Technology of Haven

horse with cybernetic eye

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Energy Fields

The defining technology of the Haven System is the energy field. Reverse engineered from Fifth World technology, energy fields stop blaster weapons and projectiles going over a certain speed. They can be miniaturized to fit inside a ring, necklace, watch, or other personal accessory, and are distributed freely to all people in the Haven System. They are what sparked the Reversion, and they are what keep the populace safe from projectile weapons, shrapnel, blasters, and the like.

Energy fields do have their downsides, however. They cannot be extended far enough to protect more than about a horse-sized area, they interfere with ducted fans previously used in 'hover' technology, and they interfere with artificial gravity projectors larger than those used in handheld melee weapons. This prevents their use to defend large ground vehicles, spacecraft, or fortifications. This makes bringing ground or aerial vehicles into combat nearly suicidal (most armies bring a few anti-vehicular blasters with them to the field just to make sure), and forces spacecraft and fortifications to armor themselves in expensive composite materials — and a lot of them.

Military Technology

Technological progress can equal almost anything the fantastical can imagine. Advanced material sciences allow for the creation of light, strong swords that won't bend or break under even the most intense stress, and which boast edges that taper down to only a single molecule thick, making them almost impossibly sharp. Armor which was once thought impossible has become merely improbable, and what was once improbable is merely inconvenient or inefficient.

For more detail, visit the Arms + Armor page.

Everyday Technology

Communications

Earbud phones are common among Citizens and nobles alike. They can reach anywhere on the planet, and can be connected to other planets via hubs that stretch across two sides of a Waygate. Vidphones are also available to the rich and powerful — or to anyone else at exorbitant one-time costs. These calls are typically placed through heads up displays projected in front of walls.

Heads Up Displays (HUDs)

Heads up Displays are holographic screens that project information where the user can see it. They can be projected from wrist computers, tabletop computers, control panels, or even inside helmets. They respond to voice commands or gestures, and can display anything from maps to schematics to pre-recorded video. Particularly expensive models can even serve as vidphones.

With proper training, armor HUDs can be used to project carets on top of friendly or enemy figures, provide the names of people based on their armor's heraldry, project 360-degree views around the user, show the view from an ally's helmet, and much more.

The InfoSphere

Information is readily available to most Citizens in the Haven System through personal or public dataterminals. This wealth of information is called the InfoSphere, and although some information is unavailable to the general public (business secrets, personal information, military data, etc), there is a mass of information that is available. Primus, Imperius, and The Lashes are connected to one another through hardwired Way links, allowing someone on Imperius to communicate in near-real-time with someone anywhere else within the Inner System.

Wireless connections to the InfoSphere blanket all major cities, making access to its information near-universal except for those living in remote areas of the Islands of Terran, Arboren, and a few of the Lashes. Even there, satellite feeds or hardwired feeds may be available.

The InfoSphere appears as a virtual reality world with iconographic representations of locations and people. None of the icons have mass, so they pass through one another without hindrance unless privacy screens prevent movement. Computer specialists can sometimes pierce these privacy screens, but attempting to do so is illegal, and so very dangerous.

Fashion

While the Reversion resulted in a revival of medieval fashion, it has definitely been influenced by modern materials and methods of manufacture. Fabrics are lighter, cuts more flattering, and particularly torturous fashion trends have been left in the past. Corsets and bodices are not used to reshape a woman's torso, but to instead provide support and a certain aesthetic. Advances in tailoring technology have resulted in more ornate designs and embroidery. There is still a definite gender dichotomy in Havenite fashion: the majority of women are still expected to wear dresses, particularly noblewomen, though there are plenty of examples of women who favor breeches and jerkins in more casual settings.

Some of the more fascinating features of the modern fashion are color-changing fabrics, unique dyeing techniques, patterned textiles, form-fitting cloth, and more.

Tattoos

Tattoos are considered both fashionable and symbolic, and have been given quite a few technological advances. Methods have been perfected to provide painless and less adverse reactions to the tattooing — though some still prefer to forgo anesthesia for the "pain is gain" component. Amongst Citizens, anywhere on the body is completely acceptable for tattooing, but large facial tattoos tend to be frowned upon in Noble circles. Special inks have been created, that like the filament in fabrics, can alter their colors at the discretion of the bearer. A unique nanomeshing is also used in tattoo art which is implanted under the skin, and creates a canvas for movable shapes and patterns.

In recent generations, tattooing horses and other animals with intricate patterns and designs have been popularized.

Transportation

The Ways

Long distance travel is easily possible through a unique technology that has been in existence since the first colonists came to Haven: the Ways. They are graceful arches of silver- and gold-colored metal that connect in a complicated interplanetary network. They abundantly dot the populated surface of the Haven System's worlds and moons, making most travel instantaneous. Large cities, such as Landing, have hubs of various-sized Waygates, and there are staggeringly large arches in most manufacturing areas. The Ways are used for everyday long-distance travel, transporting resource freights across the entire Haven system, and first-responder alerts to both military and civil emergencies.

While most Ways are public, some exceptionally rich individuals have personal Waygates with limited dialing distances. The Regnant, for example, has access to a private Waygate that is used to get around Imperius for various events and meetings.

Any Waygate may connect to any other Waygate to which the user knows the unique location code. Some Waygates are held permanently open, usually for travel between two major urban areas, while others remain dormant until they are needed to travel to a particular location, at which point they are opened for travel and then closed once more.

During the System Wars, the Waygates were considered critical resources, as the Hostiles would have unlimited access to the rest of the system should they gain control of a Waygate. This has only happened once — during the First System War — and was only countered by the complete destruction of the Fourth World in order to protect the rest of Haven.

