Freespacer Types (Old Version Archive)

Type One Freespacers are humans.

Since the development of advanced implant technology and cloning technology, natural born Deoradh (Type Ones) are virtually unheard of. The high rate of miscarriage and child mortality caused by their toxic environments and the disadvantage of having unaugmented intelligence makes natural born and bred children simply impractical. This has resulted in the virtual extinction of this caste.

This version of Deoradh is obsolete, and has become pseudoextinct.

Image:	A Type Two in a Voidwalker Suit

Of the entire Free State population… … 7% are Type Two Freespacers … 33% are Type Two Automata

Therefore the Type Two caste makes up 40% of the Free State

From their birth and childhood in communal nurseries (or assembly plants if they are Automata), Type Twos are constantly indoctrinated with the idea that they are inevitably going to die, that their individual existence means nothing, but they can make a difference in the world by helping society and building a better future. They are made to believe that they are nothing more than cells to a body, or neurons to a mind. One in billions, but when working together, they become a piece of a grand creation capable of amazing things. This idea of self-worthlessness may cause clinical depression among some, who are then promptly killed and recycled. Those that remain are Type Twos are those that have successfully accepted the idea, and hold little or no chance of becoming depressed.

These beings think absolutely nothing of themselves, only of others in society. This makes them beings of amazing virtue: Completely selfless, cooperative, loyal, caring, optimistic, and fearless yet pacifist. Many consider them the very essence of the words, 'It's not how long you live, it's how you live.' They tend to be highly idealistic and noble, preferring to maintain ethical integrity over their lives. Being outspoken, optimistic, and whimsical are also traits of this caste, as they have a tendency to live for the moment more than they prepare for the future.

They are also especially cooperative and communal in comparison to other castes. Their selfless mentality causes them to divert their efforts completely to helping others, to the point they have little regard for their own lives. Yet at the same time, they hold a sacred regard for the life of others and as such are very pacifistic. They are also innately innocent and naive; They have difficulty understanding when they are being deceived or manipulated. More so due to the fact they rarely, if ever, experience self-centered emotions, so they usually cannot comprehend things such as greed.

Since they are taught to think nothing of themselves, they would much rather prefer to be among others where they can help more. This also means they tend to be almost clingy, and hate to be left alone. When they are isolated or are left idle for long periods of time, they have nothing to distract them from their own wants and needs, which can start to reverse of the indoctrination process. As such, isolated or idle Type Twos often become bored, vocal, and even neurotic; they may exhibit malaise, lethargy, or even revert to depression. The only happy Type Two is a working one.

Due to the caste's high affinity for off-ship and hazardous work [[items:equipment:spacesuit|spacesuits]] (see image) are standard issue among all Type Twos, and is the only possession a Type Two is given by their nurseries. They are an important part of Type Two tradition and are symbolic of the hard work and selflessness of their forerunners, who in the early years had to mine manually in nothing but similarly unarmored suits, losing many lives doing so.

Even Automata Type Twos wear these suits. While they are machines and therefore do not need life support to work in space, the extreme temperature variance can sometimes cause considerable damage to their components.

These suits are typically worn whenever on duty, acting as a uniform of sorts for the entire caste. Often they are colored or painted with decals, so Type Twos working in space can easily identify one another.

The Type Twos are the predominant working class of society, fulfilling most of the labor needs. Miners, technicians, and factory workers are the norm for this caste. Their willingness to die for others also makes them volunteer for the most dangerous tasks in society, including soldiers and scouts if need be. Their strict adherence to orders also makes them ideal as trusted assistants, messengers or bodyguards.

Despite being a 'lower' caste, they are still highly respected among the Freespacers for their selfless nature. They are often seen as a role models for society: ideal citizens, always putting the greater good first and never thinking about themselves. Despite being the primary working class, they serve many different roles in nearly all trades and fields of work. This is likely in hopes their selflessness nature will influence others, and that their loyalty to the commune will help solidify society against fragmentation.

