Something in Aria Jenneth's thread poked my thoughts. A comment about having sockets.
I looked up some of the agents, mostly female ones wearing the right kind of top, and of course.
They also had the same spine sockets as player characters.
Two options:
1. It's an artifact of the character sculptor - they have spine sockets because all the models have spine sockets, there's nothing to read into the fact, it's just a limitation of the game engine.
2. It's not an artifact of the character sculptor, and agents do have spine sockets, with many of them, if not all of them, also being capsuleers in their own right.
There is some evidence for option 2, given the existence of several pirate faction officers as agents. Estamel Tharchon for example, is an agent for the Guristas, and a capsuleer in her own right.
The Eve novel, the Burning Life, however, some of the characters in that were agents, but not capsuleers themselves.
Thoughts ?