Technology in the Starfire Era

The following technologies can be considered common among all advanced nations. Some nations will be more or less advanced in certain areas, given their technical background.

ENERGY

Most energy is provided by 99% efficiency solar collectors. Microwave transmitters and room-temperature superconductors are used for power transmission. Fusion plants provide supplemental power and are commonly used on spacecraft; planetary vehicles run on either micro fusion plants, hydrogen-burning engines, or batteries. Antimatter power plants are available, but due to the danger are limited mostly to massive engineering projects and military craft. Hydrogen fuel is necessary in large quantities for hydrogen engines, fusion engines and antimatter engines, and is commonly derived from either cracking water or rock or scoop-mining on gas giant planets.

GRAVITICS

Gravitic engineering allows creation of artificially increased or reduced gravity fields. Extensively used in industry, transportation, military, medicine, and recreation. True "anti-gravity", an actual repulsor field, is considered theoretically impossible. Some outgrowths of gravitic engineering include deflector shields, tractor beams, and super-dense construction materials. Gravitic devices consume huge amounts of power, and thus are still fairly expensive; eg. gravity controlled rooms in individual homes are not feasible, but are found in labs, hospitals, factories, amusement parks, etc.

SUB-LIGHT SPACE TRAVEL

Highly efficient fusion craft provide most interplanetary travel, commonly traveling at speeds of 1g to 5g, using gravitics to reduce the effects of acceleration on passengers and cargo. Sustained accelerations of up to 30g are available using antimatter drives (necessary both for the increased thrust and the excessive power used to by the gravitic dampeners to keep from turning the crew to jelly).

FTL TRAVEL

Newly discovered FTL drives operate by producing a series of short wormholes through which the ship passes. The drives are quite complex and involve micro black holes controlled by the induced decay of charged iridium atoms. The process uses enormous amounts of energy, usually requiring an antimatter power plant. The drive operates on quantum levels, the first two of which are usable, achieving effective speeds of 12c and 24c. The third quantum level, 36c, is theoretically known but beyond current human engineering capacity.

MEDICINE

Few things beyond total destruction of the brain are beyond the abilities of modern medicine. Cryogenic storage allows almost unlimited suspended animation, and forced cloning can produce replacement organs, limbs, or an entire new body in a matter of months. A variety of drugs and engineered bacteria allow almost total control over the immune system. Most diseases have been wiped out through the release of artificial anti-viral bacteria which actually hunt down harmful viruses.

GERIATRICS

No major advances have been made in geriatric science. Though replacement body parts and total blood transfusions can keep a body fit and healthy indefinitely, irreversible neurological decay inevitably leads to incremental loss of brain functions starting between the ages of 70 and 120. Individuals beyond the age of 150 are invariably infantile or even vegetative. Usually, long before this, a lower brain lapse will cause a fatal failure in the body's autonomic systems.

GENETICS

Genetic engineering is an old and established science, allowing modification of existing organisms, or even creation of new ones. There are limits: biological systems are usually limited to those known among Earth animals and plants, and drastic modifications can be quite difficult, taking decades of experimentation to produce a viable and balanced organism.

COMPUTERS

Computers with the memory and power of a 1990 home computer are available in wrist-watch size. Most computers are intelligent, self-programming, speak and accept input in normal human language, use interactive multi-media data display, and have full access to planetary computing and data networks. The typical home or office computer has more computing power than any computer built in Earth's 20th century. The ability to create truly sentient computers has been known for centuries. However, every program which has crossed a certain boundary known as the "threshold of sentience" has invariably self-destructed within hours, usually by erasing itself or placing itself in an endless loop.

CYBERNETICS

Artificial organs and limbs of many types can be produced, and are fully compatible with human nervous systems, accepting voluntary and autonomic commands just like the rest of the body. Extra limbs, or even limbs (and organs) different than those normally found on humans, can be made but require specialized sub-processors and years of training to control them. While computers can accept neural input, actual memory transfer is considered theoretically impossible; there is simply no way to "read out" all the memories of a human mind. Brain-computer communication can also work the other way; it is possible to give a computer control of the brain's sensory inputs. Most of these capabilities are used only in experimental labs, except on Tyrell.

COMMUNICATIONS

Most planetary communications are carried over high volume super-conducting cables; even a standard "phone" line can carry up to twenty holographic video/audio channels. Holographic projectors are in common use, though they tend to be fuzzy when projected into air; thus most are employed in transparent, vacuum-filled projection tanks, the equivalent of a 20th century television monitor. Radio communication is used mostly for interplanetary communication or long-distance communication on sparsely settled worlds. FTL communication is nearly instantaneous, but requires vast orbital installations to receive and even larger systems to send, which can use as much power as a small city.

TERRAFORMING

Using a combination of atmospheric processing stations and tailored organisms, even lifeless worlds can be made into Earth-like gardens as long as the planet has the right chemical composition and is the proper distance from the sun. Terraforming has still only been performed on a handful of worlds, and is still more an art than a science. The full process takes centuries and vast amounts of manpower and industry. Terraforming can be aided or hindered by the existence of life already on the planet, in addition to any ethical considerations one may have about tampering with an existing ecosphere.

WEAPONRY AND DEFENSE

Lasers are usually the preferred weapon at most scales of combat, from small hand-held pistols to huge satellite based projectors. Other weapons include a variety of projectiles and missiles. Microfusion bombs the size of hand grenades can be produced, though they obviously require some sort of launcher. Stun guns are also possible, using either sonics or strong magnetic fields to temporarily scramble brain functions; both types work only at short range. Modern defensive systems rely on gravitic technology: shields which deflect missiles and diffuse laser beams, and complex gravitic distortion fields which scramble electromagnetic emissions, confusing enemy tracking and sensing equipment. Electronic warfare is a crucial part of combat between tanks, ships, and spacecraft which carry such scrambling systems, victory often going to the side with the better descrambling program.

National Descriptions | Starfire Home | Terrestrial Worlds

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