083: Unguam

ENTRY 083: Unguam

“Those in power fear the autodidact. The strictures of control that bind habitats, stations, societies, and governments are designed to channel the clanking masses into approved forms and methods of study, entertainment, research, and release. Theirs is the balance between positive and negative reinforcement—grants, student loans, database access, and one-on-one teaching versus denial, cost, censorship, and legal penalties. Even the natural countervailing forces of transhumanity are usurped and suborned; revolutionary instincts tamed by limited access to “approved” materials. All frightened of what one morph might learn, what they might do, if they had access to the truth.”

- Introduction to Exsurgent Darkcast, Transmission CXXIII

Most habitats, hypercorps, and media outlets in the solar system limit access to data on exsurgents, not just in fear of memetic hazards and anti-exsurgent operation security, but as part of a tacit—and sometimes legally binding—compact to suppress such information. Formal investigation of exsurgents and related phenomena are thus classified by various public and clandestine agencies, and their study largely restricted to a tier of academics with certain credentials, faction affiliations, and proven expertise. Counter to this trend are autonomous, self-educated investigators like Unguam, the editor/publisher of the underground ‘Mesh periodical the Exsurgent Darkcast. Unguam and his allies have all discovered something of exsurgent activity, artifacts, technology or philosophy and desired to know more, but were rebuffed and reviled by the conspiracy of silence. So through the auspices of Unguam and others like him they dig deeper into such dark matters, sharing information and seeking the hidden truth…but what they seek is far more dangerous than they think.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
26	12	21	12	17	13	19	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
7	1	38	7	76	30	6	45

Morph: Menton

Skills: Academics: Astrobiology 33, Academics: Chemistry 44, Academics: Engineering 44, Academics: Geology 44, Academics: Physics 44, Academics: Xenoarcheology 45, Art: Architecture 44, Infosec 66, Interests: Exsurgents 44, Interests: Psi 44, Interests: TITANs 77, Interfacing 77, Kinesics (Sense Motive) 34, Investigation 55, Language: Native Portuguese 91, Language French 44, Language English 66, Networking: Autonomists 55, Networking: Media 55, Networking: Scientists 25, Perception 55, Profession: Darkcasting 66, Protocol 44, Research 55

Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Eidetic Memory, Hyper-Linguist, Math Boost

Traits: Allies (Exsurgent Autodidacts), Enemy (Firewall)

Using Unguam

Unguam is somewhere between a conspiracy theorist and an info-terrorist; his intentions to discover, investigate, utilize, and spread knowledge about exsurgents, psi abilities and the like would be commendable if it didn’t mean accidentally or purposefully spreading digital and nanobiological viruses, activating latent TITANs technology, and possibly aiding and abetting covert exsurgent organizations. As a contact, he can be used as a mouthpiece to give the player characters “the real dark truth” behind certain events and subjects not normally available on the ‘Mesh; as an enemy he’s likely to be a slippery shadow figure on the trail of (or causing) one exsurgent event or the next. If Unguam ever finds out the PCs are working with or for Firewall, he will never trust them again.