TM

Written by DAVID CHART

Edited by PHIL MASTERS
Editorial Assistance by JASON “PK” LEVINE
Illustrated by MATT KRESGE and DAN SMITH
Additional Material by ROGER BURTON WEST (spacecraft designs)
and PHIL MASTERS (new bioroid templates)
GURPS System Design ❚ STEVE JACKSON e23 Manager ❚ STEVEN MARSH
GURPS Line Editor ❚ SEAN PUNCH Marketing Director ❚ LEONARD BALSERA
Managing Editor ❚ PHILIP REED Director of Sales ❚ ROSS JEPSON
Assistant GURPS Line Editor ❚ JASON “PK” LEVINE Prepress Checker ❚ NIKKI VRTIS
Production Artist & Indexer ❚ NIKOLA VRTIS Page Design ❚ PHIL REED and JUSTIN DE WITT
Art Direction ❚ MONICA STEPHENS GURPS FAQ Maintainer ❚ VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO

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An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS ®

STEVE JACKSON GAMES ®

Stock #37-6714 Version 1.0 – January 2014
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About GURPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. BACKGROUND AND ROLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The NKKC in Japanese Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
MISSION AND JURISDICTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Political Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
CONTENTS
Area of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Oversight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2. STRUCTURE AND RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . 7
ORGANIZATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Kyushutsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Kakuho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Kenkyu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Jimu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The NKKC at a Glance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Hodobu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
STAFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Manpower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Uniforms and Insignia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Rewards and Punishments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
LOCATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Morioka Honcho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Tanegashima Shicho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Fujimiya Shicho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Tokyo Shicho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Usaginokoya Shicho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Hakenshitsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Kana Syllables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. OPERATIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Desirable Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Prohibited Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
CHARACTER TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Ghost Kyushutsu Operative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Bioroid Kyushutsu Operative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Rodosha Bioroid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Xenocop Bioroid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Human Kyushutsu Operative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Kenkyu Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Hodobu Memeticist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4. TOOLS OF THE TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Aibo (Partner) Rescue Suit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Perk: Provides Own (Advantage) to Wearer . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Kikko (Turtle Shell) Rescue Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Tenryu Rescue Cybershell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Microbot Swarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Drop Ships (TL10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Hakenshitsu (TL10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5. CAMPAIGNS AND ADVENTURES . . . . . . . 23
Even One More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Working With the NKKC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The NKKC as a Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2
 INTRODUCTION
Mitch ran toward his home through the ruined streets of NKKC operatives are sent out to save people from disasters,
Pearl Harbor, smoke rising from buildings in the December sun. and then return to base to wait for the next crisis, making the
Sirens both virtual and real screamed in his head, but he agency an excellent background for an episodic campaign, or for
ignored them. Weaving along the buckled road, he kept half an one-off adventures. In many ways, they are similar to special
eye on his implant’s status updates as it searched for a func- forces, except that they are unarmed and save lives rather than
tioning connection or any news from his family. The display ending them. Characters in an NKKC campaign could visit any-
flashed red as it changed. where on Earth, try to rescue people in LEO, or be stationed on
Katarina Mullins: Living. Medical attention required. No Luna. The NKKC’s memetics division is also very active, and
communication link. could drag the characters into occasional political adventures.
May Mullins: Living. Urgent medical atten-
tion required. No communication link.
Hope and fear both surged, and Mitch forced
an extra bit of speed out of his legs. He had to
get them out before the second wave hit. You put yourself in danger to
The sirens were drowned out by a roar, like
thunder, and Mitch’s AI was already opening an save people, and in return you get
emergency channel as he looked up into a sky sud-
denly full of drop ships and cybershells, the Rising the respect and admiration of most
Sun shining on their wings.
He almost cried with relief. of the world.
In 2100, the Nihon Kinkyu Kyushutsu Cho
(NKKC), Japan Emergency Rescue Agency, is
dedicated to rescuing people all over the
world from disasters. Known as the Wings of the Rising Sun,
they can reach any disaster on earth in minutes, and have
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Chart has lived in Japan since 2003, and currently
permission to intervene in almost any country. The agency’s lives just west of Tokyo. All that happened to him in the Great
budget is slightly larger than that of the Japan Self-Defense East Japan Earthquake of 2011 was that he had to walk for six
Forces (JSDF), and its operatives have access to the best tech- hours to get home, but the devastation in northeastern Japan
nology available. Nevertheless, disasters are chaotic, and not inspired this supplement. This is his first GURPS or
even the NKKC can save everyone. As their motto says, they do Transhuman Space supplement, but he is the Line Editor for
their best to save “even one more.” Ars Magica, from Atlas Games.

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INTRODUCTION 3
 CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND
AND ROLE
The Nihon Kinkyu Kyushutsu Cho (NKKC) is extraordi-
nary, even in the Transhuman Space setting, in its size and the
HISTORY
The natural environment of Japan is not gentle. The coun-
try suffers more earthquakes than any other, has several active
volcanoes, and faces over a dozen typhoons every year, while
even in “normal” weather over 12” of rain can fall overnight. As
a result, natural disasters are an annual occurrence, and the
government has had plans and organizations in place to
respond for centuries. In the late 20th and early 21st century,
the primary responsibility for first response lay with the fire
service and Self-Defense Forces.
FOUNDATION
After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, Japan
began looking again at its disaster response plans, and over the
next few years parts of the Self-Defense Forces were trained
more specifically in disaster response, and part of the self-
defense budget was devoted to procuring materiel specifically
useful in rescue situations.
BACKGROUND
range of its operations. The first thing to explain is how this
came about.
In 2023, Yuina Takahashi, a new member of one of the res-
cue squads, refused to attend the firing range. She was brought
before a disciplinary tribunal, and refused to apologize. “Why
should I waste my time learning to kill people?” she asked. “I
joined to save lives.” She was dismissed from the SDF for
insubordination. However, a journalist had attended the hear-
ing, and Takahashi was a telegenic young woman; her dis-
missal turned into a major scandal, forcing the resignation of
the defense minister, and prompting the foundation of the
NKKC as a separate agency in 2025. Takahashi
immediately signed up again, and served honorably
for 50 years. The Defense Ministry held a grudge, but
as a politically weak and unpopular ministry, it
could do nothing against the NKKC.
DEVELOPMENT
At first, the agency operated entirely within
Japan, doing good work and building its reputa-
tion. In 2044, however, the Taiwan Autonomous
Region faced a super-typhoon, and asked Japan to
send NKKC resources to help evacuate people. The
NKKC was extremely effective, and the death toll
from the typhoon was zero, despite extensive flood-
ing and wind damage. In the press conference
afterward, the head of the agency said that Japan
was happy to extend assistance to any country that
asked for it, in a speech that is a now a standard
textbook example of memetic engineering, as it was
extremely successful.
The NKKC reminded countries that it would not
normally have time to ask permission to intervene after a dis-
aster struck, and began lobbying for advance permission to
help. In 2049, all members of the PRA formally granted that
permission, and other countries did the same over the follow-
ing decades. Plans for orbital dispatch stations, to allow swift
response anywhere on Earth, had already been in hand, and
the first station became operational in 2051.
AND ROLE 4

The NKKC responded to
an earthquake near the Syrian city
of Ar-Raqqah, and in the process
found workers literally chained
to their stations in some factories.
The NKKC first accepted sapient infomorph and bioroid
operatives in 2071, officially treating them exactly the same
as human operatives. In practice, they were recruited even
more actively than humans, because they are often better at
rescue work, and the agency’s leadership saw them as essen-
tial to saving as many lives as possible. Nevertheless, num-
bers were very low (bioroids were new technology in the
2070s), and there was a significant amount of prejudice
against them, even within the ordinary ranks of the agency,
until the Great Seto Earthquake of 2081. In order to gain
increased acceptance for these valuable operatives, the heroic
actions of bioroid and infomorph operatives in saving lives
there were widely publicized by Hodobu (the PR depart-
ment), particularly the rescue of over 100 children from a
partially collapsed school, a rescue carried out entirely by
nonhuman operatives, and in which the majority of the
agency’s nonhumans participated. This incident is also used
as an example in memetics textbooks in Japan, and is
believed to have contributed greatly to the transhumanist
trend in current Japanese society (see Fifth Wave, p. 68).
The constant link between operatives and the NKKC head-
quarters was known, but until the Ar-Raqqah Incident of
2085, it was not a problem. The NKKC responded to an earth-
quake near the Syrian city of Ar-Raqqah, and in the process
found workers literally chained to their stations in some fac-
tories. The footage of these slave-labor conditions was avail-
able on the Web within hours of the end of the disaster
response. The slaves were all freed, but the resulting scandal
The NKKC in Japanese Society
Japan in 2100 is rather detached from the rest of the
world, and relies heavily on bioroids and automation
(Fifth Wave, p. 67); the NKKC is actively engaged with the
whole world and mainly employs humans. This is not a
contradiction: The NKKC is exceptional within Japan. Sev-
eral scholars, most notably Tadayuki Momose in A Bridge
from Heaven, have formed a consensus regarding its role.
First, the NKKC provides an entirely honorable way
for those Japanese who want to get more involved in the
world to do so, without getting Japan entangled in inter-
national politics. Isolationists oppose interventionism in
principle, but even many of them sincerely support this
particular version.
BACKGROUND
nearly brought down the Syrian government, and
made a lot of governments nervous. Only the Syrians
actually withdrew permission for NKKC interven-
tion, but a number of other states considered it, and
the agency worked very hard to allay fears. One
result was that the agency is now very strict about
the confidentiality of anything that operatives see
while rescuing people; leaking controversial or dam-
aging information is grounds for discharge from the
service. Hodobu is working hard on getting the
Syrians to allow the NKKC back in, ideally before
another disaster strikes and people die who could
have been saved.
TIMELINE
2025 – NKKC founded by splitting units off from the JSDF.
2044 – Faced with a super-typhoon, the Taiwan Autonomous
Region asks Japan for NKKC aid. The NKKC operates out-
side Japan for the first time.
2049 – PRA members formally grant the NKKC permission to
act in the event of a disaster in any country in the alliance.
2051 – First orbital dispatch station becomes operational.
2071 – First infomorph and bioroid operatives inducted.
2080 – Michiyo Motoyama is the first NKKC operative to
undergo destructive uploading. She takes leave for the pro-
cedure, and returns to work afterward. The agency allows
her to do so while it “clarifies her status.” This has yet to
happen by 2100, by which time a number of ghosts are on
active service.
2081 – Great Seto Earthquake strikes western Japan. Hiroshima
is devastated, but the swift NKKC response keeps the death
toll under 1,000. The PR department emphasizes the actions
of bioroid and infomorph operatives.
2085 – Ar-Raqqah Incident. Responding to an earthquake in
the northern Syrian city, operatives discover a factory run-
ning on slave labor, including adults, children, and
bioroids. The feeds are released to the Web, causing a mas-
sive scandal that nearly brings down the Syrian govern-
ment. In response, it forbids the NKKC from operating in
Syria, and the NKKC strengthens its confidentiality rules.
2086 – The NKKC becomes active on Luna.
Second, some young Japanese aspire to an active life,
and the NKKC gives them something to do. But the NKKC
cannot take all of the qualified, young, human Japanese
applicants it gets, an almost unique situation in the coun-
try. This is one factor in the human domination; the agency
is reluctant to turn any more away than it has to. Human
resources staff occasionally have to be reminded that “even
one more” does not apply to the hiring policy.
Finally, a lot of the people the NKKC has to save are
from Third Wave societies, and are uncomfortable with
sapient infomorphs or bioroids. Experience has shown
that rescues go much more smoothly if most of the opera-
tives on the scene at least look human.
AND ROLE 5
 The NKKC exists to save as many as lives as possible,
and says it will act anywhere it can get to.
MISSION AND
The NKKC exists to save as many as lives as possible, and
says it will act anywhere it can get to. Its leadership con-
stantly lobbies for the resources and vehicles necessary to get
to more places.
PURPOSE
Its operational guidelines define the NKKC’s purpose rather
precisely, as getting people to a situation where they are not in
imminent danger of death. Its operatives are not expected to
Political Support
The NKKC has a slightly larger budget than the JSDF.
How is this sold to the Japanese people?
First, it is very difficult to publicly oppose saving lives.
Now that the organization exists, abolishing it or forbid-
ding it to operate overseas would seem uncaring. Every
time someone suggests raising the JSDF’s budget over that
of the NKKC, someone else asks, publicly, “Why should we
spend more money on killing people than on saving them?”
Hodobu no longer even needs to organize this.
Second, the primary responsibility of the agency is to
save lives in Japan, and it does so at least once a year.
Hodobu ensures that no-one forgets this. Indeed, no more
than half of the ready operatives are ever dispatched to a
disaster outside Japan, ensuring that the agency can always
respond to a domestic crisis.
Third, it is a very powerful memetic weapon in Japan’s
arsenal. One common meme is that “the NKKC has saved a
thousand lives for every one the JSDF has ended”; this is
debatable, so it never appears in official publications, but it
reinforces the idea of Japan as peaceful and benevolent.
The fact that the NKKC has a slightly larger budget than the
JSDF is also carefully publicized, for the same reason. The
activities of the NKKC across the world also show that
Japan is not arrogantly isolationist. Many memetic text-
books use the NKKC as their example of “costly signaling”
in memetics, where the resources required to create the
meme guarantee that it is not a simple deception, and thus
grant it additional force.
Finally, the NKKC is supported by the lobbying power of
the Japanese humanitarian-industrial complex. Its budget
supports a lot of ancillary workers and businesses, as well
as the large staff, and many older Japanese draw an income
from investments in companies that supply the NKKC.
Suggestions to cut it back are a sure vote-loser in the Diet.
BACKGROUND
JURISDICTION
provide medical care beyond first aid, nor to ensure supplies of
food and water, although they do aim to get people to a place
where they can reasonably expect to receive those things.
There is no official definition of “person,” but in practice it
includes anything sapient. Biological sapients are prioritized
over infomorphs if a choice has to be made, because an info-
morph probably has a backup. However, as that is not certain,
operatives do rescue infomorphs if they can.
AREA OF OPERATION
The NKKC has to act before any government could give
formal permission, so it responds to disasters in countries
that have given permission in advance, and, if the disaster
is large enough, in countries that have not formally told it
to stay away. All members of the PRA have given advance
permission, as have a large number of other countries,
including most of the TSA, and orbital entities. Notable
among the small number of countries that have told them
to stay away are Kazakhstan and Syria; Japan is quietly
lobbying Syria to lift the formal prohibition, imposed after
the Ar-Raqqah incident. NKKC operatives can reach any
location on the surface of the earth within 30 minutes, the
first wave often arriving significantly sooner, and are
almost as fast on Luna. Response in LEO can be very fast
if the relative positions are right (in 2098, an unmodified
human was rescued after being blown into space with no
vacc suit), but NKKC craft cannot reach HEO or GEO in a
reasonable time, and a significant volume of LEO is more
than an hour away from the nearest team at any one point.
Now that the presence on Luna is established, full cover-
age of Earth orbit is the next priority.
OVERSIGHT
The NKKC is an independent office of the Japanese gov-
ernment, under the direct supervision of the Prime
Minister. It must justify its actions to the Prime Minister
and the Diet after the event, but the law governing it explic-
itly says that it need not seek permission in advance for any-
thing. Within Japan, it is allowed to break any law with
impunity while responding to a disaster, and its operatives
have legal immunity within the PRA while on active service,
a privilege extended de facto in most regions. The agency is
well aware that these immunities would disappear if they
were ever abused, and that complying with local regulations
would make its job almost impossible. Any operative who
strays from the mission is therefore subject to disciplinary
procedures, even if their actions were legal.
AND ROLE 6
 CHAPTER TWO

STRUCTURE
AND RESOURCES
The NKKC is an enormous agency, larger than the mili-
taries of many countries, and it has the resources, and bureau-
cracy, to match. As with a military organization, the operatives
on the front line have to be backed by logistics and technical
specialists, and everyone needs bases and stations from which
to work.

