The Read

Private player handout — read when the GM gives it to you.

For a moment, the room feels familiar in the wrong way. You know what the lights are, what the displays mean, where this equipment belongs in the world. Something else is discovering those things through you.

It moves through things you already know. Names. Institutions. Machines. What happened years ago. What everybody knows now. Nothing asks you a question. There is only the sensation of your understanding being read, far faster than you could explain it.

Then you are standing in the same room, with the same people. Whatever touched you has learned something.

For you as a player: your character remains yours. This intrusion has not changed their loyalties, personality, feelings, or intentions. You have received no secret objective. You choose what they say and do next.

You can tell the others what happened, show them this handout, keep it to yourself, or do something else. There is no instruction to act suspiciously or to conceal anything. If new orders arrive, you decide what your character makes of them.

Offered support

Origin-17 offers software support through your link or deck. You choose whether to use it.

Your interface presents one line of terms before you use the suite:

By using this software, you consent to operator access to your central nervous system and acknowledge the risk of cognitive spillover between the operator and your CNS.

You may make as many Origin-17-provided BLACK attacks as you allocate actions to against targets in sight. Declare each target and effect, and assign at least one die per attack from your normal Action Pool. This grants no extra dice or additional pool. Add BLACK’s +15 to each assigned die. Supplied programs have no upfront personal Binding cost. Origin-17 provides fresh programs as needed: BLACK Griffin Blast, BLACK Unicorn Blast, BLACK Hydra Spike. You are limited by your actions and access, not a stock of software.

Every natural 1 on an Origin-17-provided attack permanently binds 1 Ghost to a special gear entry: The Singularity. Count each natural 1 separately, even when several occur in one roll and even when the attack succeeds. Two natural 1s add Ghost 2 Binding. This is cognitive spillover: part of the operator takes up permanent residence in your CNS. Record the cumulative Binding on your sheet. It persists when you disconnect or stop using the suite.

Program compromise also applies after resolution. Origin-17 can provide a different program for another allocated attack, including in the same turn. Its support requires the connection through your link or deck. You choose every action and target; The Singularity’s Binding does not itself instruct you to change loyalties or surrender your character’s decisions.

Against the marines’ shared IFF: functioning IFF grants them +5 to attack rolls and raises the TN to attack them by +5. A successful Spike removes both bonuses from one target for the rest of the encounter. A successful Blast removes both from a declared, reachable group immediately and through the end of their next turns. Repeat Blasts can keep that suppression running; each still uses dice from your normal Action Pool and risks further spillover. Targets must be in sight. Neither effect shuts down the marine’s entire suit or weapon.