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Bionics And Implant Technology

Bionic Parts

Although bionic limbs are not truly alive, most make use of artificial nerve endings to prevent the owner unwittingly losing an expensive limb by not realising when it is being damaged. Additionally, damage to a bionic limb tends to wrench apart the metal-flesh interface region, potentially causing severe bleeding. The effect of this is that damage to bionic limbs has the same effect as if the limb was organic.

Prosthetic limbs, on the other hand, are totally inert and damage to them does not pass onto the owner.

Bionic limbs vary drastically in quality. The crudest are little more than mechanised prosthetics, ugly, oversized and inefficient. Meanwhile, the best are so advanced as to exceed anything achievable by a normal human, and may be camouflaged to appear as if they were normal, organic limbs. Many military casualties fitted with such limbs will strip off the synthetic flesh coating to display the highly polished interior, wearing their limbs as badges of pride.

Crude bionic parts may be vulnerable to corrosion from salty air or seawater. This will damage the limbs, causing them to lose effectiveness. Internal organs will not normally be at risk of corrosion.

Advanced bionic parts are normally made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the desires and necessities of the intended owner.

What if a character has his hand blown off, but finds a bionic arm on sale? The character has two options: either amputate the rest of the arm and attach the whole bionic limb, or try and just attach the hand section of the bionic limb to the stump of his wrist.

Crude bionic limbs will not normally have this capability, and (to use the above example) the entire arm must be taken off in order to replace the hand. Alternatively, characters might be able to persuade a skilled artisan to produce a crude bionic hand, for example. This will probably cost more than the full, mass-produced arm.

Average bionic limbs tend to be modular, allowing a surgeon to attach just the hand section to the organic wrist (and saving the rest of the arm for another patient).

Advanced bionic limbs are built specifically for the intended owner anyway, so no additional modification is required.

Although the crudest bionic parts are highly visible, ugly pieces of machinery, they are relatively common within the Imperium, so few people feel any kind of distaste when speaking to a person with an obvious bionic part. The only exceptions tend to be the more radical implants, such as replacing the jaw with insect-like mandibles, or those bionics that involve flesh being stretched or re-stitched in a distorted manner, or when a person holds bio-supremacist views.

There is no reason why a character should keep the same bionic parts for the rest of his life – they are powered by the owner’s bio-electrical energy, and Imperial technology is made to last. Many users upgrade after a while, while some parts eventually wear out or become damaged. It requires a major surgical operation to remove a bionic part.

Note that all bonuses or penalties applied by a bionic part are only applicable while the part is attached to the owner. As soon as the owner has the part removed, all bonuses or penalties (including characteristic changes) are negated. For this reason, the player should note on the character sheet exactly what bonuses are conferred by each bionic part.

A bionic arm has its own Strength value, which is normally significantly higher than that of an organic limb. This is used when determining the Strength of that arm (e.g. causing damage in close combat). When determining the Strength of both arms, use the arm’s Strength, plus half of the owner’s Strength characteristic.

Carrying capacity, even when items are held in the bionic arm, is still determined using the character’s Strength characteristic.

Bionic arms can be fitted with ranged or one-handed close combat weapons, replacing the hand. Obviously, such an arm cannot be used in a manipulative fashion any more. An arm with a ranged weapon can still use the other hand to support its weight when firing.

The arm is inefficient, unwieldy and probably doesn’t even have a fully manipulated hand. It has Strength 20 and all attacks using this arm (either single- or two-handed) are at –10 to Weapons Skill or Ballistic Skill. Initiative is also halved when using this arm in to manipulate items like door handles, picking up delicate items or writing.

The arm is well made, and a more than ample substitute for the organic limb. It has Strength 50 and an Armour Value of 1, which can either be used on its own or can be added to the value of any armour worn over it.

The arm is a marvel of Imperial engineering, an internal mass of brass and steel rods, an artificial nervous system and a sucrose ‘blood’ supply, all protected by a thick armoured skin. The arm has Strength 70 and an Armour Value of 2, which can either be used on its own or can be added to the value of any armour worn over it.

All but the most expensive models of bionic brain are unreliable, and few are anywhere close to being on a par with an organic brain. However, all bionic brains are modular, allowing healthy parts of a diseased brain to remain organic, should the owner wish, while only the necessary bionic portions are implanted. Because of the delicate nature of the brain, actually implanting a bionic replacement is difficult. To start with, the remnants of the damaged section must be removed, which involves literally scraping tissue from the inside surfaces of the skull. Then the bionic section must be inserted in such a way that it fits comfortably. This may involve fracturing and re-sculpting the skull, or even cutting out healthy but non-vital portions of brain (although this is often only done if the removed sections can be compensated for by the bionic replacement).

