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While there are members of Maelstrom and Shrapnel in his secret congregation, no one in the gang who is not a member including their leadership is aware of the true nature of Shaman. He is however manipulating members behind the scene for a possible coup of both gangs…
The church itself was an abandoned outreach church, it has seen years of neglect, and most of the inner walls, and the second story floors have fallen in. While this would present an extremely dangerous situation for most people, the members of his congregation are so highly augmented that the risk is negligible.
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| Written By Deric Bernier, Images from
Johnny Neumnonic
For questions, complaints,
criticisms and suggestions, e-mail the author:wisdom000@gmail.com
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Shaman is the
mental health counselor and spiritual adviser to
Maelstrom… he is also just a bit crazy. As a
counselor, he is brilliant, through his therapy; he
has counseled many to regain a semblance of humanity,
to come back from the brink of Cyberpsychosis.
This much alone has gained him some respect and even
referrals from Shrapnel and Walking Dead.
However his successes, even in spite of his exile from
legitimate practice and his own experience with
augmentation, have given him something of a God
complex. His sermons preach about the positive
aspects of augmentation, of trans-humanism, and of
maintaining a benevolent outward appearance. But
underneath that message is a hidden subtext of
self-fulfillment, superiority, both physically and
morally, of augmented individuals, and in secret
sermons he talks of punishing those who would oppose
what he calls the Homo-Mechanis Movement. A
movement still in its infancy, but one which talks of
the Homo-Mechanis (his terms for trans or post human
beings, those who have undergone significant
cybernetic augmentation or replacement) rise to power
to rule over the chattel still clinging to their
flesh. He feeds the fire of these select few,
usually those riding the edge of cyberpsychosis who
are susceptible, with emphasis on the mistrust and
prejudice shown them by non-or lightly augmented
humans, feeding into the persecution complex. 