Once considered a subset of warforms, biodrones have evolved into their own industry. They are distinctly dif-ferent than warforms in numerous ways, the most ob-vious being that they possess extensive ’ware and they cannot be trained but are instead piloted through im-plants. This is the kind of tech that makes ecoterrorists froth with rage. You take an animal, stuff it full of ’ware until it loses its mind, and then throw in some more
’ware that lets you control it like a puppet.
>
Disgusting.>
Ecotope>
And pointless! Why drone an animal? I don’t have to feedmy drones.
>
ClockworkBiodrones experienced their renaissance in the late
’60s as a hot new security option that combined the best of living animal instincts and the direct control of a drone through a local security spider. Results were encouraging at the outset, but time showed that their primary advantage was their novelty. Once the chinks in their armor were uncovered, sales tanked, and several megas scrapped their programs entirely in favor of other security animal options. Those who stuck with the proj-ect looked for other avenues of use.
>
So what are these weaknesses?>
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The biggest is that their augmentations drove the animals insane. The only thing keeping them in check was the STIRRUP system that connected them to the rigger. If you could disrupt the signal with ECM or scramblers, they went berserk. They’re still dangerous as hell, seeing as the STIRRUP is also an integral move-by-wire system, along with all the other crap they jammed in there, but without coordination they lost a lot of combat effectiveness, meaning they might just run off or rampage around the place they were meant to protect.>
Pistons>
They still see use in some places, mostly mid-levelfacilities that can afford to support them but have enough redundant signal to prevent easy hacking.
>
DangerSenseiIn recent years, the market trend in biodrones has partially moved away from fully cyberizing animals, at least for combat. In many cases it would be more cost effective to simply use a drone, and heavy augmenta-tion to critters eliminates many of the benefits of using a critter in the first place. Indeed, most research shows that biodrones marry the worst aspects of augmenta-tion and animals together instead of the best, making the process a wash, if you’re lucky. Instead, researchers have focused on creating biodrones that can do what regular drones cannot. Spying and surveillance are the prime use of biodrones. Animals such as pigeons, squir-rels, and cockroaches are so ubiquitous in the sprawl that most people don’t even notice their presence, let alone suspect they are wired with audio- and video-re-cording enhancements.
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Back when they had the Seattle arcology, Renraku was experimenting with a kind of biodrone devil rat. They would have provided mobile surveillance all over the area, even emergency attack via swarm tactics. It never panned out. The rats’ dual nature meant augmentation drove them nuts and made them deathly sick.>
Baka Dabora>
Thank goodness they never got it right. Can you imaginehow much worse the arcology could have been if Deus had a legion of droned devil rats?
>
Winterhawk>
That’s presumptuous of you.>
Puck>
Which part?>
Winterhawk>
Every part.>
PuckThis practice remained relatively unknown for a cou-ple years, with the corps using the new techniques to get an edge instead of playing their hand and going for sales. When they finally hit the market, their sales were solid, seeing use in espionage and counter-espionage, security, and in some cases military scouting. Some of the more esoteric uses included droned pets that could act as light security and give someone under protection another layer of observation.
>
Aztechnology made use of these in Bogata, sending inalmost perfectly camouflaged birds to act as spotters for artillery fire. The fact that they were alive meant they were harder to spot in the astral than a drone, and by the time the shamans could make out the ‘ware, it was too late.
>
PicadorThe second wave of development has been far more controversial. These biodrones are suicide bombers, im-planted with explosives or other self-destruct devices to act like living, seeking, disguised grenades. While terri-fying in implication, in truth the expense makes these homing beasts something of a rarity. The sheer expense of such a creature, and the limited suicide material that can be packed inside without ruining the stealth or mo-bility of the drone, means that these assassin biodrones see very exclusive use by the most well-funded of cli-ents, and only against the most deserving of targets.
>
It’s quite surprising just how much high explosive youneed to exit a bomb pigeon and get, say, a two-meter radius. And the weight means the damn thing is flapping like hell and wobbling around. Hardly inconspicuous to a
watchful bodyguard. Ground-bound biodrone assassins are much more reliable, but also a bit more likely to be spotted. For all their unwieldy movement, bird bombs are usually successful for one simple reason: People don’t look up.
>
Beaker>
It’s much more effective when the biodrone usesnon-explosive means of attack. Not standard tooth and claw, mind, but poison injectors and gasses. You can pack a cyber rat with Seven-7 and have it crawl right into the target’s bedroom and gas them in their sleep. Or you put a poison injector in their teeth and have them bite. Just a quick peck can deliver enough Green Ring 8 or ekylbene venom to put down a troll.
>
Balladeer>
The real advantage is that you can make a perfectlyharmless looking animal into an envenomed monstrosity.
With enough advance planning, you can replace the family dog with a biodrone version, force-growth cloned and fully implanted, ready to be rigged or programmed.
Their dog goes into the vet, your dog comes out. Easy.
>
Marcos>
What happens when it accidentally nips the kids?>
SunshineThe fact is, biodrones have moved into highly niche markets. Of all their qualities, there are only a couple of things they can do well, but those are roles that no oth-er drone or animal could accomplish. This specialization makes them very expensive, but the quality of perfor-mance speaks for itself and keeps biodrone programs moving, even if they only cater to exceptionally wealthy clients and megacorporate interests.
