This was a Deadworld by me.

Dragged this out of it's crypt.  Wrote this back in 2000.  Figure I'd pull it out polish it off... maybe do up the archetypes that I never got around to.


The NU You

History

Early in the twenty-first century, humanity realized one of its medical, and scientific dreams, the development of practical and efficient cybernetics. While these early cybernetics were functional they were not very lifelike. Latex covered limbs could only give a simple sensation of touch. Cybernetic eyes could only provide a person with an approximation of colour and depth and looked more like cameras shoved into eye sockets then normal eyes. And they were not suited for repairing delicate damage such as nerve damage.

That all changed late in the year 2025 when a small medical research lab, called NU/Tech, made a remarkable discovery and created Bio-Comp. A radical step forward in bio-cybernetic research Bio-Comp could replicate the complexity of human tissue as well as the look of it and the sensations provided by it. Almost overnight NU/Tech became one of the most powerful companies on earth. However like plastic surgery, which started out as a way of repairing damage, Bio-Comp began to be used for fashion and elective body augmentation. However the higher end procedures were expensive and mostly restricted to the upper echelons of society.

While there was some initial concern about the ethical and moral ramifications of some of the procedures, NU/Tech now had the political and financial clout to make most of those concerns go away. The only exception was the Church of the Pure Blood. The Church was founded on the belief that the use of Bio-Comp was against Gods plan. The church didn't object to people replacing limbs and organs but did complain when people started getting artificial livers that would allow them to drink more and women got breasts that they could change the size of on a whim. For the most part the church was quite passive in their protests. They only stood outside of clinics and tried to dissuade people from getting Bio-Comp augmentation. They never made the mistake of being forceful, having learned from the mistakes of other groups. So, since they were no more then a nuisance NU/Tech left them alone. The situation remained this way until NU/Tech announced the release of the Bio-Comp EnterNet series. These Bio-Comp augmentations would allow for the first truly immerseive Virtual reality.

Now the Pure Bloods could accept people repairing damage to their bodies, they could even tolerate some vain people getting bigger tits and poutier lips but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. When the Church leaders learned that EnterNet chips could cause involuntary movement in a deceased person resembling a zombie like state they decided on a course of action. They would design a computer virus that would cause the dead to get up and lurch about. They figured that it would be just the thing to scare people away from getting Bio-comp implants. Unfortunately for the rather moderate church leaders the person in charge of the project, Brother Michael Ludd, held some rather radical views. He felt that people with Bio-Comp chips were sinners most vile and should be removed before the evil of their transgressions could taint the rest of humanity. With his loyal cell of technicians he changed the scope of the now dubbed Lazarus Project. Rather then re-animating the dead the virus would shut down the brains of the living. Purging the earth of their evil.

On December 31 2039 the church, oblivious to his true nature, ordered Ludd to launch the virus. In a rather daring raid during New Years Eve festivities Ludd and his followers broke into a transmission substation and uploaded the virus bypassing many of NU/Tech's security measures. Almost immediately the virus began to spread through the Dick Clark Memorial New Years celebration feed. Soon people were falling into death like comas everywhere. The techs at NU/Tech realized what was happening and launched Anti-Viral protocols to try and stop the virus. That's when every thing went to hell.

Ludd had been very good in creating his virus. Unfortunately when the antiviral programs were run there was an unforeseen side effect. As the virus and the anti-Virus began a game of cat and mouse through the system, the Bio-Comp factories were set into diagnostic mode to prevent them from being infected. Unfortunately it was to late and the Virus and anti-Virus and diagnostic protocols almost crashed the mainframe. However some one in a million glitch caused a fusion of the three programs and something new was born. The newly dead began to rise and for some disturbing reason began to spout NU/Tech slogans. When it was over approximately 65 to 70 percent of all humans on earth were now zombies. This density varies from location to location. Japan had one of the highest with 99.99% whereas central Africa one of the lowest with only 10%

The Present
With the infrastructure of society completely gutted by the disaster. Those unaffected fled the cities to rural areas while the initial zombies, or squawk boxes as they are known, didn't pose any direct threat, the number of them crowded people out of the cities. Once out in country the remaining humans began to form tribal units who occasionally venturing into the cities to gather supplies and weapons. That was when they first discovered the new types of zombies. Strange masses of humans who moved together like one giant beast. Others that looked like patchwork monsters stitched together with parts of tools and animals.

And worse then that, instead of simply wandering around these new zombies displayed some kind of intelligence.

So far the zombies have remained around the old NU/Tech factories but every day they seem to grow smarter and strange stories of zombies moving out into the wilderness and building bizarre buildings are beginning to circulate among the remaining human tribes.

