Elizabeth 'Liz' Albrechts

From RPGnet
Revision as of 17:11, 11 October 2007 by Dakkareth (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

AlphaOmega

Kat cel.JPG

Elizabeth 'Liz' Albrechts
Night Caste rebellious traceuse

The first impression one would get of Liz is one of boundless energy. Whether she is running, talking or even just sitting, she is always moving, literally or metaphorically. A young woman at 19 she is usually found wearing a dark red tank top, knee long sport pants and high quality running shoes. Her brown hair she keeps short and at the moment touched up with white highlights. In her brown eyes one can see the fire that is her nature, both warming and possibly destructive, as well as the curiosity that drives her to seek ever new experiences and challenges.


Motivation

Find the truth behind the facade of the world, learn what secret rulers enslave men.

Anima

Although Liz finds fame (or even infamy) not exactly unpleasant she rarely lets her anima show, afraid that this might bring about an entirely wrong sort of attention. After all she knows so little about what really moves the world. When her anima does show it is of a pale gold with a strong touch of deep purple reminiscent of the night sky just after sunset. In its totemic form her anima is a concealing cloak around Liz, hiding her features. Above her are displayed the sword and the scales, symbols of justice far older than the Roman goddess Justitia (though the name of the greek Titan Themis seems to strike a chord).

Liz with bag.png

Attributes

PHYSICAL: Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2
SOCIAL: Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 3
MENTAL: Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 3


Abilities

Caste Abilities

Athletics 5 (+1 Free running), Awareness 4, Dodge 5 (+1 Unarmored), Larceny 4, Stealth 2

Favored Abilities

Martial Arts 5 (+1 Unarmed, +1 Staff), Integrity 2, Presence 3, Resistance 1 (+2 Endurance), Investigation 4

Unfavored Abilities

Computer 1, Linguistics 1 (German, English)


Backgrounds

Face 2

Despite coming late to the Freerunning scene Liz has already made a name for herself. Her video clips are widely known on the internet, some even outside the parkour circles, and her blog is a permanent fixture of the community. She is known for coming out of the hardcore parkour field and gradually drifting closer to the free running philosophy of elegance and aesthetics over sheer efficiency as her abilities grew. In the last few months she has started to incorporate katas from her martial arts training into her jumps and movements making for some truly spectacular combinations. Some already call this a new direction or even a new level of free running while others have no mind for 'more fancy tricks'.

Resources 2

Some of Liz's money comes from a college savings account her parents set up for her some time ago - in theory she's studying history and sports at the university of Tübingen. The greater part however comes from her own diverse efforts: There's the modest advertising money from her website, her part of the internet business she helped a friend set up, the odd job as stunt double in art student movies and then there's her book. It's a collection of running reports, technique tips, aesthetic observations as well as strange anecdotes of encounters while running parkour, all mashed together in a gonzo journalist style. With her father's help (he runs a bookshop and knows the ways of the publishing industry) she managed to get a good editor and a house to publish it - and miraculously it sells! Not nearly well enough to live, alone it wouldn't even cover half the rent, but together with all the other small stuff it's enough to keep her afloat and even suffices for some small luxuries.

Contacts 3

It's the wonder of the internet: You can have friends halfway around the world, talk to them every day and not even know their voice. Ask a question and among the replies will be posters of every age and origin, from the unemployed postman to the professor of indology. Post a message on a community board and have a place to stay for a few days only an hour later. Through the tight community of free runners, parkour artists and Yamakasi afficionados world wide (not to mention the fan communities of small heavy metal bands, urban exploration fanatics or creative anarchists) Liz is sure to know someone just about everywhere. Here in Las Vegas she is friends with Dale Grimsby, a fellow free runner and one of the organisators of the Parkour Convention for which Liz came.

Charms

Athletics

2nd Athletics Excellency
Graceful Crane Stance (3m, perfect balance)
Lightning Speed (3m, add Ath to speed)
Monkey Leap Technique (3m, jump as move action and double jumping distance)

Dodge

Shadow Over Water (1m, dodge at full DV)
Seven Shadow Evasion (3m, perfect dodge unless it goes against her convictions)

Larceny

2nd Larceny Excellency
Perfect Impenetrable Disguise (7m, perfect illusionary disguise)

Investigation

2nd Investigation Excellency
Crafty Observation Method (5m, compress 15 minutes of detective work into a single action)

Martial Arts

1st Martial Arts Excellency

Intimacies

I will never lose my freedom and submit to oppression!
We outsiders have to stick together.

Essence

Essence: 2
Peripheral: 23/29
Personal: 10/13
Committed: 3pers

Willpower

6/OOOOO OO (Willpower 7)

Virtues

Conscience: 2 - Going everywhere doesn't mean stepping on other people.
Conviction: 3 - Freedom is the highest of principles, why do you give yours away so easily?
Temperance: 1 - What is this 'impulse control' thing you speak of?
Valor: 3 - Is that a *challenge*?

