Author notes: These are more rough notes rather than a full writeup and are still subject to change or expansion. Apologies for the inconvenience
Medical treatments:
The Bastion is a near post-scarcity economy. While this doesn't mean everything is actually free, medical procedures deemed necessary to improve an individual's quality of life and ensure their good health are entirely covered by the state and promptly provided.
For character creation purposes, this means that characters living in the Bastion may automatically discard any handicapped (from sources unrelated to brain damage), lost limb, poor hearing, or poor vision traits they posses before starting gameplay. If receiving treatment during the game a good rule of thumb is that this treatment takes a week for every trait point discarded. Replacement organs and limbs may be composed of bioprinted cloned tissues or synthetic prosthetics that are able to fully replicate the performance of the lost body part, but are also eligible for additional optional upgrades (player's choice, but insurance doesn't cover you sticking a shotgun in your arm).
Injuries and illnesses are treated at no cost. Bastion medical technology is sufficiently advanced that even late stage cancer or prion disease is considered trivial to treat using targeted medications and advanced surgical techniques, and every part of the body save for the brain itself can be replaced, in extreme cases even all at once. Even significant brain damage can at least be repaired, with one important caveat. Damaged brain tissue can be regenerated, restoring connections and greatly improving function, but any information stored in the lost parts of the brain remain lost, meaning the patient will still have to re-learn lost skills or motor functions and may suffer or retain radical personality shifts.
Gene Therapy
The following gene therapies are available in the Bastion and use the rules for Mutagenic Virotherapies found in The Wars of Reaving starting on page 220. The Bastion version of these gene therapies take four weeks to fully manifest, and the recipient suffers a -1 penalty to all skill and attribute checks during this time. However, the Mutagenic Virotherapy effects table is replaced by a simple success/failure roll. Roll 2D6, applying the normal MVE modifier. On a result of 4 or better, the gene therapy takes hold. Otherwise, the gene therapy therapy fails to take hold (though the character may attempt the same gene therapy later).
Each subsequent gene therapy suffers a -1 cumulative MVE modifier (rather than the -3 of society mutagenic virotherapies) regardless of whether the prior attempt succeeded. Once the cumulative MVE modifier reaches -10, the character is functionally immune to further gene therapies and can no longer gain any benefits, nor suffer the side affects of them.
Certain Gene therapies can be stacked. This consists of a second, separately engineered gene therapy which is intended to enhance the affects of an existing one. Stacked gene therapies double the normal cumulative MVE modifier when determining if they take hold, and even if they succeed they have a reduced affect.
Each type of Gene therapy has a base cost of $10,000, and is tailor made to the user, requiring an initial genetic profile and one week to synthesize the appropriate gene therapy.
Those born in the Bastion (who posses the citizen trait) receive two gene therapies, one of which is longevity treatment, as part of their pre-natal care at no cost to the parents. These gene therapies succeed automatically, and don't count towards the cumulative penalty for additional Gene therapies as they are essentially built into the developing body.
*High G Environment Adaptation (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Low G Environment Adaptation (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Fatigue Resistance (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Visual Augmentation (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Nightvision Augmentation (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Hearing Augmentation (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Robust Augmentation (as per Wars of Reaving)
*Muscle enhancement (2 trait points) (as per Wars of Reaving, with the exception that this enhancement can be stacked with subsequent therapies adding +1 to either STR or BOD to a maximum of 10)
*Reflex enhancement (2 trait points) (+1 to DEX and REF. Can be stacked, with subsequent therapies adding +1 to either DEX or REF to a maximum of 10)
*Mental enhancement (4 trait points) (+1 to INT and Fast Learner. Can be stacked, with subsequent therapies adding +1 to Int to a maximum of 10, or alternately canceling out the Slow Learner XP acquired due to aging)
*Gene Reversion (-) (Removes the affect of a previously applied gene therapy. This only removes the stat change. The affect on the cumulative MVE modifier for additional therapies is still applied for both the original gene therapy and the Gene Reversion treatment)
*Longevity treatment (2 trait points) (the character's natural lifespan becomes theoretically unlimited. Aging affects (page 333 of A Time of War) functionally cease at age 31. At age 101, the character receives a -50 xp penalty to their INT score. At age 201 and every 100 years after that, the character receives an additional -50 xp penalty to INT as well as -100 xp in Slow Learner, handicap, impatient, or compulsion (determine randomly))
*Physical Tuning (cost based on trait removed): (Removes a physical negative trait such as glass jaw, poor vision, or poor hearing)
*Induced Neural Regeneration (-) (roll 2d6 for slow learner or any handicap, impatient, or compulsion trait cased by brain damage. on a roll of 6 or better gain one hundred XP towards mitigating that trait multiplied by the margin of success+1. This treatment also automatically mitigates 50 xp of the xp penalty to INT caused by aging or brain damage. This treatment takes hold successfully automatically and can be repeated without increasing the cumulative penalty for additional Gene therapies.
Black Market Gene Therapies:
Gene therapies are expensive, and asdie from a few cases where the therapy is a requirement for a person's job or quality of life, almost entirely classified as elective procedures, which means state insurance isn't going to cover them. But they're also extremely useful, and in Bastion society, something of a status symbol, so a thriving black market in gene therapies is inevitable.
The price of legitimate gene therapies isn't entirely just markup however. Black market gene therapies might be cheaper, sometimes drastically cheaper, but they can also be dangerous, lacking the safeguards, medical oversite, or genetic tailoring used by legitimate providers. These illegal Gene Therapies follow the standard rules for the administration of Society Mutagenic Virotherapies, including using the original Mutagenic Virotherapies Effects table and imposing a -3 cumulative penalty to any future gene therapy rolls. Though any resulting cancers caused by a bootleg gene therapy can be easily treated by the Bastion's medical system, they're also a major red flag that are likely to get the attention of police forces. If a recipient of a black market gene therapy is caught, they can expect a stiff fine of up to $30,000, mandatory gene reversion of the offending therapy (including multiple attempts if necessary), and very pointed questions concerning the source of the black market therapy.
Radical Reconstruction:
A step beyond cloned limbs or organs, Radical reconstruction consists of replacing most or all of an individual's body with either a cloned or bioprinted replacement, and is used only in the most extreme medical emergencies where only physically separating the brain from the rest of the body has a chance of preserving it. In these cases, the head is quickly severed and stored in a temporary preserving vessel (Brain Bag) which sustains oxygen flow and cushions against trauma and can preserve the brain for several hours. Once at the medical center, the brain is removed entirely from the head and transferred to a long term containment vessel (called a "fishtank" by Bastion medical professionals, though almost never when the patient or their family is around) which can keep the brain sedated and stable for several months.
If the patient's other remains are intact enough and sufficiently preserved, they will then form the basis of the reconstruction. Otherwise an entire replacement body will be bioprinted using the patient's stored genetic information and medical history. Technically, any number of physical changes could be made to the replacement body, however such changes would be grotesquely unethical and hideously detrimental to the well being of the patient, and any ethical doctor tries to match the patient's original form exactly.
Game Rules: Generally speaking, completing a radical reconstruction requires a month, during which time the character is not only unable to act, their brain is physically separate from their body. The new body can be "built" with any STR, BOD, DEX, or REF scores, plus any positive or negative physical traits desired, however it is highly advised not to change the character's stats from their prior levels.
Upon completion of the procedure, the doctor responsible for the patient's care must make a surgery skill roll with a base penalty of -2, plus an additional penalty equal to the absolute value of any changes made to physical traits or attributes. For example, removing Glass Jaw from the character would impose a -3 modifier, but adding it to the character would impose the same -3 modifier. Similarly, reducing an attribute by 2 imposes the same -2 modifier as increasing another attribute by 2. There is no way to reduce this total modifier. Add an additional -1 modifier for every one hundred years of the character's age, and an additional -1 for each radical reconstruction the character has undergone. If the roll fails, the procedure was still successful, however the character develops the compulsion: Body Integrity Disorder, with a trait value equal to one half the margin of failure (to a minimum of -1 or a maximum of -5).
Body Integrity Disorder in this case represents a neurological disorder caused by the brain's failure to properly index portions of its own body, instead regarding those body parts as foreign. Sufferers endure psychological discomfort, depression, a tendency towards self harm, a compulsion to remove the offending body part, or even complete dissociation in extreme cases. In the case of Radical Reconstruction patients that have developed BID, this disorder might affect only a portion of their reconstruction, or they could regard their entire body as a foreign entity. Psychiatric therapy might help patients cope with some of the symptoms of BID without resorting to amputation or self mutilation, but radical reconstruction is a relatively new procedure, and currently the only known means of treating the underlying neurological disorder is... to try again by removing the brain and attempting another reconstruction in the hopes that the brain will properly index the new body this time. Unfortunately, multiple reconstructions show an increased likelyhood of the patient developing BID, meaning this is at best a faint hope.
Because this procedure is only ethically performed as a last ditch lifesaving event, the cost is entirely covered by state insurance and thus is no cost to the patient.
