[OOC] Shadowrun: Chicago Blues

[TheMusketMan]

Shadowrun: Chicago Blues

Chicago, The Windy City, famous for it's Blues and Corporations. A paradise for A Shadowrunner, jobs come from every street corner imaginable in this metropolis. Corporation and Crime in a perfect blend of a steady income. That is, for those who are tough enough to survive in Chicago. In the Shadowrunner world, Chicago is known for its brutal and high risk jobs and those who make it; make it big time. Though Chicago isn't as bad as it used to be, it still has its fair share of poverty and crime, as well a corruption in the corporations and police force. It seems the only source of protection the wealthy can trust is hired guns or massive mercenary companies employed by the city. This all bodes well for you, A Shadowrunner, because all of this chaos means jobs from rich people. The only question is, can you survive long enough to get paid?

You have been with this team for about a month, you were right there when all the members agreed to form it. Whatever your goals, whatever their motives, you are a team now and for you to survive long enough to get paid, you have to work together.

Lore & The World

The year is 2058 and life goes on as normal. Life as a Shadowrunner that is. The world seems almost peaceful on the surface, the choas that was Earth in The Awakening and the following decades was maddening. Of course, nothing is ever as it seems, is it? Especially not in Chicago, arguably one of the most chaotic city in the United Canadian and American States. Gangs, PMCs, Corporations, and of course, Shadowrunners swarm the city, all with their own agenda. The Major players are The Blues Boys, a industry-based mob that is known for keeping Chicago blues and mafia style warfare alive. Then there is the Ace of Spades Mercenary Company, possibly one of the most powerful PMCs in UCAS and the Native American Nations. And of course there are your corporations that pull strings and do business with questionable motives. Chicago is truly, a Shadowrunner's paradise.

The Blue Boys

The Blues Boys Mafia-Style family can be traced back to 2015, when a band called The Blues Bros. became mildly popular in the Chicago region. It was two brothers, Robert and Austin Dupain. A guitar and a drumset playing classic blues for the people. They were local, knew everybody in Chicago it seems. Though dedicated to their music, they lived in the age of Dubstep and Industry pop garbage, so they had to resort to other ways of making a living. Knowing nearly almost everybody in Chicago had it's uses, mainly connections to people with money. The Blues Bros. proposed to representative's of million dollar corporations that certain industries can be exploited by the right people and all that was need was a little cash flow to push the ship of progress. They proved to be very persuasive and efficient, making legal money and not so legal ways in many different industries. By 2020, they owned every business in the majority of Chicago. Now it was time to take the next step. They had the money, the manpower, and the balls to taker on the very corporation that got them to where they were. And they succeeded. By 2021, the Blues Boys owned a good portion of Chicago Commerce.

But with time comes change, and in 2030, a new flow of Corporate construction snaked its way into Chicago. Of course by this time, The Blues Boys basically owned the city. So they delayed and cancelled construction...for a while. But the more the corporations were denied in Chicago, the more they persisted, until only money could get them in. Lots of it. And all of a sudden, The Blues Boys had competition. In the beginning, they at attempted to make the corporations, vassals of a sort, paying tribute and doing special tasks for them. And some complied, but others didn't and what was at first friendly negotiations turned into full on warfare. Between 2034 and 2039, Chicago was the setting for a war called The Blues Boy-Allied Corporations Union struggle. A Brutal battle for industry and commerce, hundreds dead, millions of dollars in weapons and damages, but by January of 2039 the corporations gave in, becoming tools for The Blues Boys to use. Over the next decade and a half, their influence would decrease as bigger and badder corporations took hold of Chicago and warfare between the two would become more complicated as The Blues Boys would train members to be elite hitman going after big targets and people.

By the year of our story, The Blues Boys will have been fighting a losing battle with Illinois Drone production, major Drone company in the UCAS.

The Shadowrun lore is very interesting and complex. I suggest playing the games for maximum effect, but I'll provide a link to the wiki if you do not have the games.

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Character Sheet

Name:
Age:
Appearance: (Picture and Written please.)
Class/Specialization:
Backstory:
Personality:
Opinion of Others: (Can be added after everyone has posted their CS)

Feel free to ask questions!

[Terminal]

Interested. I will probably go with Decker.

Do you have any rule of thumb for approximate skill level for our Runners? A lot of Deckers, for example, also branch out into rigging, and I have no idea if my Runner should just be fortunate if they can shoot straight or if they are already Novahot with drones like whoah and an advanced carbine. I just want an approximate upper and lower boundary of where our characters would be.