What's happened?
The combination of the Virus, the Anti-Virus and the factory diagnostic systems has given birth to artificial intelligence. Each one of the factories has become an independent entity. At first they only act in accordance to simple computer commands. But eventually they begin to evolve animal like intelligence and then human.

This leaves humans in a bit of a bind as the zombies become more intelligent they begin to absorb more people and remaining technology and begin to grow out of the cities.

Zombies

Squawk Boxes, aka Chip Heads.

These are the most numerous of all zombies in the NU You earth. The natural look of their Bio-Comp implants has long faded. Only scraps of clothing cover their bodies as wires and tubes stitch in and out of their bodies. They wander around the old cities aimlessly. Or so it seems. They constantly spout old NU/Tech slogans. They don't attack anything but their numbers can allow them to push people around or crush them with their sheer weight. They are the eyes and ears of the factory intelligences. Where you see one soon you will see many

Stats
Str: 2 Dex: 2
Con: 2 Int: -2
Per: 2 Wil: 2
Essence: 8 speed: 4
Power: 14 Dead points: 26
Attacks: None
Weak spots: Brain
Getting around: Life Like
Strength: Dead Joe Average
Senses: Like the Living
Sustenance: Daily nutrient supplements provided by factory or food found around the cities
Intelligence: Dumb as dead wood
Spreading the Love: Not capable of creating new zombies.
Powers: Regeneration power 2
Note: d10% in a group of Squawk Boxes are enhanced so they are the quick dead, strong like bull and have senses like a hawk.

Patchworks, aka Frankenstein

When a Squawk Box has suffered damage that can no longer be repaired by it's Bio-Comp alone it becomes a Patchwork, and begins to repair itself with whatever it can find. Soon this zombie becomes a mass of mismatched parts like something out of Mary Shelly's worst nightmare. Patchworks are solitary creatures only rarely hunting in small groups. Some have theorized that these small packs of Patchworks are really one creature that has split itself to improve it's hunting ability. Squawk Boxes avoid Patchworks for obvious reasons. There are some notable types of Patchworks. Vehicle Patchworks have grafted themselves to some vehicle. They gain the strength and mobility of the vehicle as well as added protection. To bond with a vehicle a PATCHWORK will place itself into the control area of the vehicle and fill the space much like a hermit crab with a shell. More intelligent Patchworks can adapt themselves to maintain the vehicle others simply detach when the gas runs out or the vehicle is to damaged to use anymore. An intelligent Patchwork grafted to a Tank is a dangerous thing.

Chimeras are Patchworks that have extensively grafted animal parts to them to become bizarre perversions of mythical creatures.

A Trap Patchwork is perhaps one of the strangest variations of Patchworks. They have grafted themselves in such a way as to become immobile. No longer able to hunt for parts the must now trap what they can. Some become masters of camouflage and ambush unwary creatures that pass by. Many stop looking even remotely human and begin to look like strange tentacle creatures lashing out at whatever comes near. Think H. P. Lovecraft or the movie Deep Rising.
Patchworks are the shock troops of the Factory intelligences and are the ones sent out to capture new people to be "modified" in the factories.

Because each Patchwork is unique all stats are randomly determined.

Str: 4+d10
Dex: -4+d10 *
Con: 4 +10
Int: -2+d8
Per: 2+d10
Wil: 2+d4
Attacks Varies according to type but usually 85% clawing or bladed attacks 10% household items such as tools blowtorches chainsaws etc. 5% guns.
Powers Varies according to Zombie Masters Wishes.
Weak spot: 90% Head 1% none (these are Patchworks that have grafted so much that they have multiple redundancy in their control systems).
Sustenance: Daily nutrient supplements provided by factory. Stationary Patchworks have an underground pipeline feeding them or food found around the cities
Regeneration Special: The PATCHWORK can regenerate < the life points of a creature it assimilates or = the DC of mechanical items it grafts.

