SIDEBAR: Basic Bioenhancement Package (ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE 21C Setting)...
Johnny1a
GURPS 3e.
In the late 21st century, advancing biotechnology has brought great
benefits to those in a position to receive them...and created new
sources of resentment and anger and envy among those who lack this
access.
For the most part, this means characters from certain backgrounds in
this setting thus have some significant innate advantages over other
characters, with all the consequences and implications that can
ensue. On late 21C Earth, the 'advantaged' backgrounds include being
born as a citizen of the United States of America, the United
Australian Republics, the Commonwealth of Argentina, or as an Imperial
Citizen (as opposed to an Imperial Subject). Others _may_ share in
these particular advantages, depending on the situation, but for the
most part it is much more uncertain.
The 'standard package' of bioenhancements is received by the huge
majority of the people in the above categories, indeed anyone derived
from that background who was _lacking_ the bioenhancements would be a
candidate for an Unusual Background, especially anyone _born_ in those
groups, because these bioenhancements are 'standard', covered by
almost all public and private health plans and as casually accepted as
vaccination is today.
In game terms, the general benefits of the standard or 'basic'
bioenhancement packages are the same regardless of which category the
character comes out of, but the origins _does_ matter for certain
special cases. These treatments and processes are tremendously
complex in detail, involving various symbiotes, hormone treatments,
bioimplants, and other more exotic techniques. The effects in GURPS
terms are straightforward, however.
The core benefits of the basic standard bioenhancement package are:
ST +2
HT +2
Recipient gains Lesser Longevity (average lifespan of 120, aging rolls
begin at 90)
Recipient gains Toxin Resistance (+2 on all HT rolls against most
known toxins, including alcohol)
Recipient gains the Disease Resistance (+8 on HT rolls to resist
_most_ known diseases) advantage
Recipient gains two additional hit points
Recipient gains the Fit advantage
Recipient gains the Rapid Healing advantage (with caveats)
The point value of this varies because of the bonus to attributes, in
practice it means that whatever level of HT and ST the character has
costs the same as if it were 2 levels less. (Thus ST 12 or HT 12
costs nothing, ST or HT 14 costs 20 points, etc).
These collectively add up to a _large_ advantage for those characters
blessed to come from the privileged backgrounds. A character can
receive the bioenhancements at any time, though it is _easier_ to
start with a prenatal beginning, and also somewhat easier with pre-
pubescent children than adults. Receiving the basic bioenhancements
does not _undo_ losses from failed aging rolls or reverse aging, but
it does slow down further decline as appropriate.
It requires thirty days of hospitalization to fully implement the
basic bioenhancement package on an otherwise healthy adult character,
plus an additional week for each decade of age past age 10. (Thus a
20-something would require 5 weeks, a 30-something six weeks, etc). A
character should ideally be healthy at the time of implementation, it
_can_ be attempted under other circumstances, but with certain
difficulties and risks (see below). During the implementation
process, the character will be nearly helpless, and standard procedure
is to keep the subject unconscious throughout this period.
If a character _already_ possesses one of the advantages conferred by
the process, the process instead adds +2 to the success rolls of
whatever advantage was pre-extant. (For example, a naturally long-
lived character will gain a lifespan enhancement greater than 120
years. A person with natural Disease Resistance would gain +10 on HT
rolls instead of +8. Etc).
MORE LATER.
Johnny1a
In terms of game effect, the processes used by the Empire and the
America/Argentinian/Australian bloc are similar enough that they
behave identically, _except_ with regard to 'unusual' diseases.
Against known, familiar diseases and pathogens and infections and
toxins, the processes all provide the same benefits. That is, a late
21st Century American from Kansas City, and an Imperial Citizen out
of, for example, Kiev, if both simultaneously exposed to the flu, will
have the same benefit of +2 to HT and Disease Resistance (additional
+8 to the HT roll), meaning odds are pretty good they'll both resist
it.
New strains of familiar diseases (especially common with viral
infection), though, will have a slight chance of overcoming the
boosted resistance. For such a disease, roll 3d, against the TL of
the bioenhancements (usually 10), on a critical failure the
enhancements won't work against the new strain on first infection, and
the character then resists with his _unmodified_ HT and advantages.
If the new disease 'wins' the critical failure on the roll, then
_every_ character with that class of bioenhancement will have to roll
vs. unmodified stats and advantages on first infection.
(If he survives, later encounters work normally now that the
enhancements have been exposed to the disease and 'have it's number'.)
If a bioenhanced character encounters a totally _new_ pathogen or
totally unfamilair toxin, the same process applies, but this time
_any_ failure on the 3d roll means that the bioenhancements provide no
protection on the first encounter. As before, if the character
survives the encounter, his adaptive enhancements 'learn' from the
incident and work normally in the future (modulo special cases at the
GM's discretion).
In each case the GM should assign penalties and bonuses as seems
'reasonable'. But each 'class' of bioenhancements gets its own chance
to work on first try.
Here's how this works in practice:
John and Jacques have identical natural stats (10s across the board).
