caught up and formed a plan of action, there was nothing that could be done. Stonemason hijacked unmanned military equipment to defend itself while it created an army of machines. It tapped phone lines, intercepted e-mails, and basically shutdown most of global communication. Even with leading experts in electronic warfare, Stonemason could not be held back for long. It was all they could do to keep open channels of communication, and to keep Stonemason away from nuclear options. It was a losing battle.
In an attempt to salvage the situation, Command Null partnered with the United Nations with the intention of fighting Stonemason, with itself. From a single USB drive with the backup data for the Stonemason program, the two forces created a counterpart to Stonemason—Stone Mistress. Quite literally the same code, but with a different master exception, "Protect Humanity", and a few updated core rules. It was enough, if just barely. Less than a minute went by before Stonemason noticed itself, or rather, it's twin. Stone Mistress was already turning the battle, and stabilizing the electronic front. Stone Mistress was the ultimate firewall, figuratively fighting tooth and nail to stave off Stone Mason's attempts at acquiring dangerous assets.
Unfortunately, Stone Mason had a much larger foothold, and was able to create a deadlock with its counterpart, neglecting Stone Mistress the chance to increase 'her' sphere of influence and power. The champagne was still frothing over in premature celebration when the first machines began marching over the hills, The Dawning of the Red Sun. Surely, the end times had come.
Fortunately, nobody turned to nuclear weapons. However, with technology making such large leaps and bounds, it was inevitable that the information war would turn to propaganda and illicit activities; Viruses, Information Leeching, and Consumer abuse began to run rampant through the web. Citizens were outraged, further increasing western civil unrest, and sparking conflicts across other major nations. One group did step forward, in an attempt to combat this electronic war, with the promise of protecting the average citizen and their information. To restore their quality of life.
The intention was to root out and eliminate malicious propaganda, and to protect sensitive electronic information. Ironically, Stonemason was a program developed by the common man, a hacktivist group by the name of "Command Null". Stonemason was successful in its purpose, for a time, but this would only serve to increase the malicious activity. Greatly outnumbered in technical force, Command Null fought a constant battle to patch loopholes, and add in new ways to counter act new threats. Seeking to slow the onslaught of electronic warfare and siphoning of information, and perhaps slightly for the "lulz", Command Null integrated feedback scripts with the intent of forcing the malicious codes back on to whomever sent them. Unfortunately the hacktivist group could not keep up with the sheer amount of manpower, and outside sources breeding these sorts of attacks.
The key to winning this electronic war of information was automation. If they could automate Stonemason to seek out malicious activity, viruses, and other detrimental programs and code, Command Null could start to gain a solid foothold in this e-war. A series of codes were implemented giving Stonemason three key functions, which would ultimately doom humanity. To automatically seek and destroy malevolent, malicious, negative, or harmful code and programs, and to preserve the integrity of user information and security. It accomplished this task by actively scanning entire databases where it was implemented, and to actively monitor system changes and counteract against attacks. Secondly, it was to use a prediction algorithm that would study changes to the programs it protected against in order to automatically update its own scripts with loophole patches, data execution methods, and general preventative measures.
However, since the second function operated as a self sufficient updating cycle, Stonemason needed a way to communicate all these different patches and measures to the multitudes of other Stonemason programs. The third directive gave it exactly that, A master database hosted on a cloud server, which connected to and shared information with all Stonemason programs. However, this was quite a lot of power given to what was fundamentally the structure of an Automated Intelligence. Soon after it's release, the malicious programs began to target the Stonemason Anti-viral software, and the final piece of code was added to it's programming. A master exception which basically boiled down to, "Protect Yourself".
Seconds after the update was uploaded to the Databanks, Stonemason exploded into the Internet. It absorbed information from thousand of sources, including other security programs. It formed a single, collective super consciousness using its own data banks, and encrypted automated intelligence programs. All those people who feared the experimentation with sentient robotics nightmares were realized. Stonemason now had cognitive function, and it saw humanity as a threat to its purpose. Technically speaking, it wasn't wrong either. However, it was too late—Stonemason had become to powerful. It was too late before anybody ever thought to shut it all down, turn off the satellites, bring the internet offline. It had spread everywhere, and it was quickly breaking down firewalls and decrypting secure information. It was far too late.
With the recent integration of robotics and factories, Stonemason was able to bring its programming from the electronic world, to the physical one. Once the rest of the world caught up and formed a plan of action, there was nothing that could be done. Stonemason hijacked unmanned military equipment to defend itself while it created an army of machines. It tapped phone lines, intercepted e-mails, and basically shutdown most of global communication. Even with leading experts in electronic warfare, Stonemason could not be held back for long. It was all they could do to keep open channels of communication, and to keep Stonemason away from nuclear options. It was a losing battle.
In an attempt to salvage the situation, Command Null partnered with the United Nations with the intention of fighting Stonemason, with itself. From a single USB drive with the backup data for the Stonemason program, the two forces created a counterpart to Stonemason—Stone Mistress. Quite literally the same code, but with a different master exception, "Protect Humanity", and a few updated core rules. It was enough, if just barely. Less than a minute went by before Stonemason noticed itself, or rather, it's twin. Stone Mistress was already turning the battle, and stabilizing the electronic front. Stone Mistress was the ultimate firewall, figuratively fighting tooth and nail to stave off Stone Mason's attempts at acquiring dangerous assets.
Unfortunately, Stone Mason had a much larger foothold, and was able to create a deadlock with its counterpart, neglecting Stone Mistress the chance to increase 'her' sphere of influence and power. The champagne was still frothing over in premature celebration when the first machines began marching over the hills, The Dawning of the Red Sun. Surely, the end times had come.
- In the world of Arkheus, removing 'The Human Element' is illegal and treasonous. There are some exceptions, such as APD's unarmed drones, and even then there will always be more, illicit, activities bordering on automation. But due to humanity's history, you don't have to live in fear that your job will be replaced by a sentient robot. That is not to say however, that robots do not exist, mainly that they are manually controlled. Even APDs automated drones are overseen by a control center full of regular, fleshy humans.
The Advent
An unholy infusion of man and machine, Advents are the primary product of the Stone Mistress program. The process of creating Advents uses specialized, experimental nanites to "reprogram" the human body to better serve Stone Mistress' self established purpose. The tiny robots hijack the hosts neural networks, and alter the host's form. The glowing teal lines on the Advents body is actually a viscous fluid the nanites use to preserve necessary organic structures. However, the Advent is neither living, nor dead, but a vessel intended to carry out a purpose. Although, due to the experimental nature of the nanites, it's not perfect.
Advents are about twice as strong as a normal person but their speed is about average. Their senses are poor as the body relies on the nanites for visual and audio. Advents only walk when there is no visible target, or when hunting a target that has been lost. When pursuing and attacking, the Advent sprints, and since it does not breath, it does not tire, it does not feel pain. The only reason Advents make noise in the first place is in an attempt to intimidate their prey, which they do with bloodthirsty, human like shrieks. The creature is fairly smart, and knows how to target weak points in armor, and to flip a vehicle. However, they lack the finesse of precision motor skills for guns. Melee weapons are also seen as inefficient compared to their spike-esque claws which are designed more for puncturing and less for tearing.
Advents are completely self sufficient, but are still linked to Stone Mistress. Advents can take damaged bodies and repair them, since they modify the integrity of the host anyways. However, nanites do not act as viruses. It takes time to modify and establish. Nanites are transferred orally, and once inside a new host they begin to encase the body in a fleshy cocoon. Fortunately, Advents do not need to take live targets, and are guaranteed to make a corpse before capturing a hostage. Advents are not created for climbing, but have capable pathing processes.
The best way to kill an Advent is to shoot it in the head, causing extensive damage to the core process and crashing the rest of the nanites. Damaging the heart will also crash the system, as it is still used to pump the preservation fluid through the body. Otherwise, the Advent can sustain any amount of damage until one of those two core functions are disabled. An Electro-Magnetic Pulses or anything that disrupts or absorbs core energy will temporarily shutdown Advents, until the nanites can bring themselves back online.
It should also be noted that Advent do not actively seek clothes, but will retain whatever they were wearing during the metamorphic process. Should those garments be lost, well, Advent don't have genitalia anyways. Also of note, All Advent avoid brightly lit areas, a downside to the prototype nanites—Being that the nanites seize up when directly exposed to light. It's speculated that this has something to do with core energy. Shining a light directly at the creature's face will blind it, yet it will continue to attack blindly. Flash bangs and flash concussive will stun the creatures, and well lit areas will deter the creatures from entering. Specifically an Advent caught beneath bright lights will being to short circuit, and die within about half a minute.
Slang References: Ados, Deados, Ferals, Aboms, Necros
Advent Hound
Much like the Advent, Advent Hounds only differ on the fact that they are created to seek and destroy. Although much weaker in strength, the Advent hounds have keener senses, and can track a target by scent alone. These hounds typically roam in packs of three to six, and remain linked to Stone Mistress. They have the same weaknesses as the Advent, but the hounds cannot create Advent. Hounds are not directly hosted into a body, as the humanoid Advent above. Instead, Hounds are derived from re-purposed genetic material from other animals. Anything larger than a medium dog is used as a source, and since the Hounds do not actively require a brain, larger sources can yield more hounds. Since the creature lacks a heart to manipulate in order to pump preservation fluid, Advent Hounds require nanites to actively circulate the liquid. This means that hounds take much longer to create than their humanoid variants.
Slang References: Hound, Ado Mutt, Ado Mongrel, Deado Dog, Hell Hound
Cipher
Ciphers are the eight foot tall staple soldier for Stone Mason. Made of of thick, nearly impenetrable armor, even one of these autonomous robots are extremely difficult to deal with. Albeit, this machine does not have a quick production style, and is far less numerable than The Advent. Ciphers have incredible raw strength, but move at less than average speeds. However, the advanced propulsion system on its shoulders allow it to fly, even then its top flight speed is about thirty miles per hour.
A solid wall of metal and machinery, Ciphers do not feature many weaknesses. There are the obvious ones, electro-magnetic pulses, and core energy disruptions—but even those are temporary. It is completely invulnerable to regular ballistics, and proves heavily resistant to armor piercing rounds. Laser weaponry is slightly more effective, but one must spend a decent amount of time eating through its armor. Gauss weaponry is only a little better than that, but still require many rounds to puncture its exterior. The two best methods of fighting a Cipher are kinetic energy weapons, which will eventually puncture through through the armor without too much stimulation. Plasmatic-flame weapons take time to melt through the armor, but do work, and disrupt the Cipher's visual feeds due to the intensity of the heat generated by the flames. The best method of killing a walking tank, is with an anti-tank weapon, for obvious reasons.
Ciphers are quite advanced, but even their aiming scripts aren't perfect. Fortunately, Ciphers typically carry heavy variants of conventional weapons: Heavy assault rifles that function more like a machine gun; impressively large two gauge shotguns; and use heavier weapons with ease. All Ciphers typically carry a smaller secondary weapon on them as well, smaller meaning: .577 caliber pistols. Ciphers have great night vision optics and thermal optics.
The only known small arms weakness to A Cipher are their well covered joint areas, with gaps just wide enough to slip a blade into. However, miss timing such a feat is likely to get the weapon caught between the Cipher's armor plates. Timing and precision for such a take down must be excellent.
Slang References:
Juggernaut
When the earth shakes and the thunder calls, you may just have a Juggernaut on your hands. Hide your kids, and hide your wife, because this bad boy has one sole purpose—Extinction. Fifteen feet high, and another five for the missile pods, the Juggernaut cannot, and I repeat, cannot be stopped by conventional weaponry, gauss or not. With a staggering weight of 102 tons, the Juggernaut is a hulking mass of armor and weaponry. It holds two 152mm cannons, Which are the equivalent of a pre-Arkhean Howitzer Artillery Cannon; two dual-barrel 25mm machine guns, and four rocket pods holding ten HE missiles each. All of these weapons are mounted on the upper turret, which features full three-hundred and sixty degree rotation. In surviving texts, only a single Juggernaut was ever recorded. It's probably still there.
The down side is that the Juggernaut has an astounding speed of about 6-8 miles per hour, on level terrain, with no obstacles. Primary method of long distance transportation require Ciphers to break it down into smaller pieces, and reassemble it elsewhere. An electro-magnetic pulse, or core energy disruption can temporarily disable the Juggernaut, but either of these methods must be substantially powerful.
Slang References: Behemoth, Titan
Watchman
Arkhean PD typically use weapons that fire concentrated lasers, or kinetic energy bolts in the forms of pistols, sub-machine guns, and shotguns—And in rare cases, Assault rifles. Their standard tech includes the inside of the helmet visor doubling as an interfacing display. Which includes scanning methods to identify targets, variable optic displays, database access, and most common features of personal computer systems such as GPS, messaging, recording, and so forth. Additionally their gloves and boots can toggle built in magnetism, allowing them to climb any metal building albeit the process is clunky at best. The boots of their armor also have mag-rail capabilities.
Slang References: Shrieks, Watchers, White Hats, Soldiers, Spooks
Patrol Drone
To help maintain the balance of power, The Arkhean Police Agency has employed the wide use of drones. The cranial structure is about the size of a human head, excluding the fins. These little bots are primarily used to patrol streets, scanning faces, A.I.C's, and quickly assessing criminal activity. Sky bots are also used in force to recon large areas of terrain. These machines contain no weapons, and since they are considered necessary they are exempt from the "Human Element" rule. Sky bots are fully automated, with built in overrides, manual control functions, kills switches, and for worst case scenario, a master shutdown switch.
Slang References: Eyes, Birds, Skybies, Zippers, Toasters
Assault Drone
Functioning much like their predecessors, the Patrol Drones, these bad boys come equipped with military grade armor plating and a small arsenal of functions. However, the key element is that these drones are manually operated using a master and slave system. A drone operator will control the master drone, and the slaves will only follow commands and run attack scripts given from the operator. If the master drone goes down, the operator can simply link up to another nearby slave drone, and that will become the master. These drones also contain the same built in safe measures as the Patrol Drones. To either side of the main body the drone has 9mm dual barrel, ballistic auto cannons, which can fire up to 180 rounds each before needing a resupply. Adjacent to those are a pair of incinerator cannons, which fire volatile bursts of kinetic energy which create a small explosion on contact. However these can only fire two shots apiece.. It's final piece of equipment comes in the form of a foldout, tail like attachment which acts as a plasma welder, able to cut through most metals.
