Plaguemaster

Plaguemaster
The Wandering Pox
How I envy you, gripped by such a succulent fever.
Player	Asmodeus
Metatype	Koborokuru Goblin
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
CDP	12
D.O.B.	Unknown
Age	Ancient
Folder	[1]
Priority	; Metatype - C ; Attributes - A ; Magic/Resonance - A ; Skills - E ; Resources - E
Initiations Unlocked	5
Initiations Claimed	2
Optional Infected Powers Available	2

Background

A traveller back from decades past, Plaguemaster's origins much like everything else about him are lost. He has a faint, difficult to place accent and finds a deep fascination in medicine and pathology. The goblin wanders Seattle's underground network in search of peculiar diseases, on occasion providing treatment to strangers. This may range from from disinfection to diagnosing symptoms and writing prescriptions of cheap drugs the person can go buy for their ailment. In other cases, defends himself with the claws of the dead, pulling once dead bodies back into life to protect him from those that would accost a seemingly defenseless, decrepit old man.

On occasion, fixers in need of more manpower call upon him to help out with shadowruns involving capture and delivery due to his ability to both harm and heal. He staves off the influence of toxic magic through his staunch beliefs and core principles which aid in grounding his mind on the side of sanity; he doesn't want to watch the whole world burn in rampant contagions. Then again, he's also not going to stop it from happening. Those who are in the delirium of aggressive pathogens are blessed in his eyes, suffering the true struggle of living beings. Unlike truly toxic disease mages, however, Plaguemaster doesn't see the march of disease as the end goal, but rather as an obstacle to overcome. He views sickness as a purifying trial for both body and mind, thus earning him the ire of those he'd otherwise be lumped together with.

Plaguemaster is a self-taught doctor and a pathologist. Toxic whispers echo in his mind from time to time, but he pays them no need. The cure and the disease are not opposites. They are symbiotic and both are required for the true experience in life.

Goals

Learn more about medicine and pathogens
Understand HMHVV and its strains in particular
Grow in power to be capable of healing and treating any ailment
Resist toxic taint of any kind

Appearance

Plaguemaster is a hooded, robed figure with nylon and kevlar intervowen into his dirtied, old clothes. He walks around with a cane that doubles as a scythe, but behind the mask he's a hairless, skin-and-bones husk of a dwarf with vaguely Asian features and pale skin. He has a pox-scarred back, implying he may have had a severe viral infection in early childhood.

Personality

Plaguemaster adores the art of medicine as much as he adores the tenacity and raw power of various diseases. He wants to master both sides, the crafting of illnesses and improving their vectors as well as how to cure them, yet he views all life as sacred and worth admiring, if not preserving.

Positive & Negative Qualities

Infected: Goblin - I burn, yet do not burn. I spread, yet stand still. I am the fever. I am the pox.
1. Celerity - Moving at the speed of plague.
2. Aged - As long as the idyllic river of bacteria flows, so too shall I.
3. Impassive - Every year, up to 500,000 people die from influenza. How, exactly, are you unique?

Student of the Poxmother - Birth of our suffering, the nurse and her lamp, the warm embrace of fever. She sees our torment and would have us surpass it.
1. Mentor Spirit - She arrived to me in a fever dream. Knowledge and vision flows to those who comprehend the world beyond our eyes, for it is her that knows all.
2. Mentor's Mask - The green miasma of the Poxmother's influence is as carrion winds before me. When I tap into her gifts, so too shall I bring her mists to this world.

Run History

Name	GM	Threat	Date of Run
/clean up that Rat's nest!	J.R.	High	24 June 2085
Roll Me Up	Dawnfire	Low	23 May 2085
Medicinal Mysteries	Lotus	High	25 February 2085

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Father Midnight	5	2	Fixer(G,N,K,A)	Gravekeeper	Underworld, Undead, Undertaker, Underground, Reaper's Harvest, Forensics	Even
Bubblegum	1	1	Gear	Fake SINner	Corporate Forger, SINner, Nothing Lasts Forever, Knows How She Got Here	Even

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1	Infrequent sightings of a robed dwarf in the Ork Underground have persisted as long as the Matrix has existed, possibly more.
3	Some sparse witness testimonies claim a figure matching this description has appeared to them in dreams, offering cures to fevers. After waking up, signs of a break-in were noticed.
6	Over five different witness accounts claim to have shot the figure dead, only for him to show up months later all over again. This has led to theories of a cult with multiple members.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1	An alchemist in the Ork Underground.
3	Was known for working a few jobs in the Haven some years back. Went missing afterwards.
5	Is known to carry around bone motifs, leading some to suspect use of ritualistic fetishes.

Assensing Table

Threshold	Description
1	Dual-natured and deathly sick.
2	A mystic adept and an infected Goblin expression of HMHVV-1.
3	High Essence.
4	11 Essence, 7 Magic.
5	Not a technomancer.

Plot Hooks


Aspect	Information	Related Run(s)
Poxmother's Disciple	Plaguemaster has an infatuation with pathogens. Harmful microbes ranging from bacteria and viruses to prions and fungi, even toxins to some degree. While this manifests as a desire to find and experience them first-hand, he also wants equally as much to find ways to treat them. While he envies those that suffer the ravages of disease, to let a patient die from the ailment would be anathema to Plaguemaster's philosophy of persevering in life. Whether toxic disease cults manage to convince him to become a true harbinger of pestilence or he maintains his ironclad code of treaments and cures remains to be seen.
Lord of Graves	Having come back from the dead twice now, he's unusually resilient for a goblin without regenerative abilities. Part of this affinity to death makes itself known as latent necromantic talent. Even if he knows they're not the same people as they were alive, Plaguemaster finds great joy in reanimating his deceased patients for one final hurrah against entropy. How much he ends up getting along with other necromancers that survive with their practices kept secret remains unknown. Perhaps he'll bump into more of them along the way?
Amnesiac	He's of Asian descent, possibly Japanese, and old enough that he wonders when he was even born. Much of Plaguemaster's past is a mystery to him as well as anyone else. While he's not actively searching for who he used to be, he is relatively certain he wasn't anyone famous or magically talented back in the day. Maybe his past life will smack him in the face when he least expects it? (GMs have a complete free reign regarding this.)
In Search Of A Doctorate	To no-one's surprise, he loves medicine in all its forms. So much so that despite the HMHVV strain impeding his cognitive functions, Plaguemaster is adamant about chasing his dreams of becoming a doctor. He wants to build a clinic in the Ork Underground. Hidden. Secret. Equipped with an operating theatre, medical supplies, even a surgery drone if he ends up becoming too contagious himself. In addition, one day he contemplates entering med school. Perhaps under a pseudonym, online or some other way. It would be extremely difficult, but he'd be thrilled to get a genuine medical license. Or at least, the skills of one.
Spectral Warden	Conjurers of his ilk are often considered ill-tempered or outright slavers. He doesn't see it that way. Having gained a spirit on parole, Plaguemaster seeks to rehabilitate this ill-tempered and violent spirit over time, returning it back to its former and more peaceful state before it was contaminated by blood magic. The spirit in question is a Grim Reaper, a phantom gone mad going by the name of Mortifactos. If he successfully aids in the spirit's psychological recovery, he will be able to entrap and forcibly restore other befouled spirits in the future. If they intend to remain on Earth, he will be their jailer until they can find it within themselves to become better. Just like him.