Think back to your character’s childhood, her adolescence, her formative years. Did she grow up in a Syrian refugee camp on Cyprus, tiny hands clutching a long nail to ward off those who would steal her food? Was she born to privilege, raised in a glass tower like a fairytale princess, her only glimpse of the world outside the blur of headlights on the streets below? That’s her Origin. If she’s maintained ties to her past, she may be able to draw on people she knew then, or find allies among people like them.

• Survival Skills: The character learned more than a little growing up. How to find food, how to talk tough, maybe even how to shoot guns. She gains a free Specialty in one of her Origin’s Asset Skills.

•• Networking: The character understands people of a similar background, whether they’re from the same place she was or just live in similar conditions. Once per scene, when interacting with a person who shares her Origin, she can use any Social Skill as if she possesses a relevant Specialty.

••• Vouchsafe: With sufficient ties to a community, the character is treated as if she’s still one of them. If it so happens that corporate security or the secret police come nosing around, members of that community will try to protect her… as long as it doesn’t put them in too much danger. Characters who share the character’s Origin gain a +3 bonus on Subterfuge rolls to conceal information about her activities or whereabouts.

•••• Clean Record: As far as the datasphere’s concerned, the character still is who she used to be. She never joined that international terrorist group, or never diverted her father’s money into her own criminal enterprises. Clean Record penalizes any in-depth attempt to investigate the character’s history by the number of dots of Origin she possesses. Quick searches of public information or low-end intelligence databases automatically fail.

••••• Lifer: You can take the girl out of the glass tower, but you can’t take the tower out of the girl. The character gains the benefit of the 8-again rule on rolls involving her Asset Skills. If she does not already have Specialties in both of her Asset Skills, she gains a free Specialty in that Skill.

Origins follow this format:

Origin Name
Quote
Description: Examples of the Origin, suggesting where the character might be from, why she might have left, and how it might have influenced her.
Relationships: Types of characters she might still have ties to.
Asset Skills: Two Skills the character is likely to have learned from her upbringing. At one dot, she gains a free Specialty in one of these Skills.