122: Jzon

ENTRY 122: Jzon

Every organization of a certain size and maturity recognizes the self-defeating nature of its own structure. Once you get enough people in an org, change from the inside becomes difficult, and rules get in the way of getting something done. It’s the same for book clubs and governments as it is for a gang or Triad. In the days when humans all lived in tribes, they’d have a shaman—somebody that lived at the edge of the group, able to look in, with special skills and authority. Sometimes hated, feared, or respected, most likely all three, the shaman doled out medicine and advice, acting as an intercessor between the inner universe of the tribe and the vast unknown world. These days, transhumanity doesn’t have shamans. It has fixers.

Jzon has been a fixer since before the Fall, a stringer for the Yamaguchi-gumi back before the skies burned and the oceans went black. Up the gravity well, he fell in with the early Triads as a troubleshooter, helping get new operations off the ground and running smooth, then moving on to the next habitat, usually with a new face and a new name. Never a guy with the chops to run his own operation, Jzon usually likes to play himself off as a consultant—he makes the introductions, arranges the meetings, analyzes the process, suggests improvements. He knows everybody and almost everybody knows him, if he chooses to call in a favor, from Jupiter to Mercury and every habitat in between.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
14	10	15	10	20	10	12	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
5	1	30	6	60	30	6	45

Morph: Flat

Skills: Beam Weapons 40, Blades 35, Clubs 30, Fray 50, Free Fall 30, Infiltration 50, Interests: Drugs 50, Interests: Gambling 50, Interests: Gangs 50, Interests: Prostitution 50, Interfacing 50, Intimidation 66, Kinesics 45, Kinetic Weapons 40, Language: Native English 70, Language: Mandarin 60, Language: Japanese 60, Networking: Autonomists 25, Networking: Criminals 90, Networking: Hypercorps 25, Networking: Media 25, Perception 50, Persuasion 50, Profession: Fixer 80, Protocol 75, Research 50, Scrounging 30, Unarmed Combat 35

Implants: Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Skillware

Traits: Allies (most criminal groups owe him a favor), Immortality Blues

Using Jzon

Fixer-types are useful for gamemasters because they can cut through the social and legal strictures to bring PCs into contact with people that they wouldn’t normally be able to interact with. Jzon is of the organizations he deals with but not part of them; they’re paying for his services but they aren’t always grateful or graceful about it—so he has a tendency to subcontract, hiring others to do the dirty work or cover his ass. That’s where the PCs come in, invited to sit down and share a beer with Jzon at a small table in a secluded space bar with a Triad underboss on one side and an exhuman on the other, to politely discuss how group A is going to get group B the transuranic elements that were promised and paid for—and then Jzon is going to look up them and smile and ask if they want the job. Physically, Jzon isn’t much of a threat. In a fight, he’ll generally lie low and escape. He’s a good boss but an indifferent enemy, since there isn’t much profit in revenge; Jzon’s idea of getting back at someone is to hire them for a set-up through a third-party and then forget all about them.