In the deepest, darkest heart of the Redmond Barrens, there is no law or civilization. In fact it's fair to say that complete anarchy reigns there. It is Survival of the Fittest magnified, exaggerated, perverted, and turned into an untamed, slavering beast. The denizens of this shameful, blighted wasteland have adopted various survival strategies. Some band together for protection or for plunder. And some others adopt a feral, "whatever it takes" mindset from childhood, figuring that it is their strength and ability to impose their will on others that allows them to make it in this world.

Dennis Rend, a.k.a. "Scar" is one of those. He was born to troll parents, but even his parents succumbed to the torments of the Barrens. From an early age he learned to fight - and kill - for whatever he needed to survive. Since there is no food in the Barrens he learned not to be picky; he simply ate whatever was nearby, be it devil rats or other metahumans. He has more than once fought ghouls over a corpse in order to merely sustain himself, becoming in some regards more ghoulish than the infected of the area.

He attained a massive size from a fortuitous combination of racial phenotype and having perservered through innumerable tests thrown at him during his lifetime in the Barrens. This enabled him to weather most storms and survive attempts to take his life and turn him into prey. He does, however, bear many scars along his body, especially on his face, which is heavily lined and distorted from years of trauma.

Having such an affinity and familiarity with carrion, he soon bumped into area organleggers and Tamanous operatives. Rather than squander such a resource as Scar, they enlisted him both for his lack of restraint, his skill set, and his knowledge of anatomy. He would routinely find fresh meat for the organleggers and deliver bodies to them in return for food and other goods. When they began giving him money in the form of credit in a shadow bank account, Scar then began leaving the dangerous inner Barrens and exploring the outside city.

He still ekes out a meager existence, but he has been getting advances on his "deliveries" to Tamanous, which enabled him to obtain some low-grade cyberware. Meanwhile, he has started to see that there is a larger world with greater opportunities in the city beyond the Barrens, and his sights are now set higher.

He doesn't fit in with this newly discovered world, and he has found himself at odds with a more polite and civilized society that looks poorly on his... "methods." For the first time in his life he is having to practice restraint when out among others... But what others cannot see, they cannot know...

Background

Character Sheet

Gordon Baum likes to make out like he's some sort of "bad seed," a young man thrust into a life of mediocrity who dared to rebel and break free and, doing so, found self-actualization. In truth, Gordon is less a bad seed, and more a jaded brat with a sense of entitlement and self-worth far greater than he deserves.

Born into a fairly well-off Evo family--mother is a researcher for the Red Star line of biomods, father is an engineer in Evo's Everett Naval yards--Gordon was raised in Yamatetsu-sponsored schools, was scouted by Evo's talent scouts, and took Evo's Career Qualification Placement tests. It was during one of these tests that it was discovered Gordon was actually a latent magician, a late bloomer who finally came into his ability in his late teens.

What also bloomed late was a teenage sense of rebellion, which--not coincidentally--increased as Gordon's control over his magic grew. But in an age of cybernetic eyes and custom-grown organs, earrings and tattoos just aren't as shocking anymore. So Gordon showed his teenage disillusionment by talking about maybe not working for Evo when he got older; maybe Horizon would be a better fit? And maybe he didn't want to be a mage; but this ego-gratifying, Ayn Rand-inspired LaVeyan Satanism sounded interesting...

But even that wasn't enough to really shock his parents. And Gordon--who acts out for the attention more than any real conviction--decided that if they weren't going to notice him when he was home, maybe they would notice him when he was gone.

So Gordon--now calling himself Heka Stanton--is on his own. He sees himself as a hardcore street mage, the type you see in the sims; nevermind that his gear is all pristine and he drives a car purchased with his parents' cred not long before he split. In fact all of his rapidly-dwindling money was leeched from his parents' accounts, although he at least had the foresight to have it all transfered to a fake SIN to prevent them from tracking him. Although he isn't sure if they actually are.

He hits the clubs, buys his drugs, and looks glamorous while doing it. That's what matters, right? Never mind that the roughest streets he's ever hit are the nicer areas of Touristville. Heka thinks he's King Shit--and within five minutes of actually being on the streets he's going to realize how delusional he's been.

The real problem though--aside from his insufferable, self-serving attitude--is that his magical ability is still forming. The indulgent Black magician disguise is just as much a pose as anything else; he latched onto it for shock value, and because in many ways it resembled the Hermetic formulae he was already studying. But someday he might grow out of his youthful individualism and become someone more mature; but has this Tradition imprinted on his soul? If so, will rejecting the philosophy affect his Talent? Sometimes he lies awake and these thoughts dance in his mind, half-formed.

Name: Gordon Baum, "Heka Stanton"
Dwarven Black Magician
Age: 22

DWARF - 25 BP
ATTRIBUTES - 180 BP


SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES - 30 BP


SKILLS - 94 BP


KNOWLEDGE SKILLS - 21 free, 14 BP


QUALITIES - +5 Net BP


MAGIC - 25 BP


CONTACTS - 10 BP, 10 free


GEAR - 27 BP, 135,000 (133,995 spent)


EDIT: Ten free Contact points let me do some editing. Removed eleven BP from Contacts, and erased Privileged Family Name quality for not fitting concept. Sixteen BP: Bought one dot Assensing, -4 BP. Bought R3 Sustaining Focus, -3 BP. Converted remaining 9 BP into nuyen to purchase Focus and additional gear. (backup commlink, change of weapon)