Any player wishing to have a character with cybernetic implants (including functional artificial limbs) must have their request reviewed by Roleplay Staff prior to approval. Proposed implants must be listed in the character's information (cinfo), preferably in an RPS-only cinfo #secret field until approval is granted. Keep the following caveats in mind:
This is not Shadowrun MUCK or Cyberpunk:2020 MUCK. You cannot simply go to the local mall or back-alley chop shop and have implants placed “In About An Hour®”. Extensive, expensive work at a capable medical center and rehabilitation are required, and a medical practicioner replacing an intact, perfectly healthy organic system with a cybernetic one would be questioned under even the loosest of medical ethics standards.
Metal is not better than meat, just different. Autologous cloned body parts are available in almost every situation.
While cybernetic implants themselves can sometimes be relatively robust, they still attach to nerves, flesh and/or bone. You may be able to override the sensors in your artificial hand in order to crush a cue ball, but you cannot pick up that truck/train/vending machine.
While military-grade vacuum nanodiamondoid circuitry used for some cybernetic controller systems is relatively well-protected against EMP, artificial muscle, motors, sensors, etc… are still vulnerable. Additionally, artificial muscle is still vulnerable to Taser-related effects.
Cybernetic technology, while impressive in some cases, has not advanced to the stage where it can replace damaged/missing brain tissue or otherwise enhance or replace the brain's functions. Likewise, the contents of your brain cannot be uploaded, destructively or otherwise, into a computer. Brain death is still permanent at this time.
At this point in time, the only types of cybernetics allowed are artificial limbs, some artificial internal organs, and sensory neuroprosthetics such as eyes and ears. Organic systems can be replaced with artificial systems on a one-for-one basis, so if you were born with one pair of arms, and you lose one or both, you can only replace one or both.
The nerve plexuses that feed motor commands to and receive sensory information from implants must be present in order for the implant to interface properly. You can only replace an organic system with an artificial system under the following circumstances:
Your brain has to possess functional 'wiring' for the replacement system. It is possible, for example, to receive specialized limbs that replace feet with flippers for swimming, but replacing an arm with an octopus-style tentacle requires a level of fine motor control a typical humanoid brain doesn't possess.
You have to possess - and more specifically, have to have been born with - matching nerve plexuses for the system in question. If, like most bipedal humanoids, you only have two brachial plexuses, you can only control two arms (organic or artificial). At this time, the technology does not exist to grow and connect additional nerve plexuses to an existing brain (cloning replacements for damaged originals may be possible under some circumstances).
While these artificial systems can and sometimes do function at a significant percentage of the original organic system's capability, the technology to provide a perfect, 100% artificial replacement does not currently exist. Players seeking a “like original” solution are encouraged to consider autologous cloned parts, and are reminded that “metal is not better than meat, just different”.
Players interested in reading about the 'science' behind cybernetics can look at the following links:
Artificial Limbs
Neuroprosthetics - Sight, hearing and touch.
Artificial Organs
Nerve Repairs