“Sensies”, also known as “Braindance” in popular slang, are the defining media of the new Post-Collapse era – just as talkie movies, color TV or Home Video in a variety of formats defined previous ages. They are everywhere, the driving force behind the bulk of today’s entertainment options. Growing out of developments in neural interface and virtual reality technology during the 30s, the first Sensie recordings were made at DreamCorps’ Night City R&D Labs in 2038 by Prof. Yuriki Sakimoto, now CEO of the megacorporation. Unlike even total virtual reality, sensies were recordings of another person’s sensory experiences which allowed users experiencing them through a neural interface as if they were actually there, in person, feeling everything the original recorder did. That is, someone accessing a sensie experiences all the sensory data of the original subject: seeing through his eyes, hearing what he hears, sharing tactile sensations, etc.

Within five years of the first sensie recording, DreamCorps established another first – seven years ago it developed techniques in massively multi-tracked sensie editing involving layering CG content over sensie data which allowed it to incorporate fantasy sequences, special effects, and released the first of the blockbuster sensie feature series “Conan and Red Sonja”. For a while, they blew the opposition away, allowing them to become the market leaders and the single largest media megacorp. Since then, others have copied their techniques.

Sensies revolutionized the entertainments industry. Nowadays, musicians release sensie chips instead of promo videos. The major feature “movies” are sensie recordings – usually presented with a choice of either a male or female protagonist and point-of-view. Sensies cover a range of subject matter from pornography, drama, pure art, travel and sports recordings (yoga in exotic locations, eating exotic food, scuba diving, skiing, skydiving, zero-gee free-fall are all popular themes) to full-length sensie features or braindance games with developed plotlines and integral CGI special effects. the major sensie stars, known for the “cleanness” and high resolution of their sensations and thus high-quality recordings, are household names commanding all the adulation once reserved for movie stars.

To record a sensie, however, all that is required is a specialized neural implant which interfaces with the central nervous system at a deeper and more complete level than usual. Because of this depth of integration, sensie implants are usually “send-only” and users install a second interface for other, day-to-day, interfacing tasks. (It’s possible to modify a sensie implant to be a transceiver and just use one implant, but this is not recommended as it could potentially allow easy hacking of the user’s entire CNS.) The top-line performers also use a Complexity 7, $5,000, LC4 software suite which enables them to consciously enhance their sensorium for a more high-definition raw recording.

The recording is then sent to an editing suite – which can be as simple as a Complexity 6, $1,500 LC4 software package hosted on the user’s own implanted computer or as sophisticated as the half-million dollar, Complexity 10 expert system, multi-tracking and integrated CG editing suites used by the major commercial producers. All editors use the Electronics Operation (Media) skill. The editing suite’s operator can wipe portions of a recorded sensie, compress time with smooth jumps, fadeouts or transitions, tone down (or up) sensory experiences, or splice several recordings together. The big suites can also introduce artificially generated content – including artificial sensations the recording person never actually experienced. A sensie editor can also be used to determine whether any sensie recording is “raw” or edited, what kind of equipment was used, etc.

Finally, the product comes to the customer – in the form of a database and management software on a chip or downloaded from the net. Sensie recordings can be hired or purchased outright, and prices will vary depending on quality, legality, length and market demand.