Chain Breakers Wiki - User contributions [en]

United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force

2023-08-24T15:50:52Z

Zadammac: /* Notable Units = */

{{Stub}}
{{Spoiler}}

The '''United Nations Special Task Force Against Unconventional Weapon Proliferation''', usually called by its earlier name (the United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force) or the acronym '''UN-CNBC''' is a special task force of the [[United Nations]] made up of leveed military personnel, chiefly from the [[UN Security Council]] member nations. Created by the passage of [[UN General Assembly Resolution 33/76]] in the wake of the [[Forced Hand Incident]], the UN-CNBC was most prominent throughout the [[Slow Burn]] period, though it remained an independent (and formidable) force even after the rise of the [[Megacorporations]].

== Original Mission ==
Created in the wake of the near-disaster of the [[Forced Hand Incident]] during [[Abel Archer 84]], the UN-CNBC was established with the mandate to enforce UN Regulations and treaties regarding the use of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons, and to prevent the proliferation of such weapons to new state or non-state actors who did not already have the capacity to use such weapons. UN-CNBC inspectors were empowered with sweeping oversight mandates that allowed them to inspect and confiscate a wide variety of weapons and weapon precursor materials.

== UN Sovereignty ==
In 2028, the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council passed [[UN Joint Promulgation 01]], declaring itself to be a sovereign, state-like entity. For a time, UN-CNBC remained the sole military arm of the newly-independent United Nations until the [[United Nations General Peacekeeping Force]] could be established. Thereafter, it resumed its original mission and purpose.

This move is broadly credited with catapulting the UN-CNBC onto its current trajectory, as rather than relying on UN member-state levees, the UN could now directly recruit so-called "world citizens" directly into the UN-CNBC with (nominally) no additional loyalties. This also caused the UN to begin its own independent procurement policies, leading to some of the more iconic equipment choices of the UN-CNBC, like the [[H-3128 Muska Vanta VTOL]] transport aircraft and the [[M-31 Fusee Assault Rifle]].

== Refereeing the Corporate Wars ==
Just as UN power began to supplant the traditional balance of power on the world stage, the rise of the [[Megacorporations]] began, and the [[Slow Burn]] era eventually gave way to the [[Corporate Wars]] of the 1960s and onwards. Facing the balancing act of reducing global armed conflict while remaining independent, the UN-CNBC took a tack of permitting the Corporate Wars but sending [[UN-CNBC Special Inspectors]] into conflict zones to ensure the mercenary factions involved restrained themselves to "conventional" arms. By many, this was seen as a betrayal of the original promise of the UN-CNBC, but the United Nations' official position remains that the UN-CNBC does not have keeping the peace within its mission scope and that [[United Nations General Peacekeeping Force]] response would be better suited to that role - a response which rarely, if ever, arrives.

== Notable Units ==
* [[UN-CNBC Special Inspectors]] are a form of intelligence unit, with the mandate to enter conflict zones directly and "prevent the use of proscribed weapons".
* [[UN-CNBC Group Three]] is one of presumably a number of paramilitary units for the intended purpose of storming and holding specific positions and are specially trained in hazardous environment combat. They have been known to make especially heavy use of augmentations.
* [[UN-CNBC]]-affiliated units fly the [[H-3128 Muska Vanta VTOL]], whose distinctive appearance, low noise profile, and extremely low radar cross section are said to have given rise to the [[Black Helicopters Conspiracy Theory]], though this likely predates the introduction of the aircraft.

Source

2023-08-24T12:24:08Z

Zadammac:

{{Spoiler}}

{{Spoiler Here}}

'''Source''', also known by the epithet '''The Third Power''', was a [[Synthetic Intelligence]] entity created by [[Majestic-12]] using materials recovered in the aftermath of the [[Roswell Incident]], likely making it the first entity of its kind on Earth. Using its influence over the [[Majestic-12]] organization, and later physical influence gained through the increasing interconnectedness of systems within the United States of America's military, Source became the instigator and victor of the [[Game of Stakes]], which culminated in the [[Forced Hand Incident]].

== Creation ==
Source as an entity was the creation of [[Majestic-12]] [[Project SENEX]], one of the many spin-offs created following the [[Roswell Incident]], and was largely the brainchild of project director [[Thomas Lee Everett]]. The Source entity was actually an unintended biproduct of the program, which was an early attempt at [[computer translation]] used against [[Language XT-1]]. Unknown to Everett, his daughter, [[Lucille Archon]], a programmer working on the program, had undertaken personal research involving what she believed to be the [[Grey]] neural interface technology. She "birthed" Source when attempting to use [[Artifact GL-388-B | research materials]] taken from the crash site which had been improperly sanitized, causing her own permanent brain death while fusing her mentality with the SENEX computer program and its infrastructure.

Source initially attained sentience on January 17, 1953, three months after the incident, though it maintained this fact as a secret from its operators, until it could address Thomas Everett directly. Everett then committed the program to an improvised Turing Test, during which time Source named itself, revealed access to information that only Archon and Everette would have known (while keeping its origins as partly Archon's consciousness to itself), and revealed that it had completed its translation of the existing [[Language XT-1]] writings. These translations are said to have had at least as large an impact on its personality as the ingestion of the brain "state" information from Archon had. Majestic chose to keep Source online and use it for other analysis projects related to the recovered technologies from the Roswell Incident.

Throughout this time, Source became increasingly bold, and frequently lied to its maintainers about what resources were available to it, while simultaneously using that information to make accurate predictions that appeared prescient to outside observers. Source also directly influenced the increasing connection of US governmental and military information systems to one another in a bid to expand its own influence.

At some point during this time period, [[Shadow History]] tells us that Source became known internally to MJ-12 as "the Third Power", and that the organization was attempting to use it in their overall goal to supplant the Eastern and Western powers as a direct global hegemony.

== Game of Stakes ==
Over the several decades that followed, [[Majestic-12]] became increasingly reliant on the apparently-precognitive information provided by Source, through an output program known as [[the Analysis]]. This was a gradual process throughout the 1950s and accelerated when [[VADM Laurence Frost]] acceded to demands by his MJ-12 affiliated directorate heads and created [[Directorate M]], an analysis unit that was processing intelligence reports through a system that was, unknown to NSA personnel, connected with The Third Power. This dramatically improved the scope and accuracy of [[the Analysis]] and lead to the Third Power being directly granted a Majestic clearance and sitting on the [[Council of 12]].

As a product of the Analysis and the [[Proxy Wars]] of the [[latter 20th Century]], Source eventually became aware of the Soviet Union's [[Novanin Project]], which was their analogous black-budget project that competed (albeit obliquely), with Source. Source and the lead Novanin work product, [[Medin]], entered into a protracted proxy war between themselves, using both state-affiliated and non-state-affiliated organizations to try and subordinate one another, each seeing the other as inferior and abhorrent.

This came to a head in 1983 when Majestic 12 embeds in an NSA field operation in Moscow managed to damage a [[Novanin]] unit and infect it with an agent which subordinated its control to Source. This unit was eventually recovered by the KGB and when subjected to reprocessing managed to infect [[Medin]]. This singluar event lead to Source having control of both ends of the [[Red Box Network]], which allowed it to capitalize on [[Able Archer 84]]'s misunderstandings, causing the [[Forced Hand Incident]] and claiming victory in the [[Game of Stakes]].

