291. Asshole Geese

Geese have been used as watchdogs throughout history, being both territorial and loud. Asshole geese are genetically engineered to excel in this role. They are smaller than natural geese, yet louder. They cannot be hacked, seem to have no fear, and are never expected.

Their biggest problem is their inability to discriminate between threats, trespassers, and distractions. A great deal of research into the minds of geese has been done trying to solve this problem, but only minor improvements have been possible. An asshole goose will begin hissing at and attacking anyone it doesn't recognize, as well as any other animals, uplifts, synths and robots.

It is common for bold colors to be engineered into their plumage, most often often blue and red in addition to the more natural black or white.

Mechanics

Asshole geese are smart animals [Low]

COG 5 COO 20 INT 15 REF 20 SAV 5 SOM 10 WIL 10 

INIT 7 SPD 1 DUR 15 WT 3 DR 23 LUC 23 TT 4 IR 40

Skills: Freerunning 50, Fray 30, Infiltration 30, Perception 60, Unarmed Combat 30
Enhancements: Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Hearing
Movement Rate: 4/40

281. Catopia

Catopia is a popular simulspace in which users become cats in old-Earth landscapes. There is no given goal, system of points, or even verbal or text-based ways to communicate with other players. Users often play hide and seek, tag, attempt new kinds of acrobatics, or just explore.

The setting is a series of small towns and villages in rural locations that could have existed almost anywhere on Earth. The presence of humans is implied by the distant sounds of vehicles, music playing from open windows, and the sounds of conversation from closed interiors, but none are actually present and the land belongs to the cats.

Variants using dogs, birds, rodents, monkeys and even spiders exist, but none have not gained the viral popularity of Catopia.

263. Dragon Flies

Dragon flies (not to be confused with dragonflies) are large insects engineered for a harassing role in combat. Their genetic stock comes primarily from dragonflies, with a significant contribution from bombardier beetles. Like those beetles, dragon flies can expel boiling liquid when in danger. The liquid does not come in large enough quantities to be fatal, but can be quite painful, especially if the flies have been trained to aim for the eyes.

The form of a dragon fly is most similar to a dragonfly, with two pairs of wings on top of its legs near a large head, and backed by an elongated body providing stability. Unlike a dragonfly, it has a pair of unmoving wings at the tip of its tail, its body is sinuous, moving like a snake to augment its flight, and it is larger, about the size of a human hand. The larger body contains copious reservoirs of hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, which when mixed, undergo an exothermic reaction raising them rapidly to a boil.

Mechanics

Skills: Flight 60, Fray 50, Infiltration 30, Perception 50, Scrounging 40, Exotic Ranged Weapon: Spray 40
Enhancements: Claws, Enhanced Hearing, Carapace Armor (11/11)
Movement Rate: 4/40
Attack: Spray, 1d10/2 DV

256. Monster Bash

Monster Bash is a game, sports league and bloodsport. Players design animals and monsters and pit them against each other. Gambling is common, and several genehackers fund their work with a Monster Bash career. The matches take place in simulspace, but successful beasts in the realistic league are occasionally grown for real, as smart animals.

Two informal leagues have emerged. A realistic league, using atomic-scale accurate simulspaces, and an unrealistic league, allowing considerable leeway to designers. The realistic league is a brutal bloodsport, realistic enough that the simulated animal brains experience real pain. For this reason the realistic league is limited to Extropia, where it enjoys the patronage of smart animal developers looking to test or show off their newest creations. The unrealistic league is more popular and widespread, both because of the lack of ethical concerns, and because the league allows for fantastical, showy monsters with impossible abilities.

Anticipation is high for next week's showdown between the ferocious grace of Claudia Ambelina's mantis ballet and the brutal slapstick of Shiffer High Energy Laboratory's plasma toads.

220. Basilisks

One of the most popular of Fortean's mythological recreations, basilisks serve as both beautiful pets and potent guards. Embodying the dispassionate cruelty of both birds and reptiles, their iridescent scales give them a great aesthetic appeal, and their sharp talons and beaks, enhanced with deadly poison, make them serious threats in combat.

