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.

355: K-Mach

ENTRY 355: K-Mach

"Three tons of armor and myomer fibers, driven by high-performance atomic batteries guaranteed to last thirty years and survive a point-blank shot from a railgun. Armed with an integrated particle beam rifle, 360-degree field of vision with overlapping lidar, radar, and t-ray emitters. Integral on-board AGI to assist with targeting and multitasking. You probably think you're a bunch of bad asses, don't you? Well let me assure you that your kriegmaschines are only the bare minimum equipment you need to survive against warbots and hunter-killers."
- Marshall Rideck

Before Reapers and Furies became the go-to combat morphs of transhumanity, the battlefields crawled with massive, deceptively fast humanoid mecha, most notably the popular kriegsmaschine (K-Mach) design. The K-Mach represented a transitional stage between biomorph-operated powered exoskeleton vehicles and resleeving directly into combat craft; while the military had long used teleoperated drones for a variety of combat tasks, the transition from a primarily biomorph-based armed force to a mobile tactical mechanized force was problematic and exacerbated by the logistical complexities of the Fall. While most military R&D had focused on egos directly integrated into and controlling traditional vehicles like tanks, aircraft, and orbital weapons platforms, transhumanity needed a morph that resleeved egos could adapt to quickly. The compromise was a three-meter tall, three-ton mobile weapons platform that could run, jump, and shoot like a trained soldier, but was armored like a combat vehicle and with integrated weapons that could easily be swapped out in mobile resupply centers. The K-Machs brought the fight to the enemy, sometimes going toe-to-toe with the often much more heavily armed warbots.

After the war, most of the K-Machs were retired or decommissioned and converted to civilian interests. While powerful, K-Machs were expensive to make and maintain, and most transhumans prefer the much smaller and cheaper Reapers. However, used K-Machs still retain a certain value - especially modified ones or those that took place in important battles, and some veterans like to keep theirs around, even if it's just in storage most of the time.

K-Mach Stats

K-Mach are synthmorphs.

Enhancements: 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Anti-Glare, Basic Mesh Inserts, Chem Sniffer, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Cybersword (retractable Blade, 2d10 + 6 DV), Electrical Sense, Enhanced Vision, Heavy Combat Armor, Lidar, Magnetic Vision, Mnemonic Augmentation, Pneumatic Limbs, Radar, Reflex Booster, Structural Enhancement, T-Ray Emitter, Weapon Mount (articulated, 2)

Mobility System: Bipedal Walker (4/20)
Aptitude Maximum: 30 (REF and SOM 40)

Durability: 60 (w/Structural Enhancement)

Wound Threshold: 16 (w/Structural Enhancement)

Speed Modifier: +1 (Reflex Booster)
CP Cost: 110

Credit Cost: Expensive (minimum 125,000)

Traits: +10 REF (+20 with Reflex Booster), +20 SOM, Armor 20/20, Comes equipped with 1 integral weapon in weapon mount (Particle Beam Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Pulser, Railgun Machine Gun, Seeker Rifle, or Torch), Large Morph

346: Mr. Attercop

ENTRY 346: Mr. Attercop

"You wouldn't believe how much he enjoys being a giant spider."
- Sheena Brideswell, "Mrs. Attercop (I)"

An ancient Earth philosopher once wrote on the hierarchy of needs - a construct to help try to understand and express how transhumans prioritized their internal and external lives. At the base were physical needs - food, water, shelter - and progressed upwards in extraction to more intangible mental, spiritual, and emotional fulfillment. At the apex was self-actualization - which definition depended slightly on whom was talking about it, but was considered the goal of realizing one's own potential to its greatest extent. It was a goal that was not possible when mere physical needs were a concern, or even the needs of friends, employees, and dependents.

