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Nomad Lore II - Randomizator - 07-11-2009
FOREWORD
This unclassified, public release text summarizes the knowledge gained about humanity's most dangerous intelligent foe through experiments, observations, field reports and the few testimonies collected from surviving infected by many scientists, xenoarcheologists and explorers throughout the sector. The purpose of this document is to allow people throughout the Colonies to better understand Nomads and their ways and be better prepared for an eventual encounter.
Dr. Fritz Schoenberg, planet Gammu.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
“Nomad” is a nickname thought up by the first civilians to encounter the species due to their independence from bases or settlements. They are entirely organic beings designed as biological experiments with a relatively simple genetic code by a very curious and very advanced species. “Slomon K'Hara” is the name used in their creators' archives to refer to them, but being designed to inhabit the vacuum of space, Nomads themselves do not use sound to communicate, so the very concept of a name is alien to them.
They have only one known form: worm-like creatures with poorly developed senses. However, they are able to survive open space and exceedingly great levels of ionizing radiation, as demonstrated by their hibernating through the Omega-41 supernova event. They are genderless and reproduce by budding without sharing of genetic code. All individual Nomads are absolutely identical as the species has not been duplicating long enough for much mutation and selection to occur.
They are photosynthetic organisms. As is obvious when observing any plant capable of motion, photosynthesis converts little energy per surface area. Consequently, movement is extremely slow and weak compared to organisms using oxidation (the average human burns 500 liters of oxygen per day). This curious design choice is explained by the Nomads' creators' faster-than-light wireless energy distribution technology which allowed them to power any of their devices, Nomads included, from a power source many light-years away. The draining of their main power station (the Dyson sphere) by the Order in 801 A.S. forced them to revert to backup photosynthesis. For years during which the hypergate remained active, a Nomad would become unconscious due to lack of power within a minute of leaving its host or ship.
Archives have revealed that Nomads were initially designed as automated chemical analysis tools, made increasingly intelligent to better perform their functions, up to a point where they could be considered a proto-civilization. Proud of their creation, the Daam K'Vosh recognized them as their successors for the administration of the Sirius sector and provided them with the necessary technology to expand rapidly. When they left for unknown reasons, they set the Nomads to hibernate and periodically wake to maintain infrastructure. It is likely that they would have fully awakened after a set time, but did so prematurely at the end of the 7th century A.S. when disturbed in Omicron Major by Rheinland surveyors.
INFESTATION
Using their innate abilities of structural analysis by physical contact and the providential group of test subjects, the Omicron Major Nomads learnt the workings of the human nervous system and its emergent psychology. During experiments intended to directly read specimens' memories in order to assess the threat our civlization represented, the experimenters found out that a combination of memory manipulation, direct override of nerve impulses, and subtle suggestion allowed them to reliably control individual humans. Armed with these first puppets and, through them, accurate knowledge and experience of human civilization, the Nomads began the deadliest war in the history of the Colonies. It appears that they primarily intended to recover the trade lane and jumpgate technology of their creators, which was achieved within weeks, and secondarily to take over our entire civilization and use it as a vehicle for expansion. Having narrowly failed in this second effort, they are continuing low-intensity infiltration and recruitment, but mostly seem to behave as would be expected of a regular spacefaring nation.
Two manners of infestation were standardized for infiltration purposes and the necessary features added to the Nomad genetic code. Both make use of reproduction by budding, consisting in the creature preparing an internal seed copy of itself, ready to grow once expelled and provided with suitable nutrition.
Hopping consists in a fully developed Nomad exiting its host, then entering another through the mouth. While they are invertebrates capable of compacting into a small volume, the process can dislocate the jaw. The parasite may choose to leave a seed behind to renew the infection of the previous host. Remarkably, the only noticeable post-infection side effects are mild confusion and hallucinations, but memory and lucidity are otherwise unimpaired. This process is useful when limited time is available to infect a host whose political or military importance makes highly desirable.
Seeding is the opposite, consisting in the parasite extending a flexible arm, which is actually the creature's neck, out of its host to plant a seed (as it were) into the target's mouth. The seed is small, egg shaped, and covered in cilia allowing it to move, albeit extremely slowly. This would allow the host to get rid of it by regurgitating, so the immature Nomad constantly secretes a powerful sedative until implanted into the stomach wall. Over the next few weeks, the only symptom is an abnormally great appetite as the parasite develops. Its dorsal stalks are its sensory organs, including a pair of eyestalks and the analysis interface used to connect to the brain stem.
