Theme Technology

PIDs, PANs, and PDAs
The world of the mid-21st century is all about connectivity. As much as people are connected now the people of Colonial Bay make them look like the rural communities of the early 20th century with party lines, hand sorted mail, and radio being the new method of entertainment. In the setting of Colonial Bay people receive almost everything that is in some way information based through the Net. News, video, audio, books, magazines, mail and telecommunications are just a few of the streams in the massive torrent of data.

At the heart of each person's data flow is their PID or Personal Identity Device. It can be thought of as a smart phone except that rather being designed for phone service with data services being an expansion of function a PID is designed from the ground up as a data device. An audio connection to another individual is just a data stream like any other.

PIDs come in a wide variety of forms including watches, larger arm bands, pendants, and fold up devices. By far the most common forms of PIDs, however, are small devices about the size of a thumbdrive, known as pods, and the larger devices about the size of a modern smartphone known as PDAs. Pods have the advantages of being easier to carry, less expensive, and easier to customize with peripherals. PDAs on the other hand have the advantage that they have their own built in interfaces.

Often, especially in the case of the smaller pods, people will interact with their PIDs via peripherals. Earpieces and glasses are all almost ubiquitous in their use and nearly everyone will have a small camera either attached to a pair of glasses or earpiece or else worn as a pendant. Keyboards and mice are still often used when voice control would not be desired such as at work and the use of monitors to provide larger display surfaces is incredibly common. Most homes will, in fact, usually possess a large monitor that can be connected to by multiple PIDs that serves a function very much like our television sets. There are even peripherals the size and shape of a PDA which are often used as the common interface device by people using pods.

The peripherals wirelessly connect to the PID to form one's Personal Area Network, or PAN. Trying to hack into a person's PAN is nearly impossible for even the best hackers. Pairing of PIDs and peripherals is accomplished via near field chips with verification routines that prevent people from attaching their own devices to someone else's PAN. The low strength of the signals combined with all the interference of everyone else's PANs can make interception of the transmission extremely difficult while cryptography techniques of the mid-21st century are considered to be nearly unbreakable. While the various devices connected to a PID have their own names they are still often referred to simply as 'PIDs' or 'PDAs' in common usage. Just like people will talk about placing a disk into a computer rather than putting the disk into a disk drive people will simply refer to interactions with the various peripherals with terms such as 'reading their PID'.

For most people the Net is omnipresent. Communication satellites ensure that even in the most remote of places a signal will be present. In locations not accessible to satellite inexpensive repeaters will often be setup to relay the signal so that even in the depths of a mine one can expect to have service. This isn't to say that heroes may not find themselves without the Net. Radio jammers to hide secret bases, outer space and other dimensions will all cut off one's connection to the Net but for the average person an interruption of services would be an extremely unusual event.

Because every PID contains a unique identifier, a near field chip and copious amounts of memory they are often used as forms of ID. A PID can be scanned through its near field chip which will send information used to verify that the PID belongs to someone, the PID will then be used to lookup records and a second check will be done to verify that the person with the PID is the person the records refer to. In this way a PID also functions as an ID, drivers license, credit card, and banking card.

Science and Technology
It might be imagined that in a world where super-gadgeteers exist the advancement of technology would be extremely rapid. However, although there is some accuracy in that assumption, in general the super-gadgets created by such people are not replicable by conventional engineering. When that factor is combined with the effects of the Neo-Luddite movement (See Robert Westwood, a study of media induced hysteria by Harlen Bortok, published 2034.) the result is a general technological level that, with rare exceptions, is rather less advanced than might have been foretold.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence had long been a goal in Computer Science. Early Expert Systems could mimic intelligence to some degree but fell well short of passing the Turing Test. However true artificial intelligence was realized in 2042 for the very first time at the CERN facility. Simon, the name assigned to the AI, was estimated to have an IQ of about 80, and was childish in personality. Unfortunately Simon only survived a few weeks, as the computer building at CERN was blown up after the announcement of Simon's 'birth' by a Christian zealot with a long history of mental issues.