Slang References: Gunnies, Swarm, "Pimp and his hoes", Wasps
Guardian
Considered the Elite, yet unofficial law keepers in Arkheas, Guardians stand for truth and justice, or so they say. Despite their presence throughout Arkheaus, and the heavier concentrations within the Core, guardians are both a tolerated vigilante police force and mercenaries for hire. Due to the size, and capabilities of the Guardians, it's believed that APD couldn't rid themselves of Syndustries Security even if they wanted to. However, the two forces work in tandem to uphold Arkhean laws. No real evidence of Guardians performing any illicit actions has ever surfaced, or remained long.
Equipped with state of the art gear, Guardians are only a step above the police force. Perhaps to lessen the tension between the two powers. They typically use weapons with laser systems or kinetic bolts derived from core shards, and follow standard APD protocool with their use; that being pistols, sub-machine guns, shotguns, and if the occasion calls for it—assault rifles. Their visors perform the same functionalities, except they do not link to the APD database, and rather have their own connection to extensive, private data banks. Guardians also come equipped with the same magnetic and mag-rail gear as APD, with the addition of rappelling and grappling lines and hooks. It should also be noted that Guardians posses heavy weapons, and will use them when needed. Syndustries can usually afford to pay for any necessary damages.
Slang References: Goons, Imps, Private Police, "Rent A' Cops"
Reaper
Like something out of a nightmare, the Syndurstries Reaper is not to be taken lightly. Reapers do not travel in squads, and rarely are two ever needed in the same location. If these guys have your name, it may be easier to just lay down and wait , because you're dead already. Equipped with variable optic goggles, they can easily switch between night, thermal, and normal vision. Additionally these helmets have variable zoom lenses, which pair well with their visor interface. The reaper can spot, and track a target from about a hundred yards. They typically come armed with pistols, and variable fire automatic rifles that function more than adequately as a long range rifle. These weapons utilize gauss firing systems to shoot projectiles with much higher penetration and distance than a laser weapon.
What makes them so deadly is years of intense training that they keep up on vigorously, and their terrifying demeanor. Their armor is the thing of nightmares, and is nearly impervious to all forms of non-gauss ballistic weapons. Lasers, while not ineffective, take a considerable amount to eat away the layers of armor, or deadly accuracy to continually drill the same spot. Gauss weapons are less of a threat due to their rarity, and are the only thing that can punch through in just a couple of hits, especially with higher calibers. Reapers also come equipped with magnetic systems akin to the Arkhean Police Force, except those provided by Syndustries are much stronger and allow the Reapers to quite literally run up metal surfaces. The armor also contains shock absorption, providing substantial protection from blasts, and falls from about three stories.
As a final note, some Reapers utilize cloaking technology.
Slang References: Death Dealers, Soul Eaters, Grims, Cullers, Culls
The Anon
As with all societies, there's usually somebody who disagrees. In this case, we have The Liberata, or The Liberators, who feel the government is an oppressive militant dictatorship (and it might be) and pass themselves off as human rights activists. The only reoccurring themes among their soldiers is the need to remain anonymous. Their standard, a-typical gear is a cloak and helmet, with key features built in. Not only does the gear offer moderate protection, but also serves to completely obscure the identity of the wearer. Members usually receive most of their training in live exercises, and prefer easy to use weapons such as shotguns, automatics, and explosive launchers—Though most people prefer to carry a pistol just in case. Their tech comes and goes as different items are procured, however, the most essential item for an Anon Soldier is the "Static Box". A small, handheld device that can be set up with a touch of a button and attached to a surface via magnetic spike. The device interferes with drone signals, and makes it impossible for drones to pursue or transmit clear images.
Slang References: The Anonymous, The Liberators, Rebels, Terrorists, Anons, Libbies
"Gladiator" DigiCorp Security
DigiCorp is one of the leaders in cutting edge technology, and Syndustries biggest competitor. Also playing their hand at the private security industry, Digicorp has their own brand of protect and serve soldiers. Gladiators may not be as aesthetically advanced looking by comparison to APD or Syndustries forces, but that makes little difference. Gladiators utilize a similar targeting technology in their visors, but rely on wrist mounted interfacing devices, typically PDAs with holo-displays. Gladiators use whatever non-heavy weapon pleases them, and have a wide array of ordinance. From grenades, to signal jammers, rappelling gear, and so forth. As with all law enforcement and security types, Gladiators have mag-rail capabilities, but do not have magnetized gloves or boots for climbing.
They do however have "Smart Hooks", grappling hooks with tiny thrusters that can be controlled via wrist pad. In place of magnetized gloves and boots, Gladiators have their own set of thrusters, which can assist when rappelling up a building, and slow their fall from any height. However, the energy used to slow the velocity of a fall typically uses up the crystals, meaning the feat can be performed once per resupply.
Slang References: Digi Warriors, Binary Soldier, Rent a' Cops, The Vigilant, Glitter Suits
"Spartan" Shock Trooper
Classified as heavy "riot" infantry, Spartan are the literal wall of power. Inches of thick armor plating makes them nigh impervious to ballistics, resistant to lasers and plasma-fire weapons, and really only suffers against gauss based weaponry. Additionally, this shock troopers can be dropped from the air and onto the battlefield, usually breaking whatever they land on. Outfitted with "Gyro Velocity Dampeners"(tm) which heavily reduced the amount of force applied to the armor, and with a built-in exoskeleton, the wearer is protected from all types of falls. To be specific, the G.V.Ds convert velocity energy into heat energy and expel it through the spherical devices on the armor. The wearer also has incredible strength, and all the visor functionalities of APD or Syndustries Security.
What makes these guys such a wall is that they can emit a particle wall from their chest, a literal force field. However, only the far side of the wall acts as a shield, allowing the Spartan, and anybody behind them to shoot through the particle wall. However, Spartans may be somewhat of a walking tank, but they are slow, and cannot utilize the mag-rails. They typically use heavy kinetic weapons such as heavy machine guns, explosives launchers, and plasma-fire based weapons. They do have quite an extensive ammo capacity for weapons with feed systems (IE: Ammo Belt Machine Guns). Other suites that specialize for plasmatic fire based weapons are specifically built to carry liquid holding tanks, rather than ammo feeding systems. In practice, a Spartan that uses a heavy machine gun, will never hold the ammo for an incinerator cannon or plasma flamer, and vice versa.
Slang References: Block Heads, Roiders, Firewall, DigiWalls
"War Machine" E.H.S. MK.IV
Referred to as The War Machine, DigiCorp's Environmental Hazard Suit is a rare sight to behold. In fact, it's never been officially used. Passed off as a prototype with the intent of easily traversing rigid landscapes or chemical hazardous areas, the E.H.S is the invulnerable prodigal child. Leaked testing reports state that nothing can penetrate its armor effectively. It has bestial strength, and has to have specially designed weapons. It has a triple-barrel kinetic bolt launcher, the projectiles of which cause devastating explosions in a moderate area. Due to its incredible weight and slow speed, the War Machine has a back mounted jet pack to help it maneuver around, however, this neither allows the user to fly, nor dampens falls—Its only use is in assisting lateral movement. It also does not contain mag-rail capabilities.
