|
NOTABLE SHRAPNEL
Lazarus is the founder and leader of Shrapnel. Lazarus is a former marine Combat Medic, and received his body due to injuries in the line of duty. Before he received his body, he viewed those suffering from Cyberpsychosis with contempt, seeing them as weak willed and predisposed to violence. It wasn’t until he had to undergo full conversion himself that he began to fully understand the issue. After the Second South Am Conflict, he opted to spend his life savings to pay off the contract with the military for his body, then went back to school to study Psychology, with an emphasis on Cyberpsychosis.
After attaining the necessary degrees, Lazarus devoted his life to providing therapy and counseling to those afflicted with the disorder. Originally he had an office in Saints Row, and was making a decent living, but when he became aware of how wide spread the problem was, especially in the newly formed Combat Zone, he liquidated everything and set up shop in an old apartment building as a sanctuary for full conversions, who were being stigmatized, ostracized, and shunned.
As the operation grew, it became necessary to basically form a gang presence, to keep the operation running, Shrapnel staked out territory, and began patrolling, keeping the violence off the streets, affording Lazarus the opportunity to continue his work.
While
Lazarus does not care for violence, and finds guns
distasteful, he is a very experienced combatant, and
his military training is evident in the way he runs
Shrapnel. He is also highly skilled at combat
medicine and a very sympathetic therapist. He
has no direct family, but is quite fond of the
people in the community, among which he has made a
fairly positive impression, one he works hard to
maintain.
LESLEY
“SMILER”
GIRARD: WAR COUNCIL Smiler is former SAS, a veteran of several hostile engagements. Like most ex-military full conversions he received his body after injury in combat. Unfortunately he received his body in the early days, before Cyberpsychosis was as understood and received little in the way of mental health therapy. Still it should have been obvious he was on the edge. However the problems he was having largely went ignored and he was shipped back to active duty. His first mission was to secure a village in the DRC for possible use as a forward outpost. Sometime after arriving in the village, Smiler blacked out. When he came too, he found himself among the smoking ruins of the village. Everyone around him was dead, all the villagers and his entire squad, and he was covered in blood.
Overcome by the horror of it all, Smiler fled into the jungle. Now on the run from his own government, he somehow made his way to America, smuggling himself in through Lost Angeles before making his way to the Night City Combat Zone. He hoped that with the higher concentration of full conversions in the city that he would be able to hide, to disappear. It was here that Lazarus found him. Smiler was the first to join Lazarus’s cause in the Zone, and he is fiercely loyal.
While Smiler has made great strides in therapy, he is still haunted by the atrocity he believes he committed. (Unbeknownst to Smiler, he had no choice in perpetrating the slaughter, his body has been equipped with a neural spike, when activated causes him to fly into a violent rage. During the slaughter the remote unit as well as the homing beacon implanted within his body was damaged. The group behind this is still actively looking for him.)
For all the strides he has made, Smiler is still born and bred SAS, and he serves as the tactical arm for Lazarus and Shrapnel, training the members and leading them in any combat situation.
Andrea suffered a severe spinal injury as a child, leaving her a quadriplegic. Because of her age at the time, she was ineligible for cybernetics. She spent her childhood confined to a bed, unable to do anything but speak. She would watch her brothers and sisters through the window. This led to severe depression and a bitter resentment towards the world.
At the age of 16 she was finally eligible for Cerulean Full Conversion Replacement for her body, though like many she chose to keep her human head. The new found freedom, the ability to walk, run, and dance, was overwhelming to her, and she went wild. She neglected her therapy sessions, she partied long into the night taking ridiculous risks. She very quickly became too much for her family to handle, and when they threatened to have the doctor impose limiters on her body, she went over the edge. While no one was injured in her rage, she destroyed the family home, and when C-SWAT responded, she suffered and injury to the face that required the replacement of her lower jaw. She was one of Lazarus’s first patients when he still operated out of Saints Row. She is also arguably his greatest success. Through intensive counseling they have managed to bring her back from the edge, and now she is a stable minded though retains something of a wild and capricious personality.
