357: Cupella

ENTRY 357: Cupella

"Enforcer and cleaner. Affiliate of the Pax Familiae. Suspected in 18 fatal industrial accidents in the Morningstar Constellation. Reputation: Solid. Trademark: Uncommunicative. Nickname: Cat Mother."
- Stellar Intelligence, At a Glance: Cupella

The swarmoid that answers to the name Cupella is a high-functioning autistic assassin, believed by most crime analysts to have been built off a highly-pruned fork of a former member of Pax Familiae. Most reports give their M.O. as extremely indirect - rather than engage targets directly, Cupella typically arranges accidents using custom-built or modified equipment, often designed to minimize other loss of life, though the swarmoid doesn't appear to care much for "property damage" so long as the egos can be resleeved. Primarily a solo asset, coworkers of Pax Familiae report that Cupella never speaks or communicates in any way, and the only vocalization or response they give off is a kind of purring noise when happy.

When not "on the job," Cupella is believed to retreat to specially-prepared living quarters where the swarmoid can interact with their eight pet smart cats and indulge in repeated use of narcoalgorithms provided for by handlers in Pax Familiae. Each of these felines is an uplift in its own right, often with numerous augmentations, and help to care and protect for their beloved 'Cat Mother.' Some analysts go so far as to believe that it is the cats that accept and plan all of Cupella's missions, though the evidence for this is slim and somewhat conflicting.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
11	12	10	20	12	10	20	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	40	8	80	30	6	45

Morph: Swarmoid

Skills: Animal Handling (Cats) 30, Art: Found Art 25, Beam Weapons 20, Climbing 22, Demolitions 24, Disguise 18, Free Fall 18, Flight 18, Fray (Full Defense) 20, Hardware: Armorer 20, Hardware: Electronics 20, Hardware: Industrial 24, Interests: Crime Scene Investigation 14, Interests: Felines 24, Interfacing 16, Language: Native Italian 84, Language: English 84, Networking: Criminal 23, Profession: Cleaner 30, Protocol 15, Scrounging 14, Spray Weapons 20 

Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Carapace Armor, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation, Skillwires, Swarm Composition

Traits: Addiction (Narcoalgorithms, Moderate), Animal Empathy, Mental Derangement (Autistic)

Using Cupella

How do you fight an accident? Cupella is an NPC that isn't designed for the PCs to interact with directly; the swarmoid strikes from unexpected directions, using things most PCs wouldn't consider a weapon or acting at a scale beyond general conception. A regular assassin might use a sniper rifle with special targeting software and smart ammunition to get the target's cortical stack; Cupella is likely to have a "water main" break and soak the target in nanite disassembler, or line the street with monowire and herd the target into a trap using controlled explosives. Aiding and abetting Cupella in these projects are the eight smart cats, who typically scout out the scene ahead of time and keep track of potential problems like the NPCs, sometimes ingratiating themselves into the target or the PC's lives before the hit goes down. The gamemaster may also choose for the smart cats to be the actual "brains" behind the operation, with Cupella as just a harmless figure being manipulated by their cats.