Nouveaux Reflections: Background OOC, Backgrounds for the new thread Options

[Fenris]

You know who you are. Go to ;)

[FXcalibur]

Okay guys, here's the gist of my background: Evans was born in England and migrated to Seattle with his parents. He studied medicine in college and scored a job with DW in a HTR team. He wasn't much of a fighter at first but he soon picked up good skills on the job whilst being shot at. He met his first love in DW but eventually they went seperate ways. DW reminded him too much of his lover, so he decided to quit and do something else. He failed to find any good job for a while, but eventually became a field medic for a runner team and amassed enough cash to start an investment on a small legit clinic which also serves for runner clientele.

I'd be willing to build a background with anybody here, or even everybody :)

Edit: Fenris, I still need to send you custom weapon specs. PM?

[Leowulf]

Ok. Same goes for me. Anyone who wants to work in their background with Blackjack's can feel free. That being said, I'll post it. It's long, like I said. I'm thinking of scratching the two extra arms in favor of strength mods or something; maybe integrity mods. I'm bored with it.

A few comments to get out of the way. No, I don't care if your character flirts with mine. No, I'm not gay. Yes, I'm a guy in real life. No, it doesn't bother me to play a flirtacious heterosexual female character. I'm secure; are you?

I don't anticipate any problems, but I have encountered them in the past. I think it's good to get this out into the open before it becomes a problem.

Blackjack is a 5’ 4” female human with blue eyes and long amber blonde hair with gentle wavy locks in it that comes down past her shoulders. Her skin is a medium pinkish-white. Her measurements are 38D – 26 – 37. She is a definite knockout, except for her cyberarms, which usually turn guys off. She does have four full arms.

Blackjack stands erect. She is quite attractive, but her obvious cyberarms detract greatly from her appearance, especially since there are four of them. People who meet her for the first time have different reactions depending on whether her arms are visible. People who do not see the arms are very friendly until they do. People who do see them are either neutral or hostile.

Blackjack was born in Seattle in 2037. She grew up there in a middle class neighborhood. It was a good neighborhood, so nothing bad really happened there. She heard about lots of bad things happening on the news though. Those things worried her as a child.

Blackjack’s mother was a secretary. Her father was an office manager. They both worked for the same megacorp in different buildings. Blackjack’s mother and father had a happy marriage. Her mother died in a car crash when she was 12. The other car was driven by a drunk driver who was not using Grid Guide. Even the street grid did not expect the other car to suddenly swerve out of its lane and strike the family’s car. Blackjack’s father was somewhat mangled by the crash. He lost a hand and an eye. Blackjack had unbuckled her seatbelt briefly to hand something to her mother. She lost both of her arms. The family’s insurance would not cover the cost of the cyberlimbs they would need if the limbs were synthetic, so Blackjack and her father had to get metallic ones that everyone could see. Blackjack wasn’t happy about this, as she was just starting middle school.

Blackjack has not started her own family. She wants to, deep down, but she tries to deny that fact by saying that a kid deserves to be held by real arms instead of cold metal, and that no guy would have her. The second part is more true than the first. Few guys have ever taken an interest in her. The ones that have had plenty of cyberware, and they often had a cyberlimb or two. Blackjack would save money to have her arms replaced with concealable ones, but she is secretly hoping for a guy who loves her for who she is, preferrably one who also has concealed cyberlimbs, a nice car, and lots of money, as well as being a nice guy, and a good father, although the cyberlimbs are not so important.

Blackjack was educated in public school, even after her injuries. She then went to Seattle University to study computer science. She got a corporate sponsorship, and then she went to work for that corp after graduating as a security decker. She attended postgraduate school and got her MS in computer science. In addition to learning about computers in college, Blackjack also had a home computer, which is what introduced her to the world of computers. She also read books about electronics because she secretly had a dream of inventing better cyberarms that weren’t cold to the touch and felt real, even to the user. She learned how to jack into a computer and enter the matrix as a security decker. She enjoyed this work, but it only paid moderately. She soon realized that it was a dead end job. As soon as her contract was up, she left, deciding not to renew. She tried to get jobs with other corps, but none would hire her for some reason. Blackjack decided to hire her skills out to independent contractors.

