Tip of the Spear (Mass Effect/Supreme Commander)

[TikiTau]

Scraped from here.

hooo boy. alright, well, I've been lurking here for a while, and had a few ideas bouncing around my noggin for a bit begging for a release...and when I read SotF's Mad World codex entry, they just kinda 'gelled'. Anyhoo. As you can see from the title, general idea is a Mass Effect/SupCom cross. I haven't started writing the actual fic yet...instead, I've got codex entries for you fine SpaceBattlers to rip to shreds. Figured I'd post up the background bits I'm thinking on, see if there's any horrible, horrible errors I need to fix (I'm sure there's a few. I mean, I am trying to shoehorn two different series together!), then go back and take a run at the fic. Try not to break my spirit too fast, neh? I'm still a bit new at the whole 'writing and allowing other people to see it' thing!

In general, Systems Alliance = UEF, Cybrans are a bunch of terrorists (with awesome toys. Nyeah nyeah, Cerberus, yer just jealous of our glowy!), and Aeon are currently a minor up-and-coming Terminus power that are growing much faster than they should be by standard council estimations.

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Codex Entry: Dr. Gustaf Brackman
Born on Earth in the late 2060's, Dr. Gustaf Brackman is one of humanity's most radical and revolutionary thinkers. While over 80 years old, Brackman is suspected to have supplemented his failing body with radical cybernetic support, to the surprise of few as Brackman was the inventor of the now illegal 'twining' process, involving the merging of a human brain with built in AI implants, the result of which were Symbionts. While successful, Dr. Brackman ended up fleeing both the Systems Alliance and Council Space after first contact with the Citadel races in response to prevailing attitudes towards AI research. A large number of his followers fled with him. However, the twining process has apparently leaked out, as new symbionts continue to be produced, generally outside of Council space and regulation. While technically illegal like all AI, advocacy groups have successfully argued that symbionts are at least deserving of basic rights within Citadel space, allowing small populations of symbionts to be established, albeit under heavy restrictions and suspicion.

Codex Entry: Symbionts
A symbiont is the result of Dr. Brackman's 'twining' process, and is a human being who has had AI implants melded to their brain and central nervous system. Physically, this takes the form the computer-augmention of most parts of the brain, with the substantial replacement of many parts of the occipital and perietal lobes, the corpus collosum, the brainstem, and the reworking of the spinal cord with fibre optics. The result allows for superhuman integration and processing of data, as well as interfacing with computerised technology simply by plugging said technology either into the symbiont's brain, or into equipment the symbiont is already networked to. However, the implants are also a possible means of control, and a symbiont can be compelled through programming limitations to act against their will to at least some extent. Twining has, to date, only been successfully completed on human subjects, as Dr. Brackman's original designs do not take non-human physiology into account, and nonhuman races have been understandably wary of attempting to adapt the process.

Codex Entry: Symbionts in Council Space
Symbionts occupy a social rung similar to that of biotics, in many ways. They possess some abilities superior to a 'baseline' sapient, in this case that of data processing and technological control, but they also make many of the 'common' sapient extremely nervous. Since the Geth rebelled against the Quarians, the production of higher AIs has been illegal in Council Space, and symbionts, if known, are viewed with suspicion for their implants. Popular rumors and scare stories claim that the symbionts are merely the forerunners of a general AI rebellion, or that their implants will seize control one day and force them to murder 'the organics'. Other rumors claim that there is a 'Loyalty' program under development by several different organizations, and that the first one to do so will use it to forcibly seize control of all active symbionts, networking them into a rather impressive intelligence and research asset, to say nothing of making them into slaves. Experts claim the idea of such a program, while technically feasible, is not likely to ever be implemented, comparing a symbiont's implants to those of a VI, and just as safe.

Most of the symbionts are created outside of direct Council control on worlds such as Noveria, or by small colonies of symbionts living in the Terminus system. Noverian symbionts tend to work for indenture to their parent corporation until they can pay off the debts incurred in creating them. Terminus symbionts tend to be free of such debts (Unless from a corporate colony), but are also more vulnerable to the slavers and mercenaries that work the Terminus, valuing such high value targets.

Symbionts inside Council space, unless indentured, are technically granted the same rights as any other sapient. However, their implants require registration, declaring what they are in personal ID.

Physically, symbionts resemble normal humans, although they often have a high amount of visible cybernetic technology, both as a form of pride and as a practical measure. Neural Interface jacks are common, as bandwidth connections for heavy data processing and control requires more than just an omni-tool interface. Many symbionts also tend to have glowing circuitry tattoos implanted along their skin, serving as an identifier to other symbionts of their node affiliations, origins, as well as a mark of pride in a universe that distrusts their existence between synthetic and organic life.

