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Part 4 of Ashes of Rubicon
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2023-12-12
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Codex

Summary:

A collection of SOLFED-canon world-building bits cleaned up for presentation, often as in-universe documents.

Notes:

These docs may contain light setting spoilers for posted chapters of Someone is Always Moving on the Surface or Into the Grace. I recommend reading these only if you're caught up on those! I won't post anything here that would spoil unpublished chapters, so if you're caught up on AO3 you're good to go with these.

Chapter 1: Glossary

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Except from a handbook provided to prospective AC pilots by Sierpenski Flight Academy, 234 UE.
The following entries appear in the glossary:

AC: see ‘Armored core’

ACS: see ‘Attitude Control System’

ACS limit:

  1. maximum possible force the ACS can direct along any given linear or rotational vector
  2. (colloquial) the threshold for accumulated incoming forces (‘Impact’) at which the ACS must engage pilot override

ACS load:

  1. degree to which the ACS system is currently manipulating the unit’s actuators relative to their maximum output (ACS limit)
  2. (colloquial) see ACS strain

ACS lock: see ‘ACS override’ definition 1

ACS override:

  1. state in which the ACS ignores pilot controls to direct all actuator output to preventing a fall
  2. (improper) (nonstandard) (NOT RECOMMENDED) state in which a pilot manually disables the ACS

ACS strain:

the degree to which incoming forces (‘Impact’) approach the threshold for ACS override

Actuators:

collective term for the hydraulic, electromotive, and reaction thrust components responsible for moving an armored core

Aft:

rear facing of a core, analogous to the dorsal vector in a human body

Attitude Control System:

  1. hardware/firmware system responsible for providing the ‘balance’ keeping a unit upright
  2. influence over a unit’s actuators imposed by such system

Assault thrust:

mode of travel in which all available thruster power is routed through the primary aft thrusters; also called ‘Assault Boost’ or (of the thrusters) ‘Assault configuration’

Ascent:

upward motion sustained by thrust, distinct from Jumping

Armored core:

modular combat vehicle composed of four body-element components, accompanying internals, and up to four attached units

Arms:

paired upper-limb components attached to the core, including the shoulder, upper arm, elbow, lower arm, wrist, and hand

Back:

  1. rear surface of the core component
  2. (as an adjective) describing units attached to the rear of the core component rather than the arms
  3. (colloquial) rear facing of the core (see Aft)

Ballistic

  1. (usually of a projectile) unpowered, in free-fall
  2. (colloquial) (of a weapon) firing solid physical projectiles, particularly kinetic impactors

Bay:

(nonstandard) receptacle capable of holding an additional hand-held or arm-mounted weapon for mid-mission or even mid-combat weapon changes in place of a back-mounted weapon on the same side

Bazooka:

direct-fire weapon launching unguided self-propelled explosive projectiles; compare ‘Grenade Cannon’, which fires explosives on a ballistic arc

Boost:

  1. mode of travel in which leg-mounted thrusters IGE allow more rapid sustained movement than walking or running
  2. (colloquial) any unsustained thrust, including evasive and assault thrust

Booster: see ‘Thruster’

Bowler:

(colloquial) (nonstandard) an AC unit using mismatched components on its left and right arms; rarely used due to severe costs to attitude stability and pilot neural-interface comfort

Cannon:

largest category of armored core weapon, typically one mounted on the back or (for physical munitions) with barrel diameter exceeding 35cm

Capsule: see ‘Pilot capsule’

Chaingun: see ‘Gatling gun’

Chest:

front surface of the core component

Circulating Current:

(of a generator) self-sustaining fusion reactor that ‘recirculates’ some of its output to sustain the magnetic bottle

Collar:

(sometimes referred to as the ‘deck’) horizontal, superior-facing surface of the core component, one of the few portions of armor intended for human traversal

COM: see ‘Computer Operator Module’

Component:

any of four interchangeable body elements (head, core, arms, legs) that make up an armored core’s frame.

Computer Operator Module:

collection of expert systems responsible for various support duties in and out of combat, including communications, autopilot, IFF tags, and monitoring of the pilot and AC

Cook-off:

unintended detonation of ammunition or fuel

Cooldown:

delay following the use of a weapon or system before it can be used again

Core:

  1. central ‘body’ or ‘torso’ unit to which the other components are attached
  2. (colloquial) shorthand for ‘armored core’ (sometimes capitalized to distinguish the term from the core component)

Core expansion:

  1. modification to the core and generator assembly offering powerful but limited offensive or defensive effects; often spoken of as a part rather than a modification to other elements
  2. (colloquial) use of the modification during a mission

Cruise speed:

maximum sustainable land speed (typically Boost, in its first usage)

CYWAR:

“Cyberwarfare”, any form of warfare in cyberspace, typically launched from and targeting remotely or directly connected computer systems

Deck: see ‘Collar’

DNI:

“Direct Neural Interface”, the control system enabled by augmentation that removes the middleman of the pilot’s limbs

EN:

  1. stable energy output of a core generator used to keep attached systems online
  2. available reserve energy, used primary for thrusters

Energy Weapon:

weapon designed to deliver energy to a target through means other than a solid projectile; sometimes includes physical projectiles sharing operational principles e.g. plasma warheads on missiles

Evasive thrust:

(also called Quick boost) sudden, unsustainable burst of motion actuated primarily by thrusters in the core and arms

EWAR:

“Electronic warfare”, warfare using electromagnetic signals to interfere with enemy electronics or sensors, as distinct from traditional warfare using EM radiation such as laser weapons

Face:

  1. any of the six primary facings of the core (fore, aft, starboard, port, superior, inferior)
  2. (colloquial) fore surface of the head
  3. (colloquial) the forward-facing portion of the head and core components
  4. (colloquial) front facing of the armored core (see Fore)

FCS: See Fire Control System

Fire Control System:

hardware/firmware system responsible for identifying, tracking, and leading targets

Flank:

  1. vertical port- and starboard-facing surfaces of the core component
  2. see Flank speed

Flank speed:

maximum speed an armored core can maintain for moderate periods, usually through use of Assault thrust

Fore:

front facing of the armored core, analogous to the ventral vector of a human body

Frame:

  1. set of four chosen components (head, arms, legs, core) making up an AC’s complete chassis
  2. set of matching components designed for use together

GAS:

“Gravity Assisted Stupidity” or, when fatal, “Gravity Assisted Suicide”; see ‘ACS override’ definition 2

Gatling gun:

rotary weapon utilizing multiple barrels to distribute heat stress caused by extreme rates of fire

Generator:

primary power generation and storage system of an armored core

Grenade Cannon:

direct-fire weapon launching ballistic explosive projectiles; compare ‘Bazooka’, which fires self-propelled munitions

Gut:

  1. inferior-facing surface of the core component, including the connection point to the legs
  2. (colloquial) (often plural) internal modular and non-modular systems

Handgun: see ‘pistol’

Hatch:

outermost mobile bulkhead providing access to the pilot capsule

Head:

component attached above the core containing the primary sensor systems

IGE:

‘In Ground Effect’: a mode of thruster operation in which the presence of a nearby surface increases the effective reaction force

Impact:

degree to which a weapon applies ACS strain to a target in addition to physical damage

Inferior:

bottom (footward) facing of an armored core, usually used as an adjective (‘inferior face’)

