Bits
The primary Currency in and out of the Capital
City is Bits. Bits are small metal coins, prized as
metal is such a scarce resource. Most Bits are made
of iron, copper, aluminum, and a few other trace
metals. Bits are the general currency for most
exchange, though farther away from the Capital
City a good deal of bartering occurs. The value
given to something for sale is normally equal to how
many Bits go into making the object. For items
like food and water, there are standard rates that
exist based on availability in the area. The rarer the
material or the more skill it takes to manufacture
something, the more expensive it is to purchase.
When a purchase is more expensive, most
people refer to 1,000 Bits to as Kilos.
Power
For the first twenty years, the ancestors who colonized
Westward continued using traditional power sources,
mostly involving fusion reaction devices. When the
earliest prospectors returned with deposits of a new
mineral, several studies discovered that it produced a
stable electrical charge. While some complex minerals
discovered in the past had similar effects, this one
had unique potential. The mineral was named
Tribium, for its particular triboelectrical properties.
The scientists found that by refining the mineral, they
could control and vary the electrical production of
the Tribium. An early Colonial scientist, Doctor
Kim Li Jeong, developed compact Tribium-based
power cells he called Tribs. By refining Tribium into
Tribium 174, or Tribocite, the Doctor found that
when surrounding the refined material in an ozone
rich canister and exposing it to a brief burst of alpha
particles, it produced a continuous electrical current.
A Trib power cell produces a variance of .01 m Watts
to around 800 M Watts, with a steady 5 Amp current.
Further exploration of the Trib power cells enabled
scientists to excite the Tribium into producing
variations in amperage, further increasing
their voltage potentials. This led to using Trib
power cells for the production of steam power,
mainly for high-acceleration propulsion.
Steam-based technology, or steamtech, quickly
took off with the development of the Steamcore
Mark II. The device used recycled, hypercompressed
steam with circulators to continually
align the water molecules. The Steamcore Mark
II produced efficient steam power for centuries.
The last century brought the introduction of the
Steamcore Mark II and Microcore Mark I, each
fastened with a Static Hydrogenation Oxygen
Reduction Transference Trib Catalytic Reactor,
(SHORT Catalytic Reactor). The SHORT Reactor
provided the capability to draw water directly
from air into the Trib power cell. These mobile
devices provide nearly perpetual power, however
they do take time to recharge after intense use.
Tribs
Tribs come in two primary forms, Fixed and Variable.
Fixed Tribs provide a reliable, consistent electrical
output and are the most common. Fixed Tribs work
with just about any powered device. Variable Tribs
can be altered to provide different electrical outputs
giving them a wider variety of functionality. Fixed
and Variable Tribs both charge naturally over time,
typically charging the capacitors contained within
to full in about one minute. When all the power
from a Trib is dispensed, the Trib can be manually
replaced while it charges with an already charged
Trib, or the Trib can simply sit and wait for another
full charge. The manual replacement of Tribs is
most common when they are used in combat. Many
people carry twelve to fifteen Tribs in order to
provide consistent power in stressful situations.
