Chill® is a owned by Mayfair Games.   Everything else is © Michael J. Casavant.
 
Game World Location: Based out of Dallas, TX.  Real Life Location: Rice University.  04JUN2000-???

 

The Current PCs

There have always been those willing to stand between the world of man and the world of The Unknown.  Today, there is but one such entity, The Society.  It's brave members skulk about in the shadows where humanity dare not tread, trying to save mankind from its own ignorance of The Unknown.  The following are such people . . .

The current PCs comprise a team of Society agents that are based out of a safe house in north Dallas, TX.
 

John Brockway
Face man, intrusion expert, company man 
Dr. Sarah Doherty
Field scholar, theologian, ancient languages specialist 
Jeremy "Bud" Johnson
Naturalist, soldier, mechanic, driver, scout, tracker
Benedict "Bic" Raker
Technician, disguise artist, computer expert
Tom Brandt (inactive)
Martial artist

John Brockway (Corey)

[Face] [Starting Stats] [Current Stats]

Team role(s): Face Man, Intrusion Expert
Basic concept (in 10 words or less): John is the unexpected. 
Nationality: U.S.A.
Ethnicity: Caucasian (Father mixed European, Mother: Lebanese)
Hometown: Boston, MA 
Profession: CIA: Operations Officer, Energy Analyst; Houston, TX 
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Physical Description: 6' tall, black hair, bluish/green eyes. Average build, 160 lbs.
Creed:
Motto:
Religion: Atheist
Date he joined The Society:
Why he joined The Society:

Background

John grew up in Boston, MA. His mother, to whom he has a strong bond, is Lebanese and through his maternal grandparents learned to speak Arabic fluently. Several summers of his youth were spent with relatives in a small Lebanese village outside of Beirut. These trips ended when the country was given up to terrorists and Islamic fundamentalists. John graduated from a small New England college at the age of 21 with a degree in Geology and a minor in Spanish, which he picked up late after spending a semester studying in Mexico doing undergraduate research. Completely unmotivated for any sort of real job after college, John took advantage of an alumni connection in Washington D.C. to get a job as an intern in a senator's office. The senator was drafting legislation to protect oil company interests in areas of the country being designated as wildlife reserves. This particular senator was known for his underhanded tactics. As an intern John worked with the senator's staff compiling geological reports commissioned for use in the legislation being drafted. John also was to run errands delivering packages and documents. John also found himself entrusted with destroying documents. Before long he was recruited by the senator to procure documents and was forced to find interesting ways into other Senate offices, often in dark of night and more often by charming a secretary or another intern. This is also when John began to notice his gift. He began to have daydreams where he would fade off into oblivion only to awake to a co-worker or friend shaking him in concern. He dismissed it as nothing until he began to notice things in life, which he had seen in his dreams. Sometimes he was able to use this to a professional advantage and he established a reputation as the go-to guy in pressure situations when the senator needed information that no one else seemed capable of getting. It seemed that under high stress John could induce a dream and discover things. Usually whatever was causing him stress was the focus of his dreams. John gave the senator 6 years of loyal service that culminated in his key testimony to a senate ethics committee. His testimony exonerated the senator and kept him in office for the remainder of his term. Something about illegal campaign funds from oil companies. 

Tired of "life on the hill" John parlayed his loyalty to the senator into a position at the State Department. John was assigned to be an attaché to the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. His connections to the oil industry gave him a working knowledge, which was considered useful to the ambassador in analyzing Middle East oil concerns. After two years in Saudi Arabia, John was recruited into the CIA as an Operations Officer. John was trained in cartography and was assigned to analyze maps and information procured by the CIA. Most notably he was looking at information gathered in conjunction with the UN Weapons Inspection Team in Iraq following the Gulf War. Again, his 6th sense helped him to identify where Iraq had hidden much of its illegal weapons arsenal. As a CIA operative he also found himself using his attaché position to infiltrate embassies or do surveillance to procure more information. He often worked for an Energy Analyst in Washington who was concerned about oil production in the Middle East. He found that he already had developed skills suitable for this work in Washington and merely expanded on his available tactics. However, after 5 years even his 6th sense couldn't change that he was now a well-known "spook" in the Middle East. 

Having lost his effectiveness and strayed from any sort of diplomatic work, John left the State Department to work for the CIA full time. John was encouraged to get his masters degree so that he could become an Energy Analyst himself, a significantly more important position in the CIA. John spent two years getting his MS in Geology from the University of Texas where he focused on research in the petroleum field. John was then reassigned by the CIA as an Energy Analyst and set up in Houston, TX.  As an Energy Analyst John's job is to follow world energy security issues involving developments, plans, and capabilities of foreign countries/regions of strategic concern to the U.S. Particularly John investigates issues including risk and impact of potential oil supply disruptions, monitoring the impact of sanctions, and following energy developments in key countries and regions.  To this end, John still actively collects information as an Operations Officer, but his time now is more focused on analyzing information provided by others. He is only called upon to procure information when he has unique access to an information source. 

