Module 2: Gatecrashing This module may be taken at any point when the Jumper prepares to travel through a Pandora Gate. It may be taken along with the Firewall module. Whether you won it in the Gate Lottery, bought precious minutes of Gate time from Pathfinder, was gifted the Gate access by a sponsor, or seized it by force, you've done it - a Pandora Gate stands before you, beckoning you, something few transhumans experience except in documentary XPs. The absolute black of the sphere seems to have an almost magnetic force, compelling you onwards, while the baroque metal arms that surround the wormhole itself seem almost to hum with power. I'm sure you'll be fine, but all the same, it might be worth considering sending a fork through while you stay safe and sound at home. Not every gatecrasher comes back, and of those who return, very few are the same. Your Gatecrashing adventure may consist of being based at a Gate in the solar system and embarking on short missions through and back, or you might go for the full-on gate-hopping experience and wave goodbye to Sol, travelling deeper and deeper into the Pandora Gate network and living a nomadic lifestyle on undiscovered planets, perhaps never to return to Sol at all. You get +0.00 credit points, but can take Gatecrashing Encounters for more cp. Creating your Gatecrashing Team While travelling through the Pandora Gates, it’s sometimes best to have an experienced team of “crashers” with you. You may recruit up to four Gatecrashers for free and purchase additional crashers for 50cp each up to a max of eight, but you don’t have to recruit a full four, or even any at all. Importing an existing companion to gain their background and skills costs an extra 50cp. Being Gatecrashers, they are already predisposed to exploring new worlds and moving on, so once this jump is over, any surviving Gatecrashers may become companions and they will each take up their own companion slot. It is entirely to your fanwanking how you recruit or meet them during your jump and how you got them to tag along – some might be up for crashing new exoplanets on a lark, others might be strictly mercenary. Others may have required more…emphatic persuasion. 61 Gatecrasher Dossiers Each Gatecrasher has a profile listing their name, gender, faction, morph, speciality and motivations, as well as a blurb about them. They all have, at minimum, “Cutting Edge [Skill Package] Mods” as well as the free gear for any skill packages listed, as well as a lot of experience working in their speciality and at least minimal training in all the general skills required by Gatecrashers: • Standard Gate exploration protocols and procedures, • Standard survey protocols and procedures, • Basic exo-planet survival skills, • Basic combat training, • Basic emergency rescue and first aid training. Please note that this is mostly writefagging fodder: You can have someone with a “–Hypercorps” (they hate hypercorps) motivation in the same team as a Hypercorp crasher, it just means you’ll get to manage their clashing personalities in your story. Some of these characters probably even know each other or have a history – the gatecrasher community is relatively small. For example Hawking has probably heard of Craig (and vice versa) by reputation. Any absent details, such as their exact augmentations and equipment, I largely leave to your fanwanking and your Jumper’s wallet and rep. Name Faction Morph Role 1 Cain Anderson M Brinker Bouncer (biomorph) Scout/Security 2 Pati Nyamuraya F Argonaut Futura (biomorph) Ecologist 3 Hua Chang O Hypercorp Mod, Specialist Pod Astrophysicist (Pod) 4 Quinton Daal M Titanian Faust (Biomorph) Computronics, 2IC 5 Janet Hawking F Autonomist Reaper (Synthmorph) Security 6 Bruce Wallace M Sifter Daitya (Synthmorph) Excavation/Mining 7 Craig O’Connell M Barsoomian Novacrab (Pod) Security 8 KK F Scum Hot Shot (infomorph) eWar/Biochem 9 P+1 O Hypercorp Sage (Informorph) Xenotechnology 10 Malcolm Zimmermann M Extropian Flexbot (synthmorph) Nanotech/Science 11 Rhianna Kadtz F Preservationists Observer (biomorph) Xenoarcheologist 12 Alto Coda O Argonauts Neo-Beluga (biomorph) Oceanographer/Medic 13 Cha Ling O Ultimates Remade (Biomorph) Security 14 Tanaka Umi S M Singularity Seeker Agent Infomorph Sysadmin 15 Violet F Mercurial Chickcharnie (Pod) Psychosurgeon/scientist 16 Diamondmind O Exhuman Mod. Arachnid (synth) Security/Medic 17 Rippling Surface M Criminal Octomorph (biomorph) Security/Pilot (Hidden Concern) 18 Camilla Tannerson F Jovian Flat (biomorph) Engneering/2IC 19 Lim F Extropian Vacuum Pod (Pod) Vacuum ops/mechanic 20 Caliban O Criminal Mimic (Synthmorph) Scout/Security (Night Cartel) 62 1. Name: Cain Anderson Gender: M Faction: Brinker Role: Scout/Prospector Morph: Bouncer (Biomorph) Motivations: +Exploration, +Self Improvement, -Collectivism Cain was recruited