The Initiative:Ossian O'Ryan

Ossian as played by Cillian Murphy

Ossian O'Ryan is a PC in the Spycraft 2.0 PbP The_Initiative.

Ossian O'Ryan grew up in Dublin, the son of two IT professionals with a small but successful business providing networking technical services to several UK telecoms. He was a bright, enthusiastic learner, both in school and at home regarding his parents' work. They rather expected him to follow in their footsteps and eventually take over the company. What they didn't expect was a pair of uniformed officers from the G-2 branch of the Óglaigh na h-Éireann, Ireland's national intelligence and defense agency, shortly after Ossian's twentieth birthday.

Apparently young Oz had been making experimental forays into several corporate and government databases for the past four years. While it was hacking in the purest sense - done as a test of his own skill in understanding and circumventing countermeasures rather than for any destructive purposes - he had managed to find a few minor backdoors into some areas of relatively sensitive information, including a set of encrypted files referred to as the Goll mac Morna transcripts. Oz hadn't made much headway against the encryption, but he had retrieved a small sample of the data as a minor trophy and to test his decrypting skills later. While he had been careful to cover his tracks, G-2 had inevitably noticed and tracked the incursion.

As the officers explained to Ossian's parents, Oz could face a life sentence in prison if brought up on charges of treason and espionage, or he could go to work for the government instead and receive comprehensive training in data analysis, intelligence and counterintelligence techniques. There was really no question as to the decision.

Oz received six years of intensive military intelligence training and served as a capable and dedicated G-2 agent for another five, tracking and collating communications regarding terrorist activity in Ireland and potential threats abroad, earning the rank of Lieutenant. He has been attached to field units on occasion and was directly responsible for the prevention of three significant terrorist attacks on Irish soil, receiving appropriate commendations for his service.

Oz was surprised beyond words in 2007 when his C.O. called him into her office, closed the door, and told him what he'd stumbled upon as a teenager. The Goll mac Morna transcripts were the Irish government's records of their part in the old European counterpart to Project Sign, which had subsequently been folded into CARI. While the newer agency had been shut down for over a decade, it had just been officially reopened, and Ossian was offered a position overseas as the G-2 delegate to the project. While he was reluctant to leave his home (Oz still lived with his parents), he realized that this was the greatest opportunity he'd ever receive. Six weeks later, he had relocated to the Initiative's European HQ.

Oz O'Ryan is an agreeable enough guy, but as a tech geek drafted into military service just after high school, he doesn't have a lot of experience with looser organizational structures like that of the Initiative, which can leave him a bit uptight and uncertain of himself without a strict hierarchy and protocols in place. At 31 years of age, he is still largely the stereotypical computer nerd. However, he's also a connoisseur of opera and fine whiskeys and has developed a fondness for sailing. Without quite realizing it, Oz has become a fairly eligible bachelor, and his mother is constantly pressuring him to make time to meet a nice girl and bring her home for a visit. He misses his parents and his younger brother and sister, he has a cat named COBOL, and he's trying to teach himself to cook.

Vital Statistics

Name: Ossian O'Ryan

Code Name: THE WIZARD

Player: TygerTyger

Class: Hacker 2 / Snoop 2

Origin: Veteran Geek

Reputation: 2

Experience: 1000

Action Dice: 3 (d4)

Attributes

STRENGTH: 10 (+0)

DEXTERITY: 12 (+1)

CONSTITUTION: 10 (+0)

INTELLIGENCE: 17 (+3)

WISDOM: 14 (+2)

CHARISMA: 13 (+1)

Vitality: 21 Wounds: 10 Subdual Threshold: 10 Stress Threshold: 14

Unarmed: +2 Melee: +2 Ranged: +3 Defense: 15 Initiative: +2

Knowledge Check: +7 Request Check: +5 Gear Check: +6

Fortitude: +5 Reflex: +5 Will: +8

Skills

Analysis +9/+7 (6 ranks)

Blend +5/+5 (4 ranks)

Bluff +4 (3 ranks)

Bureaucracy +8/+6 (5 ranks)

Computers +14, threat 19-20 (7 ranks (Master Key I))

Cultures +7 (4 ranks) [Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa]

Drive +4 (3 ranks) [Standard Ground Vehicles]

Electronics +12/+11, threat 19-20 (5 ranks)

Falsify +8/+7 (5 ranks)

Investigation +5/+4 (3 ranks)

Networking +6/+5 (4 ranks)

Notice +7 (5 ranks)

Profession +4 (3 ranks) [Military Officer]

Resolve +5/+3 (3 ranks)

Science +9 (6 ranks (Master Key I)) [Mathematics (Random Number Theory), Programming (Trace Software)]

Search +7 (4 ranks)

Security +7 (5 ranks)

Sleight of Hand +5 (4 ranks; additional +2 when planting bugs)

Sneak +6/+6 (5 ranks; additional +2 when planting bugs)

• cross-class skill

Abilities

Proficiencies: unarmed, handgun, rifle

Class Abilities: Custom 'ware, 'L337, Master Key I, Flawless Search, Intuition I

Feats: Techie, Extra Gear (Resources), Bug Basics

Interests: Sailing, whiskey, opera, cooking, terrorist activities

Wealth

Lifestyle 3: Downtown loft, forest-green 1968 Jaguar [caliber I mid-size sedan - Luxury Fittings, Top Speed Increase I]

Possessions 3: Audio bug (cal II) [power rating 2, 400 ft. range increment (after Bug Basics)], Laptop computer (cal III) [power rating 3], Code cracker software (cal I) [power rating 2], H&K P7 940 S&W, Authentication Kit I, Electronics Kit I, Attache case, flashlight, cell phone, PDA, clip-on sunglasses, pocket watch, DVD burner and blank discs, scanner, Swiss Army knife, binoculars, headset radio, spare laptop battery, USB flash drive

Spending Cash 2: $400

Gear Picks: 1E, 2T, 1G, 1R, 1 CHA bonus pick (V/T/G/R), max 2 reserve picks, Free Reserve Picks from origin: 1E, 1(E/T/G/R), 5 common items

Contacts

Maura Shanahan, G-2 major

Acquaintance: It's Elementary/Friends on the Force (Sleuth 5)

Associate: Ranged Sneak Attack (Sniper 4)

Subplot

Romance

Alexis Barakowski, female surveillance tech for CARI's satellite network, likes to sing the blues, has a jealous ex.