Death

Oops. That is the thing that many players will say when their character's inevitable demise comes. Everyone dies at some point, however, death is not final. There are many ways to be brought back, or at the very least, watch the chaos that unfolds after one has ceased to function. This page details damage, common means of death and some ways that a character can be brought back from the dead itself.

Ways to die

• Fire
• Plasma
• Plasma fire
• Explosions
• Vacuum
• Lack of oxygen
• Organ failure
• Too hot
• Too cold
• Heavy objects
• Light objects
• Sharp objects
• Blunt objects
• Magic
• Being curious
• And much more

The fact of the matter is - it's easy to die. Many cases of death can be of one's own incompetence, curiosity, or arrogance. Sometimes, however, one simply doesn't have any control. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time has spelled doom for many unfortunate crewmen and there is little one could have done except for in the case of foresight. Despite the mortality of a crewman, the human (Or otherwise alien) body is a resilient piece of material. Bones can break, organs can be damaged, and limbs can be lost, but it can take some time for one to finally succumb to death.

How Damage Works

For most species, the body of a crewman does not give up until it has accumulated over 200 points of total damage. A crewman's health starts at 100, and at -100, they succumb. Damage is divided into five damage types: brute, burn, toxin, respiratory and genetic.

Brute damage is the blunt force trauma applied to one's person through means of being hit by an object, being shot by ballistic weapons, being flung against a wall, or being subject to pressures a crewman's biology is not built for. Brute damage heals very slowly over time as bruises form and pain subsides, and is the most common type of injury. Too much blunt force trauma can also lead to broken bones and organ damage.

Burn damage is what one suffers when they are introduced to extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold. The extremely low temperatures of space, wading through a fire or a super-heated corridor, being shot by energy weapons, and eating very spicy food can cause burn damage. Burns can also most easily put a crewman into shock, as the extreme pain from being burned can make a character think they are in critical condition when they are not.

Toxins damage is the amount of unsafe elements, molecules, and chemicals within one's body. Poison, venom, overdosing on medicine, and radiation are some ways that one can suffer toxins damage. Toxin damage is also a damage type that can very easily accumulate even after the victim is no longer near the source. Toxins will remain within the system of a crewman until they are flushed out, and so antidotes such as dylovene must be administered to prevent further damage.

Repiratory damage is when a character suffers from a lack of their breathable environment or are strangled. For most species, this means oxygen, while others such as the vox, breath nitrogen. Every moment that a character is without a source of air, they will begin to accumulate respiratory damage over a period of time due to asphyxiation. Being too long without a source of air will eventually cause a character to pass out, and even longer without it can cause a character to stop attempting to breath. At this point, not even a proper environment will do, and either medicine or CPR must be administered. If an asphyxiated character who is conscious manages to get to an area with air, they will slowly recover their respiratory damage. However some may remain and other effects can result from the lack of oxygen, such as lung damage.

Genetic damage is what is suffered when a crewman's DNA structure has been adversely effected. Examples include genetic experimentation, cloning and being attacked by a slime. Genetic damage only shows up as a value in body scanners while hand scanners can only detect if there is or isn't genetic damage, but not in any amounts. Cryogenics tubes cannot detect genetic damage, but if a character has damage of the other types that is not added up to a total, the difference may be genetic damage. Certain medicines are able to cure genetic damage, but more often than not it's only special mixtures such as clonexadone in a cryogenic tube that can actually heal it.

Organs, Bones and Blood

Damaged organs introduce adverse effects on a character and are usually suffered by large amounts of brute damage and other various means. Kidneys and livers that have suffered too much damage can result in toxins being released into the bloodstream while ruptures in a lung can cause crewmen to have trouble breathing and even cough up blood. A damaged brain can cause retardation, damaged eyes will cause a gradual loss of vision, and damaged hearts will eventually stop altogether. Some medicines can be used to heal damaged organs, such as alkysine for the brain and imidazoline for eyes, however in most cases, these must be fixed through surgical means.

If a large amount of brute damage is administered to a certain body part, there is a chance that the bones in that part will break. Broken hands will prevent items being held in that hand while broken legs and feet will give a character difficulty walking. Broken limbs can be splinted, though others cannot. If a character moves while their bones are broken, there is a chance that the bone will move in their body, which can cause further blunt damage, organ damage, and even internal bleeding. Surgery is required to fix broken bones.

Bleeding from an open wound, internally, or otherwise can cause a character to feel weak, go pale, and cause a small amount of respiratory damage over time due to the lack of oxygen carrying cells in one's body. A body needs at least 90% of its total blood volume to function adequately. Lower values can cause the above effects. Values around 50% are usually deadly, and no matter how healthy a patient is otherwise, their body will be unable to function without a minimum amount of blood.

Fading Away

After a character has suffered a large amount of damage, values different depending on the type, then they may fall unconscious from shock. If a character suffered a total of 100 damage, then they will be in critical condition and begin to suffer gradual asphyxiation as they enter cardiac arrest. At this point, the crewman is helpless to the environment around them and can either suffer a painful, slow death as they finally succumb, or it can be quick as whatever brought them to their condition continues to assault them. The closer a character comes to death, a white vignette will begin to form on the edges of a player's screen. The brighter the screen becomes, the more critical their condition is, with a near completely white screen being their last moments.

