Trace

Trace

Famous Occult Private Investigator
"They're Gone Without a Trace"
Discord	@YouMayFireWhenReady
Reddit	[1]
Metatype	Elf (Dryad)
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
CDP	4
D.O.B.	July 23rd 2057
Age	28
Folder	http://bit.ly/traceshadowhaven
Priority	Metatype - C Attributes - A Magic/Resonance - A Skills - E Resources - E
#Max IGs/Ascension	0

Character Information

Summary

Ruadhán (Rue-on) "Trace" Ó Cleirigh (Oh-Cleary) is an online-famous private investigator, a spellcasting and Matrix-comfortable mystic adept known for providing his services pro bono for those in need. A sometimes shadowrunner, Trace is disinterested in running when it isn't hooding or working against an unjust individual/organization. Magically endowed with preternatural social graces Trace has been able to socially coast by on his magical charm alone, with almost no time spent honing his social abilities. Trace is incredibly perceptive, thoughtful, and well-meaning.

Relationship status unknown.

Goals

For external goals, Trace seeks to...

1) ...discover who murdered Beca Biretta and avenge her death.

2) ...support those in need.

3) ...liberate the oppressed.

4) ...undermine the oppressors.

For internal goals, Trace seeks to...

1) ...forgive himself for failing his best friend Beca.

2) ...master his connection with the magic realm.

3) ...triumph over his sins (pride chief among them.)

4) ...discover his true purpose in the Sixth World.

Background

Ruadhán (Rue-on) Ó Cleirigh (Oh-Cleary) was born in 2057 as part of an Amalgamated Studios corporate experiment. Amalgamated Studios were looking for tricks to produce the next wave of hit simsense stars. Finding metas who were able to ace tridscreen and sim-tests was an ever-constant challenge for Amalgamated so it was only a matter of time before an executive came up with the shameful scheme of paid breeding programs.

Amalgamated Studios put out its strangest casting call, looking for pairs of individuals that could produce "ideal" offspring to suit a whole range of studio needs in the future: tough-guy action film orks, the stalwart and funny dwarf sidekicks, the lovable "I AM TROG" trolls, and (most of all) the sensuous and irresistible elves. Then they took the idea further, asking: "What if we could distill some of that "innate meta authenticity" and repackage it in a more consumer-friendly package?

Ruadhán's parents were a pair of cynical Dryads (his father from Tír na nÓg and his mother from Tir Tairngire) who were willing to join Amalgamated Studios and their secret breeding program, agreeing to produce as many babies as the studio was willing to pay for as long as they didn't have to raise them. Shortly after Ruadhán was born the CEO of Amalgamated Studios learned about the plan and horrified (about the possible social media blowback were it to be discovered) he ended the program. To purchase participants ongoing silence Amalgamated Studios kept both of Ruadhán's parents on the corporate payroll, but gave them no job responsibilities. Before long both slipped into addiction.

Taking Ruadhán and the first generation of "studio babies" on as corporate wards, Amalgamated Studios raised Ruadhán within the glittering heart of Tinsel Town. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, Amalgamated Studios carried on with the first and only generation of their breeding program, sending the meta children to be trained and given every opportunity to excel in the creative arts. Ruadhán was as naturally gifted as any young child actor the studio had ever worked with but lacked, entirely, the desire to be a film star. Frustrating his Amalgamated handlers Ruadhán continued to shirk his responsibilities in his acting classes. Still insistent on his eventual turn into a star, and willing to be patient, Amalgamated Studios subjected Ruadhán to Metatype Modification in order to pass him off as a human. They hoped that he'd retain his innate elven charisma but that it could be packaged in a more "globally selling" form. Even at seven Ruadhán was resentful of the changes made to him against his will, and he refused to ever, ever work for Amalgamated Studios. Luckily for him, he'd immediately get his wish.

Crash 2.0 shook the world and in the chaos, a rising corporate force by the name of Horizon swallowed up Amalgamated Studios. Horizon had no interest in carrying on the quasi-child-slavery of Amalgamated Studios. They integrated Ruadhán's addicted parents into their corporate world, along with the young boy, but allowed him to chart his own future. Bright and deeply curious by nature Ruadhán excelled in school and, liberated from the pressures of one day being a professional actor, created his own path.

