RCM Officer Profile

[hobocop]

Comments

Skills - Intellect

[hobocop]

There are six skills that comprise Harry's Intellect. It's not his strongest department, but the bits he rocks, he rocks 'em hard.

LOGIC

[hobocop]

Logic loves being right, to a fault. It’s a brilliant lie detector until faced with intellectual flattery. Then it starts tooting its own horn. Harry's Drama skill might interfere: people are pretending, manipulating you, while Logic – blinded by its own brilliance – yammers on about how infallible it is. In heroic difficulty rolls, Logic can induce near-transcendence-like pleasure in Harry from performing raw operations on events and numbers. (It also does maths for him.) And it states the obvious. Logic loves an easy challenge, whatever it’s claims.

ENCYCLOPEDIA

[hobocop]

Encyclopedia adores brands, marks, makes of pistolette and motor-carriage, street names, addresses, species of cockatoo, Great Century military leaders, rock music icons, Messinian ceramic manufacturers... It's a huge fucking nerd, and one of Harry's most barren skills, unfortunately. Its contributions are often patronizing or spotty as a result.

RHETORIC

[hobocop]

Let’s be honest – mostly Rhetoric just bickers. About politics. All political discourse falls under Rhetoric. Harry's semi-souped up, ideologically informed Rhetoric is an impressive beast, but it gets him into trouble. It's a persuasion ability that doesn’t really persuade anyone.

DRAMA

[hobocop]

Drama is a goddamn liar. It allows Harry to deliver believable deviations from reality, sometimes with the goal to deceive people, but not necessarily. Lying is stagecraft, an amalgam of fourberie and deceit, with entertainment – and even singing. Drama is also the counter to Drama. It tries to inform Harry when Drama is being used on him. And although Intellect skills in general are more mentally oriented, Drama has its uses in combat as well. It's one of his stronger skills, for better or worse.

Conceptualization

[hobocop]

Conceptualization has made Harry into the worst Copotype of all: the Art Cop. It allows him to come up with stuff like poems, one-liners and a cool nom de guerre. Mostly, it's just turned him into a critic. Conceptualization is the difference between hanging yourself and jumping into a live volcano.

VISUAL CALCULUS

[hobocop]

Visual Calculus is Harry's forensics skill. It represents his grasp of the laws of physics, motion particularly. He uses it to create models of past events in his mind’s eye, trace dotted lines across the room, read tire tracks to recreate an automobile accident, etc. etc.

Again, unfortunately, it's not his strongest skill. It mostly just asks him what the fuck he's doing when he squints at things.

Skills - Physique

[hobocop]

The Physique skills are a shitty, esoteric bunch. Thanks to his past, they're also louder than they have any right to be.

ENDURANCE

[hobocop]

Endurance makes you a more robust person. The more robust a person you are, the more fun you can have, and boy has past Harry had a lot of fun!

It's also the place where his shitty, buried views bubble up. Someone says something sexist? Endurance is the guy to crank out a, "Yeah, man. Women are fucking crazy."

PAIN THRESHOLD

[hobocop]

Pain Threshold lets Harry shake off a heart attack like it was nothing – a pin prick.

...Pain Threshold also doubles as his inner masochist. It makes him seek out pain, and enjoy it. And not only physical pain, but also psychological. Painful memories? Nice. Excuse me, bookstore woman, what’s the most excruciatingly sad book about human relations you have? I want one where they love each other but it really doesn’t work out.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT

[hobocop]

Physical Instrument is Harry's hand to hand combat skill. He likes to be addressed as “Coach Physical Instrument”. You can call him Coach!

The points in this guy makes Harry wanna punch a suspect in the face. Or 360 degree spin kick the living daylights out of them. But it’s not just violence. He even uses Coach to physically analyse the qualities of a “beat” on a dance track. (Coach Physical Instrument thinks it needs more bass).

In addition to being the voice of his musculature, Physical Instrument tries to give Harry social advice from time to time: be less sensitive, stop being such a sissy, drop down and give me fifty. Coach Physical Instrument is all about masculinity, with little to no self awareness.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY

[hobocop]

This fucking guy...

Physical Instrument is nothing compared to Electrochemistry, who turns Harry into a lecherous, alcoholic drug addict. Not only does it crave any and all substances on Earth, it’s also a treasure trove of knowledge on each of them. Thanks to this, Harry knows exactly what GABA receptors do, what serotonin syndrome means, and what kind of cocaine the Filippian kings did four centuries ago.

Electrochemistry also governs his other dopamine responses, including sexuality, and will insert lurid thoughts into Harry's head, with absolutely no filter. It does not play nice either, with its own atmospheric, ruinous take on reality.

Volition is one of the few things to keep this guy in check.

SHIVERS

[hobocop]

Shivers is a residual leftover from hundreds of thousands of years ago, when Harry had a use for it…

What it does now is connect Harry to the world around him. The signals Harry's shiver response relays to him seem to come from somewhere. The sensations want to tell him something.

HALF LIGHT

[hobocop]

Fear! Aggression! Half Light is Harry's fight or flight response.

This one’s definitely the chattiest of the bunch. Not only does he mix well with Coach Physical Instrument, telling him to smash everyone in the face before they strangle him in his sleep, Half Light also has some pretty keen observations!

Half Light also causes Harry to occasionally aggressively interrogate suspects, barraging them with nonsensical, frightening questions: did you kill him? Why did you kill him? Are you going to kill me like you killed him?!

