SINner (Layered)
Bonus: 5 to 25 Karma
There are four types of SINs that fall under the SINner (Layered) quality: National SIN, Criminal SIN (either Corporate or National), Corporate Limited SIN, or Corporate Born. Individuals with SINs are required by law to always broadcast their SINs. A legal SIN is required for all legal purchases. This makes them very useful things to have, so those who are SINless generally get by with the use of fake SINs (p. 367, CRB) just so they can participate in society.
NATIONAL SIN
At the 5 Karma level, the character has what is called
a National SIN. The character’s parents were legal citizens
of a nation (such as the UCAS or CAS) and he has been a
citizen of that nation from birth. He has the right to vote,
qualify for passports issued by his nation, enlist in the national
military, or work in the national government. A National
SIN is required for any national security clearance
or any form of national military career. A character with
a National SIN pays fifteen percent of their gross income
in taxes. He is also in no way connected to any of the
megacorporations. The main drawback to having a legal
National SIN is the character is in the system. The nation
in the player character’s background has the character’s
biometric data (DNA, fingerprints, retinal scans) on file,
and that biometric data is shared with law enforcement
agencies through the Global SIN Registry. This makes it
much easier to track a character should a job go sideways.
Also, nations typically sell the personal information
tied to the character’s SIN to corporations. Those with a
legal SIN get nearly three times as much spam as those
who don’t have a SIN or rely on fake SINs, and the spam
messages they receive are disturbingly tailored to their
preferences (based on their buying and browsing habits).
CRIMINAL SIN
At the 10 Karma level, the character has a Criminal
SIN (either Corporate or National his Criminal SIN replaces
any previous SIN. At some point in his life, the
character was arrested and served time for a felony-level
offense and was branded a criminal for the rest of his
life. He is legally required to broadcast his Criminal SIN
at all times; failure to do so is a felony and can lead to
re-incarceration. He is shunned by law-abiding society.
Law-abiding citizens will, if they must, deal with a SINless
character before they’d have any interaction with a
known criminal. With his Criminal SIN, the character will
experience prejudiced views, suspicion, and/or open
hostility from most people with SINs. He will often be
denied entry to certain locations (high-end stores, car
dealerships, museums, galleries, etc.) and will have difficulty
finding legal employment. He can expect to be
brought in and held up to 48 hours for questioning anytime
a crime is committed in his area. The judicial system
in 2075 is more an assembly line than institution of
justice. Suspects are treated as guilty unless proven innocent,
plausible circumstantial evidence is often sufficient
for conviction, and sentencing has more to do with
the judge’s mood than the crime. In this environment it’s
likely the cops will be more interested in closing the case
than solving any crime; they may try to pin crimes on
the character with the Criminal SIN whether or not she
had anything to do with it. Some degree of “adjusting”
facts and “interpreting” witness accounts to support allegations
is common; fabricating evidence, if only to meet
conviction productivity goals, is not rare. Magic users
tend to receive much harsher treatment from the judicial
system than mundane criminals. If the character is a
magic user with a Criminal SIN, he is registered with local
law enforcement. He can expect regular—but usually not
scheduled—checks to confirm he lives and to ensure he
is not using forbidden spell formula, foci, or other magical
gear. The nation or corporation that issued the Criminal
SIN will keep close tabs on the character, if he fails to
update residential information or appears in any way to
be trying to evade their oversight, he is subject to arrest.
He is also required to pay a fifteen percent tax on his
gross income to the entity that issued his Criminal SIN.
CORPORATE LIMITED SIN
At the 15 Karma level the character has the Corporate
Limited SIN; he has somehow gained a position
in a megacorporation from the outside. He may have
been hired as a wageslave (or been the minor child of
a person hired as a wageslave), or perhaps brought in
by someone in the megacorp who saw advantage in his
skill, talent, area of expertise, or some other useful attribute.
Under most circumstances the Corporate Limited
SIN replaces any National SIN. His Corporate Limited
SIN becomes part of the Global SIN Registry, to which
law enforcement agencies and security corporations
alike have access. Many of these Corporate Limited
SINs record whether or not the character is Awakened.
The Corporate Limited SIN allows the character to be
employed by the megacorp under most circumstances,
and it replaces any National SIN that the character may
have had previously. With the Corporate SIN, the character
can be gainfully employed by the issuing megacorporation
as a wageslave, a low-ranking member of the
corporation’s security services, or an enlisted member
of the corporation’s military. Though he could have a
secret-level security clearance to perform his duties,
he cannot rise to a leadership position, become an officer,
or be part of the megacorporation’s Special Forces
(such as the Red Samurai). As a group, characters that
possess Corporate Limited SINs are believed to either
know something valuable about the inner workings of
the megacorporation or have a skill set rival megacorps
would want; as such they are considered valid targets
for extraction, even if they are no longer active with the
corporation. Characters with the Corporate Limited SIN
experience prejudice and hostility from those in the
shadows who are SINless. The SINless believe the corporations
deliberately keep them poor and powerless so
they can be exploited. The character with the Corporate
Limited SIN may find himself being personally blamed
for his corporation’s actions—protesting he has no real
authority and no connection with the actions in question
usually does little good. To the SINless and neo-anarchists
the character with the Corporate Limited SIN has
sold out and chosen a corrupt and oppressive system
over his own people. The character pays twenty percent
of his gross income in taxes to his megacorporation.
CORPORATE SIN
At the 25 Karma level is the Corporate Born SIN. The
character with this ID was probably born into a mega
corporation, or belonged to one when it achieved extraterritoriality.
At least one of his parents probably had the
Corporate Born SIN as well. He grew up in the corporation,
his social involvement, education, and almost every
aspect of his life was managed by the corporation. His
skills and aptitudes were evaluated constantly, and he
was groomed for the career path to which he was best
suited; his whole world was the corporation. Characters
with the Corporate Born SIN had the potential and the
opportunity to advance through the corporation hierarchy.
He could have been a department administrator, a
finance strategist, an agent of corporate intelligence, an
officer in a megacorp’s military, or even a member of
Corporate Special Forces (Renraku’s Red Samurai or Ares’
Firewatch). With a Corporate Born SIN, he could have enjoyed
top-secret clearance within the corporation and access
to nearly unlimited resources. Then something happened.
An unforgivably costly mistake, the machinations
of a rival, a supervisor in need of a scapegoat—something
pushed the character out of the corporation and into the
cold and unforgiving shadows. In the shadows a SIN that
had been the key to opportunity is now a deadly liability.
Most in the shadows see the Corporate Born as the
privileged few, the aristocrats in the armored limousines
who look down on them, oppress them, exploit them
and deny them their basic rights. If the SINless discover
the character’s Corporate Born SIN, reactions will range
from deep suspicion to violent hostility; serious injury
and death are real possibilities. The character’s loyalty to
his corporation is never questioned, which can be an insurmountable
liability in a culture that works against the
megacorps. Would-be runners have been killed for holding
Corporate Born SINs. Fortunately, Corporate Born records
are limited to the megacorporation that generated
them. Files in the Global SIN Registry can confirm she has
a valid SIN, but do not contain any additional information.
Those with Corporate Born SINs pay a tax of ten percent
of their gross income to their corporation.
CRB 84-85