P L A Y E R;NAME: Gil
AGE: 28
PLAYER JOURNAL: DolthalionTIMEZONE: GMT
CONTACT: PM on character account
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: None
C H A R A C T E R;NAME: Leo 'Earendil' Allen
CANON: Tabletop RP/Shadowrun
POINT IN CANON: 2074, midway through his current run.
AGE: 29
APPEARANCE: Play by is Avan Jogia. Tall and slim in an elegant, graceful way. As an elf, he has pointed ears and almond shaped eyes. He has long black hair, dark brown eyes and is of unidentifiable, very mixed race (as a Londoner descended from Londoners he has Indian, Chinese, Jamaican, Pakistani and white British roots, and that's just what he knows of in the four generations above himself to his great-grandparents). He has a very strict beauty regimen and normally keeps his beard clipped and shaped and his hair in a calculatedly scruffy bun. Clothing wise, he errs towards dark, well fitted and well made clothes, with blue or red as accents and with the potential addition of a flowing coat/scarf. He has an armoured coat for runs and a breathing mask that he wears outdoors out of habit due to the smog in London. He has no obvious cyberenhancements.
In the Matrix, where he appears as an avatar to his own creation, he appears as an elf from a fantasy novel of old. Although his features are still the same, everything as been enhanced to look just a little otherworldly. His hair is still long, but neatly flowing and loose, and he wears blue robes of vaguely asian origin. He carries a large, impractical broadswoard on his back, and has a glowing, evish 'aura'.
CANON HISTORY: Setting links:
WikipediaShadowrun WikiShadowrun is set in a near future where magic, and all the things associated with it, have reawoken in the world. Dwarves and elves are born to human parents, some humans find themselves 'goblinised' to orks or trolls, and dragons live among them, ruling nations and corporations. Magic floods the world again, co-existing with technology. This is a world where war and disease have ruined the old nations and mega-corporations have taken their place, where your computer can be hardwired directly into your brain, and where you can use technology to advance yourself beyond your physical means.
The world is divided into the (mostly) legal world of the mega-corporations, where there is wealth for those who can take it, but the company that you work for will own you, body and soul, and the illegal underground where Shadowrunners can be found to take on just about any job – so long as the price is right. (There is, of course, also the boring middle ground of ailing nation states, and the poor just trying to get by, but who cares about them, right? Certainly not the world that they live in).
Most things are recognisable from the world we know. The Matrix is the equivalent to the net: a virtual world of communication that can be entered three ways. Augmented Reality is the most common, and which most people use day to day: overlaying reality so that directions will appear before your eyes, so that pressing a door will open a popup giving you the details of the people who live there, so that you can point out that hot guy in the crowd to your friend without anyone else seeing the great neon arrow pointing at his head. Alternatively, you can enter the Matrix, on either a cold (no physical sensations other than sight and sound) or hot (completely immersed) sim. This is the preferred method for deckers, people like Leo who use a cyberdeck (a small, tablet sized computer). Once in the Matrix, a person is represented by a persona, an icon of their own choosing, and most electronic objects, anything with a chip in, will also be represented by an icon, along with any information stored there. Additionally, there are Hosts, locations created in the Matrix. These can represent something physically there in the real world – shops, or nightclubs, for example – or can exist only in the Matrix – the equivalent of social media, or Matrix storage for buisnesses. Some of these things are better defended than others, depending on who controls it, and how much money and/or experience they have.'
Personal history:
Leo is the only child of wealthy parents. His father owns a relatively small tech company (small enough not to be known outside of their specialisation, but large enough to have solid business connections in other countries), and his mother is the daughter of the owner of another: they both are worth enough for a more than comfortable life in an expensive world. Although he was born an elf to human parents, it was the last thing on his parents' minds as they finally held their longed for child. After a late start and several miscarriages they had almost given up hope.
Unsurprisingly, his childhood was golden: at home in London he was spoilt and pampered beyond belief. At school (and of course it was the best school around) he achieved above average grades but failed to make any strong friendships. Although he wasn't disliked or bullied, and certainly was never the last to be picked in any team games, he also was never the first; never the best friend, never invited into the secret club house. He did well enough in athletics; not well enough to carry it on, but well enough as a distraction, and encouraged to take on an additional extracurricular activity, found himself writing for the school paper, and then founding a company paper for his father's company.
