>Go ahead and develop your character, I suspect >the group can handle it. Ok, but I have to ask you to feel completely free edit any of my character ideas. I generate ideas that are all over the place. You need to keep in mind that as I generate a character for a game, I have NO ego invested in the process. >Just a precaution, due to future plot lines, >please dont use Saeder-Krupp, HKB or Lusiada >as your starting corp. Ok, I'll use Mitsuhama and take a Japanese bent rather than a German one ;> That's ok, I hate Lofwyr anyway... >Another mage will fit in nicely with what I have >in mind, just please no decker :-) the one I've >got is enough! Hate deckers, dislike technology, love mages... >http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=76_196&products_id=1868 This is stuff that I already have memorized (but I downloaded it anyway, it's a decent reference). The stuff I have the issues with are the subtlties like what the specific differences between Nutrition and Fast Spells are... things like that. Ok, here's my rough concept... and it's going to develop and change as I write, so you'll see a bit of my thought process as we go. <<<>>> My character is on the streets, has been for just two days, left the Mitsuhama complex in a hurry. The extraction was supposed to be more subtle, but somehow they knew. The only thing I've got on me are the clothes on my back, and a certified credstick with a little nuyen on it. Any sort of contact with friends or family will help the bad guys locate me... heck my partents are probably already dead... people who I knew in the Corp are probably being tortured right now for information on where I'd go... I'm not going to any of those places... I gotta stay out of sight, out of the light. Why was he leaving? the immediate reason is the 'framed for a crime I didn't commit' but let's change that to 'framed for a crime I did commit, but I did it because I was told to by my boss... and since I'd done far worse things for my boss and gotten bonus money for it... this didn't seem like such a big deal.' So this crime was caught on video. The crime was transforming the son of one of Mitsuhama's board member's into a dog... or a plant... but the So this character was working for Mitsuhama corporate security as an astral combat mage. that means his Sorcery skill has to be top notch. And also has to have a high Int... Ok so let's go a bit different track... This character was a wunderkind student at MIT&T. There on scholarship... was there for 5 years and got degrees in Sorcery and Engineering... and Magic Theory. His dad was an engineer for Mitsuhama... a subsidiary of Mitsuhama in Denver. The character was hired to work in Mistuhama's Seatle HQ in Research, then after a couple of years, Mitsuhama would send he to do some post graduate work somewhere... but something happened Someone took a dislike to the character and set about systematically ruining his life. Let's make the impetus for this ruiniation racism because it's a nice, clean, simple motive that can become very complex. OK, so the Japanese head of security for the Seatle complex... no the #2 in charge of security... set out to use my character as a patsy to get ahead in the company... Ok... I think I have a hook for this character. Things have changed a bit. The story seems more powerful with a female character, so I've changed genders. It added some layers to the story, but if you've got an issue with that, let me know... Also, because I design characters 'backwards' I have an NSRCG file for the story below if you want to see it. <<>> Let me tell you a story... In the spring of 2027, just 26 years after the world changed, Michael and Judith Osbrink brought child into the world. They knew their child was different before she was born. In the years following the Awakening, so many babies were born different that most folks with good health care got their kids tested in-utero. And since Michael was an engineer for a subsidiary of the Mitsuhama Mega-Corp, he was well paid and had great health care. As a result, the Osbrinks knew their girl would be born as what the new societies called an elf-baby. No one understood how or why this happened, but it happened nonetheless. Families had to choose whether or not to bring a 'different' child into the world. A lot of them chose not to. The Osbrink's decided that since it was the whole world that had changed, perhaps their girl would fit right in. Sarah Grace was born on March 3, 2026... healthy, beautiful... pointed ears... and firey red hair. As she grew, her hair darkened into a rich auburn color, and her eyes turned a brilliant emerald green. Their baby girl was so special. The Osbrinks learned just how special she was when she was just six years old. Dressed for bed, the willful Osbrink girl wanted to play princess and in a fit, she magically transformed her pajamas into a princess costume. Again shocked, but with mature heads, the Osbrinks sought help. Their child had shown magical abilities at a nearly unheard of young age. What a gift she must have! She immediately went to a private school for the magically gifted, and spent a great deal of her youth around people much older than herself. That was ok by her because she was a brilliant child and, to hear her tell it, she was always mature for her age... It was to no one's surprise when she was offered a sponsored scholarship to MIT&T by Mitsuhama, who had come to expect great things from Michael Osbrink's daughter. He'd gotten a serious leg up in the company due to his daughter's special gifts, anything to keep the family happy. Mages were rare, but one's like Sarah were unique. She was a magical prodigy of the highest order, and with magic still so new to the word, she was a precious thing. Sarah had always had an easy time with academics and learning. It was clear that she was brilliant by any measure. Her IQ was off the charts at around 190 (whatever that means). But her true mental secret was something she was never able to articulate to anyone. Her memory is truly photographic. She cannot forget anything that she's ever seen in her life. It made memorizing complex formulae, (magical or otherwise) simple. While it took Sarah 5 years and a summer to graduate from MIT&T, she graduated near the top of her class in magical studies, with degrees in Sorcery, Conjuring, and Magical Theory, all Summa cum Laudae. She was also the only student in her class to earn a degree outside the School of Thaumaturgy with a degree in Engineering, with Honors, and a minor in Psychology. She left school as the only undefeated Astral Wrestler in the school's young history. She had a natural gift with Sorcery; there was no denying it. She moved to Seatle and got to work within Mitsuhama's magical research division. Getting a security clearance was no problem. Sarah had been groomed from a young age to be ready for this job. But as is often the case when one of natural talent, but little experience comes into an existing environment, jealousies can arise. A couple of the older, more traditional researchers