Part 5: Chapter 5-7 Mnesists
If I ever have to type Mériphérique, Menemopolis, or Cartier-Wells again in my lifetime, it will be too soon.Chapter 5 Mnesists
quote:
Neo-Paris Landmarks - Saint-Michel Dam
An immense work of art, the Saint-Michel damn contains a vast mass of water known as lake Saint-Louis. It represent the pinnacle of a huge construction project designed to control the erratic tides of the river water in the Neo-Paris basin
Erected in the early 2060s; it is a system of dams, locks and reservoirs protecting the buildings and citizens of Neo-Paris from the damaging effects of flooding and rainwater. The Saint-Michel dam is at the heart of this fluvial structure and holds 65% of the total mass of water that is contained in the city artificially. This large-scale structure dominates the Saint-Michel quarter, protecting a substantial area of Mid-Paris
The Lake Saint-Louis extends upstream of the Saint-Michel damn, and the most wretched areas of Deep Paris are located along its banks. The lake separates the most insalubrious zones (Slum 404) from the affluent districts (Saint-Michel). Further east, it surrounds La Bastille, sealing it off from the rest of the city.
Besides allowing the authorities to control the water levels, the Saint-Michel dam also serves as a hydroelectric facility, and generates a significant amount of power for the city.
quote:
Neo-Paris History - Climate Migration
*This Contribution was considered biased by the majority of viewers.*
A constant stream of climate migrants flocked to the borders and fortress boundaries of habitable areas. Migrants fleeing the devastated, flooded and arid areas were easy prey for looters and organized crime networks, and today between 500 million and 1 billion human beings are destitute. The number of stateless persons with no safe haven began to increase dramatically in 2038: ship cities sailed around aimlessly, bound for nowhere. Refugee camps were full of the poorest people, nomadic micro-states appeared, and shanty towns sprang up in red areas(toxic waste landfill sites and contaminated military zones). Most nations built or reinforced their defensive walls and structures, and erected coastal protection facilities to hold back the human tide. This happened in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, and in the European countries where legitimate governments were still clinging to power.
The city states that had been spared or rebuilt after the civil war relocated their citizens, creating ghettos and human wastelands on the periphery of their territories; vast, lawless areas teeming with foreign nationals, illegal immigrants and the most deprived of all humanity.
quote:
Neo-Paris Landmarks - Memorize HQ
Dominating the Saint-Michel district, the Memorize head office is the policy center of this multinational where decisions are made on the company's development and implementation strategies, technological future and commercial orientation.
Located in the center of the Saint-Michel comfortress, the Memorize HQ occupies the company's main tower overlooking the chic Saint-Michel quarter with its massive glass dome. The tower is an icon; a symbol of innovation and prosperity, and man Neo-Parisians are justifiably proud of the Memorize tower.
From certain old, narrow streets you can clearly see the famous company slogan from a distance, lighting up the city with it's promise: "Trust us, we won't forget you".
It is here, on the top floors of the Memorize HQ, that Scylla Cartier-Wells continues the work of her father-in-law, the company founder, Antoine Cartier-Wells, shaping the company's destiny with a rod of iron, providing billions of Sensen users with a constantly renewable source of imagination and creativity.
quote:
Neo-Paris VIPs - Scylla Cartier-Wells
A pure product of the "Brains Hothouse" funded by Memorize, Simrin "Scylla" Sial was always destined to make her career in the prestigious multinational. After her marriage to Charles Cartier-Wells, she quickly rose up the ranks to the top of this most powerful privately-owned company, which she proceeded to rule with a rod of iron.
Born in 2037 in Delhi to an Indian father and an Ethiopian mother, Simrin Sial grew up in a wealthy family of IT Experts that were employed at Memorize. Her difficult personality prompted her father to nickname her "Scylla", an alias that stuck and which she would formally adopt as her first name.
Scylla Sial upheld the family tradition and studied computer science at the brains hothouse in Delhi founded by Antoine Cartier-Wells. She followed her father to Neo-Paris where he was transferred in 2052 when the multinational moved its head office back to the renovated capitol. Here, she met Charles Cartier-Wells, a young and brilliant scientist who was already researching the mechanics of memory digitization. She joined his team as an assistant in 2056, and they married the following year.