Either way, though the parasite gains control over its host and can order suicide at any time, it cannot directly kill them. Thus, surgical removal (or implantation) is perfectly possible.
SOCIETY AND STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
From a human point of view, Nomad society is particularly alien due to the absolute uniformity of its members. Not only are they genetically identical, their origin as glorified laboratory tools required them to be knowledgeable and usable without years of education and training, so basic skills and memory are also encoded and transmitted genetically. This means that dissent is a fringe phenomenon, with massive majorities always agreeing on various management issues. Consequently, internal policing and a political process more developed than unquestioned appointments are unheard of. Nomads know no pride or ambition, with only a shared goal of the greatest possible efficiency in the achievement of total domination of the Sirius sector. Naturally, their military and economy are purely by hierarchical command since they are incapable of individual initiative. Perhaps even more incomprehensible to us is the lack of individual self-preservation: since every Nomad is identical, they do not attribute any importance to their own life as long as the wider group exists.
The infestation of humans went much further than direct control due to an inability to credibly operate the body and mimic the behavior of an alien species operating in a different environment and using forms of communication (speech and writing) the Nomads had no experience with. Thus, infection requires to allow the host's mind considerable influence over the way it executes its tasks, to the extent that even close relatives are unlikely to notice any change other than what has been described as “a sullen mood”. This adoption of extremely diverse personalities, opinions and capabilities separates infiltrators from the rest of their species, with at least one infected defecting to the Rheinland branch of the Order. Additional evidence is that while Nomads struggle to even understand what a mental state is, the infected can be visibly emotional.
TECHNOLOGIES
Daam K'Vosh-era technology is exceedingly advanced. Aside from the FTL power network, the existence of the Dyson sphere itself is perhaps a more impressive achievement. While built of astronomical quantities of the same crushed stone unreinforced concrete as all other alien structures of the period, it did not collapse under the immense gravitational attraction of the matter contained within it. The most likely explanation is that the “City” hypergate it powers has the ability to negate the effects of gravitation within the sphere, similar to an enormous trade lane field. Thankfully, the Nomads are only capable of imitating their creators' cast concrete construction techniques, not the machinery within.
This is not to say that they are incapable of innovation. There is mounting evidence for their supplementing the FTL power network with a newly built City. Its power generation capacity must be negligible compared to the Dyson sphere, but it demonstrates ability. Another example are the infamous biomechanical ships developed by the Nomads themselves. While samples are difficult to acquire due to systematic explosive self-destruction, they appear to be based on the Nomads' own physiology, though controlled by neural interfaces connecting to operators' nervous systems, becoming an extension similar to an additional (and very complex) limb. In the case of a shortage of pilots or for routine patrols, artificial brains fulfilling the role of combat AIs can be used.
Mastery of nanotechnology is made evident by the extent of the differences compared to the original organism. Instead of gelatinous flesh, a process analogous to calcification builds up a translucent, rigid structure and hull out of metal oxides. Ships of all sizes share the same layout. Bladders supply H-fuel to a rugged magnetic confinement fusion reactor in the “head”. It fuses in rapid pulses between which the energetic fusion products escape towards the rear of the ship. Much of the internal volume is occupied by reaction mass bladders filled with whatever chemical is available, injected into the exhaust to turn energy into thrust. The central column of the ship uses the exhaust plasma to power sensors and weapons, likely operating as a linear MHD generator. The self-contained laser weapons/sensors use the same steerable violet visible light optics and seem to scale in power and aperture size with the ship. The ships' most striking feature is their transparency, necessary to prevent the reactor's radiation from heating components faster than the hull can radiate the heat away. Thermographic imagery indicates an uniform surface temperature of 500°K, so it is unlikely that the ships incorporate a cryogenic cooling circuit. The reactor either does not use superconductors or they operate at impressively high temperatures. Either way, access to this technology would be tremendously valuable.