Eventually, she got tricked into doing a shadowrun for someone who wanted her to steal information. She was told that the job was only for a month, but that it paid 30,000 =Y=. Her job was to unload data from a mainframe and bring it to the guy that hired her for safekeeping while the mainframe was shut down for upgrading. She was told that the people in the building would be expecting her as a new hire. They were, and she was allowed full access. She took the data to the guy who hired her, and he paid her right there. She asked why he had not given her a paycheck, and he said that it was easier for both of them if he did not do that. Blackjack caught a trid news broadcast a few days later that said that the same company she had gone to work for as a temporary employee had had its mainframe accessed and had data stolen by someone during its upgrade period. Fortunately, Blackjack was never implicated.

Blackjack was raised Presbyterian. She is still religious, but her church attendance was, and still is, inconsistent. She has some trouble getting along with God, which has a lot to do with how her life has turned out. Now that she lives on her own, Blackjack rarely goes to church.

Blackjack doesn’t like having to kill people because it’s a sin, and it’s wrong. She still carries a loaded gun though. Blackjack only kills people in self-defense. She thinks that capitol punishment and euthanasia are usually good things. Abortion is not. Blackjack is still a virgin. She plans to stay that way until she is married. Still, she is also a hopeless flirt sometimes.

At the present, Blackjack’s only goal is to save up enough money to buy more cyber-enhancements. Extra cyberware is like tattoos to her. Cyberware is just another form of expression, which is why she got a third, and later fourth, arm, in part. In truth, this is how she deals with her physical condition. Deep down, having so much cyberware bothers her, but she hides it, even from herself.

Blackjack runs the shadows because it pays well. Shadowrunning is also far more entertaining than being a wage slave. Her lack of emotional fulfillment is the real reason she does it. The adrenaline high is like a drug that only makes her feel alive when she’s on it.

Blackjack’s personality is energetic and outgoing most of the time. When she is upset, people who know her can tell because she is just the opposite of her normal self. She doesn’t question things much. She gets along well with people, as long as they will talk to her. Again, her cyberware causes problem sometimes, but she is very well-liked by those who do not hate her for having cyberware.

Blackjack has trouble getting really close to guys emotionally. She is afraid of everything as far as that goes. Her fearfulness keeps her from trying to pursue relationships with guys, and her flirtiness is just a good way to cover it up.

Blackjack does not like people who hate other people without a good reason. She dealt with so many people like that in her past that seeing someone else acting the same way takes her right back to when she first got her cyberarms, and it makes her very upset.

Blackjack loves all of the things typical girls love; flowers, little cute things, babies, clothes, shoes, jewelry, and cute guys, those sorts of things. She also loves sunny days.

Blackjack’s real name is Mary Elizabeth Denson. Mary started using the name Blackjack as an online alias when she turned 21. This was a little before her first shadowrun, the one she didn’t know about until after the fact. She considered herself lucky that she was never caught. Looking back months later, when she had decided to make shadowrunning a career, Mary decided that her first run had been a lucky occurrence. It seemed that that particular time had been a lucky time to her, so it sort of made sense to use the name.

Update Notes:

On a run in Africa that never finished and I can’t remember the name of, Blackjack met a combat mage by the name of Ghost Dragon. The two didn’t get along extremely well, but they gained a mutual respect for one another’s talents. Chad H was the GM.

On a run that partially involved entering Salish-Shidhe undetected, Blackjack befriended a border guard by the name of Joe Eagle. Joe works at the checkpoint going into Salish-Shidhe on the highway south of Seattle. After a few dates, the two decided to remain friends instead of pursuing things further. This was a game run by Shadow called Exile's Hope.

