Wychking
 | |
| Player | Asmodeus |
|---|---|
| Metatype | Troll (Giant Metatype) |
| Street Cred | 36 |
| Notoriety | -3 |
| Public Awareness | 16 |
| Titles and Awards | 0 |
| CDP | 0 |
| D.O.B. | 10.02.2046 |
| Age | 39 |
| Folder | [1] |
| Priority | Metatype - A Attributes - E Magic/Resonance - A Skills - E Resources - C |
| Initiate Grades Unlocked | 10 |
| Next Initiation Unlocked | September 30th, 2085 |
"Deathly fevers burn my head, delirium takes over me. Beyond the gulf of death, pain dissipates for the freshly passed.
"Hell sweats from my wounds, dreams broken by cauterizing irons, sweat rags damp on my forehead, I can't stay any longer.
I cast the peace of death behind me, a battlefield before me once again. Freshly risen, pain wakes in me once more."
Background
Savo is not a fun place to live in the Sixth World. The Bible Belt southern states equivalent of Finland, it's full of remote towns full of hicks that most people wouldn't really miss if they just disappeared into thin air. And yet, that's where Taru grew up, for better or for worse. Originally an Erika designer child, more specifically a prototype military template in response to constant tensions with Russia, a daring shadowrun funded in part by a researcher that grew a conscience and political funding from the True Finns got her 2-year old self out of an infant nursery facility and off grid to live with other giants as an adopted, SINless child. While she grew up as quietly as she could, sticking to those she trusted and remembering to keep her abilities hidden, she made the mistake of falling in love as a stupid nineteen-year old brat and ran off with her girlfriend into the forests of Central Finland. This didn't get the privilege of being a long-lasting relationship.
As avid hikers, the two of them found an ancient Winter War-era bunker and went looking inside, only to spy chitinous forms within. Stumbling into a nascent insect spirit nest, they tried to run for it but Taru's significant other was stabbed right through the gut with a spear-like forelimb. It was then, shoulder jammed against the front door and desperately trying to keep the things inside from coming out, holding her dying girlfriend in her arms and filled with panic that she heard a voice in her head. A voice offering help. Power. Salvation. The power to make a difference. It warned of a price, of a cost to this power, but Taru didn't listen. She took it in a heartbeat and with a jolt of ice cold chills down her spinal cord, Awakened her latent ability. This was later noted to be purely accidental and it's still unknown what about her genetics allowed her to Awaken.
Slashing those inside the bunker into pieces, she attempted to heal her girlfriend, but as a freshly Awakened novice nothing she did could stem the flow of blood. The help had come too late and she had to watch her first love die in her arms. Ever since that day her life's been nothing but a downwards spiral. Unable to hide her powers any further, Taru ran off on her own, finding work in the shadows to no-one's surprise. This didn't fit her calling all that much, however, and she spent over a decade hunting insect hives across the globe. Many individuals were willing to fund her and a select few others that were willing to do whatever it took to ensure the critters didn't get a foothold in the world. News articles began cropping up of vigilantes uncovering and uprooting Invae colonies across the world, leaving only scorched and charred corpses in their wake. Some saw them as terrorists, others saw them as first responders keeping monsters down.
Collapsing into narcotics and alcoholism in a no-name Hong Kong bar and motel, her past finally caught up to her. Having tried to push away the idea of processing her loss no longer worked and Taru went into a dark, dark place for years. When she began feeling like she might actually recover, Taru booked a ticket to Seattle to run the shadows, as far from Europe as possible since Finland didn't feel like a safe option given her history. Twelve steps out of Seattle's airport she was mugged by the Crimson Crush, robbed of practically everything but her clothes. Taru had found a new life in a new country, but she'd lost everything she had as well.
