In a similar vein to my now-long-defunct The Sixth World, what follows is a series of short semi-in-character essays discussing aspects of cyberware in the Sixth World. Although I'm going to attempt to mostly stick to established canon up through SR3 (less the liber non grata, IIRC roughly Shadows of Europe and later), I will in many cases assert additional facts beyond canon, and may contradict canon in some places.
The overall goal for these essays is to lay a groundwork on which to expand the cyberware rules, especially as regards cyberlimbs—making them not suck is a major goal of SR3R. Nevertheless, I expect it to still be useful to players of base SR3, and maybe even players of SR4.
Also, to some extent I'm writing these essays in order of inspiration, so there will probably be a lot of topic-jumping. At some point I hope to come back and put it all in a logical order, but until then you'll have to deal with it.
~J
(For those keeping track, yes, I know I've been letting response time rules rot on the vine. They're still on the agenda.)
Full Version: On Cyberware
The discovery of Essence
The first successful cyberlimb implant in 2019 heralded an explosion in cybernetic research and expansion of cybernetics into society. The combination of precision actuators, high-capacity power supplies with biological-interface power generation, artificial sensory organs to provide feedback (heat, pressure, etc.), and precursors to what would later become DNI for bidirectional communication threw open the gate to cyberlimbs, first as replacements for damaged or missing limbs and then as enhancements. Non-limb cyberware followed close behind, and in just six years 'ware was good enough to go pro with cybernetically-augmented NFL players (still not good enough to win, though).
All was not perfect, though. During the early 2020s the medical and research cyberware fields were stymied by mystifying deaths in multiple implantations and implantation on subjects with preexisting cyberware. Initially termed "cyberware-related systemic failure" and believed to be a result of general biological stress from a combination of the implant surgery itself and incompatibilities between the cyberware and the host body, a groundbreaking series of papers by a collaboration between professor Hayakawa and Doctor Kimura of the University of Tokyo Institute of Medical Science and professor Kuroda of the University of Aidzu Cybernetics Department connected cyberware-related systemic failure to previously-documented effects of cybernetic implantation on Awakened subjects and the loss of "aural integrity", in what they termed "essential failure". Further work at MIT by Dr. Odili and Professor Whitfield more clearly established the concept of "Essential Capacity" (later shortened to Essence) and providing a number of foundational results, including establishing that healthy, unaugmented metahumans all posses Essential Capacity within a narrow range and establishing repeatable protocols to quantify the current Essence of an augmented subject, permitting the determination of the Essence impact of cyberware.
For several years following this discovery the Essence costs of cyberware entered a rapid decline as designs were modified following an experimental trial-and-error approach, but by the late 2020s this approach had reached its limits—a clear theory of the nature of Essence, or at least of the mechanism by which cyberware negatively affected it, was required.
~J
The first successful cyberlimb implant in 2019 heralded an explosion in cybernetic research and expansion of cybernetics into society. The combination of precision actuators, high-capacity power supplies with biological-interface power generation, artificial sensory organs to provide feedback (heat, pressure, etc.), and precursors to what would later become DNI for bidirectional communication threw open the gate to cyberlimbs, first as replacements for damaged or missing limbs and then as enhancements. Non-limb cyberware followed close behind, and in just six years 'ware was good enough to go pro with cybernetically-augmented NFL players (still not good enough to win, though).
All was not perfect, though. During the early 2020s the medical and research cyberware fields were stymied by mystifying deaths in multiple implantations and implantation on subjects with preexisting cyberware. Initially termed "cyberware-related systemic failure" and believed to be a result of general biological stress from a combination of the implant surgery itself and incompatibilities between the cyberware and the host body, a groundbreaking series of papers by a collaboration between professor Hayakawa and Doctor Kimura of the University of Tokyo Institute of Medical Science and professor Kuroda of the University of Aidzu Cybernetics Department connected cyberware-related systemic failure to previously-documented effects of cybernetic implantation on Awakened subjects and the loss of "aural integrity", in what they termed "essential failure". Further work at MIT by Dr. Odili and Professor Whitfield more clearly established the concept of "Essential Capacity" (later shortened to Essence) and providing a number of foundational results, including establishing that healthy, unaugmented metahumans all posses Essential Capacity within a narrow range and establishing repeatable protocols to quantify the current Essence of an augmented subject, permitting the determination of the Essence impact of cyberware.
For several years following this discovery the Essence costs of cyberware entered a rapid decline as designs were modified following an experimental trial-and-error approach, but by the late 2020s this approach had reached its limits—a clear theory of the nature of Essence, or at least of the mechanism by which cyberware negatively affected it, was required.
~J
The Death of Academia
Research into the Theory of Essence exploded in the late 2020s, with broad-based international collaboration between schools of medicine, cybernetics, and thaumaturgy combining with abundant funding from private, institutional, and government sources. Early progress was swift, and it was generally considered that the problem would be cracked within fifteen years, possibly as few as ten.
Then the Crash hit.
The Crash of '29 was an obvious and large setback for Theory of Essence research, destroying years of data and publications and disrupting communication between geographically-disparate research teams. The larger effect, though, was to lead directly to the phenomenon known (only slightly hyperbolically) as the Death of Academia. For decades, corporations and governments had been working to dismantle the open exchange of information in academia—governments sought to gain military and technological advantage and cut off potential rivals from new developments, while corporations desired exclusive advantage in research and development. Although generally rejected by the academic community, a small and slowly growing group supported a more secretive approach. Notably, this approach gathered much more rapid and widespread association among university presidents and boards of directors, whose support helped ensure a disproportionate representation of pro-secretists in administration and department head positions. Nevertheless, few real policy changes were put into place.
In the wake of the Crash, administrations and pro-secretist department heads moved swiftly, imposing network-isolation policies and other prohibitions on electronic data-sharing that immediately produced a de-facto secretist environment. Using the fear of another Crash (which, it must be said, was not entirely feigned), departments purged professors and staff who broke isolation policies—decimating the ranks of the anti-secretists, especially the tenured anti-secretists. The modern, siloed university was born.
Thus we are left today with two public leading theories of Essence that date from the '20s, both of which contain gaping and well-documented flaws: the Nervous System Theory, and the Aural Integrity Theory.
~J
Research into the Theory of Essence exploded in the late 2020s, with broad-based international collaboration between schools of medicine, cybernetics, and thaumaturgy combining with abundant funding from private, institutional, and government sources. Early progress was swift, and it was generally considered that the problem would be cracked within fifteen years, possibly as few as ten.
Then the Crash hit.
The Crash of '29 was an obvious and large setback for Theory of Essence research, destroying years of data and publications and disrupting communication between geographically-disparate research teams. The larger effect, though, was to lead directly to the phenomenon known (only slightly hyperbolically) as the Death of Academia. For decades, corporations and governments had been working to dismantle the open exchange of information in academia—governments sought to gain military and technological advantage and cut off potential rivals from new developments, while corporations desired exclusive advantage in research and development. Although generally rejected by the academic community, a small and slowly growing group supported a more secretive approach. Notably, this approach gathered much more rapid and widespread association among university presidents and boards of directors, whose support helped ensure a disproportionate representation of pro-secretists in administration and department head positions. Nevertheless, few real policy changes were put into place.
In the wake of the Crash, administrations and pro-secretist department heads moved swiftly, imposing network-isolation policies and other prohibitions on electronic data-sharing that immediately produced a de-facto secretist environment. Using the fear of another Crash (which, it must be said, was not entirely feigned), departments purged professors and staff who broke isolation policies—decimating the ranks of the anti-secretists, especially the tenured anti-secretists. The modern, siloed university was born.
Thus we are left today with two public leading theories of Essence that date from the '20s, both of which contain gaping and well-documented flaws: the Nervous System Theory, and the Aural Integrity Theory.
