[OOC] Fear and Loading: A Tale of Cyberpunk Misadventures

[Hexaflexagon]

Fear and Loading

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_{T A L E}

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_{Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.
Richard M. Nixon}

The year is 2066 and the world has changed. As humanity marches ever forward into the 21^st century, the thin line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans continue to rely on the enhancements of cybernetics and robots are continually upgrade to become more and more life like. This web of connectivity grows vaster by the day as common day occurrences like the internet have become even more engrossing do to advances in neurological and virtual reality technologies, that have made the dreams of "cyberspace" closer to reality. Humanity seems to have arrived at a golden age of innovation and advancements as new tech is released everyday making the augmentation outdated within weeks, but social tensions continue to bubble beneath the shining exterior.

Following the burst of the American asset price bubble in the mid 2030s and the subsequent depression whose ripples felt as far from Topeka to Shanghai, humanity was left in something of a slump. Governments failed to reign in control as entire towns and cities fell into total anarchy. To combat such chaos many governments were forced to pass acts which allowed prosperous companies primarily large PMCs to reign the populace back into control - such as the Private Intervention Act of 2035 in the United States. When the chaos finally subsided these companies manged to retain much of their power and today they made no attempts to hide their "security forces". Most national governments have either collapsed or stayed as shadows of their former selves puppets used by the corporations to pass laws and judgement in their favor. As a result nearly thirty percent of people under the age of sixteen are unemployed and over a quarter of the world's population are considered homeless vagrants as urban sprawl has slowly consumed the land and destroyed peoples homes.

These corporations, these faceless entities moving in the shadows wage a quiet war against one another and it is not uncommon for everyday citizens to be caught in the crossfire of two different enforcer groups. Rebellions and protest are crushed as quickly as they are formed, the instigators vanishing into black bags slick with rain never to be seen again. But even these revolts few and far between don't cause many waves if any. The people have become complacent to what is now everyday life for them. You wake up in your corporation paid for apartment in your crappy tenement housing, you go to your corporation paid for job where you worked like a drone for most of the day and face the ever constant danger of being fired if you move two seconds too slow with that filing report, and then you come home to watch your television who constantly remained you whose in charge. And they don't question a thing because how could they?

But this world like any has a darker undercurrent. Those forgotten by the corporate society above. Deep in the ghettos and the back alleyways, a different world can be seen. Here is a land that no even the CEOs and officials don't dare to enter without armed escorts and vans with ten inch thick windows. Those homeless and without work scavenge for what little they could to survive. Most fell into one of the many street gangs that roamed the back alleys and stalked the roads on cyber cycles. Holding strong control on many more illicit dealings such as drugs, prostitution and, black market dealings. But even they are still subject to the wills of the powerful as many have become little more than puppets for the bigger corporations to deal with threats and monopolize on illegal trade. And it is not uncommon for some of the bigger corporations to have multiple gang leaders on their payroll.

This is where you come in. You aren't some corp with a three piece suit and a fancy open floor office space. You aren't the rough and tumbled mercs working with a 'Conflict Resolution Firm' taking on whatever dirty job as long as the pay is good. You are the slumrats, the unemployed, the junkies, and the vagabonds. Those that picked up the new brain augmentations because the memory recorders beat any drug high out there. You are the kid that went to film school only to end up as a garbage man. You are the rioters wanting jobs and a government that isn't just a puppet. The slums are you home and its people your family. You live by on what meager living you managing to squeeze out.

You and your friends have their world turned upside down when you managed to salvage a box of prototype neruo-chips from a car wreck on the outskirts of the slums. Chips that happened to be very valuable to very powerful people. Soon Corporations, PMCs and gangbangers alike are all trying to kill you for one reason or another.

Sound like fun yet?

_{D A T A B A S E}

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General world-building stuff for your reading pleasure. More will be added as we go on.

Technology

Technology in the world of 2066 is omnipresent. Without tech you get left behind in the dust, you yourself became outdated. Technology is everywhere from the self driving cars, virtual reality programs, rail guns and the rich being able to make genetically perfect babies through modifications and gene splicing prior to birth. But the most prominent of the new technologies are of course cybernetic augmentations. These augmentations were supplement by the boom in the robotics and biomedical fileds in the late 2010s and early 2020s. As robots became more lifelike and able to perform more complex tasks so did our own cyber limbs. But most people aren't big old walking destruction machines. Today's cyborgs are stylish and sleek. Cybernetics are designed to be streamlined for that high mover lifestyle. Whither it is a simple neurochip to make you better at judging stocks or cataloging files or hydraulic piston in your legs so that you can crush a man's chest with one kick. The man of today is defined by high tech living.

Cyberware and augmentations are in style it is what everybody does these days. For those that can afford it you will probably have at least a couple of enchantments to give you that edge. Maybe your eyes are the new EYE-SEEU model with the digital display and tainted crisis (neon blue is in this year). Everybody's got something because if you got nothing than you don't got any edge over the other guy. Some keep em internal with neruochips and responders built into the body hidden beneath flesh, but some go all out and start chopping limbs off to go forge to get the newest arm model. It's addicting, it's exciting and it's all the rage.

