Ether

A character belonging to Veini Lehkonen.

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Street name: Ether

Real SIN and name: Ethar "Eth" Scriede Terada. Works as a personal mechanic/programmer and does all the daily stuff like going to the store. In no case will Ether use this SIN on a run, since it has a criminal record and all.

Fake SIN: Galen Nodach (has all the licenses). Has a doctor's degree (or equivalent) in computer science.

Fake SIN: Ash Dai Chaci. Is a mechanic.

Fake SIN: Kimball English. Is a university student.

Appearance

Ether is a fairly dark-skinned, somewhat Japanese-looking 26-year-old human. Ether has long and straight black hair that is usually dyed white, black eyes, facial features generally considered to be Japanese, and a thin runner's body 162 cm tall and weighing 50 kg. In terms of clothing, Ether usually wears a violet scarf on the head, stylish (or styleless, depending on point of view) glasses, black leather jacket, generic tracksuit and running shoes. While performing parkour, Ether wears a regular urban jumpsuit (with elbow and knee guards and such, but no armor per se) and a helmet. If the situation calls for it, Ether can be stuffed in an official business suit, but the hacker would rather wear something especially comfortable.

Personality

Due to things that have happened in the past, Ether is fairly bitter, but doesn't want to angst about it to other people – who knows, they could consider Ether an emotional wreck or something, and that doesn't really fit Ether's imago. Besides, since when is showing weakness a good thing? Other than that, Ether was and for the most part still is somewhat of a snob and a so-called teacher's pet who usually excelled at school and got good grades. However, the time spent in prison and on the streets did a good job of making Ether somewhat humble and sympathetic toward the less educated people. Like an epitome of a technology professional, Ether doesn't outwardly look like much of a professional, but sounds like one that much more. That quality got toned down slightly in prison, however, and Ether can put up an almost convincing facade of being a thug, albeit a slightly short and wimpy one. Ether has a long memory and holds grudges, but also remembers friendships.

Background

Ether was born the youngest child in the Terada family. The family was well off, with both the parents being highly educated and having top positions in the NeoNET megacorp. Ether's intersex condition was of no issue to the parents, Lizze and Norio, since they were of the opinion that people should be able to be themselves and decide about their own body. Fortunately the condition imposed no obstacle to development or other impairment.

Lizze and Norio paid dearly to have their children highly educated as well, and all of them came out to at least match their parents. From the age of five, Ether spent 16 years studying in prestigious schools to eventually become a programmer and an expert in the field of security. However, while Ether's two older siblings got quite prestigious jobs in NeoNET fresh out of university, Ether went to work at Brackhaven Investments.

A year before graduating and just after the Second Crash, Ether met a technomancer called Tang Chain, and the two took to liking each other very much. Therefore, they eventually moved together.

Ether became a rather successful wageslave after all the careless student years spent in the university to become an IT professional, and came out with a quite nice career, ending up being one of the highest position security hackers at a local Brackhaven Investments office. Ether received most of the cyberware and bioware implants from the corp at a reduced price.

One night Tang was caught by a shadowrunner team and a message was sent to Ether with instructions to come to a certain place, and if Ether told anyone or tried to do something stupid, Tang would be killed. Ether was too scared to try anything, but did, however, send a delayed message to Lone Star police – it would be delivered after 12 hours if Ether wouldn't cancel it. Ether then drove to the spot, and from there was taken still elsewhere. After seeing that Tang was alive and well, the shadowrunners tried to bribe Ether into performing a data steal of sorts, but Ether wouldn't hear of it and didn't buy their threats. That resulted in Tang getting heavily roughened up, and eventually Ether was submissive enough for the group's mage to cast some mind-probing and thought-controlling spells in order to find about what could be achieved and puppeteer Ether around. Having done that, the shadowrunners sent Ether off to work since it was morning already. They performed the data steal and sabotaged bits of records through Ether's body, and Ether could only watch and weep subconsciously.

When Ether's working day was over and the shadowrunners had gotten what they were after, they had Ether drive to yet another place. There, Ether gave the data to the shadowrunners on hardcopy and the mage proceeded to clean up Ether's memory in order erase some key bits of information. However, the mage wasn't exactly very good at that, and ended up messing around Ether's mind more than had been intended – but who cares, it worked as far as they cared. Having done that, the mage also tried to erase the magical signature. Ether was then taken to the spot where Tang had been beaten up. Tang was still there, lying unconscious and bleeding. Very confused, mind-modified and mentally broken, Ether could do nothing more than hold dear Tang until the technomancer died.

