 Why become a cyberzombie? |
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 Nov 13 2006, 10:44 PM
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#1
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Dragon  Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019  |
You have, like, an 85% chance of dying in the first year of spontaneous, untreatable cancer. Is it really worth it for that 1.5 points of deltaware?
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Nov 13 2006, 10:51 PM
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#2
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,010 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Yes.
~J |
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Nov 13 2006, 10:51 PM
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#3
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The back-up plan Group: Retired Admins Posts: 8,423 Joined: 15-January 03 From: San Diego Member No.: 3,910 |
For what it's worth, I don't think most people volunteer to become a cyberzombie. Or if they do, I doubt most people understand the consequences within the choice.
Your mileage may vary, but the way I run it, megacorps mislead, omit details, and spin-doctor information both internally and externally. Yes, there are occasionally times when the bare truth comes out, but I think those are the exceptions. |
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Nov 13 2006, 10:52 PM
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#4
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
Anyone ever play a cyberzombie?
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Nov 13 2006, 11:17 PM
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#5
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
You'd better believe that it's worth it. That's a lot of 'ware! Furthermore, how many PCs actually stay in play for a whole year in game-time? I never keep a given PC for that long; I always get bored and make a new one. So if I wanted to just go around obscenely ripping stuff up, I could just make a cyberzombie character and try to go for some kind of world record of NPCs killed in a one year gaming period. |
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Nov 14 2006, 02:51 AM
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#6
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,532 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Calgary, Canada Member No.: 769 |
I agree that a lot of CZ's don't realize that they are a cyberzombie until they wake up in recovery.
Personally the way I see it going down is a combination of factors. 1) Employee signs his doner card. 2) Employee doesn't realize that the the corperation he works for has a somewhat "liberal" interpretation of legally dead, simply extending it to include any state where traditional medical techniques offer no hope of recovery. 3) Employee gets him self very badly hurt, but his vitals get stablalized. 4) Corp airlifts him to a "special medical facility" 5) Docs go to work 6) Employee wakes up in recovery at which point they offer him the oppertunity to live or they pull the cyber out and put it in someone else. Depending on the corp and how likely the employee is to say no the corp might try and get his concent as he's bleeding out, more than likely by asking something like. "Are you willing to undergo experimental medical procedures to stay alive? Here's a concent form and an NDA." |
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Nov 14 2006, 02:56 AM
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#7
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,010 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
The process is damaging, so it's likely that heavy implant would kill someone already in critical condition.
~J |
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Nov 14 2006, 02:56 AM
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#8
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
And friend and I wrote up a pair of them when I first got the cybertechnology book. Went with 10 million :nuyen: cap, -6 essence. We ran them once, decided it was no fun. Everything died. Go figure. Crumpled them up and tossed 'em. |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:06 AM
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#9
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
What, you killed everything easily?
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Nov 14 2006, 03:14 AM
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#10
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
Remember the cybermancy process goes much more smoothly if the blood mages Sacrifice everyone that you know and love as part of the ritual.
It isn't exactly something that is commonly done by people who have friends or relatives. It is something done by people who think that they'll be better off as an monstrous killing machine with a life expectancy of only a few months. |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:21 AM
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#11
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
And why would corps make them? It's not like you can be too public with them, and there are much more cost-effective ways to defend your zero-zones.
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Nov 14 2006, 03:26 AM
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#12
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Snakehandler Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,454 Joined: 28-April 06 From: London, England Member No.: 8,508 |
Well, there's the pure research angle. Sure, they are horribly impractical NOW, but without continuing to do it, you will never reach the point where they become more usable.