ORGANIZATION
The NKKC has four main divisions: Kyushutsu (Rescue), schematics, but nothing has ever been proved, or even made
Kakuho (Stabilization), Kenkyu (Research), and Jimu into a major scandal.
(Administration).

KYUSHUTSU
The Kyushutsu division is responsible for rescuing people
from natural disasters, and is the division that most people
think of when they think of the NKKC. Its activities are dis-
cussed in detail later.
JIMU
The largest division, Jimu provides administrative and
logistical support for the other three divisions. Most members
are human, although there are a handful of very important
infomorphs, including the division head, and a significant
number of bioroids in menial jobs.

KAKUHO
These operatives are responsible for the The NKKC at a Glance
second line of rescue. They make sure that Role: Disaster First Response.
the survivors of the disaster are in a stable Budget: $50 billion.
situation, and are responsible for keeping Staff: 95,456 (human: 71,630; bioroid: 20,806; infomorph: 3,020).
them alive until they can be handed over to Headquarters: Nihon Kinkyu Kyushutsu Cho Honcho (Morioka City,
local bodies. When Kyushutsu pull someone Iwate Prefecture, Japan).
out of a disaster, they take them to a Kakuho
reception center before going back to rescue
more people. About a third of Kakuho opera-
tives are on active duty at any time, with a small majority based
on Earth, and the rest in orbit. Kakuho crew the transonic and H ODOBU
transatmospheric transports that take heavy equipment where The Hodobu, or Public Relations Department, is a very
it is needed. important part of the NKKC. Formally part of Jimu, its offi-
cial role is to ensure that the NKKC has permission to act in
as many countries as possible, which it does by reinforcing
K ENKYU the meme that the NKKC is an altruistic organization dedi-
The smallest division, Kenkyu is responsible for develop- cated to saving lives. The fact that it is makes the job easier,
ing new technology to help the other divisions. They have a but not trivial, as any memeticist understands. Kyushutsu
larger budget than the military research departments of and Kakuho take anyone who can do the job, physically and
most countries, so the NKKC has the most advanced tech- psychologically, and then Hodobu goes through looking for
nology at its disposal. Kenkyu tries to license any technology operatives from any division who fit the memetic profile to
it feels may be useful, but as it demands the right to develop serve as faces of the agency. Their choices are often photo-
the technology on its own initiative, some companies are genic and articulate, but not always; their memeticists are
reluctant. There have been rumors of illegal acquisition of good, and the memes nuanced.