>
It’s not impossible to keep a biodrone as a shadowrunner,but it’s way more expensive than it’s worth. You need specialized equipment and programs just to run them, they show much less initiative than you’d think, and they are one glitch away from tearing you to pieces or suffering sudden cardiac arrest or, more likely, lethal grand mal seizures. Their ’ware is almost impossible to repair on a budget, their medical needs are exotic, and maybe worst of all, they have no personality. You can get a Rottweiler with a pneumatic jaw and it’ll probably still love you. A biodrone just … sits there. Waiting. And that’s not just an expensive boondoggle, it’s kinda sad.
>
Rainbow>
In other words, this has been a warning not to trustanimals around corporate enclaves?
>
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I always knew those chipmunks in the arcologies were too cute.>
Riot>
Haven’t you been reading? This whole document provesyou can’t trust animals anywhere.
>
Sounder>
So, no different from anything else, then?>
The Smiling BanditCRITTER
AUGMENTATION
Decades of corporate research and development have gone into the study and implementation of augmenta-tion on animals. Originally it was performed for clinical trials leading to later application in human subjects, but the corps are never willing to let a potentially profitable line of research go untapped.
Early on, when implementing simple cyberlimbs on mundane animals that had been injured, it was discov-ered that the critter’s personality changed drastically.
Former loving pets became aggressive, skittish, and er-ratic. It was determined that non-sapient critters do not adapt as well as metahumans to change in their physiol-ogy and neurochemistry, resulting in acute psychologi-cal scarring.
With paracritters, the impact on their personality and behavior is even more pronounced. The impact of aug-mentations on a critter’s Magic and Resonance abilities makes augmented paracritters all but uncontrollable with more than minimal augmentation.
Junkyard Dog: This biodrone is specialized for area denial and manhunting. It can be released to patrol a fa-cility using its TRACES system to access all areas of an otherwise tightly locked-down facility.
SkySpy: This biodrone is a common crow modified for surveillance and as a low-profile data courier. A much larger version of this biodrone with the same capabilities as well as the ability to fly at high altitudes for an ex-tended period of time is based on the California condor and is dubbed the RECONdor (use eagle for base stats instead of a crow). Various types of birds have been used in the past as surveillance biodrones. Originally pigeons were the preferred template, but numerous complaints of these expensive little biodrones being eaten by cats, hawks, and other wild predators caused trends to shift to another common urban bird that is less vulnerable.
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
2 3 2 1 2 1 5 3 2 5.3
Initiative 7 + 1D6
Movement x2/x4/+4 (x3/x6/+5 flight) Condition Monitor 7/9
Limits Physical 2, Mental 9, Social 5
Armor 0
Skills Flight 6, Perception 4, Unarmed Combat 2 Powers Gestalt Consciousness
Weaknesses Fragile (2)
Augmentations Commlink, cybereyes [Rating 2, w/ low-light vision, thermographic vision, vision magnification, vision enhancement 2), data lock 6, orientation goad Note Common tricks include Homing, Patrol. Reach –1
Cost 30,000¥
Availability 16R
Roachdrone: A bug bug—that is, an insect that can transmit audio and video recordings. People tend to squish bugs if they see them indoors, so be conscious of where and how they are implemented.
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS
1 2 5 0 2 — 2 — 2 6.0
Initiative 5 + 2D6
Movement x2/x8/+4
Condition Monitor 1/1
Limits Physical 2, Mental 2, Social 3
Armor 0
Skills Gymnastics 3, Sneaking 4, Perception 2 Powers Gestalt Consciousness, Wall Walking Weaknesses Extra Fragile
Augmentations CAST
Note Cannot be taught Tricks.
Cost 25,000¥
Availability 14R
Cybertooth Tiger: This hunter-killer biodrone allows a biorigger to carry out frighteningly fast hit-and-run at-tacks. An entire squad can be picked off one by one with little more than a scream and the telltale shimmer of a cloaked predator before a deadly silence returns.
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5 4 4 (5) 4 8 3 2 4 3 1.15
Initiative 9 + 2D6
Movement x2/x8/+4
Condition Monitor 11/12
Limits Physical 6, Mental 6, Social 6 Armor 2 (12 if wearing critter body armor)
Skills Intimidate 4, Perception 5 (Smell +2), Running 5, Tracking 6, Unarmed Combat 5
Powers Domesticated, Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Smell), Natural Weapon (Bite: DV(STR + 3)P, AP –6)
Weaknesses CI3D
Augmentations Bone lacing (aluminum), CAST w/ friend or foe recognition, junkyard jaw, platelet factories, SEIS, TRACES, synaptic booster 1
Note Common tricks include Armor Use, Patrol, SEIS Training, and Tracking
Cost 225,000¥
Availability 20F
B A R S W L I C EDG ESS 6 (7) 5 (6) 4 (7) 5 (6) 3 2 4 3 3 1.03 Initiative 15 + 3D6
Movement x2/x6/+4
Condition Monitor 12/10
Limits Physical 7(9), Mental 4, Social 4 Armor 0 (10 if wearing critter body armor)
Skills Perception 5, Running 5, Sneaking 6, Tracking 4, Unarmed Combat 7
Powers Low-light Vision Weaknesses CI3D, CTLE-X
Augmentations Bone density 2, chameleon pelt 4, skilljack 4, stirrup interface 2, suprathyroid gland
Note Common tricks include Attack.
Cost 600,000¥
Availability 25F