She followed Lazarus into the Zone, helping him set up Shrapnel, and remains intensely loyal to him, secretly in love with him though she would never admit it. She now acts as the voice of compassion within the Shrapnel, and alongside Smiler is Lazarus most trusted advisor.
Bill is a construction worker with an extremely heavily modified Dynalar Basic-B body. The body has been maximized for strength in as small a package as possible.
He has gravitated to Shrapnel for the sense of community and belonging. Outside of Shrapnel activities he has a high paying job with a legitimate firm company and donates half his income to keeping Shrapnel afloat.
Outwardly. Bill is also one of the most stable minded members of Shrapnel. He received proper therapy immediately after his conversion, and despite his inhuman and almost cartoonishly robotic appearance, he maintains his mental health with weekly meetings with Lazarus. However, Lazarus has begun to suspect that Bills mental stability may be more fragile than he believes. His ongoing customization and his decidedly inhuman appearance have got to be taking a toll, regardless of whether he shows outward symptoms or not. As such Lazarus keeps a wary eye on Bill, but is careful not to let on about his suspicions.
Bill is outgoing, friendly, and boisterous. He is also quick to volunteer his services in the community on weekends for local citizens and shop owners in the process of repairing or renovating their homes and shops. A veteran construction worker for almost 56 years, Bill can be considered a master craftsman for virtually every aspect of the field.
CRAIG “ANUBIS” LEANDERS
Anubis was probably a bit off even before he underwent full conversion. He was a lawyer and an animal rights activist on his way to a protest when he was involved in a accident that mangled his body beyond repair. While adjusting to his new body, his behavior became erratic. He began taking in every stray he could find, and while his partners begged him to at least get a real skin covered human face, he instead opted to have a dog head faceplate. He very quickly found himself out of work, and he was shortly kicked out of his home, the damage the animals had done left him severely in debt.
Homeless and unemployed, Anubis wandered into the Combat Zone. He was able to find an abandoned house in Stomp territory, and immediately resumed taking in every stray animal he could find. He avoided people as best he could, leaving his house only at night, sticking to the shadows, only speaking to others when buying food and supplies. As his isolation grew, so did his erratic behavior. He started stealing pets and guard dogs. Stomp was planning to eliminate him when word of this finally reached Lazarus.
Lazarus found him, and spoke to Stomp on his behalf. The stolen animals were returned and Lazarus began an intensive counseling process. Two years later Anubis has made great improvement. He seems to have regained a measure of his humanity, though he has a long way to go still. His has put legal skill to use in Shrapnel and the community.
Anubis is very protective both of Shrapnel, which he calls his pack, and of any animals he finds. He reacts aggressively to any sign of animal abuse.
Once a highly decorated officer of C-SWAT, Oscar Dearborn quit the force after the Carnival fiasco. Seeing the injustice perpetrated in the name of the government he served, he turned in his badge and went to work in the Zone as part of the relief effort. When things normalized, he simply stayed, getting a job at Combat Cab.
He initially started hanging out with Shrapnel out of curiosity, and found he liked the sense of community and brotherhood. He was also impressed in their practices of civic duty. That was a year ago, he has been a member ever since.
Hawk was his callsign from his days in C-SWAT, he tried to ditch it as it sounded to melodramatic for him, but once the members of Shrapnel found out about it the name once again stuck.
Hawk is equipped with an old Robocop partial body conversion. His head is still 100%huma, other than a neural processor implant, and his digestive system, kidneys, liver, spine, reproductive organs and spleen are all still original meat. His body is obsolete in comparison to Full Conversions, but is the result of a piecemeal process of replacing damaged limbs and organs one part at a time. He has had his cyber upgraded several times, including new outer shells.
While Hawk definitely has the body and the training to handle any problem, he is far more comfortable promoting harmony within the community, and often sides with Alba on the council.