Not to mention all the spin-off tech and magical knowledge that can come of the primary research. The research is the primary goal in the initial stages. If the corp happens to also get a cool cyber-zombie as a bonus, cool beans. |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:27 AM
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#13
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
In case you want to kill Ryan Mercury. Really, by that reasoning, everyone should be making one! |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:29 AM
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#14
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,010 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
1) Research. Cyberzombies aren't just unstoppable soldiers, they're testing grounds. 2) Offense. One cyberzombie is significantly more mobile than just about anything else you can send in of equivalent power, likewise for n cyberzombies for small ns, and they're immune to jamming unlike the next best thing. 3) Fear. A row of Sentinel Ps inspires fear, a -8-Essence cyborg inspires terror. ~J |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:35 AM
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#15
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
4) Mundanes with magic resistance on remote control
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Nov 14 2006, 03:55 AM
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#16
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
The ultimate goal is cybermancy is to obliterate the distinction between meat and chrome altogether. Ghosts in the Machine are are part of the solution but there may be a difference between the mind and the metaphysical soul. Cybermancy is a soul trap, pure and simple. It prevents metahuman's living soul from going to the afterlife or vanishing to the ether or becoming a ghost or whatever it is that they do.
If they do it right, if they go far enough, they'll be able to transform fragile a metahuman into an immortal machine-man. You can never know if a Ghost in the Machine is really you or just a program with your memories, but cybermancers can guarantee that it is your actual metaphysical soul in that slab of metal if they could push their techniques far enough and work out the kinks. People would pay a lot of money for that kind of immortality. |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:56 AM
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#17
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,116 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,449 |
Number 4) doesn't really do it for me. Sure, they are slightly harder to affect with magic, TN-wise, but they are also permanently dual-natured and might have a lowered Willpower. I imagine that cyberzombies that are still under corporate control will have some sort of magical backup, otherwise they are too easy for a mage right out of char-gen to pick off. Like everyone else has said, a cyberzombie is more of a guinee pig than a practical use of resources, and it's unlikely they were completely aware of or consensual to the procedure. Although there might be some people who would volunteer - generally emotionally dead psychopaths. Actually, a low essense combined with 3 or so points of bioware will give you more advantages than most negative Essense builds. The only build that really lets a cyberzombie outclass the normal sammies, is the full arms/legs/skull/torso with lots of armor, combined with move-by-wire 4 (and optionally, an articulated arm holding some kind of nasty heavy weapon). |
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Nov 14 2006, 03:58 AM
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#18
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
Roxborough comes to mind. |
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Nov 14 2006, 04:00 AM
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#19
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,116 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,449 |
Oh, and by the way, the negative effects were probably largely added as a deterrent to PCs wanting to do it - like Emo said, why mess up your PC in a million ways and have him die of one of them in short order? It's actually a pretty brilliant way of giving the GM some new toys to play with, without technically forbidding them to PCs.
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Nov 14 2006, 04:03 AM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 7-February 03 Member No.: 4,025 |
People with nothing to live for would choose it. It'd be a very appealing form of suicide to some.
Depressed? Hate the world? Been working for the postal service? Don't take those pills yet! Sign up for the chance to take a few bastards down with you! And you can bet that somewhere in the corp tower there's an office that screens personel files for exactly that kind of person. |
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Nov 14 2006, 05:07 AM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 178 Joined: 4-September 05 Member No.: 7,682 |
I think that we can all agree that any intelligent, sane, rational, well-informed person would never choose to become a cyberzombie of their own free will. Somebody who is stupid, crazy, blinded by emotion, or was lied to about the side-effects might give their consent, though consent isn't required for the corps to turn you into a weak-willed CZ.
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Nov 14 2006, 05:13 AM
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#22
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,010 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Only if you circularly define anyone who chooses to become a cyberzombie of their own free will as not intelligent, sane, rational, or well-informed. ~J |
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Nov 14 2006, 05:25 AM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 906 Joined: 16-October 06 Member No.: 9,630 |
My Friends call my murphy you call me robocop.
But seriously how far do you think someone might go to avoid death? for a chance at immortality. The "promise" of Cybermancy is to one day grant immortality a perk that only a few Elves from the 4th world have enjoyed. Well I think a few imortal elves were born in the sixth world but it be hard to identify them form normal elves. |
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Nov 14 2006, 06:22 AM
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#24
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
I wouldn't imagine megacorps being so far-sighted with their research...
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Nov 14 2006, 06:23 AM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 906 Joined: 16-October 06 Member No.: 9,630 |
Thats a joke right? |
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