#1 - A glimpse of the future.
Source bring ripped off - Blame!, a cyberpunk manga by Nihei Tsutomu (English fan translations can be found on the internet and the first two volumes have been officially translated by Tokyopop)
Also, Sphere by Michael Chriton.
The setup -
At 4:15 AM GMT on the morning of [whenever it is convient for you] the underwater survailance network set up to moniter Soviet submarines during the Cold War (which is now under the joint control of NATO and the Corporate Court) registered a massive structure that appeared in the North Atlantic seemingly out of thin water. Water displaced by the massive strcture caused minor flooding worldwide. On the outside of the structure, writin boldly in Japanese and in English was the name "Toha Heavy Industries."
The authorities busily scrambled to keep the existance of the structure a secret while fighting each other over the rights to it. Every NATO nation and ever megacorp wanted a stake in the mysterious mass. Some factions wanted to blow it up but cooler heads prevailed and eventually teams were sent to explore it.
The bigass high-karma prime runners were hired to infiltrate the structure, possibly by a smaller NATO nation that feels shafted by the Corporate Court or possibly be an overconservative megacorp faction that wishes to get rid of the potential threat. If the later the runners may be given a nuclear bomb to plant within the structure.
Inside -
Upon entering, the team will find the recently deceased bodies of several members of several different teams. Some have been torn appart by handrazors or claws of some sort. Most were killed by a large bore firearm. The runners should have second thoughts at this point but it is too late. They should be able to see the exit clearly but any attempt to walk out results in them walking back in instead due to some type of illusion or spacial distortion. Assensing the exist will reveal that no magic is involved.
Toha Heavy industries appears to have a volume of at least eight cubic kilometers from the outside. On the inside it is abviously far larger. The runners can walk for days upon days and not se anything but the same bleak hallway. If the runners choose to explore the structure on foot be sure to penalize them for fatigue and (if they hae not made proper arangments) thirst and hunger.
High speed lift systematicly connect the subdivisions of the massive structure and runners may take advantage of them. Using a lift requires that a decker or otaku successfully penetrate the lift's computer which is equivilant to a green-8 node. Should the decker trigger an altert within a lift or any other host in the structure he will be attacked by Rating 12 Black IC and the entire team will be brought to the attention of the AI Mensab.
The structure doesn't used exactly the same type of ASIST feed that Sixth World computers use, nor does it have standard jackpports. Interfacing with any computer will require altering the deckers or otaku's equipment. This requires an electronics B/R (
test and an electronics toolkit.The structure itself is divided into three main sections, the habitat area, the manufacturing area, and the power plant. The habitat and the manufacturing areas and both subdivided into thousands of seperate sections. Only a single section of the habitat area is currently inhabitated by humans.
The powerplant contains 6 gravity furnances, only two of which currently operate and cone of which is malfunctioning. The gravity furnances contain and harness artificial black holes. Due to a containment malfunction, spacetime within the power plant is severly warped.
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The Characters -
Safeguards
Safeguards are autonomous knowbots task with ensuring the purity of the network and the megastructure. To this end they are programed to kill any living thing that is not logged into the network with a valid SIN.
Safeguards come in ratings 1 through 4. Rating 1 safeguards are generic fodder that patrol and destroy mindlessly. Rating 4 safeguards, the rarest, have some level of free will and are able to issue orders to lower ranking safeguards.
Safeguards are able to create semi-organic drone bodies using the nanotech building material that the entire megastructure is made from. Doing so requires rating*5 complex actions. Once a safeguard has created a body for itself it will jump into that body as a rigger jumps into a drone. If the body is destroyed the Safeguard suffers dumpshock but is otherwise unharmed. A safeguard cannot be killed by dumpshock. Safguards can only be killed in cybercombat.
Safeguard drone bodies can repair themselves using the building materials all around them. Treat them as having the regeneration power.
In Cybercombat, treat Safeguards as living personas.
