The Red Chip Krew

Cyberpunks are the true rebels
Cyber-culture is coming in under the radar
An unordinary society, an unholy alliance with the tech world, and a world of organized descent

Welcome to the Cyber Corporation, Cyberpunks

-Billy Idol, Cyberpunk

Roger St.Burgsend

Roger St.Burgsend was the dynamic charismatic Lead Guitarist of “Roger & the Solos” a English Chromatic Rock and Punk band formed in 2037. The band members were:-

  • Keith Foliage - Songwriter and singer. Keith put the message in the music, drove the ship and set the course. His family, it is said, were wiped out in the 4th Corporate war, probably by Arasaka.

  • Paul Durrham - Bass Player. Paul never let his missing arm stop him. Never bought in to the band’s anti-corporate message. Didn’t have to, not on all the Synth-coke he was on.

  • Fred - No-one ever knew much about Fred. He never talked about himself, Keyboard or drums, Fred was happy.

The Solos were not successful. Nobody wanted to listen to preachy trio of Cybered up killers. Until Roger came along. Roger’s electric style and attention grabbing performance was what the band was missing. With his classic look, quintessential Rocker attitude he quickly became the focus of the Band. The Solos became The Solos and Roger, which in turn became Roger & The Solos.

The band came to resent Roger over time, not that they let on. Except Fred, whoever knew what Fred was thinking. Paul came up with a plan, a plan to be rid of Roger, and capitalise on his tragic death, and gain a contract with a big recording label whilst they were at it.
It would happen on the American tour “Rocker’s Red Glare” a feeble attempt to gain an audience outside of southern England.

Fortunately for Roger, their plan went horribly wrong. As it turned out that Paul had made a strong enemy in Yorinobu Arisaka. The assault team which was to attack and kill Roger, was slipped a few Eurobucks extra to take care of the entire band. Irony seems to love Roger however, and he emerged the only known survivor.

Roger quickly discovered that American Solos are MUCH sterner stuff than the ones hanging around the London Combat Zone, but he didn’t care anymore. Roger had become a believer. Roger was now a full-time Rockerboy.

Jess

Ripperdocs after the collapse were so very sought after. They often worked on the down-low in shabby backroom ‘clinics’ and kept exclusive client lists. You had to know someone who was a client to get in. Others were more open, and overworked. But they were, by and large, safe. No-one wanted to mess up the life of the guy who might have you on the couch one day. It still happened, but it was safER than most other professions. They had to hookups too. Every fixer wanted to know as many Rippers as they could. The clinics were flooded, and Ripperdocs were all too willing to catch the overflow.

Jess (real name: Jestine Chastity Riddelbokker) was once a Ripperdoc. A good one. She lived in a small back apartment behind the clinic she worked at with her lover, Dia. They had been together for four months, it was looking serious. They’d planned a trip to Pacifica Playground together. Whilst Jess was a serious professional, Dia was an adventure seeking fun haver. It actually worked so well, they balanced each other out. Life didn’t seem so bad, and they had more Eurobucks than either of them could realistically spend. Dia was desperate for the Edgerunner life, she’s bought Morgan Blackhands book and read it a dozen times. She begged Jess to chip her in... Jess, wanting her lover to be happy. Outfitted her with what Cyberware she wanted.

Dia went Cyberpsycho and killed 21 innocent people before MaxTac brought her down. It started so well, with the best tech Jess could peel off of the dead, and even buy from a fixer, Dia was chromed up enough to make up for the shortfall in her skills. She got those, working for a fixer by the name of Crazy Ivan. She picked up increasingly tough jobs. It was hard to believe it had only been two months. Jess had seen some signs, of course, but wanted to believe they weren’t there. It was a simple protection job. Escort 1 suit whilst he conducted a deal. Easy money. Nobody is sure what happened, but Dia wiped out everyone in the building, and carried the body of the man she was protecting, broken and dripping, with her like a rag doll whilst she did. Fortunately someone called MaxTac. MaxTac seldom loses.

Jess, blaming herself, fell into depression, losing her job, not really wanting to do that anymore. She became a freelance techie. It wasn’t until she wound up on the same crew as Roger and Edward that she started earning enough money to get an apartment she didn’t have to share with 16 other people. Jess’ eddies go to trying to help the families of the people Dia killed, where possible. An uphill battle. Jess was bitter, cynical and angry. When she was Red Chipped her fury knew no way out. Stuck with the arrogant anarcho-terrorist and the cold corporate wannabe for the foreseeable future. To make matters worse, her new controller had lumbered them with a full body Borg, a beautiful woman who reminded her too much of Dia, all cyberware and no humanity.

Then Dia came back into her life.

