Redout/Clint
Name: Clint Thorogood (Officially: Somatek C2972)
General concept: Elderly neo-gorilla tech(mechanic, non-hacker!)/ex-palooka
Clint is old, at least as far as Somatek neo-gorillas go. His serial number and overall aged appearance link him to the third batch of 'deployable, marketable' neo-gorillas...As opposed to the experimentals... But there are still distinct and noticeable differences between Clint and his successors.
Clint was decanted on Earth, back in the glory days before the Fall. He remembers seeing open blue skies before they shipped him up into the black, packed him off to Mars to grind out his life turning that red rock green. At thirty-four years, he's already showing advanced signs of premature ageing. A neo-gorilla half his age will likely live twice as long before gaining the deeply wrinkled and silvered look of the earlier batch Clint came from. Clint spends a great deal of his time working out to maintain a physique appropriate to his aggressive, alpha-male nature, and is a non-competitive but fairly capable freerunner. Admittedly, he's cheated a bit. Cloned and implanted muscle tissue helps give the old ape the bulky figure he remembers from his glory days, and as an experimental adaptation of the process to an uplift, it didn't cost him as much as it might have otherwise.
Still, genetics will tell. Clint has developed a rather noticeable beer gut despite the corded muscle in his limbs, and certainly his fixation on cheap cigars hasn't done much to aid his endurance despite nanitic assistance in his lungs. That cough? That's nothing. It'll go away. Someday. The bifocals? Yeah, replacement eyes are cheap. If your eyes are a nice, common, human model. But even if he found a good match, Clint fears losing the tweaks he was given when he proved himself to be a capable mechanic. If you're going to try and maintain a reputation as a good techie, it doesn't hurt to be able to see where electrical currents twist, break, or jump, and being able to keep a close watch on where you're laying a bead in a hurry makes for better welding.
Besides. That look of old, leathery, silver-backed age and thick beveled glasses has a kind of authority, doesn't it? Especially for folks brought up seeing old documentation of pre-Fall scientists.
Not that Clint's a scientist, of course. No, Clint's a hard-working, rough-handed engineer. The kind of fellow who helps keep those drills running and puts that little extra effort in to damp that vibration or jack down those grips, trying to make life a little bit easier on the others like him who've sweated away their receipts in the red dust.
Old Mars-hands will remember him and others like him (most of whom are dead or dying now...genetics will tell) who were sold en masse to MDOT, doing the heavy, grueling work of keeping the big road-laying machines running as they ground their way across red desert. They built and rebuilt the huge machines on the move, racing against the fine, abrasive red dust that got into everything and sanded fittings down almost as fast as they could be replaced. Back in the days before humans learned it was cheaper to build machines that Mars wouldn't chew up and spit out in hours.
Still others may tell of having met Clint in Mars orbit, where he and others like him repaired systems and worked with drill and charge to crack and sculpt the big icy asteroids into projectiles which met TTO spec, dug in and anchored the massive rockets that would send them spiraling down the well into the red globe below.
A few will talk about Clint during the bad years...Which weren't so long ago...When a big gorilla with solid muscular bulk could earn some coin to buy down his indenture piece by piece, fighting with shock clubs or knives in the pits of Pembroke Gardens; building the dream one night at a time, trying to take the other guy down without killing him or maiming him too bad, because you never knew when it might be you on the sand, looking up with nothing between you and death but the crowd and the willingness of the other guy to feed their bloodlust. Medical bills for 'negligent injury' cut into an indenture something fierce, but the winnings on a good night could make up for it. Clint's past that now, but those who remember can still pick out the scars in his wrinkled face, remember the flash of fang and knife and the heavy pressure of the expectant crowd as prehensile feet hit the bloody, muddy red sand.
Some who know him very well will talk about his buy-out party three years ago: the big, ugly lug crying as he tore up the printout of his paid-off indenture, while the few dozen who knew him cheered and the cheap beer flowed. Mostly apes, that night at the Broken Bit, because the Broken Bit was an indenture bar where primate riggers and miners drank away futures they'd already spent. A buy-out was big news in that crowd, and none of the crusty apes even bothered the human, Victor, who Clint dragged in with him for his celebration. Paid off the last payment, Clint had said, after Clint'd broken one leg falling off a drill-scaffold. Not because Clint couldn't have made it on his own a few months later, once it was healed. Clint was that kind of guy. But so Clint could get out on time, and be damned to the leg and the luck and the company doctors.
But most folks...Most folks nowadays know Clint from the souks of Noctis. His battered, ancient rust-orange buggy-van with its neon-green wildscrawl signs ('Locksmith/Tinker: things fixed, ways opened') is usually located at one market or another during the week (those who know him well can usually predict where and when). Weekends he heads out into the red to do some private scavenging or on contract to fix one thing or another, doing a tour of outlying ecostations that are either independent or can't get their own corporate tech support to come in and fix their systems for a damn. Fridays he invariably turns up at the big Valley of the Apes movie night down southwest in Red Jakarta. Clint's a social animal, he is.