At some point, the delayed message to the police was delivered, and some Lone Star goons were sent to check the situation. Of course they found nothing at the exact spot, but after locating Tang's commlink (Ether's was closed at the moment), they found the sad scene. The data steal had become apparent while Ether had been engaged with crying and Ether was now wanted, so an arrestment followed.

Ether was still very confused for the rest of the day and all the interrogation and examination did not help things. However, after a few nights' rest, Ether was relatively healthy again, but could not recall much of what had happened. Ether insisted that someone else was responsible for all the crimes, but since no evidence remained, there wasn't much a judge could do except punish the tool of the crime. Ether was outraged, but got no efficient help, and was sent to prison. At least there were mitigating circumstances – Ether really had no recollection or comprehension about what had happened, seemed truly shaken, confounded and disturbed by the events and Brackhaven Industries (had) considered Ether an exemplary employee – so Ether was given a relatively short sentence: only two years, with a possibility of parole in one and a half years.

Ether's family was also thoroughly shocked by the turn of events. Being the good and loyal parents they are, Lizze and Norio defended their child to the end and didn't abandon Ether even when in prison. Ether's siblings, however, were a bit more suspicious about it and estranged.

Ether sat the indicated time in prison and was even paroled three months earlier due to excellent behavior, and the sentence was consecutively shortened by two months. During that time, Ether's memory healed and the hacker gradually recalled few things the mage had tried to hide. However, the information was late and the mage obviously nowhere to be found. At least Ether could remember something.

Picking up the pieces of life wasn't easy, and it was mostly thanks to Ether's parents and Ether's best friend (after the late Tang) Taylor Speaker that it was somewhat successful. Ether had of course been fired from the position in Brackhaven Investments and was now pretty much forbidden to work for the corporation. Taylor Speaker had been Ether's underling at the corp and had then been promoted – though Taylor had considered quitting due to disagreeing with them about Ether's culpability. Ether wasn't exactly popular in the recruitment lists of any other corporations either for the moment, so the hacker ended up being a personal entrepreneur, but not a very well paid one.

While Ether had never really trusted mages much, it took a whole new turn after Ether had recalled enough of the happenings to realize that the violator had to have been a mage. While in prison, Ether swore to find the mage and do some unpleasant things to the mage in question. Ether doesn't really think that it's too likely to meet the mage ever again, but one can hope and make sure it won't happen again. Ether's craving for magical privacy went as far as to consider mages in general pretty much an abomination that had to be controlled, no matter what. Therefore, Ether sought out Sons of Apollo.

Others

Ether's favorite hobby is parkour – getting from point A to point B, no matter what's in between. Of course, Ether tries to avoid trespassing, especially when in an area of big corporations. Ether has mostly used the Lockheed optic-X drone to record parkour trips.

Day job Ether works as a personal mechanic/programmer and takes calls and jobs on weekdays at 11–14. Ether gets also more extensive programming jobs on Fridays, and they need to be completed before Saturday noon.

Contacts

Lizze and Norio Terada (Ether's parents) (scientists at NeoNET): Despite them being more than shocked about the accusations and punishment toward their child, Lizze and Norio continue to support Ether in any way they can. Of course Ether doesn't exactly want to be dependent of parents at this age anymore, no matter the circumstances.

Taylor Speaker (Brackhaven Investments security chief): One of Ether's best friends and very aggravated at how easily the corp accepted the prison sentence, Taylor has experienced some drop in the level of loyalty toward the corp and rather wants to help Ether out. Taylor also shares Ether's rather negative view of mages.

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BP used: 400
Metatype: Human
Essence: 3,475

Attributes

BP used: 190			
Statistics	Rating			
BODY		2			
AGILITY		3			
REACTION	5			
STRENGTH	2			
CHARISMA	2			
INTUITION	5			
LOGIC		5			
WILLPOWER	3			
Edge		2			
Initiative	10

Positive qualities

Photographic memory	10

Negative qualities

Sensitive system	15			
Day job			10			
SINner (criminal)	10

Skills

BP used: 166			
Active skills			Specialization	Rating		
Group: Cracking					4		
	Cybercombat			
	Electronic warfare			
	Hacking			
Group: Electronics				4		
	Computer			
	Data search			
	Hardware			
	Software			
Running				Urban		4 (6)	
Gymnastics			Jumping		2 (4)		
Perception					3		
First aid					1		
Automotive mechanic				2		
Pistols				Tasers		2 (4)		
Automatics			Submachine guns	1 (3)		
Pilot ground craft		Wheeled		2 (4)		
Con						2		
Etiquette			Matrix		2 (4)		
				
