RE: [HOE] Insta-Harrowed

["Jeff Yates" <jyates@primaryfunction.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hoe@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-hoe@gamerz.net] On 
> Behalf Of Theo McGuckin
> Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 10:19 AM
> To: Hell on Earth
> Subject: [HOE] Insta-Harrowed
> 
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> 
> Spoilers (go away Bob!)
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<SNIP>
> The catch is that one of the posse members has to basically 
> have a heab-banger chip installed with a 2 week countdown on 
> it and an access code that only the AI knows. That way there 
> is an... incentive... for the posse to complete its half of 
> the deal (again the AI is no fool). Now this underground 
> facility was actually being used by the gov't as part of 
> Project "Anubis Reborn" to crank out cyborgs, so the idea I 
> had is that the chip is actually a spirit fetter/head-banger. 
> So a way to "reward" the player that takes the hit for the 
> posse (by having the chip installed) is that he's basically 
> now guaranteed to come back harrowed (without the ability to 
> get powers, nice limiter for the marshal :) when he dies. 
> Assuming the chip doesn't get destroyed before then.
> 
> So this got me thinking, would this work as a junker device? 
> Imagine the
> appeal: "With this chip in your head, if you EVER die I can 
> guarantee (as much as any junker device, read the fine print) 
> that you'll come back better than ever!" There would be a 
> HUGE run on this item (of people who can afford it)!
> 
> Theo McGuckin - SysAdmin, JLab, Safety Warden (Bldg. 85)

A problem that springs to mind is that Junker devices aren't streamlined
little bits of microcomponents.  Comes from not having the facilities to
build new parts to exact specs for a particular application.  So I'm
thinking your headbanger/spirit fetter "chip" would be more of a collar
or helmet, permenantly affixed to the head and neck of the "customer."

However, if you feel like using your hidden cyborg lab to build the
thing, then I wouldn't imagine that it'd be much difficulty in making a
small mod to the spirit fetter to include the head banger for your
incentive, then not including it for the sold units.

The next issue is where do you get your manitou?  Part of the cyborg
creation process was trapping a manitou and forcibly attaching it to the
'borg and it's fetter.  The manitou, if I read the book right, has to be
there when you put the fetter in.  If a manitou can follow a waster
around to determine if he's Harrowed material, then it'll be able to
notice the fetter and know a bad situation when it sees it.  You can
again address this issue with the underground lab that the AI came from
-- if they were building 'borgs, then they had a way to get manitou.

Which then leads to the fact that your wasters are selling good, pre-war
style cyborg gear.  Someone's gonna notice and try to jump their claim.
Any number of HOE power groups might want the lab -- Junkyard, Combine,
Junkers in general, Librarians (not so much for making parts, but for
museum possibilities), or any other waster looking for valuables.  If
you let your posse have it, they'll have their hands full trying to keep
it!

Jeff Y.