Certified Spaceman
- Eddies
- 171
A diagram of the device while implanted
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Image Source: Multifunctional implant (via Johns Hopkins Medicine), edits by me via Stable Diffusion
ENHANCEMENT INFORMATION
Enhancement Name: Flash Cortex
Type: Neuralware
Manufacturer: Custom to ripperdoc (original spec: USSR)
Cost (Eddies): 5000
Location of Implantation: Spinal column, for best results the ideal implantation spot is located at the base of the skull between the C1 & C2 Vertebrae.
Humanity Loss Rating: 8
ENHANCEMENT DESCRIPTION
Functionality:
- Skill Acceleration - Instead of long hours of practice, recipients can learn skills in minutes. (e.g. 1-3 repetitions are enough to learn a song on a complex musical instrument)
- Accelerated Muscle Memory - Increased speed during tasks utilizing muscle memory, allowing a methodical action to become a quick one.
- Spatial Awareness - Provides fine-tuning to proprioception, increasing awareness of body orientation and its spatial positioning.
Design/Appearance: Similar in design to a co-processor, this implant is embedded into the brain stem directly. Once healed, there is no indication of the implant from the exterior, any such surface modification is cosmetic or custom to the implantee.
Effect on User:
- Sensory Ghosts - While the implant does not directly impact cognition, it is possible to re-experience some of the sensory input inadvertently recorded during the skill acquisition. This may dilute over time as repeated skill usage adds new data.
- Skilled Egotism - Skill progression is greatly accelerated, leading some implantees inclined to claim it as their own natural prowess instead.
- Favoring Predictability - The more unpredictable the circumstances, the riskier the use of the implant, leading some recipients to choose more routine situations in daily life.
- Unintentional Motor Tics - The implant is rather agnostic with what skills it records, sometimes recognizing nervous fidgeting or idle movements as worthwhile skills for acquisition, leading to recipients unwittingly looping themselves into those minor behaviors outside of desired circumstances.
RATIONALE AND FUNCTION
Humanity Loss Cause (Explanation): The implant's location on the brain stem is highly intrusive and risks a level of neurological meddling if it malfunctions. This is compounded by the implant's ad-hoc nature, it is cobbled together and there is no brand or corp taking responsibility for its safety. It likely has bugs, and as with the original test subjects, these may have lasting effects on the recipient. Additional, as the recipient does not truly earn their skills, but flash-learns them instead, this may over time cause development of mental crises such as imposter syndrome, an emotional deadening due to a lack of genuine dopamine regulation, runaway egotism, or various dissociative states that could precipitate cyberpsychosis.
Usage/Limitations: The Flash Cortex performs best in predictable situations. It activates not unlike muscle memory, or a typist's auto-completion, and the effect can sometimes be jarring (even if pleasantly so). Using the implant in chaotic, highly-reactive environments can cause the implant's activation to induce a mild state of shock for the implantee, however. This can be reduced through better acclimation, such as using the device more often to get used to the sensation. At worst case, the implantee can find themselves in something similar to a panic attack. Minor glitches may cause the implant to misfire and perform a wrong technique at times, however a ripperdoc can usually correct this with a new firmware update (while reminding the implantee that custom solutions like this aren't always free of glitches). In extreme cases of chaos or malfunction, recipients may experience: Shock, Disorientation, Anxiety, Persistent Muscular Soreness, Intense Headaches, and/or Dissociation with Reality.
Reputation & Availability: A rare, ad-hoc creation, the Flash Cortex is typically only sought after by those with money, hubris, or a combination of the two. The added rigor of no ready-made solution means deciphering Soviet instructions and sifting through several decades of aftermarket modifications and firmware to assemble the best version, this likely requires having connections to a Soviet ripperdoc. In short, only the very reckless or very rich will usually go through with implanting this device. As a result, it can be seen as a cheat or crutch for others without it, creating real concerns if used in a competition or corporate setting.
