Text Excerpted from an Aptitude Interview with Subject ‘Shakespeare’ Conducted by ‘Arkady’
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So I’m the child of immigrants from the Russia/China border region. I was born there, (around 2045) but my family left when I was a child, so I only remember bits and pieces. I know conversational Russian and Chinese from this, although my parents insisted on speaking English in the new homeland: CalFree. They worked hard and raised me well, although we were not well off. My 16th birthday coincided with Colonel Saito declaring himself Protector-General of CalFree, and spreading out from SF with his army. My parents were killed in the chaos that followed, and I joined the anti-Japanese resistance. More on that later. So my attitude is one of hard work, but tinged with extreme cynicism. Appearance, Chinese-Russian mix, female, 33 years old, medium light skin, slight build, short military cut black hair, 5’1”, 120 lbs, black eyes a little too far apart.
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I like to think that my parents would be proud of my work ethic (not liking to leave jobs undone, or worse yet, done half-assed) but dismayed that I have chosen a life of violence. They had hoped to escape that future in CalFree. They were somewhat emotionally distant, partially due to being so busy trying to make their new life, so we weren’t especially close (as with a lot of teenage immigrants, I rebelled) but I will always regret not being there when they were killed (they were shot while trying to drive past a checkpoint while returning from their store). So I hope that they would be understanding in my initial motivations of joining the resistance, and see that I am making decent money at least.
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The big events in my life so far are: Year of the Comet (as this coincided with Saito’s conquest, my parents death, and my magical awakening), the matrix crash 2.0 (as this is when I finally escaped the Japanese detention center), and 2068 (when Saito was finally forced out of CalFree). I was out of there before the ‘quakes in 2069, though: too many memories.
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I started shadowrunning only recently. After I joined the anti-Japanese resistance, I fought for almost a year (mostly scouting: I’ve always been sneaky) before my capture by the Japanese. I was detained near SF for almost three years, until the matrix crash caused a massive power outage that allowed many of us detainees to escape and rejoin the fight. My stay was not entirely fruitless though: my magical awakening occurred as a necessary survival mechanism, as I became able to go almost without sleep and food, as well as move without making sound. So I made it through better than most. After my escape, I fought with the resistance (mostly as a sniper/scout now, having discovered some more latent abilities making me a damn good shot) until the Japanese were driven into the sea. After that, feeling rudderless, I was recruited by some Merc company scouts to go fight in Europe/Africa/Middle East merc wars along with a lot of the other homeless veterans. People didn’t like us around CalFree nearly as much now that the fight was over. No hero’s welcome, and no home to return to. My merc company was wiped out a year or so back (as far as I know, I’m the only survivor) on a mission gone bad. One of our contacts, Arkady, offered to help me find out who double crossed us, in exchange for me doing some jobs for him. I agreed, and am now shadowrunning.
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I have almost no personalization to my living spaces. Although the Japanese detention center made me who I am in a lot of ways, it broke me down first. I don’t have a lot of emotional attachments, and am not particularly sentimental (other than my love of literature, which is how I connect emotionally with the world). Also, a life on the run in CalFree, followed by extended field time in the Merc company, has gotten me used to not having much space to call my own. It is more important to me to have a secure place to stow my gear, as it represents years of fine-tuning and investment. When I arrive in a new town/locale the first thing I do is secure a place to keep my stuff and then I crash in a coffin hotel or equivalent (or occasionally, just in the storage locker).
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I believe in hard work, to the extent that anything worth doing is worth doing well. However, I don’t believe in any greater significance than that-I have a fairly nihilistic worldview, almost misanthropic. I loathe mental laziness and shortcuts. I am completely irreligious, having rejected my parents faith in my teens, and seeing their deaths as proof of the non-existence of their god. I am not particularly spiritual either, and see my connection to the mana-world in a fairly matter of fact light (since I was born well after the awakening. magic doesn’t seem as outlandish to me as it did to my folks).
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I am fairly gruff, and lacking in non-military etiquette. I generally just want to get the job done well, and am pretty self-reliant, not necessarily trusting or wanting to include others in my plans. I am also not especially physically strong, although I have been working out more since the end of the merc company, recognizing this (rather than the low charisma) as my weakest point.
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I’m not loyal to any of the megacorps, and haven’t done direct work for them (that I know of), but the three I deal with most are Ares, Saeder-Krupp (both big weapons manufacturers) and Evo (I like that they lead the charge in building for metahumans-although I am human-basic, I fought alongside a lot of good meta’s, and some of their fandom for Evo rubbed off). I am more opposed than not (although not especially strong feelings) to all of the Japanese corps: Renraku, Mitsuhama, and Shiawase. Totally indifferent on the other four.
