Beyond the Rainbow

With clone production virtually perfected and neural pathway mapping and recording also having taken great strides during the previous century, it is now possible to record the memory engrams of a person, and imprint them upon the mind of their clone. The process is known as “Rebirth.”

The Rebirth process can only be accomplished with appropriate equipment and by a trained expert. The process can be expensive and can fail with disastrous consequences.

To accomplish a Rebirth, and with appropriate equipment being available, a trained practitioner needs valid memory engrams and a clone of the person to be imprinted. Engrams from one person cannot be imprinted on a clone from another.

Game Mechanics:

DNA harvesting: Requires Medical Science – cloning (or Life Science – genetics) check. Base modifier of +2. Reduced to +1 at 3 ranks in either skill, and +0 at 6 ranks (only the higher skill will be considered). There is a +1 step modifier for every two days the body has been dead from which the DNA is to be harvested. DNA samples will be deemed Ordinary, Good, or Amazing. Costs 100 per attempt and takes only 1 minute to harvest.

Clone growing: Requires Medical Science – cloning check. Base modifier of +2. Reduced to +1 at 3 ranks, and +0 at 6 ranks (only the higher skill will be considered). Good DNA gives -1 step bonus. Amazing DNA gives -2 step bonus. Clone will be deemed Ordinary, Good, or Amazing. Costs 2500 per attempt and takes a week to grow.

Memory Engram creation: Requires Medical Science – cloning (or Medical Science – psychology) check. Base modifier +2. Reduced to +1 at 3 ranks in Medical Science – psychology, and +0 at 6 ranks (Medical Science – cloning will not reduce this difficulty). There is a +1 step modifier for every minute the body has been dead. Engram sample will be deemed Ordinary, Good, or Amazing. A memory engram taken from a willing living subject gains a -2 step bonus to create. An unwilling subject is allowed a Resolve – mental resolve check to fight the taking of an engram. A failure gives no modifier, an Ordinary success gives a +1 step penalty, Good gives +2 step, and Amazing gives +3 step penalty on the practitioner’s check to take an engram. Repeated attempts can be made weekly, but each successive failed forced attempt gives a cumulative +1 step penalty as the victim learns better how to fight the process. Costs 1000 per attempt and takes a minute. Engram backups can be made with a backup costing 1000 and being one grade lower than the engram it is produced from wth no check required.

Rebirth: Requires Medical Science – cloning check. Base modifier +4. Reduced to +3 at 3 ranks and +2 at 6 ranks. Engram and Clone quality modifiers are Ordinary: none, Good: -1 step, Amazing: -2 step. This is a complex skill check requiring 7 successes. Results: Failure: Loss of clone and damage to engram that reduces quality of engram by 1 step, Ordinary Success: Rebirth with engram lost, one level lost, and a 1 month recovery period, Good Success: Rebirth with engram lost, one level lost, and no recovery period, Amazing Success: Rebirth with engram lost, no level loss, no recovery period. Costs 2000 per attempt and takes an hour.

While it would seem technically possible to thus create multiple living copies of a specific individual, all previous attempts at doing this failed when one of the copies discovered the existence of the others. The consciousness of the copies would shutdown almost immediately. Even those who willingly participated in such experiments ended up dying as a result of the shock to their mental state.

For every step, DNA harvesting, Clone growing, Engram creation, and Rebirth, performing these operations on a race other than your own gives a +2 step penalty. Having the appropriate Medical Science – Xenomedicine skill reduces this penalty normally, although a bonus cannot be obtained.