By the time he finished university Ruadhán was brilliant, empathetic, and exceptionally affable. Horizon put him on the payroll as a producer but worked him as a studio fixer. Ruadhán took to the life of a studio fixer like a fish takes to water. The problem solving, the crisis management...these were all things he loved and excelled at. Unfortunately for Horizon Ruadhán was too good at his job. Soon he yearned for real challenges, yearned to actually help people. He began to see Horizon more clearly for what it really was, years of propaganda slowly peeling away day by day. But it took Beca Biretta to finally sever the last threads of goodwill he had for Horizon.

Rebeca (Beca) Biretta and Ruadhán had grown up together, literally, from the moment they were both born. Originally the "ork baby" of Amalgamated Studios breeding program she, like Ruadhán, had been plunged into a series of transformative vats as a young girl. Amalgamated hoped to retain something of the "edge" and "forceful charisma" of an ork while smoothing down the (tusk) bite enough to make a star palatable for all audiences. While Ruadhán had grown to accept his changed appearance, Beca struggled from the very beginning. She felt like she was trapped in the wrong body. She, like Ruadhán, was blessed with incredible charisma and personal magnetism but unlike Ruadhán she tried her very best to excel and impress first Amalgamated Studios and, later, Horizon. Horizon flagged her as "The Next Big Thing" and prepared her career trajectory accordingly.

Eventually, it was too much, and all the stress and grief caught up to Beca Biretta. She came to Ruadhán in the middle of one rainy night and begged him to run away with her, to leave Horizon and the whole entertainment industry behind. Though he had become disillusioned with Horizon Ruadhán didn't know if he had it in him to abandon the only family he had ever known, and told Beca so. And Beca, smeared with makeup and tears, reminded him that she was the closest thing to a real family he'd ever had. Ruadhán, shaken and upset, told her to give him the night to think about it. Beca left. He never saw her again.

When one of Beca's handlers found her dead in the morning it became the scandal of the year for Horizon. Gossip columnists and conspiracy theorists flocked to the topic on the Matrix, speculating that her official cause of death (own life taken) was a cover for any number of nefarious purposes.

Ruadhán was devastated.

Horizon sent him away on work, trying (he believes) to distract him from his grief and anger. He worked for a time in England, and then at a massive simsense shoot in Metropole. It was in Amazonia that the last major bubble of his naivete burst. Witnessing the Metropole slums in all their horizon-spanning suffering, Ruadhán had a mental and emotional breakdown. Returned to LA he languished in his home out in the hills of Hollywood until he had a religious conversion of sorts. Ruadhán decided to dedicate the rest of his life to putting as much good into the universe as he could, one day and one person at a time. He began to take an interest in theology, the first seeds of his new faith growing inside him.

He left Horizon's employ believing (or forcing himself to believe) that Horizon was complicit in her murder. And from that day on he poured all his energy into his work, becoming Trace: a now-Matrix-famous private investigator. Trace is famous for being able to solve any case, no matter how big or small, and for doing his work pro bono for the poor and oppressed. Naturally this life and work bled into shadowrunning and soon he was balancing both in his life.

But he has never forgotten about what Horizon did to Beca.

He has never forgotten how he let her down when she needed him most.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

College Education: Trace attended UCLA on Horizon's dime and positively excelled. A voracious intellect and academically studious, Trace has advanced degrees in psychology and politics as well as being a board-certified lawyer in contract law. His forensics and accounting expertise have been self-taught in the years after beginning his new career as a private investigator. Always looking to expand his versatility, and comfortable with Matrix learning, he is always looking to deep-dive into new academic realms.

Exceptional Attribute (Magic): Magic has always come easily to Trace, from a very young age. So gifted has Trace been that he neglected his magical studies for years, coasting on his magically innate abilities. Only once he began to run in the shadows did Trace realize that foregoing training in the magical arts to focus on the academic world will no longer carry him to further heights. Now he's turned his studious nature to learning more about the magical world and how he can strengthen his ties to it through his faith tradition.

Jack of All Trades Master of None: As with his magical abilities, Trace has always been blessed with easy comprehension and an energetic (if wandering) mind. New skills come to him quickly, as his personality and mentor spirit urge him on to experience new experiences and learn new knowledge.