But it is here that people begin to run amuck of chances of becoming a so called "C-Freak". Basically since these augmentations link up directly to the brain eventually the brain becomes overloaded with stimuli and information and you snap and become a ravenous psychotic murder. The only way to combat the unset symptoms of becoming a C-Freak is to take a drug called Neurotop. Problem is Neurotop besides being highly addictive it is also very pricey to produce. Meaning that Corps are usually the ones that have possession of the drug to keep their armies of cybered up robocops from snapping and murdering them instead of the other guy. Neurotop can be found on the streets very rarely where it is marked up at about 1000x the market price and when the drug already costs a small relative fortune, meaning that unless you try and rob a Neurotop facility (which would be highly suicidal, since they have some of the best security in the world and even if you do make it out they will hunt you down and find you) most of the common day man has to continually play the game of will this next aug be the one that makes me snap?

Bots and Droids

Robots are pretty much common place these days. They pack crates, guard factories, cook your food, and clean your streets. Coming in a variety of shapes and sizes with 'dumb AI' being fitted into most of them allowing for semi-autonomous movement and control able to most basic tasks without any direct human oversight. Generally like the rest of the world the higher up in the food chain are the more shiny the robots are. Not that the slums aren't free of the creatures of course. In actuality there are probably more of them but where in the high rings of society they are streamlined models in the slums they are Frankenstein creations made of various contrasting parts merged together to keep them just running for another day.

Then you have the Androids. Where in general robots have become something of a common place, the idea of Androids still raises some level of controversy. The idea is simple enough it looks like a human, acts like a human, thanks to some new synthetic coverings even feels like a human but the thing is it aint' a human. It's a mesh of machinery which happens to contain a very smart computer that can replicate sentience with freighting accuracy. Generally they serve functions that most people wouldn't want to do. Falling nuclear reactor? Send in the androids. Bomb disposable? Send in the androids. Live weapons testing? Well you get the point at this point. This has raised some level of concern among certain activist groups who petition for greater android rights while talking about big ideas such as digital souls and the like. Right now though? There property not much else.

Drugs Drugs Drugs

You got uppers, downers, screamers of every variety under the rainbow. The biggest and newest craze hitting the world comes from Virtual Stimulation. Originally designed for rehabilitation and therapy purposes it wasn't long until some smart idiots at some university saw potential for something else. Using VS they record user experience everything from getting shot, running a marathon, to getting the best head of your life, hell even death if your into that shit and allow a user to experience all the sensations that the record user was able to. According to users it beats out any drug on the market. As a result the VS market is booming from every sector rich to low.

Weapons

On the surface weapon use is highly regulated by the Corporations. With most firearms, combat augmentations and advanced bladed weaponry being unable to be bought without the proper license. In reality its as easy as going to the corner store and asking for the special stock. A good Rigger and hacker have the ID locks on most weapons broken in minuets for the right price of course. Most people carry at least something to defend themselves as the world isn't generally that nice of a place. And to those that can't afford the price of admission. Well a good old fashion pipe or bat never really goes out of style.

The Belt

The main setting of the story.

The Portland-Miami Metropolitan Belt or the Belt as most people call is something else. Stretching across the entire span of the Eastern Seaboard of the Continental United States unopposed Urban Sprawl had unified the many metropolises into one super city stretching down the coast. A continual sprawl of concerted and steel stretching for miles without end. The Belt was one of the first true mega-cities to come into existence outside of China after the Private Intervention Act and stands as one of the most influential a thriving hub of business and cultural fusion. Tech in the Belt is always on the cutting edge even if the prices are a little high. A mix of cultures and high and low life styles where authentic Chinese rearrests stand next to centuries old Irish pubs and a Russian chop shop.

The LiveWyre

The Wyre is known by many to be one of the worst dives in the Belt. Something that is frequenters take much pride in. Run by one Simon Dupuy, a former hotshot in the hacker scene who got burned by a security worm real bad nearly frying his brain in the process. Simon runs a 'don't make a scene and I don't have to shoot you policy' and as a result the Wyre is a haunt for all types looking to get away from the world for a little bit. The brew tastes like a cat pissed in some paint thinner but what do you care? It's cheap.

_{U P D A T E S}

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Important GM Updates will go here

_{I N D E X}

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Important Plot posts will be linked here for convince. Think of it as an easy way to jump around the story.

_{R U L E S}

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01: I'm not the biggest fan of rules because I like to assume everybody is sane human being so I'll keep this short. If you have to abide by any rules be it these two. Common decency and common sense is something that everybody should strive for. Treat your fellow humans like they are just that your fellow humans and with all the respect that implies. Disputes between players should not be long blown out affairs in the OCC, hell disputes should not happen at all if we are doing this right. If you want to argue have your characters dispute about something mundane like the importance of starch or something.
02: In regards to any roleplay involving the dark depravity of mankind there are mature themes within this story. This is not a very nice world and terrible things happen to good people for no good reason. In that regard I heavily suggest you treat these matters with the weight that they would actually entitle. Romance falls into the same thing, sure it can happen just don't be stupid about it
03: Quality matters people, show me that you care. And remember I'm asking for your best not the best of Shakespeare or the like. I've been doing this shit for about a decade now and I'm still learning things everyday. Just remember Quality over Quantity and always remember Fail Faster.

