Progenitors: The Gearing

Damage Control

Damage Control does three things:

1. Secures and protects Progenitor Constructs,

2. Engages in combat with Reality Deviants, often at the behest of lab workers who want interesting samples to make things out of, and

3. Investigates external and internal complaints about the actions of Progenitors. Particularly serious cases of deviance from the norm may end up with referrals to Ethical Compliance.

Damage Control ranks, post-Elizabethan Reform, are identical to British police ranks.

The Lab/Field Split

Like Iteration X, the other primarily "scientific" Convention, there is a massive split in the Progenitors between field agents ("ass-kickers") and scientists ("lab geeks"). Although there's a lot of field agents who have their second Ph.D in organic chemistry (their first Ph.D is in kicking your ass), and there's plenty of scientists who use themselves as testbeds for radical human augmentation, the stereotypes still live on. Ass-kickers are dumb neanderthals who don't even know what DNA is. Lab geeks are 90 pound weaklings who couldn't beat up a ten year old if they had a hardsuit and a plasma gun.

It means that often, a Lab Construct may not call in Damage Control until the shit has really hit the fan, simply by virtue of not wanting the neanderthal field agents going in and flinging shit everywhere. It also means that field agents often prioritize their own safety and that of their comrades over the integrity of the construct's experiments, using heavier weaponry than strictly necessary.

Damage Control Gear

Biosuits

Biosuits are the Progenitor answer to Iteration X hardsuits, symbiotic body armor using synthetic muscle tissue and the user's own cardiovascular system to power them. Almost entirely biological, their sole piece of 'hard' technology is their thick carapace, built out of Iteration X self-healing nanocomposites that allow for dynamic hardening They have some advantages and disadvantages over standard hardsuits:

+Slightly More Subtle (a combat suit makes you look like an extreme bodybuilder, but can be disguised under clothing, a survival skin or basic biosuit is skintight and can be worn under almost anything)

+Superior operator survivability and medical treatment

+Superior operator augmentation

-Rarer (basic hardsuits need 'only' Matter 3, Prime 3, and Forces 3 to build, while Biosuits are generally Life 4, Matter 3, Prime 3 minimum)

-Expensive to further customize

-Invasive surgery required

-Vulgar when breached

-No non-Life non-Mind countermagic

-Require higher user fitness standards

Biosuits are superficially coincidental-they look like standard advanced body armor. They become vulgar (and the user suffers paradox as if vulgar) if the suit user takes more than 2 health levels after soak (look at all that meat inside the armor!) or if the suit user is forced to make use of the more advanced biosuit life support functions.

All biosuits require the user to make a Stamina roll (ignoring the suit's bonus Stamina) under a few circumstances:

-Upon putting on the suit and moving it

-Upon engaging in combat

-Upon using any suit powers which require an arete roll

-Whenever the suit suffers from a paradox backlash or the user gains paradox from a suit function (unless explicitly stated)

Failure on these Stamina rolls deals 1 level of unsoakable bashing damage due to exhaustion. Botching these rolls causes the user to suffer a heart attack instead. The difficulty of this Stamina roll is generally 6, but increases as listed below:

Biosuit has 150% or more of its base armor after customizations (6d for Basic, 7d for Survival, 10d for Combat): +1

Biosuit has more than 2 additional submodules over base: +1

Biosuit has a modification which specifically increases difficulties: as listed.

Biosuit life support is particularly advanced compared to the hardsuit version, due to being directly integrated into the character's circulatory system. This life support function protects against environmental hazards such as toxins, extreme temperatures, vacuum, and more. But unlike hardsuit life support, being integrated entirely into the user's cardiovascular system allows it to provide additional protection against hazards. Biosuit life support provides these benefits:

-Characters wearing a biosuit have access to the full 10-level health track that Prime 1 can 'draw' from. This track is normally -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-5/Incapacitated/Dead/Dead/Dead/Mangled Beyond Recognition, but a biosuit wearer instead tracks it as -0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-4/-4/-4/-4/-4/Mangled Beyond Recognition and also Dead. :Obviously, this benefit only lasts as long as the user is integrated with a biosuit.

-Characters wearing a biosuit are provided with high pain tolerance (reducing wound penalties by 1) and consider Incapacitated to be -5 health levels (the effects are taken into account above). They ignore Bashing damage.

-The biosuit's ability to filter toxins out of the circulatory system and maintain physiological balance allows the character to roll the biosuit's Arete to countermagic any incoming Life or Mind magic at difficulty 7. Furthermore, while wearing the biosuit, the character is immune to all nonmagical toxins.

Biosuits have integrated biomonitors which reduce the difficulty of Medicine rolls to treat a character in a biosuit by 2.

-Without the helmet, all these features still work. However, the character is no longer protected against extreme temperatures or vacuum.

Additional submodules besides the basic ones cost 2 Device dots each.

Basic Biosuit
Cost: 6 points (Device 3)

+1 Strength

4d armor, -0 Mobility Penalty

Enlightenment 3, 15 Prime Energy

-Life Support

-1 Submodule

Survival Skin
Cost: 8 points (Device 4)

+1 Strength, +1 Stamina

5d armor, -0 mobility penalty

Enlightenment 4, 20 Prime Energy

-Life Support

-2 Submodules

Combat Skin Cost: 10 points (Device 5)

+3 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Stamina

7d armor, -0 mobility penalty

Enlightenment 5, 25 Prime Energy

-Life Support

-4 submodules

Submodules

Note that many of these submodules have Iteration X 'hardtech' variants which can be used to upgrade Iteration X hardsuits. Similarly, there are 'biotech' versions of certain Hardsuit upgrades (the heavy armor and minigun upgrades) which can be integrated into a biosuit.

