iKasa

Appearance:

Variable, but the most common versions are a synthetic straw with a traditional look, a brushed aluminum retro-modern, or polymer wraps or skins stretched over the body, allowing for intense customization. The bell of the iKasa covers most of the face, generally only leaving the mouth and chin uncovered. Some iKasa have aftermarket parts added, like antenna, cooling fins, or underglow lights to give the wearer a distinct cyberpunk look.

Usage:

The iKasa is a tool for a personal accessory network, often acting as the second most important component after the core computer system, ala some sort of wrist mounted unit, implanted comps, or a carried smart device. The iKasa is large, and can readily act as an enhanced antenna, solar charger, and place to slot additional gadgets and apps. There are two main functions for the iKasa. The inside of the brim is a full LED display, and can allow a wearer to access the CogNet readily, as well as function as a light version of the S3 system. This does require the materials inside the hat to be replaced with SQUIDband linings, but this is easily enough accomplished.

The second goal of the iKasa is that it blocks the wearer's biotelemtrix, preventing retinal scanner and facial recognition software from picking them out of a crowd. This constitutes a gray area, because background advertising and screenery systems rely on this sort of tech to create their fields of targeted advertising, and some are even intrusive, penetrating into the target's accessory network to load minigames and interactive ads that require the target respond to them to get rid of them, rather than just passive ignoring them. Law enforcement and security services would like iKasa hats and other bio-telemetry blocking garments and tech to be banned. If it can block viral ad tech, it can also generally stop police and security crowd mapping and profiling systems.

Infamous iKasa Users

The Smiling Man - the Smiling Man is an enigma, their identity, even gender, is unknown. The common threads include the Smiling Man appearing near dimensional fatigue events in exceedingly poor areas of urban sprawl. He is most commonly encountered in geofronts, the favelas, or in places where some relic like a petroleum era aircraft carrier has been repurposed into a major human housing settlement. They wear a traditional iKasa with a real rice straw covering, a fascia styled after a traditional hyottoko mask, with laughing eyes and the mouth extended almost into a spout. The Smiling Man has an impressive array of devices linked through the mask and iKasa, allowing him to walk through all electronic and cybernetic surveillance systems as if he were invisible. THe be caught, he literally has to be seen with a human eyeball. People attempting to apprehend the Smiling Man have found him a master of hand to hand combat, where injury is minimal, but humiliation is incredibly high. Finally, the Smiling Man has a two handed black hyperedge katana that seems to not require a power source to activate. It is speculated that in addition to being highly trained, and incredibly well equipped, the Smiling Man is also an active parapsychic with enormous control over their manifested powers.

The Courier - similar to the Smiling Man, the Courier is a well dressed Nipponese-American man with long black hair, flawless manners, and an untouchable mission success rate. The suit tends to be damage resistant decontractee armure, and he is very skilled in the use of firearms through the course of a job, ranging from simple improvised weapons and hand to hand all the way to hijacking mecha, aerospace fighters, and even, in one instance, using a New Themysciran cruiser as a personal Uber. His identity remains a mystery as he has avoided being unmasked, and the few times the Courier has been caught, each time it was a decoy.

Raiden (multiple) - Raiden is an archetype, and a Raiden will have a traditional samurai's robes, a metal melee weapon, and some sort of rig to supply electricity to the weapon. This can range from comical Otakus who electrocute themselves the first time they hit the power stud to electrokinetic parapsychics who've pushed too far and entered a burn state, their power no longer under their control.