Humanity stands on the cusp of a new age, with accelerated technological growth converging toward a singularity point, promising an undreamt-of future. Despite the ecopocalypse and social upheavals on Earth, humanity has conquered the solar system and partially terraformed Mars. Advancements in biotechnology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science have transformed our lives. Everyone is wirelessly networked with the world around them, AIs process vast amounts of information, and nano-fabrication enables people to “print” complex devices from the molecular level—at home. Biotechnology allows people to genefix, enhance, and clone their bodies, while others pursue body modifications to adapt to new environments or make themselves into something no longer quite human. People’s minds and memories can be digitized, uploaded, transferred over long distances, and downloaded into new bodies (biological or synthetic). Death has been defeated—for those who can afford it.
From within, disaster struck. Transhumanity reaped the rewards of its arrogance when conflict spiked between the battered nations of Earth, already weakened by decades of climate catastrophes and other disruptive factors. Rampant netwars soon exploded into physical conflicts with spiraling body counts. In the midst of these aggressions, a group of military AIs known as TITANS quietly achieved full sentience and autonomy, and rapidly began exponentially incrementing their own intellectual growth. The AI intelligence spawned by this hard-takeoff singularity quickly turned against transhumanity, enveloping the system in unprecedented levels of violence, disaster, and warfare. What began as a whirlwind of conflict between political factions, revolutionaries, and hypercorps soon escalated into a struggle between man and machine.
In just a few years, transhumanity was nearly wiped out with nuclear strikes, bio-warfare plagues, destructive nano-swarms, info-war attacks, mass uploads, and other unexplained singularity events, ripping the superpowers of old to pieces. Our planetary home—Earth—was transformed into a toxic and strange hellhole, while many major habitats were left frozen sarcophagi in the vacuum of space. Just as quickly as they came, the TITANS disappeared, taking millions of uploaded minds with them, leaving behind a network of wormhole gateways. Known as Pandora Gates, these poorly-understood devices allow instantaneous teleportation to distant star systems—often one-way and/or fatal. Though only a handful of Pandora Gates are known to exist—each highly contested—the foolish, brave, curious, and desperate are already risking certain death to enter and explore what lies beyond. 1
In the aftermath of the Fall, transhumanity lives on, divided into a patchwork of hypercorps, survivalists, and transhuman factions or species. Under the oppressive police states of immortal inner-system oligarchies, advanced technologies remain highly restricted, and refugee infomorphs are held in virtual slavery or re-sleeved in robotic bodies and forced into indentured labor. In the outer system, rebel transhuman scientists and techno-anarchists struggle to maintain a new society—from each according to their imagination and to each according to their need. And on the fringes and in the niches lurk networked tribes of political extremists, religious fanatics, criminal entrepreneurs, and bizarre posthumans, among other, stranger, and more alien things ...
Seeking to escape the oppressive police states or restricted use of advanced technologies many have crossed through the Pandora gates not knowing what may lay beyond...
Sins of the Fallen: Transhumans will introduce two new races to the Sins universe.
Rogues: Cybernetically enhanced humans fashioning themselves as pirates will be the first to pass through Pandora's Gate. These pirates aren't like the pirates of Sins making occasional raids for the highest bidder. Instead the Rogues are scavengers, trash talkers, and are generally just looking for a good fight to pass the time. Don't be surprised to see them offer "protection" to nearby worlds for a moddest kick back. Their affinity for the less than honest way of living meshes well with the pirates of Sins allowing for lots of back room deals. Sporting fast ships and a criminal mentality you might find yourselve faces losses both financially and militarily before you realized what happened.
Hypercorps: Behind the initial push into space and were able to survive much of the Fall when the Titans began trying to exterminate all life. Having survived the fall Hypercorps were able to maintain much of the previous advancements in biotechnology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science making them a powerful presence.While Hypercorps aren't necessarly interested in directly running governments they are focused on lucrative contracts with local populaces providing all types of technological improvements such as Bio-Morphs or Synth-Shells and Nano-technology. Hypercorps while remaining independant will also contract with local populations providing the military and space exploration capabilities utilizing nano-based weapons, military morphs and psionically improved transhumans. An expanding Hypercorp will even be known to attack nearby planets if it threatens their business or may provide a lucrative increase in profits. Local populaces are more than willing to jump in bed with these Hypercorps to gain access to biotechnology allowing people to genefix, enhance, and clone their bodies, while others pursue body modifications to adapt to new environments or make themselves into something no longer quite human. Just make sure you pay on time or you may find your new morph being recalled...
Archailects (Lore only): A refugee group of infomorphs escaping endentured slavory accidentally discover an abandoned TITAN facility. Planning revenge on an epic scale for their enslavement the Infomorphs refashioned themselves as Archailects with the intent on uploading their enslavors and torturing them for an eternity. However, activation of the unknown facility was not wihout error as the TITANS safeguards activated a Pandora Gate transporting the facility to an unknown universe with no way to return. The Archailects soon turn their attention to new universe discovering it invested with baseline terrans very similar to humans. Offering immortality to the local population was easy as the terrans had not suffered a similar fate as humanity. As the number of infomorphs grew their ability to process information left by the TITANS increased exponentially resulting in the discovery of several schematics for TITAN technology. Archailects have a distinct advantage in battle as they are able to upload themselves at any time. Archailects need to be wiped out from the source or you may find yourself coming up against multiple high level ships over and over as all Archailect ships are all capital class and the expereince is never lost!
Uplifted (Lore only): Many thought the Uplifted would replace the technology so feared since the fall to better the lives of humanity. Little did we know they would gain self awareness at such an alarming rate and view themselves as oppressed slaves seeking freedom. The uplifted can include anything from apes, to dogs and cats or underwater creatures. The uplifted though born from humanity tend to despise humanity and are more likely to find commonality with Xeno's. Some groups of Uplifted, however, still look fondly on humanity and want to be seen as equals. In either case, the Uplifted who have freed themselves from bondage will never allow themselves to be slaves again.
1 Eclipse Phase is a trademark of Posthuman Studios, LLC. Some Rights Reserved. Original text content of eclipsephase.com is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
soinds awesome
Thanks, I think I have a good plan for the Archailect's and getting the AI to work correctly.
Does anyone know the names of the songs that play when you are playing as one of the trans-human races??
deff agreeing with mangosofdoom this sounds absolutely awesome :)
if I assume correctly, the uplifted, being animals essentially, at some point look like now what we would call furries, correct? not most of the fish obviously...
If you mean people who fanatically dress up like animals then no :(
The uplifted are advanced sentient animals possibly cybernetically enhanced but still very similar to their original form.
LOL furries i dont think so maybe.... think of crystal, fox or wold that is what i think of
Hehe, only thing I could find that matched furries... Nice thing about Sins is a lot of the races can be left to your imagination. There are some good shots of sample Uplifted on Eclipse phase's website.
Gogo. Transhuman ftw. :D
An idea for the Uplifted is to add Whales and dolphins to their race. It is entirely up to you, I would think that they would have a high status in the races hierarchy.