~J
Theories of Essence
Two theories, flawed to the point of being certainly wrong (or at least woefully incomplete), nevertheless remain preeminent: the Nervous System Theory, predominant (in a modified form) amongst cyberneticists, and the Aural Integrity Theory, more common amongst magical researchers.
The Nervous System Theory of Essence
Simply put, this theory proposes that the brain and central nervous system must adapt to the presence of cybernetic interfaces, that this adaptation is limited in possible extent, and that the use of magic makes use of this reserve capacity in some form. This theory is broadly reasonable on the face of it—a general correlation does exist between extent of neural interface and Essence cost, and non-cybernetic implants or foreign bodies do not generally take an Essence toll—but the details are troubling. Datajacks in particular interface extensively with multiple parts of the brain, yet produce very little Essence reduction; attempts to explain this via the extensive effort made to reduce datajack Essence cost (early models used vastly more Essence) flounder when forced to explain why similar gains have not been made by other 'ware facing similar efforts, and why so few Essence-reducing techniques developed for datajacks have generalized to other implants. Sensory augmentations fall into a sandwich area, often being comparable to datajacks or worse in Essence intensiveness while interfacing far less extensively with the brain, but yet still being significantly less Essence-intensive than other 'ware with apparently similar levels of interface.
Of course, the great mystery of Essence remains Bone Lacing. Although some designs do involve nervous system interface for one reason or another, the basic concept involves no interface whatsoever—indeed, Bone Lacing is only classified as a cybernetic implant due to its Essence Cost, and is properly speaking not cybernetic at all. This cannot be a result of nervous system adaptation to foreign bodies, as other non-cybernetic implants (old-style non-cybernetic artificial joints and pacemakers, for example) and foreign bodies do not affect Essence. Even more troubling, a number of implants that resemble bone lacing, including pins, plates, and screws embedded in or attached to bones, produce no effect on Essence. Indeed, the tragic suicide of Dr. Loomis in 2033, though primarily caused by preexisting depression and mental illness, is generally considered to have been acutely precipitated by frustration at this issue.
It should be noted that the strong Nervous System Theory, that Essence is nervous system capacity, is obsolete—the clear documentation of temporary reduction of Essence, and of creatures whose Essence changes (chiefly in infection by HMHVV), demonstrated that. The modern theory is strictly speaking not so much a theory of Essence in general, but a theory of how cyberware affects Essence.
The Aural Integrity Theory of Essence
This theory proposes the existence of an "aural template"—that the aura is not merely generated by a living body but exists parallel to it, and that cybernetic implants create a mismatch or interference between the aura and the physical body. In short, the aura-body connection has some sense of how the body "ought to be", and Essence loss is deviation from this ideal, culminating at the extreme with physical-Astral dissociation, the dissolution of the aura, and the death of the physical body.
Unfortunately, this theory shares many of the flaws of the nervous system theory—a missing appendix, or for that matter multiple missing limbs, need not produce any reduction in Essence. Non-cybernetic implants or foreign bodies do not generally reduce Essence, but Bone Lacing once again rears its head. A missing limb doesn't reduce Essence, nor does a non-cybernetic prosthetic, but a cybernetic prosthetic does. The fact that implanted cyberware is incorporated into the implantee's aura is sometimes cited as support for this theory, but the issue of bone lacing renders this circular by depriving theoreticians of a definition of cyberware that doesn't rest on aural incorporation.
In sum, to the extent that the nervous system theory is useful, it's wrong, and to the extent that the aural integrity theory is right, it's useless. Publicly-available research into the issue has almost completely stalled out; some observers take the development of superior grades of cyberware to indicate that progress continues behind closed doors, but if so, it's not clear when the public will ever find out.
~J
Two theories, flawed to the point of being certainly wrong (or at least woefully incomplete), nevertheless remain preeminent: the Nervous System Theory, predominant (in a modified form) amongst cyberneticists, and the Aural Integrity Theory, more common amongst magical researchers.
The Nervous System Theory of Essence
Simply put, this theory proposes that the brain and central nervous system must adapt to the presence of cybernetic interfaces, that this adaptation is limited in possible extent, and that the use of magic makes use of this reserve capacity in some form. This theory is broadly reasonable on the face of it—a general correlation does exist between extent of neural interface and Essence cost, and non-cybernetic implants or foreign bodies do not generally take an Essence toll—but the details are troubling. Datajacks in particular interface extensively with multiple parts of the brain, yet produce very little Essence reduction; attempts to explain this via the extensive effort made to reduce datajack Essence cost (early models used vastly more Essence) flounder when forced to explain why similar gains have not been made by other 'ware facing similar efforts, and why so few Essence-reducing techniques developed for datajacks have generalized to other implants. Sensory augmentations fall into a sandwich area, often being comparable to datajacks or worse in Essence intensiveness while interfacing far less extensively with the brain, but yet still being significantly less Essence-intensive than other 'ware with apparently similar levels of interface.
Of course, the great mystery of Essence remains Bone Lacing. Although some designs do involve nervous system interface for one reason or another, the basic concept involves no interface whatsoever—indeed, Bone Lacing is only classified as a cybernetic implant due to its Essence Cost, and is properly speaking not cybernetic at all. This cannot be a result of nervous system adaptation to foreign bodies, as other non-cybernetic implants (old-style non-cybernetic artificial joints and pacemakers, for example) and foreign bodies do not affect Essence. Even more troubling, a number of implants that resemble bone lacing, including pins, plates, and screws embedded in or attached to bones, produce no effect on Essence. Indeed, the tragic suicide of Dr. Loomis in 2033, though primarily caused by preexisting depression and mental illness, is generally considered to have been acutely precipitated by frustration at this issue.
It should be noted that the strong Nervous System Theory, that Essence is nervous system capacity, is obsolete—the clear documentation of temporary reduction of Essence, and of creatures whose Essence changes (chiefly in infection by HMHVV), demonstrated that. The modern theory is strictly speaking not so much a theory of Essence in general, but a theory of how cyberware affects Essence.
The Aural Integrity Theory of Essence
This theory proposes the existence of an "aural template"—that the aura is not merely generated by a living body but exists parallel to it, and that cybernetic implants create a mismatch or interference between the aura and the physical body. In short, the aura-body connection has some sense of how the body "ought to be", and Essence loss is deviation from this ideal, culminating at the extreme with physical-Astral dissociation, the dissolution of the aura, and the death of the physical body.
Unfortunately, this theory shares many of the flaws of the nervous system theory—a missing appendix, or for that matter multiple missing limbs, need not produce any reduction in Essence. Non-cybernetic implants or foreign bodies do not generally reduce Essence, but Bone Lacing once again rears its head. A missing limb doesn't reduce Essence, nor does a non-cybernetic prosthetic, but a cybernetic prosthetic does. The fact that implanted cyberware is incorporated into the implantee's aura is sometimes cited as support for this theory, but the issue of bone lacing renders this circular by depriving theoreticians of a definition of cyberware that doesn't rest on aural incorporation.
In sum, to the extent that the nervous system theory is useful, it's wrong, and to the extent that the aural integrity theory is right, it's useless. Publicly-available research into the issue has almost completely stalled out; some observers take the development of superior grades of cyberware to indicate that progress continues behind closed doors, but if so, it's not clear when the public will ever find out.
~J
Classification of Cyberlimbs
Numerous classification systems exist for cyberlimbs, created to serve the needs of cyberclinics, regulators and rulemakers, advertisers and promoters. Among them one system stands out as a generally-accepted standard, dividing cyberlimbs roughly based on capability. The system's universality is largely due to adoption by the NFL shortly after development; the league would, ironically, go on to ban full cyberlimbs entirely less than a decade later.
