Editing Paradise City:Introduction to Paradise City (section)

=Cyberware in Paradise=

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Corporate culture and street culture have different attitudes towards cyberware.

==Cyberware in Corporate Culture==

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In corporate culture, appearance is everything.  They don't care what you are made of, they care about how you look, and so owners of cyberwear are judged by the appearance of their cyberware rather than the quantity.  Corporate culture divides people into the following vague unofficial castes based on their use of non-natural looking cyberware.

Angels:  Angels are rich persons who modify their bodies in strange ways in order to be dazzling, artistic and cool.  Cyberware that would be considered grotesque and disgusting if it were a part of someone else is accepted and even admired in an angel.  Unnatural cyberware of a useful nature is considered to be very uncool, and unless it is unique and experimental, is liable to disqualify the owner from angel status.  Angels do not make appropriate PCs.

Pure-Strain Humans (Also “PSH”):  A “pure-strain human” is someone who has no non-natural looking cyberware.  Most of corporate middle-management and almost all of corporate upper-management is composed of pure-strain humans.  Pure-Strain Humans generally look favorably on cyberware per se, provided that it looks like a natural part of the body.  Attitudes to angels varies from raised-eyebrows to hero-worship.

Cyberpunks:  Anyone with non-natural cyberware who is not an angel is considered a “cyberpunk” – which means that almost everyone with non-natural cyberware falls into this category.  The word has connotations of criminality, viciousness and renouncement of humanity.  The word “cyberpunk” is officially considered offensive when applied to a colleague, but is in common use among pure-strain humans all the same. There are various castes of cyberpunk.

Androids:  Androids are corporate employees who have non-natural cyberware that is legitimately related to a respectable office job – such as chip slots, computer interfaces and cell-phone implants.  Androids are regarded by pure-strain humans with a mixture of revulsion and grudging admiration.  It is acknowledged that they can be excellent employees, but they are regarded as having given up a degree of their humanity, which makes them scary and icky.  Like the word “cyberpunk”, the word “android” is officially considered offensive when applied to a colleague, but is in common use among pure-strain humans all the same.  

Orc:  Orcs are uniformed military, police or security personnel with visible cyberware that is legitimately related to their job.  Orcs are frightening and disgusting, but are useful enough to be tolerated.  They are rarely assigned to patrol nice neighborhoods.  In fact, Orcs who cannot pass for prosthetics usually cannot walk around in good corporate neighborhoods out of uniform without being hassled by police.

Prosthetics:  Prosthetics are individuals with visible cybeware that can pass for medically necessary prosthetic replacements – such as bionic arms, legs and eyes.  Corporate culture regards them with revulsion, but will tolerate them if they are working in respectable jobs.  A prosthetic will rarely be promoted to a management position without becoming an android or pure-strain human first.  Anyone who clearly could afford to replace their non-natural parts with natural parts but does not is not considered a prosthetic but a freak.

Freaks:  Freaks are individuals with visible cyberware who cannot pass for an angel, an android, an orc or a prosthetic.  They will be treated as an outsider and suspected of being an anti-social criminal.  A freak whose non-natural cyberware is hidden when they are clothed is called a “coocoo”.  Coocoos are thought of as being particularly grotesque for the very fact that they can pass for good corporates.

Psychos:  Psychos are freaks with visible cyberware that looks like it was designed for combat.  Psychos will be suspected of being psychotic anti-social criminals.  They are seen as people who have traded in their humanity for the ability to kill.

==Cyberware in Street Culture==

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Street culture does not recognize the classes of corporate culture but has its own system for classifying people by cyberware.  The word “cyberpunk” is used for anyone who has cyberware and who is either a criminal or has no boss.  The word has connotations of dangerousness and a lack of respect for the law – which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on the company.  Anyone with visible cyberware will generally be thought to have traded in some of their humanity for an edge – the less human they look, the less human they will be assumed to be.  They will be suspected of being a criminal, unless the ware is obviously suited for a normal, legitimate, non-violent occupation.  Anyone with visible cyberware that would give them an edge in combat will be assumed to either fight for a living or fight for fun.  There is no general prejudice against individuals with natural looking cyberware, although anyone with known combat mods will obviously be frightening.