Mentor Spirit (Raven Alternative: The Collector): A Christian Theurgist, a social activist Friend, Trace discovered a connection with a spirit being that some cultures refer to as the Raven, the Crow, or the Collector. For Trace the Mentor spirit manifests as a hazy, indistinct humanoid figure of flowing robes and glittering gold and jewels. Trace experiences the Collector as Zacchaeus, a divine representation of the salvation of the lost. Trace is driven by Zacchaeus's insatiable desire to divert their innate Greed from the service of Mammon to the acquisition of knowledge, and to use that knowledge to save and liberate others.

Mentor's Mask: When the Mentor's Mask appears, Trace's face becomes momentarily hazy and an ethereal nezer (a golden circlet enscribed in an indiscernible script) appears upon his brow.

Online Fame: Trace has made a name for himself on the Matrix as a devoted champion to those on the margins of society. Most of his casework is pro bono and he tries to help those on the farthest margins of society, those SINless who are furthest away from the megacorporate or governmental safety nets. As his portfolio of solved cases grew an ugly part of him, a part that desired recognition and fame, slowly worked its way into his mind. Soon he was producing Matrix blog content, as the eponymous Trace, chronically his exploits. And soon a Matrix following began. Over time it has grown quite large, making Trace one of the world's premier gentleman-detectives.

Profiler: A fastidious academic and researcher, Trace is most comfortable blazing through the Matrix at the speed of his Caliban rapidly gleaning as much information as he can find. A chronic overthinker and planner, Trace prefers to research and compile dossiers on all those that he expects to meet...especially when he's working in the shadows.

Too Pretty To Hit: Trace is heart-throbbingly, breath-catchingly, good-looking. His aura radiates peace and kindness. His natural charisma and gentle bearing make it more difficult (but by no means impossible) for opposition forces to bring themselves to target him for harm.

Negative

Code of Honor: Tribunal Justice

1) May not oppose the authority of any non-oppressive community defense organization (i.e. neo-anarchist communes, squatter collectives, community-supported street gangs, and the like.)

2) May not harm children.

3) May not cause serious harm to innocent bystanders.

4) May not turn down a request for aid from any child or innocent bystander, even if the request is an inconvenience.

Distinctive Style: Trace is memorable. The fact that he underwent metatype modification as a child actually amplifies this latent Dryadic trait: he has the regal countenance that befits a Tir Prince but in a decidedly human frame. There is an otherworldly feel in this most unusual dichotomy that is particularly memorable in person.

Poor Self Control (Compulsive 1, Personal): Trace isn't a particularly paranoid person. However, he feels decidedly uncomfortable sitting with his back towards a main entrance or exit from a room. Trace will go so far as to turn his chair 45 degrees or more and sit askew, so that an entrance/exit is within his peripheral vision. To him, this isn't a compulsive. It's common sense! And of course he could sit with his back to an entry way he just doesn't want to okay? Stop pestering him.

Records on File (Mitsuhama): One particularly dangerous private investigation had Trace running up against the megacorporate might of MCT. Trace was investigating a complaint that MCT had restarted an obviously ultra-secret technomancy experimentation program when he was briefly detained. Having committed no crime and with a Horizon corporate SIN he was released, but not before MCT took all of his relevant biometrics for future use...

SINner (Corporate Limited - Horizon): Born in an Amalgamated Studios hospital, raised on a Horizon Studios backlot. No longer does Trace carry childish notions about Horizon's exceptionality in a megacorporate world full of more obvious evils. Horizon's propaganda machine is implacable and insidious but they created the atmosphere that suffocated his oldest and dearest friend. They created the environment that killed her. Trace sees Horizon for the evil banality that it is. He pays his taxes, uses his corporate SIN where it is useful, but his continued association with Horizon, deep down, brings him terrible shame.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Threat	Date of Run
Everybody Wants To Be A Co-Author	Kirk		High	17 September 2084
Wine Tasting in K-Town	Villiers		Medium	10 September 2084

