|
|
Class: characters
Name: Scouts
Brief: Scouts are reconnaissance specialists and skirmisher troops.
Detailed: When the mice in a home start to get our of control, an exterminator is brought in. Every creature in nature has a natural predator, and the same holds true in business. In the world of megacorps and high-value data, there are runners, the mice of the megacorps. In order to keep the runners from getting out of hand, a new class of employee was devised. They would come to call this employee the scout.
Scouts are individuals who practice the art of detection, without being detected. They can operate in near complete secrecy, but only if they can remain out of sight. Scouts, unlike runners, make their profession known whenever someone looks upon them, because their job requires extensive biomodification. The human eye can only see in the visible spectrum and while the visible spectrum is fantastic for simple navigation, the scout’s role in detecting those who would move in secrecy requires that they have additional spectrums available. It is to this end that many scouts get extensive optic modification, although the limits of the human body and the current state of biomodification technology state that no scout can have every spectrum available to them at once. Many scouts will take up to two additional spectrums, the most that can be wired to the human mind at one time. Many scouts opt to take the infrared spectrum, and then a mod that will allow them x-ray or light-amplification capacity. Quick-change kits are purchased by some scouts, which gives them the ability to switch from one installed spectrum or optic technology to another one in as short as an hour. However, these kits are expensive, and performing the quick change operation takes a heavy toll on the human psyche because it involves switching a card within one’s own tissue. Such an experience should not be repeated any more than neccesary, and to this end most scouts choose to specialize in just one or two technologies.
Scouts are often employed in dangerous missions, seeking out people who would rather not be bothered. This means scouts are subdivided into two basic varieties. There are armed scouts, those who would carry either a standard sidearm or have a weapon grafted on to their body. These scouts are referred to as skirmishers, and are usually employed in front line seek-and-destroy missions. These scouts take advantage of their ability to find those who do not wish to be seen, or their ability to maneuver themselves without being seen. The other variety of scouts specialize in recon work. These are referred to as reconnaissance specialists, and typically go unarmed, although some may carry a small weapon for unplanned engagements. These scouts tend to have other reconnaissance technologies installed on their bodies, and may have the ability to record things they see without external equipment. Scouts backed by particularly large customers can afford things far more exotic, and too specialized to be noted here.
Scouts, like any other profession, have many different employers and conditions they may work under. Some are contracted to corporations. Others are contracted to individuals. There have been a few scouts known to make a personal business of blackmailing people with information they have obtained. Of course there are also freelance scouts who work for the highest bidder, and while these scouts bring with them the most security liability, they are also generally the best scouts one will ever find, due to the extreme inherent complexity of missions requiring hired reconnaissance personnel.