Synthmorphs, makers, and the post-scarcity economy rather shot a hole in the old hierarchy of needs. Most transhumans don't have to worry about things like breathable air, potable water, and basic nutrition or electricity. The Mesh provides near-infinite entertainment, all the games, porn, viral images of juvenile animals, and transhuman interaction that most people ever need. Most of transhumanity may not exactly be happy, but with their physical needs taken care of and plentiful of mental stimulation, all that is left - all that remains for the majority to seek and solve - is the fulfillment of their emotional needs, and self-actualization. Some find purpose in the defense of transhumanity, the pursuit of political power, or the creation of art. For Mr. Attercop, the first step was resleeving into an arachnoid morph.

Mr. Attercop has no greater purpose to his life than to be a giant spider. It is his bliss, his goal, and though his wives and children don't always understand it, they are supportive of him and love him. He doesn't consider resleeving to have even been a choice - simply a realization of who and what he always was.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
12	12	15	20	15	25	20	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	40	8	80	40	8	60

Morph: Arachnoid

Skills: Academics: Arachnology 40, Academics: Mythology (Spiders) 40, Art: Storytelling 25, Fray 20, Free Fall 26, Infiltration 44, Interests: Arachnoid Morphs 50, Interests: Cooking 24, Interests: Web Design 23, Interfacing 26, Language: Native French 90, Language: English 80, Networking: Firewall 10, Networking: Media 20, Perception (Lidar) 36, Profession: Teacher 30, Profession: Tour Guide 30, Protocol 25, Unarmed Combat 40

Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Enhanced Vision, Extra Limbs (6 Arms/Legs), Lidar, Mnemonic Augmentation, Pneumatic Limbs, Radar

Mobility System: Walker (4/24), Thrust Vector (8/40)

Traits: Armor (8/8)

Using Mr. Attercop

Few transhumans are as comfortable in their own skin as Mr. Attercop. He has embraced being an arachnoid morph to a degree beyond most; there is a bubbly undercurrent to everything he does that shows he's having a great damn time, and it's almost infectious. Player characters will probably meet him as a colorful extra and/or a local Firewall contact; while he normally gets by as a tour guide, teacher, and odd-job man, having found his own blissful calling as a giant mechanical spider he likes to be helpful and interact with others. Left to his own devices he dotes on his two wives and their children, plans out low-gravity webs that he likes to spin using a variety of filaments, and strike up new friendships so he has someone to tell his stories to.

Seed

• Mr. Attercop has an early, damaged fork, split off before he resleeved into the arachnoid morph. Unable to resleeve himself due to a morphing disorder, this fork has become deranged. Calling himself the Wolfspider, he has begun to hunt and kill other transhumans on the habitat in the manner of a giant spider - with the suspicion and blame landing immediately on Mr. Attercop. The PCs may be asked to investigate by the habitat, Attercop's wives, or even Firewall.

214: Anglers

ENTRY 214: Anglers

Transhumanity’s defining traits are what make it most vulnerable. Most every animal on Earth and beyond exhibits basic drives like hunger, fear, or lust, but few species show signs of curiosity, compassion, reverence, greed, and vengeance. So perhaps it was natural that the TITANs sought to turn the very traits that define humanity into traps that destroy them.

Anglers are TITAN-crafted robots made to look like large multilegged animals with a shiny black synthetic leather hide—usually Earth-based quadrupeds like horses, bulls, and elk, though other versions have been identified, including a three-legged ungulate of some sort that was most prolific on Mars. Where the anglers’ heads should be however is always a flat expanse of skin. Reports and video surveillance during the Fall showed their modus operandi: if possible, a small pack of anglers look for lone victims, working together to separate one biomorph from the rest of a group. The victim is disabled with attacks to the lower body, and when the victim can no longer flee quickly enough, the smooth skin of the angler’s “neck” will open, and snaking tentacles will drag the victim into the gaping space. The skin then closes about the lower torso, leaving the victim’s head and upper torso free, in grim parody of a centaur or similar creature of myth.