After only living in Houston for two years, John was relocated to Dallas. A local agent specializing as an Information Security Officer was found dead in his home, from an apparent suicide.  The agent, one of John's only “spook” friends, was tracking the sale of illegal telecommunications equipment to China.  John called in a few favors at headquarters in Langley and now has the opportunity to hunt down his friend's killer.

Fears

John has a phobia of snakes.  It started out as a childhood fear and developed into a phobia that is almost crippling.  He also gets nervous in open, high places (not as crippling as vertigo, but enough to make him a little weak in the knees).  Finally, he gets nervous when left alone, without back-up, in a poorly lit area when there's a good chance of meeting up with a bad-guy.  Not enough to make him run in fear, but enough to give him an itchy trigger finger.

Relationships

 

Prior History of Combat and Serious Injuries

Throughout his career John has always preferred to avoid armed/violent confrontation, but as a CIA operative he was bound to see his share of conflict. Most of John's combat experience was gained while working in the Middle East.  John has been engaged in small gunfights and also gunplay at high speeds while in pursuit or escape with an automobile. John is particularly comfortable with gunplay in close quarters and with a silenced weapon (i.e. Inside buildings, large crowds, etc.). 

John has a very poor sense of taste and smell resulting from an accident that occurred during his senior year in college. While working in lab he and another student were called upon to analyze some rock samples. This required digesting the rock in a strong nitric acid solution in a microwave digestion apparatus. While John worked on one sample the other student, an over zealous sophomore, hastily prepared another. The student improperly sealed the digestion containers and upon turning on the apparatus the intense pressure that built up caused a large explosion. The foolish student was standing in front of the apparatus and his body absorbed most of the explosion, this ultimately saved John's life, but before help arrived the room was filled with nitric acid fumes which burned at John's sinus and throat destroying most of his ability to smell/taste. 

Personal Life

John works out of a home office furnished and equipped by the CIA. He puts in a regular 9-5 type workday. John's time is spent analyzing reports from field agents or documents and compiling them into a database. He attends conferences, professional meetings, seminars/lectures in order to keep abreast of developments in the industry. These often require some amount of travel though usually nothing that takes him too far away (i.e. Within the region). When John compiles a report for his superiors in Washington he is called upon to present the report himself and is required to travel to Washington D.C. In special cases John actually travels out in the field to assess a situation first hand. He often travels to South America where he has connections in the Venezuelan oil industry or to Saudi Arabia where he still has connections from his embassy days. If he's not traveling or working on a deadline, John spends his weekends in the outdoors. He enjoys hiking, camping, and mountain biking. He also plays in a local soccer league, though he is notorious for missing games for unknown reasons at the last minute. John also enjoys working out at a local gym where he spends at least 3 nights a week.  John has a stark personal life. His is unmarried and not prone to dating unless forced to by a friend who has arranged a blind date. His friends consist of professionals he has met in the industry (spy and energy). More often than not these friends were once people he was getting information from, but have either retired or changed profession. John enjoys jazz music and his nights out usually consist of catching a set at a local coffee house or bar where a band is playing or a lone musician is performing, otherwise John prefers to stay at home reading rather than being out on the town.  Around the corner is a bar where he sometimes sneaks out in the evening to grab a beer and watch a soccer game on the big screen TV.  John's family consists of a sister and his mother. His father died while he was in college. John has a strong bond with his mother, who still lives in Boston, and calls her 2-3 times a week and he always finds a way to visit her 3-4 times a year. John's sister considered herself an activist in college and finds his job with the CIA repulsive. She has broken off contact with him almost entirely. 

Typical Week

MWF
0900-1800 Work on reports, research information, collect information
1900-2100 Work out at gym
2100- Dinner, relax at home or go to jazz bar and/or coffeehouse
2300 Sleep

TTH
0900-1600 Work on reports, research information, collect information
1650-1800 Soccer practice
1800- Dinner, relax at home or go to jazz bar and/or coffeehouse
2300 Sleep

Weekends:  See “Personal Life”

Vices

John's vice is his car.  John has a passion for fast cars and fast driving.

Hangouts

Ernie's Bar:  Where John goes to get a beer and watch soccer games. 
The High Hat:  A jazz bar with good drinks and good music. John can be found here most Saturday nights. 
The Empire:  Coffee house where John goes to sit, read, relax. Sometimes brings a laptop and does work here. 
Gold's Gym:  John workouts 3 times a week and can be found here when he needs to blow off steam with a good workout.