Once a stable neural net has been constructed, it is given a personality imprint and then access to a knowledge bank. If all goes well, a new AI evolves, but the process rarely succeeds. There are less than one dozen known AIs out of tens of thousand of attempts; they are known worldwide in the computer industry. There are rumors of other AIs existing. Some created covertly. Some rumored to be spontaneous AI births occuring within sufficiently complex processing system.

Turing Commission
The status of an Artificial Intelligence depends on the country in which it is created. Most countries, including the United States, allow AIs to apply for citizenship. In order to become eligible the AI must pass the Turing Test, named after the great British Mathematician Alan Turing. The Turing Test is administered by the Turing Commission, an international NGO. In some countries, however, AIs are considered the property of the creator, effectively a 21st century slave.

Cold Sleep
Rumors of this ability - suspended animation - were confirmed in 2042, when UEMS acknowledged its use at Tranquillity prison. Various chemicals are used to reduce a person's vital signs to near death point, hold them there, and then eventually return them. Cryogenic temperatures are used in some version of this process. The process is not without risk, there is a difficulty in determining the correct dosage and proper interaction with blood chemistry, especially when used on metahumans possessing unusual physiological attributes.

Knowledge of Cold Sleep technology emerged during an inquiry into a death in custody at Tranquillity. The use of Cold Sleep by UEMS has officially been suspended pending further advances in safe usage. However the technology has been adopted for last-chance emergency situations, such as life-pods on deep space exploration vessels, etc., and for medical suspension when patients choose this option to wait for future medical advances that can cure their illnesses.

Evolite Serum
The circumstances leading to the creation of the Evolite Serum can be found in the Sentient Monkeys section of our Theme. The Evolite Serum works on any form of primate, although the effect on normal humans is almost invariably a fatal hyper-simulation of the cerebral cortex. When given to the lower primates, gorillas normally evolve human-level intelligence and superhuman strength, while monkeys and chimps usually develop superhuman intelligence and reflexes.

Originally the serum could only be manufactured by the Sentient Saucer. However the serum has now been synthesized by both evolved primates and human scientists.

After being given the serum, the subject in a highly suggestible state for several hours after the injection, frequently basing a significant portion of his personality on whatever he is exposed to at that time. This is effective for imprinting language skills. However, inject a monkey while he is watching a Christmas Special, and he may very well develop the belief he is an elf or Santa Claus. Unscrupulous users of the serum have used this suggestive state to indoctrinate enhanced primates as hapless minions.

The name by which the serum is commonly known is inaccurate. The Evolite serum has no effect on a genetic level nor is the effect inheritable by offspring of affected primates. Thus the serum has no evolutionary effect but rather enhances the recipient's abilities at an individual level. The serum remains in the bloodstream for the first twenty-four hours after injection, and any significant exposure to radiation, drugs, or poisons, usually causes a spontaneous breakdown of all physiological systems, quickly resulting in death.

On rare occasions, however, the effect of such exposure is a further hyper enhancement of the primate's brain - resulting in the development of mental abilities, and on very rare occasions exceptionally powerful mental abilities. This further enhancement seems to also have a quirky side effect. Primates developing mental abilities have brightly colored fur, usually blue, green, or orange. Those rare individuals with exceptionally powerful mental abilities have dark purple fur.

It is unknown at the current time what effects variations of the Evolite Serum and the serum itself has on other animals. While illegal, there are some scientists and villains working on enhancing other forms of animals with the serum or variations of the serum. Who know what other creatures and foes or allies this will bring to the city of Colonial Bay?

Fusion and Power Generation
Fusion reactors have entirely replaced fission reactors as primary power sources at the current date. After the Casablanca incident the use of fission reactors on Earth was in fact made illegal. The hot fusion experiments (JET, TORUS, etc.) of the 20th and early 21st centuries succeeded in producing fusion reactions, but this technology was never successfully applied to power generation. Controlling and containing stellar pressures and temperatures was feasible in a small experimental reactor. Scaling up to commercial power generation proved a far more difficult problem.