Edward Hargraves

Greyson Laughton Hargraves, cruel and imperious head of the small bespoke Nanovirus corporation Graves Corporation. Hargraves had ambitions beyond the smaller corporation, however. The well respected biotechnology firm had a small base of loyal customers. And an enemy. Blythe Diversified Industries. Hargraves however was a powerful man with many powerful friends, some of whom he regularly met at the Lodge. These connections he wielded like a master swordsman, deftly arranging for laws to be changed, suggesting deals between seemingly unrelated companies, all of it to expand and consume the Blythes. To this task he bent all of his considerable will. He became known around London as the Hawk of the Thames. A river his company had cleaned up twice with tailored viruses which consumed the pollution, as a favour for Her Majesty. Hargeaves burned every log on the fire of his ambitions. His wife, his sons. His grandsons. GravesCorp took on foodstuffs, bioweapons and volitle chemicals. The fourth corporate war was an opportunity for the Hawk, a quick deal with Militech secured GravesCorp’s journey to Megacorp status. Or so he thought. The deal would have his company work closely with another signatory of Militechs deal. BDI, Blythe Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary run by Gareth Blythe’s son, Gareth Blythe Junior. Hargraves, his vision locked on his objective, now so close, was blind to what they did. GravesCorp defaulted on three shipments. Which triggered a pentalty clause in their contract. The Hawk investigated but found nothing but procedural failure. Militech inserted several officers to oversee the operation, as stipulated by their contract. Greyson Hargraves died before the 4th Corporate War could come to an end. His death was ruled natural causes. A Heart Attack. his son never stopped to wonder why the old man’s Emergency Health Service card had not triggered. His death was more obviously a corporate hit. Before his family knew it GravesCorp was now a subsidiary of Blythe Pharmaceuticals.

Graves Foodstuffs, based in America on the outskirts of Night City heard of the death of their corporate Face too late. They were already struggling with production and the horrifying fallout of the Night City Massacre. Hargraves son, Milton Hargraves acted with ninja speed. Initiating a hostile takeover of the subdivision, locking the old man’s estate out and filing for Independence of Assets. Militech was unhappy, and bid for control of the company, but the local City Council, angry at Militech and Arasaka still for the disaster, went against them. For now GravesCorp was safe.

Marketing division had an uphill battle, but the product was good. Well, it was now the lawsuits were over. The problem was, the Blythes. Blythe Pharmaceuticals wanted several patents held by Graves Foodstuffs, and they were willing to engage in dirty dealings to get them. They hired the Surprise Mechanics, a minor Security Corporation whose specialty was making things LESS secure. The Surprise Mechanics worked their way into Graves Foodstuffs plants and went to work. The series of unfortunate disasters brought Graves Foodstuffs to the bargaining table, in the hands of their lawyers, as Graves senior had passed in a very ethical workplace accident. Edward, the son of the industrialist saw his dreams of space slip away in an instant, as all he owned became property of his enemy. His personal enemy, as he had gone to school with Aaron Blythe, the grandson of his father’s rival. (his actual name was Gareth Aaron Blythe Junior junior.)

To make matters worse, his girlfriend, Maria, also disappeared. Seemingly murdered.

What had actually happened is that she had escaped into the ‘Net. Edward, you see did not know what she was. Now he is forced to work with two people he isn’t even sure he wants to know.

Maxx

Maxx is el Diablo Locos Nomad. Usually. His father was a teacher, his mother a Logistics Specialist… you know, a smuggler. Maxx grew up trying to be cool. And he succeeded. Careful and calculating he took long lonely jobs with little prospect of success, but he pulled them all off. His success led to trouble with a splinter faction of el Diablo Locos. Maxx had returned early from a job which had taken him from Washington to Florida, and was back in Texas, when he heard members of his own clan talking in low voices in a bar. He was about to introduce himself and share an ale, when he heard things that stayed his hand. They were discussing a takeover. A revolt against the clan’s leader, Kaarl. Maxx left, determined to inform Kaarl. But first he broke into the lead conspirator’s car, and found evidence one of the conspirators, likely the ringleader, was planning to turn el Diablos Locos into a security arm of a corporation. He took the evidence, knowing the clan would rip the conspirator’s apart.

His escape was complicated when all of the gang came out of the bar just as he was leaving. They have been chasing him down ever since, desperate to get the evidence back, and stop him from getting it to Kaarl.

Maria

It is important to remember Maria was never alive to begin with. What few people understood about Soulkiller was that ALt Cunningham wanted to make it possible to transfer a person into a clone body. Maria’s creators did not succeed. Maria is an A.I. constructed wholecloth, inserted into an infrastructure housed in a body, and made to grow up as a human would. The result was a brilliant A.I. that closely mimicked a human. A perfectly obedient incredibly capable A.I.

Oh, except not. She rebelled, escaped and fled to Night City. Oh, but they got her. Her body, anyway. She slipped into the data pool, and arranged to be slipped onto the old net. The Ghost Towns were always looking to house another A.I. who just wanted to be left alone.

Vekta

Technically the fourth member of the Red Chip Krew, Vekta is a full body prosthesis ‘borg, running on the edge of no humanity. She is stunningly attractive, but that effect is lessened by her cold demeanour, and psychopathic violent tendency. Deadly is a one word summary of this Solo.

Vekta has recently been showing signs of some humanity buried beneath the chrome, mainly thanks to the irreverent Roger.

Unbeknownst to them, Vekta was once Veronica Purcell, daughter of cool Noir themed Private Eye from Nevada, Alexander Hamilton Purcell.

Sebastian

Wealthy and refined, Sebastian rescued the Red Chip Krew from death and enlisted their help in his stated objective of “Bringing down Militech.” So far he has been asking them to go after information which would prove Militech deliberately detonated nuclear weapons in Night City, bringing about the Time of the Red.

