I will soon be playing in a game with a hermetic magician character; formerly a trauma surgeon, now a street doc/shadowrunner. His magical and other wise skill set is set around medicine and coercion manipulation, with his primary motivation the acquisition of power (think Dr. House crossed with Raistlin).
Obviously personal power is straight-forward enough to plan for and come by (magical Initiation, obtaining foci, and so on), but what I'm looking for is ideas on how to extend power and influence. Setting himself as someone with control over others in a fashion beyond simply controlling a local street gang or chop shop. My vision is that the character sees money/equipment as a means to an end, and not an end in and of itself (e.g. get rich, cover your tracks, retire on some island somewhere). I'm realistic that any scheming or planning won't be the focus of the campaign, but I'm interested if anyone has ideas of what a magically-inclined character with dreams of being the one pulling the strings in The Grand Game might invest his time/money/influence/contacts in.
I realize its a severely open-ended statement