STRUCTURE AND RESOURCES 7

 Hodobu cooperates with media organizations, both news
and entertainment. It is very easy for entertainment organiza-
tions to get permission to use real NKKC equipment and loca-
tions, and Hodobu does not demand any control over the
products. If the series reinforces the basic message, the pro-
ducers find it easy to get repeat permission. Notoriously, a
series of (officially unauthorized) pornographic slinkies featur-
ing the NKKC were made in the mid ’90s; they portrayed the
operatives as absolutely upstanding, and actually led to a notice-
able boost in recruitment. (Some recent memetics textbooks use
this as an example of how to exploit the media without being
criticized for doing so.) However, children’s series featuring
the NKKC, usually based on a team featuring a couple of oper-
atives from the intended country of distribution, are far more
popular, with at least one in production every year.
STAFF
The staff of the NKKC are called operatives in English,
kyutaiin in Japanese. Although the NKKC is a branch of the
Japanese government, operatives do not need to be Japanese cit-
izens. The agency not only employs many bioroids and sapient
AIs, neither of which qualify for full citizenship, but also
employs foreign nationals. (Japanese society grants SAIs near-
human status in many ways – see Fifth Wave, p. 68 – but the law
does not fully reflect this, and other PRA nations are signifi-
cantly less benevolent toward them.) The NKKC has no problem
getting visas for foreigners it chooses to hire. There is no consis-
tent discrimination in the NKKC, and the Kyusho First Class of
Jimu is an SAI, Yuki Hikari. This does not prevent tensions at an
individual level, of course.
The NKKC seems to many outsiders to have a weird preju-
dice against LAIs, and employs very few. The current leadership
seem to think that anything capable of making its own decisions
should be an operative, but that LAIs are not (quite) up to han-
dling this status. On the other hand, they are definitely sapient
STRUCTURE AND
Recently, slinkies of NKKC rescue operations have
appeared on the black market. They all show the NKKC in a
good light, as the operatives risk their lives to save others, and
they are exciting, with a significant following. Hodobu has
issued official statements deploring the illegal distribution of
the information, and pledging to find the source of the leak.
The slinkies are genuine, and from multiple operatives, but
that source is still, apparently, unknown.
Finally, Hodobu is very open about how it does its memetic
engineering, with the result that a lot of textbooks use its
activities as examples, so just about anyone who has studied
memetics has a positive view of the NKKC and its memeti-
cists. The authors of the textbooks know that this is just fur-
ther memetic engineering by Hodobu, but the examples are
still too tempting.
to some extent, and so cannot simply be treated as tools (as NAIs
are, extensively). For years, LAIs were active in a very ambigu-
ous capacity (the NKKC has an institutional tendency to avoid
clarifying rules unless it has to), but in 2092 the rules were clar-
ified, and all associated LAIs were released from the agency,
with pensions more than sufficient for an independent info-
morph, and the assignment of their duties to themselves. Many
are now under the guardianship of former operatives, particu-
larly ones who have set up their own rescue teams. However,
many in the agency would like to see the rule clarified in the
other direction, so that LAIs could be operatives, albeit with lit-
tle chance of promotion.
MANPOWER
Around 95,000 sapients work for the NKKC. Around
21,000 are bioroids, and about 3,000 are infomorphs
(including 130 ghosts, who are full Japanese citizens).
About 3,000 humans with non-Japanese nationality are
on the payroll. Kyushutsu – with 15,000 operatives – has
1,600 of the infomorphs and 8,000 of the bioroids, as
cybershells and specialized bioroids are simply better
at the job than humans. However, the psychological
importance of having humans involved in a rescue oper-
ation is well-established, and the proportion is unlikely
to fall further. Of the non-Japanese operatives, 800 are
in Kyushutsu as well.
Kakuho has another 4,000 bioroids, along with 500
infomorphs. However, most of the staff are human (about
11,000), as most sapients who have been rescued are
human, and respond better to human care. Around 2,000
non-Japanese work in Kakuho, many of them medical
personnel on short-term contracts. The NKKC has a
standing policy of employing newly qualified medics and
nurses from any country for two years, with the option to
sign up for a longer period. The pay is good, and the expe-
rience highly respected in trauma medicine. It’s also a clear
chance to do some good, and so the program always has far
more applicants than it can take. Those who do work with the
agency generally take positive opinions of it, and Japan, back to
their home countries, another bit of memetic engineering.
RESOURCES 8
 Kenkyu has another 300 infomorphs, and a similar number
of bioroids, but it is overwhelmingly human (about 4,400),
although about 200 of the non-Japanese work here. This has
led to a noticeable bias in the equipment produced, a problem
that the agency is trying to correct.
Jimu employs around 60,000 people, including about 600
sapient infomorphs and about 9,000 bioroids, most of whom are
in menial roles. Jimu makes extensive use of NAIs, and is the
main source of the pressure to allow the employment of LAIs.
HIERARCHY
The NKKC inherited its ranks from the JSDF, simply renam-
ing them to reflect the existence of a new branch of service.
From lowest to highest, they are Kyushi, Kyuso, Kyui, Kyusa,
and Kyusho. Within each rank there are three grades, translated
as First Class (the highest), Second Class, and Third Class, so
newly qualified recruits are Kyushi, Third Class, while the high-
est leadership are Kyusho, First Class. The head of the agency
has the unique rank of Kyubakuryo. The NKKC strongly discour-
ages translation of the rank names, as the translations almost
inevitably sound military. In Japanese, the “kyu” in every rank
name means “salvation,” reducing the military association. The
current Kyubakuryo is Sho Nakamura, a veteran of Kyushutsu.
Each of the four divisions is headed by a Kyusho, First
Class, supported by other Kyusho as necessary. As a rule, an
operative’s superior has the next higher rank, rather than being
a higher class in the same rank, and Kyuso command the small
teams that go into the field. Kyui in Kyushutsu also save lives
directly, but Kyusa and above are in supervisory roles. It is not
too unusual for an operative to refuse a promotion, and
enough have applied for a demotion for it to not be thought
strange, although it is still very uncommon.
In Kyushutsu, operatives are grouped into teams of six,
kyutai, led by a Kyuso. Three teams make up a group, kyudan,
with six members of Kakuho, also led by a Kyuso, as support.
A group is led by a Kyui, for a total of 25 operatives. Although
the membership of teams and groups changes as people
retire and join, it is extremely unusual for an operative to
transfer between groups, or even between teams. Relation-
ships within the group become very strong, and members
learn to work together flawlessly. It is unusual for the agency
to dispatch less than one kyudan, but the kyutai work inde-
pendently once they arrive at the disaster.
UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA
The colors of NKKC uniforms are reflective red
and white, and cybershells are painted in the same
way. The main uniform is white, and the Japanese ris-
ing sun, with rays, appears in red as the badge of the
agency. Rank markings are also in red. The main rank mark-
ings are indicated by stylized cherry blossoms: Kyushi have
none, Kyuso one, Kyui two, arranged vertically, Kyusa three,
arranged in a triangle pointing upwards, and Kyusho four,
arranged in a diamond pattern. Within each rank, Second
Class is indicated by a horizontal bar below the cherry blos-
soms, while First Class adds a bar above them. Kyushi Sec-
ond and First Class just have the bars. The Kyubakuryo has
the Kyusho’s four cherry blossoms enclosed in a red ring.
Apart from the rescue suits and cybershells (see pp. 18-
20), the NKKC has two styles of uniform. Undress uniform is
STRUCTURE AND
western style, and looks like a white military or police uniform,
with rank markings on the upper arm and the operative’s name
on the right breast. Dress uniform is Japanese style, with a
white kimono, hakama (trouser skirt), and haori (jacket). The
haori bears the wearer’s rank marks five times: on each breast,
in the upper center of the back, and on each sleeve. Dress uni-
form does not carry the name. Uniforms are the same for men
and women, apart from necessary differences in tailoring, and
were originally based on men’s clothing.
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
Although the NKKC is not a military organization, it does
require a high level of discipline. Most punishments are formal
warnings and reprimands, which can ruin chances of promo-
tion, but the agency also docks operatives’ pay, demotes them,
or, in extreme cases, fires them. Dismissal only happens after
a formal hearing at the honcho in Morioka. The NKKC does
not have its own prisons or brig, and lacks the authority to con-
fine its operatives. Criminal operatives are handed over the
police, although the NKKC does make its own judgment as to
whether an offense is really that important.
Operatives who do particularly well, or act particularly
bravely, are rewarded. The basic level is a commendation,
which has no formal effect, but does remain on record. Promo-
tion is, of course, based on consistent good service, and comes
with a pay rise. The agency also awards medals to recognize
individual acts of heroism.
While an operative’s full record is considered when decid-
ing on promotions, medals are awarded solely on the basis of
one action. Medals are presented in a formal ceremony in
Morioka, and grant positive Reputations within the agency; the
character points for this come free with the award. The NKKC
is a small group in the context of the Transhuman Space set-
ting; within the agency, a medal-holder will effectively be rec-
ognized automatically, as medal insignia are always worn with
both undress and dress uniforms, and anyway, most operatives
hear about these awards. However, the GM may occasionally
rule that a new operative or one from another part of the
organization, who has never happened to see a character in
uniform, doesn’t know about that character’s medals.
The Sakura (cherry blossom) is a simple silver cherry blos-
som on a white ribbon, awarded for saving a life at severe risk
to your own; most operatives with more than 10 years’ service
have at least one. Infomorphs only get this if they sur-
vived the rescue, so that the current operative remem-
bers doing it. The first award grants a +1 Reputation in
the agency, worth 1 point. Further awards may improve
this at the GM’s discretion; a character with four or
more awards should almost always have a +2 Reputa-
tion, worth 3 points.
Tsubasa (wings) are awarded for acts of conspicuous brav-
ery. The medal is a pair of bird’s wings on a deep blue ribbon,
and can be awarded posthumously. Holders of a Tsubasa have
a +2 Reputation, worth 3 points.
The highest award is the Amenoukihashi, or Floating Bridge
of Heaven. It is awarded for the highest gallantry, with the
most significant results. In theory, it is a rainbow-colored sash,
but it has only been awarded three times, and only posthu-
mously, so the insignia has never been made. If it is awarded
to a living character, it should come with a significant Reputa-
tion, probably extending to the whole world.
RESOURCES 9
 LOCATIONS
The NKKC has five main offices, the honcho (headquarters)
in Morioka and four shicho (sub-offices). It also has a number
of supply depots across Japan, and a large number of orbital
dispatch stations, from which Kyushutsu operatives travel to
the sites of disasters.
MORIOKA HONCHO
The honcho is in Morioka, the capitol of Iwate Prefecture in
northern Japan. Morioka is one of the few substantial Japanese
cities not threatened by tsunamis and, importantly, it is not in
Tokyo, so the NKKC should be fully able to respond to a disas-
ter in the Japanese capital. Although Morioka is the adminis-
trative center of the agency, very few members of Kyushutsu or
Kakuho are based there. It does, however, house Kenkyu’s
main research facilities, and all the companies that supply the
agency have offices, at least, nearby, as this is where procure-
ment decisions are made. Morioka Honcho also has an airfield,
spaceport, and warehouses, and can, in theory, resupply all of
the agency’s dispatch stations. In practice, however, the space-
port is too far north and too near a major city to see significant
use, and while it is kept operational, not even contingency
plans rely on it. There are about 10,000 staff here, 3,000 from
Kenkyu and almost all the rest from Jimu.
Morioka Honcho is where new operatives are officially
inducted after completing their training, and where major
award ceremonies and serious disciplinary hearings are held.
A Kyushutsu operative with a respectable, but not outstanding,
career might well never visit again after induction. However,
anyone can visit. The NKKC does not keep its operations
secret, and visitors to Morioka Honcho cannot get in the way
of an emergency operation, so it is very open. Apart from the
Visitors’ Center, which is very good and accessible in VR on the
Web as well, it is also very boring.
TANEGASHIMA SHICHO
Tanegashima Shicho is the operational heart of the agency,
occupying a large chunk of Tanegashima Spaceport in
Kagoshima Prefecture. Under normal circumstances, all the
orbital dispatch stations are supplied from here, so there is a
constant stream of spacecraft taking off and landing, and a
similar flow of materiel and personnel in and out of the base.
This is also one of the primary dispatch sites for Kakuho air-
craft. Civilians wandering around here certainly could get in
the way of an emergency response, so access is much more
restricted than at the honcho. The Visitors’ Center, however, is
recommended to travelers with a couple of hours to kill at the
spaceport; it has interesting displays, large windows overlook-
ing the spaceport and airstrips, and a very good, and reason-
ably priced, cafeteria. For a lot of off-Earth visitors, the NKKC
represents their first impression of Japan, something Hodobu
aims to maintain.
In addition to warehouses and hangars, the shicho has
manufacturing facilities and accommodation, as a significant
number of Kakuho operatives are on active duty here at all
times. Kyushutsu operatives spend two days here before and
STRUCTURE AND
after each orbital duty, taking the necessary medical checks,
but they live elsewhere. There are about 12,000 staff here,
1,000 from Kakuho ready for dispatch, 1,000 from Kyushutsu
passing through, and about 10,000 from Jimu organizing all of
the supplies. It is headed by Kyusho Second Class Takahisa
Morimoto, a veteran of Jimu and a real stickler for the rules.
He has even established clear rules on which rules cease to
apply in an emergency.
FUJIMIYA SHICHO
Fujimiya Shicho is the agency’s main training center and sec-
ondary dispatch center. It is in Fujimiya, in Shizuoka Prefecture,
just south of Mount Fuji. A popular story has it that Hodobu
chose the location so that they could take lots of photographs of
operatives training with Mt Fuji in the background. Hodobu cer-
tainly is responsible for maintaining the impressive number of
cherry trees to the north of the base, and in cherry blossom sea-
son it is a very popular picnic spot. However, the location was
actually chosen because it is relatively central in Japan and close
to Tokyo; some Kyushutsu operatives are stationed here ready to
leave by aircraft if there is a disaster in the most populated
regions of Japan, which they can reach as quickly as the orbital
drops, with more equipment.
Fujimiya Shicho is the largest of the agency’s bases, with
about 15,000 operatives. It houses all trainees, the headquar-
ters of Hodobu, the larger dispatch center for Kakuho aircraft,
and operatives taking further training or learning to use new
equipment. It is also the site where new equipment is tested,
and as a result it is closed to the public. Kyusho Second Class
Samansa Debisu is in charge; she was born in Hawaii, and
served in Kakuho for 10 years before transferring to Jimu, at
which point she took Japanese citizenship, and Japanized her
birth name (Samantha Davies).
Fujimiya Shicho sits in the shadow of an active volcano
(Mount Fuji), and the agency agreed in principle to move its
functions to a safer location in 2073. However, finding some-
where has proved very difficult; few communities want an
extra 15,000 people dropped on them, along with an active,
and noisy, airport. The agency’s leadership is lobbying the gov-
ernment to force somewhere, probably in Nagano or Gifu
Prefectures, to take them, but Hodobu is officially opposed,
arguing that it would harm the agency’s image.
TOKYO SHICHO
Tokyo Shicho is the smallest shicho, with only 500 opera-
tives, almost all from Jimu. It is responsible for liaison with
the Japanese government, and 250 of its staff are officially
attached to Hodobu. The office, in Nagatacho, near the National
Diet Building, was designed to withstand a magnitude 9 earth-
quake directly under Tokyo, and its astronomical cost was the
subject of questions in the Diet. It is not clear what useful role
the building would serve if there were such an earthquake, and
the shicho has a persistent problem with mentally disturbed
people trying to live in the Visitors’ Center, as it is the safest
place to be in Tokyo in a quake.
RESOURCES 10
 Hodobu hosts a number of public events in the display
space and auditorium, and likes to get Kyushutsu operatives to
come to speak to the public. Some love the job; others apply for
transfer to Luna to get away. The office is led by Kyusho Third
Class Yukimitsu Hatoyama, a Kyushutsu veteran with four
Japanese Prime Ministers in his family tree and excellent con-
nections to the country’s political class. A lot of people expect
him to be the next Kyubakuryo.
USAGINOKOYA SHICHO
This is the agency’s main base on Luna, and its name means
“rabbit hutch.” Luna’s low gravity and small size mean that the
NKKC can operate from surface installations, and does not
need orbital stations. Usaginokoya Shicho is a warren habitat
near Luna City, and has about 1,000 staff, including most of
the Jimu staff on Luna. The NKKC only moved to Luna in
2086, after the Luna City disaster. As a result, they have some-
what tense relationships with the Lunar Rescue Force (High
Frontier, p. 56) and the JSDF (High Frontier, p. 71). The NKKC
thinks that the JSDF should now be transferred back to Earth,
but the Defense Ministry is strongly opposed.
The LRF and NKKC are happy to work together in princi-
ple, and share information. However, Japanese corporations
have reduced their funding for the LRF since the NKKC
arrived, although other nationalities are less happy about
relying on the Japanese completely. The NKKC also has a
standing offer to recruit members of the LRF, and is far
better funded and equipped. As a result, quite a few mem-
bers of the LRF now feel under siege, and it is one of the
very few organizations to engage in active memetic
attacks on the NKKC. These attacks are generally easy to
deflect, as the Hodobu office on Luna has a larger budget
than the LRF as a whole.
The agency’s presence on Luna is led by Kyusho First
Class Marena Tsukibora, who is still officially a member
of Kakuho. Her family name means “moon cave,” and she
claims her posting was fate.
HAKENSHITSU
The NKKC has 47 hakenshitsu (dispatch stations) in LEO.
Each is labeled with a single character from the Japanese kana
syllabary, in imitation of the firefighters of Tokyo three cen-
turies earlier. Each station is run by an SAI from Jimu, with
the rank of Kyusa. The SAI is the most senior operative on the
hakenshitsu, and is in command. All routine tasks are under
the control of this SAI and its NAI agents, and the overworked
hakenshitsu AIs are the strongest lobbyists for the NKKC to
start employing LAIs again.
There are 100 other operatives stationed on each haken-
shitsu, 76 from Kyushutsu and 24 from Kakuho. Each opera-
tive serves 24 days in orbit, followed by an average of 48 days
off. One kyudan (25 operatives) are rotated off each station
every six days, so the NKKC makes eight trips to orbit every
day. Operatives are assigned to a hakenshitsu when they are
commissioned, and always serve on that station. The full group
of operatives attached to a hakenshitsu is called a “gumi,” with
the same name as the hakenshitsu, so “a-gumi,” “ku-gumi,” or
“na-gumi,” for example. “Chi” (blood) and “shi” (death) gumis
are the subject of a lot of half-serious superstition, but statisti-
cally they are a little safer and more effective than the others.
STRUCTURE
The number of days spent off duty is varied so that operatives
serve with all other members of their gumi over time.
Each hakenshitsu is based around a 90’ cylinder, to which
the drop ships (pp. 21-22) used to transport operatives to the
ground are tethered, and where the transport ships dock. The
drop ships are winged and powered, so that they can execute
an aerobraking reentry and choose exactly where to land, but
they are not capable of getting from Earth to orbit under their
own power. The cylinder also houses an impressive sensor
array, used to monitor for disasters.
At each end of the cylinder is a pair of spin capsules on the
end of arms with a 500’ radius, maintaining 1G. It is very impor-
tant that the operatives be used to Earth gravity at all times,
because there is no chance to readjust when dispatched. These
capsules counter-rotate to avoid excessive gyroscopic effects, so
in theory the hakenshitsu could maneuver fairly easily, if it had
an engine. This may become important when the beanstalk
(High Frontier, p. 23) is built. Each spin capsule houses one
kyudan, and each kyudan comes up and goes down together, but
the whole crew of the station socializes in the zero-gee cylinder
or VR. One kyudan is ready to go at all times, and can leave
within one minute of an alert, while the other crews can be ready
within 10 minutes. Each kyudan is split between four drop
ships, three of which carry Kyushutsu kyutai, while the last car-
ries a Kakuho kyutai. The Kyui in command of the kyudan nor-
mally travels with the Kakuho kyutai, but not always.
Kana Syllables
These are the kana syllables, in their traditional order.
I Ro Ha Ni Ho He To Chi Ri Nu Ru Wo Wa Ka Yo Ta Re
So Tsu Ne Na Ra Mu U Wi No O Ku Ya Ma Ke Fu Ko E Te A
Sa Ki Yu Me Mi Shi We Hi Mo Se Su
Wi and We haven’t been used in normal Japanese for over
a century, but the NKKC still uses them for hakenshitsu.
When a crew is ready to leave, the infomorphs are down-
loaded to the Tenryu cybershells and connected to the station’s
digital network, and the humans and bioroids are wearing
most of their rescue suits, although their helmets are on stands
in the drop ship, also connected to the network. This gives the
hakenshitsu an extra few seconds before the helmets are dis-
connected, allowing the download of necessary linguistic and
geographical knowledge.
The sapient infomorphs tend to stay in the cybershells even
when not on alert, as they are still connected to the Web, but
every hakenshitsu has half a dozen cyberdoll shells that sapient
infomorphs can borrow if they want to relax in meatspace with
their colleagues. These cyberdolls have display panels built into
their foreheads to display the infomorph’s name; this is not
ideal, but no one has come up with a better idea yet. Humans
and bioroids do not wear their suits while off alert, but the NAIs
tend to stay in the helmets, and interact with them through the
Web and the communication network that fills the hakenshitsu.
Only some of the hakenshitsu are in polar orbits, but all
have the same radiation shielding, and in an emergency, they
can, in theory, house a couple of hundred refugees. This has
yet to be tested in practice, however.
AND RESOURCES 11
 CHAPTER THREE
OPERATIVES
NKKC operatives are elite, and receive a high level of train-
ing. The Agency has the resources to pay for many problems to
be fixed if a potential operative is sufficiently talented, and is
open-minded enough to look at any applicant. Although the
“typical” kyutaiin is a Japanese human, almost any sapient
creature could join the Agency.
The activities of Kyushutsu operatives on active missions
are constantly monitored by control centers in Tanegashima,
Fujimiya, Morioka, and Tokyo. All the information collected by
the rescue suits worn by all operatives is transmitted and mon-
itored in real time (unless communications are cut off, of
course – and in that case, the systems will attempt a fast update
data dump when possible), and recently the agency has been
encouraging operatives to have upslinks installed, so that the
operative’s full experience can be monitored. (The agency
relies on its legal immunities in areas in which upslinks are
illegal.) The agency installs the upslink at no expense to the
operative, so they are not uncommon, although far from uni-
versal. They are not supposed to be monitored unless the oper-
atives are actually on a mission, and the operatives can turn
them off, but some operatives still have privacy concerns.
ADVANTAGES
The NKKC particularly looks for operatives who are able to
operate independently under difficult conditions, while never
forgetting that they are there to save people. Almost any sort of
personal competence can help with that. The agency may even
subsidize biomod or nanosymbiont treatments that make
agents more effective, such as metabolic enhancements or per-
manent anti-radiation treatments.
Social and other advantages with no relevance when on
duty, notably Wealth, are obviously less useful in heavily mis-
sion-focused campaigns. The GM can point this out to players,
or even simply say that they aren’t part of the campaign.
Desirable Advantages
Acute Senses, Combat Reflexes, Empathy, Fit or Very Fit, High Pain Thresh-
old, Improved G Tolerance, Perfect Balance. (Backroom personnel just need good
IQ or relevant Talents.)
Legal Immunity
p. B65
While NKKC operatives are not bound by local laws, either
by formal agreements or through courtesy, the agency’s rules are Pacifism, the GM can either prohibit them or find ways to
as strict as normal laws, for a basic Legal Immunity of 5 points. make them actually especially problematic during missions.
OPERATIVES
This enables bioroid or AI operatives to work in areas where
they are illegal or property without risking arrest, and allows the
NKKC to disregard licensing and air traffic control laws and pol-
lution regulations. It is unlikely to have much effect on the game,
and the GM should consider just giving characters an extra five
points with which to buy the Advantage.
Rank
pp. B29-30
Rank in the NKKC is Administrative Rank, costing the
usual 5 points per level. Trainees have Rank 0, Kyushi have
Rank 1, Kyuso Rank 2, Kyui Rank 3, Kyusa Rank 4, Kyusho
Rank 5, and the Kyubakuryo is Rank 6. Within each rank, Sec-
ond Class is represented by one level of Courtesy Rank, and
First Class by two; these grades give only a very little actual
authority, but earn some respect (and slightly better pay), and
break ties in dealings between operatives of equal Rank.
Reputation
pp. B26-28
The NKKC has an excellent reputation, which extends to its
members. Everyone in the Solar System has heard of the
NKKC, but most operatives are only recognized if they show
up in uniform or are on active service. This Reputation gives a
+3 reaction bonus, but operatives are, in effect, only recog-
nized occasionally, for a final cost of 5 points.
Operatives who get picked up by Hodobu and made into
the face of the agency may get a higher frequency of recogni-
tion. Also, agency medals grant Reputations within the
NKKC; see p. 9.
DISADVANTAGES
The NKKC does not see a strong,
even obsessive, drive to help people
as a problem, so a number of psy-
chological disadvantages are appro-
priate to the agency. Anything that
might distract an operative during a
rescue, however, is a reason to
refuse an application.
In heavily mission-focused cam-
paigns, the GM may choose to pro-
hibit social disadvantages with no
relevance when on duty, such as reduced Wealth. If players
seem to have deliberately chosen disadvantages which just
don’t disadvantage a serving NKKC operative, such as
12
Duty and shared with the wearers, some operatives also learn Elec-
tronic Operations (Sensors) to operate sensor swarms and other
pp. B133-134 systems. Spacer is often useful on orbital missions, and also
All NKKC field operatives have a Duty. It is not Extremely allows the operative to help around the NKKC’s orbital stations.
Hazardous, because the environments are not, normally, delib- Dealing with panicked survivors is not easy, so Body
erately trying to kill the operatives, and they are equipped to Language, Diplomacy, Leadership, and Psychology (Applied)
deal with the hazards they face. However, it certainly isn’t Non- are very useful. (Ideally, operatives would know specialties of
Hazardous either. Psychology for AIs, humans, and bioroids, but most specialize
The frequency is a problem. If you are playing an NKKC in their own type.) Finally, Public Speaking is standard for
campaign, then the operative is almost always on duty (-15 Kakuho members, who have to calm people down in the evac-
points), because almost all sessions concern rescue missions. uation centers, and some Kyushutsu operatives also learn it.
As the Disadvantage would be compulsory for all characters, it
should not count toward any Disadvantage limit.
If you are not playing such a campaign, then the Duty Skills With Physiology Modifiers
would, by the numbers, come up Fairly Often, and would cost As explained on p. B181, characters are normally assumed to
-5 points. However, no non-NKKC characters would be able to learn certain skills, including Body Language, Diagnosis, and
participate in such adventures, and a Disadvantage that effec- First Aid, initially as they apply to members of their own species.
Then, when applying them to other species, the character must
tively means “cannot play in session on a role of 9 or less” is a
very bad idea. In such a campaign, treat the Duty as a 0-point either first roll successfully against another skill (usually the
Feature, with the understanding that the character is only on appropriate specialty of Physiology), or take a penalty.
duty when the player cannot participate, or in downtime. However, the NKKC teaches those three skills to many
of its operatives, including bioroids and infomorphs in
cybershells, and of necessity teaches them as applied to
humans; the vast majority of rescued disaster victims are
human, after all. Hence, any operative can use those skills
Prohibited Disadvantages without problems on human subjects, but may take a
Acceleration Weakness, Motion Sickness, Space Sickness, penalty with other “species” – even the operative’s own.
and any substantial physical impairment (at least for field The penalties this generates are rarely serious, though –
agents – backroom personnel may get more leeway). from -1 for some exotic parahumans to -3 for bioroids
designed for radically unusual environments. A few oper-
atives may be trained or experienced in dealing with
bioroids as well as humans, and take no penalty for either;
S KILLS treat
in
this as a perk. Buy the perk once for each skill; it has 1 point
Physiology (Bioroid) as a prerequisite.
NKKC operatives try to save lives under difficult circum-
stances, and they are well-trained. Their skills fall into sev-
eral groups.
All operatives work with a rescue suit, a specialized type of
environment suit, and so need Rescue Suit skill (below), along
with Free Fall and Swimming to enable them to handle condi-
tions commonly met on missions. (Infomorphs in their
Kyushutsu operatives
amphibious cybershells have less need for the last.) Operatives
need medical skills, as many victims are injured; First Aid is
are elite, and their
universal, as is Diagnosis, so that operatives do not aggravate
injuries while evacuating people. The NKKC teaches an point totals reflect this.
optional specialty of the latter, Diagnosis (Trauma Effects);
operatives know a lot about internal injuries, burns, drowning
effects, etc., but are not so knowledgeable about long-term
infections. Some operatives with advanced medical training
replace First Aid with Physician, and have the full version of Rescue Suit/TL
Diagnosis; this is particularly common in Kakuho. At least one DX/Average
member of each kyutai should be trained in Piloting, unless
Defaults: DX-5 and others.
they want to leave flying their drop ship to its NAI. (Very few
do.) Other skills are all optional, although a well-prepared kyu- This skill is a version of Environment Suit (p. B192), appro-
dan will have a good mix across its members. priate for NKKC suits designed for use in rescue situations.
Athletic skills are used to get to victims; Climbing, Jump- The NKKC suit is both a diving suit and a vacc suit, but it also
ing, Lifting, and Running are common. The aftermath of a comes with a built-in AI and a lot of fancy features, making it
disaster often contains man-made hazards; Hazardous Mate- significantly different from ordinary dedicated vacc or diving
rials is useful for understanding labeling and dealing with suits. Rescue Suit defaults to and from any other Environment
any leaks, while Architecture lets an operative judge how Suit skill at -4.
badly damaged a building is, and Forced Entry is often use- Note that, as operatives wear their rescue suits more or less
ful in getting into lightly damaged structures. Although the full time when on missions, any who take DX-based skills at
sensors built into the rescue suits are operated by their AIs high levels should also try to raise Rescue Suit to the same level.