Mining Ships

These somewhat ramshackle ships are used to collect resources from the Desolation and bring them back to the Ring. They are owned by House Orelle, House Khournas, or one of a very few Citizen-owned corporation. They have crews ranging from five to twenty, and spend between six and ten months on ship at any given time. It is not a comfortable living, or a particularly lucrative one, but it's one that draws hard-luck people with mechanical skills. This generation of mining ships are nearing obsolescence, and both the Khourni and Orelles have expressed interest in seeing a new generation of them, if attention can be drawn away from the Hostiles.

Traditional Transportation

Due to the incompatibility of hover vehicles and energy shields, more archaic transportation has become the norm for short distances when it is not worth the use of the Ways. Due to their cultural importance to the ideas of knighthood and their ability to be protected by energy fields, horses have become the most common short-distance and military transportation. Horses brought from Old Earth have been genetically modified to match and surpass the destriers of legend, even reaching up to 20 or 21 hands high. The quick and agile thoroughbred, variations of graceful walkers, and ponies of various breeds were also repopulated. The rebirth of horseback transportation has also caused the rebirth of horse barding. Refined technologies have allowed horse armor to be lightweight and relatively unencumbering, and some have even integrated their own energy fields.

Wheeled transport and hover-sleds are still utilized, but in a limited capacity. Most freight brought through the Ways is transported on large hover platforms for ease of labor, and large six-wheeled motor vehicles called crawlers are used in a purely civilian capacity to transport most everyone but the super-rich within cities. Horse-drawn carriages are seen as a symbol of status, and as a statement that the owner can use valuable horses for the simple purpose of transportation across the city or down the street.

All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) are used by a select portion of the Haven population — mainly in the Crescent of Khournas and on the moons of Ignis and Inculta. In most other areas, they are impracticable due to terrain or cultural reasons. Even in areas where they are used, they are used in the wilderness and are often forbidden on city streets.

all terrain vehicle, colors vary

Nubilus Gliders

The Citizens of Nubilus are known for their powered gliders that use clean propulsion technology to navigate the skies of their cloud-filled moon. They are usually two-seaters, allowing for a pilot and scout in each craft. They are capable of high altitude flight, though they cannot support exospheric travel. While some are pleasure craft used by tourists and day-trippers, others are used to scout out titanium veins for later extraction. The cloud-gliders can can only be used in Nubilus due to its inherent low-grav environment.

Medical Technology

The advances in technology don't just include communications, weapons, armor, and transportation. Medical technology can heal grievous wounds, cure once-deadly diseases, replace lost limbs with cybernetic versions, correct defects of a child still in the womb, and more.

Medicine

Most medicines are synthetic, creating in labs in vast quantities to maintain the population size. There is a large variety of medicines that range from painkillers to cold remedies, though there are still a few diseases that continue to go untreatable. Medicine is usually administered through oral tablets or hyposprays administered to the neck.

Illicit Drugs

Red Eye: Administered via eye drops, the drug Red Eye is an opiate that induces a calm, euphoric state. It turns the whites of the user's eyes red, hence its name. Like AMP, it is a common drug that circulates throughout Haven. There are adverse withdraw effects for long time users that include sweating, depressing, anxiety, and fever. This drug is easily obtained by PCs.

AMP: Administered via hypospray, AMP is a amphetamine that causes hyperactivity, euphoria, high alertness and concentration, and obsessive behavior. Like Red Eye, it is a common drug that circulates throughout Haven. There are adverse withdraw effects for long-time users and is highly addictive. It is a popular drug in the Westend of Landing and also among the affluent. This drug is easily obtained by PCs.

Destro: Administered via inhaler, Destros (also known as the Destroyer) is an extremely dangerous drug. It causes hallucinations, violent behavior, and a decrease of physical stimulation. It gives the user a sense of power and control while actually wrecking total havoc on the user's neurological system. It is very easy to become addicted to Destros, and it can result in death with prolonged use. Eight years ago, there was an epidemic of Destros users, but it was abruptly quashed out after most of the suppliers went mysteriously out of business. There are now only occasional cases of Destros use. This drug is highly difficult for PCs to obtain.

Contraceptive

There have been many advances in preventing pregnancy, for both men and women. They come in a variety of forms from shots to pills to semi-permanent …

Cybernetics

While eyes, ears, and entire limbs can be replaced with cybernetic components if they are lost, the human skeletal structure cannot handle mechanical strength greater than that offered by the owner's original body. Although cybernetic eyes and ears could theoretically have additional capabilities added to them, the human brain is not constructed to process such information, so only human-normal senses can be used.

No registered cybersurgeon is allowed to remove a healthy body part for the purpose of replacing it with a cybernetic version. Even someone with enough disassociation from their humanity to volunteer to have their own body parts removed would have to find an unlicensed, underground cybersurgeon to do the operation.

Advanced Healing

Those truly injured, but not needing cybernetic replacements, have their wounds protected by synthskin patches, and are treated to long-term care in one of the many excellent hospitals in the Haven System. These hospitals have holographic viewers for looking inside the human body and seeing what is out of place, auto-diagnosers for testing for diseases, and a full staff of drone and human nurses and doctors.

Genetic Alteration

Human genetic alteration is only legal to a limited extent, and not possible far beyond that. Birth defects can be corrected in utero, but gender and features cannot be selected, nor can any changes be made beyond baseline human standard.

Animal genetic manipulation has progressed a bit further, allowing for the breeding of destriers for knights to ride. It has not progressed further than that, however, as it is simply not necessary, and Havenite culture tends to be focused on the next System War.