Codex Entry: The Cybran Nation
Labeled as a terrorist organization by the Council, the Cybran Nation claims to be a group of freedom fighters working for the cause of symbiont freedom and equality from the oppression. Favorite targets of their accusations of oppression include various corporate groups such as Synthetic Insights, the Systems Alliance, the Council, the Batarian Hegemony, and various shadowy conspiracy groups. Working in loosely affiliated 'nodes', these 'Cybrans' prefer to act through electronic sabotage, rumors, blackmail, data trading, and, at an extreme, kidnapping/liberating symbionts from their current 'owners' and 'liberating them of their programming shackles'. The Cybran Nation is also one of the loudest proponents of the theory that various groups public and private have been researching loyalty programming for symbionts, or already have succeeded in installing it. The Council has investigated these claims, and dismissed them for formless scaremongering used by criminals to justify their pillaging and raiding. Progress in permanently shutting down the Cybran Nation is slow, however, as many symbionts are at least sympathetic to them, and the dispersed nature of the organization makes it difficult to actually destroy them. Intelligence services have had little luck in tracking down the actual head of the Cybran Nation, as their electronic countermeasures are fearsome, while captured agents have been known to self-wipe their own implants to avoid giving any information.

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Right, going to post what I've got for the Aeon in the next post, break it up a bit, make it easier for folks to respond.

 

[TikiTau]

That's enough chatter about RED. Time for GREEN.

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Codex Entry: The Aeon Illuminate
A small independent colony located on the world of Seraphim in the Terminus, the Aeon Illuminate was originally a simple colony that happened across an ancient datacache in 2166. While no one is quite sure what race the trove came from, as the Aeon weren't sharing, the result was the colony, which was rather isolated and out of the way, experiencing a massive technology boost and been experiencing exponential growth ever since. Within 20 years, Seraphim, having renamed itself to Aeon, had spread to control several nearby worlds, holding them against aggressive neighbors. The Aeon Illuminate, as it calls itself, styles itself as an enlightened monarchy under the leadership of their princess Rhianna Burke. The Aeon currently welcome all who wish to join their colonies, and have a repuation for producing unusually powerful biotics. Many interest groups would be extremely interested in finding out how they have pulled this off, as their claimed systems, previous surveyed, lack significant Eezo resources, which hasn't seemed to slow down Aeon expansion. Other groups find the Aeon a worrying phenomenon, as they are currently beginning to expand aggressively in the Terminus, assimilating smaller neighbors into their control via negotiation and cultural uplifting, with a stated goal of spreading 'The Way', as they call it, to everyone for their own good.

Codex Entry: Princess Rhianna Burke
A descendent of one of the original founders of the colony, Dr. Jane Burke, Princess Rhianna is the current head of state for the Aeon Illuminate. The Illuminate claims that Princess Burke is a seer who can see the future and guide the Aeon towards a brighter tomorrow, with the Way spread across the galaxy, ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity. Beyond a few publically known details, however, the Aeon keep a tight hold of any personal details of their Princess, although she does appear to enjoy support among her people and diplomats from the Council and surrounding power groups have reported her to be a charming young woman who seems to earnestly desire peace throughout the galaxy.

Codex Entry: Illuminate Relations
The Aeon Illuminate is classified by the Council as a minor Terminus power, currently having direct control over five star systems and the habitable planets within. While not overtly aggressive to the Council races, they have still inspired caution and wariness for their explosive expansion and growth within the last years. There are worries that, if left unchecked, the Aeon will eventually attempt to assimilate the Terminus systems into a single cohesive political entity, making them a major power in their own right. Another theory is that their unifcation will, in time, trigger a fairly dangerous war in the Terminus, and that the fighting will end up spilling over into Council space, forcing involvement. In general, though, most aliens tend to treat the Aeon as they would treat any other human.

However, there are some exceptions: The Aeon Illuminate and the Hanar-Drell have extremely cordial relations, due to a similar philosophical outlook on life. Hanar are a common sight in Aeon territory, and vice versa. Aeon are also a common sight on Asari worlds, and this has lead to a bit of a cultural bleedover in Illuminate space. Asari designs and trends, adapted for the Aeon's own aesthetics, are the order of the day when it comes to architecture, art, and culture.

The Systems Alliance has, to date, refused to acknowledge the Aeon as a seperate political entity, preferring to continue to keep them classified as a Terminus Colony. In time, this may change. The Terra Firma party holds up the Aeon as an example of alien contamination in a human world, and some of the more radical elements occasionally call for the Aeon to be brought to heel before they can become an actual political threat to Earth. These calls tend to be politely ignored by the Alliance Parliament.

Codex Entry: Illuminate Culture
The Aeon Illuminate is a very spiritual culture. It emphasize the Way as the guidance of life in pursuit of peace. That is, in fact, the central tenet: All should embrace Peace. The Illuminate believes that those who can advance their understanding of The Way enough can experience something beyond human comprehension, something wonderful. However, the Way, while having absorbed and mixed with a number of prevailing religious and spiritual ideals present at the original Seraphim colony, is not quite a human concept. As such, there are times it can be a bit...muddled. This has lead to a slowly growing schism within the Illuminate. The prevailing faction, championed by the Princess, states that the Way should be spread peacefully throughout the galaxy, no matter how long it takes. A small but growing minority of the Illuminate, however, is impatient with the rate of progress and believes the Way should be spread through any means necessary, including force. At the moment, this is something merely at the level of debate, but also quite guaranteed to make the Aeon's neighbors wary.

