Augmentation in this Hong Kong is normal. The aesthetics are visible by choice — Sham Shui Po style, brass-and-copper finishes, mechanical accents, deliberately seen.
The licensed and the unlicensed
The licensed clinic system is corporate-run, expensive, safe. Lin-Bachmann Biotech runs the largest network. Mods are documented, registered with the relevant House (typically Threshold for medical, Sky for neural, Mountain for skeletal), and come with maintenance contracts. Slow, expensive, conservative.
The unlicensed modder clinics are small operations, cash-and-favor based, faster, cheaper, often better at custom work. Concentrated in Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, and Sheung Shui. The best modders apprentice for years and develop personal styles. Old Hau, in his Sham Shui Po basement, is the closest thing the modder underground has to an éminence grise.
Mod styles by district
- Sham Shui Po — heavy, visible, brass-and-copper finishes, mechanical aesthetics.
- Mong Kok — neon-piped chrome, integrated lighting, club-friendly.
- Kowloon City — quiet integration, hidden mods, professional-passing.
- Mid-Levels — designer mods from licensed clinics, expensive natural-tissue grafts, almost invisible.
The supernatural cost
Heavy modification can interfere with House-favor. Each House’s contracts include clauses about the modified body, and an unauthorized mod can void favor with a House you’ve contracted with. Crew broker-priests are frequently consulted before major mod work.
The line where favor begins to fail is unclear and contested. This is one of the deliberately unsettled questions of the universe. Bo will, eventually, have to find out where it sits for him.