Replica Forces

The **Replica Forces** are a series of cloned supersoldiers who operate under the psychic control of a commander as part of a clandestine Project Harbinger, developed and designed by Sollum's Azrai complex in response to a military directive to develop an alternative for civilian forces, so as to minimize war casualties. They can be telepathically commanded by trained telepaths, but as the training regiment is not yet perfected, only a few commanders exist in 2013, the most prominent being PT01, who was bred specifically for the purpose.

Since their inception in 2001, the Replicas have undergone three different Variants, the third of which is currently the one in active development. They are a successor to the older Project Thrallherd prototypes, who technically count as Replicas and have a near-identical command mechanism. It was discovered though, that the act of binding the Thrallherd soldiers to PT01 meant that they could not be utilized by other commanders, and in addition, each PT unit consumed about a 360th of PT01's telepathic capacity, meaning she can only command about a company's worth of PT units. Therefore, the PT division has been delegated to a defensive support role, typically to act as bodyguards for important military personnel, particularly of Rank 4+ commanders, and most particularly her. The Replicas were developed so as to not impose on her capacity, and each variant was produced at battalion strength.

## Biology

### Creation & Cybernetics

Replicas are grown in pods full of nutrient and electrolyte-saturated water, similar in composition to amniotic fluid. The temperature of these containers is carefully regulated for ideal conditions. During their gestation they are relatively unenhanced, but bathe in the psionic energy that permeates the cloning facilities, which facilitates a quick growth of psionic abilities that they are later programmed to harness in a few of several ways. Three months into their development, Replicas are implanted with cybernetics depending on what unit class they are manufactured as. Replica infantry have only the common implants: loyalty enforcers and location-tracking microchips. These devices rely on ambient psionic energy, so they have no power upkeep within the psiodrome or other fields of dense psionic energy. Replica Heavy Armors have dermal plating made with adamantine lattice, as well as synthetic muscle augmentations to reduce the penetrating power of a bullet. Replica Assassins are some of the most extensively modified, with enhanced nervous systems and an entirely synthetic skeleton. Additionally, all Replicas are administered chemical enhancers to augment their muscle growth. They take two years to mature, and six months to complete their specific tactical programming.

### Genetic Engineering & Neural Programming

Replicas are genetically nerve-stapled, preventing the development of several neural pathways related to free will and, to a lesser extent, self-preservation. This means that a Replica will always attempt to sacrifice itself if it deems that sacrifice to be the best course of action in assisting its cause (saving a superior, allowing its allies to push a vital chokepoint, etc.) Although Replicas don't question the orders of their superiors, they largely do not communicate with unrecognized personnel. They have a superior ability to identify symbols and objects, and can be easily trained to recognize friend or foe.

When a Replica is created, it initially has no mind and doesn't think properly. Six months after maturation, the clone pod they are housed in "installs" a mental imprint used as a template for Replica soldiers: this imprint has been heavily altered from its origin, but was extracted from a long deceased soldier who demonstrated exceptional loyalty. The alterations to this imprint include a complete scrubbing of the identity, personal connections, extraneous skill knowledge and episodic memory, leaving behind only the loyalty to Choko and the military experience. The imprint is occasionally updated from time to time when adjustments seem fit, but older Replicas do not receive these alterations. A day after the initial upload completes, the clonepod spends one year transmitting specialized training, granting the Replica the muscle memory, reflexes and knowledge of the abilities it will possess on the field: this includes their "class levels", and the abilities granted here are the reason why this process takes so much longer than just installing an imprint. All Replicas are programmed with proficiency in all sorts of weaponry, so that they may use whatever they find on the field.

As an emergency measure, Replicas are engineered to be sterile. They have no drive for reproduction and no capacity to feel love or lust, but Choko seemed to think it would be a disaster *if*, somehow, Replica gene altering were to be diluted by ordinary human genes, on top of the whole "violent killing machine" thing.

