Name: Universal Dead Man’s Switch (U-DMS) AKA: Respawn, Second Chance, Return Description: A tiny organic ‘chip’, generally installed in the brain. It is the size of a small neuron (4 micrometers). Abilities: -Alerts cloning insurance (or other relevant parties) that the recipient has died Conditional Abilities (Optional): -Does not appear under ENDI scanners (made of organic material) -Very difficult to identify (intentional designed to appear very similar to a neuron, making it difficult to remove) Limitations: -Can only communicate a piece of information once, generally as the device decays (it sends a 0 to its quantum linked partner when it breaks, so it can’t be used to circumvent limitations on traditional quantum communication size) -Breaks after communicating that one piece of information Conditional Limitations (Optional): -Under niche conditions, may fail (such as dying in hyperspace, where the quantum communication cannot be received in realspace). -Under niche conditions, may produce a false positive (such as surviving brain damage that severs the neural connection to the device, causing the signal to send before death) How does it work: Utilizing a Civspace-patented single-bit unstable organic quantum communication pair, the tiny organic ‘chip’ is installed in the brain- generally shortly after getting cloning insurance. It occupies a single spot of neural space, and contains an organic inverter. As long as the brain is not terribly damaged, no signal is sent. Under the condition of catastrophic brain failure (which is generally associated with death), this power is interrupted, and the signal gets through- destroying the device, but alerting the cloning insurance company (or other party associated with cloning an individual, generally) that the victim has perished. Flavor text: “Aren’t you tired of worrying about your loved ones if you get in an accident and leave them with no provider? Why gamble? Second Chance: Secure Your Future!” - Advertisement for Second Chance, a hylotian brand of U-DMS. The quest for organic computing took many strange turns, even as it reached its successes and was ultimately considered an unnecessary switch in infrastructure for most applications. Even so, research continued to find funding- especially in the private sector for anything that might be commercializable. One instance was the first organic quantum communication device, a single-bit connection. Unfortunately, it decohered instantly after the single connection was made, and was largely considered a bust. It wasn’t until decades later that it was picked up again, stabilized into a cell with modern genetics technology, and packaged as a dead man’s switch. With the advent of widespread cloning, it found its market- the perfect way to make sure you never double up. Those involved with interstellar trade generally use a different form of verification, or more than one- getting lost in hyperspace can end with being a missing person for eternity. Referenced Technologies (Optional): Quantum Comms (though it uses different mechanisms, its the same underlying phenomena) Attainability: Open Tags: [Civilian] Category: Genetic (Body augments and mutations)
I'll slap an initial pass on this, seems fine to me and makes for a great flavortext for post-mortem cloning.
That's pretty much the intention. It gives a sort of fall-back for the various convoluted dead man's switches that PCs often have to justify cloning.
