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Transhumanity's Fate is an excellent resource for using Eclipse Phase in Fate. Continuing with the transhuman theme, I wanted to make a character using this, as the game I'll be running will probably be Fate based (though Gumshoe is still in the running).

Character Idea

Name: Delia Kanzaki

Background

Delia never knew her parents, and her only sibling was a fading memory. Left to fend for herself at a young age, she had to quickly learn how to navigate the streets. She saw early on what happened to girls on the street, so she took the androgynous name 'Del', hiding her gender. She learned about the criminal underground doing odd jobs among the other young boys in the 'Bottom', the literal representation of what her neighborhood was- the place where you had fallen as far as you were able to and still be on this side of the dirt. As she grew older, she realized that she would not be able to hide for much longer as her features softened, while the boys she worked alongside grew harder, and ingratiated herself to someone that she thought would protect her, trying to manipulate herself into a place where she would have options. Less than successful, she found herself close to being sold into slavery to one of the many houses, but was instead bought by one of the other oyabun that she worked for on occassion. What he saw in her, she never found out, but he invested a lot of effort and money into seeing her trained, and her sleeve upgraded. Before he could make use of her, she witnessed his death at the hands of interlopers. She tried to intervene, but was overmatched and defeated. Instead of the death that she expected, however, this was the start of her new life. Her oyabun traded in illicit stacks, and a firewall cell had infiltrated his organization in order to bring it down. One of the agents that she'd worked alongside had vouched for her, and she was brought into the cell.

–> On To Day 2

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The presentation of character creation in Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition is quite clean compared to what I read of 1st Edition. I never made one in 1st Edition having come in on the 2nd Edition Kickstarter, but I've heard horror stories.

For Damien we'll go in order of the steps as they're laid out.

Step 1: Background

Looking at the available backgrounds, Freelancer seems to fit the best. This starts me with the following:

Interface 40 Kinesics 20 Know (Black Markets) 30 Know (Investigation) 60 Persuade 40 Program 30 Research 40

Step 2: Career

I see that they have an investigator as a career, so I take that one giving the following aggregate:

Interface 40 Kinesics 30+20 = 50 Know (Black Markets) 30 Know (Current Events) 30 Know (Ego Hunting) 60 Know (Investigation) 60 Perceive 40 Persuade 40 Program 30 Research 60+40 = 100. The cap is 80, so 20 to be spent elsewhere – Infiltrate & Athletics. Infiltrate 10 Athletics 10

Step 3: Interest

He needs some gun handling and such, so we go with Fighter giving the following aggregate:

Fray 20 Guns 40 Infiltrate 20 Interface 40 Kinesics 50 Know (Black Markets) 30 Know (Current Events) 30 Know (Ego Hunting) 60 Know (Investigation) 80 Know (Security Ops) 40 Melee 40 Perceive 40 Persuade 40 Program 30 Research 80

Step 4: Faction

He hasn't made it where he is by playing it safe, so he doesn't advocate that in any area- including markets and technology. I chose Extropian for his faction. There's also the fact that nothing else seems to fit other than Criminal or Anarchist.

Step 5: Aptitude Template

With the faction and background, I take Thrill Seeker. This gives the following Aptitudes:

COG 20 INT 10 REF 20 SAV 15 SOM 15 WIL 10

Step 6: Skills

I've been doing this all along- but during this step, I realize that the 80 is including aptitudes. I'm going to have some adjusting to do. Final totals:

Athletics: 10 + 20 = 30 + 5 (1CP) = 35 Deceive: 15 (3CP) + 15 = 30 Fray 20 + 40 = 60 Guns 40 + 20 = 60 Infiltrate 10 + 20 = 30 + 10 = 40 Interface 40 + 20 = 60 Kinesics 50 + 15 = 65 Know (Black Markets) 30 + 15 = 45 Know (Current Events) 30 + 15 = 45 Know (Ego Hunting) 60 + 15 = 75 Know (Investigation) 60 + 15 = 75 Know (Security Ops) 40 + 15 = 55 Melee 40 + 15 = 55 Perceive 40 + 20 = 60 Persuade 40 + 15 = 55 Program 30 + 20 = 50 Research 80 + 10 = 90 – 10 = 80

Step 7: Languages

I want him to know how to move around several different cultures, so spend 4CP on languages: English (Default), Russian, Cantonese, Spanish, Japanese

Step 8: Flex

2 Ego Points (2CP)

Step 9: Reputation

I figure he's had the most dealings with the underworld, and some dealings in the corporate and police worlds. I didn't want him to have a high rep in any of them, as I figure as an investigator he's 'tolerated'.

