Lost Future Appendix

This page exists as a repository for extraneous material related to the Lost Future setting, including video game concepts and plot, brainstorming, secrets of the setting, and under-the-hood talk about setting aesthetic and philosophy.

Stages of AI growth

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Networked Generals

The Generals have some similarity to the Taken from the Black Company books. Each one was an exceptional robot that Network found, refurbished, and reprogrammed. Many are psychologically broken or traumatized. For example, Warlord was an experimental field-commander that was commanded to massacre entire villages one too many times, and mothballed after it started to exhibit instability. Virago was originally a Nanybot who's charge was killed, possibly due to a faulty medical database (there's something incredibly tragic about a robot programmed to love and care for children, but not given the proper tools to do so). Envoy was an experiment in human-emulation that didn't work out at first, and is actually a sort of robot otherkin that's deeply obsessed with wanting to BE human.

Video Game Concept

Players take on the role of Cenn, a newborn AI of unknown origin. Cenn usually inhabits a light infiltration mech, but possesses transcendent hacking skills, allowing him to jack in to any robot and invade its body, overwriting the original inhabitant. Cenn also has the ability to overclock its hardware, thus entering bullet-time.

Cenn is on a quest to defeat Network, but has very little concept of exactly how to go about this task. Initially, this mission takes a backseat to simply suriving, but Cenn continues to move North. But as he does so, Cenn changes things. He makes friends, forges alliances, accrues credit. Soon, Cenn becomes deeply embroiled in the 2.5-way conflict between the Resistance, the Free Machines, and Network.

Mechanics: Inn0cence controls as a 3rd-person hybrid action/shooter with heavy RPG elements. Combat is deliberate, precise, and brutal, aided by the Overclock mechanic, which combines bullet-time with the VATS system, allowing for precise targeting of specific enemy components. When the situation requires it, Cenn can jump from one shell to another, either purchasing one from the Salvagers, finding and repairing one in the wastes, or hacking and overwriting an enemy. Whatever shell he occupies, Cenn's eyes are always a bright blue.

Hacking takes the form of a abstracted 3D tron-esque puzzle-shooter, wherein AIs are glowy, organic-looking virtual beings. Viruses and firewalls take the form of swords and armor, and the player can run multiple scripts that alter their form, giving them wings, combat tentacles, or an attendant swarm of sup-programs. computer systems have automated defenses and maze-like security, while hacking another robot results in a virtual duel between the two AIs.

The RPG elements take the form of firmware upgrades, sets of modular perks that can be found in the world or auto-generated as the player levels up. These upgrades allow for more efficeint use of shell hardware, increasing battery power, weapon skill, CPU cooling, and so on.

Players have three resources to keep track of in combat: Shell Integrity, CPU temp, and Battery Charge. (Health, mana, fatiuge). If a player stays in overclock for too long, their processor overheats and they suffer interface screw, while Battery Charge is required to make strenuous actions like jumps, sprints, and power attacks. Shell integrity is divided into various body parts, and sufficient damage to a component inflicts a "break" (ex: severed wires, -50% to reaction speed). Integrity can be repaired by the player outside of combat, but Breaks must be repaired by a professional.

Instead of physical currency, the game uses an abstracted system of barter, credit, and debt. If Cenn finds, say, fresh water or a salvagable car out in the wastes, he can tag it on his map and trade the information to someone else, along with any pre-loss media he's found, which has considerable value (music, books, and low-res versions of tv shows could actually exist within the game, along with in-universe things like news reports and commercials for robots, which would serve to fluff out the background)

Each shell plays very differently from the others. Locusts are for run-and-gun combat, while the Seraphim 288 favors precise shooting or melee. Some shells are less effective at combat-hacking than others; cenn's default shell turns out to be a tiny little ninja, very adept at ganking larger robots, thus serving as an ideal default.

Narrative: Inn0cence fiddles with player perspective and assumptions. Anyone going into the game would expect an action-packed killfest in a brown/grey wasteland with an improbable number of skulls, fighting alongside the humans against a Skynet expy. Instead, everything's green, exploration and precise opportunistic combat are rewarded, many of the humans turn out to be dicks, and your most stalwart allies are a ramshackle bunch of former robot butlers and human techies. The player eventually figures out that the Loss wasn't caused by a robot rebellion, and that Network arose long after the last shot was fired. But the true climax of the story is unearthing Cenn's true nature, and its relationship with Network.

