Thursday, March 21, 2013

080: Jhil Nightbreaker




ENTRY 080: Jhil Nightbreaker

In an age of transhumanity when people are more connected than ever before, there are communities that choose to stand apart—not just brinkers, but conservative communes, ultrapolitical clades that refuse to associate with anyone of a disparate ideology, distance-isolated habitats that have grown inward and strange, and all the hermits and fear-eyed survivors of the Fall that have yet to adapt to the ever-changing universe and the communities that they find themselves apart in. Left by their own, these bubbles of oldthink and weird beliefs might thrive or collapse under their own dynamic, potentially retaining strange, conservative traditions and technologies for decades or generations.

Jhil is a nightbreaker, a dedicated culture intrusion specialist. Her purpose in this life is to violently infiltrate and disrupt these cloistered, insulated societies. The weapons of the nightbreaker are broken taboos, violated social mores, and garish displays of counterculture. Some of her most famous antics include the flash-butcher mob during the drawing of the mandalas in a BuddhistClassicist™ monastery on Mars, and the Rape of the Unborn that occurred when artificial transgenic sperm fertilized all of the eggs stored in the First Genebank of the Jovian Republic. Yet she has also broken the night of some ultraconservative cultures with no more than a public display of affection.


COG
COO
INT
REF
SAV
SOM
WIL
MOX
15
23
16
17
23
19
20
-
INIT
SPD
LUC
TT
IR
DUR
WT
DR
7
1
40
8
80
45
9
67

Morph: Ghost
Skills: Academics: Memetics 60, Academics: Political Science 40, Academics: Psychology 50, Art: Performance 65, Art: Tattooing: 55, Art: Writing 44, Deception (Acting) 67, Fray 50, Freerunning (Gymnastics) 45, Infiltration 40, Infosec 45, Interests: Politics (Conservative) 45, Interests: Religion (Conservative) 45, Interests: Isolated Communities 45, Interests: Cultural Taboos 60, Interfacing 45, Intimidation 25, Investigation 44, Kinesics 44, Language: Native Hindi 86, Language English 40, Language Mandarin 40, Networking: Autonomists 55, Networking: Criminal 55, Networking: Hypercorps 50, Networking: Media 55, Perception 55, Persuasion 55, Pilot: Aircraft 33, Pilot: Groundcraft 44, Profession: Social Engineering 66, Protocol 44, Research 44, Spray Weapons 27, Unarmed Combat 33
Implants: Adrenal Boost, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Chameleon Skin, Cortical Stack, Enhanced Vision, Grip Pads
Traits: Addiction (Taboo Violation, Major), Allies (Nightbreaker cell), Brave, First Impression, On the Run

Using Jhil Nightbreaker

By herself, Jhil is charismatic, dedicated, and more than a little addicted to what she does. Her definition of freedom is more than a little scary, in-your-face and personal, and she has tremendous difficulty holding that back unless concentrated on a larger gig. Jhil’s sole affiliation is to her higher purpose, and she is willing to beg, borrow, and steal resources from or work with anyone if she can break the night and crash the artificial strictures that transhumans wrap themselves up with instead of embracing the universe.

Seeds

  • The first part of any of Jhil’s larger schemes is founding a local Nightbreaker cell—a group of rebels against the current order, usually immature and nonviolent artist-types that she can bend to her will or her wiles. One of the PC’s contacts has fallen in with the group, but needs their help to get away from the demented, obsessive Jhil…
  • A group of ultrarich hypercorp executives are abusing a conservative low-tech NeoMennonite Barsoomian settlement on Mars, masquerading as church elders to sexually abuse and psychologically degrade the residents under the guise of religious authority. Jhil approaches the PCs to help her expose the malefactors to the community…knowing that it will probably shatter the already unstable society.

5 comments:

  1. Jhil's intimidation skill is misspelled...

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  2. This "nightbreaker" movement is genius. I love it and can't wait to use it!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. If you're interested in the inspiration, it is based on something from a snippet fiction story I wrote back when called "Grey Irish":

      http://www.the-unpublishable.com/2011/08/grey-irish.html

      Which in turn was based on a line of dialogue from Bruce Sterling's novel 'Zeitgeist.'

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    2. Yeah, I've been reading your EP fiction this week on the commute. I'll try this one too!

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