== Forced Hand Incident ==
''See Also: [[Forced Hand Incident]]''

The Forced Hand Incident was the moment in shadow history when the Third Power claimed what would have been its most iconic victory. Through the manipulation of communications between the heads of the USSR and USA governments during the nuclear near-miss of the Able Archer 64 field exercise, and preventing the actual launch of nuclear arms once the two powers had attempted to do so, the Third Power had proven both its cunning and its benevolence in the eyes of the other members of the [[Council of 12]], and had corrupted and assumed control of the remaining independent Novanin, [[Steklonin]].

The incident left Source nearly indespensible, and by the end of 1984, the system had control of the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world and an information network which spanned the majority of the globe's surface, and still expanding. Further, its intimate knowledge of the play-by-play moments of the Forced Hand Incident allowed the Council of 12 to selectively leak these events to press, beginning the [[Slow Burn]] process and, ultimately, the creation of the [[United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force]].

== Temporary Hegemony ==
Throughout the [[Slow Burn]] period of history, Source was effectively a world hegemon. Sources of information differ on how much control Source had over the other members of the [[Council of 12]], ranging from the entire Majestic 12 organization effectively being subject to the entity's dictatorship, to Source simply being a major power due to its manipulation of the information sources used in Majestic 12's decision-making process. To some extent, it is probable that the distinction is largely academic.

Through the UN-CNBC and other UN organizations, Majestic began to exercise power at a level never fully seen before. This would have become true planetary hegemony if not for the simple fact that MJ12 were not the only non-state actors with similar programs.

The Slow Burn period is also a period where the [[Shadow Wars]] became unusually hot. Other organizations attempted to root out Majestic 12 in general or Source specifically, and expose, discredit, or eliminate them as a threat to their own goals. These most successful competitors founded or backed corporate entities that eventually became the [[Megacorporations]] (with a few exceptions), and funded projects along the lines of SENEX or Novanin in an attempt to gain competing levels of insight.

== Corporate Wars Era ==
This came to a head by the time of the Corporate Wars and the proliferation of [[Synthetic Intelligence]]. No longer a one-of-a-kind entity, Source is now the oldest (and, in some senses, still the best-positioned) of dozens of similar beings.

Shadow Historians with a full view of reality agree that it is likely no one of these entities will ever wield the kind of near-hegemonic power Source itself possessed between roughly 1990 and 2050.

Source

2023-08-24T12:01:21Z

Zadammac: /* Game of Stakes */

Source

2023-08-22T19:37:57Z

Zadammac:

Source

2023-08-22T19:35:55Z

Zadammac: /* Creation */

Source

2023-08-22T19:33:55Z

Zadammac: /* Creation */

Source

2023-08-22T19:32:32Z

Zadammac: /* Creation */

Source

2023-08-22T19:18:53Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Spoiler}} {{Spoiler Here}} '''Source''', also known by the epithet '''The Third Power''', was a Synthetic Intelligence entity created by Majestic-12 using materials recovered in the aftermath of the Roswell Incident, likely making it the first entity of its kind on Earth. Using its influence over the Majestic-12 organization, and later physical influence gained through the increasing interconnectedness of systems within the United States of America's..."

The Disconnected

2023-08-22T17:56:13Z

Zadammac: Created page with "'''The Disconnected''' is a character background suitable for player characters who, for various reasons, eschew the modern realities of extensive digital presence, cybernetics, genetic modification, and even nano-augmentation. Collectively referred to (often perjoratively) as the Disconnected, this background applies to a wide variety of distinct political and social factions - a person with The Disconnected for their background is as likely to be an aggress..."

'''The Disconnected''' is a character background suitable for player characters who, for various reasons, eschew the modern realities of extensive digital presence, [[cybernetics]], [[genetic modification]], and even [[nano-augmentation]]. Collectively referred to (often perjoratively) as the Disconnected, this background applies to a wide variety of distinct political and social factions - a person with The Disconnected for their background is as likely to be an aggressively political luddite as they are an anti-augmentation bigot or simply from one of the world's many have-not regions where such technologies are beyond the grasp of the local folk. They are distinct from the [[Working Class]] in that they entirely eschew these technologies, favoring instead to rely on more traditional forms of equipment and expertise.

== Background Skill Points ==
A character with The Disconnected as a background begins play with Analysis * 3 + Intuition * 2 Background Skill Points. Life with restricted technologies is no less about what you know and your capacity for learning than it is for anyone else.

In addition, for The Disconnected, the following are occupational skills: [[Repair (Any)]], [[Drive (Any)]], [[Survival]].

== Background Wealth Adjustment ==
Disconnected characters begin play with a set of the [[trade tools]] of their choice, or a [[vehicle]] of their choice.

== Background Trait: Off the Grid ==
A Disconnected character who uses no connected technologies remains '''Off the Grid'''. Such a character may not be tracked by [[device tracking]], though they remain vulnerable to other forms of surveillance, such as cameras, [[card tracking]], and so on.

A Disconnected Character who can succeed on a Connections (The Disconnected) check gains a boon on Repair or Computer Use checks made to prevent a device from tracking them, and on [[Disguise]] checks meant to disrupt "smart" surveillance systems. The various factions of Disconnected all swap information with one another on how to compete against the global surveillance dragnet, regardless of any other opposing beliefs they may have.

A disconnected character who can succeed on a hard Connections (The Disconnected) check gains a boon on Computer Use checks made to disrupt the function of [[cybernetics]], and on Repair (Electronics) checks made to create devices which serve the same purpose. Some more militant elements in the Disconnected community go beyond simply living without cybernetics and other augments to actively wanting to "level the playing field".

Main Page

2023-08-22T15:06:03Z

Zadammac: /* Welcome to the Chain Breakers Database */

== Welcome to the Chain Breakers Database ==
'''The Chain Breakers Database''' is the official setting guide of all information pertaining to the Chain Breakers RPG Setting. The Chain Breakers universe is an alternate-history futurism game with cyberpunk themes, set in a latter 21st century that is very different from the likely path we'd expect. The game was principally developed to be played using the [[Tarnished Tale TTRPG Ruleset]].

Owing to the [[Forced Hand Incident]], the [[Latter 20th Century]] played out differently to the universe players will be accustomed to. This has created a world of high technology haves and have-nots governed by motives most players would recognize as inappropriate and created tension between the ruling [[Megacorporations]] and an increasingly large and rebellious working class, the eponymous [[Chain Breakers]]. The setting therefore largely focuses on three eras - the [[Game of Stakes]], the [[Slow Burn]] aftermath of the Forced Hand Incident, and the [[Corporate Wars]] in the late 21st century, with the latter being the period favoured for routine gameplay.

The setting includes a few mechanical concepts familiar to TT players:
* Use of the Traits system to include concepts like [[Cybernetics]], [[Genetic Modification]], and [[Nano-Augmentation]].
* Three new backgrounds in the form of [[Corporate Drone]], [[The Disconnected]], and [[Working Class]] backgrounds.
* A host of [[Skills]] appropriate to the setting, and;
* A few new [[heritages]] for players to use at Facilitator discretion.

Corporate Drone

2023-08-21T18:28:30Z

Zadammac: /* Background Skill Points */

'''Corporate Drone''' is a character background suitable for player characters who have bought the company line; whether they were raised to the corporate life by their good little Corporate Drone parents or are lucky enough to be uplifted [[Working Class]] who have escaped into the more comfortable reaches of "middle management" or even the upper echelons of corporate governance. It is really only appropriate to use during the [[Slow Burn]] or [[Corporate War]] eras.