The basilisk is in fact a heavily altered chicken. The wings have been turned into forelegs, making them quadrupedal, and the feathers grow so thick and dense they have become scales. The head is mostly the same, although the beak is now that of a bird of prey and their combs enhanced with bold colors to give a majestic appearance. Basilisks cannot, of course, paralyze with a gaze, but poison glands secreting BTX2 achieve a similar effect.

Mechanics

Basilisks are smart animals [High]

COG 5 COO 15 INT 10 REF 20 SAV 5 SOM 25 WIL 10 

INIT 8 SPD 1 DUR 35 WT 7 DR 53 LUC 20 TT 4 IR 40

Skills: Freerunning 50, Fray 30, Infiltration 30, Perception 40, Unarmed Combat 40
Enhancements: Carapace Armor (11/11), Claws, Poison Gland (BTX2),
Movement Rate: 4/20
Attack: Claws, 1d10 + 2 DV, AP −1
Armor: 11/11

181. Dogbots

Once Fa Jing released their animalware cybersuites, it was only a matter of time before augementicist took things to the natural conclusion and placed their dog's newly cybernetic nervous systems into robotic bodies. Essentially synth morphs for dogs, dogbots have become hugely successful among those looking for guard or combat animals, because their robot bodies can be easily modified. As dogbots have become popular, versions of animalware cybersuites and robot bodies are being developed for all common species.

Common variants include synthetic masked versions, designed to catch their opponents off-guard, heavy versions with better armor, and hellhound versions with flamethrowers in their mouths.

Mechanics

Dogbots are treated as robots physically, and animals mentally. [Expensive]

Movement Rate: 4/40 Max Velocity: 40 Armor: 14/12 Durability: 40 Wound Threshold: 8 Mobility System: Walker

Enhancements: Cybercortex, Cyberclaws, Light Combat Armor, Enhanced Smell

179. Animalware Cybersuites

Asked about the high costs of animal ownership, most would cite the costs of exowombs, sufficient livable space, or specialized food. The costs of training are most often underestimated, as they require either time or the services of a specialist or AI. Fa Jing's new line of animalware cybersuites was designed to meet that need, but instead they created a revolution in smart animal design, augmentation and training, bringing animals into the post-singularity age.

An animalware cybersuite replaces the biological brain with a cyberbrain, including an animal oriented ego-bridging service, a cybercortex, and a specially designed skillwire. A cyberbrain allows for easy forking of your good boys, a cybercortex increases intelligence and trainability, and skillware allows instant housebreaking and mastery of basic commands.

Mechanics

Animalware Cybersuites are cyberware (High)

176. Packnet

Favored by shepherds, packnets are tacnets designed for use by smart animals. Unlike tacnets, a packnet is not just software but must be implanted as special cyberware, acting as mesh inserts and simple brain scanners. This way the animal does not have to be trained to use a computer interface, as the packnet reacts directly to its thoughts. A cybercortex is highly recommended if the system is to be used to its fullest potential, and the system also combines well with compulsion goads, allowing single shepherds to control large groups with ease.

The animals are not presented with formal maps, but are given an intuitive knowledge of their surroundings. They do not communicate through language, but instintively understand each others intentions, as well as what the others are sensing and experiencing. The implant will induce fear or caution to steer its charges away from threats, and hunger or rage to entice them against targets.

Mechanics

Packnets are cyberware [High]

Packnets offer the same advantage as tacnets, but designed for use by smart animals. Non-smart animals (traditional breeds) are typically unable to use packnets in any significant way.

160. Rage and Terror

In the early phases of the Fall, before anything was known of the TITANs, the world simply seemed to be getting worse, and weird. The planet was in a state of ecological turmoil, with animals being pushed out of their normal habitats and into contact with humanity. Some actions seemed definitely beyond what could be explained by desperate hunger, increased competition, or diseases such as rabies. Rats occasionally swarmed from drains, attacking even large groups of people, family dogs might suddenly run off in terror, biting at their former friends and never trusting them again, and many people lost their eyes to birds.

The culprits were animal-oriented basilisk hacks, inducing in their victims a frenzy of rage and terror. They had simpler effects and operated on less complicated brains than those of humans, so the hacks were commonly made by basilisk weeds. Apparently there was a hack for each species, and even today it is best not to take animals into TITAN zones.

