Science and Technology
From ElanVital
This page summarizes details on the technology and science available in Voltumnus nowadays.
Contents |
Weapons
When the Imperial settlers arrived on Voltumnus, they had two broad classes of weapons available to them: Firearms and lasers. That would've been just fine in the Empire, and they've likely been the mainstay of settlers for most of Titania's history.
There have, however, been other innovations which are derived from the unique circumstances on Voltumnus. Firearms are great kinetic weapons, but resource shortages on Voltumnus make a firearms package, which combines a dense projectile with a chemical charge that transfers its potential chemical energy in a chaotic manner to kinetic energy in the projectile, less efficient than it would be in other circumstances. Lasers are a preferred alternative, but are limited by being purely line of sight weapons based on light. In addition, Sessuyan began adapting to initially devastated laser attacks by interweaving refractive materials into the armor of their beasts to diminish the effectiveness of lasers.
Energy is not much of a problem. Fuel cells developed by Titania Poly-Dynamics have made energy abundant, leaving weapons designers with the question of how to best use the energy. Two uniquely Titanian innovations have been the rail gun and the arc gun.
The theories behind the operation of rail guns have existed for thousands of years, but the Empire turned to laser cannons because line of sight was not a problem in space and the vast amounts of energy that could be developed aboard Imperial space vessels made them the deadliest weapons in the Empire. Rail guns have seen a renaissance on Voltumnus, where they provide the power of a laser cannon while allowing beyond the horizon attacks previously available to firearms. A rail gun simply uses the energy (anything from a fuel cell in the case of personnel sized rail guns to connections to the Titanian nuclear power grid for wall mounted defenses) available to it to generate a magnetic field that propels a dense projectile at an enemy at high speeds. It's the same logic as a firearm with a different source of energy. Rail guns, given their strong recoil, are often mounted weapons. Lasers and firearms are the preferred personnel weapons of the Titanian armed forces, but rail guns have been seen sparingly. The Titanian Navy uses rail guns almost exclusively, eschewing laser cannons almost entirely given their line of sight limitations and significant diffraction problems when engaging submerged targets like a Carinac Dragon. Rail guns are also not popular for aircraft, though some designs have attempted to build airframes around a single large rail gun. Rail guns have made the Titanian wall almost impenetrable given the firepower that they can bring to bear on even the most heavily armored beasts. The largest fixed rail guns are mounted on the wall, while the battleship Archimedes' six rail guns are the most powerful outside the city. Indeed, the rail guns on the Archimedes opened fire on advancing Sessuyan Leviathans over seventy miles away from the target. (In contrast, the largest battleship ever built, the Yamato and its sister ships, had a range of about 26 miles on their guns).
The arc gun is another means of deploying a vast amount of power. It is more appropriate called an electrical potential gun, or as it is colloquially known by the troops a lightning gun. The arc gun stores a vast amount of electric charge generated by fuel cells or other sources, then creates a different of electric potential between itself and its target, creating a predefined channel for all that charge to flow down. It is very much like being struck by lightning, which makes the arc gun at times unpredictable. It is also very useful against large numbers of beasts, and more advanced models are able to 'spread' the electric charge along multiple paths to strike multiple targets. When the arc gun works, it's devastating. But it is unpredictable, and if the technicians operating the gun are not careful, all too easy in the heat of combat, they may get a more general burst of electric charge that could strike allies as well as enemies. The Sessuyan have adapted to this weapon like all weapons. Their electromancers have silenced arc guns or redirected their strikes by interfering with the electric potential, and certain beasts have been modified either to attract the charge or divert it away from themselves. Still, the arc gun remains a powerful tool in the Titanian arsenal. It should be distinguished from the arc rods that run the length of almost all Titanian Navy vessels. They share a similar architecture in terms of storing and disbursing charge, the arc rod to kill small to medium sized beasts that might be swarming the ship, but the signature characteristic of the arc gun is the ability to direct that charge.
