Greetings choombatas. This week I'm diving into the different types of clones made through the years 2020 to 2047, the 5 generations of stage 7 clones. It is very important to say that this is a work of fiction, and none of these experiments are seen in a positive light, quite the opposite in fact. These are one of the most despicable things that I could come up with, the villains here are the corporations, who want to manufacture and sell these beings as products, without human rights or free will. This is one of the dark chapters of this Dark Future that is Cyberpunk. Keep that in mind while you read through this.

Generational Trauma

Adriana was the first Stage 7 clone, and the only 1st Generation clone. Each clone after the creation of Adriana was a 2nd Generation, and after that, they developed a 3rd Generation to deal with the "problems" of the 2nd. A 4th Generation was born after the necessity of Killer Clones: biocybernetic super enhanced soldiers. Spy clones are also 4th Gen, but they lack the necessity to use borgware or popup shotguns in their arms. They are best fit with the best cyberdeck in the market and some top of the line cyberoptics. The 5th Gen is Biotechnica trying to manufacture cheap and disposable clones.

The First Generation

The start of all of this mess. Adriana was the first Stage 7 cloned human, and the one and only 1st Gen clone. That is, fully sentient and fully self-sufficient, without the need of machines to survive and with completely functional human features. She had her own opinions and thoughts, no additional braindance therapy was made to control her will, it was only used as a tool to fill her blank mind with the personality and psyche of Dr. Young's late daughter, Amelia. Her body did not have any special enhancements, she had the same capabilites of a human at this point in time. That is until Biotechnica captured her wiped her memories, and changed her whole appearance personality, making her belive through braindance therapy that she actually always was Dr. Young. Basically the Cyberpunk equivalent of the Ship of Theseus paradox.

The Second Generation

After Adriana was captured by Biotechnica, they used the data gathered by her to evaluate the possibility of mass production of a "new and improved" clone model. The second generation of cloning was defined by the lack of independence of the cloned human, having a limited amount of free will and being majorly brainwashed by their respective "owners". They are made only to serve their purpose, but even that didn't work wonders. At a certain point in time, one of the 2nd Gen clones, named "Grimes", commited self-retirement (AKA self inflicted death), and that was the first time of a major case of self-retirements that second generation clones would do. Almost none second generation clones are left, and the few that are still on operation are in torpor, stashed in containment tubes, in deep slumber. The second generation was a major financial failure and the operation almost ended because of the clones' self-retirement crisis.

The Third Generation

After the failure of the 2nd Generation, they would use the genius of the "new Dr. Young" to develop the 3rd generation, a Law Enforcement Clone. These were sold to private security companies, police departments, military forces and even guerrila armies across the globe. The first 3rd Gen clone was nicknamed "Supercop" and was sent to Night City to uphold the law. He didn't last too long, but was tireless in the pursuit of stopping crime and criminals, needed minimum water, food and sleep, and his aim was better than any lawmen in the city. The thing is, Night City is a hungry beast waiting for its prey. It will chew you on and spit you out. So that's why after "Supercop" they decided to deploy 30 Law Enforcement Clones in Night City to see what happened. What happened was a revolution in security and police work, every company wanted a Clone Squad in their teams, and under the table Biotechnica sold over 2,000 units of 3rd Generation clones across america in2, with 100 being only on Night City.

Law Enforcement Clones have innate subdermal armor, infrared cyberoptics, advanced chemicals analizers, subdermal pockets, cyberlegs and reinforced joints, with some even having internal linear frames as standard issue cyberware. They are equipped for the job that's for sure. But why they didn't simply ended crime in Night City if they are so well equiped? Well... Night City needs a fresh start if it wants to end crime in The Street, "Supercops" are not the sollution, only a bandaid for a plague that is the crime culture in Night City.

The Fourth Generation

Born of the necessity of maintaining control of 3rd Generation clones, that frequently "go rogue" and abandon their duties. These are experimental "Killer" and "Spy" clones. They are manufactured in smaller amounts, but with enhanced capabilites such as uncanny strenght and dexterity. Their humanities are stripped in favor of becoming ruthless machines that are the most competent in their work, this being the will of their "masters" or "owners", AKA the top dogs in Biotechnica Corporation. Their bodies are top of the line cloned limbed, and they are sold to the most powerful people out there, these are the most expensive line of clones made by Biotechnica. With the assistance of Skillchips (developed using the data gathered by the late Roberto Sanchez) that use the Soulkiller program to extract key brain data and transform it into "Skillchips", enhancing the user's ability greatly acording to the data extracted, nullifying the need for training or raw experience.

The Fifth Generation

This generation of clones is one must unfortunate. With only 50 clones as of now belonging to the 5th Generation, these clones are a mix of independent and streamlined behaviour, being bound to a short time of operation, that being the maximum time of 5 years on operation. When the threshold is hit, their cyberbrains' memory is completely wiped. And with the blank mind, they are fit for repurposing, they can be "born again" with a different face, a different mind and a different past. They are disposable, and quite cheap to make. With no particular enhancements, only with a cyberbrain that will eventually erase their memories. These were made to be the workers of Project Reborn City, a deal struck between Night Corp and Biotechnica, using clone technology to rebuild the Night City and to evaluate the possibility of disposable clones in society.

Conclusion

These are the current types of clones that were made. In my campaign, the 3 players that I run the game for are 5th Generation clones, with a limited amount of time to seek a way out of their condition, if that is even possible. You can use the 3rd generation and onwards, each one of them has a different obstacle, and a different world view for that matter. I hope you liked what I came up with this week's update, I will apreciate if you take the time to make a comment and share your thoughts (even if you think that I made no sense, let me know why you think that, if that's the case). I see you guys next week with more updates, until then you stay safe out there on The Street. Peace, have a wonderful week.