Home

John has a two bedroom apartment in Dallas. He uses one room as an office, which is furnished by the CIA. He has a typical home office with a computer, fax/copier and filing cabinets (heavy duty with large padlocks securing them). John has a fireproof safe recessed in a wall behind a picture of the US President (CIA issue) where he keeps his most classified material and his pistol.  The living room is dominated by his entertainment center, a large flat screen TV with a Bose surround sound system that John installed himself.  He also has a full component stereo system. John's taste in furniture is limited to Ikea, Crate and Barrel, or Pier1 Imports and most of the items in his apartment can easily be found on the show room floor of any of these stores. John prefers to spend time making sure his audio/video system is just perfect rather than pick out furniture. There are very few personal items in the apartment. There are some pictures of John and his mother and family and very little art on the walls.

Car

Although he has never romanticized his job as a spy and scoffs at any comparisons between real spies and the James Bond movie characters he has found that his personal ego and confidence as a spy is boosted by having a car suitable to a jet set covert operative. His personal choice is the Audi TT. John fell in love with the Audi TT as soon as it hit the market. His model is jet black with a black, leather interior. The audio system is state of the art Alpine with a 6 CD changer hidden underneath his seat. One of John's favorite activities is getting in his car and hitting the wide open Texas highways and letting loose his custom racing engine which he had built by his local mechanic, a German immigrant with a high performance motor shop. John can be found at all the local car shows and often spends days off test-driving new models of European sports cars. His preference is toward the European high performance cars to the point of snobbery. 

Information Sources

James Shell - Jim works in Dallas for the CIA.  He lives in Richardson with his wife Irma.  John met him when John came to the Dallas office for training in telecommunications intelligence and counterintelligence.  James and John are good friends.

Secretary of Defense William Calhoun (not to be confused with the real life William Cohen) - John helped with the seedier aspects of spin control while working on the Secretary's staff when he was a senator of a new england state.  William knows what John did for him and the danger John could pose if he wanted to.

Dr. Sarah Doherty (Reema)

[Face] [Starting Stats] [Current Stats]

Team role(s): Field Scholar, Theologian, Ancient Languages Specialist
Basic concept (in 10 words or less): Religious archaeologist that works primarily on church-sponsored digs. 
Nationality: U.S.A.
Ethnicity: Irish-American
Hometown: Richardson, Texas, U.S.A.
Profession: Field Archaeologist (funded primarily by religious organizations)
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Physical Description:
Creed:
Motto:
Religion: Protestant 
Date she joined The Society: November, 1999
Why she joined The Society: She manifested latent Séance Discipline of the Art and was approached by the Society.

Background

"I was born in Ireland . . . no, I should start with my parents.  My mother, Zuhra, was born in Egypt; she was the only child of Fareed and Noora Darweesh.  Although they were Egyptians, my mother and grandparents were not treated like most of their countrymen.  You see, they are Christians, and in a land dominated by Muslims being Christian meant that you were discriminated against and your life was generally made more difficult.  There came a point when my grandparents had enough abuse and were ready to move to a new place where they could raise their daughter in peace.  They moved to Greece, where my grandfather's sister had lived for years.  This move was doubly advantageous in that it served as a great stepping-stone for my mother to pursue her passion, opera singing.  She had loved opera ever since she could remember.  In Greece, she had more opportunities to advance in this art.  I have seen my mother perform in many prestigious opera houses in Europe; she is absolutely astounding.

"My father, Liam, was born in Ireland, youngest son to Sean and Katherine Doherty.  Like my mother, he faced prejudice growing up because he was a Protestant.  In case you didn't know, Protestants and Catholics don't get along in Ireland [chuckle].  Other than the occasional bomb threat, my father had a reasonably normal childhood.  His parents were kind and supportive, and his older siblings gave him a hard time, being the youngest sibling and all.  With his love for assembling building blocks and drawing buildings, it was no surprise that he became an architect.  After graduating, his first job was to add another wing to an old opera house in Greece.  There, he met my mother, who routinely practiced at that opera house.  They very quickly fell completely in love with each other.  Six months later they were married, and my mother moved to Ireland.

"After three years of marriage, they felt ready for parenthood.  Because opera singing took all of her time, my mother decided to perform on a part time basis.  She performed all over Europe and my father attended every performance, but I only attended those that did not fall on a school night.  Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe.  When I couldn't accompany my father, I stayed with Granny Katy; my grandfather died before I was born.  She was a woman of great faith, but she wasn't one to proselytize.  She never told me that I had committed a sin or that I would go to hell if I did or didn't do something.  She told me bedtime stories, but instead of Snow White she would tell me about David and Goliath.  Bible stories were my bedtime stories, but they were told with the same enthusiasm and inflections of normal bedtime stories.  In fact, I didn't know that they were stories from the bible until I was ten.  Granny always followed the spirit of the bible, not the letter, and in her opinion, as long as you believe and love god and try your best to be a good person, then you will go to heaven. 

