So... That Special Projects directorship you’ve been angling for finally came in, but it’s what you thought, was it? You’re in the unenviable position of being Mr. Johnson...
Now that you’re up to your datajack in wired go-gangers and vatjobs with delusions of wetwork, I thought I might offer a little advice:
Pulling off a proper shadowrun, keeping it in the black and out of our zones, is a fine balancing act. It takes all kinds of assets: Street sams, Faces, PMCs, finesse people, operators, overwatch... The list goes on.
If you have to get shazzy, you skimp on the triggermen and muscle. There is always some wired up chiphead waiting to prove themselves, afterall.
What you don’t skimp on is your support team. They’re you’re information, your eyes and ears. You spend deep to hire proven magic talent and matrix overwatch.
Always.
And remember, great work is rewarded, drek work you’ll end up vapor.
This was the main prompt that caught my attention, to be honest. Here’s a sketch page just hashing out ideas. Below are some more thoughts about the roles and characters each Rose and Kanaya play in a Shadowrun/cyberpunk universe.
Blurbs :
Rose [SEER] was a high potential magic recruit, rushed through the Ares Firewatch academy. Present at the Wilds Lab breach, during her first duty watch, Seer was the sole survivor of the event. Afterwards she was moved to special projects within the Ares Magi-Tech division. Aspected several times, she’s become a dedicated scry, working on high level Corporate Espionage and Material Retrieval.
Within the universe Magic and High tech doesn’t interact well. Despite this, Ares Magi-Tech was able to develop a cybernetic implant that allows her to see via fiber-optic camera, through a a fiber-optic cable. This would allow Seer to cast spells from around corners, or have the camera carried by a small drone, preventing line of sight on her person.
At some point in recent years she departed Ares to join the shadows, selling her abilities to whatever Mr. Johnson could spare the cash.
Kanaya [INSECTRA] grew up on the streets of the Emerald City, where she used her large stature, percussive diplomacy, and a budding talent with electronics to settle many disputes. By the late 2070s she had established herself as ‘Buzz’, a competent combat decker working the shadows in mostly street level ventures.
After a dumbluck during a job, Kanaya was able to flip paydata for semi-retirement. Dropping off of the grid, effectively, She focused on sharpening her skills and bought some out of the way property. A few years later she reemerged as INSECTRA; a matrix specialist, drone pilot, and all around info broker. It’d be years before anyone saw her outside of her Matrix icon.
On the Matrix, INSECTRA appears to be a large 6-armed insect, made of emeralds, pearls, and gilded wings. A crown hovers above her large angular head, with the eyes being the only portion appearing organic. When attacking, cracking, or otherwise being hostile on the matrix INSTECTRA’s top most arms will reach out and physically tear away at her target. The Lowest most arms are always busily interacting with AR interfaces. The Central arms maintain a serene mirrored gesture.
Rumors of a potential HMHVV (Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus) infection have circulated in recent years. No one has substantiated beyond she is definitely “not a ghoul”.