Class I Cyberlimbs
The bottom of the batch, Class I Cyberlimbs are generally inferior to biological limbs. Although functional strength and agility can potentially reach parity with meat, it rarely does, and other capabilities are typically sacrificed—most notably in the area of feedback sensors. A typical Class I limb typically has feedback sensors only in specific parts of the limb (typically the hand and/or fingers in a cyberarm), or if coverage is more extensive, much of that coverage will typically contain only pressure sensors with constrained sensitivity rather than full-range pressure sensors; temperature sensors are typically confined to small areas if present at all.
Cost is the driving consideration in choosing a Class I limb, and it shows; most Class I limbs are worn "bare", and if any sort of natural appearance is applied it is typically unconvincing at best. Essence costs tend to be modest, but the sacrifice in performance is so severe that Class I limbs are rarely chosen on that basis. Although tridshows and simsense films have created a popular image of high-powered cyberlimbs with large quantities of bare metal, the requirements of feedback sensors mean that most real limbs matching that description are Class I.
Class I limbs rarely contain excess capacity for the installation of additional capabilities. They do tend to occupy a minimal volume, and Class I cyberlimbs with provisions for folding enjoy a certain popularity amongst users of interchangeable limb systems as backups.
Class II Cyberlimbs
The "baseline" category. Full- or nearly-full feedback sensor coverage, with functional strength and agility being on par with or slightly better than biological limbs. For the user who wants their arm or leg back, but is unwilling or unable to wait for a vat-grown replacement.
Nearly all Class II cyberlimbs mimic the typical profile of the natural limb they replace, which means that they typically have a reasonable amount of space in them. Some of this is often used to create the appearance of a natural limb, but additional capabilities are frequently installed, ranging from storage compartments to DNI-connected phones and pocket secretaries to additional actuators, joints, and signaling bundles. One issue in this classification system is the question of originally class II cyberlimbs which are modified to increase strength or agility well beyond original specification; whether the result is a Class II limb or whether the classification changes is left vague by the system, and both approaches are widespread.
Class III Cyberlimbs
Better than (meta)human. Stronger than a natural limb and typically about as agile, this is the "enhancement" class—if someone voluntarily gets a healthy limb chopped off, one of these is probably going in its place. Profile typically mimics a large natural limb, providing space for various additional capabilities, though a few manufacturers sacrifice this for a slimmer profile. Most models do not include synthetic-skin coatings, focusing instead on sensory performance and durability with a touch of "chrome chic" thrown in in higher-end models.
Class III limbs involve extensive interface with the attached body, including numerous wide-band neural interfaces, biopower generators, and anchoring for stability. As compared to previous categories, Essence costs rise sharply.
Because of the wide range that "better than flesh" encompasses, class III limbs are further divided into subcategories.
Class IIIA Cyberlimbs
High-performance limbs. Strength and agility is substantially augmented; limb capacity for additional capabilities is modestly improved over Class II limbs. According to a survey across all sports permitting Class III cyberlimbs, from 2045 to 2055 more than half of all fielded players were equipped with at least one Class IIIA cyberlimb, peaking at 70% in 2048.
Class IIIB Cyberlimbs
High-capacity limbs. Basic abilities are slightly to moderately superior to natural limbs, but most available space is committed to additional capabilities ranging from models with integrated electronics suites to break-open limbs containing integral weaponry or large tools such as cutting torches or drills. Common in military or security roles.
Class III+ Cyberlimbs
Class IIIA cyberlimbs (and to a lesser extent class IIIB limbs) are limited by the need to attach in a safe and stable manner to flesh and bone, capping maximum performance and requiring extensive surgery and Essence-costly neural and structural interfaces. Class III+ limbs abandon this requirement; they require a cybertorso for safe use, but in exchange gain internal capacity and performance at reduced Essence requirement.
In principle a Class III cyberlimb can be modified to perform at Class III+ levels, but this carries extreme danger to the user.
Class IV Cyberlimbs
The black sheep of the cyberlimb family. While limbs of Class I-III all functionally mimic ordinary metahuman limbs, Class IV limbs abandon this; a Class IIIB limb may break open to reveal an integral shotgun, but the corresponding Class IV limb may simply be a shotgun on an articulated mount. A Class IIIA limb may have superhuman gripping and lifting capability; the corresponding Class IV limb could simply be a hydraulic gripper and mast. Class IV cyberlimbs are significantly less common than other classes, and are most frequently used with interchangeable limb systems due to the obvious drawbacks of permanently sacrificing a general-purpose limb. A Class IV+ categorization analogous to the Class III+ exists, but the market for Class IV limbs attached to non-Cybertorso bodies is small.
The hallmark of a Class IV limb is that it does not structurally resemble a metahuman limb and that it sacrifices some of the "essential capabilities" of a metahuman limb (lacking fingers or equivalent fine manipulators, a reduced range of motion possibly due to reduced joint count or joint degrees of freedom, etc).
Class IV cyberlimbs are essentially universally banned in sports outside of the extreme Cyber Leagues, but are a popular feature in gladatorial sports. Class IV cyberlimbs are almost obligatory in the Steppin' Wulfs gang.
Grey areas in classification
Numerous holes in this classification exist; the most notable vague areas include limbs with Class II or even Class III performance but with skeletal appearance and limited sensory coverage, limbs with Class I performance but with external coverings (possibly including full sensory coverage) creating a realistic appearance resembling a Class II limb, and the question of cyberlimbs which do not resemble a natural human limb (normally resulting in a Class IV categorization) but which arguably do not sacrifice any "essential capability"; Kid Stealth™ legs are the classic example of this issue.
~J
Numerous classification systems exist for cyberlimbs, created to serve the needs of cyberclinics, regulators and rulemakers, advertisers and promoters. Among them one system stands out as a generally-accepted standard, dividing cyberlimbs roughly based on capability. The system's universality is largely due to adoption by the NFL shortly after development; the league would, ironically, go on to ban full cyberlimbs entirely less than a decade later.
Class I Cyberlimbs
The bottom of the batch, Class I Cyberlimbs are generally inferior to biological limbs. Although functional strength and agility can potentially reach parity with meat, it rarely does, and other capabilities are typically sacrificed—most notably in the area of feedback sensors. A typical Class I limb typically has feedback sensors only in specific parts of the limb (typically the hand and/or fingers in a cyberarm), or if coverage is more extensive, much of that coverage will typically contain only pressure sensors with constrained sensitivity rather than full-range pressure sensors; temperature sensors are typically confined to small areas if present at all.
Cost is the driving consideration in choosing a Class I limb, and it shows; most Class I limbs are worn "bare", and if any sort of natural appearance is applied it is typically unconvincing at best. Essence costs tend to be modest, but the sacrifice in performance is so severe that Class I limbs are rarely chosen on that basis. Although tridshows and simsense films have created a popular image of high-powered cyberlimbs with large quantities of bare metal, the requirements of feedback sensors mean that most real limbs matching that description are Class I.
Class I limbs rarely contain excess capacity for the installation of additional capabilities. They do tend to occupy a minimal volume, and Class I cyberlimbs with provisions for folding enjoy a certain popularity amongst users of interchangeable limb systems as backups.
Class II Cyberlimbs
The "baseline" category. Full- or nearly-full feedback sensor coverage, with functional strength and agility being on par with or slightly better than biological limbs. For the user who wants their arm or leg back, but is unwilling or unable to wait for a vat-grown replacement.
Nearly all Class II cyberlimbs mimic the typical profile of the natural limb they replace, which means that they typically have a reasonable amount of space in them. Some of this is often used to create the appearance of a natural limb, but additional capabilities are frequently installed, ranging from storage compartments to DNI-connected phones and pocket secretaries to additional actuators, joints, and signaling bundles. One issue in this classification system is the question of originally class II cyberlimbs which are modified to increase strength or agility well beyond original specification; whether the result is a Class II limb or whether the classification changes is left vague by the system, and both approaches are widespread.