At twelve he started to develop his own code on the Matrix. At fourteen he enjoyed fantasy books. At sixteen he discovered old world tech. At eighteen, he found he had no ambitions and no real drive for any of the university courses, internships or jobs suggested, pushed and then forced upon him by his school and then his parents. In the end, he took on a job at his father's company for something to do with his time after his education ground to a halt. For a couple of years he worked for them in various roles, eventually falling into cyber security. He had been playing around with the Matrix for as long as he could remember, and it came almost as second nature to protect the online aspect of the company.
And then, abruptly, he decided he was going to run away with the fairies. Or, technically, run to the elves. Caught up in the romantic ideal of the 'elven homeland', he left his parents for the first time and made his way to Tir an NÓg, the Irish land of the elves, in the hope that he would find himself amongst those of his own kind. But once there, he once again found himself an outcast: too human in this place where he had been to elven in the human world. Although he stayed there for over a year and a half he struggled to make any real connections, and finally he gave up and returned to his parents where (he reasoned) he could at least enjoy their wealth and live in comfort.
He took up working for his father again, and once he had bolstered his savings, moved out, taking on a nice apartment in Shoreditch that was not too far (but far enough) away from his parents home. From there he began writing a blog and picked up the company paper again along side. One of his articles about the Matrix was picked up by an online publisher and he soon found himself selling his work with surprising ease for one with so little drive. Encouraged by his parents he continued, and after a few false starts found a fairly comfortable place, writing part time and picking up the money for the rest of his bills by working a few days a week for his father.
His first run he found himself on almost by accident. He was researching a company, and one lead led to another until he found himself working along side a dwarf who was on an recon mission for another company. They parted ways amiably; the dwarf with her payment, and Leo with his story, but when she was on another run she asked for his help and offered to split the payment with him. Leo found it a useful source for stories (and a very handy supplement to his income) and continued, establishing his own connections in the shady underworld and hoping to any deity that could hear his prayer that his parents would never find out. After a few runs, she found herself a group that Leo never fitted into, and ever since he's been working alone, or as a decker for hire.
He's known as the man to find tightly controlled information, or as the man to release something that was meant to be kept under wraps. He knows which publisher to take what information to and who wants to know what. However, he's also known as knowing the price of everything, almost to the word, and it's true. He has a lifestyle to live up to, after all. He's known the taste of real wine, and why shouldn't he consider himself above anything else? The only dampener on his life is trying to keep the legal and illegal parts separate. It doesn't help that his parents are the very definition of helicopter parents – phoning more or less every day and dropping by on a regular basis. After all, he is still their beloved golden child, even as he creeps towards his thirties. They are also beginning to feel the creep of age, and they long to see him settled down with a wife (or husband) and child. Their own very intense desire for a grandchild is nothing to do with this, honest! They were very disappointed when he returned from Tir an NÓg without a partner and ever since have been encouraging him with more and more desperation. These days Leo always has to be weary when invited anywhere by them: he can never be entirely sure that it isn't some plot to try and set him up with someone. Sadly for his parents, he has as little desire to form a relationship as he does most other things in his life, and while he treats the endless parade of friends' daughters (and sons, and cousins, and neighbours' children and pretty much anyone that they think they can get away with) politely, there has never been anyone that he has felt any desire at all to meet again without their meddling.
Leo's current run began very much as normal: he was sent to 'influence' the vote of a politician, and to report back what he would be voting before the vote took place. The house was particularly well guarded, but he didn't find that too suspicious, having first hand experience with how paranoid rich people can be. He broke in, but found the house eerily and suspiciously empty. Further examination found a secret basement, and his caution led to him being cornered in a deep basement by a pack of ghouls.
In the hope of finding a way out, he entered the Matrix and found himself in a sim set up to replicate 2050s Germany, and caught up in the run of a couple of shady characters, Doc and Malicia. Looking for someone to protect him against the ghouls waiting for him on his return to the world he convinced them to follow him back through to the real world, where Doc found himself unwillingly implanted into the body of a young girl. In their attempt to escape, Doc managed to find the politician – now a ghoul - and rip the comlink (the equivalent of a mobile phone) from his hand, causing the vote to default, and inadvertently completing Leo's run.
