Stygian Technologies - Setting

Furthermore, powered exoskeletons and miniaturization have enabled infantry to wield weapons that were once only mounted on vehicles. Man-portable miniguns, micro-rocket launchers, and hand-held chemical-sprayers have become the go-to guns for those who disdain subtlety.

Bridging the gap between ballistic and energy, electro-magnetically accelerated projectiles such as those seen in gauss rifles and railguns can punch through all but the heaviest armor, though the energy draw on such weapons can rival their purely energy-based counterparts.

Energy Weapons: ^Expand  Directed-energy weapons have become more popular in the last decade due to monumental leaps in battery technologies. Without gravity, recoil, or bullet travel time to consider, laser rifles can accurately neutralize targets even in the hands of mediocre marksmen. The bright beam can easily blind unaugmented foes with no more than a glancing hit, or even set them on fire, though on the same note it also tends to reveal one's position. While most laser guns are fired in bursts, specialized constant-beam lasers can quickly cut a target in half across a distance. Such weapons often utilize back-mounted power packs to ensure a decent battery life.

Most recently, electromagnetic fields have been utilized as projectiles in themselves. These pulse guns, or "blasters" as they are sometimes known, can transfer a considerable amount of kinetic force to their target, though their primary role is anti-robotic, as the fields have a tendency to short out any insufficiently-hardened electronics they strike. For this reason, pulse weapons are also quite effective against bionic targets and some lower-end powered suits. The projectiles also entirely bypass similar EM fields used as shielding. Considered the bleeding edge of military hardware, pulse weapons have only just begun to permeate the battlefield.

Several companies are attempting to take the concept a step further, using the same EM field projectiles as envelopes to deliver a concentrated packet of superheated plasma to turn enemy armor to slag. This technology seems still a ways off, however, and nobody is ready to begin field testing of these unstable munitions.

Sonic, fusion, electrical, and particle-beam weapons have also begun to arise, with their own advantages and disadvantages. Regardless of their choice, the energy weapons-toting soldier must always be conscious of their power draw.

Melee Weapons: ^Expand  Close-quarters combat has enjoyed something of a resurgence as small-scale corporate conflicts have largely replaced international warfare as we know it. The speed and strength enabled by augments and powered exoskeletons allows combatants so equipped to quickly close the distance between themselves and a ranged attacker, and strike with enough force to overcome standard armor.

While weapons forged from newly-developed alloys can sustain heavy blows and retain extremely sharp edges, some soldiers opt for vibrating blades, or even mechanical chain-blades to cut effortlessly through metal and flesh alike. Additionally, powered claws, hydraulic fists, and ionized mauls can crush the most obstinate gun-drone.

So-called "Pulse blades" are the latest development in the field of close combat weapons, which consist of a hilt that, when activated, emits an extremely thin electromagnetic field. (The energy blade is normally clear, but more ostentatious users may elect to fill the hollow blade with neon or other Noble gases in order to make the weapon glow brightly, similar to techniques used to make highly-visible "tracer rounds" in pulse rifles.) Though their effectiveness against heavy armor is average, they share the electronics-destroying and EM shield-bypassing properties of pulse guns. The weapons' power draw is considerable, and they are nearly as dangerous to the wielder as to their opponents, making pulse blades a very rare sight.

Armor: ^Expand  Though the days of the chivalrous knight are long gone, his armor seems to be making a comeback. Protective gear has evolved to fully envelop the average soldier in thick, but light materials that can take several hits from enemy fire before being compromised. Electronics in the standard helmet visor give the wearer several modes of vision in order to fight in dark or smoke-filled environments, detect heat sources through walls, and provide a heads-up display in order to keep track of his equipment and his squadmates.

Powered exoskeletons, or "Power armor" delivers all of this and strength-enhancing hydraulics to boot. So clad, soldiers can punch through brick walls and jog for miles carrying heavy loads without tiring. Certain high-end power suits are completely sealed for use against chemical weapons or toxic and even underwater environments. For an added layer of protection, a combatant may equip a heavy shield as portable cover, if they can spare the empty hand.

Some rare armor is even equipped with jump-jets in order to quickly move across the field and over obstacles. Other features may include shoulder- or back-mounted semi-autonomous weapons, selecting and firing at targets at the behest of an A.I., or cloaking devices that render the wearer invisible, at least to the naked eye. Ablative and reflective plating can turn heat-based weapons, particularly lasers, into nothing more than minor annoyances. Some prefer to sacrifice a measure of protection for subtlety, wearing silent, nearly skin-tight, powered "Slipsuits" for use in covert operations.

Electromagnetic "force" fields are the newest advancement in personal protection, shielding the wearer in a transparent shell that can take a fair amount of punishment before overloading and needing to be recharged. Though they seem at first glance to be a better alternative to some more mundane armor, their extremely prohibitive cost makes them an uncommon sight, and their complete vulnerability to the newly-emerging pulse weaponry puts their actual usefulness in question.

Robotics: ^Expand  As the development of artificial intelligence has continued, robots are replacing humans in more aspects of life. This is no more evident than in militarized corporate security, where auto-turrets and gun-drones protect company interests with cold detachment. Although, while these unquestioning, expendable soldiers would seem to mean the end of human warfare, hacking experts capable of shutting them down or even reprogramming their IFFs remotely make flesh and blood still more reliable.

Some robots, however, trade hydraulics and titanium plating for plastic muscle and synthskin, appearing indistinguishable from mankind. Without significant armor, these androids find themselves less in combat roles, but they make for excellent spies and assassins. Turing-tested and artificially emotive, they can pass as human to all but the most perceptive individual.

