Cyborg

Cyborgs are organic beings whose bodies incorporate cybernetic replacements, implants, or enhancements.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, Cyborg is presented as a playable character category alongside the game's other species options. The character creator primarily represents Human cyborgs, with familiar Human features supplemented by visible implants and other cybernetic modifications. The wider setting is not limited by that character-creation distinction, however, and non-Human beings can also receive cybernetic augmentation.

Cyborgs therefore do not form a separate biological species in the same way as Humans, Twi'leks, Chiss, or Zabrak. A Human with cybernetic implants remains Human, while a cybernetically augmented member of another species retains the biology and cultural background of that species.

By the SWTOR era, cybernetics are sufficiently widespread that augmented individuals can be found throughout both Republic and Imperial society. The Old Republic Encyclopedia describes cybernetics as increasingly common in the decades following the Great Galactic War, used both to heal serious injuries and to improve physical performance.

For roleplay, why a character has cybernetics is usually more important than the fact that they have them.

A soldier reconstructed after a battlefield injury may have a very different relationship with their implants than a bounty hunter who deliberately purchased enhancements, an intelligence operative modified for specialized work, or someone whose cybernetics are necessary simply to remain alive.

Cybernetic Origins

Cybernetics have no single homeworld or culture of origin.

Artificial limbs, medical implants, sensory systems, mechanical organs, and other forms of bodily augmentation have existed throughout galactic civilization for generations. By the SWTOR era, decades of warfare between the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire have made reconstructive cybernetics particularly visible.

The Old Republic Encyclopedia describes Humans on both sides of the conflict using life-sustaining implants, augmented eyes, cybernetic exoskeletons, and other technological modifications to survive severe injuries or improve their abilities.

Cybernetics are not limited to military use.

A character might receive them following an industrial accident, serious illness, criminal violence, experimentation, or another form of physical trauma. Others may voluntarily replace or augment healthy parts of their bodies in pursuit of greater strength, improved senses, easier access to information, or abilities useful to their profession.

Mako provides a notable SWTOR-era example of specialized augmentation. Her unusual cybernetic implants give her a constant connection to the Galactic HoloNet and form an important part of both her abilities and the mystery surrounding her origins.

Roleplay Note

When developing a cyborg character, decide why the cybernetics exist before deciding what they look like.

An implant becomes much more useful for RP when it is connected to an injury, profession, organization, personal choice, debt, experiment, or significant event in the character's history.

Consider who installed it, why it was necessary, whether the character wanted it, and how they feel about living with it now.

Cyborgs retain the underlying biology of their original species.

The playable Cyborg options in SWTOR are visually Human and share Human physical characteristics, supplemented by a range of visible facial and cranial cybernetics. SWTOR also includes equipment capable of representing much more extensive augmentation, while characters within the setting demonstrate that cybernetics can involve limbs, organs, sensory systems, neural connections, and other parts of the body.

Cybernetic modification can therefore range from extremely minor to extensive reconstruction.

One character may possess only a small neural implant or artificial eye. Another may have a mechanical arm, reinforced skeletal structures, replacement organs, life-support machinery, or large portions of their body replaced with artificial components.

Visible machinery is also not necessarily a reliable measure of how extensively augmented someone is. Some of the most important systems may be internal.

For StarForgeRP, cybernetics should normally be treated as an augmentation layered onto the character's biological species rather than as a replacement for that identity.

A Human cyborg remains Human. A cybernetically augmented Chiss remains Chiss. Their implants may significantly affect their appearance and life, but they do not erase their species, upbringing, or culture.

Cyborgs have no universal natural lifespan.

A character's expected lifespan is primarily determined by their biological species. A Human cyborg should generally follow the same broad biological expectations as another Human, while an augmented member of a longer- or shorter-lived species should follow the expectations of that species.

Cybernetics can nevertheless allow individuals to survive injuries, illnesses, or physical damage that might otherwise have been fatal. SWTOR-era material explicitly includes life-sustaining implants among the cybernetic technologies used following the Great Galactic War.

That does not mean cybernetic augmentation automatically grants an unusually long life.

For roleplay, maintenance, quality of medical care, availability of replacement components, the extent of augmentation, and the character's underlying health can all matter.

A sophisticated Core World implant supported by specialist physicians may create very different circumstances from an aging prosthetic maintained with salvaged parts on the galactic frontier.