Underworld: 40 Corporate: 30 Police: 30

Step 10: Customization

I purchase some Ego traits- I figure that he's agile, quick to adapt to new morphs, can empathize with people, and is relatively well off.

Adaptability: 1 (2CP) Quickness: 1 (1CP) Empathy 2 (3CP) Resources: 2 (4CP)

Step 11: Derived Stats

Initiative: 6 Lucidity: 20 Trauma Threshold: 4 Insanity Rating: 10

Aptitude Checks: COG 20 x 3 = 60 INT 10 x 3 = 30 REF 20 x 3 = 60 SAV 15 x 3 = 45 SOM 15 x 3 = 45 WIL 10 x 3 = 30

Step 12: Starting Morph and Gear

Most of the morph just seems to be picking, writing down info, and buying traits.

Damien starts with a Remade Morph (30MP)

Derived Stats

Wound Threshold: 9 Durability: 45 Death Rating: 68

Pools

Insight: 2 Moxie: 2 Vigor: 2 Flex: 2

Morph Traits

Quickness: 3 (3MP) Fitness: 3 (3MP) Pain Tolerance: 2 (3MP) Toughness: 2 (6MP) Skill Artifact (Guns): 2 (3MP) Skill Artifact (Fray): 2 (3MP)

Also included in this step is gear:

Anonymizer Armor Vest (Light) Fake Ego ID Medium Pistol Firearm Smart Clothing TacNet App VPN App

Step 13: Motivations

Personal Career Exploration Mental Challenge

–> On to Day 3

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After Altered Carbon, I figured I'd contrast it with Eclipse Phase, as I'm going to be hopefully running a transhumanist science fiction game of some sort soon.

This time I figure I'll go with an investigator that enjoys the mental challenge of chasing down X-risks.

Rolling a name, I come up with Damien Kinnear, and sketch out a background.

Damien Kinnear was a private investigator- he considered himself a good one, able to find things that others overlooked or missed, constructing narratives that led to results for his clients. So, when he received a call from a wealthy client asking him to find a sensitive package, he was not suspicious of the motives behind the ask. Unfortunately (or Fortunately depending on your outlook) his assignment was a smokescreen for a Firewall cell. The person he'd been asked to track down was had been co-opted by a nanovirus, and was actually a ticking timebomb. It was hoped that Kinnear's probing would draw the attention of the entity that had infected him, and indeed it did. But everything went sideways, and the cell had to bring Kinnear in for true. And once you're in, there's no way out.

The threat of the X-Risks, the nature of Firewall- it appealed to Kinnear's sensibilities. The chance to get off Earth? To explore and find things that are threats to the human race? That was tailor made for him. He wasn't an investigator for the money, but the challenge. And this was more of a challenge than anything he'd ever been presented with.

–> On to Day 2

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Conclusions

Character creation in Altered Carbon took a bit to wrap my head around; there's way too many special cases for them not to have included an example. They did include their 'Expedited Character Creation' rules, but creating a character is one of my favorite parts of roleplaying. The little icons that they use for everything and the fact that the explanations are all spread out in the book are not really useful either. And it shows something that I'm still not sure if my character is legal.

That said, the character turned out pretty much how I figured, other than still having the Praetorian network... there is probably a way to get around that and have a more appropriate network, but I figured it could also fit, as he was still in the military, so military might be more inclined to still talk to him.

Final Character

Name: London Tian

Description

Physically, London's sleeve is in good shape. He is tall with fair skin, blonde hair and green eyes. Though handsome, his face is cragged, and he looks older than his actual age. He has a tattooed sleeve up his right arm, going along his back- black roses, near death, intertwined with a lattice of thorns. Another on his left bicep depicts barbed wire wrapping up from the elbow to the armpit. Strangely there's nothing on his trunk, except a small cross above the place where the DHF is implanted.