Nowadays, gotten relatively well back on her feet. Putting her skills as an investigator to use, Taru's become a PI in seattle as a front to her shadowrunning operations. Her fame always looms over her head with hundreds of news reports of her activities and face easily found for those that know what to look for. With a new name and a near-constant use of a Faceless system, she's managed to minimize her exposure, but there's no telling when she faces enough drek to cave into old habits, if Erika discovers their lost wayward child isn't so lost after all and connects the dots, or worse, insect spirits decide to get rid of a particular thorn in their sides.
Claim to Fame
Taru was featured often as part of the IID - Interpol Insecticide Division. Many of their accomplishments have been publicized across the world, ranging from a queen mother's nest in Sudan inhabited by hundreds of workers and soldiers to outing a senator in the UCAS House of Representatives as being a True Form Ant. Composed of seven members, each with their own code names, they've been called either worldwide heroes that chase evil across borders or thinly veiled vigilantes murdering anyone like a zealous inquisition. When they showed up to a town, a mixed feeling of security and fear turned up as one could either be saved from a future death or grabbed and brutally interrogated for even the slightest hint of infestation.
In a few choice cases, the IID was reported to have burned down entire rural villages down to the last soul, considering them unsalvageable. They were given undisputed authority once the presence of insect spirits was confirmed, but prior to that piece of information their actions were highly scrutinized and limited. As a result, they often were relentless in chasing trails and intimidating locals into giving up anyone and anything to be rid of the IID's harassment. To captured victims of insect shamans, however, they were uncompromisingly protective and more often than not put themselves in harm's way if the alternative was to let innocents die to the Invae. Wychking, Napalm, Agent Orange, Oppenheimer, Anthrax, Hollowpoint and Cluster were the codenames that the team had, and while she wasn't the most well known of the members, Taru's imposing physique and wide Slash spells cutting swathes of insect spirits down are easily recognizable.
Growing Story
When she first began her rehab in Seattle, Taru grew increasingly powerful, her body lagging behind with what her magic could accomplish. She made allies in powerful circles such as the likes of Orianna Cazador and even Kalanyr himself and equipped herself with cutting edge magical paraphernalia which she later upgraded into greater artifacts with Kalanyr's assistance. Despite this, she maintained a strong relationship with Adeptus and Pain Girl, her ally spirit and stalwart companion on her crusade against Invae. A hive of roaches and two great wasp hives fell by her hand in Seattle, yet she further strengthened the ward around her private investigator's office in Everett and bound great spirits.
A grave turning point was a job to investigate a cult blacksite in the Seattle Sprawl. Signs of demonic incursions were rampant, toxic background counts and eldritch tomes laden all over, Wychking came out of the job intact but burdened with an affliction - she heard muted, distant whispers inside of her mind. Exposure to forbidden knowledge tainted her soul and tempted her to tap into the power it promised. Between struggling to handle the extremely powerful dragon-crafted foci she wielded, the physical dependence on booze and drugs and now the cognitohazardous temptations in her head, Taru felt the burden of her years beginning to pull her once proud and upright posture downwards.
Eventually, however, she managed to fight off her addictions after years of struggling and completely purged her body of withdrawals and urges to take any substances. Her actions against the Elder God cult in Providence and Seattle earned her the ire of the Burned Man, the last survivor of the dark cult. His assault on her lodge led her to losing her lofty manor, yet Taru feels more liberated than ever, feeling like she's rid herself of some of her personal demons. These new astral threats are grave, but she intends to leave them to specialist professionals. When her mind is compromised and it leads her further astray, this is easier said than done. Wychking is healthier and more straightforward, but her journey to conquer herself and her circumstances are far from over. The timing couldn't be worse when she's besieged by vengeful survivors and madmen, not to mention the ever-present threat of Invae rearing its head the second she relents her hunt.
Significant Things for Narrative
- The Witch King - You know me by reputation. I am the Bane of the Brotherhood. I am Chitin's Anathema. I am the sorcerer you despise.
- Global Fame - There are those more well known than me, but all around the world people know what I have dedicated my life to and the lines I will cross without hesitation to do so.
- Spirit Bane (Invae) - There are those in mage circles who slighted a particular kind of spirit. I am the most obvious example. Hatred towards me transcends boundaries. All Invae seek my blood.
