A New Race for SLA Industries

"No, a zombie is mindless. I am not mindless. Yes, technically I am dead. You want to know how I feel about it? See this piece of wire? If I pierce it through here like this, I can just about feel it going through. See, no real pain, just an echo of a sensation. That is pretty much how I experience most things. Very few things actually cause a sensation to me anymore. That is why I went after the little girl. I assume that is why you are asking me these questions. I had not seen her before. She appeared truly alive to me, more colourful than your bleached visage. Of course she had not seen one of my kind and was scared. It is a tragedy that she fell like that. She still radiates colour to me, even though she has no breath in her. She must be special to be like that. I wonder if they will bring her back like me. I hope so, it is such a waste otherwise. Hopefully by talking to you, others will not be so frightened of us. We all serve the same master after all."

Charon, Male Deadite Operative (Strike).

Insight:

There is a light, but no tunnel. It shines above you, a bare bulb, hanging from a worn cable. As you sit up, you realise you are in a sterile room. All grey walls and dull metallic objects. No windows or mirrors, just a door and a security camera. The LAD logo is prominent over the door, but someone has swapped around the outside letters. You look down and notice you are wearing a surgical gown with the same emblem. It also has the Department of Racial Equality insignia as well, although small and to one side. As you get off the bed, you feel something tugging at your arm. It's an IV drip, slowly pouring a blue liquid into your veins. You barely feel the needle as you pull it from your arm.

Your arms are pale, with grey bruising in several places. The liquid spilt from the needle is bright blue, scattering the light above into strange patterns across your arm. It feels syrupy underneath the rough skin of your fingers. It tastes sweet. Refreshing. Nourishing. The drip bag opens easily to your teeth and its contents glide slowly down your throat. You can feel the last cobwebs of sleep leave your brain, as the blue juice travels through your system. As you finish drinking you here the door click shut.

A slight cough from behind, and you register a scientist standing by you. He moves to one side, carefully watching your reactions. He goes to speak, but your senses are distracted by a figure outside. A red lipsticked smile, framed by short black hair. By the time you get to the door the woman has disappeared. The door won't open and you can't see where she has gone. You catch the scent of the blue juice again and turn back to the scientist as he finishes opening a flask. Beckoning for you to sit down, he pours you a drink and starts to explain what you are.

Background:

As good as LAD is, it's not perfect. Too often the process is not fully successful, or the four minute limit expires. The Deadites were the outcome of work to try pushing LAD beyond these limitations. Although not returned in the same state as they once were, success is still success and the Deadites still contain enough potential to continue serving Sla. The Deadites are almost always Humans or Frothers that have been bought back from the dead. The decay of their mental processes has destroyed most of their old memories and personality, but a lot of their physical reactions are still present. Once bought back to life, the Deadite is forever reliant on the blue juice, a bio-electrical substance that seems to re-stimulate parts of the brain. It also provides all of the nourishment that the body requires.

With the blue juice in their veins, the Deadite has the capacity to learn new memories and new skills. The juice saturates the body, allowing it to act in a similar way to that of the living. The internal organs are mostly still there, but few are used anymore. The heart still pumps, but it is blue juice that flows instead of blood. The lungs are still required, as the juice needs oxygen to work efficiently. They are also required for the Deadite to speak. The other internal organs remain preserved by the Deadite process, in the hope that one day a full cure can be found for the Deadite. Beyond this the body is otherwise recognisable as dead. The body gives off no heat, and the skin feels dry to touch. The Deadite's body resembles the state the body was in after leaving LAD. Any large wounds will have been stitched up, although minor ones may have been left open.

Life as a Deadite is not the same as that of the living. Their senses although working normally, give the impression of living in a washed out world, where sounds are muted, and tastes are almost non-existent. In this bleached world, the Deadite will occasionally come across a person or an object that appears normal to their senses. Deadites tend to refer to these objects as 'real' objects, believing that the rest of the world belongs to the life they have already given up and that the real objects are special to them. Deadites rarely respond to the same 'real' objects, although they all seem to see themselves and Senti this way. The link to each other is understandable, but the link to Senti seems to be without reason. Even video images or pictures of her will radiate colour and clarity to a Deadite. Many Deadites care little for material objects, but will carefully seek out any 'real' object or person that they discover. They can give no reason to why they do it though.

A more disturbing habit of Deadites is self-mutilation. Small wires or glass fragments are often pushed deep in to the skin to allow the Deadite to feel some kind of sensation. Many will play with these wires when stressed or bored, often to the shock of those around them. Those Deadites who have had trouble accepting what they are, will often have more serious injuries, such as nails through their limbs and hooks through their more sensative body parts. It is believed that such injuries are an attempt by the Deadite to regain their feelings, and with their natural regeneration never pose a serious threat to them anyway.

Deadites maintain little memory of their previous life and most prefer it that way, not seeking any reminders of what their life once entailed. Sla Industries tries to ensure that Deadites are not posted to locations where they may encounter people from the previous lives. Deadites also try and stay out of the way of the media, as they are not interested in people identifying them and then trying to track them down. Most are content with who they are, and do not want to return to their past. Those Deadites who persue their old life, tend to be relocated by Sla Industries off-world.

