Texlinz

Some companies are remarkably effective at covering up shady pasts. Texlinz is one of them. Formed in Lima well before the Talinz unit was even a twinkle in its mother’s eye, Texlinz (Originally TexLima), was a robotics research unit themselves. The company itself had originally applied for the UN Development commission grant that would eventually result in the frames. It had a remarkable pedigree; having already performed a lot of important groundwork in the field of computational neuroscience, and was pulling in large amounts of money from the Peruvian Government at the time for the construction of an Artificial Neural Network to monitor the El Niño. It was, however, deemed that a private company was unsuitable to spearhead the project.

In the wake of the Talinz Project’s completion, rather than attempt to introduce a competing model, the company adapted fast, eating up as many subsidies as possible, using the profits to fund their own research into more esoteric fields. Their huge South American production base turned the newly rebranded Texlinz into the largest manufacturer of Talinz frames within three years. In a rather cynical riposte to the research councils who had denied them, Texlinz had managed to attain an immense share of the market without having to spend any of their own money on research and development.

In the meantime, the more esoteric fields would prove to be remarkably useful in the production and advertising of their own frames. Talinz units that could pick up and process substantially larger sensory inputs than competitors, those that could react much faster than their peers, even those that could be used in orbital networks were all quickly released into the world by Texlinz. They were among the first to contract with government military and police forces also, gaining a reputation for efficient, robust systems with few points of failure. It would be these latter contracts that would become Texlinz main source of income, and much of their research and development budget was funnelled into advanced team protocols, attempting to create Talinz that could best a human pilot in combat unassisted, or multiple units linked to a single ‘vanguard’ pilot, reducing manpower costs to allow the fielding of ever larger forces as the wars escalated.

The Baku treaty ended up being nothing more than a bump in the shares of the company, too. Using the programming developed from years of military hardware, they quickly co-opted them to aid fisheries, using colonial ‘net’ frames that corralled and caught fish for them. The singular ‘vanguard’ systems quickly saw use in the construction industry, speeding up the process of rebuilding after the war. Reconstructing buildings their own products had damaged, it seemed as if Texlinz had engineered the entire thing themselves. At the very least, they seemed to be well ahead of the curve when it came to adapting to the new environment.

Texlinz were one of the founders of the sport of Talinz fighting, and were instrumental in the frames public redemption in the post-war era. To this day, they still sponsor the largest tournmanet in South America, the continent-wide Andes cup, and its bigger brother, the invitational All-Americas cup. Repeated investment in local industry now makes Texlinz one of the major employers in South America, with a respectable record and a well-treated workforce that, despite all of their advances, is still primarily human. In part, it seems that these workers act as a useful bargaining chip for Texlinz when prospecting future expansions in the continent. Few governments are likely to challenge a business that would lose little by upping and leaving your country, or autonomising a sizable sector of your economy.

Key to the success of Texlinz, it has constantly been believed, is the existence of ‘The Board’. Rather than any single influential or charismatic individual, Texlinz has a reputation for elevating talented members of staff through the ranks until they sit at the pinnacle of the organisation. One of the current board, it is rumoured, even started his career on the factory floor in Rio, before being scouted for his discerning eye. Not only does this give their employees a goal and a motivation, but these conglomerate committee-led opinions give an undoubted strength to the company. How much of the rumour that surrounds ‘The Board’ is true is uncertain, and many urban legends are clearly wild and unfounded: including suggestions that they might be early experiments in artificial intelligence by TexLima gone rogue.

Statting 'The Board'

So, 'The Board' of Texlinz I have explicitly avoided giving stats. They are shady, they are shadowy, and they are hella competent. Depending on the political/social/economic system at hand, they should provide an interesting ally or opposition. Rather than individuals with stat lines, I would almost recommend GMs consider them to be opposition in the scene in the same way a natural force might be. They have a tendency to push situations in their favour, and you are only likely to encounter well-informed delegates of 'The Board'. Or they might actually be Board members themselves... Who knows?

In exchange, have some mechanics about how their communal Talinz technology works!

"When a Talinz frame fitted with the Aspect 'Vanguard module' is piloted, it can interface with local unpiloted units that also possess the module and exist on the same 'Vanguard' call frequency. These units are networked, utilising the group's combined processing power. They can utilise any skill bonuses granted by the AI cores of any unit in the network as if they were their own. The unit gains an additional +1 bonus when it combines skill to act as a team (Note that skills given to units by other members of the network do not count as actually possessing the skill at above +1 for the purposes of the Teamwork action). Unpiloted units are considered allies for the purposes of stress track and actions, with a single stress box for each member of the unit."