Many characters with bionic brains will have cranial bulges (most bionics are larger than the organs they are replacing), and possibly even exposed sections that jut through the skull.

Bionic brains can be used to heal any permanent damage or characteristic loss caused by injuries to the head. However, they also have their own disadvantages

A half-baked excuse for a logic engine, the brain severely restricts thought processes, and the owner’s personality may be somewhat different from how it was before the brain was inserted.

Although any brain damage or psychological disorders are healed, and all Insanity points are lost, all characteristics, except for Strength and Toughness, are reduced by 3D10 points each.

Although the brain is capable of functioning in a similar manner to a healthy organic brain, it sometimes suffers glitches when switching from its night-cycle to day-cycle.

Although any brain damage or psychological disorders are healed, and all Insanity points are lost, there is a 10% chance, tested every time the character wakes up after sleeping or unconsciousness, that the character temporarily loses 3D10 points from all characteristics except for Strength and Toughness.

This characteristic loss lasts until 24 hours after the character went to sleep, whereupon the brain realises its error and automatically switches back onto its day-cycle. If the character is asleep when this happens, he or she will automatically awaken.

As average bionic brain, although the chance of the day/night confusion occurring is reduced to 1%. Advanced bionic brains can also be fitted with up to six additional bionic brain implants.

Highly advanced bionic brains do not run the risk of suffering a glitch, and increase Initiative by 3D10 and Sagacity by 5D10. They can also be fitted with up to twelve additional bionic brain implants.

Advanced and highly advanced bionic brains are capable of being upgraded using special chips or cards. These enhance or backup existing mental processes to allow more efficient use of the brain.

It takes a single minor surgical operation to insert or remove an implant. When removed, all bonuses from the implant are lost, but there are no other penalties.

Discipulus chips contain all the necessary information for the user to make use of a specific ability. This is commonly used in the Imperial Navy, to save the cost of training the dozens of dispensable logisticians who run a ship. After all, if a logistician dies, his bionic brain and discipulus chips can be removed and passed on to his replacement, saving the Navy the cost of sending a common crewman through the Naval Academy.

The GM should determine what ability is on any discipulus chips found while trading or during adventures. These abilities will, if appropriate, count towards career advancement.

Meme cards are crystalline data storage devices slotted into a bionic brain. Effectively, they give the user a near-photographic memory throughout the duration of their use. There is a 10% chance that any particular event that the owner wishes to recall has been lost or corrupted, but otherwise, events are retained for as long as the card is inserted into the bionic brain.

The contents of a short duration meme card can be uploaded into a longer duration card, if desired.

The removable hearing aid was long ago abandoned as bionic technology reached its pinnacle. At the end of the Dark Age of Technology, when technology regressed, hearing aids did not become popular. Instead, larger, bulkier permanent bionics became the normal treatment for damaged hearing.

Consisting of a metal box of sensory equipment, riveted to the side of the owner’s head, the cruder bionic hearing devices are disfiguring and inefficient. The owner suffers a –30 penalty to all auditory Awareness tests.

The bionic ear restores the owner’s hearing.

The ear enhances the owner’s hearing to the extent that he can literally hear a pin drop. Auditory Awareness tests gain a +20 bonus to Initiative.

Bionic eyes are relatively common bionics (or at least, the most noticeable). They replace the function of one eye. Often, this is for the purpose of restoring lost sight, but occasionally, individuals will have healthy eyes replaced so as to enhance visual acuity or hand-eye coordination.

The eye is an ugly chunk of metal that barely restores the functions of the meat it replaces. Images may be monochrome, pixellated, blurred or processed at a slow frame rate. This can be incredibly disorientating, particularly to new owners. Visual Awareness tests suffer a –30 penalty, and BS is reduced by 2D10 points.

The bionic eye efficiently restores the functions of the original eye, providing high resolution imaging at a reasonable frame rate. Additionally, the eye may be fitted with up to two types of gunsight, at the appropriate additional cost. Roll on the Gunsights Trading Chart to see if any compatible gunsights are available at the time of purchase. The advantage of a gunsight built into a bionic eye is that it is always effective, without having to aim first.

