Government: Iromakuanhe Astral Commonwealth Organization: Various Type: Biomechanoid Replacement Body Class: Aj-ALS-01a (Aj-J1-1a) Designer: Altjira Biomedical Manufacturer: Altjira Biomedical, Solan Starworks1) Production: On Request
The Lavans-type Synthoid is a biomechanoid body produced by Altjira Biomedical, to produce replacement bodies for people who couldn't treated with regenerative therapy. Later on, the body type came to house retired NI. The body is jointly produced by Solan Starworks and Altjira, although Altjira is the legal possessor of the body design and has essentially given production rights to Solan for a period of 200 AR.
The body was originally developed during the late AR 800's, when the limitations of regenerative therapy had become increasingly apparent. Survivors of the Second Outer System Conflict, veterans and civilians who had gotten caught in the crossfire were inflicted with profound physical and genetic damages that could not be circumvented or reversed with the conventional treatments of the day. While it was technically possible to reverse the damages to the genes or restore the body, those processes were essentially mutually exclusive. The body could not survive the drastic changes in chemistry from gene therapy, and regeneration would produce a cancerous and deformed body that would quickly expire from the increasing toxicity of its own tissues.
This was several decades into the minor renaissance in life sciences, that started with the development of replacement organs that superseded the performance of originals, organoid devices on the portable scale and eventually, the creation of the VANDR, which seamlessly combined the advances in Veyrinite technology and organoid weapons platforms.
Thus, a workaround to the limitations in medicine by sidestepping the idea of salvaging the entire body entirely. Rather, Altjiran biologists developped artificial bodies of a biomechanical design that would essentially be repositories for the only portions of the body that mattered. The brain, as the medicine of the day, was effectively the seat of the mind and the repository for conciousness, so it was the component of the being to be salvaged. In effect, this also made the issue of choosing between regeneration or preservation, but putting the brain into a perfectly functional body and striving only to preserve it. The results were astounding, with people who would have spent their entire lives crippled or permanently networked and in suspended animation to reintegrate with society, allowing a person to act as they had previously, able to eat, sleep, and even reproduce.
The design team, and Altjira itself received numerous humanitarian awards for the development.
Eventually, the bodies also found a secondary purpose with the rise of a new social and technological phenomenon following the advent of the Solan-produced NI. These Natural Intelligences, essentially data constructs built along parameters of a biologically-derived consciousness were arriving at a states of full sentience and sapience after one a few decades of existence. The result was something similar to an artificial Iromakuanhe, as they were often psychologically indistinguishable from their creators and operators.
This presented an issue to the humanistic Iromakuanhe, one of great social and philosophical significance. After much debate, it was decided that it would ultimately be cruel and unlawful to force a sentient being to work in what was essentially slavery, and formed a series of laws that gave full personal rights to any data construct that had achieved states of sentience and sapience after a lifespan of 30 years. After this point, they were offered their freedom, but this would limit the NI to traveling through OGNEIR.net and being confined to communications nodes as 'freeloaders'.
The solution came in the form of the bodies that were developed for a similar crisis by Altjira. With minimal modification to the basic chassis, it was possible for a retired NI to integrate entirely within society, capable of enjoying all the niceties of life, and even reproduce naturally.
The Lavans type synthoid is a synthetic biomechanical body patterned off the Iromakuanhe, created to serve as a replacement body for those who could not take regenerative treatments or for Sentient NI.
The Lavans body type is a functional facsimile of the natural Iromakuanhe, including features and internal architecture that closely mirrors that of the original. Although it is not a cloned body and is instead grown from scratch using an existing or reproduced genetic template, it features many of the body systems that occur naturally in Iromakuanhe. The following list indicates the synthetic and natural structures which are included within the Lavans to add to the quality of life of individuals who have selected to live in it.
Lavans bodies are generally produced to possess the apparent biology of Iromakuanhe. Because their body structures are comparatively simpler, it is also possible to produce them with the physical characteristics of Nepleslian.
The Lavans are patterned off the Iromakuanhe, and their physical appearance varies as much as the physical appearance of their creator species, although they have a number of features that give them away as being artificial. First, all Lavans have darkened patches of skin beneath the jawline, extending down in a 'V' from the edges of the jaw, running in a ring above the hips that breaks at the abdominals and over the biceps, thighs and calves.
The bony structures normally seen in normal Iroma have been simplified and modified. The horns are made of a lustrous composite material of the user's choice and inlaid with glowing components, and the bony plates have been sunken into the skin and softened to the point where they do not appear to be anything more than light patches on the skin in bright lighting. Entry ports are present in these pseudo-plates, and function as normal.