[Fu-Man Chu]

[I realized that there are two character concepts I would like to try out - let me know which one you like better and would fit better with the team and I'll email that one to GM]

1)
File number: 981-834N8-36
Name: Unknown
SIN: Unknown
Alias: "Spectre"
Location: Puyallup, UCAS
Assets: *Magically Active*
Connections: Spurned Wraiths, Grim Reaper

The subject is the leader of a small wizgang [calling themselves the Spurned Wraiths!] in Puyallup barrens which has become his (likely adopted) home. The elf is a natural leader, although his mannerisms hint at an upbringing of priviledge background that cultivated his inherent charisma. An unregistered follower of the Path of the Steward, he is known to fiercely protects those in his care, especially the SINless that infest his chosen territory. In addition to the gangers that answers to his call (many of them Magically active), a veritable army of spirits heeds his summons.

2)
File number: J38-8Q2B4-72
Name: Unknown
SIN: Unknown
Alias: "Bloodmoon"
Location: Seattle Sprawl
Assets: *Likely Magical Adept*
Connections: Unknown

This young woman is believed to have a Yakuza background which has since splintered off from the main Seattle leadership. She is known to freelancer her ability to gain access to phycially secure buildings and the aquisition of lost assets. An accompanying agent once report seeing her incapacitate a guard, who had stumbled upon their position, with blinding speed using her hands alone.

[BishopMcQ]

Uhh, Fu-Man Chu, Fenris has already made his final selections for the team. The extended deadline in his recruitment board was for complete characters, since the first time around he only wanted concepts.

Team--I'll get my background sent in this morning

[BishopMcQ]

Please feel free to include Eric in other backgrounds.

Eric Dorris was an honor student at Oxford studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. That ended when a sting operation implicated him in charges ranging from identity theft to illegal access to corporate shipping servers. After ten years in a minimum security prison, he was released on parole with the criteria that he not access any computer system for the next five years. The following morning he made a few phone calls, and burning the last of his favors from his school days got a one way ticket to New York and a new passport.

Eric spent the next few months doing adjustments on data records and creating false manifests for a smuggling ring. He settled down in Seattle to get off the road, but keeps in touch with his smuggling buddies whenever they come into town. Keeping his ear to the ground, he stumbled across rumors about the Hotel California offering work to people with his skill set. Eric went down to the Hotel and gave his pitch to a few fixers and was put to work.

To date his work has always been fairly small time--hacking pocket secretaries and opening doors for extraction teams. Even though he's a small fish most people think he does a good job and find him solid and dependable.

The last few months, Eric has been paired up with a field medic named Evans. Their shared heritage didn't immediately make them the best of friends but has allowed for a common ground to build a professional relationship from.

More to come as people send in their bkgds.

[FXcalibur]

Hey McQ, sounds good. Evans is lacking two of the five skills needed for medical stuff (he's got biotech, electronics and electronics B/R) which allows him to do medic work and general surgery, installation and maintenance of cyberware up to alphaware (the grade of his clinic). I'm missing out on Computer and Computer B/R, so if you have that, perhaps you could be a surgical technician?

[BishopMcQ]

I've got them.

[FXcalibur]

Fantastic. We can do almost all ops for the group then.

[Buddha72]

Ok here's the bio info on Joli

She has vague memories of something terrible happening and then running. Of being consumed by fear and terror. She remembers one night, somewhere and being ambushed by a group of strangers. She recalls them drugging her and then "loading" her in a crate for a trip.

She arrived in Seattle inside a crate of sorts after months of travel from parts unknown. She has been property most of her life, or at least the parts she can remember. She was "freed" by a group of runners, after they tracked down the crate she arrived in when it was stolen by yet a different group of runners. After killing the remaining people who had held her as a test subject, she fled into Seattle proper.

She could remember her name, Jolinar of Malkshur, and a few scattered skills. Chief amongst them, her ability to wield and shape mana. With her memories scrambled and disjointed she was easy prey for yet another runner team dispatched to pick her up. She spent most of her time drugged but she recalls a research complex and several doctors. Her next clear memory is waking up in a house in Seattle after another team extracted her from the facility she was being held in.

