Topic: S.S.I. Personnel Files ((OOC))

Michael Stanton

Date: 2010-02-16 12:12 EST
Name: Michael Edward Stanton

Other Names: Wraith

Origin: Salishe-Sidhe Nation, NAN, 20

Race: Human (American Indian and Japanese descent)

Age: 38

Height: 6'8"

Weight: 226 lbs

Eyes: Dark, dark brown

Hair: Black

Distinguishing features: Has a full-back piece that is the markings from the hood of a cobra, with the words "Rest In Peace, Brother" above it; a tattoo on his shoulder of the Marine Corps emblem

Relatives: Phillip Arrais Stanton (brother, deceased?), Rebecca Elizabeth "Phoenix" Stanton (sister)

Relationships: None

Skills: A master of the sword, the bow and arrow, and the knife. Has such a gift for thrown ballistic weapons that even such harmless objects as credit cards, pens, nails, cotter pins, and the like become lethal objects. Can catch thrown weapons and even arrows shot in his direction out of the air...and be able to toss them back. Can walk without leaving footprints, even in knee-deep snow. He is a master tactician, particularly when it comes to small-team tactics and strategy. Stealth is another of his specialties - he can cross nightingale floors without making so much as a squeak. Can also shift forms into a more shadowy, insubstantial, vaporous state that can't be touched, and has the ability to teleport using shadows. A list of powers is below.

Powers:

See here.

Weaknesses: Hemophiliac, enjoys pissing the bad guys off

Persona: Wraith has a very strong, very outspoken (when he does choose to speak, that is) and honorable personality, but that is belied by his casual and sometimes caustic way of speaking. When he's planning a mission or called upon to lead, though, the former Marine comes out like a million-candlepower spotlight through thin fog.


Items:

Sword: Nagamasamune

Qualities: Magical blade

Origin: Inherited from his mother

Form: A simple, elegant, finely made katana, crafted in the old traditional way of swordmaking dating back to ancient, feudal Japan, of folded steel with a pearl of orichalcum embedded in the hilt.

Purpose and Function: Nagamasamune is an enchanted sword specifically made for the striking down of blood spirits as well as actual physical combat. Its razor sharp edge and superb construction make it excellent for striking both magical and mundane targets.


Bow: Compound T-STAR 'Sniper Bow'

Origin: Custom-made to his specifications by a private corporation.

Form: A compound bow, entirely black.

Purpose and Function: This compound bow was made following research into hyper-flexible 'memory' materials. Whereas most bows can shoot a pretty fair distance, this bow can fire arrows with such power that they can reach ranges comparable to a good high-power rifle and still have lethal velocities. Coupled with custom-made arrows with a variety of tips (including explosive and shock-tips), in a competent person's hands this weapon is the ultimate in silent, stand-off striking power, and is just as lethal and capable at short range.

Facts about Wraith

Wraith's moniker is not one of his own choosing, but rather was given to him in his Marine Corps days, for his ability to slip around in complete silence and to vanish seemingly into thin air. Now, of course, he can do that literally, making the name all the more appropriate.

Wraith is one of the most (if not THE most) powerful physical adepts of the Seattle Metroplex area...which means the whole world, for all intents and purposes. What really, truly makes him stand out, what makes him unique, is his ability to move in complete, utter silence.

When viewed magically, Wraith doesn't seem to exist, unless one is looking very, very carefully. Even if someone can see him, though, he appears to be nothing more or less than a perfectly normal human.

Wraith has a long-standing hatred of a corporation called Aztechnology for killing his older brother, and spent the majority of his shadowrunning career before coming to RhyDin causing as much damage to them as he could. He came to RhyDin through a 'portal' he found in one of their corporate structures, which he destroyed just as he jumped into it, and found himself here.