EXTRA NOTES
History: The Flash Cortex began life as the Wolf Mnemonic (Волков Мнемос) device, a Soviet R&D project in the 2030s to accelerate training and skill retention in military personnel. Given advancements in wetware and synthetic neuroplasticity algorithms, Soviet scientists discovered they could augment the brain's motor cortex by creating a synthetic reflex network, a specific neural cache that overrides normal learning speeds, demonstrating higher performance than a digital co-processor and effectively bridging the gap between raw talent and real-world expertise.
The failure of the Soviets to extract and implant experience directly into this neural cache turned the ambition of the wetlab project into a horror film. Unlike braindance technology, which functions as a sensory proxy, implanted memories attempting to be interpreted directly by the brain's motor cortex resulted in a neurological mismatch. While initial trials proved promising, broadening the variety in donors and subjects magnified the misalignment and reports began to filter back to Moscow. What was meant to hasten training by directly implanting the skills of the best Soviet warriors, instead caused soldiers to lose control of their own bodies, suffering erratic limb movements, neuromuscular degradation, cognitive dissociation, and in the worst cases, cyberpsychosis.
What's worse, the implanted memories were irrevocable, dooming even the most mildly reactive of test subjects to being locked out of the implanted skill, even with therapy and proper training to correct the mishap. Sensing a dead-end, Moscow pulled the funding and the project shut down shortly thereafter, though not before one small team discovered the implant's saving grace. True believers, they smuggled the most pertinent reports and a set of blueprints to created the Wolf Mnemonic Device to the black market, never quite making their desired fortune before the Russian wolf got to each one of them.
Pitched as a Flash Cortex to the black market, plans for the implant boasted of miraculous skill acquisition. "Thirty minutes with a tutorial, and you'll play the piano like a maestro!" Promising the ease of taking on a new high-powered job, winning a contest, or impressing a date, the Flash Cortex seemed like the answer to the everyman's ordinary woes. In practice, the device merely assists with retention and recall of muscle memory, monitoring signals along the brain stem to the motor cortex while performing repeatable, complex techniques, and storing them in optimized patterns more efficiently than the brain. Later, when the technique is performed again, the implant will act as a type of artificial muscle memory, reminding the body of what it needs to do to execute the technique.
As it turned out, while implanted memories were impossible to properly integrate, storing the host's own nerve patterns made the effect infinitely more compatible. Despite requiring the implantee to actively, if hastened, practice the skill to be learned, the limit to that skill is theoretically only limited by the host's own physical limits and poses no threat to natural skill progression.
In the black market version, the lack of military-level funding will require more a clever sourcing of parts and an understanding of their mechanisms to construct a working version of the Flash Cortex. Modern versions may still be unstable, but advances in underground firmware updates and advanced algorithmic filtering have made the street versions mostly safe, assuming one can afford a quality ripperdoc; preferably well-versed in Soviet cybertechnology.
Modifications: As all solutions are technically custom, it is infinitely modifiable in theory. Messing with neuralware without an advanced understanding, particularly without a thorough copy of the R&D notes, is inadvisable even in the best of cases. Nonetheless, various custom versions of the latest and older firmwares circulate around the nets for those interested in experimenting. A clever ripperdoc may also be able to jury-rig integration with another implant, most should be able to offer a cosmetic decoration or access port above the site of implantation if desired.
Potential Use in Roleplay: The Flash Cortex is generally meant to help explain and aid characters who have a need to hone specific physical skills, such as martial artists, athletes, performers, and other fine-motor skill professions such as surgeon or mechnaic. However, it does not grant knowledge to the recipient, it is nearly worthless for academic or purely-intellectual pursuits. It ignores the Whys of a technique, focusing only on the Hows instead, limiting characters from true mastery without finding understanding separately, either through a mentor or exposure to a wide variety of utilization scenarios. In short, the implant is here to enhance the roleplay of new skills, less so to guide it toward skill acquisition or become a genius.
