ENTRY 101: Prisoner of Youth
Fads don’t last. Every generation learns that the hard way.
Clothes, vehicles, jewelry, philosophies, religions, politics, attitudes; those
can all be discarded, tucked away, or changed as public opinion shifts, latches
onto the ice-hot new thing. Technology is very fad-driven, dependent on the
early rush of interest to generate wide adoption, spur development, get
investors to throw their credits at you. Early adopters take on a lot of risks,
and none moreso than those who put their faith and their resources into body
modifications and morphs. It’s an old story: the dye job you couldn’t wait to
grow out; the tattoo you got that was just an embarrassment later; those
hologram dermal inlays on your eyelids that were all the rage for about two
weeks before the basilisk hack hit people when they were sleeping… Fads hit
morphs even harder. A body or a shell doesn’t quite come cheap or easy in most
places; there’s too much infolife and not enough bods to go around.
Of course, that’s cold comfort if you’re born in one.
Prisoner of Youth was a Luna kid just when neotenics was taking off like
wildfire; their parents actually had to buy into a lottery for the procedure.
Hypercorps were scouting the fetus in utero, promising scholarships and
guaranteed contracts for smallships in the half-size colonies they were
planning. By the time Prisoner of Youth hit full growth at six, the
opportunities had dried up; the mass exodus from Earth meant there were too
many full-sized bodies, no need to muck about with pint-sized habitats. So PoY
didn’t get the world they were promised, the world they were built and trained
for, a walking talking fashion disaster a decade out of date with the rest of
the ‘verse. Others handled the transition better; immortal “child” models and
actors and sex workers who could always find a market for what they were
selling, but Prisoner of Youth knew they were meant for the stars, and that’s
where they’ll be some day.
COG
|
COO
|
INT
|
REF
|
SAV
|
SOM
|
WIL
|
MOX
|
18
|
17
|
18
|
16
|
14
|
12
|
16
|
-
|
INIT
|
SPD
|
LUC
|
TT
|
IR
|
DUR
|
WT
|
DR
|
7
|
1
|
32
|
6
|
64
|
30
|
6
|
45
|
Morph: Neotenic
(Neuter)
Skills: Academics:
Astrophysics 45, Academics: Physics 55, Deception 35, Fray 33, Free Fall
(Microgravity) 67, Gunnery 55, Hardware: Aerospace 50, Infiltration 33, Infosec
45, Interests: Gatecrashing 55, Interests: Spacecraft 55, Kinesics 45, Kinetic
Weapons 55, Language: Native Korean 90, Language: English 55, Language Japanese
50, Language Javanese 50, Language Swahili 45, Language Urdu 45, Navigation 80,
Networking: Autonomists 35, Netowrking: Hypercorps 55, Perception 50, Persuasion
40, Pilot: Spacecraft 65, Profession: Navigation 60, Profession: Pilot 65,
Unarmed Combat 30
Implants: Basic
Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Medichines, Oracles
Advantages: Eidetic
Memory, Hyperlinguist, Limber (1), Rapid Healer
Disadvantages: Morphing
Disorder (3), Social Stigma (Neotenic)
Using Prisoner of Youth
Priz to friends, Poi to workmates, full name for formal
situations. Prisoner of Youth looks about nine years old, in that androgynous
way where primary sexual characteristics haven’t hit yet, and will remain
looking terminally prepubescent for the rest of their life, no matter how much
war paint they put on their face and arms, or how many beads they weave into
the waist-length dreads that they wear. PoY isn’t precisely an adult in a
child’s body, the genehacking that goes into neotenics is a lot more involved
than that. They heal quick, like a kid, bouncing back from scrapes and even
broken bones easier than an adult; and they’re bright like kids are at a
certain age, picking up skills easily, but Prisoner has the attitude of a
pissed off teenager whose physical reality denies them the opportunity to make
full use of their skills. PoY faces discrimination as a fact of life, and will
meet it head on when they perceive it; but give Prisoner a chance to shine as a
space pilot or navigator and they’ll slip into the zone.
This is pretty good work. Glad I waited for it. It gives a good story back for a Neo rather then "they 'accidently' ordered the wrong thing" type of thing.
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