- Legendary Rep: Interpol - I know the Corporate Court's agencies seek profit, but they also have the funds and resources to wage a war of terror against insect spirits. I have good ties with them even now.
- Solid Rep: FBI - No matter the branch of government, even the Federal Bureau favors those that reave astral threats off their radar.
- Day Job: Private Investigator - Ten hours a week isn't a giant workload, but that's just when I'm out meeting and talking and investigating. Back home I do a lot more research to solve these cases.
- Apprentice of Louhi - Louhi, Pohjolan emäntä, Pohjan akka harvahammas. Annapa voimaa tytöllesi, Pohjan naekkoselle uuvelle. Sovin minä luppauksen rattoesan nimmees suuren ja karmean.
- Astral Bouncer - I can see into your soul deeper than others. Reveal to me your secrets in the name of the Matriarch!
- Spirit Whisperer - The spirit world knows my quest. They know I have committed all of myself to this struggle. To that end, they answer the call.
- Spirit Affinity: Guardian - The Daughters of the North favor me. We are both family and bound to Louhi, the great and terrible matriarch.
- Mentor Spirit: Oak - Tammi vahva ja väkevä, sisuinen olento metsän ikkuisen. Juurestas ammennan vastaan väkivaltaa ja raivoa sitä vakuutta ja rauhaa.
- Chosen Follower - Steadfast. Calm. Stoic. These are the traits that my guiding light approves of. Louhi watches over me and instils these Northern traits in me.
- Cursed Soul - No-one is free from wear and tear. Entropy claims all, and while I stand tall against the ravages of time... I am tired. I am flawed. And I grow weak.
- History Is Not As Certain As We Thought - I've seen beyond the veil...
- A Terrible Fascination 2 - ...and it saw me too. Its power. I hear the whispers in my mind. Now the Burned Man stalks me. He's out there, biding his time. The bastard.
- Insomnia - My dreams cease and a darkness overtakes me. I'm tired, yet I can't sleep. It's there, when I close my eyes. It looks at me and I know it's known me my whole life. But what is it?
- Prototype Transhuman - I don't tell people about it, but I know where I am from. Interpol checked the designs. I am not a natural creature. My efforts are great, but not entirely my own.
Run History
Affiliations
Contacts
| Contact | Connection | Loyalty | Archetype | Profession | Aspects | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adeptus | 2 | 5 | Fixer(N,A,K,G) | Fixer | Spirit Expert, Magical Appraiser, Location, Location, Location | Even |
| Fan Yang | 6 | 1 | Fixer | Wuxing Shipping Overseer | Shipping Overseer, Passenger Line, Triad Connections, A Hidden Place, High Society Production, Awakened Goods, Dockworkers, Work! | -2 |
| Woedica Kryptman | 5 | 3 | Generalist | Rider of the Wild Hunt | Magical Inventory, Astral Expertise, Spellslinger Sensei, Psychometrist, Rider of the Hunt, Astral Rider, Seelie Savvy, Blood Magic | -1 |
| Orianna Cazador | 6 | 4 | Gear | Urubia's Secretary | Drug Dealer, Black Market Connections, Heavy Hitters!, Focus Fence, Magical Mistress, Dragon Duty, A-List Access, Handcrafted, Urubia's Bottom Line | Even |
| Doctors Malcolm & Ian Crichton | 3 | 1 | Custom (K,G,A,N) | Bioengineers | Trashed Lab, SURGEing General, How Badly Do You Want That College Credit?, So Preoccupied With Whether They Could, "Often When We Experimented On Animals..." | Even |
| Bubblegum | 1 | 2 | Gear | Fake SINner | Corporate Forger, SINner, Nothing Lasts Forever, Knows How She Got Here | Even |
| Kalanyr | 11 | 1 | Generalist | Not Worth His Time, Draconic Mage, Sorcerer, Ritualist, Enchanter, Artificer, Glow City, Purifier, Toxic Encyclopedia, Corruption Scholar, Zones of Taint, Dark Connections, Some Shares Remain, CEO Alone | Even | |
| Rachel Rosen | 6 | 4 | Fixer(N,G,K,A) | Ares Firewatch Management | Ares Loyalist, I have work to do, Bugs everywhere, Ares friends, The Ares Arsenal, There is no prohibition for Ares, Heavy trooper, Bug Spirit Enemy, Ares one big family, Spec Ops, Party Lioness, Seattle insider, Bugs must be crushed | Even |