* If Dex is rolled as <= 0 then the Patchwork has grafted itself to a stationary object and has become a trap Patchwork. Dex is considered to be the d10 that was rolled (ie 1-4) and the following rules apply. For a Patchwork with Con less then 6 it is still humanoid looking and will appear to be a nonfunctioning zombie until a person gets within reach (Zombie Dex2) in feet. The zombie will then spring to life and attack the nearest person. Once the victim is incapacitated the zombie will retreat into a burrow that it has created. It will wait there until the remaining people have left or it has been rooted out and dispatched. To dig the Patchwork out takes 2*dc of the material the burrow is created from in turns. If the con of the zombie is 6 or greater then the Zombie is now a tentacled thing. The bulk of its body will be buried beneath the ground with a number of camouflaged burrows for its tentacles to strike form. The number of burrows will equal the Zombie's (Dex+Con)/2. The zombie will maintain sensory organs hidden on the surface (treat as the head) and when prey comes near it will strike out with its tentacles and try to incapacitate it's foe. Fortunately each tentacle has only a fraction of the zombie's total power behind it. Treat each tentacle as having one-fourth the Zombies strength and con and can only attack with its Per/2 tentacles a turn. If the Zombie meets sufficient opposition (it hasn't captured it's prey in its Wil in turns) it will retreat and wait for new prey for it's Wil *2 turns.

Vehicle Patchworks: Treat like the appropriate Vehicle and as if they had the driving ability of that vehicle = int-1 if they have skill = 0 then the just kind of ram the thing around or just randomly move around. If the Patchwork has int of 5 or more then they can maintain the vehicle and grow tendrils to facilitate this. Every vehicle PATCHWORK has at least one limb or tendril to help them pick things up outside of the vehicle or graft new parts to them or the vehicle. One in ten will have attached weapons to the vehicle. Mostly spikes or blades. Sometimes guns. Vehicle Patchworks are more likely to run in packs of d6 individual vehicles.

Chimera's not much I can say here but try and keep the abilities and powers in line with the animals grafted to the PATCHWORK. (I.e. if you have a snake in place of an arm the PATCHWORK would have a bite attack as well as a crushing ability) also Chimeras will sometimes run in loose packs of d10 similar or identical creatures

Mobs, aka Burning Men

>From a distance these appear to be misshapen humanoid giants. Once you get closer you begin to realize their true horror. They are not one creature but rather a mass of human bodies bonded together to form a roughly humanoid shape. The average mob consists of 30 to 50 individual creatures and stand between 10 and 15 feet tall. However, there have been reports of larger Burning Men. The largest confirmed BM is located in what was once Silicon Valley and actually contains most of the board of directors of NU/Tech. The Silicon Valley giant is over six stories tall and is estimated to contain nearly 500+ bodies. Mobs are the workhorses of the factory. They are created when a Chip head drone can't accomplish something alone. It will then continue to absorb more bodies until it reaches the required size. The larger they get the more like an actual human they become. The largest Burning Men actually have something equivalent to internal organs.

Stats for a Burning man containing 30 bodies
Str: 7+1 for every 5 bodies after 30
Dex: 3+1 for every 5 bodies after 30
Con: 12+2 for every five after 30
Int: 3 teamwork (special, only the bodies within the Mob act as a team.)
Per: 7
Wil: 3
Attacks: crushing blows or thrown objects. Makeshift clubs (a car's axle for example)
Regeneration power 5, Damage resistant, fire resistant power 3, Hug of death special (Damage is not permanent but rather it's the Zombie trying to absorb the victim into it's mass)
Sustenance: Whatever organic material they can find daily nutrient supplements provided by factory..
Spreading the love: Absorbing people into their mass. Larger ones can actually swallow them while smaller ones simply embrace the person Weak points. Only separating the mass can kill the Mob. A single body removed will cease to function but the mob will keep on going. Best way to kill it is to get a bomb into its center and blow it up from the inside.
Once a Burning man reaches a suitable size for the task it is required for it stops absorbing new bodies except to replace damaged bodies. However sometimes a Burning man will grow to a great size then move away from a city, lay down and begin to change shape. After a while it is no longer a man but rather a building. See details in the description of factories.

Docs aka Nightmare Men

If you see them you're probably as good as dead. Rubbery Bio-Comp skin is stretched over their bodies in a cruel mockery of doctor in a surgical gown and mask. It drapes over their legs and now the move about by a sick undulating motion of the Bio-comp. Long elegant fingers end in vicious medical instruments; deep crimson goggles obscure their eyes.
They are truly disturbing visions, seaming to float around the operating theater. They are all that remains of the people with the most advanced Bio-Comp implants. Thick Bio-Comp cables attached to the head connects the Doc to the AI. It is they who bolster the forces of the Factories. Repairing and building Bio-Comp components. They are the ones who "modify" unaffected humans and create more Squawk Boxes. They can usually be found at the core of a factory within a Bio-Comp womb where they operate.