Unfortunately, the use of indoctrination upon Type Twos causes foreigners to perceive their existence a form of slavery and brainwashing, even the Type Twos appear willing to do the bidding of their superiors. Ironically, the Freespacers themselves are fiercely opposed to any form of sentient life dominating another, even if merely political.

They justify their indoctrination as merely a form of education. They say the Type Twos are simply told the truth: That they actually just a tiny, insignificant piece of the universe, and that there short lives are just a blink in the eye of the universe. And that lone individuals can do very little when isolated, yet can achieve great things like civilization when working together. Or akin to insignificant cells, worthless on their own, performing great things as a single superorganism; the human body. The Freespacer do not believe this is as brainwashing because it is, effectively, the harsh reality of the universe.

Of the entire Free State population… … 10% are Type Three Freespacers … 40% are Type Three Automata

Therefore the Type Three caste makes up 50% of the Free State

Image: A Type Three Druidess

While vigilant workers, Type Twos are hampered by the fact they have a limited spectrum of thought. Their gullibility and loyalty could easily be abused by potential political manipulators who could exploit them for any number of purposes. Eventually their entire nation could degenerate into a society consisting only of pleasantly stupefied workers ruled over by an oligarchy of greedy power brokers.

In order to keep control firmly in the hands of the people itself rather than leaders, it was decided the majority of the population would need to be unprejudiced and open-minded thinkers. Something the indoctrinated Type Twos were not. Forsaking maximum productivity in favor of a politically stable society, the Type Three caste was born.

Since they are the only caste without a selection process or indoctrination, they are by far the most diverse. Like the populace of many other nations they can become anything from religious zealots to radical idealists to die hard cynics. However, also like the populace of many other nations, they tend to be somewhat swayed by society itself. Overall the Type Three populace leans towards anarchist, communist, pacifist, and environmentalist ideologies.

For more detailed information on society in general, see Freespacer Culture

Type Threes are physiologically very similar to Type Twos, with similar capacity for intelligence. However, their psychological differences makes them worlds apart from their kin. The lack of indoctrination means they aren't as utterly loyal and productive as Type Twos, but their encouragement to develop their own perceptions makes them much better creative thinkers. This creativity makes them much more suited to roles as thinkers rather than labor, so Type Threes most often become specialists; Engineers, doctors, scientists, and so on.

Type Threes live very ascetic lives, with little property beyond basic needs. They may occasionally produce jewelery and small decorative trinkets using metals unsuitable for starship components. This is often done through handcrafting, or more commonly, precision machinery used for electronics production.

Type Threes commonly wear clothing composed of synthetic fibers. These are high quality and designed to last several years of daily use, but very few different styles are available. For this reason they will often tailor their clothing to make it more unique, and even dye them different colors than the standard white.

Overall their tendency towards self-producing clothing and jewelery tends to give them a very patchwork, brightly colored, and eclectic style of dress. Many of their clothes and trinkets show hints of Celtic and Romani culture in them.

The Type Four is a hybrot; a humanoid entity manufactured from both mechatronics and organic components. Type Fours are traditionally marked by their greater size and mass, weighing up to 1 ton and being as tall as 8 ft (2.4 meters). Production is not standardized, so construction varies from unit to unit. Their most noticeable feature is their “Think Tanks,” large spheroid vats used to grow neural computers many times larger and faster than a brain, which are further supplemented by an internal AI core. The Type Four usually possesses an additional of forearms or pair of tentacles so they can fully utilize their enhanced mental capacity when performing hands-on work.

Despite their apparent bulk they are actually much more dexterous than they appear to be; this is often attributed to the fact most machines of equivalent size are fully armored units, whose range of movement and agility is often limited by the need for full armor coverage. While the Type Four's limited exoskeleton does protect against significant arms fire, the immense portions of the armor are cut away in favor of allowing superior flexibility and agility. The net effect of this is a unit superior at work requiring dexterity, but nullifies their combat potential in that just a few carefully-aimed (or lucky) shots can incapacitate them.

The Type Four is in many respects the last step before electronic transcendence into a Type Five Syntelligence. The minds of the latter, however, are usually so large and advanced that nothing short of a large computer core can house them. It was believed a more flexible and mobile variant would be better suited for special tasks, especially in situations where interference or latency prevents Type Fives from effectively teleoperating equipment.

