Ultra-tech domestic technologies may just be background details, but they can also be pressed into service by adventurers. The heroes, or their foes, may reprogram a cleaning robot as a spy or saboteur, or use domestic nanocleanser to clean up telltale forensic evidence.
These may be common ultra-tech household items, or luxuries for the rich.
This small domestic robot serves as a waiter, janitor, or homemaker, depending on how it is configured. Its internal payload space can accommodate a garbage can, vacuum cleaner, microwave oven, ultrasonic dishwasher, or a reservoir for cleaning agents. It is designed to run quietly, to avoid disturbing people while working. It moves on wheels at TL9, or on legs at TL10+.
Attribute Modifiers: ST-3 [-30]; HT+2 [20].
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: SM-1; HP+5 [10]. Advantages: Absolute Direction (Requires signal, -20%) [4]; Doesn’t Breathe [20]; DR 5 (Can’t Wear Armor, -40%) [15]; Infrared Communication (Reduced Range 5, -20%) [8]; Machine [25]; Silence 2 [10]; Payload 2 (2 lbs. cargo) [2]; Radio (Secure, +20%) [12].
Perks: Accessory (Cleaning equipment, tiny computer) [2].
Disadvantages: Electrical [-20]; Restricted Diet (Very Common, power cells) [-10]; Striking ST -2 [-10].
Model Lenses
Pick one of the following lenses:
TL9 Model (-30 points): Bad Grip -1 [-5]; Maintenance (one person, weekly) [-5], Wheeled [-20]. $4,000, 20 lbs., C/8 hr. LC4.
TL10 Model (+6 points): Extra Legs (four) [5], Reduced Consumption 2 [4]; Maintenance (one person, bi-weekly) [-3]. $1,000, 20 lbs., C/24 hr. LC4.
This bed can adjust to the shape of the sleeper, responding to voice commands to become softer, firmer, or bouncier as desired. Adds +1 to Erotic Art skill if used inventively, and adds +TL/2 to any Will rolls made to get to sleep.
Single: $500, 100 lbs.
Double: $700, 140 lbs.
A programmable ultrasonic or neural induction headset that gives the user the equivalent of the Deep Sleeper perk, and also provides Protected Hearing. $400, 0.4 lbs., A/1 day.
This automated kitchen is fitted with a complete set of robotic manipulator arms. It can cook on command using its own skill, or it can duplicate the moves of a live chef. One chef could control a dozen or more autokitchens scattered around the world. Cooking-10. $20,000, 400 lbs. Uses external power. LC4.
This “smart soap” is a solution of microscopic cleaning robots that work to remove stains, grime, dirt, dandruff, and loose skin flakes from surfaces. Domestic nanocleanser can serve as a shampoo, soap, or detergent. A teaspoon of nanocleanser powder poured into water will clean anything immersed in it in 10 to 60 seconds. It also comes in premixed liquid-detergent form, useful if water is unavailable. Washing in nanocleanser can be unsettling to those unused to its tingling sensation, but it can also be pleasant. The robots themselves are biodegradable and non-toxic, smart enough not to scrub hard enough to scratch, and programmed to break down harmlessly if exposed to ultraviolet light or the interior of a living body.
Domestic nanocleanser can disrupt forensic evidence such as bloodstains, skin flakes and other organic residue. While it doesn’t work as well as the Mask spray, treating an area with it imposes a -3 penalty on any Forensics rolls made to locate or analyze such evidence. Forensics will be able to identify the brand of nanocleanser used, though, which may itself be a useful clue!
A bottle of nanocleanser lasts for about a week of routine domestic cleaning or one major cleaning job, such as thoroughly wiping down an apartment to remove evidence. Nanocleanser adds a quality bonus of +5 to Housekeeping skill rolls to clean up things. A bottle is 1/2 pound and costs $10. A bar (for washing hands, etc.) is 0.1 lb. and costs $1.
This common swarm is programmed to move around a predetermined area, removing dust and grit, and polishing smooth surfaces with tiny brushes. Its sensors determine when material might be damaged by its actions; a cleaning swarm can safely polish lenses, and even harmlessly clean people! Each square yard of swarm can thoroughly clean one square yard area per minute. Some large craft and buildings have permanent colonies of cleaning swarms to polish windows, ports, and sensors. The swarm gives a +2 (quality) bonus to Housekeeping skill. Aerostat cleaning swarms may be popular installations in doorways, bathrooms, and showers. $1,000/square yard. LC4.
General-purpose androids are often purchased as humanoid butlers or maids.