Greetings choombatas. This week I'm diving into the different types of clones made through the years 2020 to 2047, the 5 generations of stage 7 clones. It is very important to say that this is a work of fiction, and none of these experiments are seen in a positive light, quite the opposite in fact. These are one of the most despicable things that I could come up with, the villains here are the corporations, who want to manufacture and sell these beings as products, without human rights or free will. This is one of the dark chapters of this Dark Future that is Cyberpunk. Keep that in mind while you read through this.

Generational Trauma

Adriana was the first Stage 7 clone, and the only 1st Generation clone. Each clone after the creation of Adriana was a 2nd Generation, and after that, they developed a 3rd Generation to deal with the "problems" of the 2nd. A 4th Generation was born after the necessity of Killer Clones: biocybernetic super enhanced soldiers. Spy clones are also 4th Gen, but they lack the necessity to use borgware or popup shotguns in their arms. They are best fit with the best cyberdeck in the market and some top of the line cyberoptics. The 5th Gen is Biotechnica trying to manufacture cheap and disposable clones.

The First Generation

The start of all of this mess. Adriana was the first Stage 7 cloned human, and the one and only 1st Gen clone. That is, fully sentient and fully self-sufficient, without the need of machines to survive and with completely functional human features. She had her own opinions and thoughts, no additional braindance therapy was made to control her will, it was only used as a tool to fill her blank mind with the personality and psyche of Dr. Young's late daughter, Amelia. Her body did not have any special enhancements, she had the same capabilites of a human at this point in time. That is until Biotechnica captured her wiped her memories, and changed her whole appearance personality, making her belive through braindance therapy that she actually always was Dr. Young. Basically the Cyberpunk equivalent of the Ship of Theseus paradox.

The Second Generation

After Adriana was captured by Biotechnica, they used the data gathered by her to evaluate the possibility of mass production of a "new and improved" clone model. The second generation of cloning was defined by the lack of independence of the cloned human, having a limited amount of free will and being majorly brainwashed by their respective "owners". They are made only to serve their purpose, but even that didn't work wonders. At a certain point in time, one of the 2nd Gen clones, named "Grimes", commited self-retirement (AKA self inflicted death), and that was the first time of a major case of self-retirements that second generation clones would do. Almost none second generation clones are left, and the few that are still on operation are in torpor, stashed in containment tubes, in deep slumber. The second generation was a major financial failure and the operation almost ended because of the clones' self-retirement crisis.

The Third Generation

After the failure of the 2nd Generation, they would use the genius of the "new Dr. Young" to develop the 3rd generation, a Law Enforcement Clone. These were sold to private security companies, police departments, military forces and even guerrila armies across the globe. The first 3rd Gen clone was nicknamed "Supercop" and was sent to Night City to uphold the law. He didn't last too long, but was tireless in the pursuit of stopping crime and criminals, needed minimum water, food and sleep, and his aim was better than any lawmen in the city. The thing is, Night City is a hungry beast waiting for its prey. It will chew you on and spit you out. So that's why after "Supercop" they decided to deploy 30 Law Enforcement Clones in Night City to see what happened. What happened was a revolution in security and police work, every company wanted a Clone Squad in their teams, and under the table Biotechnica sold over 2,000 units of 3rd Generation clones across america in2, with 100 being only on Night City.

Law Enforcement Clones have innate subdermal armor, infrared cyberoptics, advanced chemicals analizers, subdermal pockets, cyberlegs and reinforced joints, with some even having internal linear frames as standard issue cyberware. They are equipped for the job that's for sure. But why they didn't simply ended crime in Night City if they are so well equiped? Well... Night City needs a fresh start if it wants to end crime in The Street, "Supercops" are not the sollution, only a bandaid for a plague that is the crime culture in Night City.

The Fourth Generation

Born of the necessity of maintaining control of 3rd Generation clones, that frequently "go rogue" and abandon their duties. These are experimental "Killer" and "Spy" clones. They are manufactured in smaller amounts, but with enhanced capabilites such as uncanny strenght and dexterity. Their humanities are stripped in favor of becoming ruthless machines that are the most competent in their work, this being the will of their "masters" or "owners", AKA the top dogs in Biotechnica Corporation. Their bodies are top of the line cloned limbed, and they are sold to the most powerful people out there, these are the most expensive line of clones made by Biotechnica. With the assistance of Skillchips (developed using the data gathered by the late Roberto Sanchez) that use the Soulkiller program to extract key brain data and transform it into "Skillchips", enhancing the user's ability greatly acording to the data extracted, nullifying the need for training or raw experience.

The Fifth Generation

This generation of clones is one must unfortunate. With only 50 clones as of now belonging to the 5th Generation, these clones are a mix of independent and streamlined behaviour, being bound to a short time of operation, that being the maximum time of 5 years on operation. When the threshold is hit, their cyberbrains' memory is completely wiped. And with the blank mind, they are fit for repurposing, they can be "born again" with a different face, a different mind and a different past. They are disposable, and quite cheap to make. With no particular enhancements, only with a cyberbrain that will eventually erase their memories. These were made to be the workers of Project Reborn City, a deal struck between Night Corp and Biotechnica, using clone technology to rebuild the Night City and to evaluate the possibility of disposable clones in society.

Conclusion

These are the current types of clones that were made. In my campaign, the 3 players that I run the game for are 5th Generation clones, with a limited amount of time to seek a way out of their condition, if that is even possible. You can use the 3rd generation and onwards, each one of them has a different obstacle, and a different world view for that matter. I hope you liked what I came up with this week's update, I will apreciate if you take the time to make a comment and share your thoughts (even if you think that I made no sense, let me know why you think that, if that's the case). I see you guys next week with more updates, until then you stay safe out there on The Street. Peace, have a wonderful week.