From this point on the victim is essentially a prisoner of the angler. The lower torso is dissolved and recycled into nutrients to keep the captive upper torso alive and awake while invasive implants begin integrating the victim into the anglers’ system. Anglers use their prisoners to attract additional victims—“angling” by have the captive upper torso wave, shout, cry, call out for help or scream. At other times the angler seizes control of the upper torso like a puppeteer, directing the torso to manipulate airlock controls or utilize hand weapons. Most biomorphs can last up to eight weeks before infection or starvation gets to them, and anglers have been known to raid supplies that keep their prisoners alive for nearly six months before being brought down.

After the Fall, most anglers are assumed to have been destroyed, but the possibility exists for lone anglers—or even a small pack—to exist in the wilds throughout the system.

Mechanics

Anglers use the same stats as Warbots (Eclipse Phase, p.383), but with a Durability of 40 and a Wound Threshold of 8. They cannot use beam or kinetic weapons unless they have a prisoner with functional hands and arms to manipulate the device. Prisoners of anglers are best considered NPCs; due to their lower torso being removed and their systems compromised by the angler, they have half their normal Durability and gain the Puppet Sock augmentation if they did not have it already.

Seed

• There is a legend on the ‘Mesh that anglers were based by the TITANs on an experimental centaur-morph technology—and that the original prototype for this still exists, buried somewhere in the Zone on Mars or some other ruin. If it exists, then the proto-angler would have a muse-like AGI and when integrated the biomorph would have full control of the half-synthmorph body, with the angler relegated to a “hindbrain” ghostrider module that helps coordinate the extra limbs.

210: Skinmorphs

ENTRY 210: Skinmorphs

Transhumans run on past extrapolation. For all that there are adventurous people seeking new experiences and new ways of living, the vast majority still prefer things at least recognizably descended from a bipedal plains ape. Even the majority of exhuman morphs still prefer to have something with a recognizable face, and some sort of manipulators for what’s in front of them, preferably with thumbs of some sort. In the pursuit of some balance between form and function, several enterprising amateurs around Saturn have been playing with a specialized swarmoid variant known as the skinmorph.

Cosmetically, a skimorph resembles a solid 3D-printed object of a transhuman; unlike a statue or typical synthmorph however, the skinmorph is an empty shell, generated and made mobile by thousands of swarm-bots linking up and acting in concert to mimic traditional bipedal appearance and movement. The advantage of the modified design is a degree of physical integrity alien to most swarmoids, with high-end models approaching average transhuman strength, at the cost of some of the swarmoid’s flexibility of form. While a skinmorph can collapse into a wave of bugs and scoot under doors and things and reform on the other side, they cannot fly or hop as other swarmoids, and the default setting for their form is a generic bipedal template, though this can be changed; at least one skinmorph (and former uplift) on Extropia likes to run around as a dog.

Skinmorph Stats

Macromorphs have all of the advantages of synthmorphs (Eclipse Phase, p.143).

Enhancements: 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation, Swarm Composition*

Mobility System (Movement Rate): Walker (4/16)

Aptitude Maximum: 30 (SOM 10)

Durability: 20

Wound Threshold: 2

CP Cost: 35

Disadvantages: -20 to SOM-based skills when in zero gravity.

Credit Cost: Expensive

* Skinmorphs are a variant, sturdier version of the typical swarm composition augmentation (Eclipse Phase, p.311). The swarm is capable of tackling physical tasks like grabbing, lifting, or holding as a unit, and can carry most gear or wear armor, and may make strength-based SOM-linked skill tests. However, skinmorphs are much less flexible in the forms that they can assume, and the individual “bugs” that make up the skin are only capable of crawling. Further, damage to the swarm lessens the physical integrity of the skinmorph and its ability to manipulate physical objects; for every wound suffered, the maximum SOM aptitude is reduced by 1 until the damage is “healed” by adding more bugs.

Using Skinmorphs

Hands are awesome. Players like having them, they like their player characters to have them. Having your character able to interact with the physical world of the setting—actually pick up and carry stuff—is generally a positive thing, though it is alien to some of the more exotic morphs available in Eclipse Phase. The skinmorph then is an intermediate design, for players and gamemasters that want their PCs to be able to look cool and literally go to pieces but also enjoy the power of picking stuff up and hauling it.

