[Singe]

Hello all,

         I am creating a technomancer for my SR4A game. I have the basics built already(after spending 3 days reading the books and threads here). Right now I am trying to build a good backstory for this character. I am new to pen and paper RPG play in general, and have only played one other character in Shadowrun.
         The background I have on my character is as follows so far.

          Michael Owens was born on October 30, 2052 to Roger and Lisa Owens. Both parents are human, while Michael was born as a dwarf. Due to social constraints from his parents work and the location they live Michael's existence was kept secret from everybody. Because of this he was educated in the Matrix. On his 12th birthday his parents upgraded his Matrix access, because he showed a very strong aptitude in it. He was in VR when the Second Crash occurred, his parents fearing taking him to a hospital hooked him to the home medkit and hoped for the best. While Michael recovered he became aware after awhile that a lot of the household tech was doing things it shouldn't. (Insert standard technomancer emergence experience here).

          I am trying to decide where he lived and who his parents worked for that would cause him to be a stigma for them. I am also trying to figure out what got him into shadowrunning. He is an E-scapist stream techno. Any help would be appreciated. I have until the first saturday in January to have him ready, but would like to run him past the GM and one of the more experienced player's prior to then.

[AffreuxLex]

Make the parents mild Humanis sympathizers.  Not an actual part of the organization but still partial to the cause.  I guess kind of like that hump back monster guy in 300 except instead of taking their freak baby and running, they made him (you) stay out of sight whenever company was over. This can even open up all kind of RP scenarios, maybe even provide fodder for a one off mission. 

[Caradoc]

The Japanese are metaphobic and sent many of the metahumans to Yomi Island in the Philipines after the Goblinization of 2021. Your parents may not be Japanese, but could be working for a typical Japanese AAA Corporation and are afraid the stigma of your birth could result in them being demoted or sidelined in their work.

Halley's Comet in 2061 also brought the SURGE and the Ring of Fire in October of that year which affected Japan. The Japanese Imperial State had expanded by invading many countires prior to this, but had to withdraw from them to rebuild and they also rescinded the Yomi Island decree but the stigma of having a metahuman family member would still be strong and would probably affect advancement in a Japanese Corporation.

[Singe]

I read someone else's post with an in depth character backstory that went the Japanese route and was looking to try and do something different, though that may end up being the way. I also thought about the Humanis sympathizer route, but I don't know enough lore to decide where he was raised. Our campaign is in Seattle, so if he is raised elsewhere I would want to explain how he ended up there.

Also any names of corps that would fit the bill would be helpful. I have the SR4A core book, arsenal, augmentations, unwired, street magic, runner's companion, and contacts and adventures in pdf forms. Anything in those that might help? Also I would post a character build but I'm using a Mac and can't use chummer. 

[AffreuxLex]

Humanis have many chapter houses all over the UCAS and CAS including Seattle.

This isn't really exhaustive but gives the gist of it:
http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Humanis_Policlub

[Singe]

Humanis have many chapter houses all over the UCAS and CAS including Seattle.

This isn't really exhaustive but gives the gist of it:
http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Humanis_Policlub

I read that earlier while looking for a birthplace. I might decide to have him start in Seattle and use Humanis ties as his reason for being hidden. Thanks for the help so far everybody.

[Caradoc]

Renraku is an AAA Corporation with headquarters in Chiba, Japan, but had a huge arcology in Seattle that used to house 100,000 of its wage slaves. In 2059, it was taken over by a hostile A.I. named Deus who was able to create limited Technomancers before they officially appeared. The A.I. subjected the population, who was held captive till 2061, to bizarre/horrific experiments that killed most of the inhabitants before Renraku and UCAS managed to regain control. Some reports put the survivor rate at fewer than 1,600 people.

Afterwards, the Arcology was controlled by the Seattle Metroplex Government with the 5 floor mall opened to the public. The Underground with the fusion reactors is controlled by the UCAS. There are 200 floors above the mall which are sealed off and became a 'public housing project with 150,000 residents on welfare in what is essentially a low-security prison.

It is also believed that there is access from the basement via the Ork Underground.

Deus was officially declared destroyed in the retaking of the Arcology, but some rumours talk about the A.I. learning how to download itself into peoples minds and then hiring Shadowrunners from the outside to sneak in and 'rescue' people, thereby ensuring its survival.

