Saturday, February 11, 2017

Spinneret

Bioware is often build on emulating the abilities of other animals. And humans have long been fascinated with the properties of silk, especially of spiders. Depending on the breed spiders can produce enough silk to cover multiple square meters, with fibers which are as strong as steel or twentieth century body armor. All while maintaining adhesion and elasticity. It's also remarkably sturdy to varied temperatures, much more than a spider might encounter in nature. This has made spider silk a bit of a hallmark for both natural and synthetic polymers for quite some time, and the target of genetic engineering projects for decades. Ultimately, genehackers are able to implement this idea into various morphs.

Spinneret: This implant adds an artificial gland based on spiders, which naturally produces a silken polymer. Usually located in the wrist, mouth or torso this appears to be a single pore or patch of skin but is a more complex organ underneath. The gland produces enough silk to cover an area of about 30 square meters a day, or a strand might have a maximum length of up to 100 meters, though this would take several hours of work to create and prepare, and at a maximum rate can extrude a meter every couple of minutes. The silk is a genefixed blend which takes the best qualities of many spiders into account, it retains strength and shape between -40 C and 220 C in temperature and if attempting to cut or destroy has a DUR of 50. The silk is adhesive (though the biomorph which produces is makes an enzyme in their skin which prevents it from sticking to them), and requires a SOMx2 or COOx2 check to escape, and a properly braced and woven strand can support the equivalent of several metric tonnes. The only real weakness is that the silk's durability is damaged by contact with water and other liquids - contact with water deals 1d10 damage to it. A character with this organ must maintain a diet of supplements to make the special proteins for the silk, or re-ingest the silk they produce when they are done with it.  [Moderate]

While still a fairly niche and advanced bioware, the Spinneret has many uses. Some socialites utilize special blends of it to make their own silk clothing, even weaving it on the spot before an event, or they produce beautiful woven art with it. Some of those who like to have self-reliance can even shape it into armor (Can make the equivalent of Armored Clothing with Hardware: Armorer or an appropriate Art check in an hour) or they use it in place of tech like a Spindle to produce fibers for climbing, tying and binding. Some Ego Hunters advertise their ability to produce silk in order to capture targets and bring them in unharmed. And of course, Exhumans of the Predator clade have been known to adopt several spider-like qualities, including weaving traps and alarms from silk.

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