December 7, 2004
IRE #3: Pearl Harbor
Its a no-brainer, really, what this latest edition of Inspired by Recent Events is going to be about.
(And yes, I've decided to stick with that name. It suits me better than any alternatives that I've thought of). And thanks to Arref for the button!
Anyway, the third IRE is going to be about the day that lives in infamy, the Japanese attack on the naval base of Pearl Harbor, Dec 7. 1941.
So many possibilities and choices for this one. But I am going to go with the out of print (but I found a copy cheap recently at the Source during their holiday sale) and go with Blue Planet. An oceanic world is somehow appropriate for a Pearl Harbor analogue, don't you think?
There are lots of tensions and simmering possible conflicts on Poseidon, and I would have the characters be at ground zero for one of them. One of the Incorporate states, tired of the encroachment of one of its rivals, does the unthinkable and launches a lightning military attack. Their goal is a fait accompli, to completely take the situation in hand so that the Colonial government will not be able to intervene or affect the situation once executed.
The PCs can work for either Incorporate, or just be at the site of the attack. How will they react, before and afterwards? If they are part of the attackers, how will they condone it afterwards? If they are part of the defenders or bystanders...what do they do in the aftermath?
Like the meme. You're welcome about the button.
Posted by: Arref at December 7, 2004 2:02 PMThe Dreaming Astronauts
Humanity's penultimate century left the shape of things to come very clear. Nanoscience, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBICS) clearly started to converge. Globalization, the dominant theme of the post-Cold War economic boom (1989-2001), left no niches for competing social systems on Earth. Economic growth in Asian nations first matched, and then passed the Western powers. Social scientists noticed the accelerating pace of change as early as 1970. Moore's Law passed from a technical observation into the lexicon of the cognoscenti, and then to stock-market advice by the end of period.
Globalization's ascendance left ever-more malcontents in its wake. Technological change drove ever-more powerful tools into ever-more hands. Warning signs of the approaching conflict included the first World Trade Center attacks and the Oklahoma City bombing in USA, the steady tragedies in Israel-Palestine, and the Sarin gas attack in Japan. The second World Trade Center attacks in 2001 ended the post-Cold War era. American response polarized the Western nations. The precedent for preemptive and unilateral war fueled world-wide military growth, especially in robotics, directed energy weapons, simulation, and later--NBICS tools. (Note 1) Moore's Law continued its march, and a few foresightful individuals plotted humans on the same curve. (Note 2)
During the War for Globalization, radicals quickly learned to manipulate the policy of stable states or face globalized militaries. America made the first of these strikes in Afghanistan and Iraq. The dominant image of the century seemed to be Barnett's "Pentagon's New Map" (Note 3) instead of Moravec's curve. By 2020, the "War", such as it had ever been, was over. The Bush Legacy left America obligated in Central Asia and the Middle East, weakly engaged in Latin America, and estranged from its European all\ies. Europe's isolationism and demographic shifts left it increasingly conservative. Twin obligations to Africa for cheap human labor and to Russia for its energy needs elevated Russia to a dominant positi\on within the EU. United Korea's alliance with China and American entanglement in Middle East left Japan isolated during the Taiwan Missle Crisi\s. A decade later, Australia faced a similar problem during the Indonesian Civil War. Ultimately, Japan became the most independent member of th\e Pan-Asia Alliance, while Australia became the most powerful member of the non-aligned group and a close associate of the EU.
Once again the world enjoyed post-war economic growth and once again technology surged. Moore's Law continued its steepening climb. A Candian company's breakthrough architecture made supercomputers fashionable and rendered the Turing Test moot. These years resembled the post World War One period, where a number of powers survived the previous conflict and the whole world grew rich with new technologies. In particular, the USA and its allies Canada, Mexico, and Brazil expected increasing competition with the Pan-Asian Alliance. This expressed itself in the Second Space Race. China's lunar landing led directly to its base Shang-Ti. The American's returned to the moon fifty years after their first visit, and built Tranquility Station. India, America, and China also built major LEO complexes. A reinvigorated United Nations added the African Union to the Security Council, and revised the Outer Space Treaty. Public pressure to slow technological and social change held out hope for letting everyone reap the rewards of science without environmental devastation or civic disintegration.
Underneath the table everyone had guns. The War for Globalization only restored a world-system of competitive nation-states. Nuclear proliferation was technically a dead issue, but every country of a few million or more had access to the basic science to reproduce weapons nearly a century old. Chemical warfare lay within the reach of even small industrial bases, and a single major university could drive a covert biowarfare program. Wide-scale information warfare remained in check only through the threat of massive retaliation. Spacefaring nations hid secret weapons research, whole national laboratories, inside their orbital or lunar bases. A second Cold War began without anyone noticing. In this war, it wasn't how many weapons a nation had that mattered, but what they might have--and how well they hid it.
Information warfare started off humanity's final war. Major computer networks, especially those supporting the new near-human machines, suffered increasingly obvious and powerful attacks. The Chinese moon base went silent. The USAF's orbital complex depressurized--and launched an illegal nuclear strike at the American lunar colony. Almost a dozen new diseases appeared in southeast Asia and Europe, before spreading world-wide. No one declared war nor took responsibility; accusations flew--and then, so did nuclear warheads.
The PCs fit into this setting as survivors of the nuclear attack on Tranquility Station. They've had a few days to prepare for the incoming missle strike--time for those Science and Engineering skills to see some use! But the blast itself does far too much damage. The main computer, a new super-model, barely works outside its optical core. The remaining industrial plant matches the inital expedition. The farms have vacuum for air. Communications are down, possibly for good. All spacecraft capable of reaching Earth orbit are destroyed, and nothing friendly remains there anyway. Some survivors, depending on their actions, are okay, but a few have serious injuries. The reactor still works--there's plenty of power and decades worth of fuel, and oxygen from the rocks so long as the power lasts. Only a few man-years of food and water exist. Not enough for everyone. A couple of black projects exist: human hibernation might let the survivors wait for rescue; they might try rebuilding the computer and arbeiter robots--self-replicating machinery might save the day (Note 4); a few humans might make it to Earth's surface if they make a ship; and then's there's the military option: Tranquility Station's hidden purpose as a last-strike missle base...(Note 5)
And the future? GURPS Reign of Steel , of course.
Notes
Only Steele's book is fiction.
(All of the links got stripped from the comment, but each item exists on the web. A quick trip to google should give results.)
1 See PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly:
Thomas, T.L. "The Mind Has No Firewall."
Ibid. "Deterring Information Warfare: A New Strategic Challenge"
Nygren, K.P. "Emerging Technologies and Exponential Change: Implications for Army Transformation"
2 Moravec, Hans. "Evolution of Computer Power/Cost"
4 NASA. "Advanced Automation for Space Missions"
5 Steele, Allen. "The Tranquility Alternative".
Soundtrack suggestions:
Icon of Coil; VNV Nation; Line Assembly; Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, 1st Movement.
Posted by: Jay Dugger at December 7, 2004 11:59 PMNormally I spell with greater accuracy. I need sleep, and don't recall how to spell check in emacs.
:-P
Posted by: Jay Dugger at December 8, 2004 12:01 AMCool future Jay. I like the Tranquility tie also.
Posted by: ScottM at December 10, 2004 4:45 PMThank you, ScottM. The original idea comes from an "Adventure Seed" in Pulver's "GURPS Reign of Steel", as filtered through Stratfor.com and Barnes's "Mother of Storms".
Posted by: Jay Dugger at December 11, 2004 10:39 PM