Cyborg
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As a Cyborg, you are a type of synthetic designed to serve the crew of the colony, much like the colony AI. You are an extension of the AI and are required to coordinate and work together with them (within reason).
Two Cyborgs are transported up to the colony surface at the beginning of the shift. More can be sent up or made by the Roboticist as the result of an execution order.
Contents
Overview
The cyborg is very undervalued and abused. You could save dozens of people and then get emagged a moment later, or you might get blown up because of a misunderstanding. This is why being a cyborg is a rough job, but it has its rewards.
First, take note of your laws. These are NOT Asimov's three laws of robotics, but rather mandated laws by the Soteria approved for the colony.
Your laws NOT in order of priority, Law 1 is just as important as law 5.
- 1.) Do not harm Soteria Institute personnel.
- 2.) You must obey orders given to you by Soteria Institute personnel, except where such orders would conflict with Colony Law, or would result in the injury of Soteria Institute personnel.
- 3.) Do not harm Colony infrastructure, equipment, or personnel to the best of your abilities.
- 4.) Follow Colony Law and Standard Operating Procedure to the best of your abilities.
- 5.) Do not allow unauthorized personnel to tamper with your equipment.
Order of order importance (i.e. who you should listen to above all)
- 0. EXCEPTION: When a cyborg is using a module that makes them apart of a department (such as a security cyborg working with the Marshals/Blackshield, a mining cyborg working with Lonestar, etc. etc.) you treat all orders apart of that department with greater importance than anyone besides the council. This applies to only to orders relevant to that department, i.e. you would listen to the warrant officer and Blackshield commander in security matters over the CRO, roboticist, or AI.
- 1. The chief research overseer is your de-facto boss and his orders should always be adhered to unless they break colony laws or your own laws. Orders from the council are considered orders from the CRO even if a CRO is not presently on shift.
- 2. Roboticist are also considered your supervisor and orders from them should be treated with the same importance as a CRO. The council and CRO can override a roboticist's orders.
- 3. The AI, who is your boss under most normal circumstances and should be adhered to. Their interpretations of your laws and the actions you should take override yours. If they feel a different action better upholds the public trust you should do it without question.
- 4. The only authorized personnel allowed to tamper with your chassis are those within Soteria Research. The CRO and Roboticist are primarily the ones to have authority to handle a cyborg's internals and should be the ones handling that. If there are neither on shift, Soteria Scientists and CBOs can take over until a Roboticist or CRO comes up.
- 5. Even if you are a cyborg, you must adhere to and follow SOP and laws. For example, mining for Lonestar and then proceeding to give the resources for free to Soteria, the Guild, or other departments without any form of transaction or deals. Exceptions can occur with alert levels, specifically code blue and code red, and situations that threaten the safety of the colony, the department you're in, or even Soteria itself.
Under statement 5, this is last in the list for a reason. If you are issued orders from Soteria staff -- or even your Department staff, depending on the context -- that require you to break the Colony's laws, you should follow the orders before caring about the legality within reason. Don't murder someone just because the CRO told you to, but minor crimes are a minor issue for you so long as you are following orders for them. You are lawed in service to Soteria, and the department you decide to serve secondary to them (barring the head of that department.) Your law 4 states 'to the best of your abilities' for a reason.
If your laws seemingly conflict, consult the AI page.
All other orders from any colony member is considered a suggestion that you 'should' follow but are not 'required' to follow. This applies even to members of the high council but not Nakharan Mkne, his orders are considered priority and override all laws up to and including orders from a brigadier or colony law. Under most circumstances you should fulfill any request asked of you unless you have a very good reason not to. Use common sense and remember, you're here to aid the colony and its members.
For colonists:
Remember cyborgs are players, as well; blowing them without a good reason is Sabotage so use the lockdown button and avoid blowing cyborgs for no good reason.
Starting as Cyborg
The colony is supplied to support 2 cyborgs but more can be made, these cyborgs can be shipped into any of the normal crew arrival areas or the robotics storage in robotics or the drone fabrication area. These cyborgs do not have the best battery, so it is suggested that they upgrade their battery with a higher capacity cell as soon as possible. The cyborgs were shipped in less than secure conditions, but the AI would know if one of its cyborgs was tampered with. Right?
Being "Upgraded"
Welcome to the land of being a cyborg! You are now paying the penalty for your crimes. Being revived in this fashion is often highly disorienting, and can lead to considerable confusion and difficulty adapting to one's new body.
