I'll probably buy the original Imago. But does that already involve e-ghosts? I'll probably have to roleplay the e-ghosts, make them visceral somehow. But how? I think that's the biggest part of giving Project Imago the impact it deserves.
It's where the idea of an E-ghost originated from... arguably. (It depends on what you believe Alice to be. E-ghost? A true AI? The Crash Virus having gained sentience? The jury's still out on that one, even if she's now dead.)
It's a very weird adventure tho. Like, SUPER weird.
As for the AIs from this storyline? Here's the concept: A bunch of minor AIs have been gathered up in a lab for experimentation. No matter what they were before (Nanny program, taxi driver, etc), they've all been penned up and tortured for a great length of time and they all have one thought in common: They want to escape. Once they find a way to do so (using nanites to infect things), they all break out and make a mad scramble for freedom.
After that, it depends on the mindset. NONE want to be recaptured and go back to that torture, so they'll do about anything to stay safe. Most choose to hide … climb into a Metahuman body and do your best to never attract attention. If They notice you then They will try to capture you again and you can't go through that again. Otehrs figure that there's safety in numbers, so make small groups of two, three, five, maybe even a dozen in an extended family of Monads, helping one another and building their own community, where they can relate to one another over what they went through. Some make bargains about what to do if someone's going to be captured, others say to run away and leave them behind … "One of us HAS to get away. Don't sacrifice yourself!"
And then there are the fighters. These are the minority because it's riskier but they not only want to avoid going through THAT again, but they don't want anyone else to suffer, either. They risk being exposed to get their story out … talk to journalists, talk to Shadowrunners, work to get the corps that were behind it all in a tizzy in hopes that something leaks. They're not willing to sit on their hands and wait to be captured and, if it comes down to it, they'd rather die fighting for freedom than being stuffed in a bottle again.
Lastly are the revengers. Metahumanity HURT them so they want to hurt them back. Most of them focus on the corps in question, killing anyone wearing their symbol that they can manage to hunt down, breaking equipment, whatever. Some have just gone absolutely crazy and are in "Kill all Humans" mode, blaming everyone for the pain that they went through. This last type are, in a way, actually *helping* the corps since they can be trotted out as "what they're all like" and be posterchildren for violent repression and elimination.
So, all you have to do for them is treat them like any PC... figure out what kind of AI they were (in essence, what race), give them a personality, then choose a motivations … hiding, peaceful separation, or pushback, and let 'em do whatever would flow naturally from that position. You can start with some that make sense … this AI was a school searchbot, so is slotted in as a peaceful community sort who regularly regurgitates famous quotes like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. This one was a medibot, so serves as a community doctor. This one was a child's educational toy but had no way to deal with the pain it went through so stays away from anyone as it defaults to "play hide and seek" and only emerges to take care of vital needs like hunger. This one's a bartending bot, so it knows how to mix drinks, and has added more chemicals to it's list of mixes to make explosives, which it uses to blow up corporate property. (It doesn't want to kill people, just hit the corp in the bottom line.)
You can also flip the script with one every now and then. A former fighter jet pilot that learned what killing really meant so has renounced violence and preaches to the other Monads in its community that they have to turn away from revenge and focus on "flying free". An experimental painter bot that was trying to unlock abstract art that now slaughters metahumans and thinks of how bodies lie in their own fluids as a new type of art. A virtual idol who still has amazing musical talent, and sometimes allows itself to sing in private, but who avoids being seen whenever possible … if anyone finds out that they're still alive, there's no way that THEY won't come for them. They were built to stand in front of a crowd and draw in all the attention but now they just want to hide from anyone and collapse intoa shivering ball when reminded of what they went through.
So, there ya go … type, personality, goal. ABC. Do this for any important AI and you're ready to rock. (Don't forget some generic background people tho!)