### Physiology

The Variant III Replicas are born from a single genetic template; With gene samples taken from PT01, the physique has been altered to near-perfection. Metabolic processes have been replaced with a psionic infusion of the flesh; essentially, these soldiers are elans. The least-modified Replica troops stand at 6'7" and weigh roughly 210 lbs; Replica Phase Commanders, for instance, are one of the most physically impressive examples of their kind, standing at roughly 8'6 and weighing 340 lbs. Despite being physiologically female, they are closer to males in terms of their build and some secondary characteristics. Also despite being female, Replicas are typically referred to as "they", "it" or "he", and they obviously don't have a sense of gender identity or care as to what they're called. For ease of using equipment, they have flat chests and self-terminating head hair growth that stops after a certain point (roughly an inch and a half in length for each strand). As elans, they have natural psionic ability, and can eschew the requirements for food and water by subsisting on their own psionic power. Additionally, instead of sleeping, they enter a trance state for four hours, during which they are partially aware. They also have the elan resilience and resistance abilities, reducing the effect of blows as they occur by channeling psionic energy into the point of impact and reinforcing themselves against attacks that would target their physical endurance, reflexes or mind. One of their weaknesses is, as they are made to be easy to control, they have a vulnerability to spells and powers that would control or compel them.

Replicas are programmed to "shut down" in response to the death of their commander. In this case, they merely fall over, giving off a surprisingly deceptive appearance of being dead, however they continue to breathe, and are still alive. In this trance-like state, they dream strange dreams, and await eternally for a new commander to give them an order. Additionally, they use their repletion ability unconsciously and passively; in essence, a Replica that is shut down will not die unless killed by outside forces. They can be readily seized by other commanders in this state. PT forces share this behavior, and in fact can be bound to other *thrallherds* if their commander dies, but this is a permanent bond as it was for PT01. It is thought that Replicas "do not think for themselves." Although their behavior seems to indicate otherwise, their language closely emulates normal humans and they even display emotions such as anger, surprise, curiosity, and fear. They also scream when shot and use profanity. However, their verbal repertoire is limited to a small number of canned responses to express tactical commands and lacks any kind of depth, content, or sophistication. Likewise, there is no difference between the responses of one Replica to the next.

## Rules Text

### Replica Subtype

Creatures that have the Replica subtype are considered to be Replicas. This includes the PT series as well as all mainstream Variant III Replicas. Creatures with the Replica subtype have the following traits (unless noted otherwise):

* **Psychically Controlled (Ex):** Replicas can be telepathically commanded by other creatures who have ranks in Replica Control. Furthermore, each Replica counts as "half a creature" for the purposes of counting towards the creature limit in a collective; thus, a collective leader can add two Replicas to their collective and only add one to the limit. They take a -2 penalty on saving throws against charm or compulsion effects, as these abilities can easily manipulate their neural programming.

Most Replicas are built as elans. However, they have +2 to Str, Dex and Con, and -4 to Cha, in place of their usual ability score modifiers. Most Replicas have an array of Str 13, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8. All Replicas take levels in a player class, and so use the Heroic array. They have a level adjustment of +2, but are not usually appropriate for a player character.

### Replica Control (Cha; Trained Only)

This skill is a unique skill that represents one's ability to control the Replicas. If one has class levels in psion (telepath) or thrallherd, or highlord, tactician, vitalist, zealot, or any other class that grants the *collective* class feature or an equivalent ability, they treat Replica Control as a class skill. Replica Control cannot freely be assigned ranks during level-up: instead, one must train in Project Harbinger for at least one month during a level. When they level up after that, they may assign a rank in Replica Control from the skill ranks they gain during level-up. To continue adding ranks to Replica Control, the prospective commander must continue to train for at least one month every level. To gain ranks in the skill at all, you must have the psionic subtype (such as through your race or by having levels in a psionic class).

**Example DCs:**
 Issue a general or complicated command to Replicas in Long range
 Issue a simple, specific command to Replica Command
 Issue a general or complicated command to Replica Command

**Try Again?:** Yes. If you fail to issue a command, the Replicas do not understand it and do not act. If you fail the DC by 10 or more, your message may become corrupted in some way, and the Replicas might act in ways contrary to what you want from them.

**Action**: It is a free action to issue commands to Replica in Long range, and a swift action to issue commands to Replica Command.