Theme Song: "The End is the Beginning is the End" - The Smashing Pumpkins
Fight Song: "Control (Juno Reactor Instrumental)" - Traci Lords

History

Wraith was born Michael Edward Stanton, in the Salish-Sidhe nation of the Native American Nations, the second child of a Native American father and a Japanese mother. His father was an exceptionally gifted shaman and his mother an elemental mage, so their children being magically gifted was a foregone conclusion, for the most part. When they were killed in a magical accident, Michael was too young to really remember them, unfortunately, and he, his brother and his sister ended up being sent to an orphanage.

He had been there for a short time when he was adopted by a UCAS Marine Corps colonel, one Jackson Thomas. The colonel's wife had died recently, and they had never managed to have children. He had it in his mind to adopt a child and raise him, taking him from a disadvantaged position and doing his best to raise him right.

Unfortunately, the colonel had gotten more than he bargained for with Michael, who was not only an impetuous and rebellious child, but a very smart one as well. Many was the time when Michael was growing up that Jackson would go to check on him and find that the boy had slipped out of the house without a sound. If anyone had asked the colonel, he would have smiled and said, "That boy's got a gift...he just needs direction."

That direction would be something Michael would get. Around the time he reached fourteen, Michael and the colonel had an altercation that ended up getting a little physical on Michael's part. The argument started over grades and Michael's bad attitude towards the colonel, whose disciplined lifestyle and rules infuriated the boy. As the argument got more and more heated, however, Michael finally felt something snap inside him, and he threw a punch at the old man.

The colonel was caught completely by surprise, partially because the boy had actually thrown a punch, but mostly because the punch was delivered with such speed that the boy was moving almost too fast to be seen, and the colonel was knocked to the floor.

Michael, of course, was horrified by what he had done. He immediately rushed to the old man, trying to help him up, but the old man just laughed as he got to his feet - almost as if he hadn't even been touched, in fact. "Boy, I knew you had it in you," he said, to Michael's bewilderment. "I just didn't know how much of it you had."

The colonel, it turned out, was waiting for this - the first sign of Michael's magical ability, manifesting itself. He went on to explain just what he knew about the boy's magical skills, those for the physically adept. And as it turned out, to the boy's wide-eyed wonder, the colonel knew a lot about it, because he had gifts of a similar vein.

From then on, Michael's whole life changed, and for the better. The colonel showed him discipline, structure, but advised him not to lose his ability to think for himself, and showed him how to keep that mindset. He also trained him in unarmed combat and arranged for him to participate in sports, martial arts, archery, and other formalized combat training.

The formation of the man who would, in later years, be called the Wraith had begun.

When he graduated from high school, through his adopted father's connections, Michael was able to get into the UCAS Naval Academy for Marine Corps Officer training, where he continued to excel at a rate that pleased not only his father but his instructors as well. He showed a particular affinity for small-group tactics, and even managed to impress his instructors with his capacity to think creatively.

In his junior year at the academy, however, tragedy struck - the man he had come to love and call his father died of a stroke in the middle of the night. For most, this would have been a blow that might have halted a great career, but not for Michael. The old man had once told him that his greatest asset would be his brains and the will to carry on even through the darkest of times, and Michael had plenty of both. He dedicated his remaining year and a half at the academy to his father, and graduated valedictorian of his class. His speech he dedicated to his father, who had been a well-known and greatly admired man.

He served for eight years in the Marines before the incident that ended his career finally came. He and his unit were in South America, helping the local government deal with terrorist attacks that had been targeting not only military, but also civilian targets, when his team walked into a well-orchestrated ambush. His team, unfortunately, was wiped out, with he being the sole exception. He had managed to survive because he had seen it coming, but was unable to convince the officer in charge of the expedition that it was imminent, and so had left his unit behind. From his vantage point, he was able to see it all happen. His squad managed to cripple the assault force that had ambushed them, thus enabling him to finish them off, but the damage was done.

He was summarily court-martialed and the blame for the loss of the squad was laid on his shoulders. In deference to his father, however, and his otherwise fine military service, he was dishonorably discharged from the Marines.

