From My Table – Mothership Factions pt. 3

Mothership taps that traditional dystopian vein that comes with a dystopian cyberpunk setting. It has some differences, like focusing on themes of isolation instead of the industrial ghettos and warrens (though space station settings like that found in Pound of Flesh does lean into it, including cyber mod options) and alienation of the self via loss of sanity and emotional scarring through encountering the horrific unknown versus the self induced trauma of cyber mods that corrodes humanity. It’s no surprise that there are plenty of 3rd party resources that kludge in mechanics for netrunners, hacking, and cybernetics.

The biggest difference is in the attitudes of the PCs. Edgerunners are just that – they take it to the edge with style over substance, raging on against the System from the shadowy streets. Their attitudes are utterly alien to the insignificant roles of space truckers and colonial marines who are just trying to make it to their next tour of duty for the Company. Still, those faceless mega-corporations of Night City are a perfect fit for those shadowy overlords of Mothership, porting in names like Arasaka, Biotechnica, and Militech for random products or corporate presence. These are brands hardwired into my brain after many years (and editions) of Cyberpunk by R. Talsorian Games.

COR-TEKS

“We do the thinking for you” 

Primary Focus:

Information tech solutions, digital security, communications, and advances in virtual intelligences. COR-TEKS prides itself on being a bleeding edge innovator that defines what the next state of the art computers will be. When it comes to computer hardware, software, slimsticks, virtual intelligence machines, and artificial intelligence design, they consider themselves to have no equal. They are well known for their aggressive tactics in acquiring potential rivals and adding them to their stock. Even companies not directly controlled by COR-TEKS are often bound by contract, using proprietary tech to operate ships and androids and even cyber-linked weaponry.

Background:

The roots of COR-TEKS started in a garage and soon grew into a multinational tech company. Their innovations impacted businesses, home computing, entertainment industries, and simply grew from there until it went from being one of the Big Five Information Tech companies to controlling all five of them. As the field of robotics advanced, so did COR-TEKS pioneer some of the most sophisticated and adaptable operating systems to run them. If the android running your ship isn’t using a COR-TEKS OS, your ships virtual intelligence probably is.

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Goals:

• Unlike most of their rivals, COR-TEKS is less interested in alien biology and more focused on the technological interfaces left behind.
• Legislation surrounding cybernetic safeguards on androids and virtual intelligences are essentially nonexistent in the Far Reaches, allowing a market for tech that would have been restricted or banned elsewhere. Even with legitimate products, there are plenty of space stations running software that was outdated generations ago still paying top credit for updates.

Rumors:

• COR-TEKS is run by a cabal of Artificial Intelligences with an agenda all their own.
• Corrupted android systems have been wiped and resold in the Far Reaches, sometimes even repurposed for completely different work. Normally not a problem except for when that system glitch pops up and that gardener android starts running their Militech combat apps instead.
• The greatest minds of COR-TEKS, including their founder, have been downloaded to mainframes. They are all quite insane but still responsible for many breakthroughs and innovations of the Company.