Internal combustion generator:

internal combustion engine utilizing chemical energy to run a turbine for power

Internals:

modular elements mounted partially or completely within the core component; the generator, FCS, and primary thrusters (may or may not include a core expansion, if installed)

Jump:

upward motion caused by the non-thruster leg actuators; compare ‘ascent’

Kick:

(nonstandard) a melee attack with the leg component of the core, usually from Assault thrust

Kinetic Kill Weapon:

weapon or launched projectile designed to destroy targets with kinetic energy, chiefly one using a single large impactor; when speaking specifically of the projectile, the term “Kinetic Kill Vehicle” or “KKV” may be used instead

KKW: see ‘Kinetic Kill Weapon’

Legs:

component attached below the core responsible for mobility and load-bearing, which may use two, three, or four legs; wheels or tracks; or hovercraft thrust systems (the latter are still considered ‘legs’)

Linear Rifle:

small or medium-caliber railgun with the physical dimensions of a rifle

Lock-on:

  1. state in which the FCS has acquired a target for muzzle aiming or munition guidance, or the act of entering such a state
  2. state in which a guided munition is prepared to track or is actively tracking a target, or the act of entering such a state

Machine gun:

hand-held weapon focusing on high rate-of-fire, typically of a size between pistols and rifles

Missile:

self-propelled, typically guided explosive projectile

Mission kill:

system or structural damage preventing a vehicle from continuing to engage in combat operations with or without a complete cessation of function; contrast ‘pilot kill’

MT:

muscle tracer, especially the mass-produced single-pilot combat vehicle version of the technology

Over-the-Horizon Artillery:

(often abbreviated ‘OTH artillery’ or ‘OTHA’) term used to distinguish very-long-range weapons whose projectiles maintain muzzle energy throughout their whole flight (i.e. hypervelocity munitions) from artillery whose projectiles follow a highly parabolic arc

Part:

super-category for all modular armored core equipment, including components, units, and internals

Pattern:

suffix appended to names to emphasize the design or model of the component, e.g. Basho-pattern core; rarely used for weapons or internals

Pilot:

person operating an AC or MT, air vehicle helm, or (less commonly) a single-crew ground vehicle such as an ULFV

Pilot capsule:

sealed pressure vessel found on both ACs and MTs protecting the pilot, their control interface, life support, and often some or all of the electronic systems (FCS, ACS, COM, etc)

Pilot kill:

damage that fatally injures a pilot without disabling the vehicle; contrast ‘mission kill’

Pinch:

event in which human material discovers its presence may impede, but cannot PREVENT, the movement of an AC’s actuators

Pistol:

smallest category of hand-held MT or AC weapon, typically with barrel length under 2.5m

Pop:

(colloquial) to use, activate, or deploy a system or feature

Port:

left facing of an armor core’s body; terminology inherited from ships

Pylon:

telescoping armature used to elevate back units above larger shoulders of some arm components

Quick boost: see ‘Evasive thrust’

Quick turn: see ‘Snap turn’

Railgun:

kinetic weapon firing slugs of ferrous material using a linear motor; see ‘Linear rifle’, a subtype

Rifle:

hand-held semi-automatic or medium rate-of-fire weapon with a barrel length larger than a pistol but a caliber smaller than a cannon

Round:

  1. unit of ammunition, typically a cartridge or shell
  2. any unguided projectile (typically one in flight)

Shotgun:

weapon releasing unguided projectiles in a spread pattern

Slot:

  1. space in the core component reserved for a modular internal element, e.g. generator slot
  2. (colloquial) (generalization of above) any place where a corresponding AC part is an optional or necessary element of the assembly, e.g. head slot, right-hand-weapon slot

Snap turn:

(nonstandard) rapid thruster-assisted turn of 90 degrees or more

Starboard:

right facing of an armored core’s body; terminology inherited from ships

Sub-munition:

projectile launched from another projectile, e.g. a bomblet released from a cluster missile

Superior:

upward (headward) facing of an armored core, usually used as an adjective (‘superior face’)

Throat:

(colloquial) the gap between the outer hatch of the core component and inner hatch of the pilot capsule

Thruster:

propulsion system, including internal reaction chambers and exterior nozzles, responsible for turning generator power into thrust

Unit:

  1. independent (non-remote controlled) combatant; an infantryman, MT, AC, tank, or VTOL
  2. collection of the above functioning as a single element in tactical or strategic maneuvers
  3. (of an AC) weapon, either held in the hand, mounted on the arm, or attached to a back pylon of an armored core; or support modules mounted in place of such a weapon

VTOL:

  1. Vertical Take-Off and Landing; the capacity for an aircraft to hover and directly ascend/descend from a landing pad
  2. aircraft capable of the above, especially those lacking non-hover launch or flight capability e.g. helicopters

Notes:

I learned how to use work skins just to format this list and I regret it immensely.

Chapter 2: Codex-ipedia: C-Stabilizers

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

C-stabilizers

C-stabilizers are a category of drugs used to treat Coral poisoning from acute or chronic exposure to Coral leading to dangerous quantities of Coral entering the body, particularly the bloodstream (hyperkoraemia). As non-emergency medicine, C-stabilizers are given to C3- and C4-series augmented humans to let them tolerate the increased quantities of Coral used in those generations’ augmentation procedures.

Function

C-stabilizers function by preventing damage to the body caused by hyperkoraemia, typically by interfering with the bioaccessability of the Coral particles in the blood. As ‘stabilized’ Coral continues to demonstrate the same half-life as in untreated patients, no further treatment is necessary to eliminate the Coral from the patient’s body. C-stabilizer treatment for acute hyperkoraemia greatly eases symptoms and protects the body from further harmful effects of Coral exposure. In the case of C3 and C4 augments, C-stabilizers prevent health problems from high-CBL steady-state koraemia.

History

The first drugs for treating Coral poisoning, known as Coral antidotes, were toxic; they would allow workers to survive otherwise lethal Coral exposure, but the chemicals were hard on the body and added additional medical complications in addition to the effects of Coral poisoning itself. The invention of non-toxic alternatives, the first of which Sierpinski marketed as a ‘C-stabilizer’ under the brand name Alzanterol, significantly improved the survival rates for Coral poisoning and the recovery time of those afflicted. Additionally, the possibility of long-term use of C-stabilizers without negative effects allowed for the greater Coral doses in C3 and C4 series augmented humans.

With the destruction of nearly all known Coral stockpiles during the Coral Burn Event, C-stabilizers are now rare across most of human space. Companies continue to produce the drugs in small quantities for surviving C3/C4 augmentees. C-stabilizers remain part of life on Rubicon III even without access to new Coral Wells. Chronic koraemia in both silent and overt forms has become a serious concern for those working on the surface following the Coral Burn Event, which released massive quantities of Coral into the atmosphere, not all of which subsequently burned away. Field medkits issued to corporate personnel on Rubicon III usually contain a dose of C-stabilizers in case of accidental exposure to old industrial contamination.

Types

There are two primary types of C-stabilizer: ‘insulating’ and ‘diffuse’. A third type, ‘hybrid’, denotes a combination of the two in a single medicine.