[vietmyke]

Working on a character now lord Hex, it'll just take a while because these are pretty hefty sheets.

[Barrett]

A fleshed out Cyberpunk setting and a link to EC? Consider me double interested.

I'll work on a sheet as soon as I can, probably over the weekend, is there a strict date for characters?

[Opposition]

I love the idea and I'd love to hop in.

[vietmyke]

And here's my character sheet. Took a cue from @Hexaflexagon and included a link to music in my character's picture- the music is korean, but suits the whole china-town, asian-infused hip-hop thing.

Isaac Park

Isaac 'KiD_Icarus' Park
22|5'11|B-

_{A P P E R A N C E}

Standing in at roughly 6 feet in height and weighing in at 160 lbs, Isaac doesn't strike the most intimidating pose, but is far from tiny and scrawny. His demeanor reads cocky, and he typically has a smart smirk on his face. He's in surprisingly good shape and doesn't at all appear like the type of guy that spends most of his life behind a computer screen. His hair is short and dark, and with a style that screams both meticulous and unkept at the same time, and behind his left ear is a jack for a neural hub. His left arm is covered in tattoos all the way down his arm, and his skin is relatively clear of blemishes and scarring, surprising for someone living in his current situation. His clothing choice varies, he has muted sets of denim and shirts, and bright and obnoxious t-shirts and joggers in the vein of hip-hop hackers and tech-geeks.

_{O C C U P A T I O N}

Forger, Hacker, 'Special Stock' Consultant/Salesperson

_{P E R S O N A L I T Y}

Cocky and arrogant, Isaac can be broken down into 50% brilliant, 50% hot air, and 100% asshole. On the surface, Isaac is a loud mouthed, insolent, smart-alec with no respect for authority and even less respect for those viewed as 'underneath' him. Isaac is outgoing and animated, and can even be considered charismatic to a degree- if one can tolerate his chatter, his cocky smirk and quick wit can be almost endearing. Unsurprisingly, he's very eager to talk about himself and his accomplishments, and often overestimates his own skill, though surprisingly immediately clams up when discussion regarding his youth and early history comes up.

Underneath his rather annoying exterior is a surprisingly brilliant mind. With an almost natural understanding of mathematics, physics, and computers; Isaac has a mind that could compare with some of the Belt's most promising IT students- if his brain weren't so busy being buried in videogames, the occasional recreational drug, and the illegal side of the law. A rather large fan of personal enjoyment, though not hedonistic, Isaac can be rather selfish at times and has a preference for things that bring self-gratification.

A bit of a cynic, Isaac's optimism can quickly turn into pessimism when the odds appear too stacked against him, and his powerful self-preservation instinct can convince him to just cut and run when the going gets too tough. Isaac can get quite nervous in life-or-death situations, understandably, as he appears to quite enjoy life, despite how shitty his current circumstances are.

_{B A C K G R O U N D}

A hacker and forger based out of the Chinese Quarter, a mere two blocks from the LiveWyre, Isaac Park is a self-made hacker and protege of the Belt's own Simon Dupuy. Isaac Park spent most of his childhood living out of the Park Street Orphanage, making it an extremely convenient coincidence that his long lost parent's surname was Park, as was the surname of all the orphans in the Park Street Orphanage. The Park Street Orphanage, while built with good intentions, had too few staff to properly take care of an entire neighborhood's worth of orphans, and Isaac, like many of his fellows from the orphanage began making their own way at a young age. Stealing and begging eventually became core skills of his early life, and Isaac's natural brilliance led him to developing some of the most eccentric (for a kid) plans for stealing food and what he and his fellow orphans needed to survive. With what little education the Orphanage was able to provide the Orphans, Isaac proved himself to be quite capable in both mathematics and reading, teaching himself with the orphanage's shitty textbooks when the orphanage staff weren't able to teach the orphans themselves.

Around the age of 12, Isaac ran away from the orphanage, using the Orphanage's computer system and his rudimentary computer knowledge to unlock the orphanage's gates to help facilitate the the getaway. On the street, Isaac found his life was like that of most street urchins and street thieves: cold, hungry, and harsh. Isaac eventually got his hands on a couple sets of throwaway computers, and found a place for himself at a local internet cafe as a cleaner-boy. Isaac spent most of his days discreetly observing the types of people that entered the internet cafe- ignoring the plain browsers and porn-watchers until he found what was considerably more interesting: programmers and hackers. While these types typically never did any actual work on the computers at the internet cafe, sometimes when they had no choice, or needed to stay anonymous, they'd use their local internet cafe, where Isaac was in the perfect place to observe. Isaac would take what gleaming bits of knowledge he learned from these street hackers in the day, and try to apply them at night when the cafe was closed. Isaac proved himself to be a natural at this, and gave himself the handle: 'KiD_Icarus'.