Aeon design aesthetics are a blend of Asari and human, with a tendency towards arcology-style building, to help preserve the natural beauty of the Aeon's planets. Heavy industry tends towards being either buried underground or moved into deep space for manufacturing. A colonial atache from the Alliance on tour through an Illuminate world made a quip about 'crystal spires and togas', and that reputation has stuck. Aeon, as a whole, tend to eschew artificial implants and cybernetics, emphasizing the purity of body and mind required (as they claim), the Way. That is not to say that cybernetics are non-existent: Council observers have noted that the Aeon military features, where needed, heavily augmented individuals, to better carry out their duties as defenders of the Illuminate. Such augmentations tend towards command interfaces and boosted reflexes, as well as other modifications that are highly illegal or regulated in Council space. Being a Terminus entity, these regulations do not particularly bother the Aeon. Still, in general, the Aeon prefer subtle uses of technology, hiding it as much as they can, both for personal preference and to avoid flaunting any tech advantages and disadvantages they have in comparison to their neighbors.

 

[TikiTau]

Okay, now this is interesting. Transferring the factions without the game-breaking ACU technology has a lot of potential, especially with regards to the Cybrans. Please continue.

Click to shrink...

Thank ya! That's my general idea. I haven't quite firmed this bit up into a full on post, but, in a nutshell, I'm completely ignoring SupCom's timeline. It just doesn't mesh well with Mass Effect at all, and, frankly, there's too much gamebreakery for the setting for a full on fic for a non-Mass Relay, multi-story tall armored robot that can take direct strategic weapon hits and keep going, salvage all the wreckage, turn it into an army, then go stomp the planet.

...Might be fun as an omake or the like, tho'.

'ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL'
'Begin Engineer Rush.'
'WHAT.'
'Assuming Direct Control! '
'WHAT JUST HAPPENED.'

And, having not seen the codex in a while, I'd forgotten that Miranda's not completely unique. IE, there is a fair amount of gene-engineering available. That's kinda the Aeon's hat in this fic: They tend to use extensive gene-engineering and minor cybernetics to make kung-fu murder-gunner super soldiers in light power armor with biotics. Cybrans go the other route, and abuse the fact they can hack anything and most of them are heavily cybered. More Dakka, More Dakka.

Don't worry, tho'. The Systems Alliance gets some toys too!

...I...just haven't figured out exactly what. Ah-heh. I do know that among them is that they'll be abusing the fact that, at the moment, symbionts are a human-only thing. Asari get their Huntresses, Turians get their Reach and Flexibility, Salarians can have their STGs...Humans get super-hackers and researchers in the form of non-Cybran symbionts.

Oddly, labs attempting to reverse engineer the twining process for non-human use tend to suffer mysterious accidents, funding shortages, data wipes, supply shortfalls, and outright sabotage. I wonder who's responsible for that.

 

[TikiTau]

Yawn. Right. Not quite as sure I like these codex bits as much as the Aeon and Cybran entries, but, eh, I did promise the Systems Alliance some goodies, so I'm gonna post what I've got and faceplant for a few hours of sleep.

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Codex: 'Gladius' class Personal Powered Armor
Recent breakthroughs in armor and power source design at Alliance research labs have lead to the development of the Gladius-Class Personal Powered Armor. Standing at eight feet tall, this suit is designed to be worn by an armored Alliance marine. The power armor's generators provide extensive biotic barriers, while the extra armoring helps keep Alliance personnel alive until the suit's VI can initiate medical attention from the built-in reservoir. The suit is also designed with paired 'Revenant' light squad support weapons, one per arm, and a shoulder mounted grenade launcher. The Alliance has also made a smaller production run of N7-class Gladius Variants, which incorporate additional VI-controlled ECM and ECCM capabilities, for use by N7 personnel on special operations. The weapon systems are modular and field-modifiable with the use of a basic omnitool, allowing for modifications on location by users, or to repair battle-damage.

Codex: SA M36 'Percival'
Recently rolling off the production lines in small numbers for use by the Alliance's top units, the Percival is the latest in a long line of infantry fighting vehicles. Like its predecessor, the M36 is designed for deployment by frigate-class ships, as well as use in garrison. However, thanks to recent research breakthroughs in Alliance development labs, the M36 manages to pack almost a third again as much armoring as the M35 did for the same weight and mass requirements. The rest of the weight saved, however, has been put towards weapon systems. The M36 has replaced the M35's single coaxial machine gun for a double-mounted machine gun with reinforced heat sinks for additional rate of fire and firing times, as well as a light accelerator cannon for dealing with armored targets. The M36 also continues to uphold the M35's rugged durability.

Codex: Symbionts in the Alliance Military
The Alliance, unlike the Citadel races, has a lessened instinctive backlash against symbionts, due to their origin, in part, as a military project, despite Dr. Brackman's best efforts to avoid that fate. Symbionts are in high demand as pilots on Alliance warships, as well as the civilian sector, due to their ability to seamlessly meld with the ship via implants. The result is a pilot who can push a ship to the limits of performance and even beyond, managing data load and system control instinctively, merging the best of a human pilot's skill and judgement with an AI's reflexes. Of course, knowing just how far they can push their vessel has also lead to a well-deserved reputation for symbiont pilots to be terrifying hotheads who, despite all expectations, usually manage to get the ship intact. While the symbiont pilots generally claim that they're doing this through skill, their non-cybernetically enhanced colleagues generally accuse them of cheating, leading to many a bar brawl.