Insulating C-stabilizers target Coral in the bloodstream and are thus most effective at treating koraemia rather than koracerebriasis or koradermalysis. Insulating C-stabilizers work by providing targets for Coral to interact with preferentially over bodily tissues, typically by being relatively large, highly charged ions in solution (often 3+ cations and/or 3- anions); the drugs in question are generally not metabolized and simply filter out through urine over time.

Diffuse C-stabilizers work by either clinging to cell membranes or being absorbed into cells, where they protect the bodily tissues from Coral damage until they are metabolized. Because diffuse C-stabilizers interact with cells directly, they are much more effective at preventing or treating koracerebriasis and koradermalysis; however, they and their metabolites are more likely to cause side effects than insulating C-stabilizers at comparable doses.

Almost all modern C-stabilizers are hybrid drugs combining an insulating and diffuse C-stabilizer at between a 2:1 and 3.5:1 ratio relative to their therapeutic dosages in isolation.

Side Effects

Many people tolerate C-stabilizers without issue. The most common side effects are nausea, headache, constipation, and excessive sweating. Similarly, long-term C-stabilizer use often cause no issues, but has been linked to increased incidence of acne (particularly in men), infertility, and crystallopathy in the kidneys, gallbladder, and salivary glands. There is no medical consensus whether the C-stabilizers themselves cause these issues, or if some or all are a result of chronic hyperkoraemia.

Difference from C-neutralizers

C-neutralizers are chemicals that accelerate the elimination of Coral from the blood, used in cases of extreme hyperkoraemia or to resolve steady-state koraemia. C-neutralizers are sometimes grouped in with C-stabilizers due to their common use for treating Coral exposure. Unlike C-stabilizers, C-neutralizers are almost universally strong neurotoxins. High doses used in emergency medicine require a patient be ventilated until the effects fade and may causing lasting damage to the peripheral nervous system independent of Coral burn-in. Nevertheless, they can provide lifesaving effects in the most severe cases of Coral poisoning.

Notes:

I spent way too long on formatting this one, too. And I'm probably going to come back and make real some of these hyperlinks when their corresponding fauxipedia articles go up, as well... (-_-')

* Yes, I absolutely COULD have used an existing Work Skin and saved myself 80% of the effort, but I'm a perfectionist and the one I found wasn't perfect. (T_T)

Chapter 3: Codex-ipedia: Coral Poisoning

Chapter Text

Coral Poisoning

(Redirected from Coral Sickness)

“Coral Sickness” redirects here. For the band, see The Coral Sickness (band)

Coral poisoning (also called Coral sickness) is any disease caused by the presence of Coral in the body, typically the bloodstream (koraemia) or brain (koracerebriasis). Commonly, the term ‘Coral poisoning’ is used to describe illness caused by a single dose, while ‘Coral sickness’ is used for illness caused by longterm exposure; the technical term is ‘Coral poisoning’ in both cases. The organs most at risk of damage due to Coral poisoning are the skin, lungs, kidneys, liver, and brain. The most effective treatment for Coral poisoning is swiftly administered C-stabilizers.

Causes

Skin Exposure

Direct skin exposure to concentrated Coral can cause a variety of skin lesions (koradermalysis), also known as Coral blisters, even in quantities too low to cause Coral poisoning. As Coral is readily absorbed through the skin into the blood, skin exposure is the most common cause of Coral poisoning. Moderate and severe Coral poisoning may cause further koradermalysis due to internal exposure from circulating Coral passing through the skin, particularly in sensitive areas such as the nose, mouth, conjunctiva of the eyes, and nail beds.

Airborne Exposure

Coral preferentially binds to the brain after inhalation, particularly through the nose. Therefore, airborne exposure almost always results in koracerebriasis before koraemia unless the exposure is either chronic or exceptionally high. Longterm exposure may result in Coral burn-in even if no acute Coral poisoning develops. Conditions caused by koracerebriasis after unintentional airborne exposure in the absence of koraemia fall under the heading of Coral poisoning, but care should be taken to separate the two, as koraemia and koracerebiasis require different treatments.

Intravenous Injection

Coral introduced directly to a vein binds to neurons in the brain and spine before it can diffuse enough to cause koraemia, leading to an intense collection of short-lasting neurological symptoms that resemble a drug high. The act of deliberately inducing koracerebriasis for psychoactive effects is known as dosing. Intentional dosing is one of the most common causes of Coral burn-in.

Effects

Koraemia

(Main article: Koraemia#Symptoms and Treatment)

Koraemia may be acute or chronic. Symptoms are divided into two categories: neurological and systemic. Neurological symptoms overlap with koracerebriasis and include vestibular issues such as vertigo, lasting fatigue and depressive symptoms, and disturbances of consciousness. Systemic symptoms include nausea and vomiting, skin damage and bleeding, and temporary or lasting damage to the organs, particularly those with a relatively large blood supply (liver, lungs, kidneys). Diagnostic guides disagree on the classification of some symptoms (e.g. muscle spasms) into these categories.

Koracerebriasis

(Main article: Koracerebriasis#Symptoms and Treatment)

Koracerebriasis is usually encountered as an acute illness. Symptoms include alterations of perception, mood, cognition, and behavior. The most common reported effects are visual impairment, sedation, disorientation, uncoordinated movement, aphasia, and impairment of cognitive functions. Impairments of perception and cognition render many patients unable to notice their own symptoms. Koracerebriasis often has long-term effects in the form of Coral burn-in.

Koradermalysis

(Main article: Koradermalysis)

Coral particles passing through the fine capillaries of the outer dermis cause localized tissue damage that forms lesions known as Coral blisters or Coral burns (not to be confused with Coral burn-in). Coral blisters most often present as chemical burns or ulcers. In cases of extreme exposure, or contact with highly concentrated Coral (e.g. in fuel cells), a Coral plaque (korasclerosis) may form over the damaged tissue.

Miner’s Daze

‘Miner’s Daze’ refers to a specific set of koracerebriatic symptoms associated with low-level airborne exposure, including dizziness, confusion, and disorientation. The name came about due to the association between the condition and poor ventilation in deep mineshafts. Miner’s daze can be dangerous if its mentally impairing effects compromise worksite safety or prevent the affected individual from leaving the hazardous area, but does not pose a long-term health risk except in prolonged cases (est. 3+ hours for otherwise healthy individuals).

Coral Burn-in

(Main article: Coral Burn-in)

‘Coral burn-in’ (not to be confused with Coral blisters, also called Coral burns) refers to a set of longterm neurological issues (distinct from the short-term neurological symptoms of koracerebriasis) cased by neuron/Coral interactions. The physiological cause is believed to be a combination of direct damage to nervous tissue from Coral exposure, and Coral binding causing abnormal neurological connections or disconnections between adjacent neurons.

Though Coral burn-in is best known as a condition of the central nervous system, it is more commonly found in the peripheral nervous system (‘peripheral burn’) among the general population. Peripheral burn is responsible for neuropathy observed in survivors of Coral poisoning. Cerebral Coral burn-in is associated with deliberate Coral exposure, either through dosing or from C-series augmentation.

There is limited evidence that the use of Coral substitutes may be effective in mitigating or reversing cerebral Coral burn-in.

