Warning in this Possibly Preposterous, Positively Prolonged Post, Probable Power gaming Pontification is Proudly Presented, in the form of an advertising memo sent to the heads of Corporate Security HTR Acquisitions.

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Now available in only the most exclusive cyberware shops, the newest and most complete Cyberware Suite ever conceived. It is a result of an exclusive development partnership between Ares and NeoNet. This extreme modification is only possible using Delta Grade Cyberware, so be sure to have your corporate major acquisitions account details ready if you plan to complete this transaction. I will now present a brief synopsis of the Suite and its installation process.

This Cyberware Suite completely replaces all four limbs and totally encases the Torso, Abdomen, and skull. It includes the removal of nearly every inch of the subject’s skin and exterior muscles. It leaves untouched only the subjects lips, cheeks, tongue, and genitals. The subject’s eyes, ears and nose are all removed. Cybernetic replacements for these are of course included in the package.

The heart of this whole system is our patented torso replacement. No ordinary shell like its most similar contemporaries this procedure involves the complete removal of the skin and exterior muscles of the subject. The complete replacement of the hips, ribs, pelvis and collar bones and a patented spine armoring technique that makes getting a broken back a thing of the past. This process also includes a complete cardio pulmonary replacement that swaps out the subject’s organic heart and lungs for much more efficient cybernetic replacements. The subject’s exterior muscles are replaced with cybernetics and their skin with an advanced titanium alloy, rigid over the breast plate and flexible over the abdomen. This part of the procedure also includes attaching a load bearing armored collar around the neck to support the heavy skull plating which will later be attached.

This torso replacement though mostly composed of Cybernetic systems also contains a layer of Bioware used to form a quasi biological barrier between the subjects remaining biological organs and the new cybernetic replacements. This consists of a gel like barrier that surrounds the entirety of the subject’s torso and cushions the organs against impacting directly against the subject’s new titanium shell. This massive scale cybernetic torso replacement also makes extensive use of nano-surgical techniques, specifically in the spine armoring and the neck collar installations. Since the spine and the neck are too sensitive for normal surgical techniques, the removal of the skin and muscle of the neck and the placement of the bio-barrier cushion is accomplished by means of medical nanites as is the coating and strengthening of the protective disks of the spinal column. The extensive bone removal and replacement is also greatly assisted by nanites.

Once the torso replacement has been completed successfully and the subject has been stabilized, the next step in the process can be performed. In this phase of the operation the cybernetic replacements for the amputated limbs are installed. First the lower body unit is socketed into the replaced hip bones; this consists of a complete replacement of both lower limbs and the buttocks. It also includes our patented package protector cover plate, this solid armored plate is detachable so you can take care of business when you want to but once you lock that plate back in place you won’t have to worry at all about getting kicked, shot or stabbed in the junk. The lower body portion also includes our solid and liquid waste management system, so when you gotta go you don’t have to worry about finding a rest room. The waste is captured, treated and funneled into receptacles in the legs and can easily be disposed of at your convenience the next time you step in the shower. This system will have applied a special liquefication treatment to all your solid waste for easier storage and disposal so just open up the release valves and wash it all down the drain. Then once the lower limbs have been successfully socketed into place the same thing is done with the cybernetic arms.

Once again there is a pause in the procedure to allow for testing and diagnostics and to ensure that the subject remains stable. After the subject’s safety has been certified the procedure moves onto the skull. Imagine looking into the blank metal face of a subject who has undergone this procedure. They would have no recognizable face, just a flat metal, permanent mask whose seamlessness is marred only by the removable mouth covering. All of the skin on their skull would have been removed to allow for the attachment of the permanent cybernetic shell. Everything above the upper lip would be removed as well, the nose, the eyes, the skin and the muscle allowing for a nearly perfect encapsulation of the entire skull. The lips, tongue and cheeks left in place only to facilitate eating and intimate contact. Don’t worry about this being a chink in the packages armor however this package comes standard with a mouth cover that attaches directly to the rest of the skull which will lock the jaw in place and cover the rest of the face in armor. This also allows for an air tight seal to be formed so that the subject may switch to the internal air supply system in the event of a chemical threat. This step once again uses the cushioning bio-gel layer and extensive nanites surgical assistance to make the removal of the skin and muscle tissue of the face easier as well as handling the final steps of fusing the skull encapsulation to the subject’s head.

Once all of the enhancements to the subject’s face and skull have been completed the subject is left relatively untouched for the next 24 hours. During this phase a swarm of nanites is set the task of coating the subjects new advanced non-ferrous titanium alloy skin with an appropriately modified adaptation of the Rating 3 Ruthenium Dermal Sheath. This process is completely non-invasive and applies only to the exterior of the subject’s new and improved body. It does however contain artificial nerve endings that will be hooked up in the final phase of the procedure.

Finally, after all of the parts replacements are concluded and the subject is verified to be in a fully stable condition, it is time at last to activate the real crown jewel of this system. At this point nanites surgeons will finish hooking up the subject’s nervous systems (both natural and artificial) to the Central Cybernetic Control Circuits. This completely integrated system of replacements has been designed and optimized from the ground up to work together seamlessly and they are all controlled by the brain of the system, the Central Cybernetic Control Circuits or more commonly 4C. Our 4C system replaces the biological body as the medium that networks all of the subjects Cybernetics together offloading this workload to our highly shielded system of dedicated sub processors and their associated superconducting links. The 4C system quite simply turns the rather mundane cybernetic parts into a seamlessly unified whole. It takes over the processing of all the voluntary nervous system commands leaving the body’s natural nervous system responsible only for the autonomous functions of the body.

The results of this system of enhancements are nothing short of phenomenal. Since all of the motive muscles in the subject’s body have been replaced the subject will no longer need to worry about muscle fatigue, so he can run, climb, or fight for as long as he needs or wants to without getting winded or tired in the least. He can hold absolutely still for days on end if he needs to, and when I say still I mean so still that he won’t even twitch. His reduced biological mass results in a substantial reduction in his necessary caloric intake since approximately 75% of his biological body has been removed including the muscles, heart and lungs which burn the most calories his necessary caloric intake is reduced by 90% as compared to a normal human subject of the same height.

I know, I know, that’s great your thinking, now we hardly have to feed him at all but your probably also thinking that his cybernetic maintenance bill is going to be through the roof right? Wrong. This system has an integrated Nanite Maintenance system that will keep the system rock solid for up to six months at a time guaranteed, barring extensive battle damage. The only maintenance necessary will be the standard 6 month checkups; which our extensive studies, both in the lab and in the field, have shown typically only require a refill of the subject’s nanite feed stocks.
A full checkup, which includes the cost of refilling the feed stocks, checking for and repairing any faults, and updating all the firmware, is only 15,000¥. However this system has proven itself to be so reliable and trouble free that, although we don’t recommend it, you could even skip the checkup and simply refill the nanite feed stocks and only have the subject come in when his self monitoring and diagnostics programs indicate an unresolved system fault. If you choose to go this route then it will only cost you approximately 5,000¥ every six months to refill the nanite feed stocks.

So now your thinking that all of this sounds way too good to be true, right? You’re thinking that the subjects of such an extreme procedure are going to have the same sorts of mental problems as Jarheads or they will start to develop uncontrolled cancers like Cyber Zombies, right? Well I am not sorry to say that you are wrong again my friend. We have found that by keeping the subject’s reproductive and digestive systems completely intact that incidences of mental disorders in our test subjects were no higher then the documented rates in the rest of the Cyberware enhanced population. Our studies have concluded that since the body is still capable of fulfilling its two most basic biological needs of eating and reproducing it lends itself to maintaining mental stability, at least as long as the subject has access to foods that they enjoy and are able to find willing partners with which to maintain intimate contact, and we have a hint for you on this one, prostitutes are relatively inexpensive compared to psychological treatment. As for your fears of uncontrolled cancers and so forth since we can provide every cybernetic enhancement that you would conceivably need any subject to have in an essence friendly package that includes a built in Nanoware system to maintain the bodies biological heath as well as its Cybernetic health. In fact subjects undergoing this procedure have actually been proven to be much healthier on average then a non-modified individual. So the end result is you get a superior employee capable of completing the most demanding jobs with ease and you get none of the headaches inherent to the “Newer & Better” technologies. We firmly believe that our application of tried and true cybernetic technologies combined with a smidgen of Bioware and Nanoware will provide you with an extreme value for your nuyen. In fact the only real downside to this procedure compared to Jarheads or Cyber-Zombification is that you will still have to keep paying the subject a normal salary just like you would any other employee.