"I loved these stories, and whenever she recited them I would imagine myself in these stories, helping David pick the pebbles or standing next to Moses and watching the sea part.  I wanted to be there, I wanted to touch the past and learn everything about it.  You see, I did not regard religious stories as myths; to me they were part of history, as real as the Roman Empire.  Whenever I visited the various European countries with my parents, I wanted to go to historical sites to feel the brick and soil and imagine myself living in those times.  To my dismay, there weren't many known/confirmed sites where many of these religious stories took place.  Many of the known holy places were in Israel, but my mother never performed there, but I vowed that one day I would go there and revel in its history and unlock its mysteries.  But until then I had to survive being Protestant in Ireland.

"Growing up, I never understood why the Catholics and Protestants hated each other.  To me, there were not many differences.  They both had essentially the same stories and morals, so it made no sense that they were killing each other because of disputes about details.  Although Catholic children ridiculed me for being a Protestant, I never really understood the depth of this hate until I was 14.  Ever since I was 9, I had walked from home to school and visa versa.  And every day I would go into Owen's bakery on my way back from school.  Owen's pastries were unmatched to this day.  He was a kind old man, and he always gave me free goodies.  A few months after my fourteenth birthday I was heading to Owen's bakery as usual, but before I crossed the street to get to his shop a loud boom went off and Owen's shop, along with the two adjacent to his, were blown to pieces.  I covered my face, but some glass shards reached my arm and the blast knocked me back a few feet.  When it was over I opened my eyes, and from across the street I saw rubble, amongst which was a motionless body.  Later I found out that it was Owen's body and that he was killed because he was a Protestant and nothing more.  After the blast I was taken to a hospital and my parents were informed.  I was not seriously hurt, but my parents realized that if I had arrived at the bakery a few minutes earlier, I would have died.  This incident terrified my parents enough that they decided to leave Ireland.

"My father was not able to find a suitable job in Europe, so he expanded his search to the US.  There he came across a small group of architects in Dallas that were forming their own firm, and they needed one more partner.  My father had the talent and enough money saved to be the fourth partner.  So we moved to Dallas when I was 15, the age when you start going to high school.  I went to J. J. Pearce High School, a predominantly white school; in fact, there were only two Hispanics and four blacks, the rest were white American kids. 

"Although I did not have to deal with being teased for being Protestant, I still stood out.  I did not look like an all American girl; I looked a lot like my mother.  I had thick long wavy jet black hair, black eyebrows and eyelashes, a rounded face with an olive tan complexion, and light green eyes (compliments of my father's side of the family).  But what stood out even more was my Irish accent.  And people stared at me whenever I spoke, some people would even stop me in the hall and ask me to say something just so they can hear how I sounded.  I hated that; I hate being stared at and being the center of attention. I just wanted to be left alone, so I became even more introverted and was perceived as being cold.  That was fine by me; I would rather be viewed as cold than to have my accent be the center of their amusement.  It didn't really affect me because I never really had a lot of friends; I traveled a lot and spent most of my time site seeing, reading, and generally spending quality time with my family.  I only had two friends in Ireland, and one in high school.

"Not having many distractions throughout my high school experience helped me focus on my studies.  I ended up being Valedictorian and was accepted to the Archeology/Anthropology department in Harvard.  I loved being at Harvard, barring the saturation of arrogance with which I was inundated; I loved being around people that had similar interests and that I could have an intelligent conversation with.  But even there I was still different from the others.  You see, most of the Archeology majors there wanted to excavate sites in Egypt or in Italy and Greece, some were even interested in American Indian digs.  As for me, I was interested in religious sites.  I wanted to find these places that the bible described.  Because this area of Archeology was not very popular, there was a lot that was unknown.  To me, these stories and locations were not merely ancient history, but they had a supernatural flair to them that I was very curious about.  The only other topic that I was interested in was historical ones about witches and the way magic was used. 

"During my studies, I took a few classes on comparative religion, and the more I looked at Judaism, Christianity, and Islam the more they seemed like one religion with each one adding to the big story.  These religions were telling a chronological story about the relationship between god and man.  And when you look at these religions you find a lot of the same stories with minor variations.  I believe that god spoke to all three people and told them the same thing, but because the word of god was first relayed by mouth and then written and re-written hundreds of times, there came to be these differences.  For me personally, I find that each religion is as valid as the other, and I have spent a lot of time finding the common threads between them.

"To my dismay, I found out that the more a person was educated, the less likely they believed in god and especially the supernatural aspects of religion.  I still believe, but I would never get into a discussion about religion because you either have faith or you don't.  I just think that people without faith and who can't imagine that there are inexplicable things in this world and in our history are missing out on a lot of possibilities.  After graduating I took on church-, mosque-, and synagogue-sponsored digs.  But there was a lot of down time between digs, so I took a part time position teaching history at the University of Texas at Dallas, with the understanding that I would go on digs when offered and I would teach in my down time.  UTD also provided me with a small “lab,” a large room really, to study artifacts that I gathered from my expeditions.