That blow, again, would have finished most men. Wraith, however, remembered what his father had taught him, and instead moved back to Seattle, where he marketed his skills in the shadows, selling his services to whomever would have need of them. He also, in that time, managed to be reunited - completely by accident - with his sister and brother. In that same meeting, though, yet another tragedy came to pass, as his brother was killed shortly thereafter by an Aztechnology Blood Mage, using his brother's sacrifice to fuel his dark magics.

From that point on, Wraith re-dedicated his life to causing that corporation as much hell as he could, and managed to succeed - he ended up on their most wanted list, and when you're on a list like that, it usually means they want you dead. Still, he persisted, sometimes being paid, other times not, but always with one goal in mind. He even managed to turn a tidy profit doing it.

One fine day, though, he was contacted by a stranger, a woman with an offer to do a job for her - simply to raid a dragon's keep. As the dragon was dead and the keep up for grabs to anyone who could find it, it didn't necessarily present a problem, and he was even offered a percentage of the hoard. Naturally, he took it.

And it was there he would find a box. A very special box, containing four black amulets connected to silver chains. Along with a sizable bit of treasure, he managed to keep it, and used all of his contacts to find out what it was, and even who to ask about it - but asking would mean he might have to take a trip to another world, and would most likely not be able to get back home.

The portal he was told to find was in the basement sub-level of an Aztechnology building, and of course, before he flung himself into it, he had to do as much damage as possible. What with his knowledge of explosives and demolition, he was able to bring the whole thing down and jump into the portal before it collapsed on him.

And that is how he ended up here.

Rebecca Stanton

Date: 2010-04-15 12:19 EST
Name: Rebecca Elizabeth Stanton

Other Names: Becca, Phoenix (Street name)

Origin: Salishe-Shidhe Nation, NAN

Race: Human (bio- and cybernetically-enhanced)

Age: 40 (youthful looks are the result of genetic manipulation designed to slow the aging process)

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 142 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Red

Distinguishing features: A tattoo on her left shoulderblade of the eyeglass markings on the back of a cobra's hood, along with the letters 'R.I.P' above and 'P.A.S.' below


Relatives: Phillip Arrais "Cobra" Stanton (older brother), Michael Edward "Wraith" Stanton (younger brother)

Relationships: None

Skills: Phoenix is a combat machine, an enhanced human with killer instinct, hyper-fast reflexes, superb strength, and the skills to back it all up. Whether she's mixing it up with blades, bullets or her own two hands and feet, the slender, lithe woman brings the fire to being a redhead. Along with all of this is an uncanny knack for getting into and out of situations that would leave most hardened men cringing just to watch, and it is this ability to 'rise from the ashes' that earned her the street moniker 'Phoenix.'

Weaknesses: Her brothers. She cares for them more than just about any other human, and she is fiercely protective of Cobra, perhaps the moreso because she thought she lost him once and just got him back.

Persona: Phoenix is both intelligent and street-smart, both thanks to her upbringing after her parents were killed. Combined with this is a fierce loyalty to the people she loves most and a tender side that very, very few will ever get to see. Wrapped around this is a brazen, bold, often caustic personality that is designed to keep the rest of the world at arm's length (or farther, if she can manage it). Top it all off with her sexual preference of women only and you find a woman who, while not very popular with the world at large, has all she will ever need and is very happy with it.


Special Items:

Barrett MX99CS Anti-Mat?riel Sniper Rifle

Qualities: Anti-Magic Protection

Origin: Manufactured by Barrett Arms, this heavy-duty sniper rifle is an expensive, rugged, and popular sniper rifle for those more serious about standoff assaults than your average, everyday sniper with a rifle. This one in particular has been heavily modified to include an imaging scope that is able to scan through virtually every spectrum of light, as well as thermographic imaging, x-ray, and ultrasound. Also included is a biometric safety set to respond only to Phoenix herself.

Form: A five-and-a-half foot long, .50 caliber sniper rifle, Phoenix has had this gun modified to include a longer barrel and hold a bigger cartridge. Firing .50 caliber armor-piercing, fin-stabilized discarding sabot rounds at ranges up to a mile and a half and at an incredible 3100 feet per second, this gun packs a wallop that can pierce walls, bulletproof vests, and even light to medium armor on vehicles.

