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Vehicle Training

Genetic

Advantages are the unique connections, talents, and training that set your character apart in a crowd. They form the foundation upon which your character builds and chooses skills. Certain skills are useful when used with an advantage. For instance, the Scavenge skill is useful to have if your character has the Scavenger advantage. Likewise, the Electronics skill is useful for a Cyberdeck Technician.

The following is a partial list of Cybersphere's advantages. It shows only what's available during initial Character Generation. This list is only a beginning... The struggle to find fitting advantages is one that constantly culls the weak from Cybersphere's ranks.

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l a n g u a g e s

Language Advantages

Each of these advantages represents fluency in a specific language. Your character's intelligence may limit the maximum number of learnable languages.

Arabic
Chinese
French
Gaelic
German
Japanese
Russian
Street-Talk
Spanish
Tagalog

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

Language Recognition

Language recognition allows a character to identify, but not necessarily to understand, a language. You will hear "some babble in Japanese", instead of "some unintelligible babble".

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

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s t r e e t s m a r t s

Lock Expert

Represents the underworld connections and savvy that allows your character to get ahold of simple tools and kits required to pick locks. Mechanical, electronic, and cybernetic locks can be hacked with sufficient skill.

Commands:

pick (exit)
lockpick (exit)
pick (exit) with (lockpick)
lockpick (exit) with (lockpick)

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Lockpick

Ventriloquism

Allows your character to throw voices.

Command:

throw-voice (spoken text)
tv (spoken text)

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

Scavenger

The basic lessons of refuse and junk survival; your character's skill determines whether or not you'll make a decent living at it.

Commands:

scavenge
scavenge (object)

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Scavenge

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c o n n e c t i o n s

Faceman

They're the face you meet to fence stolen goods, the dealer that cuts in his share before quoting the price on the street. Facemen have access to a black market network, but only their wit and luck assure a steady stream of suppliers and buyers.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

IO Simulant Agent

Simhunters inhabit the shadow world at the edge of corporate influence, living off executive promises and the bounties of recalled genetic undesirables. These Agents are contracted by InterOrbital Incorporated to hunt down and "recall" certain members of the population who display dangerous gene defects-- Simulants.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Simulant	(None)

Reporter

The Networks of Cybersphere's future blur news and entertainment together into a continuous satellite feed of gore and sensationalism, narrated and edited by the shock troops of the information age: Reporters. New Carthage International (NCI) is the primary media employer of note.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

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t e c h

Cyberdeck Technician

A cyberdeck tech knows how to strip and install hardware on cyberdecks. A deckshop facility is useless without cyberdeck technician knowledge.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Electronics

Gun Repair

A character with this advantage knows the specs to all the latest firearms and ammo loads. Only gun techs can install special cyber mods on guns. Skilled gun techs can inspect, repair, and clear feed jams on almost any firearm.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Gun Tech

Ammo Loading

Ammo loading specialists know the precision of grain counts and the elegance of teflon coatings-- they're the ones to hit up for the latest in custom ammo for any firearm. Ammo loaders can create a variety of specialized ammunition types.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Gun Tech

Weaponsmith

Weaponsmiths are masters of firearm and melee weapon construction. Their talents allow custom firearms to be built from stock components, and stylish mods on existing blades and swords. Their artwork, when completed, is both lethal and beautiful. For complex jobs, weaponsmiths will need access to a weapon or gunshop with assembly equipment.

Command:

@weaponmodify

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

Engineering

Engineering-trained characters have a well-rounded background in several technical fields, either from school learning or life on the street. Engineering allows faster progression in several tech skill areas.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Black Ops Training EMT Training Sharp Shooter Detective Training Military Training	Appraisal Programming Mechanics Electronics Gun Tech

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c o m b a t - s p e c i a l t i e s

Quick Draw: Swords

Quick Draw: Pistols

Quickdraw allows an attacker to smoothly ready a weapon, aim, and strike with one command. Sheathed swords will flicker out with a sweep of the arm; holstered pistols will draw on agile fingers to take aim. If your character can smartlink the weapon to cybernetic hardware, this will also happen. It's also possible to fumble a weapon in the haste of combat...

