Bay 12 Games Forum

A funny thing is that although the human body reacts badly to living transplants, it actually reacts fairly well to cybernetics made with proper materials. Look up the results of Kevin Warwick's Project Cyborg experiments for more, but the short of it is that the nervous system and the brain both reacted with "sure, I guess" when hooked up to an electrode array controlling a machine. The Mechanicus may not be so far-fetched as you'd think...

Not that this helps us, unless this species gets the same kind of cybernetic adaptability.

Why rival Commoragh when we can just steal Commoragh?

Carbon (1): MetalSlimeHunt
Silicon (1): NG
Something Exotic (0):

Please, for the sake of all that is half-off with Amazon Prime, stop posting MGTOW apologetics in the Late Stage Capitalism thread. Even if there was anything to that it's wildly off topic. People's collective behavioral response to living in the hell of capitalism is one thing, but this ain't it.

A thought occurs. We don't just have to survive first contact with the Imperium, because on this timescale that's not likely to be the first time we meet humanity.

We have to survive: The first human galactic expansion ("Federation") -> The Iron Men rebellion -> The Fall of the Eldar -> Old Night (galactic warp travel collapse for thousands of years) -> The Great Crusade -> The Horus Heresy -> and then ten-thousand years of the moldering Imperium.

And we have no way to know in advance when we'll first be introduced to...that, and that's just human-related galactic disasters.

Fuck. This is gonna be hard no matter how it goes.

My proposal. Much as I don't want to corrupt us early, all must learn to steel themselves against corruption in time. A fortified home system with no alien intervention would be as ideal as could be hoped for...unless of course it is those who control that place who fall to corruption? But there is no safe way forward.

Advantages: Choose One, each beyond the first requires a Disadvantage.

Isolated Star Region: The system's future life-forms may not know it, but they are fortunate indeed. Nestled in a lifeless expanse extending several hundred light-years in every direction, they are guaranteed to be left to themselves much longer.
Mineral Abundance: The jagged crust of the home-world lives up to expectations, with a ludicrous mineral bounty any expansionist faction would fight a fierce campaign for. Even alone, this would be enough to bootstrap a higher technological base, to say nothing of supplementing other sources.
Exotic Resources: The system is noteworthy, not necessarily for its mineral wealth or lack thereof, but the overwhelming prevalence of valuable ores seldom found in great numbers elsewhere. This could be a great asset to a spacefaring civilization, if it was wary and did not allow it to become a crutch.
Thin Atmosphere: Whatever chemical the species evolving here require to breathe, the home-world has precious little of it, forcing the evolution of efficient respiratory systems capable of filtering and extracting every bit of benefit possible from what little they can inhale. To a species that developed here, denser atmospheres would seem rich, and their endurance unreal.
Cavern Networks: The home-world's crust is riddled with an intricate system of tunnels and caverns far surpassing those on Terra, effectively adding a second layer to the ecosystem and limited assurance from surface-scouring extinction events.

Disadvantages: Choose as many as necessary, or more, should hunger outweigh reason.

Nearby Profane Shrine: Mere light-years away, on a barren planet circling a sun not dissimilar to the system's own, there lies a grotesquely wonderful place of worship unlike any architecture the species has ever seen, boasting strange idols as worthy of worship as they are wrong, and what's more, carved into its walls are detailed annal of history leading to fervent prayer. Fate dictates this will be discovered and will cause a divide, but what comes after is out of its hand.
Exotic Phenomena: The system is noteworthy, not necessarily for its Warp Routes or lack thereof, but the presence of faint 'ripples' nearby that seem to ebb and flow with the passage of time, trending ever-so-slightly toward further rapidity each millennia...
Frequent Meteorites: The system is unusual, in that comets are a sight of quite some regularity to the world(s) within, but while they can be considered beautiful to those that have a sense of sight or esoteric means of perception, this is outweighed by the massive risk they pose of impacting the home-world and causing an extinction event.
Electromagnetic Storms: An unusual combination of unstable magnetic poles and an erratic star, electromagnetic pulses wipe the surface with some regularity, frustrating the development of higher technology without the advent of sufficient precautions and then some.

Home-System Satellites: Twelve Points may be spent in this section, at one's discretion

Barren Planet: A sandy and desolate clump, its unsightly bulk collects some meteorites and could perhaps be strip-mined for a pittance, but isn't worth much else. (1 Point)
Mineral Planet An immense and bountiful rock, it is replete with a trove of mineral treasure almost visible from space, and sitting in unclaimed abundance. (5 Points)
Water Planet: A swirling mass of bizarre countenance and questionable worth, its entire surface is covered in water and while there could be life there, is it really worth the look? (6 Points)

Alright, since we're talking functions recently, here's a short layout of my conception for the "divide the police" plan that people keep coming back to. It's no abolishing capitalism, but I think it'd do fairly well and I hope it will help those of you skeptical of such a plan visualize it. All the organizations here would be separated to prevent esprit de corps from developing, and as it happens some of them are separated already!