This is found in many homes and starship cabins, and on water-poor worlds. An ultrasonic spray unit clipped to a wall simultaneously cleans and massages the user. It uses building or ship’s power. $400, 10 lbs., LC4.
An array of sensors and microcommunicators scattered through a house and its appliances. They keep track of the state of the household chores, tracking dirty dishes, laundry, etc. +1 (quality) bonus to Housekeeping skill and may coordinate housebots or cleaning swarms. It is not a burglar alarm, except indirectly (e.g., a bloody corpse may signal as a “mess” to be cleaned up). $1,000.
In some regions, construction remains much as it has been for centuries, with the only changes being electronics and appliances. Other countries are more exotic.
Houses, apartments, hotel rooms, and passenger ship cabins may include a voice-activated computer system that controls climate, domestic appliances, security, and communications. The system is programmed to respond to the occupants’ voiceprints. Cheaper apartments tie into the landlord’s main building computer, which provides similar services, but with less security. Very cheap tenements can be prone to malfunctions…
Media wallpaper permits the illusion of vast space to be created. Most ceilings, and usually at least one wall, may be used as a giant-sized computer or video screen.
An entire town or city may be enclosed by a transparent dome. A low-tech version for a terrestrial habitat could be wire-reinforced shatterproof glass, mist-plated with aluminum to cut sun glare while still letting in light. From the outside it would appear like a giant mirror; from the inside it would be almost invisible. A dome about two miles wide and a mile high would weigh about 4,000 tons.
Large, manufactured habitats are usually built using titanium, aluminum, and steel mined from moons or processed from asteroids. Gravity can be simulated by rotation, and power drawn from solar collectors or reactors. A thick shell of slag left over from mining and ore-processing operations can provide radiation shielding.
These are the largest and most expensive space habitats. They are giant cylinders (or paired cylinders) a few miles wide and several miles long, rotating to simulate Earth-normal gravity. Inside is a complete environment with park and urban landscapes. An O’Neill cylinder can house a few million people. Large populations may be supported by additional agricultural habitats.
Smaller than the O’Neill cylinder, but still very large. A typical torus is shaped like a bicycle wheel, with gravity and landscaping on the floor of the outer rim. The spokes are elevators that lead to a central microgravity hub. A typical model houses 10,000 to 100,000 people. Radiation shielding is a major expense.
This is a sphere of any size, with smaller cylinders attached around it. The central sphere rotates; the cylinders do not. The sphere is simple to build, but the rotation only simulates gravity in a strip around its equator. This can be inconvenient, as artificial gravity still hasn't been invented.
Instead of using an asteroid as raw material, it can be completely or partially hollowed out, with people living in tunnels inside. A large asteroid such as Ceres could support billions of inhabitants.
These genetically-engineered trees (or living machines resembling trees) are adapted to space conditions and planted on comets. They grow to enormous size in microgravity. Their leaves serve as solar collectors, and their bodies house cities.
If microgravity is tolerated, space habitats could be thousands of miles across without exceeding material strength limits. A large asteroid or moon might be dismantled into dozens or hundreds of continent-sized habitats.
An intelligent house (above) can have a sapient brain that handles everything from doing the dishes to tutoring the children. It is smart enough to anticipate the owner’s desires, which may be good or bad. When someone says a house or apartment has personality, they may mean exactly that. Within the house, domestic products can be made of smart, self-repairing materials. Living carpets may clean themselves. Beds, tables, and chairs may assume different shapes, textures, and colors to fit the occasion, or be absorbed into the walls and floor when not in use. Artifacts and interior partitions may change color with a word to the house computer. These houses give a +2 (quality) bonus to Housekeeping skill. A typical three-bedroom home is $100,000.
Holotech projectors can create illusionary partitions and art images; redecoration is as easy as changing programs. Any room in the home or apartment might seem to be floating in starry space, or hidden in a tropical jungle. Scented air conditioning and realistic audio effects can complete the illusion.
Ultra-tech food includes familiar agricultural-based products and various cheap and nutritious (but not always tasty) foods produced from algae, fungi, nanofabrication, or chemical synthesis. Space habitats and other closed environments may make extensive use of recycling, and even convert dead inhabitants into edible form. Biotechnology permits unusual tastes that could never be found in nature, as well as “pharm foods” with built-in vitamins, nutrients, or drugs.