Skills - Psyche

[hobocop]

Generally speaking, these six unstable dudes make Harry into a more sensitive person. This is both good and bad. It's also Harry's most developed skillset.

VOLITION

[hobocop]

Volition is Harry's inner good guy. It's all about having a moral compass and the willpower to resist temptations — from the sweet smell of liquor to unsavory urges. Yes, you can bear the profound tragedy of human existence, Volition tells him. No, you do not need to take a swig from that bottle of vodka to help you do it. And when Harry's ego is being inflated by self-congratulation and flattery (say Logic and Authority are having a big old party in Harry's attic, egging each other on), Volition intervenes to cut him down to size before he does something abominably stupid because he's feeling almighty.

Volition is the party pooper.

INLAND EMPIRE

[hobocop]

Inland Empire is Harry's deeper emotions, dreams, and forebodings. Basically, Inland Empire has a lot of interesting (read: wrong) ideas about the world. It lets him know when there might be something mysterious going on. (Inland Empire is, after all, the Lynchian skill.)

It turns inanimate objects animate and lets Harry have conversations with his horrific necktie, among other things. The information it provides often proves right… in retrospect.

EMPATHY

[hobocop]

Easily Harry's most developed skill.

Empathy is his ability to pick up on subtle cues that indicate that something is happening beneath the surface of other people. Not that they’re lying to him, exactly — Drama is his go-to for picking up on lies. Rather, Empathy lets him know when there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

Empathy isn't just honesty and feelings, though: it’s also a basic social survival skill that allows Harry to come off as caring and emotionally intelligent, even when he's not.

AUTHORITY

[hobocop]

Authority is the skill that likes to fly into a rage when it feels like Harry isn't being RESPECTED. It constantly urges him to reassert his dominance over those around him. Was there a hint of sarcasm in that elderly scientist’s “It’s a pleasure to meet you, officer?” Demand that he change his tone, or else!

Every so often, Authority also supplies useful information. For example, it can help Harry understand the power dynamics of a group of thugs, or let him know how far he can push someone before they push back. But, to be honest, it’s mostly about displays of self-assertion, which are quite important in police work.

Authority is one of Harry's most underdeveloped skills, however, and this is a big problem. Its failures make him yell at teenagers and start crying when he's angry, etc.

ESPIRT DE CORPS

[hobocop]

Esprit de Corps produces flash-sideways mini novellas of Harry's cop friends, doing their cop stuff while he does his. Thus it draws parallels between his travails and those of his fellow officers all throughout Revachol. Esprit de Corps represents Harry's connection to the RCM – Revachol Citizen’s Militia – the police force he's a part of. And, more specifically, Precinct 41, and his partner, Kim Kitsuragi.

It gives him extra empathy and understanding of how cops (and cop-like people) think in general.

SUGGESTION

[hobocop]

Suggestion is the skill of manipulators and charmers, and is another of Harry's signature skills. This is why people dub him "The human can opener"

Need to talk someone into something or out of something? Suggestion will hint at the right approach to take. In contrast to baton-flailing Authority, Suggestion is all about soft power — why threaten someone when he can make them believe their interests are aligned with his instead? He's just gotta find the right words, man.

Suggestion also lets Harry know when someone is trying to charm him, for whatever reason.

At its core, it’s oleaginous, even when it succeeds. And when it fails… oh boy.

Skills - Motorics

[hobocop]

Motorics covers Harry's peripheral nervous system, his senses, and his vestibular system. It also has an added mental aspect – Harry's street smarts, the ability to think on his feet and maintain a poker face in stressful situations. Above all, the Motorics skills are what give Harry any sense of cool.

It's... not his absolute best area.

HAND EYE COORDINATION

[hobocop]

Not only is Hand-Eye Harry's ability to aim or throw – it’s also for catching. You’d be surprised how useful that is. Harry's partner just threw him the keys to his patrol vehicle. It’s a cool moment, but Benny Shitfingers drops them in the sewage. Vehicle inoperable. Mob boss flips a coin in his direction: here’s a tip rent-a-cop. Blam, they hit him in the eye.

It also analyzes weapons for Harry - a helpful skill for a cop!

PERCEPTION

[hobocop]

This one’s a giant, and thankfully it's one of Harry's stronger skills.

Perception is the magnifying glass in his hand that allows him to see the drop of blood in the fish tank. The keen ear that catches the sound of breathing under the floorboards. Perception governs his sight, smell, taste, and hearing. Because it’s so all-encompassing, it’s better to say what it doesn’t do. Perception does not read tells and body language (that’s Composure). And it doesn’t detect microscopic details with Harry's fingertips (that’s Interfacing, another one).

But it yields clues. A lot of clues. Even too many, perhaps? Harry sometimes finds himself drowning in little notes about the things he saw, heard, or smelled – some of them extraneous, or even misleading.

REACTION SPEED

[hobocop]

Reaction Speed allows Harry to quite literally dodge incoming gunfire. Or it least it would, if he was better at it. Instead he tends to get shot.

On the mental side of things, it also acts as mental alacrity and street smarts. It helps Harry dodge snipes of the verbal sort: quick jabs and cheap shots, dramatic moves people try to pull on him. His wobbly sense of it will occasionally leave him standing there with his mouth agape, trying to come up with a cool comeback after the moment has already gone.