Update!

This is the "How did these clones got here in the first place?!" update. This is a follow up to the previous one, the one that I analyzed the "Land of the Free" adventure for Cyberpunk 2020, and an update to my ideas regarding who continued experimenting with clones and why. I would like to thank u/illyrium_dawn for his thoughts on the matter, and i'd like to give credit for his ideas, and for the feedback and discussion overall! I salute you choomba. Many of the ideas in this post are also his, and you can check out the comments on the previous post to see our discussion. With the introduction done, lets get it done gatos and gatas.

Who did this anyway?

...that's a good question. We already know that Dr. Young is responsible for the creation of the first Stage 7 clone, that being Adriana. But the further research and experimentation on the matter took place where? And who started this project? It could be an AI, who designed a new Soulkiller program just for the heck of it, it could be Biotechnica who has the time and resources to experiment with cloning, It could be a desperate person searching through the Net a way to save his family member from a terrible disease and accidentaly recreating Soulkiller. Or, hell, It could even be Arasaka and the "Proto-Mikoshi" under the rubble of the the hot zone. All of those are equally valuable and I'm sure I can come up with other reason of why did this happen. But I have a proposition: what if every idea I presented is the truth in a way?

If there is no idea that overlaps with one another, then there's room to implement it as an event. Biotechnica and Arasaka are both companies that are interested in this matter, an AI could also be interested in it, and of course there was some guy with a computer and a sick family member in the 2020's that could had an impact in this story. So let's implement them all! I will present a timeline of events that breaks down each ocurrence and their consequences.

The Ritual Cellula Timeline:

2020

• Dr. Young is killed in an ambush in the end of the "Land of the Free" adventure. His clone-daughter, Adriana, is kidnapped by Biotechnica. Adriana has its personality and memories erased through Braindance therapy.
• An independent AI with the name "Suzie" uses her free will to scan the world and beyond. Her usual hobbies are making cookbooks, but one day, she finds something interesting searching the Net, something about a "Soulkiller Program". On a whim, the AI tries to replicate the ideas of Alt Cunningham and actually is able to make a functional program. As a recordation of sorts, they upload the program on its site, a cooking recipe site of course. It probably wouldn't be found because of the thousands of "Soulkiller Scams" floating in the Net. The only diference its that their version of it actually is not a unhinged netrunner brainfry joke, it actually works (with a lot of rough edges, but works).

2021

• Adriana turns into a blank slate. She gets biosculpted to look exactly like Dr. Young in his 40's. She also gets Dr. Young's memories and personality, not remembering anything about the "Land of the Free" incident, and also with the diference that she/he doesn't know he had a daughter, and she/he thinks the Stage 7 clone was just a random person. The new Dr. Young (which is a brainwashed and biosculped Adriana) works as the leader of the cloning project at Biotechnica.
• Moira Kelly is killed by an unknown group of assailants in October 31 of 2021. Then she "appears mysteriously" at Biotechnica and works with the new Dr. Young in the cloning project. * Arasaka builds a "Sarcophagus", a storage of engrams in Night City under the Arasaka Tower. Hundreds of soulkilled people are storaged.

2022

• A man named Roberto Sanchez, a netrunner/computer scientist with a job at Netwatch, discovers that his mother, Analuz Sanchez, has ALS (*Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis*), a sickness without a cure. In deep denial, he searches for a way to save his mother from this affliction. Browsing the Net, he founds something about a "Soulkiller Program" that has been floating in the internet for quite some time. He sees that aparently a program capable of scanning the psyche of someone and then turning it into an engram. He sees also that the majority of the versions of the program has a built-in virus, which corrupts the data beyond any actual use.
• Time passes and Roberto gets desperate, as a last resource, he tries to find anything regarding this "Soulkiller Program". After searching for months, Roberto accidentaly finds a very old version of this program in the Net, in a cooking recipe site of all places. He downloads the program and sees that it actually works as intended, but it has a lot of errors and bugs. He spends months fixing bugs and learning how the program works.

2023

• After 7 months of setting up gear and tweaking Soulkiller to ensure success, Roberto gathers Analuz to try and use the program. He tries to scan the brain of his mother, it takes a long time, but with 3 days of constant scanning he succefully manages to copy the engram into a database.
• In August 20th, 2023, the Arasaka towers fell, marking the end of the 4th Corporate War.
• Despite his struggle to save his mother, weeks later after the succesful Soulkill of Analuz Sanchez, the mini-nuke in the corporate center blasted everyone in the general vicinity, killing Roberto and Analuz who lived in the area.

2024 - 2032

• At February 9th, 2028, Biotechnica explores the Night City hotzone looking for potential treasures in the ruins of the corporate center and finds Roberto Sanchez's Soulkiller Program. They find the engram of Analuz Sanchez uploaded into an Old Net database somewhere in the outskirts of the city. They study Roberto's version of the program and they find out that he accidentaly discovered a way to use Soulkiller to produce high tech skill chips by tinkering with the Soulkiller code, transfering the data of the engrams into chips that make the user with the ability and experience identical of a soulkilled person while the chip is in the socket.
• Biotechnica continues to develop clones as products, selling them to big companies around the world as "better-than-human" workers with exceptional skills. They don't need to learn multiple skills due to the skill-chip technology developed by Roberto Sanchez before his death. * Biotechnica also discovers the engram sarcophagus left by Arasaka, the "Proto-Mikoshi" in the ruins of the tower. The engrams were left untouched by the explosion, Biotechnica klepped the data and left, securing hundreds of free data on Arasaka's soulkilled enemies and rivals.