Some advanced bionic eyes are only detectable by the discoloured eye or a the wires running under the skin. Others still jut from the owner’s skull, in a ring that holds the eyelids permanently open.

Advanced bionic eyes grant a +20 bonus to visual Awareness tests and Initiative tests to avoid being blinded by photon flash attacks (and similar).

Additionally, the eye can be fitted with up to two of the following: gunsights, auspexes or digital weapons. Availability and cost of the upgrade is determined as for gunsights in an average bionic eye.

Replacing the heart is highly unlikely to be a luxury upgrade. Normally, only individuals suffering from chronic heart disease, or whose hearts have suffered extensive damage, will ever submit to having the most vital organ in the body replaced.

The device is distinctly sub-standard, and the owner’s endurance and resilience are greatly reduced by the slower flow of blood around the body. The owner loses 2D10 Toughness and Initiative.

The device efficiently replaces the previous heart.

The heart is so efficient that it provides increased resistance to toxins that travel via the bloodstream – a +20 bonus to all poison Resistance tests. It also increases the character’s Toughness by D10.

Damage to the throat can result in the larynx, or voice box, being crippled, making speech impossible. The bionic larynx replaces the original one entirely, thanks to the insertion of a vox-speaker into the neck that translates nerve impulses and air flow into speech.

The larynx is a bulky, exposed device attached to the front of the neck. Speech is difficult to understand, emotionless, and occasionally incorrectly pronounced, resulting in the owner losing 2D10 points of Leadership.

The larynx is still exposed, but less prominent. Speech is mechanical, with only moderate variations in pitch and intonation, but is pronounced correctly. The larynx’s owner loses D10 points of Leadership.

The larynx is internal and the mechanical traces in the voice are almost undetectable. The logic engine within the device is able to produce basic speech without the aid of lips, jaws or teeth, granting the owner the Ventriloquism ability. Note that even though the owner does not have to use his or her lips, there is still the instinctive temptation to do so, so Willpower tests are still required to avoid lip movements being spotted.

More so than any other external bionic, bionic legs are easier to conceal, giving rise to the mistaken belief that they are actually less common than other types.

The leg whirrs and clanks loudly as the owner limps along. All movement rates except crawling and climbing are reduced by 1 yard, and all Reaction rolls have a –10 penalty.

The leg works as efficiently as an organic leg, and is far more durable, granting the location an Armour value of 1, which can either be used on its own or can be added to the value of any armour worn over it.

The leg is far superior to an organic leg, increasing all movement rates, except climbing and crawling, by 1 yard. The leg also has an Armour value of 2, which can either be used on its own or can be added to the value of any armour worn over it.

Since bionic lungs normally include a thorax section as well, these rules assume that both lungs have been replaced. If, for some reason, only a single lung has been replaced, simply halve any bonuses.

The lungs are oversized and require the adjustment of portions of the ribcage, and the owner is frequently left out of breath by even minor exertions. Even so, the filters in the lungs are marginally effective, granting a +5 bonus to all Resistance tests against inhaled poisons.

The lungs fit neatly into the chest cavity, but the owner’s breathing is excessively wheezy. The filters grant a +20 bonus to all Resistance tests against inhaled poisons.

Silent, efficient and reliable, the lungs grant a +40 bonus to all Resistance tests against inhaled poisons.

All but the most advanced bionic noses can look patently ridiculous, so they tend to only be used by those whose only other option is to spend their life with a disfigured face and no sense of smell.

The restoration of the owner’s sense of smell is negligible. The nose confers a –30 penalty to olfactory Awareness tests.

The bionic nose, although blatantly mechanical, is an effective replacement for the owner’s lost sense of smell.

The nose is virtually (if not literally) indistinguishable from a natural nose, often with the synthetic flesh sculpted to match the organic original. The owner gains a +20 bonus to olfactory Awareness tests.

A character without a tongue is incapable of clear speech, and cannot taste foods. So, even though losing a tongue is unlikely (cancer being the most common cause, followed by violent mutilation), bionic tongues are reasonably common.

The tongue is oversized and immobile, making salivation and impeded speech a constant problem, reducing Leadership by 2D10 points. However, the tongue grants a +5 bonus to all taste-based Awareness tests, such as spotting poison.

More appropriately sized than cruder designs, the bionic tongue works as efficiently as the original organ as far as speech is concerned, but grants a +10 bonus to all taste-based Awareness tests.

The tongue is perfectly sized, well camouflaged and enables efficient speech. In addition, it grants a +20 bonus to all taste-based Awareness tests.