Stats
Str: 4 Dex: 2 (6 with hands)
Per: 7 Con: 3
Int: as Factory*
Wil: 3 Speed: 2
Dead Points: 38
Essence Pool 23+
Attacks: Taser (roll vs. targets str + con, success knocks out target for 6 turns less targets con)
Tranquilizer spray or injector: as tranquilizer type
Surgical tools: treat as small knife.
Special Powers: Infra Vision, X-ray Vision, regeneration power 5, Interchangeable hands (A doc has a wide variety of hands they can use, scalpel hands, scanner hands etc) Weak points: for a stage 1-2 AI factory destroying the cable that is attached to a doc renders it powerless as it requires the interface with the AI to exist. At stage 3 the docs can act independently of the AI and act as generals of the zombie forces their week point is none.

*The Factory
The factory is the source of the artificial intelligences. At it's height before the Day of Lazarus NU/Tech had a factory in most major cities in the world. Now they are the source of the NU You zombie hordes.
All Factory Intelligences go through the following stages of development.

Stage 1 Computer: At this stage the AI isn't quite fully aware and still acts like a computer. All of its actions are centered on the NU/Tech Factory. The AI will control between 3 and 5 Docs who never leave their operating room. It will have about 500 to 600 Squawk Boxes who act as drones for the factory and wander near the factory. It might possibly have one small Burning Man to do heavy work and one or two Patch Works to capture any rogue Zombies or humans that might stray to close to the factory. As far as the Ai is concerned the Zombies are extensions of the Factory and there is nothing beyond the factory. As more Chip Heads and Patchworks fall under the control of the AI it progress to the next stage of development. Int=1

Stage 2 Animal like: At this stage the AI begins to realize that it is more then just a factory. It has more Squawk Boxes and more data pouring into it each day. Patch works begin to become more coordinated and display tactics in hunting. They also begin to actively seek out those not controlled by the AI. The factory and the surrounding area begins to be covered by Bio-Comp membranes and tubing. Int=2

Stage 3 Low Human: Now the AI begins to show an understanding of tactics and begins to assimilate all of the Zombies in the city. Bio-Comp tubes cover much of the city like spider webs and the Ai actually begins to create defenses by planting Patchworks and forcing them to become trap Patchworks. The Docs also become sufficiently advanced to begin growing new zombies in Bio-Comp breading facilities. The sutures on Patchworks will become cleaner and different types of zombies will begin to show teamwork abilities. Int=4

Stage 4 High Human: At this stage the AI will begin to expand and zombie hordes will begin to move out into the surrounding areas. Doc will begin to experiment with Grafting techniques and any number of Bio-Comp creatures will begin to roam the city which is now entirely covered in Bio-Comp Webs that act as a way of distributing Organic supplements to the Zombies. Int=8

Stage 5 the undiscovered country: this is the theoretical end of an AI development. Only one AI presence has ever reached this level and nothing has been heard from Japan since it happened.

Some notes. Not every city has a factory only the big ones like LA, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, and London. So in any given country there are on average three to four AI factories. Most factories are at stage 2 development. Those in more sparsely populated areas, such as those in Africa and Australia, are at stage one. At present there are no stage 3 or 4 AIs though most of the American Factories are on the verge of becoming Stage 3's. Japan is the only location of a stage 5 AI. Because of the dense population and the High tech nature of the country almost everyone was turned into a zombie. Also the factory was the largest in the world since the one had to supply all of Japan. The AI developed quickly there and within a few days had reached stage 5 intelligence. When the AI achieved stage 5 intelligence it became truly aware. It then began to acquire as much information as it could. Because of the vast amounts of fiction in Japan (Mostly Anime and Manga) that concerned many of the things that had happened. The AI couldn't reconcile its existence. It was depressed and lacked a clear direction. Was it something that had a right to live or was it simply a monster created by accident. During this time the zombies slipped into a torpor state. The few remaining uninfected humans near the factory decided to use this as an opportunity to attack the factory and destroy the source of the zombies. A team of five entered the factory. They were followed by one of the team's children, a young girl who was afraid to be left alone. As the team was captured the AI let the child enter the innermost sanctum of the factory and there they had a conversation. Then all transmissions from Japan ended and no one who has approached the island has ever returned. (Further information about Japan and stage 5 AIs will appear in a future post.)

New Archetypes will also appear in future posts including Old tech Military cyborg, New Blood Priest and uninfected Bio-Comp cyborg.

I hope you like my world in hell

It was going to help millions of people.

It was going to make the world a better place.

It was going to be the dawn of a new age for mankind.


Oh well, one out of three isn't bad.............

A nice thing you got going there. Sufficiently different from a fair number of things I've seen.

Some questions though:
Are the AI's working together or are they independent?
If they are different, how will they react to each other?

Humanity at a survival only level or is there some sort of hope?

Nu/Tech had a network that could get into a large percentage of the populace's heads/bodies - maybe they had other things going too?

