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Scrapyard station: thoughts on Tinkers
Aug. 25th, 2022 01:17 pmThe first Tinkers weren’t really “augmented.” They had severe brain damage, and replacing part of the brain with a computer was the only way to wake them from their comas. It was a coincidental discovery that Tinkers could resist the Parasite mind control that turned ordinary humans into puppets.
By necessity, all modern Tinkers who serve on the “front lines” are required to get the computers, but other folks tend not to replace still-healthy parts of their brains. Anything besides the brain is fair game for modification or replacement, though. (Unlike a lot of settings, cybernetics don’t eat your soul.)
Modern Tinkers have perfected scar-free surgery, so showing your augments is a deliberate statement. Robotic-looking augments show support for the military’s efforts to wipe out Parasites and other “outside enemies.” If you meet a Tinker who visibly has a patch of their skull replaced with metal, you are about to hear some terrible political opinions. On the other hand, the truly wild organic-looking mods (e.g. aquatic adaptations) tend to represent a more open-minded, alien-friendly brand of politics, and robotic Tinkers regard them with undisguised suspicion.
Tinkers are pretty long-lived, with the biggest limitation being which parts of the brain can safely be replaced or repaired as it wears out. Some researchers are trying to overcome this, and future Tinkers may Ship of Theseus themselves into entirely artificial bodies.
The galactic community thinks of Tinkers as a race of what we would call “redneck engineers.”
Despite the xenophobia of Tinker culture, individual Tinkers who interact outside of their culture have a reputation as alien-fuckers. We’re particularly attracted to Nomads, who align with an ancient Tinker legend of beings called “catgirls.”
The majority of Tinkers don’t officially follow an organized religion, but a variety of old Earth religions still survive. Some Tinkers have also gotten into the Nomad practice of ancestor worship.
By necessity, all modern Tinkers who serve on the “front lines” are required to get the computers, but other folks tend not to replace still-healthy parts of their brains. Anything besides the brain is fair game for modification or replacement, though. (Unlike a lot of settings, cybernetics don’t eat your soul.)
Modern Tinkers have perfected scar-free surgery, so showing your augments is a deliberate statement. Robotic-looking augments show support for the military’s efforts to wipe out Parasites and other “outside enemies.” If you meet a Tinker who visibly has a patch of their skull replaced with metal, you are about to hear some terrible political opinions. On the other hand, the truly wild organic-looking mods (e.g. aquatic adaptations) tend to represent a more open-minded, alien-friendly brand of politics, and robotic Tinkers regard them with undisguised suspicion.
Tinkers are pretty long-lived, with the biggest limitation being which parts of the brain can safely be replaced or repaired as it wears out. Some researchers are trying to overcome this, and future Tinkers may Ship of Theseus themselves into entirely artificial bodies.
The galactic community thinks of Tinkers as a race of what we would call “redneck engineers.”
Despite the xenophobia of Tinker culture, individual Tinkers who interact outside of their culture have a reputation as alien-fuckers. We’re particularly attracted to Nomads, who align with an ancient Tinker legend of beings called “catgirls.”
The majority of Tinkers don’t officially follow an organized religion, but a variety of old Earth religions still survive. Some Tinkers have also gotten into the Nomad practice of ancestor worship.
