I've been talking amongst Tomoe and Toshiro over a happy fun little concept and I thought I'd bring it to light for you in the simplest way I know of by explaining the basics.
The idea is I give you folks an informal brief, you tell me what you think and if it's a worthy contribution, I'll do some research to back it and gut this post into a formal submission.
I'll be contributing something called an NAC which sounds really good but doesn't stand for anything. I'd assume it'd mean like nano something compound but the ideas is that an NAC is a metalloid or synthetic substance which exerts some or all properties of a living thing and treated as a bacterium. NAC which haven't been discovered or engineered yet would demonstrate a degree of lower cognitive and logic intelligence with a degree of reasoning, little smarter than most insects or animals and less able to communicate.
Some of these would be invisible and air-borne, mostly harmless, others a solid mass like crystal or a liquid/gel form and some capable of moving through all of the above during it's life-cycle.
The idea is that they'd each be labeled. I'm still working on the label system but effectively it's NAC, three numbers and if nessesary, a safety designation and/or a nickname.
For example, NAC-441 is a compound extremely suitable for modification for things like armor and NAC-662 has unique properties which make it a great choice for optic circuitry. Simply put, NAC is incredibly rare in the wild and capable of living in the most remote and hostile of places where life was thought to be impossible.
Nobody knows it's origin but reverse engineering it shows that it can with some work be modified to perform very specific tasks extremely well and maintain itself so it doesn't require replacement.
Lor happens to have something of a head-start with 441 and 662 but other than this, they're pretty stumped since 441 and 662 are already very well trained into their task but the compound was "discovered" on unknown wreckage.
I was hoping to introduce them in a fairly... How shall I say.. "nasty" way with NAC-531T (Terminal).
--
The idea behind this little beauty is that it'd be dug up during a mining operation on a newly colonized planet and unwillingly distributed by the automated system.
It has some very unplesant effects. For one, it consumes metalloids and a wide array of unhardened synthetic substances but has a particular taste for Zeusanium. Depending on the substance consumed, it leaves behind either dangerous gasses or radioactive substances and what's more is the planet it's found on is infested with Terminal, though it's dormant until light hits it.
NAC-531T will happily eat the foundations of cities and whatnot over a period of several years and it seems to be unaffected by most standard modes of destroying such a thing, the others which would take years to perform.
I figure there'd be a big evacuation to get everyone off the planet before the thing makes the planet inhospitable.
On the upside, 531T can't survive in a vaccume so cargo held in a vaccume for 3 or 4 hours would be decontaminated.
The planet left behind would probably be a scavenger's wet dream assuming he or she can brave and survive the hostile climate changes caused by the gasses but I think the major changes would come pretty late and some people would get left behind from the escape.
The other plesantry is that 531T is localized to whereever it happens to be found and it's easy enough to get rid of in space but on the planet, there's so much of it... Well.
Eventually, it would go through a cycle where it rips the face of the planet open to awaken the remaining 531T beneath and drain the planet. Towards the end, the complementry of gasses would change dramatically and the planet would close again: Within three years, the planet would be livable but this event would happen every decade or two.
I know what you're thinking: "ZEUSANIUM!!?".
But the process takes about a week to really get started and then the Zeusanium acts as a catylist for its own break-down. This isn't because I hate the technology though. It's because I want to create a disaster that people will notice and have something to talk about which is exempt of some nation or invading force's labeling and whatnot.
Well, let me know what you all think.
"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"
The idea is I give you folks an informal brief, you tell me what you think and if it's a worthy contribution, I'll do some research to back it and gut this post into a formal submission.
I'll be contributing something called an NAC which sounds really good but doesn't stand for anything. I'd assume it'd mean like nano something compound but the ideas is that an NAC is a metalloid or synthetic substance which exerts some or all properties of a living thing and treated as a bacterium. NAC which haven't been discovered or engineered yet would demonstrate a degree of lower cognitive and logic intelligence with a degree of reasoning, little smarter than most insects or animals and less able to communicate.
Some of these would be invisible and air-borne, mostly harmless, others a solid mass like crystal or a liquid/gel form and some capable of moving through all of the above during it's life-cycle.
The idea is that they'd each be labeled. I'm still working on the label system but effectively it's NAC, three numbers and if nessesary, a safety designation and/or a nickname.
For example, NAC-441 is a compound extremely suitable for modification for things like armor and NAC-662 has unique properties which make it a great choice for optic circuitry. Simply put, NAC is incredibly rare in the wild and capable of living in the most remote and hostile of places where life was thought to be impossible.
Nobody knows it's origin but reverse engineering it shows that it can with some work be modified to perform very specific tasks extremely well and maintain itself so it doesn't require replacement.
Lor happens to have something of a head-start with 441 and 662 but other than this, they're pretty stumped since 441 and 662 are already very well trained into their task but the compound was "discovered" on unknown wreckage.
I was hoping to introduce them in a fairly... How shall I say.. "nasty" way with NAC-531T (Terminal).
--
The idea behind this little beauty is that it'd be dug up during a mining operation on a newly colonized planet and unwillingly distributed by the automated system.
It has some very unplesant effects. For one, it consumes metalloids and a wide array of unhardened synthetic substances but has a particular taste for Zeusanium. Depending on the substance consumed, it leaves behind either dangerous gasses or radioactive substances and what's more is the planet it's found on is infested with Terminal, though it's dormant until light hits it.
NAC-531T will happily eat the foundations of cities and whatnot over a period of several years and it seems to be unaffected by most standard modes of destroying such a thing, the others which would take years to perform.
I figure there'd be a big evacuation to get everyone off the planet before the thing makes the planet inhospitable.
On the upside, 531T can't survive in a vaccume so cargo held in a vaccume for 3 or 4 hours would be decontaminated.
The planet left behind would probably be a scavenger's wet dream assuming he or she can brave and survive the hostile climate changes caused by the gasses but I think the major changes would come pretty late and some people would get left behind from the escape.
The other plesantry is that 531T is localized to whereever it happens to be found and it's easy enough to get rid of in space but on the planet, there's so much of it... Well.
Eventually, it would go through a cycle where it rips the face of the planet open to awaken the remaining 531T beneath and drain the planet. Towards the end, the complementry of gasses would change dramatically and the planet would close again: Within three years, the planet would be livable but this event would happen every decade or two.
I know what you're thinking: "ZEUSANIUM!!?".
But the process takes about a week to really get started and then the Zeusanium acts as a catylist for its own break-down. This isn't because I hate the technology though. It's because I want to create a disaster that people will notice and have something to talk about which is exempt of some nation or invading force's labeling and whatnot.
Well, let me know what you all think.
"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"
My conversation with Doshii: said: