Exsurgent Characters

The xenomorph strain of the exsurgent virus — and others like it — is known to transform people and machines into the terrifying alien creatures known as exsurgents.

Exsurgent-Infected PCs

PCs may not immediately realize they have been infected with the exsurgent virus. While some strains are fast-acting and readily become apparent, others can take weeks or even months to make their changes. This presents ample opportunity for the GM to slowly introduce effects over time and for players to roleplay their response and changing personality.

Though some PCs will seek a cure, there is little to be done for most infections. Strains that simply affect the mind and don’t trigger physiological changes (haunting, mindstealer, whisper) can sometimes be excised with psychosurgery. Bio-pathogen strains can sometimes be thwarted if the victim is placed in a healing vat immediately after infection (GM discretion). For other scenarios, the only option is to suicide and revert to an uninfected backup.

PCs that are physically transmogrified into exsurgents become NPCs, acquiring the necessary traits, movement rates, skills, ware, psi, and other abilities appropriate to the exsurgent type. At the GM discretion, certain aptitudes (and their linked skills) may also be adjusted.

Roleplaying Exsurgents

Exsurgents follow an alien agenda. Their specific motivations may vary, but they are generally concerned with two things: spreading the exsurgent virus and destroying anything that isn’t affected. For some, this means enraged hostile action against anything non-exsurgent. Others take a more methodical, long-term approach using infiltration and sabotage to set the stage for mass destruction.

Most exsurgents took their orders direct from the TITANs — some may still. Lacking their presence and active direction, however, exsurgents continue on with what they were doing as best they know. This can include accumulating knowledge on transhumanity, slowly assembling some mysterious device, forcibly uploading all egos they can collect, guarding a specified location against all intruders, or manufacturing a hafnium bomb or other weapon of mass destruction.

Some may act as if the TITAN agenda is complete or on-pause — or they simply didn’t heed the TITANs much in the first place. Most of these follow their instincts or genetically coded drives, such as nesting and breeding or indiscriminately hunting and murdering all living things. A few of the sapient and more intelligent exsurgents may be crafting their own ambitions, perhaps seeking to carve out their own niche in transhumanity’s shadow — or subvert our species for their personal goals.

Infection As Plot Device

The rules for exsurgent infection assume the group prefers to let dice and chance determine outcomes. For more story-driven games, however, infection may be better handled as a plot device. If so, infection simply happens or doesn’t, depending on the GM’s call or player actions. When infection occurs, the story and roleplaying should emphasize the nature of it: how you become aware of it, how it affects you physically and psychologically over time, and what this transition means when dealing with others. Entire campaigns can be built around the struggle with infection, the attempt to find a cure, or simply how long the character can go before succumbing and becoming something terrifyingly alien.