Henry's uniform is made of a nearly unbreakable material, and syncs to the implants in his head.
The onboard AI, Lith, is capable of autolocomotion in an emergency, as well as transmitting her location to Henry at all times. Now that the proper connection is reconnected, Henry is unwilling to lose it.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
This Artifact's true owner is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
If this Artifact is in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.
This Artifact's true owner must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.
Setting down the item to be upgraded along with a rod of carbon on top of it to serve as resources, a set of phased arrays in the cuff of his wrist begin to scan over the object, slowly disintegrating the carbon and integrating it into the object, upgrading it as they go. Carbon isn't quite the right material to use - even transforming it into other elements to use - but it tends to break down within the day.
Expend a point of Battery and spend a minute. Select a Device within arm's reach. Can be used on Alien technology. You must use up a rod of pure carbon in order to activate this Effect. Can be used on Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
Henry taps a small control over his right collarbone twice, and his suit suddenly fades into a shimmer. After a moment, the shimmer spreads to his hands and face, leaving only a barely perceptible haze where the man once stood.
"Field repairs are difficult work, especially with the primitive tools of this accursed world. The patches on the holomatrix are exceedingly sensitive - I'll have to be gentle with it, especially when it's enabled. If it gets disrupted it'll need to recalibrate again, which takes over a stellar rotation. Even now it's not calibrating right - I can still see it when it's active, especially when moving. But it'll have to do for now."
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.
If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.
Henry extends his arm straight, and, holding a small source of zinc in the same hand, points with his index finger directly at the target. His arm drags back and forth slightly, looking for sensitive electronics inside.
"The automated lensing systems seem absolutely shot. At least they're pointing forward-ish. It's a lot less handy, but I can effectively 'aim' them at the target. It's not entirely unlike aiming a gun, actually. The matter forge isn't working quite right either, but that's fine. Lith can just strip the electrons needed locally. I'd just rather they not be from me."
The cyberwarfare suite is controlled by an onboard AI, which Henry was very happy to finally get working. Even if they bicker some. For example, Lith will never admit failing a hack herself. It's just Henry moving his hand the wrong way while she was working. When he does hold his arm steady enough, though, Lith is able to read and write electron states directly in the device's memory. This permits her to influence the digital state of a device directly. By reflex, she ensures she won't be detected for the operation of the mission.
Spend 2 Actions. Select a Computer within 20 feet. Can be used on Alien technology. You must use up a small amount of zinc in order to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Firearms, with the Difficulty set by the GM depending on the security of the system you are hacking. Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you may issue a single command to the targeted system. This command must have a specific outcome or be a request for specific login credentials. The command you issue must be within the machine's current capabilities. For example, you cannot order a standard security camera to grow legs and walk around.
Your hack cannot be discovered by system administrators or firewall software for a number of hours equal to your Outcome on the initial roll.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their body and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Battle Scar: Extensive Augmentation - Head - Your head has had extensive augmentation performed to it, and some tradeoffs had to be made. Take +2 damage from called shots to the head. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
Henry places his hand over an object, and his hand begins to twitch. His eyes are half closed, and he sees not the world, but a set of gravitation waves.
For reasons unknown, an AI is unable to do this. It is left on the operator to steer the analysis suite though the planes of gravitons, to seek out the past. With it, the operator can determine where it's been (although his suit's assist automatically compiles that into coordinates) and an image of the last individuals to use it.
Spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Dexterity + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 1.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
The AMS intertics allow precise, fine-grained control of microgravity fluxations. By taking advantage of these, a Fleet Officer can move as the situation demands.
It's an impressive sight, seeing a full-sized man go from standing still to moving full tilt.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
As long as you are conscious, you are immune to falling Damage. Additionally, you may glide as you fall, traveling 35 feet horizontally for every 10 feet you fall. While gliding, you fall at a minimum speed of 10 feet per Round.
You may ascend into the air and fly using your mind. Your Free Movement is Mind x5 feet/Round, including vertically. You cannot Dash. When sprinting, roll Mind and add your rating in Mind plus 1 to the outcome, multiply by 5 to find your sprint speed. Your encumbrance limit is 10 lbs per point of Mind.
You are subject to the following effects while gliding or flying:
Lith parses all audio signals picked up though the Expanded Sensor Suite, automatically running them though a translation matrix if the have common tags indicating they're a form of higher-level communication. She then relays this back to Henry along with other environmental cues.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You may understand and communicate to humans and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
Henry takes a seat in front of the workbench, letting out a breath. The materials assembled, there was only the last step. Transferring control over to Lith, he tried to relax.
Activating the AAIA protocols requires embedded complicated arrays of nanotechnology into the item in question, and the only good source is currently the forges inside of Henry's bones. It's an unpleasant process, having your bones mined. But one must grit their teeth and tolerate it. Occasionally, various tools from the workbench are used, using copper and silicon in the place of missing pieces.
At the end, assuming the process worked as intended, the item lifts off, emitting an ultrasonic burst identifying its serial number and the fact it's currently slaved to Lith.
Stellar Navy regulations strictly prohibit the allowance of artificial intelligence operating independently of its master. However, as with all regulations, they can be bent, or broken, in emergency situations. AAIA Protocols are a set of protocols that allow such independent operation.
Typically Henry could activate them verbally, but a malfunction in one of the coproceessors in his suit leaves it unwilling to activate the protocols automatically. A manual process is... unpleasant.
Increase your sacrificial Injury's Severity by 1 and an Action. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside an SUV (4,000 liters). This Effect cannot be used unless the user is in front of an electronics workbench. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you you suffer the 'lost hand (left) battle scar, and the item you are attempting to animate is damaged. You must use up a set of carbon rods, along with a small pile of copper and silicon in order to activate this Effect.
Your target will become Animated indefinitely. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. This Artifact can maintain a max of 4 targets animated at once.
Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the user's left hand is disassembled with a set of lasers, exposing the bone. They then begin to remove some marrow from inside, fusing it into the item being animated. This is an exceedingly painful process.
If you do not have a sacrificial Injury when you activate this Effect, take a new Severity-1 Injury.
Henry places his hand upon the head of the target, and small silver tentacles emerge from the cuffs of his uniform. They caress the target, exploring the target and the possibilities of embrace. They sink gently though the flesh, searching for the secrets required.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action. Select an Animate target within arm's reach You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Dexterity + Investigation at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
If you succeed, you are able to view your target's memories. If you fail, the target knows you're attempting to read their memories.
You may ask a number of specific questions about their memory equal to your Contested Outcome. For example, “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc. You cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”
Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
The operator inserts a cylinder of liquid mercury into the sensor array, to be used as a liquid crystal medium. With line of sight to the sky, a small array is rapidly constructed out of LC, and a tachyon burst is emitted. The reflection from the ionosphere is used by the onboard AI to compile a complete mission awareness package.
After a minute, this package is displayed as a blue light holograph, floating in the air. The holograph can be panned and levels cycled though. Areas of interest are highlighted. The operator is informed.
The dossier is stored in the suit and be recalled by the operator at any time.
The Stellar Navy's intelligence departments are less spoken of, but they prefer it that way. They are responsible for informing the decision of using force, and assisting the Officer on the ground exactly how much, where, and against who. Henry misses these. In a pinch, however, Lith can do almost as well.
A standard mission dossier consists of:
A political dossier of the area
A threat analysis package
An area of interest calculation
And, of course, what every soldier loves. A map.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 1 mile This Effect cannot be used unless you have line of sight to the sky. You must use up a vial of liquid mercury in order to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
The Operator feeds a vial of liquid mercury in as a liquid crystal substitute. Over the next second, it's used to generate a micro-wormhole to the target location though which energy patterns can be observed. The output is analyzed by Lith and composed into a composite picture.
The creation of an undetectable (in this era, at least) micro-wormhole was one of Stellar Navy Intelligence's most closely guarded secrets. The ability to observe anywhere, at any time, gave an undeniable tactical advantage.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target Location within 1 mile. You must use up a vial of liquid mercury in order to activate this Effect.
You may perceive things as if you were standing at that Location for the next 30 minutes. You may move your senses back and forth between your projected location and your real location without prematurely ending the effect. You may only have one projected location active at a time.
Midnight, at Queens, New York. Bodies lay tattered over the streets as the sound of machine gunfire thunders throughout the once sleeping hours. In a restaraunt, five men unleashed the wrath of their guns, shredding and rupture any unfortunate souls to have been caught in the crossfire. In the restaraunts kitchen a lone contractor hunkers down and pray, waiting for the moment the gunfire is silenced as he cuts his leg brandishing the glock against the wound and when the hammers finally fall onto nothing and silence remains the contractor rose up drawing the handgun in his palms only for it to breakaway, strecthing wires of metal to its disembodied parts, filling the void with alloy giving form to a gattling gun. Taking it's first breath in with a hail of lead and sonorous screams.
This Artifact can be used as a handgun. It is roughly the same size as a handgun and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Battle Scar to manifest over the course of a day: Scar patterns will painfully form on the upper body of the wielder, telling their story and character to all who see. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Battle Scar heals over the course of the next day.
You also gain the following effects:
A large black briefcase. Made of real leather and stamped brass. A handle and a over-shoulder strap are available. The initials W.H are stamped into the side. The two locks on the top are made to resemble glass eyes, though it does allow the briefcase to "see" if whoever is opening it is the owner. The insides are quite spacious and padded. If the owner isn't the one to open the container the briefcase temporarily swallows the items inside and pushes up its "tounge" (the bottom of the briefcase) to resemble a normal briefcase. otherwise its just as spacious as a magical container would be.
This Artifact holds 5 times what it normally could inside of it. Objects stored inside are weightless.
Living things can be stored in this Artifact. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the Artifact in the process.
If this Artifact is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
When scanned or investigated without opening, the contents of this container appear normal and unremarkable.
On a Downtime, you may change this Artifact from one type of container to another. Maximum once per Downtime.
If anyone other than you opens the container, it appears empty. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents.
This item is a living thing. When targeted, it counts as a Living Creature in addition to its other target types. If destroyed or abandoned for more than two days, it dies and becomes unusable.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Delusion that the suitcase is your best friend. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
Every three hours the device restarts a process, as the final red light on it dims to nothingness, a slight hiss is heard if one listens closely. As over the course of thirty seconds the three lights regain their glow, first the red, followed by the yellow and green lights, ten, twenty and thirty seconds respectively, before the lights dim back down to their normal passive brightness such that only those looking closely can notice the three lights.
Within the first ruin that Russ found that contained the documents that sent him down the path that he is currently on, was the diagram for a device that is meant to connect to the spaces between the C1 to T12 vertebra. the device serves a three-fold purpose. The first being that it powers the rest of the planned augmentations to the human body through intercepting the signals that the body sends related to pain and stress. The second is that it forces the body and mind to always operate at peak performance regardless of physical or mental damage, Finally the device is the interface for future enhancements and allows those that undergo such complete transitions to maintain a sense of "humanity" or "wholeness" through sanitizing incoming and outgoing signals such that the mechanical enhancements and the fragile and erratic biological mind don't become adversarial and work together as a complete whole. Unfortunately, those who created the blueprints for this device made it far too good at its job with it attempting to prevent any signs of injury from reaching the brain, thus requiring an immense willpower to even recognize when one is beginning to bleed out. With the device even going so far as to change the information that is coming from one's own senses such that they can't even perceive the injury in themselves should it be pointed out to them. While the device is attached to the spinal column it can be removed through a delicate and time-consuming process of unlinking the parts from the body, but should one violently be ripped out of a user's body the damage could prove to be debilitating.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Delusion: Unbreakable (When this character receives an injury, they must roll self control to become aware of it. This character may not take actions to stabilize or heal any injury they are unaware of and must roll self-control to accept treatment of such injuries from others). If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
"The otherwise sleek coat is covered with bloodstains of an unknown origin.
Some employees may brag about the bloodstain as a symbol of courage, but it has been there since the archetype was extracted. Perhaps it is the commemoration of all the tragedies of the past and the future.
People used to be afraid of machines in the beginning, but a mechanical rebellion soon became a myth of the past in our world."
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming damage from all sources of physical attack except WHITE DAMAGE. Armor from multiple sources does not stack.
Your Armor cannot be destroyed, and it always provides a minimum of 2 Armor regardless of any Armor penetration. It cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
"The sharp sawtooth of the grinder makes a clean cut through its enemy. Its operation is simple and straightforward, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy to wield.
As machines have no morals of their own, there was no clear boundary between good and evil. This disregard for value is precisely reflected by the weapon’s reliable dicing force.
People used to be afraid of machines in the beginning, but a mechanical rebellion soon became a myth of the past in our world."
This Artifact can be used as a thrusting sword. It is roughly the same size as a thrusting sword and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +6 Weapon Damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The "Reaper" Assault Helmet is the signature piece of the Future Soldier's arsenal. It has a sleek, design and is made of a mysterious matte-metallic alloy. The wearer's face is exposed normally, but when activated, a blue holographic visor flickers to life in front of the eyes. This HUD contains information about the soldier's ammunition and shield status, but more significantly can detect enemy combatants. Anyone nearby who is holding a weapon is painted with a red dot that follows them in real time. This allows the Future Soldier to fire at painted targets in the dark, detect ambushes lurking around corners, and grants an overall tactical advantage.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You automatically detect all people wielding weapons within 300 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.
The Predatory Raiment has a cloak feature that allows its owner to hide themselves and their equipment with active camouflage. When viewed, they look like a slightly shifted and shimmering version of the surrounding environment.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are not at all wet and you are wearing this Artifact.
You and everything you are carrying is obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you or your equipment specifically from other, additional senses fails automatically.
If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.
When Winter Fang's glittering string is drawn, an ice arrow crystalizes nocked and ready to fire. These ice arrows melt quickly after piercing their foes, leaving deadly wounds instead of evidence.
This Artifact can be used as a bow. It is roughly at least twice as large as a bow and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +3 Weapon Damage. Attacks do not require a successful called shot to do damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, containers, knots, or locks within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
If the Selkie's seal skin is worn close to the body, any contact with salt water will cause them to transform into a seal. While transformed, they have full access to their normal suite of Powers.
This Effect activates whenever you are submerged in salt water. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event.
You transform into small for two hours or until you choose to end the Effect. See the Extended System text for stats.
While transformed, you cannot use any equipment (including Artifacts and Consumables), and you cannot use your Active, Targeted, or Trap Powers. However, you can use your Passive Powers. Any equipment you are wearing transforms with you.
Injuries and Wound Level are carried over between forms. However, transforming can never kill you; you merely remain Incapacitated until your Injuries are sufficiently healed.