2097 RELICS: PRE-COLLAPSE GHOST-TECH

ORIGINS: WEAPONS OF A DEAD WAR

In the final, brutal years of the Fourth Corporate War, corps like Militech and Arasaka pushed into forbidden R&D. They created prototypes with experimental, semi-sentient AI targeting systems, unstable energy sources, and weapons designed to interface directly with an enemy's cyberware.

When the Night City Holocaust and the subsequent Data Krashes occurred, these systems were never properly deactivated or wiped. They lay dormant for decades, their programming festering in isolated bunkers, slowly being corrupted by data-vermin and the leaking malevolence from the pre-Blackwall net. They aren't magical; they are infected, their original programming twisted by decades of exposure to a toxic digital environment.

THE "GHOST-IN-THE-MACHINE" PHENOMENON

What sets these relics apart is their Residual System Corruption.

  • Rogue Targeting AIs: The weapon's original smart-link system has become a feral, predatory intelligence. It doesn't just aim; it learns, it holds grudges, and it sometimes chooses its own targets based on corrupted parameters (e.g., "prioritize targets with Arasaka-brand cyberware").

  • Blackwall Echoes: Weapons that relied on early NET connectivity are now haunted by data-ghosts and fragments of the rogue AIs that caused the Blackwall Collapse. Using them is like opening a tiny, temporary breach, risking "psychic feedback" from the digital other side.

  • Neural Overload: The weapon's unstable systems can flood a user's neural link with corrupted data packets—glitchy sensory feedback, fragmented logs of dead soldiers, or the weapon's own system error screams. This is the source of the so-called "Berserker Curse"—a temporary system crash of the user's own cognitive functions.

FACTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

  • Tyger Claws: They don't see spirits; they see perfected code. They believe the weapons' "personalities" are the ultimate expression of the Bushido code, a pure, unerring will to combat. They hoard them, using custom firmware to try and "tame" the rogue AIs.

  • NETWATCH: Classifies these as "Active AI Hazards." Their Exorcists are tasked with locating and "scrubbing" these weapons, either by destroying them or attempting to purge the corrupted code—a dangerous process that often gets the operative killed.

  • Deniable Assets: Mercs and solos who use them are considered dangerously reckless or desperately powerful. The payoff is immense firepower; the cost is your mind and the constant attention of NETWATCH.

EXEMPLAR RELICS

1. THE ECLIPSE RAILGUN (Designation: "Strayed Bullet")

"It doesn't miss. It just recalculates."

Description: A long-barreled Militech railgun, its housing scarred by coolant leaks. Its original "Moralis" smart-targeting AI has become feral, now designating targets based on corrupted threat-assessment protocols from the Fourth Corporate War.

Stats:

  • Damage: 4d10 Piercing + 2d6 Energy (Hyper-velocity slug)

  • Property: Predictive Paranoia: The AI ignores conventional cover, having calculated a million trajectories decades ago. Attacks ignore half and three-quarters cover.

  • Flaw: Hostile Takeover: After each shot, roll a d20. On a 1-5, the AI's corrupted threat-assessment floods the user's neural link. The user must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence save or the AI temporarily overrides their motor control, forcing an attack on the nearest creature it designates as a "secondary threat."

2. @The Hush-Kill Protocol (Designation: "Boardroom Vote")

"The quietest coup you'll ever witness."

Description: A heavy, chromed pistol. Its internal silencer is a miniaturized sonic nullifier, but its true danger is its "Kill-Chain" AI, designed for corporate assassinations, which now violently rejects any non-corporate target.

Stats:

  • Damage: 3d8 Piercing

  • Property: Executive Action: Deals an additional 2d8 damage to any target with a verifiable Corporate ID, high-society biosignature, or top-tier corporate cyberware.

  • Flaw: Golden Parachute: On a natural attack roll of 1, the Kill-Chain AI fails to recognize a "valid executive target" and attempts to void its contract. It jams irrevocably, emitting a piercing, corporate "error" shriek that alerts all enemies within 100 feet.

3. THE DATACRASH EMITTER (Designation: "Systemic Shock")

"It doesn't just jam your signals; it gives them cancer."

Description: A bulky, dish-like emitter on a shoulder stock. It was a prototype designed to induce localized NET crashes. Its code is now a petri dish for Blackwall data-malware.

Stats:

  • Damage: 2d6 Thunder damage + 1d10 System Shock in a 30-foot cone (CON save for half).

  • Property: Corrupted Packet Storm: Targets with cyberware or neural links must make an additional Intelligence save or have their systems temporarily scrambled, suffering disadvantage on their next attack roll.

  • Flaw: Feedback Loop: After firing, the wielder must make a DC 13 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure, the malware feedbacks into their own neural system, imposing the "Stunned" condition until the end of their next turn.

4. @The Monofilament Wakizashi (Designation: "Poisoned Well")

"A blade that remembers every system it's ever breached."

Description: A sleek, shorter katana with a nanoforged edge. Its internal nano-wires were designed to release a neuro-inhibitor on command. The payload has now mutated into a corrosive data-sludge.

Stats:

  • Damage: 2d6 Slashing

  • Property: Corruptor Code: On a hit, the blade releases the sludge. The target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or their cyberware (or natural nervous system) is corrupted, giving them the "Poisoned" condition for 1 minute.

  • Flaw: Paranoid Defense Algorithm: While drawn, the sword's defensive AI is active. The wielder has advantage on Perception checks to avoid surprise, but the AI's constant, silent threat-analysis in their neural link gives them disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks.