Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology

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Nanotechnology is the precise manipulation of matter at the atomic level, typically using millions of microscale nanomachines. Nanotechnology transformed manufacturing, enabling new techniques and materials. The advent of nanofabrication—building objects from the molecular level up—transformed economies, allowing people to simply manufacture whatever they needed from raw materials. Nanotechnology is still a growing field, however, and has its limitations. While the TITANs unleashed self-replicating nanoswarms with the ability to transform or destroy anything through the power of geometric growth, such technology remains far beyond transhumanity’s grasp.

Basic Nanotechnology

Basic nanotechnology is exceedingly widespread and used throughout the solar system, serving as the primary method of manufacturing for decades. The nanobots of basic nanotech are confined to delicate and specially-maintained environments like the insides of cornucopia machines or healing vats and cannot operate elsewhere.

Healing Vats

Healing vats were the first type of nanotech medicine developed and remain the most powerful medical devices in common use. With the exception of a few exceptionally deadly nanoplagues, a healing vat can cure any disease and heal any injury. As long as the patient is alive when they are place in the healing vat, they will not only survive, but emerge without a scratch. A healing vat can even take a severed head (as long as it has been stabilized by medichines or nanotech first aid) and regrow an entire body based on the head’s genetics. If the patient’s body or medical records contain information about their implants, bioware, or advanced nanotechnology, all of these modifications are also fully restored. Few people suffer injuries serious enough to require a healing vat. Most are used as a safe and easy way to perform bodysculpting or to install implants or bioware. Healing vats use specialized nanomachines to either alter the patient’s body or integrate implants or bioware. One advantage of using a healing vat is that no additional healing time is needed, the patient leaves the vat fully recovered from the augmentation and ready to go. Every hospital, clinic, bodyshop, and augmentation parlor has several healing vats. The time required by a healing vat varies with the severity of the damage it is healing or the extent of the modification being made, as noted on the Healing Vat table. [High]

Healing Vat Table
Injury	Healing Time
Healing normal damage to a character who has taken 3 or fewer wounds.	2 hours per wound (min. 1 hour for 0 wounds)
Restoring major lost body parts like arms or legs, or healing dying or nearly dead character who has taken 4 wounds.	12 hours per wound
Restoring recently dead character who was placed in medical stasis to avoid death, but who is mostly intact.	1 day per wound
Restoring recently dead character who is placed in medical stasis to avoid death, and who is missing most of their body.	3 days per wound
Augmentation
Minor implants and bioware, minor cosmetic changes like alterations in skin color, eye color or shape, or hair color, texture or distribution, minor alterations to face shape or body fat distribution.	1 hour
Major brain and neural implants, nanoware or bioware, sex changes, changing height by no more than 5% or weight by no more than 20%.	12 hours
Major physical modifications like adding limbs or radical changes to height and weight.	3 days

Nanodetectors

Nanodetectors are small devices that suck in air and micro debris in order to scan for and detect nanobots. Given that nanobots are so small, the density of nanobots in the area has a large impact on its success. The nanodetector has a base skill of 30 for detecting nanobots, modified by +30 if an active nanoswarm or hive is present, +0 if a nanoswarm or hive was active recently, and –10 for the presence of nanobots outside of a swarm or hive. Once a nanobot is detected it may be analyzed either by the user or the nanodetector’s AI, using Academics: Nanotechnology 30 skill. Nanodetectors are often worn and left on, set to alert the user if a hostile nanoswarm is detected. [Low]

Nanofabricators

Nanofabrication machines are universal assemblers that perform almost all of the manufacturing in the solar system. The user loads in raw materials and electronic plans and it can produce literally any manufactured good, from a weapon to an ultralight plane to a hot and delicious dinner. Many nanofabricators come equipped with a library of common-use blueprints (basic foods, standard clothing, common tools, etc.). Other blueprints must either be purchased online, self-programmed, or acquired through some other method. The largest nanofabrication units are more than 10 meters on a side and are used to produce small consumer goods in bulk as well as building large devices like orbital transfer vehicles. The availability and legality of nanofabricators varies widely throughout the system. In the inner system and Jovian Republic, cornucopia machines are commonly restricted and sometimes illegal, with licenses only available to hypercorps, military units, and other officials and elites. In these habitats, only more limited fabbers are available to the general populace. Additionally, blueprints are licensed and protected by copyright laws, and many nanofabricators feature pre-programmed restrictions that prevent them from using unlicensed blueprints as well as from manufacturing weapons, explosives, or other restricted items. Among the autonomists of the outer system, however, nanofabricators are commonly accessible, shared by everyone, and unrestricted. For rules on creating goods in a nanofabricator, see Nanofabrication. Desktop Cornucopia Machine: Cornucopia machines (CMs) are general-purpose nanofabricators. The smallest CMs are desk-sized cubes approximately half a meter on a side with a volume of at least 40 liters. They can produce any small object, from tools to well-folded suits of clothing to handguns or a bowl of cereal. It is sometimes possible to assemble larger items, but they must be manufactured in smaller pieces and then assembled (likely requiring an appropriate Hardware Test). While users can purchase bulk raw materials, CMs also come equipped with a disassembler. The user loads garbage and other objects into the disassembler so that they can be turned into raw materials for the CM. All legally-available disassemblers only deconstruct non-living material. [Expensive] Fabber: Fabbers are specialized nanofabricators, portable and considerably smaller than CMs. There are a wide variety of portable fabbers, including ones that can make any hand tool or small piece of personal electronics, ones that can turn any organic material into food and drink, and ones that can create any drug or medicine as well as bandages and specialized dressings. The most common fabbers have a volume of 4 liters. Larger hand tools and devices are produced as 2 or 3 separate parts that must be fitted together. Like CMs, fabbers also contain miniature disposal units. [Moderate] Maker: Makers are specially-designed to produce food and drink for the user. Raw materials can be provided by the addition of any water-containing liquid and collected biomass like leftover food, grass, dirt, dead animals, or transhuman waste. Some models are built into standard vacsuits. Makers can produce water and various � flavored beverages, as well as ration bars or thick pudding-like edible gels. With adequate raw material, a maker can indefinitely provide food and drink for up to three transhumans. Most units, however, have a very limited range of flavors and textures that are widely considered to be fairly bad. Models with a wider and better range of flavors and textures are more expensive, but produce food that is considered adequate or occasionally good. [Low to Moderate]