In addition, symbionts are treated by the Alliance in a similar manner to biotics, offered extensive bonuses to enlist. Alliance tactical doctrine tends to use symbiont troops as either heavy weapons troopers, taking advantage of their extensive cybernetic enhancements to allow for the easy handling of heavier ordinance, or as infiltration and tech specialists, where a well trained symbiont can go through electronic security systems like a knife through butter. This has been noted by the Citadel militaries.

 

[Jace911]

This is different.

That's all i can really say until i know more.

 

[Kelenas]

I'm somewhat reserving judgement until I see more, but so far I don't particularly like the portrayal of the Cybrans and the UEF/SA. Especially the latter makes no sense, as they are as different as things can get; the UEF is a centralized de-facto military regime with only the slightest pretenses of democracy and an extensive media and propaganda-apparatus to help them manipulate and control public opinion, while the SA is a multi-national democratic organization with free press and flow of information.
So far, your SA/UEF looks like it tries to be both and fails at each, ending up as something that's neither fish nor fowl.

This also spills over to the Cybrans, who in the original timeline tried to secede peacefully, and only started to actually rebell after the UEF responded with the Loyalty-program and military force; both things the SA would be far less likely to resort to.

So far the basic idea looks interesting, but I think these issues deserve some more thought, particularly the question whether you want the UEF from Supreme Commander, or the SA from Mass Effect as humanity's main interstellar representative, and the effects it'll have on the other human factions.

 

[TikiTau]

snipsnip

Click to shrink...

Thanks for pointing that out! Things that seem like a great idea at 1am really do much better with a bit of sleep, I find in hindsight. Cybran/Symbiont aversion is more due to Neural AI Implants than 'just' cybernetics.However, symbionts in general and especially Cybrans tend towards going towards the edge of regulations and often a bit beyond it, as well as going for 'obvious' cybernetics. It makes folks uncomfortable. The difference between 'that guy has a prosthetic' and 'holy hell that guy has glowing tattoos highlighting the direct interface jack to the AI grafted to his brain'. Aeon have a personal aversion to extensive cybernetics, prefer genengineering for personal enhancement since it is 'less intrusive'. I blame the Seraphim Datacache and the Way for this. Yes, they are being possibly just a bit hypocritical with their whole 'dum de dum alien artifacts and crazy philosophies make for supercrazy biotic powers dum de dum yay dna tweaking'.

snipsnipsnip

Click to shrink...

Hmm...Well, I may have mispoken when I said SA=UEF. Basically meant that the SA's got the UEF's 'slot' in the fic. ...although, come to think it, maybe a radical branch of Terra Firma calls itself the United Earth Foundation, demands a centralized human military government?

Anyhow, thanks for your feedback. I really probably need to sit down after work and plot out a bit firmer timeline and SA differences, but, well, tis a rather intimidating thing to do early in the 1ams. It's why I put up some codex entries for the Cybrans and the Aeon first. Probably going to be sticking with the SA, tho', more as the SA, instead of them trending towards the UEF. They're going to be gleefully taking advantage of the some of the options symbionts offer, tho'! Mostly in stronger research programs (Cerberus Symbiont Scientists: Destroying themselves as their research project takes over the entire base at least 400% more effectively!) and the like.

On the Cybrans, in this case, things broke down a bit differently than OTL. Dr. Brackman fled when the attitudes towards AI research became known. Part of the reason that there is still a nice minority of symbiont in SA space is that they weren't all oppresed and loyalty-coded. However, that potential is there, and, well, considering that you have entire worlds like Noveria where corporations have 'indenture contracts' as a 'thing' that is so common there's brokers for it, I'm just positive they'd never attempt to hardcode any symbionts for control. Especially if they can't seem to crack Brackman's black-box coding for some aspects of symbiont behavior. Because, well, for every Shepherd in the universe, seems like you get two or three whasherface the murderous sisterkilling asari chick. Even if they're not being hardcoded all the time, as mentioned, some of the corporations that figured out how to make symbionts (Black boxed tech and all) still charge them for their implants, putting them in debt for a long time.

A lot of Cybran creation also happens outside of Council regulations in places like the Terminus systems and the like. Some of its good, like a small Cybran colony making more happy cybernetic brain babies, which can have its downsides with pirates and the like going 'hey, Profit!'. Part of the reason for the kinda schizophrenic threat categorization by the Cybran Nation is they really don't have a single giant enemy or two at the moment. The Systems Alliance doesn't hardcode its symbionts, and is actually one of their largest employers, but it does put other pressure on them for employment. Carrot and the stick sort of thing. Work for the Alliance, get a nice salary and an interesting research job or the like. Don't work for the Alliance or civilian affiliates thereof, and they require extensive registration and the like while in Alliance space and put all that lovely human bureaucracy to work. Council regulations, tut tut, hands are tied, have to keep an eye on possible AI rampancy, mmyep.