Class III Cyberlimbs
Better than (meta)human. Stronger than a natural limb and typically about as agile, this is the "enhancement" class—if someone voluntarily gets a healthy limb chopped off, one of these is probably going in its place. Profile typically mimics a large natural limb, providing space for various additional capabilities, though a few manufacturers sacrifice this for a slimmer profile. Most models do not include synthetic-skin coatings, focusing instead on sensory performance and durability with a touch of "chrome chic" thrown in in higher-end models.
Class III limbs involve extensive interface with the attached body, including numerous wide-band neural interfaces, biopower generators, and anchoring for stability. As compared to previous categories, Essence costs rise sharply.
Because of the wide range that "better than flesh" encompasses, class III limbs are further divided into subcategories.
Class IIIA Cyberlimbs
High-performance limbs. Strength and agility is substantially augmented; limb capacity for additional capabilities is modestly improved over Class II limbs. According to a survey across all sports permitting Class III cyberlimbs, from 2045 to 2055 more than half of all fielded players were equipped with at least one Class IIIA cyberlimb, peaking at 70% in 2048.
Class IIIB Cyberlimbs
High-capacity limbs. Basic abilities are slightly to moderately superior to natural limbs, but most available space is committed to additional capabilities ranging from models with integrated electronics suites to break-open limbs containing integral weaponry or large tools such as cutting torches or drills. Common in military or security roles.
Class III+ Cyberlimbs
Class IIIA cyberlimbs (and to a lesser extent class IIIB limbs) are limited by the need to attach in a safe and stable manner to flesh and bone, capping maximum performance and requiring extensive surgery and Essence-costly neural and structural interfaces. Class III+ limbs abandon this requirement; they require a cybertorso for safe use, but in exchange gain internal capacity and performance at reduced Essence requirement.
In principle a Class III cyberlimb can be modified to perform at Class III+ levels, but this carries extreme danger to the user.
Class IV Cyberlimbs
The black sheep of the cyberlimb family. While limbs of Class I-III all functionally mimic ordinary metahuman limbs, Class IV limbs abandon this; a Class IIIB limb may break open to reveal an integral shotgun, but the corresponding Class IV limb may simply be a shotgun on an articulated mount. A Class IIIA limb may have superhuman gripping and lifting capability; the corresponding Class IV limb could simply be a hydraulic gripper and mast. Class IV cyberlimbs are significantly less common than other classes, and are most frequently used with interchangeable limb systems due to the obvious drawbacks of permanently sacrificing a general-purpose limb. A Class IV+ categorization analogous to the Class III+ exists, but the market for Class IV limbs attached to non-Cybertorso bodies is small.
The hallmark of a Class IV limb is that it does not structurally resemble a metahuman limb and that it sacrifices some of the "essential capabilities" of a metahuman limb (lacking fingers or equivalent fine manipulators, a reduced range of motion possibly due to reduced joint count or joint degrees of freedom, etc).
Class IV cyberlimbs are essentially universally banned in sports outside of the extreme Cyber Leagues, but are a popular feature in gladatorial sports. Class IV cyberlimbs are almost obligatory in the Steppin' Wulfs gang.
Grey areas in classification
Numerous holes in this classification exist; the most notable vague areas include limbs with Class II or even Class III performance but with skeletal appearance and limited sensory coverage, limbs with Class I performance but with external coverings (possibly including full sensory coverage) creating a realistic appearance resembling a Class II limb, and the question of cyberlimbs which do not resemble a natural human limb (normally resulting in a Class IV categorization) but which arguably do not sacrifice any "essential capability"; Kid Stealth™ legs are the classic example of this issue.
~J
To motivate some of the directions I'm going in here, I want to have a quick OOC digression about some of the issues facing cyberlimbs in base SR3 and a few solutions I'm kicking around in my mind:
Cyberlimbs are, of course, bad. They cost a bunch of Essence and don't give you a whole lot in return (with the exception of tricks like Doc Funk's cyberpegleg crammed with electronics)—you can kick their Strength and Quickness up, but that improvement is averaged across the whole body most of the time, and it requires some obnoxious case analysis to figure out when you can just use the single-cyberlimb attribute. Assuming a character's natural Strength is 4+racial mods (so that the default cyberlimb Strength matches natural strength), an averaged +1 attribute bonus from a single cyberlimb needs 4 points of Enhancement, costing 0.3 Essence and over 200k¥ on top of the 1 Essence and 75k¥ for the limb itself; by contrast, Muscle Replacement will improve Strength (and Quickness to boot) by 1 point for 1 Essence and a mere 20k¥. The actual situation is probably worse, as a character that cares about Strength at all will probably want to buy it up closer to the RML, which means you need additional levels of enhancement to finish digging out of the hole the limb starts in.
Fine, you may say, just lower the Essence and nuyen costs, maybe peg the limb stats to the implantee stats, and call it a day. That helps, but ideally I'd like to have there be a reason to make a highly-cybered character. This leads us to the "full 'borg problem"—a character with four cyberlimbs, a cybertorso, and a cyberskull still needs to buy "meat" Quickness, Strength, and Body attributes for the purpose of skills, pool, and Reaction. Well, actually, they don't because they're dead (6.25 Essence worth of 'ware), but you know what I mean.
I think the solution has to involve allowing cybered stats to affect skills, pool, and Reaction under at least some circumstances. I had originally been thinking in terms of the cybertorso as the tipping point—getting a cybertorso lets you buy skills and calculate pools based on your cyberlimb-included averaged attributes—but if I follow through on the idea I suggested above about having cybertorsos improve the quality of cyberlimb you can attach, it might just be better to let everyone do that and set the costs and adjustments so that cybertorsos are favoured for people going heavy on cyberlimbs.
This then creates a problem: cyberlimb attributes can change. It's actually not really a "created" problem—natural attributes can increase, Deadly damage can cause attributes to decrease, and since muscle toner and muscle augmentation are treated as natural and can be implanted and removed you even have the "install 'ware, raise skill at reduced cost, remove 'ware" issue. I don't think I've ever seen it come up in practice, as in addition to being rarely worth it (how often would you want to buy a Skill at the cost that increased Quickness or Strength would give you, but yet would want to spend the Bio Index on something else so badly that you wouldn't keep the toner/augmentation installed?) it's also so obviously abusive that I'm not sure how many people who would be willing to go that far wouldn't just outright cheat. As I suggested above, though, I'm interested in exploring exchangeable cyberlimbs, and it becomes a problem if you can go find a cyber-wrestling champion, pay him to borrow his cyberarms for [insert training time here], and walk away with a reduced-cost skill improvement.
Therefore, I propose that spent karma be "carried with" a skill, and that when the linked attribute changes, the level of the skill be recalculated based on the new costs. This combines well with the SR3R absorbable specializations proposal (in which to raise a base skill that has a specialization, the difference between the skill cost and the specialization cost is paid, removing the penalty for specializing before the base skill is as high as you'll ever want it) to make character improvement more path-independent. To give some examples:
Monster Joe has Strength 6 and an interchangeable cyberarm mount. Wearing his work arm (Strength 10, averaged Strength 7), he buys his Chainsaw skill from level 6 (30 karma) to level 7 (30+10=40 karma). He then takes it off and puts on his regular arm (Strength 6); the new cost for 7 in Chainsaw is 30+14=44 karma, so his effective Skill is 6 until he spends 4 more karma or improves his effective Strength. The extra 10 karma is not refunded; it's been spent on the skill, and the changing of the base attribute simply changed how much Joe gets for it.
