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Looking through the Core Rulebook and the forums it seems clear that character Attributes are static. The Year Zero Engine does have rules for improving attributes. I am wondering if the design decision for this has been explained somewhere.

Some background: A player wanted to create a scrawny, malnourished streetwise Scoundrel who would start with STR 2 and then (cue Coriolis gym montage) use their Explorer income and resources to put on some healthier muscle / brawn. Which made me speculate on dodgy Black Toad steroid-like drugs and what high-protein food stuffs the Gardeners Guild might produce. All with a good dose of plot hooks, building favours owed, etc. In effect, using what the player would like or wants to drive story events and make things more interesting than “after eight weeks of training and supplements your STR in now 3.”

Only it seems that Attributes are a one and done static choice made at character creation (in Coriolis TGD and other Free League games). I can see the problems of players ramping every attribute up if that is an option. (There is always the "choices have consequences" approach to this and the well-worn “so much power they choke on it” result.)

So what can the GM do if a player wants to increase an Attribute?

You don't increase attributes in FL games, you increase and/or learn skills, talents and abilities.

The rule I found seems to have been depreciated:

ATTRIBUTES To increase a given Attribute by one step costs a number of XP equal to the cost of increasing each skill under the attribute by one, plus the Attribute level you want to attain multiplied by 3. The skill levels remain unchanged. Training time is 5 quarter days. These quarter days may be broken up, but all 5 must take place within 1 week.
e.g. Kivil wants to improve his EMPATHY from 2 to 3. He has Manipulation 0, Performance 1, Healing 0, Animal Handing 0. Total cost of improving EMPATHY would be 34xp (25 for skills, 9 for attribute). The skill levels remain unchanged.

Coriolis: The Third Horizon does have both cybernetics and bionic sculpts. Now, could there be a Coriolite Family preserving some corrupted echo of this technology, or seeking to recreate it, perhaps using or attempting to use Artifacts, Heirlooms or Blight in some twisted form to such an end? What, exactly, could those masks and gowns be concealing?

In any case we're going with Rules As Written until we get familiar enough to house rule or create an in-game "Yes and..." role-playing situation built around it. So our "scrawny, malnourished streetwise Scoundrel" has been slightly re-imagined.

A further note on Attribute flexibility. The Outcast Explorer for solo play in Coriolis TGD states that:

Your veteran Explorer gains extra points to distribute among your attributes. You get 28 points instead of the normal 24.

The attribute point increase seems like a good principle to adopt for “duality” play (GM and single player); perhaps for other YZE games as well. The idea of a solo “operative” for a Guild, faction or Coriolite family is appealing. There are certain NPCs in the Flowers of Algorab which fit this profile. An alternative play-through as “the opposition” or “shadowy manipulator” would be an intriguing reuse and twist on the campaign.