On the table are presented 52 playing cards, face-down in a random order.
An android is asked to pick out the Ace of Spades among them.
They pull out a one...
-- And their power allows them to calculate the position of the card they desired --
History has shown, time and time again, that normal humanity has always fallen prey to the turnside of the world where supernatural forces lurk. Even with the aid of beings like espers the difference in strength tends to be too much to overcome. This has led to certain organizations becoming interested in the future of humanity and how to survive in a world where what we don't understand might kill us some day. One of these organizations was a masonic order with a far-reaching hand and enough resources to steal knowledge from various supernatural organizations.
From these seeds sprung forth AMADEUS – an attempt to fight against the supernatural with the power of science.
As normal humans could not acquire powers that rivaled those of the turnside of the world without turning to mysticism, scientists of AMADEUS figured they needed to build their own warriors – being of metal and cybernetics disguised as human, equipped with technology to rival the power of the unreal. This coincided happily with their sponsor organization's roots in craftsmanship and ideals of passing down technological knowledge in secret, as mankind was not ready for it.Thus begun the arduous task of building something through technology that could rival the marvels of supernatural. Select groups and people around the world worked for centuries, testing every possibility they had at their disposal. Ultimately it was one of the French sub-groups of AMADEUS that came up with a breakthrough: a prototype android known as Hadaly. Infused with a generator that produced artificial mana later known as vril energy, it was capable of outputting similar amounts of destructive energy with the weapons it had. Two years later, Hadaly killed a mage in single combat, proving its creators were successful.
The start of 20th Century was the beginning for a new generation of cybernetic warriors that would protect mankind from supernatural threats without relying on the powers of the turnside themselves. Hand-picked scientists were introduced to the project by AMADEUS organization and their masonic backers, elevating the power and the sophistication of these anti-supernatural androids even further. Soon they were able to look and act like humans, hiding in plain sight among the populace. When limited, self-contained Artificial Intelligence became possible, the line between a human and an android truly began to blur. Talk of 'Replicants' started and eventually made its way into popular culture. However, the capacity to talk, feel and think like human was necessary for AMADEUS-backed androids. After all, improvisation and the ability to imagine were crucial when fighting against the turnside of the world. Being essentially human yet not, having essentially supernatural powers yet not, the life of these androids is full of contradictions.
You are one of these divided beings; You are a warrior of the AMADEUS Project.
You are an android.
As an android you are very much human on the outside, but on the inside you are a highly advanced machine made for the purpose of hunting down those who would threaten the normal lives of populace everywhere. The turnside of the world is your dire enemy and you have been equipped with necessary programs and weapons to combat them. You might bruise, you might even bleed, but where your heart is lies a generator of vril energy that is artificially made mana, capable of powering so called 'Black Technology' – things that should not have been possible to create with modern understanding of technology. The gap between the true technological heights and what the populace knows is great, and you are a shining example of that.
Whether you are one of the purely combat-oriented androids made in the Naukograd Conclave that lies in Europe, a product of the American companies that specialize on information suppression units collectively known as the Men in Black or a social interaction and infiltration android of the Karakuri Works, your goal is the same: you are to locate the potentially harmful being of the turnside, erase any and all information regarding it in the community and then eliminate said being without any witnesses. Depending on your typical plan of approach and what strategies best suit you, you may have been granted a certain amount of Vril Programs -artificial supernatural weapons- to accomplish this task. As all the androids of the AMADEUS Project are autonomous they are allowed to make their own decisions and judgement calls regarding the mission they are given. Especially those androids with a track record of multiple successful missions are often given free reign to act how they see fit. Fresh-off-the-factory types, or those who have yet to prove themselves, are often kept on a tighter leash with a support team there to guide them.
This all is thanks to the self-contained Artificial Intelligence that all androids possess. This Artificial Intelligence is a true one, but limited to the capacity of a normal human forcefully. In other words, in order to prevent a so-called technological singularity all androids have had their A.I.s modified so that they do not grow beyond what a normal is capable. They might be faster to act, faster to process information and all-around smarter than a normal person, but they are still within human limitations. It is both a crucial piece of design, as AMADEUS does not want its creations surpassing it, but also a fairly symbolic one. It means that when an android defeats a supernatural threat it was done wholly through human power.
Something that was the core concept of AMADEUS and its backer from the start.
It is unknown how many androids walk among the normal populace these days, but they have been stationed on every country with reported, harmful supernatural activities. To the surprise of their creators, androids themselves have began to showcase a sense of 'pride' regarding their origin and faction of origin. There's a sense of rivalry between the three different major producers of androids and said androids themselves, each having come up with a different idea of how missions are supposed to be handled.
Unfortunately, that same budding sense of pride has spawned some more tragic incidents. It seems that androids and the warriors of the Holy Church cannot see eye-to-eye even though their missions are the same, regarding the other party as an antithesis of themselves. It is not uncommon that if an android and a holy warrior have been hunting the same prey they instead turn to fight each other, with the victor being the one who continues the mission.
Or perhaps it is just he sign of a divide between technology and faith, the latter being something that the androids have been unable to find...
Android Origin
As an android, you utilize the vril energy generated within you to power your programs, artificial versions of magic and other supernatural abilities. Not only that, but you tend to be expert in other modern, even highly futuristic, weaponry as well. Unlike all other beings of the turnside, you tend to have your feet firmly planted in the future.