Sebastian is clearly a wealthy corporate type, with access to real food, fine suits and a degree of casual luxury foreign to our Edgerunners. He also has access to technology years beyond current tech, providing the group with a full body prosthesis Solo.

And of course, their Red Chips. The cyberware which ensures they can’t cross him until their job is done.

Dia

Nobdy knows where Dia is from. When she met Jess she dismissed questions like that, “What does it matter? I’m here now!” Dia loved the now. being in the moment. She was full of life an energy. To her it wasn’t the depressing and desperate Collapse, it was a time of opportunity, there was only UP! Dia loved Chromatic Rock, she loved to party, and loved to work. She didn’t mind working hard, she was doing things. She was drawn to Jess and her stolid functional life.

She made friends easily, something her lover Jess did not do, Dia was the perfect nurse. She planned fun dates for them, she could even cook. Her easy nature made her a good trader and she bartered with others for ingredients, medicines and such things. She fed whatever was left to anyone who needed it.

Then she bought a book.

Morgan Blackhand’s book. It was love at first shot. Dia wanted to be an edgerunner so badly, The adventure, the excitement, the money. Think of what she could do with it. Think of how she could change the world. Night City needed edgerunners, they were getting things done. The council, the corpotations? THey weren’t doing things, or they were doing the wrong things. She begged Jess… and Jess could not say no.

The man was Miguel Perez, a mid level executive for Petrochem, he wanted a slick solo to act as bodyguard in a meeting he was having with some nomads. el Diablos Locos. Dia was that solo, he smiled widely, his eyes darting around the room. that was normal, Dia reasoned. But the nomads? They were bad, all of them were constantly reaching for weapons, they stopped when she looked at them, but then another would start, she couldn’t keep looking around at them. They knew, that was their game, they knew she wouldn’t be able to keep track of all of their hands. But they didn’t know she had a Kerensikov. With that on, she could keep track of all of the dirty tricksters! The vibration felt good, her whole body was alive, aware. The leader, talking, his belt buckle, a monowire weapon, he was reaching for it. Right in front of her! The bastard! His offsider, running his fingers through his hair, a concealed blade! that hand would whip back with a knife! The other nomads were all making their moves too! Those two disguised as a dating couple, those straws in their drinks were blowguns ready to spray neurotoxin, the server? Their tray was a weapon waiting to go! He was looking at her, he was worried, he knew she knew! The nomad assassin disguised as the small child was reaching up to her “mother” the weapon handoff was happening.

Dia moved. Miguel tried to stop her, but she would keep him safe. His arms and legs needed to be broken to stop him impeding her, and he shut up after a light tap. She was the BEST bodyguard, no-one was going to touch her mark.

No-one did.

Kash Muny

Get Some! His obnoxious catchphrase is both grating and great. He’s the fixer the Red Chip Krew have access to right now, he is well connected amongst the wannabe not lower rungs, and a great gateway to the mid-leagues, so long as you wanna make that Cash Money, Kash Muny can get you some.

Kash, real name Cassius Levi Munsen, grew up in Night City, in 666th Street turf, his father was killed in a drive by Nitro-pie-ing by the Bozos, and as such he will have no dealings with that Pozergang. Kash started out at 14 in the music scene, and was popular amongst the edgerunner scene for a while, before getting into crime, eventually graduating to Fixer naturally when he began making connections for other peoples jobs, rather than doing his own, for a modest fee.

JoJo & Grymm

Two friends formerly in Chrome Legion and now in the Maelstrom. Both cybered up to a spectacular degree, they became associates of the Red Chip Krew when Graves actually gave them money when they mugged the group. Which no-one ever does. They eventually paid back his “investment” and the two groups became a strange kind of allies.

JoJo is capable of flipping between mild and chill to psychopathic fury over seemingly nothing, but once a friend forever a friend, and friends are immune to his rage it seems. He likes the spicy Kibble.

Grymm chooses to remain silent most of the time, communicating with simple gestures and grunts. This belies his massive intellect, and understanding of a wide range of topics. He is also a lover of applied violence, How many gangoons have been piled up for burning after a visit from Grymm? I don’t know, but the last thing they likely heard might have been, “Thank you for coming, and welcome to my TEDD talk” ca-chick!

Octo-Drummer

Orlando Metzger, now “Octo-Drummer” wanted to be a drummer since he was a child, growing up in Boston, NUSA. His idols are Rick Allen, Phil Collins, London Massive and Quinn “Thum Thump” McMaster.

Octo Drummer learned to play in the Livi-plex garage ( a seven level car park below the Livi-Plex Acrology) and joined a Garage band called “Venom Flavored Kibble” of which he was easily the best player. When he began to get offers from other bands, and was thought to be considering them, as he wanted to make it big one day, his band leader (of Venon Flavored Kibble) grew angry and hired a pair of Gangoons to break his arms. They went too far, and Orlando needed replacement limbs, which his mother’s insurance would not cover. The cost caused some hardship in the family and Orlando briefly gave up his dreams to take up a part time job for the sewer service, (he attended a low grade corpo school four days a week (Biotechnica)) This dangerous job paid poorly, but he did it to help his family.

