Bleeder Rounds

As discussed earlier what amounts to a "War Crime" is a bit more of a dubious era in AF10. This has led to the popularizing of a lot of technology of a military (and often, specifically anti-personnel) nature which would at the very least have raised eyebrows before The Fall if not been outright illegal. And in many habs with laws and formal governments, they remain illegal for private citizens to use. They may even be restricted from being used by the police. But, when things get bad these governments may often find they have a few of these tools in their back pocket. And, for members of technically illegal conspiracies who will stop at nothing to prevent a second Fall, fines and simulspace jail time for owning the "wrong" spec of ammunition seem like a small risk to take. Here's an example:

Bleeder Rounds: Related to Biter and Flayer (p. 338 EP) Smart Ammunition, the Bleeder round also alters it's shape and profile as it passes through a target. It can also alter its trajectory both in and outside the target when paired with a smartlink. However, the purpose of the Bleeder round is not just to cause more physical damage to the target, it is to specifically cause painful, incapacitating damage. The round shapes itself to make wounds more difficult to close up and prone to bleeding. It will adjust its trajectory to find joins, major organs or arteries, and nerve centers. If it passes through a region of vital anatomy it can fold, shape or sharpen to cut maximum numbers of blood vessels or sever nerves and ligaments. Or, if approached with a bone, it might harden, scrape or dig into the structure to cause more painful and inhibiting breaks. This means it causes +2 DV, and the target's Wound Threshold is considered 1 lower against the weapon using this ammo. Like Biter and Flayer, Bleeder rounds cannot be combined with other ammunition types. [Moderate]

Despite the name, Bleeders are just as effective against synthmorphs, targeting core mechanisms and internal components, though naturally the ability to filter pain makes synthetics more resilient. The primary saving grace against Bleeder rounds is that their high speed means they often have little time to adjust their trajectory or make dramatic repositions. They also have considerably less usefulness if something were to jam the Smartlink. The microcomputers on the Bleeder round when paired with a smartlink can make assumptions about the anatomy of the target and may even be linked with sensors to confirm - but against exotic morphologies such as aliens or entirely neogenetic creatures they may lack effectiveness. At their discretion the GM may decide that Bleeders have no additional effect on such a target. Luckily for Firewall operatives using them, that only includes some exsurgent types.

Bleeders were developed prior to the Fall, and almost immediately banned everywhere, and got a lot of media attention when they were illegally used, much like stories of "cop killer" bullets in the late 20th century. This did mean they were not thoroughly tested against the horrors of the Fall, and while many users swear by them, a single bullet can still only do so much on it's own. Even so, pop culture remembers the round a little, and restrictions on civilian and even law enforcement deployment exist in many polities. Even if not verboten, one can expect to get many angry messages and negative rep hits accidentally slinging the bullets around to hit an unintended target in a vital organ.

Undetectable Shrapnel

(Author's Note: So, I actually wanted to start posting H-Rep again earlier in the month, but was delayed by a lengthy loss in utilities for most of it. This did, however, give me some time to collect my thoughts and figure out more entry ideas, so look forward to regular updates [in some form] over the coming weeks)

"War crimes" is a fuzzy area in the Transhuman Future. For something to be a crime, there must be laws against it. And for those laws to matter, somebody has to be enforcing them. As there is no form of "international" governing body in the greater Solar System, nor do a majority of the powerful governments in that solar system wish to enter into any kind of treaties or agreements with most of the other, this means that since many of the Old Earth nation-states have folded there are not a lot of key regulations in how remaining polities conduct warfare. The UN attempted to remain together and positive in the exodus of the Fall and the immediate Post-Fall era, but rather quickly disbanded and either joined the Planetary Consortium or folded into their cultural groups. Since pandora's box of WMDs and other such things was opened to fight the TITANs, when there are serious security threats quite a few governments no longer hold back. This can lead to some fairly insidious and dangerous weapons.

Undetectable Shrapnel is a concept actually originating from the region of the 20th and 21st Centuries. While verboten in a proper war, some governments utilized them in counter-terror and anti-insurgency operations. Originally made of hardened plastics, in AF 10 these can be made from carbon fibers or other nanomaterials, transparent alumina or hardened, frangible ceramics. The idea is that these fragments still embedded deep in the body, but are not detectable by metal detectors and have a minimal cross-section on X-rays, T-rays, Ultrasound or many other sensor systems, only easily detected by a pervasive internal sensor network (i.e. Medichines). Since the shrapnel is hard to detect, it can linger in the body, preventing injuries from fully healing and causing further damage. Some may be keyed with a certain chemical "tracer", so that if they are discovered removed or in-situ they act as an ID on the person hit with the weapon. The most insidious types are made of smart materials or other embedded nanotech, and may administer nanotoxins or make more serious injuries - though many types of these materials are too fragile to use. Officially, you see these in place in minefields around the TQZ or certain spots on the surface of Luna, and unofficially, you may see them used by criminals to guard hideouts and caches, or by Hypercorps on planetary bodies to fend of Barsoomians or other Anarchist Guerrillas. Most governments have restrictions about using such materials on civilians, but these can easily be circumvented by their placement on private territory, or high-security locations.

Mechanics:
Other than just an insidious and thought-provoking concept, there are a couple of ways to handle "Undetectable Shrapnel" in play. The easiest is to impose a penalty to First Aid or Surgery rolls to the subject of -10 to -30, counteracted by using certain tools like Nanoscopic Vision or a Utilitool. This reflect the difficulty in treating the subject. For a more lasting effect, possibly on player characters, try out an effect like when a Wound is inflicted (indicating lasting or serious injuries), the character heals at half the normal rate unless healing by some form of nanomedicine, or imposing appropriate SOM or even DUR penalties until the shrapnel is removed. This encourages victims to resleeve to be rid of them fast, making a very draining injury in a game where physical harm is usually very quickly reversed. For PCs who want to utilize such things, the Shrapnel can be applied in the manufacture of any fragmentation weapon. This may require a difficult programming test to re-write blueprints to use new materials, upgrade the cost category or just make otherwise legal gear become Restricted or Illegal.