2033 - 2040

• Since the creation of Adriana, they developed even cheaper clone limbs, higher inteligence and adaptability, making them stronger more capable than most humans.

2041 - 2045

• The major events in Cyberpunk Red's story take place. This is the Time of the Red. * "Project RC" or "Project Reborn City" is executed by Night Corp, in an attempt to rebuild Night City from the ashes, hiring construction workers all around.
• Killer Clones are created for "retirement" (that is: killing) of rogue clones appearing around the globe. They are relentless, and they don't stop hunting the target until the job is done. Spy Clones are also very common these days, they disguise themselves in the crowds, watching the clones' lives from afar, reporting their findings directly to Biotechnica if they find any suspicious behaviour, that is, the probability of a clone becoming a rogue.

2046

• Night Corp saw the potential of the clones and decided to strike a deal with Biotechnica - they would provide last generation clones for the reconstruction of the city, and in return Night Corp would let Biotechnica experiment with them freely within city borders, that is, no one would get in the way of Biotechnica "doing business" in Night City. Biotechnica struck the deal, but with a condition: every clone provided by them would have a limited time of operation, that is, 5 years total. When the 5 year threshold hits, their memories and personality are erased, making them scavengable for Biotechnica.
• Rogue clones started to appear all throughout Night City, creating their own lingo and trying to escape enslavement. The biggest group of these rogue clones identify themselves as "Ritual Cellula". Killer Clones are on the prowl, and Spy Clones watch them from the shadows, but the Ritual Cellula resists and retaliates, raging against the machine that created them.

2047

• Now.

The lore is sorted now... Kinda.

This is what I came up with the discussion I had with u/illyriumdawn (https://www.reddit.com/user/illyrium_dawn), and with a little mix-up of the ideas. Of course, It could change if I come up with diferent ideas when time passes. But now this is what I got in store. For more details you can ask me in the comments, this post is already long as f@$% anyway. I apologize for any typos this post might have, and I hope you enjoy the ideas I meshed together, I really like how it turned out. You guys have a wonderful week. And stay safe on The Streets. Peace!

Update 4 and onwards!

This is the "How did these clones got here in the first place?!" update. This is a follow up to the previous one, the one that I analyzed the "Land of the Free" adventure for Cyberpunk 2020, and an update to my ideas regarding who continued experimenting with clones and why. I would like to thank u/illyrium_dawn for his thoughts on the matter, and i'd like to give credit for his ideas, and for the feedback and discussion overall! I salute you choomba. Many of the ideas in this post are also his, and you can check out the comments on the previous post to see our discussion. With the introduction done, lets get it done gatos and gatas.

Who did this anyway?

...that's a good question. We already know that Dr. Young is responsible for the creation of the first Stage 7 clone, that being Adriana. But the further research and experimentation on the matter took place where? And who started this project? It could be an AI, who designed a new Soulkiller program just for the heck of it, it could be Biotechnica who has the time and resources to experiment with cloning, It could be a desperate person searching through the Net a way to save his family member from a terrible disease and accidentaly recreating Soulkiller. Or, hell, It could even be Arasaka and the "Proto-Mikoshi" under the rubble of the the hot zone. All of those are equally valuable and I'm sure I can come up with other reason of why did this happen. But I have a proposition: what if every idea I presented is the truth in a way?

If there is no idea that overlaps with one another, then there's room to implement it as an event. Biotechnica and Arasaka are both companies that are interested in this matter, an AI could also be interested in it, and of course there was some guy with a computer and a sick family member in the 2020's that could had an impact in this story. So let's implement them all! I will present a timeline of events that breaks down each ocurrence and their consequences.

The Ritual Cellula Timeline:

2020

• Dr. Young is killed in an ambush in the end of the "Land of the Free" adventure. His clone-daughter, Adriana, is kidnapped by Biotechnica. Adriana has its personality and memories erased through Braindance therapy.
• An independent AI with the name "Suzie" uses her free will to scan the world and beyond. Her usual hobbies are making cookbooks, but one day, she finds something interesting searching the Net, something about a "Soulkiller Program". On a whim, the AI tries to replicate the ideas of Alt Cunningham and actually is able to make a functional program. As a recordation of sorts, they upload the program on its site, a cooking recipe site of course. It probably wouldn't be found because of the thousands of "Soulkiller Scams" floating in the Net. The only diference its that their version of it actually is not a unhinged netrunner brainfry joke, it actually works (with a lot of rough edges, but works).

2021

• Adriana turns into a blank slate. She gets biosculpted to look exactly like Dr. Young in his 40's. She also gets Dr. Young's memories and personality, not remembering anything about the "Land of the Free" incident, and also with the diference that she/he doesn't know he had a daughter, and she/he thinks the Stage 7 clone was just a random person. The new Dr. Young (which is a brainwashed and biosculped Adriana) works as the leader of the cloning project at Biotechnica.
• Moira Kelly is killed by an unknown group of assailants in October 31 of 2021. Then she "appears mysteriously" at Biotechnica and works with the new Dr. Young in the cloning project.
• Arasaka builds a "Sarcophagus", a storage of engrams in Night City under the Arasaka Tower. Hundreds of soulkilled people are storaged.

2022

• A man named Roberto Sanchez, a netrunner/computer scientist with a job at Netwatch, discovers that his mother, Analuz Sanchez, has ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a sickness without a cure. In deep denial, he searches for a way to save his mother from this affliction. Browsing the Net, he founds something about a "Soulkiller Program" that has been floating in the internet for quite some time. He sees that aparently a program capable of scanning the psyche of someone and then turning it into an engram. He sees also that the majority of the versions of the program has a built-in virus, which corrupts the data beyond any actual use.
• Time passes and Roberto gets desperate, as a last resource, he tries to find anything regarding this "Soulkiller Program". After searching for months, Roberto accidentaly finds a very old version of this program in the Net, in a cooking recipe site of all places. He downloads the program and sees that it actually works as intended, but it has a lot of errors and bugs. He spends months fixing bugs and learning how the program works.