Seiko Miyazawa is a mercenary, and actually a member of the Walking Dead. However due to his extensive cybernetic enhancements and upgrades, when not actually on assignment he spends most of his time with Shrapnel, both participating in their activities, as well as receiving Lazarus’s counseling and therapy to try and distance himself from the razor edge of cyberpsychosis he has been riding since his body was originally replaced.
Seiko was a top Arasaka operative for years, it was while working for them that he received his prosthetic body. After his contract expired he went freelance for a while before hooking up with The Walking Dead during an operation in Rhodesia. He had undergone extensive therapy while working for Arasaka, but he continued to upgrade and his behavior was becoming erratic, prone to violent resolution. Finally the team intervened, and during the downtime he was introduced to Lazarus.
While on duty, Seiko is the consummate professional, but off duty he rarely spends much time with his company in the Walking Dead, instead spending more and more time with Shrapnel. As a result he has been made part of the group, and he is often of great help, especially when dealing with other Borgs with extensive combat experience.
Seiko and Smiler have something of a rivalry going, which to a casual observer may seem to be animosity, but the truth is, the two men could not be closer friends.
Seiko has made great progress in restoring his humanity, and most of the time he is a bit withdrawn but friendly, polite, and amiable.
Boomer was a family man, hardworking and loyal. He was working late one night when a construction crane next door suffered a malfunction and its arm swung wildly. The load of girders it was raising crashed through the window, destroying mo0st of Boomers Body. He underwent emergency full body replacement. He chose the BU-22 model body from Arasaka, thinking its higher strength and durability would allow him to work harder and make more money to bring home to his wife and two children.
Dejected, depressed and suicidal, he wandered the streets until he found himself in the Combat Zone. He began taunting the gangs he could find, daring someone to try and take him out… luckily Lazarus found him first.
With the help of Shrapnel, Boomer has been able to re-evaluate his life, and start clean, coming to think of Shrapnel itself as his new family, one he is devoted to and will do anything to protect. He has become one of Shrapnels most trusted and loyal members. He is also one of the most well adjusted individuals in the group with a genuinely positive outlook. |
|
Written By Deric Bernier, (with gangs
and locations created by R. Talsorian Games,
Atlas Games, Interface Magazine, and Iaunus
Games). Images
from Deric Bernier, R. Talsorian Games,
Interface, Mad Max, The Road Warrior, Mad Max
Beyond Thunderdome, Warriors of the 21st
Century, Transmetropolitan, Afro Samurai,
Mazinger, The Last Dragon, Black Belt Jones,
Black Samurai, Double Dragon, Capcom, Virtua
Fighter, Streetfighter, Tekken, King Of
Fighters, Fatal Fury, Fist Of The North Star,
Red Alert, Dead End Drive-In, Shadowrun,
Reklamation, Cyborg OEDO, Metro, Borderlands,
Clockwork Orange, The Hills Have Eyes, Below
Zero, Fallen Earth, Deadlands: Hell On Earth,
Rifts, Gurps, The Barbarians, Rage, Fallout,
Weird Science, Netrunner, Cyberpunk CCG,