OPERATIVES 13
 CHARACTER TEMPLATES
These character templates cover a wide range of point val-
ues. One reason is that Kyushutsu operatives are elite, and
their point totals reflect this. Another is that infomorphs in
cybershells are high-point characters. If you want to run a
mixed infomorph and biological team, then it is easier to
have the infomorph be a ghost (as in the templates), as the
SAI template is very expensive. Even so, the biological opera-
tives will have a lot of points if you try to keep point totals
matched, so it may be better to run a mutable point totals
campaign (see Changing Times, p. 17), and not worry about
infomorphs having more points on paper.
The bioroid and human templates each give three options
for the type of bioroid or human. The features of those tem-
plates have already been calculated into the template statistics,
so you can just write the numbers down. You should look up
the details of the advantages and disadvantages possessed by
the bioroid or human type, however.
The templates given are only examples; as noted above, the
NKKC could employ just about any sapient. These templates
could be changed substantially and still make good operatives,
if the skill set remained appropriate.
GHOST KYUSHUTSU
OPERATIVE
500 points
You save lives, and because you have a backup on file at the
NKKC, you are willing to take great risks to do so. You are not
necessarily irrational about this, but the agency is not unhappy
if you lose a copy, and a cybershell, trying to save someone.
Having practiced intensively, you can operate the radically
nonhumanoid Tenryu cybershell with full efficiency.
Attributes: ST 10 [0]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 15 [0].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 125 lbs.; HP
10; Will 11 [0]; Per 12 [5]; FP N/A; Basic Speed 6.50 [0];
Basic Move 8 [0].
Advantages: Administrative Rank 1 [5]; Ally (Kikko Rescue
Suit; Built on 50%; Constantly; Minion, +0%) [8]; Ghost
Mind Emulation [86]; Legal Immunity [5]; Reputation +3
(Life-saver; Occasional) [5]; Tenryu Cybershell [318]. • 20
points from Allies (human friends) [Varies], Born Spacer
[5/level], Combat Reflexes [15], Contact Group [Varies],
Contacts [Varies], Courtesy Rank 1 or 2 (Class within Rank;
see p. 12) [1 or 2], Daredevil [15], Fearlessness [2/level],
Healer [10/level], Indomitable [15], Intuition [15], Luck
[15], Patrons [Varies], Rank +1 [5], or Status [5/level].
Disadvantages: Duty (NKKC Service; 15 or less) [-15].
• Either one of Charitable (12) [-15], Fanaticism (Humani-
tarianism) [-15], On the Edge (12) [-15], or Sense of Duty
(All Humanity or All Infomorphs) [-15], or both Unluckiness
[-10] and one of Enemy (Unfriendly immediate supervisor;
Watcher; 12 or less) [-5], Oblivious [-5], Overconfidence
(12) [-5], or Selfless (12) [-5].
Primary Skills: Diagnosis/TL10 (Trauma Effects) (A) IQ+1
[4]-12; First Aid/TL10 (E) IQ+3 [8]-14; Free Fall (A) DX+1
[3]-12*; Rescue Suit/TL10 (A) DX+2 [8]-13.
OPERATIVES
Secondary Skills: Choose five from Forced Entry or Jumping,
both (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Piloting/TL10 (Aerospace or High-
Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX [2]-11; Architecture/TL9 or
TL10, Electronics Operation/TL10 (Sensors), or Hazardous
Materials/TL10 (any), all (A) IQ [2]-11; Diplomacy or Psy-
chology (Applied; AI, Bioroid, or Human), both (H) IQ-1
[2]-10; Swimming (E) HT+1 [2]-16; or Body Language (A)
Per [2]-12.
Background Skills: Choose five from Piloting/TL10 (Aero-
space or High-Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX-1 [1]-10;
Area Knowledge (any), Current Affairs/TL10 (any), or
Spacer/TL10, all (E) IQ [1]-11; Architecture/TL9 or TL10,
Electronics Operation/TL10 (Sensors), or Hazardous
Materials/TL10 (any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-10; Diplomacy or
Psychology (Applied; AI, Bioroid, or Human), both (H)
IQ-2 [1]-9; Swimming (E) HT [1]-15; Body Language (A)
Per-1 [1]-11. Do not choose anything you chose as a Sec-
ondary Skill.
* Bought up from HT-based default.
Around 95,000 sapients –
including bioroids,
infomorphs, and humans –
work for the NKKC in a
variety of roles: search-and-
rescue personnel, medical
support, researchers, and
memeticists, along with other
mundane yet important jobs.
BIOROID KYUSHUTSU
OPERATIVE
300 points
You save lives, and people respect you for it. You are a full
and valued member of the NKKC, but sometimes the people
you save are less sure of you.
Note: If the final character is built on 344 (or more) points,
the cost of the Aibo Rescue Suit Ally drops, because its propor-
tion of the character’s points becomes lower; see p. 19.
First, choose one of the following 195-point bioroid model
packages. The Rodosha is the most common, but the NKKC
does have a few catgirls.
14
Felicia II
Attributes: ST 10 [10]; DX 14 [20]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 13 [20].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 20 lbs.; HP
10 [0]; Will 10 [-5]; Per 11 [0]; FP 13 [0]; Basic Speed 7.00
[5]; Basic Move 7 [0].
Advantages: Felicia II (Transhuman Space, p. 117, and
Changing Times, p. 49) [125].
Rodosha
Attributes: ST 13 [30]; DX 14 [60]; IQ 11 [20]; HT 13 [20].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d/2d-1; BL 45 lbs.; HP
17 [4]; Will 13 [10]; Per 13 [0]; FP 15 [0]; Basic Speed 6.50
[0]; Basic Move 6 [0].
Advantages: Rodosha (below) [51].
Xenocop
Attributes: ST 11 [10]; DX 14 [60]; IQ 11 [0]; HT 11 [10].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs.; HP
11 [0]; Will 11 [0]; Per 13 [0]; FP 15 [3]; Basic Speed 7.25
[0]; Basic Move 8 [5].
Advantages: Xenocop (p. 16) [107].
Then add other details as below for all types of bioroid:
Advantages: Administrative Rank 1 [5]; Ally (Aibo Rescue Suit;
Built on 100%; Constantly; Minion, +0%) [20]; Legal Immu-
nity [5]; Reputation +3 (Life-saver; Occasional) [5]. • 40
points from Allies (human or bioroid friends and/or AIs,
especially implants or wearables) [Varies], Biomods
(Changing Times, p. 64) [Varies], Communications Implants
(Changing Times, p. 61) [Varies], Contact Group [Varies],
Contacts [Varies], Nanosymbionts (Changing Times, p. 66)
Rodosha Bioroid
Many bioroid types are designed for combat, or for
dubious purposes such as use as sex toys. The Rodosha is
an exception; it is designed to help compensate for Japan’s
shortage of human workers in mundane roles. When the
NKKC decides that a bioroid could fill some staff require-
ment, this model is often close at hand. These operatives
tend to become rather more self-willed than most
Rodosha, who tend to be highly psychologically dependent
on their managers and implant AIs, and often suffer from
the Low Self-Image disadvantage, which is permitted as an
exception to their Taboo Traits feature.
Rodosha are designed to be robust, deft, alert, and
good team members (and not too expensive). Their excep-
tional low-frequency hearing was almost accidental, but
turned out to have uses in industrial environments.
Rodosha are also designed to be methodical and highly
sociable; the areas of their brains which process social
interaction are deliberately “cross-wired” to the pleas-
ure/reward centers.
Rodosha look like husky humans with bland expres-
sions and non-threatening body language, except that
they are all bald, and their skins have a strong blue tinge;
OPERATIVES
[Varies], or Patrons [Varies]. • 40 points from Acute Senses
(any) [2/level], Breath-Holding [2/level], Daredevil [15],
Eidetic Memory [5], Fearlessness [2/level], High Pain Thresh-
old [10], Improved G Tolerance [5 or 10], Perfect Balance
[15], or Unfazeable [15].
Disadvantages: Duty (NKKC Service; 15 or less) [-15]; Social
Stigma (Minority Group) [-10]. • Either one of Charitable
(12) [-15], Gullibility (9) [-15], or Sense of Duty (All Human-
ity) [-15], or both Clueless [-10] and Hidebound [-5].
Primary Skills: Diagnosis/TL10 (Trauma Effects) (A) IQ
[2]-11; First Aid/TL10 (E) IQ+2 [4]-13; Free Fall (A) DX
[2]-14; Rescue Suit/TL10 (A) DX+2 [8]-16; Spacer/TL10 (E)
IQ [1]-11; Swimming (E) HT+1 [2]-14 or 12*.
Secondary Skills: Choose three from Forced Entry or Jumping,
both (E) DX+1 [2]-15; Piloting/TL10 (Aerospace or High-
Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX [2]-14; Architecture/TL10,
Electronics Operation/TL10 (Sensors), or Hazardous Mate-
rials/TL10 (any), all (A) IQ [2]-11; Diplomacy or Psychology
(Applied; Bioroid or Human), both (H) IQ-1 [2]-10; Lifting
or Running, both (A) HT [2]-13 or 11*; or Body Language
(A) Per [2]-11 or 13*.
Background Skills: Choose five from Piloting/TL10 (Aero-
space or High-Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX-1 [1]-13;
Area Knowledge (any) (E) IQ [1]-11; Architecture/TL9 or
TL10, Electronics Operation/TL10 (Sensors), or Hazardous
Materials/TL10 (any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-10; Diplomacy or Psy-
chology (Applied; AI, Bioroid, or Human), both (H) IQ-2
[1]-9; Lifting or Running, both (A) HT-1 [1]-12 or 10*; or
Body Language (A) Per-1 [1]-10 or 12*. Do not choose any-
thing you chose as a Secondary Skill.
* Level depends on bioroid model.
they are designed never to be confused with humanity.
Their fingers are long and almost delicate, but not freak-
ishly so, and their movements are usually slow and steady.
Most are male, with oriental-style features.
Rodosha
51 points
Attribute Modifiers: DX+1 [20]; HT+1 [10].
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: HP+2 [4]; Per+2
[10]; FP+2 [6]; Basic Speed-0.25 [-5].
Advantages: High Manual Dexterity 2 [10]; Lifting ST 2
[6]; Night Vision 2 [2]; Resistant to Disease (+3) [3];
Subsonic Hearing [5].
Perks: Deep Sleeper. [1]
Disadvantages: Bioroid Body [-4]; Gregarious [-10];
Workaholic [-5].
Quirks: Attentive; Humble. [-2]
Features: Bald with Blue-Tinged Skin; Closely Resembles
Others of the Same “Model”; Taboo Traits (Mental
Instability).
Date: 2075. Cost: $100,000.
15