Stats - Rating*4
Initiative - REA+(Rating)d6
Skills - All skills at Rating *3
Forms - All Forms at Rating*5
Powers - Regeneration (physical only), Flight (rating 3 and 4 only), 3d movement (Rating 4 only), Hardened armor (rating 3 only, as if essence 6)
Cyberweapons:
- Gravity Gun
Damage (variable) 10M antivehicular minimum. 50D Navel Maximum.
Navel Scale damage is only available to Rating 4 Safeguards.
Ammo (Infinite)
Firing a gravity gun is a complex action
-Mono Hand Razors
STR +2 M
Seu - The Knight
Seu was once a human soldier who protected the people of Toha Heavy Industries from Silicon Life and Safeguards alike. After countless centuries of rejuvination treatments Seu's body remains in pristine condition but his mind is not. He possess no memory and little free will he loyaly serves Mensab, whom he love, with his entire being.
STR 7
QUI 8
BOD 6
INT 3
WIL 2
CHA 4
REA 9 +3d6
Skills:
Edged Weapons 10
Ettiquite 4
athletics 4
Equipment:
-Knight Armor 9/8 Hardened
-Monoclaymore
Damage:(STR+4) D
Reach 2
Twohanded
Uses edged weapons skill.
Karma Pool - 17
Mensab - the AI
Mensab was one of several AIs in charge of the monolitic structure of Toha Heavy industries. Now, she is the only one left. Mensab's was in charge of the health and safety of the humans who lived and worked in the structure. She was marked by a horror during the scourge. Despite her continued corruption and slow degredation, she protects the humans in her domain with her very existance.
In cybercombat treat Mensab as a Living Persona with stats, skills, and forms equal to 30.
Human Settlers
The human are not the original inhabitants of Toha Heavy Industries, they are a migrant people that rely on hydroponic gardening for food. They came to Toha Heavy Industries in the hope of escaping the Safeguards.
Settlers have average stats and skills.
Human Warrior
These Warriors fight off the safeguards using ancient weaponry. They are the elite among the human settlers but that doesn't mean much.
STR 4
QUI 5
BOD 5
CHA 3
INT 3
WIL 3
REA 4
Init 4+1d6
Skills:
Rifles 4
Equipment:
-Armor 7/6
-Bolt Caster
Ammo 5(m)
Damage 12S AV
The bolt caster is an ancient rifle designed to fight the safeguards. Its explosive ammunition generates an strong electromagnetic pulse that disrupts the safeguard's connection to the local network. This has the effect of neutralizing a safeguard drone body's regeneration and preventing the dumped safeguard from creating a new body in that area of the structure.
-Spare Ammo 5
Cibo - The Scientist
Cibo appears to be a beautiful blone-haired human female. She is a scientist who has dedicated her life to gaining access to the Network and has failed at every attempt. After her last failure her government locked her a dungeon where she remained for several decades until being rescued by the enigmatic Killy. Cibo's age is unknown but she is certainly several centuries old. She has survived by transfering her consciousness from body to body. Currently, she is using the hijacked body of a Rating 4 Safeguard but she does not have access to any of its powers.
STR 3
QUI 7
BOD 4
INT 18
WIL 8
CHA 11
REA 12 +1d6
Cyberware-
Antigravity harness (allows flight and 3d movement)
Datajack
Skills:
All Combat Skills 6
All other skills 18
Treat Cibo as an Otaku with any Forms that she may need at rating 12
Silicon Life - the cybermonsters
If a Shedim-possessed corpse knocked up a Horror-corrupted combat drone Silicon Life is that you'd get.
Silicon Life is the final evolution of cybermancy, the biological offspring of far future cyberzombies. Having been born from parents with subzero essence, Silicon Life are born with zero essence themselves and are able to accept an unlimited ammount of 'ware. Newborn Silicon Life that is not implanted within a few hours of birth usually dies a horrific death and prenatal implantation is common.