2023

• After 7 months of setting up gear and tweaking Soulkiller to ensure success, Roberto gathers Analuz to try and use the program. He tries to scan the brain of his mother, it takes a long time, but with 3 days of constant scanning he succefully manages to copy the engram into a database.
• In August 20th, 2023, the Arasaka towers fell, marking the end of the 4th Corporate War.
• Despite his struggle to save his mother, weeks later after the succesful Soulkill of Analuz Sanchez, the mini-nuke in the corporate center blasted everyone in the general vicinity, killing Roberto and Analuz who lived in the area.

2024 - 2032

• At February 9th, 2028, Biotechnica explores the Night City hotzone looking for potential treasures in the ruins of the corporate center and finds Roberto Sanchez's Soulkiller Program. They find the engram of Analuz Sanchez uploaded into an Old Net database somewhere in the outskirts of the city. They study Roberto's version of the program and they find out that he accidentaly discovered a way to use Soulkiller to produce high tech skill chips by tinkering with the Soulkiller code, transfering the data of the engrams into chips that make the user with the ability and experience identical of a soulkilled person while the chip is in the socket.
• Biotechnica continues to develop clones as products, selling them to big companies around the world as "better-than-human" workers with exceptional skills. They don't need to learn multiple skills due to the skill-chip technology developed by Roberto Sanchez before his death.
• Biotechnica also discovers the engram sarcophagus left by Arasaka, the "Proto-Mikoshi" in the ruins of the tower. The engrams were left untouched by the explosion, Biotechnica klepped the data and left, securing hundreds of free data on Arasaka's soulkilled enemies and rivals.

2033 - 2040

• Since the creation of Adriana, they developed even cheaper clone limbs, higher inteligence and adaptability, making them stronger more capable than most humans.

2041 - 2045

• The major events in Cyberpunk Red's story take place. This is the Time of the Red.
• "Project RC" or "Project Reborn City" is executed by Night Corp, in an attempt to rebuild Night City from the ashes, hiring construction workers all around.
• Killer Clones are created for "retirement" (that is: killing) of rogue clones appearing around the globe. They are relentless, and they don't stop hunting the target until the job is done. Spy Clones are also very common these days, they disguise themselves in the crowds, watching the clones' lives from afar, reporting their findings directly to Biotechnica if they find any suspicious behaviour, that is, the probability of a clone becoming a rogue.

2046

• Night Corp saw the potential of the clones and decided to strike a deal with Biotechnica - they would provide last generation clones for the reconstruction of the city, and in return Night Corp would let Biotechnica experiment with them freely within city borders, that is, no one would get in the way of Biotechnica "doing business" in Night City. Biotechnica struck the deal, but with a condition: every clone provided by them would have a limited time of operation, that is, 5 years total. When the 5 year threshold hits, their memories and personality are erased, making them scavengable for Biotechnica.
• Rogue clones started to appear all throughout Night City, creating their own lingo and trying to escape enslavement. The biggest group of these rogue clones identify themselves as "Ritual Cellula". Killer Clones are on the prowl, and Spy Clones watch them from the shadows, but the Ritual Cellula resists and retaliates, raging against the machine that created them.

2047

• Now.

The lore is sorted now... Kinda.

This is what I came up with the discussion I had with u/illyrium_dawn, and with a little mix-up of the ideas. Of course, It could change if I come up with diferent ideas when time passes. But now this is what I got in store. For more details you can ask me in the comments, this post is already long as f@$% anyway. I apologize for any typos this post might have, and I hope you enjoy the ideas I meshed together, I really like how it turned out. You guys have a wonderful week. And stay safe on The Streets. Peace!

First time sharing my ideas here!

This is a study of sorts of an old Cyberpunk 2020 adventure and how do I follow up on It on my Red campaign, respecting the old and trying to adapt it to the new. I hope this follows the rules of this sub, this being my first time here, I do think its apropriate to say hi. My name is Mello, and I post mostly about my campaign called "Ritual Cellula", an alternate reality of sorts focused on the clones of this universe that we know and love. The players are clones, trying to understand their nature and their diferences, and above all trying to save themselves from an inevitable end of their existence and memories. I do hope you like what I share here, and let me know what you think of it.

Already update 3 of my little campaign...

...and I am still learning how this ideia sits with my players' minds. The clones are a new type of being inspired by the Replicants in the Blade Runner franchise. Today I will share with you a little about the past of this concept in the official lore of the game, and how this idea fits into the Cyberpunk Red lore, who made the clones, and why these corporations should be stopped. And, of course, why the clones are the way they are. Just a little notice before we start: this post contains some spoilers for the "Land of the Free" adventure book for Cyberpunk 2020. If you intend to play it, I wouldn't recomend reading the "Back in Cyberpunk 2020" section of this post. But with that out of the way, let's get started!

Back in Cyberpunk 2020...

...the cloning lore was very scarce, mainly dropped in the adventure "Land of the Free" released in 1994 by William Moss. Well, this is a bit spoilery, but I need to analyse the first time a clone was introduced in the game oficially. In this adventure the players meet the very first perfectly cloned human, Adriana, which is the clone of the daughter of a man named Francis Young, one of the most brilliant minds of the cyberpunk universe. But I'm skipping a ton of important parts. Lets get familiar with all of this.