Leo led them out of the mansion and away to a hotel where they could stay, but sensing the start of a story in the sim that they had been in left them with a way to contact him under the pretence of helping Doc back to his own body. However, before he could get headway on working that out, Malicia contacted him for help on a run – she and Doc needed to sort out money before anything else. Leo agreed, needing to keep in contact so he could find out more about the sim and they agreed to meet the Johnson together to find out more...
CANON PERSONALITY: At first appearances, Leo is nothing more than a trustfund kid who uses the Matrix as an overgrown toy. He was spoilt as a child (and as a teenager, and as a young adult...) and is not very good at looking after himself outside of his parents' home. He employs a housekeeper to make sure that his flat isn't too shocking, as his parents drop by often enough to check up on him, and she makes sure that his fridge and freezer have a couple of good homecooked meals stocked for him so that he doesn't entirely live off restaurant food, takeaways, and baked beans. The only time he's really had to look after himself was when he was living in the land of the elves in Tir an NÓg, and that didn't go so well. Unsurprisingly, given his parents could afford a good school and tutors where needed, Leo did well enough at school, but he is intelligent that he could skate through with very little effort involved – at least up until he quit at 18. Had he continued to university he would have found himself having to work to keep up. Like most people, he does best at the subjects that he enjoys, and his best grades were in languages, English and IT.
Although he is naturally charismatic, he actually has a fairly low score for an elf (4/7, where elves start at 3 as a race bonus). He is generally calm and controlled, although he can be caught off guard, and when that happens he does appear to wear his emotions on his sleeve. This really is just first reactions, though, and they will quickly pass by, leaving little evidence that they were there once he gets himself under control again. He certainly isn't one to hold grudges, and that has worked against him in the past where he has misjudged how much his own past deeds are held against him. Leo finds it easy to initiate conversations, and will never struggle for a lack of small talk, but finds it harder to establish meaningful relationships beyond there. He has no real cause, and can appear to be a bit of a floater, with no real tie to anything. The only things he's been known to have real attachments to are his parents, his housekeeper and his technology, and his parents force the attachment by phoning or popping round on a regular basis. Although he can stand out in a crowd and can make excellent first impressions, he finds it hard to follow through, and will often struggle after that. Establishing relationships is fine; he just finds it hard to maintain them, instead moving on to the next opportunity that offers itself to him. Fortunately, in this regard he has been lucky, and his charisma is enough that he can push for the next opportunity with ease. Although he has enough contact to prevent him from feeling lonely, he has never found anything that fulfilled him, and he is still searching for that, or for any sort of drive at all. He lives day to day, from one story to the next.
One thing that that he does actually have strong emotions about is technology. He finds companionship there that he doesn't with other people, almost to the point of obsession. Leo has been playing around in the Matrix for as long as he can remember and finds it easy and intuitive to work with, enjoying both the rush of escaping the security in the Matrix and the intricate work unpicking cyberlocks to steal hidden information. He is something of a hoarder of old world technology, and especially loves analogue equipment. He collects tapes, Betamaxs, and can develop film. He enjoys taking things apart to work out how they work, but isn't so successful at rebuilding them (he is, after all, a decker and not a rigger). It doesn't help that his attention is fleeting, and he'll often abandon one project for the next. He is fortunate that he's always had the funds to sustain his shifting attentions, and isn't aware of how spoilt he is. He does, however, believe that he is better than some people. It might not be their fault that he's better than them, that they're not as unique, or as educated, or as talented as he is, but the fact is still there as far as he's concerned. While it isn't something that he shoves in people's faces, sometimes glimpses of it will still come through while he's interacting with people. It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to call him a filthy hipster. He will more than happily wax lyrical to those who will listen about the superiority of his old world hobbies over current fashions. The only 'good' side to his materialism is that he has no attachment to then things that he owns, and has been known to give away expensive items with ease (with the very notable exception of his cyberdeck). For example, at one stage he decided he should learn to play the guitar, but gave up after a few weeks. His housekeeper mentioned that her grandson wanted to learn to play one time and he gifted her the expensive guitar that he had brought without a second thought. After all, it was lying around unused. Equally, he has a tendency to buy real food because it looks good, but is unable to cook it, and he lets her take anything that's unused indiscriminatingly, despite their very expensive price tag.