Traffic & Parking Enforcement
Armament - NONE
Citation Powers - YES
Arrest Powers - NO
Mandatory Division - YES

Metermaids and traffic cops. No, they don't need arrest power and they certainly don't need guns. If someone doesn't pull over it's more dangerous for everybody to chase them, type their license plate into the system with dash photo attached and move on. Ticket will be mailed. Vehicular rampage to lethal threat response, license plate offenders to arrest & arraignment.

Drug & Substance Enforcement

ABOLISH

I could see the need for a force to, say, track down people making nerve gas. But people don't generally do that and the Feds are the ones who go after them when they do. People are growing weed and cooking meth, which should be addressed by decriminalization and social welfare programs. More LSD use could probably do our society some good anyway.

Fire & Building Code Enforcement
Armament - BATON & TAZER
Citation Powers - YES
Arrest Powers - NO
Mandatory Division - YES

Well, you know the Fire Marshals already, or you do if you've ever owned a commercial building. Honestly, I'd say of all the existing divided responsibilities these guys have the best enforcement-to-violence ratio. They're not squeaky clean, but they take their stuff seriously and I'd trade them with standard cops in a heartbeat. Some are currently allowed to carry guns and some aren't, I think that's a bit much but I also know how completely crazy some small business tyrants are about being regulated.

Hunting, Fishing, & Wildlife Enforcement
Armament - PISTOL & RIFLE
Citation Powers - YES
Arrest Powers - YES
Mandatory Division - NO IF URBAN COUNTY

Another pre-existing group, Rangers. And the first group I'm giving any actual guns, because grizzly bears do not respond to welfare programs. As with all divisions, this one would still only have enforcement powers within their area and scope, i.e., you can kick people out of the park for being drunk, but not cite them because they were drinking underage. Not that my fantasy law reforms use criminal charges to handle underage drinking. Anyway, people don't go around chanting "Fuck The Park Wardens" so I think minimal change is needed here. Might be nice to use them as a sort of EPA Police for wilderness areas, though.

Immigration & Customs Enforcement

ABOLISH

Undocumented immigration is an administrative affair and as unstoppable as drug use, seek green card reform not border walls. Also, probably prosecute everyone currently working for the federal ICE.

Investigation & Forensics
Armament - NONE
Citation Powers - NO
Arrest Powers - NO
Mandatory Division - YES

Maybe they'll actually investigate a house robbery or two like this. But I doubt it.

Arrest & Arraignment
Armament - TAZER & BATON STANDARD, PISTOL IF DANGEROUS
Citation Powers - NO
Arrest Powers - YES
Mandatory Division - YES

Behold, a pig! Or what's left of them. This group is here for a specific reason - to enforce arrest warrants. Ideally this will be minimal as the system will be designed to request appearance at court first, and only then issue a warrant. They would also perform lethal threat response if that division is not present in an area, though most such incidents seem to happen in cities or suburbs so this is less likely. If there is absolutely a need to guard an area, these guys and not LTR are the ones. Subject to increased penalties if convicted of a crime.

Lethal Threat Response
Armament - AUTOMATIC RIFLE, TAZER, & FLASHBANG
Citation Powers - NO
Arrest Powers - YES
Mandatory Division - NO

SWAT roles. To be deployed against mass shooter or siege incidents and certainly not for any kind of house raiding or riot response, let alone all the other bullshit existing SWAT are used for. Subject to military-style code of justice and increased penalties if convicted of a crime. I'm not entirely sure what to do with these fellows the 99% of the time they're not needed, maybe a reservist kind of thing with rotating shifts. If the firefighters can handle boredom, so can these.

Internal Affairs & Oversight
Armament - PISTOL (IA) / NONE (OS)
Citation Powers - COPS ONLY
Arrest Powers - COPS ONLY
Mandatory Division - YES

Behold, a metapig! Maybe they'll be not completely useless if they're not the same organization. Also, that's just the IA side. Oversight is of both IA and the other cops, and are either elected or appointed by the municipal government. Other people have written in detail how IA reforms and civilian oversight boards work, but as long as they actually do their job instead of following the thin blue line this is task accomplished. IA are subject to increased penalties if convicted of a crime.

Cybercrime
Armament - KEYBOARD & MOUSE
Citation Powers - NO
Arrest Powers - NO
Mandatory Division - NO

We do kind of need this, don't we? It might be better to get it out in the open, because any larger police department is definitely snooping through people's email and such already. I thought about this being part of an "anti-scam" group but then I remembered that scamming isn't strictly illegal.

Mental Welfare Services
Armament - NONE
Citation Powers - NO
Arrest Powers - NO
Mandatory Division - YES

No more fucking shooting people on "welfare checks". If you must have such things, it needs to be like this. Mental healthcare and crisis certification required, preferably based out of hospitals entirely. If you're thinking "but what if they're threatening to shoot themselves, that means they have a gun", I have never even once heard an EMT,  therapist, or family member say they wanted the cops around in that scenario.

There's a whole host of legal and practice reforms that would have to go along with this sort of thing, and the existing cops would probably rather start a civil war than let it happen, but regardless I hope this is the kind of thing that helps understand what changes could be made in this fashion. This one doesn't take stretching the imagination that much to see it's probably better than the status quo.

Sorry, but as pepper spray is a chemical weapon of mass destruction, I'm going to have to take it off the list.