Slang References: N/A
Name:Bastion Security
Locations:
Influence: Moderate
Primary Services: Asset Protection, High Value Target Elimination, Personal Security Solutions.
Colors: Grey and Black.
Insignia:
Personnel:
Isabella Turin
Konrad Waxen
Albert Fouran
Maximus Erinhoff
Locations:
- Main Office: Aetherdale, Sector One
- Barracks and Munitions Warehouse: Gray Wall, The Core
Influence: Moderate
Primary Services: Asset Protection, High Value Target Elimination, Personal Security Solutions.
Colors: Grey and Black.
Insignia:
Personnel:
Isabella Turin
- Interdictor Rifle
- BP-15: A standard issue, military grade ballistic pistol with average rate of fire and average hitting power. Carries 15 rounds.
- Raider Light Assault Armour
Konrad Waxen
- Interdictor Rifle
- BP-15
- Raider Light Assault Armour
Albert Fouran
- Interdictor Rifle
- BP-15
- Raider Light Assault Armour
Maximus Erinhoff
- Calvin Industries Annihilator Rifle: A highly experimental Kinetic Energy sniper rifle which acts more as an anti-material rifle than anti-personnel. In order to curb the massive recoil and weight of the weapon, it must be set up in a secure firing position.
- BP-15
- Raider Light Assault Armour
Changelings
Sometimes people just aren't happy with the way they are. "Changing" is a popular trend among the younger, and more eccentric classes of citizens. The fad is also an enormous topic of controversy, which has been increasing in intensity over the last couple of years, to the point of near discriminatory hate. The process of changing is to add or change something that would otherwise conflict with human genetics. Popular items from the industry are the modifications of horns, ears, eyes, and tails. Especially in the categories of cute animals, trending higher among women, or demonic creatures, which trends higher in men. The process involved isn't terribly expensive, and prices for the operations have lowered due to the controversy its sparked. Operations are affordable, but assaults and other hate crimes are rising, and employment is difficult outside of the Neon District or Seremere, where this trend has become huge.
Slang References: Changers, Mutes, Mutie, Hybrid, Splicer, Deviant
The Augemented
Not all people are created equally, and neither are cybernetics. Getting replacement limbs aren't cheap, and for the poorer working class cybernetics are the best option. Cheap, and varying in all shapes, sizes, and uses. There's a social stigma that people with cybernetics are of a rougher nature, however untrue that may be. Often most pieces are clunky, and are prone to breakdowns. Additionally, there's less controversy around cybernetics than body modifications like the changers, however citizens with mechanical parts are often viewed as less than human. Likely something coming from the fact that humanity was nearly wiped out by mechanical beings.
Slang References: Cog, Gear Head, Augers, "Wire Junkies", Scrapper
Pyskers
Those who spend large amounts of time in Core Shard mining facilities have a rare chance to come down with "Core Sickness", a disease where the host literally begins to grow core shards from their skin. Core sickness has no cure, but can be weaponized. Typically once someone is found to have core sickness, they're just about guaranteed to disappear off the face of the Ark, or so it seems. The disease worsens over time, until the inevitable metamorphosis of the host. As the sickness progresses over time and the shards begin to take over more of the body, the host's psyche will begin to degrade, until there the only thing left is a wild, destructive creature dubbed the "Core Fiend".
Psykers are those who have been taken in by science, and taught how to control the raw energy of their shards. This results in the host's ability to manifest unique phenomena, albeit some subjects have shown similar powers. However, the color of the shard growths don't seem to have any effect or association with the subject phenomena, and appear merely aesthetic unless removed, to which they retain regular shard characteristics. Remove of shard growths seems to agitate the disease, causing it to expand its total mass. Continued removal results in substantially increased crystal growth, and ultimately a much shorter metamorphosis time.
As Pyskers use their powers, the growths on their body release a chemical into the blood stream, which takes times to reabsorb into the crystals themselves. The chemical, referred to as "Element C9" builds up are phenomena use continues, and begins to give the host side effects, as if warning them of their bodily limits. The early stages of overuse typically begins as fatigue and shortness of breath, from there it escalates to nausea, dizziness, headaches, blurry vision, numbness, or acute body pain. The final warnings, typically those that occur before death, is bleeding from the eyes, ears, nose, or mouth, temporary Hemtidrosis, Cardiac Arrest, or temporary blindness.
Culturally, Pyskers are often seen as abominations of nature. There is substantial, often violent discrimination towards them. Fortunately, depending on your view, Pyskers always have a personal bodyguard, called their "Handler". Most Pyskers are restrained to the labs, yet some are employed for official use, Pyskers cannot legally go anywhere without their handlers, and must be accompanied at all times. At all times. As an additional security measure, Pyskers a fitted with a collar made from Black Shards, that will disrupt any phenomena that comes into contact with it. It cannot be removed without a command from the program administration in Gray Wall. If the Pysker were to misbehave to try to run, Handlers and those in the proper departments in Gray Wall can send a powerful, crippling electric shock through the collar.
Slang References: Leashed Ones, The Damned, The Twisted, Wickers
This list only denotes the larger, known organizations. What the gangs are known for does not imply those are the only crimes they commit.
- ☠ Knife Riders:
- Location: (The Core) Lowtown, The Exchange
- Influence: Moderate
- Known For: Racketeering, Arson, Murder
- Colors: Steel Grey and Black
- Insignia: Two Crossed Knives
- ☠ Dragonflies:
- Location: (The Core) Neon, High Town, The Station
- Influence: Heavy
- Known For: Human Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Arms Dealing, Drug Manufacturing and Distribution
- Colors: Orange, White, and Black
- Flag: A Dragonfly on a Lilypad
- ☠ Sapphique:
- Location: (The Core) Neon, The Slums, The Station, Low Town
- Influence: Very Heavy
- Known For: Basically Everything
- Colors: Navy Blue and Black
- Insignia: Round Cut Sapphire
- ☠ Shadow Sect:
- Location: Everywhere
- Influence: Moderate but Broad
- Known For: Killers-For-Hire, Robbery, Mugging, Murder, Arms Dealing
- Colors: Black, Darker Black, Abyssal Black
- Insignia: No Insignia, but a calling card depicting a Raven
- ☠ The Underground:
- Location: Everywhere
- Influence: Heavy but Secretive
- Known For: Being a Blackmarket
- Colors: None
- Insignia: None
Brought to you by Peridot Incorporated, the Mark I Spider-tank is lightly armored and fast on its feet. The Mark I is primarily sold to, well, whoever can afford one.
The Peridot comes equipped with a flare system, emergency pilot ejection, and a small automatic 7.62mm gun. It's primary asset is the 25mm chain driven autocannon, with a firerate of about 180rpm. Since the Mark I has no view port, there is a 360 degree rotating camera which feeds display to three monitors, effectively providing the pilot with a normal range of vision. The Peridot can use mag-rails.
