Mr Baxter

Mr Baxter

Gentleman Face
The Old Boy
Discord	@Dandy#7063
Reddit	https://www.reddit.com/user/DaDaDaDandy
Metatype	Human
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	-1
Public Awareness	0
Titles and Awards	0
CDP	6
D.O.B.	January 1st 2023
Age	62
Folder	https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fdmzmS1SCVlmqpRFSlGkcWsZTUPdmm82?usp=sharing
Priority	Metatype - E Attributes - A Magic/Resonance - B Skills - B Resources - E

Character Information

Summary

Old is gold, and Mr Baxter is a testament to the saying. He's back in business after a lengthy hiatus and more dangerous than ever. Ex-mafioso and debt-collector, William know exactly how to drive the conversation and is an adept at getting what he wants with nothing more than words rolled off a tongue both silvered and barbed. So many years of service has him well associated with the shadows of Seattle, working with the Finnegan's for 30 years before spending almost all his earnings across the next few whilst travelling between Britain and Italy - London, Rome & Madrid being his favourite places to visit,

• Trivia:
  • William Simon John Baxter was born 37 minutes into 2023
  • He absolutely refuses to wear anything by Armanté
  • Given how much Italian he has learned over the years, he could probably get an Italian SIN and pull it off.

Goals

Short Term:

• Earn enough to put some more SINs on his belt.
• Find increasingly extravagant clothes to wear.
• Otherwise improve gear, skills and powers.

Long Term

• Strengthen relations with current or new contacts
• Build up enough earnings to resume a more lavish lifestyle
• Run just enough to get the most out of it, but never let his age get anything out of him

Background

Born into the Mafia business right back in 2023, William Simon John Baxter was in dangerous waters when he awakened. The Catholic community of the family often took poorly to the concept of magic and always had a local priest watch over the young kid. He was a genuinely nice person, and surprisingly understood the fact that Will did not choose to be born this way, though this would lead the priest to view the happening as the work of God instead, which itself lead to the child being forced into the tradition. For the sake of not being disowned, or worse yet attacked by the family, he had to believe in God. After years and years of this, it was difficult to tell whether or not he truthfully didn’t.

Much to the disdain of the priest, the young adult Will’s charisma found more use shaking down debtors or blackmailing officials than it did spreading the word of God or praying for the innocent. What hurt him most was that it did not seem forced upon him; where he would politely though begrudgingly join the chorus at sermons, he would be grinning from ear to ear as he crushed the spirits of a hit. The Mafia, however, found his ‘business’ capabilities far more important than his absolute devotion to saying ‘Amen’. One evening, the priest - now quite elderly – fell ill, and blamed it upon the corruption he feels from associating with Mr Baxter.

The next evening, Mr Baxter visited him with a white rose in hand – symbolising purity – and a new tattoo still raw. It is of a large cross upon the right side of his neck. The top of it reaches just below the ear and the left arm would almost come round to his Adam’s apple, and whilst all black was ornately detailed with two scrolls wrapped around it reading “Communicatio in Sacris” and “Ave Didachè”. The first is a reference to Canon 844: a Catholic law regarding the licit sharing of certain sacraments with non-members… a nod to the possibility that he did not believe in God, though obscure enough to not draw attention from the fellow family members. The second has dual meanings, with it’s direct translation meaning “Hail the Teaching” referring to the priest as his teacher, though Didachè is also the Italian name of the Didache or Didact: The first of the Church Orders. He met with the priest, brought him dinner and pledged to him that his teachings were not for naught. The priest died within a month.

Despite the priests assuredness in his demise being the cause of Mr Baxter, the family did not suspect foul play and continued to utilise him as an effective tool for ‘diplomacy’. By now, he was working for more than just his family, but the Finnegan family that parented theirs. During the family issue of James O’Malley’s murder and the subsequent usurpation of by the Butcher, Mr Baxter and his family were fighting on the side of James’ daughter – Rowena – and eventually saw their support pay off in 2070 when she finally got vengeance and retook the title of Capo. Soon after this, however, Mr Baxter would retire from the business with a lifetime of earnings and almost 30 years of service on his belt. He would spend the next decade or so of his life finally living as he pleased.

Mr Baxter ceased relations with a lot of his family. His parents had grown very old by now, though rather than see it out with them he gave them an appreciable share of his wealth and left America. Many bridges were burnt, with only an essential few left and kept very secretly. He had left and travelled to Europe, firstly Rome. Finally, without the limitations of the families, Mr Baxter renounced his faith in God. He knew all along where he was summoning up his power from, he knew exactly why he was a master of the social arena, he knew that he did not put the fear of God in his targets… but the fear of him.

He had truly revelled in the manipulation he achieved over the dozens of years, the sensation of control achieved through well said words and social traps ensnaring his prey, it was all so exhilarating to him; it still is. Without any need to hold back anymore, he was free to experiment with his capabilities without confining himself to the rules of a religion. With what he had learnt along the way, he knew exactly how to use such symbolism as his weapons and he bore the cross upon his neck with pride, knowing exactly what its true meaning was.

Spending the earnings frivolously, Mr Baxter developed many refined tastes for the absolute best that life had to give, though he only enjoyed it if he could fight for it. Metaphorically of course, so many years of terrifying people with words led to the actual need to terrify with guns lacking. Though it wasn’t enough to just buy the newest suit on the line or follow the trendsetters with their increasingly bizarre styles, he had to establish his own form, one that would best compliment himself for nothing else out there was truly designed with him in mind.

