Thursday, November 21, 2013

325: Marin Buskovic

ENTRY 325: Marin Buskovic

“I went to sleep on Earth, I awoke to see the stars. Yet I knew I was in prison still. Only the cage had changed. Very well. I know prisons. They are not the end."
- Buskovic, post-hibernation interview

The first hibernoids were designed for sleeper-ships to the Outer Rim and beyond; explorers sleeping away the decades as they inched along at sub-light speeds. Exploration, however, could not account for the full cost of their development, and soon after other uses were looked at for these morphs - and found. "Sleeper prisons" enjoyed a brief vogue before the Fall as relatively cost-effective in terms of operating expenses and in some countries were considered relatively humane. Regrettably, the bulk of the sleeper prison populations are believed to have perished in the Fall, or in the months and years since as the automated systems failed and the hibernating prisoners starved or succumbed to infection in their sleep.

Yet not all the sleeper prisons were on Earth. Luna had one, as well as a few experimental orbital facilities and certain "hibernation brigs" on the oldest orbital habitats. With the fall of Earth and its political bodies, debate arose as to what to do with these prisoners. Most were woken up and released on their own cognizance or issued new trials; others were assessed as posing a danger and retained in their state, perhaps indefinitely; the Jovian Republic is said to have simply unplugged theirs and harvested the organs, though most experts consider that simple xenophobic libel.

Marin Buskovic was serving two life sentences in the Luna sleeper prison for a pair of murders he had committed, and opted for hibernation over regular prison. The authorities at the time of his trial had been unsympathetic - Buskovic had been a police officer, who had successfully solved the case of the marital kidnapping of a young woman and returned her to her true husband and family. Regrettably, the woman had been raped by her kidnapper, and her family considered her to have dishonored them with her "adultery" and killed her. Buskovic tracked down the men responsible and killed them in cold blood. In AF 6, as the debate about the sleeper prisons was the talk of Luna, the circumstances of Buskovic's case became a cause célèbre. An online petition for his release hit 1 million votes, and the Lunar authorities agreed to release him.

Now, Buskovic is a man out of time, still sometimes struggling with the world he finds himself in - his post-hibernation assessment shows that he still believes he is in prison, resulting in the retention of certain prisoner behaviors like stashing home-made weapons about and paranoia about inspects. Unwilling to trade on his temporary moment of fame, he supports himself as a freelance investigator and part-time law enforcement agent, with a reputation for "old school" solutions to problems.

COG
COO
INT
REF
SAV
SOM
WIL
MOX
14
13
18
18
18
25
21
-
INIT
SPD
LUC
TT
IR
DUR
WT
DR
7
2
42
8
84
35
7
53

Morph: Hibernoid
Skills: Academics: Anthropology 25, Academics: Philosophy (Law) 40, Art: Graffiti 24, Art: Harmonica 20, Blades 36, Clubs 36, Deception 25, Fray 36, Free Fall 30, Gunnery 19, Impersonation 25, Infiltration 36, Infosec 25,  Interests: Pre-Fall Earth 66, Interests: Neo-Slavic Culture 24, Interfacing 20, Kinetic Weapons 60, Language: Native Ukrainian 80, Language: English 75, Language: German 44, Language: Russian 60, Negotiation 35, Networking: Autonomists 15, Networking: Criminals 25, Profession: Bodyguard 37, Profession: Lawman 36, Spray Weapons 55, Unarmed Combat (Subdual) 40
Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Bioweave (Light), Circadian Regulation, Clean Metabolism, Cortical Stack, Eidetic Memory, Hibernation, Medichines, Neurachem (Level 1), Toxin Filters
Traits: Mental Disorder (Delusion - Still in Prison, Paranoia)

Using Buskovic

Buskovic is a freelancer, but his sense of justice is stronger than his attachment to a particular employer or code of law. He particularly dislikes violence against women and children, but his somewhat archaic understanding of sex, gender, relationships, and technology mean he can sometimes misunderstand a situation - he still hasn't quite grasped the implications of Neotenic morphs and the Sex Change augmentation for example, and has taken to calling them "hermaphrodites," even when people correct him. Most of those who know him overlook this, as he means well and will break some noses for "hermaphrodites" that are being harassed. Player characters may run up against Buskovic in many contexts, but most probably when they're doing something illegal or in the pay of a criminal figure (even if the job itself is legal), or else he's extra muscle for a job provided by their employer. Buskovic is also a good moral ruler to illustrate the difference between contemporary understanding of social issues versus the acceptance or nullification of those issues in Eclipse Phase - a Neotenic morph out on a date with a Splicer and getting a little touchy-feely will have Buskovic reaching for his gun, for example.

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