TOTAL CONVERSION FOR THE TOTAL CYBERPUNK

"There I was, trapped on the third floor of the burning apt-block-thick smoke and fire everywhere... I couldn't tell which way was out. A blazing section of ceiling had fallen on the last fireman who tried to rescue me. I figured I was burnt toast for sure, ready to flatline. Suddenly, the burning wall on my left exploded as a metallic form crashed through it. Emergency lights flashed on its shoulders, and it marched straight through the inferno surrounding me. No foolin, choomba, this thing just scooped me up like a mother collecting her kid. Before I knew what was happening, it leapt out the window and we hurtled to the ground. When I came to they told me that her name was Samantha."

-Johnny Silverhand


"Full Conversion-because sometimes meat just can't cut it."

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Borg is a four letter word. As early as 2005, various military forces were experimenting with fully cybernetic body conversions. It was during these early experiments that "Cyberpsychosis" was first identified and diagnosed. In 2020, "full borgs," as they are colloquially refered to, are becoming an increasingly common sight. Construction workers, fighter pilots, space explorers and even firemen are opting to supplant their human bodies with mechanical replacements which will help them do their jobs better. The full potential of this technology has yet to be realized, but becoming a full borg is far from a standard procedure.
Such a conversion is the ultimate step in cybernetic enhancement. By supplanting the skeletal system with a metal endoskeleton interlaced with a myomar fiber musculature, incorporating fully cybernetic limbs and covering the entire body with armor, you become the "classic" cyborg of science fiction. A full borg can lift and throw a small car, tear down brick walls with their bare hands, and walk through machinegun fire. His body has effectively been fully replaced, giving him all the equivalent abilities and structural damages of cyberlimbs and more. They are reinforced and armored, with a full body SP of 25. Their cybernetic nervous system and interlaced synthetic muscle fibers give him incredible reflexes and movement speed. Heavier combat models also utilize electromagnetic pistons, commonly refered to as "Hydraulics," which are stronger and faster. A combat borg is almost unstoppable, capable of withstanding massed machinegun fire and light anti-tank weapons. Full borg conversions are still rare (and frequently illegal) newtech. One reason for this is that by the time the arduous and expensive process is over, much of the intangible "humanness" of the person is lost, sometimes creating a cold, merciless, machinelike personality. Physically speaking, the character becomes so "unhuman" that he takes Structural Damage Points rather than wound damage.
There is some hope for those who undergo full conversion... because full body replacement is performed all at once, there is less trauma to the individual. If a person were to get all the components of a full borg seperately, he/she would suffer a massive loss of humanity (usually over 100 HC!) This is because there would be several operations, repeated physical and psychological trauma, and a sort of "slow chipping away at the body and soul" of the patient. A full borg conversion, however, is an all-in-one procedure which is less like an operation performed on the body and more like a transpland. In such a case, the patient's brain, and a portion of the spinal cord, and a few organs which cannot be replaced (collectively known as the "Biosystem") are transplanted into a "robotic" body. Most of the functions performed by internal organs (such as digestive tract, lungs and heart) are taken up by cybernetic analogs. For instance, the lungs are replaced with a high-efficiency filtration and oxygenation system; for this reason, a full borg is immune to any kind of gas. In fact a full borg has a pressurized air storage cell which it "charges" twice a day, eliminating the need to breathe entirely. The case is similar with eating and drinking, although for psychological reasons all full borgs are capable of regular eating (it is unavoidable that most full borgs cannot engage in sexual activity or have children). For psycholigical reasons, a full borg must sleep and is not normally able to turn off his sense of touch-thus they are susceptible to pain (but many have built in Pain Editors). Being mechanical in nature, a full borg body cannot heal damage without repairs. Full Body conversion imparts improved physical capabilities (supplanting the patients original REF, ATTR, MA and BOD with new ones based on the functions of the body). Additionally, full borg bodies have many option spaces which can accept any standard cyberlimb options and many new systems.
Although full borgs enjoy massively increased physical abilities and the capability to customize the body, they have some serious disadvantages as well. Aside from the obvios humanity costs, full borgs (sometimes referred to as "Metalheads") suffer from a strong stigmata against them. Many people are fearful of their potential for cyberpsychosis, while others are jealous of s Metalhead's physical capabilities and percieved wealth. (Full borgs have many more job oportunities than normals because of their bodies, which are quite simply...superior.) Although opinions vary, most full borgs find themselves the victims of discrimination and prejudice-this has resulted in a sort of brotherhood among borgs, which is not always understood by others (some see it as a secret club or conspiracy, leading to more fear and hatred). For obvious reasons, every city's C-SWAT division requires all full borgs to register, and often corporate sponsership is also needed for complete legitimization.

Registered Cybers
Althought the uniform justice code of the United States says you must actually commit a crime that doesn't stop most police departments from practicing a little selective crime prevention. The Psycho Squad (or C-SWAT or whatever) keeps tabs on who buys what or which borgs are in town. They usally have a good idea which borgs are in town and what each borg stats are. All borgs are reqiured to be registered.
Registration is a sort of parole; you agree to see a borg specializing cyberpsychologist for monitoring and analysis (regaining 2 points of HC per week until your original EMP is restored), and the squad implants a small transmitter into the borg, allowing them to know your general whereabouts. Just in case. The police don't hassle you and the Squad doesn't automatically gun you down with 20mm cannon rounds (if not larger caliber) if you boost a can of Smash from the corner vend-mat (or scare the corporate flunkies with your presence).
It's also rumoured that some departments implant an explosive charge and a radio detonator, but we all know that's against the Criminal Code, don't we?
Besides you don't have to register. But we thought you'd like to know. After all, there are those public-spirited citizens out there....

Corporate sponsorship is, in fact, the most common route for attaining a full body conversion. Many corporations will offer a contract for full conversion to those who satisfy the extensive screening and testing procedures (which are structured to determine psychological profile and stability-usually a minimum EMP of 8 is required to pass these tests). A corporation will offer an employee a full body conversion on a 10- to 25-year basis, during which time the employee will be able to perform at fantastic levels, thereby making the corp a lot of money.Once the contract time has expired, the employee has the option to keep the body or have it downgraded to a "naturalized" body (one that is more human in appearance/function). There have been rumours that the best borgs can have their brains transplanted to clone bodies after their term of service. Corporate (or Military) sponsership can be chosen as an option in character creation similar to selling out,but there is only a 20% chance that you'll be given a borg body. (No luck can be added to this roll, so don't skimp on you stats, because if you don't get the body, you're stuck with your original one. You only get a basic body and all options must be paid for).

Join the (Covert) Military

Become a fighter in the Cyberwars, serving your country's armed forces with distinction and honor as part of it's secret Elite Mechanized Combat Forces (Cybergrunts, to you) See pain, torture, death close up as you participate in one of a hundred covert "police actions" worldwide. Of course Cybergrunts don't exist. Of course your country does send heavily a rmed teams of covert agents into other countries to kill and maim. Of course they're not going to let you quit when you want to.

Selling out to Corporation

Join a corporation and see the world. While your at it theyt'll bankroll you for tens of thousands of dollars in newtech. But remember, with all business deals there's a price. In this case you have to work for the Corporation. The jobs you get to do are all the fun, suicidal ones on which they don't want to waste their good people: executive kidnappings, black operations and espionage missions. If your really lucky they'll let you be a grunt in a Corporate War-You know the ones that make Vietnam and Afghanistan look like picnics, where you get to defend the Corporation's interestsin some backwater hellhole with a population of natives you're suppressing

Big business is fun.

Although most borgs are corporate or military creations, there have been a few cases of "street" Borgs-most of these jobs have been sloppyand unreliable (as well as being psychotic and short-lived). Once in a blue moon, a custom borg does show up, but they are rare and incredibly expensive. In any event, whether you have sponsorship or get a custom body, the transplant operation has a Surgery Code of 2x CRitical
There are rumours on the street of exotic experiments focusing of full body conversions, and they aren't pretty. Interchangable braincases are a reality (although rare), but there are suppost to be projects involving inserting such braincases into tanks and fighter planes, and there are even roumers of human brains in robohound bodies. Even more speculative and exotic is the rumor that Microtech can electronically transfer a mind from a human body into a borg housing an implanted clone brain. These roumours are unconfirmed, but many experts say it is possible. The implications are enormous...
Note: We suggest you use the Therapy rules [included below] with these conversions. HC for high stats or special options are marked by astericks: *N*

Therapy
Biotechnica-licenced clinics provide therapy programs to ease you transition from mere human into your new form. (Other hospitals and clinics also provide therapy) Therapy costs money and time, but it's worth it in the end!
Therapy is a regime (often referred to as "torture" by the patients) designed to assist the patient in recovering. In game terms, therapy lowers the humanity loss from full body conversion (as well as any other injury or cyberimplantation) as the patient is helped to understand what has happened and how to use his/her new parts; and is given practice in using them.
There are three levels of therapy; Outpatient, where th patient attends therapy sessions at the clinic/hospital; Inpatient, where the patient lives in the hospital and practices everyday under medical supervision ; and Intensive Care Therapy,where the patient not only lives in the facility but has his/her nervous system and psyche probed each day for "fine-tuning" (in essence, a trained psychological team rebuilds the patients personality into one that minimizes identity loss. By the time they're done, the psych team knows more about the person than the person does, so you'd better trust these people with your innermost secrets).
The time needed for successful therapy is based on the complexity of the operations performed. Add up the surgery codes as follows:
4 Negligible = 1 Minor
2 Minor = 1 Major
2 Major = 1 Critical
The time needed for each kind of therapy is listed below. The surgeries add together, so the therapy time for multiple surgeries is determined by the surgery total. For instance, a patient who experienced 1 Major surgery and 3 Minor surgeries would treat therapy time as if he had had 1 Critical and 1 Minor surgery (1 Major + (3 Minors/2))=22 weeks of outpatient therapy or 11 weeks of inpatient/IC therapy.
THERAPY
Surgery Out Inpatient/ICT
Negligble 2 weeks 1 weeks
Minor 6 weeks 3 weeks
Major 8 weeks 4 weeks
Critical 16 weeks 8 weeks
THERAPY COSTS AND EFFECTS
Therapy Cost/Week Time Required HP *
Outpatient 1,000eb 14 Hours/week 25%
Inpatient 5,000eb 168 Hours/week** 33%
ICT 10,000eb 168 Hours/week** 50%
*Humanity Points regained
**In these sorts of therapy, you live in the facility 24 hours a day and they don't let you out
TOTAL BODY CYBERWARE
To illustrate the point of how a Full Borg is made, a list has been provided showing the relative costs (in Humanity and Eurodollars) for the component parts of a total cyborg
Individual Components HC Cost
Neural Processor (required) 1D6 1000eb
Interface Plugs (assumed) 1D6 200eb
Cyberoptics (no options) 2D6/2D6 500eb/500eb
Cyberaudio (no options) 2d6 500eb
HEADWARE TOTAL 8D6 2,700eb
Cyberarms (basic) 2D6/2D6 3000eb/3000eb
Hands (standard) 0/0 150eb/150eb
Arm Armor (SP25) 0/0 250eb/250eb
Cyberlegs (basic) 2D6/2D6 2000eb/2000eb
Feet (standard) 0/0 200eb/200eb
Leg Armor (SP25) 0/0 250eb/250eb
Cyberlimbs Total 8D6 11,700eb
Cowl (skull SP25) 1D6 200eb
Faceplate (face SP25) 4D6 400eb
Torso Plate (torso SP25) 3D6 2000eb
Body Plating Total 8D6 2,600eb
Body Replacement
(H30/T40/SP25) 8D6 (was 5D6) 20000eb (was 8000eb)
Replacement Total 8D6 20,000eb
Totalled Seperate Costs 32D6 37,000eb
The list above covers all the basic components required to make a full borg. The "Body Replacement" is not a standard cybernetic item - it is only available as part of a full borg conversion. However, for reference's sake, it has been itemised in the complete list. Compare these costs to the Alpha body which represents a basic full borg conversion.
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