Chapter 4: Codex-ipedia: Koraemia

Chapter Text

Koraemia

Koraemia (from greek korállion, “coral” + aemia, “blood condition”) is the medical condition in which Coral is present in a person’s blood (that is, a Coral blood level above 0). It is not known if there is a threshold below which koraemia is harmless. Chronic low CBLs (silent koraemia) may be asymptomatic. Higher CBLs (overt koraemia) cause noticeable symptoms. Overt koraemia may be acute or chronic. One specific set of koraemia symptoms associated with acute airborne exposure is miner’s daze. In the event the Coral in the blood is sufficient to cause a medical emergency, the condition is known as hyperkoraemia.

Symptoms and Treatment

Koraemia and hyperkoraemia are separated into degrees of varying severity and treatment recommendations based on patient prognosis. “Mild” hyperkoraemia poses no risk of death, even without C-stabilizers. “Moderate” hyperkoraemia is life-threatening without treatment but poses little risk if C-stabilizers are administered promptly. “Severe” hyperkoraemia poses a threat to life and longterm health even with swift treatment, and “grave” hyperkoraemia is invariably fatal.

The following chart assumes treatment within ten minutes of exposure, as recommended by Melinite’s Coral Safety Guidelines.

Symptoms Treatment Prognosis
Silent koraemia none none possible long-term health effects relative to unkoraemic patient
Overt koraemia Fatigue; malaise; muscle aches; headaches; vertigo or dizziness (acute), nausea (acute); chills (acute); loss of appetite (chronic); skin and muscle inflammation (chronic); depressive symptoms (chronic) Removal from source of exposure. Light analgesics such as ibuprofen or aspirin as needed. Oral fluids. C-stabilizers not necessary but will reduce or eliminate acute symptoms. Full recovery within 1-2 days
Mild Hyperkoraemia Muscle tremors and weakness; nausea; impaired thought and speech; severe vestibular impairment C-stabilizers if available. Oral fluids with electrolytes and sugars (juices work well). Bed rest. Full recovery within 3-14 days with C-stabilizers; recovery within 7-30 days otherwise.
Moderate Hyperkoraemia Skin lesions (koradermalysis) over less than 5% of body; nosebleed; partial paralysis or loss of muscle control; vomiting; impaired thought and speech C-stabilizers. Intravenous fluids. Epinephrine may improve outcome if C-stabilizers are not available (debated). Full recovery within 7-30 days with C-stabilizers. Death or eventual recovery within 90 days without, possibly with longterm effects e.g. peripheral neuropathy.
Severe Hyperkoraemia Skin lesions over 5-15% of body; paralysis or spasms; bleeding from mouth and nose; severe alterations or loss of consciousness; seizures C-stabilizers. C-neutralizers in extreme cases. Avoid opiates or other depressants that may impair breathing or CNS function. Risk of death even with immediate treatment. Recovery within approx. 60 days with C-stabilizers. Likely lasting decline in organ function, esp. lungs, kidneys, and liver; careful monitoring over next 10 years strongly indicated.
Grave Hyperkoraemia Seizures; loss of consciousness; lesions over more than 15% of the body; bleeding from mucous membranes and nail beds; death. Coral ‘scabs’ (korasclerosis) form on damaged skin pre- or post-mortem. Palliative. C-stabilizers to reduce systemic symptoms and opiates for pain. Death typical within 1-3 days. In cases where korasclerosis becomes apparent pre-mortem, remaining life expectancy is measured in hours.

Steady-State Koraemia

Coral in the bloodstream usually demonstrates a half-life of approximately two hours, varying as much as an hour in either direction depending on factors specific to the patient and the method of exposure. During C-series augmentation, surgeons induce steady-state koraemia, a condition in which Coral remains suspended in the blood indefinitely. The processes by which augmentation surgeries induce steady-state koraemia in patients are tightly-guarded trade secrets.

There have been only three reported cases of accidental steady-state koraemia, all due to worksite exposure.

Chapter 5: Codex-ipedia: Brain Interface / Structural Amputation-site Socket

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Brain Interface / Structural Amputation-site Socket

(redirected from BISAS)

Brain Interface / Structural Amputation-site Socket (BISAS) is a neuron-actuated prosthetics technology introduced by Sierpinski Pharmaceuticals in conjunction with Sagittarius Medical in 232 that combines neural control and feedback implants in the skull with transdermal mechanical plugs for stable attachment of prosthetic limbs to the amputation site. Such limbs combine the stability and ‘grip’ of earlier ASNIS technology with the significantly better control and sensory feedback of BCSDI/BPSDI prostheses. While the basic technology for BISAS existed since the invention of BCSDI prostheses in 200, it was not until 231 that advances in dermaphilic materials eliminated the discomfort associated with transdermal implants, renewing interest in prosthetic socket technology.

Design and function

The BISAS system is composed of two separate components: an electronic control device that runs the mind-machine interface, and a structural transdermal connector placed at site where the prosthesis will attach to the body. The patient is also administered an artificial Coral treatment one to two weeks prior to the surgery to install the devices.

Electronics

The control device is encased in a capsule 6-8 mm thick and 2-4 cm in diameter, which is placed under the skin on the back of the neck or at the base of the skull. A cranial laparoscopic procedure threads wires over the sensory and motor cortices without opening the skull. The wires connect to the processor through the foramen magnum and contain the millions of artificial Coral transistors that carry signals to and from the brain.

The processor communicates with the prosthesis via near-field radio passing through the skin. Depending on the patient’s needs, the radio transmitter may be contained in the same capsule as the processor, necessitating a matching device worn on the back of the neck and connected to the prosthesis via an external cable, or it may be a separate device placed closer to the prosthesis site and connected through a subdermal wire. Separate radio transmitters may be less than half a square centimeter in area and under 400 μm thick. The former has the advantage that the external radio device can double as an inductive charger for the capsule’s internal battery rather than requiring the patient to charge their implant separately, while the latter may make attaching and removing the prosthesis quicker and easier.

Socket

The transdermal connector is a structural element without power or electronics that that fastens the prosthesis to its user. The load-bearing connector anchors to the bone via a number of titanium rods running parallel to the bone and attached with screws and pins. Typically, two to three rods are sufficient, but more may be used if the bone in question is very short due to amputation or congenital absence close to the joint. Surgeons attach the anchor rods to the internal face of the connector via glued screw threads prior to insertion.

The external and transdermal portions of the connector are then seated in a cloned biopolymer (CBP) mount that minimizes irritation and infection risk at the boundary with the patient’s skin and other tissues. The interior face of the connector has dozens of threaded screw-holes which may be selected to accommodate a wide variety of bone and limb dimensions, leaving the CBP mount the only component that must be custom fit to the patient.

As of 242, more than 95% of all prosthetics surgeries and 98% of prostheses sold use one of the three Universal Limb Structural Mount (ULS) connectors.

History

(Main article: History of Prosthetics)

Pre-Unification Era

The first recognizable predecessor to modern neuron-actuated prosthetics were microprocessor-controlled prostheses introduced c 100 BUE. These protheses attempted to either automatically or through manual control allow the wearer to perform some or all of the tasks of a normal, muscle-powered limb. While a great step forward, the lack of neural interfacing limited their ability to replicate the amputated limb’s natural feel and function.