(Note that in keeping with the "absorbable specialization" philosophy he should probably be able to make that an effective Skill of 6 (7), for a total cost of 37 karma, but I'm not going to think about how to handle that now)
Meanwhile, Scrawny Ed, who resents his name because at Strength 3 he's human average and really doesn't think that that should qualify him as Scrawny, has bought Off-Hand Clubs at level 5 (26 karma), probably because of deep insecurities. He works out and raises his Strength to 4, reducing the cost for Off-Hand Clubs 5 to 24. Again, the extra 2 karma is not refunded; it's still there in case Ed decides to buy a Specialization or improve the base skill.
At first this looks like it could be a lot of bookkeeping, but I don't think it's that bad. First, in the absence of interchangeable cyberlimbs attribute changes are rare and likely to occur only during downtime. Only excess karma spent on skills needs to be noted, as provided recalculations are done each time an attribute changes, the spent karma total can always be recovered from the previous attribute value and the level of the skill. Finally, a character with interchangeable cyberlimbs can simply note down effective skill levels for each limb configuration—rather less bookkeeping than is expected of Riggers or Deckers.
There would still be attribute changes that would not be reflected in skill costs—notably Increase/Decrease (Cybered) Attribute and various drug effects, as otherwise it really would become a bookkeeping mess. Still, I feel like this both alleviates the mandate to buy attributes before skills and helps lay the groundwork for richer cyberlimbs.
~J
Cyberlimbs are, of course, bad. They cost a bunch of Essence and don't give you a whole lot in return (with the exception of tricks like Doc Funk's cyberpegleg crammed with electronics)—you can kick their Strength and Quickness up, but that improvement is averaged across the whole body most of the time, and it requires some obnoxious case analysis to figure out when you can just use the single-cyberlimb attribute. Assuming a character's natural Strength is 4+racial mods (so that the default cyberlimb Strength matches natural strength), an averaged +1 attribute bonus from a single cyberlimb needs 4 points of Enhancement, costing 0.3 Essence and over 200k¥ on top of the 1 Essence and 75k¥ for the limb itself; by contrast, Muscle Replacement will improve Strength (and Quickness to boot) by 1 point for 1 Essence and a mere 20k¥. The actual situation is probably worse, as a character that cares about Strength at all will probably want to buy it up closer to the RML, which means you need additional levels of enhancement to finish digging out of the hole the limb starts in.
Fine, you may say, just lower the Essence and nuyen costs, maybe peg the limb stats to the implantee stats, and call it a day. That helps, but ideally I'd like to have there be a reason to make a highly-cybered character. This leads us to the "full 'borg problem"—a character with four cyberlimbs, a cybertorso, and a cyberskull still needs to buy "meat" Quickness, Strength, and Body attributes for the purpose of skills, pool, and Reaction. Well, actually, they don't because they're dead (6.25 Essence worth of 'ware), but you know what I mean.
I think the solution has to involve allowing cybered stats to affect skills, pool, and Reaction under at least some circumstances. I had originally been thinking in terms of the cybertorso as the tipping point—getting a cybertorso lets you buy skills and calculate pools based on your cyberlimb-included averaged attributes—but if I follow through on the idea I suggested above about having cybertorsos improve the quality of cyberlimb you can attach, it might just be better to let everyone do that and set the costs and adjustments so that cybertorsos are favoured for people going heavy on cyberlimbs.
This then creates a problem: cyberlimb attributes can change. It's actually not really a "created" problem—natural attributes can increase, Deadly damage can cause attributes to decrease, and since muscle toner and muscle augmentation are treated as natural and can be implanted and removed you even have the "install 'ware, raise skill at reduced cost, remove 'ware" issue. I don't think I've ever seen it come up in practice, as in addition to being rarely worth it (how often would you want to buy a Skill at the cost that increased Quickness or Strength would give you, but yet would want to spend the Bio Index on something else so badly that you wouldn't keep the toner/augmentation installed?) it's also so obviously abusive that I'm not sure how many people who would be willing to go that far wouldn't just outright cheat. As I suggested above, though, I'm interested in exploring exchangeable cyberlimbs, and it becomes a problem if you can go find a cyber-wrestling champion, pay him to borrow his cyberarms for [insert training time here], and walk away with a reduced-cost skill improvement.
Therefore, I propose that spent karma be "carried with" a skill, and that when the linked attribute changes, the level of the skill be recalculated based on the new costs. This combines well with the SR3R absorbable specializations proposal (in which to raise a base skill that has a specialization, the difference between the skill cost and the specialization cost is paid, removing the penalty for specializing before the base skill is as high as you'll ever want it) to make character improvement more path-independent. To give some examples:
Monster Joe has Strength 6 and an interchangeable cyberarm mount. Wearing his work arm (Strength 10, averaged Strength 7), he buys his Chainsaw skill from level 6 (30 karma) to level 7 (30+10=40 karma). He then takes it off and puts on his regular arm (Strength 6); the new cost for 7 in Chainsaw is 30+14=44 karma, so his effective Skill is 6 until he spends 4 more karma or improves his effective Strength. The extra 10 karma is not refunded; it's been spent on the skill, and the changing of the base attribute simply changed how much Joe gets for it.
(Note that in keeping with the "absorbable specialization" philosophy he should probably be able to make that an effective Skill of 6 (7), for a total cost of 37 karma, but I'm not going to think about how to handle that now)
Meanwhile, Scrawny Ed, who resents his name because at Strength 3 he's human average and really doesn't think that that should qualify him as Scrawny, has bought Off-Hand Clubs at level 5 (26 karma), probably because of deep insecurities. He works out and raises his Strength to 4, reducing the cost for Off-Hand Clubs 5 to 24. Again, the extra 2 karma is not refunded; it's still there in case Ed decides to buy a Specialization or improve the base skill.
At first this looks like it could be a lot of bookkeeping, but I don't think it's that bad. First, in the absence of interchangeable cyberlimbs attribute changes are rare and likely to occur only during downtime. Only excess karma spent on skills needs to be noted, as provided recalculations are done each time an attribute changes, the spent karma total can always be recovered from the previous attribute value and the level of the skill. Finally, a character with interchangeable cyberlimbs can simply note down effective skill levels for each limb configuration—rather less bookkeeping than is expected of Riggers or Deckers.
There would still be attribute changes that would not be reflected in skill costs—notably Increase/Decrease (Cybered) Attribute and various drug effects, as otherwise it really would become a bookkeeping mess. Still, I feel like this both alleviates the mandate to buy attributes before skills and helps lay the groundwork for richer cyberlimbs.
~J
I like the fluff sub species of cyber limbs. Also your encapsulation of Essence theory.
The introduction of absorbing karma pool carried in each skill level does have me worried however. Though in microcosm I trust your judgement and comments, some options like the optional rule of signature weapon or multiple uses of this could wrack up the paper work fast- Especially for a ref NPC headache.
The martial arts rules, while serviceable, stay off our table because of that last reason. Both for power and colour balance.
I have stated else where what I did to unsuck cyber limbs but to try and be helpful, here they are again.
Cyberlimbs can do physical damage. A al SR4
I reduced the cost by a factor of three. Then there's second hand ware as well. Done long before SR4
You can turn off the sensors in your limbs a la SR4. Surprising useful for such a small thing
Have a rule to redline limbs like SR4 for strength or Agility for SR3
Limit the Redlining with max limb enhancements no higher than 3 without cyber torso. Mainly so there's a damn reason to take one beyond tanking and hiding things.
Several of these would become obsolete with limb categories taking their place, which is more cyber punk but I like to see within category advancement to stop long surgery down times interfering with play. While I can see a character pulling out a Chrome book 2020, streamlining I hope is the aim too for the players.
My 2
will follow thread with interest as still play SR3
The introduction of absorbing karma pool carried in each skill level does have me worried however. Though in microcosm I trust your judgement and comments, some options like the optional rule of signature weapon or multiple uses of this could wrack up the paper work fast- Especially for a ref NPC headache.