| Contact | Position | Connection | Faction Rep | Archetype | Health | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erika | Black Ops Magician | 4 | 3 | AA Rated Corporation | Maintaining | Espoo, Finland |
- Positive Reputation
| Faction | Reputation |
|---|---|
| Interpol | 32 |
| Ex-Firewatch | 10 |
| Streets of Renton | 10 |
| FBI | 10 |
| Knight-Errant | 1 |
| DIMR | 1 |
- Negative Reputation
| Faction | Reputation |
|---|---|
| Black Crysanthemum | 40 |
| Streets of Everett | 4 |
Matrix Search Table
| Threshold | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Private investigator of astral phenomena. Very famous due to her past as an international insect spirit exterminator. Recently appeared in news due to crushing an insect spirit infestation in the UCAS FBI. |
| 3 | Greatest public achievement is disrupting an insect queen in Sioux eight years ago all by herself and burning her nest to ashes before her team arrived. Presumably skilled in forensic necromancy. Horizon possesses rights to continue the Insect Slayer line of movies always advertised as being based on a true story |
| 6 | Got kicked from the bug hunters due to serious Aisa addiction, but was famous for her endurance, even for a giant. Eyewitness reports claim increasingly astounding feats: leading shambling hordes of the walking dead, ripping queens in half with her bare hands, divining a hiding insect host from thousands in moments, predicting infestations, lighting herself on fire to exorcise a host and more. Some of these are exceptionally detailed accounts, others seem sensationalist. |
Shadow Community Table
| Threshold | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Follows an obscure tradition involving a mythos from Finland. |
| 3 | Lanky and far from as strong as most giants, Helix had rumors of her being hunted by someone. |
| 5 | Her origins are mysteriously vague. She is tight-lipped about it in interviews, though given her metatype and slight accent, she's presumed to be Nordic. |
Assensing Table
| Threshold | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Awakened. |
| 2 | A Magician. Appears to have two powerful foci, a power focus as an iron ring and a centering focus as a metallic belt buckle. |
| 3 | Bears a grim, depressing aura where-ever she goes. |
| 4 | Pain editor, platelet factories and a biolink, all a natural, organic part of her anatomy. Full six Essence. Power Focus is Force 7, Centering Focus is Force 10. Anyone that's assensed Kalanyr can recognize his handiwork. |
| 5 | Not a technomancer. Has delta-grade memory augs ranging from cranial learning stimuli to mnemonic enhancers. Also has signs of plastic surgery. |
Tradition: Kalevala
Finnish mythology is a long and ancient oral tradition that has barely been codified in written language. Two variants of it exist in modern understanding.
The first of them is the faith of the shamans that follow the teachings of Väinämöinen, the great hero-god, singer, sage and greatest of shamans. He had an instrument made out of a great fish's jaw, played grand songs from it, sunk his enemies into bogs with song and defended the Finnish people from evil. Shamans that follow his edicts often form covenants with the various gods of the polytheistic pagan faith, like Tapio the Forest God, Ahti the Ocean God or Iku-Turso, the Great Beast of the Deep.
The second variant - Wychking has formed a covenant with Louhi, the greatest of witches and matriarch of the cold, dark North. She represents witchcraft over shamanism and often draws from darker sources of power. Much of her practices are comparable to more widespread Necro Magic, but key differences are noticeable. Summoning "Ironfolk" to do a witch's bidding isn't seen any more evil than crafting a hammer to beat in nails. The dead are a force to negotiate with just like any other, rather than the Western concept of bodies being immutable and sacred shrines. For this reason, necromancy, spells of frosty cold and travels into the Finnish Underworld's metaplane are favored.