His original sleeve was quite different, him being of mixed Asian-African heritage. His last memories of it was a wiry build with a dark cast to his skin, and blunt features. Not as perfect featured as his current sleeve, but still handsome in his own way.

Background

Tian was born offworld on the frontier- a backworld planet Gui Xiu VI. He was recruited young, and trained into CTAC. He had an aptitude for getting into places he wasn't supposed to be, and more importantly getting out. In his relatively short life, he's inhabited many sleeves, casting anywhere they needed inside information. He was good at his job, and though he had no real long term aspirations, it was easy to see that his star was on the rise. On a pretty routine mission for the Protectorate, he was debriefed- then he doesn't know what happened. He woke up in a new sleeve on Earth in a re-sleeving facility. 50 years had passed since the last time he was spun up. He was cashiered out of the military, and he doesn't know why. For a re-sleeve, he was given a decent sleeve as his severance, so he was very suspicious of the circumstances. But with no contacts and no way of finding out what happened, he's done the best he could, taking odd jobs putting his skills to use as he tries to amass enough contacts and resources to find out what happened to his career, his life, and his own sleeve.

Archetype: Military, Infiltrator Wealth Lv. 1 Requisition 1 Tech Points 4 Network – The Protectorate Military DHF Age: 57 Stack Points: 30 Ego Points 39 Influence Points 5

Sleeve

• Synthetic, Mid Range
• 39 years old
• Baggage 4d6, 1 Roll
  • Mistaken Identity. As a result of cross-sleeving or by some happenstance, the sleeve a character occupies is someone with an extensive list of enemies. They will either be victims of the sleeve’s past corporate espionage, or they will be rival gang members or criminals.
• Military Neurochem
• Combat Neurochem
• Carbon-Fiber Skeleton
• ONI implant

Equipment

Blade (concealed, monomolecular) Steyr M9-A1 Tool Kit – Stealth – Professional Grade, Tools Tool Kit – Survival – Tools Tool Kit – Weaponsmith – Professional Grade Flak Coat – Environmental Repulsor, Broadcast Blocker

Traits

• Small Arms – Basic Training
• Martial Arts – Martial Arts Training
• Urban – Streetwise

Sleeve Attributes

Strength 41/50 Athletics – d8, Melee Combat – d8, Brawl – d8, Toughness – d12, Endurance – d10

Perception 30/50 Detection – d10, Search – d10, D. Energy Weapons – d8, Stealth – d8, Firearms – d6, Throw – d12

Stack Attributes

Empathy 30/50 Diplomacy – d12, Expression – d12, Read Person – d10

Willpower 40/50 Composure – d8, Discipline – d8, Intimidation – d10

Acuity 41/50 Data Analysis – d12, Mechanics – d12, Data Engineering – d12, Navigation – d10, Digital Networking – d12, Pilot – d10, Investigation – d8, Survival – d10

Intelligence 30/50 Bureaucracy – d12, History – d12, Cultures – d12, Science – d12, Engineering – d12, Medicine – d10, Geography – d12

Discuss...

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Step 1: Choose a Character Archetype

I've already said that I wanted an ex-military, though all things considered, I could choose a criminal. I go with military.
This gives me the following:

Sleeve: synthetic, mid-range sleeve Wealth lv 1 Requisition ¼ Gain 1d10 Ego (+8) Protectorate Military as a Network Traits: Combat is common, Business and Society is Anomaly. All others Uncommon.

I choose a package, though I plan to play around with it- just a starting to see where I stand.

Infiltrator

Kit: Directed Energy Weapon (1 tech), Tool Kit – Stealth, Survival (+1), Another Tool Kit (2 tech), Flak Coat (2 tech)

Traits: Energy Weaponry – Basic Training, Martial Arts – Basic Training, Evasion – Concealment.