They are commonly employed aboard starships as backups or supplements to shipboard Syntelligence computer cores, as scientists or engineers, and in other intellectually demanding jobs. Their mobile nature also makes them very effective starship hackers since they are effectively mobile supercomputers.

Organizations Using This Unit: The Free State Type: Hybrot Class: Type Four Manufacturer: The Free State Production: Produced from existing Freespacers or Automata. Type Fours currently make up one-tenth of the Free State's population. Crew: One host (brain template), and one supplemental AI coprocessor. Appearance:

Height: 6~8 feet / 1.8~2.4 meters Width: Proportional to height Mass: 1000~2000 lb. / 450~900kg

Speed (1G): 19mph / 30km/h Speed (Microgravity) 56mph / 90km/h Range (Fuel): Unlimited; if using highly enriched fuels refueling won't be required until long after the unit has broken down from age. Lower grades of fuel requite replacement every 2-30 years. Range (Uplink): 500m to nearest compatible starship computer. Outside this range the Type Four loses its perception bonuses and internal computer syncing ability (see here). Lifespan: From activation, approximately 20 years until peak performance capacity is reached, with an additional 10 years of reduced mental capacity before nervous systems begin to fail. Refit Cycle: Monthly

(Control systems; combined neural network fabricator and AI core)

The primary restriction in most sentient species' intelligence is natural cranial capacity. Skull size at birth is usually as large as possible for mothers to pass without significant mortality rates, and maximum growth size is usually limited because of the necessity for physical activity. Theoretically, by removing the restrictions of biology the neural net could be expanded many times over in physical size, assuming it is supported by a body capable of supporting it. This is the principal behind the Think Tank.

The subject's brain (or Syntelligence core, if the host was formerly an Automata) is transplanted into a large 'tank' containing a mixture of microbots, stem cells, and nutrients which form a gelatin matrix. This matrix acts as a medium for microbot movement, nutrient transport mechanism, and a buffer against physical trauma. Coordinated through a partner AI architect, the stem cells can be moved and stimulated into becoming neuron cells.

Unless a host has been specifically engineered for rampant neural net growth, there may be considerable risks involved in the process of a Type Four upgrade. Neurological disorders are common, but are considered an acceptable risk when weighed against the opportunity to achieve higher levels of consciousness. Physical complications aside, a neural net will only last twenty or so years in a state of rampant growth (a state of mind when the Type Four maximizes it's intellectual potential) before it reaches the physical capacity of the Think Tank. At this point a Type Four will be ripe for harvesting and digital conversion. However, if left at its capacity a Type Four's neural net will be required constantly “purge” older data to make room for new memories, in much the same way humans naturally do. Unfortunately, this also reduces the maximum intellectual capacity from that of a starship AI to “merely” a particularly bright human. Regardless, such high-end neural capacity will eventually degrade from accumulated wear-and-tear of neural reconstruction and will eventually collapse, usually within a decade of reaching tank capacity.

(Power source; nuclear fission reactor) Type Fours use a style of reactor engineering that makes them especially unstable in comparison to other fission reactors designs, and will commonly suffer from nuclear meltdowns in the event of coolant loss (as opposed to other designs that will automatically lose their ability to sustain a reaction in such an event). However, this same reactor design also makes them especially efficient in that they do not require any special isotopes to function; T04 reactors can produce large amounts of power using only natural elements as fuel and drinking water as coolant, rather than the enriched fuels or the manufactured moderators that other reactor designs require. T04s can me modified to run on any number of fissile fuels, including MOX, thorium, natural uranium, and so on. However, if using highly enriched fuel a T04 won't need to be refueled at any point during it's lifespan (30 years).

Hybrid control rods/heat sinks will usually be visible on the unit, having the appearance of bundles of pencil-thin metallic rods. These are usually raised from and lowered into the core using electromagnets by default. This is so that in the event of a power disruption, gravity will instantly pull the rods back into the core and shut down the nuclear reactions before a meltdown can occur. In the event that unusual electromagnetic activity is detected in the area, the rods automatically switch to mechanical control systems.