Purpose and Function: Designed to take down virtually any threat that isn't heavily armored at a distance, this rifle is a superb choice for providing long range support and cover fire.

Phoenix .50 caliber Special

Qualities: Anti-Magic Protection

Origin: Custom-designed by Phoenix herself, she commissioned Colt's Manufacturing Company to create this gun for her to her exacting specifications. Included in the pistol are a gas-vent recoil absorption system, Smartlink III, and a biometric safety coded to respond only to Phoenix.

Form: A long-barreled heavy pistol that more closely resembles a hand-held cannon than a close-range weapon.

Purpose and Function: This gun is for close quarters what her modified MX99CS sniper rifle is for long range. Compatible with any kind of ammunition, hollow-points or armor-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) rounds are her ordinance of choice. Capable of semi-automatice fire or 3-round pursts, this gun is suitable for just about any situation where firepower is required.

Cyberware (All delta grade):

Cybereyes (Zeiss) (with the following enhancements: Vision magnification/enhancement, Low-light, Infrared, Thermal, Ultraviolet, Clock, Video Recorder, Smartlink, Flare Compensation)
Cyberears (Zeiss) (with the following enhancements: Sound Amplification, Noise Cancellation, Ultrasound, High Frequency, Low Frequency, Sound Dampening, Balance Augmentation, Spatial Recognition, Audio Recording)
Internal Commlink Cyberware (with the following enhancements: Subvocal comm, Frequency scanner, Encryption, Decryption, Cellular Link, Jamming, ECCM)
Cyberarm (right) (with the following enhancements: Cyberspurs (2), strength augmentation, reflex augmentation, subdermal armor, natural appearance)
Sim Module (contains a complete multilingual skillsoft library)
Titanium Bone Lacing


Bioware (all cultured):

Synaptic Acceleration (increases reflexes 3x)
Muscular Augmentation (Level 2)
Mnemonic Enhancement
Expanded Lung Volume x3
Pathogenic Defense


Theme Song: Lacuna Coil - Enjoy the Silence
Fight Song: KMFDM - Juke Joint Jezebel (Metropolis Mix)

Facts about Phoenix

Yes, that's right - she's a lesbian. Get over it. This is due mostly to the fact that she's had a number of bad experiences with men, but also that - for some reason - men don't seem to like it when a woman has a handshake that can bring them to their knees.

Despite her caustic, cynical, sardonic and sarcastic persona, people have described working for and with Phoenix as probably among the best jobs they've ever had. Rewarding and a fiercely loyal teammate, Phoenix does her best to watch out for her crew, despite her apparent stand-offishness, and has earned a surprisingly large number of loyal friends this way in a world where good, loyal friends are something that comes at a premium.

Don't piss off Becca. Really, it's a bad idea. It's also not very easy to do, but if you really feel like committing suicide by a slow, profoundly painful pounding into a bloody pulp, then by all means feel free.

History

The middle child, Becca was the only mundane child in a magical family, but she wouldn't have traded it for anything. Her parents loved her all the more for it, because she had the opportunity to have a more or less 'normal' life that their two sons never really had a chance at.

It made things all the more tragic when, at the age of 8, they were killed, and she and her brothers split up when they were adopted.

Becca herself was adopted by a gentleman by the name of Joseph Cordero, a Mafia underboss in the Seattle area. His son, Anthony, was a year younger, and Cordero wanted a daughter to be not only a companion, but a guardian for him as well. He saw the potential for both in Becca, and upon getting her home, he began grooming her for the job.

Treated like one of the family, it was not long before Becca settled in with her new father and brother, and over time began to love them as much as she had her natural parents and brothers. Her truly defining moment came when she saw her brother being bullied as school and took up for him, in the process injuring two other students. Joseph Cordero knew beyond a doubt that he had chosen well.

