Morphs Forks And Xenos

Transhuman Morphs

Transhumans in Alternate Phase have developed the necessary technology to upload themselves into new bodies at need. However, it remains less commonly used than in Eclipse Phase for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, all of the default morphs in Eclipse Phase are available to player characters.

Transhuman Fork Species

The difference between a heavily engineered morph and a transhuman fork species is a poorly defined and fuzzy one, but there is a qualitative difference. In many cases, a fork species' mind functions in different ways, and sleeving into a morph designed for one is uncomfortable for many. The reverse is commonly true as well, especially in the case of the Fraal, who lose many of their unique faculties that they consider central to their existence.

Fraal - the Nomads

Descended from a slower-than-light faction of spacers that left Earth early in the migration era. They genehacked themselves well outside of the human baseline, partially for adjustment to the rigors of life in space and partially for what can only be described as religious reasons. Unfortunately, a severe computer crash resulted in near-total data loss; upon recontact, the Fraal were only vaguely aware that they were descended from humanity.

This is especially unfortunate due to the fact that the Fraal had managed to do what no other faction or species had managed. At some point in their genehacking, they isolated and perfected the gene responsible for asynchronous mental processes, commonly known among the lay public as psi. Every Fraal is psi-capable, and those who focus on the skill can achieve powers that seem to violate basic tenets of reality.

The Fraal do not generally engage in uploading, as artificial mind substrates are unable to host the asynchronous mental processes so central to Fraal life. Like other asyncs, they suffer morph lag upon resleeving, only more so than most asyncs do. As a result there are no major Fraal morph lines save the default, which are generally produced in the old-fashioned manner.

Mechalus - the Fusers

Products of the First Burnout, the Fusers (as they prefer to be known) are a splinter faction of transhumanity that pursues technology/biology hybridization further than any other. Scattered throughout the stars, both sedentary and nomadic, Fusers are responsible for more than 71% of all recorded singularity events.

Fusers are often tolerated, however, because they are a cornucopia of improbable technologies, including dark-matter fusion as well as the stardrive itself. Very few cultures are truly happy to see a Fuser lighthugger turn up on their doorstep, but none can gainsay the miracles they bring with them.

Fusers purchase morphs as normal, but must invest at least 60,000 credits of cybernetics and other implants minimum.

Weren - Berserkers

A relic of the First Interstellar War, the Weren were the result of a bioweapons program in a no-longer-extant polity, OGAM Inc. Something between an uplift and a transgenic, the Weren were designed to be exceptionally deadly supersoldiers with a natural capacity for survival on low-temperature Terran subtype worlds (most of the worlds contested by OGAM were, by a quirk of fate, of this type).

They did their job exceptionally well. Too well, in fact. Most observers agree that the proscription against creating sapient bioweapons in the 2312 Treaty of Earth was due primarily to the bloody effectiveness of the Weren. Every Weren was mustered out and settled on Kurg, one of the low-temperature subTerran worlds.

Following the collapse of OGAM in the Second Interstellar War, their successor state, the Orlamu Theocracy, created a program to integrate Weren into greater transhuman society, with mixed success.

Xenos

Seshayan

The first truly alien sapients encountered by transhumanity. They had the misfortune to be found by the only remaining megacorporation, Voidcorp.

T'sa

Encountered just prior to the Second Interstellar War. Unlike the Seshayans, the T'sa were already engaged in interstellar spaceflight, having colonized worlds as many as 200 light years distant from their homeworld using lighthuggers. Despite suffering their own Burnout, unlike transhumanity it left them with no surviving Fuser cultures to improve upon the artifact technology, and so the T'sa were forced to make do without dark-matter fusion or the stardrive.

Unlike transhumanity, the T'sa never engaged in uplifting (there were more than enough T'sa to go around already, thank you), though they have produced a number of 'morphs' and are just as capable of uploading and sleeving as a transhuman, though T'sa and transhuman morphs are not cross compatible. Most transhumans can't tell most T'sa morphs apart anyway.

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