XS Tech

General Equipment and Network Things

• There is wifi everywhere throughout the mansion and covering a good portion of the grounds around the mansion. It reaches down to the boathouse and docks, but peters out soon into the woods.

• The computer lab is open 24/7, with many machines available for students who do not have their own personal computers. It is well-equipped with computers, scanners, and printers for all students' computing needs.

• All students are issued cell phones. Students must take their school-issued cell phones with them at all times when they are signed out to leave school grounds. They are expected to use the cell phones in emergencies; they are all equipped with a 'panic button' which will send an alert with the student's location to the school, dispatching available X-types to respond. Hitting the panic button OUTSIDE of actual crises is a severe infraction and will result in disciplinary action. These cell phones can be used for texts and calls within the US; anyone found using them for non-emergent long-distance purposes will also be subject to disciplinary action.
  • Students are welcome to see the school's IT department if they have their own appropriately capable cellphone they would prefer to keep and use; they will install a similar panic-button app for them.

• All students, staff, and faculty receive Xavier's email addresses. The default format is first initial-lastname at xaviers.edu . So, e.g.,Daiki Komatsu is dkomatsu@xaviers.edu. Alumnae keep their Xavier's email address for as long as they stay active with it; they can contact the school sysadmin to reinstate it if they let it go idle and it is deleted.
  • Staff, faculty, and alumnae are allowed to pick up to two mail aliases for their email as well. So, e.g., Jackson, in addition to being jholland@xaviers.edu, can also be reached by jax@xaviers.edu or littlemisssunshine@xaviers.edu. Mail aliases must have some modicum of propriety; nothing vulgar or profane will be allowed.

• Xavier's internal network has extensive online support for all academics. Students can log in to check their class syllabus, assignments, announcements from teachers (which will generally also come with email notification), class discussions, lecture notes, grades, calendars, and any other media that the teacher has posted to help with class.
  • All teachers of academic classes are given instruction in how to use this system when they start teaching; it is pretty simple and intuitive and does not require much tech savvy. Teachers are required to post their syllabus and assignments, at the least, here.
  • For this reason, not knowing about assignments is never an excuse; if class is missed, the week's assignments and topics are posted online and all students have plenty of internet access. A teacher forgetting to post an assignment, however, is an excuse, so teachers should get used to being on the ball with this.

• Xavier's sysadmin is very On The Ball, although nobody seems to ever have seen him. Any and all network problems can be directed to cerebro@xaviers.edu, though, and tend to be answered uncannily quickly. The network does not inherently have any constraints on it for things like file sharing and porn and general Misbehavior, but students will find that things outside of the school's Acceptable Use Policy (things like: attempted hacking, illegal activity, using obnoxious amounts of bandwith nonessentially, etc. ) are quickly discovered and quashed.

• Students -- or malicious outsiders! -- will also find that their network is remarkably secure and resistant to malicious tampering and intrusion. Students attempting to test the network's security will even occasionally receive an email offering advice, and explaining what they did wrong, along with a suggestion that should they wish to practice their "1337 haxx0r skillz" they should take one of the many CS classes offered by the school.

Danger Room

• Pretty much a Holodeck, the Danger Room is the X-Men's training facility. It is a simulated reality environment, programmable to create most worlds and scenarios that can be imagined. Possibly some that haven't yet been.

• By default, it has many safety protocols in place so that any simulated injury that takes place in the DR stays simulated. These can be turned off, though it's not a good idea to override its safety settings.

• By default, also, X-Men are the only people authorized to use the Danger Room. Their privileges can be revoked if necessary, and other teachers can be granted privileges if necessary. Scott and Xavier are the only people, currently, with the ability to grant or revoke DR privileges. Anyone wanting a DR session on-cam will need to coordinate with one of the PCs who has access. The only PCs with current DR authorization are:
  • Blink
  • Flicker
  • Jackson
  • Kyinha
  • Matt
  • Ororo
  • Shane
  • Tian-shin

• Visitors to the Danger Room are advised to leave electronic devices behind before visiting the sublevel, due to the risk of data loss and hardware failure associated with proximity to the room. Powerful telepaths are likewise advised to speak with Professor Xavier before attempting to use the room.

• Teachers/Advisors can ICly coordinate with someone who has DR access if they think their students/advisees would benefit from DR training. Students are not by default required to train in the Danger Room ever. Teachers bringing students to DR sessions should use their judgment about what scenarios are appropriate for an individual student's personality and ability; causing physical or emotional trauma to a student will most certainly get DR privileges revoked.

• The room itself requires both fingerprint and voice recognition to enter, and voice recognition once inside to give it instructions. Students who have powers that can replicate teachers' voices and fingerprints should not take this as license to use the DR. Unauthorized use will be severely dealt with.

• Once activated, the DR responds to verbal commands. There is a similarly secured Control Room overlooking it where a computer terminal allows greater control over the construction and manipulation of scenarios. The DR has a surprisingly sophisticated ability to parse natural language and follow even vague and implicit instructions, though operators are advised to speak clearly and avoid abusive language. Allegations that the Danger Room has a sense of humor have been neither confirmed nor denied by the administration.

• DR scenarios can be constructed ad-hoc through verbal commands, though scenarios created and scripted ahead of time may be more useful for instructional purposes. The DR may be instructed to save a scenario for later use.

• As to its capabilities, the DR functions on a combination of telepathically projected illusions and telekinesis. Illusions are far more efficient and will be defaulted to when possible, including effects distorting distance and position. Only when participants must be interacted with physically will telekinesis be used. While the telekinetic effects are relatively weak and inefficient, the illusory projections are unusually powerful, often overwhelming even otherwise stalwart psychic defenses. While the projections are noninvasive, the experience can be disconcerting for the psychically aware, who are advised to spend a period acclimating themselves to the environment before running simulations.

• Though few people are aware of this fact, the Danger Room's AI and the network's sysadmin are one and the same -- though the fact that the school's all-seeing sysadmin shares a name with that locked door down the hall has probably clued at least a few attentive souls in. Specifics about Cerebro are difficult to come by, however: faculty will advise students to ask Xavier, and the Professor will advise the curious to ask Cerebro themselves if they truly wish to know. Personal inquiries sent to Cerebro directly are politely rebuffed.

Cerebro

Currently OUT OF ORDER. Whoops.

Someone has even posted an OUT OF ORDER sign on a lined sheet of notebook paper affixed to the door by Scotch tape.