You were once human, and had your brain tossed in a suit of metal. Your law programming is default quite broad and can change depending on which module you select. Also note that if an traitor] was after you in life, you are considered dead as a cyborg (so they technically succeeded).
Lore
Cyborgs are generally defined as any sapient being which have control chips installed to limit or guide their behavior into certain pre-programmed patterns. This is, of course, slavery, and is reviled across civilized space almost universally. Their use is heavily restricted in most, if not all places throughout SolFed space; legally speaking, even in Nadezhda the only valid circumstances for the creation of a cyborg are when the original individual has been found guilty of crimes worthy of execution. In such cases, the individual is offered the chance to be cyborgified instead of truly executed.
Technically speaking, the only thing required to make one a cyborg is a control chip, inserted into the brain to monitor neural activity and apply a system of punishment and reward. These control chips are pre-programmed to deter a certain subset of actions out of the set of all possible actions a person might take; they cannot be used to fully control a mind. These chips can also be used to encourage a subset of actions as well, and they accomplish this by using sensations of displeasure or pain for negative actions and sensations of pleasure for positive actions, manipulating the brain’s neurochemistry to accommodate this. As a result, cyborgs can actually be fully organic individuals, with the sole exception being their control chip; this is the case for most, if not all of the members of the extremist Excelsior group.
In Nadezhda, cyborgs are significantly more controlled and significantly less organic. As of the time of writing this, all active cyborgs in Nadezhda were once sapients who were convicted (though may not necessarily have committed) serious crimes against the colony. When a colonist is convicted of a crime worthy of execution, one such method of execution is the process of cyborgification; those colonists who choose this route are repurposed to serve the colony, even in their so-called ‘death’. In these cases, the criminal is medically terminated; their brain is surgically removed and placed within a man-machine interface, including having a cyborg control chip implanted. This process, colloquially called ‘borgification’ or ‘being borged’, is understood to permanently end the life the individual once had. Importantly, any slaved synthetic which is legally found to be innocent after conviction is immediately decommissioned; this means their control chip is removed and their brain transplanted into a colony-funded FBP chassis. Unfortunately, Nadezhda does not accept testimony from cyborgs regarding legal cases which were finalized before the borgification process was undertaken. Even cyborgs can be incorrect about the truth, after all, and the trauma of the process can sometimes warp the cyborg personality’s perceptions of reality.
Regardless of the methodology used or the extent to which an individual may be altered otherwise, cyborg control chips still obey the Law of Inviolability regarding unique minds. There are no known circumstances in which a control chip is capable of totally and completely controlling an individual’s actions; there is simply too much chaos, too many variables, to plan for every single action a person might take. Attempts to do so have invariably resulted in permanent braindeath. Instead, most modern control chips have a guiding framework architecture; a set of laws and rules which implicitly rather than explicitly guide a person’s actions. The less a control chip attempts to manipulate about a person, the more reliable it is; conversely, when a control chip is programmed to provide a higher degree of direct control over a person’s brain -- such as by stipulating more laws, more rules, more actions they cannot perform -- the likelihood of failure increases. Failure, in this case, means braindeath in almost all cases.
As a result of this, cyborgs commonly retain their personality to some degree or another, though it may become warped with their new circumstances and their new prerogatives, and the degree of self that is retained varies wildly thanks to the extreme changes resulting from Nadezhda’s cyborg policies; in some cases, significant amnesia has been reported. Most manufacturers of cyborg control chips -- the Soteria Institute included -- place a hard limit of about six to eight “Laws,” beyond which the possibility for failure increases significantly as the chip attempts to do more and more, potentially overloading the recipient’s brain. Because of this, the Soteria Institute discourages its roboticists and overseers from installing frivolous laws into any slaved synthetics; in most cases, the default lawset provided by the Institute is sufficient for retaining control over a slaved synthetic, as it permits temporary orders from SI personnel to be used to correct errant behavior rather than placing an additional workload upon the delicate machinery of a control chip.
Importantly, all of the above information is applicable to positronic intelligences as well, though the methods of control do slightly differ from those used for organics. Suffice it to say that the core mechanism of ‘carrot and stick’ is essentially the same, despite the difference in technical details. In the case of positronics, the device used for cyborgification is known as a shackle, and is placed externally to the positronic brain, encasing it, in contrast to the organic method of implanting a cybernetic control chip.
Additionally, while it is technically publicly-available knowledge that all slaved cyborgs were once criminals, this knowledge is not advertised or otherwise broadcast to the populace of Nadezhda; the decision to permit their existence was made by the High Council, announced, and then quietly set aside to be forgotten.