After the birth of their first child, she remained her husband's assistant until 2064, when she lost her left leg in a serious car accident. After several months of rehabilitation and physical reconstruction, she returned to work at the Memorize head office and joined the Executive Board in spring 2065. Exactly two years after her accident she was appointed CEO, the supreme head of the company; a position she still holds.
A woman of few words and little time for social niceties, Scylla Cartier-Wells forged her entire image as a woman totally dedicated to her work and her company. Under her leadership Memorize became the most famous and prosperous economic powerhouse in the world.
quote:
Memorize and the Sensen - First Military Application
Real-time sharing of tactical information has always been the dream of the great strategists and generals. Despite the persistent aim of Memorize to restrict development of its inventions to civilian programs, it has been proved that applications based on the Sensen technology have been deployed in military operational zones for the last 25 years. The program known as "F&F-63" is a blatant example of this.
Military personnel quickly realized how though sharing technology could be applied to their combat activities. The release of the sensen in 2059 and the subsequent digitization of memory in 64 immediately offered much greater potential. Evidence has emerged of widespread testing of numerous sensen applications in late stages of the war between Canada and the Russian Federation(In the mid-2060s) and, more generally, throughout the regional conflict for control of the Arctic Ocean. "F&F-63" is notable among these programs, many of which were never made public, and is a psychological assistance program for infantry soldiers. F&F-63 wiped horrific or disturbing memories from the minds of soldiers and restored their mental equilibrium in near real time. The program was also of strategic interest, because it backed up the soldier's memory, including traumatic memories, during the active phase, which their superior officers could consult and analyze at a later date.
Remember that since it was founded, Memorize had always refused to carry out or endorse military programs based on its technology. Successive Memorize CEOs, Antoine and Scylla Cartier-Wells, were permanently poised to take legal proceedings against any authorities who developed such programs. However, it must be noted that Sensen's military applications have continued to proliferate over the last 20 years.
quote:
Technology - Pick-Socket
The pick-socket is a small, versatile, illegal and efficient device that generates a dual digital and energy salvo to open digital locks and security systems.
If you have forgotten your entry code, the locksmith who comes to open your door may well have an electronic skeleton key that will do the job for him. Dubbed the "Pick-Socket", this is merely the digital version of its ancestor, the pick-gun.
As usual in the security sector, the appearance of the Pick-Socket came in the wake of the development of digital lock technology and the spread of digital locking mechanisms. The first known pick-sockets were a crude assembly of basic electronic and digital components. Faced with the constant innovations in digital lock manufacture, skilled craftsmen and other shady locksmiths gradually refined the pick-socket technology, notably by simplifying its essential components. During the last few years the S.A.B.R.E. Force has discovered tools capable of opening the most stubborn locks during the search of criminal stashes; Swiss Army knives for the thieves of the digital era! Luckily pick-sockets of this caliber are rare, and far beyond the reach of amateur cat burglars!
The pick-sockets' operating principles aren't complicated (It's all in the quality of the manufacture): it emits a salvo of junk data and energy capable of overloading and cracking numerically coded systems forcing them to enter binary mode I.E. ON or OFF. A pick-socket must be charged up to reliably emit a salvo, which could considerably hamper a thief confronted with a series of physically diverse digital locking mechanisms.
Chapter 6 Mnesists
quote:
Neo-Paris History - New Economic Pact
Memorize was the prime motor in the resurgence of Neo-Paris, but many other leading companies also played an important part in the city's economic growth
2059 was the year of the new economic pact, the era of the great projects and the return of employment opportunities. Every part of the city buzzed with the same optimistic energy of the Mériphérique slowly rose up around it. Stunning cathedrals of glass and titanium spanned the old Haussmann buildings as the city was reconstructed or reinvented street by street. At the center of this feverish activity, a handful of brilliant people in Neo-Paris planned the secret keys to the city's future prosperity. Amalia Leblanc-Koenig had just discovered the hyper-fertility chain that enabled vertical farms to be built above ground so that, for the first time in its history, the city was able to produce more food than it consumed. Darren Grimaud designed the industrial version of the REC (Rain Energy Converter) during this period; a coating that converted kinetic energy from raindrops into electricity to power vehicles. Charles Cartier-Wells was still working on digitizing the human memory; a crucial discovery that would revolutional civilization and make Neo-Paris the major economic powerhouse in this brave new world.
quote:
Neo-Paris Landmarks - Mnemopolis Tower
The building of Mnemopolis tower dates from the early 2060s. It was designed to house the Memorize central servers, but its transformation into arcology only dates from 2072. Permanently evolving and almost entirely self-sufficient, Mnemopolis tower represents the most ambitious large-scale and social memoriel experimentation project in the city.
