172. Manoel and His Mother

Manoel and his mother Alexandra live in Hotel California, the asteroid mining outpost turned refugee camp. Members of Brazil's destitute underclass, they escaped Earth through sheer luck, Manoel smuggling himself onto a beanstalk car with his mother stored in a spare hard drive. Manoel was shunted from ship to ship and hab to hab until he was abandoned, as with so many others, at 4113 Calif, recently renamed Hotel California.

With no money or rep, a disembodied mother, and an unaugmented morph, Manoel took up the night cartel on an offer: he will be given a room and 100 credits a month, in exchange for which he will become one of the cartel's pharms, growing valuable biological products with his body. Manoel is now trying to save enough to buy a body for his mother.

Manoel is a picture of misery. Pharm gene-therapies have disrupted his body's systems, covering him in skin tags and peels, filling him with teratomas, and causing multiple autoimmune disorders. One tube inserted into his side collects the building blocks of MRDR from his modified adrenal gland, one enters his cranium via his nose to collect dopamine, and another hooks into a jury-rigged dialysis machine, sharing his blood with a wet-nanotech fabber. He spends his days unconscious, in and out of fever dreams, or doing simple digital work for extra money over the mesh.

Alexandra has no body, living currently as an informorph with control of an old telepresence medical robot anchored to their room's ceiling. She uses the robot with her basic paramedic training to care for her son, trying to maintain a balance between pharming and her son's health. Like Manoel, she also does digital work when it is available, usually helping teach the asteroid's children, and has a irregular mesh-based social life.

Plot Hook: Although neither of them leave their room, Manoel and Alexandra are keyed in to Hotel California's rumors and gossip through the mesh, and no one would suspect them of informing on their neighbors. In exchange for pharm-tolerant medichines, credits or rep, they may be able to give the players useful information.

Mechanics

Manoel

Morph: Flat

Motivations: +Survival, +Wealth, -Planetary Consortium

COG 10 COO 15 INT 15 REF 15 SAV 10 SOM 25 WIL 25
MOX - INIT 6 SPD 1 LUC 40 TT 8 IR 80 DUR 30 WT 6 DR 45

Active Skills: Clubs 55, Deception 35, Fray 45, Infiltration 40, Intimidation 50, Networking: Criminals 50, Palming 35, Pilot: Groundcraft 45, Unarmed Combat 63

Knowledge Skills: Interest: Criminal Groups 50, Interest: Old-Earth Trivia 40, Language: English 55, Language: Portuguese (Native) 85, Profession: Pharmer 50

Reputation: @-rep 10, G-rep 10

Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Pharming Mods

Alexandra

Morph: Infomorph

Motivations: +Survival, +Helping Others, -Violence

COG 15 COO 15 INT 15 REF 15 SAV 20 SOM 10 WIL 20
MOX - INIT 6 SPD 3 LUC 40 TT 8 IR 80 DUR 0 WT 0 DR 0

Active Skills: Blades 40, Fray 35, Infiltration 45, Medicine: General Practice 45, Medicine: Paramedic 55, Persuasion 60, Pilot: Groundcraft 45, Unarmed Combat 45

Knowledge Skills: Academics: Pre-Fall History 45, Interest: Literature 55, Language: Portuguese (Native) 85, Profession: Instruction 55, Profession: Medical Care 45

Reputation: @-rep 30

Implants: Mnemonic Augmentation