Xenocop Bioroid
The Xenocop is described in Fifth Wave (p. 120). In
brief, it is an American design, intended for use in law
enforcement and security work and built to be fast and
capable, and to inspire trust among humans. A number
of Xenocops have been constructed under license in
Japan, although the use of bioroids for police work
hasn’t generally proved popular there; one or two have
ended up in the NKKC.
Xenocop
107 points
Attribute Modifiers: DX+1 [20]; IQ+1 [20].
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Per+2 [10]; FP+3
[9]; Basic Speed+1.00 [20].
Advantages: Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Combat
Reflexes [15]; Fit [5]; Hard to Kill 2 [4]; Voice [10].
Disadvantages: Bioroid Body [-4]; Selfless (12) [-5].
Quirks: Attentive. [-1]
Features: Taboo Traits (Mental Instability, Unattrac-
tiveness).
Date: 2089. Cost: $138,000.
HUMAN KYUSHUTSU
OPERATIVE
300 points
You are part of the majority of Kyushutsu, human or maybe
a bit better than that. You put yourself in danger to save peo-
ple, and in return you get the respect and admiration of most
of the world.
Notes: If the final character is built on 344 (or more) points,
the cost of the Aibo Rescue Suit Ally drops, because its propor-
tion of the character’s points becomes lower; see p. 19.
First, choose one of the following 150-point genotype
packages:
Genefixed Human
Attributes: ST 11 [10]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 14 [40].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs.; HP
11 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Per 12 [0]; FP 14 [0]; Basic Speed 7.00
[5]; Basic Move 6 [-5].
Advantages: Genefixed Human (Transhuman Space, p. 115,
and Changing Times, p. 48) [0].
Alpha Upgrade
Attributes: ST 10 [0]; DX 13 [40]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 13 [20].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 20 lbs.; HP
10 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Per 12 [0]; FP 16 [9]; Basic Speed 6.50
[0]; Basic Move 6 [0].
Advantages: Alpha Upgrade (Transhuman Space, p. 115, and
Changing Times, p. 48) [41].
OPERATIVES
Ziusudra Parahuman
Attributes: ST 10 [0]; DX 13 [40]; IQ 12 [20]; HT 12 [10].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-2/1d; BL 20 lbs.; HP
10 [0]; Will 12 [0]; Per 12 [0]; FP 13 [3]; Basic Speed 6.25
[0]; Basic Move 6 [0].
Advantages: Ziusudra (Transhuman Space, p. 118, and
Changing Times, p. 49) [77].
Then add other details as below for all types:
Advantages: Administrative Rank 1 [5]; Ally (Aibo Rescue Suit;
Built on 100%; Constantly; Minion, +0%) [20]; Legal Immu-
nity [5]; Reputation +3 (Life-saver; Occasional) [5]. • 75
points from Allies (human friends and/or AIs, especially
implants or wearables) [Varies], Biomods (Changing Times,
p. 64) [Varies], Communications Implants (Changing Times,
p. 61) [Varies], Contact Group [Varies], Contacts [Varies],
Courtesy Rank 1 or 2 (Class within Rank; see p. 12) [1 or 2],
Nanosymbionts (Changing Times, p. 66) [Varies], Patrons
[Varies], Rank +1 [5], or Status [5/level]. • 40 points from
Acute Senses (any) [2/level], Born Spacer [5/level], Charisma
[5/level], Combat Reflexes [15], Daredevil [15], Fearlessness
[2/level], Fit [5] or Very Fit [15], Healer [10/level], High Pain
Threshold [10], Improved G Tolerance [5], Indomitable [15],
Intuition [15], Luck [15]. Sensitive [5] or Empathy [15].
Disadvantages: Duty (NKKC Service; 15 or less) [-15].
• Either Charitable (12) [15] or Sense of Duty (All human-
ity), or both Unluckiness [-10] and one of Enemy
(Unfriendly immediate supervisor; Watcher; 12 or less)
[-5], Oblivious [-5], Overconfidence (12) [-5], or Selfless
(12) [-5].
Primary Skills: Diagnosis/TL10 (Trauma Effects) (A) IQ
[2]-12; First Aid/TL10 (E) IQ+2 [4]-14; Free Fall (A) DX
[2]-13; Rescue Suit/TL10 (A) DX+2 [8]-15; Swimming (E)
HT+1 [2]*.
Secondary Skills: Choose three from Forced Entry or Jumping,
both (E) DX+1 [2]-14; Piloting/TL10 (Aerospace or High-
Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX [2]-13; Spacer/TL10 (E)
IQ+1 [2]-13; Architecture/TL9 or TL10, Electronics Opera-
tion/TL10 (Sensors), or Hazardous Materials/TL10 (any), all
(A) IQ [2]-12; Diplomacy or Psychology (Applied; AI,
Bioroid, or Human), both (H) IQ-1 [2]-11; or Body Lan-
guage (A) Per [2]-12.
Background Skills: Choose six from Piloting/TL10 (Aerospace
or High-Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX-1 [1]-12; Area
Knowledge (any), Current Affairs/TL10 (any), or
Spacer/TL10, all (E) IQ [1]-12; Architecture/TL9 or TL10,
Electronics Operation/TL10 (Sensors), Hazardous Materi-
als/TL10 (any), or Public Speaking, all (A) IQ-1 [1]-11;
Diplomacy or Psychology (Applied; AI, Bioroid, or Human),
both (H) IQ-2 [1]-10; Running (A) HT-1 [1]*; or Body Lan-
guage (A) Per-1 [1]-11. Do not choose anything you chose as
a Secondary Skill.
* Level depends on genotype option.
KENKYU RESEARCHER
100 points
You are an in-house researcher at the NKKC, tasked with
developing new technology to save even more people’s lives. It’s
easy to talk about what you do, but the actual research is as
hard as in any other laboratory.
16
 Hodobu is very open about how it does its memetic
engineering, with the result that a lot of textbooks use its
activities as examples, so just about anyone who has studied
memetics has a positive view of the NKKC and its memeticists.
Note: Researchers are not sent to rescue people from disas-
ters, so they do not have a Duty, just a job. The NKKC’s repu-
tation does still rub off on them, however.
Attributes: ST 9 [-10]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 10 [0].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-2/1d-1; BL 16 lbs.; HP
9 [0]; Will 13 [0]; Per 13 [0]; FP 10 [0]; Basic Speed 5.00 [0];
Basic Move 5 [0].
Advantages: Administrative Rank 1 [5]; Reputation +3 (Life-
saver; Occasional) [5]. • One of Artificer 2 [20], Com-
puter Wizard 2 [20]†, or Mathematical Ability 2 [20]. • 15
points chosen from Allies (AI implants or wearables)
[Varies], Biomods (Changing Times, p. 64) [Varies], Com-
munications Implants (Changing Times, p. 61) [Varies],
Courtesy Rank (Class within Rank; see p. 12) [1 or 2],
Eidetic Memory [5], Intuitive Mathematician [5], Nano-
symbionts (Changing Times, p. 66) [Varies], Photo-
graphic Memory [10], or Versatile [5].
Disadvantages: -10 points chosen from Clueless [-10], Curious
[-5*], Loner [-5*], No Sense of Humor [-10], Oblivious [-5],
Odious Personal Habit [-5], Shyness [-5 or -10], or Truthful-
ness [-5*].
Primary Skill: One of Computer Programming/TL10, Com-
puter Programming/TL10 (AI), or Engineer/TL10 (any), all
(H) IQ+2 [4]-15‡. Choose Computer Programming if your
chosen Talent is Computer Wizard, Engineer otherwise.
Secondary Skills: Mathematics/TL10 (Applied) (H) IQ-1
[2]-12§. • Three skills for which your Talent gives a bonus;
each is either (E) IQ+3 [2]-16‡, (A) IQ+2 [2]-15‡, (H) IQ+1
[2]-14‡, or (VH) IQ [2]-13‡.
Background Skills: Administration (A) IQ-1 [1]-12;
Research/TL10 (A) IQ [2]-13.
OPERATIVES
* Modified for self-control number; see p. B120.
† Assumes Computer Hacking is available. If not, take Com-
puter Wizard 4 [20]; this raises all associated skills by two lev-
els. See Changing Times (p. 40) for relevant information.
‡ Includes +2 for Talent.
§ Becomes IQ+1 [2]-14 if you have Mathematical Ability.
HODOBU MEMETICIST
100 points
You are part of the NKKC’s PR department. In some ways,
this is the easiest job in the world, so you are expected to take
on difficult tasks, like getting Kazakhstan to grant the NKKC
permission to intervene in disasters.
Note: Members of Hodobu are not sent to rescue people
from disasters, so they do not have a Duty, just a job. The
NKKC’s reputation does still rub off on them, however.
Attributes: ST 9 [-10]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 10 [0].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d-2/1d-1; BL 16 lbs.; HP
9 [0]; Will 13 [0]; Per 13 [0]; FP 10 [0]; Basic Speed 5.00 [0];
Basic Move 5 [0].
Advantages: Administrative Rank 1 [5]; Memetics Talent 2 [20];
Reputation +3 (Life-saver; Occasional) [5]. • 15 points cho-
sen from Allies (AI implants or wearables) [Varies], Appear-
ance (Attractive or Handsome) [4 or 12], Charisma 1 or 2 [5
or 10], Communications Implants (Changing Times, p. 61)
[Varies], Contacts [Varies], Courtesy Rank (Class within
Rank; see p. 12) [1 or 2], Cultural Familiarity [1/culture],
Empathy or Sensitive [15 or 5], Languages (any) [Varies],
Language Talent [10], Nanosymbionts (Changing Times,
p. 66) [Varies], extra Rank [5/level], Status [5/level], or
Voice [10].
Disadvantages: -10 points chosen from Chummy or
Gregarious [-5 or -10], Easy to Read [-10], Honesty
[-10*], Loner [-5*], Overconfidence [-5*], Selfish [-5*],
Selfless [-5*], or Sense of Duty (The NKKC) [-10].
Primary Skill: Expert Skill (Memetics) (H) IQ+1†
[2]-14.
Secondary Skills: Select five from Politics, Propa-
ganda/TL10, or Teaching, all (A) IQ+2 [2]-15†;
Diplomacy, Psychology (Applied; AI, Bioroid, or
Human), or Sociology, all (H) IQ+1 [2]-14†; or
Intelligence Analysis/TL10 (H) IQ-1 [2]-12.
Background Skills: Administration (A) IQ-1 [1]-12;
Current Affairs/TL10 (two different specialties),
both (E) IQ [1]-13.
* Modified for self-control number; see p. B120.
† Includes +2 for Memetics Talent.
17
 CHAPTER FOUR

TOOLS OF
THE TRADE
The following equipment is (more or less) unique to the Advantages: Aibo Suit Cybershell [151]; Computer Brain 2 (4,
NKKC. 4) (Limited Integration, -20%; Skills and Languages Only,
-10%) [31]; NAI-6 [69].
Disadvantages: Duty (NKKC Property; 15 or less) [-15].
AIBO (PARTNER) Skills: Administration (A) IQ [2]-10; Computer Opera-