"A year ago, I was invited to give a talk at Harvard.  It was very nice to see my old colleagues and professors again.  After my talk, Dr. James Larson, my old advisor, invited me and a couple of my colleagues to his house for dinner.  There, Jim told me of a book that was uncovered in a dig in Salem that was supposedly a witch's book.  He could not make out much about the book, but after examination, I determined that it was a book of Séance.  And being the curious person that I am, I convinced them to try it out.  So we sat around a table and I started reading from the book.  As I continued, I felt a chill throughout my body.  Then the window swung open, and a violent wind came through.  At some point I thought I heard a voice that was unearthly, I also thought I saw something.  But we all assumed that the wind made these noises and that what we saw was probably one of our shadows, and when I tried to do it again immediately afterwards, nothing happened.

"A few months after this incident, Raji Kumar, an old Harvard colleague of mine that was present at the séance came to Dallas to visit me.  I was happy to see him again, but he had a serious matter to discuss.  Because he knew of my beliefs and attitude towards the existence of supernatural powers, he thought our discussion would go smoothly.  He started out by saying that I had performed a real séance, that I summoned a powerful spirit but I did not have the ability to control or communicate with it.  To make sure that the spirit wouldn't harm us, he had put an invisible protective shield around us.  At first I thought he was joking, but he was very serious.  He then proceeded to tell me about the Society - their goals, accomplishments, and their ability to help me hone my talent.  I was so excited; I wanted to know more and to join immediately.  Raji was very happy with my reaction and he arranged for me to meet with Society members to assess if I could join.  To make the long story short, I am now a member of the society.  They helped me hone my ability an even taught me another one.  I have yet to be sent on a mission, but I have only been a member for seven months.  We will see what the future holds for me.

Fears

Standing by helpless while a loved one is being harmed.

Relationships

Friend/Mentor/Patron: Father Mahoney - Protestant priest that has been like an uncle to me ever since we came to the US.  He has contacts in Rome and Jerusalem.  He made sure that I had an excavation ready for me after I graduated from Harvard (he had an old friend, Rabbi Hari, that got me my first dig in Israel)

Prior History of Combat and Serious Injuries

Lightly injured as a child by a terrorist bombing of a bakery in Ireland.

Vices

Likes drinking Irish whiskey once a week. [Whew, now that's evil]

Hangouts

  • a Blues club (Dallas)
  • Concert hall(Downtown)
  • West End(Downtown)
  • Putt Putt(Plano)
  • Irish Pub (Plano)
  • Barnes and Nobles and half price books

Home

Townhome (Buying)- extremely organized and clean, 2/2, a living room, a dining room, a spacious kitchen, and a study that has bookshelves occupying all the wall space.

Car

A sturdy SUV. [Whew, such excessive detail]

Typical Week

MWF
0800-1200 Teach
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1600 Read articles and converse with colleagues
1600-1900 Examine and study artifacts from previous digs
1900-2200 Eat, relax, read a book
2230 Sleep

TR

0700-0900 Speak with religious contacts about possible and ongoing excavations
0900-1100 Office hours
1100-1300 Lunch with Father Mahoney
1300-1900 Examine and study artifacts from previous digs
1900-2200 Eat, relax, read a book
2230 Sleep

S
 

0630 Get up, and then go out jogging
0730 Get ready and eat a slow breakfast
0900-1200 Run errands, do chores, etc.
1200-1800 Hang out with friends or colleagues or do some more research work if necessary
1800-1930 Eat dinner with friend or alone
1930-2300 Have fun - play pool, go to a Blues club, watch a symphony, etc.
2330 Sleep

Sunday: spend the day with my parents and maybe get some work in if needed

Hangouts

 

Information Source

Father Mahoney (see Relationships above)

Mourad Bashir - Laborer/guide.  Sarah always hires him when she is in the area on a dig.  He is a devout muslim with a loud boisterous personality.

Jeremy "Bud" Johnson (Lars)

[Face] [Starting Stats] [Current Stats]

Team role(s): Naturalist, soldier, mechanic, driver.
Basic concept (in 10 words or less): A good ol' American redneck who gets caught up fighting evil.
Nationality: U. S. of A.
Ethnicity: Far removed European (i.e. English, Norwegian, and a little Polish).
Hometown: Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.
Profession: Mechanic
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Physical Description: Large sturdy man with thinning blond hair. He obviously works a lot with his hands and has a solid farmer's tan. His clothing is stereotypical white trash redneck and is often smeared with some oil or grease.
Creed: He doesn't think much about morals and ethics. He just has some fun and occasionally does the right thing.
Motto: "That ain't right."
Religion: Family was Methodist, but he hasn't gone to church in almost 20 years and doesn't think about religion much.
Date he joined The Society: May 31, 2000
Why he joined The Society: Encounter with beastie in the forest. He exhibited the art while saving his friend. No one believed what he saw and he's taken on a bad-ass crusader attitude.