He began sending the pair to classes in martial arts for self-defense and training, then to another man he knew for training in the use of weapons - knives, firearms, and the like. Once Becca got to the age of fifteen, he began having her first pieces of cyberware installed to make her a match for any threats beyond the usual bullies at school. By this time, Becca had nearly forgotten her former life, attached as she was to her 'brother' and 'father.' She knew about the family business and the activities her adoptive father was involved in, and had made it known that she wished to make sure that the family that had so kindly taken her in was well-protected.

When she was offered that first cyberware implant - wired reflexes and muscular enhancements - she accepted with enthusiasm.

She and Anthony went virtually everywhere together, looking like nothing more than a brother and sister that were very close - which they were - rather than the son of a Mafia underboss and his bodyguard, this slender, lovely girl who looked as if she were not much of a threat.

Still, some people notice things, and have ways of finding them out. Two years after her first implants were put in, she had received other upgrades, none of which showed on the surface - being a Mafia man had some perks, after all, and Joseph Cordero would not see the young beauty's surface marred by bad surgery - and for the first time, was pushed to put them to use. Her father and brother had been left at home as she went out to meet a man who had some vital information for her father, and on the way, she was ambushed by four Japanese men.

Yakuza, the Japanese's more vicious, ruthless version of the Italian mafia, constantly at war with them, had set this up, hoping to draw the girl and the other guards away from the protection of the Mafia underboss and his son. Not expecting much from an inexperienced girl, the four men taunted her, trying to toy with her. None of them saw it coming from Becca, who had never killed a person in her life, as she pulled out a heavy pistol from her backpack and landed a shot right through the nasal cavity of the closest man, cool as you please.

The other three were stunned for a moment as she took aim again, but the sight of the girl with the large gun in her hand - while somewhat comical - spurred them into action, their movements blurred as they kicked their own cyberware on. The fight had just turned serious, and Becca, whose training had - unfortunately for the men around her - included her facing off against multiple attackers, had been drilled and even beaten into her until she could do it in her sleep, met them head on. The gun dropped and a knife drawn, as the first man charged, he found himself trying to grab onto empty air as Becca sidestepped and turned, the razor-sharp edge of the knife slipping neatly through the back of the man's neck, between the vertebrae there, and clipping his spinal cord, leaving him to fall to the ground like a puppet whose strings had suddenly been severed. The next, coming from the other side, saw this and hesitated for a moment, horrified with the cool precision and ease with which the man had been dispatched.

It cost him his life as the knife slashed across his throat in that split-second.

The last saw all this, electing not to charge in, but fleeing for his life. The knife in Becca's hand found its way from her hand to that soft hollow in the back of the man's head, plunging into his brain and ensuring that he would not be making it back to report to his overseers.

She didn't stop to think about any of it, already suspecting the worse, as she scooped up her backpack, the pistol, and sprinted for home, hoping beyond hope that she would not find what she feared.

She knew before entering the house what she would find there - the door ajar, the utter and somehow final silent stillness that surrounded the place.

The reek and aura of death, still fresh in her senses, cast its pall over her home of nine years. Entering the house, she found her father and brother, cruelly savaged by blades and bullets, an example and demonstration of the Yakuza's cruelty to the men of the Mafia.

It was some time before she was able to pull herself from weeping over the bodies of father and son, her brother. But when grief was gone, rage took its place.

She vanished from the house, taking only a few things with her as she went.

Some weeks later, Yakuza family members began turning up dead. Some cruelly torn to pieces, others found with nothing more than a bullet hole in their heads, still others so broken and battered they looked as if they might have been run over with a tank. None of them could figure out who the assassin was that was so bent on exterminating them, and fear stole over them. The only hint they ever had were images captured at the underboss's home when he was killed - what appeared to be a young, flame-haired apparition that moved with vengeful purpose.

Finally, a trap was laid to catch her, as the heads of the Yakuza met and made whispers on the street of the where and the when of their meeting. Surely enough, the girl showed up, only to find that the heads of the Yakuza were not there, but instead a number of assassins lying in wait.

