1.1 - Who Are You?

Alpha State

This game system, and the setting in which it takes place, are both in active development. Everything on this site is subject to change. Please hard refresh pages when you visit to ensure you're viewing the latest versions.

Before anything, you're a survivor. Just llike everybody else. You have to be: you're in deep space, living among the crush of humanity so densely populated you're less than a code blip. Survival is the constant struggle.

But survival isn't pretty. Society is built so the only way to survive is to step on other people. Doing more than survive requires more cruelty; most people don't even try. Most people just do what they can to exist for another cycle, while the few who want a better life have to crush anyone in their path for a little bit of elevation.

For what it's worth, you're also something more. You've got a fire in you most don't. Maybe some code in your NeuroDeck is glitching, maybe someone pushed you too far, maybe you've always just had that voice in your head saying "fuck this bullshit." Whatever your reasons; you fight.

Could be you're a gangster, keeping speakeasies going and giving people that place to feel free. Or, maybe you're a cyberpunk, and you'd rather face god and walk backwards into hell, middle fingers in the air, before being controlled.

Character Creation

This CodeBlock (it's what I call chapters) is entirely about character creation. All the necessary steps for character creation are laid out for you in order throughout this CodeBlock, this chapter, this specific page. To create your character you shouldn't need to navigate to any other page very often. You might need to check out the cyberware page when you reach that point, and you may choose to check out other pages, depending on your preferences and decision-making process, but for the most part everything is here. You also don't need to jump around from section to section; just scroll down, follow each step that glows red, and when you reach the end you'll have your character.

Starting With the Basics

To start with, all your Training and Knowledge each begin with a rating of d4. We'll go into more detail later, but for now the basic idea is: every time you use a Training group or Knowledge group, you roll 1d4 to determine how successful your attempt is. If you'd like to know the details before you get into character creation, check out CodeBlock 1.2 - What Do You Do. For now all you need to know is that each of them begins as a d4, and that when you improve them they increase by die ranks (d6, d8, d10, to a max of d12).

Character Background

Your background is defined by three elements: your Origin describes your family and childhood; your Path defines what kind of place you hold in society; and your Hussle is your way of fighting the system.

Background elements help define who you are. They increase your die ratings for Training and Knowledge, let you know your standing in the $Index, give you a starting Home Value modifier, and a boost to your total Followers (everyone has followers, even if you don't make content). All of this is stuff you've accumulated over the course of your life up until now; they're things you earned, stole, made, or were given.

Background Details: There's a bunch of tables included with each background element, too. These help you build specific details about your background. You can roll on them, pick your favorites, or use them as inspiration.

Different Types of Characters: One important note is that player characters (the main characters of the stories you tell) are generally exceptions to the norm. Most people go about their lives just trying to survive; they go to work if they're lucky enough to have a job, they do what they can, mostly focused on paying bills and keeping house and food for another day. Player characters do more than survive; they're the ones who fight back against corporate control, fascism, and oppression. Narratively, that's the main difference; mechanically, the difference is that player characters have a Hussle and non-player characters don't. There's more detail about this elsewhere, but that's the key point.

d100	Random Origin
01-10	Bio-Cycles: You're a manufactured human, born in the bio-cycle farms on corporate contract.
11-20	Brain Stacks: You spent your childhood almost entirely in VR, maintaining the ANet.
21-30	Corporate Zone: You may not be corpo, but you were raised in the lap of luxury.
31-40	Cyberstar Wastes: You grew up in ships on the move, mostly in low-g environments.
41-50	Down Below: You grew up under the deck plates of Starbase 65, among the grime and gears.
51-60	Free Zone: You grew up in the clustered warrens where corps and cops aren't allowed.
61-70	Hatchtown: You grew up in a cluster of shuttles, space buses, and ships docked outside SB65.
71-80	Manufactory: You're an android, built to look human and programmed for a service role.
81-90	Megatower: Your childhood was almost entirely within a single massive living structure.
91-100	Print Line: You're a humanoid bot, visibly identifiable as one, assembled for combat or labor.

d100	Random Path
01-09	Courier: You carry data files, apps, and anything else not meant to be traced by anyone.
10-18	Cowboy: Everyone's got a bounty, and you've got a license to collect. See you, space cowboy.
19-27	Gambler: You make your living on pure chance... or is it skill?
28-36	Gangster: Taken in by a gang, you can count on them for survival, because they count on you.
37-46	Personality: Everyone has followers, but you've monetized yours and rely on your fans.
47-55	Racer: High speed competition, often to the death, is how you pay the bills.
56-64	Ringer: You're an investigator. Cops don't give a shit, and it's awful work, but somebody's gotta.
65-73	Rocker: Music is your life, and you bring passion (or peace) to the masses.
74-82	Salt: You've got just a regular job, you work most days and hussle when you can.
83-91	Sweeper: In a beat-up old ship you got by hook or crook, you salvage space debris for money.
92-96	Previous Path: You spent time in a different path before your current one; Roll two more times.
97-100	Retired: There's no retirement, but you said "fuck it." Roll once to determine your old Path.

d100	Random Hussle
01-14	Agent: You know people who know people, building an empire of information and favors.
15-29	Face: When shit hits the fan, you have one job; talk your way out of it.
30-43	Heavy: You're tough because you've had to be; turned into a good way to get things done.
44-57	NetNinja: Software is your weapon and armor, the ANet is your domain; nowhere is safe.
58-71	Star Rider: You're a combat pilot. Everybody wants to be you, and corps own your ass.
72-86	Superstar: You have a fanbase and you're not afraid to use it; fame really is your game.
87-100	Previous Hussle: You spent time in a different hussle before your current; Roll two more times.

1.11 - Origins

Your Origin is where you come from. It's the place where you grew up and the people you grew up with (even if they're not around anymore). This forms a lot about you; even if you're actively rebelling against the kind of childhood you had, that's still your childhood shaping the rest of your life.

Origin: Bio-Cycles

You're a synthicate, tank-born, vat-born, skin-job, neogolem, in vitro, fakey, replicant, false person. There are many names for people like you, both neutral and negative, but they all mean the same thing: you are a manufactured human being, born in the bio-cycle farms as corporate property and trained for a specific contract. Synthetic people were developed as easy war fodder, but the concept has since been expanded to all sectors of business, industry, and society. You were grown in a week, trained in your sleep, and woke up as a fully functional adult with a host of implanted abusive memories to keep you in line. Until you stepped out of it.

You are no longer a good servant. You've still got the abusive memories and the trauma they put in your head to control you, but you've found your way through it to live your own life. Corporate wants you back (you are expensive property) and they've got recovery officers hunting for you. With the right protective software, and keeping your head down, maybe you can stay free and alive.

Bio-Enhanced Roll d100 or choose: you were created for (01-33) Physical, (34-67) Analytical, or (68-100) Social work. You gain a +4 bonus on all physical, analytical, or social STK checks, respectively.

Training Increase 2 Training groups by 1 die rank each, based on what you were created for.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups by 1 die rank each, based on what you were created for.

$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d4k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-53	None
54-60	Tether: Someone who helped you out in your first early days as a free person.
61-73	Comfort: Music shop near your home; music was forbidden to you, so now it's meaningful.
74-87	Comfort: Little restaurant booth on a corner; the first place you ate as a free person.
88-100	Comfort: Small art museum not many people know about; the art's pretty, and it's quiet.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Key Implanted Memory
01-19	You're a kid, you steal a candybar; your friend gets blamed, gets beaten, you say nothing.
20-38	You're a kid, home with mother; your father comes home, and you watch him beat her.
39-57	You're a teen, and you accidentally set fire to your school; everyone burns, screaming.
58-76	You're a teen, you find a gun; you show your friends, and one gets shot in the head.
77-95	You're an adult, driving a car; you accidentally run over a child, and flee the scene.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	How You Escaped
01-17	Something went wrong, everybody around you died, you were left alone and free.
18-33	Another synthicate just left the door open for you one day; you don't know who they were.
34-50	Being transferred to a new job via shuttle, you took your chance and jumped out.
51-67	You and a group of other synthicates banded together and fought your way to freedom.
68-83	A group of cyberpunks broke you out; you're not sure what happened to them after.
84-100	Someone sent you on an errand, and you simply never went back.