The arms race between the Sessuyan and the humans has generated a wide variety of additional weapons, some outlandish, some devastatingly powerful but too costly to deploy en masse. One of the most recent and successful innovations is the Furutaka-Yzerman Gun, or FYG as it is known on the battlefield. Furutaka and Yzerman set out to solve the problems with the arc gun, to reduce uncertainty and the potential for disruption while maintaining its devastating power. To that end they created a weapon that relied on magnetohydrodynamics to guide charge via a super heated plasma moving at very high speeds. The Furutaka-Yzerman plasma dynamic relies on fuel cells to power a system that ionizes gas into a plasma. The gun then channels the plasma through a magnetic chamber that focuses and directs the hydrodynamic plasma into a controlled beam. The beam is capable of punching through even the toughest beast armor, but lacks the arc gun's ability to diffuse charge, and thus extremely high temperatures, throughout the target's body. One of the key advantages of the FYG is its scaleability. It is used by Deus Ex soldiers against heavy targets, and mounted on vehicles. Its downsides when compared to a laser cannon are clear, the FYG relies on charges that have to be replaced after each firing whereas a laser cannon can draw on a constant pool of power. Like a laser cannon the FYG is also limited by line of sight, which has prevented its widespread adoption by the ships of the Titanian Navy. The FYG is currently most ubiquitous in the Titanian Air Force, as it packs the punch of a rail gun without the problems of recoil, and it can be refitted by aerodynamic. The fast and nimble Peregrine fighter, the craft which is believed to have turned the skies in favor of the humans, is often seen sporting a large FYG underneath its right wing close to the fuselage. This modified FYG contains up to 3 charges which the pilot can deploy at once to create a most sustained beam. The Peregrine dive bomber configuration has been key to a more flexible style of warfare that eventually pushed the Sessuyan back on their heels. Cleanbugs, their carapaces woven through with conductive fibers that disperse the charge of an arc gun and reflact a laser cannon, while fast enough to avoid heavy long range rail guns, were often deployed by the Sessuyan in the waning decades of the war to smash human lines. Fast Peregine dive bombers armed with FYGs were able to respond to Cleanbug sightings and deliver blows that could punch through their tough armor within minutes of taking off from their bases.
The harsh and personal nature of Titanian warfare has also led to the development of a wide variety of melee weapons. Swords, axes, spears and pikes are all ubiquitous on the battlefield to fend off Caelve and Wendigo attacks. Numerous experiments over the years have attempted to translate the gains in other weapons to those most intimately in the soldier's hands, but many will tell you that there is nothing better than a sturdy composite axe or sword. Some specialized weapons, like blast pikes that open up a beast's armor in preparation for a swift plasma strike, do exist and are used in wide numbers. The aforementioned blast pikes are a mainstay of the Titanian Navy, which has to combine long range firepower with an ability to fend off beasts like Carinac Dragons, hopper devilfish and other modified crustaceans trying to climb aboard the vessel.
Specific Models
BR-35 'Montezuma' Battle Rifle
VE Personal Railgun - A handheld-sized railgun, using the term loosely. Requires Great brawn to wield if braced or Superb brawn to wield two-handed unbraced. Limited by heavy fuel cell drain.
FYG Personal - Handheld version of the FYG
Laser Pistols - Usually have stun modules included under the barrel so the weapon can be switched from lethal shot to stun.
Plasma Pistols - High-damage, inflict devastating wounds, typically only cleared for use on beasts.
Medical Tech
If you live in Titania itself, the prognosis is rosy. The government does not pay for all required medical care, but medical insurance is fairly easy to find. Cancer is oft curable when not metastatized, genetic diseases are usually (but not always) screened for and removed in utero, limbs can be reattached, etc. If you live in the frontier, access to medical care is harder to find and more esoteric procedures may actually require a trip to the capital/outside funding. If you are in the Militia, the government does pick up the tab for your medical care.
Sessuyan Biotechnology
Genetic Engineering
Genetic modification is widespread and powerful, especially since peace with the Sessuyan - to the extent that some people in the younger generations have genuine advantages over vanilla Homo sapiens. People can be made more beautiful, smarter, stronger, etc. However, you can only improve on the raw material so much. Typically only the upper-middle classes can afford these kind of investments in their children, however.
Vehicles
Cars, motorcycles, whatever. Probably often propelled by fuel cells. Also likely helicopters and planes, but very little non-business plane travel as the settlements aren't that far apart - aircraft mostly for military use and reconnaissance/exploration. The island city has a lot of boats and ships; poorer people have wooden old-style ones, and some people copy the aesthetics of old boats but hide new technology within them.
Communication Technology
Individuals all carry datapads, the size of modern smartphones but as fully functional as a computer. Monitor docks (full-sized monitors and keyboards) are commonly seen in public places so that the datapads can be used more easily. Higher-end datapads often have holographic projectors.
The Internet exists in Titania and is wirelessly accessible from basically anywhere, even in Charon and Fort Solomon (though the latter two have dark spots). TV signals, phone calls and data exchange all travel on the same network, making troubleshooting easy and datapads universal, but also empowering hackers to create all sorts of mischief.
Robotics
Robots exist in Titania, fulfilling multiple purposes. No androids that can pass for human have been built yet, although androids that are vaguely humanoid do exist. Generally robots are confirmed to various menial duties, but in Titania richer individuals can buy robotic servants as a status symbol. AI is around but out of the range of luxury pricing; only a few fully realized AIs exist, handling important roles in major systems.