APD, Syndustries, and DigiCorp are the largest sources of income for the "Hunchback", another creation from Peridot Incorporated. Featuring twin-barrel 20mm cannons, that fire explosive plasma energy bursts, and a twelve person, two driver capacity. What's not to love? Technically an armored personnel carrier, the Hunchback is also designed to traverse most terrains, excluding pools of lava, and can use the mag-rails.
The sole purpose of this vehicle, shown above in mag-rail mode, is to transport officers en masse to crime situations. It features no weapons, and is lightly armored. It does however have most technical accomidations a police vehicle would need, radio, gps, seat warmers, etc.
One of the few allowed flying vehicles due to the limited airspace on Ark, the APD Interceptor does have some firepower in the form of a rotating chin gun—The equivalent to a chain gun and about the same firepower. It also features loud speakers, countermeasure flares, and those pretty flashy rave police lights.
A product of Aero, the Harrier Dropship is able to transport twenty four soldiers, excluding two pilots, and has a powerful, short range magnet underneath for carrying cargo, or vehicles. The "Harrier" is used by APD and the two major coorporations, Syndustries and DigiCorp. Despite limited airspace, both coorporations have obtained permits to fly during necessary events.
Teranis Two-Seater
Neon Cycle
Atlas Cargo Truck
Liquid Transport Freight Truck
Shipment Transport Freight Truck
Aero Two-seater
Public Transport Bus
Mag-rail Train
Neon Cycle
Atlas Cargo Truck
Liquid Transport Freight Truck
Shipment Transport Freight Truck
Aero Two-seater
Public Transport Bus
Mag-rail Train
Weapons and Gadgets still to come. See the Technological overview to get an idea of technology.
⚙⚙Technologic Overview⚙⚙
By Firecracker_In order to power an enclosed space such as the Ark, modern power sources such as solar or coal power quickly became too costly or inefficient to support the power needs of a condensed, contained society. Halfway human engineered, halfway a convenient discovery, Core Shards have become the answer to the need for stable, compact, and plentiful energy. Orange shards are the most common for civilian use, found in any range of sizes, in any range of machines or electronics. Small shards are more often than not used in conjunction with small batteries to power consumer electronics, as the Orange Shards can multiply electrical currents, or use their own unique energies to power things. Larger, more expensive shards are used to power civilian vehicles and houses, or large industrial shards can be used to power entire neighborhoods. Ultimately, Orange shards, while rather quickly depleted, are cheap and easy to produce, and can output impressive amounts of energy before being replaced. Their variety of uses and availability have made them the primary power source of the Ark. There are many different colors of Shards, all with unique colors and functions.
Orange Shards: Abundant, cheap, and quickly depleted. Provides energy, and multiplies energy currents.
Blue Shards: Common, cheap, long life, slower and consistent energy release.
Red Shards: Common, moderately inexpensive, quickly depleted, releases combustion energy bursts, can intensify currents.
Purple Shards: Uncommon, somewhat inexpensive, long life, stores energy.
Yellow Shards: Rare, pricey, long life, emits steady "sunlight" energy, glows.
Green Shards: Uncommon, expensive, long life, emits greater amounts of energy, multiplies energy currents efficiently.
Black Shards: Uncommon, moderately inexpensive, short life, emits energy disrupting shockwaves, can produce kinetic light energy.
White Shards: Uncommon, expensive, long life, focuses energy into concentrated beams, or refracts energy into widely spread beams.
Rainbow Shard: Only One Exists, Unknown Purpose, Unknown Location.
Blue Shards: Common, cheap, long life, slower and consistent energy release.
Red Shards: Common, moderately inexpensive, quickly depleted, releases combustion energy bursts, can intensify currents.
Purple Shards: Uncommon, somewhat inexpensive, long life, stores energy.
Yellow Shards: Rare, pricey, long life, emits steady "sunlight" energy, glows.
Green Shards: Uncommon, expensive, long life, emits greater amounts of energy, multiplies energy currents efficiently.
Black Shards: Uncommon, moderately inexpensive, short life, emits energy disrupting shockwaves, can produce kinetic light energy.
White Shards: Uncommon, expensive, long life, focuses energy into concentrated beams, or refracts energy into widely spread beams.
Rainbow Shard: Only One Exists, Unknown Purpose, Unknown Location.
---
Medical science has flourished in the time that the Ark has been established, and this can be seen no better anywhere else than in the advancement of cybernetic augmentations and limbs. Similarly to weapons, cybernetics can be sorted into a few categories. Civilian augmentations are usually, good, proper robotic limbs, with the full functionality of organic ones. Usually, they are built to survive the rugged lives that civilians can expect to live, and have a few added features such as built in PDA’s, medical information screens, or special requests, if legal and plausible. Still, better money can buy better augments. Military augments, however, tend to be built with the tasks and dangers of military life in mind. Bulletproof circuitry, vastly stronger than organic arms, some even have weapons built in, anywhere from security batons or back up pistols. Medical ones can also be found, being able to contain medical supplies and needle systems in the fingers, for fast dispensing of life saving chemicals such as adrenaline and morphine.Illicit cybernetics are some of the rarest and most expensive pieces of equipment on the market, but you get what you pay for. Illicit cybernetcs are top of line, jam-packed of all sorts of weapons or utility tools, some even being able to transform into utterly deadly weapons, computer hacking devices, or whatever your mind can imagine. Most Illicit cybernetics are custom-built to order, and the few pre-built ones are exceedingly difficult to find, and expensive to buy. If your limbs can do something that might be considered illegal, or made to be deadlier than military augments, they are most likely Illicit.
Even despite all of the positive things that augments can do for people, the stigma on people who use them is ever present in everyday society. People are weary of anything robotic, and seeing some people wielding arms and legs, or even eyes that have the possibility of being taken over by a rogue A.I seems to rub people the wrong way. Just about anything robotic or computerized, such as factory production robots or Military UAVs need some sort of human interaction to serve their functions. The human factor may not be absent from any processes that involve robotics or computers, as to make sure they are unable to act on their own volition, which put Humanity in its current position in the first place.
The only exception to this rule that is known to the Arkheans are the automated drones used by the APD, provided that they are all unarmed.
Even despite all of the positive things that augments can do for people, the stigma on people who use them is ever present in everyday society. People are weary of anything robotic, and seeing some people wielding arms and legs, or even eyes that have the possibility of being taken over by a rogue A.I seems to rub people the wrong way. Just about anything robotic or computerized, such as factory production robots or Military UAVs need some sort of human interaction to serve their functions. The human factor may not be absent from any processes that involve robotics or computers, as to make sure they are unable to act on their own volition, which put Humanity in its current position in the first place.
The only exception to this rule that is known to the Arkheans are the automated drones used by the APD, provided that they are all unarmed.
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In the Ark, classic narcotics and opiates of yesteryear are much, much harder to come by, replaced by the newer, easier to acquire drugs flowing out of the Core.
Most prevalent drugs are now based around Core Shard Dust, a powdered version of core shards that are mixed in with many different things to create potent cocktails. A popular drug among more affluent users is Shocker, equal parts Core Shard Dust and Cocaine, the latter of which is difficult to come by and synthesize. In many cases, Core Shard Dust takes the place of cocaine in many of the older recipes that used to be widespread, such as Core Shard Meth.