Background

Bud was born Jeremy to a poor family in Richmond, Virginia on July 9th, 1972. His father was (and still is) a mechanic and his mother raised Bud and his five siblings. Jeremy was always a spirited and troublesome kid, getting into fights and bringing home various strange animals that he would catch in the woods behind their house. He picked up the nickname "Bud" from kids' games and it's stuck since. Bud picked up his father's mechanical aptitude, but joined the army when he was 18 because of a patriotic and adventurous streak fueled by the footage of the Gulf War.

Bud missed the Gulf War by a couple of months. He spent six years in the army and just couldn't escape being assigned to the motorpool as a mechanic. He enjoyed fixing jeeps and tanks, but disliked being looked down upon by the infantry and being ordered around. He wrapped up his tour and returned home in 1997 to a waiting job in his father's garage.

Upon returning, Bud met Lou Ann Miller and fell in love. She was accepted to a beauty academy in Dallas and he decided to go with her. They had a spur of the moment wedding at the courthouse and hopped in his pick-up truck for Dallas. For about a year, they had a decent life. Bud quickly found a job in a garage in Dallas while Lou Ann attended classes and waited tables on the side. Bud disliked the city and was hoping to find a small garage along a trucking route in a more rural area, like his home on the fringes of Richmond. Lou Ann had not fallen in love with Bud, but had fallen in love with the dream of marriage. It quickly faded once they hit hard times. She had an affair with a salon instructor. He divorced her and swore off marriage for good.

He has since been working at the Turnstile Stop north of Dallas on I-75, near McKinney. He keeps to the simple things in life: trucks, beer, hunting, and wrestling. Slowly his life has been spiraling into more excesses and more destructive behavior. Bar fights, gambling, etc.... Hunting was his only escape from the reality of the real world.

On one of his hunting expeditions, Bud's eyes were opened. Him, his buddy, Daryl, and his dog, Rex, were hunting deer deep in the forest near a Native American reservation in Oklahoma. They left the well marked hunting park to find better game and encountered some strange creature's den. It was mad when it awoke. Their rifles scared it away, but Rex tried to protect his master by growling and barking close to the beast. It swatted Rex aside, crushing his life him and lumbered away. As it left, it smashed a tree down on top of Daryl. Bud knew if he tried to go get help this abomination would return to finish the trapped prey off. Instead he tapped into some inner power and lifted the heavy tree trunk off of his friend. The two limped out of the area. Bud told the encounter to others, but no one believed him. Even Daryl did not remember the creature, but believed it to be a large bear or something. Bud was frustrated that no one would listen and pissed off that Rex would go about unavenged. Bud tried hunting down the beast a month later, but could not find any sign of a lair or tracks. He was approached by the Society a couple months later. He joined thinking this would give some focus to his life as well as give him a chance to exact some revenge on the Unknown.

Fears

Bud is not more creeped out by the usual stuff than most people. He is comfortable in the wilderness and working/living alone. Night time does not bother him either. He's most bothered by the unnatural abomination stalking the land. He doesn't know how to deal with them and that's a bit frightening. In terms of emotional or psychological issues, Bud is scared about being a failure and not amounting to anything worthwhile in this life. That's why he always adopts his bravado macho attitude and has taken up the Society's cause.

Relationships

Just Lou Ann (see Background, above)

Prior History of Combat and Serious Injuries

He's been in lots of bar fights and some that have turned ugly. He was involved in a botched robbery attempt of a Dallas convenience store and traded fire with the gunmen. He shot and killed one, the other escaped and was apprehended later that night. He took such drastic measures because he had a bad feeling their weren't going to let the other three customers live.  He's been beat up pretty bad in bar fights, but never serious. He's usually 
on the winning side :-).

Vices

He drinks, chews, smokes, gambles, and has even done some whoring during some low moments before the forest event. He's straightened up somewhat now that he has a cause.

Typical Week

MTWRFS
0700 Wakes up, shakes off any lingering hang-overs, showers, and dresses.
0730 Shows up at Turnstile Stop, the truck stop he works at. He grabs a 
bite to eat at the dinner before going to work.
0815 Shows up to work late
0800-1200 Working as a mechanic on rigs and other cars that stop by
1200 Gets lunch to go from the dinner
1200-1230 Eats lunch on a small bluff overlooking the lot so he can get some privacy and listen to a small portable radio playing Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin. When it rains he eats in the dinner.
1230-1830 Work.
1830-1930 Unwinds with a couple beers at the dinner with fellow mechanics 
and truckers.
1930 Showers at the truck stop and changes out of uniform
2000 Heads to the local sports bar (Rudy's) that is close to his apartment
2000-0000 Hangs out watching sports and wrestling.
0000 Goes to sleep (Except for Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday night)

Sunday - varies, but usually involves hunting trips or hanging out at a bar (Turnstile Stop or Rudy's).