It is this self-indulgence that fuelled his adept powers, his desire to control others and glorify himself that drove his black magics. And it was in these rampant years that his selfishness was most powerful. He travelled from city to city, falling in love with many of the traditionalist styles of London and beautifying the sights of Rome and other Catholic cities for their holy constructions being the works of a contradictory ‘communal hubris’. Aesthetically, the things he beheld around the cities were to him the works of desire, much like his own, and many beautiful ones at that. In his hunt for optimising his view, he had obtained a cane from Mortimer of London, along with many other icons of their clothing. This cane’s extravagance was ingrained in its secondary function as a gun; a pompous and unneeded addition on the surface, but an icon of the deceptive symbolism Mr Baxter enjoyed so much, he simply had to have it. With this, he took to practising his shot, and whilst never finding any enjoyability in the decorum-void usage of automatic rifles or otherwise efficient means of dispatching an individual, the sheer feel of a giant handcannon like the Ruger Super Warhawk inspired enough awe in him to practise it further, though it was round abouts 8 or 9 years into this foray of his that he discovered a new problem.

He had not balanced his hedonism with sustainability, and his accounts were soon running thin, far before it was time for him to die. He had to adapt, change his lifestyle to fund his manipulative desires… but he couldn’t just join a corp, he was without any history or licit background, nor could he join another syndicate and limit himself to their laws. It was time to truly challenge his capabilities and give him the fight he so desired. Mr Baxter flew back to Seattle, plan in mind and ready to set in motion, though found difficulty in starting it when he discovered that his SIN he had been using was warranted for arrest. Running low on cash and without contacts he couldn't yet get in touch with, he was forced to abandon it and try to lay low using a half decent burner as his only fallback.

The first of his bridges he needed to cross was going to sort his transportation, and a commlink call to an unlisted number later, a taxi would arrive at his location driven by none other than John Baptise himself. Mr Baxter had called in a favour for his plan, to earn entry into the Shadowhaven community – a network of shadowrunners in Seattle. This would be his new occupation. Now, he just had to set up a few more contacts with his other bridges. Juhn Slide was next visited by Mr Baxter, a street doctor who he had first come to know from a rock concert in the city. If drek really hit the fan, Dr Slide would be his best shot at survival. After that was a fellow named Black Cat, also in the area. A black marketeer: Baxter’s first purchase from him were some cigars, his most recent was the R6 Fake SIN he just lost. He’s a good bloke. Lastly, he needed someone to find him some work, and an old Mafia contact was his card for this one. A certain David Harsmen wasn’t actually situated in the city anymore but still very much a member and reliable fixer, they had met with each other before whilst Baxter was working directly with the Finnegan’s.

So, with the beginnings of a new network in place, and with coffers almost completely empty, it was time to unretire. The Old Boy’s back and at it.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

• Put's the 'Brutal' in Gentleman

Charisma is Mr Baxter's game, though whilst he's able to play on all fronts he's better on the offensive and best when speaking softly. A close connection with the Mafia has taught him plenty of ways to mentally dominate people.

• Watch the Suit

The attention he pays to he wardrobe extends to keeping it all in check too.

• Learnt Diogenes' Lesson

His line of work has shown him everything that can and will go wrong, all a cynic need do is expect it and he can always have an edge.

Negative

• Aged like a Fine Wine

Wisdom comes with age, though it could be argued that there's nothing wise about shadowrunning. Those folks obviously haven't got the work mentality.

• Creature of Comfort

It's easier for a younger fellow, but after all these years anything less than a middle lifestyle is agony for an old git.

• No one Wears it like I do

With an accent mixed between American, Italian and British, his voice is somewhat unique. If you can only see him, look for a dude wearing a fedora, or to be exact: with a cross tattoo on the right of his neck.

• I can't be seen wearing that!

He agrees that he does look good in a fine suit, but the only thing he abhors more than torn jeans is the idea of wearing them himself.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Threat	Date of Run
Evergreen Kingdom	OrionsRequiem	Cross Flight Love Fight	High	2 March 2082
Helping Hands, Salivating Glands	Asmodeus	Hail to the Pumpking	Medium	1 March 2082
My Burning Flamesaw of Love	Kaylaidoscopes		Medium	14 February 2082

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
John Baptise	2	1	Service	Taxi Driver	Reliable, Voodoo, No Questions Asked	-1
Black Cat	5	2	Gear	Black Marketeer	Burnout Adept, Black Market Connections, Gun Runner, Gang Leader, Demolition Expert, Back Alley Chop Shop	Even
David Harsmen	5	2	Fixer	Fixer	Well Traveled, Charmer, I Got Friends..., Ware Contact, CAS Resident, Finnigan	Even
Juhn Slide	4	2	Service	Street Doc	I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Carry On Wayward Son, (Don't Fear) The Reaper, Hotel California, More Than a Feeling	Even
Kenneth "Flamesaw" Murphy	2	3	Custom(A,G,N,K)	Ganger / Tough Guy	Not the Brightest Bulb, Firesaw, Fraggin' Handsome, People Pleaser, WAIT I'm a runner too!	Even

Enemies

• Starscreamers: -5 Rep from mission My Burning Flamesaw of Love
• Rose of Sharon Howlett: Stopped her from killing a ghoul in 'Helping Hands, Salivating Glands'. Recognisable to her visually and by astral signature, though no SIN.

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
6

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
5

SINs

Name	Place/Corp	Rating	Licenses
Edgar Wood	Seattle	4	Concealed Carry Permit (4) Firearms License(4) Adept License (4)