Upon choosing the Android Origin, you gain:
Naukograd Conclave
The science cities of Soviet Union, and later Russia, held many secrets. Groups working on androids under the watchful eye of AMADEUS were just few of those secrets; rest were mostly used to arm said androids in their missions against the supernatural threats of the world. These days rest of the Europe tends to have adapted this more combat-oriented mindset that the old Soviet scientists had, as the androids their branches of AMADEUS build tend to focus less on carefully concealing the nature of their prey and their own, and more on eradicating denizens of the turnside with extreme prejudice. Androids of Naukograd tend to be less human or emotional thanks their nature as weapons first, individuals second.
Skill Increase: Athletics +2 SP.
Granted: Perk [Favored Method].
Men in Black:
Although these androids work as a direct arm of some shadowy parts of American government, their true identity is hardly known even by those who make use of their skills. Whenever something fantastic, something unnatural, something paranormal crops up, the Men in Black are there to dispose the evidence and suppress any information that might leak out. However, they have been unable to hide their own presence quite as well, which has made their iconic outfit of black suit and sunglasses to become quite famous in media. Consummate professionals, the Men in Black tend to not let themselves make mistakes, as in their view that would be unbecoming of a being such as an android. They are built to be perfect at what they do, so they should perform perfectly. Such pressure from oneself may lead them to react negatively at any perceived failure. Some would consider this prevalent attitude in all of them a sort of arrogance, but they are extremely good at what they do.
Skill Increase: Intimidation +2 SP.
Granted: Perk [Nothing to See].
Karakuri Works:
Robotics has always thrived in Asia, even before arrival of AMADEUS and their goals. Perhaps that was why many Asian scientists, particularly in Japan, were selected to be part of the group and create new kinds of androids to be used in battles against the turnside of the world. This gave rise to a different breed of humanoid machines that were not simply weapons, but sometimes more human than humans themselves. Able to perfectly blend into the society around them, utilize social networks and human relationships, the androids of Karakuri Works are infiltrators and assassins more than they are warriors. Especially useful in cases where a creature of the turnside has appeared within a large city with many witnesses present, they blend in, dispose the target and fade away with no one noticing. Perfect spies, killers and popular faces of the new age.
Skill Increase: Persuasion +2 SP.
Granted: Perk [Cold Reading].
Your Ability is: Programs
Cybernetic programs and advanced black technology powered by a vril generator deep within the core of the android are what give him or her their true power. A normal human hardly even can physically match a supernatural being, but thanks to their nature as artificial humans, androids can easily achieve same sort of results. It is their capacity to mimic the dangerous supernatural abilities with their equipment, however, which puts them at an equal footing with creatures of the turnside. No matter how strong you are, you cannot compete with a being that breathes fire... unless you are able to turn your hand into a railgun or something similar. Each android tends to be equipped with weapons and gadgets that best suit them.
As with many other abilities, you buy your programs with AP. However, unlike other forms of energy like mana, your vril energy cannot be utilized to achieve lasting effects with just a burst of power. Instead, careful conservation and management of the energy you have is necessary in order to get the best results out of your programs. While the generator within you will fill you with energy once more, dropping to 0 Vril Points means that you become [Incapacitated] until another Android refuels your VP with their own, or 1 Hour passes, allowing you to recharge enough to reboot your system.
To put it in more clear terms:
Your maximum of vril, or VP, shows how many programs and weapons you can activate. Activating a program of a certain Rank utilizes a certain amount of vril. The higher the Rank of the program, the more vril it uses. This vril is returned to you by your passive Vril Regeneration, which refuels your reserves. It is important to pace your program usage in order to not find yourself without Vril completely, as that holds heavy negative consequences described above.
The rate of your Vril Regeneration is dependent on your EGO Rank. At the start of each of your Turns, you recover the following amount of VP.
Still, that is just how Activated Programs work. Activated Programs are the type that instantly gather however much vril they need and use it to fuel the desired action. There's another of type of program there, however: Passive Programs. These Passive Programs are a different beast altogether, but a powerful weapon nonetheless in the right hands.
Passive Programs do not consume the vril they need immediately. Instead, if you want to enjoy their benefits, you need to 'reserve' part of the vril you have at your disposal. The higher the power and Rank of the program, the more vril you need to reserve off in order to keep it running. You can liken it to deducting certain amount from your maximum VP in order to gain a passive ability that you don't have to worry about failing. However, remember that you need certain amount of VP to function properly, even with Passive Programs. Hence, the amount of VP reserved for Passive Programs cannot pass half of your Maximum VP.
While you are free to end the functioning of a Passive Program at any time to free up some more vril to use, activating them and changing them is not a simple task. You can change or activate Passive Programs up to your EGO Rank (where Rank F equals 0, Rank E equals 1, Rank D equals 2 and so forth) if you do it during 1 Phase. During this Phase, you are unable to use Passive Programs.
The AP costs for Program Rank, how much VP they use when activated and how much when used as passive abilities are as follows:
The overall power of your ability comes not only from what Rank it is, but how strong is your governing attribute and how much AP was paid for it. This means that though two different abilities may appear similar in scale, one might actually be stronger in contest of raw power if more AP was spent on it. However, only fools trust raw power, as that is the easiest thing in the world to turn against yourself...
The contents of the programs may be decided freely by you. Just remember that they should reflect the program's Rank. If your character is chosen as one of the player characters, the GM will then go over the in-game mechanics with you, making it so that it can be used in the actual game. The best way to ensure this is to make sure your programs are imaginative, unique and creative.