Meanwhile, on the very outer fringe of science, and mocked for their efforts, a few unconventional physicists were working on cold fusion. Success came in 2015. (With the first cold fusion power plant going into operation in 2017.) The issue with the initial cold fusion technology was simply that the volumetric efficiency was very low. To generate significant amounts of power required massive installations on the order of a city block in size. On the other hand the fuel cost is effectively zero.

Further development and refinement of the cold fusion process has reduced the size of a fusion power plant capable of supplying a city down to that of a large factory. The only environmental waste product is heat. Solar, wind, and water-powered systems are also in widespread use alongside cold fusion for large scale generation, while the use of oil and coal for power production has declined dramatically. The problem with regard to power use has moved from generating to distribution. Energy storage capacity has advanced but is still often the major bottleneck in adopting new power-hungry technologies. Hydrogen is increasingly employed as a secondary energy source. Most cold fusion plants have nearby electrolysis facilities producing the hydrogen used in modern fuel-cells.

Glassteel
Invented by Leros Industries (France) in 2018, and confiscated by UNTIL, this is a process of carbonizing iron, that structures the carbon in almost diamond-like fashion, resulting in a steel formula lighter and stronger than all other known steel alloys. The resultant metal has almost the hardness and strength of diamond, but without the brittleness of diamond. Glassteel is neither transparent, nor has it anything like the semi-liquid properties of glass. Rather, the name comes from the manner in which the metal behaves if stressed sufficient to break it, not an easy task given its exceptional toughness. which is to shatter like a sheet of glass hit by a hammer.

Glassteel is speculated to be one of the alloys used in Questonite. The process of manufacture remains officially restricted technology, although if you really want to know it just look up the document posted on Wikileaks in 2038 by Information Liberation Front (ILF) hackers.

Hot Sleep
Hot Sleep chambers are employed by Stronghold and Tranquillity UE prisons to hold the most powerful and unruly of supervillains. These high technology chambers affect the nervous system to render the occupant unconscious while within the device. Villains that can be contained no other way are put into Hot Sleep and serve out their prison sentences asleep.

Putting a villain into Hot Sleep is an exceptional measure. It requires a UE judge to issue a warrant in each case. In addition the process is not uniformly successful. Ironically it's precisely the very powerful and hard to contain villains who sometimes possess an innate immunity to the Hot Sleep process.

Medical Advances
Medical advances since the turn of the millennium have made the world a better place. Anti-viral treatments can stop the respiratory viruses responsible for the common cold but hardier stock like HIV can still only be treated but not eliminated, as anti-virals become less effective with repeated use. Much hope was placed on nanotechnology treatments becoming the new standard but the laws passed during the Neo-Luddite decade banning such techniques remain in force in many countries.

The ability of a virus to alter DNA has long been a known medical fact. The application of this to superhumans is obvious. Several superhumans are known to have been genetically engineered by virus-engineered processes. Like most biological experiments, the results vary wildly in their success and repeatability. The release, sometimes accidentally and sometimes deliberately, of viral agents into the environment has kept public hostility to this technique at a high level. It's also illegal in most countries. Note it's the technique which is illegal. Metahumans created by such genetic manipulation, having had no choice in the process, are not considered criminals simply by existing, although some countries withhold citizenship.

Genetic treatments are available for many conditions like birth defects and cancer, though they are expensive and time-consuming. Also illegal. Genetic manipulation and full cloning are carefully watched for by medical and government agencies. They are a violation of ethical and legal laws, and the penalties are severe: loss of all professional perks, life imprisonment, and in some countries possibly death.

Normal wound treatments no longer risk infection, and synthetic skin and blood are available. A process has recently become available that speeds the fusing of broken bones. In the case of catastrophic loss or amputation, mechanical prosthetic limbs that can duplicate normal functionality are available, as are artificial organs such as heart, lung, kidney, ears and eyes. Cloned replacements are slowly becoming available, but they are at the very forefront of medical science and subject to much public debate and even outrage from certain groups.

