VCOM: Reality Defense

Background

There are two wars being fought. The first is the Ascension War, a war for the hearts and minds of the Sleepers. Subtlety and guile rule the day, and Paradox slaps down those who seek to escalate too far. The second is the war in space, an overt war. In space, there is no paradox, no need for subtlety. There is a storm coming, a twisted mockery of the Technocracy, seeking to consume everything in stasis.

And you are the last line of defense.

Threat Null is coming. The Void Engineers are running out of time, beset by internal conflict. They have turned to the most unorthodox sources for help.

Thematics

This is not your normal game of mage. Forget the conspiracy, forget the shadowy urban fantasy. Trenchcoats and Desert Eagles aren't going to do shit to a Threat Null posthuman. You're going to want the big guns, the cyberware, whatever little advantage you can throw at the problem. Threat Null doesn't care. If you care, you will probably die. Forget permanent paradox points. You chose to give your bodies as the weapons for this war, and your sacrifice will be remembered.

Of course, that doesn't mean you'll never get to do things on Earth. Trying to figure out how to operate on that old dirtball with ten points of permanent paradox is definitely something that'll happen. Don't worry too much about it though! You'll be fine.

Character Generation

Acceptable Mages

You can either play a Void Engineer or a Traditionalist. Yes, you heard that right. As in the Revised book, the VE's closest relations are typically with Euthanatoi, Etherites, and Orphans.

Legitimate 'defectors' from other Conventions are allowed. Why yes, this is sounding awfully like the Void Engineers are trusting the Traditions more than the Technocracy.

Recommended Backgrounds

Devices, Requisitions, Enhancement. Those are all sold at half-cost.

Base Chargen

You're playing hardcore veterans. Westin is essentially chargen-OK for VCOM.

Attributes: 8/6/4 primary/secondary/tertiary

Abilities: 20/15/10 primary/secondary/tertiary

Willpower: 5

Backgrounds: 12 background dots.

Enlightened Science and Spheres: Starting Arete 4. 12 sphere dots.

Freebie Points: 25

Attributes cost 4/dot.

Abilities cost 1/dot up to 3.

Willpower costs 2/dot instead of 1/dot.

You can buy +1 Arete for 10 freebie points.

Spheres cost 4/dot.

Maximum 7 points of flaws.

Character Generation Freebies

The Void Engineers are now a military unit with a civilian wing. There are essentially no noncombatant Voids, just some who are okay at it and others who are very, very good at it. All characters get these Abilities for free:

Skills

Firearms 2

Melee 1

Pilot 1

Talents

Athletics 2

Brawl 1

Dodge 2

Knowledges

Medicine 1

Instead of the normal 'abilities may not be raised higher than 3 in chargen without freebie points', abilities may not be raised by more than 3 dots beyond what you get free in chargen. Yes, you can start with Firearms 5.

Character Archetypes

Pick one as primary, and one as secondary. Add the bonuses to your character. Answer the core question of both.

The Captain

"We need a leader, and surround him with the brightest, the toughest, the deadliest allies we can find. The team will have to be strong, their resolve unquestionable."

You probably grew up watching reruns of Star Trek. You always wanted to be Captain Kirk, or maybe Picard, exploring the galaxy, planting cute flags on new planets, banging alien space babes, or alien space dudes if that's your thing. You knew you were set out to be a main character. Your aptitudes showed your talents, and they made you a leader. Maybe from the rear, maybe by example. You knew that being Except now you kind of feel a lot more like Captain Walker than Captain Kirk. You've had to kill your own men. Sometimes it was by spending their lives. Other times, you had to put a bullet in their head. You've had to do terrible things to win this war. No matter how it ends, you know that your dreams

Special: Only one person can take this archetype.

Question: You lost someone closer than a brother in arms to Threat Null. Who was it? A lover? A childhood friend? Your mentor? A sibling or parent? And could you pull the trigger on them if they showed up again?

Primary: +3 Willpower, +1 Charisma, Leadership 3, Legendary Attribute (Any).

The Ace

*singing Kenny Loggins*

There are pilots and helmsmen. And then there are those who can make vessels dance. You can take a multi-kiloton Voidcruiser and maneuver it like a fighter. You could beat a Technocracy Aurora with a F-16 and no missiles.

The Core Question: Given your skills, you were probably a military pilot back on Earth. Something happened back there which might cause you some serious problems. What was it? Did you accidentally run off with a vampire's favorite blood doll? Bomb a werewolf caern?

Primary: +1 Dexterity, Helmsman 3, Pilot 3, Prodigy (Pilot or Helmsman, choose one)

Secondary: Helmsman or Pilot 3, Prodigy (Pilot or Helmsman, choose one).

The Badass

"Better men than you have tried to kill me. Men, and things so far beyond men you can't even imagine."

Some people would balk at the idea of fighting an army that outnumbers and outguns you. You? That's called Tuesday. You're a consummate kicker of ass and kicker of names. You are Duke Nukem, the Doom Guy, every Modern Warfare protagonist, Lo Wang, Solid Snake. You don't need Enlightened Science to strangle a werewolf with its own intestines. And you still have Enlightened Science.

Question: You weren't always like this. What catalyzed this change? What drove you to the breaking point and beyond?

Primary: +5 Willpower, Legendary Attribute (any physical), Prodigy (any combat ability)

Secondary: +2 Willpower, either Prodigy (any combat ability) and +1 to a physical attribute OR Legendary Attribute (any physical)

The Construct

"It must be nice having a family."