Unsurprisingly, when it comes to fighting, he is just as slippery. He definitely relies on stealth rather than head on fighting. Perhaps the real example of this is in the magic that he has found it necessary to learn: he is able to use magic to tell truth from lie, and also to mask his face so that he can appear as someone else. He is very agile, but hasn't got a lot of firepower, preferring to shoot from afar than get close enough to be caught in close combat (or, ideally, not to get caught in fighting at all). He is definitely aware of his status as a squishy elf. This also applies while in the Matrix – he would always rather go for the sneak attack rather than fly in and draw attention to himself. On the flip side, he isn't afraid to sell his strengths to those who need to know. And he can appear proud at times. After all, why shouldn't he boast about his tried achievements as a decker, both legal and illegal (although fortunately he has enough common sense to know where which should be boasted – literally; he has the advantage of 'common sense'), or about his abilities as a journalist or as a seeker of information? He has nothing there to hide, aside from the legal/illegal divide.
In reality, Leo isn't quite sure what or who he is. He was born an elf, but to human parents. He is used to a life of luxury, but idealises a world of poverty. He longs for the simplicity of the past but loves the futuristic technology of his world. Despite his age, he is still soul seeking, and has a long way to go before he will be able to say that he has truly found himself. He has convinced himself there's something more to life, but can't quite work out what it is that he should be looking for. Perhaps it is that that he's really looking for on all those journalistic runs: perhaps in finding all the deepest darkest secrets of the corporations of London he'll somehow find his own hidden secrets and strengths. But nothing has surfaced yet; not even the idea that this might be all there is to him. After all, he's the main character of his own story, how could there not be some hidden asset to be found? He's looking for something deeper where there may not be something deeper to find. He believes one day that he'll find his true purpose, perhaps as a journalist, but perhaps as something else.
Overall, Leo is charismatic, calm and cautious, and yet curiously cold. He has no strong ambitions or ties, but can easily integrate himself on the surface. Just don't look any deeper: there's no proof that there's anything there to seek. After all, he is just a spoilt rich kid, and anyway, he hasn't yet found himself in a world where he doesn't quite fit in, either as his parents' son, or as the elf he thinks that he wants to be.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: After inflitrating, he will find little difference between Earendil the Decker on runs, to Earendil and/or Leo the infiltrator during jaunts. It is simply a mask acquired to complete a mission. As with everything else, it will fall off him like water off a duck's back when he has no more need for it. Make no mistake, it will be a shock the first time round, but after that he'll learn to accept it as he accepts any other task: something that must be done but that he doesn't carry on after the fact. While infiltrating he will still be charismatic and yet empty (with just a dash of nerdy), and ever seeking that cause that will drive him to become something more than what he is.
One thing that would be very interesting, would to be see if infiltrating outside of his experience of wealth and luxury will open his mind more to the struggles of others. He certainly won't think that it will before it actually happens: after all, he's seen the struggles of shadowrunners and he had to live a poor life at Tir an NÓg. He thinks that this is experience enough. Whether it will or not depends on how the jaunt itself happens and what happens to him, but either way I'm looking forward to the possibility of him starting to actually grow up.
Oddly enough liminal space will be a bit more of an ongoing problem for him: something that looks and acts very similar to the Matrix, but that he doesn't have the same control as he's used to in the Matrix. Not to mention that he's used to constantly being on the look out in the Matrix. It'll take more time to get used to that switch.
VETERAN?: No
ABILITIES: Leo's main abilities are as a decker: a person who uses a cyberdeck to access and hack the Matrix. He can get into places that he shouldn't on the Matrix, damage and control anything attached to it, and fight people and security that he comes across there. This is more than just cyber warfare: while in the Matrix you are neurologically attached to it, and fighting there can cause mental or physical damage depending on whether you are using a cold or hot sim.