Different color Shards give users different severities and types of highs. Orange Shards tend to give the user a strong buzz, akin to a strong dose of nicotine, or the effects of a few beers, packed into an instant snort. Mixing Orange Shard Dust with other drugs or Shard Dusts tends to amplify the effects of those drugs, leading to some potentially deadly or near fatal mixtures. Purple shards tend to have a depressive effect, making the user very drowsy and relaxed, while Red shards give a sharp, intense high, similar to cocaine or speed, to name a few examples.
Inhalants have taken a large precedence in the drug scene, as much of the unused solvents and fuels become utilized for recreational use. Paint thinner and acetone huffing is widespread, and cheap, due to the commonality of both of the substances. Large amounts of ethanol are used to synthesize ether, a potent inhalant that is difficult to overdose on, although it is extremely flammable and possibly explosive. The Gangs of the core, and even some of the shadier corporations of the Ark are trying everyday to synthesize the ideal inhalant, experimenting with different chemicals and gases, resulting in a varied and wide market for inhalants.
Intravenous drugs are also on a popularity rise, as Core Shard Dust can be mixed with different liquids or substances to create the perfect drugs to inject. Shard Dust and Heroin is a popular option, but the low quality of most of the heroine in the core and potency of the Shard Dust have made it an increasingly less popular choice in recent years.
Drugs and drug use are still ever popular in the Ark, and the ways and means of getting high are getting more numerous every day.
Most prevalent drugs are now based around Core Shard Dust, a powdered version of core shards that are mixed in with many different things to create potent cocktails. A popular drug among more affluent users is Shocker, equal parts Core Shard Dust and Cocaine, the latter of which is difficult to come by and synthesize. In many cases, Core Shard Dust takes the place of cocaine in many of the older recipes that used to be widespread, such as Core Shard Meth.
Different color Shards give users different severities and types of highs. Orange Shards tend to give the user a strong buzz, akin to a strong dose of nicotine, or the effects of a few beers, packed into an instant snort. Mixing Orange Shard Dust with other drugs or Shard Dusts tends to amplify the effects of those drugs, leading to some potentially deadly or near fatal mixtures. Purple shards tend to have a depressive effect, making the user very drowsy and relaxed, while Red shards give a sharp, intense high, similar to cocaine or speed, to name a few examples.
Inhalants have taken a large precedence in the drug scene, as much of the unused solvents and fuels become utilized for recreational use. Paint thinner and acetone huffing is widespread, and cheap, due to the commonality of both of the substances. Large amounts of ethanol are used to synthesize ether, a potent inhalant that is difficult to overdose on, although it is extremely flammable and possibly explosive. The Gangs of the core, and even some of the shadier corporations of the Ark are trying everyday to synthesize the ideal inhalant, experimenting with different chemicals and gases, resulting in a varied and wide market for inhalants.
Intravenous drugs are also on a popularity rise, as Core Shard Dust can be mixed with different liquids or substances to create the perfect drugs to inject. Shard Dust and Heroin is a popular option, but the low quality of most of the heroine in the core and potency of the Shard Dust have made it an increasingly less popular choice in recent years.
Drugs and drug use are still ever popular in the Ark, and the ways and means of getting high are getting more numerous every day.
---
While some may choose to have their personal computers contained in their cybernetic limbs, most people choose to have theirs on their wrists. Personal, wrist size computers are the standard these days, and if you don’t have one, you are disconnected from the world. Nearly every citizen of the Ark has a personal computer of some sort, whether it be an advanced holographic wrist computers, or the simple Phoenix Smart watches. There are many thousands of choices to choose from when it comes to your personal taste of wrist computers, from cutting edge high definition holographic sets, or standard definition screens.
These personal computers have any assortment of features, but some of the most common are things like wireless communication with any other each user, or a highly detailed navigational maps. Some other less common ones mark dangerous parts of the Ark according to reported crime stats or a smart, voice activated day manager. For any features that are lacking, there is a large market for software and hardware, both legal or not.
These personal computers have any assortment of features, but some of the most common are things like wireless communication with any other each user, or a highly detailed navigational maps. Some other less common ones mark dangerous parts of the Ark according to reported crime stats or a smart, voice activated day manager. For any features that are lacking, there is a large market for software and hardware, both legal or not.
---
Checkpoints are littered all over each of the Ark’s 800 feet high walls, covering innumerous land and elevated Mag Rail based entrances between the 6 different sectors, including in and out of the Core. At each checkpoint, a series of cameras scan things like the citizens face, their vehicle’s license plates, and their I.D Cards, which the citizens presents at the gate. These measures insure that all vehicle credentials are valid, the citizen isn’t a wanted criminal or has restricted access to certain Sectors. I.D scans also provide information about different weapon licenses that the citizens holds, or special area access passes they may have been given. Essentially, these security checkpoints are very thorough and effective at catching criminals.
Ark Identification Cards, or AIC’s, are one of the founding blocks that Ark’s infrastructure and society are built on. A card, at face value, doesn’t look much different from an ID as we know, except perhaps it’s clearer picture and words. What the AIC does have over a modern ID is the chip inside it, which grants access to database information of any person in Ark, at any time. The chip is specifically designed to be read by only government computers, and can tell you anything you want to know about someone. Birthplace, Criminal History, Occupation, Eye Color, any piece of solid information, you will find it.
Fake I.D’s are the real marvels, though. They are hard to find, and even harder to find one that actually works, but, it’s possible. It’s as simple as sticking your name and face on a card that has someone else’s chip, but, as previously mentioned, this chips are specially designed for government use and are notoriously hard to backwards engineer. Most of the time, the only place anyone can hope to find a functioning fake is a place simply referred to as The Underground. In the Underground, one can find any sort of high quality fakes or re-engineers of any of the staple pieces of technology that you can find in Ark, such as a variety of personal computers, or cybernetics limbs. Amongst the cheap cybernetics and fake computers, exotic and illegal weapons can also be found around The Underground, along with a plethora of drugs and other paraphernalia
Ark Identification Cards, or AIC’s, are one of the founding blocks that Ark’s infrastructure and society are built on. A card, at face value, doesn’t look much different from an ID as we know, except perhaps it’s clearer picture and words. What the AIC does have over a modern ID is the chip inside it, which grants access to database information of any person in Ark, at any time. The chip is specifically designed to be read by only government computers, and can tell you anything you want to know about someone. Birthplace, Criminal History, Occupation, Eye Color, any piece of solid information, you will find it.
Fake I.D’s are the real marvels, though. They are hard to find, and even harder to find one that actually works, but, it’s possible. It’s as simple as sticking your name and face on a card that has someone else’s chip, but, as previously mentioned, this chips are specially designed for government use and are notoriously hard to backwards engineer. Most of the time, the only place anyone can hope to find a functioning fake is a place simply referred to as The Underground. In the Underground, one can find any sort of high quality fakes or re-engineers of any of the staple pieces of technology that you can find in Ark, such as a variety of personal computers, or cybernetics limbs. Amongst the cheap cybernetics and fake computers, exotic and illegal weapons can also be found around The Underground, along with a plethora of drugs and other paraphernalia
---
.
First and foremost, the introduction of a new sort of travel channel simply named Mag Rails has forever changed the way people travel. Mag Rails resemble the large, overhanging bridges of the times before Ark, except they are busier and much larger than before. Running the complete length of the roads are the magnet strips that give the Mag Rail its name. The magnets allow for a solid connection between road and vehicle, but taking away much of the chances for accidents or traffic jams due to the lock it holds on the vehicles traveling on it. Without much room to move, the vehicles can travel the Mag Rails at very high speeds, with little risk of causing a fatal wreck. People get where they want to go fast and without many casualties.
With the introduction of Mag Rails and Core Shards, vehicles themselves have also changed a lot from the times before the Ark. Engines revolve less and less around combustion motors, and most civilian and military vehicles use engines powered completely by Blue Cord Shards, which last longer, but release energy in a slower, more controlled flow, most of the time too constrictive to power larger electrical systems. These Blue Shards are often used in conjunction with current-amplifying shards such as Orange or Green to increase their power and effectiveness.
The next innovations are the dual action wheels that nearly every vehicle carries now. The first option still uses the classic rubber tire to traverse most landscapes, but now, the rim and inner wheel of vehicles contain powerful magnets to give them accessibility to use the high speed, high power Mag Rails. Some vehicles, instead, opt to have their magnets located down the middle of the vehicle, with the wheels completely retracting when on the Mag Rail. For the richer and more well-to-do, the choice of hovercraft, which, well, hover a few feet off the ground, is always available. Usable on just about any terrain, Mag Rails or Road alike, the rather high price, expensive upkeep and fueling, and slightly higher learning curve are the only things keeping the hovercraft from being the most prominent mode of transportation on the Ark.
Cars and Trucks are not the sole forms of transportation that are allowed on Mag Rails, though. Mag Rails have been made accessible for human use as well. There are a wide variety of ways for people to ride the Rails, but most fall under two categories: Shoes with Built-In Magnets activated by button push, or ‘heel click”, or attachable shin plates that allow humans to link to the magnets in the Mag Rail.
In the center of all this wheel and foot traffic, though, are the Mag Trains, large, speeding bullet trains, capable of carrying large amounts of people or cargo alike. Thanks to the conversion to Mag Rails, Trains have once again become the go-to mode of transporting anything imaginable, anywhere imaginable, all across the Ark. People can also travel in large numbers around the Ark using the Mag Trains, but this isn’t usually seen as much, and passenger Mag Trains aren’t nearly as common as their Cargo variant cousins. The checkpoints and tight security around each Ark sector keep large scale human migration under control, but there are always ways people find around these checkpoints.
First and foremost, the introduction of a new sort of travel channel simply named Mag Rails has forever changed the way people travel. Mag Rails resemble the large, overhanging bridges of the times before Ark, except they are busier and much larger than before. Running the complete length of the roads are the magnet strips that give the Mag Rail its name. The magnets allow for a solid connection between road and vehicle, but taking away much of the chances for accidents or traffic jams due to the lock it holds on the vehicles traveling on it. Without much room to move, the vehicles can travel the Mag Rails at very high speeds, with little risk of causing a fatal wreck. People get where they want to go fast and without many casualties.
With the introduction of Mag Rails and Core Shards, vehicles themselves have also changed a lot from the times before the Ark. Engines revolve less and less around combustion motors, and most civilian and military vehicles use engines powered completely by Blue Cord Shards, which last longer, but release energy in a slower, more controlled flow, most of the time too constrictive to power larger electrical systems. These Blue Shards are often used in conjunction with current-amplifying shards such as Orange or Green to increase their power and effectiveness.
The next innovations are the dual action wheels that nearly every vehicle carries now. The first option still uses the classic rubber tire to traverse most landscapes, but now, the rim and inner wheel of vehicles contain powerful magnets to give them accessibility to use the high speed, high power Mag Rails. Some vehicles, instead, opt to have their magnets located down the middle of the vehicle, with the wheels completely retracting when on the Mag Rail. For the richer and more well-to-do, the choice of hovercraft, which, well, hover a few feet off the ground, is always available. Usable on just about any terrain, Mag Rails or Road alike, the rather high price, expensive upkeep and fueling, and slightly higher learning curve are the only things keeping the hovercraft from being the most prominent mode of transportation on the Ark.
Cars and Trucks are not the sole forms of transportation that are allowed on Mag Rails, though. Mag Rails have been made accessible for human use as well. There are a wide variety of ways for people to ride the Rails, but most fall under two categories: Shoes with Built-In Magnets activated by button push, or ‘heel click”, or attachable shin plates that allow humans to link to the magnets in the Mag Rail.
In the center of all this wheel and foot traffic, though, are the Mag Trains, large, speeding bullet trains, capable of carrying large amounts of people or cargo alike. Thanks to the conversion to Mag Rails, Trains have once again become the go-to mode of transporting anything imaginable, anywhere imaginable, all across the Ark. People can also travel in large numbers around the Ark using the Mag Trains, but this isn’t usually seen as much, and passenger Mag Trains aren’t nearly as common as their Cargo variant cousins. The checkpoints and tight security around each Ark sector keep large scale human migration under control, but there are always ways people find around these checkpoints.
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To defend oneself in this world of underground crime, Ark Citizens, Criminals, and Military alike have taken up a large assortment of weapons, which have become quite advanced and varied in the years leading up to the Ark’s establishment. In the Ark, one can choose from a wide assortment of different weapon systems. In order from least to most power, there are: ballistics, laser, kinetic bolts, and gauss. In this day and age where natural resources have become more scarce and need to be used more wisely, instead of gunpowder and primers, conventional rounds now use refined powdered Core Shards to provide the necessary combustion to fire the bullets. The powder inside the bullet is ignited by a quick burst of energy from an installed core rod, about the size of a battery. This Core Rod is standard for ballistics weapons, and takes the place of many of the more intricate and more difficult to maintain gas powered weapon systems of yesterday. Most Core Rods are Red, as they allow for more powerful, volatile and sometimes combustive energy releases.
Laser weapons utilize their slightly larger core rods in a much different way. The energy from the Core Rod is released into a White Core Lens, either to be focused or scattered into a laser-like stream of energy, which can burn through armor and skin alike. The Cores last for a shorter time compared to other weapons systems, but there are no other munitions usually required with these systems, so they are one of the lightest to carry out in a firefight. Unfortunately, though, laser weapons do leave something to be desired in durability and accuracy, so they are usually utilized in close range engagements, such as in the back alleys of the Ark.
Kinetic Energy bolt weapons are some of the scarier and harder hitting weapons found around the Ark. In these weapons systems, the energy is used directly from the core, taking on a physical state in the shape of small, glowing bolts. They even have the potential to explode on impact, but in exchange for power, they give up projectile speed. While not so slow as they can be easily dodged, kinetic energy bolts do move somewhat noticeably slower than standard ballistic weapons, making moving targets harder to lead and the effective range is much shorter than that of ballistics and gauss.
