Fischer

Fischer

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Mage
(Mastermind, Summoner, Tactician)
Player	RandomChummer
Metatype	Elf
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	1
Public Awareness	0
Titles and Awards	0
D.O.B.	December 10, 2030
Folder	Folder
Priority	Meta C, Attr B, M/R C, Skills B, Res E

Character Information

Summary

Fischer is the man behind the curtain. His weapons are the people, machines, and spirits he influences and controls. Like any good player, he knows the value of his pieces---a careless sacrifice only leads to weakness. Fischer prefers to empower his pawns with arcane power and tactical insight, strengthening them to accomplish their tasks. Whether they believe it is their goals they are achieving or not is immaterial to Fischer. In the end, he always comes out ahead.

Goals

The Great Game defines his life. Fischer lives to play and measures his existence by triumphs and defeats. He seeks out challenges to rise above, weaves intricate plans around his pawns, and draws exaltation from a cunning strategy flawlessly executed.

Background

Magnus Lasker was born December 10, 2030 in the fledgling state of Pomorya. With the onset of the first Eurowar, his parents fled the continent and resettled in Seattle. Nine years later, they again fled to escape the race riots, hopping two borders in the dead of night to take refuge in Portland. It was in Tir Tairngire that Magnus was introduced to Evelyn Lombardy, a blue-blooded matron who apparently saw a spark of talent. She took Magnus under her tutelage and eventually into her home, pushing his parents further and further out of his life. At the age of 15, Evelyn revealed the truth about her past: years ago, she too had been taken in by a mentor. He had taught her of the Venatura and trained her to rise to the challenge of the Great Game. In time, she assumed the mantle of "Magister", and she had now chosen Magnus as her apprentice. Evelyn had realized his gift before he had, and the young elf took to her instruction eagerly. Countless hours of tactical study, arcane research, and social praxis turned Lasker into a formidable manipulator of both magic and metahuman.

Years went by, and Magnus worked alongside his mentor to expand their dominance in the shadows and in the hallways of influence. On the night of March 19th, 2078, Evelyn met him for their habitual Saturday evening game of chess---a vice for them both. Just as the young disciple had siezed victory on the board, he felt the prick of a needle and his world went black.

He awoke in a private hospital room in Seattle nearly a year later with an letter on his chest. It explained of his mentor's betrayal, of the coma she had induced, and of the fate of his SIN. This was his final lesson: that there are no true allies in the Great Game, merely other players with aligned goals. She explained that this was her final lesson as well, that her mentor had done the same, as has every other magister of the Venatura. Defeat was the only way to teach it.

After a painful physical rehabilitation to undo the effects of the chemical damage and subsequent atrophy, Magnus once again has a seat at the table. He doesn't harbor resentment to his mentor. On the contrary, she gave him the most valuable lesson she possessed. Now, with no name and no home, he places his pieces on the board and begins the game anew.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Fischer is a man at the nadir of his power and the apex of his life. Enfeebled from a year-long coma, stripped of all his possessions, and thrown to the urban wilds of Seattle, he could not be happier. He has been enlightened to his true purpose, and opportunity flourishes around him.

Outwardly, Fischer is a gaunt elf with a calm, piercing gaze. He sometimes struggles to manage with the simple physical tasks required of daily life, and his hands often betray a slight tremor. He dresses well, and when he speaks, it is with composure and a hidden strength. His personality tends to be that of an arbitrator in public (though perhaps he would prefer the term "arbiter" instead), and he attempts to achieve his ends by convincing others that their interests are aligned. He rarely engages in overt threats or coersion, but when he does, it is always backed up with extensive preparation.

Before his fall, Fischer was a ranked grandmaster in chess, and he continues to play avidly. Fischer sees chess as a reflection of the universe in microcosm, and his love of the analogy tends to spill into his activities. He works with the Matrix in AR, visualizing personas and icons as pieces on a board. When he summons spirits, the astral negotiation for their calling is executed through quick games---execute a cunning strategy and a spirit will reward the insight with a service, but lose the game, and the summoning will be shunned. Fischer has practiced this method to the point where he can execute it in his head, but he still prefers the feel of real pieces in his fingers.

His daily routine includes continuing physical rehabilitation, time in the matrix to stay abreast of events, long-term study in the arcane arts, and of course, dedicated time to his favorite vice.

Affiliations

Contacts

• Ellie Esps - Connection 4, Loyalty 3 - Fixer
• Evelyn Lombard - Connection 4, Loyalty 1 - Socialite and Backroom Kingmaker
• Hideo Masamune - Connection 6, Loyalty 1 - Talislegger
• Anatoly Yevgenyevich - Connection 1, Loyalty 2 - Hustler (Shadow services)
• Ewan Finnley - Connection 2, Loyalty 2 - Tailor (Swag - Armor)

In Character Information

Tradition: Lex Magna Venatura

(mechanically identical to Vodou, including possession, just roleplayed differently)

Adherents believe that all life is part of an interconnected web of conflict they call The Great Game. Every beast, metahuman, and spirit is a piece of the board, and physics, technology, and magic merely rules of play. The tenets are threefold:

• The Great Game is eternal. You cannot win this game, but the only true losing move is not to play.
• The Great Game is recursive. You have your pieces to control and manipulate to achieve your goals, and so you are manipulated in turn by greater players. You are a pawn, you have pawns, and your pawns have pawns. It's turtles all the way down.
• The Great Game is unknowable. Human games have finite rules, finite space. With enough time and resources, these are beatable. The Great Game cannot be beaten, because it is infinite. Unraveling its mysteries brings power, but it also reveals still more mysteries.

SINs

Victor Alekhine (R4). Private contractor, astral analysis. (Recently off medical disability.)

Appearance

Clothing

A high-quality tailored suit. "A gentleman without a suit is just a man."

Matrix Persona

A metahuman much like himself, dressed in a fine suit, but with a field of stars instead of a face.