[Singe]

Renraku is an AAA Corporation with headquarters in Chiba, Japan, but had a huge arcology in Seattle that used to house 100,000 of its wage slaves. In 2059, it was taken over by a hostile A.I. named Deus who was able to create limited Technomancers before they officially appeared. The A.I. subjected the population, who was held captive till 2061, to bizarre/horrific experiments that killed most of the inhabitants before Renraku and UCAS managed to regain control. Some reports put the survivor rate at fewer than 1,600 people.

Afterwards, the Arcology was controlled by the Seattle Metroplex Government with the 5 floor mall opened to the public. The Underground with the fusion reactors is controlled by the UCAS. There are 200 floors above the mall which are sealed off and became a 'public housing project with 150,000 residents on welfare in what is essentially a low-security prison.

It is also believed that there is access from the basement via the Ork Underground.

Deus was officially declared destroyed in the retaking of the Arcology, but some rumours talk about the A.I. learning how to download itself into peoples minds and then hiring Shadowrunners from the outside to sneak in and 'rescue' people, thereby ensuring its survival.

This could be an interesting backstory plot. It would also help with my bro-in-law's PC. He is making a ex-corp security sniper, and wants to find a way to tie our characters together.

Do you know anywhere I could look to find more information on this? I found the shadowrun wiki article on this and was curious if there was anything else.

As I stated earlier I have a little while to build this character, and would love to get more lore in general about the game. My last character is still alive working for Emerald City, so my GM is letting me re-roll so I won't have to fight my group later.

[Caradoc]

Do you know anywhere I could look to find more information on this? I found the shadowrun wiki article on this and was curious if there was anything else.

It's basically 3rd Edition stuff and will only be referred to in 4th edition in passing.

Check some 3rd edition sources like the main adventure Renraku Arcology - Shutdown. There are also references in another 3rd edition adventure, Blood in the Boardroom. Also check out the Shadowrun novel no. 31, Technobabel.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/1870/Shadowrun%3A-Renraku-Arcology%3A-Shutdown?it=1&filters=0_0_1700_44294_0
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/81559/Shadowrun%3A-Blood-in-the-Boardroom?filters=0_0_1700_44294_0
http://www.amazon.com/Shadowrun-31-Technobabel-Stephen-Kenson/dp/0451456998

[Singe]

Thanks, Caradoc. I will definitely look into those. Especially the book. I tend to read a lot, so that should be fun.

[Singe]

For anyone that is interested this is what I have for my backstory.


   Michael Owens was born on October 30, 2052 to Roger and Lisa Owens in the Renraku Corporation Seattle Arcology. Both parents are human, while Michael was born as a dwarf. Both Roger and Lisa were wage slaves for Renraku. Because of Renraku (and Japan’s) view on metahumans. Roger and Lisa kept their son Michael hidden from everybody. Michael spent much of his young life on the Matrix, going to school and exploring in general.
   In 1959, when the AI, Deus, took over the Arcology, Michael and his parents were trapped in the Arcology. Deus performed experiments on Michael and his parents. These experiments resulted in Michael becoming an Otaku, and his parents dying.    Finally, in 1961, both Renraku and the Seattle government were able to regain control of the Arcology. Michael was found by one of the security personnel, and managed to convince him that he couldn’t be reported. The security person was able to slip Michael out without being caught.
   On 2 November 1964, the Second Crash occurred. Michael, who was online(as usual) at the time, was trapped inside the Matrix for hours, before he finally made it back to his body. Over the next few months he began noticing a change in his Otaku powers that Deus had given him.
   During this whole time the security person had maintained care of Michael, and had left his work due to increased scrutiny over his spending habits. Luckily, he had contacts that allowed him to find alternate income in shadowrunning. While he tried to shield Michael from these things he would eventually come to Michael for assistance in gaining intel for various jobs.

My brother-in-law's new character is going to be the security person.

[Caradoc]

Check with your brother in law, but you might want to make it that his character is an older cousin of yours.

He was outside the Arcology when the shutdown occurred and was only able to re-enter during the retaking in 2061. He found that both his own parents and yours were killed during the shutdown and that you are the only survivor of either family. He smuggled you out due to family loyalty and knowing your past history and the fact you were never given a SIN. As you were about 9 years old at this time, he brought you up on his own and eventually circumstances led you both to end up working in the shadows as runners...

[Singe]

Sounds like a great idea. He wanted to make us related somehow. This would definitely work. Thank you again for your help, Caradoc.

[Singe]

For anyone that is interested here is my character build so far.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10p0w2d3IiGvzYlAaNeaPdSldgyUK2bE-1cuO8GPX0U4/edit

For our house group we are not allowed to have more than 3 positive and 3 negative qualities. Any critiques welcome.