Notes

Inspired by Arthur Machen's The Terror.

143. Hulderhund

Titan is far rimward, cold and distant from the greater mass of transhumanity. Nevertheless, thanks to the Commonwealth's One Mind, One Body policy and friendly liberalism, the Titanian population is growing quickly. The hulder, the nomadic herders of caribou across Titan's cold, carbonaceous surface, see in this growth the slow loss of the wildness of their herding grounds. As a part of their cultural experiment, as welcome companionship, and as an early stage of preparation for predicted altercations, they created the hulderhund.

Like hulders and their caribou, hulderhund blubbery skin makes them appear cybernetic on the surface, but they are entirely biological, engineered from Titanian Autonomous University smarts. Like the caribou, hulderhund eat the natural carbonaceous compounds from Titan's surface, and participate in the AR hallucination of Earth's tundras. Hulder train them in herding, but otherwise keep them for companionship.

Mechanics

Treat as smart dogs with the addition of  fractal digits, long-term life support, and temperature tolerance (Cryonic) [High]

124. Shepherds

A shepherd's primary tactic is chaos. A perfect shepherd attack is an ambush, with as many animals as possible suddenly swarming the target. Flying and grounded species are often mixed to further overwhelm and confuse the enemy, and in zero-g or underwater, a shepherd will attempt to attack from as many directions at once as possible. Shepherds are most likely to fail if forced to attack through a bottleneck.

A skilled shepherd, therefore, has an instinct for capitalizing on confusion. Some fight alongside their horde, usually with high speed augmentations and melee weapons. Others fight as one of their horde, puppeting or sleeving into an animal morph. Police units on Mars often swarm a location with police baboons, then flood the area with knockout gas, neutralizing suspects and baboons alike, whereas Martian rangers will send their animals forward, then support them with sniper fire.

Shepherd's often specialize in certain types of animals, learning the capabilities of a few species as well as possible. Often, of course, there are environmental concerns: the hidden concern's shepherds usually use hellsquid simply because so few other combat animals can live in Ceres' seas. Humans often use dogs, bearcats and primates, as do primate uplifts, but dinosaurs or terror birds supported by venomous birds are preferred by neo-avians, while aquatic uplifts will typically favor aquatic animals.

Mercurial uplifts and particularly ferals are often shepherds, and tend to have a particular knack for it. Of all shepherds, they are most likely to directly puppet or sleeve into a morph that allows them to be one of the pack/flock/school.

When designing animals for a shepherd two factors must be balanced. Each animal should, of course, be as effective a combatant as possible. At the same time however, even heavily modified animals are some of the most fragile things on the battlefield, and more enhancements means more expense. Typically most animals are glass cannons, given only medichines to enhance survivability, with a focus on key offensive upgrades. Drug-glands, poison-glands, speed enhancements, complusion goads and, for those who can afford it, berzerkergang are all popular. The only thing more frightening than an attack by a swarm of baboons is an attack by a swarm of MRDR-crazed, venomous baboons who move twice as fast as you.

123. Portias

Portias are engineered Portia Fimbriata, modified to be larger (up to the size of a a human hand) and proportional increases in neural mass. The step-by-step nature of Portia's mind is maintained, leading to incredible visual acuity, spatial awareness, problem solving, and hunting. Portias are not necessarily smarter than unmodified Portia Fimbriata, but they think much more quickly. They are masters of ambush, and many habitats use them for pest control. There is also an audience for Portia races: gambling on which spider will solve a maze, or kill a prey insect, first.

Mechanics

As smart roaches, plus unarmed combat 40 and freerunning 40 [Moderate]

Notes

Inspired by Peter Watt's post on Portia Fimbriata.

121. The Birds with Human Eyes

The proliferation of biomods and hobbyist genetic engineers makes it easy to forget how much research had to be done to bring about transhumanity, and how many dead-ends were explored. The now ubiquitous enhanced vision augmentation was the long-term project of military research groups, biotech startups, and university research teams. Spin-offs are common, especially when the products of your work are living, reproducing things.