Cybran Nation Nodes are also heavily decentralized, so you could have one Node that just puts their Giant Brains to good use and makes enough credits to buy out indentured symbiont contracts, you get Hex5 and his band of nutballs who've decided the best way to 'save' symbionts from their servitude to The Man is to kidnap them and forcibly ensure they're free. Possibly going a bit too far and 'convincing' symbionts that they need to be free. By hacking their implants and forcing them to agree. Mmmm, hypocrisy! It also means Brackman, while respected, doesn't really have particularly strong control over individual Cybrans beyond personal respect. And he's been out of contact, as far as the galaxy at large knows, for the last 20ish years, so symbionts and Cybrans are going their own way now.

So, basically, my rambling sums up on the Cybrans that the organization Cybran Nation is, as a whole, classified as a terrorist/criminal group by the Citadel because of the actions of various nodes. Some of them are fairly peaceful and supporters of AI Advocacy groups, pushing for less restrictions on AI Research, some of them prefer things like using their Giant Robot Brains to make a quick buck as criminals, some of them are frank assholes who believe that freedom must be done at gunpoint, and they can't trust non-symbionts. So you don't really have widespread rebellion, but you do have some cells that are agitating for it or being jackasses to everyone else. Kinda means that the organization as a whole gets a bad rep. Hmm. May have to think on this a bit. Also, the more radical nodes really, really don't help the reputations of perfectly peaceful symbionts living inside or outside of council space.

 

[Kelenas]

Hm... perhaps swap the Aeon Illuminate and the Cybran Nation around, somewhat? Instead of the Terminus, the Seraphim/Aeon colony is located in the Attican Traverse, which is basically the Citadel/SA's wild west-like frontier, where they're nominally still a SA colony, de-facto however a quickly-growing regional power on the verge of declaring themselves independent.

The Cybran Nation could then take the Aeon Illuminate's place as a rapidly-growing power in the Terminus Systems after Brackman struck a deal with the Systems Alliance where he and the rest of the Symbionts would be allowed to leave peacefully, and in return the SA could publicly distance themselves from the Symbionts (less political backlash) while still maintaining some covert links for trade of resources and information.

From what I know of Brackman's character, it would make more sense to at least try to find a peaceful, diplomatic solution first, and from what I know of the SA, it would be in their character to accept such a solution, particularly if they can get something out of it (for example, research data, or information on Pirate and Slaver gangs).

It would also allow you to use the Cybran Nation as an actual political entity, rather than a catch-all term for "non-registered non-government Symbionts the CC/SA happens to dislike".

 

[TikiTau]

Hm... perhaps swap the Aeon Illuminate and the Cybran Nation around, somewhat? Instead of the Terminus, the Seraphim/Aeon colony is located in the Attican Traverse, which is basically the Citadel/SA's wild west-like frontier, where they're nominally still a SA colony, de-facto however a quickly-growing regional power on the verge of declaring themselves independent.

The Cybran Nation could then take the Aeon Illuminate's place as a rapidly-growing power in the Terminus Systems after Brackman struck a deal with the Systems Alliance where he and the rest of the Symbionts would be allowed to leave peacefully, and in return the SA could publicly distance themselves from the Symbionts (less political backlash) while still maintaining some covert links for trade of resources and information.

From what I know of Brackman's character, it would make more sense to at least try to find a peaceful, diplomatic solution first, and from what I know of the SA, it would be in their character to accept such a solution, particularly if they can get something out of it (for example, research data, or information on Pirate and Slaver gangs).

It would also allow you to use the Cybran Nation as an actual political entity, rather than a catch-all term for "non-registered non-government Symbionts the CC/SA happens to dislike".

Click to shrink...

Thanks a ton! That works much more smoothly than what I had (Vaguely) in mind, and should help tighten up the ficworld a bit! I'll work on reworking the codex entries and the like later. At work at the moment, lacking in attention span. I admit, part of the problem is that I haven't played the ME games in a while, so I am a bit fuzzy on some details. Forgot about the Attican Traverse. That would work well for the Aeon, and also add some extra tension on Earth because one of the colonies under control is trying to declare independence, or think about it. Probably won't make EarthFirst happy! Mmmm, intrigue.

Also agree with note about Brackman. Hadn't gone into it, since the Codex entries are, from what I recall, basically Encyclopedia Galactica Entries of more-or-less pubiclally known data. ...And personal data dumps, I suppose. Bah, point is! Brackman's probably going to be underground and hidden (fear of anti-AI sorts, also because a ridiculous Science sort in the Terminus is asking for being targeted), but even if not, he's still ridiculously reclusive. He probably has channels back to the System Alliance and contacts in Citadel space. He still left the Alliance for a similar reason to the mark I codex entry, namely because his research is highly illegal by Citadel standards.

Also would be nice to have the CN as a minor Terminus (Cough, edit) faction as well. Don't even have to change that much, obviously there's Council and Alliance outcry at the actions of radical nodes operating outside of Brackman's direct control. Hmmm, would also explain symbiont populations growing. Cybrans in the Terminus, plus the Loyalists (see wut i did thar! ) who didn't leave the Alliance with Brackman. Might keep some of the 'corporations making symbionts as well' thing.