Silicon Life has a hierarchical tribal society ruled by the most powerful warriors amongst them. Combat prowess is of utmost imporance in their society and all have heavy-duty combat 'ware. In addition to combat 'ware, all Silicon life have a variety of wireless comlink which allows them to share information and skills. If one silicon life knows something consider that all of them do.The favorite passtime amongst Silicon Life is killing humans.
STR 12
BOD 12
QUI 9
INT 5
WIL 4
CHA 2
REA 15 +3d6
Skills
Cyberimplant Combat 8
(leaders only)
Etiquite 4
Negoation 4
Leadership 6
Notable Cyberware
Dermal armor (6/4)
Skillwires (infinte rating)
Any SR3 cyberimplant weapon
Wireless Datajack
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WTF is going on here? -
If the runners make contact with Cibo, earn the trust of Mensab, or break into an Orange-12 host in the habitat area the runners can learn of the bleak history of tomorrow.
Toha comes from the far future, the Seventh World. When the governments of the world learned of the Scourge they took drastic action to stop it. Among those was requiring that all citizens have wireless comlinks implanted and active at all times. Anyone not connected to the matrix was to be killed on sight. The government's Safeguards constantly monitered the creative centers of every citizen's brain. Since those who were horror corrupted lost the ability to create things of beauty the corruption would be apparent in these aread of the brain first. Any abnormality resulted in the citizen's immediate termination for the good of everyone.
A giant Techno-Kaer was constructed that continued to grow and eventually covered most of the earth's surfact and incorporated the moon. It was the hope of all that this megastructure and the draconian computerized artisan tests would kep the horros at bay. Alas, the horror were already there in the form of Dread Iotas. Not ever Verjigorm himself could penetrate the Kaer's mighty defenses but the viral horrors remained hidden, slowly altering the people on a genetic level over several generations. Eventually, these corrupted genes made it impossible for anyone to satisfy the comuterized artisan checks and all humans were marked for death. Without any humans to issue orders the automated systems continued to run out of control.
Getting out alive -
The three primary factions in this structure, the Safeguards, Silicon Life, and Mensab are at war with each other and seek nothing less than the total anhilation of the other two. The Safeguards are driven by their programing to destroy all that is impure while the Silicon Life just wants to kill all humans for the fun of it. Mensab actually wants to protect the humans but is unable to make sound decisions in her deteriorating state. She is as likely to unintenionally kill them as she is to save them.
In order to excape the runners must side of a faction and repair the damage.
Siding with Mensab, is the easiest she'll automaticly be sympethetic to you, but she faces the worst oposition and she won't hesitate to leave the runners stranded if it means protecting the other humans.
Siding with the Silicon Life is more difficult but their leaders are sly and savy. They will help the runners escape for a chance to make a better life for themselves by ravaging the same thriving world that the runners wish to return to.
Siding with the safeguards requires first obtaining a 'network implant' (similar to an SR4 comlink) and then cracking a UV-16 host to upload fase SINs. If they do so the safeguards will cease attacking and actual take orders from the runners so long as those orders don't conflict with the Safeguards' primary function. Loacting a biotech facility requires performing a matrix search for one within a lift's host. Implanting the comlink requires a biotech (10) test and one hour.
Cibo is the wild card. She doesn't care about any of the other factions she simply wants to return to Killy who she was seperated from y the temporal distortion. She is also interested in the runners pure genes and will be geatful for a sample that can be used to clone an uncorrupted human. She would be even more greatful if one or more of the runners should choose to return to the future with her and may complicate things toward that end.
Once the team has sided with a faction, they must makes its way into the powerplant where they will have to physically shut down the faulty reactor. Combat within the powerplant is complicated by warped spacetime. Bullets you shoot may come back to shoot you minutes before you fired them. If combat occurs within the power plant area assign each combatant a number a roll a nD6 to determine who is actually hit by any given attack.
Aftermath -
Depending on the runners actions the aftereffects could be huge. The runners could unleash a race of murderous cyberzombies onto the world or bring back technology that is thousands of years more advanced than anything current. No matter what, countless megacorps and governments will be after them for the knowledge they gained inside.