◄ 25 ▎ MALE ▎ 5'6" / 1.68m ►
Somewhere on the line between a smooth talking businessman, and a street urchin robbing the elderly in the street. Madison talks a big game and has the skills to back it up, but wields an even greater sense of narcissism to balance it out. Or at least, he used to. Back in the day he was one of the best in his industries, playing with the greats and the leaders. He could work his way into a deal with some of the best and brightest Mars had to offer, from EE to Cartelli, and everyone was interested in what he had to sell. Information was the name of his game - if you wanted to know something a little more on the risque side than the Glitters could provide, you went to Maddie.
But that ego got in the way. He got too caught up in the thrill of it all, the chase for more and better, that he burnt every bridge he ever built in the pursuit, and ended up at rock bottom. He had the skills, but there are only a few reasons you trust a traitor. They're dangerous. A rabid dog has its uses, but when it bites, you put out down - and Maddie has lived his life since the collapse awaiting the day he'll be shot dead in the street. After everything, he's become paranoid. What was once a drive to understand people for the sake of something to sell has become a need to comprehend their very essence, that which comprises their whole, in case they behold some darker purpose and intend to work against him.
That's not to say he's lost everything that made him him. Madison is still a smooth talker, and still as perceptive as ever. He can bluff himself out of a lot of trouble, and if he can't, he tends to have some backup to deal with the fighting for him. Still, he can hold his own if he has to. He's hurt, and he's killed - you don't get far with the Water Bandits if you don't. And his knowledge of the ins and outs of the various Enclaves remains as impressive as it always was.
Markedly, he makes a versatile ally, and a difficult enemy. The fact he's still alive runs testament as such.
D A Y S - G O N E
Maddie was everyone's contact once upon a time. An underclass gutter-rat, with the notion of making something with his life drilled into his head from an early age. He had a usual story - a Glitter for a mother who worked around the clock to support two in a rundown Neutral Zone apartment, and a wannabe Sunburner for a father who got himself killed off the Yuma-North Enclave running a job for The Association. It was nothing to write home about; the kind of life ever other kid on Mars led.
That didn't sit right with a young Madison. He would wonder to himself at night, if the life he and his mother lived was all there was to it. If that was Mars - the slog, the barely getting by, the lack of half a family unit since they were too stupid chasing dreams of a better life than to settle into the monotony. That couldn't be it, he thought. There had to be something else, something out there worth living for. Not a family, not for your own survival.
It started with salvaging. Breaking into abandoned buildings and picking what previous tenants left behind. Tech, furniture, sometimes water. After a few run ins with the Water Bandits he gave up avoiding them, and started running adjacent. A life spent weaving through the tangles of the Neutral Zones boasted a navigational edge - one most Bandits lacked. So he became a spotter, picking high value marks, occasionally running distraction. He got good at it. But then hijacking civilians and holding up lightly guarded transports became too little.
Running the Neutral Enclaves gave Madison a keener understanding of the city layouts than most, and he got involved with the Slavers. A couple months of selling out illegals and mutants turned to an encounter with the Everyman Equity. A couple of years building his rapport enough to get on Ian Everyman's good side accidentally brought him into a contract with the Cartelli Corporation, selling out Water Bandits and other high profile individuals for a small fortune. For a number of years more he developed his connections, acting as full time Information Broker for anyone who paid, and he played every side he could - not for betterment of himself, but because he could. Except playing every side didn't work, outside of as a fast track to getting himself killed.
Three shootouts on the Neutral Edges, two gunshot wounds, and a bounty on his head landed him back at square one; a shitty apartment on too little money to accommodate his exaggerated ego. Not every bridge was burned, but he had enemies among the Water Bandits and the Cartelli Corporation, and half the War Council of the Slavers wanted him dead. The fortune he had built up was blown on PMC protection and erasing his own bounty, as well as smoothing over the damage his reputation with EE had sustained, but with the rest of his enemies, there was nothing he could do but lay low. Even a life as a Glitter was out of the question, with their penchant for information gathering that he had all too well come to be acquainted with.
For all intents and purposes, Maddie was less than where he had started as a child, and somehow he ended up worse off still. He had made a habit of moving between safe houses and abandoned buildings he had retrofitted into bunkers, to keep from being ambushed by Bandits or whoever they sent to finish him off. Hiding beneath the enemies nose gave him a distinct advantage in that regard; he didn't have to fear the Bandit operations within Cartelli territory, and number of his safehouses had been setup around the edges of their Enclaves. Except, on the day of his transfer, on a populated route through Takari Square, he found himself caught in a terror attack.