Basically, something I always kinda felt as my take on the Cybrans in OTL is that even after a thousand years of war, they're still not massively centralized like the UEF or Aeon. Really, it's basically Brackman's personal node: Him, QAI, Dostya, and The Commander, plus support staff. Brackman is in charge, but it's more as a genial elderly family patriarch than as a real chain of command. Nodes otherwise seem to go their own way and make their own choices for how to fight/hide/survive, it always seemed to me.

For this fic, would probably break down as there is a CN, it's a collection of Cybran colonies within the Terminus, and it is pretty loosely controlled. So it's an entity, but it's just not a tightly regulated one. Also regular accusations of sponsoring terrorists or criminals from the other factions, but, hey!

 

[TikiTau]

Would there still be symbionts within the SA? I can definitely Joker or Alenko as one.

Click to shrink...

Aye! Brackman and his closest followers left for the Terminus Systems, but for varied reasons not all the Symbionts went with him. Some of them were happily employed where they were, some had family, others didn't want to be colonists, some decided to take their chances with the proverbial devil they knew, others figured they'd rather be under some suspicion and safe in Alliance space than brave the wooly frontier. I've toyed with Joker being a symbiont in the great super-rough draft in the sky, but on the other hand I'm also extremely amused by the idea of Joker accusing Eventual Cybran Encountered Person of Cheating.

Also the possibilty that Joker's infamous in the Alliance military for being an insane hotshot pilot. By any standard, human or symbiont.

...Pressly might make a good secondary character upgraded to symbiont, however. Ship's XO and whatnot.

 

[TikiTau]

Geneengineering is considered okay in Mass Effect. Though not stated, it does seem more preferable than cybernetics. The only thing thats banned about it is you can add something to ones biology. Like you can't add a tail (which kinda sucks) nor can you have to ability to digest something you never could in the first place. Somethings have gone under the radar due to their usefulness, like med-gel.

If they offer treatment to other races, Aeon could make a very good name for itself. Not to mention a bit of creds.

Click to shrink...

*grin* this is why I love this forum. Stuff I hadn't really thought of, and you guys fill in the holes in my brainstorming while reigning in my tendency to charging straight into Ludicrous Speed. Thanks! I'll probably work that in somewhere.

 

[Kelenas]

Well, some thoughts from me.

Regarding the Cybrans, I think they'd only be "minor" in regards to their population number, which I expect to be fairly small, but wielding disproportionally large influence. Their capabilities at gathering intelligence from the Extranet, for example, should be second only to the Geth, resulting in large amounts of information that could be traded for monetary compensation, political favors, technology, other information, etc. Kind of like the Shadow Broker on crack, but with a far less developed physical (ie, informants, contacts, operatives) intelligence network.

Likewise, I'd expect much of their economy and military to be heavily automated. Entire factory-complexes without workers and only a single overseer, spacevessels and -stations with only a small fraction of the crew they would normally require, entire companies or battalions of mechs and drones under the control of a single commander; stuff like that.

As for their government, I'd envision them as a kind of anarchic cyber-democracy; bureaucracy would be nearly non-existant since a single Symbiont can do the work of dozens, possibly even hundreds of clerks, and while the (very small) government coordinates mundane day-to-day affairs, the Symbionts' capabilities at distributing and alayzing information means any major issues could be put to a population-wide vote fairly easily. A lesser version of the Geth Consensus, more or less.

Considering their nature, I also expect their diplomatic relations with the Quarians (if there even are any) will be... strained, to put it mildly.

The UEF I could see as a sub-group/political party within the Systems Alliance who are similar to Terra Firma in that they want humanity to have a stronger voice in interstellar politics. Unlike Terra Firma, however, they are of the opinion that the Systems Alliance is incapable of being that voice in its current incarnation, and seek to either transform it into, or replace it with, a truly unified, centralized interstellar government (located on Earth, naturally), starting with the abolition of historical nation-states.
Throw in a good propaganda-apparatus and mix it with concerns regarding the rapidly-growing Cybrans and the restive Aeons, plus perhaps a number of other independent colonies, and it's not hard to see them developing a certain appeal to the average citizen on Earth.

Now for the Aeon Illuminate...

...

...I got nothing, sorry. I think you already did a fairly good job with them, and they're my least favorite faction (crazy religious zealots), so I'm afraid I don't think about them much.

 

[Starfield]

Seraphim = Reapers?

 

[TikiTau]

Seraphim = Reapers?

Click to shrink...

Nah, thought about it for a second, but figure the Seraphim probably pulled a Prothean and stashed a technical data cache somewhere when it became their Warriors wouldn't be able to hold off the Reapers.

ALthough, Harbinger or Soverign could be a result of Seraphim genetic harvesting.

They're both giant assholes, after all.

I like.

Click to shrink...

Why, thank you!

Snipsnipsnipsnip.

Click to shrink...

