237: Holder

ENTRY 237: Holder

Gatecrashing is a different set of logistics from space travel. No one worries about another couple of grams more or less as long as everything vital is accounted for, and most of the gatecrasher hypercorps are willing to look the other way if their people decide they need a little something extra. So in the demimonde of hangers-on and specialized services that have cropped up around the Gates there are people like Holder, dealing out drugs, petals, narcoalgorithms, and whatever else people might need. Holder is the one-stop pharmacy outlet of the Pandora Gate, self-incorporated as his own microcorp and with silent pipelines to all the big pharmacorps and petal artisans, who push him product samples and literature with witty soundbites and quick taglines—enough business that he has five people in an office-cum-warehouse space handling the logistics, keeping track of inventory, quality control, and making deals for promoting their product.

No one wants to buy drugs of hazy legality or possible experimental status from a corp-backed salesman who operates under the blind eye and quiet blessing of the powers that be. Holder knows this, and cultivates the genially scruffy mystique of a low-level hustler that says he can get his clients anything—and, amazingly enough to them, he can actually deliver. Holder’s gatecrasher clientele don’t need to know that he’s probably hooked into their employers through discreet backchannels, and that they approve of anything that Holder sells them. All the better to protect their investment if they can get them what they want and need, and in such a manner that the gatecrashers don’t go dealing with people they can’t trust. So Holder maintains his niche.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
17	12	15	13	13	10	14	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	2	28	5	80	30	6	45

Morph: Splicer

Skills: Academics: Chemistry 40, Academics: Economics 50, Academics: Pharmacy 40, Blades 35, Climbing 25, Fray 45, Free Fall 27, Hardware: Nanotechnology 45, Infiltration 60, Interfacing 25, Interests: Experimental Drugs 65, Interests: Gatecrashing 35, Intimidation 33, Kinesics 33, Kinetic Weapons (Holdouts) 45, Language: Native Czech 84, Language: Japanese 55, Language: English 55, Language: German 44, Language: Russian 44, Networking: Criminals 25, Networking: Hypercorps 48, Palming 55, Perception (Taste) 37, Persuasion (Sell Drugs) 42, Profession: Drug Dealer 60, Scrounging 20

Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Enhanced Pheromones, Enhanced Taste, Medichines, Neurachem (1)

Traits: Unattractive (1)

Using Holder

The Holder most player characters meet is a street-level hustler transplanted into weird future of a Pandora Gate complex; the kind of character that can seem at ease but out of place almost everywhere. He’s never exactly dirty, just scruffy and mismatched enough not to quite fit in, even with the dingiest of the technicians or the most rumpled of the suit-wearing flacks that seem to hang around the gate and collect a salary for nebulous services rendered under vague titles like “special consultant.” He is, in fact, the person that everyone around the gate will point the PCs to if they’re looking to score anything remotely strange, illicit, or illegal, and he tries hard to look and act the part, though very attentive PCs will probably question how he maintains his business and the quality of his goods in the midst of all the hypercorps and security. If caught out or confronted about it, Holder will smile and drop the act as a compliment to their detective skills; after all, most customers are happy if they think they’ve figured out the trick and don’t look for the next one.