She met a woman by the name of Beth Larson, a spokeswoman for the Draco Foundation. She offered her a new life with a little more stability than she recently enjoyed since arriving in Seattle. They entered into a cautious relationship. Joli began to track down the people involved with her containment. During the legwork, Beth would stop by occasionally and have odd chats with Joli. She asked several pointed questions at times that would trigger more memories for her but always declined to comment on what she knew exactly.

After several weeks and doing a few odd runs for Beth, she finally found the info she needed. Who the people were and where they might be found. With a few thousand nuyen she hired some runners to erase her records and kill the head of the project behind her confinement. The corp footing the bill on her slow torture was Sadder-Krupp. She was able to eliminate the records, or at least as best as she can tell. She made her first true friend during the run, a woman named Shade, A killer for hire, who for whatever reason, showed her true kindness with no strings attached. Joli often hires her for bodyguarding now and has tried to become her friend with little success. Shade stills comes over but has shared very little of her true self.

That's it so far. She's a hermetic with a focus on elemental manipulations. She's the mage that can blow up cars or take out hold squads of guards. Very combat oriented spells. Has good skills for magic and dragons. She has the usual helpful spells like healing and the like. Travels light and has minimal needs for running.

[Glyph]

Some more information on TOMBSTONE:

History

Nick was born in a lower-middle class ork family that lived near the edge of the Barrens - close enough that just growing up, you got streetwise, and the neighborhood kids ran in an informal gang to protect themselves against the street trash. Nick always wanted to be a bouncer or a bodyguard - why break your back working in a warehouse, like his father did, when you can get paid just for standing around and looking tough? It turned out, it wasn't that easy, but it was still good money.

Nick had no SIN, so even in this semi-legitimate job he still worked under the table a lot, and worked for a lot of interesting people. He guarded Mafia underbosses, high-class call girls, and smugglers. He often found himself in the middle of shady dealings, standing with a bunch of other beefy people in ill-fitting suits, scowling across the floor at their counterparts while contraband changed hands. Violence was common, either from betrayal (sometimes by his employer, so he had to be ready to go with the flow), or from some gang or other operators trying to horn in on the action. He did well, though, and started to spend some of the not-so-easy money on cyber and bio, to give himself an edge. Although it was expensive, it paid for itself by leading to more lucrative work. He was very fussy about his 'ware, insisting on the best work - surgery plans, follow-up visits, and the works. He saw too many other punks get a cheap smartlink or razors, then go to a cheap motel to recover, and pay for it later with infections, malfunctions, or breakdowns.

As he turned into a chromed beast, he gradually caught the eye of a few Johnsons and other slumming corporate types who needed bodyguards. He found that the world of the suits was, if anything, even more rapacious than the underworld. Also, he started running into shadowrunners, and quickly learned to respect their capabilities. Although his work was dangerous and unpredictable, it was paying very well, and he knew that he was moving into the upper echelons of bodyguarding.

But he burned out on it after awhile - it was frustrating, standing there watching other people party, with the constant tension of waiting for violence. And he was all too concious that, as an ork with no real SIN, there was a glass cieling between him and the corporate guards with their pensions and company perks. Soon, he got to thinking. Shadowrunners had it better. They didn't have to wait for trouble - they started it. They picked their shots, instead of standing around being a target. It occurred to Nick that his insider's view of protecting people also meant that he knew how to get past that security. So far, his shadowrunning career has gone well. His knack for violence and ability to apply it judiciously (rather than indescriminately) have made him popular as muscle.

Working him into other backgrounds

The other characters could have run into Tombstone in nearly any kind of situation - that's the good thing about him being a former bodyguard. Whether street or corporate, you could have run into him.

One of the other characters could be the one he cautiously approached when he was considering changing vocations. It would not be in character for Tombstone to betray one of his employers, so he would not have been "recruited" that way. But maybe he met one of the runners under relatively amicable conditions (maybe he was bodyguarding a Johnson they had done business with before, and trusted to an extent), leading to a conversation when they bumped into each other again.