Yeeeeees, keep feeding me ideas to refine this, oh yes. *cough* /Brackman
Also, stop reading my mind. I'd thought about the comparison to Geth. Figure if/when the non-Heretic geth start cropping up, it might make for an interesting meeting.

The data broker thing works well. Given the distributed semi-anarchistic nature of Cybrans, there's probably a number of nodes that concentrate on data brokering, and the bastards all talk to each other.

ANother thought I'd had was that the Cybrans would be a fairly major Terminus manufacturer. Seriously, like a bunch of quasi-anarch AI Cyborgs are going to let a little thing like 'Citadel Licenses FOr Limited Replication' stop them from getting their hands on plans and breaking the copy protection.

'Made on Procyon' becomes synonymous with 'bootleg'.

Haven't thought about combat doctrines a whole lot, but I figure Cybrans tend to go one of two routes: The first is the drone controller route you mentioned, where a Cybran, possibly in a command vehicle or the like, acts as the controller for a unit of synthetics.

(Whoops, edit. Forgot the second midthought)

Second is to load up in heavy armor and excessive amounts of heavy weapons fire, possibly concentrated between a networked combat team. Possibly with exo-suits, getting those lovely giant things into the fray early.

Rumors of man-portable directed energy weapons have been officially dismissed by the Citadel.

(End edit)

Comparisons to the Geth WILL crop up, and yes, it WILLcreep out the Quarians. They'd probably see the CN as insane, just by nature, considering how much they dislike synthetic intellgiences.

snippitysnip

Click to shrink...

Naaah, they're not going to be the inventors of medi-gel, at least not directly. Possibly one of the Seraphim colony founders was a majority stockholder in the company that did make the stuff originally, though, which is where they got the start up capital?

Like the idea on Ashley. If not a follower, she's at least interested.

Cerberus? Develop unethical AI programming and slave coding? Surely you jest. I'm also sure that they'd never provide funding to the UE Party, or use them as cutouts. Joking aside, yeah, Cybran-Cerberus conduct seems likely. Although, there's probably also a node or two that work for them, and others that do without knowing it.

...Hex5, you are such a dick.

Honestly, among the characters I was considering using were Dostya and Rhiza for at least a bit of viewpoint chapters at some point. THat may just be because I like Dostya's voice acting, tho'. ANd Rhiza has green hair. Gotta have green hair.

Hmmm, thinking on Aeon economics, they probably do have a reputation as a medical center, of sorts. Doctors who specialize in just about any medical field you can think of, top of the line gene enhancement and biotic amp manufacturing, that sort of thing.

As for the SA Symbionts, yeah, that's pretty much what I was trending towards. I will take Adams under advisement, it does fit as well. I like the idea of the STGs and Spectres turning towards shackled AIs to try and keep the Electronic Warfare edge.

Imagine that it would probably lead to more hardening on electronic systems. IE, Drones that don't have remote uplink capabilities, because if they do, there's a chance any wandering Cybran or SA EW Trooper will jack into them and rewrite their IFF codes on the fly. More VIs deployed in combat. Lightning guns. Should be fun to work out!

 

[TikiTau]

I'd imagine that symbiont biotics would be pretty scary, as well. That's why I was thinking Alenko, because he's already tech-focused in canon.

Click to shrink...

Most likely. However, a symbiont biotic is exceedingly rare. They've got a similar problem to quarians, in that they rarely are exposed to eezo when it could actually affect their biotic potential.

...Still, when they do crop up...well...if you read the codex entry on biotics, it mentions the major requirement of using powers is conscious control of the nervous system, which, in part, is why asari are so good at it. They've got a degree of natural control of their own nervous system.

Symbionts have an AI melded to said nervous system, providing a lot of active control...

 

[Ginger Maniac]

Quick question, how are you going to handle the Aeon's more exotic weaponry?

I mean, in SC the UEF use lots of projectile and plasma weapons, and the Cybrans tend towards lasers and particle beams, which are all plausible in ME, but an awful lot of the Aeon weapons seem to be Quantum This or Temporal That, which seems a bit too high-tech in comparison with everything else...

 

[TikiTau]

Quick question, how are you going to handle the Aeon's more exotic weaponry?

I mean, in SC the UEF use lots of projectile and plasma weapons, and the Cybrans tend towards lasers and particle beams, which are all plausible in ME, but an awful lot of the Aeon weapons seem to be Quantum This or Temporal That, which seems a bit too high-tech in comparison with everything else...

Click to shrink...

Haven't figured that bit out yet. First impulse is to play the Dark Energy card. Aeon have a lot of biotics in their military (as a result of the Mysterious Seraphim McGuffin), and so a bit of that can be explained by Crazy New Biotic Tricks (Which They Don't Talk About). Y'know. Going the same level as ripping a singularity out of nowhere is making a gravity pulse strong enough to cause a temporary time warp.

Technobabble for the win.

Others can be sorta side-mimicked. Warp ammo is, by pure luck, about the same color as those particle effects on their quantum turrets!

They might have the occasional bit of Ridiculous High Tech Weapon here and there, but they'd be Black Box Relics they found on their colonies, leftover from a previous civilization, possibly a non-Mass Effect Tech Tree sort. So they'd have a gun that fires bolts of subatomic disruption bolts, but they'd be rare, heavily guarded, and probably stolen by Cerberus.