Healing abilities conferred by meta-powers aren't unknown. Some magicians can heal as well. The possessors of such healing abilities often face serious ethical dilemmas. The demand for healing is effectively infinite whereas healing abilities are finite. Simply in order to have any kind of life at all other than constantly healing, such people have to ration the healing they perform. An approach to this problem taken by many healers is to work with a local medical facility, a hospital for example, and to heal only those cases where conventional medicine is not sufficient, leaving the hospital to heal those patients who can be helped by normal methods.

Questonite
Almost every superheroic world in the comic industry has its own unbreakable ultra-hard metal. Champions MUSH is no different. Questonite is an alloy of several metals which, when cooled and hardened, is the hardest metal known to mankind. Questonite is essentially unbreakable. Questonite is also impenetrable, blocks N-Ray perception and Clairsentience, blocks desolidification, blocks indirect attacks, and cannot be teleported through.

It can also cut through any other metal known to mankind (carbon steel, tungsten, diamond, etc.) provided it has a sharpened edge. This shouldn't bring to your mind the kind of cutting power displayed by a Starwars Light Sabre. Although a Questonite blade can cut through all the above materials without losing its sharpness, the energy required to cut the material remains the same, so superhuman strength is required to make a cut in such materials in less than a few hours or days sustained effort.

Questonite is EXTREMELY rare and EXTREMELY expensive. The manufacturing process is one of Starguard's (Starguard having gained the secret when it was formed from UNTIL) most closely guarded secrets. The average hero (or villain) should not try to claim he possesses Questonite weapons or armor, etc.. Possession of Questonite items is only allowed by special permission of the Admin and the justification for having such an item in your character's background is consistent with our Theme.

Additionally, please note that there are NO other metals out there with similar properties. The CM world does not have Adamantium, Vibranium, Inertron, etc.. Glassteel is an ultra-hard metal but it does not have the effect on penetrating attacks, indirect attacks, etc., that Questonite possesses. If your character requires ultra-hard metals of one sort or another, we recommend that you request permission to use Glassteel. Questonite is fundamentally a plot-device metal. Captain America's shield, which has been bent by super-strong villains on rare occasions, for example, would be made of an alloy of Glassteel, whereas the utterly unbreakable claws of Wolverine would be Questonite.

Transport, TransMat, Hypersite
Until the summer of 2057 global transportation was still carried out by the conventional means of sea and flight. For large scale bulk cargo transport the economics of sea travel are hard to beat. The docks and sea lanes of the world are congested by cargo ships going about their business. A few large hover-transports have been built with sea and land capability, but where speed of movement isn't a major factor they are more expensive to operate than cargo ships.

For rugged terrain airships are a popular choice when access to sea transport is difficult and speed is unimportant. The airship Hindenburg II is a nuclear powered helium craft with a cargo capacity of 20,000 metric tonnes and a length of 840 meters.

Global distance personal transportation used to be the province of flight, both conventional aircraft and sub-orbital craft for high speed long distance travel. Cruise ships of luxurious nature and style remain popular. The King Harry cruise liner of the UK based Cunard line is the latest in a long and honoured series.

In the summer of 2057, the TransMat company commenced operations. The technology remains proprietary (the consensus of expert commentary outside the company favours an application of worm-hole technology) but the effect is straightforward. A traveller walks into a annular portal at his starting point, and walks out of a similar annular portal at his destination. Elapsed time is close to zero. Travellers report no unusual sensations during the transition.

The original pair of TransMat Terminals were located in Colonial Bay City, the home of the TransMat Company, and New York. The TransMat network grew rapidly after the start of operations, with Terminals in most major US and European cities at this time. Expansion into South America, Asia, and Australia, has been slower. China has only one TransMat Terminal, in Hong Kong. South Africa has no TransMat Terminals at this time, and there are only a few in North Africa.