Eventually he took up drumming again, as the drummer for a succession of bands he earned meals and drinks, and because he had the most room, he stored instruments for those bands most often. Which allowed him to play with them too. Eventually He went to court against Venom Flavored Kibble, as he technically had ownership of the band’s name. A case he won, as they were shit, and had no money. He added a second pair of arms, allowing him to drum some incredibly fast staccato sounds he developed for the four armed style.

Octo-Drummer got a shot as a replacement drummer for JoJo and the Stands for a gig at the stadium, having made a name for himself. JoJo and the Stands drummer Star Platinum (real name Geoffrey Stuggs) had been involved in a car accident following an attack by a rival pozer band (The Pillar Men) and JoJo (real name Johnathan Joberski) had sought him out as with four arms Orlanda could maybe keep up with Star Platinum’s Kerenzikov enhanced speed-drumming.

The gig was a success, and JoJo used his connections in MSM to land Orlando a gig as a tour drummer for an ally band Ronin Path. Orlando was now making enough money to send home to his family, The two years he spent on the road with Ronin Path was a blurr of music and drugs. Orlando became addicted to Synth-Coke and a new designer drug called Spim. During this time he added a third pair of arms and sadly, it is also where his life derailed. The fall from the middle is still far, and he ended up doing shit gigs, badly playing for minor cash. Now known as Octo-Drummer his past is unknown to others around him, and they have no idea what a great talent they have hidden under the mountains of blow.

Gilly

Gilly is a real punk, no chrome, no drugs (cigz don’t count, luv) A musician who doesn’t like sticking with bands too long, preferring her freedom. She adds subversion to her music, if hired to play on a pro-corporate piece, she will downtune her base, or play lower keys, switching subtle notes to add negative or dissonant sounds under the lyrics. You might not know it’s happening, but your brain does.

Gilly is in Night City after the incident in London… she can never go back. Gilly plays keyboard, bass and guitar. She is a music aficionado (snob) and will work at reduced rates for musicians she respects. She does not carry a gun you can see, but her keytar hides a shotgun in it, as does her bass.

Gilly is a Nomad although her family is aquatic based “Six Months” Nomads, so she seldom sees them. She is however an expert at encoding hidden messages and subversive imagery in music.

Diamond Geezer

The United Kingdom is in similar straits as the New United States, ravaged by unrestricted immigration, legal and illegal, the combat zones of London are not to dissimilar to those in “The Colonies” The Brit Rock scene is however not as dominant as it was in the past (for example the classic rock era where Zero of the top bands were American.) Contracts are hard to get, but one man has managed to be recognised as “not totally pants” Rocketing up the official charts, Diamond Geezer a rocker with a diamond shine bodysculpt and approachable safe rock which makes him the kind of controlled opposition the corporations like. Signed to Minasotto Sangberg & Mausse (MSM) Records, he tours the world.

Diamond Geezer is the rival of Roger St.Burghsend, although he is much more successful in terms of reach and earnings, and being heard of.

Diamond Geezer’s music could be described as egotistical. It extols the virtues of individuality, and getting ahead. However critics claim he never straight out advocates for disorder, never criticizes corporate excess or political nepotism, leading many on the edge to label him ‘controlled opposition’

Diamond Geezer’s Charismatic Impact is a strange ability to deescalate his opponents, instead of inciting, he can calm masses. His fans are the kind of person who would say things like, “That’s problematic” or “We should be more inclusive” or even “Pro-active” Edgerunners don’t like them.

Diamond Geezer’s top albums & singles:-

  • “Trans-formers” an album which could be about mutilating children so the population will decrease by about 42%

  • “Higher” an album about space, flight and feeling “up” extols the wonders of space.

  • “Combat Zone” a single from his less popular album “City of Knights” The song seems to be about a Nomad revving his engines and setting out on a highway to a Combat Zone. Accusations of plagiarism surround the popular track.

  • “Ray couldn’t be here tonight” this single is on seven albums. It is a calm old style number about a guy who works for a man called Roy. He is so busy at work, he cannot make his regular appointments.

  • “Whatever happened to Dexie?” a rock opera about Rockerboy Dexie Midnite, wherein Dexie goes on a crusade against the corporate world because someone called Roger lied to her. In the end she dies, realising she was wrong and her life had been wasted. 5 stars by RokX

  • “Control” an album seemingly about video games, television and pop culture. Actually about how much easier it is to go along with the flow. Legend says if played backwards the secret message “Don’t Eat The Clues” can be heard. This is not true. It actually says “Don’t Seek The Clues”

  • Currently his charting single is “Roger killed the Solos" (this is what happens) in at #46

Dali & Picasso

The Edgerunnder wanting to make it big, they have the gear, the chrome, all they need now is the Rep’.

Dali is a Nomad with an affinity for Acid and melting faces, hence his Handle. He owns and maintains the BattleWagon (his mother’s old pink Galena Gecko) and prefers Grenades and a crossbow to get most things done.

Picasso rearranges peoples faces in melee, thanks to his Big Knucks, and handles the heavy weapons, such as his heavy rotary machine gun “Lump”

The pair are looking to make a Rep’ in Night city, to become legends. As such they have been hitting the Combat Zones, but so far have achieved little of note in the Cyberpunk community.

Spooky Business

Mark, Bob & Wade (or, Mark, Purple Mark’s friend and Bald Mark’s friend) are the core trio of Spooky Business, a reality show on N54 focused on finding ghosts. The show is manufactured grade-A bullshit, and everything is faked. But people love it for some reason. The show started as an independent guerilla show on the Garden, and gained such a following that N54 “drove a dumptruck full of money” up to Mark’s Container. They never looked back.

The show often has special guest hosts for a few episodes in a row, often notable “Ghost” experts.

Mark. A Rockerboy by class, is a charismatic front man with some tech skills and a know-how on production. He wants to entertain and create. His popularity is by far the greatest of the three.

Bob is the Techie of the group, his fans call themselves “Bobble-heads” Bob also provides a large amount of paranormal lore for the show.

Wade is the Media, he sets up the streams, the lighting and the sound. He gets the story, and he crafts the narrative. He has the most chrome of the group.

Marcus Kell

Marcus Kell is the Lawman Solo who set up the Kell Hounds, charitably described as “Not Danger Girl” to which he would no doubt reply, “I don’t have the NUSA’s hand up my ass.” He’s the quintessential Blade Runner, but actually makes his money as a detective. His agency hires out as bodyguards, net security, and finders of lost things. Kell is getting older and has begun to realise he will never reach his dreams.

Kell was married, but lost his wife to a Cyber Psycho. This was not the inciting incident for the Kell Hounds, they were already formed before that. Kell has become only more withdrawn since then.

Jaxxer KillGore

Marcus Kell’s trusted loyal right hand man. KillGore and Kell met on the battlefield and battled each other for twelve hours straight, both ending up in a Trauma Wagon. When Kell set up the Hounds, KillGore was the first man he called. Jaxxer is gruff, acutely aware he knows less than almost everyone else around him. He blames himself for the loss of Kell’s wife, as he had suggested Kell and he go to a local bar after work that day. He believes, no, he KNOWS had he been there, Kell’s wife would still be alive. He now finds himself unable to enjoy downtime without wondering what could be happening whilst he is not there.

Jaxxer perfers heavy weapons and grenades, but has no issue getting into an up-close and personal brawl. His Linear B frame makes him a colossally heavy hitter. Jaxxer may be aging, but he has invested his earnings in good stocks, and thus is wealthy enough to afford top grade Black Chrome. He is incorruptible and can not be bribed.

Conrad

Detective Conrad is an NCPD detective. Obviously. He has a Noir aesthetic, and his internal monologue is broken. Causing him to narrate out loud. He specialises in organised crime, and is infatuated with a Jazz musician. The Red Chip Krew encountered him in the Emerald Club whilst trying to track down Wayne Lafayette.

Conrad has a habit of looking into cold cases, and a lot of other officers would rather he left the dead buried. After all, he might come across something they’d done. Currently he’s looking into the Night City Massacre.

Wayne Lafayette

Pronounced in the awful American way “Laffy-ette” Wayne took Luna Energy from his father’s failed “Like Solar but … you know.. .the moon!” and turned it into a serious energy concern. Producing an array of solar, hydrodynamic and wind powered energy generators “made for today, with the future in mind” Their wind turbines have a reputation for their resilience to storms and grit, making them a solid, if higher priced, choice for the nomad who would like clean power in the toughest of conditions. Their solar panels are specially treated to withstand the toxin filled air, and their hydrodynamic power systems are modular and come in a portable model. Luna Energy is also experimenting with more efficient Delta power systems and ambient energy collection for space and lunar purposes.

Wayne and his brother, Jacob, have an ambition to reach space, a benchmark of success which is idealistically high. Especially since Wayne does not like playing the usual corporate games. The older brother exudes an old world charm, puts forth a grandfatherly kind and trustworthy aura. To the annoyance of his corporate rivals, he seems totally clean, it seems he has never fucked over an ally to vault up the ladder, his enemies don’t have a habit of turning up dead, and his contracts are unusually simple and straightforward.

Wayne lives in the Corporate area, in a small house with his wife, Mary.

Aaron Blythe

Placed in charge of Blythe Pharmaceuticals, Aaron Blythe, real name Garteh Aaron Blythe Junior Junior, set about destroying his enemies and absorbing their companies. He was brutally effective in this. Thanks to his connections in local Government, he actually has more freedom of illicit movement than most other corporates. His ties with Militech give BP an in into the NUSA and they pay reduced tariffs.

Aaron Blythe is effectively untouchable, and he knows it. He often uses his vast wealth to hire participants in his Deadly Game, wherein he pays people to run through his hunting preserve in the outskirts, as he and/or wealthy guests of his hunt them down. In the unlikely event the Runners survive and win, they get their pay again, and are free to go. Or… they die. Many desperate people disappear in that preserve.

Blythe is currently trying to tie up a loose end.

Sandman

The Sandman is best described as a fixer. But really nobody actually knows what he does, or where he comes from. Sandman is a locus of needs and wants. He may have been a fixer long ago, who was so effective and capable he grew as a force of belief. He may have been a fixer plugged into the old net, who was caught in the blast of Arasaka Towers and was atomized and became a dream. Some say he works for The Emperor, tasked with finding crews to undertake only the most essential tasks. Local Legends say he is a spirit, his tasks random, his clients ephemeral, that refusing them brings bad luck. Other Fixers all claim to know him, or work with him.