Note: Unless an exponential reaction rate is triggered by a nuclear self-destruct mechanism or certain high energy weapons, the Type Four reactor will not be able to achieve the supercriticality needed to cause a nuclear explosion. Under normal circumstances, an uncontrolled chain reaction will result in a nuclear meltdown; the core will increase in temperature until it melts through the reactor, spilling forth molten fuel and dangerous amounts of radiation. Such an event would most likely be caused by faulty control rod mechanisms or coolant loss.

(Self-destruct mechanism; explosive lens assembly and neutron trigger)

The Type Four carries more than enough fissile fuel to create a nuclear explosion; the problem is actually getting the fuel to achieve to reaction rate needed for such an event. “Plan B” uses sets of explosive lenses surrounding the reactor's physical shielding, which when detonated forces the reactor core to implode in on itself and compress the fuel rods together. In addition, this neutron trigger components are placed in conjunction with certain blasting caps; when the blast shockwave compresses these components together, they and react to create short life but high yield neutron radiation sources and further increasing the reaction rate.

Slightly desynchronized explosive lens activation allows for large amounts of fissile fuel and neutrons leak out of the implosion rather than being completely trapped. This results in a so-called “fizzle”; by the time the core is compressed to the point of being supercritical most of the fuel has already escaped. The result is a bright blue flash accompanied by an intense burst of neutron and electromagnetic radiation. This flux will cause a voltage surge in nearby electronic equipment, as well as immediately and permanently incapacitating any humanoids within the vicinity. Commonly the effects include nausea, delirium, coma, and eventually nervous system collapse occurs within hours, the exception being species with superior genetic self-repair abilities. The Type Four electronics and control systems will be destroyed, but otherwise the unit's shell will remain unharmed.

Damage: EM Pulse, Radiation Burst (Extremely Heavy (DR 9) against organic targets only) Range: 330ft / 100m

The explosive lenses are perfectly synchronized, compressing the fuel to half, or even one third its original size. The synchronized shock wave keeps the bulk of the fuel entrapped for long enough to trigger a nuclear explosion. In addition to a fireball and concussion wave, the radiation effects extend to several hundred meters.

Damage: Medium (DR 5), plus above effects Range: 2000ft / 600m

(Wireless computer uplink and communications array; evanescent wave coupler and radio transceiver)

The Type Four was designed specifically for its enhanced mental capacities, and information exchange plays a key role in fully utilizing such abilities. The Type Four has a built-in wireless connection compatible with all Freespacer ships and even certain foreign vessels. When within range of the former (or latter, if the shipboard AI will allow), the Type Four can use the ship as a relay to directly access the Free State information networks. By this means a Type Four can access up-to-date information databases, convene with other Type Fours or Fives aboard the ship, access software libraries filled with programming tools. If faced with a critical decision, a Type Four can even call and complete makeshift polls within a matter of minutes to gauge the disposition of the Free State regarding a situation.

The Evanescent Wave Coupler is limited to a range of no more than a few dozen meters of a compatible transceiver system, but can transfer huge quantities of data quickly. Alternatively, the EWC may be utilized as a low-intensity wireless energy transceiver to allow a Type Four to wirelessly power compatible tools or other units.

The Radio Transceiver is usually reserved as a backup system for situations when range does not permit use of the EWC. The antiquity of this technology will now allow for bulk data transfer, so function is usually limited to little more than sending basic messages.

(Remote/Electroactive Sensor suite; optical camera array, polymer nerves, starship sensor data transceiver)

Type Fours themselves have audio and visual capabilities usually on par with most humanoid species, via a high resolution camera array and electroactive polymer sensors (touch-sense nerves). However, Type Fours predominantly rely on their wireless networks to “sync” with a ship AI, which will transmit sensor data directly to the unit. This gives the Type Four a type of omnipresence aboard their own or other Freespacer ships, or any vessel with a cooperative AI. Range is generally limited to the effective range of the Lighthouse Uplink.