Appearance:

The Deadites are almost always Frothers or Humans who have been resurrected. They tend to look quite similar to each race with a few exceptions. The blue juice weakens any hair that they had, causing it to fall out within a few weeks. It also turns their eyes pitch black, no matter what the original colour of the irises. Their nails also blacken, but grow stronger, allowing them to be used as primitive weapons. Quite often the Deadite will have deep blue stains around their mouths from the juice. These stains darken with age, with the oldest having almost black stains. The inside of their mouths and tongues also turn blue.

Deadites tend to be proud of the scars that they have, choosing to wear clothing that reveals them, such as torn t-shirts and jeans. These scars are often stitch marks across their chests, from the LAD attempts to revive them. They also tend to wear practical hard wearing clothes that will last for some time, a favourite being Sigerson Street Velkra clothing. Few Deadites wear armour, as they have little fear of dying. It also prevents them from the sensations of being injured. Most choose instead to wear belts that they can hang their equipment from. They tend to prefer hand held weapons such as Pacifier batons, only using firearms when completely necessary.

Interaction:

Deadites on:

Humans: "They hate us implicitly. Humans always have been a little weird about death and we are no exception to them."

Frothers: "They tend to stay away from us, because we are not interested in the same things as them. They try to interest us in alcohol or drugs, but they soon get bored."

Ebons: "They do try to talk to us, but you can tell they are happy not to be one of us."

Brain Wasters: "They are uncomfortable around us to start with, but they soon seem to relax. I guess in some ways we are quite close."

Shaktars: "They ignore us. We ignore them."

Wraith Raiders: "They are truly live creatures, full of energy and zest. Totally our opposites."

Stormers: "They treat us the same way they treat anyone else. They know that we are both unnatural creations of Sla. They also see their own loyalty mirrored in us as well. They also don't spend their whole time just staring at us, which is good."

Vevaphons: "Again they react well to us, as we are both unnatural. I have often seen one try to mimic my scars."

Evolved Carrien: "They watch, but are not imtimidated. Otherwise they treat us as equals, which is what we want."

Base Skills:

Unarmed Combat (STR) 1, Detect (CONC) 2, Evaluate Opponent (CONC) 2, Intimidate (DIA) 1, SLA Info (CONC) 1, Torture (DIA) 1.

System Notes:

Previously Human: STR 7-12, DEX 5-10, DIA 5-10, CONC 5-8, CHA 3-5, COOL 5-15, FLUX 1 (see Abilities)
Previously Frother: STR 7-14, DEX 5-10, DIA 5-8, CONC 5-8, CHA 3-5, COOL 5-15, FLUX 1 (see Abilities)
Breaking Point: COOL x2 (Previously Human Deadites do not get the +10 bonus to their breaking point).
Movement: Walk 1, Run 2, Sprint 3 (+0.3 for running skill)
Encumbrance: M 17+2xSTR, PM x2, NM x4
Height: As per original race.
Weight: As per original race.
Disadvantage: Bad Reputation 4 Humans & Shaktars. Bad Reputation Frother, Ebons and Wraith Raiders 2.

Abilities:

Flux:
Due to being dead, Deadites loose 1 FLUX every six hours. To replenish their flux, the Deadite must consume regular doses of blue juice. A Deadite that has 0 FLUX looses their ability to regenerate and takes full damage from all attacks. In addition, they are at -2 to any DIA or CONC tests versus the stat or any related skills. After six hours at 0 FLUX, the Deadite permanently looses one point from each stat every hour. When any stat is reduced to zero, the Deadite is permanently dead.

Damage and Healing:
When injured Deadites register pain, rather than being overwhelmed by it. In most cases this allows them to ignore any PHYS tests vs pain. Deadites also ignore any wound modifiers until the damage exceeds half the hits in the specific location. The blue juice does not bleed from any wounds, but any skill use will still be affected by the wound penalty. All attacks against the Deadite are at half damage, even Ebb attacks. Only a Gore Cannon does full damage. Deadites heal damage at a rate of one wound or hit point every 15 minutes as long as they are not at 0 FLUX.

Even when at zero hit points the Deadite is not truly dead. Although fully incapacitated, there is enough blue juice in their brains to keep their intellect intact. Only if their brains are destroyed or they have run out of flux and their stats have degraded are they truly dead. To destroy the brain requires a phenominal attacks (those hitting on a 30 or higher) to the head.

Blue Juice:
The Deadite regains Flux by consuming a dose of blue juice. Each dose costs 6c from the Department of Pharmacology (The Soul Institute) and lasts for six hours. Additional doses of blue juice can be used to accelerate healing, restoring one wound and two hit points per dose. Deadites can overdose on blue juice when fully healed, allowing them to boost their metabolism. For 30 minutes they benefit from one additional attack per round and a +2 to damage.

Vision:
Because of the way Deadites sense objects in the world, their vision is not affected by extremes of darkness or light. Deadites can automatically ignore the first three points of any light-related modifiers. Additionally, they gain a bonus of +3 to Detect any object or person that they refer to as 'real'.