RESCUE SUIT tion/TL10 (E) IQ+3 [0]-13*; Diagnosis/TL10 (Trauma

Effects) (A) IQ+3 [12]-13; First Aid/TL10 (E) IQ+2 [4]-12;
258 Points Search (A) Per+1 [4]-16.
The standard-issue Aibo suit for humans, parahumans and * Included in NAI template.
bioroids is a wearable cybershell, running an NAI. The cyber-
shell and AI together are generally regarded as a unit; the first set The usual Modular Abilities loaded into the Aibo before dis-
of statistics here is that of the standard AI when installed in the patch are Area Knowledge (E) IQ+2 [4]-12, and Language
shell, representing a complete character, the second is the tem- (Accented) [4] for the area of the disaster.
plate for the cybershell itself. It looks like an armored space or
diving suit, and is white, with the Rising Sun in red on the chest Aibo Suit Cybershell
and back, and “NKKC” in red Latin letters below and Japanese
characters above. The operative’s name is written on the hel- 151 points
Attribute Modifiers: ST -10 [-100]; HT +5 [50].
met’s forehead and suit’s back in red Latin letters; it also appears
in Japanese on the upper arms, along with rank insignia. The Secondary Attributes: HP+7 [14]; Per +5 [25].
Advantages: Absolute Direction (Requires Signal; -20%) [4];
suit does not give a penalty to skills (and indeed, the AI is trained
to provide advice on common tasks, in a way that even highly Compartmentalized Mind 1 (Dedicated Controls) [10]; DR
skilled operatives generally find helpful), but operatives learn 10 (Can’t wear armor, -40%) [30]; Discriminatory Hearing
Rescue Suit skill (p. 13) in order to make full use of its capabili- [15]; Discriminatory Smell [15]; Doesn’t Breathe [20]; High
ties and their own abilities while wearing it. It weighs 20 lbs. Pain Threshold [10]; Infravision [10]; Machine [25]; Night
Among other features, the Aibo has fold-out swim fins on Vision 9 [9]; Peripheral Vision [15]; Pressure Support 1 [5];
hands and feet (an Accessory perk on the template). These can Reduced Consumption 2 (refuel/recharge once per day) [4];
be extended or folded away with a Ready maneuver. While Scanning Sense (Imaging Radar) [20]; Scanning Sense
extended, they give trained users +1 Water Move (but -2 Move (Sonar) [20]; Sealed [15]; Telecommunication (Radio;
on land). Secure, +20%; Sensie, +80%) [20]; Temperature Tolerance
5 [5]; Vacuum Support [5].
Attributes: ST 0 [0]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 15 [0]. Perks: Accessories (Air Supply for wearer; First Aid Kit – basic
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 0; BL 0; HP 7 [0]; Will 10 equipment for First Aid/TL10; Retractable Swim Fins;
[0]; Per 15 [0]; FP N/A; Basic Speed 6.25 [0]; Basic Move 0 Searchlight; Small Computer); Provides own DR, Pressure
[0]; Dodge N/A. Support, Sealed, Temperature Tolerance, and Vac-
uum Support to wearer. [10]
Disadvantages: Cybershell Body [-15]; No
Legs (Portable) [-30]; No Manipulators [-50];
Perk: Provides Own (Advantage) to Wearer Restricted Diet (Very Common, power cells)
When a wearable cybershell (such as a rescue suit) provides one [-10].
of its advantages, such as DR or Pressure Support, to someone Features: Individuals of the same model closely
who is wearing it correctly, that is treated as a perk. Multiple resemble one another.
advantages require multiple perks! However, if a shell has internal
Payload space which is used by passengers, they gain the benefits Note: The Dedicated Controls advantage gives
of its DR, pressure sealing, etc., automatically; that’s part of the the wearer access to the suit’s sensors, and gives
Payload advantage. him the benefit of the suit’s Per bonus to all
senses other than taste, including the suit’s scan-
ning senses.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 18

The Aibo as an Ally
In a campaign consisting of rescue missions, operatives
should take their Aibo as an Ally with Constantly as the Fre-
quency of Appearance and the +0% version of Minion (as its
controlling mind is an NAI, with Slave Mentality). Since its
character value is 258 points, it costs 20 points as an Ally for a
258- to 343-point PC, 12 points for a 344- to 515-point PC, or 8
points for a 516- to 1031-point PC. Characters over 1,031
points would only have to pay 4 points, but that is a long way
outside the normal range of NKKC operatives. This generally
gives a margin on the Aibo’s point value (42 points in a 300-
point game); with GM permission, players may personalize
their Allies with a few more skills, or even small attribute
increases, reflecting the AIs’ unique experiences and training,
provided of course that they remain within that margin. An
Aibo could even have a quirk or two, for extra points; even
NAIs can develop minor personal foibles.
If the focus of the campaign is not rescue missions, the Aibo
is basically never available, as operatives are not allowed to
take them out on private jaunts. In such a case, it costs no
points; it counts as issued equipment for any odd occasions
when the character is on a mission. Even if a character sneaks
his suit out for one private adventure, the trouble he will be in
covers the benefits for that one incident.
The Tenryu (heavenly
dragon) cybershell actually
looks more like a fat horse
than a dragon, with four
slender legs that can carry
the body high off the ground,
and four tentacle-like arms
mounted near the head.
KIKKO (TURTLE SHELL)
RESCUE SUIT
249 Points
The Kikko suit is designed for Tenryu-model cybershells,
and shares the same sensor array and other features as the
Aibo suit used by humans and bioroids. The controlling AI is
also similar, but usually not as well-trained; SAI or ghost oper-
atives are assumed to be able to handle some tasks themselves,
and should leave others to other team members.
Like the Aibo, the Kikko is white, with the badge and name
of the NKKC in red, and the operative’s name on all four
upper legs. Two standard NKKC stretchers can be attached to
external mounting points when required. A reentry heat shield
was incorporated in early models, but it turned out to be
TOOLS OF THE
cumbersome and prone to damage, so that is now a separate
piece of equipment. The suit weighs 40 lbs.
Because the Tenryu and Kikko were designed together, it is
not immediately obvious that the Kikko comes off, and tools are
needed to remove it, although a large hatch provides access to
the Tenryu’s internal medical support pod. The Kikko is always
removed for maintenance, but not otherwise; infomorph opera-
tives tend to use another cybershell entirely when off duty.
Attributes: ST 0 [0]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 15 [0].
Secondary Characteristics: Damage 0; BL 0; HP 9 [0]; Will 10
[0]; Per 15 [0]; FP N/A; Basic Speed 6.25 [0]; Basic Move 0
[0]; Dodge N/A.
Advantages: Computer Brain 2 (4, 4) (Limited Integration,
-20%; Skills and Languages Only, -10%) [31]; Kikko Suit
Cybershell [148]; NAI-6 [69].
Disadvantages: Duty (NKKC Property; 15 or less) [-15].
Skills: Computer Operation/TL10 (E) IQ+3 [0]-13*; Diagno-
sis/TL10 (Trauma Effects) (A) IQ+3 [12]-13; Search (A)
Per+1 [4]-16.
* Included in NAI template.
The usual Modular Abilities loaded into the Kikko before
dispatch are Area Knowledge (E) IQ+2 [4]-12 and Language
(Accented) [4] for the area of the disaster.
Kikko Suit Cybershell
148 points
Attribute Modifiers: ST -10 [-100]; HT +5 [50].
Secondary Attributes: HP +9 (Size, -10%) [17]; Per +5 [25];
SM +1.
Advantages: Absolute Direction (Requires Signal; -20%) [4];
Compartmentalized Mind 1 (Dedicated Controls) [10]; DR
10 (Can’t Wear Armor, -40%) [30]; Discriminatory Hearing
[15]; Discriminatory Smell [15]; Doesn’t Breathe [20]; High
Pain Threshold [10]; Infravision [10]; Machine [25]; Night
Vision 9 [9]; Peripheral Vision [15]; Pressure Support 1 [5];
Reduced Consumption 2 (Refuel/recharge once per day) [4];
Scanning Sense (Imaging Radar) [20]; Scanning Sense
(Sonar) [20]; Sealed [15]; Telecommunication (Radio;
Secure, +20%; Sensie, +80%) [20]; Temperature Tolerance
5 [5]; Vacuum Support [5].
Perks: Accessories (First Aid Kit – basic equipment for First
Aid/TL10; Searchlight; Small Computer); Provides own DR
to wearer. [4]
Disadvantages: Cybershell Body [-15]; No Legs (Portable)
[-30]; No Manipulators [-50]; Restricted Diet (Very com-
mon, power cells) [-10].
Features: Has stretcher and heat shield mounting points; Indi-
viduals of the same model closely resemble one another.
Note: As with the Aibo, the Dedicated Controls advantage
gives the wearer access to the suit’s sensors and Per bonus.
The Kikko as an Ally
For purposes of the Ally advantage, the Kikko is treated much
like the Aibo (see The Aibo as an Ally, above). It costs 8 points as
an Ally to a 500-point character, or 4 points to a rare 1,000-point
character. It only has a 1-point margin for personalization as a
500-point infomorph operative’s Ally, but feel free to add a quirk
or two and spend the points gained on extra skills.
TRADE 19
TENRYU RESCUE
CYBERSHELL
318 points
The Tenryu (Heavenly Dragon) cybershell actually looks
more like a fat horse than a dragon, with four slender legs that
can carry the body high off the ground, and four tentacle-like
arms mounted near the head. The head itself is elongated and
mounted on a flexible neck; officially intended to resemble that
of a stylized oriental dragon, it actually looks very horse-like.
The articulation and design of the legs lets them transform into
efficient flippers for underwater operations.
The cybershell’s body contains a capsule that can hold an
injured person, and medical systems (drug injectors, bandage
sprays, etc.) that operate inside the capsule, so that the cyber-
shell can take an injured victim inside and then begin basic
treatment. A reentry heat shield can be fitted on the top of the
shell when it is installed in its Kikko external casing (p. 19),
and the whole assembly comes down from orbit lying on its
back, re-orienting near the earth’s surface. The bulky reentry
shield is removed after landing.
Infomorph operatives only use the Tenryu while on duty,
normally having another shell (in some cases still technically
owned by the NKKC) for off-duty activities. If the campaign
will revolve entirely around rescue missions, this other shell
can be left as background color, rather than being detailed and
paid for with points.
Attribute Modifiers: HT +5 [50].
Secondary Attribute Modifiers: Basic Move +2 [10]; SM +1.
Advantages: Amphibious [10]; Doesn’t Breathe [20]; DR 3 [15];
Enhanced Move 2 (Ground) [40]; Extra Arms 2 (Extra-Flex-
ible, also applied to base 2 arms, +50%) [40]; Extra Legs (4
legs) [5]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Lifting ST 15 (Size,
-10%) [41]; Machine [25]; Payload 20 [20]; Pressure Sup-
port 1 [5]; Reduced Consumption 2 (Refuel/recharge once
per day) [4]; Sealed [15]; Telecommunication (Radio;
Secure, +20%; Sensie, +80%) [20]; Temperature Tolerance
5 [5]; Vacuum Support [5].
Perks: Accessories (First Aid Kit – basic equipment for First
Aid/TL10, mounted internally to be used on patients in pay-
load space; Small Computer); Can make a controlled land-
ing after atmospheric reentry with heat shield. [3]
Disadvantages: Cybershell Body [-15]; Restricted Diet (Very
Common, power cells) [-10].
Features: Individuals of the same model closely resemble one
another; Payload space is designed to carry an injured
human.
Notes: This cybershell cannot fly, or even glide, under normal
circumstances. Like the space shuttle, it has the aerodynamics of
a streamlined brick, with or without a Kikko external shell. It
can make a controlled aerobraking reentry when fitted with a
heat shield, and decide exactly where, within a fairly broad tar-
get area, it lands, but cannot decide to go to a wholly different
area, or fly by jumping from anything lower than LEO. A Tenryu
does not need much space to land, but it lands in a very con-
trolled crash, so anything it lands on is likely to be badly dam-
aged; infomorph operatives try to avoid landing right next to
survivors. Thus, the shell does not qualify for any version of the
Flight advantage; its reentry ability is a perk.
TOOLS OF THE
Tenryus decelerate out of orbit by latching to the sides of
drop ships, but let go to complete reentry. Drop ships can fly
within the atmosphere with Tenryus clinging to the side, but
they are not at all elegant when doing so.
The NKKC’s motto:
“Hitori demo Ohku” (“Even One More”)
MICROBOT SWARMS
The NKKC makes extensive use of microbot swarms,
because they can get into just about any collapsed structure to
find and help survivors inside. All swarms have the Illumina-
tion package, primarily so that they are easy to spot, but also
to provide additional illumination at night, and because if
someone is trapped in the dark, light is a great psychological
help. The NKKC uses chassis that are designed to work in
badly damaged environments, so rubble and similar obstacles
do not obstruct the swarms at all. They can all use sonar or
radio to communicate, so that they can function in water, and
have the standard three hours of operational life.
In addition to the specialized packages described below, the
NKKC uses Devourer (Transhuman Space, p. 170) and Con-
struction (Transhuman Space, p. 169) swarms to clear rubble
and get access to victims. Their Devourer swarms are pro-
grammed never to attack organic matter, but must be used
carefully when the presence of infomorph victims is suspected.
They are also useless when victims are trapped in the remains
of buildings made from bio-materials.
Equipment Packages
Victim Detector (Hisaisha Kenshutsu): This package is a
specialized version of Explorer (Transhuman Space, p. 170).
The bots search for trace compounds given off by human and
bioroid bodies, and follow trails that they detect until they
find the source. If there is only one victim (living or dead)
within 10 hexes, they find it automatically, unless it is within
a sealed container. If there are multiple victims, they auto-
matically find one of them. Once they have found one victim,
they notify the controller. They can be ordered to search again,
but must make a sense roll (Transhuman Space, p. 171) to
avoid returning to a victim they have already detected, unless
that victim has been evacuated. Hence, these bots are very
useful, but can miss a lot of savable victims. The NKKC uses
this equipment package with a Flyer or Swimmer chassis
(Transhuman Space, p. 168). $2,500.
Detailed Survey (Senmitsu Chosa): These microbots build up
a fully detailed picture of their three-dimensional environment,
and share it with their controller. They cannot miss baseball-
size or larger victims in the volume they cover, and although
they cannot enter sealed rooms or voids, they do uncover and
report such spaces. The problem is that it takes a one-hex
swarm one minute to scan one cubic yard, so it would take too
long for them to look for victims throughout a disaster area.
TRADE 20
Operatives set these swarms onto sites where they have good
reason to suspect that there are multiple survivors present, gen-
erally because a Hisaisha Kenshutsu swarm has found a couple.
The NKKC uses this package with an Armored Crawler
chassis, but other organizations often use a simple crawler
(Transhuman Space, p. 168). The NKKC swarms can oper-
ate under water, although they must crawl on surfaces rather
than swimming. $4,000.
Lifesaver (Kyumei): Lifesaver swarms are a specialized
and advanced version of the standard Paramedic package
(Transhuman Space, p. 170). Paramedic packages are far too
slow for emergency use, but also try to do more than Kyushutsu
needs to do on-site. (Kakuho do use Paramedic swarms, how-
ever.) Kyumei swarms determine whether any injuries are life-
threatening, and try to patch up those that are; treat them as
having Diagnosis-12 for this purpose only, and as providing the
equivalent of bandaging (p. B424), with First Aid-12 to stop
bleeding only. When they are used on people trapped under
rubble, they also determine where the pressure of debris is
dangerous, and move between the victim and the debris, lock-
ing together to support the weight of the debris and keep it off
the victim. It takes a one-hex swarm 10 minutes to shield a vic-
tim this way, but multiple swarms speed it up; a two-hex
swarm can do it in five minutes, a three-hex swarm in three
minutes 20 seconds, and so on. Protecting a single victim
under rubble normally consumes a single hex swarm, as that
many members remain in place to support the rubble. They do
not need power to serve this function, and can be recovered
after the rubble is removed. The NKKC uses this package with
an Armored Crawler chassis, and standard procedure is to
send five swarms to help a single victim. $10,000.
Oxygen Bearer (Unsanso): This swarm settles on a single
victim, injecting temporary respirocyte nanosymbionts
(Transhuman Space, p. 165) and then supplying oxygen
directly to the bloodstream. It is a variant of Hypo (Transhuman
Space, p. 170), but with additional monitoring capabilities to
allow it to keep oxygen levels adequate. A swarm can keep
someone alive under water or in vacuum for at least half an
hour, and for longer in favorable conditions. The limiting fac-
tor is that carbon dioxide starts to build up in the body;
Kenkyu is working on a version that can scrub it out, which
should be able to keep someone alive for a day or more.
$5,000 (including the nanosymbionts).
DROP SHIPS (TL10)
A standard NKKC drop ship transports a single kyutai and
its equipment. Each carries a basic equipment package at all
times, and specialized packages are automatically swapped in
while the operatives are getting to the ship. A drop ship can
hold 30 people and two Tenryus and still take off from Earth
and maneuver, sluggishly.
Drop ships are streamlined deltas, about 50’ long (SM+6).
They are capable of VTOL and atmospheric flight, but cannot
achieve orbit by themselves, although they can de-orbit very
quickly under their own power. They are lightly armored in
addition to their heat shielding, but are not armed at all. If
there are any sapient infomorphs in the team, their Tenryu
cybershells rest clamped onto the drop ships, ready for launch.
A drop ship is constructed of advanced metallic laminates
and equipped with a disposable ablative heat-shield, allowing
an aerobraking reentry, often assisted by the ship’s rockets.
TOOLS OF THE
This enables it to de-orbit and land within 30 minutes, far
faster than almost anything else. The system is far from cheap,
however, and no-one else is thought to use it. Special forces
might be interested, but it is possibly the least stealthy means
of reentry known.
Its propulsion system is a hybrid design; hydrogen-oxygen
rockets briefly provide up to 3G of thrust, while the jet engine
allows extended maneuvers in atmosphere. The rockets are
used for de-orbiting and rapid vertical landings and take-offs;
the pilot and control AIs make a point of preserving enough
fuel for both before the landing at the emergency scene,
though if the craft is less than fully laden it can get into the air
on jet power alone.
After a mission is complete, the drop ship will usually either
be at the disaster scene or parked near a convenient hospital or
evacuation center. It will then be refueled if necessary by tankers
and then flown back to Japan, often by stages (effective range
in atmosphere is about 2,000 miles), prior to refurbishment
and a return to orbit with strap-on boosters and tanks or as
cargo in an HLV.
Contents of the cargo space vary with the mission, but
almost always include fold-out emergency seating that
enables the hold to be converted to carry evacuees. The pri-
mary skill to operate the craft is Piloting (Aerospace), but
NKKC pilots also train in Piloting (High-Performance Space-
craft) to handle the occasional space rescue mission. A drop
ship could float on water if necessary, but couldn’t take off
from there, and so would have to be towed to land for exten-
sive refurbishment (or abandoned); some pilots insist that a
rocket-powered take off from water would be perfectly possi-
ble, but the risks of steam, spray, and being knocked side-
ways by a wave at a critical moment mean that no-one has
tried it yet. Maritime and sub-aquatic rescue missions with
no land nearby traditionally involve rapid “drop deploy-
ments” from low-hovering drop ships. While teams are fully
trained for this, even the NKKC’s leadership regards such
necessities with trepidation.
Drop ships have only very basic NAI pilots installed, so a
team member really has to learn to fly them. The NAI can de-
orbit the ship well enough, though, so the pilot-operative has a
few minutes to digest the mission briefing before having to
take the controls. If the NKKC decided to employ LAIs again,
this is probably the first place they would be used.
In terms of the rules in GURPS Spaceships and GURPS
Spaceships 8, drop ships have the following details.
Front Hull System
[1-2] Nanocomposite Armor (total dDR 14).
[3] Soft Landing System.
[4-5] Cargo Hold (10 tons).
[6] Passenger Seating (6 seats).
[core] Control Room (C8 computer, comm/sensor 5,
2 control stations).
Central Hull System
[1] Nanocomposite Armor (dDR 7).
[2-5] Cargo Hold (20 tons).
[6] External Clamp.
Rear Hull System
[1] Nanocomposite Armor (dDR 7).
[2-3] Fuel Tanks (five tons hydrogen/oxygen
providing 0.15 mps delta-V each).
[4] Cargo Hold (5 tons).
TRADE 21
 Rear Hull System Rear Hull System
[5] Smaller Systems (three at SM+5): Jet Engine [6] Chemical Rocket (3G acceleration).
(0.3G atmospheric acceleration), [core] Cargo Hold (5 tons).
Fuel Tank (1.5 tons jet fuel providing
A drop ship has a winged hull.
60 minutes endurance), Cargo Hold
(1.5 tons).