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Alexander Tyrell Gates	6	1	Generalist	Microdeck CTO and Technoshaman	Hard To Reach, A Man of Principle, Corporeal Anxieties, Caped Crusader’s Creed, Look For The Helpers, Helping Hands, Connection Established, Never Lost, Technoshaman of the World Tree, Wuxing-Forbes Ranked 707, Microdeck Reverse-Engineering, First Toy A Cyberdeck, Nuyen Is No Object, Put Your Nuyen Where Your Mouth Is, Siblings of the Matrix, Child’s Play, Consult The Tree, ALTruistic To The End, Help The Helpers	Even
DC Harry Metzger	6	1	Generalist	KE Seattle Metroplex Divisional Chief	Hates Himself, I Am Not Here To Make Friends, Paranoid, ACAB, Metroplex Memories, Patrol Division, Division of Investigation, OCD, Lifting Those Lifted Fingerprints, Vice City, Missing Tapes, The Special Investigations, Grinch’s Heart	Even
Madame Carmine	6	1	Custom(A,K,N,G)	Madam of The Embrace	Nocturnal Animal, Predator's Predilection, Us or Them, Sex Work Is Work, It Never Gets Old, Sensitive Hearing, Maria of the Trash, Tribunal of One, The Final Embrace, Unaffiliated, Safe Place To Lay Your Head, Bound By Better Blood, Looking For Candles In The Darkness	Even
Sebastian “Perfect Fit” Schmidt	3	1	Gear	Horizon Studios Head of Wardrobe	Blissfully Unaware, Overworked, Pre-Production Blues, Tailor Made, Theatrical Flourish, Apprenticed At Armani, Simsense Procurement, Stunt Design, The Science of Dyeing, Representation Matters	Even
Throwing-Bones	4	3	Gear	Talismonger	Short on Cred, Hard Time Saying No, So Many Pups Underfoot, You Don’t Like Kids?, This Is My Livelihood, Foci Focused, All that Glitters Is Gold, Baubles of Power, Rat’s Guidance, Loveable Rat, In-Person Business, One Affectionate Rat, One Grateful Rat	Even
Lord Aubrey Darling	6	1	Fixer	Fixer	Unbearably Twee, Manners Maketh The Man, Most Noble Order of the Lord Protector, His Crime Is Organized, The Firms Could Not Be Firmer, Yardies, Continental Inclinations, Fancy That, Corporate Creature, Heavily Invested In British Industry, Greenwich Mean Time, Addicted to Enhancement, Deltware or Bust	Even
Ana Laguna	2	4	Fixer	Horizon Talent Scout	Hatred of Black Hats, AIPS, People-Person, Fiercely Loyal, Corporate Comfort, Horizon’s The Limit, PCC Preferred Stockholder	Even
Ted Deble	2	1	Legwork	Horizon P2.1 Life Coach	Blissfully Unaware, What’s Your Score, Omae?, You’re Bringing My Score Down, Omae!, No Body Count, Always A New Horizon, Social Media Wunderkind, P2.1, P2.2, P2.3…, It’s A Feature, Not A Bug, Six(th World) Degrees of Separation, PreCog.Exe, Social Death	Even

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1	Ruadhán Ó Cleirigh pops up in public records as a Horizon corporate citizen and a former employee of Horizon Studio's Publicity Department.
3	Ruadhán's name does not appear in any trid-film credits but he does appear occasionally in Matrix trade-feeds of the mid-to-late 2070s. Those mentions refer to him in passing, and not disparagingly, as a well-liked studio fixer. One gossip column from 2080 refers to him as a possible "starless paramour" to the new (now late) simsense starlet Beca Biretta.
6	Ruadhán Ó Cleirigh appears in old archived Amalgamated Studios records, buried deep in the Matrix, largely archived and/or destroyed by Horizon. Ruadhán was part of an Amalgamated Studios eugenics project to create a generation of "meta" trid-stars but without the meta-baggage, with the first generation all being forced to undergo metahuman modification treatments as children. Similarly suppressed records show that Ruadhán fought vigorously to gain access to Beca Biretta's coroner report but was denied and, after being warned repeatedly to drop the matter, was quietly relieved of his duties with Horizon Studios without ever being officially fired.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1	Trace is a magical (and Matrix savy) private investigator and sometimes shadowrunner. Trace is famous on the Matrix as a gentleman-detective. He's a weird one, some kind of Missionist-type who doesn't seem like he ought to be in the shadows at all. But he is in the shadows and while he's here, the oddball seems to practice what he preaches. His disdain for the megacorporations is relatable and though he seems to have a low opinion of shadowrunning, somehow he's not universally intolerable to run with. Must be that Missionist shit he's on about. He's one of those "no body count" types.
3	Trace plays down his magical abilities but he's a powerful mystic adept and a gifted spellcaster. Not much gets past Trace but as talented and cheerful as he is, the detective seems unmoored. He's often working with the SINless in the Redmond Barrens when he's not running or working a case. Trace has a penchant for collecting (contacts, friends, problems) and has some sort of connection with a humanoid mentor spirit that he refers to, reverently and rarely, as Zacchaeus. Trace doesn't drink or take drugs...except for Psyche. Eerily, he seems to never sleep though he doesn't appear to indulge in Long Haul.
5	Trace is the famous Matrix persona and runner alias of Ruadhán Ó Cleirigh, a former Horizon Studios fixer and current persona non grata in the Horizon network. His Horizon P2.1 score is terrible, though Frederick Weston (his primarily Fake SIN) has a sparkling P2.1 score. Trace is haunted by the death of his best friend, the starlet Beca Biretta, and he seems emotionally unable to leave her death in the past. Trace has never killed anyone. He appears to be saving that terrible, terrible sin for the day he uncovers Beca's true murderer.

