Alpha Centari Aesthetic Virtues

>>52773902
Its mostly convincing your population to want less things/space personally and put up with more violent oppression because their physical forms are only representations of their spirit as part of Humanity.

Look into stoicism and zen/buddhism stuff. The practice would be making do with less to be better at when there is actually less and because material possessions are attachment which makes you less of a Good Humanist.

+2 base size was dope though.

>>52774062
Damn, the faction I'm building this for are cutthroat industrialist academics
kinda like if Morgan Industries and University had a hate-fuck lovechild.

I might need to rework it a lot.

>>52774139
This could still work.

Consider that at the level of tech for all of this, your cut-throat capitalist technocrats could just buy peace of mind, probably in the form of some wonderdrug, or BTL-cyberchip memory implant.

Net result - still living a "minimalist" physical existence, but in their own mental innerworld, they move as gods.

>>52774433
That's a horrifying concept. It could make a good Story arc

>>52774433
I was going to do something like this for a curse of strahd campaign where after the party 'defeat' strahd they wake up in shadowrun and strahd is CEO of a major corp.

>>52774652
Thank you!

If you're interested, Shadowrun has some elements like that.

One piece of cyberware is a memory inhibitor. You basically turn it on, and then do not develop long term memories until you turn it off.
This is great for worker slaves! They can work their 8 hour shifts, and go home and to them, they feel like they just woke up, have the ENTIRE time to themselves for family, fun, hobby, etc. On their deathbed, they have no recollection of ever working a day in their lives.

What a utopia!

I mean, who cares that the boss allegedly turned their work shifts up to 10, 12, or 18 hours. They don't remember it, so it didn't happen. And who cares if the boss does illegal work on the jobsite, you don't remember it. It never happened. You're a happy worker, and you get to go home and live a perfect life with paychecks coming in for work that you have no recollection doing.

>>52773902
It's the ASCETIC virtues, you turbomong.

>>52774814
oh, that would make a lot more sense.
They sound almost the same.

>>52773902

"Ascetic" virtues, mind you.

Anyway, they do have an entry, p. 69. They do have a blurb earlier that secret projects are not necessarily considered to be a specific thing in a specific base, and potentially society-wide initiatives, infrastructure, etc.

>During the new Space Age, one of the most important social movements was the New Asceticism. Unlike may of the philosophical movements important to Planet's history, this one was largely restricted to a single faction. Even so, it played a prominent role in later events. The New Asceticism was rooted in the economic theory of planetary economics. It caused its faction to take a radically different direction from most of the others. Rather than concentrate on producing more and better goods for consumption, the faction encouraged its citizens to be satisfied with less. They refrained from the quest for personal possessions and luxuries, concentrating instead on service to the faction's ideals. By discovering the "Ascetic Virtues", the faction managed to increase its population and dramatically reduce social unrest. This philosophy of self-denial was not much imitated outside the faction in which it appeared. Even so, it was later proved to be the one seed of the ultimate Era of Transcendence. In the later decades, members of the Transcend movement adopted many elements of the New Asceticism. The New Asceticism was a gentle doctrine. It demanded only reasonable restraint from its followers. In GURPS terms, a New Ascetic would probably have the Honesty disadvantage. He would not have Greed, Miserliness, or any Compulsive Behavior involving money. On the other hand, he would not allow himself to gain more than average wealth (although he would willingly use expensive equipment owned by others, if necessary for his duties).

>>52774799
But then, how do you ever get any better at your job?

>>52774974
At this point, you are not intended to become better at your job.

All jobs at which you can get better at have been replaced by machines because they are better learners than you.

These jobs exist because your effort as a human laborer is cheaper than buying machines.

>>52774938

Oh, and forgot to mention, unlike some of the secret projects, the little blurb at the end is all you get, there is no SMAC GURPS rules or mechanics covering them.

>>52774938
What site did you get a copy of the GURPS Alpha Centari book from?

>>52775061

My bookshelf. I bought a copy of it a few years ago. You can find used and new versions of it on the internet. I've always had serious problems reading pdfs longer than a few pages for some reason.

File: yAt1H.gif (753KB, 200x86px) Image search: [Google]

753KB, 200x86px

>>52774814

>>52774139

Alternatively, "ascetic virtues" are for the plebians, while the nobility enjoys their luxuries.

>>52774914

And not to be confused with "Aneasthetic virtues"