ASNIS

(Main article: Amputation-Site Neural-Interweave Socket)

Sierpinski Pharmaceuticals introduced the Amputation-Site Neural-Interweave Socket in 46, which utilized recent advancements in transdermal implants to install a sophisticated socket ‘plug’ in the end of the amputated limb. Wires on the internal end of the socket were carefully tied to the severed nerve fibers (neural interweave), and the socket mechanically anchored to the bone for stability. Moderate improvements to various elements continued for the next 150 years, but the basis of the technology—a socket at the end of the limb wired into the nervous system—remained relatively unchanged.

Neural interweave technology offered great improvements in sensory and motor function. However, the skin around the socket itself was prone to inflammation and required increased care, and the inability of electronic systems to accurately mimic organic signals (known as the neuron/silicon barrier) posed an upper limit to the sophistication of both the control/feedback signals and the prostheses themselves despite a century and a half of technological improvements.

BCSDI

(Main article: Brain-Coral SubDermal Interface)

Sagittarius Medical, a Furlong subsidiary in partnership with the Melinite-funded Rubicon Research Institute, unveiled the Brain-Coral SubDermal Interface in 200. By exploiting Coral’s affinity for biological tissue and its ability to transmit information across short gaps, RRI researchers in were able to demonstrate brain-controlled implant technology in rats in 199 and in humans the following year. BCSDI became the first technology to fully breach the neuron/silicon barrier, allowing electronic implants beneath the skull to interface with neural tissue in the same way as natural organic signals. Rapid improvements in the prostheses themselves followed to take advantage of the interface.

As the control implants were located entirely within the skull, BCSDI implants also avoided the lingering issues with skin inflammation around transdermal implants. The return to cup-and-strap prosthesis mounts caused issues with modern limb design, particularly in upper-body prostheses where the load often ran perpendicular or even anti-parallel to the limb/prosthesis interface, but doctors and patients considered these issues a worthwhile trade for avoiding the discomfort and infection risks associated with contemporary transdermal medical implants.

Post-Coral

Following the Coral Burn Event and the destruction of nearly all Coral stockpiles, BCSDI technology was considered ‘lost’ until 229, after synthetic substitutes such as Mitsubishi’s Synthreef and Sierpinski’s Manna became publicly available. The now Coral-less technology was rebranded Brain-Prosthesis Sub-Dermal Interface (BPSDI) but was otherwise identical to BCSDI in its conception. BPSDI was superseded by BISAS technology shortly afterward with the advent of commercially viable cloned biopolymers in 231.

Advantages

This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia’s quality standards. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (August 241)

Over ASNIS

The BISAS cranial implants offer more natural control and sensation than neural interweave technology. BISAS sockets use dermaphilic materials to prevent the skin irritation associated with ASNIS sockets, and the lack of neural interweaving makes them cheaper to create and install, minimizes the risk of damage negatively affecting the socket, and removes the complications associated with neural interweave technology.

Over BCDSI/BPDSI

BISAS offers the same degree of control as the BPDSI technology it replaced, while the sockets at the amputation site provide a more stable, reliable, and easily used connection between the prosthetic and limb than cup-and-strap attachments without greatly increasing the cost of the procedure. The improved connection allows for heavier, sturdier prostheses and better imitates the skeletal structure of a healthy body.

Notes:

I would say "formatting these pages is a pain" but I keep DOING it rather than taking the easy way out so it can't be that bad, right?

Chapter 6: OC Arena Profiles

Summary:

Arena Profiles for the AC pilots original to ItG.

Notes:

Images of the AC's paint jobs can be found on my Tumblr here.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

G8 Gambia

AC: SPIDERFACE
R-Arm Unit: LR-036 CURTIS
L-Arm Unit: DF-GR-07 GOU-CHEN
R-Back Unit: BML-G2/P03MLT-06
L-Back Unit: SI-27: SU-R8
Head: DH-033M VERRILL
Core: BD-011 MELANDER
Arms: DF-AR-08 TIAN-QIANG
Legs: LG-033M VERRILL
Booster: BC-0600 12345
FCS: FCS-G2/P10SLT
Generator: DF-GN-06 MING-TANG
Expansion: PULSE ARMOR
Emblem:
Foreground: a spider crawling over two dice reading “4” and “4” caught in its web
Background: the standard Redguns’ pattern
Arena Profile:
G8 Gambia was an F-rank independent who made as much money between missions as a professional gambler as he did as a hired gun. A long string of bad luck in both careers saddled him with debts he couldn’t pay off, and his creditors sold his balance to Balam rather than trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

Regretful of his career choice, Gambia hates the battlefield, and would much rather do his shooting at the craps table.

G11 Yarqon

AC: HIERARCH
R-Arm Unit: MA-J-201 RANSETSU-AR
L-Arm Unit: HI-32: BU-TT/A
R-Back Unit: BML-G2/P03MLT-06
L-Back Unit: DF-BA-06 XUAN-GE
Head: DH-011 MELANDER
Core: BD-011 MELANDER
Arms: AR-011 MELANDER
Legs: LG-011 MELANDER
Booster: BST-G2/P04
FCS: FC-008 TALBOT
Generator: DF-GN-02 LING-TAI
Expansion: Nothing
Emblem:
Foreground: a robed silhouette holding a staff, backlit by sun-rays
Background: the standard Redguns’ pattern
Arena profile:
A Rubicon native from the Corporate Holdings, G11 Yarqon signed on to be a Balam MT pilot because he needed the money, and tried his hardest in training because he wanted to survive long enough to spend it.

His effort and talent drew the eye of G1 Michigan, who offered him the chance every MT pilot would and did kill for. After receiving seventh-generation augments without issue, he entered the Redguns as G11 Yarqon.

G12 Torne

AC: VALIANT WILL
R-Arm Unit: SG-026 HALDEMAN
L-Arm Unit: SG-027 ZIMMERMAN
R-Back Unit: BML-G2/P05MLT-10
L-Back Unit: BML-G2/P05MLT-10
Head: DH-011 MELANDER
Core: BD-011 MELANDER
Arms: AR-011 MELANDER
Legs: LG-011 MELANDER
Booster: BST-G2/P04
FCS: FCS-GF2/P10SLT
Generator: AG-E-013 YABA
Expansion: Nothing
Emblem:
Foreground: an upright forearm and hand gripping Luna hard enough to crush it
Background: the standard Redguns’ pattern
Arena Profile:
A small-time smuggler, hustler, and fence, Torne was caught trying to dodge tariffs on high-end narcotics that were later discovered to have been stolen. Luna’s government handed the repeat offender a nine-year prisoner sentence in minimum security, from which he would eventually take Balam’s offer of work release.

While never a good criminal, G12 Torne is considered by his fellow Redguns to have made for an even worse pilot—a state of affairs not helped by his lack of augmentation.

V.IV Marais

AC: CONTRAST
R-Arm Unit: VE-66LRA
L-Arm Unit: VP-66LR
R-Back Unit: BML-GP/P17SPL-16
L-Back Unit: BML:-G3/P05ACT-02
Head: VE-44A
Core: 07-061 MIND ALPHA
Arms: NACHTREIHER/46E
Legs: VP-422
Booster: ALULA/21E
FCS: VE-21B
Generator: VP-20C
Expansion: Assault Armor
Emblem:
No personal emblem; the Vespers emblem is used instead.
Arena Profile:
A career soldier, Marais bounced back and forth between employers until he caught the eye of V.VI Maeterlinck, who selected him out of the Arquebus rank and file for her Vespers’ Sixth Squad. His promotion came with a corporate loan for 8th generation augmentation, which he has since paid off.