Assensing Table

Threshold	Result
1	Trace is healthy. Ask about his emotional state but, normally, he is calm and composed. He is Awakened.
2	He does not appear to have any cybernetic implants. He has a Spellcasting Foci on his right index finger, a curved ammolite ring of swirling reds, greens, blues and yellows. If you have seen Trace's aura before, you probably recognize it.
3	He does not appear to have any alphaware cyber implants. (For comparison purposes, Trace's Essence is 6 and his Magic is 7.) (For comparison purposes, Trace's Spellcasting Foci is Force 5 -Rating 5.) Trace has no maladies or illnesses. The only astral signature present on Trace is his spellcasting focus, assuming it's not tucked away in his biofiber pocket.
4	He does not appear to have any bioware implants or betaware grade cybernetic implants. For Essence and Magic and Force comparison, see above.
5	Trace has no deltaware implants, geneware treatments, or nanotech. No current diseases or toxins effecting Trace except, perhaps, Psyche. Trace is not a technomancer.

SINs

• Frederick Weston (UCAS, R5) Licenses: Adept, Restricted Armor. Trace uses this as his day-to-day civilian SIN and hopes not to spoil it unnecessarily.

Appearance

Trace appears to be a devastatingly handsome human man. His hair is always the perfect level of lush and glossy, his skin the perfect smoothness, his beard seeming somehow perfectly coifed but ruggedly free-grown at the same time. Trace is quick to smile, with his mouth and his eyes. His eyebrows are thick and expressive. He has an gentle intensity on whatever he focuses his attention and should that subject be you, it feels like there is genuinely nothing else in the world that he cares about but you and what it is you are saying. Trace has the capacity to melt hearts without even trying.

Should Trace one day fully internalize how attractive and charismatic he is look out, ego.

Clothing

Trace is almost always wearing his Mortimer's outfit. Unlike the average Metroplex runner, Trace has owned his tailored Berwick suit and Argentum coat for years. He had the set tailored and purchased at Mortimer's in person, while working at Horizon's British subsidiary Pinewood Studios. With the steady use of the Fashion spell what Trace is wearing varies on any given day. Typically he looks like he does in the wiki entry, but the sky is the limit when magic is involved. One thing that is almost always true is that Trace looks good in what he's wearing.

Matrix Persona

Trace has an exceptionally high-rez Matrix Persona that he uses with his customized Fairlight Caliban. Usually he appears as a beautiful swirling humanoid figure composed of fluttering and morphing oil painting brushstrokes. His clothing is neo-noir, dark colours with stiff and outstretched collars. His fedora is tipped low, covering the top half of his Persona's face. Even when the Persona tilts its head high, the face is a peach and caramel swirl of brushstroke blankness. The one noteworthy element that connects Trace's Matrix Persona to his physical self is the ammolite ring, lovingly replicated in the Matrix as a rainbowed pearlescent curve that never ceases its rotation around the morphic right index finger on the Persona's black-gloved hand.

This is the famed Persona of Trace the Gentleman-Detective.