One of the central concepts in the official netrunning rules is that ICE or Intrusion Counter Measure software is a threat to all netrunners. The simplest and oddly enough most common element used to make this threat real is the ability to cause damage to a target via his deck. Some of the more gifted online writers love this gimmick so much that they can create entire libraries of weapon based programs to kill enemy runners. The problem with it is this...most of them rely on electrical currents to do their damage and the net in 2020 is fiber optic...opps.
Before we go to much further maybe we should at least explain some of the basic ideas. Firstly, fiber optics. A fiber optic cable is essentially a long filament of glass that can be used to conduct rapid pulses of light. This light is then used to carry data instead of an electrical signal. So we have our first problem, no electrical signal. The deck converts the data into neural impulses which admittedly are electrical but at such low amps that they couldn't hurt you period. Why? Cause only a moron would wire up his head so that he could get toasted by any stray surge. If you could get wiped by a surge the device would never have been approved for home use. Okay, how do electrical pulses kill people? Well there's two ways, they either burn out the tissues, and for the record this requires a hefty charge, though direct conduction to the brain would reduce this. Second they can alter the rhythm of the heart, and if you know anything about defibrillation you need 200 to 360 joules to do this. So we have another problem were does the deck get the power to do it? And how do you over ride the deck's built in safeguards against just that? Beginning to see the problems here?
So do we just throw out ICE? No, we just take a different approach and a more realistic one at that. That's what this page is dedicated to. The different ways a deck can affect the user.
This is where we start. We look at the brain and how it functions, but more importantly how it interacts with the rest of the body. The brain is in essence a chemically powered electrically charged computer using holistic pathways. It directs impulses along preset neural paths (and can rewire for greater efficiency or redundancy) using chemical charges to power electrical conduction. It uses parallel processing and global access, with chemically stored memory engrams. Its more complicated than any contemporary computer and while it may not crunch numbers like a true computer it can do things even the best AI's of 2020 have trouble with. But it can be affected.
Bio-feedback
The brain and the body are by no means completely separate entities. The brain plays a critical role in regulating most of the body's functions. But concentrating we can alter the rate our heart beats at, and some even think we can affect our own health. Now imagine this; that you have test subjects, a super computer and a direct neural interface. With them you can map out the brain and its impulses, figure out what signals play what roles. And refine your own alterations.
Beginning to see the possibilities?
The Central Nervous System or CNS is linked to the majority of body systems, and while some are handled by subsystems like the Autonomic Nervous System or ANS, the CNS has master control. It controls skeletal muscles, directly affects respiratory rate and cardiac rate, can trigger hormonal releases, play with body chemistry, even trigger pain responses. By tricking the brain or by counterfitting its impulses all sorts of havoc is possible.
The second major system for directing body functions is the endocrine system, or the hormonal system. Hormones are chemicals with very potent effects that can be released by various glands through the body. They affect metabolism, body function and even behavior. And most hormones are triggered by neurologically controlled glands. See more possibilities?
It's a basic overview of regulatory biology at best, but its a starting point. I really don't have the time or the interest to get into serious details. But its enough to start explaining what nastiness a modern ICE can be without being so boring and unrealistic as "does 1d6 damage to user".
This should be obvious, but just to make it clear. The key to all ICE of this type is a little gizmo that just about every serious netrunner and cyborg has. Their Neural Processor. Essentially an electronic device that allows the brain to interface with electronic devices, it really doesn't sound like much in the books but lets be serious for a second. This is the single most amazing device in the game. It allows complete virtual reality, and allows instinctive control of external devices. This is the key. And for the record most of the forms of ICE that I'll be explaining won't work without it. Any user with 'trodes in my version of things faces double difficulties. On any task they wish to accomplish and on any attack seeking to harm them. This is due to the ineffecient interface they use. Turtle hackers are even worse, as far as I'm concerned in the net of 2020, they are targets. Immune to most forms of ICE, but so slow they can't even face a neurally interfaced runner let alone an AI.
This will be the first of a set of pages on this topic. In theory eventually there will be a page dedicated to each facet of biology that an ICE program can affect, a page dedicated to hardware tricks that ICE can use, and finally a section on Ghost Hacking.
In the following pages there will actually be a fair bit of overlap, and though divided by general type the effects will actually make use of several systems. They are merely grouped this way to make organization and reading easier.