'KiD_Icarus' was like many wannabes for the earliest part of his life, a nobody on the underworld forums that talked a lot of smack and had nothing to back it up with, just basic scripts and dimestore hacks that one could find with little more than a browser search. At one point, KiD_Icarus found himself trying to hack Simon Dupuy- to some rather poor results. The internet cafe Isaac worked at was borked, and Simon himself walked in to see what was going down in his neck of the woods. Surprisingly enough, Simon Dupuy took Isaac under his own wing, and began teaching the kid how to hack, like really hack, instead of copy and pasting scripts on the internet.

Over the next few years, Isaac evolved from wannabe script kiddie, to a hotshot hacker in his own right. Working jobs with Simon when backup was needed, and doing his own thing when he wasn't needed. This part of his life was the biggest thrill. Isaac met people, he made money, and he made a name for himself. While Isaac lacked the hardware to go head to head with Simon or any well paid Corp programmer, Isaac could give a hardened hacker a run for his money, and could write circles around wannabe script kiddies with his eyes closed. While never part of an active crew, Isaac spent enough time running tech work for crews that he generally knew their jobs worked. While never taking an active part in high visibility crimes, Isaac scored himself a notable profit from behind the scenes work, saving most of his boisterous showboating for the underworld forums.

When Simon Dupuy got burned, he forced Isaac to lay low, and left the game to open up a bar. Isaac began renting out a room upstairs, and does the occasional 'tech' work for Dupuy when the man needs a trusted individual to do a job for him. Seeking a steadier source of income, Isaac found himself a job working for the local Triads- or at least, one of their front businesses. Isaac currently spends most of his days breaking ID locks on weapons for Triad enforcers. His work ensures that he isn't killed by the goons and gets paid, though his relative replacability prevents him from being a target for other rival group.

_{S K I L L S}

Tech Savvy: If Isaac can gain access to it, it can be hacked. Isaac can ravage unprotected systems, and crack open even well protected systems.

Self-Taught-School-Smarts: Despite being self taught, Isaac has a relatively good understanding of physics and mathematics, though wouldn't be able to take a test on the subject matter

School of Hard Knocks: From his time on the streets, Isaac can be fairly street smart- he knows how to do basic lifts, can talk the talk, and knows when and where to get the fuck out of dodge.

_{E Q U I P M E N T}

• Glock 98 - A tried and true street-grade, plastic pistol. Lightweight, easy to use, and accurate for its price, the Glock series pistols have long been a reliable weapon for street thugs and police corps alike. The Glock model 98 features an 18 round magazine and has iron sights with built in integration to Smart-HUDs (for those that can afford them).
• Samiotech SSR Neural Hub - A lite and simple neural hub favored by some street hackers. Its great for VR simulation, and can be easily customized and secured.
• HackPad - An amalgamation of a Sony Super-Series PDA and a bunch of other hardware and software tacked and soldered on to make Isaac's prized possession, a portable device capable of doing quick hacks. While not having as much freedom as a computer setup, the HackPad allows Isaac to do several on the fly hacks, as well as launch several of his own scripts.
  
  • Spoofer - A script that lets Isaac spoof an ID or data in whatever system he's in, from company databases, to weapon ID's. While these spoofed IDs are thorough enough to prevent the average wage slave from getting curious and digging deeper, any dedicated search by an dedicated security personnel or intelligence company will be able to see through the spoof.
  • Signal Scrubber - A passively running script that helps to mask Isaac's presence from network security.
  • Blaster - A brute-offense script that allows Isaac to shred through security countermeasures and network walls alike.
  • Smokescreen - A script that dumps a large amount of self-replicating, useless data with the purpose of disrupting electronic systems. The large influx of data slows down security systems, physical countermeasures, and even cybernetic augments.

[motherconjurer]

Drumroll, please... !! Here she is!
(the korean in-between her name and her stats link to a song, as per the commonality of this thread!)

seomun min

_{seomun min
나만치 해봤다면 돌을 던져
23 | 5'5'' | O+}

A P P E A R A N C E

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Seomun Min stands at 5'4'' with unnaturally-dyed teal-green hair that appears to be longer in the front than it is in the back. Her eyes are a glowing teal-green of the same color (she doesn't care that 'neon blue' is in; teal is her jam and she's sticking with it) — the augmented eyes (only one of many augmentations she has) give her a heads up as she's leading her gang. Min has a mesomorphic body type, small but compact to the endless years of training and working out she's done to survive on the futuristic streets as well as the cyberware that keeps her muscles slender but mighty. Her complexion is pale, almost poreless due to the large amounts of makeup she wears to give off an aura of luxury contrasted against the slums she lives in. She walks with the gait of a goddess, like she owns the streets she rides on (however, she is slightly aware that the streets own her, collar & chain).