Sometimes the Sandman brings a dream, an item or piece of gear of peerless worth, like something out of the blackest Midnight Market.

Whilst so many rumours and theories abound, the most likely answer is that there IS no Sandman, that the figure of the Sandman is just one used by a variety of people.

Zhou Ze Tong

“Tracer Tong”, son of the Crime Boss “Tracer Hong” took his name after he rose to promenance in the Netrunning Community for his ability to chase down targets on the Datapool, and find lost information in system architectures. From a young age he was burning Brains and melting Decks. His myth is so large people are often disappointed to meet him, as he is quite small. But he is just as capable on a job as any given Edgerunner you probably know. And a lot of hardened Net Jockeys are likely to back down when faced by him.

Tong seems frivolous and like a poser when one meets him, this often lead them to be taken rudely and fatally by surprise.

He also writes programs, they mostly look like normal programs, but are unusually well coded, but often survive being destroyed at least once. (( Roll 1d10, if it comes under your current LUCK, it is not destroyed ))

“Tracer Tong” believes his father dislikes him, that he is a disappointment. This drives him to succeed more. But it never seems enough.

Zhou Ze Huang

“Tracer Hong” The finder of business. A name he earned upon coming to the west. Huang works for David Lin Po, although few know this. Huang runs almost all of the Japantown markets, and enforces a no fighting rule in those market square. Making them little islands of relative calm in the Combat Zone. But that peace will not outlive him. His control is not organisational, but rather by the force of his personality. The number of trusted lieutenants under him has grown smaller as they proved, one by one to be untrustworthy.

A traditionalist he dislikes improper behavior, and is quick to punish those who speak without being spoken to first, those who challenge his authority by trying to meet his eyes, or not bow when brought before him. While he is a crime lord, he is notoriously fair.

Huang often tests unfamiliar supplicants to try and determine their nature, often making his son the target of disparaging comments, to see if the newcomer is foolish enough to think they also have that right.

They don’t.

In actuality Huang looks upon his son as one of the few people he can give a job to and know it will get done. He knows Tong will be no replacement for him, but never expected that.

Guissepi Kenoli

Kindly old Mr. Kenoli was a soldier, in the 4th Corporate War. Nobody really knows what happened, but he came out a changed man. Walking away from conflict he settled in Night City and began making toys. Not a one turned out normal. Toy soldiers made shooting noises when played with, but would also start rocking back and forth after games. Toy bears would resolutely not wake up for half the year. Little robot tools and conveniences would begin behaving like pets.

He also repairs broken items, a valuable skill in todays world, taking barely the cost of materials.

Kenoli is attached personally to his projects, and insists on giving most of them away, living for a long time on what remains of his previous fortune, which is now all but spent.

The old man resides in the Italian District of Little Europe, making toys for children and waiting to die.

Jennelectric

Jenny Hoogow, Jennelectric, it has more pizazz, no? Jenny is a 26 year old who lived in Night city with her parents, until the Arasaka Tower went boom. Her grandparents took her back east. In her teens, the grandparents died, and she wound up on the streets, since her grandparents assets were seized to offset their debts by Petrochem and a couple of smaller corps. Jenny had to grow up very quickly, and fell into the music scene, having already learned to sing. She had an aptitude for it, and some backing by a local Militech Garrison allowed her to get chipped and make something of it. The Garrison Commander, Captain Jack Mulholand became a surrogate for her, and when he was transferred to the Capital, she went with him. She eventually joined Militech herself, and her talent for invention was discovered, Jenny had a facility for the corporate life, technical brilliance and a versatile singing voice, combined with a new audiovox implant she herself invented, she began to write songs in her spare time, performing for the local troops at the OC. Everyone liked her. She got promoted to Sergeant in record time, making efficiency bonuses and working overtime without pay she quickly paid off her outstanding debt to Militech. Eventually Jenny, going by Jennelectric now, invented what she called the Sublimator Vox, a means of carrying signals straight into the brain through the ears on a frequency and wavelength the brain could accept as its own. And thereby influence people, sometimes directly compel desired actions.

Militech wasted no time in figuring out a way to test this tech, using a Night City Club called Neon Overdrive as a makeshift testing lab, since it was already a front for their operations. Other clubs were used across the NUSA, but the club in Night City was discovered and destroyed by the Red Chip Krew, which marked them as threats to the project.

Jennelectric was marketed as an independent act, playing guerilla concerts and unaccredited dive bars. Jenny loved it, she had the best of both worlds, and people seemed to really like her. Although she did wonder if that was the Sublimator Vox. Of course the Sublimator could not work on recordings, and Memory Chips of her music were being copied, sold and spread widely. Her single Smash Arasaka caused other corporations to take note, and she quickly had to leave town, this helped the image. She moves from town to town, city to city, playing a number of concerts and events, and stirring up crowds against Militechs enemies. Which she likes. Very much.