In Shadowrun almost everything electronic is attached to the Matrix, either wirelessly or (much rarer) through an exclusive wired in network that can be only accessed by physically plugging into it. This means that he could access a gun being used to threaten a teammate and 'brick' it, overloading it so it becomes useless. He could access the control pad of a helicopter trailing him and send it else where – or cause it to crash. The door lock on a warehouse will open easily to him if he slips into the Matrix and breaks it there.
What he does best though is access hidden information. He is quick and subtle, and has enough experience to have a good idea to know where to start looking. As soon as you do something illegal on the Matrix, you have a matter of time before security teams find you. The more obvious you are, the quicker you are found. Leo likes to try and subtly sneak his way into hidden places before he's caught out (although that won't stop him trying brute force if nothing else works).
Fighting: he's rather useless at fighting, but he has taken up a gun to protect himself, because it's pretty suicidal to take on Shadowrunning without some form of protection. He's not a reliable shot, but he at least knows what he's doing with it. He also knows some basic defensive fighting moves. He's taken a self defence class or two, and bolstered it with some real life experience. He certainly isn't any sort of a threat to anyone, but at least he can walk the streets knowing that if push comes to shove he can sort of defend himself.
Languages: His native language is English, but he also speaks good elvish (4/6), and reasonable German (3/6)
He has a photographic memory (+2 dice mod to any memory task)
Magic: It's not entirely common for people to have magic in Shadowrun, and Leo's parents thought that he should learn to do something with it when they found that he was able to. They therefore hired a tutor, but unfortunately she didn't find much of a pupil in Leo who had already been lured towards the technical world of the Matrix. He did put a little more effort into learning when he was living in Tir an NÓg, but by that point he was never going to become a master magician, and it has fallen by the wayside again since.
To cast a spell, he must be able to see the target (or in the case of mask, touch them). It takes some time to prepare, and will drain him. The spells that he knows are:
Analyze Truth: when using this spell successfully he can tell whether or not the person he uses it against is telling him the truth (or what they believe to be true). It only works on people and not on documents or pre-recorded mediums.
Mask: when this spell is used successfully, the subject of the spell (which he must be physically touching when he casts) will assume a different physical appearance of his choosing. This is limited to something of the same basic shape and size of the original, but will alter voice, scent and any other physical characteristics, and also affects technological sensors (eg, thumb print/retina scanners)
INVENTORY: Breathing mask, armoured coat, cyberdeck (Novatech Navigator) and comlink, Ruger Super Warhawk (revolver) + ammo, a couple of credsticks, designer shirt, jacket and trousers, and expensive and comfortable shoes.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? I started playing Shadowrun from the German rulebook, played in English, and have only recently acquired an English rulebook. I've ended up playing a half/half sort of character, where his character sheet is half in one language and half in another, and I haven't yet gone through and figured out which parts don't cross over (and also some things that don't quite work due to language barriers). He may not quite match up with anyone playing either version of the game, so consider those parts AU.
M A R K S; JUSTIFICATION:Justice – I feel this sums Leo up pretty nicely. Intellect, analysis and logic are how he works the Matrix, distance is how he treats people, and he can be insensitive and curious at times too. Over all, I feel that this is the one where he hits most of the points with the most ease.
Chariot – well, he definitely has wealth down. He is also definitely ego-centrical and is proud and has a strong will. What he's lacking in is discipline and command.
The Hermit – If Leo was going to pick one for himself, this is what he would pick based on what he believes himself to be. He is convinced that he has hidden depths and that he is seeking them. There is some truth in the isolation/distance aspect to the hermit (in that he doesn't really allow people to get close to him), but the rest of it really is what he aspires to rather than what he actually is.
VETO: None
S A M P L E S; ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE: Oh, for fuck's sake... [
Earendil mutters, not caring that it'll be caught by his comlink.] I said left! [
This, louder, for the benefit of all of his temporary team mates.] That would, in fact, be the second
right, not the--
All right, all right, shut up. [
The troll samurai growls back, already reversing the truck. Better to cut in early than to allow the decker to continue telling her how wrong she is.]
