NanoWare

Jennifer Tincher (jtincher@nwlink.com)
Submitted with permission from He-Who-Walks-In-Shadow.

If you are at all familiar with the Nano-tech Elemental/Collective Being, then you should remember that they were created as an unexpected side-effect of Mitsuhama's NanoWare project. The bigwigs at Mitsuhama wanted to produce enhanced soldiers without having to deal with all of the drawbacks inherent in cybermancy or the limitations of standard cyberware. Although they did encounter a few problems during the beta testing phase of this project (See the listing on the NECB) they finally succeeded. The results of the NanoWare project have several applications. These are NanoWare Enhancement, NanoSurgery (for cyberware and bioware, and cloning), NanoMonitoring, NanoInterrogation, NanoControl.

NanoWare Enhancement

The process is initiated by the introduction of nanites into the subjects body. This can be done through an inhalent or direct injection. The nanites then reproduce at a fairly quick rate until there are enough present to generate the enhancement effects (usually between one and three weeks). After critical nanite mass has been reached the subject will experience the following enhancements:

  1. All physical stats will increase to 1.5 times his racial maximum.
  2. The subject becomes completely immune to stun as the nanites edit the pain signals generated by his nervous system. As such no penalties are generated by any attack that would only do stun damage.( wounds that do physical damage impeed the character normally)
  3. The subject becomes highly resistant to toxins and similar drugs as well as pathogens (he gets twice his body for resistance tests).
  4. The subject receives a modified form of regeneration. Should he receive a wound or wounds that generate deadly results he must roll 2d6. On a result of 2 or 3 he has received brain damage and is dead. Any other result will simply cause his body to lapse into a death-like coma as it repairs itself (target number 12 to tell this state from actual death). The subject's body repairs itself at a rate or one condition monitor box per turn.
  5. The subject's senses are enhanced by nanite filtering. As a result all target number penalties resultant from poor lighting conditions, distance, background noise, or any other form of distraction are reduced by 50%.
  6. The subject's reactions are somewhat enhanced by superrior sypnapse communication. As a result he will receive two extra initiative dice.
  7. The subject also gains the capacity to communicate to electronically with others possessing NanoWare (range approximately 10K).
  8. The subject possess the capacity to issue commands to ControlNanites (see below).

Unfortunately these bonuses are not without drawbacks. The NanoWare implanted in this fashion very rapidly becomes an integral part part of the subject's biosystem. As a result damage to the nanites constitutes damage to the host. This makes the subject highly vulnerable to electrical damage and damage from EMP. Electrical damage is staged up two categories. Taser weapons do physical damage to someone with NanoWare. An EMP attack is treated as deadly damage of the same force level. In all of the above cases the subjects body does not regenerate from such attacks, but rather must heal the damage normally. The essence cost of NanoWare is minimal. Full NanoWare enhancement costs one point of essence. NanoWare is not compatible with similar cybernetic or bioware systems. Any implant that is designed to emulate a bonus generated by NanoWare will either not function, or replace that function of the NanoWare at the GM's discretion. Naturally there is no cost listed for NanoWare because only a major corp could fund the research. It is unavailable for purchase, but may be provided to a player by a corp or military agency (yes, this constitutes selling your soul). One final note on NanoWare the aura of someone possessing NanoWare will be faint, but lack any specific dark areas (always present with cyberware users).

NanoSurgery

As NanoWare was being developed it became clear to the scientists working on the project that there were other applications. One of these was the use of nanites to perform surgeries of various types. These nanites are temporary and do not bond to the subject's nervous system in the same fashion as NanoWare. There are three types of NanoSurgeries. The first is the use of nanites to implant cyberware. This process is much slower than conventional implantation. It takes one month per essence point cost of the implant. There is however no recovery time for this operation. Cyberware implanted in this fashion is treated as Delta Grade cyberware. The cost is the same as delta grade cyberware, but no surgeon is required for the project. The second type of NanoSurgery is the implantation of bioware by nanites. This process is a bit more complex as it requires the use of nanites to stimulate the growth of the bodies own cells to create the bioware organ. This implantation preceedure takes as long as it would take to grow the bioware item in a lab. Additionally should the subject be subjected to electrical shock prior to completion the whole process must be begun again. Bioware created in this fashion should be treated as Delta grade bioware. This process can be used to repair damaged bioware as well. The cost for this proceedure is only one-half the cost of delta grade bioware. It requires no surgeon. It does however require some heavy corp contacts to arrange for the proceedure. The third type of NanoSurgery is NanoCloning. This proceedure involves using nanites to stimulate cell growth and regenerate a lost or damaged organ. It takes the same period of time that it would take to clone the organ in a lab. The advantage is that it does not require conventional surgery to implant the organ. I'm sure all of the local mages can appreciate that. This means that you don't have to take a deadly wound to regenerate a lost arm. The pricetag is triple the cost of cloning the organ in a lab. A corp connection is also required to arrange this type of surgery.

NanoMonitoring

This function has many applications. It basically involves introducing nanites into a target body and instructing them to bond to the target's sensory inputs. In this fashion the monitoring computer can see and hear everything that the target does as well as monitoring their vital statistics. The number of nanites required for this process is so small that it costs no essence, and is virtually undetectable. Naturally a jolt of electricity or passage through a heavy magnetic field will deactivate these nanites. Mitsuhama is currently monitoring all of thier key people in this fashion.

NanoInterrogation

This is probably the most questionable application of this technology. It involves introducing nanites into the body of a captured subject who has information your corp needs. The nanites bond to the subjects nervous system and monitor his vital signs. They serve as an exceptional polygraph, and should extra persuasion be required to get your subject to talk, they can feed pain directly into his nervous system. The result is torture without causing any physical damage. This type of interrogation can break through all but the toughest conditioning.

NanoControl

This is perhaps the most useful ability granted by NanoWare. It requires the introduction of nanites into enemy targets (usually through an aerosol spray delivered by gas grenade). It takes five turns for the nanites to get into position, bonding to the targets' nervous systems. After this the NanoWare possessor can either edit his targets' sensory inputs so that he becomes invisible, or use nerve induction to cause them imparing pain (adds four to all target numbers). Either way it places enemies at a distince disadvantage. The gas grenades cost 10,000 newyen each and the Control Nanites will leave the target's biosystems after 72 hours.

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