045: Catsphere

ENTRY 045: Catsphere

Most encounters with Catsphere involve the fifty-centimeter diameter sphere of advanced composite rolling down the hallway of a ship or habitat, subsurface LEDs blinking in strange patterns and quietly purring as it chases something. The actual nature of Catsphere is a bit open to debate; the most popular theory is that it represents an early and partially successful effort to uplift a common housecat in an unconventional synthmorph, but others include a particularly uncommunicative infomorph with a strong personal identification with felines, an experimental robot pet whose AGI broke free.

What is known about Catsphere is that it is an atypical, freely mobile, self-contained synthmorph that acts and responds pretty much like a Terran housecat. While fiercely independent it has a tendency to adopt certain transhumans, allowing them to provide it with electricity and repairs and to pet or play with it. On its own, Catsphere spends many hours of the day resting in visible sunlight or heat sources, unveiling the photovoltaic panels beneath its skin to recharge its batteries. It also has a tendency to chase any small ’bots or morphs, though it has no way to catch them, and to play with any other morphs of its own size.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
10	8	8	20	10	10	6	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	2	12	3	24	10	2	20

Morph: Unique Synthmorph

Skills: Academics: Anatomy 69, Academics: Felinology 60, Animal Handling 30, Fray 50, Infiltration (Shadowing) 65, Interests: Furries 50, Interfacing 25, Interests: Pets 45, Kinesics 55, Language Native Cat 78, Perception 75, Persuasion 60

Implants: 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Echolocation, Electrical Sense, Enhanced Hearing, Lidar, Magnetic System, Radar, Reflex Booster, T-Ray Emitter, Armor 8/8

Advantages: Animal Empathy, Danger Sense

Disadvantages: Limbless, Minor Addiction (Catnip nanoalgorithm)

At the gamemaster’s discretion, Catsphere counts as an animal for purposes of the Animal Handling skill and associated traits.

Using Catsphere

The simplest use of Catsphere is as a pet, either one that adopts the player characters or of some NPCs that the player characters are dealing with. Despite the difficulty of communicating with it (attempts to talk to it over Mesh links invariably involve soundclips of various cat noises and possibly images of small bugs and animals Catsphere has managed to run over), Catsphere’s suite of unusual senses, physical skills, and generally innocuous nature make it the perfect spy and associate, albeit one that can probably be bribed by a narcoalgorithm and distracted by a laser pointer.

On the other hand, gamemasters may take the tack that the whole cat persona is just an act disguising a human-level intelligence—in which case Catsphere can be potentially much more dangerous and challenging as an NPC antagonist, or the subject of social storylines focused around Catsphere’s unusual choice of lifestyle.

Seeds

• Catsphere desires a mate—or perhaps a litter. In any case, the ego within the sphere wants to fork and implant the copy in another version of its morph, but with its limited communication skills is having a hard time accomplishing this goal. Can it convince or trick the PCs into helping it?

031: Tien Tan Tanas

ENTRY 031: Tien Tan Tanas

Egobrokerage on the Venus aerostats is relatively common, with agents like Tien Tan Tanas contracting out their indentured infomorphs to fill in the skill gaps of various work groups and research pods. Tanas, or T³ to their acquaintances, is a talent agent-cum-jobs counselor, working with their indentured to find them work both suited to their skills and interests as well as remunerative. However, Tanas is also a businessperson, and is more than capable and willing to push the infomorphs’ limits—including sex work, if that’s what pays the bills this month.