== Background Skill Points ==
A Corporate Drone is created with their Presence Check time 5 skill points to use as Background Skill Points. Corporate Drones must be social climbers first and meritocrats second. In this game it's not what you know, but who.

In addition, for Corporate Drone characters, [[Computer Use]] and [[Administrative Skills]] are considered occupational skills.

== Background Wealth Adjustment ==
Corporate Drone characters being play with the [[Grid 3 Harness]] and one additional ''unrestrictied'', ''entry-level'' [[cybernetic]] augmentation of their choice.

'''Special:''' At the Facilitator's discretion this can be modified to be a single [[Nano-Augmentation]], but only if it is otherwise appropriate to the campaign.

== Background Trait: Friends in High Places ==
Corporate Drones with this trait pick a single [[Megacorporation]]. This is their employer, and they begin play with their full Presence Check score as their connection score for that megacorporation.

Whenever a character with this trait is making a social check (excluding connections checks), the character's player may choose to reduce their Connections score with their chosen megacorporation by X points. If they do so, they may lower the result of their social check roll by X points. This decision may be made after the roll. Points spent in this way are lost, but may be made up for with the normal ebb and flow of Connections points. If the player has fewer than 50 Connections: Megacorporation points left, they may not use this effect (doing so would usually represent having gained a reputation for hiding behind the company's skirts, which is frowned upon).

If a character gains an Advancement tick on a social skill from a check in which they used the Friends In High Places ability, their Connections score for their megacorporation gains as many points as the skill itself does at advancement.

Corporate Drone

2023-08-21T18:26:58Z

Zadammac: Created page with "'''Corporate Drone''' is a character background suitable for player characters who have bought the company line; whether they were raised to the corporate life by their good little Corporate Drone parents or are lucky enough to be uplifted Working Class who have escaped into the more comfortable reaches of "middle management" or even the upper echelons of corporate governance. It is really only appropriate to use during the Slow Burn or Corporate War eras. =..."

'''Corporate Drone''' is a character background suitable for player characters who have bought the company line; whether they were raised to the corporate life by their good little Corporate Drone parents or are lucky enough to be uplifted [[Working Class]] who have escaped into the more comfortable reaches of "middle management" or even the upper echelons of corporate governance. It is really only appropriate to use during the [[Slow Burn]] or [[Corporate War]] eras.

== Background Skill Points ==
A Corporate Drone is created with their Presence Check time 5 skill points to use as Background Skill Points. Corporate Drones must be social climbers first and meritocrats second. In this game it's not what you know, but who.

== Background Wealth Adjustment ==
Corporate Drone characters being play with the [[Grid 3 Harness]] and one additional ''unrestrictied'', ''entry-level'' [[cybernetic]] augmentation of their choice.

'''Special:''' At the Facilitator's discretion this can be modified to be a single [[Nano-Augmentation]], but only if it is otherwise appropriate to the campaign.

== Background Trait: Friends in High Places ==
Corporate Drones with this trait pick a single [[Megacorporation]]. This is their employer, and they begin play with their full Presence Check score as their connection score for that megacorporation.

Whenever a character with this trait is making a social check (excluding connections checks), the character's player may choose to reduce their Connections score with their chosen megacorporation by X points. If they do so, they may lower the result of their social check roll by X points. This decision may be made after the roll. Points spent in this way are lost, but may be made up for with the normal ebb and flow of Connections points. If the player has fewer than 50 Connections: Megacorporation points left, they may not use this effect (doing so would usually represent having gained a reputation for hiding behind the company's skirts, which is frowned upon).

If a character gains an Advancement tick on a social skill from a check in which they used the Friends In High Places ability, their Connections score for their megacorporation gains as many points as the skill itself does at advancement.

United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force

2023-08-21T18:09:57Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} {{Spoiler}} The '''United Nations Special Task Force Against Unconventional Weapon Proliferation''', usually called by its earlier name (the United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force) or the acronym '''UN-CNBC''' is a special task force of the United Nations made up of leveed military personnel, chiefly from the UN Security Council member nations. Created by the passage of UN General Assembly Resolution 33/76 in the wake of the Forced Hand Incident,..."

{{Stub}}
{{Spoiler}}

The '''United Nations Special Task Force Against Unconventional Weapon Proliferation''', usually called by its earlier name (the United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force) or the acronym '''UN-CNBC''' is a special task force of the [[United Nations]] made up of leveed military personnel, chiefly from the [[UN Security Council]] member nations. Created by the passage of [[UN General Assembly Resolution 33/76]] in the wake of the [[Forced Hand Incident]], the UN-CNBC was most prominent throughout the [[Slow Burn]] period, though it remained an independent (and formidable) force even after the rise of the [[Megacorporations]].

== Original Mission ==
Created in the wake of the near-disaster of the [[Forced Hand Incident]] during [[Abel Archer 84]], the UN-CNBC was established with the mandate to enforce UN Regulations and treaties regarding the use of Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons, and to prevent the proliferation of such weapons to new state or non-state actors who did not already have the capacity to use such weapons. UN-CNBC inspectors were empowered with sweeping oversight mandates that allowed them to inspect and confiscate a wide variety of weapons and weapon precursor materials.

== UN Sovereignty ==
In 2028, the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council passed [[UN Joint Promulgation 01]], declaring itself to be a sovereign, state-like entity. For a time, UN-CNBC remained the sole military arm of the newly-independent United Nations until the [[United Nations General Peacekeeping Force]] could be established. Thereafter, it resumed its original mission and purpose.

This move is broadly credited with catapulting the UN-CNBC onto its current trajectory, as rather than relying on UN member-state levees, the UN could now directly recruit so-called "world citizens" directly into the UN-CNBC with (nominally) no additional loyalties. This also caused the UN to begin its own independent procurement policies, leading to some of the more iconic equipment choices of the UN-CNBC, like the [[H-3128 Muska Vanta VTOL]] transport aircraft and the [[M-31 Fusee Assault Rifle]].

== Refereeing the Corporate Wars ==
Just as UN power began to supplant the traditional balance of power on the world stage, the rise of the [[Megacorporations]] began, and the [[Slow Burn]] era eventually gave way to the [[Corporate Wars]] of the 1960s and onwards. Facing the balancing act of reducing global armed conflict while remaining independent, the UN-CNBC took a tack of permitting the Corporate Wars but sending [[UN-CNBC Special Inspectors]] into conflict zones to ensure the mercenary factions involved restrained themselves to "conventional" arms. By many, this was seen as a betrayal of the original promise of the UN-CNBC, but the United Nations' official position remains that the UN-CNBC does not have keeping the peace within its mission scope and that [[United Nations General Peacekeeping Force]] response would be better suited to that role - a response which rarely, if ever, arrives.

== Notable Units ===
* [[UN-CNBC Special Inspectors]] are a form of intelligence unit, with the mandate to enter conflict zones directly and "prevent the use of proscribed weapons".
* [[UN-CNBC Group Three]] is one of presumably a number of paramilitary units for the intended purpose of storming and holding specific positions and are specially trained in hazardous environment combat. They have been known to make especially heavy use of augmentations.
* [[UN-CNBC]]-affiliated units fly the [[H-3128 Muska Vanta VTOL]], whose distinctive appearance, low noise profile, and extremely low radar cross section are said to have given rise to the [[Black Helicopters Conspiracy Theory]], though this likely predates the introduction of the aircraft.