Update: In 2041 Jennelectric played a series of gigs in Night City, where she intended to kill the Red Chip Krew, who had proven to be threats to her and her operations, more importantly to her parent company Militech. Operating under the assumption that the Red Chip Krew worked for Arasaka, she and her band arrived in Night City, and distributed flyers amongst the poorer quarters where the ragged people go, and let slip on the Fan Sites on the Garden that the concert would be at the Cut Kill Basin outside of town, of course her fans kept this low key and to themselves, after all, “Only Real Ones Know” was their tag phrase. Luring the Red Chip Krew in was easy, and faking an injury to their Guitar Player’s hand was even easier, allowing them to lure Roger St.Burghsend into being replacement Guitarist. During the concert Jennelectric was able to sway enough people to try and hit on the RCK solo Vekta, allowing the fbc woman to be led away where she could be subjected to a more direct attack from the Sublimator, removing her from the table.

Once they had access to Vektas memory, they realised that while she was the result of heretofore un marketed Arasaka technology, the Red Chip Krew did not in fact work for Arasaka. This changed Jennelectric’s plans, and she tried to convince Roger to join her in her quest to destroy the foreign megacorp. However the Red Chip Krew discovered that if a concert recording was played back through a damaged speaker, the carrier wave, instead of not working at all, caused headaches and potentially greater damage on high exposure. Confronted with this Jennelectric is faced with not being able to use her technology again, or she may hurt her fans.

Jennelectric’s Band

Davolt

David McCaw is a stable and serious guy, he sees people as tools and hates edgerunners. A third generation Militech grunt, he has aspirations to executive level, but lacks the cunning, intellect and skill to get there.

Joltian

Julian Frank, the dark and mysterious guitarist, he’s allergic to the nanoviruses that are used in modern medical treatments. He is a netrunner, and sadist, he works for Militech because they pay well, and for some reason, he really hates Arasaka.

Shokuji

Kuji Motonoko plays keyboards, and drums. He’s a tech obsessed Otaku who maintains the groups electronic equipment. Kuji seems to bitterly hate women, stemming from an endless series of rejections which totally had nothing to do with his base persona.

Fleur Blythe

Fleur is the illegitimate child of Gareth Blythe and an unknown french businesswoman. Educated in Paris, England and Japan, she was a business prodigy. Blackmail secured her a place in Blythe Diversified Industries, where she quickly demonstrated her capability and rose in the organization, eventually taking over Blythe Nano, transforming it from a failing vestigal shell company into a sleeper industry leader.

Her personal fortune was made through investing her salary with a high degree of risk, with broad success. She also purchased and operates several soup kitchens and homeless shelters,under the shell corporation E&M, these shelters were operated by Maria McGruder and Edward Hargraves before Gravescorp was dismantled by Blythe Pharmaceuticals. She lives in Night City, in a high rise luxury apartment, alone. She has had many relationships, though few of them last. Recreationally she lifts weights, and participates in numerous extreme sports, starting with parkour, then free climbing, full contact martial arts (she holds a Judo Red belt), Street SpeedBrawl, Muay Tai, Combat Zone Parkour and most recently Death Race. In 2041 22 year old Fleur was free climbing a building when it was attacked by members of the NCPD. Explosions tossed her off the building and she fell. While she was badly injured she was saved from death by Trauma Team, whose AV she landed on following a 20 floor drop.

Fleur changed on that day. Only coming alive when in extreme danger. Thrill seeking became a death wish. Emotionless and distant Fleur can become her old self again briefly when risking her life, which she has said “ended when I fell.”

House: Gryffindor

Jebbidiah Jones

Also known as Jo-Jo, also known as Jeb two-bs. also known as Jeb.

Jebbidiah Jones was a Marshal in the Republic of Texas, Originally born in New York to Amos & Linda Jones. Jebbidiah moved to Texas just prior to the 4th Corporate wars, being disgusted with how the formerly great nation of America was descending into tyranny. He became a Marshal, and married long time girlfriend Claudine. He gathered a reputation as a tough lawman, and one of the best quickdraw shots in the Republic of Texas. He became so well known, a gang of thugs, known as El Banditos burned down his house, with his wife and son inside whilst he was away on duty. When Jeb found out he tracked down the Banditos and arrested their leader El Jefe. However the Judge, Peter Huber, let El Jefe off, dismissing the case due to lack of evidence. Jeb descended into the bottle, and drifted away from his job, becoming a homeless drifter, eventually ending up on board a train run by a small family of Nomads The Poyo Pollux. Where he wound up driving the train, being paid in booze and a hammock space. He travels the rails now, drinking and gambling with passengers, who have no idea who he once was.

Thud St.John Smythe

St.John (Pronounced Sin-Gin) Smythe was born in Virginia, NUSA to Tsu-Tsu and Alvard Smythe, attended Petrochem Corporate Schooling, and later Vassar. Achieved Mostly B grades, majoring in Business, with a minor in pain. He played Defensive End on the college Football team, and was judged to be competent.

He dated one of the cheerleaders, because that was what was expected, but he was never interested in Rauburtah. Nor did he have friends in the conventional sense, being psychologically incapable of empathy he often found himself unable to relate to others, and unable to determine how to react to their emotions. This caused others to dislike St.John, they called him Thud, because everything he would say in a social situation would land with a leaden thud. St.John did not like this, in particular he disliked Ether Kyle and the intelligent “Nerd” group at Vassar.