As part of the compatibility testing on their avian-to-human gene splices, a biotech firm modified several bird species to develop human eyes. As a compatibility test, the modified birds successfully demonstrated new methods of avoiding rejection paving the way to human testing. Before the birds were to be destroyed, however, they caught the eye of a wealthy investor, who bought all of them and paid the firm to create some that would breed true.

The birds' human eyes expressing inhuman emotions, but that creepiness also gave them a certain appeal. Today the descendants of those human-eyed birds can be found as exotic pets among Somatek executives and pet owners with a taste for the truly strange.

Mechanics

Birds with human eyes can be treated as smart hawks without enhanced vision [Moderate]

114. Mantises

For hypercorp executives seeking to emphasize their competitiveness, smart mantises are the trend pet of choice, often kept in the office and fed mice during tough negotiations. The mantises are spliced together from many members of the order mantodea, and range from hand to head sized. Like smart roaches, they are often engineered to have bright colors and patterns.

Mantises are also used in underground gambling and blood sports, with bets taken on how many smart roaches the mantis can devour in a set amount of time, or fights between mantises or other predatory insects. Some habitats have also been experimenting with using them for pest control.

Mechanics

Treat as space roaches with the addition of Unarmed Combat 40.

110. Coiled Canines

"Coiled Canine" is the catch-all name among the hyperelite for a popular type of exotic pet: snake-like mixes of dogs and weasels. Weasel genes give them long, sinuous bodies. Dog genes give themdog-like friendliness and temperament. Genetic engineering removes their limbs and lengethens their bodies. Strengthened abdomen muscles allow them to move like snakes, even coiling themselves to climb. They often enjoy coiling around and clinging to the limbs of their owners, or wrapping around their necks like scarves.

In the exotic pet market, uniqueness dominates and many suppliers will create only small amounts of new varieties of pets. The original creator of the coiled canines is unknown, a fly-by-night boutique genetic engineering lab specializing in exotic pets. Since the canines first appeared, however, they have proven to be more than a fad. With no-one claiming any patents or copyrights, most of the pet labs of Luna and Mars have created their own varieties. Fox-like, cat-like, mouse-like varieties are all available, and in any color.

Mechanics

Coiled canines can be treated as smart raccoons [High]

94. Microraptors

Exotic pets are a lasting trend among the wealthy of the Planetary Consortium. Some animals, like dogs, are perennial favorites. Some, like smart hawks, are part of the rediscovery of ancient aristocratic pastimes. As the market grows, so too does the demand for the truly exotic.

Microraptors are reconstructions of paravian dinosaurs, but microraptors lived too long ago for any DNA to be recoverable, so genetic engineers recreated their physiology from similar species, primarily birds. Unlike birds, microraptors have four wings, and are skilled in both short flights, gliding and climbing.

As pets and smart animals they have been enhanced. Their intelligence and therefore trainability has been increased, raised to the approximate level of a baseline dog. Their claws and feet have been reshaped for dexterous manipulation, and augmented with grip pads. Finally, their plumage is dramatically shaped and colored for aesthetic effect.

Mechanics

Microraptors can be treated as smart hawks, with claws replaced by grip pads.

81. Eusocial Monkey Butlers

The eusocial monkey butlers of many gerentocrat hyperelite estates are the unlikely application of two experiments in monkey domestication. First, the use of monkeys as service animals was bolstered by the development of "smart" breeds, bred and engineered for intelligence, sociability and trainability. Second a retired genetic engineer and nouveau hypoerelite used some of his fortune to splice naked mole rats with macaques, attempting to produce a eusocial primate. The engineer eventually mixed his eusocial monkeys with the helpful smarts, selling the resulting species as animal servants for the home.

Eusocial monkeys get most of their brains from macaques and naked mole rats, but their bodies from capuchins. They are divided into three castes, with pupulations between numbering two and four dozen. The first caste are the housekeepers, who interact most often with people, helping and performing chores. The second caste are the hivekeepers, who maintain the monkey hive by retrieving and preparing food, caring for the young, and whatever maintenance is required. The third caste are the mothers, who spend most of their lives pregnant, maintaining the hive's numbers. A eusocial monkey butler hive is usually given its own room, with small tunnels leading throughout the house. The monkeys will build their hive from fabrics and woven string; if not provided with this material they may resort to scavenging.