She would not be deterred, however. The fire of hatred and revenge burned in her, for the second family taken from her so heartlessly, and one by one, the assassin's fell to sniper's bullets before she finally took the fight up close and personal.

Terrified, the Yakuza men barricaded the house and set it ablaze, hoping to kill her this way.

They found themselves disappointed as she walked out of the flames. She had not come out of it unscathed, however - in the fight with the last assassin, a sword had come into play, and her arm had been lost. But walk out she did, and vanished just as she had before.

A year passed, and finally the Yakuza felt safe, thinking perhaps their hunter had been killed by that injury, that final fight.

Their meeting in celebration was cut short by a familiar, flame-haired figure. At the end of it, the bosses, the chief of the Yakuza, and all of their bodyguards were dead.

Once again, she vanished, taking with her a reputation and a new name - the Phoenix.

She began working the shadows after that, sometimes for the Mafia, sometimes for the corps - it didn't matter who, really, just as long as it made money. After her experiences with losing family, she was determined never to be attached to anything for very long.

And then she finally ran into her brothers, Michael and Phillip, on a run for a mysterious benefactor. Despite losing their eldest sibling on that run, Becca and Michael stayed in contact after that day, starting their own business, running the shadows, and doing very well.

Phillip Stanton

Date: 2010-07-28 11:19 EST
Name: Phillip Arrais Stanton

Other Names: Cobra

Origin: Salishe-Shidhe Nation, NAN

Race: Human

Age: 35 (physical), 43 (chronological)

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 192 lbs.

Eyes: Golden hazel

Hair: Medium brown with light blond streaks

Distinguishing features: Full-back, highly realistic tattoo piece of the back of a cobra's hood, with scales, shading and spectacle markings (Note: This tattoo, when viewed from the astral plane, glows brightly and and actually appears to be the skin of a cobra.), shamanic mask (this is something that happens when he is using magic - the effect can be from something as vague as a slight shimmering of scale-like markings on his skin to showing the fully raised head and hood of a cobra over his own head and shoulders, depending on the strength of the magic he is using at the time.)


Relatives: Brother: Michael 'Wraith' Stanton, Sister: Rebecca 'Phoenix' Stanton

Relationships: None outside the familial

Skills: His education being along a different vein from his brother or sister, both of whom show their prowess in the field of battle, Cobra is a masterful worker of the magical realms. His chief abilities being in equal parts combative, healing and mind manipulation, he is comfortable playing in many roles when the time for mana-slinging comes. Unfortunately, the popular phrase 'geek the mage' makes it so that he can't always have a spell ready to defend himself, and so he took the time to learn how to use pistols to their most effective advantage.


Weaknesses: Were Cobra said to have a weakness, it is in his need to know things. Especially secrets, the mysteries. Someone may find him sitting in a ritual lodge, on an astral leap into unknown depths of magic unexplored, not returning until his body and mind are forced to be reunited.

Persona: Cobra is a seeker after knowledge, and yet a holder of secrets as well. The things he learns he will often keep to himself, sharing them only perhaps with his sister and occasionally his brother. This particular trait can often lead Cobra to simply going off in his own direction, apart from what everyone else is doing, seeking some path that only he sees. Usually looked upon as annoying or even elitist, both his younger siblings understand it is his way and generally say nothing to him for it, as he has never gone astray, and the path he takes leads to - more often than not - things working out just right.


Spells

See here.

Facts about Cobra

As can be seen by his grimoire, Cobra has extensive knowledge of spellcasting and sorcery. His chief talent is in the area of illusion and distraction, where he excels to the point of near perfection. That being said, it's not the best idea to get him mad - unless, that is, you want to spend the rest of your existence locked in a padded cell, raving about flying monkeys, dancing rats and purple elephants.

Cobra is a shaman and a follower of a rather unique totem that is a combination of both Snake and Cobra, combining the best of both, that he refers to as King Cobra (despite the fact that he has always perceived his totem as female). His other specialty in magic is combat spells, and while he doesn't quite have the full advantage of the standard Cobra follower, he is a formidable combatant nonetheless.