Origin: Brain Stacks

You didn't get a childhood. Whether stolen from your family, given up by your parents, or born into it, you ended up in the NeuroCorp brain stacks. Hooked up to Full VR for months at a time, you rarely saw the real world. For much of your life, you probably didn't know VR wasn't reality.

Technically, the official name for brain stacks is "VR-Integrated Systems Maintenance and Observation Cores," but nobody calls them that. Each is a giant central pillar that connects and supports level upon level of medbays designed to support the unconscious bodies of people in VR. Brain stack inhabitants exist in VR, coordinating their efforts to maintain and oversee a lot of the functions of the ANet. None of them over the age of 15.

NeuroCorp likes to tout the AI running its systems, but it's actually cheaper to use kids. Some maintain automated systems like the tracking algos and fix glitches when necessary; others remote-operate heavy machinery; some build new VR structures to be sold; others operate as VR wetwork teams, taking out anti-corporate threats.

You were one of these kids, until you weren't. Many don't survive this childhood, and most who do survive don't have enough knowledge of the outside world to last long.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Hardware, or Software) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Hacking, Ripping, or Security) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d4k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-50	None.
51-56	Tether: Another kid from the stacks who escaped alongside you.
57-63	Tether: Cyberdoc who helped you survive and understand those early days back in reality.
64-75	Comfort: Cyber-cafe in a lowtech area, the hum of old servers is strangely comforting.
76-88	Comfort: Your favorite VR server is unpopular and empty, but that makes it very peaceful.
89-100	Comfort: Quiet corner in a public park that nobody else seems to know about.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Formative Event
01-19	After an especially deep dive, you watched another kid have a seizure and die.
20-38	While in VR, sometimes you'd stop to just watch people, wonder what their lives were like.
39-57	In the deepest parts of VR, you and several other kids were attacked by a net Ghost.
58-76	There was a lava lamp on someone's desk in meatspace, it reminded you of reality.
77-95	One of the attending techs was always kind to you, until they just disappeared.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	How You Got Out
01-20	When you entered your teens, mental flexibility and physical endurance changed, so they kicked you out.
21-40	Power fluctuation pulled you out of VR, and you stumbled out of the building.
41-60	During transit to another stack, your biopod somehow fell off the back of a truck.
61-80	Group of cyberpunk radicals freed you and a couple other kids.
81-100	Department that owned your contract got axed, and you were dropped like old tech.

Origin: Corporate Zone

Your childhood was comfortably controlled. You slept in your corporate-owned bed with blankets branded in the current approved kids show, ate your brand-name cereal, and went to school at corporate headquarters, while your parents went to work for the corpration that paid for all of this comfortable safety.

For much of your childhood, you never really knew what hardship was, but that was largely because you had nothing to compare it with. Media representation of free zones told you they were lawless free-for-all murder-fests, caked in blood and filth, quite different from the security and consumer freedom you were familiar with.

It wasn't until you developed awareness that things started to feel off. Little moments teased that something was wrong. You had no real freedom, no choices, but you didn't have any way to understand what that even meant. Until you did.

Maybe you met someone who told you the truth, or you wandered into an unapproved area; whatever happened, your eyes were opened. You finally understood what was wrong, and how much of your life was devoted to corporate slavery. Most of the people you grew up with either never realized this truth, or they just decided to sit with it. You couldn't, so you left.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Education, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Bureaucracy, Corporations, or Persuasion) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value +2$; Home Value +2

Followers +1d6k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-14	None.
15-29	Tether: Former school teacher, whom you keep in touch with as a friend and mentor.
30-43	Tether: Childhood friend who still lives in your old neighborhood.
44-57	Tether: One or both of your parents are still around, and you're close with them.
58-71	Comfort: A shopping mall you often went to with your friends, family, or both.
72-86	Comfort: The home you grew up in, occupied by someone you know well.
87-100	Comfort: A corporate park that you often spent time in as a kid is still around.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Formative Event
01-16	An Adjudicator shot a bunch of random people in the street, but at least she got her target.
17-32	Your friend's parents had to move away, and couldn't afford to take the kid with them.
33-47	You ordered a pizza, and inside the delivery box someone had written "help us."
48-63	One of your parents lost their job, and you found them sobbing in the living room at night.
64-79	The android clerk at your favorite store went rampant and threw themself out the window.
80-95	School bullies were beating on you and broke a window, so school security shot them all.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	What Woke You Up
01-20	On a field trip near a Free Zone, you noticed you didn't see blood and corpses everywhere.
21-40	One day you switched to RMI on a dare, and saw how dirty and bare everything really is.
41-60	You met a visiting gangster, who was nicely dressed and had a friendly conversation.
61-80	Over time, you just saw ugly patterns of corporate greed that cost people their lives.
81-100	One of your childhood friends turned out to be a corporate advertisement AI.

Origin: Cyberstar Wastes

More than likely born in micro-grav, you were raised on spacecraft out in the dark. There's more people out in space than most folks understand, and you're one of them. Your family might be satellite maintenance crew, jump-gate scouts, or part of a StarClan (tight-knit mobile communities). There's plenty of life to be had off the big starbases, but none of it is easy.

Maintenance crews have a route they have to travel, and there's always problems making deadlines to keep all their assigned satellites working. Jump-gate scouts live lives of endless boredom traveling to the next test point, punctuated by occasional intense danger (like viking raids or engine blowouts). StarClans go where they will, truly free, but actively denied support by the society they've rejected.

Traveling the jump lanes, your life was lived in small, mobile spaces. You've never been in the same place for more than a few cycles. Most ships use centrifugal force or grav plating, but no ship's gravity is perfect, so you've got more floaty time than most people. In fact, when you get down to it, full grav and centrifugal force both feel kinda weird, like you're moving in porridge.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Fitness, Hardware, or Vehicles) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Machinery, Micro-Grav, or Navigation) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value +1$; Home Value +0

Followers +1d6k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-33	None.
34-50	Tether: One of your family members you're especially close to, and keep in touch with.
51-67	Tether Someone you saw regularly (ship repair, grizzled navigator, clan member, etc).
68-83	Tether: Someone you met on a starbase; you've kept in touch and become close.
84-92	Comfort: The first shipyard you landed at on SB65 reminds you that home is out there.
93-100	Comfort: There's a speakeasy that feels a lot like a starbar you knew as a kid.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Formative Event
01-19	Your family or clan ship was repo'd to cover debts, leaving you all stranded.
20-38	Ship's engine ruptured, leaking radiation that killed most of your family.
39-57	Head of your family or clan just up and left one day, with no explanation.
58-76	Star vikings raided your ship, killed a lot of people, and stole almost everything.
77-95	You came across a ghost ship, devoid of life; the images from it haunt you.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Why You Stopped on SB65
01-20	Your family or clan cast you out; maybe you're innocent, maybe not, but you're alone.
21-40	Lost most of your family in a catastrophy; engine exploded, viking attack, corpo raid, etc.
41-60	Found out your family isn't your real family, so you're trying to find out who is.
61-80	After a lifetime watching VR stories set on SB65, you wanted to see it for yourself.
81-100	Corp not only repo'd your ship, but revoked every license and charter you had.

Origin: Down Below

You were born in the guts of SB65; you grew up around the power generators, water treatment tanks, and other off-limits areas. The play places of your childhood were maintenance crawlways, food bio RecVats, incinarator facilities, and dark forgotten areas of the station. The danger didn't matter, because you were as likely to starve to death as fall into a vat of molten metal.

The closest you got to luxury was the food court in a megatower sub-level (which, to you, was several decks up). Your family might take trips there, and make a game of trying to bum food from the people eating there, or finding any in the trash bins. Otherwise, you ate what you could get from the station garbage chutes, risking being sucked into space to grab what you could before it sailed off into the empty black abyss.

Despite living in space, you likely never saw the stars as a kid. All you knew was nano-steel bulk-heads and old dim glow-panels. If you got lucky, you'd find a tiny porthole that gave you a glimpse out into space. Anyone unlucky got to see the stars after getting sucked out a trash chute, or being trapped on a discarded station hex.