Sleeping:
Deadites do not sleep and do not require any rest. Most will spend a few hours each day meditating over any 'real' objects that they have found.

Drugs:
No drugs work on the Deadite except for blue juice. The Deadite is also not affected by Toxins, unless they have been specifically designed to affect Deadites.

HtH Damage:
The hardened nails of the Deadite allow it to do Dam 1+ Pen 1 AD 0 in combat. Alternatively, Deadites can impale their skin with pieces of glass, metal, wire hooks etc, which will do Dam 1+ Pen 3 AD 1+. Any impaled location takes 2 hit points of damage when the objects are implanted. Once the hit points have healed (either automatically or through blue juice) the impaled objects will fall out.

Stress:
Deadites suffer stress in the same way as others. Although they are not as in touch with the world as living creatures, many stressful situations trigger memories from the Deadites brain. These memories are sharp reminders to the Deadite that they do not belong in this world.

Deadites gain stress in the usual ways with the following alterations.

If no blue juice is taken after 6 hours +1 P.S.
If no blue juice is taken after 9 hours +1 A.S. +1 P.S.
For every 3 hours without blue juice beyond 9 hours +1 A.S. +1 P.S.
Overdosing on blue juice +1 A.S.
Finding a new 'real' object +1 P.S.
Being denied a new 'real' object +1 A.S.
Meeting a close person from the Deadites previous life counts as a weird, terrifying situation (+1 A.S. +2 P.S.) for all involved.

The Deadite is not affected by the following stressful situations:

Running out of Flux
Not seeing any friends for a week
Not seeing any members of your race for a week
Finding a dead body
Finding a lot of dead bodies
Finding a lot of mutilated dead bodies
The Deadite can not recover Stress through the use of Drum, getting drunk or stoned, binge eating, shopping or sex. A Deadite will recover 1 Stress if they meditate for at least 3 hours a day with their collection of 'real' objects.

Extras

Further Interaction:

Humans on Deadites: "It's sacrilege, that's what it is. The fine print of LAD never said you could end up like that. I'm seriously thinking of cancelling my contract with them."

Frothers on Deadites: "Well I guess SLA is just trying to get more use out of us, but I hope I get eaten by a Manchine, rather than coming back like that."

Ebons on Deadites: "They are a reminder that true life is only transitory, but that Sla can make you serve for longer. Thankfully, I know I won't end up that way."

Brain Wasters on Deadites: "They're okay. Bit weird, but better company than a Stormer."

Shaktars on Deadites: "They are an abomination. I will speak no more of them."

Wraith Raiders on Deadites: "They are unnatural creations whose presence disturbs me. I hope they never do that to any of my race."

Stormers on Deadites: "Their loyalty is bought through the blue juice, but otherwise I have no problem with them. Why should I?"

Vevaphons on Deadites: "They are curious creatures, proof that science can do anything. Just like us."

Evolved Carrien on Deadites: "Like a nice dessert, the blue juice sweetens and preserves the soft flesh. Rump and flanks offer the best choices, preferably with crumbled brain on top."

Additional Notes:

Having to take blue juice at regular intervals means that most Deadites are very aware of the passing of time. Most will buy expensive watches and ensure that they take their doses on time. Some have investigated timing devices that are built in to Drug Injection Systems, so that they don't have to be concerned about the blue juice. Their fascination about time, means many are never late for an appointment and they often look down on those who are.

One fear Deadites have is slowly dying from a lack of blue juice and not being able to do anything about it. Many have formed small cabals, that amongst other things keep track of each other every six hours. They often wear tracking devices and report in just after taking their dose of blue juice. If any member of the cabal does not report in, the others are likely to drop everything and start searching for them. They strive to find the Deadite as soon as possible and inject them with enough blue juice to allow them to recover naturally. Occasionally damage is so severe that even with blue juice the Deadite does not fully recover. This is especially true of Deadites who have been mutilated by opponents trying to permanently kill them. In these cases the cabal will often seek revenge on the party involved.

As well as looking after their own the various Deadite cabals have other motivations. Most of the cabals search for a more permanent solution than the blue juice. These experiments are time consuming and plan for solutions over decades rather than weeks. As such the Deadites tend to work for squads as usual, but use the time when their squad mates are resting to further the work of the cabal. They are careful to hide their activities from all non Deadites. However, they will work with anyone who might hold more of an insight in to their work, enlisting friendly humans, Dark Lament technicians and even Manchines to assist. The cabals also believe that it does not matter how many of their kind are sacrificed to achieve their goals. After all those are killed on the way are likely to be saved once a solution is found.

Some of the cabal's experiments involve the other races, establishing whether they have any natural immunities to death that can be utilised. The one race they have had mixed results with are the long lived Shaktar. Theoretically, the Shaktar are believed to have certain enzymes that would be of use, once mutated by the Deadite process. However, every dead Shaktar that has been resurrected has then killed themselves before any test can be run on them. It is thought that the honour code is to deep in their minds that even through death they are aware of their impurity. Those who have killed themselves have always ensured that they can not be bought back, often disappearing in to the depths of cannibal sectors, or lying in wait for gauss trains to strike them at top speed.