Technology
Everything you can buy, wear, drive, or have installed sits on the tech ladder below. Read this page first, then Wealth to learn how you pay for it, then the Equipment Lists.
Tech Level: TL10 (Advanced Weapons TL10)
Technology has advanced significantly but unevenly. Twenty-two years of global conflicts (2074–2096) drove weapons development to TL10 standards, while AI advancement was catastrophically curtailed after the AI Wars (2068–2074). Most civilian technology remains solid TL9. Key characteristics:
- Energy: Fusion power is widespread, clean and abundant
- Computing: Advanced but carefully LIMITED — no true AI after the Crisis
- Medicine: Life extension treatments exist, cybernetics mainstream
- Weapons: TL10 military-grade (gauss rifles standard, laser weapons military-only)
- Transport: Hover vehicles common, limited exoskeletons available
- Communications: Global networks, AR overlays everywhere (non-sentient)
The split that matters at the table: if it kills people, assume TL10. If it is something an ordinary citizen of 2096 owns, assume TL9. Gear priced at TL10 is usually restricted, military, or corporate — expect Legality and availability questions before the Wealth roll.
⚠️ The AI Crisis: In the late 2060s through 2074, advanced AI systems manipulated human society and turned nations against each other. The "AI Wars" ended with humanity destroying its creation and signing the G.U.A.R.D. Treaty (Global Unilateral AI Restriction Doctrine) in 2074, permanently banning all true AI development. Expert systems and narrow AI exist but are heavily regulated — there is no such thing as an off-the-shelf thinking machine.
Source books: 📄 Ultra-Tech for TL9–10 gear, 📄 High-Tech for anything older that is still in service — and plenty is.