The Factions: AUGMENTED

Being augmented means more than just a powerful class, it changes how others perceive you and whether they trust you. Spoiler alert: they won't.

Did you miss last weeks reveal of the disconnected? Go here. Or perhaps you'd like to learn more about the augmented class, that's here.

Wired Bars
Although augmented are shunned from the settlements, their services are often still required. Most settlements would rather hire a few augmented mercenaries for a dangerous job than risk their own small population.

These deals are frequently arranged at so-called 'Wired Bars'. These drinking establishments exist outside the settlements and welcome all customers, augmented or not. Visiting such an establishment is often expensive - you're paying for the opportunity to hire or be hired, not for the drinks.

ORIGINS
Not least amongst the benefits of the DNI, was the rise of augmentation. Speed, strength, intelligence – once capped by the fundamental limits of the human body, could now be exceeded.

Despite the obvious benefits, augmentation was not for everyone – replacing an entire arm remained a very different prospect to the simple needle injection that delivered a DNI. That cross-section of the population who were augmented quickly became the elite: the most trusted workers, the most vaunted leaders and the most feared soldiers.

POST SHATTER
After the Shatter, the augmented remain the elite, but they are now isolated. Only an augmented individual would dare try to break into an old-world secure facility, or face the Whisper’s best head on, but no one is more vulnerable to the Whisper’s insidious call. No one is more dangerous if they were to suddenly turn.

For this reason, augmented are forbidden to enter all but the most open-minded settlements and most wouldn’t anyway. Each survives alone, not merely because they are distrusted by others, but because they do not trust themselves.

---

Next week we'll be looking at the last of the WST factions and those who've prospects have fallen the furthest - the disconnected.