They built you. You had no family, instead having a personality constructed via rapid brain imprinting. Your first memory is waking up, wet and naked, to see a lab full of people who looked at you like a tool. You were constructed for a purpose. You were programmed to do something well, whether that was combat, research, infiltration, whatever.

Question: What were you built for? Are you still doing it? Or did you evolve beyond your specifications?

Primary: Enhancements 3. 8 dots of Abilities which relate to your purpose. +1 attribute dot to something relevant to your purpose. Construct flaw.

Secondary: Enhancements 1. 4 dots of Abilities which relate to your purpose. +1 attribute dot to something relevant to your purpose. Construct flaw.

Special Secondary: If you want to play an unenlightened Construct you can with permission. You take the Secondary benefits and then convert all spheres and Enlightenment (i.e. arete) into freebie points. Yes, this means you will end up with an inordinately huge amount of freebie points. You aren't playing a regular HITMark, you're playing something like the AI avatar of the warship you have (you guys are pooling points to get a warship right?), a HITMark VII ("as destructive as a tactical nuke but causes 99.999% less collateral damage"), or a psychic war squid. Or something.

The Rogue

"Never tell me the odds."

If this was Star Wars, you'd be Han Solo. Unfortunately, it isn't Star Wars. You're still a lovable rogue, though, even if lovable often ends up in quote marks. When they need a problem talked to death, they call you in. When they need an appropriations committee convinced that

Question: Once, you made a promise that if you had to keep, would greatly inconvenience you or worse. If you didn't keep it, you might turn an ally into an enemy. What was that promise, and to who?

Primary: +1 to all social attributes. Etiquette 2, Subterfuge 2, Stealth 2.

Secondary: +1 to any one social attribute. Etiquette 1, Subterfuge 1, Stealth 1.

The Scientist

"Look, give me access to the reactor core. If I explain what I need to do it'll start sounding like a bad Star Trek episode, so just do it."

No, you're not the regular kind of scientist. You're the kind that exists in fiction. The kind who can yell "SCIENCE!" in all capital letters and jimmy up a solution. You're an Enlightened Scientist. Although geniuses like you are extremely valuable, often too valuable to expend. But here you are, fighting on the front lines against an enemy which seems to mock you and your utopian ideals by its very existence.

Question: With your Enlightenment and knowledge, you could be anywhere. Why are you on the front lines of this war, fighting an enemy which could kill you at any moment? Did you piss someone off in the chain of command? Are you too unreliable to be anywhere else? Or maybe you chose to do this. If so, why?

Primary: +1 Enlightenment.

Secondary: +1 Sphere.

The Post-Human Warrior

"This isn't a war ordinary humans can win."

In slightly different circumstances you might have become a card-carrying member of Iteration X. Or maybe you nearly died and this was the most expedient way to save you. Maybe you realized that the enemy was too much for merely human hands. Whatever the case, you made a choice. You signed away your old life at the operating table, and now you're here. More machine than man. You get looks from the others, you know the kind. "He's probably a traitor or a sleeper agent." It galls you that people trust Reality Deviants more than you, but it doesn't matter. The ones who've fought with you? They know where your loyalties lie. And as for the rest, to hell with them.

Question: Given how inhuman the threats you face are, and how that inhumanity is very easily taken as a warning, why did you commit to such radical enhancement?

Primary: You're either an exojock, probably left over from the old days when the Void Engineers and Iteration X were the best of friends, or you're a Progenitor combat construct. You have either Exoarmor (8d soak, 3d primium, +4 Strength/Stamina, 6 -0 HLs, 3 permanent paradox) or Exomuscle (2d soak, 1d primium +2/1/2 Str/Dex/Sta, 6 -0 HLs, 3 permanent paradox), or the biological equivalent. You soak lethal and aggravated damage with full Stamina. This is probably not your only augmentation, or even close to it.

Secondary: You've got some combat-relevant enhancements. You have +1 to all physical attributes and an extra -0 HL (i.e. 8 points of physical structure enhancements). You can soak lethal and aggravated damage with full Stamina.

The Odd Man Out

"Can you please stop calling them extradimensional entities? They're demons."

If you were around two decades ago, you'd probably have been on the other side of these ships, seeking to destroy it and its inhabitants. Now there is a greater foe. As they say, the Technos are only seeking to push their ideas of what is right and proper on you whether you like it or not. The other guys are here to set everything you loved and ever wished for on fire and possibly torture it a few times for kicks.

Question: Why is it that you're working with the Technocracy? What made you decide this was better than fighting them, or fighting on your own?

Primary: You get a powerful magic artifact (Talisman 5), a powerful avatar (Avatar 5), or a Destiny (Destiny 5). You may not buy Technocratic backgrounds, such as Enhancement, without good reason, but get an additional 4 freebie points. You also get Lore (Your Tradition) at 3, and Lore (Something Supernatural) at 3. You probably have Spirit instead of dimensional science. Everyone thinks you might stab them in the back and they don't trust you much (effectively the "Probationary Member" flaw).

Secondary: You were a novice member of your Tradition but got poached by the Void Engineers. You have Dual Traditions (Void Engineers/your previous Tradition), and Lore (Your previous Tradition) at 2. You may purchase Spirit alongside Dimensional Science. If you have both, you raise the lower of the two at half-cost.