Born in San Francisco, California Free State, to a lower-middle class family consisting of a white UCASian father, Aztlaner mother, and two brothers. He grew up in the shadow of the Imperial Japanese Marines, a military force ment to protect CalFree but cared little for a non-japanese people and assets such as him and even less for any non-human citizen within California. Like any decent youth, he returned such disdain in kind and became a bit of a troublemaker, defying any japanese authority when he could.

For the most part it was rather uneventful up until the year 2061 when the Ring Of Fire came to pass and the Japanese Diet decided to recall all troops deployed into foreign areas, which led to the day General Saito refused this order and decide annex California for himself. While Cesar was mostly overlooked by this regime due to being human, even he felt the oppression by strict curfews and constant raids within once peaceful neighborhoods. In little time, Cesar had joined one of the small resistance cells within The Bay area, doing small things such as sabotage and stealing supplies until Ares Macrotechnology, Mothers Of Metahumans, along with various freelance pirates and shadowrunners gave the needed muscle to take the fight to the Imperial Marines.

With General Saito more or less brought down by the late 2060's and things starting to wind down, Cesar was not exactly given free food and home alongside the liberation of his city. Life was moving on just as sure as the former regime and he needed to make ends meet, but wasn't exactly corp material. The choices narrowed down to one of the few locale non-union occupations: Smuggling and piracy. After only a couple years however, Cesar was caught and arrested transporting drugs by some newly emplaced security corporation who had been tightening up the old blind spots within The Bay area.

During his incarceration, Cesar met and befriended an orkish hacker and sometime identity forger named Dan Levitan whom authorities had managed to bring in on a technicality. After some time the two devised a plan to get out of prison; using some friends on the outside Dan would have some false paperwork sent to the prison office that would pardon the two, meanwhile Cesar would drive them both far away using a car Dan hacked. In 2069 the plan went into action and, perhaps unbelievably, it all actually worked and they were almost at the border of the Pueblo Corporate Council before the authorities realized their mistake.

The two made haste to get as far away from California Free State as they could, before stumbling upon the upcoming Tempo trade coming out of Caracas. It wasn't long until they had relocated to the city to set up shop, with Dan doing freelance matrix work while Cesar went back to his old trade of smuggling. However, that was when it was going strong. Now, with crackdowns bearing down on the Olaya Cartel, things are once again looking uncertain for Cesar.

Attributes


Skills


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Contacts


Resources

DOB: 2021



Dexter is old. Or at least, he is getting old. Had his life being that of your average corporate Joe, he would either currently be at the very prime of his time, or contemplating early retirement with a fat pension.



But it isn't the case.



Dexter might not exactly be old, but he is surely feeling so. By the time they reach his age, those that thrive in his line of work are usually one of two things: retired on some tropical island with more money then they'd ever need, or dead. Either by some incredible turn of luck, or because he literally has been cursed, Dexter is neither of those. He hasn't gloriously died for his country. He hasn't made the very last stand for freedom, holding back the odds until his last clip was dry. He hasn't caught some random stray bullet. He hasn't given his life for a noble cause or any of the ideals he believes in. No. Dexter has survived. His friends. His comrades. His brothers in arms. His squad mates. Every single one of them is dead now.



The screaming Drill Sergeant at Paris Island.

His bunk mate during basic.

All the Commanding Officers.

All the NCOs.

Every single last on of them.

Everyone is dead.



Dexter might be old, and he also might be tired. But not matter how tired and old he'll ever be, the man will always be a soldier. Even when most of what make him a human being will be gone, he will remain a soldier.



It would be a rather obvious cliché to state that Dexter started his life when he joined the CAS Marine Corps at 18. Like every single human being, he started his life by being born. Contrary to a lot of people you'll find out there, creeping around in the shadows, Dexter wasn't born in the UCAS, or CAS, or in any of those “new” country. Dexter Pope was born in a place that doesn't exist anymore, beside inside his head. He was born in 2021, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. Actually, he was born a little outside of New Orleans, in a small farming community. By the time he was old enough to get beatings from his drunken old man, the USA was in shambles, the family business wasn't fairing quite well, and redskins were causing all sorts of havoc. As much as the First Crash barely hit them, in 2029, the formation of the CAS was a whole other story.