Anti-Penetration Ballistic Carapace-piezoelectric fibers in the bioplastic skin of the biosuit provide increased protection against ballistic and explosive threats. This coincidental Forces 2/Entropy 3 effect can be activated in response to an incoming ballistic or explosive attack, converting its pre-soak damage from Lethal to Bashing as long as the biosuit rolls even 1 success on an Enlightenment roll.

Boosted Senses-gives the equivalent of Acute Senses (all). The character is also given 1 extrasensory access equivalent.

Boosted Musculature-the suit has extra-thick vat-grown musculature and reinforced exoskeletal components, providing a slight increase in protection and a massive increase in user strength. +2 Strength, +1d armor. All Stamina rolls the suit forces are made at +1 difficulty. A hardsuit with boosted musculature instead suffers from the Shutdown flaw, where any damage that penetrates soak forces an Enlightenment roll at difficulty 6, with a botch causing the suit to shut down.

Chameleon Polymers-roll the suit's Arete for a coincidental Forces 2 effect. Successes reduce the difficulty of your stealth rolls and increase the difficulties of other people's Alertness rolls to spot you, up to -3/+3.

Dart Swarm-roll the suit's Arete for a Life 2/Mind 2 sleep effect. Targets are sedated in a nonlethal fashion. Targets generally resist the attack with Willpower. This modification can be purchased 'twice,' providing the user with a multi-target Dart Swarm (adding Correspondence 3 to the effect) that affects a 1 target per rolled success.

Fast-Twitch Muscle Reengineering-vat grown muscles are customized for superior movement and damage capability. Roll the biosuit's Arete for a Forces 2 effect. Multiply the character's movement speed and jump heights for the turn by (successes + 1). Add the number of successes to the character's Strength for damage purposes. More than doubling speed or strength is vulgar.

Hyperoxygenated Blood Storage-the character is given six 'charges' of hyperoxygenated blood which can be spent for one of the effects below. Charges can be refilled at a Progenitor lab (they're basically one-shot "charms"). This Device has the 'spheres' of Life and Time 3.

• A second wind (can be used to add 1 automatic success on a Strength, Dexterity, or Stamina based roll, as if Willpower was spent)
• An adrenaline rush (1 extra action on that turn)
• Negating physiological strain (negates a failed or botched Stamina roll from the suit)
• Critical Life Support (heals 2 health levels of damage. This may not take the character above Incapacitated).

Impact-Dispersing Substructure-the biosuit is optimized for close-quarters engagements by modifying the external armor layer with shock-absorbing gel structures. As a passive benefit, the suit gains +1d armor. Roll the biosuit's Arete to activate this effect for a scene. Successes add to the biosuit's armor soak against melee attacks (like knives, fists, and werewolf claws) on a 1-1 basis.

Integrated Surgical Nanorobots-the suit can roll Arete for a Life 2 heal self effect.

Metabolic Overcharge-Life 3 better body, uses suit Arete.

Pain Management System-character reverses wound penalties (give dice bonuses instead of penalties).

Primium Threading-The biosuit gains 3 dice of general-purpose countermagic and 1 additional point of armor. This submodule must be purchased separately and costs 6 points (Device 3).

Superconducting Nerve Shunts-The biosuit provides the user with increased reaction speed, coordination, and agility. +1 Dexterity, +1 Wits.

Submodule Interface Optimizations-the biosuit is optimized for the use of active effects. +1 Enlightenment.

Weapons

Needler Pistols-Progenitor needler pistols are Devices which provide various lethal or detrimental effects, firing a spray of toxin-coated monomolecular shards that can penetrate almost all body armor. They're also serviceable weapons against heavily armored targets. The quintessence they use is in the form of a toxin-infused block of plastic, good for 15 attacks. All effects are coincidental unless explicitly stated to be vulgar. However, due to the nature of the pistols the effects may only be rolled if the attack penetrates the victim's armor.

Base Stats: Difficulty 5 to hit, +2 accuracy (always 'fires bursts'), Range 20, RoF 5, Damage 3L (AP 6), Magazine/Quint 15

• Neurotoxin: Arete 3, Life 3 direct damage
• Paralysis: Arete 3, Mind 2/Forces 2 paralysis effect
• Necrosis: Arete 3, Life 3 damage over time (deals 1 unsoakable aggravated HL every round for 3 rounds per success rolled. Life 2 allows for the 'unweaving' of the spell).
• Enzyme: Arete 3, Entropy 3 degrade predictable patterns
• Bio-Explosive: Vulgar Arete 4, Forces 3/Life 3 damage (deals aggravated damage to living things with the +1 success for Forces. If the target is killed by this damage, he explodes, dealing Forces 3 damage to all nearby objects and people).
• Hypervelocity: Damage 6L AP 9, no special effects. Used by Iterators who want a concealable but armor-defeating sidearm without the war crimes.

Needler Rifles-bigger, badder, and longer-ranged. They use the same ammunition as Needler pistols but have higher damage, range, and capacity.

• Base Stats: Difficulty 5 to hit, +2 accuracy, Range 60, RoF 5, Damage 6L (AP 6), Magazine/Quint 15
• Uses all Needler Pistol ammunition types
• Hypervelocity: Damage 9L AP 9, no special effects.