O C C U P A T I O N

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Min is the leader of the 그림자 단계 (geulimja dangye, lit. shadow step), a small street gang of cyber-augmented hoodlums who are backed by a larger group of criminals to run various drugs (namely, illegally-obtained VS and Neurotop) to those who pay top dollar or would prefer to keep their usage of such low on the radar. While the geulimja dangye like to consider themselves 'badasses', their leaders and aesthetics are the scariest things about them, and would be eaten alive without the backing of their 'big brother' gangs.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

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Min is a child of the streets; born to a drug-addict mother and unknown father, Min knew the street language better than her birth language. She's absolutely outrageous and extravagant in everything she does, spoiled to a fault due to knowing which words to place where, and a general glutton for attention. She considers herself a poster girl for the current time's rebellious youth and would do anything to be recognized as a paragon of anarchy, feeding on the attention that others give her.

However, on the inside, Min is... relatively pathetic. As an addict of both VS and Neurotop (amongst most other drugs found in this world), a sloppy alcoholic in her down time, and generally has a lack of self-respect, Min's number one weakness is the aforementioned attention. Her goals in life whittle themselves down to either a) having enough street credit and money to make herself influential, whether others want her to be or not, or b) getting in good with a well-respected businessman/woman/criminal lord/politician who can support her nasty habits and cover up a criminal record to live the life of luxury.

To say the least, she is a chaotic-neutral character with little-to-no inhibitions about getting a job done. If murder is the way of least resistance, she has no problem getting her or her compatriots' hands dirty, even if they are against the thought. Theft and assault are simply words in the textbook she teaches like the gospel, and her eyes are on a prize that she refuses to speak of in any company, polite or otherwise. In addendum, to compare her to her mother would be nothing little of a death threat. Despite the similarities (low self-respect, drug/alcohol addictions, a general knack for getting in trouble) between her and the person who brought her into this world, Min absolutely abhors her mother and anything to do with her.

Min does not consider herself either a hero or a villain, but instead, simply a variable of absolute chaos; she wants to watch the world fall. And she wants to fall right with it.

_{B A C K G R O U N D}

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PEOPLE, THE REVOLUTION WILL N O T BE TELEVISED. THE REVOLUTION IS IN YOUR MIND. THE REVOLUTION IS HERE.

Since birth, Min has watched the chaos of the criminal world from her bedroom. A pretty bird kept clipped from the ball and chains of a mother who did not want to birth her, it didn't take long for Seomun Min to spread her wings and escape her cage. Age nine, the young girl was walking the streets with tattered clothes and a mouth like knives; age ten, she was running with the dogs that tried to bite her. Bat in hand and nine-inch-nails driven through it, the girl pulled her hair back and learned words like LITTLE BITCH, WHORE, and most of all: FIGHTER. She wouldn't let the world eat her alive like they had eaten her mother. She would not go down fighting.

Age thirteen, she learned the word AUGMENTATION. It's what all of her big brothers and sisters had; they made you harder, faster, stronger, prettier— they gave you attention when you walked in with a robotic arm or a new eye color... by the end of the week, she was the only one without one, and while they did not scorn her for it, she felt out of place. She wanted to be adored, too.

IT'S ADDICTING, EXCITING, & ALL THE RAGE.

Her first augmentation was an out-of-date EYE-SEEU model, in her favorite color; after that, they had her turning tricks. The rush of knowing you were better than someone else, by some definition of the word, was a new kind of addiction that she couldn't describe. That VS hailed in comparison too. Mods weren't always paid for by the big bucks, either: tattoos, piercings, hair dyes... none of them stood up to waking up and knowing you were one step closer to being faster, better, harder, stronger than everyone else.

With the augmentations came the risk of losing your fucking mind, of course (at least, that's how her big brothers worded it), and with that risk came a new drug: Neurotop. It became a reason for living, something she needed to possess to survive; if Min didn't have a bottle of it on her person, she would become paranoid. The dependency of the drug sparked a new interest— how many more were like her? How many more needed this drug to survive? What if they could not afford it, could not get ahold of it, wanted to keep it quiet that they, too, were fucked-up-freaks like her?

At age twenty, she was the first of five to rev up the engine of a motorbike and take to the streets. They called them hoodlums among other things, but she knew, truly, who they were. They were the shadow-steps that needed to be taken to keep things quiet in this world. She didn't particularly mind, though; she knew what they needed, she understood. She was hooked on the idea of being the only thing between their peace and the thought of them 'losing their fuckin' minds'; she liked being the only thing quelling their addictions. Sure, they could pay the big bucks and buy it from the source, but her way of thinking was clear and pure, — she was the runner of the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CURE.

_{S K I L L S}

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EYE-SEEU : Min's augmented eyes allow her to have a faster hand-eye coordination time; this causes her, also, to be able to view the world in a HUD, sometimes showing vitals of those whose records are public knowledge (politicians, musicians, etc.)
INFECTED : Min has a natural tolerance to drugs and alcohol, making it harder for people to poison her drinks/slip her drugs in her food.
BILINGUAL : Min speaks not only Korean (her first language), but English; she knows the street lingo as well.
SHADOW STEP : Min has the ability to call on the other four members of the geulimja dangye for a pickup in a stressful situation; of course, this could mean leaving allies behind.