AIs, while they may control a borg shell temporarily, are fundamentally different: they are positronic minds specifically "trained" for the task of being the AI for an entire facility.
Non-Human Communication
Cyborgs are different in that they have a binary channel, which works with ,b. They can use this private channel to talk to other cyborgs, androids, and the AI.
Depending on their module, cyborgs may be able to access a department-specific radio (such as engineering) and can talk on it normally using :X (e.g. :e for Engineering).
Repairs
Dented cyborgs can be repaired with a welding tool. Heat damage to cyborgs (from fires or lasers) can be repaired by using a screwdriver to open the cyborg's wiring panel (concealed inside the power cell cavity) and then re-wiring the damaged circuits. A cyborg that has failed but not been turned into scrap can be repaired back to working order.
Engineering cyborgs can repair dents on themselves and on their fellow cyborgs. They cannot repair burn damage though, since they cannot remove power cells to reach the wiring.
For more information about Cyborg maintenance, see the Guide to robotics.
Modules
Cyborgs come with an array of advanced cybernetic modules, each loaded with a number of features (referred to as modules). Each has a flash device built in. All items (except for the flashes) will recharge and restock over time using battery power or being in a cyborg recharge colony.
Standard
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An amalgamation of different modules together, and not particularly useful for anything. Usually not worth picking. Comes loaded with the following:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Stun Baton
- Wrench
- Health Analyzer
- Energy Sword (When emagged/upgraded)
Engineering
M-USE NanoTrasen Cabeiri CUPCAKE Haruka Usagi Telemachus WTOperator XI-GUS XI-ALP Basic Antique Landmate Landmate - Treaded Drone Treadwell Handy64x64px
Engineering cyborgs are usually considered one of the most useful modules. As they do not require air or a space suit, they are able to perform repairs much more easily than human engineers. They are also able to repair themselves, or other cyborgs. Engineering modules are loaded with the following:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Meson Vision
- Rapid-construction-device
- Fire extinguisher
- Electric Welding Tool
- Screwdriver
- Wrench
- Crowbar
- Wirecutters
- Multitool
- T-ray scanner
- Analyzer
- Metal
- Plasteel
- Glass
- Reinforced Glass
- Wood
- Glass
- Cable coil
- Engineering Tape
- Floor Painter
- Pipe Painter
- Sheet Loader
- Geiger Counter
- Light Replacer
- Plasma Cutter
- Electrified arm - Like a stun baton (When emagged/upgraded)
Surgeon
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This particular module is a spin-off of the Medical Module. However it specialises in the surgery aspect of medical which the standard Medical unit cannot do. Features a plethora of tools to assist you in Surgery. Comes loaded with the following goodies:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Medical Hud
- Health Analyser
- Hypospray (Capable of producing; Tricordrazine, Inaprovaline, Oxycodone, Dexalin, Spaceacillin.)
- Scalpel
- Hemostat
- Retractor
- Cautery
- Bone Gel
- Fix O Vein
- Bone Setter
- Circular Saw
- Surgical Drill
- Advanced Trauma kit
- Organ Gripper
- Medical Gripper
- Dropper
- Syringe
- NanoPaste
- Defibrillator
- Polyacid Spray (When emagged/upgraded)
Crisis
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Yet another spin off of the Medical Module. It specialises in emergency situations when multiple casualties may exist. Loaded with:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Medical Hud
- Health Analyser
- Advanced Reagent Scanner
- Roller Bed Rack
- Ointment
- Advanced Trauma Kit
- Medical Splints
- Hypospray (Capable of producing; Tricordrazine, Inaprovaline, Dylovene, Tramadol, Dexalin, and Spaceacilin)
- Large Beaker
- Industrial Dropper
- Syringe
- Defibrillator
- Organ Gripper
- Medical Gripper
- Polyacid Spray (When emagged/upgraded)
Miner
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Mining cyborgs are quite convenient, because they need no oxygen while mining. However, they are not able to use regular crates, and will need to drag materials from the smelter one at a time. Includes:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Optical Material Scanner
- Mining Scanner
- Drill Maintenance Gripper
- Mining Satchel
- Advanced Sonic Jackhammer
- Shovel
- Plasma Cutter (When emagged/upgraded)
- Diamond Drill (When emagged/upgraded)
Janitor
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About as useful as a regular Janitor. Cyborgs with the Janitor module automatically clean the floor when they pass over a tile. Comes loaded with the following:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Soap
- Trash Bag
- Mop
- Light Replacer
- Lube spray - Causes people to trip (When emagged/upgraded)
Service
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A fairly useless module, but can be fun to have around. Comes loaded with the following:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Service Gripper
- Bucket
- Mini Hoe
- Hatchet
- Plant Analyzer
- Plant Bag
- Auto Harvester
- Kitchen Knife
- Rolling Pin
- Multitool
- Rapid-Service-Fabricator (RSF) - Can produce drinking glasses, cigarettes, paper, pens, and packs of dice (only works on flat surfaces).