One thing Dexter had a lot of, beside beatings from his dad, were brothers; all older. And all of them had escaped the family life, as soon as they had been able to, by joining the armed forces. When what was left of the different branches had to pick which side they would stay on, most of Dexter's brothers left for the UCAS. The others ended up fighting in Texas, and all laid their life down to defend their newly formed country. For a whole summer, working with his dad and having dropped out of school, young Dexter contemplated what he would do with his life. He sure as hell couldn't stay on the farm much longer, or he'd end up killing his father in a fit of rage. As soon as he was old enough, Dexter enlisted in the Marine Corp. That was in 2038; over 30 years ago.



Fresh out of boot camp, the young Dexter was placed, like about 90% of the country's military assets, near the Aztlan/CAS border. For the first two years, Dexter saw very little action, until things started to flare up along the border. Nothing was ever publicly disclosed, but by 2040, skirmishes with the Azzies became almost daily occurrences. They would test them, and in return, they'd try to sneak in as far into Texas as they could. But it still wasn't much. At least, it wasn't what Dexter had envisioned when he had enlisted. He wanted action. He wanted adventure. He wanted to make a difference and to take the fight to the enemy’s door.



His time to shine finally came through when he was hand picked to be part of a multi-branch unit. Along with Special Forces soldiers, Dexter was sent deep inside Azzie occupied Texas to train militias and provide a little more firepower than they had. And he did exactly that; he covertly tagged and bagged a lot of Azzie troopers, up until his unit was called back to CAS soil.



Back in New Orleans, in early 2046, Dexter met a then student and waitress at a local bar; Sue Morgan. Cute, smart and most of all single. When Dexter's extended leave was over, and his unit redeployed, Sergeant Pope was not only married, but also had a baby girl; Catherine. From the swaps of Louisiana, Dexter found himself waist deep in jungle mud, as he became quite personally acquainted with Colombia... and how he could help their guerrilla fighters push back both Aztlan and Amazonian's forces. Dexter's unit, now “officially” disbanded, stayed in South America for three years, hopping from one covert assignment to the next, taking part in missions that still wake Dexter at night; doings things to people that still plague his nightmares. Dexter's last mission, as part of that covert unit, took place in 52, when a shard from a mortar shell ripped about three quarter of his right arm off, knocking him unconscious and, apparently to his squad mates, dead and gone. What did bring Dexter back to his senses, a few days later, were the rats gnawing at him. They had eaten through most of what was left of his arm, and taken a good bits of his right eye. Miraculously, Dexter survived and when the fighting died off a bit, was rescued and extracted back to mainland CAS. It took Dexter a long time to heal, and not just physically. Most of the scars from his trip down in South America are still quite there. Most of the ghosts still haunt him to this day.



In 2053, the Pope family grew faster than expected: Sue gave birth to twins: Emma and Arthur. Sue had now been out of college for quite some time, and taken up a job with mid size law firm in New Orleans. She was making more than enough money to support the now growing Pope family. For the next two years, Dexter did very little but heal; taking extended leaves, going fishing, training new Marine Recruits. He also spent his time at home, taking care of his son and two daughters, getting acquainted with the new chromed part of his body.



By 2058 all was well with the Pope family. Catherine was on her way to high school, and the twins were just starting 1^st grade. Dexter had just come back from a 8 months stints doing black ops in the Caribbean League, mostly Haiti, when he decided to take the twins to the local mall. A good friend he had met in Port Au Prince, Maurice Raine, was due in town the next day and the twins had nothing fancy to wear. Sue had been working late every single day of the week. Giving his wife some well deserved rest, Dexter took Emma and Arthur with him. Until today, Dexter doesn’t know what happened, or how.



