Implants
I never realised that silver and aluminium had different colors until
I got my new eyes. Now I can see that silver has just as much color as
copper and gold - aluminium is much more ultraviolet.
- Happy Customer, Neurologics interactive advertisement 2350
Daemon chip
An implant from Nova. It is an independent processor linked to the neurocomputer built to house an AI. The AI program has access to the sensory data and information in the neurocomputer, and can "read" surface thoughts of the owner (of course, access controls can be set if needed, both in the implant and the AI). Having a Daemon (or several) as advisor/secretary/partner is becoming more and more common, although most people rely on an external AI system and a wireless neural connection. It is not uncommon for users to get a motoric shunt to give the AI the ability to control the body. Daemon chips with monitoring AIs are sometimes used for punishment or behaviour correction in Landfall.
Common brands are CogniSoft-Neurologics Mentor 3400™, Janus HGA™, Medtronics Assistant™ and Cetidyne Sidekick X™.
Moodulator
An implant of the limbic system, enabling the owners to control their moods. Normally it just sets an allowed range and a bias (e.g. towards cheerfulness or calm), but it can also induce stronger emotional states. The implant is somewhat dangerous due to the risk of addiction to extreme positive states; most users at least tend to improve their mood. Originally it was developed on Nova for treatment of certain emotional disorders, especially the rare but devastating OIAIS (Ocean Induced AutoImmune Syndrome, an autoimmune illness induced by certain poisons causing severe mood swings due to damage of the limbic system). Later more widespread use developed. There are also moodcasters, systems sending signals to the implants of people who have allowed access. Moodcasters are mainly used in virtual dramas and in certain bionic clubs.
Common brands: Neurologics Pathos Series (I-IV) ™, Limbic Technologies Adonet™, MedTronics Nimbus 4™ and Neurointerfacing Interstellar LSS™. Neurologics also sells a series of limited implants just regulating single emotions such as aggression, sexuality or curiosity, the Heartland Series.
Autonomous control
Enables the owner to control many aspects of the autonomous nervous system such as hunger, sleep or pain. Turning off these functions are of course dangerous, but sometimes useful. It can also act as a super-alarm clock (guaranteed to wake you up) or "homeostatic tuner" to optimise the hormone balance of the body.
Common brands: MedTronics Tenacity 1™, Neurologics Autocontrol™, Kellerman Systems Regulator™.
Wideband Link
The implants used by Unity to achieve group consciousness. Unlike an ordinary neurointerface it connects to most of the cerebral cortex and has a much higher bandwidth. It can send and receive signals not just of primary sensory and motor information but also higher order associations and thoughts. Since each human has an individual "mental language" sophisticated translation systems and much training is required before digital telepathy is possible. Wideband links are also used by the Net Transcendence and Next Step Foundation in their experiments with expanding the human mind. One of the most controversial and interesting applications is to let software rewrite parts of the cortex; theoretically this could be the ultimate psychodesign, even if it is currently extremely crude. Some AIs are apparently interested in using this approach to "download" themselves to physical bodies.
Common brands: Unity Neurotechnologies Wideband Link™, BridgeTech Neocortex Interface™.
Medial forebrain pacemaker
An implant in the motivation and pleasure centres that is controlled by the owner’s neurocomputer. It is illegal on Nova and very addictive: users quickly become hooked on anything that activates it. It can be used together with behaviour therapy to change habits and personality, a kind of bionic psychodesign: the user links the implant to some reward evaluator (such as a monitoring AI) that rewards certain actions. The result is a strong increase in rewarded actions, which can be used to produce extreme ambition or tenacity. Unfortunately the temptations and dangers of use are huge.
Survival System
An anti-trauma network of implants, intended to maximise the chances of survival when the body is damaged. Small shunts can cut of blood loss and release protecting chemicals, as well as act as a pacemaker for the heart and lungs. If everything else is lost, the implant can douse the brain in neuroprotectants and lower body temperature to slow down damage so that an emergency cryonic suspension can be done.
Connon brands: MedTronics Titan™, Uustal E-3™, Pacekeeper Second Chance 4.03™
[ Gives extra mortal levels beyond the ordinary; an Ordinary Survival System gives one extra moral levels, a Good system two and an amazing three. ]
Medical monitors
Likely the most common implants on Nova. Small sensors implanted in the body provides information on the health state which can be used to detect and diagnose illnesses at an early stage. Simple systems just give some chemical information, body data and a rough picture of activity in different organ systems. More advanced monitors are finely spread, detecting minute local changes and comparing the body’s reactions against medical models.
Common brands are MedTronics Hygiea™, Neurologics Body Monitor™, Uustal H-8™ and Hawk Inner Eyes.
Medical support system
The adjunct to the medical monitoring system; to use a support system the monitors need to be installed (they are often bought as a package). Support systems can perform medical support by releasing microdoses of chemicals in various places in the body, for example lowering blood pressure, detecting and dealing with shock and blood loss, balancing immune responses or maintaining healthy hormone levels.
Some common brands are MedTronics Ascleipios™ (contains a small medical expert system offering diagnosis and suggestions), Neurologics Body Controller™, LK Tech DD™ and Kempler Survivalbox™.
[Gives a -1 pain control bonus and adds 1 to END. ]
Sensory Shunt
A shunt in the brain nerves and spinal cord enabling recording/replaying of sensory information, increasing/decreasing its strength, adding artificial sensations and sensory blockades. The information is highly individual, mapping it to somebody else's experience requires much postprocessing and will not produce a high fidelity experience (this doesn't deter the connoisseurs of sense data on Nova, who regard just the lack of fidelity as a poignant reminder of how different we are).
MedTronics Argus™, LK Tech Spine™ (a combined Motor and Sensory shunt), Neurologics Dorsal™.
[If pain is deleted, the character gets a -5 bonus to pain control (gross damage still tends to freak people out)]
Motor Shunt
A shunt in the spinal cord enabling recording, replay, dampening and computer control of movement. The most common application is to allow software to control movements, for example to perform delicate or even to exercise while sleeping. For this to work well a sensory shunt or cybernetic sense implants are needed, otherwise the movements will not react much to the environment. The control can come from an enhance program, an AI running on a daemon chip or external commands from another person using a motor shunt ("puppeteering").
MedTronics Casper™, LK Tech Spine™ (a combined Motor and Sensory shunt), Neurologics Ventral™.
[ This replaces the Alternity reflex implant. Acting through a motor shunt is at a +2 penalty unless the "puppet" and "puppeteer" train together, which brings the penalty down to +1. ]
Remapper
A biological implant of cultured cholinergic cells covering part of the cortex (usually the motor cortex) that can increase the local learning rate. Usually used for rehabilitation after brain damage, but can also be used to rapidly learn new skills at the price of forgetting old. Some extreme bionicists on Nova have used it to become extremely fluid, but it tends to cause personality dissolution and is much more expensive than just taking large doses of memory enhancers.
Neurologics Plasticity™, Regiosys 2™, LK Tech Cortex II™.
[ The character can through training redistribute one skillpoint per week from one skill to another. ]
Babel Chip™
A best-selling implant from Neurologics. The device connects the neurocomputer with the ear, vocal musculature and enables a translation expert system to act as an intermediary. It automatically translates languages it knows into the owner's selected language, and when the owner speaks it can translate the message into a new language and do the speaking. The system is far from perfect yet, but sufficiently useful that people buy it. As a bonus the chip provides some auditory control (the user can change the volume and pitch of hearing, filter it or do other signal processing). There is a limited version (the Babel Lite) that just translates to the owner and does not speak.