Epicenter RP (Idea thread)

[Blurred_9L]

It’s the near future. Recent advancements in technology have managed to triple the lifetime of human beings and enhance their limited capabilities. All of this could be achieved due to the hard work of the researchers and engineers at BTComp. BTComp, standing for BioTech Company, designed a set of biologically compatible implants, better known as BioTech Parts of BTP for short. BTP were revolutionary, enhancing the quality of life of humans around the world. However, nothing is a simple as it seems, as BTP was not something you could just attach to your body and detach when you stopped needing it. BTP were basically biologically compatible computer modules, in other words, they required a driver software to be able to work properly. The scientists at BTComp studied the human brain for decades, trying to properly make the prototype BTPs work by connecting the brain’s electrical signals to receptors on the BTP, and, while this worked for normal limb substitution, their wildest and most advanced prototypes failed to work properly. Due to this, and perhaps, blinded to complete their original idea, they created a microcomputer which would be surgically installed inside the brain. The microcomputer, the BioTech Control Unit or BTCU, would be in charge of providing driver software for all BTP on the human body, effectively converting the human which would undergo the surgery operation into a human/computer hybrid.

Despite the apparent risk of having a chip installed inside a brain, when BTP became a reality, a great majority of the population of the world underwent the surgery. The others outwardly rejected the idea and protested against it. A segregation occurred, with normal humans, the minority, forming BTP-free zones far away from the capitals of the world. Their hate for their technologically enhanced equals was such that they started calling them Halfs or Half Human.

In spite of this, the enhanced humans that stayed at the metropolis of the world kept living their lives as if nothing had happened. The government passed laws to regulate the use of BTPs, as well as the minimum age at which a person could choose to have a BTCU and corresponding BTPs installed. Everything was okay, and with time, non-enhanced humans and BTP-enhanced humans existed lived alongside one another at the metropolis. The humans that rejected science’s progress and left the cities began to be known as Extremists. But even then, recent times signalled for all of that to be left in the past…

...and yet, it was not. After a century or so of living in peace, the BTCU installed on some humans began malfunctioning, driving them insane and highly unstable. Scientists and programmers were tasked at finding the bug that caused this. Even so, the government knew that they had to take drastic measures if they were to protect the rest of the population. In particular, Itryn, erected a huge wall around the city limits and evacuated most of the population. The gates on the wall were protected by a huge electrical current as well as a strong magnetic force which would prevent BTP-enhanced humans inside and outside from getting near them. Other cities soon followed Itryn’s example and did the same. Not long after, a patch for the BTCU was completed and everything seemed to return to normal… But history repeated itself every couple centuries. Historians began to refer to this phenomenon as “The Purge”.

As a way to save space, rather than building another circular barricade around the city every time The Purge happened again, construction of new buildings followed a spiral pattern around the limits of the cities.

Several millennia passed. At a time in which rebuilding everything every couple centuries is no longer viable, the government has begun considering going inside the “lost” parts of the metropolis and try to recover them… even by force, if needed.

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Welcome to Epicenter RP

You're one of the members of the initial expedition towards the center of Itryn. Your job? To scout the lost parts of the city in order to determine their state... but nothing is as simple as it seems, for who knows how many BTP-enhanced humans are still lurking around...

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Basically, RP Idea I had for a while. I dunno if I'll ever end up running this, but I guess it might be fun to do so Well, if this generates interest cool, and if it doesn't cool as well

[RussetDivinity]

Oooh. It might be fun to play with a sci-fi RP. I'd definitely be interested.

[Guyshane]

So what other future tech is there besides the biotech stuff, if there is any at all?

[JRPictures]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I've always been a sucker for Sci-Fi.

[Blurred_9L]

So what other future tech is there besides the biotech stuff, if there is any at all?

Well, I haven't thought that much about it , but when it comes to tools and weapons, most of the BTPs can act as them besides common limbs, but BTPs would not be limited to just tools. For example, there could be a jetpack BTP (I know, lame example).
Normal stuff is still around because of normal humans, but it has become somewhat scarce and obtaining regular tools would mean going into Extremist cities.

Considering that by the start of the story several millennia have passed, I would think that at least teletransportation of inanimate objects works properly (as for teletransporting living beings... let's just say doing so leads to terrible incidents best not explained ).

There haven't been any major breakthroughs when it comes to architecture, but common objects and materials are embedded with chips and circuits that allow the whole city to act as a whole network computer. Again, I can provide some mundane examples: need to open a gate or request access to a building? Touch the nearest wall with your hand and identify yourself. Need to contact somebody? Again, touch the nearest wall or solid object and establish communication with them. Information displays are everywhere inside the city. I mean it. They can pop up anywhere on the streets as long as an holographic projector, which is a small device installed, again, over the circuits of the walls and floor or atop some sort of modern streelamp (sorry, haven't thought of a proper name). Every citizen is also allowed to carry a device that basically works as an id, smart phone, wallet, etc, which can be used as an interface for people to use with some of the more complex systems on the cities.

Hmmm... there are probably more things I could think about, but if this actually becomes a thing it would actually be more fun if the amount of technology wasn't set as Word of the GM, rather allowing players to suggest or build on the state of the world previously described.

I hadn't properly thought about the method in which it would have been played. The main part of the story, with the expedition towards the center of Itryn would be played by setting microobjectives to small sets of characters (two or three to avoid slow down, most likely). Microobjectives would represent a part of a bigger mission at the part of the city being explored, and, ideally, would all be simultaneous. If I could think of a way in which the completion of the microobjective by a team of player affects all others without being overly frustrating (mainly because I don't want people discarding stuff they might have written already), that would be cool as well. Aside from that, a separate, more relaxed part could be had, where players characters interact.