041: Sue Dies

ENTRY 041: Sue Dies

Some taboos are hard even for transhumanity to break, being culturally or biologically deep-coded. Even the majority of exhumans instinctively recognize and react to the simple graphic of a smiley face, and likewise most transhuman biomorphs exhibit chemical and neurological responses to the sight and smell of pregnant human females. As with every other human weakness or peculiarity, some clever individuals have found ways to exploit this for their own advantage.

A professional surrogate, Sue Dies gestates fetal biomorphs for a fee within her body, sometimes to develop them to a state where an ego can safely inhabit them; more often to smuggle illegal or experimental morphs past check points. While not pregnant in classical terms (or even capable of becoming pregnant, as Dies’ entire original reproductive tract is in long-term storage orbiting somewhere around Venus), Dies is more than willing to play on any cultural stereotypes others may have—helpless and vulnerable, proud and maternal, even to act as the femme fatale for pregnancy fetishists, if it will save her life or serve her purposes.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
14	14	16	13	21	16	16	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	32	6	64	30	6	45

Morph: Surrogate Pod

Skills: Academics: Anthropology (Pregnancy) 53, Academics: Biology 62, Art: Belly Dancing 75, Art: Erotic Entertainment (Pregnancy Fetish) 55, Beam Weapons 50, Deception (Bluffing) 56, Disguise 55, Fray 36, Impersonation 55, Infiltration 34, Infosec 50, Interests: Pregnancy 60, Interests: Smuggling Tricks 65, Kinesics 56, Language: Native Spanish 83, Language: French 52, Language: Mandarin 42, Networking: Autonomists 45, Networking: Criminals 66, Networking: Hypercorps 44, Networking: Media 44, Palming 45, Perception 50, Profession: Smuggler 75, Profession: Surrogate 60, Protocol 66, Unarmed Combat 36

Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Clean Metabolism, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Puppet Sock, Gestation Sack

Disadvantages: Social Stigma (Pod)

Using Sue Dies

Dies is a social chameleon, smuggler, and provocateur who preys on the expectations of others, changing her persona and demeanor more quickly and easily than most egos resleeve. Gamemasters get the most use out of Dies when her true nature is not immediately obvious, to play the role of a pregnant woman to the hilt and only reveal herself when necessity demands it. Her performance is greatly enhanced by costume—maternity wardrobes that accentuate her shape; naked the differences between her surrogate pod body and that of a pregnant flat are much more obvious.

Seeds

• A criminal ego is seeking to escape from the habitat the PCs currently occupy—resleeved into a developing morph in Sue Dies’ gestation pod. Rewards are offered and increasingly draconian restrictions implemented as the powers-that-be try to sniff out the crook.
• Sue Dies is carrying a special load this time, a custom-designed Olympian biomorph that she plans to resleeve herself into. However, the oversized developing morph strains the capabilities of her current body, rendering her bedridden beneath her massive gestation pod, and unable to defend herself against her erstwhile employers, who are looking to reclaim their property. Sue uses her savings to hire the player characters to protect her until it is time to harvest the new morph in just a couple days or weeks.