BP used: 30 (free points)			
Knowledge skills	Specialization		Rating		
English						N		
Japanese					3		
Security systems	Matrix			4 (5)		
Brackhaven Investments	Security		4 (5)		
Corporate law		Brackhaven Investments	2 (3)		
Software engineering				5		
Electrical engineering				5		
Prison gangs					1		
Parkour / free running				3

Contacts

									Loyalty	Connection	
Corporate scientists (parents)			Lizze and Norio Terada	5	1	
Spider (Brackhaven Investments security chief)	Taylor Speaker		4	3	
Johnson/Fixer					Alfred Ancient		2	4

Equipment

BP used: 50 -> Nuyen: 250000, 100 left
				
Weapons				number	Cost	
Survival knife			1	50	
Yamaha pulsar			1	150	
	Taser dart (10)		10	500	
Hammerli 620S			1	150	
	Concealable holster	1	75	
	Silencer		1	200	
	Internal Smartgun	0	0	
	Spare clip		3	15	
	Regular ammo (10)	10	200	
	Gel ammo (10)		5	150	
HK 227X				1	800	
	Concealable holster	1	75	
	Silencer		0	0	
	Spare clip		5	25	
	Stick-n-Shock (10)	5	400	
	Regular ammo (10)	5	100	
				
Clothing		Rating	Cost	
Leather jacket			200	
	Fire resistance	4	400	
	Insulation	4	600	
	Nonconductivity	4	800	
Helmet				100
General clothing		400	
				
Commlink (implant)		Cost	Essence cost (unmodified)	
	Hermes Ikon (5/5)	9500	-0,2	
	Vector xim (6/6)	6200		
	Sim module (hot)	250		
Another commlink				
	Novatech Airwave	1250		
	Mangadyne Deva (3/6)	3800		
				
Cyberware					Cost	Essence cost (unmodified)
Control rig					10000	-0,5
Datajack					500	-0,1
Cybereyes	Capacity 8	Capacity	750	-0,3
	Flare compensation	1		750	
	Low light vision	2		1000	
	Smartlink		3		1000	
	Thermographic		2		1000	
	Protective covers			100	
				
Cultured bioware	Rating	Cost	Essence cost (unmodified)	
Cerebral booster	2	20000	-0,4	
Mnemonic enhancer	1	7500	-0,1	
Sleep regulator		1	10000	-0,15	
				
Vehicle			Cost		
GMC Bulldog step-van	37500 (rigged)
GM-Nissan Doberman	3000		
	Image link	25		
Lockheed optic-X	1700

Programs			Rating	Cost	
Common use				
	Analyze			6	600	
	Browse			6	600	
	Command			6	600	
	Edit			6	600	
	Encrypt			6	600	
	Reality filter		6	600	
	Scan			6	600	
Hacking				
	Armor			5	5000	
	Attack			5	5000	
	Biofeedback filter	5	5000	
	Black hammer		5	5000	
	Blackout		3	1500	
	Decrypt			5	5000	
	Defuse			3	1500	
	EECM			5	5000	
	Exploit			6	6000	
	Medic			4	4000	
	Sniffer			4	4000	
	Spoof			4	4000	
	Stealth			6	6000	
	Track			4	4000	
Autosofts				
	Defense (doberman)	6	3000	
	Clearsight (doberman)	5	2500	
IC				4	10000	
Agent				4	10000	
Pilot (doberman)		4	10000

Miscellaneous				Rating	Cost	
fake SIN				4	4000	
fake SIN				4	4000	
fake SIN				4	4000	
fake license	Hacking programs	4	400	
fake license	Smartlink		4	400	
fake license	HK 227X			4	400	
fake license	Hammerli		4	400	
Glasses						25	
	Ultrasound				1000	
	Vision magnification			100	
	Vision enhancement		3	300	
Mapsoft, Seattle			6	30	
Jammer, area				4	2000	
Jammer, directional			6	3000	
White noise generator			6	300	
Antidote patch (2)			4	400	
Stimulant patch (3)			4	300	
Tranq patch (6)				4	480	
Medkit					6	600	
Medkit supplies (5)				250	
Handheld sensor package	
	Camera					100	
	Directional microphone			50	
	Motion sensor				50	
Survival kit					100	
Biomonitor					300	
Satellite link					500	
Tools: kit					500	
Lifestyle: low (2 months)			4000