These packaged meals have little weight or volume, yet supply the nutrition and calories needed to keep a person active for extended periods. Although long-term use could cause some discomfort or weight gain, they are usually tasty and provide enough variation for almost everyone to have a favorite. Stored meal packs have a safe shelf-life of 20 years. They come in dozens of variations, with randomly selected main courses, side dishes, and dessert. The packages can heat or cool themselves, and are sealed against the outside environment. $2, 1 lb. per meal.
These are designed to put the maximum amount of nutrients into the smallest sealed package; the flavors are limited. They have a safe shelf-life of 30 years, provided the package is not tampered with. Each meal is $5, 0.5 lbs.
These tablets or paste-filled tubes provide all the vitamins and calories that an active person requires. They also incorporate appetite suppressants. A one-day supply (usually split into six to 12 individual meals) is $10, 0.75 lbs.
Cyborg paste is a nutrient formula designed for cyborgs that still require some sustenance for their organic parts. It comes in a feeding tube that is inserted into the cyborg, and has a cost similar to normal food pastes.
These create an endless supply of imitation vegetables, lean meat, fish or other foodstuffs. Gengineered cells from plant or livestock tissue are cultured in growth tanks and supplied with nutrients. This creates a continuously growing biomass, which is harvested whenever food is required or it gets too big for its vat. In some societies vat-grown food may replace other animal or plant products, which might be considered unhealthy or even barbaric. Careful control of the growth process allows for tailored products (for example, combining different types of cells), and additives can be used to alter the taste.
Many of the tools and devices found in a home are based on the latest technologies – home lighting by candles was once state of the art! Microwave ovens are a development of radar technology, and home-computer technology advances with incredible speed (resulting in “planned obsolescence”).
As a culture develops toward what would be considered ultra-tech (TL9+), personal gadgets and home furnishings will advance alongside transportation, weapons, power sources, medicine, and other technologies. Although in earlier TLs, such items can be safely glossed over, at higher TLs, the sheer functionality of a sofa or personal data device can make it a useful item of adventuring gear; no doubt, a creative player can find a myriad of uses for any “ordinary” item at higher tech levels.
Bearing in mind the sheer range of capabilities now available in affordable devices, it seems only reasonable that TL9 and higher gear will be capable of a huge range of functions not typically considered in RPGs. Consider the typical iPod or similar device in the modern TL8 world: Available applications range from a mind-boggling number of games, to a “flashlight” function, to appointment calendars, and far more. A single such device can be programmed with hundreds of functions. Personal reading devices at TL8 can have enormous capacity, with the upper levels likely storing more books than a human can read in a reasonable lifetime. Already in the real world, there exist washing machines that can email the owner to tell him that the current load is done. At TL8, it is possible to purchase a vacuum cleaner that navigates a room without supervision, and automobiles can park themselves. Technology exists in the real world now to resolve recognizable images from scans of human brainwaves and allow mental impulses to direct robotic limbs.
For all of the items that follow, the following capabilities are assumed.
of chameleon technology (Ultra-Tech, p. 98).
The biosynthesis station is used to custom manufacture organic materials that may be needed from time to time. It typically builds proteins from an on-board supply of amino acids. Other organic compounds (vitamins, fats, oils) can be synthesized by first assembling proteins that act on other chemicals to make these materials. A typical unit is able to manufacture materials such as cleaning enzymes, cornstarch, egg whites, silk thread, a few kinds of glue and paint, various simple medications (a pain reliever, insulin, vitamin pills), and maybe a few more items. The station is typically 6’ tall by 3’ by 3’ at TL9, becoming 1’ shorter at each TL above 9. The station costs $5,000 at all TLs; it weighs 400 lbs. at TL9. Refill canisters of amino acids and other raw materials cost $200 and weigh 30 lbs., they will produce 15 lbs. of organic materials at TL9 (18 lbs. at TL10, 21 at TL11, and 24 at TL12). It takes one minute to make 1 lb. of a desired material. The station always knows how much additional material can be produced from the current canister.
This short-lived product is available in various sizes during its tenure. It can store a variety of food stuffs in individual energy fields that dramatically retard the spoilage of the foods. It is replaced at TL11 by the foodfac (Ultra-Tech, p. 70).
Foods are taken out of the device at room temperature (unless they are supposed to be cold, like ice cream and ice cubes), with no damage caused by the machine. An item that would spoil in a day will last a full week in the device, and other spoilage times are likewise multiplied by a factor of seven. Sogginess, mold, and decay are all prevented or slowed. The individual energy fields are tailored to the item they are protecting; fruit may be stored next to bread and ice cream without any concern for the different needs of the different items. It works on outside power, or for 36 hours/capacity in cubic feet on a C cell.