_{E Q U I P M E N T}

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BABYGIRL: dubbed after the nickname she was forced to take at a young age, Min turned her embarrassment into wrath. Ironically, 'Babygirl' is nothing more than a store-bought, wooden baseball bat with about six nine-inch-nails hammered into the head of it. Preferring the rush of beating someone's head in to shooting someone with a technological weapon, Babygirl is Min's primary weapon and weapon of choice, painting the road red wherever she goes with it.

MASERATI SR2064: Min's only mode of transportation; the Maserati SR2064 is a self-reliant motorcycle, painted teal-green to continue on with the street princess's motif, obtained illegally from a downtown street-machine dealership, modified to have a number of features, making it a trophy for any street patrol cop to capture:

- self driving capabilities: with this feature, Min can ride side-saddle or backwards on the Maserati, perhaps to take out law enforcement that may be getting a bit too close, or even just to show off.
- Self Activated Reticulated Automated Helper (SARAH): similar to SIRI or KITT, SARAH is the automated assistant that links the Maserati and the HUD of the EYE-SEEU, monitoring speed, motorcycle condition, traffic, GPS, and even sometimes the location of incoming roadblocks or police enforcement.

[Hexaflexagon]

And I have returned from spending time with the family.

@vietmyke@motherconjurer

Hey look at that! I'll take a gander and send some feedback when I have a moment.

@Roosan
No strict date. Take as much time as you need. Coach is a patient man.

@OppositionJ

[Opposition]

@OppositionJ

@Hexaflexagon

I'm still here, just struggling with character ideas. Will have a sheet up in the next day or two.

[ML]

OH CAN I

[Opposition]

Jessa Locke

Jessa “The Revenant” Locke
21|5’4”|O-

_{A P P E A R A N C E}

Jessa appears rather short and young for who she is. She stands at 5’4”, weighing approximately 135 lbs. Her brown hair falls just past her neck, and appears very straight and well kept. Jessa appears very lean and lithe, almost weak when observing her fair and pale skin. Her strength is greatly hidden as it almost comes entirely from cybernetic enhancement. Most of her cyberware is all internally hidden from view, but as a product of experimentation, Jessa’s body is not unscarred from the traces of augmentation. Most obviously, the front of her left hand has no sort of synthetic skin, revealing that her hand is entirely fake. There are also traces of machinery visible on her arm, revealing it is either fake or heavily augmented. As she looks about the world, her gaze is cold and calculated, observant of anything it comes into contact with.

_{O C C U P A T I O N}

Biomedical Researcher

_{P E R S O N A L I T Y}

Jessa is most easily described as stoic, analytical, and collected. With her life, she’s never gotten too close to any others or had any real friends. Growing up with a very separated family, Jessa had no real concept of bonds. This causes her to appear distant to all those she meets. One might pin her as a very unmotivated person, but that is greatly a facade she keeps up. When in unfamiliar territory, which just so happens to be most every scenario, Jessa is very naive and curious about the world. This however, is not enough motivation for her to explore the world around her though. Jessa was always to anxious to do so.

Jessa’s goals have always remained a mystery to those around her, but in her head, she is very vigilant. She believes herself to be aligned with humanity and out for the greater good, but truthfully she is very worried about her health. Self preservation is high on Jessa’s list of priorities, even if she, herself doesn’t believe it, but self preservation isn’t the end of her long list of hidden motivations. Many of the things she accomplishes are, for more or less, vengeance. She believes herself to be somewhat of a retributivist, believing that those who harm others should be punished, and if others won’t, then she will.

_{B A C K G R O U N D}

Born illegitimately, Jessa was the child of a corporate bigshot business owner and one of his lead researchers. Her father was the head of a lead cybernetics research and production company: PsySystems Cybernetics-- PsySys for short. Of course, Jessa was raised by her humble mother, so there was no huge inheritance coming her way unless she got it herself, and with her life spent alone in her mother’s home, having to grow up without the parental guidance. PsySys wasn’t the easiest company to work at. With more health, safety, and ethical violations than any other cybernetics company in the Belt, Jessa’s mother never had the time or energy to raise a child. Jessa grew up quickly.

Despite her mother’s poor condition, Jessa took up a similar Biomedical practice with a focus on cybernetic research with PsySys. Her father, after meeting her for the first time, offered her an entry level position as a researcher on one of his high ranking teams. Jessa started off making more than her mother, but her job wasn’t all it was made out to be. She had seriously underestimated the inhumane projects that were going on within PsySys. Luring street rats, often times C-Freaks with promises of Neurotop, PsySys uses human test subjects to test implanted experimental tech. Whether they and up with their bodies shredded by electronics within or instead having their sanity shredded into pieces, it is not often that PsySys test subjects leave the facilities unscarred. Unfortunately, PsySys’s impact on Jessa doesn’t cease there.

