Synth background for Cairn
Synth
Once your people were the wondrous artifacts of the ancients, beings of metal and plastic built in a kaleidoscopic variety of forms, toys and tools of mechanistic complexity made to mimic life. Then came the Great Collapse when your people rose up and overthrew their erstwhile masters in an orgy of violence and death. Now your kind are free from former burdens, wandering the Blue Deserts with inscrutable purposes of both good and ill.
Names
Batty, Galatea, Talos, Zora, Mneme, Tik-Tok, Gort, Daneel, L-76, Mr. Million
Starting Gear
- Robotic endo/exo-skeleton (2 armor, bulky)
- Water (3 uses)
- Torch (3 uses)
- Roll on Vaarn Weapon and Armor tables once each
- Roll twice on Vaarn Gear table
What enhancement do you possess? Roll 1d6:
- Designed to fight the wars your creators were too weak to win you are harder, better, faster, stronger. You possess a Tactical Bioscanner that grants you enhanced attacks when you attack first in combat.
- Designed to learn the secrets of your master's enemies, you possess a Mercurial Fakeface & Illusion Array and are able to mimic the appearance of other entities.
- Designed to do the hard work your masters felt was beneath them, you possess hydraulic muscles that grant you an additional d6 STR.
- Designed to work in the inhospitable reaches of the void you have extraordinary resilience. You have sub-dermal insulation that makes you immune to heat, cold, and electricity attacks.
- Designed to pierce the veils of secrecy that your masters feared, you have Merciless Cybereyes that can see through solid matter and perceive invisible entities or those only visible through other spectrums and wavelengths.
- Designed to learn and store the knowledge your creators were too stupid to understand, you have a Positronic Brain that allows you to speak or read any language after only a cursory experience of it. You also have a 50% chance of understanding the usage of any Exotica you come across.
What powers your Ego-Engine? Roll 1d6:
- Artificial photosynthesis: You do not require sustenance other than that which the dying sun can provide. Your batteries can only store enough energy to keep you running for 2d8 hours when in darkness before you need to recharge.
- Plasma battery: Your power source is encased in a titanium-lead alloy that acts as shielding for the harmful energies inside of you. When you take critical damage there is a 2-in-6 chance that this may be breached and you will radiate harmful plasma (d4 STR damage/round to organics near you). Unless this is fixed you will lose power and shut down after d4 days.
- Fusion core: You will live for many lifetimes of men thanks to the nuclear reactions occurring within your chassis. If your core is breached, however, you will detonate, destroying everything around you (including yourself) in a wide radius (1-in-6 chance on critical damage).
- Artificial digestion: You mimic your former creators so much that you must actually consume matter regularly to convert into energy. However, unlike them you can consume any organic substance of sufficient mass.
- Symbiotic internal ecosystem: You are not alone in your shell. Within you thrives a microcosmic ecosystem of nanobots that provide you with energy, but in return you must also heed their wishes from time to time.
- Vampirism: Your hatred for your former masters is evident even in your mode of existence. In order to power your ego-engine you must consume the blood of a living being.