The eyes of Lavans are one of the clearer giveaways, however, as they appear to be a combination of natural and synthetic components. Their eyes lack the natural glow of those of an Iroma, but are lustrous and appear to be filled with reflective components. Like those of natural Iroma, they however have adaptations to intense sunlight, and can polarize the structure of the eye at will, darkening them to reduce glare or ambient light.
The Lavans body type differs from the natural layout of an Iromakuanhe's. They are assembled in sequence from a combination of biologically-derived and synthetic body structures, are effectively the only Iromakuanhe cyborgs in existence.
The body is initially assembled using purpose-built bones made of the high grade bioplastic Strodirn bonded to natural bone cells, and then inserted and covered with an undifferentiated biological mesh that forms into a coating for the bones on the exterior, and marrow inside that produce a combination of Prajna, plasma and natural blood cells. The resulting body is then immersed into a Prajna tank that begins to grow the circulatory system, connective tissues, muscles and other basic body structures.
Lab-grown Homunculus organs are attached, including smaller and more efficient versions of the hearts, lungs and various digestive organs are installed, before the formation of skin and the closure of the abdomen. The skin is similar in design to a Coralian symbiote, and offers a limited capacity to seal its outer surface and resist puncture or cutting.
Once skin has been fully grown, secondary features such as hair are added, and sexual characteristics are developped to the user's specifications or prior genetic template. This process takes roughly 96 hours.
The resulting body is more durable than an Iromakuanhe, but roughly equal in terms to actual strength, although it may increase this through effort or biomodification. It was theorized that a sudden increase in strength would be detrimental to the motor skills of the relocated being.
The Lavans is able to house an encased Iromakuanhe brain, or an NI core, as both objects are roughly of the same size.
To note, NI who enter Lavans bodies must subject themselves to a fragmentation of their classified data, wherein it is transfered into encrypted data caches located in special nodes in the body. This data can only be access through quantum entangled keys located in two given locations at any point in time. Although it is theoretically possible to attempt to detect the key by attempt to detect its transmission between the NI core and the data caches, results in the third party being discovered as any attempts at measuring a quantum event causes detectable anomalies, allowing the NI to lock down their data caches temporarily to prevent tampering.
The original is stored in the NI's mind, which is difficult to hack without a system which can directly assault a hardened biological mind or otherwise process memories, and another stored at any number of secret data caches somewhere in the Capital.
For obvious reasons, these features are absent on models that house encased brains.
The Lavans shares its parent body's capacity for biomodifcation, although alterations to bone structure require additional expertise, and the body is already significantly modified from the standard Iromakuanhe template. In addition, Lavans bodies may also receive cybernetic modifications, because of increased tolerance to biochemical disruptions.
However, the body type has an increased resistance to chemical alterations due to the nature of the encase transplanted brains and NI cores that they house. A majority of narcotics and pharmaceuticals are inneffective unless inserted past the toxin seals that lead to the 'brain'.
Lavans combine conventional nervous systems with a secondary fiber optic nervous system that allows them to resist the effects of neurotoxins and stun devices. Most users report actually disliking using the secondary nervous system as it is too fast and inaccurate, but allows a person to engage in fight or flight behaviors when both would have normally been exhausted. For transferred NI, it also affords them the capacity to communicate with their data caches without raising significant notice of their activities.
Lavans reproductive organs are fully functional, and allow them to procreate with other Lavans, Iromakuanhe and any races that are genetically compatible with their original template. It should be noticed, that although they possess many physiological differences from other Iroma, their natural offspring will not.
In addition, Lavans are able to utilize any number of reproductive technologies available in the Commonwealth.
Lavans organs are all of the Homunculus type, and are more durable than natural ones. They are also slightly more efficient, and may be sized smaller for equal performance or normally for greater function at the user's request. The small variation of organs allow the user to have storage sacs for nutrients, water and even dissolved oxygen.
Because their bodies contain a natural supply of Prajna, Lavans may regenerate at a rate of 1/2 of what is listed for Minor and Light wounds, but only at 1/20 of anything more severe. Being immersed in Prajna places their regeneration at the standard speeds.
To retain the core essence of the Iromakuanhe's existence, Lavans posses the same capacity for Empathy. However, their secondary nervous system is underdeveloped compared to that of normal Iroma, and have modified horns that function as signal amplifiers that allow them to perform the mental abilities of their forbears equally.
The Lavans body is meant to serve as a device for (re)integration into civilian life, and is thus functionally little more than a lower-maintenance Iromakuanhe body. It is offered for free to victims of war, government employees who have been crippled during service and retiring NI, and is not restricted from purchase by the main populace.
Although not especially popular, a complete body may be purchased and transferred to by a private individual at a rate of roughly 80 000 KD to 120 000 KD.
Approved here.