Difference between revisions of "Phototaxis"

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The runner using this handle is a woman of imposing presence who nonetheless assures that she poses no real threat. She is highly knowledgeable of magical phenomena, and is adept at calling suspiciously insectoid spirits to her side. She is also catty, possibly heartless, and doesn't take criticism well.
The runner using this handle is a woman of imposing presence who nonetheless assures that she poses no real threat. She is highly knowledgeable of magical phenomena, and is adept at calling suspiciously insectoid spirits to her side. She is also catty, possibly heartless, and doesn't take criticism well.


Regardless, her intelligence and utility seem to be worth the team being mildly uncomfortable.
Regardless, her intelligence and utility seem to be worth the team's discomfort.
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===Goals===
===Goals===



Revision as of 03:00, 14 March 2024

Phototaxis
Phototaxis.jpg
Burnout Beastcaller
The Hunted, Hunting
Not All Mothers Love Their Children
Discord@suitguy9831
Reddit[1]
MetatypeTroll (Giant)
Street Cred0
Notoriety1
Public Awareness0
CDP48
D.O.B.March 4th, 2054
Age31
Folderhttps://tinyurl.com/hyzbrdxv
PriorityMetatype - A
Attributes - B
Magic/Resonance - D
Skills - E
Resources - C
#Max IGs/Ascension9


Character Information

Summary

Phototaxis - movement of an organism in response to sensing light. A moth to a flame, seeking something that will only cause pain. Isabel Montagne has taken a handle that fits her more than she has perhaps realized.

The runner using this handle is a woman of imposing presence who nonetheless assures that she poses no real threat. She is highly knowledgeable of magical phenomena, and is adept at calling suspiciously insectoid spirits to her side. She is also catty, possibly heartless, and doesn't take criticism well.

Regardless, her intelligence and utility seem to be worth the team's discomfort.

Goals

- Hunt down and kill Ada Mathers.

- Return to the site of West Gomorrah and see what has become of where she once called home.

- Find a way to bring the Invae under her will without losing herself to them.

- Die in such a manner that nobody will ever forget her again.


Background

Isabel Montagne was born in Detroit on March 4th, 2054, 30 years ago. Though, despite being in one of the better economic brackets, she suffered from an incurable case of "her parents were racist and wanted to ignore that their kid is a trog". At least she had the common decency to take after her father's Nordic ancestry.

Then, the comet passed, and everything changed. Her, most of all.

Ares Macrotechnology has a vested interest in Vhortas and the spirits which call it home. A changeling displaying insectoid traits isn't especially notable, but when it starts summoning spirits with a strong resemblance to Invae, that's when you feed the parents some line about qualifying for an internal project and give them a luxurious stipend to never speak of this child that they already tried to ignore as much as possible.

From the age of 12, Isabel would spend the next sixteen years embedded in West Gomorrah, a Midwest blacksite operating as part of Project: Pyro. These years, she spent under the care of one Ada Mathers, a senior researcher who was effectively her surrogate mother. Initially, she was led to believe she was to help research the bugs and find a way to control them. And, well... that's not inaccurate, it just left out the part where she'd eventually get strapped to a table.

It’s hard to count how many times Isabel was taken apart and put back together, just to see if they could glean anything new from one of their star specimens. Each time she woke, she could feel that something was different. Sometimes, parts were taken out, sometimes new ones put in. Probing variables to find a response. The process left her with a fear of the surgeon's knife and a network of scar tissue buildup that has possibly permanently impaired her ability to move.

Isabel grew cynical once she realized and internalized that nobody actually cared for her here. Despite Mrs. Mathers' words, Isabel suspected she was just doing this to keep her obedient. Once again, the woman felt she was denied of anything substantial. So, she schemed. Isabel knew she could not escape on her own, given her difficulties with mobility. Even when she was deployed to help quell smaller hives for practice, she was kept in the van, the driver's gun trained on her to ensure compliance.

An opportunity came when by some stroke of fate, poor tactics, or plain bad luck, a beetle soldier slipped past the main force of Pyro agents and Isabel's spirits during a routine nest clear out west. The driver was distracted by comms and keeping an eye on the (admittedly quite dangerous) giant in the back seat, and didn't quite catch the looming thing outside until it ripped the hinges off the door and pulled said driver apart. Isabel smirked, knowing fortune favored her this day, and recalled her chained beasts to dispatch the soldier, leaving the remainder of the team inside to their fates. After that, she simply walked away, vanishing into thin air as far as her corp was concerned.

Ares, naturally, did not take kindly to this, and has spent the past year and a half chasing her wherever she appeared for more than a few months, hoping to eliminate the one who got away. But… Isabel is not a fool, and she knows to keep moving. Thus, we bring her to Seattle, hiding somewhere more permanent over the winter, down in ash-choked Puyallup. And… well. Everyone has to make money somehow, right?


Isabel still holds the ideals she held when she joined the project, even after the perceived betrayals. She’s seen the organization among an invae hive, and envisions a world where metahumanity will never have to work again once we figure out how to trap invae within artificially-grown shells. Until her dreams can be realized, however, she will have to be content just taking potshots at the corporation she blames for a decade of pain.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

  • College Education: Phototaxis is extremely well-read. Her specialization as a component of Project Pyro means her knowledge base is primarily related to invae, but frankly, ask her anything and she might know.
  • Spirit Whisperer: For reasons still unknown to her, spirits seem rather eager to get close to her, even with her tendency towards callousness regarding them. It's an unnerving reoccurence, and at some point, she'll need to figure out why this is so.

