Cyber Tech

Of the 8 Career Skills, choose 4 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Technician Career Skills: Astrogation, Computers, Coordination, Discipline, Knowledge (Outer Rim), Mechanics, Perception and Piloting (Planetary)

Cyber Tech Specialization Skills: Athletics, Mechanics. Medicine and Vigilance

Many people think of the body as a machine. After all, it can fulfill complex functions, must be maintained, and wears down over time. When pieces of the body fail or need to be repaired, cyberneticists can help restore function and improve the qualiLy of patients' lives. While many Cyber Techs focus their craft emirely on replacing the lost or damaged body parts of patients, others see no reason not to upgrade and modify bodies just as they would other tools.

The Cyber Tech specialization gives a Technician a way to explore the realm of medicine, using technical and biological know how to craft and maintain cybernetics. as well as Lo integrate them into living bodies. Given this ability to skillfully alter bodies with cybernetics. Most Cyber Techs perform at least some upgrades on themselves. The degree and subtlety of an individual Cyber Tech's upgrades tend to depend on the individual's culture. species. and personal beliefs. Within some cultures, extensive cybernetic augmentation is considered unusual or even taboo.

Despite the advantages of cybernetics, which many Cyber Techs are quick to point out, most humans and members of many other species tend not to seek out substantial enhancemem unless absolutely necessary. Replacing a lost limb with a cybernetic one is common sense, but for most, the prospect of lopping off a healthy limb to replace it with a stronger one is another maLler entirely. Still, among most sentient species with the necessary technology, there are those who have reasons for wanting to surpass flesh.

Other groups and individuals hold no such qualms about removing flesh, bones, and organs to replace them with what Cyber Techs see as undoubtedly superior components. Ganks, for instance, are a species known for their heavy use of cybernetic augmenLation; completely unmodified Ganks are very rare. Droids. of course, have a special relationship with artificial limbs, and most droids desire periodic part replacements for maintenance.

A Cyber Tech can take on extra cybernetics, and can improve augmentations far beyond their normal capacities. Further, a Cyber Tech can assist comrades with medical care and by replacing body parts with cybernetics, though most beings only accept this help after losing a body part no matter how fervently the Cybcr Tech speaks to the virtues of replacing squishy, unreliable flesh and organs with cold, sturdy steel.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Antiquarian: Life is perhaps the strangest phenomenon in a galaxy filled with nigh-unfathomable wonders ranging from black holes to gravity itself. In the face of hardship, life leverages its environment to its advantage. For intelligent forms of life, this frequently includes the development of mechanical prosthetics by Cyber Techs. However, sentient beings are as varied as they are adaptable, and cybernetic technologies are not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Not all species have nervous systems that function in the same way—and some do not have them at all, at least in the traditional sense. By seeking out the myriad ways in which different intelligent species across space and time have enhanced their bodies, a Cyber Tech can uncover incredible innovations in mechanical science and medicine alike.
  • Born Engineer: A uniquely skilled Cyber Tech might have discovered this particular specialty when the character suddenly lost a limb or crucial organ. Whether the injury was due to an industrial accident, a violent altercation, or a disease, the character might have first become familiar with cybernetics through maintenance of personal devices, and thus uncovered an innate talent for crafting and implanting these mechanical prosthetics. The character’s expertise might be largely self-taught, combining an intuitive understanding with practical know-how picked up during years of using cybernetics.
  • Tech Designer: Cybernetic prosthetics are already almost unbelievably advanced, capable of not only mimicking the function of a lost limb, but even of transmitting sensations to the user just like a flesh and blood equivalent. However, some Cyber Techs are hardly content to rest on these laurels. For these individuals, cybernetics are not merely a means to restore lost functionality, but an opportunity to pursue abilities a fully organic being could never attain. These Tech Designers frequently do not confine their ideas to the traditional form of a species, instead designing cybernetics that fulfill their functions best. These “optimizations” might be as small as additional limbs for added utility or as vast as completely replacing the body with a frame of wire and steel. While many cringe at such a thought, these innovators hold with certainty that, as always, progress is inevitable.
  • Underworld Tech Expert: For crime lords, being able to have people put back together is almost as important as being able to take them apart in the first place. A Cyber Tech might have once been kept on retainer by a criminal organization, patching up enforcers and bosses or maintaining their temperamental cybertechnology. Such an individual is often indispensable, which makes leaving in one piece very difficult. Of course, the ability to rebuild oneself completely makes crafting a new identity after escaping much easier.