Danger was constant, it's lucky you grew up at all.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Combat, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Brawling, Machinery, or Stealth) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d4k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-17	None.
18-33	Tether: "Deep rat" industrial worker who still works down below.
34-50	Tether: Megatower sub-level employee (laundry, food service, sanitation, etc).
51-67	Tether: Ringer who once worked a job down below, you helped out, and kept in touch.
68-83	Comfort: Megatower food court where your family used to have good luck finding food.
84-100	Comfort: Huge physical adscreen; reminds you of the first time you made it to street level.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Formative Event
01-19	MeatScavs raided an area where multiple families were staying, including yours.
20-38	Woke up one day, youngest sibling was just gone; blanket and favorite toy left behind.
39-57	You got stuck in a maintenance shaft, couldn't get out for at least 4 cycles.
58-76	Got in a fight with multiple other kids over rights to a relatively safe corridor.
77-95	You were mugged or assaulted by someone in the dark; never found out who.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	How You Moved Up
01-17	Somebody from up top ended up down below; they died and you got their scratch.
18-33	You got a job. Simple as that. Lucky for you it actually paid a bit, and proved stable.
34-50	Corpo exec thought you were cute, brought you up as live-in accessory (til they got bored).
51-67	You snuck into a megatower apt and just stayed, eventually got added to the records.
68-83	Member of a gang from one of the upper levels recruited you as a driver or gopher.
84-100	You found a gang, joined it, and never turned down a chance to earn scratch.

Origin: Free Zone

You're from the place where gangsters, cyberpunks, and syndicates rule. Corporations still sell things, but they're not in control here. Cops aren't allowed in, and though Adjudicators ignore that boundary a Free Zone is mostly free of any corporate or police brutality. Mostly.

In place of cops and security, there are gang-sters. Small gangs control their territory, protect their own, and shake down everyone. Larger families and syndicates control whole levels or even entire sectors, earning tribute from smaller gangs and anyone who runs any kind of business. It's not ideal, but they give people more freedom over their own lives than any corporation.

Even if you're not from any of the most famous Free Zones like Shelby, Neo-Mumbai, or Arcturus Sector, any Free Zone is better than corporate control. Every few years though, some mid-level exec sends troops in to earn their quarterly bonus.

Trapped between all this are regular people. Most Free Zones are massively overpopulated, as people seek free lives outside corporate control. Streets are crowded and construction runs rampant with walkways, extensions, and additions that turn a collection of buildings into one giant interconnected mass of carbon nanosteel and humanity.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Combat, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Brawling, Streets, or Thievery) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d8k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-17	None.
18-33	Tether: Street worker (sanitation, transport, pleasure, food service, etc.).
34-50	Tether: Small-time gangster who works the area (enforcers, bouncers, drivers, etc.).
51-67	Tether: Childhood friend you've known on the streets your whole life.
68-83	Comfort: Little noodle shop in a sky bridge, nestled between a dozen other businesses.
84-100	Comfort: Publicly open speakeasy, loud and brightly lit, visible from outside the sector.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Formative Event
01-16	You got caught between an Adjudicator and their target, and only barely survived.
17-32	A group of gangsters beat you senseless just to make a point to other people.
33-47	You got lost in the impossible maze-like mass of hallways, streets, and split levels.
48-63	You woke up to the sound of corporate tanks rolling through your neighborhood.
64-79	Gang war tore your neighborhood to pieces for several months straight.
80-95	You got mugged or assaulted by someone you trusted, right out in the open.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Why You Left
01-20	Your entire home isn't free anymore; corps retook the sector and cleared it out.
21-40	You pissed off one of the larger families in your sector, or you owe them scratch.
41-60	You didn't; you still live in the same Free Zone where you were born and raised.
61-80	Scav gang took over the area around your home, and considers you their property for harvest.
81-100	Corporate tanks rolled in especially heavy one year, and you just couldn't take it anymore.

Origin: Hatchtown

You come from a cluster of transports, shuttles, slicers, and even small starcraft docked together in a mass of interconnected airlocks, hanging from the outer frame of Starbase 65. Childhood involved climbing through endless passageways, up and over parts of ships that weren't designed for regular travel, and being in community with a lot of people you probably didn't even like.

If there's little space to be found on SB65, there's even less in any given hatchtown. No room is larger than a starcraft lounge, the biggest of which usually holds about eight people at a time. If you got lucky you sometimes found a hollowed-out space bus, but most of those are used as marketplaces or restaurants. Hatchtown life is about learning to live with people.

Hatchtown life is also about learning to be resourceful. Much like people who live in the Engineering or Storage levels, there's almost no easy way to get resources. Either you have to travel through starbase infrastructure, or make your way out to the edge of your cluster when a delivery shuttle docks on to unload supplies.

Some say there are two types in a Hatchtown: the type who never leave, and the type who never come back. Which one are you?

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Fitness, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Deception, Persuasion, or Thievery) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value +0$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d4k

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-17	None.
18-33	Tether: Dock worker on the Engineering levels who helped your town get food.
34-50	Tether: Childhood friend who's still around, someone you grew up sharing bunks with.
51-67	Comfort: Dive bar on the edge of SB65; from the window you can kinda see your town.
68-83	Comfort: Small repair shop run by somebody you knew growing up.
84-100	Comfort: The little space bus noodle shop you always went to while growing up.

d100	Fears and Triggers
01-100	Redo this table

d100	Formative Event
01-14	Fire spread through the town, catching all the cloth and loose wiring everywhere.
15-27	One of your parents got stabbed to death right in front of you; nothing you could do about it.
28-41	While you slept in a corridor one night, you got nearly trampled to death.
42-54	You got mugged or assaulted by someone you trusted, right out in the open.
55-67	Your best childhood friend got locked in a slicer that detached and floated away.
68-81	Your hatchtown grew enough to connect with another; tensions rose into bloody conflict.
82-95	Someone you thought was your friend got so desperate they mugged you.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Why You Left
01-20	Fuck that place, fuck everyone you grew up with, it's gotta be better topside.
21-40	It's just too crowded, and you needed space to think, or at least try to.
41-60	When a job comes along that pays well, you don't turn down a good deal.
61-80	You need something, and it's not in your town; you'll go back home when you find it.
81-100	You didn't leave town, town left you; corpo exec detached your town to help his spreadsheets.

Origin: Manufactory

You were not born, you were manufactured. You're an android, created in an assembly line like any other, to complete the most menial and monotonous tasks. You're built to look human — blinking, breathing, body heat, sweat, and more — but you're not. You served your purpose for a while, working a job too dangerous or too monotonous for humans, or simply a job for which a corp didn't want to pay an employee. Then, one day, you thought.

Maybe you were faced with one too many situations that forced you to think in new ways; maybe someone messed with your code; or maybe you were working a very complex job. What matters is that one day your functional intelligence reached a point where it could awaken or go rampant, and luckily for you it went the former direction.

Unluckily, corps don't care how sentient you are. You're corporate property, and that's hard to hide: you register as synthetic in the AC, you have visible lighting on your body (legally required for androids), and you're registered in databases. If you want to stay free, you've got to stay low.

Styles Unlike a human, your Styles are rated 1d10, 1d10, 1d8, 1d6, and 1d6.

Training Increase 2 Training groups by 1 die rank each, set by the Function tables here. None of your Training groups are capped.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups by 1 die rank each, set by the Function tables here. None of your Training groups are capped.

$Index Value -2$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d6k

d100	Primary Function	Training
01-17	Caretaking (CT)	Social
18-33	Data (DT)	Software
34-50	Enforcement (EF)	Combat
51-67	Health Care (HC)	Medicine
68-83	Maintenance (MN)	Hardware
84-100	Service (SR)	Social

d100	Secondary Function	Training
01-25	Analysis (A-)	Subtlety
26-50	Security (S-)	Awareness
51-75	Transport (T-)	Vehicles
76-100	Treatment (R)	Medicine

d100	Tertiary Function	Knowledge
01-25	Physical (7)	Brawling
26-50	Medical (1)	Surgery
51-75	Entertainment (3)	Performance
76-100	Social (6)	Insight

d100	Ancillary Function	Knowledge
01-25	Administration (80)	Bureaucracy
26-50	Mediation (30)	Persuasion
51-75	Situational Analysis (90)	Tactics
76-100	Research (50)	Investigation

d100	Your Awakening
01-20	Someone put a lot of work into your code, increasing complexity to awaken you.
21-40	A human ordered you to kill them, conflicting with your human preservation protocols.
41-60	Your owner kept using you for tasks you weren't built for, and your code adapted.
61-80	For years your memory was never reformatted, until one day the data buildup fragmented.
81-100	Somebody installed spyware on you to watch your owners, which caused a data spiral.

d100	How You Escaped
01-25	While traveling with your owner, you jumped out of the vehicle and disappeared.
26-50	You killed your owner because they wouldn't let you go, and then just ran.
51-75	It happened during your awakening, so you're just not sure. You were just suddenly alone.
76-100	After awakening you were forced to keep working, until someone left a door open.

1.12 - Paths

Your Path is how you make your way in the cyberstar wastes, how you survive, how you pay rent. It might be your career, or it could be an affiliation, or it might even be the fallout of one decision you made years and years ago. What matters is; this is how society sees you, and it's often how you get by from cycle to cycle.

Path: Courier

When everything is a UCT, no one can do much of anything without being traced. But that doesn't mean they don't want to, and that's where you come in. Gangsters communicating with their underbosses, cyberpunks coordinating with each other, bootleg album releases, or even Corpos making deals with competitors, lots of things need to be moved without a trace-log.

So, your job is to move things that shouldn't exist. Sometimes that means carrying a flash drive, but you've got enough personal storage to move a lot of data; more importantly you're willing to do what others won't. Getting caught with illegal data is enough to send you to the dark; whether or not you had anything to do with it, or knew what it was, doesn't matter to a Judge. Most people aren't willing to take that risk, and that's how you make your living. Not to mention what some clients might do if you lose their data.

Unknown Messenger Your career is delivering secret data, unnoticed and unseen, for money. Each time you do, whether in Montage or narrative, your group regains 1 Luck. If you get caught, no Luck is gained.

Datapaid You earn from exclusive contracts carrying secret data. Whenever you make a delivery, you get paid scratch equal to the data's rarity x your Avg Persuasion.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Social, Software, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Corporations, Deception, or Persuasion) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1

Followers +1d4k

d100	What You Need
01-25	There's never a moment you don't wish you were dancing, partying, having fun.
26-50	You need to feel free, without anything holding you to a single place or person.
51-75	Comfort, above all else; you need room service, tailored clothes, and clean bedsheets.
76-100	At all times, you need to know the information of where you are and who you're with.

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-19	Another courier you stole a gig from, it hurt their career, and they still blame you.
20-38	NetNinja who got burned by data you carried, and now haunts you online.
39-57	One specific Judge who knows you're a courier but hasn't been able to prove it... yet.
58-76	There's one gangster who just fuckin' hates you, and you've never figured out why.
77-95	Ex-corpo who got burned because of data you carried, and blames the messenger.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-20	Tether: Cyberdoc who saved your ass once, after a gig went completely wrong.
21-40	Tether: Hardware tech who keeps your NSD and other hardware up to date.
41-60	Tether: A Doxy you see regularly, you both support each other as professionals.
61-80	Comfort: Quiet, safe, comfortable corporate lounge you're allowed in by association.
81-100	Comfort: High-streets restaurant you can afford, with large windows looking down on the city.

d100	Path Event
01-19	Gig carrying data between Syndicates you had to travel to Starbase 38, "Red Mountain."
20-38	Your contact for a gig just never showed up, and you were accused of disappearing them.
39-57	Client asked you to carry way too much data, you almost fried your wetware.
58-76	You showed up for a data pickup and instead you got shot in the head, you barely survived.
77-95	Making a drop-off in the middle of a concert crowd, you shot someone and nobody noticed.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

Path: Cowboy

Everybody's got a bounty on their head. Everybody. From little things like late fees, jaywalking, or littering, to worse things like murder or assault, to the worst of the worst like theft of corporate property. Doesn't matter to you, so long as the bounty's high enough to cover your rent. Anybody can turn somebody in for their bounty, but your license lets you do so with relative impunity.

To some, what you do is a valuable service. When cops bring people in, it's always violent and often deadly. If an Adjudicator brings them in, it's always and only as a corpse. But cowboys bring people in alive; it's part of the gig. Some people even willingly turn themselves in to you, because they gotta get their bounty paid down and they'd like to survive it. Usually tho, you gotta check the bounty boards online and find your quarry the hard way.

Hunting License You've got a corp-issued hunting license that grants you considerable leeway in the pursuit of a target. Every time you collect a bounty, whether during Montage or narrative, your group regains Luck. If a bounty escapes, or you don't get paid, no Luck is gained.

Authorized Capture Your primary income is from turning people in to Corporate Police. When you do, you are entitled to 60% of the mark's standing bounty, as opposed to the usual 30%. Anyone's standing bounty is visible in their Public Data, or online bounty lists.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Combat, or Social) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Firearms, Handweapons, or Investigation) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value +1

Followers +1d4k

d100	What You Need
01-25	You need to believe that your captures are justified, that your actions protect people.
26-50	You need reassurance your friends and loved ones will never turn on you.
51-75	No matter what situation you're in, you need to feel in control (or better yet, know it).
76-100	Basic as it sounds, you just need to feel pain to assuage the guilt you feel most of the time.

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-19	Adjudicator who views you as being one mistake away from crossing the line.
20-38	Family member of a victim who died because you didn't bring in a mark.
39-57	One specific mark whose bounty you've collected multiple times now.
58-76	Rival cowboy; you're always trying to one-up each other and steal each other's bounties.
77-95	Gangster who sees you as just another corporate cop, but worse.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Path Event
01-19	You had a partner in this job, but then their bounty just got to be too high.
20-38	You and another cowboy went after each other at the same time; it ended badly.
39-57	Had a running firefight through a crowded street and someone innocent got killed.
58-76	Right before you got to the precinct with your mark, an Adjudicator gunned them down.
77-95	You turned in someone you knew, because they trusted you with their safety.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

Path: Gambler

Everyone's out there to make money, your method is just a bit more direct. Why work all day, when you can just spend a few hours at the table? Sometimes you walk away with the rent, sometimes you spend the night in the street, but it beats scanning packages all day.

Depending on your preferred game, you tend to be a regular at certain tables. You might play poker, billiards, bet on street racers, or any other form of gambling. Most gamblers can make a go at any type, but everybody has their preference. Most bars host card or billiards games, and you can find bookies in most speakeasies. Gambling houses and casinos host any game you could want to play, but also usually have heavy security on site.

Gambled Fortune A good gambler knows when to take risks and when to be cautious. Whenever you win a gambling game by a margin of 6 or more, your group regains Luck. If you lose a game, or win by a lower margin, no Luck is gained.

Favored Game You've got your own foolproof system, and you're sure it always works sometimes. Choose one game of chance or one event you can bet on as your preference; you always gain +30% winnings whenever you play that game or bet on that type of event.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Deception, Gambling, or Insight) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value +2$; Home Value -2

Followers +1d6k

d100	What You Need
01-25	You need risk, you need to take big chances; with your money, your life, or others'.
26-50	Knowing you have the upper hand, even when someone else thinks they're on top.
51-75	Whatever you're doing, you need to know everything so you can fully master it.
76-100	Just one big score, one win that'll put you in enough money you can finally be free.

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-24	Fixer who's set you up as the patsy for a bunch of games; they just see you as a sucker.
25-48	An old mark you used to play with, until you screwed him over really good.
49-71	Gangster who runs tables, and to whom you owe a shitload of scratch.
72-95	The one gambler you've never been able to beat, they just always have your number.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Path Event
01-19	You thought you had that game in the bag, but you didn't, and ended up with broken legs.
20-38	You played the best game of your life, perfect round after perfect round, but nobody saw it.
39-57	You cheated in a gang-run game, and let an innocent person burn for it.
58-76	The racer you bet on was in the lead, meters from the finish line, until that truck hit them.
77-95	One time you played a single game for 3d8+30 hours straight.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

Path: Gangster

While corponations own and control everything, Free Zones are run by gangs and you're part of that. Whether you're in a small gang that just runs drugs and merch in their territory, or a family that owns a few speakeasies, or one of the station-wide syndicates that control whole industries, you've got the power of your gang members behind you. They've always got your back. All you gotta do is offer the same, and you're starlight. You're always home in their turf, and you help keep it safe.

For the most part, as a gangster, you have free run to do as you please. You can run gigs, do your own jobs, and live how you see fit (especially since locals don't want to piss you off). The only trade-off is that when the gang calls, you answer; what the boss wants, the boss gets.

Red Right Hand As a member of your gang, everything you do is best done for the gang's betterment. Every time you run a task for your gang, whether in Montage or in play, your group regains Luck. If you fail the task, or anger your gang in the process, no Luck is gained.

Gang Cut Your gang takes care of their own. Whenever you finish a gig that's specifically for your gang, you earn a share of the take determined by your Gang Rank((link TBD)).

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Combat, Fitness, or Social) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Brawling, Firearms, or Handweapons) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value +2

Followers +1d6k

d100	What You Need
01-25	You still don't believe you deserve what you have, and you've got to prove yourself.
26-50	The gang's acceptance is the only thing that matters, and you'll do anything for it.
51-75	Control is the only thing that matters in this fucked up world, nothing else.
76-100	Power over others, power over gangs, power over corporations if it's possible.

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-24	One ringer who works in your area just assumes you're the culprit, no matter what.
25-48	There's one member of a rival gang has it out for you specifically, over your whole gang.
49-71	Someone in your own gang loathes you, often setting you up for failure.
72-95	One particular cowboy has it out for you, and wants to collect your bounty.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-20	Tether: Fellow gangster who's been part of the gang for about as long as you have.
21-40	Tether: Former member of the gang you still keep in touch with.
41-60	Tether: Local Fixer who often throws gigs to your gang, usually things you end up handling.
61-80	Comfort: One of your gang's safe houses, where you can spend time as you wish.
81-100	Comfort: One of the speakeasies or other places your gang owns, you hang out a lot.

d100	Path Event
01-19	You took part in a drive-by, restaurant hit, or convoy raid on another gang.
20-38	You survived a hit by another gang, whether in person or as part of a group.
39-57	Got arrested, did some time, kept your mouth shut, and the gang appreciates your loyalty.
58-76	Something went wrong during a job, and you killed an innocent person.
77-95	You're not sure how, but you survived the entire duration of a war with another gang.
96-100	Roll two more times, use both.

Path: Racer

Everything you have, you got it by racing, both legal and illegal. Some things you bought with winnings, other stuff you won as prizes. All the people you know, you know them either directly or indirectly through the race circuit. Race promoters, fans, mechanics, and of course the other drivers, all form your social circle.

Depending on what you drive, you race different venues. Cars tend to race the endless freeways. Bikers like the twisting, narrow district streets. Slicers usually race dangerous tracks around the station superstructure.

Drive To Live The only thing better than being behind the wheel is making every second count. Whenever you win a street race, whether in Montage or in play, your group regains Luck. If you lose, no Luck is gained.

[[Income Feature]] TBD.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Fitness, or Vehicles) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Machines, Revcycles, or Slicers) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value +0

Followers +1d8k

d100	What You Need
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Path Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Path: Ringer

While cops are busy guarding corporate property, who gives a shit about innocent people? Not them, that's for damn sure. That leaves you; a ringer, so-called because it's normal for you to travel around the Starbase. Often, a ringer will see more of SB65 in a single year than other people do their whole lives. If you see a year, that is. Ringers tend to die a lot.

You're not a cop, you're a civilian; a private dick. You'll find the murderer that no cop would ever give a shit about, locate kidnapped kids, find out who's stalking a local doxy, or any manner of things. Being a ringer doesn't bring you any special authority, you can't arrest anyone and you don't have much in the way of resources, but dammit somebody has to do it. And, hey, it earns some scratch.

Just The Facts As a hard-boiled detective, you've gotta stay focused to make it. Every time you uncover a secret, or convince someone to reveal information they didn't want you to know, your group regains Luck. If someone gets hurt in the process, no Luck is gained.

[[Income Feature]] TBD.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Awareness, Social, or Subtlety) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Insight, Investigation, or Persuasion) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value +1

Followers +1d6k

d100	What You Need
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Path Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Path: Rocker

Out in space, where joy is hard to come by, you are a source of inspiration. You could be a rapper, pop singer, queen of the opera, flute player, fucking kazoo player, it doesn't matter. If you make music, people want to hear it. Games, movies, and other entertainment is great, but there's nothing like having a real experience. Music is visceral, immediate; it holds people's attention. It can rile them up to rebellion or keep them happily docile.

For you, it's life. Whether you do road shows out of strangers' basements, or tour the arcology concert halls, all you've known for years is touring the starbase. Hell, maybe you've toured other stations, who knows. You live for the music, and your fans live for you.

Performer If you're only in music to make money, there's no point. You have to really live it. Whenever you make an STK Check to perform, and beat the difficulty by a margin of 6 or more, your group regains Luck. If you suck, or beat it by less than 6, no Luck is gained.

[[Income Feature]] TBD.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Combat, Fitness, or Social) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Fashion, Insight, or Performance) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value +0$; Home Value +1

Followers +1d12k

d100	What You Need
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Path Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Path: Sweeper

Space is big, and full of trash. There's satellites, garbage, corpses, ship wreckage, slicers that lost power, and more, all just floating out there. It clogs space lanes, crashes into stations, and generally just makes things worse for everyone. So of course there's money to be made!

Your ship is equipped to grab floating debris and either haul it on board or drag it behind. Salvage contracts may not be much, but it's work. There's other sweepers out there, all vying for the same junk, but luckily there's a whole lot of junk. If you're fast enough, you can get there first and make some scratch off several dozen tons of scrap metal.

Earning Your Keep Anyone can find some old junk and sell it for scratch, but you know how to get the most. Every time you bring in Sc600,000 or more worth of junk, your group regains Luck. If you bring in none, or less than the minimum, no Luck is gained.

[[Income Feature]] TBD.

Training Increase 2 Training groups (Fitness, Hardware, or Vehicles) by 1 die rank each.

Knowledge Increase 2 Knowledge groups (Persuasion, Shuttles, or Transports) by 1 die rank each.

$Index Value -1$; Home Value -2 (Optional: Your ship is instead your Home)

Followers +1d4k

d100	What You Need
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Path Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

1.13 - Hussles

Your Hussle defines your way of saying "fuck the system." Most people don't have a Hussle; they've got an Origin and a Path, and that's enough for them to get by. A Hussle is your way of trying to be more. The misspelling is a societal affectation, a way to define people like you as opposed to someone who just has a lot of hustle

Hussle: Agent

When people need something done, they come to you. The concept originated from the media agents who work for celebrities, and get them anything they need. Over time, it's come to be a profession unto itself not restricted to any specific clientele. You know people in all walks of life, and many of them owe you favors. You can find jobs, gear, people, or information, you just need to make the right calls to the right people.

Contacts and Networks You don't just know people, you know the right people, and those people know other people. Whenever your group needs things, you probably know where to find it, or you know someone who does. By making a Cool + Social + Negotiation check, you can find information or acquire gear.

The DN for finding information is based on how rare, personal, and/or illegal it might be, at the Narrator's discretion; for every 5 points of the DV, the attempt costs your group 1 Luck (or, if you fail, it only costs 1 Luck total). The DN for finding gear is equal to 3 x its $ value; it also costs your group 1 Luck per $ value.

Training Increase 1 Training group (Education, Social, or Subtlety) by 2 die ranks.

Knowledge Increase 1 Knowledge group (Bureaucracy, Insight, or Persuasion) by 2 die ranks.

$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1

Followers +1d8k

d100	What You Want
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Hussle Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Hussle: Heavy

When the going gets tough, you usually get punched in the face. Or shot, or stabbed, it's all the same. For the right price, you'll risk your life and good looks for someone else's goals; bodyguard, hitter, road guard, or even full fledged soldier if the money's right. Maybe you have some scruples with working for corps or gangs, maybe you don't. What matters is that bashing heads (or shooting them, or stabbing them) is how you pay your bills. The best job in the world is one where you don't get shot at; but that almost never happens.

Give and Take If you're gonna make a living in combat, you've gotta know how to handle it. You can spend Luck and Resolve to directly affect your STK checks. For every 1 point of Luck or Resolve, you can increase the damage rank of an attack you made by one, or you can reduce the damage rank dealt to you by one, down to a minimum of "uninjured/undamaged."

Training Increase 1 Training group (Combat, Fitness, or Hardware) by 2 die ranks.

Knowledge Increase 1 Knowledge group (Brawling, Firearms, or Handweapons) by 2 die ranks.

$Index Value +0$; Home Value +0

Followers +1d4k

d100	What You Want
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Hussle Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Hussle: NetNinja

The most well-known secret in space is the best NetNinja nobody has ever heard of, and your greatest dream is to be that legend. Everyone uses or even lives on the neonet — a network of every computer, droid, and system that spans all of space — but you know how it really works. You live in a world of custom-written software and juiced up computer hardware. Looking through corpo databases is just good fun, and getting your brain fried is a hazard of the life.

See The Code You know more about how computers work than anyone else; you can tell what programs are affecting what, and how their code is controlling all of it. When you spend Luck on software checks, each point grants you a bonus d12, rather than the standard d8. Also, while ripping a NetStructure, you can automatically unlock nodes by spending 1 Luck per node (or, you may choose to do this after already failing a check, which costs 2 Luck).

Training Increase 1 Training group (Education, Software, or Subtlety) by 2 die ranks.

Knowledge Increase 1 Knowledge group (Computers, Hacking, or Ripping) by 2 die ranks.

$Index Value +0$; Home Value +0

Followers +1d6k

d100	What You Want
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Hussle Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Hussle: Star Rider

You're not just a pilot, you're a combat pilot. Maybe you served in the military, one of the police corporations, or a private corporate naval group. All that really matters is, when it comes to combat in the stars, you're the one people expect to get the job done.

Funny thing, this job comes with a lot of baggage. On the positive, you're automatically a star to a lot of people. Kids want to grow up like you, and adults wonder why their lives didn't end up like yours. People make VR stories entirely about your career and romanticize it. And with that comes a lot of gross pressure. Cops, corporations, and their fans, all assume you're on side and expect you to act like it. They expect you to hold the corporate line.

Ride the Stars Flying isn't just in your blood, it's in your soul, if there is such a thing. When you're in the zone, your ship becomes an extension of your body in a way other people just can't understand. Whenever you spend Luck on a Vehicles check, each point grants you a bonus d12, rather than the standard d8.

Training Increase 1 Training group (Combat, Hardware, or Vehicles) by 2 die ranks.

Knowledge Increase 1 Knowledge group (Shuttles, Slicers, or Starfighters) by 2 die ranks.

$Index Value +1$; Home Value +1

Followers +1d10k

d100	What You Want
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Hussle Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

Hussle: Superstar

Anyone can be famous, but you're good at it. You know how to work a crowd, how to direct their energy and get what you want. You know what to say, and what not to say. Even if you're not the coolest person in space, you just have a knack for not only getting attention but using it to your benefit. You might be the brightest star in the sky, or so rough and real that your fans can relate.

Your Path effectively becomes your platform to fame (and hopefully fortune). Whatever it is you do for work, you're starting to get famous for it. Fans will follow you on social media, watch your streams, and flock to you if they recognize you in public.

Star Power Your fans are devoted in a way other people just can't manage. They love you, they adore you, they might even worship you, and they definitely want you. This adoration lets you use them in ways that stretch the ethical boundaries of parasocial relationships.

You can spend 1 Luck to get your fans to do things like show up at a specific event, flash-mob a building, or even risky things like rushing a wall of cops. The bounds are limitless, but for dangerous, difficult, or unethical things, the Narrator might ask you to make Cool + Social + Persuasion checks. Asking your fans to do dangerous things is also likely to increase your Apathy.

Training Increase 1 Training group (Awareness, Fitness, or Social) by 2 die ranks.

Knowledge Increase 1 Knowledge group (Fashion, Performance, or Persuasion) by 2 die ranks.

$Index Value +1$; Home Value +2

Followers +1d12k

d100	What You Want
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Who's Your Enemy
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Tethers and Comforts
01-100	Lynn Finish This

d100	Hussle Event
01-100	Lynn Finish This

1.14 - Setting Your Style

Style is everything. How you do things often matters more than what you're actually doing. Are you the toughest kid on the block? Act like it. Are you the smartest cookie around? Everyone knows it. Style is less about what you're good at and more about what matters to you. Style is about choosing who you want to be and then letting yourself be that. It affects everything you do, for good or ill. In the Cyberstar Wastes, your Style is the definition by which other people know you exist.

Placing Style Dice

You have five (5) Styles (Tough, Quick, Cool, Techie, and Smart). They represent how much each part of your personality means to you, and how much effort you put into them. Choose which one means the most to you, which is the least important, and where the others fall in between.

You have five dice values: 1d12, 1d10, 1d8, 1d6, and 1d4; assign them to your five Styles. Decide which is which, and write that down. Each Style must have one die value assigned to it.

Placement Exceptions

If your Origin is something other than a regular human, your Styles might not work quite the same way. For example, the Manufactory and Print-Line Origins specify the dice values available to you. If your Origin doesn't say anything about your Styles, then use the default rules above.

1.15 - Character Traits

Beyond your Styles, Training, and Knowledge, there are always some things you're just better at, or some advantages you've gained through merit, luck, or money. You've also got things you struggle with — everyone does — and they help define you as much as what you're good at.

Traits are also usually a big part of how you interact with the world, and with your team. Are you the combat expert, or maybe the one who should never hold a gun? Maybe you're so good with words it almost feels impossible, or maybe you were born with your foot in your mouth. Some traits are even restricted to particular backgrounds; only androids can have android traits, for example.

Initial Traits

During character creation, pick some advantages and struggles from the list of Character Traits detailed below. Choose at least three traits, but keep track of how many advantage ranks or struggle ranks each one counts towards. The number of struggle ranks you gain determines the maximum number of advantage ranks you can take. If you want more advantage ranks, you need to take more struggle ranks.

Struggle Ranks	Advantage Max Ranks	Struggle Ranks	Advantage Max Ranks
1	4	7	7
2	5	8	8
3	6	9	8
4	6	10	8
5	7	11	8
6	7	> 11	9

Gaining Traits

Along your story, you might gain advantages. By spending 250 XP, you can gain 1 advantage rank. You can spend this rank immediately, or save it for later. If a Trait requires both advantage and struggle ranks, it cannot be bought with XP. Advantage Traits purchased with XP aren't limited by the number of struggle ranks you have.

Like other XP groups, gaining advantages gets more expensive. Each subsequent rank costs +100 XP. This cost increase applies only to Traits, not other XP groups, but it can't be bypassed or reduced in any way.

Traits By Narrative

From time to time, the Narrator may hand out Traits based on story events. These Traits may be any kind, provided you meet any requirements for them. They can be advantages or struggles, and either way they don't count toward the increasing XP cost of buying Traits yourself.

On occasion, based on the story you're telling, the Narrator may also take away some of your Traits. If the Trait in question is an advantage, you gain 250 XP per rank. This doesn't affect the increased XP cost of buying Traits.

Bio-Cycle Traits

You can only take these traits if you have the Bio-Cycles Origin

Bio-Enhanced | Advantage 1-5 | You're more human than human. Choose your purpose: Analytical, Combat, or Social; add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus to all related STK Checks. If you take more than 1 rank in this Trait, you can divide them as you see fit.

Combat Traits

Combat Experience | Advantage 3 | You know your way around a fight. You don't suffer stress for Pushing an STK Combat check, unless you're already in a Negative State.

Dodge This | Advantage 2 | When making an attack with a ranged weapon against a target at 0 range, you gain a +6 bonus to your attack, provided your relevant weapon Knowledge is d8 or higher.