Louhi's witches favor matriarchal power structures while Väinämöinen and his disciples have often led a patriarchal system as was tradition back in their day. One focuses on thriving in the cold, the dark, the lifeless wastes of an inhospitable existence. The other pays attention to the lushness of nature, being in harmony with the world and protecting its beauty. While in the past these two sects were highly adversarial, nowadays it's more mellowed out, as they inhabit different areas and have different areas of concern, finding no reason to quarrel with one another.
Spirits
- Corpse Spirit - Ironfolk, Residents of the Dead Land. Visitors from the Underworld can be possible if a corpse is embedded with iron rods, chainmail and other iron items. The element is crucial to the afterlife.
- Carcass Spirit - Bear of the Underworld, the Great Beast of the Dead. The bear is as vital as the Hound, although the bear is often more protective than a hunting dog off its leash.
- Rot Spirit - Kratti, The Keeper of Treasures. While Aarni is related to Kratti, they're various guardians of valuable secrets.
- Detritus Spirit - Mara, Tar-Troll and Nightmare. Known for disrupting the rest of others, it's unwise to keep Mara around if one wants a consistent sleep schedule.
- Palefire Spirit - Liekkiö, The Burning Bastard. A young child, no older than six, who died a tragic death before blessings. They scream, wail and babble in the woods, annoying travellers or horrifying them with their presence.
Kaisa Koukonen
The first ally spirit that Taru created was The Lady of Pain, an avatar of one of the gods of the Finnish underworld, Tuonela. She agreed to aid the giant's quest due to her purpose as a god, to distribute suffering and strife evenly and rightfully among mortals. After Taru found closure in the Dominion of the Black, the pain that had lived in her heart for decades finally began to abate. The Lady of Pain had succeeded in her goal and thus sought to end the contract that the two had made. Knowing better than to anger the deities in such a shamanistic tradition, Wychking agreed. However, this left her with a problem. Beseeching the dead gods for another service would be impudent; she already draws greatly on the resources of the underworld with her necromantic rituals and they rarely suffer the living to tread on their soil freely. Knowing this, Taru began to seek alternatives. The other gods of nature proved unwilling to offer their boons to someone seeking to attack. Most of the spirits and supernatural entities in Finland are defensive, protecting the land from harm but not wandering outside of it. Yet one was found that took to this bargain and happily accepted the terms.
Kaisa is, of course, a false name. In UCAS, she often introduces herself as Kate, making it easier for her to seem local to some degree. In truth, this spirit is known as a Kouko, a herald of death and foul entity of omens. Often it's been described as various forms and shapes: a ghost, a spectre, a parasite, a bear, a giant, a demon. A nightmare to scare children with, harbinger of one's death, its voice alone can bring doom when one hears it. Kouko answered Taru's summons, willing to cross Finland's borders and head to lands unknown in search of more death to spread. Taru is under no illusions of the spirit's intentions. It desires death and destruction and she has to keep it on a short leash to stop it from acting on its nature. Often the spirit disguises itself as a woman with black hair and black clothes, lending to its mythological appearance. She also avoids speaking as much as possible due to Wychking's orders, as hearing it speak is an omen of death.
SINs
- Taru Satukanto - Corporate SIN, Erika
- Magician License
- Private Investigator License
- Controlled Substance License
Gallery
The dead walk the streets when Corpse Spirits are conjured.
Tar seeps from the earth, becoming a Spirit of Detritus.
Ashes vaguely in the shape of a person make up a Palefire Spirit.
Death of a forest, skeletal and made of wood embody a Spirit of Rot.
Bear of the Underworld, rotten and full of iron. Such is the guise of a Carcass Spirit.
Kouko's true appearance slips from below its lifelike guise.
Taru's customized attire as a proper Witch of the North.