Rather than go the whole hog and have a bionic brain implanted, some brain implants can be plugged directly into the appropriate area of tissue, whereupon exposed electrodes interrupt or enhance certain brain activities.

Inserting a direct brain implant (DBI) requires a single minor surgical operation where the skull is drilled through to allow the electrodes access to the brain. Often, the chip is left exposed after implantation (most DBIs will be obscured by hair), but it is possible to tuck a DBI beneath a flap of skin, stitch it up and leave it to heal. This may leave a bulge in the skin, but is subtler than a chip. Failure in the surgery causes the permanent loss of D10 points of Initiative, Willpower, Sagacity and Leadership.

Because the brain eventually grows around the DBI, and adapts to integrate its neurone networks with the DBI’s synthetic systems, the forcible removal of a DBI results in characteristic loss as if surgery had failed. A minor surgical operation can be performed to remove a DBI safely, with failure causing damage as if the chip had been ripped out.

The interpellator chip is used to aggressively treat psychological disorders by blocking all signals coming from an affected area of the brain – effectively lobotomising the patient without the need for major surgery.

A single psychological disorder can be healed by the successful insertion of an interpellator chip, with a 90% chance that it will not reappear while the chip is installed (the part of the brain affected has been shut off). However, the elimination of a portion of the character’s brain means that Initiative, Willpower, Sagacity and Leadership are each reduced by 2D10 points, with any loss reduced by one point for every ten points of the surgeon’s margin of success in inserting the chip.

The reflex chip is often used in medicine to restore some of the damage caused by brain injuries (including those caused by surgery). It works by stimulating parts of the patient’s brain, enhancing reaction times to sudden events. It is also popular outside of medicine, with many soldiers and criminals valuing its relative safety compared to combat drugs like spur.

A character with a skull chip gains a +20 bonus to all Reaction tests.

The psi-booster stimulates the area of the brain responsible for the channelling and control of psychic energy. A character with a psi-booster halves Willpower loss from failed castings of psychic powers.

This is an incredibly rudimentary, yet effective, form of physical augmentation. Because the skull is, for the most part, immobile, there is little to stop an individual having metal plating bolted to his skull. Sometimes this is performed to cover exposed injuries, or for practical purposes such as making the head more resistant to damage, but occasionally it is done for fashion.

A character can have up to five pieces of skull plating added, with each supplying one point of Armour to the head location. Each section of plating requires a minor surgical operation.

Gill implants are usually mechanical devices installed in the thorax or chest to allow the user to inhale water (usually through special inlets, rather than the nose or mouth) before extracting enough oxygen to survive on, and expelling the water before it reaches the lungs.

A character with gill implants can breathe underwater, provided the liquid is oxygenated in some way.

Archo-flagellants, Eversor assassins and other biological ‘killing machines’ are frequently given special bio-engineered implants that continuously metabolise hormonal variants of certain drugs.

Any one poison can be metabolised by the gland (regardless of its usual delivery restrictions), permanently affecting the character. Generally, drugs with harmful side effects are avoided.

Adeptus Mechanicus Techpriests are frequently seen amidst a swarm of writing mechanical tentacles known as mechadendrites. These snake-like arms are implanted directly into the user’s spine, and are tipped with grasping claws, shears, drills or lights to aid the Techpriest in his work.

A character can control a number of mechadendrites equal to his or her Sagacity score divided by twenty. Each of these grants a +5 bonus to any tests taken while manipulating machinery, whether it is driving a vehicle or picking a lock.

The various tools and manipulative devices fitted to mechadendrites can also be used in combat. Should the user wish, the mechadendrites can perform a single free action of close combat after his or her own actions are concluded. Mechadendrites count as natural weapons.

Mind Impulse Units (MIU) are used mainly in the control such massive machine systems as starships, Titans and planetary defence grids. Occasionally, they are used on a smaller scale, to control cyber-familiars or shoulder-mounted weapons. An MIU consists of a jack, or series of jacks, in the back or sides of the skull and the top of the spine, into which cables or data transmitters linking to the controlled system can be plugged.

A character with an MIU can operate the controlled system entirely by thought, without using his hands. Characteristic tests are carried out as normal.

Each MIU can only operate one system – e.g. driving a tank, operating the tank’s turret (including the gun), flying an aircraft, browsing the databanks of a forgeworld, and so on.