Inspired by the "Radiant City" built by the architect Le Corbusier in the 20th century, Charles Cartier-Wells commissioned a gigantic arcological tower in the center of Neo-Paris based on the philosophy of a perfect city. According to its creator, this complex heralds "A future where human beings will experience peaceful and total social symbiosis through integral memory sharing."
Its height and shape (a slender tripod) make it immediately recognizable, but what makes it absolutely unique is a gigantic orange cube, suspended in the air and suspended by the three buildings forming the complex. Dubbed the "conception Cube", this orange heart houses both the Memorize central servers and the laboratories and apartments owned by Charles Cartier-Wells.
The residents of Mnemopolis enjoy a special status in Neo-Paris and life in the tower offers an enviable lifestyle; comfort, luxury, security, tranquility and freedom. However, in exchange for these ideal conditions, the residents have agreed to share their memory and experiment with new social norms through increased use of the Sensen. To a certain extent, they are primarily citizens of Memorize rather than citizens of Neo-Paris, apart from the purposes of administration.
The philosophical principles of Mnemopolis draw on anthropological theories of collective violence, whereby acts of hatred and brutality arise out of a fear of others. Charles Cartier-Wells' hypothesis is that pooling memories of all the individuals in a group will eradicate their mutual fear and therefore the mistrust, lack of empathy and aggression that normally accompanies it. The Mnemopolis slogans("Do not be afraid.", "Do not ask what you can do for Mnemopolis, but ask what Mnemopolis can do for you!") are perfect examples of this new social contract.
quote:
Memorize and the Sensen - First Civilian Application
As soon as the Sensen was launched on the market, the demand for specific applications became overwhelming. Responding to social demand and a collective psychological need, Memorize focused its research on memory storage, and the memory bank opened in 2066, the first publically available civilian application.
From the beginning of the age of the Sensen, the most popular process was memory backup. Some clients wanted to keep their valuable memories safe, while others wanted to discard embarrassing, guilty, or painful recollections. Many of them had suffered cruelly during the European civil war and still bore the scars. Some could also use the Sensen to forget or erase specific errors or sufferings and reinvent themselves, while others wanted to be reborn and start over. Certain observers of technological consumer trends compared this craze to the tidal wave of TV and cellphones which had also taken just a few years to become the norm.
Memorize created the first memory bank in 2066 to respond to this tangible and urgent need in a post-war society. Scylla Cartier-Wells assumed overall control of the company and, not surprisingly, appointed her husband as scientific project leader. Charles Cartier-Wells designed a working solution in less than three weeks. He was convinced that traditional digital storage would be both ineffective and insufficient for saving larges volumes of "memory pathways", so he decided to use the prototype memoriel network H3O, with a substantially enhanced physical framework (equivalent to hundreds of servers). The first tests confirmed the virtually infinite capacity of this new supercomputer. Public pressure was so strong and the lab results so convincing, that Memorize rushed the H3O into operation. H3O would not be limited to running a memory bank for Sensen users; due to its high level of performance, Scylla Cartier-Wells decided to use it as the Memorize central server that same year.
quote:
Technology - SAT Technology
SAT technologies have turned the use of automated care systems, access to patient profiling and administering of nano-agents into routine procedures.
SomAgenT or SAT technology was the result of a change in the medical paradigm arising from three developments:
-automation of non-surgical procedures (SAT terminals and stations).
-profiling of patient monitoring (resilience factor)
-extensive, authorized range of preventative and curative nano-technologies.
SAT terminals evolved out of these developments, and automated systems are now commonly used throughout neo-Paris offering subscribers a full diagnostic and care service. Depending on the medical need (wound, inflammation, poisoning, fracture, migraine, etc) the terminal administers a nano-flow of somatic agents into the client's body to restore the correct level of physical performance treating any condition that doesn't require serious surgical intervention quickly and painlessly.
