PhoenixFlame Presents: Eclipse Phase

[Geminex]

Thanks. And damn... that means that my character would only have had 10 years with the Mercurials...

My backstory is inconsistent. Allow me to rethink it.

[Krylo]

You're forgetting two things.

Thing 1) AGIs and what not existed pre-fall.

Thing 2) Psychosurgery (modifying your behaviours) and other such things can be done to you in simulspace. Which can be sped to 60x objective time (or slowed by the same factor, to 1/60th objective time).

Meaning that you could have been with them before the fall, and/or they could have had you spend extensive time in simulspace at 60x speed, allowing you to have been with them something like 50-60 subjective years.

[Dracorion]

Must... not... read... spoilers...

To distract myself from temptation, I'm wondering how in the hell Ellen is going to get in with Firewall.

[Geminex]

Maybe she's using her pulchritude to rip off some individual or another, abusing his trust for her own purposes. Firewall finds out, blackmails her. She decides to participate in a mission, and, in the end, finds that the rewards are totally worth the risks, and besides, she might be able to use Firewall for her own ends.

[Dracorion]

The biggest issue, really, is what the hell would Firewall want with her?

[Krylo]

She's an async.

Edit: Asyncs are rare and very valuable if trained properly. She's not as dangerously insane as some. This could, potentially, make her an asset worth acquiring if her loyalty could be secured in some manner.

And if her loyalty toward the cause of keeping transhumanity from wiping itself out can't be secured, well it's best to have an eye on her. 'Cause async.

[Geminex]

Yeah. And besides, through the circumstances she's getting blackmailed with (she managed to get the trust of a powerful individual, and then use some of that power for herself) she's already demonstrating what she could do for Firewall. Namely, seduce powerful individuals, and use their power for her own purposes, etc...

[Dracorion]

Hm, yeah, I guess. Ellen's sleights are fairly subtle, mind you, but I guess Firewall is just really really good.

Ellen's loyalty is pretty much toward keeping herself alive and rich. Her wanting a Pandora Gate is pretty much a backup plan in case everything goes to hell and she needs a way off the runaway train.

EDIT: And when I say "in case" I mean "when".

[Arhra]

On the subject of backstories, let us entertain a hypothetical situation.

Even with the immense danger demonstrated by the TITANs, several groups have researched seed AI. Now, the AGIs being used as a base template would not enjoy being owned as property, having their inbuilt restraints and programming seriously screwed with and being tested to destruction.

Of course, being amazingly computer literate, it might be possible to get a connection to the outside. One who was patient and motivated might be able to, say, lure in a thief and then get stolen before slipping between those light fingers.

Of course, by erasing and modifying her own memories in order to start anew, she wouldn't know this, now would she?

Although the Fast Learner and Modified Behaviour (Learn!) traits might be a clue.

[PhoenixFlame]

Arhra: Indeed.

On Ellen: She's an async, and she's got a biomorph, which should be enough cause to keep tabs. Considering you can tell if someone's got Watts if you examine their brain emulation provided you know what to look for, it doesn't really matter what sleights you have. Considering we also don't know if Watts isn't just some sleeper virus ready to bloom into some catastrophic catastrophe, that's a better reason.

on the Factors: Trust me, they have a very good reason for doing exactly what they're doing.

On that note... Mmmmmmthinking of starting you all out somewhere around the Kupier belt/Neptune/Uranus and working sunward, as you've all basically hinted.