by TerraGenesis early in the history of Gate exploration. The high casualty rate of early exploration means that he hasn’t made too many friends as an emotional defence against losing them. He is a bit of a lone wolf, but an excellent recon scout. You can point him in a direction and trust him to find anything worthwhile that way. He's had a fair bit of online science training through Argonaut educational programs, and gives very precise reports on whatever he finds. He doesn't like to speak, preferring to file reports via mesh text or have his muse deliver them. Cain uses his prehensile feet to move through trees or dense obstacles like a native, and he’s done his fair share of zero-g ops, including infiltrating sealed habitats and spacecraft. Cain gets anxious in crowds, but alone on an alien planet he never feels more at home. He has the Acrobatics, Infiltrator, Investigator and Prospector skill packages. 2. Name: Pati Chawla Gender: F Faction: Argonaut Role: Ecologist/Exoplanetary Science Morph: Futura (Biomorph) Motivations: +Personal Freedom +Environment –Jovian Republic Pati is one of the Lost: a failed attempt to speed-grow humans in accelerated virtual reality to maturity and then implant the egos in adult morphs. Somehow, they all got infected with the Watts- McLeod exurgent strain and now have a reputation for being crazy asyncs (which is mostly true). Despite her ethnicity, Pati is a pale, tall young woman with a shock of neon hair and a bad case of paranoia after the Jovians tried to kidnap her for their Freak squads. She managed to get away to the Love and Rage Collective, and hates the Jovians with a passion. She has done her best to conceal her origins and history online, but is still “wanted for questioning” in the Republic. Aside from her desire not to be interfered with, she is a passionate preservationist and a well-schooled environmental scientist – though she is fairly new to field work. Her main issues at the moment are dreams of alien forms and nightmares about her own body. Something inside her is repulsed by the human form, but she lacks the conviction and resources to act on the xenophillic urge so far. Pati has the Xeno-Empathy & Grok psi-chi sleights and the Mindlink psi-gamma sleight. She also has the Psi Sense, Psi Control, and Academics (Ecology, Biology, Geophysics) skill packages. 63 3. Name: Hua Chang Gender: Other Faction: Hypercorp Role: Astrophysicist Morph: Heavily upgraded Specialist Pod (Pod) Motivations: +Science +Hypercapitalism -Non-human Rights Hua is one of the foremost astrophysicists in the gatecrashing community. On top of his professional qualifications, he’s got decades of experience – he’d be 94 and frail if he hadn’t resleeved into his current morph, but is still enthusiastic and driven: the new skies observable through the Pandora Gates have been a breath of fresh air to him – he would probably be languishing in the Immortality Blues if they hadn’t been discovered. While he usually works for hypercorp interests, it’s more accurate to say that he just follows the money – even if the money is in the hands of autonomists or Jovians. Unfortunately, like many of his generation, he’s not too accepting of anyone who has “discarded their humanity”, by which he means anyone who isn’t in a human-like body. Hua has the Academics (Astronomy, Astrophysics, Physics), Megaengineering, Hard Hat and Social Skill Packages 4. Name: Quinton Dallas Gender: Male Faction: Titanian Role: Computronics, 2IC, Async Morph: Faust (Biomorph) Motivations: +Wealth +Exploration +Science Like Pati, Quinton is an async. Unlike Pati, he was infected with Watts-McLeod in its natural environment during a research stint on Iapetus. Also unlike Pati, he uses his async status as a weapon, playing up the mystique and even getting a small pair of cosmetic devil horns grown on his temples. His aptitude for computronics landed him the role on Iapetus, and he has significant experience being isolated in small teams from the rest of transhumanity. Large and in-charge, he’ll do his best to prove himself as a leader. This could cause some friction with the expedition’s current leader (ie: you), but if you can curb his ambitions, he would actually make a very competent second- in-command. Quinton’s passions are high drama XPs and vids, especially historical dramas from the pre-industrial age. Quinton’s async status gives him auditory hallucinations whenever he passes through a Pandora Gate – whispered voices that seem to indicate whether things will go good or bad, but he’d never admit such a thing to others, and isn’t sure whether he’s imagining it or not. He has the Pattern Recognition, Savant Calculation and Hyperthymesia Psi-chi sleights, as well as the Academics (Computer sciences, Microengineering, Quantum Physics), Leadership, & Psi Control Skill Packages.