Have you ever wanted to be an amoral arms smuggler? How about an alien? Do you also want to give people superpowers? Now you can do all three, in Caveman's Arsenal. Superpower smuggling has never been so much fun! Essentially, you can play Worm's Cauldron or God or whoever you like. Want to empower ordinary animals into kaiju and see humanity try to fight back? Go ahead. Want to hand out powers to strictly monitored and carefully chosen individuals, running your little scientific experiment? Sure. Want to develop your serums further by putting humans in the kind of situations where they have to test the limits of their powers? Fine. Want to just randomly splash serums over different areas and people? Go wild.
Some serums will be safe, with specific and known effects - others would be experimental, with random power levels and only roughly known effects. The former will be a little limited in power, but the latter might create world-ending catastrophes and god-like superhumans that might cause even you a bit of trouble.
Inspired by other spins on the concept I've seen elsewhere, and that scene in Lord of War where Nicholas Cage's arms smuggler unloads his plane full of guns in the middle of a wartorn African country and every single weapon has disappeared into the hands of the locals by the time the authorities reach him. Only, you know, in space.
Some more information can be found in this Gaming Block post!CAVEMAN'S ARSENAL
You are: an Alien Smuggler of Superpowers
Well - everything's gone to shit, but it's going to be just fine. The Authority's on your tail and you've got a cargo hold full of serums that'll get you put behind bars for a good century anywhere in civilized space, sure. The 'safe and unmonitored' route to Xhorhas IV you were promised turned out to be neither of those things, and you got made before you got even half-way to your buyer. There's no way you'll be outrunning a fleet of Authority cruisers in your little nameless space tub, so there's no point in wasting your fuel trying to escape any further. Everybody who gets in this line of work knows the risks. Hauling around super-enhancement serums distilled from species and... things from around the galaxy can be
very profitable, but it's also definitely
very illegal.
That's alright. This isn't your first space rodeo. You're about to do what you in the business call a Caveman's Arsenal.
It's one of the oldest tricks in the book, and it only takes a few things. You need a little time, a primitive inhabited planet, and the best poker face in the galaxy. See, the native non-interference laws say you can't interact with any cute little pre-spaceflight sapients you come across. Now, you don't care much for the law, but the cops will, and that's what you're counting on. You're going to dump your entire cargo on the primitives and claim they just went and manifested these abilities on their own. They'll never believe it, but they can't prove it didn't happen either.
So you've found this out-of-the-way, fairly boring system with a single inhabited planet - named, in a typical display of originality, 'Earth' by the locals. Taking into account relativistic travel time, you've got a century here before the authorities arrive. You've got hundreds of serums in your cargo hold, and all of them have to be gone by then. So better get to work - but you're not just gonna drop all of them in one go. That'd leave too much in the way of evidence. Naw, you've gotta feed them into the population over time, one by one... and you might as well have some fun along the way. Of course, once you're all done and the heat's died down, you'll just return, round up the natives, and distill them back into neat little serums to sell on. It's the perfect crime.
The planet's not a terribly interesting one, but it's got potential. Several continents, water, plenty of life, supporting a considerable population of sapients. These 'humans' inhabit a scattering of nations, displaying a simply delightful degree of primitive tribalism and in-fighting. That'll be to your advantage, if you just want to provoke a war that destroys their little civilization and brings the population down to a more manageable number.
Of course, you could inject some of the other inhabitants, too. Non-sapients can't talk, barring restricted mind-scrubbing techniques, so there's no chance of it ever getting back to you. Might be entertaining, too – seeing how they do against a member of the local animal or plant life supersized and supercharged with a few choice serums. You've got a century to spend here. Might as well make a show out of it. There's a market for that kind of footage, too, whether the buyers want to call it 'scientific research material' or 'the best entertainment in the galaxy'.
A closer look at the planet tells you quite a bit about the technology level and societal frameworks you'll be dealing with. As a generalization, the world is...
***
A) A world of bronze and iron, ruled by tribes with delusions of grandeur. Their cultures show an interesting degree of complexity, though, and ideas of 'demigods' and 'monsters' form an excellent framework to tie your gifts into. The ancient world, in roughly 500 BC.B) A world of steel and steam, where swollen empires subject less fortunate peoples to admirable oppression, and technology advances at a steady pace. Unswerving faith in science promises impossible advances daily – a promising framework to help explain your gifts. The early 19th century and the Industrial Revolution.C) A world of electronics and atoms, teetering on the precipice of nuclear destruction between two superpowers. Human learning and technology is growing at a considerable pace – something that may not be entirely desirable, but should make for interesting uses and advances with your gifts. The Cold War and towards the modern day.D) A world of data and technology, seeking its way, bleeding the planet dry as the population continues to swell. Advances in technology portent interstellar travel within a century – but offer an easy framework to explain away the source of your gifts. The present day.
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Topic: Caveman's Arsenal [SG] (1820, Injection #5: The Tree of Desires) (Read 13510 times)