I'd like to see you drive down these streets.And that's the reason why you're driving and I am sitting up here in the rain waiting for you to get to that bloody warehouse. Next left. [
Earendil fires back, watching their progress on his map. They're not that far away now, but it's more or less a straight run from here.] And keep on down there until there's a t junction, and then take the right. I'm going to break the lock so try not to get lost.
Yeah, fine, whatever.[
But Earendil's already jacking into the Matrix, tuning her out as he focuses on the task at hand. Leaving his meat body behind, he can no longer feel the cold and the rain and the cramp in his leg from his awkward hiding place on the roof; he straightens up elegantly dressed and perfectly poised, back in his own world. He's already dropped in to scope out the area, and he's positioned himself by the lock. He slaps his mark on it, a glowing star, and then gets down to work, convincing it that the truck that the rest of his team are driving has the permissions needed to get past.
What he hadn't counted on was one of his impatient coworkers shooting out the lock and the guard instead. The shock of the sudden attack throws him back out of the Matrix, head reeling from the dumpshock. It takes him a moment to recover and then - ]
What the fuck was that for? Can't you wait five bloody seconds for me to do what you fucking hired me to –
They were looking at us funny.[
Never work with children, animals, or fucking trolls. There's gunfire over the comlink – unsurprisingly, and Earendil sits steady as he continues his rant. There's not a chance of him getting involved with that.] Because I hadn't finished what I was doing yet! If you'd given me a chance –
How about we give you a chance to come down now and do some fucking work?[
Earendil growls into the mic, and for a moment considers just leaving them to clean up their own bloody mess, but he has a reputation to uphold, and besides. He has his own interests in the warehouse: the smuggled goods that the trolls are after should include a shipment of guns that he's been tracking, proof of a plot to blacken the name of a local company. He jacks back into the Matrix, and it doesn't take long to hunt down the gunfight by the door. He knows that the trolls are all carrying Colt M23s, so spotting the icon for a Cobra TZ-120, he marks it with brute force. It'll draw attention to him, but there's no time for subtlety in a gun fight. The owner of the gun can't be much of a professional because there's not really any protection aside from the usual and it doesn't take much for him too wreck the code before moving onto the next target.
When the fighting is over, he jumps down from the roof, joining the gang of trolls as they spill out of their truck and into the warehouse.]
Never woulda looked to an elf in a gunfight.No, most of us are intelligent to avoid them. [
Earendil holds his head high and strolls into the warehouse, ignoring the rest of the gang. He's had enough of this run, it's not going to be worth it whether or not this article takes off.] Now remember, if you find a crate marked Corex, I need to open it. [
He strolls off, into the warehouse, drawing a torch from his belt and flashing it across the boxes stacked there. He doesn't trust that the trolls can read, let alone actual respect him on this so he fully intends on finding it first.]
PROSE SAMPLE: Leo lies on his back in the sand and stares up at the bubblegum pink sky. It would be more inviting with floating hosts, he can't help but think. Homesick for the Matrix? Well, why not? He spends more of his time there than he does in the real world – or at least he used to. It was his working environment and his playground. And if nothing else it sucks that he's stuck forever in his meat body, forced to endure hair that will never be as beautiful and flowing as his persona's. Not that his meat body is that bad (he certainly takes care of it), but, well, you have to have something to aspire to right?
Mind you, at least there's no noise here. He could live quite happily without another flashing advert for the latest gambling host distracting him as he tries to work. And he's not had to hide one single singles host since arriving. Bliss.
Standing, he brushes the sand from his clothes, only to find that there is no sand on his clothes. What looks and feels like sand is, well, who knows in this place. Still, that's one positive at least. He begins walking aimlessly, letting the space lead him where it wants. Hopefully, though, it will lead him to other people. He knows that some people have learnt to manipulate this space and he needs to find someone willing to teach him. After all, he's smart, it won't be that hard, right? Admittedly it won't be code, but he's sure he'll manage. And hopefully that will make him feel a little more at home here. If nothing else, at least he'll be able to make it more comfortable. A comfortable life feels like the best thing to aim for, at least until he can work out what exactly's going on and whether he wants to (and/or it's safe to) get more involved than he is already.
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purplefluffychainsaw