Power Pantry (TL10): $800, 24 lbs., plus $100 and 8 lbs. per cubic foot of capacity (minimum two). LC6.
A smart stove is a flexible mat about 1/2” thick. The area of the unit depends on the number of burners the device has – generally one square foot per burner. They may be rolled, folded, or simply stored flat when not in use.
Smart stoves are unfolded and placed on a flat surface for use. Food is put in containers on top of the burners, and verbal commands issued (“heat this water to boiling”; “cook this human leg to 130° on the nar scale”). The stove itself does not get hot; rather, it directs any of several possible energy types into the food (or other items) to be heated. The surface of the burners may be safely touched at any time, and materials left on the stove will be undamaged if the stove is not told to cook them. Cooking typically takes 3d seconds, although the GM should adjust this upward for large quantities of food. Users may verbally order a longer cooking time, for example when cooking a gourmet dish, or when planning to eat at a specific time. The stove’s programming prevents burning food or damaging cooking vessels. If the stove does not have access to house power, each burner can cook for up to 12 hours on its own A cell.
Smart Stove (TL10): A one-burner stove: $200, 4 lbs. LC6. Add $75 and 1 lb. for each additional burner.
A smart table is the next development from tables found throughout the world for much of history. The defining characteristic of a smart table is that its upper surface is a programmable chameleon surface (UltraTech, p. 98). Most smart tables can display maps, boards, and pieces for a variety of popular games, and show a floorplan of the home, displaying the status of all of the other appliances and devices, as well as the location of living creatures. Fancier tables are able to change color and pattern to fit in with the furniture around them, or to match holiday decorations. Basic smart tables start at $4,000, 4 lbs., and LC6 for a dinner tray or a children’s drawing table, and can reach $100,000, 1,000 lbs., and LC6 for a banquet table that seats eight.
The utility tool is the advanced version of a multi-function pocket tool. It fits comfortably in the user’s palm. The device includes a monowire cutting blade (Ultra-Tech, p. 163) about 3” long, one or more tools to open and close common physical fasteners, and one or more tools for grasping and manipulating objects too small to be handled with fingers. The tool also has adapters for various physical data ports, and can help the user to connect two or more devices (computers or equipped with computer controls) physically; it can also serve in place of a missing or damaged transmitter for common wireless-connection types. Common utility tools cost $100 and have negligible weight at TL9^.
Units with additional tools, the ability to interpret alien software, or other functions requested by the purchaser can reach up to $500. LC is typically 6, although, in some settings, paranoid governments may give it LC3 due to the monowire edge on the cutting blade. Schools, hospitals, and ports may restrict or forbid the carrying of the tool, classifying it as a weapon due to the presence of a cutting blade on it. Used as a weapon, the monowire blade does sw+1d(10) cutting damage with Reach C, 1.
This is a pretty standard item of furniture, known by scores of names in any culture it is found in. It comes in various sizes, typically sized for a small child, a medium child, a small adult, two adults, or two adults with lots of extra room. The device includes a small processor able to read and interpret the user’s body language as he tries to become comfortable; this device alters the firmness and temperature of its cushions in response to the comfort level of the user, ensuring the user experiences complete relaxation at all times while using the bed. Almost all such units have small motors enabling them to change their configuration between a bed, a lounge chair, or a couch. The mattress is kept in place by thousands of tiny grippers, and never slides off the frame. The mattress changes its dimensions to accommodate the current arrangement of the frame. The units include the effects of responsive beds (Ultra-Tech, p. 69).
Small Ultra-Futon (TL9): Suitable for a child. $700, 140 lbs. LC6.
Medium Ultra-Futon (TL9): Suitable for a human teenager; seats two as a love seat. $800, 160 lbs. LC6.
Large Ultra-Futon (TL9): Suitable for a human adult; seats three as a couch. $1,000, 180 lbs. LC6.
Double Ultra-Futon (TL9): Suitable for two human adults; seats four as a couch. $1,250, 200 lbs. LC6.
Queen-Sized Ultra-Futon (TL9): Suitable for two human adults with a bit of extra space; seats five as a couch. $1,500, 250 lbs. LC6.
King-Sized Ultra-Futon (TL9): Suitable for two human adults with a lot of extra space; seats six as a couch. $2,000, 300 lbs. LC6.
Survival Feature: Add +50% to cost, +20% to weight. The mattress can provide adequate heating and cooling (+3 HT rolls to resist injury due to a hot or cold environment); this works for (4 + TL) hours if the bed does not have an outside power source.