took a dislike to. It wasn't anything that she did, though. She was always friendly and likeable. She was professional at work and out of it. No, they didn't like her because she was not Japanese, and it sickened them that the parent company would raise one so young and so foreign so high so quickly. They did their work with her, but as time went on it was more and more begrudgingly. It didn't help that Sarah had her own form of racism going on. She'd researched what being an elf seemed to mean as the Sixth World was taking shape, and even began trying to learn the 'elven' language. She was excited to learn about the utopian country of Tir Taingire, and when she was feeling particularly mean, she'd comment that maybe she'd emmigrate to the Tir, and become a citizen. Enter Mariko Nakayama, herself a young, up-and- coming employee of Mitsuhama seatle. At the age of 26, she was the youngest woman ever to be the second in command of Mitshama's Seatle security. She was intelligent, ambitious... and ruthless. Mariko spotted the subtle animosity that was brewing in her research facility, and over a series of months developed a plan that would make use of everything she'd obsevered. As second-in-charge of security, Mariko has full access to secret personelle records. She was hoping to find information that she could use to entrap or discredit the foreign mage. Instead, what she found aroused passions for intrigue and ruination. Sarah was as clean as the proverbial whistle. The public descriptions of her talents with magic were watered down when compared to her private files. And given Mariko's militant and perverted mind, she dicided that she wanted such a jewel working for her... Mariko was able to leverage the aid of some members of the Mitsuhama team who were equally ambitious, ruthless, and racist. Japanese who hated seeing a Gaijin treated so well. Employees who, through her years with Mitsuhama, had grown to trust her leadership and believed that she was the wave of the future. As Mariko's plans were taking shape, personals and professional stresses were heaped onto Sarah. Her work projects became more complex and less specific... to the point of seeming to mean nothing. Her work successes slowed, and she grew frustrated. Ever the student of human nature, and the weakness of foreigners, Mariko knew exaclty when to spring her trap. Something was missing from the research facility. An investigation ensued. Access logs, surveilance logs, activity logs... they all proved inconclusive, but the weight of the circumstancial evidence was enough to point to Sarah as the responsible party. She could not prove her innocense. She railed against the unreality of what was happening to her. And the Japanese were affronted by the display of emotion. The inquest board was more certain now that she was guilty, who else would protest so loudly? She had disgraced herself. Measures would have to be taken. Punishment for the offender, termination of employment and forfeiture of pension and benefits, and the same for any family working for Mitsuhama. They were going to ruin her father as well as Sarah. Then, Mariko stepped in as Sarah's savior. Perhaps her career at Mitsuhama could be saved. Revoke her clearance, yes. Take her out of research, yes. But let her settle under Mariko's wing in Security rather than putting such potential out... Her parents would never have to know what happened. They're futures could be saved. All Sarah had to do was give up all the things she thought she was striving for... but it would save her father's job. Through Mariko's deception, Sarah's life changed radically. She was put through a crash course in security procedures and learned the ins and outs of combat tactics. It was like her Astral wrestling all over again, but this was deadly serious. Mariko brought Sarah closer and closer to her as she continued to shower praise on her pet magician. Sarah saw Mariko as a savior and a mentor... a friend... Mariko manipulated Sarah, molding her over the course of the three years they worked together into a nearly amoral security machine. Sarah used her now frightening abilities with magic to enhance Mariko's reputation within the Seatle Corp. When the time came, Mariko was promoted to head the security section at Mitsuhama Seatle. It was then that she started cleaning house of all the folks who'd stood against her during her rise to power. The first few were easy, but employees going missing would raise suspicion, so Mariko went so far as to actually contract shadowrunners to have them assault the complex... in the confusion and chaos, she was able to hide her activities... eventually even this was not enough. As with any tangled skein, Mariko's mobility was being threatened. It was time for on last score and the creation of a scapegoat. Mariko had Sarah deal with the son of a Japan based executive's son. He was a sniveling whiner in any case. But this time, Mariko had Sarah surveiled as she worked her magic on the man. After that, she had the vid feed doctored by her best graphics decker, doctored the log files, and set about to capture her scapegoat. But apparently, someone in Mariko's shadow army liked Sarah more than they let on. She was told of the plot, shown the evidence (the before and after vid feed, and told that she had no time to think. She was able to escape to the streets of Seatle. She was able to grab only the clothes on her back and a single certified credstick with a bit over a grand on it. She left everything else and ran. Fortunately, Mariko was unaware of Sarah's advance warning and so she moved covertly. Also, trying to keep face, Mariko continued to keep things quiet. No... Sarah would become Mariko's pet project, she'd track down the Gaijin bitch who killed the executive's son and caused Mariko's disgrace (the best connivers even fool themselves). And Mariko would use all the resources of Mitsuhama that she could quietly muster to route out the killer. No one could hide from her forever. She'd find the mage... and make her pay. Within an hour of Sarah's escape, her parents were killed in a house robbery gone horribly wrong. The psychotic man responsible was caught 2 hours after that. He killed himself while in Lone Star custody. Mariko had all of Sarah's files. She put taps on every record belonging to her target that was outside of her control. Anytime anyone checked on Sarah Osbrink anywhere in the world, Mariko would know about it. Sarah would have to completely disappear if she were to stay out of the noose... and based on her psych profile, which was sitting, open, on Mariko's desk, the Japanese woman knew that the stinking elf would never let that happen. Sarah was on the streets, a place with which she was completely unfamiliar. She knew she couldn't contact anyone she knew, they all be tapped or in on it. But she'd seen the faking of the evidence against her. And it started to rain... "Well," she said under her breath as her thousand nuyen suit was getting soaked, "rain is the classic literary symbol for change..." ...and she began to cry.