038: Iggy

ENTRY 038: Iggy

Genetic damage. Breeding biomorphs face exposure to radiation, exotic chemicals, designer pathogens, and stranger things; combined with scarce medical resources in some habitats and it is not surprising that the occasional genetic defect comes up, and is even brought to term. Such a child was Iggy, born of a pair of belt miners who soaked up a few too many cosmic rays or drank a few too many deuterium cocktails.

Iggy’s dealt with prejudice all his life, mainly by punching it in the genitals and telling its avatars in appalling and clinical detail what they can shove where and what to do with it once it’s there. As a flat dwarf with no implants, Iggy represents a statistical extreme and he has parlayed his scarcity into a living as a research and testing subject, trying out new foods, habitat constructions, clothing technologies, and non-implant options for new entertainment. The result of his time and suffering is a relatively comfortable personal environment, a sort of mini-habitat geared for his unique anatomy and full of custom gear. As comfortable as his hard work has made his life, Iggy still struggles, trapped in his aging body. He saves his hope for the next life—without a cortical stack, he has to manually update his echo every day, a ritual which the flat takes to with supreme diligence.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
10	12	14	14	5	17	20	4
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	40	8	80	30	6	45

Morph: Flat

Skills: Academics: Genetics 60, Art: Painting 40, Beam Weapons 55, Blades (Knives) 60, Climbing 60, Clubs (Hammers) 70, Fray (Full Defens) 67, Free Fall (Microgravity) 56, Hardware: Industrial 50, Infiltration 50, Interests: Custom Gear 60, Interests: Genetic Defects 60, Interests: Prejudice: 60, Interests: Transhumanism 50, Intimidation 70, Kinesics 50, Kinetic Weapons (Pistols) 35, Language: Native Spanish 84, Language: English 70, Networking: Hypercorps 60, Networking: Geneticists 60, Perception 60, Persuasion 38, Profession: Critic 50, Scrounging 40, Unarmed Combat 42

Traits: Genetic Defect (Dwarfism), Implant Rejection (2), No Cortical Stack, Social Stigma (Dwarf)

Using Iggy

Generally, Iggy is best used as a contact or background character, someone who has their ear to the right gossip and can get the player characters in touch with a mutual acquaintance. This does not mean Iggy cannot hire the PCs for a job, or even be the villain that they work against, but the GM will have to figure out how such projects fit within Iggy’s framework—perhaps there is a new technology that is substantially to Iggy’s benefit, such as an experimental genetic recombination chamber which could fix his dwarfism. Iggy is someone on the outer edge of what human genetics can throw up and still be viable, juxtaposed against the clanking masses that seek to transform themselves into something else. He is just as strange and unique as any of the more exotic biomorphs that exist, and at the same time identifiably and undeniably human. Iggy struggles with life, and players who interact with him should get across both how well he manages, and how difficult it is for him. For characters that themselves face challenges due to their morph or the social stigma they face, Iggy is sympathetic, and even helpful. For those who are vocally unappreciative, Iggy is…more than likely to wait for them to look the other way and then smash some vital bit of their anatomy with a crowbar.