The development of clones was separated into 7 stages. Stage 1 being merely a cell culture, dependent on an oxygenated nutrient bath for survival, and Stage 7 being a fully self-aware, self-viable and indistinguishable from natural human beings. Dr. Young was a student at Johns Hopkins University, and by 2004 he already created Stage 2 clones in test tubes, which guaranteed him a very high paying job at Biotechnica after graduation.

As stated in Land of the Free:

"2020: Francis Young and Moira Kelly, in a groundbreaking experiment, implant a construct personality into the cloned body, using a combination of cybernetic and organic technology to hold the implant in the blank brain. The clone becomes self-aware, and is named Adriana. It is the first stage seven clone in history [...]"

In the adventure we see that corporations fight for Adriana, as she is somone, or more sinisterly, "something" worth living and dying for. All the dark implications of human cloning is there on Land of The Free, and its a major plot point of the whole adventure.

They also mention that Alt Cunninghan, the legendary Netrunner who created Soulkiller was only capable of cloning her deceased body because of Dr. Young's research: "Without his genius, the field of cloning would be in its infant stages, and all that could be reached would be a stage 4 cloning projects at best."

They say that if Dr. Young's research continues by the pace it was in 2020, by late 2022 we would have full human clones with artificial minds, and a few years after that we would be able to transfer already living human minds into clone bodies using a variant of soulkiller. It amazes me how this book casually drops bombs regarding the lore of this game like it is nothing. I recommend you guys to read this amazing adventure and see for yourselves what it has in store. By the time I am writing this post, the PDF for it is on sale in DrivethroughRPG, buy a copy for yourself!

Well, It doesn't matter too much for the reasons of this post how the campaign ends, but the implications it has makes Cyberpunk Red a story that doesn't dive fully into the cloning lore that we already have stabilished in the past. That makes me think that we are a few steps away of seeing something regarding this in the near future in Cyberpunk Red. At least I hope we do see something like this. Or perhaps a "direct sequel" to this adventure, just like Hope Reborn was for Tales From The Forlorn Hope or something! We can only hope...

What if Dr. Young never stopped working?

My continuity and my campaign makes Dr. Young a figure that never stopped working on cloning, and with little knowlege of what nightmares his creations will live through because of his actions and decisions.

In Ritual Cellula, 2045's Dr. Young is still brilliant scientist working for Biotechnica, but during the 4th Corporate War, everything was made difficult by the times. The world almost ended during the war, and as we see, the world didn't in fact end, which made things miserable for all the common folk in The Streets. They lost their jobs, their stability, their homes, heck, most of these people lost their lives when Night City center became ashes and debris. Hope is a rare thing in The Streets in the Time of The Red. People need to take care of themselves, because who will take care of them?

Night Corp knows this, and it needs to rebuild this city. The only problem is the great crisis the came with this damned war. They don't have money to pay everyone working on this. They barely have money to maintain the order, which was always a problem. That's when Dr. Young's creations were brought up again. They had the idea of using the clones, which with the advancements were made to cost much like a sports car, they don't have human rights, and don't need to be paid to work for them. It seemed a reasonable solution to them in a time of crisis, so they invested in it, and Dr. Young's creations were taken from him, much like Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb, in a scheme most diabolical.

They started cloning regular dead people from the 20's, so they wouldn't be recognized in public. And then, they started cloning people from outside Night City, just to make sure they would not be exposed in the early stages of this project. The Project was named "Project RC" or "Project Reborn City". With Dr. Young out of the picture, and Night Corp taking the lead for the project, thing seemed to be going smoothly for the corpos, that's when the clones started to go rogue. Some clones broke out of the brainwashing and were smart enough to see the bigger picture. They started to rebel and plot against the systemic slaving that bound them to the city. That's when they gathered strenght throughout the city and started they own "Project RC", "Ritual Cellula" they called it. The anthithesis of the original vision, their denial of slavery and their quest to bring down the ones behind their own creation. United, they are a force to be reckoned with.

That's my idea at the moment regarding the lore of this campaign, and the players of my campaign are one of those clones from dead people from the 2020's, they are in the brink of finding out their true nature, and that's when everything changes for them. Also, there's the "inevitable dementia" part of this idea, that makes the clones' agency even higher and their actions even more daring. The clones are programed to have their memories wiped out when their rogue status is detected. They must remain unseen and protect their Self through learning and developing bonds, or they will lose their sanity and go haywire just like a Cyberpsycho.

Their lives are not easy in the slightest, and they have every excuse to rage against the machine that created them. That is the drama of Ritual Cellula, and that is why the clones are so very angry with everything.

Time to wrap this up...

...and I think I learned a lot reading Land of The Free, but of course I have plenty of road to go through to reach my goal (just like in the adventure). Let me know if you find anything in this post incoherent or straight up nonsense, I will take the critique. I thank anyone who read this post until the end, and I ask you to tell me what do you think of my ideas! I have 2 other posts that lay the foundation of this one, and I recommend you to read those as well if you are interested in my campaign. You guys have a wonderful week and wonderful games. Peace, and stay safe in The Streets.

Already update 3 of my little campaign...

...and I am still learning how this ideia sits with my players' minds. This is the third time I'm here in this sub sharing my ideas about the clones, a new type of being inspired by the Replicants in the Blade Runner franchise. Today I will share with you a little about the past of this concept in the official lore of the game, and how this idea fits into the Cyberpunk Red lore, who made the clones, and why these corporations should be stopped. And, of course, why the clones are the way they are. Just a little notice before we start: this post contains some spoilers for the "Land of the Free" adventure book for Cyberpunk 2020. If you intend to play it, I wouldn't recomend reading the "Back in Cyberpunk 2020" section of this post. But with that out of the way, let's get started!

Back in Cyberpunk 2020...