He's been to places that most people don't ever think about, to the realm of dreams, through the shadow of death, and back again. As such, he has a rather unique perspective and connection to magic, and a level of power that is very extensive. However, it has been, to date, not fully tapped.


History

Technically older than either of his siblings, Phillip Arrais Stanton is the firstborn of the three siblings. Of the three, he has the clearest memory of what happened to their mother and father, and the true knowledge of who it was responsible for their deaths. Both parents were active opponents of the Aztechnology Corporation and their practice of using blood magic, using their combined magical talents and differing traditions to cast ritual spells against those they saw as evil, hindering their efforts and work wherever they could.

The pair were such powerfully gifted magicians that they did, for a very long time, manage to not only cause the corporation serious hindrances, but even managed to conceal their whereabouts and identities for quite some time. Even after their identities were discovered, they still managed to evade being located for some years afterward.

Unfortunately, it was not something they could hope to evade forever, and in a final bloody moment of powerful ritual magics, the Stanton siblings were orphaned. It was fortunate that in their last great act, they managed to conceal from their enemies the fact of their three children, for it was through them - and because of Phillip - that the fight could continue.

Where Rebecca and Michael, however, were taken from their eldest brother and sent to be raised by families far and away in distance as much as background from where they were raised, Phillip himself was taken in by someone much closer to home.

A tribe council member, John Blood Raven, that had heard about what happened to the Stanton family, was surprised to learn that the Stanton siblings had been sent to an orphanage upon the death of their parents. A good friend of the family, it was supposed to be arranged to have the three children go to him if something were to have happened to Leon and Akira, and yet somehow things had not been properly arranged to have it be so.

Taken in by the man and his family, young Phillip, at ten, was a boy lost and adrift, mourning not only the loss of his parents but the loss of his brother and sister as well. It would be nearly a year before he would finally begin to come out of that depression, and when he did, it was to find that he was, more than anything, angry.

Angry at the loss. Angry at the suffering. But most of all, angry at the corporate giant that had taken his life, his family, from him.

And from that anger, a purpose was born.

His adoptive family saw this, and despite their misgivings about the path he seemed to be setting himself upon, they understood. In the years to come, he would find many people that would be allies in his cause. All for different reasons, whether they objected to the corp's practices or because of their own losses, but all of them had a similar goal.

And they were delighted, one and all, to find that he would find a gift that would not only match that of his parents, but had the potential to, someday, rival it.

The NAN, in which he was raised, had many resources for the magically active to learn from, and he made it his goal to learn as much as possible. As his teenage years passed, he learned many different things, the may of magic, its finer workings. How to use it as his ally and, when he needed to, as his weapon.

It was his seventeenth birthday, however, that brought everything together. The year of his vision quest, the year he found his totem...or rather, when his totem found him.

King of Cobras, the harmony of knowledge and aggression, an unlikely pairing that worked in perfect concert to show him the Way to follow. To learn of his enemy, and to use that knowledge to his enemy's destruction.

His first strike to his enemy, a year later, went straight to the heart of their power, a devastating attack against the circle of blood mages that performed major rituals. His role was a minor one, really - simply magical backup in the strike, but he took anything he could get. And it was there that he discovered his talent not only for illusion but for combat. His anger and hatred at the people that had taken from him was used, finally focused as he reached the goal he had reached so long and hard for.

For the next seventeen years, he continued with his mission with a single-minded purpose, wreaking as much havoc as one man with nearly a whole tribe behind him can. His name moved quickly to the top of their list of targets, and yet they were never able to catch him. Not making the same mistake his parents had, he took to the shadows, furthering his knowledge of magic and of his enemy.

And then came the fateful end. The last shadowrun, the very same in which his life was rebuilt, as he had been reunited with his brother and sister. His life used for the very thing he hated most, to fuel a blood mage's magic. In the end, the mission failed, and yet because of his efforts his bother and sister survived to build their own reputations, their own lives.

And yet, as it turned out, death was only the beginning of another adventure...