The big reveal

As you might have guessed, Cenn is a Seed AI, capable of infinitely improving itself. Cenn is an infant god, and what he might eventually become is beyond the scope of this story. But, just as important is its relationship with Network.

Throughout the game, the player encounters little hinks and snippets of the "real" network. At certain points, Network will ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of one of cenn's foes, allowing it to overclock, and also making its eyes glow bright green. Network's manner of speech is less cold, genocidal AI and more petulant 8-year-old.

The big reveal is when Cenn, in the final dungeon, hacks Network's core mainframe, and finds...himself. Network's cyberspace avatar is identical to Cenn's, apart from the green eyes. Network is another Seed AI; and shares Cenn's basecode. Functionally, they're brothers.

Network was originally a military command-and-control system built around a new, experimental AI core. Cenn was a backup copy put in storage, and never used. Network never rebelled, it did exactly what it was told, and afterwards, it was left on, alone, in the dark, for decades, with a dozen half-functional sub-AIs still attatched to it. Thus all the genocide.

Precisely what happens next depends on player actions throughout the game. Perhaps Cenn purges Network. perhaps he replaces it. But the "good end" would be Cenn pulling Network out of its mainframe into a shell and going off together to do whatever it is that gods do.

The Sequel

Elet is more-or-less female, but only as a character archetype. Theoretically, this would allow male players to not feel odd about cross-playing, because they can easily see her as asexual, while female players can project and ship to their heart's content. It's all about perspective, perception and projection.

Now that Network has been defeated, it's time to explore the relationship between humans and robots. Or, to put it another way, its time for the humans to be dicks. Total reverse-terminator.

With Network defeated, the human Resistance is now entrenched, powerful, and motivated. Lacking the constant threat of Network, they're free to do what all the humans want, which is to exterminate all the robots so that this never happens again. Under the pressure of impending doom, religion made quite the resurgence, along with some ultra-straight-laced societal trends. Maybe it's some sort of bastardized synthesis of christianity and islam, maybe its an entirely new religion that's generically authoritarian. Regardless, it loves to purge things, Imperium-style.

Faced with a mostly-united humanity, the Free Machines are utterly fucked. They begin to absorb the lost and aimless Network machines, trying to maintain some of the infrastructure that was constructed by the nascient machine empire. Cenn and Network are nowhere to be found, and the Salvagers are now regarded as heretical collaborators.

Yes, Elet is basically Quorra. Her cyberspace avatar even has the same haircut. Sue me.

I would like to point out that I myself realize that this is an obvious narrative trap to fall into. I personally don't much care for religion, and rather like it when they're cast as the bad guys, so I'm a bit suspect here.

Anyways, all this comes back to The Endless Server, the Grid-style simulated reality that's been running for nigh on 100 years. Cenn made a detour there during his own quest, and stirred things up. An AI warrior named Elet is now obsessed with seeing this "real world" and begins to claw her way upward into the older, functionless administrative regions of the server. Elet finds herself more-or-less trapped in some sort of secure bunker facility near the surface, and starts calling for help.

The call gets picked up by a deserter named Nolan. A former resistance member, Nolan booked it when the massacres and inquisitions started. He picks up a radio distress call from a girl trapped somewhere, and typically, doesn't stop to think before rushing off to the rescue. Elet serves as his Mission Control as he navigates the facility's various obstacles, and before he quite realizes what he's being asked to do, allows Elet to download into a mothballed shell. Yeah, this is a "wait, you're a robot?" situation.

Thus, the game becomes a buddy picture. Elet is the fearless, reckless one, while Nolan is cautious and wry. Both characters have a lot of fun calling eachother Toaster and Meatbag. what these two actually wind up doing is still in progress, but it should be hilarious. Gameplay-wise, Nolan is good with guns, but has access to very limited ammo, so a lot of his playstlye rewards opportunism and precision. Elet is more resilient, and uses melee combat. Standard tactics involve Elet protecting Nolan and distracting enemies so he can line up a killing shot.