Limit Break

Irresistable Challenge
While in Limit Break Liz will perceive everything as a challenge and act to meet it immediately.

Equipment

Backpack, sportwear, laptop, cellphone, entrance kit*, martial arts staff.

Hand: Spd 5, Acc 12, Dmg 4B, PDV 5, rate 3
Kick: Spd 6, Acc 10, Dmg 7B, PDV 4, rate 1
Fine staff: Spd 5, Acc 14, Dmg 11B, PDV 6, rate 3

  • (a few small screwdrivers, some basic lockpicking tools and spare wiring for electronics)


History

Liz was the first of two daughters born to Mark and Claudia Albrechts in Hannover, Germany. Her father runs a moderately successful bookstore while her mother has resumed her work as elementary school teacher now that her two girls are old enough to take care of themselves for the most part. Julia, her sister, is two years her junior and is currently busy finishing school. Life with her family was as unglamorous as it was full of loving and support and Liz is on good speaking terms with her parents and sister even now that she is studying hundreds of kilometers away from home and investigating the darkness with her newfound superpowers. If her father was disappointed when she didn't take after him in appreciation of the scholarly pursuits he didn't show it and was all the more enthusiastic when she brought home the first athletics medals.

The biggest change in her life came when she was 16 and her then boyfriend introduced her to the small group of parkour traceurs in the city. As she understood more about this strange discipline that seemed to mostly involve running through unsafe places where no normal person would run she found that she liked it. Even had a natural aptitude for it. And it was only a few weeks later when during a training her perceptions shifted and it occured to her for the first time how people everywhere slavishly kept to designated paths, be it walking through the park or crossing the city, be it in their careers or their political opinions. She herself would never let herself be constrained by mere social convention or arbitrary restrictions, she vowed then.

Since those early days Liz has become an ace traceuse as well as a strong believer in the philosophy of personal freedom that is part of the parkour movement. So it was a particularly nasty shock for her, when one late evening as she ran parkour among the ruins of an abandoned industrial plant she came upon a group of people discussing secret rulers of the world, vampire empires hiding in plain sight and magical propaganda. At first she thought the disparate gathering of oddly dressed people no more than conspiracy theorists but then she felt the vast and invisible forces moving in accordance with the exchange of heated words. When those forces then took physical form as rearing dragons of flaming air, shields of glaring blue light and devouring spots of sheer blackness Liz ran like hell. One of the terrifying men pursued her for three full kilometers until she finally managed to lose him among the ruins despite the golden glow now surrounding her.

By the time she arrived home in the early hours of the morning her thoughts had come to an ugly conclusion. What those men had said was pure insanity, but was it less crazy than people fighting each other with sorcery or her jumping a 30 meter gap between two buildings? There had to be some truth to it. A secret world hiding behind the facade of normality. And she was now part of it through whatever the hell it was that had happened to her. Whatever the truth of the matter, she would have to find out and not just in order to understand her new gifts and nature. Even graver was the possibility that there were indeed secret rulers shackling mankind in ignorance and control. For how could people be free if even a clear and reasoned mind couldn't possibly see those invisible supernatural bonds?

Personality

Free-spirited, impulsive, loves a challenge. Usually pleasant and quick to make friends, but can be petty and even cruel when angry.

Merits and Flaws

Wanted 1

It was the second day of the Parkour Convention and Liz was about to be late for her speech concerning the combination of free running and martial katas, so she did the natural thing: Run right over, under, through and past all obstacles between her and the convention center. One of those obstacles happened to be one of the more upscale casinos of the city and their security people were less than pleased when she came into the building through a back window, made her way through the casino floor jumping from slot machine to slot machine and left at full sprint through the front entrance. Since then there have been a few small problems in Liz's relationship with police and security people, which has resulted in her avoiding them more than usual.

Lucky 1 & Unlucky 2

Things have a way of getting complicated when Liz is around. Whether it's the other car getting the very last parking spot, the falling potplant coming right for her or the soda machine eating her coins, bad luck is the natural way of things as far as she is concerned. At the same time when things really matter she has a way of somehow being at just the right spot at the right time. Over the years Liz has decided that neither is Karma a bitch nor is Luck a lady. Instead they're probably one and the same person who has decided to make Liz's life more interesting in that chinese proverb kind of way. Just great.

Goals and Motivations

When the supernatural broke into her world it suddenly became quite a scary place for Liz. If there are real wizards, what else is there? If all the stories are true, then the world she knew was nothing more than a facade, the pretty surface of a dark and icy cold ocean. Surely they can't be? Someone has to find out. Someone who doesn't belong to the darkness, someone who can protect herself if need be, someone who can finally expose the secret oppressors of mankind and topple their thrones - if they exist, that is.