...the cloning lore was very scarce, mainly dropped in the adventure "Land of the Free" released in 1994 by William Moss. Well, this is a bit spoilery, but I need to analyse the first time a clone was introduced in the game oficially. In this adventure the players meet the very first perfectly cloned human, Adriana, which is the clone of the daughter of a man named Francis Young, one of the most brilliant minds of the cyberpunk universe. But I'm skipping a ton of important parts. Lets get familiar with all of this.

The development of clones was separated into 7 stages. Stage 1 being merely a cell culture, dependent on an oxygenated nutrient bath for survival, and Stage 7 being a fully self-aware, self-viable and indistinguishable from natural human beings. Dr. Young was a student at Johns Hopkins University, and by 2004 he already created Stage 2 clones in test tubes, which guaranteed him a very high paying job at Biotechnica after graduation.

As stated in Land of the Free:

"2020: Francis Young and Moira Kelly, in a groundbreaking experiment, implant a construct personality into the cloned body, using a combination of cybernetic and organic technology to hold the implant in the blank brain. The clone becomes self-aware, and is named Adriana. It is the first stage seven clone in history [...]"

In the adventure we see that corporations fight for Adriana, as she is somone, or more sinisterly, "something" worth living and dying for. All the dark implications of human cloning is there on Land of The Free, and its a major plot point of the whole adventure.

They also mention that Alt Cunninghan, the legendary Netrunner who created Soulkiller was only capable of cloning her deceased body because of Dr. Young's research: "Without his genius, the field of cloning would be in its infant stages, and all that could be reached would be a stage 4 cloning projects at best."

They say that if Dr. Young's research continues by the pace it was in 2020, by late 2022 we would have full human clones with artificial minds, and a few years after that we would be able to transfer already living human minds into clone bodies using a variant of soulkiller. It amazes me how this book casually drops bombs regarding the lore of this game like it is nothing. I recommend you guys to read this amazing adventure and see for yourselves what it has in store. By the time I am writing this post, the PDF for it is on sale in DrivethroughRPG, buy a copy for yourself!

Well, It doesn't matter too much for the reasons of this post how the campaign ends, but the implications it has makes Cyberpunk Red a story that doesn't dive fully into the cloning lore that we already have stabilished in the past. That makes me think that we are a few steps away of seeing something regarding this in the near future in Cyberpunk Red. At least I hope we do see something like this. Or perhaps a "direct sequel" to this adventure, just like Hope Reborn was for Tales From The Forlorn Hope or something! We can only hope...

What if Dr. Young never stopped working?

My continuity and my campaign makes Dr. Young a figure that never stopped working on cloning, and with little knowlege of what nightmares his creations will live through because of his actions and decisions.

In Ritual Cellula, 2045's Dr. Young is still brilliant scientist working for Biotechnica, but during the 4th Corporate War, everything was made difficult by the times. The world almost ended during the war, and as we see, the world didn't in fact end, which made things miserable for all the common folk in The Streets. They lost their jobs, their stability, their homes, heck, most of these people lost their lives when Night City center became ashes and debris. Hope is a rare thing in The Streets in the Time of The Red. People need to take care of themselves, because who will take care of them?

Night Corp knows this, and it needs to rebuild this city. The only problem is the great crisis the came with this damned war. They don't have money to pay everyone working on this. They barely have money to maintain the order, which was always a problem. That's when Dr. Young's creations were brought up again. They had the idea of using the clones, which with the advancements were made to cost much like a sports car, they don't have human rights, and don't need to be paid to work for them. It seemed a reasonable solution to them in a time of crisis, so they invested in it, and Dr. Young's creations were taken from him, much like Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb, in a scheme most diabolical.

They started cloning regular dead people from the 20's, so they wouldn't be recognized in public. And then, they started cloning people from outside Night City, just to make sure they would not be exposed in the early stages of this project. The Project was named "Project RC" or "Project Reborn City". With Dr. Young out of the picture, and Night Corp taking the lead for the project, thing seemed to be going smoothly for the corpos, that's when the clones started to go rogue. Some clones broke out of the brainwashing and were smart enough to see the bigger picture. They started to rebel and plot against the systemic slaving that bound them to the city. That's when they gathered strenght throughout the city and started they own "Project RC", "Ritual Cellula" they called it. The anthithesis of the original vision, their denial of slavery and their quest to bring down the ones behind their own creation. United, they are a force to be reckoned with.

That's my idea at the moment regarding the lore of this campaign, and the players of my campaign are one of those clones from dead people from the 2020's, they are in the brink of finding out their true nature, and that's when everything changes for them. Also, there's the "inevitable dementia" part of this idea, that makes the clones' agency even higher and their actions even more daring. The clones are programed to have their memories wiped out when their rogue status is detected. They must remain unseen and protect their Self through learning and developing bonds, or they will lose their sanity and go haywire just like a Cyberpsycho.

Their lives are not easy in the slightest, and they have every excuse to rage against the machine that created them. That is the drama of Ritual Cellula, and that is why the clones are so very angry with everything.

Time to wrap this up...

...and I think I learned a lot reading Land of The Free, but of course I have plenty of road to go through to reach my goal (just like in the adventure). Let me know if you find anything in this post incoherent or straight up nonsense, I will take the critique. I thank anyone who read this post until the end, and I ask you to tell me what do you think of my ideas! I have 2 other posts that lay the foundation of this one, and I recommend you to read those as well if you are interested in my campaign. I thank you u/StinkPalm007 as well for commenting your ideas regarding the balance of the clones in the game, I will take the advice to heart. You guys have a wonderful week and wonderful games. Peace, and stay safe in The Streets.