Hypersite opened its doors only a month after TransMat with its own proprietory teleportation technology, with its first sites in Melbourne and Mexico City, and expanded rapidly throughout Australia and Central and South America, where it originally had exclusive contracts with the governments. It is now also the predominant teleport network in sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania and most of the poorer Asian nations.

The great strength of the Hypersite technology is that the initial cost of the portals is a fraction of that of a TransMat portal, allowing for much more rapid expansion, even into areas of smaller or poorer populations. However, due to mishaps in early demonstrations of the technology (on inanimate objects), many governments have so far banned the use of the Hypersite technology for transporting living things or other sensitive materials, despite the fact that Hypersite maintain these problems have been solved.

Hypersite therefore has no passenger terminals in most US states, in Canada or in any part of Europe except Luxembourg (which has interconnecting TransMat and Hypersite terminals and is the world's primary interchange). There are to date no Hypersite terminals in China, nor public ones in North Korea or Kroskev.

Hypersite portals are normally rectangular and typically designed to look like normal doorways (not counting the glow of the portal itself), though at a few sites the machinery of the "frame" is exposed. As with TransMat travellers experience no significant time lapse, though there is a sensation as of static electricity, and arriving with one's hair on end is not unknown. Unlike a TransMat portal, a Hypersite portal is not monolithic and may be disassembled for transportation (though it is by no means light, even without a power source).

Advanced Technology
These are the technological advances currently feasible in the Champions MUSH game world. If someone wants to pay enough, they might be able to get their hands on this technology. Also, within the limits imposed by our House Rules, in particular the balance section, and the Hero Games superhero campaign metarule that anything used regularly has to be paid for in character points, these are the technological devices that need no further explanation for possession by a character other than - she bought it. Some of these technologies have expanded details elsewhere in the technology section of our Theme document.

Anti-Viral Treatment (medical) - available by prescription or black market Artificial Intelligence (infotech) - available but see notes on Turing Commission Artificial Organs (medical) - commercially available Cloned Organs (medical) - legal only in Canada and Britain, else black market Cloning (medical) - whole body cloning is illegal under United Earth laws Cold Fusion Power Generation (engineering) - commercially available Cold Sleep (medical) - available only under licence from United Earth Energy Weapons (engineering) - commercially available, illegal in most countries Enhanced Virtual Reality (infotech) - invented and then suppressed by Jon Masters Evolite Serum (medical) - illegal everywhere except Monkey Island Faster Than Light Spacedrive (engineering) - Difficult to obtain Genetic Scanning (medical) - commercially available Glassteel (engineering) - available only under licence from Starguard (UE) Hot Fusion Spacedrive (engineering) - commercially available Hot Sleep (medical) - commercially available Nanotechnology (engineering) - illegal, not past the experimental stage, unreliable Neural Linked Prosthetic Limbs (medical) - commercially available Nuclear Fission Power Generation (engineering) - illegal on Earth after Casablanca incident Questonite (engineering) - available only under licence from Starguard Robotics (engineering) - commercially available without AI operation Teleportation (engineering) - proprietary technology owned by TransMat and Hypersite Viral Genetic Modification (medical) - illegal under UE law, gray market in Britain

Unavailable Technology
These are the technological advances that haven't made it off the drawing board or out of the research laboratories as far as conventional science is concerned. However that doesn't mean your character won't find himself confronting this technology in the hands of a super-gadgeteer or metavillain. Sometimes unstable technologies surface due to super villain science. However, this does not mean one would see these types of technologies often or in conventional use.

Dimensional Travel - TransMat's CEO Jon Masters is a super-gadgeteer, as are Alex and Jade Gravitic Manipulation (anti-gravity) - Dr Fogg at CBSU. Extremely Unreliable Hot Fusion Power Generation - largely an abandoned research field Whole Limb Regeneration - Some Metahuman Healers Ultra-Capacity Energy Storage Zero Point Energy Generation - cf. Anthony Quinn's Q-Drive