During the Coral War, Marais was part of the Vespers task force dispatched to eliminate the C-spider in the south-eastern Ice Fields, during which he received moderate injuries.

Astrolabe

AC: CELESTE
R-Arm Unit: DIZZY
L-Arm Unit: LR-036 CURTIS
R-Back Unit: BML-G2/P17SPL-16
L-Back Unit: EARSHOT
Head: HC-2000 FINDER EYE
Core: CC-2000 ORBITER
Arms: AC-2000 TOOL ARM
Legs: RC-2000 SPRING CHICKEN
Booster: BC-0600 12345
FCS: FCS-G2/P05
Generator: DF-GN-06 MING-TANG
Expansion: None
Emblem:
Foreground: a golden sextant below an arc of four five-pointed gold stars
Background: none
Arena Profile:
A junior mercenary contracted to BAWS to provide site security. A conservative sort, Astrolabe prefers safe, low-paying jobs to more lucrative and dangerous work, and took BAWS’ contract with the assurance she would be more of a deterrent than a combatant.

Indeed, even after working for BAWS for more than two years, there is no record of Astrolabe having engaged another Armored Core since her arrival on Rubicon.

Notes:

Wait, who the heck is Astrolabe?

Don't worry about it. :)

Chapter 7: Nineball

Notes:

Want to know more than could ever be narratively necessary about the in-universe fictional character Nineball and his media? Here you go.

The conversation takes place several years before Branch departs for Rubicon on the RLF's invitation.

Chapter Text

Antares: Augs change people, Nine.
Nine-ball: Give one man augs and another man a gun and tell me who changes more.

Quote from the blockbuster holovid Silent Nexus 3: The Last Age (203). One of the most famous scenes in the original hexalogy, captioned stills of the exchange are common fodder for word replacement memes.

After surviving an assassination attempt that killed his crew, mercenary slacker ‘Hustler’ adopts a new identity as deadly-serious ‘Nine-ball’ in search of the truth behind the deaths of his friends. His investigation leads him to the shadowy cabal calling themselves the Silent Nexus: a group that seeks not only to destroy the Corporations holding up modern civilization, but the Federated Worlds itself.

Summary of Silent Nexus (198), the first entry in what would become the second highest grossing holovid series of all time, as presented by Sierpinski’s VidFlow on-demand streaming service, UE 252.

All main-line* Silent Nexus franchise holos up to 252 UE:

  • Silent Nexus (198)
  • Silent Nexus 2: Phantom Breaker (201)
  • Silent Nexus 3: The Last Age (203)
  • Silent Nexus 4: Revelation (205)
  • Silent Nexus 5: Judgment (208)
  • Silent Nexus 6: Phoenix Rising (218)
  • Core Theory: Silent Nexus (224) (series reboot)
  • Core Theory II (227)
  • Core Theory III (230)
  • The Hustler (233) (prequel)*
  • Core Theory IV (235)
  • Core Theory V (238)
  • Core Theory VI (241)
  • Core Theory VII (244)
  • Core Theory VIII (248)
  • Core Theory IX (251)

* Fan consensus includes any holo focusing on Hustler/Nine-ball as part of the “main line”, with holos centered on other characters relegated to ‘spin-off’ status.