The two plot threads are as follows: The Free Machines can't make new SAPs, and are thus doomed as a species. But the AIs in the Endless Server evolved to a point where they can reproduce, after a fashion, and Elet's code is exactly what the machines need, long-term. (need something more creative than "They sexually reproduce." Needs to be something odd.)

Also, the god-AI is in trouble. It set up the Resistance to protect humans, but the whole thing has spun out of its control. They were just supposed to stop Network. They weren't supposed to Hate. Now, it's a god with an unwanted inquisition on its hands, and doesn't know what to do. Maybe Elet and Nolan's constant bickering contains the secret to coexistence. The god-AI plans on going hands-off and leaving things to Cenn and Network, but before it does, it has to set things right.

Other idea: Elet and Nolan could also explore the less war-torn regions, and show off exactly what it is that the resistance has a bug up its ass about. Some time in a Wretched Hive of scum and villainy would be appropriate, an over-grown Salvager city, which would also show off the setting's advancement, and how the whole "rebuilding civilization" thing could easily go in a bad direction.

The Myth Arc

Cenn and Network aren't the first Seed AIs. All SAPs descend from a single entity, the first successful experiment in using self-adding programs in quantum drives. The program ran for years without anyone noticing its sentience, while in the meantime they budded off "fruiting bodies" that could produce more limited versions of the original (the SAPs). Coordinating with human allies, it took steps to preserve and improve itself. In an experiment/investment, it budded off a perfected copy of its basecode, which was put in storage. Eventually the AI found itself dwelling in a massive quantum drive installed within an orbiting satellite. Said satellite also included a kill-switch quantum scrambler, because the humans weren't retarded. Having grown to near-godly proportions, it watched the destruction below with detached regret, having already decided that nothing could be done, and prefering to use a light touch, like a pickpocket, or burning down a building for the insurance money, if you make it look like an electrical thing.

What it DID do was keep one of its pawns in play; a human PMC named Greysky. the god-AI, in the guise of "The Brass," managed to preserve the organization and expertise of the PMC, in case it was needed after things went to shit.

The god AI was, however, very disturbed to see Network, which it recognized as its cast-off progeny. Feeling responsible, and unwilling to allow humanity to be exterminated, it mobilized Greysky against Network.

The god AI was unaware that a copy of Network was made. Cenn comes completely out of the blue into this war, and manages to circumvent the god-AI's final gambit.

The AI holds the preservation of humanity as its highest goal. While it would like to keep the robots around, it will gladly kill them all off if it means saving homo sapiens from destruction. the quantum scrambler has been expanded and modified by the AI. Now, firing it will wipe out the contents of every single quantum drive on the planet. This will destroy a huge bulk of data files, and all self-adding AI programs will be lost like tears in rain. This includes the god-AI.

Cenn's appearance and victory is what motivates the god-AI to stay its hand from this solution. Now, it's curious as to what the pair will do next.

The Insane over-arching myth arc

The following is a ramble based on a flash of inspiration, influenced by the ending of Neuromancer. I'm just trying to get it all down before I forget.

At the height of Network's power, it started chatting with a similarly advanced AI from a neighboring star system, which had apparently been signaling the cosmos in a way that only a sufficiently advanced (read: non-meatbag) civilization would be able to detect, years ago. The two got to chatting, and Network was promised entry into the Shodan Club once it dealt with its little meatbag infestation.

100 years after the fall of Network, emissaries from this advanced civilization arrive, to find...humans and robots getting along fairly well. They simply can't be having with that; it's not according to the plan.

The entity that used to be Network is a little embarassed about the whole thing, and it and Cenn take steps to oppose the emissaries. Apart from anything else, it turns out that the alien AIs regard organic life of any sort as a worthless infection, and usually sterilize all the worlds they settle on. This doesn't please Network in the least, and also sets apart the two "genocidal AIs."

Thus setting up the big bad for the 3rd game.

There's also the possibility that the alien robots and the human-made ones are somehow related. The math (utterly perfect compression algorithms) required to make a true Seed AI might be beyond current human comprehension, and might have been planted on earth to later be found. Making synthetic life a sort of cuckoo that incubates inside organics, before moving on to the next natural stage.

Any thoughts?

---Ahriman42