But that's assuming it was an ethical, life saving procedure. The capability to rebuild someone to order is going to be appealing to both the stupid and the malicious. Some may seek the procedure wanting to become superhuman and not really understanding the risks, while others might inflict it on subordinates not particularly caring of those subordinates descend into psychosis. In these cases, a black market reconstruction may run from ten to twenty thousand dollars, and is unlikely to be performed by a highly skilled and reputable physician. Even so, the actual procedure is reliable enough that many a crime lord might be able to call upon monstrously strong, entirely insane minions.
Cybernetic augmentation
General Rules: Cybernetics are much more widespread and refined in the Bastion, which dramatically increases their availability, even to civilian buyers. Bastion cybernetics and prosthetics have their cost reduced by a factor of one hundred (to a minimum of $5) and have a maximum availability of C
The following implants are not available in the Bastion:
*Elective Myomer Implantation
*Camoflage implant
*Myomer Armor implant
*Triple strength myomer implant
*Pheremone effuser
*Toxin effuser
*Vehicular DNI
*Buffered VDNI (Functionally duplicated by Bastion VDNI by 3085)
*Triple Core Processor (Before 3085, afterward restricted to candidates of Project: Deep Thinker)
*transmitter, receiver, communications, recorder implants, as well as the boosted versions thereof. Functionality is duplicated by the Bastion communication implants
*All extreme prosthetics/cybernetics (A Time of War Companion page 186)
New Implants:
*Bastion Communication Implant/Boosted Communication Implant ($500+50 for the external data port)
This implant duplicates the capabilities of both the communications implant and the recorder implant (or their boosted versions). The implant is operated through voice commands or a visual interface either displayed through a cybernetic eye implant or on a wirelessly connected external device, and functionally operates as essentially a smart phone. The record function may be started or stopped at will, with each section of recorded data stored as a separate file. Data may be transferred to and from the implant wirelessly, or if an external data port is installed, it can be stored or transferred to a removable data chit.
*Bastion VDNI (introduced in 3085)
This implant is functionally identical to Buffered VDNI, save that it does not cause the hyper-sensitivity nor a dependence on medical neuro-inhibitors, and the neural degradation of the implant is reduced to one permanent fatigue point (and associated problems as per the rules for EI on page 317 of A Time of War) for every ten years the implant is used. The character will not recieve the Glass Jaw trait upon removal of the implant, and the negative affects imposed by long term use of the implant can be repaired using gene therapies.
The Bastion's VDNI program is strictly restricted to military and volunteer use (for a maximum of a ten year term), and it has only limited applications outside of military service, which has limited criminal interest. However, those who do have the implants and can locate an appropriately unscrupulous cyberneticist can have their implant "overclocked" by removing safeties and increasing neural sensitivity, duplicating the affects of standard VDNI or even prototype DNI while drastically increasing the rate of neural degradation. In game terms, this increases the rate of degradation by a factor of ten when operating as standard VDNI, and twenty if operating as prototype DNI. Double this degradation rate if the character doesn't have a steady supply of neural inhibitor medication (equivalent to dealing with 2 point addiction). Being discovered with an illegally modified VDNI implant is grounds for immediate dismissal from service and removal of the implant.
Full body Augmentations:
These augmentations do not cause the same persistent pain or drug dependence as standard elective myomer implants, triple strength myomer implants, myomer armor implants, or camoflage armor implants.
*Dermal Armor Modification: $15,000
+2 BOD, +2 STR, AV: 3/3/3/3, Pain Resistance
*Myomer Augmentation Modification: $15,000
+2 STR, +1 RFL, Toughness
*Pilot Augmentation Modification $15,000
+1 BOD, +2 REF, G-Tolerance, Good Vision
*Vacuum Resistance Modification: $15,000
Immunity to vacuum effects or rapid pressure changes. The character can hold their breath for thirty minutes, assuming the individual is engaged in little to no physical activity. Half that time for moderate activity, and half it again for major exertion such as combat.
The Galatea Girls:
Baseline Augmentation:
able to live and function normally in gravity ranging from microgravity to 3 gravities
+1 to STR, BOD, DEX, RFL, INT
Fast Learner, Good Vision, Good Hearing traits
Longevity Augmentation (advanced: aging penalties are halved)
Because of the limitations of their baseline genetic structure, Galatea Girls are exclusively biologically female, are effectively sterile, and are immune to gene therapies not included in their basic genetic package with the exception of induced neural regeneration. They are slightly less susceptible to Body Integrity Disorder (remove the base -2 to the surgical skill roll) when undergoing radical reconstruction, and they appear to be completely immune to neural degeneration caused by the use of a direct neural interface or the negative affects of the triple core processor.