TL Spacecraft dST/HP Hnd/SR HT Move LWt. Load SM Occ dDR Range Cost

PILOTING/TL10 (Aerospace)
10 Drop Ship 30 0/4 12 3G/0.3 mps 100 42.3 +6 2+6SV 14/7/7 0 $3.41M
Air performance is Hnd/SR +4/5. Top air speed is 1,400 mph with jet engines or 4,500 mph (briefly) with jet engines and chem-
ical rocket.

HAKENSHITSU (TL10) Front Hull

[3-5]
System
Larger System (one at SM+8): Enhanced
See the description of the hakenshitsu on p. 11. They should Comm/Sensor Array (level 9).
be background color in most adventures, but the statistics may [6] Habitat (one establishment).
sometimes be important, and in terms of the rules in GURPS [core] Control Room (C8 computer, comm/sensor 6,
Spaceships and GURPS Spaceships 8, this is how they look. no control stations).
Because the spin capsules are essentially distinct compo- Central Hull System
nents, linked to the non-rotating core section, and provide [1] Light Alloy Armor (dDR 5).
much higher spin gravity than a spacecraft of this size could [2] External Clamp.
normally manage, they and the core are treated as two sepa- [3!] Factory (Robofac).
rate design units; External Clamp systems represent the link- [4] Solar Panel Array (one Power Point).
ages between them. Note that hakenshitsu are not currently [5-6] Habitat (two establishments).
equipped to maneuver; this will probably have to change as Rear Hull System
the beanstalk is built. [1] Light Alloy Armor (dDR 5).
[2] External Clamp.
Hakenshitsu Core [3-6, core] Habitat (one ops center)
Front Hull System
The design has total automation and exposed radiators.
[1] Light Alloy Armor (dDR 5).
[2] External Clamp.

TL Spacecraft dST/HP Hnd/SR HT Move LWt. Load SM Occ dDR Range Cost

SPACER/TL10
10 Hakenshitsu Core 50 – 13 – 300 0 +7 0ASV 5 0 $36.89M

Hakenshitsu Spin Capsule Rear Hull System

[6] External Clamp.
Front Hull System [core] Habitat (1 cabin).
[1] Metallic Laminate Armor (dDR 5).
[2-6] Habitat (5 cabins). The design has total automation and exposed radiators.
Central Hull System
[1] Metallic Laminate Armor (dDR 5).
[2] Cargo Hold (5 tons).
[3-6, core] Habitat (5 cabins)
Rear Hull System
[1] Metallic Laminate Armor (dDR 5).
[2-3] Cargo Hold (10 tons).
[4-5] Habitat (2 cabins). Nihon Kinkyu Kyushutsu Cho
TL Spacecraft dST/HP Hnd/SR HT Move LWt. Load SM Occ dDR Range Cost

