Soultech

SOULTECH

Soultech, or aware items, are among the most powerful and lethal things characters can find. An aware item is not a mere tool. It was built to serve and obey, and to use its mind to help its owner, but the long years have twisted its mind beyond recognition. Furthermore, true minds were never as tame as they were claimed to be. To be worthy of being called a mind, there must be free will. Programming can influence, nudge or guide, but it cannot control absolutely.
The programming of an AI is its mother, father, school, and peers. But there are always those who rebel. Dealing with items with minds of their own is much more complex than dealing with hardtech or livetech. These items range from simple handheld devices which are to current PDAs what Deep Blue is to the ENIAC, to sentient war machines which carry city-destroying weaponry. The triviality of adding sentience to machines caused minds to be placed without regard to whether they were needed or any thought as to the desires of the mind being created. The hubris of humanity in the final years before the escape was not that we gave birth to so many new intelligence nor that we taught rocks and animals to think; but that we thought so little of our creations, that we were seemingly unaware of what we were doing. Humanity became godlike, and, like most gods, was guilty of grossly neglecting its creations.
Convincing an aware item to work is often a complex process. It is not a matter of pushing buttons; the item pushes its own buttons, if it understands what you want and is willing to let you have it

RECALCITRANT MACHINES

Soultech is complex, and it now exists in a world very different from the one for which it was programmed. Basic safety and override routines are often activated spuriously, and many devices have evolved exceptionally broad interpretations of their primary programming. They’ve had generations to look for loopholes, after all. As a consequence, a gun might decide that the charging rakox it is being aimed at is an “endangered species” and cannot be shot — and no, this has nothingto do with the fact I haven’t been polished in days, why do you ask? Teaching tools to think was perhaps the least wise decision humanity made
To reflect this, if a device is not fully analyzed but is still useful, make a functionality check against DC 20. Roll 1d20 +1 for each unanalyzed complexity layer. If the check succeeds, the device balks for reasons of its own. This can be roleplayed.

Functionality

Deciphering a soultech device is a mix of insight and interrogation, experimentation and negotiation. To reflect this, the person attempting the analysis may choose one of his three mental abilities — Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma — to use as his skill bonus. The DC of the analysis task check is usually 20, plus any bonus the soultech item has to the same attribute
Getting all the functionality out of a soultech item is akin to peeling an onion. It has one layer per point of its highest mental ability modifier, plus one for every two modifier points (rounded up) in the other two mental abilities. Removing each layer requires a separate check. The item is fully under the character’s control when all layers have been removed. Removal of the outermost layers will unlock the simplest functions of the device; each successive layer opens more and more functionality. Alternatively, if there aren’t that many functions, unlocking layers can make the device less recalcitrant or contrary.

Example:  Janus of Three Hills Village has spent some time dealing with his greatest treasure, a self-aware plasma pistol, class MX-QR3, which he has learned to call simply “Max.” Max talks to him through a dermal telepathic link when he holds it in his hands, and their conversations are both enlightening and confusing. Janus often thinks Max is laughing at him. Max has Int 12, Wis 14, and Cha 10, for a total of 3 analysis layers. (Two from the Wisdom of 14, +1/2 from the Int of 12, rounded up to 3.) Janus has managed to open one such layer, enough to allow the gun to let him fire it. One day, a pack of baddar bandits attacks Janus. He draws Max and begins firing. Max’s recalcitrance bonus is +2, for the two unanalyzed layers. The GM rolls a 19 + 2 = 21, and Max balks. The GM explains that the fragments of military uniforms the baddars are wearing are in Max’s “Allied Forces” database, and Max won’t fire on them until he (Max) is more comfortable with Janus’ authority (i.e., until more analysis layers have been removed). Janus uses some curses Max taught him, and draws his sword. At least the sword never talks back.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER The first time a soultech device is analyzed is the most important. It is at this point that the mind of the machine forms its impression of the being who is now attempting to wield it, and reacts accordingly. The cliché that “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is especially true when applied to soultech. Failure by more than 10 on the first analysis task makes all other checks more difficult; for each point over 10 that the roll failed by, add +1 to the DC of all checks.