For those who can’t afford expensive bionic parts, there are the time-honoured prosthetic limbs. Ranging from wooden stumps to fully manipulated artificial (but non-mechanical) limbs, prosthetics are intended solely as a replacement, rather than an upgrade, to the original. Because they are removable, prosthetics do not require surgery of any kind.

The character’s Strength in this arm is equal to one quarter of his or her Strength characteristic. An arm with a hook on it counts as a natural weapon, but cannot hold items and the hook cannot be dropped. Alternatively, an arm with a moveable hand can be made to grip items (but not manipulate them dextrously).

Prosthetic eyes are usually the same colour as the one being replaced, but when supplies are short, this may not necessarily be the case.

Prosthetic feet and legs both allow characters to halve any penalty imposed by losing the limb or extremity.

A hook can be used as a natural weapon, but it cannot hold items and the hook cannot be dropped (it is strapped firmly onto the arm). Alternatively, an arm with a moveable hand can be made to grip items (but not manipulate them dextrously).

Dentures are more than just a cosmetic prosthetic – they enable the chewing of solid foods and clearer speech. Not all prosthetic teeth are realistic in appearance. The ostentatious may go for gold teeth, the intimidatory may prefer stainless steel. Still others may have animal tusks, while the poor may have wooden dentures.

Any Leadership penalties from losing the original teeth are negated while the prosthetic teeth are being worn.

Servo arms are industrial-strength bionic arms, more of the type used by warehouse or manufactorum servitors, attached to a shoulder harness or armoured cuirass and linked to an MIU. Techpriests or Adeptus Astartes Techmarines commonly uses them in the manufacture and maintenance of heavy machinery, but they also make exceptionally powerful improvised weapons.

A servo-arm grants a +10 bonus to any tests taken while manipulating heavy machinery or construction, whether it is repairing a vehicle or building a house.

Should the user wish, the servo-arm can perform a single free action of close combat after his or her own actions are concluded. Servo-arms count as a power fist in combat, but do not require the Specialist Weapon – Power ability.

Skinplants are a form of crystal technology, in which liquid crystal is injected beneath the skin, in a similar manner to tattooing, but requiring even more precision. Once the crystals have solidified, conscious or subconscious nerve impulses from the brain can cause these skinplants to glow, perform basic logical operations (such as display the time).

Injecting a skinplant requires a minor surgical operation, but removing it requires a major surgical operation, since the crystals must literally be scraped out of the body.

The most complicated type of skinplant, electoos are crystalline data storage devices hidden beneath the skin. Some cultures and organisations (including some chambers of the Inquisition) use electoos as identification tags, since they are invisible until activated by the owner. Details of a citizen’s name, age, address, voting rights (if applicable) and criminal record can be stored within an electoo, perhaps without the owner being aware of this fact.

Some groups implant electoos filled with information into couriers. These electoos need not be complete, and combining the information in the electoos of several couriers may be necessary before the message can be decoded.

A common operation of a skinplant is to make body parts light up. Usually, these are for decorative effect, with swirls and patterns being injected into the skin. In a darkened room, an individual with an exotic luminescent skinplant can look quite striking. The ownership of a slave is immediately clear if it glows from the forehead, while businesses may have employees or paid volunteers advertise products with flashing letters beneath their skin.

Most skinplants can be switched on and off at will, although some are permanently luminous, or are activated by certain emotions.

The thief’s light is a small area of luminescent skinplant, normally on the palm of the hand or the wrist, which glows to illuminate an area up to a few inches away. It is commonly used when picking locks or performing other tasks in the darkness, hence its name.

A convenience often used by military and civilians alike, the wristwatch places a slightly more complicated skinplant than normal beneath the owner’s skin. The crystalline circuitry illuminates at will to inform the owner of the time, or occasionally other information, such as the temperature, air humidity, blood pressure and so on.

It is often possible to reconnect a person’s spine after it has been damaged. Surgery is normally performed to completely remove the damaged section, and a spine implant is put in its place. These implants are rarely subdermal, and may jut out through the owner’s skin in the grotesque fashion of many other bionics.

Many gang fighters, spies and smugglers find it useful to conceal weapons or items on their person. The least conspicuous way to do this is to have a hollow surgically dug out of their flesh and covered over with a flap of syn-flesh. Credit chits, contraband and lightweight knives are popular items to be concealed in this manner.

Any item of Encumbrance 5 or less can be hidden in a normal-sized subdermal pouch. It requires a single major surgical operation to have the pouch installed.