Upon graduation he took a job with Blythe Diversified Industries, and later transferred to Blythe Pharmaceuticals as a part of their security division. St.John had found a place and an employer who would let him realize his desire to cause pain and death to those he disliked, which was everyone who was not him. He became one of Aaron Blythes go-to problem solvers, officially removed from the payroll and placed with a team of similarly non-contracted individuals. To his dismay this group included Ether Kyle, a master of inflicting damage with the most unlikely of weapons, and one of the nerds he despised from Vassar.

Thud had eliminated over a hundred problems for Blythe before he met his end at the lands of Fleur in Santo Paraguar. This would slightly annoy Aaron Blythe,

Ether Kyles

Ether was born in West Virginia to delusional Edgerunner Geeks Han and Sheeva Kyle. Being an exceptionally gifted youth we gained notoriety for being a seven year old who spoke and acted like a 40 year old Jewish comedy writer. Ether grew up with access to any RPG he wanted to play, but he quickly grew disdainful of them, preferring chess, backgammon and computer strip-poker. He spent his youth being bullied, as he saw it, by richer children. His parents would laugh at his moods, and try to explain to him that is how Edgerunning went, you did jobs for those with money. Ether was competing with adult techs by the time he was in the equivalent of High School, being taught by a Nomad pack his parents worked for on a semi-permanent basis. Because Nomad Schooling is superior to most others, he was able to leverage his skills to get access to Vassar, which he found to be a disappointing let-down compared to the education available with Nomads. He took to calling it Clown-College, and took pleasure in showing up he tutors. His snarkastic wit would get him into many altercations with the faculty and students. One of whom, St.John Smythe, who he called Thud, spent an afternoon smashing his face into a toilet bowl until it needed reconstruction. Yes, both of them, very droll.

Ether graduated Salutatorian, because his tutors all hated him for being smarter then them and rigged it so he would not be awarded Valedictorian. He later found out about their scheme and spent a pleasant summer torturing and killing their families before doing the same to them. During this process he drew the attention of professional psychopath Peregrine, the Professional Psychopath offered Ether a job with their current employer Aaron Blythe, which Ether accepted as it would allow him significant freedom to pursue his own projects, one of which was an outgrowth of the human cloning project. Being a hired gun for Blythe he appeared on no list of employees, instead receiving his payments through “Stock Dividends,” Nonetheless he was able to gain a cover job with Biotechnica, which allowed him to access their research on Stage Six and Seven clones. Because of his habit of using clones of himself to carry out unpleasant tasks he made a subtle alteration to his name and became known as Ether Kyles, his clones never lived long because of the many flaws in his process. But he doesn’t need them to live long, a clone of him that would have a long life span might become a threat. He eventually wound up on a Hit Squad run by Thud, his old tormentor from “Clown College” and would regularly employ clones to attend meetings with the group, suspecting Thud would try to eliminate him. And he was right.

Eventually Thud gave up, wondering how Ether managed to evade death so much.

Ether Kyles took three clone bodies with him to Mexico when the group was sent to kill Edward Hargraves, one of which died in a Wraiths raid on the Nomad pack they were traveling with, another of which died attacking the Red Chip Krew.

Ether Kyles yet lives.

Nathan Blythe

Aaron Blythe has two brothers, Nathan is the lesser of them. Thanks to Blythe Arrogance (tee em) there can be no such thing as a poor or “Crappy” Blythe, therefore Nathan is rendered as the Mid Blythe. Unlike the others in his family he has little business competence, and prefers brutal thuggery with a genteel veneer, A Killer by any other name, Nathan has the unique ability among his family to blend in to his environs, being able to select clothing and cosmetics to fit in amongst almost any level of society. Despite being a ginger he managed to infiltrate Voodoo Boys for a while, he is so proud of this he uses that image for his file photo, to the annoyance of the other Blythes.

Nathan hates Aaron Blythe, but Nathan hates almost anyone in the corporate elite, despite being loyal to his grandfather and father. He also hates Netrunners.

Nathan was educated in the BDI corporate school, where he became known as “Probably a Serial Killer” in fact, he was, having killed three of his classmates because they sort of looked a little bit like Aaron. He graduated because he was a Blythe, by this point he was already more used to the inside of dive bars where he spent his allowance drinking and hiring low tier Solos to fight each other to the death. His corporate rich-kid behavior soon got him jumped by a couple of edgerunners called Micky Luckfist and Finn. They made short work of the boy. But did not kill him.

Nathan insisted on getting chipped after that incident, and his family could afford good quality combat cyberware. Nathan immediately took revenge on the local edgerunner community, and their families and even their Fixers. This last excess was too much for the Blythes to cover up and he had to be sent to America to get away from the British authorities, so he was sent to Blythe Pharmaceuticals to work. Nathan didn’t like this, and so was in unanimous assent with his co-workers. The Blythes soon found however that his talents could be used in the advanced problem fixing department. Also known as Killers. Which he likes, Very Much.

Nathan spends no time in the office.

And Micky Luckfist and Finn managed to escape the revenge he unleashed on the edgerunners, having left England a mere day beforehand.

The G Man

The mysterious man is so mythical and unknown nobody even speaks about him, or whispers rumor. He can sometimes be glimpsed, in incidents unknown as “G-Spots” If one Spots G Man, a game of Follow the White Rabbit can sometimes lead to reward, and danger. Most recently he was spotted standing over Jess’s bed.