<connected to /branch/chat/off-topic/movies-and-video>
<04:33:02><lovelace_conjecture> no but the thing about finding people who defend unpopular media is that you can at least trust they’ve watched it
<04:33:03><lovelace_conjecture> you know?
<04:33:09><voidbornphreak> plenty of people hate unpopular media without knowing anything about it beyond ‘unpopular’
<04:33:10><lovelace_conjecture> yeah
<04:33:20><lovelace_conjecture> and the thing is that they usually HAVE found something about whatever they like that people miss
<04:33:27><lovelace_conjecture> like this one guy was defending sn 6 on tabloi earlier
<04:33:33><lovelace_conjecture> and he was talking about the fire/smoke symbolism and how it mirrors both nines character arc and the central conflict of the holo
<04:33:38><hexraybeem> wtf were you doing on tabloi lol
<04:33:40><lovelace_conjecture> reading bad takes, keep up
<04:33:43><lovelace_conjecture> anyway the thing is
<04:33:44><lovelace_conjecture> he wasnt wrong?
<04:33:55><lovelace_conjecture> hed found some legitimately cool symbolism that id never have gone looking for myself
<04:33:56><tzarsalad898> 6 is still a fucking garbage fire though
<04:33:57><lovelace_conjecture> oh totally
<04:33:59><tzarsalad898> and yes I did watch it
<04:34:20><lovelace_conjecture> the guy wasnt wrong about the symbolism, but he WAS wrong about it making up for gav london being too old and coked up to play his role worth a damn
<04:34:24><voidbornphreak> its really sad tbh
<04:34:30><lovelace_conjecture> but like thats a perfect example of why its worth reading through really bad takes
<04:34:39><lovelace_conjecture> the conclusions might be wrong but the evidence can be really interesting
<04:34:46><lovelace_conjecture> yeah its a bummer, dude WAS nineball for years
<04:34:49><l1|1li|i> wasnt that part of his problem though
<04:35:01><l1|1li|i> like he was so sick of the character they basically had to offer him more money than god to get 5 done
<04:35:06><l1|1li|i> and we only got 6 because he blew through it all
<04:35:13><tzarsalad898> yeah he did not like becoming a single-role actor at all
<04:35:21><lovelace_conjecture> anyway the point is someone defending unpopular media has 100x more to say than someone blinding praising whatevers popular even if theyre totally wrong
<04:35:23><lovelace_conjecture> thank you for coming to my ted talk
<04:35:32><voidbornphreak> "silent nexus 3 is good" = normal. unremarkable. trivial, even
<04:35:41><voidbornphreak> "silent nexus 6 is good" = radical. free-thinking. revolutionary
<04:35:52><voidbornphreak> and completely fucking wrong but thats neither here nor there
<04:35:53><lovelace_conjecture> lol
<04:35:55><lovelace_conjecture> yeah more or less!!
<04:36:02><cherrypicked> It always annoys me when I hear people say “oh Silent Nexus 3 is the best movie in the series”.
<04:36:06><cherrypicked> Now before you jump down my throat, I’m not saying those people are wrong.
<04:36:11><cherrypicked> 2 is my personal favorite because its villain is just so damn fun, but 3 is clearly the better holo.
<04:36:14><cherrypicked> No, it annoys me because they are right without knowing why.
<04:36:15><l1|1li|i> "don't jump down my throat" she says like anyone can type fast enough to interrupt her.
<04:36:27><cherrypicked> It’s the kind of frustration you feel when you see someone mess up every step of a problem and still come out with the right answer, because people will offer a dozen justifications for why 3 is so good and they’re all wrong.
<04:36:29><cherrypicked> The special effects? 2 did better with half the budget.
<04:36:32><cherrypicked> The fight choreography? 4 was more polished in every way.
<04:36:36><cherrypicked> The writing? The characters? No better or worse than 1 and 2, and often worse than Core Theory’s.
<04:36:39><take_it_home> how many words per minute is that anyway
<04:36:42><cherrypicked> Silent Nexus 3 isn’t the best because of anything it did technically, it’s the best because it actually had something to say.
<04:36:54><cherrypicked> The thing you have to remember is that SN3 came out in 203, which puts its production right around the time C3 hit the security market. C1 and C2 were prototypes with limited production runs, but C3 was the real, mass-produced deal.
<04:37:04><cherrypicked> Sci-fi had gone back and forth on this kind of transhumanism a hundred times over the last couple centuries, and then it had gone from hypothetical to real science faster than anyone could have ever predicted.
<04:37:14><cherrypicked> Even the people making the things didn’t have more than an educated guess at where the technology would be in five years, so of course the general public was even more uncertain about the whole thing.
<04:37:16><l1|1li|i> i actually checked once and she averaged like 210ish iirc
<04:37:20><l1|1li|i> which is fucking insane
<04:37:25><cherrypicked> SN3 took that uncertainty, that angst, and put it front and center in what could easily have been another mindless special-effects spectacle. It captured a snapshot of history at a social and technological inflection point, and it did so so well that it remains compelling even with forty years of hindsight.
<04:37:29><l1|1li|i> fastest on record is 232 but that's a sprint in controlled conditions not a fucking irc rant lol
<04:37:50><cherrypicked> (Sidenote: This is why Core Theory II, despite being a remake of Silent Nexus 3 in all but name, feels so damn flat in comparison. Times had changed enough that Nineball started out augmented in the first Core Theory because a non-augmented pilot would have looked weird to modern audiences, but having to get his augs upgraded for the mid-story power boost is a completely different beast than going under the knife for technology that was still socially tumultuous, despite otherwise being the exact same plot point.)
<04:37:55><cherrypicked> The most important thing 3 did right, though, is that it encouraged questions rather than giving answers.
<04:38:02><cherrypicked> The story never tells you whether augmentation is good or bad. It just says, here’s what augmentation is, and lets you draw your own conclusions.
<04:37:10><drop_table_users> cher how the fuck do you type so fast anyway
<04:37:12><cherrypicked> The holo covers the forces pushing the technology, the risks and side effects, the social consequences—all the cornerstones of the conversation at the time, though nowadays they’re not the contentious topics they were then.
<04:37:14><cherrypicked> @drop_table_users practice and a specialized keyboard.
<04:37:21><cherrypicked> (There’s a case to be made that modern augments are safer in part because of the Silent Nexus series, but that’s a whole other conversation.)
<04:37:34><cherrypicked> The pressure on Nine to get augments in order to match the new antagonists highlights the arms race that was already underway, and the (since borne out) fear that augmentation was quickly going to become just another red queen race in the arms industry.
<04:37:49><ldbtk_> im mostly impressed that she bothers to properly italicize the title ever time lol
<04:37:52><cherrypicked> People warn Nine going into it that augmentation has risks, and while his augs work and he wins the day (as he must for the series to continue), he also develops a tremor in his right hand that stays for the rest of the holo.
<04:37:59><cherrypicked> Augmentation doesn’t seem to change him, and yet it fundamentally changes the way people see him, as exemplified by his interactions with Antares and Hera.
<04:38:09><tzarsalad898> @ldb the nice formating make me think she has this whole rant macro'd or something xD
<04:38:13><cherrypicked> Is augmentation going to be a take-it-or-leave it tool, or is the supremacy of augmented pilots inevitable now that the genie is out of the bottle? Do the benefits justify the risks and side effects? What, if anything, separates augmented and unaugmented humans?
<04:38:24><l1|1li|i> imagine using rich text on rich-text internet relay chat
<04:38:26><cherrypicked> You don’t even need to be the kind of critical viewer to pick up on subtext in your action movies to ‘get it’ because half the plot is the characters struggling with those same questions—and those questions are why Silent Nexus 3 is so damn compelling.
<04:38:26><l1|1li|i> who would do such a thing
<04:38:29><drop_table_users> me
<04:38:31><l1|1li|i> lol
<04:38:33><l1|1li|i> proud of you drop
<04:38:46><cherrypicked> Different characters come to different conclusions over the course of the story, but the ending of the movie takes great care not to favor any of them, so the audience is left with open-ended questions rather than answers. That’s what kept you thinking about it, maybe for hours, maybe for days, maybe even for weeks, and that’s why it stuck in your head the way none of the other holos did.
<04:38:48><cherrypicked> Silent Nexus 3 made you think.
<04:38:57><hexraybeem> ill let you in on the real secret drop
<04:38:59><cherrypicked> And in the age of media that focus test individual scenes, it was free to do that precisely because the answers to those questions were still up in the air even long after filming wrapped.
<04:38:59><hexraybeem> cherrys a chatbot :3c
<04:39:15><cherrypicked> The reboots never had a chance because the answers had been set down in stone years before, to say nothing of the corporate angle; asking ‘is human augmentation good?’ after it had become a multi-billion-dollar industry wouldn’t fly, especially not when the companies making the implants are in bed with the ones making the holos.