This system has currently only been released for Humans although versions for other Metatypes are currently in development.

Ok, the fluff sounds great. Game mechanically-wise, how much does it cost and how much essence it consumes?

Interesting. Have you got stats and price tag for this?

Also, can you really combine cyberlimbs with dermal sheathing?

Can you say Robocop?

Is it just me, but I find this line to be absolutelu hilarious.



IIRC nothing in the rules say you can't do this.

The rules do say otherwise:A fully replaced body does not have an epidermis. Thus the dermal sheath cannot be implanted.

Possible In game effects of this system are as follows (Note, this is mainly intended for NPC Opponents with serious financial backing, they have not been play tested, and several of these probably break rules):

 It increases all of the character’s physical attributes to 9 (Body, Strength, Agility, and Reaction).
 The Character’s Physical Damage Track is increased to a total of 19 boxes (before any Positive Qualities add to it)
 It provides +12B/+12I (If you allow stacking of Cyberlimb Armor) +4B/+4I (If you do not like the idea of stacking Cyberlimb Armor). Armor ratings stack with any other armor worn over their cybernetics.
 It eliminates fatigue tests for strenuous physical activities, the character literally can not become exhausted via physical exertion (Probably breaks several rules)
 The character’s unarmed attacks do physical damage 8P (STR/2 + 4)P.

The Central Cybernetic Control Circuits (4C) system has tons of processing power at its disposal and its design allows it to mimic the functions of several discrete Cyberware systems all in one convenient and powerful package. The 4C system provides all of the effects of the following Cyberware Enhancements:

 Attention Co-processor (Rating 3)
 Move by Wire system (Rating 3)
 Hot-Sim capable Commlink (Rating 6 across the board)
 Math SPU
 Touchlink system

The following individual Cyberware systems are integrated into the various cyberlimbs that comprise this cyberware package:

 Rating 4 Cybereyes System
 Rating 4 Cyberears System
 Rating 6 Olfactory Booster
 Orientation System
 Datajack
 Rating 4 Radar Sensor System
 Blood Circuit Control System
 Cyber Safety
 Gastric Neurostimulator
 Internal Air Tank
 Auto-Injector (Reusable with space for 6 Doses)
 Full Body Recoil Compensation system (various modifications in all parts of the body that taken all together provides 6 points of recoil compensation)
 Ruthenium Dermal Sheathing (Does not stack with the Armor already provided by the limbs themselves, simply provides the concealment bonuses. This is an addition that technically breaks the rules, but hey, why not, really?)

The cybernetic package also contains the following Nanocybernetic and Nanoware systems:

o Nano-Biomonitor
o Rating 6 Nanoware Implant Medics for every piece of Cyberware in the Package
o Rating 3 Nanosymbiotes
o Rating 9 O-Cells
o Rating 6 Trauma Control System
o Integrated Nano-Hives (Enough to support all of the packaged Nanoware and still have 3 empty spots left for any additional specialized Nanoware)

All of the Capacity points in all of the cyberlimbs that make up this Cyberware package have been used. It can accept no further additions to the package and any other cyberware or bioware desired by the subject would have to be purchased separately. The cost for any future implantations would be doubled however due to the difficulty of getting past all of the ware included in this system and any attempts to do so could easily result in damage to this system of cyberware.

The package includes all of the above for a total essence cost after reductions due to Delta Grade ware and the optimizations inherent to the packaged nature of the product of 5 Essence. Essence Cost of 5 can be further reduced by Adapsin EPE treatment and or Biocompatibility Positive Quality. The Nuyen cost of the entire package is only 5 Million Nuyen.

5 mil seems absurdly cheap for all that at a delta grade.

- J.

I agree. Five million sounds low.. I have an NPC that has nearly 10 mil in them. I may post him/her once they have served their purpose in the game I am GMing. (I considered having the NPC having a tattoo on their arm that said"Mary Sue" )

Just to bring up the whole cyberware armor stacking thing, it now clearly states in SR4A in the cyberlimb section that armor stacks. I'm glad I no longer have to argue that issue anymore

Deltaware is 'only' ten times as expensive - a 500K budget can pack a lot of things and cyberware is somewhat cheap compared with bioware. I'll have to check the various bits and parts and how they cost.