AN INTRODUCTION TO SLEEVES
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the human brain is far too complicated to store on a standard tape drive. Therefore, anybody looking to cheat death or replace their frail and unsatisfactory body must either seek out alien artifacts capable of reading and writing to a biological storage medium such as the legendary NEMO device or else turn to tried-and-true analog solutions.
Encephalectomies are very easy; people have been removing other people's brains since prehistory. The hard bit is putting a brain back. With the help of an organic scaffold and neuron-repair catalysts derived from the parasitic alien creature colloquially known as the "gaunt worm," it is possible to re-implant a brain into a new body without painstakingly stitching individual neurons back together. This allows a brain to be implanted into a naturally-grown body, a chimera, or a (mostly) mechanical sleeve.
Chrome sleeves are (relatively) cheap but their feeble imitation of an organic body's intricate sensorium will wear down even the most experienced operator over time, leading to psychosis or suicide. Still, chrome has its place, especially when an operator knows that their real meat body (or perhaps somebody else's) is waiting for them.
Naturally grown bodies aren't cheap if you want a particular body (for example, your own). It takes between 5-8 years to flash clone an adult human. Unless you're wealthy enough to a keep an anencephalic clone on ice until you need it (you aren't), you'll probably have to settle for somebody else's body. That's upsetting, but the human brain is a plastic thing -- most people will get over the dysphoria in a year or two. Operators who are accustomed to frequent resleeving might need only a few weeks to adjust to their new sleeve.
Chimeras are not born; they are manufactured using alien and terrestrial tissue cultures woven together. While they are expensive and often horrifying to look at, chimeras are superior to baseline humans in practically every respect; stronger, faster, immune to virtually all diseases, and biologically immortal (but the human brain inside is not). Chimeras with non-human body plans tend to posses some low-level brain functions to assist with operator integration. An operator who stays too long in a chimera may become inseparable from it.
RULES FOR RESLEEVING:
Most brain transplants take at least 24 hours. After surgery, the brain is kept in an induced coma for at least 24 hours; enough time for the gaunt-derived catalyst to simulate neuron growth. Specialized facilities may be able to perform the procedure much faster but these are available only to large corps and the Exile States.
Implantation:
Make a SANITY save and a BODY save at [+] when you awaken. The BODY save is not at [+] if you have woken up after less than 24 hours. The SANITY save is at [+] if you are transplanted into your own body or a clone of your own body. The SANITY SAVE is at [-] if you are implanted into a sleeve with a substantially different body plan than your own.
If your SANITY save is a critical success, you are immediately acclimated to your new body. On a regular success, you gain two points of stress and have disadvantage on all rolls for the next 72 hours. On a failure, you gain 1d5+1 stress and roll on the panic table at an inopportune time. You also have disadvantage on all rolls for the next month. This period may be eliminated with appropriate psychotherapy and pharmaceutical interventions costing 25% of your sleeve's market value or 25kcr (whichever is greater). On a critical failure, you die. Your next of kin or companions will be liable for your enormous medical debt.
Your body save uses your sleeve's new BODY value. If you critically fail your BODY save, you die. On an ordinary failure, you require expensive anti-rejection drugs equal to 25% of your sleeve's market value or 25kcr (whichever is greater).
Unless you critically succeeded on your SANITY save, increase your minimum stress by 1 point to a maximum increase of 3 points. If you are ever re-implanted into your original body (or a clone), these points are immediately removed. If you ever integrate with a a chimera these points are also immediately removed.
Rejection
In a naturally grown body with a similar body plan to your own, you do not need to make a rejection check.
In a naturally grown body with a different body plan or a chimera, make SANITY save three and six months after implantation. If you fail one of those saves, you will take 1d5 stress and roll on the panic table at an inopportune time. If you fail both SANITY saves, you die.
While you are implanted in a chrome sleeve, make a SANITY save every three months. If you fail one of those saves, you will take 1d5 stress and roll on the panic table at an inopportune time. If you fail two consecutive SANITY saves, you die (also at an inopportune time).
Integration
When sleeved in a chimera, you may choose to ignore the results of a panic roll by relying on the chimera's highly-optimized limbic system. Each time you do this, make a SANITY save. If you fail that save once, subsequent saves are at [-]. If you fail a second save, you have become inseparably and irreversibly integrated with your chimera. Your brain can no longer be safely removed from your and your next death will be permanent.
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