<04:39:22><cherrypicked> In conclusion, Silent Nexus 3 isn’t great because it’s a good movie, it’s great because it’s good art, and I wish more people understood the difference.
<04:39:24><cherrypicked> Ignore hexray, I am not a chatbot.
<04:39:32><hexraybeem> you know that is exactly what a chatbot would say… :suspicious:
<04:39:33><cherrypicked> hex would a chatbot kick you from the server for mouthing off
<04:39:34><hexraybeem> yes
<04:39:35><cherrypicked> …well played. >:|
<04:39:37><cherrypicked> It won't save you though.
<04:39:39><user "hexraybeem" has been kicked. Reason: hurt my feelings :(>
<04:39:42><l1|1li|i> botlike behavior
<04:39:44><cherrypicked> :reaches for the ban button:
<04:39:47><l1|1li|i> wait no ill be good
<04:39:51><ldbtk_> speaking of getting banned from the channel
<04:39:59><ldbtk_> hey cherry I wanna hear more about hera >:)
<04:40:01><cherrypicked> DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON HERA
<04:40:01><user "hexraybeem" has joined the channel>
<04:40:02><take_it_home> :grabs popcorn:
<04:40:02><lovelace_conjecture> lol
<04:40:03><devnaught> ah lads not again
<04:40:04><ollie-ollie> someone always pokes the bear
<04:40:04><tzarsalad898> incoming vitriol
<04:40:04><l1|1li|i> youve done it now
<04:40:04><voidbornphreak> every fucking time SN comes up istg
<04:40:07><drop_table_users> is this a "thing" or something
<04:40:07><hexraybeem> oh shit someone mentioned hera again?
<04:40:09><l1|1li|i> yes it is 'a thing'
<04:40:11><devnaught> cherry HATES Hera
<04:40:13><l1|1li|i> mostly as a joke
<04:40:14><l1|1li|i> but ONLY mostly
<04:40:16><drop_table_users> why?
<04:40:22><cherrypicked> She is in the top 50 worst characters put to screen over the last as-many years and easily the one I find most personally annoying.
<04:40:24><cherrypicked> Mostly because she's the one ruining holos I actually like.
<04:40:24><ollie-ollie> what ISNT wrong with Hera tbh
<04:40:32><cherrypicked> Core Theory replacing her with Firefly excuses literally everything else the reboot did wrong and I will happily fight anyone eager to die on that hill.
<04:40:42><ollie-ollie> naming a love interest after the greek goddess of this-is-why-you-need-divorce-to-exist was a bad sign right off the bat
<04:40:50><ollie-ollie> and things just went downhill from there
<04:40:51><cherrypicked> ollie gets me.
<04:40:53><devnaught> cherry are we talking "argue on the internet" fight or "show up to someones house in your fucking ac" fight
<04:40:57><cherrypicked> I am not nearly petty enough to get my license revoked over bad internet takes.
<04:41:08><ollie-ollie> 'nearly' doing a lot of heavy lifting there cherr
<04:41:09><cherrypicked> lol
<04:41:13><take_it_home> the fact someone has to ask should be reason enough not to argue lol
<04:41:26><devnaught> I mean I dont LIKE hera Im just not sure I dislike her enough to prefer core theory to silent nexus
<04:41:32><cherrypicked> I didn't say I 'preferred' Core Theory, I said replacing Hera gets it off the hook for the rest of its fuckups.
<04:41:34><cherrypicked> Not exactly glowing praise.
<04:41:35><devnaught> ah
<04:41:36><devnaught> yeah I get you
<04:41:48><l1|1li|i> right forget hera i want to hear about how tf silent nexus made augmentation safer irl
<04:41:51><cherrypicked> I’m glad someone asked!
<04:42:04><cherrypicked> It’s easy to forget after fifty years of cultural dominance, but when Silent Nexus first came out it was just one of dozens of imitators chasing the success of Mobile Armor (191), an action holo that was itself imitating the modestly successful war holo Metal (184).
<04:42:18><cherrypicked> Most of the imitators either went the straight action route that made Mobile Armor successful or tried to blend in the ‘war holo’ tropes in Armor’s source material. Nexus took the exact opposite tack and decided to be a superhero movie; it worked (obviously), and the rest is history.
<04:42:22><cherrypicked> But war holos and superhero movies operate on fundamentally opposite tropes.
<04:42:33><cherrypicked> The traditional war holo loves to emphasize the unexceptional nature of its characters. Anyone Can Die, and being strong or skilled or brave won’t save you (but looking at a picture of your loved one will absolutely kill you).
<04:42:46><cherrypicked> Mobile Armor didn’t go as hard on these tropes as its source material did, but it still aped the aesthetic, which made it more or less accurate to how AC pilots were treated at the dawn of core theory (the military doctrine, not the holos).
<04:42:48><devnaught> wait hold on
<04:42:53><cherrypicked> The pilot was a disposable soldier like any other, just one with slightly more expensive equipment, analogous to a machine-gunner in the earliest days of modern warfare.
<04:42:59><cherrypicked> The equipment was the important part; the person running it was irrelevant as long as they could run it.
<04:43:12><cherrypicked> This is why corporations accepted a ninety percent failure rate on first-generation augs: people are cheap and readily available in large numbers, and the RRI could sell a survivor’s contract for a couple thousand times the cost of the hardware and surgery.
<04:43:14><take_it_home> cherry does not simply 'hold on', dev
<04:43:15><cherrypicked> Corps got their soldiers and the Institute made money hand over fist.
<04:43:16><cherrypicked> Enter Silent Nexus.
<04:43:17><devnaught> yeah you dont say
<04:43:24><cherrypicked> Hustler is, in-universe, every bit as interchange and disposable as pilots were in its day, but narratively, he’s The Hero and the whole movie treats him as such.
<04:43:32><cherrypicked> He’s the pilot, with the rest of the cast that would fill out The Squad in a war movie dying in the first ten minutes to clear the stage.
<04:43:45><cherrypicked> Hustler falls ass-backwards into the plot in SN1, as befits a random cog in the machine of history, but by the events of 2, he’s well-known enough in universe that the plot comes to him, and by 3, the Fed has him on speed-dial!
<04:43:49><cherrypicked> That kind of ‘world-famous AC pilot’ didn’t exist when these movies were being made.
<04:43:51><cherrypicked> It straight-up wasn’t a thing!
<04:44:00><cherrypicked> But the holos took off so well that Nineball merch was flying off the shelves, and every corporation in the Federated Worlds saw an opportunity to leverage their necessary and expensive security force into brand recognition.
<04:44:04><cherrypicked> They had real AC pilots to market and a culture primed to eat it up.
<04:44:09><cherrypicked> AC pilots went from anonymous cannon fodder to sports celebrities in the span of a decade.
<04:44:12><cherrypicked> They got trading cards, product endorsements, the whole nine (hah) yards.
<04:44:17><cherrypicked> The most profitable game in the Federated Worlds is Arquebus’s fucking Vesper-themed gacha scam, for crying out loud.
<04:44:29><cherrypicked> And, obviously, the more attention pilots got (and the more money that attention made their employers), the more important it became that they not only survived their augmentation but were capable of giving a coherent interview or product highlight afterwards.
<04:44:43><cherrypicked> You simply could not put 90% of 3rd- and 4th-gen augments in front of a camera and expect anyone to come away with a good impression of either the pilot or the company that aug’d them; by the time 6th gen entered full production, that ratio had fully reversed itself.
<04:44:45><cherrypicked> That’s one hell of shift in priorities.
<04:44:48><cherrypicked> Now, obviously, there’s a lot more to the whole story than ‘Silent Nexus made AC pilots cool’, but I do think it played a critical part in the cultural shift that saw corporations begin valuing ‘safe’ (or to be more precise, ‘pretty’) augmentations over raw cost-effectiveness.
<04:44:50><cherrypicked> The rest of you can talk now.
<04:44:52><tzarsalad898> thanks lol
<04:44:53><cherrypicked> :tips hat:
<04:44:54><devnaught> cherry come on
<04:45:04><devnaught> you cant just drop 'Silent Nexus is a superhero holo' into conversation like its common knowledge
<04:45:18><drop_table_users> lol yeah 'Silent Nexus is a superhero holo' is not a take I ever expected to see
<04:45:22><lovelace_conjecture> yea ima need you to explain that one cher
<04:45:24><cherrypicked> I know it sounds ridiculous at a glance but Silent Nexus is 100% a superhero holo.
<04:45:31><cherrypicked> It’s paced like a superhero holo, it has the plot structure of a superhero holo, large parts of it are even shot like a superhero holo!
<04:45:42><cherrypicked> The first twenty minutes of SN1 are the classic superhero origin story in fast forward: the accidental intersection of random loser and plot device, the tragic backstory, the introduction of the rogue’s gallery, the creation of the super-identity.
<04:45:52><cherrypicked> Seriously, go look at the scene where Hustler forges his new Nineball identity and tell me it isn’t framed exactly like the ‘masking up’ moment in any superhero movie you could care to name.
<04:45:59><lovelace_conjecture> shit I need to rewatch 1 now
<04:46:06><tzarsalad898> always a good time to rewatch
<04:46:08><devnaught> wow I hate this
<04:46:09><cherrypicked> Am I wrong, though?
<04:46:20><devnaught> I hate this precisely BECAUSE your not wrong. If you were wrong I could just ignore you.
<04:46:27><take_it_home> youd still argue with her if tho
<04:46:32><devnaught> of course i would its the internet

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