All in all a cool idea that I might end up using someday.

Quote from: Jangling JackA nice thing you got going there. Sufficiently different from a fair number of things I've seen.

Some questions though:
Are the AI's working together or are they independent?
If they are different, how will they react to each other?

Humanity at a survival only level or is there some sort of hope?

Nu/Tech had a network that could get into a large percentage of the populace's heads/bodies - maybe they had other things going too?

All in all a cool idea that I might end up using someday.

The AI's are independent. Think hives of ants or bees.. Also... when I use the terms low human and high human that's not to say I think they act like humans. In my mind the Toronto hive has become aware of the Buffalo hive recently. Both are on the verge of level 3 but their tactics are very different. Where Buffalo has hordes of squawk boxes and a few burning men Toronto has an army of Chimera patchworks. The hive in Washington DC is very regimented and has a high number of military vehicle patchworks. The hives in England are growing like cysts over the island. Who know what horrors lurk within them. The idea is that you can mold the AI's to suit your needs.

As for hope... the only ray of hope is Japan.... What did the AI decide it was? Has Japan become a high tech Utopia that has once again shut its borders to outsiders? Or has it become a techno organic nightmare.

I also wanted to clarify something. the NU tech Zombies aren’t the dead per say.... they've just had their higher brain functions removed..... Even worse... what if they're still conscious but unable to control their bodies... aware of what's happening to them.... trapped within their own minds...... ewwww

Other various ideas and comments:

What would the effect have been if someone had been shielded from the initial virus/anti-virus battle?

Did animals get some of the Nu/Tech treatment?

What of satellites and space stations? An AI forming on a moonbase could be interesting...

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a mix between the Borg and the Matrix.

Quote from: Jangling JackOther various ideas and comments:

What would the effect have been if someone had been shielded from the initial virus/anti-virus battle?

uninfected Bio-Comp cyborg... either because they didn't have the enternet implants or because theirs weren't working that night.  or they had simply turned them off. or they were out of range from a relay.  they are sometimes seen as pariahs.  rich fops that have damned the world for their vanity.  they also have a sixth sense with regards to Zombies. this makes them valuable on supply raids as they can help avoid some of the more unpleasant things out there

Quote from: Jangling JackDid animals get some of the Nu/Tech treatment?

maybe a few research subjects or the odd military experiment but not many.  

Quote from: Jangling JackWhat of satellites and space stations? An AI forming on a moonbase could be interesting...

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a mix between the Borg and the Matrix.

They'd be very limited in regards to resources.  they might adapt by becoming more machine then organic.  

There's also the Comic book Virus which was very much an inspiration for the patchwork men.

VERY cool.

Ok here's a write up for an Uninfected Bio-Comp cyborg

QuoteUninfected Bio-Comp cyborg
Type: Norm

STR: 2
DEX: 3
CON: 3
INT: 2
PER: 2
WIL: 2

LPS: 30
EPS: 26
SPD: 10
ESS: 14

Qualities/Drawbacks
Acute Senses (2)
Sense Biocomp Zombies (Gift ,5)
Recurring Nightmares (1)
Minority (1)
Low Status (3)

Skills
Notice: 3
Stealth: 2
Haggling: 3
Dodge: 2
Driving (car): 2
Guns (rifle): 2
Brawling: 2
Bureaucracy: 4
Computers: 3
Hand Weapon (ax):3
First Aid: 1
Smooth Talking: 3

Personality:

This isn't fair. Your life wasn't supposed to be like this. You'd just made partner. You were making mad money for the firm. And you'd just convinced the hot redhead from accounting to join you for a private party away from the company New Years Eve party.  Ok you knew it wasn't a smart thing to do... to link up your enternet implants in a private loop. There was a slim chance for the feed back to cause brain damage but damn if it didn't make sex amazing.  When you both came out of it everything was different.

Now you spend your days living on the edge of a camp of living humans.  They treat the two of you like crap but they still need you when it comes time to get supplies.  You still don't know how but after it all came crashing down you just knew you had to get out of the city.  You made your way to the country and found some survivors.  They don't like you.  You were rich and they were poor and now the shoes on the other foot.  And the fact that you have Bio-Comp  doesn't help either.  But you were able to find a niche.  You were the best scrounger and you never walked into a nest of Frankenstein's or got mobbed by squawk boxes. Sure they take your best hauls but you're able to survive. If only the dreams would stop.  Dark wet rooms and men without faces and pain....

Quote
"No, We should go this way."

oops forgot to give him equipment....


Rifle
Ax
Cloak
Backpack
small stash of looted items