Of course, there are always those who like to drag down the name of a fellow who's made his own way out of the creche. If he hangs out occasionally with Free Mars types, runaway uplifts, anarchists, smugglers and crooks, well who doesn't? And what scavenger and tinker ever could give a good accounting of where he found every bit and part he bought or sold? Clint buys and sells parts, working and not-so-working items of all kinds, from refurbished tools to reworked marsbuggy engines. He's even been known to help jury-rig repairs for broke clankers, gratis. After all, you never know when you'll be the one hoping for good karma to come around. Sure, the constant flow of merchandise is an easy place to submerge and lose certain kinds of stolen goods, and a salvage prospector and travelling repair service is an easy cover for the occasional smuggling job, but that's not what Clint is about, see?
When it comes down to it, Clint may seem surly to outsiders, but he's the sort of ape who looks after his friends. You don't get anywhere in this life without them. Are you one of Clint's friends? A co-worker? A client? Another indenture...Primate or otherwise...Who hacked themselves free of the chains that brought them to Mars? Free Mars types, pro-Uplift Rights, anti-Indenture...Almost anything works. The only thing Clint tends to steer clear of is people who burn other people for their livelihood...Not thieves, mind you, folks should know not to leave their doors unlocked...But egosnatchers, slavers, indenture-brokers, pimps...Those who make their living off the suffering of others will have a somewhat harder time being in Clint's trust. Doesn't mean he can't work with them...You don't stay alive as long as he has in Noctis by having unrealistic standards and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, but he's less likely to trust such folk or stick his neck out for them and he will absolutely not cooperate with a slaver if he can avoid it.
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Player: Re-Laborat Background: Uplift Faction: Barsoomian Morph: Neo-Hominid (Gorilla) Gender: Male Actual Age: 34 Current Moxie: 3 Rez Points: 0 Motivations: +Uplift Rights +Martian Liberation +Hedonism
COG COO INT REF SAV SOM WIL Base 20 20 15 10 15 15 15 Morph 5 5 15 Total 25 20 20 10 15 30 15
Stats TT LUC IR WT DUR DR MOX INIT SPD DB
6 30 60 10 50 75 3 6 1 3
Armor: 10/12 (or 11/14 when Crash Suit activated. Assumes helmet is worn, -3/3 if not)
Reputation: @-rep 70, G-rep 60
Ego Traits: Allies (Lvl 1), Addiction (Tobacco)(Lvl 2) Morph Traits: Tough (Lvl 2), Planned Obsolescence, Unfit (Lvl 1)
Implants: Enhanced Respiration, Muscle Augmentation, Temperature Tolerance, Anti-Glare, Electrical Sense, Medichines, Wrist-Mounted Tools
Gear: Covert Ops Tool, Fibereye, (2x) Liquid Termite, (4x) Scrapper's Gel, Slip, Tools (kit: Groundcraft, Electronics, Industrial, Robotics), Disassembly Tools, Anonymous Account, Backup Insurance (mod), Encryption, Standard Muse, (2x) Nanobandage, (2x) Repair Spray, Breather, Breather Bladder, Survival Cold Weather Gear, Mars Buggy (van-type), Helmet (full), Second Skin, Smart Skin, Crash Suit, Flex-Cutter, Vibroblade, Heavy Pistol (w/Smartlink, Safety System), (50x) Hollow-Point Pistol Rounds, (50x) RAP Pistol Rounds
Common Aptitude Tests: Brute Strength: 90 Catch Thrown Object: 50 Composure/Resolve: 45 Escape Artist: 50 Idea (COG): 75 Idea (INT): 60 Memorize/Remember: 75 vs. Social: 45 Integration: 90 Close Combat Fray: 44 Continuity: 45 Ranged Combat Fray: 22 Alienation: 60 vs. PSI: 30 Resist Intimidation: 45 Resist Persuasion: 45
Combat Tests: Skill DV AP Unarmed (Fists) 66 1d10+3 0 Unarmed (Claws) 66 1d10+4 -1 Flex-Cutter 66 1d10+6 -1 Vibroblade 66 2d10+3 -2 Hvy Pistol (HP) 54 3d10+4 -2 Hvy Pistol (RAP) 54 2d10+3 -10
Skills: Academics: Engineering 66 Academics: Terraforming 60 Blades 66 Climbing 33 Clubs 55 Deception 22 Demolitions 33 Fray 44 Freefall 33 Freerunning 55 Hardware: Groundcraft 44 Hardware: Electronics 44 Hardware: Industrial 66 Hardware: Robotics 55 Hardware: Aerospace 33 Infosec 33 Interest: Uplift Agendas 55 Interest: Martian Politics 44 Interfacing: 33 Intimidation: 44 Kinesics: 33 Kinetic Weapons: 44 Language: English 90 Language: Hindi 66 Language: Cantonese 40 Networking: Autonomists 40 Networking: Criminals 44 Perception: 33 Persuasion: 33 Pilot: Groundcraft 33 Profession: Appraisal 55 Profession: Asteroid Prospecting 33 Profession: Eco-Prospecting 33 Profession: Mining 44 Profession: Salvage Ops 66 Profession: Security Systems 55 Profession: Smuggling Tricks 44 Programming: 33 Scrounging: 66 Unarmed Combat: 66