The martial arts rules, while serviceable, stay off our table because of that last reason. Both for power and colour balance.
I have stated else where what I did to unsuck cyber limbs but to try and be helpful, here they are again.
Cyberlimbs can do physical damage. A al SR4
I reduced the cost by a factor of three. Then there's second hand ware as well. Done long before SR4
You can turn off the sensors in your limbs a la SR4. Surprising useful for such a small thing
Have a rule to redline limbs like SR4 for strength or Agility for SR3
Limit the Redlining with max limb enhancements no higher than 3 without cyber torso. Mainly so there's a damn reason to take one beyond tanking and hiding things.
Several of these would become obsolete with limb categories taking their place, which is more cyber punk but I like to see within category advancement to stop long surgery down times interfering with play. While I can see a character pulling out a Chrome book 2020, streamlining I hope is the aim too for the players.
My 2
will follow thread with interest as still play SR3
Hoisted from PMs:
Right, that's the way it works in canon. My proposal is to change that, at least for cyberlimbs (haven't gotten to looking at Muscle Replacement yet—and I just noticed, ironically, that Muscle Replacement is described as "vat-grown synthetic muscles" and "calcium treatments"—there's also some skeletal reinforcement mentioned, but it sounds like much as Bone Lacing isn't really cybernetic, Muscle Replacement really ought to be bioware). The issue is that cyberlimbs are expensive, and attributes mostly matter in terms of their affect on skill costs and pools—a melee character might boost Strength to increase the Power of melee damage, but again we're looking at a world in which they could just take Muscle Augmentation instead and get everything. Just having Cyberlimbs does provide a Power bonus to unarmed attacks all by itself, but first I'm not sure how many viable primary Unarmed Combat builds there are that aren't Adepts, and second the availability of Hardliner and Shock gloves mean you really need at least two cyberlimbs before you're getting a bonus that isn't available through gear.
~J
QUOTE (Stahlseele)
don't want to clutter your finde thread so here i am pming you instead:
i seem to remember skill karma cost depending on natural attribute instead of cybered attribute, which is one of the reasons why bioware is that much superior compared to cyberware, as the bioware upgrades count as natural attribute for all purposes . .
i seem to remember skill karma cost depending on natural attribute instead of cybered attribute, which is one of the reasons why bioware is that much superior compared to cyberware, as the bioware upgrades count as natural attribute for all purposes . .
Right, that's the way it works in canon. My proposal is to change that, at least for cyberlimbs (haven't gotten to looking at Muscle Replacement yet—and I just noticed, ironically, that Muscle Replacement is described as "vat-grown synthetic muscles" and "calcium treatments"—there's also some skeletal reinforcement mentioned, but it sounds like much as Bone Lacing isn't really cybernetic, Muscle Replacement really ought to be bioware). The issue is that cyberlimbs are expensive, and attributes mostly matter in terms of their affect on skill costs and pools—a melee character might boost Strength to increase the Power of melee damage, but again we're looking at a world in which they could just take Muscle Augmentation instead and get everything. Just having Cyberlimbs does provide a Power bonus to unarmed attacks all by itself, but first I'm not sure how many viable primary Unarmed Combat builds there are that aren't Adepts, and second the availability of Hardliner and Shock gloves mean you really need at least two cyberlimbs before you're getting a bonus that isn't available through gear.
~J
QUOTE (Pendaric @ Feb 21 2013, 12:07 AM) 
The introduction of absorbing karma pool carried in each skill level does have me worried however. Though in microcosm I trust your judgement and comments, some options like the optional rule of signature weapon or multiple uses of this could wrack up the paper work fast- Especially for a ref NPC headache.
"Ref NPC"?
I'm going to have to look into the effects of Signature Weapon (which I forgot about—I've mostly played with risk-averse groups, for whom the prospect of effectively permanently losing points of skill by losing a weapon wasn't particularly attractive. For that matter, we almost never take specializations because of the specter of some day wanting to improve the base skill, which is where the Absorbable Specializations proposal comes from), but it seems to me like the paperwork mostly occurs in two circumstances: at character improvement (which doesn't generally come up for NPCs, and which already involves paperwork and is generally done at specific lull times rather than holding up the session for it), and at swapping an interchangeable cyberlimb. It could be reasonably incumbent on a player with interchangeable cyberlimbs to calculate in advance their character's effective skill levels with each cyberlimb, in much the same way that Astral or Rigging stats are generally expected to be precalculated, or program loadouts for Decking.
I would expect that even if a player purchases a large number of 'limbs and four interchangeable cyberlimb mounts, introducing the possibility of combinatorial explosion, they'd probably realistically only use them in a few specific configurations; even if they insist on using every combination, it seems like if they're made aware that the onus is on them to calculate in advance (or in a rapid, non-session-stopping fashion) the player can be left to decide for themself whether they want to take on that bookkeeping.
In principle I guess you could have someone go pulling interchangeable cyberlimbs they've never seen before off of other people or out of lockers and attaching them; the solution to that would probably be to make all or most cyberlimb mounts not universal, requiring some small-but-nontrivial amount of adjustment for the individual wearer (a 1-hour B/R task?). At that point it seems like the main way a GM could get into trouble is to let someone get ahold of a cyberlimb but not want to tell them what its stats are, but, well, there are all kinds of other ways a GM could get into that kind of trouble, some of which are enshrined in the rules (high-level Amnesia and Mysterious Cyberware, for example).
QUOTE
Several of these would become obsolete with limb categories taking their place, which is more cyber punk but I like to see within category advancement to stop long surgery down times interfering with play.
Yeah, 'limbs are still planned to be upgradeable in-place; I also feel like the additional surgery required to upgrade an attachment from one Class to another should probably be substantially less extensive than the initial limb replacement. Real work on surgery rules will probably not be happening until I get to more comprehensive downtime rules.
~J
Just quickly for the record, it turns out that by canon the cybertorso reduces by half the Essence cost of cyberlimb Strength and Quickness upgrades, which I had entirely forgotten about. Perplexingly, we're told to round up; since the only costs for such upgrades are 0.3 and 0.4, and the game is perfectly happy elsewhere to track 0.01 Essence increments, I'm not sure what they're talking about. I guess in principle we could take that to mean that a Deltaware Quickness upgrade (0.15 Essence base) would be rounded from 0.075 up to 0.08; that's the only case that would get beyond two decimal places.
I'll have to make sure, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't change anything about my analysis of cyberlimbs in canon or near-canon. Protecting internal cyberware from Stress is nice, but IME most groups don't use the stress rules to begin with. Aside from that, the cybertorso provides some ECU and +1 Body, but you'd need to be making really extensive use of cyberlimb Strength and Quickness upgrades to make up the Essence difference from a Dermal Sheath, Dermal Plating, or the like.
~J
I'll have to make sure, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't change anything about my analysis of cyberlimbs in canon or near-canon. Protecting internal cyberware from Stress is nice, but IME most groups don't use the stress rules to begin with. Aside from that, the cybertorso provides some ECU and +1 Body, but you'd need to be making really extensive use of cyberlimb Strength and Quickness upgrades to make up the Essence difference from a Dermal Sheath, Dermal Plating, or the like.
~J
On the Cybertorso
The modern cybertorso springs from three distinct research projects: an integral protective/armoring system which would also give rise to dermal plating and the dermal sheath, a prosthetic system for deformations and disorders of the rib cage and for supporting extensive cybernetic organ replacement, and a system for providing support and anchoring for cyberlimbs that was impractical or impossible with less-invasive implants.
Much like cyberlimbs, the cybertorso is classified into three categories.
Class A Cybertorso
Also known as the Partial Cybertorso, the Class A cybertorso is minimally invasive (for what it is, at least). The ribs, shoulders, and pelvis are reinforced and replaced, but the body cavities are unaltered or minimally altered. This class of cybertorso offers modest incidental protection and a secure mounting environment for cyberlimbs while avoiding much of the complicated surgery and Essence cost of more extensive models.