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My only contact right now is you, Arkady. Oh, right, talk as if you weren’t listening. Most of the people I knew here were in my company, and are all dead. We moved around a lot, so didn’t establish many local connections. Plus, I was never the face in the operations, so I didn’t directly know or interact with a lot of the clients. Arkady was sort of a middle man between us and a lot of our clients: providing the initial connection, as it were. He was also the emergency contact if things went south, to allow us to get ahold of each other. I’m the only one who checked in so far, so Arkady has me doing some work for him in exchange for helping me figure out what went wrong. I’ve entirely lost touch with everyone in the CalFree resistance, and we all used code names and such anyway. Plus, I was often out on my own, and didn’t really fraternize as much as others.
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I try not to have days off. I would rather be making money. It happens sometimes, though, and I usually spend a lot of time reading on such occasions. Many classics, especially mordant Russian novels, appeal to my general mood. I’m fairly widely read, though. The Japanese allowed us access to a digitized library of congress in detention for some reason, guess it was part of their ‘honorable’ code or something. That’s my main leisure activity, although I occasionally drink myself into a stupor as well. Less often without my merc comrades to watch my back, though.
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When I first joined the resistance, I had the idea that we were the good guys, fighting for freedom and justice. What a load of shit. I still believe it was worth fighting, but you have to do some dark shit to accomplish worthwhile goals sometimes. So I feel comfortable going to most extreme lengths for a cause I feel is worthwhile. I trusted the merc’s I was with to not take jobs where we were just wasting civies or anything, and figure that professional warriors duking it out probably helps limit casualties if anything. If I feel like I have a lead from Arkady, though, I will pursue it to pretty much any end. The company, as imperfect as it was, was the only family I had left.
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I don’t really think a lot about the spiritual or metaphysical implications of my adept-ness, I just know how to use my powers well. I don’t know a ton about magical traditions, and don’t subscribe to a particular school or branch (other than having an affinity for other physical adepts), although I was taught a lot about how to use my abilities well in the resistance and the merc companies. It seems like something I might investigate more in the future.
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I have no implants, not even basic ones, as I have sort of an implant allergy (or so the doctors told my parents). As a youth, I always thought this was an excuse to be cheap, and not get me cybereyes, but later tests convinced me it was true. Anyway, it worked out well, since my magic wasn’t weakened when I gained access to it.
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I respect some people who live ‘normal’ lives. Hardworking people like my parents, for example. But I kind of look down on them as well, as I feel like they are often complacent in their boring and mundane existences, probably due to being too afraid to confront their own fragile mortality. I am aware that all life hangs by a thread, and that it is easily severed. But I don’t dislike ‘normals’, just don’t want to be like them ever again. I don’t aspire to retire to some mansion retreat like a lot of merc’s I know. I hope to die fighting, and not just murdered in my sleep. Maybe even fighting for something worthwhile, if I can find a cause.
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My lingering nightmare is my parents murder, and my years of detention. Although I have used these experiences to shape myself, these are the forms that my nightmares take when they come. Luckily, I don’t sleep very much.
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My sacred object is my sniper rifle, ‘Zarathustra’. I value it more than any other thing I own (with my sneaking suit in second and the Auto-shotgun being a close third). I have invested heavily in customizing and improving it, and feel it is almost an extension of myself. It is very dear to me.
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When I was a child, I desperately wanted to lose my accent, and assimilate. I probably wanted to be a simstar or some shit. How things change! My only ambition right now is tracking down whoever set up my company. If I succeed at that, I’ll keep looking for work. It would be a shame to waste the gifts I have been given, after all.
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My physical characteristics are up above, but generally pretty military appearance and bearing. I have a fancy sneaking suit (ruthenium etc.) that I usually leave looking nondescript and drab in urban/social settings. I also have armored coveralls, which are also drab. I stand really straight, and seem very light on my feet, and relatively graceful. I am smart, and know that, and not especially friendly. A loner by temperment. Generally, I try not to make too much of an impression, as I feel I do my best work unnoticed, and don’t need to be recognized personally (more on this shortly). I generally wish to appear competent and capable to anyone looking to hire me, although my gruffness probably puts some people off.
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Some of the Merc’s in my company started calling me ‘Shakespeare’ due to my fondness for literature, as I was also in the habit of leaving quotes from various religious and literary texts at my sniping posts (I picked this up in CalFree, as a way to make the Japanese feel scared-nothing like an RFID tag signature). I kept this up in the merc company, anytime we wanted to leave a mark. As above, I don’t need personal recognition, I just don’t want anyone else claiming my kills. I have a professional pride, you know?
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Anything else?

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