Character overview: Anderwol “Skid” Dersitaliantis
History:
Anderwol is the first of the Dersitaliantis clan to make it big as a shadowrunner, though not the last. His family members are known for their inability to hold on to money, and one could often find Skid crashed on a friend’s couch or in a Barrens squat, waiting for the next job to improve his situation for a few weeks.
That Skid started his career as a wage mage for a medium-size megacorp is fairly certain, though he doesn’t like to talk about it much and was almost certainly let go under unfortunate circumstances. Like many another mage on the streets, the drain of spellcasting began to catch up to him, and he turned to cyber-implants to try and hang on to his edge.
Skid’s fortunes turned when he hooked up with the TeeFive runner society, though, and when he finally left the shadows for good, he bought a run-down bar on the edge of the Redmond Barrens called the Zombie Zoo. It’s nowhere trendy to be seen, but it’s a good place to get drunk off quality exotic liquor while listening to really bad live music, and so shadow talent does show up there from time to time.
Personality:
Skid is vague, slothful, and sometimes crude. He’s not an easy man to like, but he never forgets those who help him out, and has sometimes put his life on the line for what he considers an honorable debt. He drinks and sleeps a lot, but somehow retains a keen instinct for magic.
Appearance:
Skid is over six feet tall, with a battered, unhealthy look to him. He’s usually unshaven, and his visible cyberware is usually scuffed and nicked. Skid dresses like an escapee from a 1970s disco, in recent years favoring a Sergeant Pepper jacket and bell-bottoms he picked up in some thrift store.
Favorite weapon:
There’s always an AK-98 assault rifle within arm’s reach of Skid if he has anything to say about it, and though he hates to do so, he’s ready to cast a mana bolt if the situation demands it.
Quirks:
Skid is a walking quirk. His collection of physical twitches, odd speech patterns, and out-of-focus gazes cause most people to give up talking to him within minutes. Still, adversaries underestimate him at their peril.
Rumors:
It’s said (especially by competing bar owners) that the Zombie Zoo isn’t named so for its decor of tombstones and ragged clothing on the faux-gore-streaked waitstaff, but that Skid actually performs experiments in the bar’s basement with the goal of reanimating dead tissue. If asked directly about this, Skid usually makes a remark about his genitals that no one wants to hear.
Character overview: Terry “Krasivi” Demidova
History:
Terry’s Russian parents were killed in a bioweapons attack on their home city. She was picked up by a corporate ‘recruitment’ squad, and trained in computers and combat to become one of their shadow operatives. When she completed their training program, she was partnered with Tina Mallyrn, and together they formed the destructive but successful team known as the “Sirens”. On the streets, she calls herself “Krasivi” (“gorgeous”), but those around her call her “Krazy”. They don’t do so to her face, however.
When Terry and Tina were double-crossed and left for dead by their superiors, they extricated themselves leaving a trail of bodies, and declared war against their former corporate patron, which no longer exists. They became free-lance mercenaries, and have since been put on permanent retainer by the Global Security Services Corporation.
Personality:
Terry is loud, sometimes quite silly, and capable of irrational bursts of anger. She’s only completely loyal to her best friend Tina, but would never betray an employer or friend who treats her honorably and well.
Appearance:
Krasivi is about 5’3″ tall, redheaded, and freckles a bit in the sun. While not muscled as a bodybuilder, she’s strong and fit, and has an iron constitution. On a job, Tina and Terry both usually wear heavy polymer full-body combat armor which has been enchanted to be completely transparent; it frequently amuses them to wear little more than lingerie beneath.
Favorite weapon:
Terry likes loud bangs, and usually carries an autoshotgun with a grenade launcher, or a man-portable missile launcher if she thinks she can justify it.
Quirks:
Terry sometimes has poor impulse control, and will do the most foolish things if they seem like a good idea for a moment. So far, luck, her own skills, and Tina’s help have kept any of her follies from causing her too much harm.
Rumors:
The street says that Terry and Tina enjoy creating amateur pornography in their off hours, but this is most likely just a reaction to the constant titillation of their armor choice.
Character overview: “Professor” Glenn Karter
History:
Glenn Karter was born in Virginia only a few years before it became part of the reborn Confederate States of America. Of middle-class origins, he made friends easily and by this mid-twenties had connections in several mid-Atlantic corporate entities and government bureaus. Showing an uncanny sense of timing, he frequently showed up in the right places at the right times to help out a friend or two, and by the 2050s he was moderately wealthy and even better connected.
By 2060, Karter’s Global Security Services Corporation began to make a name for itself. A smaller corp, it resisted every takeover bid by the megacorps; including, it’s said, several shadow-based attempts. Part mercenary unit, part philanthropic organization, part high-end R&D think tank, the GSSC often seems to be around when something bizarre’s going down. Karter is often there in person for the fireworks, and loves it.
His aliases when he’s working the streets to his own ends have included Professor K, Grinner, and Jack Mega. His employees often privately refer to Karter as Himself.
Personality:
Karter is good-humored, humble, and fairly quiet unless provoked, when his anger can blind like a flare grenade. He has an unfortunate habit of explaining a situation with obscure references and chains of logic no one else can follow.
Appearance:
Karter stands about six feet tall, and has a generally skinny build with a slight swivel-chair paunch he’s always trying to lose. He has shaggy sandy-brown hair, grey eyes, and usually wears a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. Karter is fond of vaguely paramilitary clothing, with styles and emblems that make him look like an officer in a military organization that never existed.
Favorite weapon:
When involved in a run, Karter’s often seen wearing a fencing rapier which may be infused with orichalcum, which is odd as he has no known magical abilities that the arcane metal would aid. When he desires a ranged weapon, there’s usually a prototype GSSC ionized plasma pistol on his hip, which can be tuned to deliver the non-lethal damage he prefers.
Quirks:
Karter absolutely refuses to watch an episode of any of the seventeen incarnations of Star Trek, and will leave the room if any are shown in his presence.
Rumors:
Researching Karter’s past brings up contradictions about various cities where he was born, his exact date of birth, and his precise climb to wealth and power. There is at least a small group of conspiracy theorists who believe that Karter’s past is completely manufactured, and that he’s an advance scout for an alien invasion. If this theory is mentioned to Karter, he will gleefully attest to its accuracy.
Karter may have a double to do some of his more shadowy work; some say he’s been seen in two far-separated areas of Seattle at the same time.