To this day, Sue hasn’t forgiven him. To this day, neither has he.



As Emma, energetic and giddy as usual, pulled him toward a store, Arthur’s hand slipped from his father’s. It lasted barely a few seconds, but it was all it took. His back turned to his son for the briefest of moment, and he was gone. Footage from security cameras revealed nothing. One second, Arthur Pope was standing right there, and then he wasn’t.



From that day forward, something died inside Dexter. Something died inside Sue. After months spent in anxiety, fear and anger, the police finally gave up. Told the Pope they should grieve and put it behind them. From that day forward, there was nowhere to go for Dexter but down. He began to drink. He began to take unwarranted risks on the job. He became an unreliable loose canon of a soldier; the sort of operator no one wanted on their op.



When the summer of 2060 swung around, Sue had filed assault charges on Dexter, and the divorced procedures had started. Taking the girls with her, Sue moved to Seattle and remarried within the year. Dexter disappeared in Yucatan, doing his best to die as a mercenary on some forgotten battlefield. By 2062, Dexter Pope was already making himself a name as a reliable gun for hire… who wasn’t afraid of death.



In the grueling heat of the summer of 2064, down on his luck, with no money left and nothing holding him together, Dexter was approached by a man called Morris. No first name. No origin. No reason for being in Aztlan. Dexter knew nothing about him, but Morris knew everything about Dexter. Details about missions he’d been on; missions that had never occurred. He knew about his comrades in arms, the people he had served with… people who didn’t exist anymore, people who had been zeroed out of the systems 15 years ago. He came to Dexter with information no one was supposed to have. Hung over, with nothing but the desire to put a bullet in his brain, Dexter considered breaking Morris neck right then and there. But Morris played his cards well, and he still does. He said “Sergeant Major Pope, we need you.”



Today, Dexter’s self destructive streak is still there. Although he hasn’t truly been able to put any of his past behind him, be it his actions or the disappearance of Arthur, he has decided to keep on living. If not for him, for his daughters at least. For the past 5 years, Dexter has been living in Caracas, making a grim living as a mercenary and a local “agency asset”.




Daughters


Catherine Pope (DOB 2047): 23

Emma Pope (DOB 2053): 17

Shepherd was born in Bristol in 2030. He took his A-Levels and joined the military to study veterinary medicine.
When he had finished university, Shepherd volunteered for humanitarian missions and served a tour of duty in Jerusalem and one in the Balkan States, where he took care of wounded explosives sniffer dogs.
Back home his patients were mainly dogs and horses. This was rather dull duty, so he once again volunteered to go abroad and was sent to Palestine once again.

But this time things were a bit different: During a routine checkup, he discovered that one of his patients carried an unusual, implanted microchip. Shepherd removed the chip and reported the incident.

When he woke up the next morning, he was lying in the streets with his clothes his only possessions. Once he figured out that he was in Caracas, he also found out something different: He had no money and (what was even worse) his SIN had been erased. His memories were fully intact, except for the 14 days between "the incident" (as he calls it) and his "arrival".

So he made the best out of the situation and put his abilities into the service of anyone who was able to pay him for his services (or the remnants of other patients). In the following two months he also worked as on-site backup for shadowrunners and landed in a fixer's register. This fixer also gave him a fake SIN, good enough to be able to move in the city more freely, but not good enough to leave the city.

Alfredo Lopez

Brief Background Overview


Character Sheet

Beep....beep....beep....

A steady rhythm. A precise timepiece until the end of the world. A finite number of sounds. When the clock stops, so will she.

A year, the doctor told her. Perhaps two. There was a hole in the heart, grown large, the doctors said, by risk, genetics, and hard celebration. Replace the heart, and things may change. As it stood, they wanted her to stay within a clinic. Bedridden. Wasting. An ignanimous end to an illustrious life.