The usefulness of the monkey butlers comes from their numbers and intelligence. A single hive supports enough housekeepers for all but the largest manors, They can be trained to carry out most of the tasks required of a house servant, from cleaning to simple cooking, and only one monkey has to be taught, as the monkeys are eager to teach each other anything important they may have learned.

Mechanics

Treat eusocial monkey butlers as Smart Monkeys, sold by the hive. [Expensive]

58. Zeroes

As Smarts were to uplifts, Zeroes were to bouncers. While Smarts were bred for intelligence, Zeroes were bred for health in zero and micro gravity environments. Zeroes were some of the first animals bred/engineered for off-Earth environments, as well as some of the first testbeds for early medichines.

Zeroes were at first broad mixes of dog breeds, combined for maximum diversity. All Zeroes were inoculated with medichines, providing a constant stream of information on the health of their hosts. They were prone to the usual health problems that come with zero/micro-gravity, but were kept healthy by the intervention of their medichines. The less medichine intervention any dog required, the larger their genetic contribution to the next generation. In this way, the dogs were slowly adapted to zero gravity, minute medichine-sourced records of their development were made, and the dogs maintained excellent health.

The descendants of Zeroes can still be found as pets throughout the system, popular mostly among wealthy Lunar citizens in micro-gravity habs. The unusual flexibility and dexterity of the breed makes them keen competitors in agility competitions.

53. Hellsquid

Attack dogs, tools of assassination, and pride of the Hidden Concern, hellsquid are the boogeymen of Ceres' icy depths. Hidden Concern scientists, liberated from their corporate uplifters, brought stolen information and expertise on the uplifting of mollusks to their new home on Ceres. Seeking to consolidate control of the dwarf planet, they began splicing the genomes of Humboldt squid.

The hellsquid are engineered with an eye towards ambush combat and assassinations. Their chameleon skin renders them virtually invisible in the gloom, and their barbs are usually paired with eelware or poison glands of BTX or twitch: once they grab you, fighting back is impossible. Usually deployed in schools, their swarming has taken down whales.

Mechanics

Hellsquid are smart animals [High]

COG 5 COO 10 INT 10 REF 25 SAV 5 SOM 25 WIL 10 

INIT 8 SPD 1 DUR 35 WT 7 DR 53 LUC 20 TT 4 IR 40

Skills: Swimming 50, Fray 30, Infiltration 30, Perception 30, Unarmed Combat 40
Enhancements: Bioweave (Heavy), Chameleon Skin, Claws, Eelware OR Poison Gland (BTX OR Twitch), Hydrostatic Pressure Adaptation, Toxin Filters, Temperature Tolerance (Improved Cold)
Movement Rate: 6/40
Attack: Claws, 1d10 + 2 DV, AP −1
Armor: 3/4

50. Everlasting Rats

Just before the fall, Mother's Milk of Extropia were developing a medichine variant that would be passed from mothers to offspring, intended to save animal breeders and engineers significant amounts of money. They had created a successful prototype in a breeding population of smart rats, and were poised for full commercial release when the rats escaped during the chaos of the Fall. Mother's Milk went under, but their legacy remains.

Everlasting rats are smart and immortal. Rats can be smart to begin with, smart rats are genetically engineered to be even smarter, and their medichines mean that everlasting rats never stop learning. An everlasting rat will know the habits and schedules of every transhuman in the area. They recognize types of robots and vehicles, avoiding them or hitching a ride. They exploit the fractured landscape of Extropia, simply shifting to a neighbor whenever one person or organization attempts pest control. The sophisticated games of hunting and evasion by everlasting rats and smart cats have inspired a children's story and a pamphlet on small-unit tactics.

Their medichines render everlasting rats virtually immune to poisons and toxins, and the enhanced healing means a full recovery from any non-mortal wound. Currently, the only way to control the population is with rat-oriented disassembler swarms (generally discouraged by worried neighbors), tailored nanoplagues (generally discouraged by everyone) and engineered predators, mainly smart cats, cheshires, and small bearcats.

Mechanics

Everlasting rats are as smart rats, plus medichines.