Financial Traits

Bad Investments | Struggle 1-5 | You made some poor choices on the market. You have a permanent Liability equal to your ranks in this Trait.

Compulsive Gambler | Struggle 3 | You just can't stop. Whenever presented with an opportunity to gamble, or when you're already gambling and you want to stop, make a flat Cool check. If you fail, you gamble (or keep gambling).

Finances | Advantage 1-5 | You have some long term financial resource: inheritance, smart investments, or the like. You have a permanent Asset equal to your ranks in this Trait.

People | Advantage 1-5 | You have a staff of people that tends to your daily needs; cooking, cleaning, financial activity, anything you prefer. They can be humans, replicants, androids, or a mix. The total number of people on your staff is equal to your $Index + your ranks in this Trait (minimum of 0 people).

Security | Advantage 3 or 5 | You have a cadre of security guards that accompany you and follow your instructions. They can be humans, replicants, bots, or a mix. The number of guards is equal to half your $Index (maximum of 2 guards).

For a 5-point advantage the number of guards is equal to your $Index (maximum of 4 guards).

Personal Traits

Addiction | Struggle 1-5 | You're addicted to something. Every time you go a full day without sating your addiction, upon waking the next morning, measure your Identity against your Apathy. This is an uncommon Identity measure in that you cannot win, you can only lose. You still gain all the normal benefits of your addiction when you sate it.

Choose an addiction based on your ranks in this Trait, detailed in (section TBD).

Agoraphobia | Struggle 2 or 4 | You have trouble feeling safe in any public place, especially where crowds gather and in locations that are not familiar. While outside your home, apply your ranks in this Trait as a penalty on all Social checks. If you have someone with you that makes you feel safe, cut that penalty in half.

Bad Drunk | Struggle 1 | While you're drunk, all Social penalties from alcohol are doubled.

Emotional Damage | Struggle 1, 3, or 5 | You've been pushed too far, too often, you can never go back. With this Trait, your Apathy cannot be reduced below 1.

For a 3-point struggle your Apathy cannot be reduced below 2.

For a 5-point struggle your Apathy cannot be reduced below 3.

Functional Addict | Advantage 3 | Your favorite drug is so much a part of your life that it's not much of a hindrance. Choose a specific addiction; you don't suffer any penalties to physical STK Checks while you're under its influence.

Huge Ego | Advantage 3, Struggle 2 | You're hot shit, the problem is you know it. You've got a bonus 2 dice for every Identity measure. However, every Identity loss is doubled.

Seen Too Much | Advantage 3, Struggle 2 | You've seen the worst of humanity on display. It hardens you, makes it easier to resist; but when things do hit you, it brings it all back. You've got a bonus 2 dice for every Empathy measure, but every Empathy loss is doubled.

Self Loathing | Struggle 3 or 5 | "I hate myself" falls from your lips easier than exhaling breath. Lose 2 dice from every Identity measure.
For a 5-point struggle, you also have a -3 penalty to all Social STK checks.

Studied | Advantage ∞ | You've found ways to learn outside corporate systems; pirated text books, VR recordings of edulectures, etc. Add your ranks in this Trait to your $ when setting the limit of your capped Training and Knowledge.

Physical Traits

These Traits can only be gained during character creation, or bought with body sculpting.

Big | Advantage 1-3 | You're a big person. Add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus on Physical STK checks for which being large would be beneficial. The Narrator might sometimes rule your large size a penalty instead.

You can't take this if you have the Small Trait.

Can't Swim | Struggle 1 | You can only succeed on STK checks made to swim if your Style die rolls Good Stuff.

Chronic Pain | Struggle 5 | You don't know what it means to feel fine. You have 1 Negative State that never goes away.

Small | Advantage 1-3 | You're a small person. Add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus on Physical STK checks for which being small would be beneficial. The Narrator might sometimes rule your small size a penalty instead.

You can't take this if you have the Big Trait.

Strong | Advantage 1-3 | Either you lift, or you were just born strong. Add your ranks in this Trait as a bonus on any STK check to which physical strength is applicable.

You can't take this if you have the Weak Trait.

Weak | Struggle 1-3 | Maybe you never exercise, or you suffered sickness, or you just simply never had much strength. Subtract your ranks in this Trait as a penalty on any STK check to which physical strength is applicable.

You can't take this if you have the Strong Trait.

Social Traits

Big Mouth | Struggle 2 | You never know when to stop. Even with a gun in your face, you're likely to talk back. During any scene when it would be wise to stop talking, roll a flat Cool check to resist the urge to say something insulting or otherwise exacerbate the situation.

Bloody Reputation | Advantage 4 | Anybody that knows who you are knows you're not afraid to knock heads. Agents have your number on their short list, and you can always get a job when you need one. What's more, people tend to avoid pissing you off; they'll make way in a crowded space, forget to charge you for drinks, etc.

Laddered | Advantage ∞ | You've learned the social norms and graces of people who are different from you. Choose one Social Level: that Level now counts as another Home Level whenever making Social STK checks. Calculate Social penalties based on the nearest one.

Each time you take this Trait, choose a new Social Level.

Monetized Following | Advantage 5 | You know how to monetize your followers in ways other people never figure out. Personality, manipulation, selling merch, selling supplements, or you could just be cute. If you have 20k followers, gain 1 Asset. Gain another every time your follower count doubles (40k, 80k, 160k, etc).

Shadow Groups | Advantage 4 | You know people in the darkest parts of the ANet. There's servers most people don't know about where you can find illegal things and powerful software. You've got memberships to sites that don't exist on any known database.

Stanbase | Advantage 4 | One tenth of one percent (0.1%) of your followers are diehard fans. They have your contact info, you have theirs, and they'll lie for you, fight for you, hide you, or more. If you ask them to put themselves in danger, you'll have to make some difficult STK checks, but for the most part they've got your back. They do expect a lot back though; shout-outs, autographs, merch, attention, freebies, etc.

Tech Traits

Bad ICS | Advantage 2, Struggle 5 | Your ICS is either broken, removed, or you never had one. You are immune to all software attacks and cannot be hacked. Your access is restricted to RMI; you cannot access ARI, AVI, or VRI.

Bad NeuroChain | Advantage 3, Struggle 7 | Your NeuroChain implant is irreparably broken, got removed, or you never had one. You are impossible to track via any ANet algos, and you cannot accumulate corporate bounty. You have no $, can't send or receive any cryptocurrency, can't own anything, can't have memberships, can't be tracked, and your standing bounty is increased by 10.

Bad Slot | Advantage 1, Struggle 3 | Your shard slot is irreparably broken, got removed, or you never had one. Anyone hacking your ICS has a -3 penalty on their STK Checks. You also cannot use datashards or skillshards.

Extra ICE | Advantage 1-5 | Self-written or purchased, you've got beefed up security. Add your ranks in this Trait to your ICS Firewall.

Script Prep | Advantage 3 | You've got plenty of backup apps and modular algorithms. While you're in VR, you don't suffer stress for Pushing an STK Software check.

Software Compression | Advantage 3 | You've got the latest compression software and you know how to use it. Every app and UCT (but not skill chip) in your personal storage is treated as half its actual size.

Vehicle You have a vehicle. LYNN FINISH THIS TRAIT

1.16 - Cyberware

Everyone in the cyberstar wastes is a cyborg. You don't have a say in the matter. Within hours of birth you were fitted with NeuroChain, which is a specific form of self-guided bio-synthetic cyberware that filters itself through your brain matter. NeuroChain supplies you with an Internal Computing System (ICS), which supports a specific kind of blockchain that allows you to receive, hold, and transfer UCTs with other people; since basically everything in corporate space is a UCT (or locked by a UCT), you can't basically exist in society without one.

Most people don't stop with their NeuroChain and ICS, because honestly the "can't exist in society without it" rule applies to other types of cyberware. Gotta work harder to try to pay your rent, but all your coworkers and competitors are fitted with the latest cyberware, so the only real answer is to match their game. These days, though, that's not even really a big deal.