Here I am with some updates

Here I am again talking about my beloved clones and their story in my little alternate timeline for Cyberpunk Red in my campaign-adventures. My name is Mello, and this is PART II of my Ritual Cellula posts. This week I'm going to talk about how the clones work as a character in a sheet, and I'm going to talk about how these characters should be portrayed in your game. They will not be treated as villains, but as edgerunners just like the human characters. They are responsible for their own actions and are NOT the villains of the game, they are only victims of a tragedy involving the violation of human rights. The real monsters are the ones who created them in the first place. I will elaborate more further on the lore of this in the next posts. With this out of the way, let's start!

To be or to not be

In this alternate reality, you can either play as the humans OR the clones. It’s up to you to decide the kind of story you want to tell and what decision would support that, but anyway, let’s go see what being a clone looks like in your character sheet.

First things first, I need to introduce a new way of looking at cyberpsychosis, the way that the clones experience them. They call it the Self. The thing that determines that you are yourself and not another person. Losing identity forever is the ultimate fate to the ones that sacrifice their Self, which is in a way a form of death. Losing the Self is losing your character, and all the memories they had, even if the shell continues on living, the Self is never coming back.

The Self is not a material thing, it’s an abstract way at looking at what makes you YOU. When the clone experiences the loss of Self, their player stops controlling the character, they are given to the gamemaster, and they will never return to the player’s hands. How do you lose yourself you may ask; Well, it’s inevitable. The clones will experience the loss of Self regardless of their efforts to keep it together, it is a fate of all clones, and they are on a race to live on and keep going to the best of their ability, until the Self is lost, and the shell is reset. The remaining time until the Self is lost is represented by the Self Points that replace the Humanity Points in your clone character sheet. 

• Your Self Points are determined by your EMP x 10, just like the Humanity Points and clones have 10 in their Empathy Stat, giving them a little less Stat Points to be distributed in Complete Package Characters.
• Clones are immune to cyberpsychosis, and they DO NOT lose Self Points when installing cyberware.
• Clones have a Body Type Modifier that represents natural resistance to all damage based on their Body Stat.
• Clones do not use the Empathy on Human Perception and Conversation Skills, instead, they use the Intelligence Stat.
• Clones have a natural level 2 in the Resist Torture/Drugs skill.
• Clones have a modified HP pool that gives them more HP based on their stats.
• Self Points are lost when the clone gets violent, or gets extremely stressed (getting shot, losing someone they care about, anxiety, etc). Self Points are also lost passively through time passing (1 month is -5 Self Points on your sheet).

As you can see I'm just throwing these ideas out just for you to know about them and tell me what do you think. Of course the clone is OP in combat, he's quite literally built different in Ritual Cellula. Their bodies are not fully organic. The stats will be more fleshed out in the future.

Victims of a Conspiracy

The corporations are to blame. That is the simple and straight truth. The clones were created with no human rights, and with the objective to become slaves to society. I would encourage you (if you introduce them to your game) making your player-characters clones. That way, they can experience the terror of being one, while being badasses fighting the power and exposing the corpos who created them in the first place. That is pretty CYBERPUNK to me. It makes it more personal and more intimate making them all have a shared fate, and making it personal is the key to an impactful story in this game, regardless of the outcome.

Make it clear that the bad guys are the not the clones, they are victims of a conspiracy, and that's all to it. If they do something bad, that has nothing to do with the fact that they were slaves, maybe they don't have a choice, or simply were uninformed, just like us humans. They are 100% responsible for their own actions. That is a good baseline to follow, and a better way to introduce these badasses to your game.

Make the players the clones, and make them responsible for their own actions. I think it's a good change for this idea in general.

Clones of PEOPLE

They are clones of humans that are probably alive and breathing, which is a bizarre situation to be in if you are a clone. You will probably want to avoid your OG (as they call it) or will want to meet with them. Its your choice, really, but things get chaotic either way. What if your OG have children and you don't? Does that make you an Uncle-Parent or...? It's something to think about for sure.

But I was thinking that these kinds of situations are a good start for a possible clone-based lifepath. That would be fun.

Wrapping up...

Well, I thought a lot about the feedback I was given here in the sub. Thanks u/ValhallaGH for your insights and discussion in my first post, and to u/Segmax_ for your support and tips regarding original cloning lore in this awesome game of ours. See you later choombatas, and let me know what you guys think of what I cooked up in this post. Stay safe on The Streets.

Greetings!

Hi! My name is Miguel Mello, this is my first post here on reddit AND on this subreddit. I'm quite new to these kind of things, so I apologize for anything badly written in my post.

The Idea

These days I was writing up some ideas for an ongoing CPRED adventure of mine (it is basically my take on The Apartment Scenario), and I came up on the idea of introducing clones of my players, who are hunting them down after discovering the truth about their nature. Initially this was a vague idea, and a single time thing. But I realized that I could flash this idea out more, and this I am doing.

I name this little project Ritual Cellula, my goal is to introduce a new kind of character in the game: the clone, which is inspired by the Replicants in the Blade Runner Franchise. These clones are bioengineered beings with implanted memories in their cyberbrains, they are immune to cyberpsychosis, but have a different threat to their psyche, the loss of Self, which is an innevitable erasure of their personalities and memories. The cool part about those clones is the drama and roleplay factor that comes with this particular situation involving the loss of the Self.

At the same time they are threathened by their very natures, they are very angry and have nothing to lose. That is why a gang was formed by some of them (not all), a gang named "Ritual Cellula" which the goal is to find a way to get rid of the loss of Self. They are ruthless and very secretive (and scary too!).

Let me know what you think about it!

Basically this is what i've been up to this last week. Do you want to know more about it? Let me know! Let's talk about ideas, and send your suggestions here! I might release it for free after I'm satisfied with the results. Again, I'm new here, so if you are reading this, thank you very much! I'll try to post frequently in here. Peace, and stay safe in The Streets.