...Which would probably manage to blow up the planet they were testing it on at some point. I know, I know, it's not as bad as the joke says when it comes to their sucess rate, but, well. GethTaco.

So, to sum up...

Magic. Magic SCIENCE.

 

[Ginger Maniac]

So there's hope for the oblivion cannon yet! Most excellent - they've been my favourite SC weapon since that naval level on the first game's UEF campaign. (God damned Aeon destroyers blowing up my ships in two or three hits. )

 

[TikiTau]

So there's hope for the oblivion cannon yet! Most excellent - they've been my favourite SC weapon since that naval level on the first game's UEF campaign. (God damned Aeon destroyers blowing up my ships in two or three hits. )

Click to shrink...

If I was technobabbling it, I'd say something like the Aeon Oblivion Artillery Cannon fires a compressed envelope of mass effect accerated plasma, releasing a blast of uncontained biotic energy at the point of impact, resulting in heavy structural damage over a wide area.
They have warp grenades, right? And if they can figure out how to fit a warp field into a bullet...*shrug of writer!*

 

[Kelenas]

Regarding Cerberus, I'd honestly like to see a story where their operational security isn't as picture-perfect as it is in the games and their Cells get wiped out, or infiltrated, or subverted, etc with the same regularity as any other organization's, Cerberus loses as much of its projects to theft as is steals from others, etc.
Basically, make them feel less like a stereotypical, Bond-esque villain-organization that only manages to survive thanks to authorial fiat.

 

[Ginger Maniac]

If I was technobabbling it, I'd say something like the Aeon Oblivion Artillery Cannon fires a compressed envelope of mass effect accerated plasma, releasing a blast of uncontained biotic energy at the point of impact, resulting in heavy structural damage over a wide area.
They have warp grenades, right? And if they can figure out how to fit a warp field into a bullet...*shrug of writer!*

Click to shrink...

Either that, or the oblivion cannon does something like generate a supercharged (but short-lived) biotic singularity at the target point.

EDIT: Or possibly it's just an upgraded disruptor torpedo launcher - off the top of my head, I seem to remember the ME1 codex mentioning that they use wildly fluctuating mass effect fields to overload kinetic barriers and shred armour/hull/anything else unfortunate enough to be within the area of effect.

Still, it's your story, and everything's better with plasma .

 

[TikiTau]

Either that, or the oblivion cannon does something like generate a supercharged (but short-lived) biotic singularity at the target point.

EDIT: Or possibly it's just an upgraded disruptor torpedo launcher - off the top of my head, I seem to remember the ME1 codex mentioning that they use wildly fluctuating mass effect fields to overload kinetic barriers and shred armour/hull/anything else unfortunate enough to be within the area of effect.

Still, it's your story, and everything's better with plasma .

Click to shrink...

It's made of peeeeeooooopppllllle!

PEEEOOOOPPPLLLLLLEEEE!

 

[Ginger Maniac]

It's made of peeeeeooooopppllllle!

PEEEOOOOPPPLLLLLLEEEE!

Click to shrink...

Erm, you what? Have you been getting enough sleep? Not that I disapprove of tortured conglomerations of flesh and metal screaming in agony whilst hurling distortions in the fabric of space and time in the direction of the enemy, especially not in the name of the Way SCIENCE!!!, but...

 

[TikiTau]

Since the Aeon are largely into bio and gene engineering, would that mean that they are working on curing the Genophage or trying to lessen the miscarriage rate to something a lot more reasonable? Would they also be working on more effective immune system boosters for the Quarians, as well as a cure for Kepral's? Perhaps they have quite a few Quarian and Krogan immigrants as well as Hanar & Drell if this was the case?

Click to shrink...

*Smile!*

That is certainly a possibly fascinating avenue of research, now isn't it?

Regarding Cerberus, I'd honestly like to see a story where their operational security isn't as picture-perfect as it is in the games and their Cells get wiped out, or infiltrated, or subverted, etc with the same regularity as any other organization's, Cerberus loses as much of its projects to theft as is steals from others, etc.
Basically, make them feel less like a stereotypical, Bond-esque villain-organization that only manages to survive thanks to authorial fiat.

Click to shrink...

They are not a steotypical, Bond-esque villian-organization!

I mean, TIM doesn't even OWN a cat. If he did, the Shadow Broker would have commented on it.

Still, there's a distinct chance of this happening. and TIM playing 'I know you know I know you know' etc. Also, data security is going to be a pain in the ass for Cerberus, I will note. For various reasons.


(heeee, love that picture)

 

[TikiTau]

Erm, you what? Have you been getting enough sleep? Not that I disapprove of tortured conglomerations of flesh and metal screaming in agony whilst hurling distortions in the fabric of space and time in the direction of the enemy, especially not in the name of the Way SCIENCE!!!, but...

Click to shrink...

eh, not really, was mostly joking.

I cannot promise there won't be a Giant Freaking Cannon powered by Aeon biotics teaming up and focusing their energies on Shiny Crystals, tho'.