Blueprints: If you want a nanofabricator to make something, you need to instruct the device how to create it from the molecular level up. Such blueprints are available for almost every conceivable item out there. The cost of such blueprints typically exceeds the cost of purchasing the item, though factors like legality and quality may affect the cost as usual. [One Cost Category Higher Than Item Cost]

Advanced Nanotechnology

Advanced nanotechnology includes more recent developments. Like basic nanotech, advanced nanotechnology cannot self-replicate but the nanobots can function normally in most environments and are highly resistant to bacterial attacks and other environmental problems. Typical advanced nanotech consists of a generator—known as a “hive”—that produces nanobots as long as it is supplied with raw materials. Every such hive also includes a miniature disassembly unit and/or specialized nanomachines that collect raw materials for the generator. These hives produce nanobot swarms that are set loose to perform some function in the world. Examples of advanced nanotech include COTs, medichines, smart dust, and utilitools, among others. General Hive: General hives are capable of producing any conceivable type of nanobot with the right blueprints and/or programming. Even at their smallest size they are not really portable, with a minimum size being cubes 30 centimeters on a side and a volume of 25 liters. [Expensive]

Specialized Hive: Specialized hives are far more common than general hives, though they can produce only one type of nanomachines (i.e., choose one type of nanoswarm per hive). The smallest specialized hives are approximately the size of a 12-gauge shotgun shell or a large cherry tomato. [Moderate, plus price of programmed swarm]

Ego Bridges

Ego bridges are vat devices used for uploading and downloading minds. See Backups and Uploading, and Resleeving. [Expensive]

Nanoswarms and Microswarms

Swarms are colonies of nanobots or larger microbots created in a hive, programmed with specific instructions, and then set free to perform a set task. Each swarm is composed of hundreds or thousands of nanobots or microbots, ranging in size from a microbe to a small insect. Nanobots are typically invisible to the naked eye, though they can be detected with a nanodetector or nanoscopic vision. Microbots are more noticeable but still quite small, usually the size of a grain of sand or a dust mote, or occasionally as big as a flea. Individual bots in a swarm are directed by nanocomputers, with behavioral routines modeled on biological insect and animal swarms. These swarms stick together and work as a whole, communicating with nanoradios, nanolasers, or chemical cues, and sharing information between each bot in the swarm. Note that nanoswarms don’t invade inside living bodies (though they may attack externally)—internal nano is handled by nanoware, nanodrugs, and nanotoxins. Nanobots and microbots may be designed with all manner of miniaturized propulsion systems, with the exception of ionic drives. They are powered by tiny batteries or solar cells. Their tiny sensors are very effective at allowing them to identify materials and objects, and so to target discriminatingly. Nanobots or microbots could, for example, be programmed to ignore metal objects, certain types of plants, specific morphs, females, or specific individuals. Swarms may either be released directly from a hive or from pre-packaged programmable canisters. Swarms must be programmed before they are released. The programming first determines how long the swarm is active. This timeframe is open-ended, though most swarms deteriorate into ineffectiveness after 2 weeks unless they are replenished by a hive. The programming then sets what area the swarm is to occupy. This is also open to interpretation and can vary from “coat this person” to “spread out to a diameter of 20 meters” to “find the nearest chemical traces and track them to their source.” Finally, programming sets any other parameters for the swarm’s mission—for example, if it should ignore certain materials, if it should send a report at a predetermined time, or if it should self-destruct into harmless dust when it has completed a certain task. Programming is generally handled as a Simple Success Test using Programming (Nanoswarm) skill. Failure simply infers that the programming is imperfect, and so the swarm may not operate completely as planned. An actual Programming (Nanoswarm) Success Test is only called for if the swarm’s programming is substantially complex or if the character seeks to have the swarm act outside of its usual set functions. The bots in each swarm are specially equipped for the task they are designed for, however, so attempting to drastically repurpose a swarm may be difficult or pointless at the gamemaster’s discretion. Swarms may also be teleoperated, controlled, and/or (re)programmed once they are released, via radio or laser link. Swarms are treated as a whole. The standard swarm size is enough to cover a 10 x 10 x 10 meter cube, and this is the standard “unit” of swarm released by a canister or hive. Swarms may be larger, but they are treated as individual swarm units. Each swarm has a Durability of 50 and is immune to wounds. Most attacks against a swarm simply inflict 1 point of damage. Area-effect weapons, plasma rifles, and � fire inflict 1d10 damage, plasma grenades do full damage. EMP weapons are very effective against swarms, inficting 2d10 + 5 damage and a -10 modifer to all tests due to their damaging effects on the swarm’s communication abilities until repaired. Swarms are not affected by vacuum. Cleaners: This nanoswarm cleans, polishes, and removes dirt and stains. It may be used on an area, specific objects, or people. Some facilities employ permanent cleaner swarms to keep their area spotless. Cleaners may also be programmed to remove specific toxins, chemicals, or other hazardous substances in order to decontaminate an area. Covert operatives and criminals sometimes use cleaners to eliminate any evidence they may have left at a scene usable for forensics purposes, such as blood, hair, or anything that could be DNA-typed. [Low]