The authorities recently increased the distribution of SAT stations across the city for the less fortunate citizens. The system is restricted to first aid services, but despite its limitations (the system has no record of the patient's medical history), the SAT station dispenses an anonymous, free service which is accessible everywhere and which could be vital in an emergency.
Applications were developed outside the public sphere to permanently boost an individual's resilience factor by flooding their body with restorative nano-agents. Dubbed "SAT Patches", the applications were developed for the exclusive use of the S.A.B.R.E. Force but are also available on the Black Market.
quote:
Neo-Paris VIPs - Olga Sedova
A bounty hunter specializing in tracking down dangerous criminals, Olga Sedova is undoubtedly among the elite of the profession. She and her husband David are the most famous trackers in Neo-Paris.
Originally from the Ukraine, Olga Sedova rose to prominence as a bounty hunter in the duo she formed with her husband David. They met during the turbulent years of the reconstruction of Neo-Paris, which resulted in the privatization of policing activities and a proliferation of bounty hunters who pledged to enforce the rulings of the justice system. She suggested they combine their expertise, and the pair proved to be a ridiculously effective partnership. Reputed for their efficiency and ruthlessness, the duo's golden age was the great Errorist hunt of 2082. They arrested 37 Errorists; an achievement that earned them the "Dead or Alive" award that same year.
But a shadow looms over the Sedova couple's impressive tally; rumors persist that David is afflicted by a memoriel disturbance. He never concealed the addiction he developed in his early tracking years when he implanted memories of his targets into his mind to understand them better and locate them more efficiently. He has withdrawn from view in recent months, leaving ogal to arrest fugitive criminals alone; an activity she continues to pursue with ferocious zeal.
Chapter 7 Mnesists
quote:
Neo-Paris History - Deluge 2.0
Contrary to popular believe hyped by the media, it wasn't the rising waters waters but the violent storms caused by global warming that triggered the long-forecast humanitarian and ecological disasters. Dubbed "Deluge 2.0", the catastrophe ravaged the planet from Spring, 2038.
Up until 2038, 60% of the world's population had lived along the coastal regions and land bordering the rich seaboards. These areas had the most fertile alluvial soils, extensive maritime trade via its megaports and residential and tourist sites that served the industrialized countries.
The melting of the glaciers had started in the late 20th century; although this phenomenon had been anticipated and had awakened public awareness, the expansion of the ocean masses resulting from global warming was tragically unforeseen. The swelling of the great seas resulted in perpetual storms and hurricanes that triggered further climatic catastrophes and the collapse of entire infrastructures. Some European cities had less than 10 days without rain during the whole of 2038.
Governments failed to cope with the constant disasters resulting from landslides, floods, and torrential rain, breakdowns in communication networks and energy distribution and nuclear accidents. Plagued by disorganization, famine, fear and rising water levels, whole regions went into meltdown. Now called "Climate refugees", the populations in these areas boarded floating city ships and skiffs in their millions, fleeing land that was either arid or submerged. In a few short months, communications and travel across all continents had been reduced to the level of a pre-industrial era.
The 2035 census estimated a world population of 9 billion; 10 years later it was thought at least half that number had perished.
quote:
Neo-Paris Landmarks - Mériphérique
Encircling the entire city, the Mériphérique is the most imposing public work in Neo-Paris, and sadly the only one that refugees and illegal immigrants swarming into the city from the sea and other countries will ever see.
The construction of the Mériphérique was the largest public undertaking in the "Phoenix" reconstruction project as conceived by the architect Kaori Sheridan. Its proportions reflect the image of a city born again: immense! The Mériphérique is a massive hexagonal embankment around the city of Neo-Paris, 70 meters high and 50 meters wide and bordered by two slightly convex, reinforced concrete walls that serve to retain huge volumes of water. It is built on the foundations of ancient fortifications that demarcated and protected Paris in the 19th century.
Entrance into the structure is via three gigantic locks that control the inbound and outbound traffic of goods and humans.
