266. Endomorph

As losses mounted and infugees poured from Earth, some habitats found themselves with few bodies, but many exoskeletons with no one to pilot them. Roboticist Rowan Sun came up with a design for a morph using the extra exosuits and only the minimum of synth parts: cyberbrain, mesh inserts, and cortical stack

A typical endomorph keeps the cyberbrain in the torso, on top of its power supply and next to the mesh inserts. Structural reinforcement and brain-suit interfaces are run through the rest of the suit, and the remaining volume filled with foam for weight and extra protection.

Endo-morphs are becoming popular among armed forces. More and more, biomorphs are showing their limitations in combat, and synths dominate. Endomorphs allow a military to gain the advantages of synths, recycle battlesuits, and stay within limited budgets. Endomoprhs can have a psychological advantage in close combat, as their empty helmets can make them seem almost ghost-like.

Mechanics

Endomorphs are synthmorphs.

Enhancements: Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation
Aptitude Maximum: 30
Durability: 30
Wound Threshold: 6
Advantages: Suited*
CP Cost: 
Credit Cost: Moderate + Cost of suit

*Endomorphs are built into exoskeletons, and gain whatever bonuses the suit normally provides.
 

38. Methods of Steel

Methods of steel is the premier open-source, synth oriented martial art. It is truly transhuman in its practices, making heavy use of skillware, simulspace training scenarios, and AI trainers. There are, in fact, only two physical schools: one in Extropia, and one in Locus. The art is banned or heavily regulated on many Lunar habitats due to its associations with synth liberation movements.

Much of the most basic training is focused on giving the practitioner a true sense of the tolerances and strengths of their synth body, so that they will take full advantage of synths' durability and strength. As a student progresses, they can branch into specialized schools of technique. Styles are generally divided into "soft" (vs. biomorphs) and "hard" (vs. synthmorphs.) The open-source nature of the art's development has led to huge, branching specializations, with specific techniques not just for different weapons but for certain numbers and types of limbs, industrial tools, and a system of flexbot techniques that is rapidly spinning off into its own martial art.

Mechanics

Methods of Steel is treated as an Unarmed Combat specialization, active whenever the user is in a synthmorph.

34. Neumann

The pride and joy of the Interstellar Club are its Neumanns: morphs capable of interstellar travel. There are as yet only two that are functional, and neither of them have traveled farther than necessary for testing. Interstellar Club researchers are optimistic however, as the latest versions have passed all tests and the time may be approaching for their journeys to begin.

The Neumann has two possible means of propulsion. The most powerful thrust comes from the Bussard ramjet, using an electromagnetic scoop to gather hydrogen as fuel for its fusion rocket. The secondary means tunes the electromagnetic scoop for use as a magnetic sail. The fusion rocket is designed to be used for interstellar travel, while the sail is for interplanetary maneuvering.

In order to weather the decades or centuries of interstellar travel, the Neumann is designed to incorporate redundancies, self-repair, and self-maintenance systems wherever possible. There are two backups to almost every system, multiple redundant repair swarm hives and as much is made of self-repairing smart materials as possible. Radiation sensitive objects, such as the cyberbrain, are placed near the core of the morph, where they are well shielded, and are also multiply redundant.

The ultimate goal of the Neumann is to act as a von Neumann machine, replicating itself at each destination so as to explore en mass with minimal impact from individual failures. To this end, a Neumann carries massive stores of fabrication blueprints, protean and engineering swarms, sol archives and potentially, cortical stacks. Upon reaching a new world, the Neumann can replicate itself, seed the world with automated probes, or even begin a new outpost of transhumanity.

Mechanics

Although the Neumann is a morph, it has the scale and capabilities of a ship, and is best treated as such. It therefore has no stats.

15. Regalia

Skinthetic's premier entry into the synthmorph market is the Regalia, a collaboration between Skinthetic and Titanian microcorp Weft, specialists in textiles. It is designed to make use of textiles, cloth, and fabrics wherever possible. Like the Galatea, it is intended to be overcome the preconceptions the elite have towards synths and attract a high-end, social market.

The core of the morph is a thin, robotic skeleton to which the fabrics are attached, appearing as if naturally draped. Layers of cloth, woven electronics, sensor mats and smart weaves obscure the skeleton, such that the Regalia appears to be a complicated, regal costume, worn by nothing. The various layers serve various purposes: the morph might pull up an over-sized, photo-voltaic hood to supplement its batteries, unfurl an armored parka in combat, or shift through sensor nets to shift visible spectrums. A layer of chameleon skin can be used to display a face, but some find the faceless and empty appearance of the morph gives them a certain edge.

Mechanics

Regalia are synthmorphs.

Enhancements: 360 Degree Vision, Basic Mesh Inserts, Chameleon Skin, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation
Aptitude Maximum: 30 (SOM 25)
Durability: 30
Wound Threshold: 6
Advantages: +10 SAV, +5 one other aptitude of the players choice, Armor 8/8
CP Cost: 30
Credit Cost: Expensive (30,000+)