Cyborgs possess no language of their own.

Language is determined by the character's underlying species, homeworld, culture, education, and upbringing.

A Human cyborg raised on Coruscant might primarily speak Galactic Basic. A Chiss cyborg may retain the languages associated with Chiss society. A spacer, bounty hunter, soldier, slicer, or intelligence operative may learn additional languages or specialized terminology through their profession.

Cybernetic technology can sometimes influence how a character communicates or accesses information.

Mako's implants, for example, allow her a constant connection to the Galactic HoloNet, demonstrating that cybernetics can provide unusually sophisticated forms of information access within the SWTOR setting.

Roleplay Note

Cybernetics can support a character's communication abilities without automatically solving every language or information problem.

An integrated communicator, auditory implant, translation system, or data interface may be reasonable when supported by the character's background, but its capabilities should be defined clearly.

Consider what the system actually does, where it came from, and what limitations it has.

There is no single cyborg culture.

Cyborgs come from many species, planets, factions, professions, and social classes. Their customs and identities are therefore shaped primarily by those backgrounds rather than by cybernetic augmentation itself.

A Republic soldier may regard a replacement arm as little more than evidence of surviving a battle. A bounty hunter may deliberately display expensive combat enhancements as part of their professional image. A wealthy citizen may have access to highly sophisticated medical implants, while someone from a poorer background may depend upon older or improvised technology.

Other characters may have more complicated relationships with augmentation.

Someone who voluntarily pursued cybernetic enhancement may take considerable pride in their modifications. Someone reconstructed after a traumatic injury may see the same technology primarily as medical necessity. A person subjected to involuntary experimentation may resent the systems that now keep them alive.

The SWTOR era provides room for all of these interpretations. Cybernetics are common enough that an augmented person does not automatically require an extraordinary background, but the circumstances behind their particular modifications can still be deeply personal.

None of these experiences determines personality.

They provide circumstances for the character to respond to.

Cyborgs have no universal naming convention.

Most individuals already possess names, family traditions, cultural identities, and personal histories before receiving cybernetic implants. Their naming practices therefore follow their underlying species and culture rather than their augmentation.

A Human cyborg from Corellia may follow Corellian or family traditions. An Imperial officer may be known primarily by rank and surname. A bounty hunter or criminal may operate under a professional alias. An experimental subject may have been assigned a number or project designation without considering that designation their actual name.

Some characters may also acquire nicknames connected to their cybernetics, particularly within military units, criminal circles, mercenary companies, or other close-knit groups.

These names should come from the character's history rather than from a universal cyborg tradition. SWTOR itself offers figures such as the Republic medic Needles, whose nickname is associated with his profession rather than a separate cyborg naming culture.

Naming Recommendation

On StarForgeRP character dossiers, a cyborg character should normally retain the naming conventions of their biological species and cultural background.

Consider recording their cybernetics separately from Species where useful.

For example:

Species: Human

Cybernetics: Artificial right eye and neural interface

This makes it easier to distinguish biological identity from technological augmentation while still allowing Cyborg to remain a useful SWTOR character category.

Because cyborgs can come from virtually any part of galactic society, there is no single cyborg position toward other species or factions.

A character's relationships are shaped primarily by where they were raised, who they associate with, and what circumstances led to their augmentation.

Other people may nevertheless react to visible cybernetics.

A heavily augmented individual might be assumed to be a veteran, mercenary, specialist, survivor, or dangerous combatant. Unusual implants might attract attention from technicians, physicians, corporations, intelligence services, criminals, or anyone interested in the technology itself.

Those reactions should depend on context.

A simple prosthetic limb may attract little notice in a society accustomed to war and advanced medicine, while extensive or obviously experimental augmentation may provoke considerably more curiosity.

Cybernetics can therefore provide useful RP hooks without becoming a universal source of prejudice or fascination.

The important question is not simply whether another character notices the technology, but what they believe that technology says about the person wearing it.

Galactic Republic

Cybernetically augmented individuals can be found throughout the Galactic Republic.

The Republic's military conflicts create an obvious need for prosthetic limbs, medical reconstruction, life-support systems, and other technologies capable of returning wounded personnel to ordinary life or active service. Civilian populations may also receive cybernetics following accidents, illness, violence, or other serious injuries.