[TheMusketMan]

@Terminal Depends on the character, obviously I don't want anyone too OP on the team but if the Decker is majorly experienced and has the appropriate amount of practice in training then I don't see why not he can't be skilled.

[absentmare]

So if I wanted to play a more experienced runner, that would be cool? I was thinking a cybered-up career thief with a professional code of 'ethics.'

[TheMusketMan]

@absentmare Yeah, I myself plan to make an experienced character.

[TheMusketMan]

This should help with character backstories

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Shadowrun_timeline

[TheMusketMan]

Some more info about The Blues Boys for ya.

[Krauxis]

Just as a gauge, how many of us plan on being made of metal? My traditional 'runner is basically a chrome hobo, but I don't want to flood the roster, since I appreciate variety more than tradition.

[Inlaa]

I plan on making a 100% pure Physical Adept, probably from one of the Native American tribes. Dwarf. Punch things in the face. Yeah.

No metal.

[TheMusketMan]

@Krauxis I'm probably gonna go with a sniper character, so very little implants.

[Terminal]

No metal per-se, but my Decker will have some bioware implants (aside from the datajack) that will impact their essence - so people who would care about that sort of thing would probably count it.

[Krauxis]

Alright, sounds like there's a fair number of people who are still human, so I'll go ahead with my usual. Even if a bunch more people decide they want to be full of implants, it looks like there's also purer folks. Will have a CS up tonight or tomorrow morning.

[absentmare]

They changed the format of the site since the last time I was here. I put a character in the 'Characters' tab. I assume that's what you're supposed to do these days?

[TheMusketMan]

@absentmare
sure, but, I see some problems.

Namely the timeframe, the year the rp takes place is 2058, but according to the CS he's been in prison long after that.

[absentmare]

Fixed the timeline. Clearly I need to work on my reading comprehension.

[Krauxis]

So here's the time to mention that I'm most familiar with SR4, and I haven't actually managed to get my hands on a copy of the 5th edition rulebook. Also when I'm running my own games, my GM style tends to be a bit hand-wavey in favour of being cool. That will probably reflect in my character, so keep it in mind I guess.

Hider

Name: Naruyuki Kara (eastern order)
Alias: 'Rei Reido' (western order, often just goes by 'Rei')
Age: 25
Appearance:


Even through all the steel and polymer, it's clear that this girl is oriental to the core. Pale skin covers her petite frame, and though her torso plates are off-colour, they're still lighter than the tan skin of most sun-darkened street thugs. Dark hair crowns the top of her head, and dark steel juts from her arms and various places on her body - thick, metal parts, sloppily tacked onto her body as though she just taped armored drone parts to herself. Like a heavily mutated troll's bone spurs, metal bits and sharp edges mark her torso and legs, where her dermal plating needed to be hastily repaired.

Her standard clothes consist of dark sweats and clothes that are easy to move around in. With the amount of mechanics and metal around her body, armor does her little good, so she prefers outfits that are temperature-appropriate and mobile. She has no modesty to speak of, and doesn't seem to care if she covers herself properly or if her clothes look 'good,' citing her lack of humanity as the reason. As well as her lack of fashion, it's clear to see that she makes her home on the streets. Her hair is a perpetual mess, and the non-organic parts of her body are painted with countless dents and scratches from lying on rocks and suffering beatings from both weapons and weather.

Class/Specialization: Samurai/brawler, MedTech

Backstory: Naruyuki Kara, daughter of Naruyuki Honda (neurosurgeon, biotech specialist) and Naruyuki Mio (RN, emergency services.) Her mother died due to complications with childbirth, and her father left the country to escape her ghost. They initially moved to Detroit due to its reputation for safety, and for the first 16 years of her life, she and her father ran a black market medical practice, generally helping small-scale criminals and metahumans gain access to cyberware and bioware that they would normally be turned away from, as well as occasionally patching them up. Her father was a curt man who never openly displayed much affection for his daughter or anybody else, but he was fantastic at his job, and Kara learned a lot through her years of working as his assistant. She would always quietly be at his side, running the errands he needed her to run, and making notes that he told her to make.