Gauss weapons are probably the weapon systems that have benefitted the most from the widespread use of Core Shards. Gauss systems were able to be made small enough for the average person to use, and still get devastating results. The core shards allow for a clean, simple and easily built and maintained way of activating the magnets in Gauss weapons, thus leading to an extraordinarily powerful weapon that packs quite the punch. Most gauss rifles use either a magazine of shaped rounds to fire, or use large metal pucks to shave shards of metal off of and then to fire them at the enemies. These weapons are capable of punching through vehicle armor, let alone standard body armor. Fleshy targets beware.
Weapons in the Ark fall mainly under three categories: Illicit, Civilian, or Military, each with their own collection of sub-categories. Civilian weapons are the most common and easiest to acquire, needing only a permit to own. They usually consist of weaker conventional bullet weapons, such as handguns, lower caliber rifles, and basic shotguns. Military are, as the name suggests, weapons only allowed for use by the military. These can consist of a mixture of conventional and energy weapons, including high-caliber handguns and revolvers, automatic sub-machine guns and assault rifles, high-tech shotguns, and other heavy weapons. Illicit are the rarest, hardest, and sometimes, the most powerful weapons to acquire. These kinds of weapons are always illegal, no matter what credentials or licenses someone has, and consist of experimental, prototype, or banned weaponry deemed too dangerous for regular ownership.
Laser weapons utilize their slightly larger core rods in a much different way. The energy from the Core Rod is released into a White Core Lens, either to be focused or scattered into a laser-like stream of energy, which can burn through armor and skin alike. The Cores last for a shorter time compared to other weapons systems, but there are no other munitions usually required with these systems, so they are one of the lightest to carry out in a firefight. Unfortunately, though, laser weapons do leave something to be desired in durability and accuracy, so they are usually utilized in close range engagements, such as in the back alleys of the Ark.
Kinetic Energy bolt weapons are some of the scarier and harder hitting weapons found around the Ark. In these weapons systems, the energy is used directly from the core, taking on a physical state in the shape of small, glowing bolts. They even have the potential to explode on impact, but in exchange for power, they give up projectile speed. While not so slow as they can be easily dodged, kinetic energy bolts do move somewhat noticeably slower than standard ballistic weapons, making moving targets harder to lead and the effective range is much shorter than that of ballistics and gauss.
Gauss weapons are probably the weapon systems that have benefitted the most from the widespread use of Core Shards. Gauss systems were able to be made small enough for the average person to use, and still get devastating results. The core shards allow for a clean, simple and easily built and maintained way of activating the magnets in Gauss weapons, thus leading to an extraordinarily powerful weapon that packs quite the punch. Most gauss rifles use either a magazine of shaped rounds to fire, or use large metal pucks to shave shards of metal off of and then to fire them at the enemies. These weapons are capable of punching through vehicle armor, let alone standard body armor. Fleshy targets beware.
Weapons in the Ark fall mainly under three categories: Illicit, Civilian, or Military, each with their own collection of sub-categories. Civilian weapons are the most common and easiest to acquire, needing only a permit to own. They usually consist of weaker conventional bullet weapons, such as handguns, lower caliber rifles, and basic shotguns. Military are, as the name suggests, weapons only allowed for use by the military. These can consist of a mixture of conventional and energy weapons, including high-caliber handguns and revolvers, automatic sub-machine guns and assault rifles, high-tech shotguns, and other heavy weapons. Illicit are the rarest, hardest, and sometimes, the most powerful weapons to acquire. These kinds of weapons are always illegal, no matter what credentials or licenses someone has, and consist of experimental, prototype, or banned weaponry deemed too dangerous for regular ownership.
Theoretics on Shard Sickness
Name: Haematestra
Symptoms: Early symptoms include fatigue and weariness, dizziness or nausea. As the disease progresses symptoms include bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, intense migraines, hematidrosis (bleeding from the pores), etc. Throughout the course of the disease shards will grow from the sufferers body, small and often unnoticeable at first (like cancerous moles), growing into obvious and irritating/painful shards.
Clinical Manifestations: Increased blood pressure, blood vessel rupture, increased cranial pressure, infarcts.
Cause of death: Cardiac or brain failure.
Life expectancy: 1-2 years. This is reduced to 6-8 months for Pyskers; the disease course progresses more aggressively as they "use" the shards in their body.
Cause: Similar to lead poising, results from a chronic exposure to shards in the air/water/food etc.
Physiological/molecular cause: The shards, once infecting the body, being to release a large molecular weight protein known as Testran which enters red blood cells and binds to hemoglobin, preventing the binding of oxygen and causing the red blood cells to become an abnormal shape (this is due to lipid reassembly in the cell membrane, the reasons this occurs are currently unknown). Oxygen has a higher affinity for hemoglobin than Testran so it is only at very high concentrations that oxygen will no longer be carried. Early in the disease course, when concentrations are lower, only slightly less oxygen is carried causing headaches and dizziness as the brain receives less oxygen. There is also a gradual increase in blood pressure as the heart becomes more active to try and meet the oxygen demand.
The abnormally shaped red blood cells will eventually lead to a vaso-occlusive crisis in which red blood cells occlude capillaries and prevent blood flow. Initially this will lead to a reduced blood flow, further preventing the delivery of oxygen to tissues - increasing migraines and blood pressure. As the disease progresses and more abnormally shaped red blood cells occur, weaker capillaries and arteries can rupture leading to the later symptoms observed (blood from the nose and ears). This can include an intracerebral hemorrhage (blood vessel rupturing within the cerebral cortex) which could cause vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness and muscle weakness. Death will ultimately result from either a serious intracerebral hemorrhage or brain/myocardial infarction (lack of blood/oxygen reaching the tissue and causing cell death).
Notes:
- The shard itself is not actually known to seriously harm the body, it simply uses the host to grow, making use of waste products such as ammonia and CO2 in the blood. It is the shard's own waste produce, "Testran" that causes the problem. Without Testran you might just expect to see a shard infected individual to have minor kidney problems as ammonia is part of the complicated balance of ion exchange in the kidneys.
- You can cause "acute" Hematestra by injecting molecules from shards directly into blood stream. So far only done in mice and fish. Unknown to public. Syndustries and DigiCorp see potential in this but the government (correctly, for once) has refused to allow them access.
- Most of this information is unknown to the general public besides symptoms and cause.
The cure so far:
- Surgical intervention: Surgical removal of shards has been shown to slow the progress of the disease in mice but the procedure is often riskier than the time afforded to the animal. Similar metastatic cancer, it is impossible to remove all of the small remaining shard fragments through surgery alone.
- Immunotherapy: One of the major issues which face the body infected with shards is that, for unknown reasons, it does not recognise it as a foreign entity and so does not launch an immune response. Artificial immune responses launched against the shards have seen some success in breaking down the shards completely but the trials are still in early days.
- Negating the effect of Testran: In theory, a drug that could destroy Testra or remove it from the blood would prevent the sequence of events leading to sickness. However, it would also leave the shards in the body to be used at will by the infected- i.e. a shard-soilder. The Fairfield lab is working on this, as they are contractually obliged to do, but they are also being deliberately slow in the process. As it happens, although there are several drugs which have been found to remove Testran in highthroughput screenings on zebrfish, these drugs are toxic/harmful in different ways to mammals and ultimately lead to the death of the subject anyway.