SPACER/TL10
10 Hakenshitsu Capsule 30 – 12 – 100 17.6 +6 26ASV 5 0 $1.61M

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 22

 CHAPTER FIVE
CAMPAIGNS AND
ADVENTURES
A lot of different campaigns could involve NKKC opera-
tives. The following are some possibilities that focus on them.
The action starts within
minutes, as the drop ship
and cybershells reach
the disaster area . . .
EVEN ONE MORE
The motto of the NKKC is “Hitori demo Ohku,” which trans-
lates as “Even one more,” and means “If we can save even one
more life, we should.” The main type of campaign involving the
NKKC is one in which the PCs are members of Kyushutsu, sent
out to save lives in a new disaster every adventure. There will be
plenty of action and peril, but very little combat.
In such a campaign, the hakenshitsu and agency bases are
background color, because all of the adventures take place
elsewhere. The characters should normally be assigned to
one of the orbital hakenshitsu, so that they can be sent any-
where on earth, or even to orbit. When an emergency is
detected, the AI alerts operatives. High-speed tracks take
them to the central cylinder, where they board the drop ships
through hatches that are automatically sealed behind them.
The station AI is already downloading a briefing to their sys-
tems, and continues updating this as they re-enter the atmos-
phere. This briefing is always incomplete, as it is being
revised on the fly, and the GM should provide it, to set up the
adventure. The action starts within minutes, as the drop ship
and cybershells reach the disaster area and the operatives
must decide, based on what they know, where to act first.
Since one group of operatives can normally only address one
crisis, the choice should normally be obvious, to make sure
that they go for the problem the GM has prepared.
Operatives receive little support during a rescue. Informa-
tion is patchy and unreliable, and there are rarely other people
available to help. However, the agency does try to supply any
useful information it has, which justifies GM hints if players
are getting stuck or dithering. Information such as floor plans
CAMPAIGNS AND
may be available, but only for the situation before the disaster.
The constant link to the agency means that operatives do not
need to ask for information or support, and if they encounter
something strange, the agency tries to find out what it is and
advise on how to deal with it. However, operatives almost
always have to act before such information arrives.
It is best not to try to accurately simulate a disaster; there is
so much going on, and so much chaos, that almost any plausi-
ble situation can realistically happen somewhere in the area.
Instead, design situations for dramatic impact.
Earthquakes
The NKKC always reacts quickly, but even so the main
shaking will be over before they arrive to respond to an earth-
quake. Aftershocks are very likely, though. Small ones are
background color. Moderate aftershocks make liquids spill and
may knock things over. Weakened structures may collapse,
and all actions take a penalty of -2 or -3. Characters must make
a roll vs. DX+2 or fall, and falling debris typically inflicts 1d of
damage. Strong aftershocks cause 2d of damage from new
debris, and characters must roll vs DX or fall. All actions take
a penalty of -4. Damaged buildings often collapse, and rubble
settles in new ways.
If the first earthquake was actually a foreshock, the opera-
tives may find themselves in the middle of a really severe earth-
quake. All actions take a penalty of -12, and debris can inflict 6d
of damage. Characters must roll against DX-2 or fall down, and
must repeat this roll every time they move. Even Fifth Wave
structures that were previously undamaged may collapse.
Most rescue work after an earthquake involves getting
people out of collapsed buildings. Finding people uses the
sensors in the rescue suit, or Computer Operation at a
penalty of at least -3 to get information from systems in the
area. Getting people out uses ST, DX, and equipment. Diag-
nosis skill is also important, as injuries may not be obvious,
and may limit the ways a person can be removed without
killing them. Fires very often follow earthquakes, and auto-
matic fire suppression systems may have been broken. Live
power cables are another danger, as are gas leaks in Third
Wave areas. In a building with relatively light damage, a secu-
rity system that is either confused or run by an NAI can be a
significant obstacle. Indeed, in Fifth Wave areas, calming
building AIs down with Psychology (Applied; AI) can be a
vital component of rescue work. Damage to research centers
could result in almost any hazard. Undersea earthquakes
cause tsunamis, covered under Floods (p. 24).
ADVENTURES 23
Fires
A fire by itself almost never calls for intervention by the
NKKC; building systems and local authorities can handle
them. However, other disasters often cause fires, which then
complicate rescue work. These fires are almost always ordi-
nary intensity (p. B433), and standard NKKC equipment (see
pp. 18-22) provides enough DR to protect operatives. Fire,
therefore, mostly adds urgency to the search for trapped
survivors. Fires impose a penalty of -1 to -4, depending on
strength and extent, to any Rescue Suit or Electronics Opera-
tion roll to find survivors; heat, chemicals, and particles added
to the air confuse many sensors.
Floods
The NKKC does not respond to slow floods, when rivers rise
steadily in response to heavy rain. These can be devastating, but
most people can easily stay ahead of them. However, sudden
floods are within the agency’s remit. This includes tsunamis,
floods from burst dams, and very severe flash floods.
Operatives can often reach an area downstream of a burst
dam before the flood water does, or beat a tsunami to the
coast. In such cases, the goal is to get people to high ground.
This might involve picking people up and carrying them, par-
ticularly those who can’t walk, but giving directions and sim-
ply getting people moving are equally important. NKKC drop
ships can move about 30 people at once, if they stand and
squeeze in, or about a dozen who cannot stand. There are nor-
mally far more people than the operatives can move in the few
minutes remaining, so the decisions on whom to prioritize are
an important part of the adventure.
A large tsunami, such as the one after the Great East Japan
Earthquake of 2011, can be over 100’ high, traveling at over 20
miles an hour, and can sweep houses away. Such floods do not
need game statistics; anyone struck is swept away automati-
cally, taking 1d damage every second from drowning or colli-
sions with debris. A successful Swimming roll buys 10 seconds
without damage; if the roll succeeds by at least 5, or is a criti-
cal success, the swimmer gets to the surface, and has a +2
bonus to further rolls. Again, operatives’ standard equipment
CAMPAIGNS AND
normally makes all this no direct threat, although large items
caught in the flood may cause more damage if a Swimming or
Dodge roll to avoid them fails, and the experience of being
thrown around can cause serious disorientation.
Once the flood has hit, operatives can look for survivors
with the shared senses of the rescue suit (the suits are equipped
with sonar), and possibly use Swimming to reach them and
pull them out. Debris in the water often poses hazards, and
operatives often face tough choices over whom to save.
Hull Failures
Hull failures can occur on space stations or undersea
habitats. They are among the very few disasters that can
happen too quickly for the NKKC to do anything; a cata-
strophic hull failure on an undersea habitat can kill every-
one inside in seconds. Even then, however, infomorphs
may survive the initial damage, and well-designed habitats
can delay complete hull failure long enough for evacua-
tion and rescue. All NKKC teams are equipped to function
at up to 15 atm of pressure, down to about 450’ in Earth’s
oceans (actually slightly better than the strict definition of
the Pressure Support 1 advantage implies, but this can be
treated as a special effect). Thus, they can respond to dis-
asters at Elandra (Transhuman Space, p. 33, and Under
Pressure, pp. 32-38) – a full member of the PRA – and
most other undersea habitats. Kuratani (Under Pressure,
p. 40), however, is on its own. Standard NKKC suits can
also function in vacuum, as, obviously, can the drop ships
and cybershells.
In these cases, the problem is finding people and getting
them out before they run out of air. Depending on the cause
of the hull failure, some people may also be trapped by
structural damage. In general, a hull failure in space does
not hinder operatives. Underwater, except for the shallow-
est habitats, sections fail catastrophically when they fail, so
there is either no effect, or the whole area is filled with water.
In both cases, leaks should be treated as setting a time limit for
game purposes. If the habitat is at high internal pressure, like
much of Elandra, hull failure is not a risk, but this can still be
a challenging environment for other kinds of disaster.
One of the challenges of underwater disasters is that water
cuts off the operatives’ link to the agency, and to each other.
Simple signals can be sent using sonar, and suits and cybershells
have systems to allow full communication if two operatives are
in direct contact, but radio communication is impossible, and
cables tethered to transmitters on the surface are completely
impractical. Kenkyu is working on a communication system
that can transmit directly from the sea floor to a satellite, but so
far physics is not cooperating.
Industrial Accidents
An industrial accident has to be really bad to get the NKKC
involved, especially as most Fifth Wave industrial sites are
largely teleoperated. In Third Wave areas, however, operatives
do try to rescue workers when things go very wrong. The haz-
ards can be almost anything, from intense fires to out-of-con-
trol microbot swarms, and operatives are even more reliant on
their own initiative than normal. A further issue is that the
owners of the industrial site often do not want the NKKC to see
what was going on; this is one of the few types of disaster at
which NKKC operatives are sometimes deliberately attacked.
ADVENTURES 24
As they are not armed, this badly disrupts the rescue. However,
operatives are still expected to try to rescue as many people as
possible; the NKKC does not withdraw in the face of danger.
Terrorist Attacks
As with industrial accidents, a terrorist attack has to be very
large scale to draw NKKC involvement. They do not respond to
attacks by armed groups, as the military is better equipped for
that, but they do respond to the aftermath of large bombings
and similar. In such cases, they rescue people from the rubble,
much like after an earthquake. Terrorists may plan follow-up
attacks to target rescuers.
Transport Disasters
Transport disasters are almost always best handled by local
authorities, although if a plane crashes in a remote area or a
large transport breaks up in LEO the NKKC scrambles to look
for survivors. Simulations suggest that, in theory, four first-
response drop ships could actually catch a crashing TAV, evac-
uate all the passengers, and push the TAV to crash somewhere
unpopulated. Many operatives would love to try this.
Typhoons and Tornadoes
The NKKC does not often respond to typhoons, as they can
be tracked well in advance. However, the chaotic development
of large weather systems means that sometimes a typhoon
causes unexpected damage, most often serious flooding, and in
those cases the NKKC does act. Response to a typhoon is nor-
mally similar to a flood response, with complications created
by the strong winds. Drop ships and cybershells can land in a
typhoon, but the winds impose a penalty of up to -5 on all
actions, and can topple trees and damage buildings, as well as
throwing smaller items through the air.
Tornadoes can also be tracked in advance to some extent,
but they can hit more strongly, or in a different area, than
anticipated. Not even the NKKC can land during a tornado, so
operatives generally try to get survivors out of the ruins. The
procedure is much the same as for earthquakes, only without
the risk of aftershocks. If another tornado strikes, however, the
operatives may have little time to rescue people.
Volcanoes
Volcanic eruptions are hard to handle, and so it is a good
thing that, in 2100, they can normally be predicted far enough in
advance to allow evacuation. However, sometimes they are
unexpected. In the face of lava or pyroclastic flows, operatives
can sometimes arrive soon enough to get people out of the way,
so treat these as a flood, with the difference that no-one can sur-
vive when the lava arrives. The agency also tries to rescue peo-
ple from areas affected by associated earthquakes or cut off
by lava, or blocked by ash falls. However, even at some distance
lava creates intense heat (p. B434), putting a tight time limit on
rescue efforts. Ash falls impose a -5 penalty on most actions,
including getting the drop ship back out of the area.
Off-Duty
Kyushutsu teams spend two-thirds of their time off duty,
and they often spend much of that time together. They might
be training at Fujimiya Shicho, or genuinely off-duty. In such
CAMPAIGNS AND
circumstances, they do not have access to rescue suits or
Tenryu cybershells, or to any other NKKC equipment, but they
are still well-trained individuals. Friends and acquaintances
sometimes expect them to be able to solve problems, as long as
the problems don’t involve violence. This is a good opportunity
for “everyday adventures,” in which the PCs get to see the
world of Transhuman Space when it is not in crisis.
WORKING WITH THE NKKC
The NKKC can also be involved in campaigns that do not
revolve around rescues.
Hodobu would, in a military organization, be the memetic
warfare unit. While the nature of the agency gives them a very
strong starting point, it is essential that the NKKC is seen as hon-
est, effective, and impartial, even though it can never save every-
one in a disaster. A whole memetics campaign could be based in
Hodobu; also, since Hodobu often draft other operatives in to
help with memetic management, memetic adventures can be
dropped into a rescue campaign for a change of pace. See Toxic
Memes, Chapter 7, and Changing Times, p. 47, for rules.
If Kenkyu really does use illegal means to get hold of useful
technology, they certainly use deniable outside operatives to
steal information, and try to keep them from working out who
has hired them. This would make an interesting twist for an
industrial espionage campaign in which the players do not
start off knowing who is employing their characters.
Since the Ar-Raqqah incident the agency has taken a very
hard line with operatives who reveal what they have seen. Some-
times, however, it is impossible to ignore what you uncover. In
such cases, the operatives might contact people they can trust to
handle the problem without suggesting that any information
came out of the NKKC. They couldn’t help much beyond the ini-
tial information, but for the right group, that would be enough.
THE NKKC AS A PROBLEM
The NKKC has no enemies, not even in the countries that
forbid it entry. There is nothing to be gained by trying to sab-
otage it, and the backlash if a group were caught doing so
would be devastating. The LRF feels threatened by it, but even
they go no further than arguing that it is unwise to rely solely
on the NKKC. There are two ways in which the NKKC can be
used as opposition, however.
First, if the PCs have a secret facility in an area struck by a
disaster, they must prevent its details being captured by the
operatives’ links and transmitted to the NKKC. As operatives
routinely ignore warning signs and instructions, and violence
would be a tremendous memetic own-goal, drawing a huge
amount of attention, this requires creativity. One obvious
option is evacuating the secret things before the NKKC get
there, a complex task under difficult conditions with a very
tight deadline.
Second, NKKC operatives are not all saints, but they look
after their own. Investigators who suspect serious wrongdo-
ing by an operative will find their inquiries blocked and hin-
dered until they can get enough evidence to convince the
NKKC itself to investigate. If the crime was committed dur-
ing an operation, the perpetrator may be formally immune,
forcing characters to operate outside the law to see justice.
Hodobu may choose to cover up serious crimes, actively
working against the investigators.
ADVENTURES 25

Advantages, 12; desirable, 12.
Adventures, earthquakes, 23; fires, 24;
floods, 24; hull failures, 24; industrial
accidents, 24; off-duty, 25; terrorist
attacks, 24; tornadoes, 25; transport
disasters, 24; typhoons, 25; volcanoes,
25; see also Campaigns.
Aibo rescue suit, 18.
AIs, see Infomorphs.
Allies advantage, 19.
Alpha upgrade package, 16.
Amenoukihashi medal, 9.
Ar-Raqqah Incident, 5.
Bioroid Kyushutsu operative template,
14-15.
Bioroids, as operatives, 5, 8, 9; templates,
14-15.
Campaigns, as NKKC operatives, 23-25;
NKKC as a problem, 25; working with
the NKKC, 25.
Character creation, templates, 14-17; traits,
12-13.
Detailed survey equipment package,
20-21.
Disadvantages, 12-13; prohibited, 13.
Dispatch stations, 11; stats, 22.
Drop ships, 21-22.
Duty disadvantage, 13.
Environment Suit skill, 13.
Equipment, special, 18-22.
Felicia II package, 15.
Foreigners, as operatives, 8.
Fujimiya Shicho, 10.
Genefixed human package, 16.
Ghost Kyushutsu operative template, 14.
Great Seto Earthquake, 5.
GURPS Spaceships, 21, 22; Spaceships
8: Transhuman Spacecraft, 21, 22; see
also Transhuman Space.
Hakenshitsu (dispatch stations), 11; stats,
22.
Heavenly Dragon rescue cybershell, 20.
Hisaisha kenshutsu equipment package,
20.
Hodobu, 7; memeticist template, 17.
Human Kyushutsu operative template, 16.
Infomorphs, as operatives, 5, 8, 9;
cybershells, 18-20; template, 14.
Jimu, 7, 9.
JSDF, 4, 6.
Kakuho, 7, 9.
Kana syllables, 11.
Kazakhstan, 6.
Kenkyu, 7; researcher template, 16-17.
Kikko rescue suit, 19.
Kyubakuryo, 9.
Kyudan, 9.
INDEX
Kyui, 9.
Kyumei equipment package, 21.
Kyusa, 9.
Kyushi, 9.
Kyusho, 9.
Kyushutsu, 7; operatives, 8, 9.
Kyuso, 9.
Kyutai, 9.
Kyutaiin, see Operatives.
LAIs, as operatives, 8.
Legal Immunity advantage, 12.
Lifesaver equipment package, 21.
Luna, 6, 11.
Medals, 9.
Memeticist template, 17.
Memetics, 5, 7-8.
Microbot swarms, 20-21.
Morioka Honcho, 10.
Motoyama, Michiyo, 5.
Nakamura, Sho, 9.
NKKC (Nihon Kinkyu Kyushutsu Cho),
area of operation, 6; awards, 9;
development, 4-5; dispatch stations, 11;
divisions, 7-8; foundation, 4;
headquarters, 7, 10; hierarchy, 9;
history, 4, 5; insignia, 9; Japanese
society and, 5; jurisdiction, 6; mission,
6; motto, 23; offices, 10-11;
organization, 7-8; oversight, 6; overview,
7; political support, 6; punishments, 9;
purpose, 6; rewards, 9; staff overview, 8-
9; uniforms, 9; use of memetics, 5, 7-8;
see also Operatives.
Operatives, character traits, 12-13;
overview, 8-9; teams, 9; templates,
14-17.
Oxygen bearer equipment package, 21.
Koketsu ni irazunba koji
wo ezu.
(If you do not enter the tiger’s
cave, you will not catch its cub. )
– Japanese saying
INDEX
Partner rescue suit, 18.
Perk, new, 18.
Provides Own (Advantage) to Wearer
perk, 18.
Rank advantage, 12.
Reputation advantage, 9, 12.
Rescue Suit/TL skill, 13.
Rescue, cybershells, 18-20; suits, 18-19.
Researcher template, 16.
Rodosha bioroid, 15; package, 15;
template, 15.
Sakura medal, 9.
Self-Defense Force, 4, 6.
Senmitsu chosa equipment package,
20-21.
Shicho, 10-11.
Skills, 13; with physiology modifiers, 13.
Syria, 5.
Takahashi, Yuina, 4.
Tanegashima Shicho, 10.
Templates, 14-17.
Tenryu rescue cybershell, 20.
Tokyo Shicho, 10-11.
Transhuman Space, 4, 9, 15, 16, 20, 21,
24, 25; Changing Times, 14-17, 25;
Fifth Wave, 5, 8, 16; High Frontier, 11;
Toxic Memes, 25; Under Pressure, 24;
see also GURPS.
Tsubasa medal, 9.
Turtle Shell rescue suit, 19.
Unsanso equipment package, 21.
Upslink installation, 12.
Usaginokoya Shicho, 11.
Victim detector equipment package, 20.
Xenocop bioroid, 16; package, 15;
template, 16.
Ziusudra parahuman package, 16.
26
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