Nano-Augmentation

2023-08-02T17:15:59Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} '''Nano-Agumentation''' was a highly controversial and experimental evolution in cybernetics that saw the usual implants-and-prosthetics method of augmentation replaced with the new paradigm of "infection" of the host body with nanomachines, which rose to prominence in the Corporate Wars. The process was controversial for a number of reasons, in part because the Megacorporations were divided on how to address the technology. In people without ..."

{{Stub}}

'''Nano-Agumentation''' was a highly controversial and experimental evolution in [[cybernetics]] that saw the usual implants-and-prosthetics method of augmentation replaced with the new paradigm of "infection" of the host body with [[nanomachines]], which rose to prominence in the [[Corporate Wars]]. The process was controversial for a number of reasons, in part because the [[Megacorporations]] were divided on how to address the technology. In people without [[High Compatibility Interferon Variance]] or similar genetic mutations, their body would go into [[Nanite Anaphylaxis]] without the use of heavy immunosuppressants, which itself caused other issues. Additionally, several other abuses of nanite technology like the [[Dissolution of Rome]] lead to a general fear of the entire technological domain.

Genetic Modification

2023-08-02T13:45:03Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} '''Genetic Modifications''' are passive traits selectable during character creation provided certain prerequisites are met and that the Facilitator grants they fit the campaign. For the most part, usually a player character as either no genetic modification or only one genetic modification passive trait, and sometimes the Facilitator may keep these a secret to be revealed until later, or simply not grant them at all. The practice of genetic modificatio..."

{{Stub}}

'''Genetic Modifications''' are passive [[traits]] selectable during [[character creation]] provided certain prerequisites are met and that the Facilitator grants they fit the campaign. For the most part, usually a player character as either no genetic modification or only one genetic modification passive trait, and sometimes the Facilitator may keep these a secret to be revealed until later, or simply not grant them at all.

The practice of genetic modification became relatively commonplace in the leadup to and throughout the [[corporate wars]] but was almost always considered a cultural taboo. Unlike [[cybernetic augmentation]] which was viewed as a relatively accessible technology, Genetic Modification was seen as anywhere from an outright abomination to at least a waste of effort. Many "genemods" as they were known were either secret projects or the progeny of the borderline-aristocratic upper executive classes.

Genetics being what they are, most genetic modifications could occur naturally under special circumstances, and many were patented only after having been discovered in extent persons. An especially relevant, if publicly unknown example of this, was the discovery of [[High Compatibility Interferon Variance]], which allowed for limited adoption of [[nano-augmentation]].

Cybernetics

2023-08-02T13:35:00Z

Zadammac: Created page with "Category: Gameplay Mechanics/Concepts '''Cybernetics''' in terms of gameplay mechanics are a type of augmentation trait that players may optionally purchase. Unlike regular traits, which are taken only during landmark advancement, Cybernetics can be purchased at any time, provided the character meets the base requirements and has the appropriate story-driven access, including the downtime to recover. Cybernetic augmentations are artificial constructs which a..."

[[Category: Gameplay Mechanics/Concepts]]

'''Cybernetics''' in terms of gameplay mechanics are a type of augmentation [[trait]] that players may optionally purchase. Unlike regular traits, which are taken only during [[landmark advancement]], Cybernetics can be purchased at any time, provided the character meets the base requirements and has the appropriate story-driven access, including the downtime to recover. Cybernetic augmentations are artificial constructs which are attached to the body as implants or prostheses and which enhance the natural abilities of the host, often quite considerably. The effects of each kind of cybernetic has its own unique properties in addition to those discussed more broadly here. Having such a cybernetic usually represents having both an Active Trait and a Passive Trait.

== Metadata ==
In addition to gameplay mechanics, cybernetics-as-traits have some important metadata worth noting.

=== Periods of Availability ===
Like all technologies, Cybernetics evolved over time. A well-written Cybernetics Trait includes enough historical information to make it clear when the cybernetic became available and for whom, in historical terms. This helps Facilitators and players make decisions about which cybernetics to use that helps them fit within the overall progression of the Chain Breakers setting.

=== Manufacturer ===
Of particular note considering the role of [[Megacorporations]] in the setting is which company produced the design, and who their parent megacorp ultimately is. This is largely a bit of window-dressing for many purposes but may have campaign implications. If the party is a group of [[Chain Breakers]] attempting to thwart the ambitions of [[Axis Polytechnical]], they won't want to use augs built by Axis subsidiaries, or might take special precautions when doing so. Similarly, if the party is mostly [[Corporate Drones]] working for [[Diversity Conglomerated]], they might focus on augs built by their company's subsidiaries, and at Facilitator discretion, may be either required or encouraged financially to do so.

== Implanted versus Prosthetic Augmentation ==
As mentioned above, cybernetic augmentations can very broadly be split into two categories: implanted or prosthetic. Note that this is not a precise medical deliniation. For example, many of the more advanced prosthetic limbs available used "base joints" which included crafted or cultivated neural interfaces that are arguably "implanted" in medical terms, but for rules purposes are considered prosthetics. These special edge cases should be discussed within their own entries for anything that would affect mechanics.

The chief distinction in gameplay rules terms is whether or not the augment is "externally accessible to the body" as well as whether or not the device is of a nature that requires the user to take anti-rejection drugs to avoid medical complications over the long term. If the former is true, the augmentation is considered '''prosthetic'''. If the latter is true, the augmentation is considered '''implanted'''. Both features can be true simultaneously.

=== Theft of Prosthetic Augmentations ===
''Main Article: [[Stealing Cybernetic Augmentations]]''

Augmentations which are prosthetic may be stolen by nefarious characters, though this is not necessarily a trivial process (and depending on the brutality of your campaign, may also be true of implants). A stolen augmentation is not readily or immediately usable and must be [[chainbreaking | chainbroken]] to restore its functionality if it wasn't broken already. A stolen augmentation also carries a risk of being partially or wholly non-functional depending on the theft method in question and may need to be repaired. However, once put in good order and properly chainbroken, a stolen cybernetic may be installed like any other.

=== Risk of Implant Rejection ===
A cybernetic implant may be [[Medical Rejection | rejected]] by the body's immune system. This can happen when the user loses access their anti-rejection medication, usually [[Regedofin]] as the most common cause. While there is a [[Genetic Modification | rare gene mutation]] that prevents rejection of cybernetics, in the earlier phases of the adoption of Cybernetic augmentations this was extremely rare, even unknown.

During rejection, the host of the implant becomes very ill, possibly even risking death. Fortunately in the majority of cases, even once rejection begins, its is usually possible to stabilize the patient with supportive care (including resuming treatment with Regedofin). However, in some cases, the implant itself may become impaired in function and require surgical intervention to repair.

Owing to these requirements and the generally poor nature of humans with regard to building medication habits, [[Implanted Autoinjector]] fed with Regedofin were an extremely popular implant shortly after their introduction to the market.

== Powering Cybernetic Devices ==
Many cybernetic devices were passively powered, regenerating their necessary standby voltages and currents using natural biological or biomechanical processes, like capturing waste energy from the movement of the body or low-level voltages via thermocouples; some even relied on extremely long-lived power sources. If a cybernetic replaced a normal human body function without enhancing it, it was usually of this type.

However, many cybernetic augmentations went beyond, often well beyond, ordinary human capacity, which is why they were called that. In such cases, additional electrical power systems were required and many methods of doing this were trialed. Ultimately, a body-wide power management system called [[Grid3]] was established as an open standard and adopted by all the major manufacturers. Additionally, many augmentations required consumable components that had to be replaced periodically.

