I found an online console style game(finaly) and wrote this up as a background for a new character. I dont like backgrounds like, "They killed my parents so now I run the shadows seeking revenge" type of shit, its been overdone on every front. Thought this might be a little different for a inteligent/muscle/recon type of "street sam", I have picked out most of my bio/cyber for the character and have decided on picking a bunch of eye/ear mods with bioware for increased inteligence and information gathering ability. His unit was a type of recon unit ment to work behind enemy lines, collect information and make do there best to create a logistical nightmare for an enemy force when ever the oppertunity presents its self. After the intro is another short bit, with a short bio.

Background story for Kendrick Morningsong
Colonel Dawkins is considered an odd man by most of his peers. His peers never said so of course, you simply do not point fingers at an officer who commands a Special Forces unit. He didn’t change his surname to something more, ‘native’ when The Sioux Nation was formed; his grandfather and father were both Dawkins, and they did just fine being a Native American with a British last name. He had turned down the offer for Brigade General so many times in the last eight years that the Sioux military simply stopped offering. Days like today are why he felt he would never make a good general.
“Bring him in Bill” Col Dawkins whispered
“Sure Sam” Sergeant Major Bent Willow replied
A tall man of perhaps twenty five stepped into the Colonels office. His bearing was confident, at the perfect distance from his commander’s desk the young Lieutenant assumed a position of attention.
“Sir, Lieutenant Morningsong reporting as ordered.”
“At ease Kendrick”
The seventy year old colonel simply sat, his fingers making a steeple before his face, his eyes unblinking, unwavering from the young officer in front of him.
“Sir, it went down just like I…” Protested Kendrick
Dawkins interrupted with “Shut up young man”
“How it went down is not important, what is important is a Lonestar detective is dead, and you killed him”
“Understood sir”
“Also important is that you a member of one of the more elite units on this continent. You should have been able to defend your self from what ever this fragging pig could pull out of his pig holster with out leaving a fragging scratch on him. In public no less, half the city is saying how a Sioux soldier flipped out and killed a respected community servant”
“Sir I reacted, he went for his piece; I was quicker and had a pocket knife in his heart before I had a long term thought”
“And this started because a young lady was being troubled by this pig?”
“Yes sir”
“You’re on leave, in a foreign country and you play Lancelot for a street girl!”
“Yes sir”
“On top of that sergeant major here goes down to the armory today and finds that your team left dirty gear in my fragging depot”
“Sir, I don’t...”
“Shut up Lieutenant. So here it is, you will take this memo down to the armory and show this memo to the duty sergeant. Sergeant Major tells me that he has already put this gear aside in a few crates and is a nice enough man to let you take his truck, pick up this gear and take it too your domicile for cleaning”
“Tomorrow if your not dead in your room from the embarrassment you will be extradited to Seattle for punishment, AND ALSO IF I HEAR ABOUT ONE PIECE OF DIRTY FRAGGING GEAR IN THAT ROOM TOMORROW WHEN I SEND MAJOR SPRINGRAIN TO COLLECT YOU, I WILL LOOSE MY TEMPER”
“Understood sir”
“Dismissed. Bill lend him your keys, and Kendrick make sure you leave the truck where we can find it”
“Understood sir, it has been a pleasure being in your command sir”
Kendrick made his way to the equipment depot deep in thought, he was sure he would have been extradited to Seattle and would of either sat in prison for the rest of his life or just been executed for killing that cop. Colonel Dawkins might very well be asked into early retirement for doing this, but he new the old man understood. He was just given a second chance. Lots of work around for someone likes him…….
**********************************************************************
…..And the rest of the story

It has been two years since he left the Sioux nation. If you would of asked Kendrick before he killed that cop what he would be doing in two years his reply would have been, “I would be a captain, I would have my own lance (three teams that work under a captain, 5 men per team, for a total command of 15 men) probably gotten some more mods, maybe even found a regular girl. The game has changed since he was given the tools to leave the Sioux nation by Colonel Dawkins.
In the crates was a mix of rations, ammunition, weapons, body armor, civilian clothing and some electronics gear. When Kendrick powered a civilian looking data pad up, a note displayed on the screen.
Your hoop is yours for the time being. Taped to the inside of your Camo Suit is all the right data to move freely through the California Free State. Make no mistake there will come a time when I, or perhaps my predecessor, will call on you to return this favor. For now put your skills to use as you see fit. Be careful with the identity that starts with ‘C’ having those permits added to it was not easy, don’t waste it. I will be the one to choose our time of next contact, you will make no attempt to initiate contact until then.