Sunday night - 2200-0200 watches underground street fighting at the Bashing Pit. Every now and then he participates, especially if he is feeling depression-originated self-loathing.

Tuesday night to Wednesday morning - 2230-0300  Poker night at Daryl's place.

Saturday night - Stays up to 0200 drinking and watching sports at Rudy's.

Hangouts

Turnstile Stop  (Truckstop)
Rudy's  (Redneck sports bar)
Oshman's  (Often ogles various hunting gear)
Bashing Pit  (Street Fighting Warehouse)

His Home [floorplan]

His apartment is a typical messy bachelor pad. Other guys wouldn't think twice about, but he makes sure to pick up the empty beer cans and scattered copies of Field & Stream when he brings a woman home. There are usually several fast food bags and containers scattered about the kitchen, but not many dirty dishes since he rarely eats at home; the ones that are there have probably been sitting for a week. His furniture is second hand brown plaid 70s style, which he picked up garage sales and used furniture stores. He has a well worn lazy boy chair that sees a lot of use. He has a mounted tenpin buck's head in his living room, which dominates the place. There is also a couple of sleek posters of motorcycles and vintage racing cars with scantily clad women modelling them. The bedroom is always very messy -- bed unkempt and dirty clothes all over the place. Bud keeps the door closed so that he doesn't have to do any cleaning when the guys come over. He keeps his hunting rifle and shotgun in the closet in the bedroom after he heard about a couple that got killed by a burglar who found a gun and box of ammo in the entrance closet. He also has begun keeping a loaded pistol by his bed since the fateful hunting trip with Daryl (see Background).

Bud's Truck

Bud is living cheap because he bought himself a new F150 pickup truck two years ago after the divorce as a pick-me-up present. It is cherry red with black trim. He keeps it well maintained and washes it once a month. It has stylish nude woman silhouette mud flaps and a big texas longhorn hood ornament. He drives it everywhere, usually fast and obnoxiously.

Benedict "Bic" Raker (Angelo)

[Face] [Starting Stats] [Current Stats]

Team role(s): Techie/Computer jock, with double duty as disguise artist and minor league occultist. 
Basic concept (in 10 words or less): Friendly but socially inept F/X guy in over his head.
Nationality: Canadian.
Ethnicity: 2nd generation Canadian, family is Romanian.
Hometown: Toronto, Canada.
Profession: Special F/X guy for film and some television.
Age: 29
Gender: Male.
Physical Description: Tall and thin, around 6'1 and 170 pounds.  Dark hair and eyes, scruffy facial hair.  General semi-geeky look, but not one of the great unwashed.  Twitchy, like he's got a caffeine IV.
Creed: Never screw over a friend.
Motto: That is so cool!  I bet I could rig that up myself, if I had the right gear. 
Religion: Agnostic, leaning toward atheist. 
Date he joined The Society: March 9, 2000
Why he joined The Society: While working on a movie on location in Haiti, he witnessed a significant occurrence of Unknown activity.  Two members of the Society saved the day, and he thought it was so cool and interesting that he became obsessed with finding out about them.  Now he feels like he's living out some kind of fantasy RPG, and he's finally got a chance to do something really good with his brains and talent.

Background

Benedict is a special effects artist in the movie business.  Although he is fairly young, he has devoted much of his life to computers and his love of fantasy/sci-fi and horror, especially movies in the genre.  A stereotypical geek through high-school, he is trying to break that image as an adult, but his boyish enthusiasm still has a way of making him do and say socially awkward things at just the wrong time.  Still, he is very friendly and loyal to those he can call his friends.

A few months ago, he was doing special effects for Master of Zombie Island, a horror movie shot on location in Haiti.  Unknown to the director or anyone else, the propmaster was a dangerous minion of the Unknown, and arranged for all the right elements to be in place during one of the scenes to effect an actual magic ritual.  As the actors began reading from a really authentic looking "magic book" and sprinkling other actors (slated to be sacrificed to a summoned demon) with odd smelling "magic powder", things started really happening.  At first everyone thought Benedict had just outdone himself with the special effects, but he knew better.  As matters got out of hand, panic erupted on the set as smoke began to come up out of the ground and wailing unearthly voices were heard.  Benedict was just as confused as everyone else when suddenly everything seemed to get better.  When the smoke cleared, the actors were all unharmed, but the propmaster was found dead of a knife wound and the film of the incident was missing.  At least, most of the film...