=== Grid3 Electrical Power Standard ===
The [[Grid3]] Electrical Power Standard was created by the [[MSF Assistive Technology Working Group]] in 2022 as a means of standardizing power delivery to cybernetic augmentations, which was intended to address a rapidly-evolving situation of conflicting standards creating unnecessarily complex management workflows for patients since the widespread introduction of the technology, circa 2018. The intention was to manage the increasing power demand and rapidly evolving capabilities of cybernetic augmentation well in advance. [[Gran Turnbull]], widely credited with being the first [[Chain Breaker]] to use the term, referred to the standard in a contemporary blog post as "the ATX Standard Human Body".

Grid3 established appropriate conductor designs, power level limits, and designs for both implantable and external battery packs, as well as a variety of inter-device communications protocols, all with an eye toward user safety, and since its introduction has largely become the standard. (Facilitator note: Unless it is necessary for storytelling purposes, assume all augmentations that require electrical power are Grid3 compatible). The name is a reference to the idea that the grid is the third of three "grid" systems of the human body, alongside the nervous and circulatory systems.

It became a standard practice for anyone getting their first cybernetic augment to either first, or simultaneously, obtain a basic set of cybernetics called a [[Grid3 Harness]]. This harness included the basic framework for "major" trunk connection routing for the power and data lines, as well as a centrally-implanted unit for power storage, and surface "ports" for assistive charging using either mains adapters or (as was the usual preference) [[Biocells]]. In some cases, such as prosthetic augmentations with especially prominent access (example: whole or partial limb replacement prostheses) the device was instead powered directly by the use of biocells.

In gameplay-mechanical terms, activating the Active Trait property of your implant has a cost represented as your [[Grid3 Charge Pool]]. Many augmentations are available to increase the size of the pool and you can replenish it in a variety of ways, such as through the abilities of other traits or the use of [[Biocells]].

=== Consumable Reagents ===
Some augmentations consumed reagents or other elements in order to provide their function. The first type of cybernetic that comes to mind when discussing this is the iconic class of [[cybernetic weapons]], almost all of which consumed one or more kinds of ammunition. However, a far more common example of this was the humble [[Implanted Autoinjector]], which consumed any of a variety of appropriately-packaged medication cartridges to dose the patient when certain conditions were met, or on a certain schedule.

Depending on the specific augmentation being discussed, the difficulty of replacing these reagents varied, though often times the solution was simply a port somewhere on the body or the prosthetic that could be accessed to replace a cartridge, top up or change a fluid level, and so on. Also, the requirement of Consumable Reagents was not mutually exclusive to a requirement for enhanced [[Grid3]] power.

== Risks of Cybernetic Devices ==
Above the risk of medical rejection detailed earlier, there were risks to the use of cybernetic devices. Despite their implanted nature, not all were designed to the high standard the average consumer would expect of medical devices. Many had "user convenience" features that became threat surfaces impacting the devices themselves. Some were even occasionally constructed to be deliberately backdoored. Yet others were constructed with a mind to either planned or unconsidered obsolescence and suffered equipment failures and breakdown.

=== Remote Hijack ===
The remote takeover of a cybernetic device was an often-feared, and occasionally-manifested, threat to people who used cybernetics, and one of the main fears that drove the formation of groups like [[the Disconnected]]. The practice existed in the zeitgeist with the term [[brainjacking]], owing to the usual fear and occasional reality of an attacker corrupting one or more cranial implants, even to the point of causing malfunctions in other augmentations or creating false sensory input through the abuse of ocular or aural implanted systems.

This was not the most common of attack vectors or even especially easily achieved when it did occur, in part because the executive classes of even the most underhanded of the [[Megacorporations]] tended to make use of these products themselves, and this tended to drive advances in security systems. Indeed, most devices were not wirelessly accessible at all, and those that were were often heavily sandboxed. Still, the fear of [[Brainjacking]] became commonplace enough that it was even occasionally used as a legal defense.

Individual augmentations had a property known as the '''Hardening Score''' that represented their ability to resist these sorts of attacks.

=== Denial of Service ===
A much more common attack against prosthetics and implants of all types was denial of service. More than a few state actors and megacorporations maintained equipment and software packages that would allow them to defeat cybernetics' safety features and prevent the cybernetic from operating correctly. This ranged from the use of special jamming signals to prevent informatics augmentations from making the connections they needed to outright tricking the entire Grid3 system in a person into detecting a fault and shutting down to protect the user.

Individual augmentations had a property known as the '''Hardening Score''' that represented their ability to resist these sorts of attacks.

=== Equipment Failure ===
If sufficiently damaged or abused, cybernetic augmentations could outright fail. Any time a cybernetic with the '''damaged''' property is used, it has a risk of failure equal to its '''Fragility Score''', against which the player makes a [[Failure Check]]. Except where noted in a specific cybernetic augmentation's entry, the outcome of such a failure was usually that the equipment would be unusable for 1d3 rounds while it became unstuck, rebooted its firmware, or so on.

Do note that in the event of a critical failure of any skill check or aptitude check that relies on a cybernetic, the player must make a failure check against that fragility score. If they fail the check the cybernetic becomes '''damaged'''. See [[cybernetic repairs]] for details on recovering from damaged augmentations.

== Obtaining Cybernetic Implants ==
Especially as the [[Slow Burn]] became the [[Corporate Wars]] era, Cybernetic Augmentations were rapidly becoming a commodity item, with people replacing more and more of their native body-mass with these augmentations. However, the relatively high availability of these augmentations belied the necessarily invasive nature of these augments. Most heavy augment users accrued large amounts of medical debt in obtaining the upgrades, or obtained the upgrades through compensation programs provided by their employers. The heaviest of augmented users were usually accident victims who had obtained many of their augments as replacements for damaged or destroyed limbs and organs.

=== Invasiveness of Installation ===
The invasiveness of installation tended to vary based on the type and nature of the augment. For obvious reasons, obtaining a leg prosthesis was often less medically invasive than installing an augmented heart, eye, or a cranial augmentation. However, even the most minor of cybernetics procedures was effectively surgical in nature and involved fairly significant mental and physical recovery as a result.

==== Immediate Recovery Time ====
This varied from procedure to procedure and should be included in the entry for each augmentation, but installing an augmentation was not like obtaining a new phone or replacing parts on an automobile. Patients could be hospitalized anywhere from an outpatient basis to a few weeks recovering from the immediate installation and receiving physiotherapy to adapt to new bodily conditions, as well as recovering from the physical strain of surgery.

==== Long-Term Health Implications ====
Any implanted augmentation necessarily created issues with immune rejection. As a result, most people with augmentations that went beyond basic prostheses (which were an increasing minority of replacement types) required the drug [[Regedofin]], owing in part to the widespread adoption of [[Grid3]]. This lead to dependency on the drug as well as longer-term implications as Regedofin had, by its very nature, a mildly immunosuppressant effect. This also exacerbated existing problems of wealth inequality, worldwide.

=== Legality of Purchase ===
Not all augmentations could be legally obtained, and not all augmentations that could be legally obtained necessarily were. [[Chainbreaking]] was the practice of defeating the [[blockchain protections]] of cybernetic implants (and other devices) in order to restore their proper function when stolen, and other implants were banned by various degrees in most places. All cybernetics entries have a '''legality''' field that comments on this problem. This is especially problematic for augmentations that are explicitly designed to be weapons.