Class B Cybertorso
Also known as the Structural Cybertorso, the Class B cybertorso is less of a shell and more of a complete torso structure. Although internal organs are not modified for a class B cybertorso installation, internal support structures are replaced and added, providing substantial protection as well as much more leeway to install additional capabilities such as internal storage compartments or cybertorso-integrated implants. Surgery is extensive, and Essence impact is high.
Class C Cybertorso
Also known as the Full Cybertorso, the Class C cybertorso is designed for extensive replacement of internal organs; no reason exists to use a class C cybertorso with natural organs, and the design of many models in fact makes this impossible (it remains risky even where possible). A niche product chiefly supporting those who for reasons of health or occupation seek near-full-body cybernetic replacement.
~J
The modern cybertorso springs from three distinct research projects: an integral protective/armoring system which would also give rise to dermal plating and the dermal sheath, a prosthetic system for deformations and disorders of the rib cage and for supporting extensive cybernetic organ replacement, and a system for providing support and anchoring for cyberlimbs that was impractical or impossible with less-invasive implants.
Much like cyberlimbs, the cybertorso is classified into three categories.
Class A Cybertorso
Also known as the Partial Cybertorso, the Class A cybertorso is minimally invasive (for what it is, at least). The ribs, shoulders, and pelvis are reinforced and replaced, but the body cavities are unaltered or minimally altered. This class of cybertorso offers modest incidental protection and a secure mounting environment for cyberlimbs while avoiding much of the complicated surgery and Essence cost of more extensive models.
Class B Cybertorso
Also known as the Structural Cybertorso, the Class B cybertorso is less of a shell and more of a complete torso structure. Although internal organs are not modified for a class B cybertorso installation, internal support structures are replaced and added, providing substantial protection as well as much more leeway to install additional capabilities such as internal storage compartments or cybertorso-integrated implants. Surgery is extensive, and Essence impact is high.
Class C Cybertorso
Also known as the Full Cybertorso, the Class C cybertorso is designed for extensive replacement of internal organs; no reason exists to use a class C cybertorso with natural organs, and the design of many models in fact makes this impossible (it remains risky even where possible). A niche product chiefly supporting those who for reasons of health or occupation seek near-full-body cybernetic replacement.
~J
On the Cyberskull
The Cyberskull is a curious case in cyberprosthetics. Indeed, some researchers and manufacturers classify it not with the cyberlimbs and cybertorso, but as non-prosthetic protective cyberware akin to dermal plating or the dermal sheath. Apart from a niche theraputic use for heavily damaged or severely deformed skulls, the cyberskull is indeed almost exclusively protective.
(OOC note: one of the things this exercise revealed is that I'd basically always ignored the cyberskull—its bonuses came as a surprise to me. I might have to come back to this to expand it in the future, especially depending on the fate of the Stress rules, but I don't feel like I have enough of a handle on it to do anything about it now. Debatably I should just leave it entirely until I'm more comfortable with it, but I put writing about it on my to-do list so here it is.)
~J
The Cyberskull is a curious case in cyberprosthetics. Indeed, some researchers and manufacturers classify it not with the cyberlimbs and cybertorso, but as non-prosthetic protective cyberware akin to dermal plating or the dermal sheath. Apart from a niche theraputic use for heavily damaged or severely deformed skulls, the cyberskull is indeed almost exclusively protective.
(OOC note: one of the things this exercise revealed is that I'd basically always ignored the cyberskull—its bonuses came as a surprise to me. I might have to come back to this to expand it in the future, especially depending on the fate of the Stress rules, but I don't feel like I have enough of a handle on it to do anything about it now. Debatably I should just leave it entirely until I'm more comfortable with it, but I put writing about it on my to-do list so here it is.)
~J
On Interchangeable Cyberlimb Systems
Specialized cyberlimb systems offer a wealth of potential advantages for combat, labor, and sport. Nevertheless, the specialization in and of itself is a drawback; for all that a soldier may appreciate an integral blade and magazine-holding catch on a cyberarm, or a stevedore a set of hydraulically-elevating legs, when the time comes to go home for dinner with the kids and lounge on the couch watching the trid such features are often unacceptably intrusive. This was even more true in the early days of cyberlimbs, when meat-comparable or better performance required bulky and obvious cyberlimbs and the general public had not yet become accustomed to parts of society sporting gleaming chrome or rubbery, matte sensory superstrate.
The holy grail was, and to a limited extent remains, a truly universal cyberlimb mount: buy a limb off a rack, pop it on, and go. Sadly, the requirements of mount integration with a wide variety of bodies and the resulting design constraints on the cyberlimb attachment point severely hamper possible limb performance; although a few public and probably some secret research projects continue to pursue the dream, modern interchangeable cyberlimb systems achieve a weaker goal: that for an individual with a suitable mount, a compatible interchangeable cyberlimb should be capable of being tuned and fitted for that mount in no more than a few days of labor, and that with initial fitting and periodic retunings exchanging of fitted limbs should take less than ten minutes.
This is the industry standard, not the cutting edge; though interchangeable cyberlimb systems are somewhat niche to begin with, demand by high-resource groups is sufficient to maintain a few higher-end variations. Systems exist that can detach one limb and attach another in under two minutes; an assistant can reduce that by up to thirty seconds, and a specially-designed interchange station can exchange limbs in as little as a minute. DNI-triggered explosive bolts can provide near-instant emergency detachment, at the cost of requiring repair and retuning for the limb and disconnection of the anchoring stub. Finally, with a modest sacrifice in capability, a few families of "locally-universal" mounts exist that allow exchange of cyberlimbs without retuning between a few individuals with specially-tuned mounts and broadly similar physical characteristics.
For those willing to sacrifice their pelvic structure, there also exist cyberleg exchange systems that can rapidly exchange both cyberlimbs together with a cyberpelvis. Exchange stations, best known to the public for their use in cyberathletic pits, can allow dramatic reconfigurations in minutes.
~J
Specialized cyberlimb systems offer a wealth of potential advantages for combat, labor, and sport. Nevertheless, the specialization in and of itself is a drawback; for all that a soldier may appreciate an integral blade and magazine-holding catch on a cyberarm, or a stevedore a set of hydraulically-elevating legs, when the time comes to go home for dinner with the kids and lounge on the couch watching the trid such features are often unacceptably intrusive. This was even more true in the early days of cyberlimbs, when meat-comparable or better performance required bulky and obvious cyberlimbs and the general public had not yet become accustomed to parts of society sporting gleaming chrome or rubbery, matte sensory superstrate.
The holy grail was, and to a limited extent remains, a truly universal cyberlimb mount: buy a limb off a rack, pop it on, and go. Sadly, the requirements of mount integration with a wide variety of bodies and the resulting design constraints on the cyberlimb attachment point severely hamper possible limb performance; although a few public and probably some secret research projects continue to pursue the dream, modern interchangeable cyberlimb systems achieve a weaker goal: that for an individual with a suitable mount, a compatible interchangeable cyberlimb should be capable of being tuned and fitted for that mount in no more than a few days of labor, and that with initial fitting and periodic retunings exchanging of fitted limbs should take less than ten minutes.
This is the industry standard, not the cutting edge; though interchangeable cyberlimb systems are somewhat niche to begin with, demand by high-resource groups is sufficient to maintain a few higher-end variations. Systems exist that can detach one limb and attach another in under two minutes; an assistant can reduce that by up to thirty seconds, and a specially-designed interchange station can exchange limbs in as little as a minute. DNI-triggered explosive bolts can provide near-instant emergency detachment, at the cost of requiring repair and retuning for the limb and disconnection of the anchoring stub. Finally, with a modest sacrifice in capability, a few families of "locally-universal" mounts exist that allow exchange of cyberlimbs without retuning between a few individuals with specially-tuned mounts and broadly similar physical characteristics.