Being Dead

If a character has succumbed to death in one of the many spectacular or not so much ways to die, their body (If it still exists) will cease to function and all biological processes will halt. Dead characters are unable to speak and cannot interact with the world other than whatever physical purpose the presence their corpse will serve. When a crewman is killed, the player may choose to remain within the body, where they may see the activity around them. A player may wait until they are recovered, use the ghost verb, or respawn as something else. While you are within your corpse or a ghost, you may participate in dead chat.

Ghosting

Also known as observer mode, when you use the ghost verb or when you 'move' while you're dead, you will exit your body and become a spiritual apparition that cannot be seen by living players. You will get a set of new verbs that will allow you to see all activity on the station as well as remove all darkness. You cannot interact with the living in any way save for using the Boo! verb, which causes some lights to flicker on the area you currently on. If your body is recovered and put in a cloning pod or if someone defribs you while you are ghosting, you will receive a notification that will allow you to choose if you wish to return to your body. You may also enter your body again at any time as a ghost by the re-corpse verb. If you are unable to return to your body, that means you have lost your right to respawn by any way or suicide or your body no longer exists.

Deadchat

Deathchat (Or Dead Chat) is an OOC chat that players may speak in by using the say verb while dead which can only been seen by other deadchat players. Players are allowed to speak about the current (and past) round(s) going on, the circumstances of their death, and even talk about who antagonists are. However, players who respawn are by no means allowed to use any information they received in deadchat IC. This is a metagaming offense and is bannable.

Respawning

At any point after a character has died, they may choose to forego their right to be resurrected by respawning as a number of things. Players may choose to play as a maintenance drone, a simple automaton that has laws prohibiting it from interacting with organic life and is simply tasked with maintaining the station. Players may also choose to respawn as any number of creatures, such as mice or one of the various pets. Dead players also have the chance of randomly being chosen as a blob or another type of event character. Additionally, if an emergency response team is called, dead players are able to opt into playing as a member of the strike force.

Returning to Life

There are a handful of ways that one may return to the land of the living as themselves. Cloning, Defibrillation and Cyborgification are the three most common ways, but other means exist as well. However, if you're a victim of suicide, you cannot return back to the land of the living.

Cloning

If a character's body is recovered in a timely manner before they have a chance to decay, medical staff may have the ability to Clone a crewmember. This usually is carried out by a station's geneticist and the process requires biomass and the player to be within their corpse, or else the reviving doctor will see that the body is not fit for cloning. Corpses that are decayed to the point of skeletons, victims of suicide, or are without a brain cannot be cloned. Additionally, a corpse will be cloned with the genetic makeup of the brain in its body, so if a character's brain was placed in a separate body, the clone will be that of whoever's brain it was. Some species such as the Vox, Plasmamen and Slime People cannot be cloned as such, and must be cloned in a different way.

If a character is successfully cloned, they will optionally suffer from a condition known as Clone Memory Disorder and have no recollection of the circumstances of their death. It is malpractice to inform a crewman that they have died, and it is commonly accepted to simply inform them that they were in critical condition, but were saved.

Defibrillation

If a character has been recently deceased, a crewmember can defibrilate you back to land of the living once more. Defibrillation is an act of defribbing one's body using either a defibrillator (worn on the back) or a compact defibrillator (worn on the belt) via electric shock. While it is more time-saving than Cloning, it has more limitations, corpses that suffered too much damage leading to heart failure or after some time has passed, up to a point where they are braindead cannot be defibrilated. IPCs cannot be defibrilated, And many more. Unlike Cloning however, defibrillated patients do not suffer Clone Memory Disorder or any genetic and brain damage caused by Cloning.

Once a character is successfully defibrillated, any damage done to the person that leads them to their death will need to be treated as soon as possible, otherwise the character will need to be defibrillated once more.

Cyborgification

The process of becoming a cyborg is one that is mired in ethical debate. Nonetheless, becoming one is rather easy so long as a roboticist is on hand. If a character's brain is removed from their body, it can be placed in an MMI, a Man Machine Interface. This creation allows a disembodied brain - so long as a player is not ghosted - to communicate with those around it. Being nothing but a brain is a shocking and disorienting experience, and is not something to be taken lightly. The MMI can be left as is, though it will rely on someone to carry it for locomotion, and is incapable of anything but speaking. An MMI brain has full recollection of memory up to the point of death, and is allowed to recall the circumstances of such.

If the roboticist chooses, they may place the brain in a cyborg body. This will cause the player to then assume the role of a cyborg, which will wipe them of their humanity and be forced to obey the laws of the station's AI. A roboticist may also choose to place an MMI within a built exosuit. This will not tie the MMI to any law, nor will it have any obligation and will for all intents and purposes be the character they were before. This can be useful to help supplement an understaffed mining crew, or to help combat enemy forces. The risk in this comes with giving life to an exosuit with free will. However if the character was trusted in life, the chances are they will still serve adequately in death.