For most appearances, T³ is no different from any other of the clanking masses in middle management—their synthmorph a little higher quality than others, but still not a particularly fashionable or interesting model, aggressively practical and economical. It is a carefully fostered image of banality, to encourage those not directly involved in their business to overlook, underestimate, and forget about them. Tanas knows too well the nanowire legal lines required to maintain their business, and some of the darker things Tanas has had to deal with—addiction to nanoalgorithms, psychotherapy, and paying to retrieve an indentured ego that has fled employment.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
15	10	20	15	20	20	15	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	30	6	60	40	8	80

Morph: Synth

Skills: Academics: Business 60, Academics: Psychology 72, Academics: Sociology 60, Climbing 60, Free Fall 53, Interests: Gambling 45, Interests: Slavery 80, Intimidation 67, Kinesics 80, Language: Native Fanti 90, Language: English 80, Language: Chinese 80, Networking: Autonomists 66, Networking: Criminals 55, Networking: Hypercorps 35, Perception 68, Profession: Egobroker 75

Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Coritcal Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation

Traits: Armor (6/6), Social Stigma (Clanking Masses, Ego Broker), Uncanny Valley

Using Tien Tan Tanas

The business T³ is engaged in is likely to antagonize many of the people T³ interacts with; for this reason Tanas avoids speaking directly on such unpleasant details unless the necessary or the situation seems to call for it. T³ will speak of their stable of indentured infomorphs by their first names or favored callsign, is intimately aware of the details of their life and personality, and will use this to their advantage when dealing with outsiders to emphasize their familiarity with the indentured—to give the appearance of a caring boss or business agent closely connected with clients and their lives. In this fashion Tanas may end up dealing with the PCs as a villain, or a go-between; the PC’s contacts may send Tanas their way to provide some temporary skilled labor for a job, or Tanas may approach them looking to reclaim one of their flock that has gone missing, emphasizing concern over their well-being. In their own way, this is not a charade—Tanas does care about their stable’s well-being, T³ is intimately familiar with their aspirations, abilities, and foibles, and is relatively honorable about fulfilling their part of agreements or contracts. Tanas sees their services as necessary, and even in the best interests of their clients, who have through their bad management of their own affairs fallen into debt-slavery.

020: The Mighty Bu

ENTRY 020: The Mighty Bu

Horizon-watchers are not simply academics looking into the depths of creation, artists inspired by starscapes, or those desperate few who seek profit and hope from the vast emptiness. At the edge of transhumanity, standing watch against threats internal and external, hanging about in orbit of the outer planets and their moons are sentinels: massive combat-satellites, patient soldiers awaiting the next war, ready to deal with whatever threats—alien, exsurgent, or otherwise—that may arrive. Around distant Pluto, ever vigilant, lies The Mighty Bu.

While from a distance The Mighty Bu might be mistaken for a deep-space telescope, the central cylinder is actually a massive microwave laser and a fusion generator, supplemented by the massive solar panels on either side. TMB’s specific mission as a member of Firewall is to monitor the Plutonian system for signs of exsurgent threats—and, as necessary, eradicate them.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
12	14	15	15	14	18	23	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	46	9	92	450	150	900

Morph: Macromorph

Skills: Academic: Miltech 85, Beam Weapons 70 (95), Demolitions 52, Interfacing 63, Native Language Cantonese 85, Language English 60, Language German 70, Networking: Firewall 55, Perception 66 (91), Pilot Spacecraft 75, Profession Bodyguard 75

Implants: 360-Degree Vision, Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Eidetic Memory, Lidar, Radar, T-Ray Emitter

Armor: 30

Notes: Hibernation, Immobile, Social Stigma (Macromorph), sixty small tactical nuclear missiles, point-defense lasers, and a military-grade maser cannon

Using The Mighty Bu

The primary purpose of The Mighty Bu is to be a gigantic gun hanging in the night sky, capable of raining destruction on anything up to the size of a destroyer. As such it can be the final solution for any Firewall mission gone wrong, hanging above the player characters’ heads should they fail—if necessary, The Mighty Bu can be relocated to better serve this purpose. The Mighty Bu can also be a useful Firewall contact, accepting and passing along messages, and generally providing whatever knowledge and assistance a 35-ton satellite hanging over a distant dwarf planet can.

As a character, The Mighty Bu is generally jovial, courteous, magnanimous, infinitely patient, and self-confident as only an ego powered by a fusion generator and packing a sizable nuclear arsenal on its person can be. However, The Mighty Bu does not joke about its duty, which it takes extremely seriously. The Mighty Bu makes no threats, only promises—and always sees them through, even at the cost of its own existence.

Seeds

• An encounter with an exsurgent threat has seen The Mighty Bu infected by an aggressive nanobiological fungus. The interior of the satellite macromorph has been severely compromised as the fungus consumes plastics and ferric materials using exotic symbiotic bacteria and nanites. Firewall has dispatched the player characters to rescue its cortical stack before the Mighty Bu, as its final act, self-destructs to eliminate the exsurgent threat forever. The PCs will have to penetrate to the interior, and risk exposure with the bizarre fungus…

010: The Ceresian

ENTRY 010: The Ceresian

An ambulatory pseudo-trilobite with a transparent exoskeleton of ceramic aluminum, through which soft, faintly phosphorescent blue organs are visible and with strange diamond eyes, the Ceresian is equally likely to be seen scuttling across the floor of Extropia or undulating through the Hidden Sea beneath the ice crust of Ceres. The strange pseudo-alien is one of the xenokin, transhumans who have adopted morphs and lifestyles that they imagine extraterrestrials have, or might have. In their own little community they wax philosophical about exploring new body types, senses, and diets; spiritual connections to imagined civilizations and peoples beyond human imagination—but on average most of them are in it for the thrill and novelty of unique bodies, strange sex, and in some cases a desperate bid to become something other than human.

As far as the records go, the Ceresian is one of the oldest, quietest, and most practical of the xenokin, a pillar of the community with high rep in certain circles. The Ceresian has pursued a quasi-amphibious anthropod lifestyle in their current morph for at least twenty years, possibly more, and no public records remain of their identity or name—to those who know of it, they are simply "The Ceresian." Their current interests are in xeno-oceanographic studies, currently focused on pseudo-tidal action on Ceres and systematically exploring hotspots and coldspots in the Hidden Sea; their maps and data sold to water miners, the Hidden Cartel, and many others with an interest in the strange seas beneath the ice. The Ceresian also makes irregular sabbaticals to Europa, to “take the waters.”

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
20	10	15	13	15	10	20	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	40	8	80	25	5	50

Morph: Unique Synthmorph

Skills: Academics: Oceanography 85, Academics: Physics 65, Academics: Xenobiology 75, Art: Zen Gardening 55, Climbing 40, Fray 45, Free Fall 25, Interests: Alien Races 50, Interests: Oceans 60, Interfacing 25, Investigation 50, Language: Native Basque 85, Language: French 75, Language: Korean 70, Language: English 75, Networking: Scientists 50, Networking: Uplifted Octopi 65, Networking: Xenokin 95, Profession: Surveying 45, Protocol 45, Research 75, Swimming 95

Implants: Access Jacks, Armor (20/20), Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Direction Sense, Echolocation, Eidetic Memory, Electrical Sense, Medichines, Oracles, Oxygen Reserve, Radiation Sense, Vacuum Sealing

Traits: Mental Disorder (Obsessive-Compulsive), Neural Damage (Repetitive Behavior)

Using The Ceresian

The Ceresian is weird in that very specific way that transhumanity gets when it grows old and rather strange; the Ceresian has gone as far as they can to become something else without becoming someone else, and the xenokin is comfortable as that. As such the Ceresian has grown static, predictable, and maybe a little mad and brain-fried. For gamemasters, this means the Ceresian is a crazy and eccentric type, either of the harmless or obsessively dangerous varieties. The Ceresian can be a contact or ally, employer or enemy depending on whether the player characters are hostile to them or their interests. Anyone that interrupts their research or pollutes their oceans earns their enmity. The Cerisian is also a possible gateway to be introduced to some of the strangest morphs in the solar system, if the player characters can keep on their good side.