Beep...
They had already done what they could, but without leading a life of SIN it was caught too late. That was the risk one took in the shadows, flitting from one game to the next. That was life - that should have been life in Aztlan before she left, and that is what her life turned into.

Beep...

Before the Crash, before the cancer, she was Sonora - the only way anyone could get her name. Dozens of false identities, thousands of nuyen won and lost on the right smile at the right time. A friendly touch on the arm translated to paydata for whatever team she was attached to. A whisper in the right ear gave access, and Sonora was good at it. Her signature was a small box wrapped in a red silk ribbon. The box wasn't the signature, however - it was the ribbon itself. Those who opened the box usually found nothing, or perhaps a note that simply said 'Thank you.'

It was as if she trained her whole life for the con, what little of it there truly was. The Aztechnology tutors said she had a vocal talent that few could - with the proper training, she could be influential. A politician. She could sway the masses to the Aztechnology line, and make them proud to be citizens.

It was not meant to be for her. She took the training, and disappeared at the earliest opportunity. There was no adventure in politics. She did not want to be beholden to a corp.

Beep...

She had known the risk even then, before the Crash. The Azzies had told her, trying to tie her to the company. What she didn't blow on parties, clothes, and finery she tied away on various accounts, awaiting the magic number for the operation to replace her heart, to make her whole. A broker told her of Novatech's IPO - and how she could not only have the operation to fix her heart, but enough that she would only have to run for the thrill, that her money would be secure and she could live in luxury for her newfound long life.

It was a roll of loaded dice, the broker had told her. A no-doubt proposition. Fate was smiling on them, he said. Fly to Caracas, and the doctors would start the process to grow a new, whole heart. It would be crafted free of defect, virtually no chance of rejection. A miracle of modern science.

She had landed in Caracas and was checking into her hotel when it happened. Chaos. Mayhem. After the smoke cleared, Jormungar had destroyed the Matrix and the AI Deus had 'died', she found her carefully counted nuyen was gone. As was her identity. Identities. All of them.

Beep...

The doctors were understanding. They gave her a biomonitor, and told her once she had the money again they would work quickly to restore her heart. They could not, however, do charity. For a small price, they could provide medications to prolong her life.

Only a pittance, they said.

By 2070, she had nearly given up hope. All of her money went to the medications, and they didn't seem to be slowing the decay of her heart.

The time for healing, she feels, has passed. Now it is time to bring Sonora back into the minds of the shadow community, so she would be remembered for what she was and is. It was time to play the big game, the last game. When she reached Heaven, she could perhaps convince God to send her back.

Beep...Be-be-beep...Be-

Until then, it was time to leave her mark.

Race: Elf Magic: Adept, Social
Body: 2 Agility: 3 Reaction: 3
Strength: 2 Charisma: 7 Intuition: 3
Logic: 4 Willpower: 3
Edge: 2 Magic: 6
Initiative: 6 Essence: 6

Positive Qualities: - 15 BP
Perceptive II (+2 dice to Perception tests)
Adept

Negative Qualities: - 30 BP - 10 BP = -40 BP
Borrowed Time (Congenital Heart Disease)
Signature (The red silk ribbon)

Active:
Pistols 3
Blades(Knife) 2 (+2)
Escape Artist 1
Leadership 2
Con(Impersonation) 5 (+2)
Negotiation 4
Etiquette 3
Palming 3
Perception 5
Disguise 3

Knowledge:
Fine Cuisine 2
Crook Hangouts 2
Art 1
Current Events 3
Bars 3
Fine Restaraunts 2
Coffee 1