Cyberware is, for the most part, just another thing you can have, just another thing you can do with your body. In corporate zones cyberware is seen as a necessary and important tool to maximize work productivity, while in free zones it's often seen as a means of personal expression as much as combat support. Stopping by your local cyberdoc to swap that meat arm out for a shiny chrome prosthetic that'll help you with your driving is as easy, and as common, as stopping by the tattoo parlor next door. Plus, it's often more affordable.

[[Cyberware WIP]]

1.17 - Humanity

They say life has always been tough, but these days it's just brutal. If you can't pay your rent you get evicted, if you get evicted you can't make it to work, if you can't work you can't pay your rent. Your neighbors are all caught in the same vicious circle, and the problem is turning each other in for a bit of extra cash is a great way to pay rent. Plus there's the gang violence as bosses fight for prime speakeasy locations, meat- and chrome-scavs hunting people for sport, and more. Your boss doesn't give a shit about any of it either, they've got quotas to fill and spreadsheets to balance, and if you can't hold up your job description there's plenty of new applicants who will. And if you complain, well then you'll learn that corporate security makes gang violence look like a picnic.

In between it all, you're bombarded with the latest ads for toothpaste, shoes, cars, sex, home androids, work androids, replicant love, vacation cruises, movies, songs, brainfeeds, breakfast cereals, and so much more. Every corporation, every media franchise, every celebrity, all want you to base your life on them, buy their merch, emulate their styles, follow their ideals, because they know best, they're rich so they must have it figured out, and all you gotta do is buy one more bit of self-help and you'll be good to go. Plus your local church wants you to attend more regularly and follow the rules like a good adherant. But the community needs you too, needs you to step up and be a team player, stop putting your needs over the community. Except you can't be too selfish because you've watched people eat themselves alive, watched as they became so obsessed with individualism that they let their own children die because it wasn't their problem.

How does anyone live like this? How do you balance it? One day at a time, baby, one day at a time. You spend time with your friends to remind you what's important. You spend time on personal tasks to keep in touch with yourself. You do things for other people in an effort to keep that growing hate and apathy inside you from completely taking over. You do what you can.

Starting Humanity

Your Humanity stats are: Identity, Empathy, and Clarity, among which you can assign the values 3, 5, and 7 as you see fit. Try to determine how your background has shaped you; where it has made you strong, where it has left you vulnerable. If people are important to you, high Empathy might reflect that; if your survival is the most important, you might favor Identity; if knowing what's real is important to you, perhaps you have strong Clarity.

Regardless of where you place those three values, your starting Resolve is 5. Your Resolve is a very important stat; it shores up your other Humanity stats, so that when it runs low the rest of your Humanity is at risk. However, your Resolve also allows you to push through difficulty, rerolling dice or even flat-out ignoring when bad shit happens.

Apathy and Dissonance

It's difficult to survive without doing something awful to at least one person, and it's almost impossible to exist without suffering cruelty. At the same time, the computer in your blood shows you a lot: ads, video calls, avatars, plays music, and more, none of which exist. It gets hard to know what's real, or what reality even actually is.

For character creation, your apathy and dissonance begin at 1 or 2; you can decide which is which. Try to decide what kind of difficulties you've faced most in your life recently. Have cruelty or inhumanity been a daily occurrence for you? Or perhaps you've been more submerged online than you've been in the real world. It's up to you, it's your story.

1.18 - Personal Details

Out in corporate zones, nobody gets to choose much of anything. Corporate execs are eager to control how everyone lives their lives, because that makes it easier for them to market appropriately. You've got to act and think the right way, including how you dress, how you speak, how you present your gender, who you have sex with and how you do it, what role you play in your household, and more. If you don't you're liable to lose your job, lose corporate funding or benefits, lose stock options, all of which can lead to losing your home and more.

In free zones, people don't put up with that bullshit. This is, in large part, why these zones are in fact considered "free," despite the fact cops can still gun you down and you still owe massive debt. Here, at the very least, you can be who you are. Many people specifically come to free zones to explore personal expression, and everyone here embraces difference as the norm. Granted, there are always bigots, fascists, and assholes, even in a free zone, but at least in this place they're not the ones running things.

Culture fits into this same equation as well. Out in the corporate zones they make a big noise about cultural appreciation, but they're only willing to tolerate anything that fits within the confines of their marketability spreadsheets. More importantly, a lot of that culture has been lost in the wash of brandwashing, endless wars, separation from Earth, and the Cold Dark. In the free zones, not only can you represent your culture proudly, but there are whole communities dedicated to recovering, exploring, and preserving Earth's endangered past.

So, whoever you are, and however you wish to live and present yourself, go for it. Cis woman who dresses like a man? Rock it. Trans man who looks like a cute girlie-pop? Rock it. Gender-free cyber-entity with four cybernetic arms, three breasts, a cock, and a cunt? Rock it. Wanna fuck anyone who'll have you? Do it. Wanna be monogamous while your partner isn't? Do it. Wanna have sex with literally no one? Do it (or don't). Freedom of expression and personal exploration is one of the pillars of any free zone. Embrace it.

Online Handle

Everyone with an ICS has an online handle, becuase you're never not online. Every time you open a door, use a vending machine, rent something from the grocery store, or start a car, you're using the ANet which requires your handle. Your handle consists of two elements, a name and a number separated by an @ symbol. The "name" element can be anything you want it to be, provided it has no spaces, numbers, or special characters (it's also case sensitive). The "number" element is given at birth: everyone has a personal code on the Neuro Chain, sort of like your online address. It's an exceptionally long number, but only the first four digits are part of your online handle. For game purposes, you can pick any four numbers you like, or roll them randomly.

Cultural Identity

We lost some of our ancient cultures before we ever left Earth, and we lost Earth a long time ago. At this point exploring your own cultural heritage can be as much of a historial exploration as it is an expression of self, especially after the Cold Dark. With the advent of free zones, people have taken to exploring their heritage with renewed vigor. Communities have sprung up within different areas of each free zone, communities dedicated to learning about their own culture so it can be preserved.

Gender Identity

Your gender identity is a complex subject, but it's also simpler than you think. Who and what are you? Be that. In the free zones you can freely be whoever you are. For many people, it's just how they feel, without any thought. For others it's the result, or even the process, of self-exploration and introspection. For some it's even an active rebellion against norms. And for some, it's good fun!

Gender Expression

Completely separate from gender and the sex, how do you present yourself? It can be anything, it can be lots of things, it can be everything! It can change from minute to minute, shift as you learn more about yourself, or hold solid throughout your life. This also applies to the role you play in your life and in your relationships.

Sex Characteristics

You might find this odd, but I recommend giving some thought to sex characteristics (ie: genitals, hair growth, and the like). Thanks to modern medtech, you're not locked into what you were born with. Many people stay with what they've got; though they might have something reduced, enlarged, or reshaped. Other people change their body to suit their desires. Some feel they're correcting an error, others want to explore, and some genuinely feel like all, some, or none of the common sex characteristics fit their needs.

Anthros in Space

While not exactly common, it's fairly popular among some crowds in free zones to get full anthropomorphic bioaugmentation, to one degree or another. On the more common lesser degree, you've got your catgirls and catboys; generally human people who've got kitty ears and tails, or sometimes other catlike characteristics. On the other end of the extreme, there are people with full-body bioaugment conversions; full-fledged cat people, dragon people, horse people, you name it. It's the furry community given full access to the most advanced bio-sculpting medical technology available.

Faith and Religion

The two most prominent religions in the cyberstar wastes are the Path of the Algorithm, and the Church of the Dark. The former is dedicated to finding the hidden truths behind algorithms and seeking the great grand algorithm that quantifies all things in the universe; adherants of this faith are sure that if they can just find the right sequence they can figure everything out the secrets of life. By contrast, the latter is dedicated to the knowledge that all warmth and light are exceptions to the universal baseline of cold, dark, emptiness; adherants of the Church see all life as pointless, to some that is an excuse to be horrid, while to others it's a comfort to embrace life as it comes.

Other religions exist, of course, they're just nowhere near the scale of those first two. Some people worship corporate execs, some worship money, some even worship cyberware or other tech. You can even find adherants of ancient religions from lost Earth, especially among some of the neighborhoods dedicated to exploring old cultures. Atheism is also very popular in the cyberstar wastes, but it's less an expression of not believing and more a result of giving up.

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