Muse: Jane Academics: Psychology 60 Profession: Accounting 60 Profession: Security Ops 40 Profession: Police Procedures 40 Profession: Con Schemes 40
Implant Details Enhanced Respiration: (EP p. 305) Morph can breathe in 0.2 to 5 atmospheres and can hold breath for up to 30 minutes. Muscle Augmentation: (EP p. 305) +5 SOM Temperature Tolerance: (EP p. 305) Comfortable in -30 to +60 temperature Anti-Glare: (EP p. 306) Eliminates visual penaties for glare Electrical Sense: (EP p. 306) Range 5m, detect all etectronics, and +10 to any test involving analyzing, repaing or modifying electrical equipment Medichines: (EP p. 308) Morph ignores 1 wound, if it suffers 5 wounds it is placed in medical stasis and distress signals are send out. It allows synthmorphs to heal. Wrist-Mounted Tools: (EP p. 309) Mentally controlled tools, gives a +20 modifier to skill tests, can also be used as claws.
Gear Details Covert Ops Tool: (EP p. 315) Defeats mecanical or electronic locks in 1 Action Turn. Drills small holes ((Dur+Armor)÷10) secs. Cuts 1m hole ((Dur+Armor)÷10 mins. Fibereye: (EP p. 316) Flexible length of fiberoptic cable with a camera can be worked through small spaces for clandestine peeping. Liquid Thermite: (EP p. 323) Gel from thermite burns at 2500C. Inflicts 3d10+5DV per Action Turn. Activated by an electric charge. Scrapper's Gel: (EP p. 323) Potent acid that inflicts 1d10+5DV per Action Turn to anything it touches. Activated by an electric charge. Slip: (EP p. 323) Nearly frictionless liquid. Applied to surfaces it requires anyone walking to make COO Test or fall, SOM test to hold, -30 to grapple. Tools (kit): (EP p. 326) Man portable kit. Specific to 1 Hardware: field skill. Disassembly Tools: (EP p. 330) Used for salvage and demolitions, includes both heavy energy tools like plasma torches and smart hand tools like wrenches. Anonymous Account: (EP p. 330) (See also p.252) An encrypted anonymous communications channel for messaging and credit transfer, virtually impossible to track. Backup Insurance (mod): (EP p. 330) Periodic Ego backup possible stack retrieval and reinstantiation into a basic morph in the event of death. For high risk individuals. Encryption: (EP p. 331) Standard Muse: (EP p. 332) Digital personalities designed to assist a character in everyday life and work. Nanobandage: (EP p. 333) Self sterilizing medical system treats all injury from poison to trauma. Severe injuries may req. physical first aid. (See also p.208) Repair Spray: (EP p. 333) Repairs 1d10DV/2hrs. Repairs 1 wound/day. Cannot repair object with more than 3 wounds, assists in repair, +30 to all repair rolls Breather: (SW p. 167) Backpack unit can supply breathable oxygen indefinitely when supplied with 1kg of water and 2 hrs of sunlight /day. Breather Bladder: (SW p. 167) An accessory to Breather unit stores waste methane to be used to fuel machinery. Survival Cold Weather gear: (SW p. 167) Cold weather suit w/ face mask and goggles protects from cold temperatures to -100C, allows full maneuverability, partially pressurized. Mars Buggy: (EP p. 344) A 4 wheel vehicle with large balloon tires can travel 110kph on roads, 90kph on open terrain, 40kph on jagged rocky terrain.
Notes:
Clint's Mars Buggy is a van-type vehicle but the back seats have been removed to be replaced with a set of four large tool-chests (welded into place). And a mattress that has seen better days. And from the smell of it, better nights. He also has a couple of portable toolboxes that he'll fill with what he thinks he needs from the main boxes. His pistol and ammunition are usually in the bottom of one of these toolboxes, unless he's feeling like things are about to get nasty. Most of the time he doesn't wear his helmet, and most of the time it's in more of a smart-plastic hardhat mode rather than a full-facial coverage mode. His vibroblade usually is stuffed into one of the pockets of his coveralls, and his flex-cutter is usually wrapped around his waist, slid between two layers of leather to mimic a belt.