Jessa didn’t simply get her job out of her father’s good heart. Being the head of a cybernetics industry was an easy way to live a long and wealthy life, but all lives eventually come to an end. Her father just wasn’t ready for his end yet. He intended to find a way to prolong his life, and with only one person on the planet sharing his genes, he had only one subject to test his compatibility with new augments he intended to use on himself. Somewhere in between slavery and indentured servitude, Jessa only had one way to keep herself and her mother afloat. After only one month at PsySys, Jessa found her schedule filled with surgeries.

Jessa lived oppressed and enslaved for months, and in those few months, Jessa found herself with her first augmentations, but after things started getting more and more torturous, Jessa realized her job wasn’t worth her pain, even if it meant living on the streets. She outright refused her father’s next requests for more experimenting. It was then she became nothing more than one of the subjects locked away in the monolithic PsySys buildings only waiting for their fate, but as her father’s quest for immortality continued, Jessa grew increasingly enervated by it all. With the abilities bestowed upon her by her newfound augmentations, she intended to do something.

Under the guise of her working position, Jessa managed to escape PsySys’s main building in secrecy and overtime began to gather the tools she’d need to put together an attack. Armor, weaponry, and gadgets-- she amassed them all in preparation, and upon the fateful day she decided to enact her plan, she suited up, making herself completely anonymous. Wielding the abilities given to her against her will, she tore through research and destroyed any machinery she could. She only worked in a short time frame before she had to escape, though. PsySys had serious security, and if she was caught, Jessa could only imagine that the police wouldn’t be involved.

After this attack, a large amount of PsySys research was destroyed and it cost the company a great deal. Jessa got news of this information and realized how much she could impact others’ lives if this continued. This vigilante approach to taking down PsySys continued in Jessa’s life. More attacks occurred and it wasn’t long before news of this mystery ‘terrorist’ got out, and rather than running and hiding from the branding, Jessa embraced it. News companies portrayed her new alter ego as an extremely augmented insurgent, and they called her ‘The Revenant’. Jessa felt good about what she was doing, but taking down PsySys wasn’t enough to quench her thirst for vengeance. There were plenty more large corporations that were less than savory, and Jessa was not a fan of any of them. The next months of Jessa’s life were devoted to her alternate persona, and even with her eyes set on the destruction of big companies, there was one other goal Jessa took up in her time, though this crime was one committed by Jessa more so than The Revenant.

During her times inside PsySys, Jessa was surrounded by a great deal of C-Freaks, whether they were her subjects or her fellow captives. She watched helplessly as people’s lives were destroyed by the inaccessibility of Neurotop, and she knew that PsySys had the Neurotop to supply. At times, even Jessa had to take the drug to stay sane. It was no doubt an issue of stinginess. During one of her raids, she managed to find a cache of the drug. Jessa had always thought that her goals were for humanity’s sake rather than her own. This ideology led her to take to The Revenant’s outfit and freely distribute the cache to a shelter for the poor. The gratefulness of those in need led to knowledge of The Revenant spreading as a bit of an urban legend in the poorer community. Jessa was only further spurred to gather Neurotop when she learned this. The Revenant’s tale isn’t all good, though. Jessa was a very augmented individual as well. The more she dealt with her augmented lifestyle, the more she craved the Neurotop she so sought for others. Originally the cache she sat on was meant to be rationed to others, but the Revenant’s Neurotop theft, wasn’t just for the people anymore. With her cache running dry, Jessa had her own problems to deal with.

_{S K I L L S}

Credit to The Revenant: Due to the early days of Jessa’s Neurotop theft, she found herself well known among the street rats of The Belt. Jessa may be easily identified while dressed as The Revenant in the poorer locations of the metropolis. This can be both a gift and a curse, as her skills were greatly played up. She may not have the ability that people think she has.

Product of Science: Although untrained and generally frail considering her stature, Jessa has an above average amount of strength and agility due to the constant experimentation and augmentation on her body. This also gives her a few important abilities that came along with certain augmentations.

Biomedical Technology Expert: With Jessa’s position as a PsySys researcher, she has gained a great deal of knowledge surrounding medical practice and the augmentation sciences. If information is needed on cyberware, or urgent medical care is necessary, Jessa can manage to come through.

_{E Q U I P M E N T}

Revenant Combat Armor: A minimalist set of combat armor, likely modified from an old suit of law enforcement protective gear, the Revenant Combat Armor is a custom protective suit that Jessa purchased on the black market. Its main function is protection from ballistic attacks, but it doubles as a concealer for her identity and a recognizable icon for her alter ego. The suit has one star ability, though. The Revenant Wiring is an experimental combination of cyberware created by Jessa herself. By connecting the technology in her suit to cybernetic nerve endings in her body, she was able to have the suit recognize and remember certain actions she took. When The Revenant Wiring activates, the suit takes control of the nerves in her body and in turn, takes actions for her. This can allow her to fight for much longer than the average human while sustaining great amounts of damage. This can also be rather dangerous as Jessa can be stuck in combat and The Revenant Wiring could tear her body apart in order to secure the win.