He was given a few identities; his go-to identity is for Cedric Santiago. This identity is the best that could be arranged by colonel’s Dawkins government contacts (up to you of course on how good is good), it has him down as a registered bodyguard, with the appropriate permissions for his smartlink-2 and a concealed carry permit for his mod’ed Browning Ultra-power. Since most of his cyber is legal, or bioware that is hard to detect it does the trick; however he only uses it if it seems absolutely necessary.
He did not get picked up by his former unit because he was the strongest. He was chosen because he can think on his feet. After he went through the initial training to become a member of the Sioux Scouts it was Colonel Dawkins who picked him to be sent to college, and then to Officer Candidate school, and later commissioned.

Kendrick is 6’2” two hundred pounds. He is half Native American and half Puerto Rican. His folks passed away a few years back. He has a brother who lives in Denver (Christian Morningsong is two years younger and a hermetic mage) and a sister who lives in Rio, Brazil(Maria Morningsong is the youngest and is attending law school) Since living in California he has found ways to contact both to let them know he is ok. He has had success as a mainly freelance operative for private interests. He has done work as an investigator, personal protection and good old fashion B&E. He has made somewhat of a name for himself in the Cal freelance market, he goes by the handle “Santi” for shadow-work. Colonel Dawkins is still in command of the Sioux Tactical Scouts, and has yet to call in that favor.


Comments are appreciated.

Aaron

Yeah.
Not a bad background.
Could maybe do with a bit about before the military.
Like how his parents died etc.

But I like what you've got already.

That's actually a pretty cool way to transition from military to shadows. I like it.

I like the way this guy ended up in the shadows quite a bit. What confuses me is the dead parents. Dead parents are old hat all around. Even if they're not killed by some antagonist, a 25 year old man's parents probably aren't going anywhere any time soon without some kind of unnatural causes. Hell, I'm 25, and my mother is tougher than I am. She'll probably outlive me.

Furthermore, having parents can make for some entertaining downtime, or even in-game, activities. Remembering Mother's and Father's Day and birthdays, laying down cover stories, having to postpone or turn down a job because you have dinner with them on Sundays or you have to be at your sister's wedding. One of my characters once almost botched a run because his rather overbearing mother called him in the middle of it.

So, my constructive criticism for you and players at large is, "stop killing parents off left and right." Given the prevalence of dead parents in 2050-2070, you'd think you were living in Logan's Run. Having a family can be very fun, roleplay-wise, especially with a good GM. I highly recommend trying it out.

you guys have a point about the dead parents thing. by not doing a "you bastards killed my parents thing" i still made a "my parents are dead thing".....why no parents? simple habit, i have had two different gms who think parents make good hostages, like that would REALLY work in RL, most people would be like, "damn thats half a mill in life insurance your threatening, no no please dont, *wink* *wink*

anyway ill have them be retired in florida types who play bridge and shuffle board

I dunno... I'm kind of attached to my parents To each their own, I guess.

that was a heavy bit of sarcasm

you can tell if im being sarcastic because my lips are moving, or my fingers of moving anyway

Aaron

^__^

I can't agree with Geekkake enough here. Real friends and relatives (not even contacts, just folks) go a long way to making a character feel more real.

Plus there's nothing quite like that moment when you've exhausted all your groups regular resources after pissing off someone important and your stone cold killer street sammy stands meekly shuffling his feet in the hallway as his mama chews him a new one for not visiting more often. Yeah, its a kind of cliche, but at least it's a fun cliche.