Cybernetics therefore do not require a Republic character to have an unusual or secretive background.

A Republic cyborg might be a soldier wounded during the Great Galactic War, a civilian survivor of occupation, a pilot using specialized sensory equipment, a technician with occupational implants, a Jedi reconstructed after serious injury, or simply someone who relies upon advanced medical technology.

Being augmented does not automatically imply military service, unusual wealth, or enhanced combat ability.

For roleplay, the circumstances surrounding the augmentation matter more than the faction itself.

Sith Empire

Cyborgs are also found throughout the Sith Empire.

Imperial soldiers, intelligence personnel, scientists, Sith, specialists, and ordinary citizens may all have reasons to receive cybernetic replacements or enhancements.

Imperial society also provides opportunities for more aggressive forms of augmentation. SWTOR material describes Sith using cybernetics, dark sciences, and other methods in attempts to overcome physical limitations and preserve their accumulated power. Darth Skotia, encountered during the Sith Inquisitor story, is an especially prominent example of a Sith whose body has been extensively replaced with cybernetic machinery.

That does not mean every Imperial cyborg should be the product of experimentation or Sith ambition.

An Imperial officer may have received a conventional prosthetic after battle. A citizen may depend upon ordinary medical implants. An intelligence operative may carry specialized systems intended for their work.

For roleplay, consider whether the character views their augmentation as treatment, advancement, sacrifice, status, obligation, or something imposed upon them by a more powerful institution.

Cybernetically augmented characters can be Force-sensitive.

Receiving an artificial limb, sensory implant, or other cybernetic replacement does not by itself remove a person's ability to use the Force. SWTOR includes Force-sensitive characters with significant cybernetic reconstruction, including Jedi and Sith. Arn Peralun, for example, remains an active Jedi despite extensive cybernetic augmentation. Official SWTOR material continues to identify him as a Jedi involved in major Republic operations.

Cybernetics should not automatically make a Force-user stronger either.

A mechanical limb may be physically durable, and an artificial eye may provide technological information unavailable to ordinary vision, but those advantages are technological rather than inherent increases in Force sensitivity.

For StarForgeRP, there should be no universal rule connecting the percentage of someone's body that is cybernetic with the strength of their connection to the Force.

What matters more for roleplay is how the character interprets the relationship.

A Jedi may struggle emotionally with injuries that led to reconstruction. A Sith may pursue augmentation as another method of overcoming perceived weakness. Another Force-user may regard a prosthetic as little different from any other medical treatment.

The cybernetics provide circumstances for the character's story rather than defining their relationship with the Force.

When creating a Cyborg character, the most useful questions are:

• What is their biological species?

  • Cyborg describes their augmentation. Their species still determines much of their biology, culture, and background.

• Why do they have cybernetics?

  • Injury, illness, voluntary enhancement, experimentation, occupational need, or something else?

• When did they receive them?

  • Someone augmented since childhood may relate to their body very differently from someone recently injured.

• Who installed them?

  • A Republic military hospital, Imperial research facility, private physician, corporate clinic, underworld specialist, or frontier technician can create very different connections.

• Did they choose the augmentation?

  • Voluntary enhancement creates different circumstances from emergency reconstruction or forced experimentation.

• What do the cybernetics actually do?

  • Define their purpose rather than assuming every visible implant grants enhanced abilities.

• How dependent are they on the technology?

  • Is it optional equipment, a functional prosthetic, or necessary for the character to survive?

• How are the cybernetics maintained?

  • Consider whether repairs are routine, expensive, specialized, restricted, or difficult to obtain.

• How does the character feel about them?

  • Pride, gratitude, resentment, indifference, curiosity, discomfort, or several conflicting feelings are all possible.

• How visible are they?

  • Some characters may display their augmentation openly, while others may prefer discreet or largely internal systems.

• What does their culture think about augmentation?

  • Their homeworld, faction, family, profession, religion, and social environment are more useful than assuming a universal cyborg viewpoint.

• What RP hooks do the cybernetics create?

  • Former doctors, military records, missing manufacturers, experimental programs, replacement components, medical debts, illegal upgrades, or people interested in the technology can all create future stories.

• What makes their background specifically theirs?

  • “Cyborg” should explain something about what happened to the character, not replace the rest of their identity.