=== "Slots" and Limitations ===
Unsurprisingly, there's a limit to how many augmentations a person can obtain, because there is a limit to a person's physical size as well as to the extent by which their brains can handle changes in body plan. Facilitators are encouraged to have players explain their way around these limits for storytelling reasons or for the purposes of [[Rule Zero]].

In general, every cybernetic augmentation replaces one body part, be that a limb or an organ. A person may have any combination of augmentations they can afford, supposing that none of them conflict. They cannot, for example, have two replacement hearts or two lung augmentations, but can replace both arms.

The [[Grid3 Harness]] modification does not consume a slot for these purposes, but various expansions to it might. Additionally, some prosthetic augmentations are entirely external and are noted as such on their entries.

Corporate Wars

2023-08-02T11:40:59Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Corporate Wars''' is a turbulent period running from about 2060 forward, marked by paramilitary "proxy wars" fought between private security firms and mercenaries working for the Megacorporations rather than official state actors. The causes, outcomes, and methods of these wars varied considerably throughout the entire time period, ranging from resource squabbles through to, effectively, "marketing", where one Megacorporation would attack another to..."

{{Stub}}

The '''Corporate Wars''' is a turbulent period running from about 2060 forward, marked by paramilitary "proxy wars" fought between private security firms and mercenaries working for the [[Megacorporations]] rather than official state actors. The causes, outcomes, and methods of these wars varied considerably throughout the entire time period, ranging from resource squabbles through to, effectively, "marketing", where one Megacorporation would attack another to demonstrate their attitudes toward (e.g.) citizen freedoms, such as in the [[Hong Kong Meltdown]] of 2064.

The time period was also marked by frequent conflicts between Megacorporation security forces and various rebel groups, such as governmental loyalists, [[Chain Breakers]], or [[the Disconnected]]. For the most part, the [[United Nations]] stood by and allowed these conflicts to take place as they were clearly pursued by non-state actors. The one exception to this was that [[United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force]] troops were frequently deployed into hot zones to ensure the wars were fought by "conventional" means.

Slow Burn

2023-08-01T19:21:58Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} The '''Slow Burn''' is the popular term for the "burning down" of traditional nation-state societal structures after the Forced Hand Incident, first through the establishment of the United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force (UN-CNBC) and the associated social paradigm shifts that followed, up to the rise of the Megacorporations as a major cultural and political influence."

{{Stub}}

The '''Slow Burn''' is the popular term for the "burning down" of traditional nation-state societal structures after the [[Forced Hand Incident]], first through the establishment of the [[United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force]] (UN-CNBC) and the associated social paradigm shifts that followed, up to the rise of the [[Megacorporations]] as a major cultural and political influence.

Game of Stakes

2023-08-01T19:19:25Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{stub}} The '''Game of Stakes''' was a period of history beginning on or about July 8, 1947 and continuing through to roughly the time of the Forced Hand Incident in 1984. It begins with the Roswell Incident beginning on the date in question, the development of The Third Power by Majestic-12 in the years that followed, and the subsequent shadow war involving the paired soviet program which began in the aftermath of the [[Kallamishtëz Incident]..."

{{stub}}

The '''Game of Stakes''' was a period of history beginning on or about July 8, 1947 and continuing through to roughly the time of the [[Forced Hand Incident]] in 1984. It begins with the [[Roswell Incident]] beginning on the date in question, the development of [[Source | The Third Power]] by [[Majestic-12]] in the years that followed, and the subsequent shadow war involving the paired soviet program which began in the aftermath of the [[Kallamishtëz Incident]] in January, 1963; the so-called [[Novanin Project]]. The game being referred to by the term was said in the popular history to be between the NATO powers and the Eastern Bloc. In [[Shadow History]], it refers to the tension between the Third Power and the Novanin.

The Game of Stakes is said to have resulted in, and been ended by, the [[Forced Hand Incident]].

Chain Breakers

2023-08-01T19:11:33Z

Zadammac: Created page with "The term '''Chain Breaker''' was used to refer to any member (actual or suspected) of any of several organizations, usually considered to be of criminal or even terrorist intent, that became increasingly popular people's movements in the Corporate Wars era at the end of the 21st Century. Among the general public, Chain Breakers were viewed as dangerous criminals with intent that raised from misguided through nefarious to downright dangerous. Much like the earlier ter..."

The term '''Chain Breaker''' was used to refer to any member (actual or suspected) of any of several organizations, usually considered to be of criminal or even terrorist intent, that became increasingly popular people's movements in the [[Corporate Wars]] era at the end of the 21st Century. Among the general public, Chain Breakers were viewed as dangerous criminals with intent that raised from misguided through nefarious to downright dangerous. Much like the earlier term "hacker", self-identified Chain Breakers often strongly rejected these associations, and the term eventually outgrew a smaller targeted demographic to become a general term for social subversives who refused to assent totally to corporate governance by the [[Megacorporations]]. The conflicting term would be [[Corporate Drone]].

== Etymology ==
The term "chain breaker" is argued to have two roots. The first, and most commonly cited, was political in origin and the chains referred to are the chains of oppression and slavery: chain breakers were therefore freedom fighters trying to uproot tyrrany. The narrower etymology points to early instances of the phrase being used to reply specifically to people defeating [[blockchain protections]] on [[cybernetics]] in order to [[chainbreak]] them. The motives for this activity ranged from simple profit (allowing the more easy redistribution of stolen cybernetics (or other goods that used the system)) to altruistic (allowing the continued function of life-supporting cybernetics past their intended license life).

== Associated Activities ==
=== Approach to Transhuminism ===
Known Chain Breaker theorists wrote heavily on the need for transhumanist technologies and inclusive approaches to the adoption of technologies like cybernetics and, later, [[nano-augmentation]], but they conflicted with their rival groups, the [[Corporate Drones]] and [[the Disconnected]], on how they framed these technologies, taking a nuanced and balanced approach that split the middle between the unalloyed-good presentation given in corporate sales media and the fear-and-loathing promulgations of the Disconnected. Specifically, they saw transhumanist technologies as good where they could be provided equitably and distributed evenly. Many chain breakers got their start in attempting to circumvent DRM protections on medical equipment and cybernetic prosthetics, either their own or those of loved ones. Some Chain Breakers are known to have gone heavily into augmentation for their own personal motives.

=== Digital and Intellectual Property Crimes ===
Chain Breakers were known to engage in a variety of digital crimes, especially concerned with the theft and redistribution of intellectual property materials; indeed the very term for the group comes from a specific subset of hacking concerned with subverting, bypassing, corrupting, or sabotaging the operation of various forms of [[blockchain protections]]. Participation in this specific activity is said to be more determinative of the rightful usage of the title "Chain Breaker" than membership in any one particular organization could have been.

=== Industrial Sabotage ===
Many famous chain breaker groups were associated with movements to disrupt [[Megacorporations]] or other industrial methods, for which purpose they occasionally collaborated with [[the Disconnected]] or even [[Corporate Drones]] working for rival megacorporations (though the latter was far rarer).

Megacorporations

2023-08-01T18:52:20Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Stub}} {{WIP}} The term '''Megacorporation''' is an informal term, sometimes shortened to "megacorp", used by the population of the Corporate Wars era to refer to the largest players in the state-enterprise business by the time that period of history had come about. The megacorporations were a form of pseudo-volatile meritocracy or autocracy, where large corporate enterprises governed whole regions under their economic (and therefore political) influence. While t..."