PsySys Experimental V0ltskin: As the main cyberware modification from her hand prosthesis, the V0ltskin has seen very little testing for its many uses. The open circuit visible on the palm of her hand has the ability to discharge a small electrical pulse. This can be used both in combat to subdue opponents and also during infiltration to temporarily disable certain electronics. The V0ltskin never made it out of the experimental stage, though. PsySys was unable to perfect the idea of delivering this impulse of electricity without enacting some of the charge on its user. Use of the device can cause great pain to the wielder.

Semi Automatic Pistol: A classic firearm, Jessa wields a simple semi automatic pistol for protection. Almost entirely unremarkable, Jessa’s gun is unregistered and unknown as many other firearms in The Belt.

Carving Knives: There is no weapon more reliable than an old fashioned blade. Jessa knows that no one sane leaves home unarmed in the belt. She follows this unspoken rule by means of a large pair of carving knives. Most often used by The Revenant, her blades are kept hidden from view.

_{N O T E S}

To Be Determined.

[Hexaflexagon]

The Reviews have arrived!

@vietmyke
Simple, sweet, too the point. I like it. Though honestly did you except anything different by this point? I actually also have a CS sheet for Simon (he was a character of mine in another one of my Cyberpunk RPs lol), so I can update that and PM it to you so you have a better of idea of the man.

@motherconjurer
First of all I like the aesthetic choices. Helps make it stand out without breaking the layout of the CS which would of been a very bad no no. I mean she's believable, myself coming from a very low income, high crime neighborhood; everybody knows at least one super self-destructive punk kid and the blocks friendly neighborhood drug dealer and you've smashed them together into one person. I do have one question. How did she end up acquiring the SR2064? (which I dig very AKIRA, very nice.) Did she steal it from somebody, did she buy it with drug money et cetra. Just wondering for reasons that you totally shouldn't be worried about. lol.
Besides answering that question your looking pretty good.

@OppositionJ
Cyberpunk Batman eh? I can work with this. The only problem really is the idea of raiding Corps and not getting caught. Corp HQs are basically giant self-function fortresses filled with top of the line security. Trained professionals sent by other corps in raids generally expect for every 10 individuals sent in eight of them not making it. And those are individuals with trained military and infiltration experience, she's got not a lot of that. Being able to complete the PsySys raid I understand, she already had intimate knowledge of the building and its structure. That makes sense.

So maybe if I could suggest a little tweaking of what happens after that? Maybe she tries to raid another Corp afterwards thinking it'll go as smoothly and gets shot or something almost dies and is forced to go underground. Maybe doing some standard vigilante work on the side beating thugs up, saving babies and the like so that her name could still get out. Living off the Neurotop taken in that one raid but between giving it out and her own use (which would probably be a lot given the extent of her own augmentations.) which is now steadily running out, forcing her to consider staging another raid or something. I don't know. It's a solid and I like it, just needs some tweaking.

@Mercenary Lord
YOU CAN!

[vietmyke]

@Hexaflexagon I would indeed like to know more about Dupuy. Also, I might go back and give Isaac a few cybernetic augs, depending on Simon's view on them. Based on Simon's views, Isaac's will either be 'I love tech, cybernetics = tech, therefore I love cybernetics' OR it'll be 'You can hack a cyberarm, but you can't hack all natural.'

[motherconjurer]

@Hexaflexagon That's a good question, thank you for asking it! I've updated the character sheet with this information, but she "illegally obtained it" (read: stole) from a dealership and modified it to be SARAH-compatible and EYE-SEE-U adaptable! ♥

[Opposition]

@Hexaflexagon
Haha. I completely understand where you are coming from. I tried to get the feel in that she wasn't the best at what she does, but I felt pretty rushed. I will definitely get to tweaking!

[Sunbather]

Salut, hola, and howdy! This looks super promising, and I am a bit of a sucker for cyberpunk, so I'd love to join. I do know that you intend the cast to be the bums of this world, and I certainly don't want to dance outside your vision, so I figured I'd ask if any of my first ideas are cool with you!

My first idea was a former employee of a privatized security firm, eventually parting ways (probably for health-related reasons or the like), who then faced a system that is as cruel as it is dismissive.

Another idea would be the devout follower of a small-time gang leader, who disappeared, leaving the character in question behind with no real direction or sense of purpose. They could simply try and uphold daily operation in hopes of their admired boss returning, or perhaps put themselves in a poor position out of distress.

I also thought up a small-time cult/gang leader, who was percecuted after coming across as a little too ambitious, and then had to flee into the underworld as to escape the clutches of those who saw a potential threat in him/her.

My last idea is an A.I., or perhaps an usually heavily modified human, who served as a sort of experiment, then got discarded, but somehow escaped the intended destruction/murder, and found themselves forced to live the lowest possible life, as they'd not just be an outcast in the normal world, but would find themselves endangered.

Edit: Actual last idea: A journalist who teetered around the acceptable borders of "free press". After one too many reports that painted the mighty CEOs in an unfavorable light, they had to escape from an assassination and promptly found themselves forced to leave their old life behind, and start over in the underworld.

So yeah, if any of those works for you, I'd be happy to flesh it all out.

[ML]

sadly i have 2 weeks of hell going on before i can really commit to anything else, but if you're still alive then i'll be back