Negative

  • Addiction (Bliss): Isabel frequently turns to the substance in an attempt to escape the reality bent on ruining her.
  • PSC Vindictive: She's on a hair trigger, frankly. Best not to antagonize, lest some poor fool discover the value of caution.
  • Changeling: Phototaxis SURGEd into an insectoid form, which nets her a constant stream of suspicion (with everyone considering her Hostile at first meeting). Plus, obviously, the issues that innately come from being a cold-blooded, nocturnal, faintly glowing weirdo.
  • Phobia (Tomophobia): Phototaxis has a near-crippling reaction to medical equipment and the thought of a surgical procedure.
  • Prejudiced (Ares Macrotechnology): Phototaxis holds a lingering resentment for everyone associated with the company that betrayed her. She’s aware that most had nothing to do with what happened to her, but the red, white & blue spartan still evokes hateful memories.
  • The Goat: Her appearance makes it easy to distrust her at first. Frankly, people should listen to their gut on this one.

Run History

NameGMMetaplotThreatDate of Run
Dumb Wednesday Night Impromptu number forty sevenJ.R.18 December 2085
AnamnesisZerreA Quest for TranscendenceMedium28 October 2085
Sleeper SleazeFangblade_Medium26 September 2085
CATastropheEvaLow20 August 2085
Hopefully Nonradioactive ReagentsEvaHigh17 August 2085
Birds with Clipped WingsDiscogoblinMedium13 August 2085
The Wolf and the BearScrantonDeadly20 June 2085
Catch Us Before We FallFangblade_Amhrain na PreachanHigh7 June 2085
To turn a tideTidanShockExtreme14 April 2085
Osculum InfameFangblade_High11 March 2085
Move Ahead, Lay Down Dead, or Slip on ByFangblade_Sign of ZetaHigh8 November 2084
Noblesse ObligeFangblade_The Light Before We LandHigh6 November 2084
Operation OpalZerreAnd Love You Shall FindHigh23 October 2084


Affiliations

Former ties to Ares Macrotechnology, more specifically Project: Pyro. These bridges have long since been burned.

Contacts

Contact Connection Loyalty Archetype Profession Aspects Chips
Miss Onyx 4 3 Fixer(N,K,A,G) Obsessed Arcanist Fixer Study Partner, Arcana Informant, Infobroker, Trinketeer, Bar Crawl Even
John Baptise 2 3 Service Taxi Driver Reliable, Voodoo, No Questions Asked Even
Johan Liebert 6 1 Gear Coroner Sociopathic Tendancies, Prejudice: Mundane, Ritual Equipment, Morgue Supplies, Foci, Necromancy, Erased, Talismonger, Magical Forge, Forbidden Gear, Spirit Formulae Even


Organizations

Allies

Phototaxis doesn't usually stay in one place long enough to make allies.

Enemies

Ares Macrotechnology, from her point of view. Whether or not there's an actual task force out there hunting her down specifically isn't clear to her.


Vindictive Shit List

  • Stacy, for dismissing her as a "tulpa wrangler", then calling her a "disgusting bug".
  • Iron, for repeatedly calling her a witch, disparaging magic as a whole as a scourge, and generally being kind of a bigot.

In Character Information

Symbols and Signatures

Matrix Search Table

Threshold Result
1 Aside from the literal definition of the word "phototaxis", nothing.
3 Searches querying "insect changelings Seattle" yield some pictures taken of a huge moth-like woman lurking around Puyallup.
6 The above seem to be congregated in Hell's Kitchen in the vicinity of a local bar/BBQ joint called The Ashen Chalice.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold Result
1 No clue who this woman is.
3 The handle "Phototaxis" rings some bells... just some runner linked to ShadowHaven.
5 That handle belongs to a shaman that a few people are convinced is literally just a bug spirit hybrid form who's really good at Masking.

Assensing Table

Assensing tests against Phototaxis take a -1 penalty.

Threshold Result
1 Subject is injured. Subject is Awakened. Subject’s aura has a peculiar intensity to it that makes it difficult to glean anything useful.
2 Cybernetic spinal implants present.
3 No astral signatures present.
4 Skeletal and neural bioware present. Essence 3.25, Magic 3.
5 Gene treatments present. Subject is not a technomancer.

SINs

Maria Merian (R4 UCAS). Conjurer living in Hell’s Kitchen, master's degree in entomology. Nonetheless unemployed by choice after a crisis of conscience.

Appearance

Phototaxis appears to be a 3.1 meter tall woman covered in charcoal black chitin and an underlying alabaster white dermis. Her hair is long and just as pale as her dermis, while her eyes are an unnatural pale green with black sclera. Each of her four arms are densely plated, which seems to provide her some difficulty moving. Finally, soft tufts of white hair-like structure grow from a number of places where her dermis shows. A faint silvery glow, like moonlight, seems to follow her everywhere, accompanied by a sickening scent like overripe fruit.

Clothing

Phototaxis is typically found in a long, bulky overcoat, the same shade of white as her dermis. It's possible she has more underneath it, but she seems to always wear it around.

Matrix Persona

She just uses a default Sony Emperor persona of an indistinct robed figure.

Media Mentions

ShadowGrid Profile Comments