(Life support and internal maintenance systems; organelle sack) Traditionally the Type Four carries no sort of organs other than its neural net. However, the isotopes and nutrients needed for its sustainment and growth require most of the basic organs of the human body, yet at the same time only a tiny fraction of their total output. In order to avoid the unnecessary waste and volume of adding a full set of support organs to the Type Four, a more compact system was developed: The Bio-Refinery.

The Bio-Refinery is essentially a sack of assorted organs, manufactured on a scale so that it can provide the nourishment a Think Tank needs while taking up minimal space. This may include water purification, isotope production, fissile fuel enrichment, breakdown of sugars into more easily usable forms, blood and cerebrospinal fluid production, and so on. These organs are often covered by dense concentrations of lichens, to produce the oxygen needed and break down concentrations of toxins.

Effective Defense Rating: 5 The exoskeleton is designed to be a first-line defense against the hazards of zero-G construction. As nomadic shipdwellers the Freespacers gather all their resources from asteroid belts, which means the danger posed by meteorites is a constant and considerable threat to anyone working outside the ship. Stray rivets, bolts, and other small objects may also become deadly projectiles in zero-G construction yards if an accident occurs.

The exoskeleton uses primarily tungsten-alloy plating, chosen for its very high melting point and hardness. Depleted uranium may also be used due to the excessive use of nuclear power in the Free State, but tungsten alloys are generally preferred due to their lack of pyrophoricity. The armor plating is belted together and undercoated using buckypaper (carbon nanotube weave). The extreme tensile strength of this weave increases the armor's absorb kinetic energy exponentially, while its high conductivity helps protect the Type Four's internal components from electrical discharge.

(Muscles and skin) Effective Defense Rating: 2 When voltage is applied to these polymers they will change their shape in a predefined way, not dissimilar to the way human muscles will contract when they receive a signal from the nervous system. Carbon nanotubes are the staple of the polymers, allowing for the extreme tensile strength needed to lift thousands of pounds.

Lining the structure of the muscles is a membrane of buckypaper (carbon nanotube weave) treated with a minor coating. This coating not only protects the electroactive polymer muscles from atmospheric corrosion, its conductive properties allow it to act as a type of faraday cage. This helps protect the unit's more sensitive components from many forms of electromagnetic and thermal radiation.

(Internal skeleton) Various heavier and high density metals are used in the endoskeleton, commonly alloyed with tungsten or titanium to prevent corrosion. This makes for quite a relatively heavy frame, but gives it the structural integrity to withstand higher stress levels needed to effective utilize the strength of their electroactive polymer muscles.

(Anti-projectile defense; active protection system)

Location: Shoulder-mounted launchers Primary Purpose: Meteorite Defense Secondary Purpose: Missile Defense, Projectile Defense Damage: Minor Payload Five cluster rounds per shoulder unit Rate of Fire: Once every 5 seconds Notes: Awareness range of 500ft / 150m, reaction time of 0.05 sec. Interception capability depends on target speed.

The Warding Rune usually comes in the form of a removable modular equipment set. This includes a back-mounted electronics package, and a pair of launch tubes mounted on each shoulder plate. Millimeter-wavelength Doppler radar is used to detect incoming threats, upon which the system will temporarily override the Type Four's motor functions to aim a launch tube towards the threat. A cluster projectile is then launched, detonating in proximity of its target and spraying a 45-degree area with depleted uranium shards. Even if the target is not destroyed, the shrapnel spray will often have enough energy to deflect the target's trajectory.

The system is equipped with numerous failsafe systems. The Type Four's AI core can countermand any motor function overrides in the event of a malfunction with the electronics package. Furthermore, the system is programmed only to engage targets within a preset size and velocity range in order to avoid the accidental killing of other people in the area or the wasting of rounds on large dust particles.

The Warding Rune is usually used mounted by mining/construction foreman Type Fours or lone units, simply because having multiple units operational in one area may cause unnecessary shrapnel crossfire or a disruption of radar tracking systems.

Primitive Polygon moved these articles on 2017/05/14 19:34.

All of the original text, concepts and data are purely by the users Strangelove and MissingNo.