Bio-Tech: Musculo-Skeletal Modifications
Musculo-Skeletal Modifications
- The BS-2-F Felicia-series combat bioroid is a "special forces" upgrade of our popular AS-2-E, with a wide spectrum of state-of-the-art improvements. In this vidclip, we see a fire team of BS-2-Fs free-jumping from a helicopter 12 meters up and landing on their feet without injury, thanks to their XM-723 feline morphology.
– Biotech Euphrates promo video at WarEx ’47 trade show - Meow.
– Felicia-series bioroid, upon landing on enemy soldier
The musculo-skeletal system consists of 206 bones (in adults) and 650 muscles connected to the each other by joints, tendons, and ligaments.
A modest racial bonus to Strength can be achieved with eugenic selection for height and weight, combined with genes that promote the growth of muscle tissue over fat. Species modifiction provides further improvement.
Bulk changes to body size such as Dwarfism and Gigantism are caused by manipulating growth hormone levels. Eugenic changes can lead to longer fingers, giving High Manual Dexterity or even Long Arms or Long Legs. Longer limbs might also result from optimizing humans for low gravity.
Most bones are complex constructs containing hard outer bone tissue, an inner spongy layer (perforated to reduce weight) and, in some bones, a fatty marrow that manufactures new red and white cells for the blood.
Species modification may improve the bones or strengthen the skeleton itself. If this is limited to the skeleton, the result will usually be a few extra HP and possibly a racial ST bonus by allowing stronger attachment points for muscles. It's also possible to reverse the process, creating a lighter build (and perhaps even engineering hollow, birdlike bones) to reduce weight – something that might be very important if designing flying humans.
The body's muscles represent some 40-45% of its weight. Each is a bundle of thousands of hair-thin myofibers (grouped into bundles) Muscles pull or contract in response to voluntary or involuntary nerve impulses; sets of muscles work together to move bones or tissue, or tense to hold body parts steady. The face is exceptionally complex, with more than 50 muscles required to produce facial expressions.
A more subtle way to boost strength is modify the structure of both voluntary and involuntary muscle tissue using more or stronger fibers. This increases Lifting ST and Striking ST. The musculature can be optimized for crushing, giving Constriction Attack. At high TLs, the additions for genes coding for proteins such as resilin (from grasshoppers) might be used to create extra-elastic muscle tissue permitting superhuman capabilities such as Super Jump or Extra-Flexible arms.
Joints between bones are composed of cartilage, a softer material lubricated by a slippery fluid (synovial fluid), and attached by strips of tissue – ligaments and tendons – that link them to bones and muscles. Different types of joints exist in nature, such as the very flexible ball-and-socket joint of the hip or the less versatile hinge joint of the knee or elbow. Species modification could provide better-articulated, better-lubricated, or shock-absorbing joints, or stronger connective tissue, giving Brachiator, Catfall, Double-Jointed, or Flexible.
Musculo-Skeletal Modifications
| Trait | Cost | TL |
|---|---|---|
| Brachiator | 5 | 9* |
| Catfall | 10 | 9* |
| Constriction Attack | 15 | 10* |
| Double-Jointed | 15 | 9 |
| Dwarfism (-1 SM) | -15 | 9 |
| Extra-Flexible | 5/10 | 11* |
| Flexibility | 5 | 9 |
| Gigantism (+1 SM) | 0 | 9 |
| High Manual Dexterity 1-3 | 5/level | 9 |
| HP -1 to -3 | -2 per -1 HP | 9 |
| HP +1 to +3 | 2 per +1 HP | 9* |
| HP +4 to +6 | 2 per +1 HP | 10* |
| HP +7 to +10 | 2 per +1 HP | 11* |
| Lifting ST +1 to +3 | 3 per +1 ST | 9* |
| Lifting ST +4 to +6 | 3 per +1 ST | 10* |
| Lifting ST +7 to +10 | 3 per +1 ST | 11* |
| Long Arms (+1 SM) | 10/arm | 9* |
| Long Legs (+1 SM) | 10 | 9* |
| ST -1 to -5 | -10 per -1 ST | 9 |
| ST +1 to +2 | 10 per +1 ST | 9 |
| ST +3 to +4 | 10 per +1 ST | 9* |
| ST +5 to +6 | 10 per +1 ST | 10* |
| ST +7 to +10 | 10 per +1 ST | 11* |
| Striking ST +1 to +3 | 5 per +1 ST | 9* |
| Striking ST +4 to +6 | 5 per +1 ST | 10* |
| Striking ST +7 to +10 | 5 per +1 [[ST] | 11* |
| Super Jump 1 | 10 | 11* |
| Super Jump 2 | 20 | 12* |
* This trait requires species modification.