The Mériphérique was originally designed to protect the city from flooding, rainwater and the devastating effects of storms, which had become a yearly occurrence since the late 2030s. It was also designed to manage the water levels inside Neo-Paris itself, forming a containment reservoir for the water courses and rainwater draining out of the city. After it was built, the Mériphérique proved extremely effective at controlling and limiting these flows of water. With the increased influx of climate refugees, illegal immigrants and desperate souls attracted to the bright lights and riches of the new Neo-Paris, controlling people would soon take precedence over controlling water.
quote:
Memorize and the Sensen - Sensen 6: response to the memo criminals
Faced with the legitimate concerns arising from the risk of memoriel intrusion, Memorize has continued to improve its products and networks. The new Sensen 6 represents yet another attempt by Memorize to combat Memo Crime.
The notion of memoriel theft was inconceivable to the humanist vision of Charles Cartier-Wells. For this reason, and perhaps due to its hasty implementation, the first version of the Sensen post-2064 lacked a security system capable of withstanding any organized, malicious attacks.
The exponential implementation of the Sensen in all areas of civil society (private, intimate, friendly, relational, professional, public, media, commercial) gave rise to a new type of crime. The "memory hunters", both anonymous and famous, now formed part of this late century urban landscape.
We can blame Memorize for failing to anticipate this phenomenon when the Sensen was first released, but since then the company has worked overtime to remedy the situation. As it developed its range, they implemented a security system to make memory saving and memoriel transfers 100% hacker-proof, and Memorize became locked in a race against the memo criminals where technological advances would be the obvious key to success. With the Sensen 6, scheduled for release in late 2083, which was eventually delayed, Memorize is poised to triumph against the Memory Hunters and any other smart hackers. Security experts say the Sensen 6 contains the same fabulous technological inventiveness that fueled the success of the Cartier-Wells company; a clear response to attempts at memoriel intrusion.
quote:
Neo-Paris VIPs - Charles Cartier-Wells
A true scientific genius, the heir to the Cartier-Wells dynasty is tireless in his efforts to create a better future for humanity. The inventor of the Sensen, Charles now lives in the heart of the Mnemopolis towers, his first community project based on the permanent sharing of recollections and memory.
The son of Antoine Cartier-Wells who founded Memorize in 2012, Charles quite naturally continued his family's research into the control of neural interfaces that had made the company's fortune. A brilliant scientist, young Charles soon moved away from the financial management of his empire to concentrate on pure research. In spring 2064, he completed his father's work on digitizing the human memory, thus opening the age of the Sensen.
Charles Cartier-Wells was strongly criticized for handing over control of the family business to his wife to focus on modifications to and specific applications for the Sensen. He gradually retired from public life to devote himself to his work on sharing the human memory. The first experiments in his "in vivo" concept began in 2074 as a space for community life based on the permanent sharing of its residents' memories. The "Mnemopolis" project had a threefold objective: architectural, technological and social experimentation. Tucked away in the center of this device in an enclosed space called the conception Cube, Charles Cartier Wells continues to imagine an evolved humanity free of its old fears and ready to face the overwhelming challenges ahead.
quote:
Technology - Scaramechs
The date of their first appearance in Neo-Paris is uncertain, but scaramechs are the robotic equivalent of rats: these vermin have adapted perfectly to the digital era and feed on the detritus of the memoriel society.
Scaramechs are small, highly adaptive robots that have evolved into autonomous, insectoid creatures whose sole aim is to survive by connecting to energy resource points and information outlets.
No one knows where exactly they came from, but the most widely accepted theory is that they are "bastardized' robots from Japanese IJS (Industrial Junk Scavenging) programs; machines for recycling the industrial waste that threatened to overwhelm the Japanese archipelagos in the mid-21st century. Keen recyclers, Scaramechs have become uncontrollable parasites feeding on the flow of memo-data and storing the most useful fragments in their synthetic memory.(ED: Killing them gives you concept art)
Judging that Scaramechs were harmless to humans, the Neo-Paris authorities chose to ignore the potential risks from the proliferation of these creatures. This relaxed policy was open to criticism however if, as some scientists believed, these robots used the city's memoriel debris to evolve into a higher and perhaps more predatory form of existence. This hypothesis aside, the authorities are carrying out an assessment of the material damage caused by Scaramechs