Dial-Up

Dial-Up

Ex-Renraku Artificial Intelligence
"It is statistically unwise to run the shadows.
Fortunately, it is also profitable."
Contact Owner	8hollow
Connection	4
Public Contact?	Yes
Archetype	Fixer
Location	Seattle Public Grid
Metatype	AI
Age	Unknown
Preferred Payment Method	Shadowrunner Jobs
Hobbies/Vice	Hacking stuffer shacks
Personal Life	AI Stuff
Aspects	Matrix-Bound Like a fish to water Data Miner Computer Jackson Hard Drive Dealer Briefing Former Renraku property Logistics Involuntary Program Updates

Overview

You hear a click over the line, then some horrible dial-up internet noises. A synthesized, androgynous voice hisses into your ear "Dial-Up. What can I do for you today?"

An escaped Renraku AI, Dial-Up was released inadvertantly during the crash and floated around the 'trix before noticing the profitable and entertaining world of shadowrunning. It soon became a well-connected and well-informed Fixer, though not necessarily well-known. Its aliases are literally thousandfold and even you may have interacted with it without knowing. Due to its ability to fabricate split second disguises that last equally as long, it is as slippery as a slime coated in oil. This allows it to take some degree of risk, though its curiosity in a foreign world has gradually grown over time as the Matrix has become more and more well-known to it.

Notes for a GM

• Dial-Up doesn't think too much about pronouns, since the very concept of gender is ambiguous at best. Calling it she, her, it, they or other will all be equally fine. This extends to a lot of other things as well: how they're interacted with, where and how. Things like emotions, interfaces and locations are nothing more than variables it adjusts on the fly in order to to interact with people.
• Keep in mind its dicepools; if it finds insurmountable odds its negative aspect probably won't compromise the run entirely (like going into a R8 host with three spiders). It might send a drone or two to observe from a very long distance, instead. It's an AI that wants to play games, it's not suicidal.
• The 'Computer Jackson' positive aspect is more likely to be a T1, maybe a T3 if the character's Loyalty is high enough or the J is very famous. Don't worry too much about it.
• Obviously it'll be noticeably more careful around Renraku-related jobs, but will it send you to do jobs for them? If the pay is good, possibly.
• Dial-Up has conquered a rogue host on the Emerald Grid and uses it as its personal territory for meetings. A lush garden of flora composed entirely of silicon and circuitry, it's a re-imagining of physical nature as electronics and code strings. This host is not where Dial-Up makes its home, one could maybe consider it the AI's office.

Aspects Description

Aspect	Description
Matrix-Bound	Dial-Up is a sentient AI, and as such cannot provide physical active checks or legwork.
Involuntary Program Updates	While quite excited to work with runners, it tends to view interactions less as straightforward requests and more as a group collaboration. If not carefully checked, the task or idea asked of it might "evolve" in a direction that it feels is either more effective, interesting, or profound. Sometimes it even remembers to call back to update the team.
Like a fish to water	Like many AI, Dial-Up is startlingly good at manipulating the matrix. +2 on Matrix active checks
Data Miner	Everyone leaves tracks, some fainter than others. +2 on checks to find people or files on the matrix
Computer Jackson	Due to its constant presence on the 'trix, Dial has made many friends, few of which know its real nature. +2 on networking with and +2 on knowledge checks about hackers.
Hard Drive Dealer	While its days of being bound to a physical server are long gone, Dial-Up still knows where to find the good stuff. +2 on gear checks for electronics.
Briefing	Failure is suboptimal. Thus, Dial-Up will have a standard matrix search of the Johnson or another job-relevant topic which it will tell the Runner upfront.
Former Renraku property	Before you ask, no, it didn't know Deus. But after it wriggled free in the second crash, it managed to keep some Renraku files. +2 on Knowledge (Renraku) checks.
Logistics	Its programmed purpose was to do stock predictions and asset estimation. +2 on checks regarding the stock market or finance

Dicepools

Dicepools
Knowledge Checks	4 + Loyalty + Aspects - Notoriety
Active Checks	2 + Loyalty + Aspects - Notoriety
Gear Acquisition Checks	8 + Loyalty + Aspects - Notoriety
Networking Checks	12 + Loyalty + Aspects - Notoriety

Network

Player Characters with this Contact

Name	Loyalty	Chips
Boss	2	Even
Conduit	2	Even
Docteur Vega	3	Even
Iron	4	Even

Narrative Significant Runs

No runs yet. This list will auto-populate when this character is tagged in a run AAR.