M E M O R I E S
Serena Rytler †His mother, a former Glitter who died from illness a number of years prior. Her life was as average as one could get, something the past Madison hated, although he saved a soft spot in his heart for his parent, especially after the trials she had been through to maintain that sense of normalcy. Until the fall of his contact web, he had never really missed her so to speak. Now he has never longed for her more.
Danny "Oh'Seven" PinkerAn old Water Bandit associate of Madison's. His nickname originated from a number tattoo across his neck, starting with a zero and a seven. He never actually cleared up where the tattoo came from, or what his life had been before his rise to power, and instead allowed everyone else to speculate on his origins. Supposedly, he was an escapee from a Happy Pets Enclave. The ordeal near broke his mind, the Bandits said, and he was the craziest, and most fearless leader of any Water Bandit group on Mars. It didn't matter how well guarded a transport was, or how high profile their marks were, he'd find a way to make it work. Madison was his lead spotter for a while, until he sold Danny out to a Chapter and watched the group dissolve. Though, some seem to think he escaped, and made his way out into Mutant territory, bent on reclaiming his kingdom.
Ian EverymanMadison spent a good deal of time working his way into the good books of EE's CEO - more time that he would like to count. They're barely acquaintances, at least on a personal level, but up until the collapse Madison was a trusted information source to the organisation. When Maddie's contact web broke down, and a number of his allies turned on him, Everyman Equities, and Ian himself, were the least affected of his associates, and as such, his tether to the corporation is the only one still in tact, especially after the money he not-so-subtly invested into them to smooth things over.
Salazar Torez and The War CouncilAt one time, Madison was a friend of the Council, and an acquaintance of Salazar's. His usefulness in bolstering their profits was rewarded with favour, until the fact that he had been playing them came to light. Most of the War Council would have him dead on sight, if not worse.
"Laeraur" †An old Glitter acquaintance of Madison's. She belonged to the Elven Glitter groups, and was relatively well known among certain circles as a curator of interesting knowledge, especially regarding the Slaver War Council. Madison would often visit her under the guise of pleasure, wherein the two would exchange information, and generally catch up. In many ways she was one of his only friends - a friend caught up in his fall. She was a fighter, and when the Slavers came to collect on the debt she owed for helping a traitor like Madison, she fought up to her last breath.
The Cartelli CorporationMadison's biggest mistake. Landing in bed with them earned him a good deal of money for the time he operated, but double crossing the biggest conglomerate on Mars never goes well for anyone. Somehow they found out that he was selling some of the inner workings of the corporation to Water Bandits and Slavers, in the same way he was selling them information on the low lives and criminals of the Enclaves. Needless to say they cut all contact with him, and placed a bounty on his head that he could only barely afford to scrub clean. But even without it hanging over him, it's doubtful they forgot the things he did.
()W A T E R B R A N D
Powers:A Hydrokinesis adjacent ability, fundamentally rooted less in the control of water, and more in its properties. Madison can sense nearby water sources, and is capable of taking individual water molecules from his surroundings - instantly expanding them into a crystalline substance formed from elements in the air, and manipulation of their molecular properties. He is also capable of reversing the process, and turning the crystals he produces into pure water.
Among other things, this allows him to create incredibly sharp spikes of crystal, which have a greater surface area than the water that makes it up. A single source of water can easily form a shield or wall or spear. Upon using his ability, the individual molecules rapidly undergo crystallisation, which has the side effect of tremendous pressure, which allows for rapid and destructive transformation capable of rending concrete and weak metals at the moment of transition. He is also capable of isolating and crystallising water molecules even after they have bonded with other compounds and elements, allowing him to effectively separate the water from chemicals, making him an incredibly useful resource in a world where water is so readily fought over.
Limitations:While being a Hydrokinesis-type ability, being adjacent limits his actual kinetic abilities. He cannot move water itself, merely guide the direction that the crystallisation process with travel in. His range is limited to approximately two hundred and fifty metres (250m), though this extends both above and below ground, affording him control over sewage, water, and other similar kinds of underground pipes. Additionally, water bonded to organic material, or contained within one, such as the human body or vegetation, is uncontrollable, preventing reverse human pincushions.
Weaknesses:Mars as a planet has a particularly arid environment, and the air has very little water. As such, without a literal container or source of water, Madison is effectively robbed of his ability. Additionally, due to the nature of the crystals, they are not exceedingly durable, and are at their strongest at the moment of transition from liquid to solid, which gives them their destructive power. Upon full crystallisation, they can be broken fairly easily by gunshots and similar, and the various spikes can readily be broken off by the average human.
No issues with the powers, move him over red boy.
