Father Fletch
SOC-12
E-Paper
Using high tech active or ‘smart’ paper this parchment like document can be written on with a traditional pen or stylus. It will hold the message in bubble memory, and display it when opened. It can also be placed in an E-Tablet, and have data downloaded, embedding images, movies, and audio, almost anything one could place in E-mail. It can also have encryption devices or codes embedded which make it visible only to the designated receiver, or only after the seal is broken in a preapproved way. Flexible, it can be folded or rolled or crumpled and still retain its message. Waterproof, using bubble memory it is even resistant to EMP. Signatures and Biometric data can be encoded into the paper or the message or both; which is then used to verify the identity of the sender.
E-Sealing Wax
Made of data plastic-silicon/carbon wax, this chemical mixture is inert until heat and pressure are applied. Stored on a strip of data paper, individual ‘dots’ of E-Wax can have authentication codes, or public/private key sequences loaded into them. After activation, often with an E-Seal, the dot can be applied to most common surfaces and form a molecular bond. After bonding (which is almost immediate) the E-Wax will take a string of data or a code string and remain rigid under whatever settings are chosen by the original sealer. It can be set to dissolve once broken, showing that an E-Letter or container has been opened, or allowed to remain intact to allow resealing, with the proper codes.
E-Seal
An Electronic ID for sealing E-Papers with E-Sealing Wax. Often found with Imperial nobles, businessmen, customs officials, or anyone who needs to send authenticated data in a physical format. This small cube or cylinder of material has a seal or chop carved or embossed into one end. The shaft or grip-end contains palm/print readers and biometric sensors, which verify the authorized user. Some models are designed to be kept close to the user; either around the neck or in a pocket so that the seal “knows” the user is still alive. If removed from proximity of the keeper of the seal, or if the keeper is dead, the seal will scramble its core and not work. These come in models as simple as only providing a physical/electronic stamp in a stamp the size of a pen, all the way to pass cards/data system keys/personal identification/symbol of office the size of a small mace! Though size is not a true indicator of function, the more ornate ones will often be found in the more snobbish noble palaces.
When a message is written on E-Paper and sealed with E-Wax and an E-Seal, it is a physically and electronically secure document that can be designed only to be read by the intended recipient. It can also be used to verify that a document is authentic. In the Third Imperium many Patents of Nobility and Imperial Warrants are made this way. The use of commonly available software and sensors, or another E-Seal that has ‘trusted’ status with the original sender, can verify the validity of an E-Document. It is also used for courier messages that are at risk for electronic interception. While at risk of interception, many high level seals are only handed out at ceremonies such as swearing of oaths of fealty, commissioning of an officer, or even noble births! This allows biometric ‘bonding’ of a seal to a particular individual, reducing the utility of a forgery, and making the interception of an E-Seal difficult.
Using high tech active or ‘smart’ paper this parchment like document can be written on with a traditional pen or stylus. It will hold the message in bubble memory, and display it when opened. It can also be placed in an E-Tablet, and have data downloaded, embedding images, movies, and audio, almost anything one could place in E-mail. It can also have encryption devices or codes embedded which make it visible only to the designated receiver, or only after the seal is broken in a preapproved way. Flexible, it can be folded or rolled or crumpled and still retain its message. Waterproof, using bubble memory it is even resistant to EMP. Signatures and Biometric data can be encoded into the paper or the message or both; which is then used to verify the identity of the sender.
E-Sealing Wax
Made of data plastic-silicon/carbon wax, this chemical mixture is inert until heat and pressure are applied. Stored on a strip of data paper, individual ‘dots’ of E-Wax can have authentication codes, or public/private key sequences loaded into them. After activation, often with an E-Seal, the dot can be applied to most common surfaces and form a molecular bond. After bonding (which is almost immediate) the E-Wax will take a string of data or a code string and remain rigid under whatever settings are chosen by the original sealer. It can be set to dissolve once broken, showing that an E-Letter or container has been opened, or allowed to remain intact to allow resealing, with the proper codes.
E-Seal
An Electronic ID for sealing E-Papers with E-Sealing Wax. Often found with Imperial nobles, businessmen, customs officials, or anyone who needs to send authenticated data in a physical format. This small cube or cylinder of material has a seal or chop carved or embossed into one end. The shaft or grip-end contains palm/print readers and biometric sensors, which verify the authorized user. Some models are designed to be kept close to the user; either around the neck or in a pocket so that the seal “knows” the user is still alive. If removed from proximity of the keeper of the seal, or if the keeper is dead, the seal will scramble its core and not work. These come in models as simple as only providing a physical/electronic stamp in a stamp the size of a pen, all the way to pass cards/data system keys/personal identification/symbol of office the size of a small mace! Though size is not a true indicator of function, the more ornate ones will often be found in the more snobbish noble palaces.
When a message is written on E-Paper and sealed with E-Wax and an E-Seal, it is a physically and electronically secure document that can be designed only to be read by the intended recipient. It can also be used to verify that a document is authentic. In the Third Imperium many Patents of Nobility and Imperial Warrants are made this way. The use of commonly available software and sensors, or another E-Seal that has ‘trusted’ status with the original sender, can verify the validity of an E-Document. It is also used for courier messages that are at risk for electronic interception. While at risk of interception, many high level seals are only handed out at ceremonies such as swearing of oaths of fealty, commissioning of an officer, or even noble births! This allows biometric ‘bonding’ of a seal to a particular individual, reducing the utility of a forgery, and making the interception of an E-Seal difficult.