Command:

quickdraw (target) with (weapon)
qd (target) with (weapon)

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Swords -or- Pistol

Body Guard Training

The impassive face behind sunglasses that guards suited CEO's... the grinning punk that trails his boostergang leader: both are alert to jump in front of a knife, or take a bullet in the gut. Bodyguard training, whether learned on the street or in a corporate academy, allows your character to guard and intercept attacks against another person. Perception, willpower, and agility determine the effectiveness of your guard.

Commands:

bodyguard (person)
stop bodyguarding

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated stats:
(None)	(None)	PCN WIL AGL

Martial Arts

This blend of several defensive martial art styles allows characters to kick weapons out of an oppoent's hand. Quickness and agility is required, and a failed attempt puts the martial artist at the mercy of the attacker.

Command:

disarm (target)

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Martial Arts

Sharp Shooter

Steady, controlled breathing, an even trigger-pull, and tight shot groups: these are the bread and butter of a sharpshooter. Characters with this advantage advance more easily in gun-related skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Military Training Black Ops Training EMT Training Engineering Detective Training	Rifle Pistol Gun Tech

Military Training

Since World War III went nuclear, the streets have been a boneyard for the spent and discarded shells of veterans and outcast corporate soldiers. Corporate training rivals, and even surpasses, the quality of national fighting forces. Characters with military training advance more easily in several combat-related skill areas.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Black Ops Training EMT Training Sharp Shooter Engineering Detective Training	Melee Pistol SMG Gunnery Gun Tech

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f i g h t i n g - s t y l e s

Aikijutsu

In Cybersphere's urban canyons, Aikijutsu has evolved into a defensive art of entangling arm-locks mixed with lighting-quick strikes. It is slightly more suited to damage than to blocking movements.

Command:

@natural-weapon Aikijutsu

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Defensive MA

Taijitsu

Fierce Yakuza retainers have transformed the ancient disciplines of Taijitsu into a graceful ballet of defensive knifehand parries. Occasional twists and pinning arm-locks give this martial art some damaging capability, but its primary focus is counterblock and dodge.

Command:

@natural-weapon Taijitsu

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Defensive MA

Tae Kwon Do

When the North American economies crashed, Indochinese satellite feeds popularized a brawling version of Tae Kwon Do among masses of idle schoolchildren. The bastardized version of Tae Kwon Do in Cybersphere's pop culture rewards mass and strength in a choreography of swift snap-kicks and full-body sweeps.

Command:

@natural-weapon Tae Kwon Do

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Offensive MA

Kung Fu

The ritualized disciplines of Kung Fu remain untainted, elegant, and difficult to master in post-war culture. This art retains its balance for lethality and clever offense, and in its most basic style, rewards skill and patience over raw strength and aggression.

Command:

@natural-weapon Kung Fu

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Offensive MA

Dirty Infighting

This fighting style is not a defined art, nor is it elegant, disciplined, or graceful. Infighting was born of the desparation of back alleys, and its eye-gouging, rabbit-punching, knee-breaking techniques thrive in Cybersphere's gritty urban sprawls. Its brutal moves reward strength slightly more than skill, but armored opponents are difficult targets.

