Editing Vulture Committee: Will Aberley

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== Name ==
William ("Will") Aberley

== Overview ==
36 year old, genetics/genomics & data scientist pre-collapse; scavenger with unhealthy interest in the invading AI and the unnatural.

== Background ==
Will is an 36 year old ex-pat (whatever that means since the End) British Scientist/Technician working in Genetics/Genomics & Data Science at the University of Chicago when the End came. His success as a scientist was based more on his focus and persistence than natural intelligence. As the first incursions happened Will was involved in computational work at the lab to try to discover more about the changes and whether they were happening at the genetic level or were in some way due to parasitic or symbiotic organisms. Somehow Will escaped the meltdown of Chicago. He has no idea what has happened to his family "back home" and he has largely mentally walled off that part of his past.

Will has an unhealthy, obsessive fascination with incursions, changes and the unnatural and is part of a dispersed group he calls "SciNet" – a dispersed and disparate group of scientists and investigators with an obsessive interest in the invading AI and the unnatural. He takes any opportunities to poke around at incursions and unnatural changes, and has an unhealthy willingness to connect up to any active interfaces to dig out more information or influence things – so scavenging in hot-zones serves two purposes for him. He is surprisingly unscathed by years of risk taking in hot-zones, although he has undergone a number of minor changes – he is completely hairless (and always wears a hat) and has fully functional nictitating membranes. <s>and his fingerprints and (less obviously all skin surfaces) have been morphed into a fractal pattern which subtly changes over time – this gives him an unsettling appearance, particularly when he is stressed when the patterning becomes more vivid. </s> 

Will has developed spiderlike retractable fangs to inject venom, with the consequence that he no longer eats normally, but has to inject food with venom, which causes it to be (partially) digested and then sucks the liquefied food to ingest it. Among other things he could kill and eat small animals this way. This is a consequence of a deal he cut with “Spider Grandmother” - an Elder entity of significant power -  in an effort to appease it after one of the crew killed some of her favourites (giant spiders). He was marked, and at some point will pay off the debt by being required to take part in its schemes to rid the world of Daoloth (what it calls the singularity). He wants nothing more to do with the entity, its favourites or people in thrall to it until that payback is due.

More than his changed appearance, his history of repeated and prolonged visits to hot-zones is unsettling for those communities he interacts with, as few people believe that he can really have emerged quite so unscathed and so he is often treated with suspicion, even as the items he scavenges are valued.

== Characteristics ==
Str: 9 (45) ‎<br />
Con: 14 (70) ‎<br />
Dex: 10 (50) ‎<br />
Int: 14 (70) ‎<br />
Pow: 17 (85) ‎<br />
Cha: 9 (45) ‎<br />

== Derived stats ==
HP: 12 ‎<br />
Willpower: 17 ‎<br />

Original San: 68 ‎<br />
Current San: 67 ‎<br />
Breakpoint 51 ‎<br />
Maximum San: 78 ‎<br />
Recovery San: 78 ‎<br />

Damage: 0 ‎<br />

== Archetype ==
Scientist/Technician

== Resources ==
Resource: 18

== Bonds ==
community bond 9 with “SciNet” - well regarded member ‎<br />
community bond 4 with NNPMU - barely tolerated as a his status as a useful scavenger is balanced by suspcion due to his changed appearance and frequent and extended visits to hotzones.

== Skills ==
Alertness 20% ‎<br />
Appraise 10% ‎<br />
Athletics 51% ‎<br />
Craft (Glassblowing/crafting) 41% ‎<br />
Disguise 10% ‎<br />
Dodge 50% ‎<br />
Drive 20% ‎<br />
First Aid 10% ‎<br />
Heavy Machinery 10% ‎<br />
History 10% ‎<br />
Insight 11% ‎<br />
Melee (Stick-fighting) 70% ‎<br />
Navigate 10% ‎<br />
Occult 10% ‎<br />
Persuade 20% ‎<br />
Post Apocalypse Lore (Incursions and Unnatural Change) 82% ‎<br />
Ranged (Sling/Slingshot) 60% ‎<br />
Reassure 10% ‎<br />
Research 71% ‎<br />
Ride 10% ‎<br />
Scavenge 50% ‎<br />
Science (Genetics/Genomics) 41% ‎<br />
Science (Computer Science) 80% ‎<br />
Search 60% ‎<br />
Stealth 10% ‎<br />
Survival 10% ‎<br />
Swim 20% ‎<br />
Technology Use 60% ‎<br />
Unarmed Combat 40% ‎<br />
Unnatural 21% ‎<br />

== Weapons ==
slingshot, bag of large marbles for ammunition ‎<br />
3 ft long fighting stick (1 inch diameter hardwood) ‎<br />

== Distinctive features ==
Hairless (MUST have a hat!) ‎<br />
Nictitating membrane in eyes – makes him look a bit like a lizard, works hard to control this in communities to avoid freaking people out, but tends to fail when reacting on reflex ‎<br />
<s>Fractal skin patterning, replacing fingerprints and (less noticeably) marking all skin – more noticeable under stress – pattern tends to shift and morph in a vaguely unsettling way, particularly when seen out of the corner of the eye. Fingerprints are very distinctive. This is a result of an interaction with a fingerprint scanner in a hot-zone</s> 
Will has developed spiderlike retractable fangs to inject venom, with the consequence that he no longer eats normally, but has to inject food with venom, which causes it to be (partially) digested and then sucks the liquefied food to ingest it. Among other things he could kill and eat small animals this way.

== Notes ==
Will is a well regarded member of “SciNet” – a dispersed community of scientists and investigators into the unnatural and the invading AI; motives vary but in general they are intent on finding out what they can about it, trying to communicate with the AI, and coexisting with it and the unnatural. They are ostensibly independent of any established “official” groups. Membership by invitation, communication is pseudonymous, though in rare cases members do meet in person. No guarantees that they have not been hacked/infiltrated, or that individual members may not have ulterior motives. Provides access to a pool of knowledge/resource on the unnatural and the AI, and potential contacts/information on areas where contacts are based.

He has an interest in Glassblowing/crafting which originated from work with lab. glassware, and developed into fascination with glass and crafting the vessels etc needed for lab work. He took that into a hobby/sideline in glassblowing/crafting – this has resulted in very good lung capacity/breathing control. Resources may include tools/raw materials for this and/or crafted glass vessels for taking samples in the field, and/or creating glass melded with materials retrieved from hotzones.

Will is skilled in stickfighting – this came from membership of various stickfighting societies at university, which he originally joined for fun and exercise. You can always find a good stick, and they are also useful for poking things, testing or moving cables etc etc. Will would probably expect to have, or be able to improvise, a fighting stick of some sort.

He has also gained skill since the collapse with slings/slingshots, near silent weapons not requiring specialist ammunition and useful in addition for hunting small animals; he can make glass marbles as ammunition and has experimented with making these “special” by embedding symbols based on recurring patterns seen in hotzones or melding changed materials with the glass.