Plasmaman: Difference between revisions

Approximately one month and seventeen days into testing, on October 24th, 2384, there was an incident that caused a plasma fire to erupt and burst through the pumping pipes to a chamber. Fire suppression systems failed as the massive heat capacity of plasma and its continuous pumping eventually melted and gnawed through the inner airlocks of the ship. Only the outer insulation to space prevented the plasma from leaking into the void. Once all the oxygen had been consumed, the plasma stopped but continued to fill the ship. The first responders to the incident were unable to hail the ship, and they presumed all crew aboard dead. However, biometric scanners picked up movement and activity on board. A burst of radioactive dusting revealed that there were moving skeletons aboard, and no traces of the crew’s bodies. After twenty-four hours of communication with '''CentCom Special Investigative Affairs''' and the '''Xenospecies Relationship Organization''' from the '''[[Commonwealth of Orion]]''', a boarding party was finally sent to make contact, being a mixture of government officials and corporate emergency responders. The communication made marks the first contact between humanity and another sapient species. Only eleven out of fifty-seven crew were successfully extracted, as the boarding party did not immediately realize that plasma had fused to the skeleton’s bones and that their existing organic structures required plasma in order to function. While their livers and lungs had seemingly attached to their bones, the heart was notably missing. There were attempts to keep the incident under wraps, which massively failed. As soon as media outlets and ethical organizations caught wind of the incident and the existence of the quickly dubbed “plasmamen”, public opinion in the Commonwealth split into several, spread opinions, with some believing in excessive, divine violence, others in humane treatment, and a select minority in research.

For their first few months of rebirth, the eleven plasmamen were confined and kept in specialized cells filled entirely with gaseous plasma in a secret Commonwealth facility. Nanotrasen, at the behest of legendary chairwoman '''Julianna Deimi''', quickly developed and produced the first envirosuits, which were clunky but effective, a variation of the '''voidsuits''' that were far more resilient to environmental hazards, dubbed '''hardsuits'''. With reassurances that the plasmamen would be kept under a careful eye, as well as significant lobbying forcing the hands of Commonwealth politicians, the remaining eleven crew of the NT.F Grey Voyager were transferred from Commonwealth scientists into the hands of Nanotrasen.  

Interrogation of the plasmamen revealed that they remembered only flashes of their previous lives. Strangely, they also recalled histories not fitting themselves. Eventually, cross-referencing of interviews revealed that snippets of memories from each of the subjects had somehow been shared among them all. Overall, confusion about the self and one's own history were paramount, which made identification difficult. When asked and given their names, most refused to accept their old names. Instead, they requested that their name were to be an element from the periodic table followed by a pre-existing roman numeral. When queried, all their justifications had to do with a feeling of an innate bond with the element. No further understanding has been reached on this subject. Most displayed a heightened sense of apathy or distance from common, deep anxieties, such as death, starvation, and affection. While they still displayed self-preservation instincts, panic was not a prevalent response among the subjects. They still retained knowledge and their capability to speak, and very rarely resisted their imprisonment. It was only after the suggestions of researchers that they began to feel ambition once more, wishing to continue their work with Nanotrasen. The final notable development was when in shared cells, the plasmamen communicated using vocal sounds and fluctuations that matched with no pre-existing human language. When queried, the subjects were confused, stating that they had known the method of communication ever since their “resurrection”.

 

In the present, plasmamen still see discrimination and horror from fellow organics, but they also find more fulfillment and independence in their existence. While Nanotrasen policy is to suggest and attempt to retain a fresh plasmaman as an NT worker, not all plasmamen work in NT facilities, due to the increasing availability of the resource, despite the corporation’s best efforts to keep it on lockdown. As a result, plasmamen, while still rare, exist in several branches of civilized life: wherever their attitude, skills, and physiology are accepted.

==Naming Conventions ==

Plasmaman vary in their naming schemes. Rarely, they adopt their old names from their previous lives. More commonly others take on a name which consists of an element of the periodic table followed by a number in roman numerals. The element is often one that the plasmaman finds significant in their new existence, or feels a bonding with. Some report not knowing why they chose said name while being evasive on the topic. Regardless, scientists have noted that over time, the numeral associated with the chemical grows in size.

Plasmamen culture is little developed, due to the widespread apathy that tends to sweep through the species. However, plasmamen who display higher responsiveness and sensitivity to typical emotions tend to focus on gathering close with other plasmamen to discern some meaning for their new lives or to interrogate their newfound, intrusive memories. The creation of several "Lazarus groups" has spread through stations where plasmamen reside, acting as informative, philosophical communities.  

While plasmamen have little need for housing or a sense of home, they do tend to collect belongings and assign value to them as most organics typically do, as petty as the worth can be.  

While distant and flat from emotional matters, plasmamen still possess expected and normal levels of self-preservation. Depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, RDS, and sociopathy are all significantly more prevalent in their psyches. The presence of alien memories can often lead to a conflicting impression of the self, which can be an immensely stressful experience.

*Sometimes disturbed by a variety of past memories, though most avoid conventional PTSD with a newfound distance from their existence