Command:

@natural-weapon Dirty Infighting

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Brawling

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p r o f e s s i o n a l - t r a i n i n g

Cyberdoc

Cyberdocs specialize in the installation and removal of cybernetic implants. Their skills may or may not be proven, and rarely do they possess corporate or professional certifications. Ripperdocs are the chrome vultures of Cybersphere's world, prying gore-splattered implants from the sucking chest wounds of luckless gangers and ambushed corporates. All cybermedical characters need a Cybershop of some sort to conduct implant operations.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	CyberDoc

Coroner

Coroners, whether formally trained doctors or informal street crime experts, are the necromancers of Cybersphere's modern era. They coax stories from corpses, determining causes of death, specifics of weapon trauma, and death times. A Cybershop or clinic is required for a coroner to perform in-depth investigations.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

Counselor Training

With the spread of extensive cyberware, psychological side effects and implant-driven insanity is rampant in Cybersphere's society. The only way to stay wired and on the Edge, pumped full of implants, is therapy. Combinations of drugs, hypnotics, aversion therapy, and psychosurgery allows specialists with counselor training to rebuild and strengthen the tattered empathy of cyberware addicts.

Commands:

counsel (person)

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Empathy

Zero-g Training

The Final Frontier has already been bought, bonded, and licensed by swarms of multinational corporations. The gaps in the gravity well, abandoned space habitats and modules, are populated by ethnic groups made homeless by the Wars and bands of nomadic squatters. Characters with zero-g training have either a corporate or home background that allows them to avoid the misery of Space Adaptation Syndrome.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	(None)

Black-Ops Training

The hushed pocket wars of multinational corporations have replaced the all-out battles of World War III. The new soldiers are covert, specializing in stealth, reconaissance, and speed. Characters trained in Black Ops advance more quickly in commando-related skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Military Training EMT Training Sharp Shooter Engineering Detective Training	Rifle Pistol Stealth Offensive MA Martial Arts

EMT Training

Emergency MedTech training focuses on battlefield and urban triage-- immediate care for immediate situations. Most high-level medical healing is handled by specialists or autodocs in the desparate alleyway wars of Cybersphere's future. EMT-trained characters advance more quickly in medical and cybermedical skill areas.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Military Training Black-Ops Training Sharp Shooter Engineering Detective Training	First-Aid CyberDoc

Detective Training

Characters with detective training are the freelance private eyes, repo-men, and data ferrets of Cybersphere's cityscape. They know the customs of the street and advance quickly in those skill areas.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	Military Training Black-Ops Training Sharp Shooter Engineering EMT Training	Appraisal Thievery Lockpick

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v e h i c l e - t r a i n i n g

Gang Biker

Gang bikers have all the basic moves on a motorcycle, but usually just enough to get them into trouble. Characters who have Gang Biker experience gain a low bonus to their motorcycle combat skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Biker

Combat Biker

Combat Bikers are veterans of corporate training or extended gang wars. Their experience makes them stylish and lethal on a motorcycle. Characters with Combat Biker experience gain a moderate bonus to motorcycle combat skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
Gang Biker	(None)	Biker

Expert Biker

Expert Bikers are respected and feared in gang circles, or well-paid and well-trained in corporate enclaves. Their levels of skill are unique and rare. Characters with Expert Biker experience gain a high bonus to motorcycle combat skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
Gang Biker Combat Biker	(None)	Biker

Corp Driver

Corp Drivers have solid experience driving escort cars or armored cargo vans in corporate convoys. They are competent behind the controls of almost any street car, offroad vehicle, or armored assault vehicle. Characters with Corp Driver experience gain a low bonus to vehicle combat skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	(None)	Driving

Assault Driver

Assault Drivers specialize in combat driving and ambush evasion. They are the most trusted of escort drivers, and often protect heavy executives in major corporations. Characters with Assault Driver experience gain a high bonus to vehicle combat skills.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
Corp Driver	(None)	Driving

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g e n e t i c

Simulant

Simulants are mutants, defects, freaks of nature. Their DNA is scrambled in subtle ways, giving them physical superiority over the average human, but their empathy and sanity suffers. Several companies are contracted by the Turing Police to track down and eliminate Simulants, so a Simulant character's existance is fleeting, desparate, and often violent.

Required advantages:	Disallowed advantages:	Associated skills:
(None)	IO Simulant Agent	(None)