John is from Kansas City and it so happens he has natural Disease
Resistance. Jacques is from Paris and it so happens he does not have
this Advantage. Both, as noted, have HT 10.
Both benefit from the bioenhancements available from their home
states, America for John and the Empire for Jacques. This means that
both have effectively ST 12 and HT 12 for _most_ purposes. Further,
since John has natural Disease Resistance already, he gets an
additional +1 on that roll in place of gaining the advantage.
OK, John and Jacques are exposed to a new strain of the flu, a distant
descendent of the 1918 strain, it's changed enough that the
'preprogrammed' responses of their bioenhancements don't recognize it,
but it's not _totally_ different from other influenza strains. The GM
rolls 3d for each one.
Jacques gets an 11, but John gets a critical failure. This means that
his bioenhancements can't quite get a grip on the new strain, and he
must roll vs. his own natural HT of 10 (rather than the enhanced 12),
and he does _not_ get the +1 bonus to his natural Disease Resistance.
Still, he has Disease Resistance _naturally_, which still works. So
odds are he'll be fine.
Jacques didn't hit that critical failure, so his bioenhancements got a
'grip' on the new pathogen. He thus has an effective HT of 12 _and_ a
+8 for his artificial Disease Resistance, so odds are he'll be OK too.
Because John's roll failed, _anyone_ who has the 'American/Australian/
Argentinean' version of the bioenhancements will likewise have to
resist using their 'natural' abilities on their first encounter with
this new strain. (All three nations use essentially the same
system.) Likewise, we've established that the Imperial version _can_
handle the new strain, so other Imperial Citizens won't have to do the
roll for their first encounter, we already know the result.
The process is similar with totally unfamiliar pathogens (especially
from extraplanetary Solarigen environments) but instead of a critical
failure, _any_ failure means the new pathogen is something the
bioenhancements can not lock onto on first exposure. It is the GM's
call whether a new pathogen should count as totally unfamiliar, using
common sense as a guideline.
(Thus, a strain of flu from another Solarigen planet might or might
not be _utterly_ different than the strains on Earth, while a new
strain of heavily mutated ebola or something might be more 'foreign'
than a less mutated flu strain from another world.)
EXAMPLE: John and Jacques have both been exposed to Cytherian
epidermal rot, a bacterial infection that destroys the structural
integrity of the skin. It evolved in a rather alien environment, i's
closest relatives on Earth are harmless deep-water bacteria separated
by 30 megayears of evolution. The disease works not by directly
attacking the skin, but because metabolic waste products from the
bacteria mimic certain key chemical transmitters in the skin cells,
leading to improper apoptosis. The disease is virulent, all HT rolls
against it are at -4.
This disease is very foreign, and works by an unusual means, the GM
decides that the test roll is at -3. So the GM rolls for both men
against the base TL of their enhancements, which is 10, at -3. On any
failure, their bioenhancements have failed to lock onto the new
pathogen, and they must resist only with the natural defenses (though
John still has his natural Disease Resistance). If either roll is
successful, that man gains the bonuses from the enhancements, though
the alien disease still has it's own natural -4 to the HT rolls.
Still, the enhancements considerably improve the odds if they work.
Again, the first roll is necessary only for the first person with that
'type' of enhancement to encounter the new pathogen. The result will
apply to everyone with that particular class of enhancement, and
again, after the first infection, if the character survives, the
adaptive feature of the enhancements will now have a lock on the
disease, and work normally afterward.
(But with virulent diseases, that first encounter can be a problem to
survive.)
MORE LATER.
Johnny1a
As noted, the American/Argentinean/Australian bloc uses one version of
the bioenhancements, and the Empire uses another for its Citizens.
However, there are other 'sub-versions'. One such case is that of the
Imperial Subjects (as opposed to Citizens) receive a 'weaker',
simplified version of the bioenhancements.
The standard Subjectory enhancement package provides the following
benefits:
HT +1
Recipient gains Lesser Longevity (average lifespan of 120, aging
rolls
begin at 90)
Recipient gains the Disease Resistance (+8 on HT rolls to resist
_most_ known diseases) advantage
Recipient gains the Fit advantage
The underlying technology of the process is very similar to that used
by the Citizens, this is simply a less extensive and much cheaper
version. Normally all persons born as Imperial Subjects receive this
version of the process prenatally, adults and children can receive it
after birth just as they can the more complex version. It requires a
hospital stay of about ten days plus one week per decade of life as
with the more complex version.
If a Subject gains full Citizenship, the more complete version of the
enhancement package can be obtained with a hospital stay of 3d days,
plus one _day_ per additional decade of life.
(Under Imperial law, Citizenship is not revocable, so no question of
removing the enhancements arises.)
Note that this level of the enhancement process treats _any_ new
disease as 'totally unfamiliar', thus requiring a simple failure on
the test roll to fail on first exposure.
Other specialized versions of the process, both the lesser version and
the greater, exist elsewhere, but only a handful of very small states
use them _universally_ in the ways the Empire and the three other
states mentioned do, for various reasons, not the least of which is
that it is expensive. The wealthy can sometimes gain the advantages
through personal resources, but a great deal of money is required.