Sunday, October 13, 2013

286: Echo Zelazny

ENTRY 286: Echo Zelazny

“I had a future. I spent it."
- Echo, drink #5

Life doesn't turn out like people plan. Echo had a family, friends, was a student at a medical school on Luna, with a full hypercorp scholarship. She grew up in a structured environment, with multiple safety nets and safeguards to keep her from stumbling off the path set up for her - drugs, minor legal troubles, surprise pregnancies, these were special cells on the spreadsheet of her life, triggering subroutines that would swoop down from above and sweep her back on track. A better life than 87% of transhumanity, guaranteed.

It took her a shock to see the cage she lived in. The experiences they kept from her, the ways they guided and manipulated her. Parents, corporate sponsors, teachers, her so-called friends. She hated them all, and wanted out, and found a way. It took a lot of blood to leave her old life behind, and some people still want Echo to answer for it. For those that helped her, she's still working down the debt as an illegal medtech, dealing drugs when she has to, harvesting organs when asked to. Anything for a credit, anything to get her out from under. She stepped out of one cage and into another, and Echo wants out of that one too.

COG
COO
INT
REF
SAV
SOM
WIL
MOX
16
18
15
15
12
18
20
-
INIT
SPD
LUC
TT
IR
DUR
WT
DR
6
1
40
8
80
30
6
45

Morph: Flat
Skills: Academic: Biology 60, Academics: Genetics 60, Academics: Nanotechnology 50, Art: Bodysculpting 40, Art: Writing 40, Beam Weapons 40, Deception 25, Fray 35, Free Fall 45, Hardware: Medtech 40, Interests: Black Market Drugs 40, Interests: Genetic Research 40, Interests: Morph Designs 45, Interfacing 30, Kinesics (Pain) 30, Language: Native Czech 87, Language: English 35, Medecine: General Practice 45, Medicine: Gene Therapy 40, Medicine: Nanomedicine 38, Medicine: Trauma Surgery 50, Networking: Autonomists 25, Networking: Criminal 35, Networking: Scientists (Students) 33, Perception (Visual) 44, Profession: Lab Technician 40, Profession: Medical Care 44, Programming 33, Psychosurgery 50, Research 35, Scrounging (Medtech) 40
Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Multitasking
Disadvantages: Blackmark (Luna), Neural Damage (echolalia)

Using Echo Zelazny

Echo is your basic criminal medtech, good to drop into an adventure for all your can't-let-the-authorities-or-insurance-company-know needs. Unlike most, she's basically an indentured servant, working down a massive debt tied into the multiple murders she's still on the hook for back in Luna. So she's professional, but prone to depression and looking for distractions and a way out. If the PCs offer either of those, she'll play along. Of course, if she can pay off her debt by turning them in to her bosses, she might do that too. PCs are going to be in an interesting negotiating position if she brings this up in the middle of stitching them up or selling them drugs, and she's not above using their health as a bargaining chip. Echo's plans to make a big score and get out clean are the most likely way for her to be a direct antagonist to the PCs, getting them involved in her machinations.

2 comments:

  1. I don't really know why, but Echo really resonates with me. Her backstory isn't extremely detailed, but it seems to fit an underground medic type. I like her, easy girl to drop into an adventure.

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    Replies
    1. They don't all have to be wacky. The future is about possibilities, which means lost chances, bad choices, grimy spacehabs, recycled food, grey shells that soar into the night sky, pale moons that explode with nuclear fire while people on Mars look on, the quite chatter as your kitchenette devices talk to each other and lift you back into consciousness. It's not always detailed, it's not always pretty, but it is life.

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