From scouts to battleships are grown in open space from self-reproducing seeds. This process reduces the logistics of production to the supply of raw materials to the shipyards, requiring no tools or machinery. This allows Nomads to field disproportionately vast fleets without any supporting infrastructure other than raw material extraction and H-fuel supply. The disadvantage is that organic growth is slower than mechanical assembly. Initial batches excelled in weaponry and acceleration but had dubious endurance and reliability. Access to the best engineering solutions the Houses have to offer combined with relentless combat testing have since eliminated these deficiencies; current models are extremely dangerous.
COMMUNICATIONS
The Nomads' communicate electromagnetically, fitting the vacuum that is their natural environment. While the system is analogous to our radios and neural net (interplanetary to interstellar range), it was designed to coordinate tasks and transfer experimental data efficiently. Nomad brains and communication protocols were designed together and do not rely on intermediary languages and glyphs to represent them. Instead, thoughts, concepts and memories are transferred directly. This protocol, dubbed “Mindshare”, is absolutely incompatible with the human brain which, first of all, does not have electromagnetic receptors and could not make any sense of the messages even if it did. However, parasites familiar with the human mind can perceive unguarded thoughts from a distance of a few meters.
The faster-than-light component of the system relies on the same infrastructure as the power distribution network that was temporarily disabled by the Order. By restricting communications to the speed of light, command and control effectively ceased and coordinated action became impossible. While even the most independent-minded infected obeyed direct orders due to some alien equivalent of patriotic duty, disconnection from central authority resulted in the vast majority of infiltrators giving in to self preservation and blending into human society, causing the Order to erroneously conclude that the infected had returned to normal.
Nomad Lore II - BaconSoda - 07-11-2009
Incoming Transmission...
Comm ID: Home Secretary Lord Anthony Grenville
Origin: The Hub
Subject: Seal of Approval
The Home Office of Bretonia officially endorses this information in an attempt to help private individuals protect themselves from any Nomad projections that might occur. Knowledge is power, Bretonians, and in these dire times, we should take any measures we can to defend ourselves.
~Lord Anthony Grenville
Transmission Lost...
Nomad Lore II - Dusty Lens - 07-11-2009
//Gentlemen, may I remind you that this is the RP section. Regardless of your sentiments on the authenticity of this lore or the perception that it may be an attempted coup against established cannon, spamming the thread with ooc sentiments to that will be smashed.
If your post is not showing, that is why.
Treat it like madness and propaganda if you must, but this is not flood. -DL
Nomad Lore II - farmerman - 07-11-2009
From: Dr. K. Hammerschmidt
Location: ...error.
*transmission begins*
This is a greatly interesting bit of research. The major problem I seem to have, though, is that through all of my own research, I'm pretty convince that nomads do not actually exist. They're just a hoax perpetuated by a joint effort of the Rheinland and Liberty governments.
Which is, of course, what caused this current war. They had to cover up their plot, obviously.
*transmission ends*
Nomad Lore II - Randomizator - 07-14-2009
*Incoming transmission*
From : Unknown
Location : Somewhere in the Edge nebula
How can ye say that ? It is easy to talk when you stay in yer cozy office redacting your... research. You scientists are all the same ! And i mean ALL of you, even those who say the truth : if you had to endure a tenth of our problems, ye would already talk less intellectual, y'know what i mean ? We fight them blue jellies all day long, and then you damn scian... scientists just come and spit out yer damn obscurantism on all channels. Let them people know !
*end of transmission*
Nomad Lore II - farmerman - 07-15-2009
From: Dr K. Hammerschmidt
Location: ...error.
*transmission begins*
Well then! I was researching xenobiological entities before you were even a thought in your mother's mind!
If you wish to fill the public's brain with pseudoscientific babble about "nomads" and "space jellies", then it is your career at stake, not mine.
*transmission ends*
Nomad Lore II - Ironwatsas - 07-15-2009
INCOMMING TRANSMISSION
Source: Iazyne Aezali
Dest: Whoever wrote this
Subject: Hai!
"Wow! This is awesome! And based on all of the Xenoarchaological evidence, probably true!"
"I belive this would make a perfect guide for EVERY pilot out in the edge worlds encountering Nomads. So they know what to do and what orifaces to cover incase they are attacked!"
"Kudos to you, good sir!"
~Iazyne
TRANSMISSION END
Nomad Lore II - Randomizator - 07-14-2010
Put in initial post.