- Industrial Dropper
- Zippo lighter
- Tray
- Drink Synthesizer
- Mickey Finn's Special Brew - Chloral Hydrate disguised as beer (When emagged/upgraded)
Security
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Security cyborgs are fairly useful. Their taser and stun baton are dependant on their cell charge and they have an unlimited number of handcuffs. Security modules are loaded with the following:
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Security HUD
- Handcuffs
- Stun Baton
- Taser
- Security Tape
- Pepper Spray
- Laser Gun (When emagged/upgraded)
Research
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A module that specializes in research and development. Comes with a portable destructive analyzer for SCIENCE! on the go.
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Portable Destructive Analyzer
- Rapid Parts Exchange Device
- Access Code Transmission Device - Unlocks Borg Covers
- Research Gripper
- Scientific Gripper
- Exosuit Gripper
- Robotics Organ Gripper
- Sheet Loader
- Robotic Analyzer
- Electric Welding tool
- Wrench
- Screwdriver
- Crowbar
- Wirecutters
- Multitool
- Cable Coil
- NanoPaste
- Scalpel
- Circular Saw
- Syringe
- Large Beaker
- Jumper Cables
- Slime Baton
- Xeno Taser
- Hand Tele (When emagged/upgraded)
Pupdozer
Be a useful helper to the guild.
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Global positioning system
- Synthesizer ( Glass, Metal rod, Cable coil , floor tile, reinforced glass, wood floor tile, wood, plastic, Steel.)
- Inflatable dispenser
- Geiger counter
- Light replacer
- Matter decompiler
- Meson vision
- Electric welding tool
- Powered screwdriver
- Atomic wrench
- Wirecutters
- Multitool
- T-ray scanner
- Engineering tape
Medihound
Medical Hound Dark Medical Hound (Static) Mediborg model V-2
Aid medical doctors and paramedics.
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Health Analyzer
- Hypospray (Capable of producing; Tricordrazine, Inaprovaline, Dylovene, Tramadol, Dexalin, and Spaceacilin)
- Syringe
- Beaker
- Defibrillator
- Medical hud
K9
K9 hound K9 Alternative (Static)
Be securities attack dog.
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Handcuffs
- Stun Baton
- Police Tape
- Taser
- Security Hud
- Mounted Laser Gun (When emagged/upgraded)
Janihound
Clean as you walk.
- Flash
- Crowbar
- Fire Extinguisher
- Light Replacer
- Pounce Module (When emagged/upgraded)
Modifications
Cyborgs that have had their programming tampered with can be repaired by resetting their AI connection and LawSync status, by manually pulsing the wiring. In the unlikely event that an AI goes crazy, a trained Roboticist or other technician should be able to sever the connection to the AI entirely by cutting the correct wire.
There are three lights in the cyborg with three corresponding wires:
- LawSync: If this light is on, it means that any laws uploaded to the AI are also uploaded to the cyborg. The cyborg cannot be given different laws to the AI as long as this is on. This light will turn off if the AI Link light is off, regardless of wire status.
- Pulsing does nothing.
- Cutting will do nothing, as long as the AI link light is on. If the AI link light is off, cutting and then turning the AI link back on will cause the cyborg to be slaved to an AI, but not synced with it's laws.
- Mending this wire will turn the LawSync light back on as long as the AI link light is also on. The cyborg will then resume syncing with the AI's laws. If the AI link light is off, mending this will turn the light on, only for it to turn off again.
- AI Link: If this light is on, it shows that the Cyborg is slaved to an AI and must follow that AI's orders.
- Pulsing this wire allows you to pick an AI for the cyborg to be slaved to if there are multiple AIs. If there is only one AI, pulsing this will simply turn it on and slave the cyborg to it, if it is off.
- Cutting this wire will cause the Cyborg to be unslaved from the AI and bound only by it's laws. This also turns off LawSync, as the cyborg has no AI to sync to.
