Bruce Sterling in his universe of Shaper / Mechanist suggested an idea of alternative cyborg called Lobster, which is made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell ( e. g. a Powered Exoskeleton ).

( Note: All years given are taken from " A Shaper / Mechanist Chronology " in the book Schismatrix Plus, which includes all the Shaper / Mechanist material.

One recurring theme in the Shaper / Mechanist universe is that of the commodification of humanity.

* 1984, Twenty Evocations ( originally published as " Life in the Shaper / Mechanist Era: Twenty Evocations "; approx.

The first five Shaper / Mechanist short stories are collected in the 1989 short story collection Crystal Express, and republished with Schismatrix as Schismatrix Plus ( 1995 ) with a new introduction " The Circumsolar Frolics ".

At the beginning of the game, the player chooses what class of Shaper he / she wishes to play.

The Investor species in Shaper / Mechanist stories by Bruce Sterling have a similar ethos but an altogether different biology.

The story was Sterling's only novel-length treatment of the Shaper / Mechanist universe.

* Schismatrix: the system that includes the entire Shaper / Mechanist universe.

In the Shaper / Mechanist stories of Bruce Sterling, " wirehead " is the Mechanist term for a human who has given up corporeal existence and become an infomorph.

He, his best friend and fellow Shaper protege Philip Constantine and the beautiful and passionate Preservationist Vera Kelland lead an insurgency against the rulers of the republic, who use Mechanist technology to prolong their lives.

The two of them work to promote peaceful coexistence between the Shaper militants and the Mechanist pirates, but after several months of conflict, espionage, murders and sabotages, open fighting breaks out.

Using a recording of an Investor's ship queen involved in some taboo activities to blackmail the alien, Lindsay contributes to the creation of Czarina-Kluster, neither Shaper nor Mechanist, which quickly becomes one of the richest and most powerful states in the solar system.

* Abélard Malcolm Tyler Lindsay: Naturally born in a Mechanist society, Lindsay undergoes an experimental intensive Shaper diplomatic training that gives him an enhanced capability for manipulation and deception.

** Czarina-Kluster People's Corporate Republic The permanent residence of a disgraced Investor Queen, Czarina-Kluster is an ad hoc city-state of both Mechanist and Shaper construction.

The term is first used when the advent of détente opens the possibility of the Shaper and Mechanist factions coexisting harmoniously ; a splintered posthuman settlement of the Solar System.

While not inherently militant, the resources required to pursue these goals demanded major faction support and so indirectly increased militarism as Shaper and Mechanist Galacticists competed with one another.

The Sandmans main character is Dream, the Lord of Dreams ( also known, to various characters throughout the series, as Morpheus, Oneiros, the Shaper, the Shaper of Form, Lord of the Dreaming, the Dream King, Dream-Sneak, Dream Cat, Murphy, Kai ' ckul, and Lord L ' Zoril ), who is essentially the anthropomorphic personification of dreams.

Titania's infidelity later became notorious-even one of her lesser subjects was able to comment on how fitting it was that Auberon wore horns-and she is rumoured to have had an affair with Dream of the Endless ( called " Lord Shaper " by the faeries ) and was seen casually bedding her female servant Selwyn-unaware that the maid was Auberon in disguise.

* 1982, Cicada Queen ( 2354 ) -- A Shaper named Landau comes of age politically inside Czarina-Kluster, a habitat independent of faction where backroom deals and social cliques dominate, and whose stability is becoming increasingly fragile.

The player assume the role of an apprentice Shaper who is cast away on an island abandoned, or " barred " as the plot calls it, by the sect 200 years prior.

Unlike the previous three Geneforge games, the player is no longer a Shaper, and is not restricted to the original three classes.

The primary motivation of the player is to escape the island and, in the process, dealing with the forces working to steal the Shaper secrets abandoned on Sucia Isle.

The Shaper is a summoner, capable of creating living creatures by using their own life essence.

Every character class is referred to as " Shaper " in-game.

For instance, if a character with 70 maximum essence summons a creature which costs 20 essence, their maximum essence is reduced to 50 until the creation is destroyed, either through combat or being absorbed by the Shaper to regain essence.

During the journey, the Shaper passes a group of islands, one of which is recognized as the Barred Sucia Island.

As the Shaper examines Sucia, lost in thought, the craft is attacked by an unidentified sailing ship.

Meanwhile, Tahiri is tortured and shaped by Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad and her assistant Nen Yim in a secret heretical practice meant to brainwash Tahiri into believing that she is a Yuuzhan Vong warrior.

Lah looks into this with the help of Master Shaper Nen Yim, and finds strong evidence that there is indeed such a conspiracy forming against him.

Shaper then went on to a number of positions in a number of companies such as Dun and Bradstreet Software, Per-Se Technologies, Primis, and is now Chairman and CEO of Infor Global Solutions.

The main character, Abélard Lindsay, is born in the ancient lunar colony Mare Serenitatis Circumlunar Corporate Republic, into a family of aristocratic Mechanists, but after being sent to the Shaper ’ s Ring Council, he receives specialized and experimental diplomatic training and gives his loyalty to the Shapers ' cause.

She believes deeply in the Shaper cause and chooses to fight the Mechanists when they begin to attack her state even when the situation is hopeless.

The redpills ' distrust and organizational differences prove too much for any strong unity, so that a Shaper fell into the captivity of the false agents.

A Shaper named Goettsch was kidnapped for this purpose, in the same manner as the player-character.

Shaper used the opportunity to cash out his substantial quantity of stock options, and retired from the industry for a while.

In 1910, he moved to Springfield, Vermont to work as a mechanical engineer for the Fellows Gear Shaper Company.

* Unplanned: A Shaper epithet for humans born naturally.

By the conclusion of World War II, Fellows Gear Shaper Company machines were in defense contractor plants, manufacturing geared components for aircraft engines, tanks, instruments, cameras, fuses and other war-time materiel.

She has also been an infomercial host ( Ab Shark for Thane, Bun Shaper for Emson, SomaTrac Inversion Table ).

Zakary pledges his loyalty to the Shaper Council once more and asks for help from the apprentice in dealing with what lies beyond the guarded cave.

The Takers stand for the total destruction of the Shaper Council.