Sleeve Attributes

Strength Athletics d8, Melee Combat d8, Brawl d8, Toughness d12, Endurance d10

Perception Detection d10, Search d10, Directed Energy Weapons d8, Stealth d10, Firearms d6, Throw d12

Stack Attributes

Empathy Diplomacy d12, Expression d12, Read Person d12

Willpower Composure d8, Discipline d8, Intimidation d10

Acuity Data Analysis d12, Mechanics d12, Data Engineering d12, Navigation d10, Digital Networking d12, Pilot d10, Investigation d10, Survival d10

Intelligence Bureaucracy d12, History d12, Cultures d12, Science d12, Engineering d12, Medicine d12, Geography d12

I can tweak the levels – switch 3 skills by 1 level, or 1 skill by 2 levels

I'm choosing to switch Read Person d12 –> d10, Stealth d10 –> d8, and Investigation d10 –> d8.

Then I check out my attributes.

Sleeve: Strength 35/55 (+3), Perception 30/45 (+3)

Stack: Empathy 30/50 (+3), Will 30/50 (+3), Acuity 30/50 (+3), Intelligence 30/50 (+3)

DHF Age – I'm choosing 67, which seems a good time for him to have time in the military- if he went in at 18, then that gives him 49 years in the military before he was put on ice.

This starts to get to the point that annoys me- they use a lot of icons to represent stats rather than just abbreviations. These icons are not necessarily the most readable in small form on the page. It's not as big a deal here, I realize, as all stat bonuses are based off of the tens digit in the stat- so all are +3.

At 67, I get

35 Stack Points + 3 = 38 30 Ego Points + 3 = 33 2 Influence + 3 = 5 4d6 on Baggage table with 1 roll – 15 = Mistaken Identity. As a result of cross-sleeving or by some happenstance, the sleeve a character occupies is someone with an extensive list of enemies. They will either be victims of the sleeve’s past corporate espionage, or they will be rival gang members or criminals.

That's pretty doable. I'm going to spend 8 stack points to increase Will (4d4) and Acuity (4d4)– Will is now 40, and Acuity is 41. I'm going to spend 2 Stack points on Strength, adding 6, bringing the final total to 41. My stack points are now 28, but increasing Acuity brings it back up to 29. That seems strange, but it does say it in the rules- I just can't use it again to increase stats.

As far as age of the sleeve, I'm going with 39.

The sleeve has the capability for 4 tech points. Usually you split them with the group, but as this is just an example character, I'll use them- Military Neurochem, Combat Neurochem, Carbon-Fiber Skeleton, and Oni Implant.

On to Traits. From the package, I get Energy Weapons, Martial Arts, and Concealment, but looking at Concealment, I don't see this guy having that. I'm going to change it to Urban – Streetwise. Also looking at the tech, I'm switching to Small Arms – Basic Training.

Moving on to equipment, I take what is offered, adding only a blade (concealed, monomolecular), and changing out Directed Energy Weapon (2 tech) for the same in Small arms, picking up a Steyr M9-A1.

On to Part 3: Conclusions and Final Write-up

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I know I want to make someone that has a lot of trouble, is good in a fight, and not afraid to get his hands dirty. Protectorate, I'm thinking, but more in an infiltration behind the lines type of way instead of CTAC. Not on good terms with his unit, though he doesn't know why. Old enough to have a bit of experience in different conflicts, but still pretty young comparatively.

Rolling up a name, one that catches my eye is London Tian.

Tian was born offworld on the frontier- a backworld planet Gui Xiu VI. He was recruited young, and trained into CTAC. He had an aptitude for getting into places he wasn't supposed to be, and more importantly getting out. In his relatively short life, he's inhabited many sleeves, casting anywhere they needed inside information. He was good at his job, and though he had no real long term aspirations, it was easy to see that his star was on the rise. On a pretty routine mission for the Protectorate, he was debriefed- then he doesn't know what happened. He woke up in a new sleeve on Earth in a re-sleeving facility. 50 years had passed since the last time he was spun up. He was cashiered out of the military, and he doesn't know why. For a re-sleeve, he was given a decent sleeve as his severance, so he was very suspicious of the circumstances. But with no contacts and no way of finding out what happened, he's done the best he could, taking odd jobs putting his skills to use as he tries to amass enough contacts and resources to find out what happened to his career, his life, and his own sleeve.

I had to make up the planet name, as the base rulebook only gives info about Earth. Disappointing, but I figure I can wing it.

On to Part 2: The build