Disassemblers: Also known as smart corrosives, these nanobots break down any matter. Their advantage over common acids is that not only are they able to break down any material by using energy to disrupt chemical bonds, but that they can be programmed to take apart certain components while ignoring others, leaving them intact. Disassemblers are a common weapon used against synthmorphs, eating away their components without having to worry about accidentally splashing biomorphs. Upon contact, these nanobots inflict 1d10 ÷ 2 damage (round up) per Action Turn. Accumulated damage counts as a wound when the Wound Threshold is reached. Both Energy and Kinetic armor protect against this damage, but these armors are eaten away as well, so the Armor Value is reduced by the soaked DV. [High] Engineers: Engineer microswarms are used for various construction purposes: erecting walls, digging tunnels, sealing holes, reinforcing foundations, and so on. [Moderate]

Fixers: This is the nanoswarm version of repair spray. [Moderate] Injectors: Injector microswarms are equipped with tiny needles and a drug payload. A biological target affected by an injector swarm suffers 1 point of damage and the effects of the carried drug, chemical, or toxin. [Moderate]

Gardeners: This microswarm is useful for a number of agricultural purposes: killing weeds, planting seeds, trimming plants, pollinating, and even harvesting small items. It may also be programmed to simply defoliate an area. [Moderate] Guardians: Guardians watch for and attack other unauthorized swarms. Guardians inflict 1d10 ÷ 2 damage (round up) on other swarms they come into contact with per Action Turn. [Moderate]

Proteans: This nanoswarm is designed to disassemble other materials and objects and to create a single specific, pre-programmed device from the components (much like a specialized nanofabricator). The proteans must be able to scavenge appropriate raw materials (for example, to create a metallic device the nanobots must transform something else made of metal). The construction time takes 1 hour per cost category of the item (1 hour for a Trivial cost item, 2 hours for Low, etc.). [High] Saboteurs: Sab nanobots are designed to infiltrate electronics or machinery and sabotage them in small but difficult to discern ways: severing connections, disabling components, gumming up moving parts, etc. Saboteurs inflict damage on devices similar to disassemblers, but the target is not destroyed and such damage is not immediately obvious. They inflict 1d10 ÷ 2 points of damage to synthmorphs, bots, and other devices every Action Turn. Armor has no effect, but accumulated damage counts as a wound when the Wound Threshold is reached. [High]

Scouts: A scout nanoswarm will systematically map and explore an area, collecting samples of all materials and substances it encounters. The samples are carried back to the hive or canister and chemically analyzed. Scouts can also be used for forensic purposes, collecting DNA samples, analyzing chemical residues, and examining other evidence. [High] Taggants: Taggants seek to lodge themselves onto everything in their area of dispersal. Each carries a unique identifier, so that if it is found later, the tagged person or object can be linked back to the point they were tagged. Taggants can be programmed to remain silent, only responding to query broadcasts made with the proper crypto codes, or they can be programmed to broadcast their location back to the deployer via the mesh. [Low] Nanotat Eraser: This illegal nanoswarm treatment is specifically designed to penetrate the fingertips of morphs and eradicate all signs of the nanotat ID it carries. Erasing a nanotat ID takes about 5 minutes and itches like crazy. Though usually applied to a specific person as a treatment, criminals and terrorists have sometimes deployed nanotat-erasing nanoswarms in public areas, surreptitiously erasing the IDs from unsuspecting people as a means of confusing security forces engaged in an ego hunt. [Expensive]

Smart Plankton: Smart plankton is a nanoswarm variant of smart dust designed for underwater use. The plankton nanobots are designed for aquatic movement and can communicate via flashing lights and infrasound. Like smart dust, smart plankton can record video, audio (including infrasound and ultrasound), water temperature, chemical traces, as well as movement and other data. [Moderate] [ Home | Game Rules | Character Creation | Gear ]