Aleph-33-Red

When a man's enemy is the world upon which he stands, it falls upon mankind to improve man.

Development and History

Tyrell's mastery of genetic construction knows no bounds. The current trend in terraforming more hostile worlds has led to two needs - one, more durable environmental frames for early colonists, and two, more durable colonists. Being that Tyrell's trade relies upon commissioned genetics, the corporation was sought by a number of firms - public and private - to develop the ideal hostile-world colonist. And, so, they did. Similar, in a way, to the OCP-6 breed, Aleph-33-Red was designed to be remarkably durable. However, Tyrell does not work in petty splicing, instead coding the human genetics from their root, and as such the product was a sort of mega-human, not a proto-minotaur.

The A33R "Look"

A33R: Bulky, broad, missile-like in a way.

No requests were made of Tyrell to engineer Aleph-33-Red's appearance, and as such their inclination was to restrain it toward humanity as much as possible. After all, to appear disparate is to cause disparity.

There are exceptions and subtle nuances, of course, and one such subtlety is the torso. A33R possesses two ribcages, a rigid external and a more flexible internal, with a lipid mesh weaving them together. The flexible ribcage functions similarly to a whale's, allowing for superior adaptability when changing pressure environments. Viewed from without, the A33R torso is much wider than a human's, but has the same depth, giving them a markedly unusual stature from most. Due to the mechanism by which A33R adapts to changes in pressure, the neck is also markedly thicker than in most humans.

In addition, A33R tends to have a broad, flat nose with a slight interior flap. Internal muscles can pinch the nose inward very suddenly, creating a vacuum seal.

Subtler Elements of Physiology

To combat pitting in bones from frequent changes in pressure, Tyrell developed a new skeleton entirely, from within to without. While retaining its rigidity for the individual, the bones of an Aleph-33-Red individual compress and expand slightly to maintain themselves relative to the pressure outside of an individual, due to their not being single solid bones but instead highly complex arrays of linked enamel, coiled about themselves in a helical spiral. Tyrell has yet to disclose how they have managed to coerce the body into engineering this skeleton, but thus far, it is unique to A33R. The pitfall of this bony structure is injury - when a bone is broken, that lattice is ruined without internal microsurgery to amend the 'clotting' of bone in the wake of bone breakage. This also gives A33R a propensity for bones to set incorrectly, if set by anyone who is uneducated in the treatment of the breed.

The dermis and subcutaneous fats in A33R are particularly engineered for hardiness; while the surface appearance of the skin looks identical to a human's, the individual might seem somewhat 'puffy' when comparing hands or shoulders to a human of similar stature, due to dermal thickness and lipid meshing.

The circulatory system of A33R is far less reliant on hemoglobin than a human's, instead preferring to produce and utilize myoglobin. This is a quality known to an ancient Earth creature called a 'whale', as well as certain other terraforming biota and the occasional high-activity genotype.

Aleph-33-Red Mechanics

Making a character A33R costs 3 character benefits during creation.

• +4 CON, +2 SIZ. A33R's wide profile makes them a bit larger, and their staggering hardiness cannot be denied.

• Space Merman: A33R is at home on land, in the sea, or in a spacewalk. With adaptations for changing pressure radically, and the ability to hold one's breath for truly inhuman durations - easily twenty to thirty minutes - A33R is uniquely capable of strolling into the black in the nude.

• ArmorAll: A33R's skin is thick; so thick, in fact, that A33R adds 2 to their current total of armor.

• Quick Recovery: A33R improves their die type for periods of recovery by a step. This stacks with the Swift Recovery perk.
  • Exception: If recovering from a broken bone, A33R heals half as quickly as a human.

• Tireless: A33R typically does not suffer from physical exhaustion.
  • Exception: Jumping naked out of an airlock (just as an example) will exhaust A33R in very short order.