Alright folks, so time for a bit of feedback. I'm currently wrapping my mind around the state of the modern human, a decision that will effect any Dhampir in the roleplay.
Let's start with how babies are born these days. An ultrasound is downright primitive compared to the medical science that comes into play here. Essentially while doctors aren't making nazi supermen from scratch the facilities and expertise to ensure two people have the best baby they could possibly make together exists. The only real constraints are the donors (mother/father) and how much money you're willing to throw at the highly paid medical professionals responsible for the pre-natal nip/tuck. Most families put away enough of a nest egg to pluck out the most easily detectable (and thus inexpensive) flaws, so things like glasses, ugliness, asthma and other such shortcomings are virtually non-existent. (Except for the exceedingly poor/undeveloped nations) The wealthy on the other hand have the means to design custom-tailored heirs, everything from eye color to sexual orientation decided long before the child is ever born. The end result being that boardrooms and yacht clubs are filled with real-life Mary and Marty Sues, to say nothing of those actually bred to be athletes from the get go. (Or the performance enhancing drugs professionals wind up addicted to)
So in a nutshell humanity is varying degrees of stronger/smarter then their ancestors (Read: Anyone that happens to have been an undying vampire for a while.) So vamps tend to prey on the poorest examples of humanity, in every sense of the word, meaning the seediest, slummiest parts of the sprawl are their stomping grounds. The downtrodden that gather here scrimp, save or downright steal their way to a leg up in life, often resorting to unsafe, unregulated and highly illegal gene mods. Even the skin trade follows this emergent trend, so-called 'whorror houses' cropping up as demand for more exotic pleasures rises.
That's the baseline we're working with so far, it's how cybernetics fall into place with what's already there that I'd like people to weigh in on. Would you prefer that:
*Cybernetics be increasingly outmoded by advances in medical science. The sort of thing people ended up 'stuck with' before the latest, greatest breakthroughs.
*A niche market that caters mostly to professional fields (military, private sector, etc.) with miles of red tape standing between civilians and their chrome.
*Ubiquitous. No one carries around a physical phone/computer anymore. The implants are so cheap that the net isn't something you log in and out of, it's just another part of the human experience.
I'm leaning on either option 3 or 2 myself while remaining open to suggestion/criticisms. Keep in mind that for vampires their physical form is merely an anchor for the curse and will remain as it was the moment they matured into either an Alp or Draug (Vetala don't even have bodies, so moot point in their regard.) So no, full on vampires can't have cybernetics or gene-mods. Even if they went through with the ill advised notion of getting them their bodies don't function correctly (Think of it like they're 'faking it', right down to bleeding out when they get shot) Even if the hardware or mods -could- work they'd just vanish like any other injuries the next time you revived.
Thus cybernetics and gene mods are strictly for Dhampir and real human beings. There will exist a sort of jealous undercurrent because of it, since these fledgling vampires will in time become a breed unto themselves as they mature into something never before imagined: Cybervampires. (Which will not happen during the course of this RP. Also, need a better name for it, too 90's. Transvampirism? Postvampirism? I'll think of something.)
So speak now or forever hold your peace people.
Let's start with how babies are born these days. An ultrasound is downright primitive compared to the medical science that comes into play here. Essentially while doctors aren't making nazi supermen from scratch the facilities and expertise to ensure two people have the best baby they could possibly make together exists. The only real constraints are the donors (mother/father) and how much money you're willing to throw at the highly paid medical professionals responsible for the pre-natal nip/tuck. Most families put away enough of a nest egg to pluck out the most easily detectable (and thus inexpensive) flaws, so things like glasses, ugliness, asthma and other such shortcomings are virtually non-existent. (Except for the exceedingly poor/undeveloped nations) The wealthy on the other hand have the means to design custom-tailored heirs, everything from eye color to sexual orientation decided long before the child is ever born. The end result being that boardrooms and yacht clubs are filled with real-life Mary and Marty Sues, to say nothing of those actually bred to be athletes from the get go. (Or the performance enhancing drugs professionals wind up addicted to)
So in a nutshell humanity is varying degrees of stronger/smarter then their ancestors (Read: Anyone that happens to have been an undying vampire for a while.) So vamps tend to prey on the poorest examples of humanity, in every sense of the word, meaning the seediest, slummiest parts of the sprawl are their stomping grounds. The downtrodden that gather here scrimp, save or downright steal their way to a leg up in life, often resorting to unsafe, unregulated and highly illegal gene mods. Even the skin trade follows this emergent trend, so-called 'whorror houses' cropping up as demand for more exotic pleasures rises.
That's the baseline we're working with so far, it's how cybernetics fall into place with what's already there that I'd like people to weigh in on. Would you prefer that:
*Cybernetics be increasingly outmoded by advances in medical science. The sort of thing people ended up 'stuck with' before the latest, greatest breakthroughs.
*A niche market that caters mostly to professional fields (military, private sector, etc.) with miles of red tape standing between civilians and their chrome.
*Ubiquitous. No one carries around a physical phone/computer anymore. The implants are so cheap that the net isn't something you log in and out of, it's just another part of the human experience.
I'm leaning on either option 3 or 2 myself while remaining open to suggestion/criticisms. Keep in mind that for vampires their physical form is merely an anchor for the curse and will remain as it was the moment they matured into either an Alp or Draug (Vetala don't even have bodies, so moot point in their regard.) So no, full on vampires can't have cybernetics or gene-mods. Even if they went through with the ill advised notion of getting them their bodies don't function correctly (Think of it like they're 'faking it', right down to bleeding out when they get shot) Even if the hardware or mods -could- work they'd just vanish like any other injuries the next time you revived.
Thus cybernetics and gene mods are strictly for Dhampir and real human beings. There will exist a sort of jealous undercurrent because of it, since these fledgling vampires will in time become a breed unto themselves as they mature into something never before imagined: Cybervampires. (Which will not happen during the course of this RP. Also, need a better name for it, too 90's. Transvampirism? Postvampirism? I'll think of something.)
So speak now or forever hold your peace people.
