Ardent

Ardent

Face
Disgraced diplomat
Code Talker, but for the other kind of code
Discord	nivenbee
Reddit	[1]
Metatype	Elf
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
CDP	2
D.O.B.	10/10/2045
Age	39
Folder	[2]
Priority	Metatype - C Attributes - E Magic/Resonance - C Skills - B Resources - B

Character Information

Summary

A former diplomat hailing from Quebec. Rejected by his own country for his virtuakinetic abilities, he'd rather become a criminal in the UCAS than return home in shame.

Goals

Understand his new powers

Find out who tried to assassinate him in FDC, and why

Undermine the consul

Return to Quebec's good graces

Make his country proud

Background

Ardent, born Arnaud Verrault, grew up in Quebec City without many career prospects. With few “hard” skills, he managed to talk his way into a government job and was assigned to Quebec’s embassy in the UCAS. While at first this was just a career for him, eventually the work instilled a siege mentality brought on by the UCAS’s collective disdain for their northern neighbor. He soon saw his nation as an enclave of dignity in a world of conniving megacorps and helpless foreign nation-states.

For his loyalty he was eventually given a risky but essential position: that of body double for the embassy’s head diplomats. Some minor augmentation and training was necessary, but Ardent was happy to go along if it meant supporting “his” people.

He performed this duty for years without incident. Then in 2084, he was in costume entering an embassy car when he “saw” a bomb through the vehicle’s chassis. Acting on impulse he attempted to jam the bomb, triggering its anti-tamper system. Ardent was lucky to only lose an arm and some skin.

After the hospital finished replacing the body parts he had lost, Ardent attempted to replicate the extrasensory abilities that had emerged during the bombing. Upon realizing that he was able to manipulate devices with only his mind, he rushed off to tell his boss about his new abilities.

When he told his boss--the consul--about his technomancy he expected some form of begrudging acceptance. He didn't expect to lose everything. The head diplomat viewed technomancers as an unacceptable risk--they could never be truly sure Ardent wasn’t misusing his powers. Branding Ardent a danger to national security, he was blacklisted from government service and stripped of his position.

His nation had thrown him under the bus, showing him just how little his loyalty meant. That didn’t faze Ardent. He bought a ticket to Seattle, far from the consul’s reach, and began formulating a plan. One day the consul would see reason--or be replaced. Until then, he needed to keep his skills sharp.

While he could have defected to any corporation or nation that would have him, he viewed doing so as a betrayal of his principles. He would rather turn to crime than work against Quebec’s interests. Luckily for Ardent, he had made some connections during his stay in DC who were able to point him in the right direction. With his unique blend of augments, comfort with social intrigue, and budding technomancy, Ardent had all he needed to enter the shadows.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

• Bilingual: As a native of urban Quebec, Ardent was taught both English and Quebecois French.
• My Country Right or Wrong (Quebec): Ardent holds strong to his convictions despite his fall to the shadows. From those convictions he derives a certain mental strength.
• Profiler: In politics, "know your enemy" is a strong strategy. Ardent will happily suffer through a long node-crawl if it means knowing who he's dealing with.

Negative

• COH Avenging Angel: Ardent holds strong to his convictions despite his fall to the shadows, for better or worse. Even outside Quebec's borders he refuses to break their laws regarding murder. He has no issue violating the laws of *other* nations, but sees this code as a necessary for his own morale.
• Alpha Junkie: Ardent *knows* that he's better than a bunch of gutter punks and vatjobs, and struggles with being led by other runners.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Date of Run
The Empress of China Part I	Villiers	All Aboard!	7 June 2085

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Estelle Valka	2	3	Fixer(G,N,A,K)	Military Contractor	The Grind Never Stops, Milspec, Motor Pool, Ex-Army, Fort Lewis Fixture	Even
Dr. Henry Wallace	6	1	Custom(G,A,K,N)	Cybertechnologist	Cybertechnologist, Designer Deltaware, Cyber Snob, Embrace the Chrome, Biotechnologist, Black Market Pipeline, Cyber-Singularity Seeker	Even
Cecelia Cross	5	2	Networking	CATco Employee	Secret Technomancer, Woman Scorned, Tech Expert, Matrix Master, Corporate Life, Network Angel	Even
Informer	2	2	Legwork	Private Investigator	Truthseeker, Magical Expert, Trid Aficionado	Even
David Carpenter	2	1	Legwork	FBI Agent	Wholesome, Hardnosed Bloodhound, Third Eye Open	Even

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1	"Ardent: having strong feelings or beliefs." An interesting name for a career dissembler to take.
3	An active P2.1 account under the name. The account has no personal information attached and seems to ascribe to set of fringe political views, with Quebecois isolationism being the dominant strain.
6	An inactive account collating information on suspected terrorist activity in the FDC sprawl during the mid 2080's. Each post is signed "Ardent." The account seemed to be looking for some kind of connection between a series of incidents. You see no obvious connections, and the posts taper off after about a year.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1	Ardent? Elf. Sociable. Well-dressed. Bit arrogant.
3	Ardent: An elven face from somewhere in Quebec. Good at identity theft type stuff. Shies away from wetwork.
5	Ardent is an elven face with minor technomantic abilities. He's moderately augmented, which might explain why his technomancer powers are so weak. He's a newcomer to Seattle, and has some complex feelings regarding his home country.

Assensing Table

Threshold	Result
1
2
3
4
5

SINs

Arnold Richardson, CAS (R4)

Appearance

Ardent is a small-framed, gaunt elven man. At under six feet he's not very tall by elf standards, though he has a presence that belies his size. He's bald, and his face is heavily creased. His only visible augmentation is a datajack at the base of his neck.

Clothing

Ardent has a fondness for fine clothing despite his present circumstances, and in particular loves his suits and ties.

Matrix Persona

His persona shares his build, and is dressed in a spotless suit and tie. It wears an ever-shifting mask on his face, obscuring its features. The mask cycles between the faces of various contemporary politicians, celebrities, and CEOs when using a commlink, and between the faces of various "most wanted" figures from past and present when doing techno-stuff.

His sprites resemble windblown sheets of e-paper and snarls of dataflows shaped into humanoid forms.

Character Plot Hooks

Here are characteristics of the character that GMs may take advantage of to add complications to runs, or to otherwise use when in use. If you want to use them in unrelated to runs, please ask first.

Aspect	Information	Related Run(s)
Ain't that a kick in the head	Ardent would love to know who set the car bomb that almost killed him, and if it was intended for him or for the ambassador he was standing in for. The investigation stalled, so he has no leads, but he suspects that the authorities deprioritized it after a few weeks due to lack of publicity.
Undermined	Wants to prove his loyalty, but believes that Quebec's consul to the UCAS, who burned Ardent, will undermine any attempt he makes to return to Quebec’s good graces.
It's not paranoia if you're right	Worried he’s being spied on even in Seattle, despite choosing the city for its distance from both Quebec and DC. Maybe the consul wants to keep tabs on him, maybe other nations or megacorps remember his work as an envoy and body double.
Aspect 4
Aspect 5