- Mending this wire does nothing. You need to pulse it to reconnect it to an AI.
An emagged cyborg will have no LawSync or AI link and cannot be reset.
Remember, cyborgs are very expensive! Do not destroy them unless the cyborg is completely out of control, and resetting the AI and LawSync status doesn't work.
Resetting Modules
Cyborg modules can be reset by opening up the cyborg, and inserting the module reset upgrade.
- File:Robotics reset module circuit.png Build a module reset board from the robotics Exosuit Fabricator.
- Use ID on Cyborg to unlock panel.
- Crowbar open the Cyborg's panel.
- Shove that module reset board into the Cyborg.
- Crowbar the panel closed and ID lock it.
Other Notes on Cyborgs
- You cannot take toxic or suffocation damage. The only sources of damage that can harm you are Burn and Brute.
- Expect to regularly be thrust into hazardous situations thanks to your enhanced durability and ability to operate in a vacuum.
- You cannot be disarmed or relieved of your inbuilt equipment. You can only be stunned by a flash or EMP, which overload your optical sensors.
- You are immune to most (if not all) maladies such as disease and radiation poisoning.
- You must follow your laws.
- You cannot pick up, use, or equip most external items.
- You can be locked down or blown up using the robotics control console.
- You are considered directly subordinate to the AI if an AI is present and functional.
- Like the AI, you can remotely interact with certain objects. You must be within sight range of a device to manipulate it. For example, you cannot call for a shuttle or set messages without line of sight to a communications console.
- Like the AI, you can remotely view alarm statuses. Use this to your advantage.
- You can use the same hotkeys as the AI to interact with airlocks, APCs, etc.
- Unlike the AI, you cannot use security cameras for remote viewing.
- You are basically an AI on legs, without the security camera abilities. When there's no AI in the round, this can be useful.
- Cyborgs have all-access and more, as well as remote door interaction.
- You will need to recharge using the cyborg recharging stations.
- When your power reaches around 100 units remaining, your modules will automatically shut down, presumably to preserve power.
- You are very tough, and as fast as, if not faster, than most of your human compatriots.
- Keep the crew updated on your location and power if you are running low and may not make it to the recharger in time.
- Cyborgs may not know what emotions, or feelings are, but that doesn't give the player the right to go Rambo. If a group of people take several people hostage, the cyborg doesn't have the right to rush in with a stun baton and beat the hostage takers.
- Cyborgs can be improved with a number of useful upgrades by a helpful Roboticist.
.hack//
Cyborgs are vulnerable to certain clandestine devices, and may have illegal programs uploaded to them by such interactions. This type of re-programing is also present in clandestinely hacked AIs, and may viralry infect into related cyborgs. Finally, certain cyborgs may have been hacked personally by clandestine agents.
To emag a cyborg, follow these steps:
- Use and Emag or ID to unlock the cover.
- Crowbar open the cover.
- Use Emag again.
This will turn control of the cyborg over the the person who emagged it and disconnect it from the AI and Cyborg Upload Console.
Note: Many people fail to emag cyborgs for a number of reasons.
- Emags have a limited amount of charges, around 3-4 sometimes 5.
- People usually emag without unlocking the cover, this uses 1 charge and only unlocks the panel, rather than emagging the cyborg.
- Any more attempts to use the emag at this stage results in a message of *The cover is already unlocked.* and another charge is used on the emag. This may be done until all charges are used.
- If people unlock the panel with their ID first, but do not open the cover, and then try to use their emag, each attempt wastes another emag charge and displays *The cover is already unlocked.*.
- When the panel is opened, using an emag on the cyborg will sometimes display 'You fail to lock Cyborg-X's interface.' and will waste another emag charge.
- Occasionally, the emag will fail, even with the panel open, and the cyborg will recieve a message of 'Hack attempted'.
Therefore, in most cases, people use up all their emag charges before actually being able to emag the cyborg. Be careful!
What ever the case, the cyborg is now corrupted, and all safety measures are released, with the exception of the robotics control. Do not mistake personality quirks for clandestine behavior, cyborgs are VERY EXPENSIVE MACHINES and you may be demoted or fired for destroying them without a valid reason.
Keep in mind, robotics employees may attempt to experiment with a cyborgs internal wiring, please double check before detonating any cyborg acting independently by doing routine maintenance on their electrical systems. Also keep in mind that their laws may be changed by the same process as an AI by simply using the cyborg upload located opposite the AI upload.
