The Universal Grafting Standard (UGS) is an attempt by Ecologene to standardize compatibility of engineered tissues. Anything meeting the UGS is guaranteed to be compatible with all other UGS compliant bioware on every level, from blood types to epigenetic relationships. The standard is far from universal, however, as open source groups see it as a way for Ecologene to gain control over the market, and competing hypercorps are in no hurry to build to a competitor's standards. Currently only Ecologene products meet the standard.
The grand promise of UGS is the greatest possible ease of morph design and augmentation. Installation of bioware typically requires for time in a healing vat, surgery, or gene therapy, each of which is either expensive, risky, or takes large amounts of time. UGS compliant bioware can be installed through a rapid surgery procedure or accelerated gene therapy. UGS compliant morph designers can simply combine UGS compliant parts for easy customization, allowing medichines or a short soak in a healing vat to fill in the gaps. These cobbled together morphs are called grafted.
Grafted morphs are not well liked. UGS compliance means they are all virtually genetically identical, opening up the possibility of diseases ripping through the population, a specter most transhumans think of as having been left behind a long time ago. Despite being predominately biological, grafted have many of the qualities of pods, depending on basic biomods or medichines to maintain health, and with scar tissue marking the seams between parts.
Mechanics
Grafted are considered pods, although they lack most of the cybernetic interfaces pods require.
Enhancements: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Mnemonic Augmentation, Puppet Sock
Aptitude Maximum: 30
Durability: 30
Wound Threshold: 6
Advantages: +5 to one aptitude of the players choice, UGS Compliant*
Disadvantages: Social Stigma (Pod)
CP Cost:5
Credit Cost: Moderate
*Grafted can gain new bioware from Ecologene catalogs, which is 20% more expensive than other brands, but can be installed with nothing more than a first-aid kit and local anesthetic. The morph will integrate the new ware at the speed of a healing vat, or twice as fast if equipped with medichines.
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