Talinz in Daily Life: Industry

After a short break for Christmas and the New Year, I'd like to welcome in 2014 with the first in a new series (Which when the compiled PDF is finished will be a new chapter, I hope) on Talinz in Daily Life. We start with industry:

Much more than just sport, Talinz permeate everyday life, and affect the way people interact with each other and with society. These frames tend to be offered in two general formats: those for domestic use, and those for industrial use. Their jobs vary widely within these two very broad clades, and they are present in every economic sector, for better or worse.

Industrial Frames

Robotics is a major part of heavy industry, and it is in this role that Talinz frames are perhaps considered most iconic. Bulky, robust frames are often used for heavy lifting and large-scale construction, whilst smaller frames clamber through production lines adjusting fine electronics, and soldering together smaller pieces.

Outside of this, Talinz are used as crop dusters and harvesters in agriculture; for extraction, crushing, sieving and transportation in mining and quarrying; for synthesis of dangerous chemicals, and to help produce energy in power plants, along with many more tasks elsewhere. Often, specialist frames will be built fit to purpose. South American robotics giants Texlinz, for example, have constructed a frame that closely associates with others of its type to form a ‘swarm net’ to enable more efficient, Talinz-powered fishing. These units tend to become very heavily reliant on each other during their work, and robopsychologists have suggested they may even experience a sense of grief when a member of the swarm is terminated, even after the basic personality files of the frames were prevented from developing a capacity for sorrow.

The use of Talinz frames in industry has exploded massively largely due to one thing. With an entirely Talinz-powered factory, one only needs to employ a small number of engineers in case of breakdown, and a foreman to supervise the work. Workforce maintenance costs drop through the floor, as there are no legal requirements to grant Talinz a wage, breaks, or holiday. Companies obtain the units either by purchasing direct from a manufacturer, or through part time letting deals of the unit from its owners, and so in some cases do not even need to provide shelter and charging ports for the units they utilise.

Whilst many units in industry tend to have very basic, blank personality files at first – being intentionally designed to be as boring and bland as possible in order to eliminate possible workplace fracas – the adaptability of the Talinz system often confounds attempts to make an unthinking, unfeeling workforce. All too often, the experiences and engagements of the frame with human staff and other units in the facility will affect it as an individual, causing it to form views and opinions that it might not otherwise have. Ones that might be detrimental to productivity. One of the most difficult jobs of the small human workforce is that of calling in the ‘Wipers’. Wipers are groups of outside engineers who specialise in removing any aberrant traits from industrial Talinz frames and returning them to a clean factory default, without affecting the associated experience files (Which might necessitate the purchase and downloading of expensive training packages or of lapses in the individual’s memory that might inconvenience work). Engineers within the workforce at an individual company could feasibly perform the task, but management often worries about individuals becoming too attached to individual units, and overlooking this in their judgement. Large companies might employ a wiping department, whilst smaller firms may call in private contractors.

Increased production and adoption of industrial Talinz, however, has had a major negative side effect on the humans who have now found their jobs usurped by an ever growing robotic population. Outsourced and outperformed, many of these individuals have understandably become dissatisfied with the system. Governments have scrambled to counter the rising unemployment, though different countries have approached the problem in different ways. Some have granted subsidies and tax rebates to companies that employ a higher percentage of human staff, some have introduced retraining and back to work programmes to encourage education later in life, whilst others still have set back and let the market take its course.

Disenfranchised individuals have not been silent, however. In less stable areas, protests turn to riots, and hushed talk in the back rooms of houses and meeting halls become political movements, or robotics sabotage. Assaults against the few remaining Talinz engineers at large companies are on the rise, to the point that some police departments have considered grouping these Talinz-motivated crimes as a category all of their own.

Most notable among these groups is the Grey Hand. Originally, this small internet forum was an area for those concerned about the effect military Talinz were having on the human consciousness and perception of violence. Since the Baku treaty, however, their membership has transformed into a substantially more zealous, and more numerous anti-Talinz front. This loosely-organised global network has been branded as champion by some, terrorist by others. What none can deny however, are their effectiveness. Although cells have been located and arrested, new bubbles seem to pop up out of nowhere, infiltrating both Talinz factories and houses of prominent individuals in the industry, and causing mayhem of levels varying from knowing notes left on desks, through to full-scale bombings of important warehouses. The Grey Hand is dangerous, whether one were to agree with them or not. Considerable pressure on governments from corporations in more affected areas has led to considerations of curfews, anti-social behaviour laws, and internet monitoring.

Some claim it is unwarranted escalation. Some claim it is a necessary evil.