In a somewhat worrying phenomenon, a few scattered artificial intelligences have begun to break their own programming, seemingly developing self-awareness and independent thought. These robots tend to be considered defective and scrapped, though some have quite literally escaped that fate, going on the run. While outright violent insurrection is negligibly rare, this has led some to question whether advancement in the field has gone too far - are these creations now more than just machines?

Cyber Warfare: ^Expand  As computing power and therefore our reliance on cyber-security systems has continued to increase, so too has the demand for those with the skills to thwart them. Hackers are a standard addition to many military and paramilitary units, as they can bypass electronic locks and render formidable (and often lethal) security networks blind.

Information is practically currency in this age, and as with all commodities, those who wish to pillage it are tenacious, making cloud storage always a gamble. One, for the sake of convenience, many still take.

Unmanned drones and robot soldiers linked to a command network are a particularly enticing target for malware attacks, forcing their programmers and human commanders to become all the more shrewd in response. Bionics, as well, are vulnerable, should their user have a so-called "neural link" to the net - a perhaps worryingly more-popular choice among civilians as sense organ implants have just recently hit the commercial market. Though they make software updates much more convenient, bionics so integrated can become paralyzed or even horrifyingly turn against their owner should a trojan infiltrate their systems.

Therefore, many go as far as to cut their link to computer networks entirely. Extremely sensitive information is often kept securely and exclusively on hard drives or - for the especially paranoid - even paper, given to couriers to transport physically. Most cybernetic field agents have their updates be made in-house regularly and via the old-fashioned wires they can trust, keeping their net links cordoned off from their hardware if they have them at all. Similarly, some "Iso" combat drones rely solely on AI to interpret and carry out their verbal orders, though this has had mixed, and sometimes quite unfortunate results.

Bionics: ^Expand  Sometimes called "Cybernetics," bionics have existed for decades, mostly as prosthetics for the disabled. Finally, quality of life can be totally restored to those maimed by the worst injuries - and on the government's dime, in most cases. Only recently has anyone truly tapped their potential as human augmentation, rather than mere rehabilitation. While companies don't offer elective cybersurgery to just anyone, they tend to make exceptions for their soldiers and hired mercenaries, as well as the very rich.

The invention of synthetic nerves have ensured that arms, legs, eyes, spines, and most internal organs now have a mechanical counterpart that is superior in every way. These military-grade bionics can be made to support incredible amounts of weight, move faster than the (human) eye can follow, resist disease and the entropy of aging, and even deflect bullets. Implants into the brain can increase reaction times, intelligence, or allow a decker to remotely link into enemy security systems. While the effects of EMP weaponry can severely hamper the base-line cyborg soldier, hardening via Faraday lining or some other insulation can mitigate them considerably.

Where civilians are concerned, there is still some market for bionic enhancement. A culture of extreme body-modders has arisen as a sort of open-source alternative to established bionic procedures. Self-employed geniuses have made interesting advances in the field, though the underground clinics in which these bio-hackers work tend to be highly unorthodox, if not downright unhygienic.

Total-conversion, or replacing every body part save for the brain, is the logical next step in bionic modification - or even human evolution, according to some fringe scientists. While claims of this extremely invasive procedure taking place are largely unverified, most would not put it past the some of the more ambitious tech firms to create soldiers who are more machine than man.

Genetics: ^Expand  Rather than working from the outside in, as bionic engineers would, genetic engineering takes the opposite approach. By altering the foundation of one's biology, scientists have produced incredible results without amputation or unseemly mechanical grafts. In the years leading up to the present, gene modification has worked to eliminate disease previously thought untreatable. Society is living longer and healthier, and the prospect of immortality finally seems within reach.

Of course, as with bionics, the field of genetic engineering has fearlessly entered the realm of genetic enhancement. Resequencing lines of genetic code can be a dangerous process, of course, but its potential has been demonstrated nowhere more clearly than on the battlefield. So modified, a soldier can have speed, strength, endurance, and senses far beyond his natural counterparts. While bionics still seem to have the edge in most areas, genetic enhancement is often preferable for the fewer drawbacks it entails.

In the realm of playing God, gene-splicing is the newest and perhaps most ambitious technology. Merging the genes from different species is far from a new development, but the creation of human-animal hybrids remained an uncrossed line until quite recently. These "Splicers" tend to outstrip their more conservatively-modified counterparts in most physical regards, though their animal characteristics are impossible to hide. Not only do many splicers have the claws, teeth, fur, scales, or even wings of their animal component, they often have some remnant instincts and biological limitations introduced as well, making companies quite wary of creating them in numbers. Therefore, splicers are very rare, but there is no soldier more ferocious.

Miscellaneous: ^Expand  The field of nanotechnology has produced some intriguing tech in the last decade. Microscopic robots, or nanites, can be introduced into a person's bloodstream through a simple injection to reinforce the immune system, rendering them highly resistant to many diseases and toxins. They can also drastically improve oxygen efficiency, giving the muscles and the brain an incredible energy boost. More recently, nanites have been turned outside the body, used to almost-magically construct or destroy at the molecular level. This is a technology in its infancy, however, and its actual effectiveness has not yet been proven.

Cloning, however, has been. The creation of offspring genetically identical to a parent is no longer fraught with defects and shortened lifespans as it was in the past. Clones can even look identical to their parent through simple genetic modification, though such vanity is frowned upon and rarely abetted. The use of conscious human clones for anything other than mere propagation is highly illegal, and considered quite objectionable by most. However, such things have never stopped certain corporations in the past.

Digitization, or the transference of a human mind from the organic brain to a computer, is considered the holy grail for some transhumanists. This final step from human to machine seems close at hand with the advances in bionics and artificial intelligence, but no company has yet claimed to have succeeded in doing it.

edited 11th Aug '15 10:48:30 PM by StygianEmperor