Every piece of cyberware you install costs Humanity. Not metaphorically — mechanically. The more chrome you carry, the further you drift from the person you were. This is the central tension of character progression in Chrome & Covenant.
How Humanity Works
Every character starts with a Humanity score. Each cyberware installation reduces it by a cost determined by the item’s quality tier and invasiveness. As Humanity drops, social interactions become harder, emotional connections fray, and the character begins to feel less like a person and more like a machine wearing skin.
Humanity can be recovered — but not through rest or medicine. Recovery comes through roleplay: meaningful connections, acts of selflessness, moments of genuine vulnerability. The path back is slow and personal.
The Quality Tiers
Cyberware quality determines performance, reliability, and Humanity cost. Ascending:
Street Wear — Cheap, unreliable, high Humanity cost. Back-alley installations with no warranty. It works — mostly. When it doesn’t, it hurts.
Corp Wear — Standard corporate product. Reliable, tracked, comes with licensing agreements. Your arm works, but the corporation knows what you’re doing with it.
LACs (Lucent Ark Clones) — Good imitations of Lucent Ark design. Better than corporate, lower Humanity cost, but not the real thing.
Military Wear — Restricted, powerful, very hard to acquire legally. Designed for soldiers, not civilians. High performance, moderate Humanity cost.
Lucent Ark Cyberwear — Genuine ethical design from before the fall. Reduced Humanity cost because it was built to preserve dignity. Extremely rare. Finding a piece is a plot hook; installing it is a ritual.
Relics — Unique Lucent Ark artifacts that can’t be replicated. Some were awakened during the Fracture. Each has its own personality, requirements, and story. Relics choose their bearers as much as bearers choose relics.
Starter Cyberware Catalog
Neural Reflex Booster (Street Wear) — +1 to initiative rolls. Humanity cost: 2. Occasionally misfires, causing involuntary twitches. 300 GC.
Cybernetic Arm (Corp Wear) — +2 melee damage. Humanity cost: 3. Standard corporate model with telemetry. 500 CC.
Optical Enhancement (Corp Wear) — Low-light vision, zoom capability, +1 to Perception checks. Humanity cost: 2. Your eyes are corporate property. 400 CC.
Subdermal Armor Mesh (Corp Wear) — +2 DR against melee and ballistic. Humanity cost: 3. Invisible under clothing. 600 CC.
Neural Interface (Corp Wear) — Required for datarunning. Humanity cost: 2. Connects your mind to the Mesh. 350 GC.
Cybernetic Legs (Street Wear) — +2 to movement, +1 to athletics. Humanity cost: 4. Street-grade means visible seams and occasional lock-ups. 450 GC.
Pain Editor (Military Wear) — Ignore wound penalties until Critical threshold. Humanity cost: 4. You don’t feel pain. That’s not always good. 800 CC (restricted).
Voice Synthesizer (LAC) — Mimic any voice you’ve recorded. +2 to Deception for impersonation. Humanity cost: 1. Lucent Ark clone design — lower cost, cleaner integration. 350 GC.
Targeting Reticle (Corp Wear) — +1 to ranged attack rolls. Humanity cost: 2. Overlays targeting data on your vision. 400 CC.
Internal Comm Unit (Street Wear) — Encrypted communication without external devices. Humanity cost: 1. Everyone has one. Some are bugged. 150 GC.
Book Expansion: Wired: The Chrome Guide contains the complete cyberware catalog across all tiers — hundreds of items with full descriptions, installation mechanics, Humanity management strategies, and the story of Lucent Ark’s ethical design philosophy that makes their chrome different.
Continue Exploring
Rules: Combat — How chrome performs in a fight
Rules: Equipment & Gear — Weapons and armor
Learn: The Founders — Why Lucent Ark chrome is different
Play: Build Your First Operative — Choose your chrome
Go deeper: Wired: The Chrome Guide