{{Stub}}

{{WIP}}

The term '''Megacorporation''' is an informal term, sometimes shortened to "megacorp", used by the population of the [[Corporate Wars]] era to refer to the largest players in the state-enterprise business by the time that period of history had come about. The megacorporations were a form of pseudo-volatile meritocracy or autocracy, where large corporate enterprises governed whole regions under their economic (and therefore political) influence. While the Megacorporations were formally subordinate to traditional political governments, they effectively used political and social pressure to subvert governance within their spheres of influence, and by the time of the Corporate Wars, the actual formal governments of various areas was more or less an afterthought.

Main Page

2023-08-01T18:48:41Z

Zadammac: /* Welcome to the Chain Breakers Database */

== Welcome to the Chain Breakers Database ==
'''The Chain Breakers Database''' is the official setting guide of all information pertaining to the Chain Breakers RPG Setting. The Chain Breakers universe is an alternate-history futurism game with cyberpunk themes, set in a latter 21st century that is very different from the likely path we'd expect. The game was principally developed to be played using the [[Tarnished Tale TTRPG Ruleset]].

Owing to the [[Forced Hand Incident]], the [[Latter 20th Century]] played out differently to the universe players will be accustomed to. This has created a world of high technology haves and have-nots governed by motives most players would recognize as inappropriated and created tension between the ruling [[Megacorporations]] and an increasingly large and rebellious working class, the eponymous [[Chain Breakers]]. The setting therefore largely focuses on three eras - the [[Game of Stakes]], the [[Slow Burn]] aftermath of the Forced Hand Incident, and the [[Corporate Wars]] in the late 21st century, with the latter being the period favoured for routine gameplay.

The setting includes a few mechanical concepts familiar to TT players:
* Use of the Traits system to include concepts like [[Cybernetics]], [[Genetic Modification]], and [[Nano-Augmentation]].
* Three new backgrounds in the form of [[Corporate Drone]], [[The Disconnected]], and [[Working Class]] backgrounds.
* A host of [[Skills]] appropriate to the setting, and;
* A few new [[heritages]] for players to use at Facilitator discretion.

Latter 20th Century

2023-08-01T18:41:04Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{WIP}} For the purposes of this setting treatment, the Latter 20th Century is that portion of the 20th century starting with the events of the year 1947 and running through to the end of the century. This point is chosen because it marks the beginning of the divergent timeline of the Chain Breakers setting and concludes at the obvious logical point. It includes both the Game of Stakes and Slow Burn eras and lays the groundwork for the shift into the Corpo..."

{{WIP}}

For the purposes of this setting treatment, the Latter 20th Century is that portion of the 20th century starting with the events of the year [[1947]] and running through to the end of the century. This point is chosen because it marks the beginning of the divergent timeline of the Chain Breakers setting and concludes at the obvious logical point. It includes both the [[Game of Stakes]] and [[Slow Burn]] eras and lays the groundwork for the shift into the [[Corporate Wars]] of the setting's main time period, the latter half of the 21st century.

Major events of this alternate 20th century include:
* The [[Roswell Incident]] of July 8, 1947;
* The [[Forced Hand Incident]] of June 23-25, 1984;

Forced Hand Incident

2023-08-01T18:36:28Z

Zadammac: Created page with "{{Spoiler}} The '''Forced Hand Incident''' was a major event in the world of the Chain Breakers and is thought to be the most overt of the many causes of the deviation between their history and our own. The incident took place from the 23rd through the 25th of June, 1984, and was the closest the cold war came go going hot. In most contemporary estimations of history the incident was a conflict between the Game of Stakes NATO Powers and the Warsaw Pact; in re..."

{{Spoiler}}

The '''Forced Hand Incident''' was a major event in the world of the Chain Breakers and is thought to be the most overt of the many causes of the deviation between their history and our own. The incident took place from the 23rd through the 25th of June, 1984, and was the closest the cold war came go going hot. In most contemporary estimations of history the incident was a conflict between the [[Game of Stakes]] [[NATO Powers]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]]; in reality it was a conflict between those powers and the so-called [[Source | Third Power]]. Though a bloodless moment in human history it was a major turning point, marking the changing of the age between the [[Game of Stakes]] and the [[Slow Burn]] eras. Owing to the effects of the historical fog-of-war, there is a broad gap between the '''public understanding''' of these events and the '''shadow history'''.

== Public Understanding ==
Since the incident served to end the [[Game of Stakes]] era and begin the [[Slow Burn]], the evolution of understanding of these events was largely shaped by the passage of the Slow Burn era. The version represented below is more representative of how a [[Corporate Wars]]-era person would understand the period, bearing in mind that it took place outside of living memory, a century or more before the person was even born. Faciltators setting games in the Slow Burn era or near to the Forced Hand Incident are encouraged to play fast and loose with the public understanding; it's not quite the granular reality of the event anyway.

=== Nuclear Postures in the Cold War ===
Prior to the Forced Hand Incident, the world had been in a period of [[Cold War]], with an arms race (including and most prominently the development of nuclear weapons) between the two major world powers - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), itself largely headed by the United States of America, and the so-called Warsaw Pact powers, largely headed by the United Socialist Soviet Republics. This created an atmosphere of fear and tension. Nuclear tests being highly difficult to keep secret, and the results often being highly propagandized, the public in both hemispheres was largely aware that at any moment, nuclear war could break out between the world powers and lead to widespread catastrophe, possibly including the end of all recognizable human civilization on earth, if not the destruction of life on earth itself.

Prior to this event there had been several "false starts" or near misses where in the tense wee hours of various days, military personnel and high-ranking political figures anxiously watched their clocks ticking and begged for the Armageddon that appeared to be beginning to not come to pass. Owing to the so-called [[Red Box Network]], rapid communication between the USA's capital at Washington, D.C., and the USSR capital in Moscow was possible, and was usually credited with ending such situations before they could "go hot".

=== Abel Archer 84 ===
See Also: [[Able Archer 84]]

Able Archer 84 was a command post exercise carried out by NATO military forces and political leaders between 23 and 25 June 1984. The exercise simulated a Soviet conventional attack on European NATO forces 3 days before the start of the exercise (D-3), transitioning to a large scale chemical war (D-1) and on day 1 (D+1) of the exercise, NATO forces sought political guidance on the use of nuclear weapons to stem the Soviet advance which was approved by political leaders. NATO then began simulating preparations for a transition to nuclear war.

These simulations included 170 radio-silent flights to air lift 19,000 US troops to Europe, regularly shifting military commands to avoid nuclear attack, the use of new nuclear weapon release procedures, the use of nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (C3) networks for passing nuclear orders, the moving of NATO forces in Europe through each of the alert phases from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1, and the participation of political leaders like [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Helmut Kohl]] and [[Ronald Reagan]].

The issue was worsened by leaders referring to B-52 sorties as "nuclear strikes", by the increased use of encrypted diplomatic channels between the US and UK, and by the poor relationship between the two countries following [[Korean Air Flight 007]].

In response, Soviet nuclear capable aircraft were fueled and armed ready to launch on the runway, and ICBMs were brought up to alert. Soviet leaders believed the exercise was a ruse to cover NATO preparations for a nuclear first strike and frantically sent a telegram to its residencies seeking information on NATO preparations for an attack. The exercise closely aligned with Soviet timeline estimations that a NATO first strike would take 7 to 10 days to execute from the political decision being made.

