Future Medicine

Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it.
Is your child dead? It is a return.
Is your wife dead? It is a return.
Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?
-Epictetus, Encheiridion

Braincasing
     Technology recovered from the Mi-go by Majestic, this involves the removal of the brain and placing it in a special container. This case is usually equipped with ports for direct interaction with the environment as well as connection ports (often Hypertech links) for communicating with peripherals or InLink.
     Braincased personnel are often used in battlesuits, fightercraft, and other positions where human pilots would be too fragile.
     Building a Braincase requires Mechanical Repair and Hightech Repair, with Electronics to install proper components and Hypertech if links are installed. The actual process of braincasing requires a Medicine and Surgery x1/2 roll. Two attempts at Surgery are allowed. If both fail the patient is irreperably dead.
     Becoming braincased is a mental trauma of 5D4 SAN loss, and usually requires a great deal of Psychoanalysis or Psychostructuring. A braincased character must gain the Braincase skill. This represents how functional the character is in her new state.
     If a player wishes to begin the game as a braincase, the Keeper may allow the character to be generated normally. Braincase skill is allowed as an occupational skill.

Hibernate
     Hibernation drugs can be applied to a living person that is very likely to die in the immediate future. Successful application of First Aid applies the drug, which puts the subject into a state of suspended animation. A successful use of Pharmacy will reduce the rate of debilitation in hibernation. In hibernation, heart rate is almost nonexistant, cell metabolism is slowed, and the spread of disease, toxins, and poisons is slowed to a crawl.
     When the character is revived, a test of Con vs. hours (rounded up) in hibernation is made. If a Pharmacy roll was successfully made when the Hibernate drug was applied, Con is doubled.
     If successful, a Medicine roll (and proper facilities, otherwise skill is at 1/2 or less) is needed to bring the character back to life. The procedure takes about an hour.
     If the roll fails, another revivification Con test is needed with total hours in hibernation (including the hour attempt to revive) incremented up by 1/5. Another Medicine roll can be attempted if this test succeeds, otherwise the roll is at 1/2.
     If the revivification test fails, the character is dead. Other medical procedures (braincasing, Psychostructural analysis, imprinting) may still be performed.

Imprint
     A very advanced medical procedure, only available from the Machine Intelligence Association (MIA). Imprinting transfers a personality into a Machine Intelligence medium. A Computer Science roll (and, possibly, a Hypertech roll) is required to design the basic device that will house a personality, but this may be done long before the actual Imprinting process.
     The process requires, in succession, a Surgery roll (at half skill if the subject is dead), a Medicine roll, and a Psychostructure roll at x1/2 (x1/5 if the subject is dead). Wounds to the head or other types of brain damage may increase difficulties.
     The Surgery and Medicine rolls are required to properly implant devices into the brain of the subject. If either fails, an additional Medicine roll is required to keep the subject from dying (if not already dead), no further rolls are made that week and the week is wasted, and all further attempts are at x1/2 (cumulative, and for both Surgery and Medicine).
     If the Psychostructure roll fails after successful Surgery and Medicine rolls, a Medicine x1/2 roll is required to prevent death. Another attempt can be made at x1/4 (or at x1/10 if person is dead), taking up another week. This second attempt does not require Surgery and Medicine rolls (the equipment is still implanted) If this attempt fails, the person dies and the brain is damaged beyond repair.
     Any critical failures, at any point, indicate the brain is damaged beyond repair.
     Successful Imprinting causes SAN loss (mental stress) of one die for a living subject, two dice for a corpse. If everything went smoothly, dice are D4s. For each failure (of any skill check) along the way, the dice go up: D6, D8, D10, D20, D100.
     One die or two dice total are also lost from Int, Edu, Pow, and Dex. If everything went smoothly, dice are D1s (that is, only one lost, period). For each failure, dice go up: D2, D4, D6, D8, D10
     See section on robotic brains for costs of articial brains, and Machine Intelligence Association for more information about MI PCs.

Static
     Static treatment is a very potent hypertech based system, rather than a true drug. It requires a combination of First Aid and InLink, as well as Link equipment (though a PDA suffices). Successfully used, it binds a person in a tight coccoon of protective cladding and brings almost all molecular activity to a standstill, for 1D3 hours (extra charges add D10 x 15 mins per charge)
     Deactivating Static requires a simple control signal and takes 1-5 minutes or longer, depending on the condition of the body. Many facilities have specialized decanting creches that work with the Static treatment and begin advanced procedures directly, for bodies in very injured states. Static treatments are not reusable.
     A Static bundle has one charge per Siz of patient x10 rating. An extra bundle will add a charge, but the rating of each bundle must be at least Sizx10. Charges can be added when the medic detects that the previous charge is almost depleted. A typical Static bundle has a rating of 200, costing $160k and weighing about 5 kg (8 pounds).

Zwitterion
     Inaccurately called a drug, Zwitterion (trademark of New World Pharmaceuticals) is a protomatter-delivered nannite package (Hightech).
     Users of Zwitterion gain the effect of Wired, with the same effects on LinkWar speed (and is common among Linkers) Zwitterion Accelerates all stats.
     There are a few side effects. Regular Zwitterion users are obsessed with balance. After a gun battle, for example, a Zwitterion user will obsessively seek a calm, peaceful, or life saving event to participate in. After saving a life, a Zwitterion user will want to kill someone. Zwitterion users will also see things as moral absolutes, black and white. Some habitual users of Zwitterion seek out this moral certitude, rather than the other effects.
     SAN checks are required to avoid any of these behaviors. A character can choose not to resist and halve her effective SAN.
     The primary side effect is health related. After a dose of Zwitterion is taken, the character must make a Zwitterion level vs. Con check. If this fails, a point is lost from Con, Int, and Edu, and the character looses 1D3 HP. Many heavy Zwitterion users also take health boosters (Con) to protect themselves from this effect.
     Zwitterion level is based on intensity, or boost rating. Like other drugs, the acceleration of activity is 10 for each whole multiplier, so that '10' is the rating of x2 acceleration. 4 is added for other characteristics. Since this is Hightech, the rating is squared for cost, and divided by 4 to give the final 'danger rating'.
     Light speed x2: 14/4 $196
     This has a base rating of 14, which is squared for the cost. Divided by four and rounded up, 4 is the Zwitterion level used in the Con check.
     Sparkle speed x3 24/6 $576, Nova speed x4 34/9 $1,156, Raven speed x5 44/11 $1,936.

     Regular dosage lasts for 1D10x10 minutes. Light doses, of 2D6 rounds, act at Zwitterion level-1. Heavy doses last for 2D6 hours and act at Zwitterion level+1. These modifiers apply to base rating, so a light dose of Light speed would cost $169.
     After the period elapses, effective HP drops by one per round as the protomatter and other materials remove themselves (carefully) from the subject's system. When 0 HP is reached, the subject enters a coma. One minute per Zwitterion level is spent in this comatose state, after which 1 HP returns per minute, up to normal level.