Redout/Nate
Contents
Background[edit]
Nate died on Earth during the fall, but was among the lucky handful to get scooped up in the rescue efforts. Having nothing in the way of higher education, Nate was sitting pretty at the bottom of the list to get sleeved before a few strangers contacted him out of the blue. He got his body, but the cost was steep. The men giving him a second chance new about his history as a professional fighter back on earth and they were in need of fresh meat to throw in the ring. Billed as the rookie upstart, Nate swung his way through the crowd again and again. Even in a day and age of simulation and virtual reality, the visceral appeal of genuine blood shed is alive and well. He won some, lost a few but managed to get his odds tight as the end of his contract neared. His manager had been selling XP recordings of his fights on the side too, and their success got him in good with his new employers. People paid good money for a chance to experience the euphoria following a hard win and something about Nate's personality kept people coming back for more. However, he'd always just been a pawn in the game and when his time was nearly up the syndicate approached him about taking care of the fine print. Throw the fight for the new rookie being brought in, and he'd be a free man. It didn't take Nate long to make his choice. He'd had a damn hard job, and this was probably as easy as it would ever get. Most folks never got out of their contracts, so he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Nate tossed the towel in after taking a beating for two rounds and hitting the mat four times. It wasn't exactly Wepner vs. Ali, but he did the job. That was it, they signed over the rights to his body without a word right after the fight. Since then he's tried to live a more peaceful life on Mars, but for a guy with skills like Nate, the money just doesn't lead to tranquility.
Connections to Noctis[edit]
Since then, Nate's lived out his days in the quieter parts of Noctis living off the popularity from his XP vids and getting by working job to job. Currently, Nate makes his way as a bouncer at a local hotspot. The owner was something of a fan which helped him land the job. He's never been to handy at holding down a steady job though, old habits have a way of seeing to that. He teaches unarmed combat on the side, mostly for private citizens looking for something to fill their idle hours but on occasion even private security firms have taken him one to teach their employees the way of the fist. Nate's never tried to deny the fact that his history of violence is what keeps him afloat financially for the most part, but for the most part his life in Noctis isn't too hectic.
Opinions[edit]
Planetary Consortium/Tharsis League: Truth be told Nate rarely takes the time to wrap his head around this kind of stuff. His life doesn't need any added complication. At the end of the day though he's never had much to complain about. He knows a good group of people who've been bent over by the consortium but he's never been a part of it. From the perspective of the observer he's still sympathetic but knows he can't really understand their plight. At the end of the day though, he works for the consortium by proxy. They've signed his paychecks directly before but currently the owner of his bar has tight connections within the consortium. That could always change though, after all the consortium never done him any favors outside of demonstrating a good level of professionalism. Until that time though, Nate doesn't feel like stirring the pot.
Barsoomian Movement: Politics. Nate's not too dumb to think the Barsoomians don't have a legitimate gripe but he's still never been too interested in getting involved. Nate's never had enough stake in either side to pick one. He makes his money his own way, and never really suffered under the heel of the consortium. Personally, he'd like everyone to just make nice and quiet down but of course that's nothing more than wishful thinking on his part. The closest he's ever come to resenting the movement was the time he had to throw out a particularly rowdy group of agitators. Liquor has a funny way of inflaming passions like that. None of that hardly matters though, when the revolution comes it'll come.
Criminal Organizations: Nate had his fill of the syndicates back in the day. He still maintains his contacts within but only at the bare minimum. There are still those within who think he didn't pull his weight when he threw the fight. Not showy enough, not believable, what have you. They hold grudges that way, but in the end it's just business. He did his fair share of work as a body guard after the last fight and they haven't forgotten that despite everything he's still willing to take a bullet or two for their lieutenants. He didn't stick with the hired muscle route for long but he left his mark where he did. Business is business.
How People Might Know Him[edit]
His XP series were fairly popular, especially among @-listers who so rarely get into a good scuffle as a result of their station. Folks who want to feel every part of landing a good punch without breaking a nail. Or maybe they were among the poor sods who lost a small fortune betting on him the night he threw in the towel uncharacteristically early. His fights weren't broadcast prime time, but they showed up on the mesh. The whole circuit had a pretty large following and Nate drew his own fair share of that. Anyone who enjoys a good fight could probably pick his ugly mug out of a line up. They might know him if their a regular at the bar too, he likes to make nice with the customers. Even if he's hauling you out, he's nothing if not polite about it.
Connections and Friends[edit]
Sun Shangxiang: Known better as Lady Sun, or Sunny as Nate likes to call her. She is an up and comer in the female wrestling scene and sponsored by some mid level corporate execs. Nate is her personal trainer and regular sparring partner. Despite her affectionate nick name she's a rather serious about everything, a result of her close hyper-corp ties. She's in an Olympian morph, but it's been heavily modified for the rigors of the ring. She represents one of Nate's main links to Mars based Hyper-Corps.
Wang Fu Ming: Something of a media mogul and celebrity, Wang writes reviews of XP's and even did a little production back in the day. He's always diversifying though, whether its clothing design, trying to break into music, investing in old earth artifacts ("The price can only go up! Up I tell you!") At the moment he's paying Nate to teach him some hand to hand combat, more out of boredom than any real necessity. Slim, even for a Slyph morph, Nate tries to get Wang to capitalize on his smooth movement and foot work rather than raw brute force but he's hot headed and has a minor addiction to combat drugs. MRDR is his latest fix, and he'll shoot it up if he even sees Nate just for an excuse to get a good fight going. Prone to mood swings and rash behavior, but still a solid contact for anyone looking to get their XP's out of obscurity or just get the latest gossip on the inner workings of Noctis.
Lee Yubai: He was Nates manager back when he was still swinging, and as such has some powerful ties to the cartels and to a lesser degree, the media in Noctis. However, he wasn't one of the guys who made Nate take the dive, he was just one of their flunkies like Nate. That connection is what really separates Lee from the few remaining contacts Nate has with the crime circuits. He's gone up in the world since their working relationship ended, but he's still only mid level and Nate still remembers him as the foul mouthed bookie stuck way in over his head. They went through a lot of the same shit, the same people screamed and swore at them, even though Lee was technically Nates boss they were both hanging onto the short end of the shit stick and all that hardship built their friendship. These days Lee's back working the books again, but in a proper managerial position like any respecting mid level mobster should be.
Li Yuchun: The lovely lady who employs everyone's favorite fallen star. She runs the Emperors Palace, a bar and eatery located in Pembroke Gardens. Li Yuchun is probably one of Nates closest friends, even though things are always professional they still get along and Li even has Nate over for some proper, traditional Chinese cuisine once in a while. She hired Nate on the spot one night when he thrashed a couple of Guanxi goons making trouble (specifically, trouble for him, bastards spilled his scotch.) Li does more than run her own bar though. She has ties with the Barsoomian movement, as almost all of her staff other than Nate are uplifts or synth morphs. While Li herself was born here on Mars (Only 40 years before the fall if you ask her, but everyone else knows the truth...), she has nothing but sympathy for the plight of the reinstated masses and uplifts. More than one neo-gorilla freed from the bonds of indentured servitude has found their way to steady employment at the Emperors Palace.