He could have gotten some of his cyberware from Evans and Eric.

Blackjack's arms would not freak him out - he wears his own cyber like a badge of honor. Her scruples would probably amuse him a bit, but he would still respect her for living by a "code."

Not sure how I could work him in with Joli. Having him be one of the runners who freed her would almost seem too contrived, but maybe he worked with Shade, and heard about her from her, then worked on a run or two with her.

[Buddha72]

Joli could have hired him to bodyguard on occasion. She either hires Shade or Tombstone, she would prefer to work the same people if possible. It would make sense they would recommend each other when runs come up that need their particular talents.

[BishopMcQ]

More on Eric:

While Eric was in prison, he met a group of CyberAdepts who explained to him why he was innately so good with computers, Eric was born to be an Otaku. Unfortunately, because of his time in prison, Eric was never able to experience the Deep Resonance, and thus never became one with the Matrix before he reached the point that he would have faded. This turn of events has led Eric to struggle to find Otaku tribes in the places he lives, and aide them in keeping young Otaku out of prison. He mainly does this through file editing and forgery which the Otaku are able to implant into programs and systems.

About a month ago, he was approached by a young woman with bright red hair. The job was simple, go with a team into a SaedderKrup Facility, find a few files on the host and modify them to never recognize his employer. Joli paid him well enough, but it was professionally distant. Eric hasn't figured out her angle yet, but sometimes it's best not to know.

Eric's decker persona GreenKnight has seen Blackjack on the boards but has never done time with her in the meat world as far as he knows.

[Leowulf]

Works for me. I think FXcalibur and I have prettymuch decided that Blackjack and Evans went on a couple of dates together and then decided they would be better as friends and that Evans occasionally does maintenance on her cyberware.

[Fu-Man Chu]

I've decided to go with the second idea. Full history to come - basically, she's extra muscle that's stealthy. I'm thinking she could have run with Blackjack a few times as they would complement each other. Is that ok with you Leowulf?

[Leowulf]

Ok.

[Fenris]

Unless someone sent over their emails with the wrong subject line, I only have character submissions from Buddha72,McQuillan, FXcalibur, Glyph, and Leowulf.

The remaining character submissions are due Monday morning, otherwise I start pulling up the reserves ;)

[FXcalibur]

It's my experience that I had best come clean with custom gear before a game begins.

the M5 Assault Rifle. Super machine gun weapon and Halo tribute ;)

the M50 Multi Systems Handgun (MSH), which is sort of just a pistol plus a general launcher underneath. It's a utility pistol mainly - load with shock lock or flare. Range is very low, making it almost useless as a weapon.

[Fenris]

Shadow - A slight extension, only because I know you're on vacation without internet connection.

Tai-Pan and Dalassa - You have until the end of the day. Final warning and all. Soft, perhaps, but I believe in giving every opportunity. Prevents regret on my part ;)

IC and OOC threads will start tomorrow morning, for those of you that did submit characters. Good backgrounds all the way around, and take and extra 3 karma, for meeting deadlines and putting forth the effort.

[Leowulf]

Can we use that karma now? If so, I'd like to improve Blackjack's Biotech skill to 2. :D

[Tai-Pan]

[FXcalibur]

Another friendly bump. Game's still live, right?

[Bearclaw]

Hi guys,
I just got the word that I'm in. I'm playing Lee Hides in Trees, a PotM B&E specialist/Racoon shaman. He's brilliant at getting in and out of places unseen, and likes to pick up the occasional shiny object. His magic is mostly illusion based, but he's got a good spectrum. Also, like the Racoon, he will avoid a fight at all costs. He is not a combat mage.

He's been around Seattle for about a year, since getting out of prison. As he's officially dead, he doesn't have anyone looking for him or anything, but he's also only got a couple contacts, very little cash, no SIN, and he's lost his Las Vegas privelidges.

[Fenris]

I changed my mind ;) IC and OOC threads will start tonight.

[Leowulf]

Awesome. Game on! 8)