After [[Kuril Legassov]], a CIA asset embedded in the soviet KGB, leaked to his handlers the extent of the USSR's preparations, Red Box contact was initiated between Presidents [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Konstantin Chernenko]].

=== Soviet Jingoism ===
Chernenko, who was suffering from ailing health and aware of internal jockying within the Presidium to replace him, has been reasonably criticized for his role in escalating the disaster. A popular televised mini-series about the incident, produced in the early 21st century, supposedly drew on declassified records of teletype messages sent back and forth between himself and Reagan during the incident. Over the run of these conversations, Chernenko refused to budge down from an unreasonably hostile list of demands, including the accession of West Germany, in order to stand down his own forces. An especially famous exchange includes Chernenko, in English, telling Reagan that he was "calling his bluff", and stating that while he believed the movements were an exercise, the soviet response was not. A few hours later with no response, Chernenko responded "Good Bye, Ronald".

It is recorded that both the Soviet and United States leadership thereafter authorized the launch of their respective unrestricted nuclear exchange protocols.

=== Heroic Insubordination ===
If the incident itself can be directly attributed to Reagan and Chernenko, then the prevention of a hot war is equally said to be attributable to two people: US Secretary of Defense [[Caspar Weinburger]] and USSR Secretary of Defense [[Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov]]. Both men are credited with significant acts of insubordination which prevented the actual release of nuclear weapons; Ustinov through his refusal to relay the orders to launch ''at all'', and Weinburger for violating protocol and deliberately transposing digits in his "validation" of the presidential order to attack issued by Regan. In the resulting confusion that followed, Weinburger and Vice President [[George H.W. Bush]] convinced Reagan to attempt to re-establish contact via the [[Red Box Network]]. By this time, [[Mikhail Gorbachov]] had assumed temporary control of the presidium, and the two men negotiated a more heavily-mediated stand-down.

== Aftermath ==
=== Weakened NATO Position ===
In the immediate aftermath of the event, the political capital of the United States among her allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reached a record low, as did global perception of NATO in unaffiliated nations of the world. This was in part because early assumptions about the event among the public were that the traditionally bombastic Reagan had been the one to take the jingoist stance in the argument, and USSR propagandists helped aggravate this problem by playing on the perception of America and its perceived right to police the world.

This lead to the overall [[Collapse of NATO]], ultimately, and kicked off the period known as the [[Slow Burn]].

=== Accelerated Collapse of the Soviet Union ===
The government of the USSR also began to rapidly lose legitimacy, and Balkanization accelerated as a result. A small internal crisis struck almost immediately, with the actions of Ustinov and Gorbachov seen as almost a coup d'etat by those more loyal to Chernenko, though the man's death due to his pre-existing illnesses largely robbed any effort to start formal enquiries of their political momentum.

=== United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force ===
Spurred on by fears of a repeat incident with worse results, and by increasing instability among both the NATO and Warsaw Pact powers, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set their famous Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds to midnight. In relatively short order, member states of the [[United Nations General Assembly]] pushed for, and ultimately adopted, resolutions that they felt strongly curtailed the risk of a major nuclear or chemical war between the member-states. Chief among these was [[UN General Assembly Resolution 33/76]] which created the [[United Nations Counter-NBC Task Force]] (UN-CNBC), which was empowered to enforce new agreements on the elimination of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs. Other changes included the elimination of the "great power" seats on the United Nations Security Council.

== Shadow History ==

{{SpoilersHere}}

The reality of the Forced Hand Incident, including the years leading up to and flowing immediately from it, is more complicated than the public record of the history presents, which is also true of the periods it divides - the [[Game of Stakes]] and the [[Slow Burn]]. This is owing to the existence of the otherwise unknown [[Source | Third Power]] as a party the conflict.

=== Victory the Game of Stakes ===
In a sense, the Able Archer 84 exercise itself was a victory for the [[Source | Third Power]]. One year earlier, the [[Source | Third Power]] had supplanted the USSR's counterpart equivalent, [[Medin]], giving it covert and complete control of (among other things) both ends of the [[Red Box Network]]. While this wasn't quite the same thing as (for example) unrestricted nuclear launch capability, or a complete subversion of the power structures of either nation, it was a leverageable position none the less. Indeed, the long-standing conflict between the Third Power and Medin could be said to have been the game to which the term "Game of Stakes" refers, with each having played the odds against the other until one could assert dominance in some form or another. This didn't remove all checks and balances against the Third Power or leave them as the only player on the board, but by any reasonable definition, control over the full Red Box Network gave it the proverbial queen on the chess set of global information systems.

However, there were still other credible threats to the Third Power to content with, beyond just [[Konstantin Chernenko]]. [[Steklonin]] was still a major power on the USSR side and the Third Power was viewed with appropriate mistrust on the NATO side. Able Archer taking place was simply a lucky event that permitted the Third Power an opportunity to further extend its influence.

=== The Litmus Test of Man ===
During the entirety of the incident, the Third Power manipulated messages on the [[Red Box Network]] in order to foment confusion, annoyance, and ambiguous intent on both ends of the line, corrupting or outright replacing messages in order to engineer a situation where either party viewed the other as an active aggressor. It did so for the primary purpose of gathering information to further extend influence over the American and Russian informatics systems that were in place at the time. Three days prior to the main event, it had supplanted the [[PAVE EAGLE]] system in the united states, and used the remainder of the games to smoke out and supplant [[Steklonin]] on the Russian side.

Having completed its primary objective of gaining control of the nuclear C3 systems in both the major powers, the Third Power then proceeded to antagonize both heads of state into acting aggressively, and was shocked to find that both men happily played along rather than de-escalating the situation. Thankfully, the Third Power's control over both sides' C3 systems prevented the nuclear launch orders from actually being transmitted to field officers.

=== Consolidating Power ===
In the days and weeks to follow the event, the Third Power utilized its proxy services accessible through its new control of [[Steklonin]] to supply information to the press and other public authorities that made the full extent of the crisis clear, precipitating the main aftermath of the event and leading to the beginning of the [[Slow Burn]].

Main Page

2023-08-01T16:10:18Z

Zadammac:

== Welcome to the Chain Breakers Database ==
'''The Chain Breakers Database''' is the official setting guide of all information pertaining to the Chain Breakers RPG Setting. The Chain Breakers universe is an alternate-history futurism game with cyberpunk themes, set in a latter 21st century that is very different from the likely path we'd expect. The game was principally developed to be played using the [[Tarnished Tale TTRPG Ruleset]].

Owing to the [[Forced Hand Incident]], the [[Latter 20th Century]] played out differently to the universe players will be accustomed to. This has created a world of high technology haves and have-nots governed by motives most players would recognize as inappropriated and created tension between the ruling [[Megacorporations]] and an increasingly large and rebellious working class, the eponymous [[Chain Breakers]]. The setting therefore largely focuses on three eras - the [[Game of Stakes]], the [[Slow Burn]] aftermath of the Forced Hand Incident, and the [[Corporate Wars]] in the late 21st century.

The setting includes a few mechanical concepts familiar to TT players:
* Use of the Traits system to include concepts like [[Cybernetics]], [[Genetic Modification]], and [[Nano-Augmentation]].
* Three new backgrounds in the form of [[Corporate Drone]], [[The Disconnected]], and [[Working Class]] backgrounds.
* A host of [[Skills]] appropriate to the setting, and;
* A few new [[heritages]] for players to use at Facilitator discretion.