For those willing to sacrifice their pelvic structure, there also exist cyberleg exchange systems that can rapidly exchange both cyberlimbs together with a cyberpelvis. Exchange stations, best known to the public for their use in cyberathletic pits, can allow dramatic reconfigurations in minutes.
~J
As a note, I've got a planned bit on auxiliary prosthetics (balance tails, weapon mounts, additional cyberlimbs) and then I'm going to go on hiatus to address karma-based character creation; I'm probably also going to dig into the response time rules I had going before I get back to some planned stuff on cyberlimbs and society, limb accessories, and beyond-Canon transformational cyberbodies.
~J
~J
I do look forward to reading some more of your ideas 
On Auxiliary Prosthetics
Cyberlimb research has not remained limited by the original configuration of the human body; in addition to replacing limbs that were already there (or ordinarily would be), there is much research into the possibilities of adding additional limbs and appendages.
The challenges have, however, thusfar remained daunting—even with extensive post-implantation training, the metahuman motor cortex has proved remarkably bad at adapting to the simultaneous use of additional limbs. To date, the most successful publicly-known means of overcoming this deficiency have involved the additional implantation of most of an adapted vehicle-control rig, with the runner-up approach blending wired reflex and move-by-wire techniques. This produces a very high base Essence cost on top of the costs imposed by the simple implantation of the limb itself, rendering simultaneous polylimb control an extremely niche product—most potential users are currently better served through other means, including enhancement to ordinary (non-auxiliary) cyberlimbs. Current products can be roughly divided into two categories: involuntary or semivoluntary auxiliary prosthetics and voluntary auxiliary prosthetics.
Involuntary/semivoluntary auxiliary prosthetics
Involuntary auxiliary prosthetics avoid taxing the motor cortex by integrated electronic motor control; semivoluntary prosthetics likewise maintain integrated control, but provide a pathway for temporary direct motor control similar to the hybrid voluntary/involuntary control of breathing. Balance tails fall into this category, as do most non-static cybernetic weapon mounts; semivoluntary control is unusual in this space, with control generally handled by discrete commands over DNI to integrated motor control. Auxiliary gripping and stabilizing arms are more commonly semivoluntary, with a user exerting direct motor control to initially grasp or anchor to an object and then relinquishing voluntary control to operating using non-auxiliary limbs.
Voluntary auxiliary prosthetics
As noted, simultaneous voluntary control requires extensive additional modifications; where such modifications are not present, an alternating usage pattern is adopted. Although some patterns of limb distribution and activation can still pose challenges, the motor cortex is generally able to adapt well to use of varying limbs so long as the number of limbs under simultaneous control is limited; to this end, even so-called "fully voluntary" auxiliary prosthetics typically retain integrated control for maintaining status during non-controlled periods, and users of such a system will often add similar integrated control to their non-auxiliary limbs.
Problems remain with adaptation speed following control changes, with frequent pronounced clumsiness for around one to two and a half seconds after a control change, but the motor cortex augmentation required to alleviate this is far less substantial than required for simultaneous polylimb control; in some cases, such augmentation is foregone altogether and the user simply pauses until the risk of motor cortex confusion passes.
Interchangeable auxiliary prosthetic systems exist, but more common are simpler detaching systems intended to permit removal rather than replacement. Most auxiliary prosthetic systems are not designed to be high-performance by the standards of cyberlimbs; nevertheless, the simple requirement of a mount in a location with no preexisting points for anchoring generally restricts attachment to a cybertorso or other cyberlimb. For higher-performance systems requirements are more complex, up to and including additional artificial shoulders or the like.
It should be noted that although cyberleg systems employing more than two legs exist, these are typically designed (and classified) as monolithic cyberleg or "cyber-lower-body" systems rather than auxiliary cyberlegs; there is little call for additional cyberlegs outside of purpose-designed systems.
~J
Cyberlimb research has not remained limited by the original configuration of the human body; in addition to replacing limbs that were already there (or ordinarily would be), there is much research into the possibilities of adding additional limbs and appendages.
The challenges have, however, thusfar remained daunting—even with extensive post-implantation training, the metahuman motor cortex has proved remarkably bad at adapting to the simultaneous use of additional limbs. To date, the most successful publicly-known means of overcoming this deficiency have involved the additional implantation of most of an adapted vehicle-control rig, with the runner-up approach blending wired reflex and move-by-wire techniques. This produces a very high base Essence cost on top of the costs imposed by the simple implantation of the limb itself, rendering simultaneous polylimb control an extremely niche product—most potential users are currently better served through other means, including enhancement to ordinary (non-auxiliary) cyberlimbs. Current products can be roughly divided into two categories: involuntary or semivoluntary auxiliary prosthetics and voluntary auxiliary prosthetics.
Involuntary/semivoluntary auxiliary prosthetics
Involuntary auxiliary prosthetics avoid taxing the motor cortex by integrated electronic motor control; semivoluntary prosthetics likewise maintain integrated control, but provide a pathway for temporary direct motor control similar to the hybrid voluntary/involuntary control of breathing. Balance tails fall into this category, as do most non-static cybernetic weapon mounts; semivoluntary control is unusual in this space, with control generally handled by discrete commands over DNI to integrated motor control. Auxiliary gripping and stabilizing arms are more commonly semivoluntary, with a user exerting direct motor control to initially grasp or anchor to an object and then relinquishing voluntary control to operating using non-auxiliary limbs.
Voluntary auxiliary prosthetics
As noted, simultaneous voluntary control requires extensive additional modifications; where such modifications are not present, an alternating usage pattern is adopted. Although some patterns of limb distribution and activation can still pose challenges, the motor cortex is generally able to adapt well to use of varying limbs so long as the number of limbs under simultaneous control is limited; to this end, even so-called "fully voluntary" auxiliary prosthetics typically retain integrated control for maintaining status during non-controlled periods, and users of such a system will often add similar integrated control to their non-auxiliary limbs.
Problems remain with adaptation speed following control changes, with frequent pronounced clumsiness for around one to two and a half seconds after a control change, but the motor cortex augmentation required to alleviate this is far less substantial than required for simultaneous polylimb control; in some cases, such augmentation is foregone altogether and the user simply pauses until the risk of motor cortex confusion passes.
Interchangeable auxiliary prosthetic systems exist, but more common are simpler detaching systems intended to permit removal rather than replacement. Most auxiliary prosthetic systems are not designed to be high-performance by the standards of cyberlimbs; nevertheless, the simple requirement of a mount in a location with no preexisting points for anchoring generally restricts attachment to a cybertorso or other cyberlimb. For higher-performance systems requirements are more complex, up to and including additional artificial shoulders or the like.
It should be noted that although cyberleg systems employing more than two legs exist, these are typically designed (and classified) as monolithic cyberleg or "cyber-lower-body" systems rather than auxiliary cyberlegs; there is little call for additional cyberlegs outside of purpose-designed systems.
~J
QUOTE (Kagetenshi @ Feb 21 2013, 03:24 PM)
I just noticed, ironically, that Muscle Replacement is described as "vat-grown synthetic muscles" and "calcium treatments"—there's also some skeletal reinforcement mentioned, but it sounds like much as Bone Lacing isn't really cybernetic, Muscle Replacement really ought to be bioware)
"Vat Grown" need not mean biological, or if biological, may be biologically incompatible and require a mechanical sheath. Some time ago I posted an idea that riffed on this, offering Muscle Replacement variations that were a bit more cyber-ish.
Of course, making this even worse is the description of muscle augmentation / toner, which implies non-biological fibers 'woven' into your muscles.
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