Languages:
Spanish: Native
Sperethiel 3
English 3
Portuguese 1

Enhanced Perception 3 (+3 to perception checks I KIN SEE) (.75)
Kinesics 3 (+3 dice to social tests, hurr hurr) (1.5)
Voice Control (Just awesome. Cha + Con!) (.25)
Commanding Voice (Make a forceful command, screw folks up) (.25)
Cool Resolve 3 (+3 to Social defense) (.75)
Pain Resistance 1 (+2 to pain resist tests, ignore 1 box of damage) (.5)
Natural Immunity 1 (+1 die for resisting toxin/diseases) (.25)
Facial Sculpt 3 (+3 to disguise) (.75)
Eidetic Sense Memory (I SEE ALL. I REMEMBER ALL. I REMEMBER YOU SMELL LIKE CHERRIES.)(.5)
Iron Will 1 (+1 resist for mind control) (.25)

Julio Santana (Loyalty 2, Connections 1)
A bartender at Julio's, a dive bar in Caracas. Sonora is a regular, and he prefers her company as she (at times) will soothe the savage beasts that normally inhabit his place of business. Occasionally, he knows a glimmer of information - or barring that, who might know the information she wants.

Carmen "Bunny" Santiago (Loyalty 3, Connections 1)
A streetwalker. I know, I know, the name. She's Sonora's best friend, and coincidentally her roommate. They're the same dress size and occasionally Bunny will borrow an outfit if she needs to make rent by the end of the month. Sonora helps her with her makeup, and how to handle a knife in case her Juans get too frisky. Secretly, she wants to be an actress on Telemundo.

Sergei Andreyovitch (Loyalty 1, Connections 3)
A Russian arms dealer, Sergei is a strange one. Usually wearing old Soviet-style uniforms with an ermine coat over it, he is prone to flamboyant displays of greeting, sharing stories over a bottle of vodka (or the finest mescal, when in Rome) and having a reputation of getting you something similar to what you ordered within 24 hours, no questions asked. If you can wait, he can get you what you ask for. If you can't, that motorcycle you were hoping for might be a pink Dora the Explorer bicycle, complete with training wheels. In his defense, he figures it's something the cops will never be looking for.

NodePhreak (Loyalty 2, Connections 3)
They say that hope springs eternal. NodePhreak is an example of that saying, as he's fervently hoped Sonora will go out with him for years now. A hacker and who she goes to when she needs a quality short-term forgery (emphasis on short, he's a halfer, get it?), he trades these wonders of modern technology for chaste kisses, bottles of Jarritos, and the hope someday it will be more. He'll never man up and ask her, and they both know it. Probably better for him anyway.

Sister Mary Magdalena de la Communion de Cristo (Loyalty 2, Connections 4)
Sister Mary of the Convent de la Communion de Cristo is, as one would surmise, a nun. She is beatific and serene in her years, and she is always happy to sit and talk over a cup of Abuelita (as she hates tea, it tastes like dirty water). Her convent, however, is not your typical convent. Sister Mary is Sonora's fixer, and she has been in the business for a long time. Nobody questions why the dregs go to this church (because it's a church), and why the church has money (they're Catholic, in some sense of the word).

Sonora, having hocked most of her gear over the years to pay for her medications, no longer has much left. She splits a doss with a streetwalker and only really has what she carries on her - a run of the mill commlink, an armor vest from bygone years, a Colt Manhunter in a concealed holster and a knife in her handbag, a pair of autopolarizing sunglasses, and her biomonitor. Her real money is in her clothing, having managed to maintain last year's fashions (about three years prior when they were noveau chic).

Actual gear:
Knife (2P)
Colt Manhunter (5P, AP -1, Laser Sight)
Concealable Holster
Various chic garments
Street-level garments, current cheap trend
Armor Vest
Sony Emperor running Renraku Ichi
Brose 1
Analyze 1
Edit 1
Encrypt 6
Scan 1
Stealth 3
Glasses
Biomonitor
Medical inhaler
Respirator, Rating 3
Heart medication, aerosol vector (1 month, approximately ten cartridges, 3 uses per cartridge)
Certified Credstick (silver)
Low Lifestyle, 1 month
650 nuyen remaining

Name: ???
Race: Elf

Description:


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Gear