Marvel Comics, Ultimates, Tron, Cowboy Bebop,
Android, Mafia Wars, Deus Ex, DC Comics,
Shazam, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost In The Shell,
Appleseed, Breaker, Breaker: New Waves,
Parasite Dolls, AD Police, Circuitry Man,
Purge, Crimecraft, Saints Row, Grand Theft
Auto, Star Wars, Crude buster, Two Crude
Dudes, Road Avenger, Renegade, All Points
Bulletin, C.O.P.S., Bionic Commando, Negative
Burn, Wildcats, Superman, Neon Cyber,
Darkminds, Megazone 23, Wolverine, X-men, The
Warriors, Streets Of Fire, Class Of 1984,
Class of 1999, Karate Warrior, Metal Gear,
2020 Visions, Bubblegum Crisis, Bubblegum
Crash, Mortal Kombat, Crime Life, Fast And The
Furious, GI Joe, Earthrise, The Club, The
Suffering, Machete, Desperado, Blood In Blood
Out, Mi Vida Loca, Brazil, City Of God, Crank,
Falling Down, Gang City, Akira, Army Of One,
NYC Mech, Brink, Set It Off, Assault On
Precinct 13, Glen and Randal, Brawling
Bouncers, Bitch Slap, Nemesis, Suckerpunch,
Batman, Wasteland Empires, What If,
Terminator, Resident Evil, Warlands,
Exterminators 3000, Burning Man, Weapon Brown,
Urban Warriors, Hard Boiled, Arachnophobia,
Fallen Skies, Land Of The Dead, Empty Zone,
Training Day, Big Trouble In Little China,
Tank Girl, The New Barbarians, Gangs Of new
York, Back To The Future 2, Savage Tales,
Appleseed, Ride To Hell, Solar Babies, Spy
Hunter, Metro 2033, Cyberspace, Road Warrior
Weekend, Road War, D20 Future, D20 Apocalypse,
Dethkillers, Massive Black, Twilight 2000,Adam
Warren, Raben AAS, Wry1, Dmitrys, Adam Hughes,
Quellion, Bordon,Timur Mutsaev, Cellfaces,
Aleksi, Francis001, Gasket,Shiramune, Endo
74, Aaron Beck, Mohzart, Livingrope, Dingo107,
Nanavuut,, Jani
Hamalainen, Clement_Suave, Kishin007,
Roboto_Kun, Quiros, JesserZZZ,
NekoxxxNightmare, Josuhemaiz, AkaiSoul,
Xadhoom, Carlos Cavalcante, Matt Bradbury,
Akuma_Motarasutsumi, Bristow Bailey,
Moongrape, N_Mel, Kieron Gillen, Angelero, Likodemus,
Dead Dreamer, ShelestovV, LostSoulsArt, Riq,
Dave Allsop, OmeN2501, Techtonic, Raven1303,
Kazroth, Unhappy_Girl, Rosien_HoH, DOQ_666,
The_A_Factory, den89, ichitakaseto-d3fwrw4,
SC4V3NG3R, Ricochet188, Viviane, KFoster,
Superhawkins, Jager375, Shed2602, Vinicius
Menezes, Juhoham, Rubin Cubiles, Bstart,
Raultrevino, Johnjackman, Chiara Pasquini,
Dweller, RodoxDesign, Lethorgius, Ilog,
Grusborg, Chow120, Tom Baxa, Pushpinder Singh,
The Elysian, Misterho, Adonihs, Jasson, AKnox,
Obeythekiwi, Andree Wallin, Fuchsiart,
Garang76, Spiral Dance Studio, Dingo107, Nick
Egberts, Acidlullaby, Orellana, Photoport,
Wyldekarde, Knightwatch, Zalas, Mothbot,
Horrified Survivor, WarmGunMod, Salemburn,
Avonius, Avalonfilth, Wildlifehoodoo, Raetjor,
Cellar, Skam4, Grinch_7, Patc_14, Echo_x,
Bqw-d4822kt, Nickykcin, Scruffyronin, Poibuts,
Archipelo, Maria William, Adonhis, A.
Baldasseroni, Britnerfmogul, Udoncrew,
Artbytheo, Luis Royo, Richard Daborn,
atomhawk, Jaime Jones, Jan Ditlev, El Pinoy,
Chonastock, Other Unicorn, Joe Clucher,
Jacobcharlesdietz, Tim Okamura, Ghostronix,
Psychofish, Polaris Pirate, Storm X,
Januszwyrzykowski, Brokenhill, Bokuman, The
Vigil, Tariq12, Lazeedog, Idomuchris,
Remichan, Timur Mutsaev, Joe Leder, Johan
Bergstrom, madmaxmovies.com, Humvee driver,
Laurent, Barry Harker, and various other
unknown films, anime, comics, artists, and car
customizers.
For questions, complaints, criticisms and suggestions, e-mail the author:wisdom000@gmail.com |