In 2049, Honda fell on the bad side of a local crime lord, and suddenly fell under legal suspicion where he was otherwise protected. Rightfully, he predicted a Knight Errant raid within the week. However, when they got there, they found no trace that there had been any medical work done in his home. There were no stocks of implants in the building at all, nor any medical tools. His official statement was simply "My daughter has been very ill this week and required extensive surgery. You will not find any illegal cyberware in my home. Please leave us alone." Kara, whom everybody knew had recently been the picture of health, suddenly looked like some sort of monstrous cyborg. Old, clunky implants covered her body where she had otherwise been human, she now seemed more machine than man. Still, Knight Errant could not find any official records to prove that her cyberware had been illegally or forcefully installed that week, and Kara herself refused to speak a single word to anyone, so the case was dropped. One week later, Naruyuki Honda was shot dead. Nobody pursued legal action, and it seemed like nobody cared who had done it. He died alone and left nothing behind.

Now on her own, Kara (who had taken the name of Rei Reido) left Detroit for the more urban hub of Chicago, where she just sort of unofficially became a Shadowrunner. It seemed natural, as poor as she was, and having the advantage of already being teched-out to all hell. She started running odd jobs, mostly drug runs, and that gave her enough money to eat and clothe herself, though not enough to afford to rent an apartment anywhere. Still, a lot of runners were fighting and dying for the money to get cybered up with even a sloppy kit like hers. Many people started fights with her on the street, and she found herself having to fend off some upstart runner wannabe as often as once or twice a week. After a fashion, she became used to this sort of life. She got better and better at brawling, training her body to its limits just to survive.

Presently, in 2058, she is a valuable member of a stable running team. She uses her melee combat skills to great effect, and is able to patch up herself and her team with limited skill, whether they be human, metahuman, or cyborg. She's no PhD, but she's better than a field medic. And she's cheaper and more trustworthy than a back-alley chop shop. When she's not running, she lives on the city streets, sleeping under park benches, in parking garages, or wherever. The only tools she has to her name reside in a backpack that she either has on her person or has stashed away in a secret place, which contain a few basic medical supplies and survival goods. Anything beyond that needs to be stolen or purchased on the spot.

Personality: A quiet, low maintenance girl. Rei doesn't show a lot of emotion, but as long as she isn't hungry, she seems content. Life on the streets of Chicago has smashed any sense of luxury or entitlement she might have had growing up, and now her expectations of the world are kept incredibly low. She doesn't trust people, but she strives to be a trustworthy person herself. She is the type to never start a fight, but always finish one. She never strives to make her own life better, only rarely haggling prices (which is typical practice in her business) and willfully eating cheap crap from any stuffer shack on the regular. She doesn't particularly think of herself as human, so she doesn't get offended by shots at her dignity or humanity, rarely responding to insults at all. Likewise, she doesn't respond to attempts at flirtation or remarks about her body or gender.

Opinion of Others: <Will be updated as new characters are posted.>

Augs: Obvious Prosthetic Arm x 2 (Old model, Steel)
Polymer-laced bones
Cybereyes x 2 - 20/20 vision, no other special function
Dermal Plating - Torso (plastic w/ steel 'accents')
Dermal Plating - Legs (Carbon Fiber)
Internal Biomonitor
Nano Trauma System (respiratory and circulatory regulation in cases of extreme trauma)

Additional info: Rei is highly addicted addicted to painkillers. Over-the-counter stuff is fine, but she takes a lot of the regular stuff. She will take incredibly strong street-level stuff when it presents itself to her, and she isn't above taking them in lieu of monetary compensation. Any Johnson looking to save money might heavily consider tapping their drug connections rather than their bank accounts when it comes to her. If she does not take painkillers regularly, she is racked with intense pain (a leftover from a rushed surgery or two.) It's not bad enough to prevent her from functioning, but it's a huge distraction and she has a lot of trouble working under the stress.

[TheMusketMan]

@Krauxis Looks good, go ahead and post her in characters.

@absentmare If you could add a little more detail to his story, that would be grand.

[Terminal]

Doing some research into recent history so I can ensure my character has proper grounding. I'll probably have something up by tomorrow morning.

[Terminal]

@TheMusketMan

Important Query: What is the exact date in terms of Month/Day? Because before February 22nd, we have Insect Spirits. After February 22nd, we have considerably fewer insect spirits and instead have weaponized FAB being applied liberally everywhere - which would be extremely important news to most magic users and a number of magically active beings. The Shattergraves, for example, would very quickly be depleted of ghouls, vampires, and ghosts.

[Terminal]

Profile posted.