You see, unknown to anyone Benedict works for, he always hides a video camera in his gear and films the scenes where he does special effects.  He does this for a number of reasons, including keeping a record of scenes that don't make it into the movie, keeping his own private scrapbook, learning from his mistakes, etc.  Of course, this violates copyright, so he never mentions it to anyone he doesn't completely trust.  Anyway, the producers of the movie were too freaked out to continue it, especially given the fact that they'd have to reshoot scenes on the missing film, so the production was ended and the film never finished or released. Benedict was blamed by some for the weird scene, but he was able to convince his employers that he wasn't responsible.  Nevertheless, Benedict was very curious to find out what had really happened.  He examined his video tape of the incident, and discovered that when the weirdness started, several things happened at once, as though they had been well choreographed by several "extras" on the set.  First, several smoke grenades went off, filling the area with smoke and causing most people to panic.  This also served to hide from most folks on the scene the weird demonic form which was starting to materialize.  Second, one of the "extras" closed the "magic book" and cut the sacrifices free.  Third, in the ensuing confusion, another extra, moving with grim purpose, knocked the cameraman out from behind and stole the film.  Finally, another "extra" was seen calmly walking in the direction of the prop area.  Although the video tape doesn't show the propmaster being killed, Benedict made the obvious conclusion.

At first, Benedict didn't know what to do or think about this.  He was a little scared at the implications. but he was also fascinated and intensely curious.  He knew he couldn't go to the police, but he wasn't sure he wanted to anyway.  He also knew that going to the movie studio would be pointless.  They would assume he had rigged the effects himself, and they would be none too thrilled about his private filming anyway.  He was also unclear as to what he thought ought to be done.  After all, the "extras" had likely saved his and many other people's lives.  After some thought, he decided that he would find out as much as he could about what had happened and who these extras were.

He started off by showing a highly edited version of the tape to his grandmother.  She is a fortune teller and owner of a magic shop in Quebec, and always had a good relationship with Benedict, despite his parents trying to keep them apart.  She would fill his head with stories of werewolves and vampires from the old country, and Benedict's parents never approved.  Anyway, he showed her the piece of the tape showing the demonic entity, and she immediately got a bit pale and said that he needed to be very careful because this was the real thing he was looking at. She didn't go into any detail, but she did give him a charm to ward off this creature should he encounter it again.

Since that didn't pan out, he decided to track down the "extras" if possible.  Using his knowledge of computers he managed to identify one of them and tracked him down.  A tense confrontation ensued during which Benedict was unknowingly close to being killed for security reasons, but luckily he talked the "extra", a member of the Society, into giving him a chance to use his skills as he had seen the agent use his own skills to save people in need.  Benedict was introduced to the proper people and now is a new recruit in the Society.

Fears

As for fears, Bic has enough ghoulish thoughts in his head to come up with some pretty horrific special effects for the horror movies he's done.  Although it's not something he thinks about often, he used to get creeped out at the thought that he might make someone over into a monster, and they'd actually stay that way.

A more mundane problem/fear Bic has is a queasiness over sharp eye trauma.  One of his childhood friends got a fishhook caught in his eye, and ever since then sharp things going into eyes has made him squirm.  In fact, he's used those sorts of effects in a couple of his movies because he finds it particularly icky.

Relationships

No serious ones.  This is a problem for Bic.  He sees other movie special FX guys with attractive women, and he thinks, "Why not me?"  The difference is that Bic is not skilled in the social graces.  Maybe this experience will help.

Prior History of Combat and Serious Injuries

He's never been in a fight involving weapons and has not had a fight at all since middle school.  He's played LazerTag, paintball, and way too many hours of first-person shooter computer games.  He tends to try to avoid conflict if possible.  He has never been seriously injured or had his life threatened.

Vices

He plays computer games and hacks.  Also, in lieu of an actual sex life, he surfs a lot of internet porn, but he doesn't do drugs or anything like that.  The closest thing would be a serious caffeine habit.

Typical Week

M-F (note Thursday below)
 
0900 get up, shower, dress, eat etc.
1000 get to work (at home or studio)
1300-1400 lunch: at home frozen pizza or delivery pizza/Chinese; otherwise fast food if alone, restaurant if with friends.
work until dinner (with breaks to play/surf on computer)
1900-2000 dinner: same as lunch, although may eat with gaming buddies.  He tries harder to eat with a friend at dinner time.
watch TV/movies, play on the computer, online chat, hacking, etc.
0200-0300 go to sleep

Weekends - sometimes the same as M-F, especially when he's working on an important project with a deadline.  Other weekends he takes off, to do the sort of domestic things that everybody needs to do once in a while.  On
those occasions, he generally sleeps late, like until 11, as he also tends to stay up even later, sometimes into the early morning (ca. 6 AM).

Thursday night - The one scheduled weekly event he rarely misses is his gaming night.  The Conquistadors meet at the GM's house at 7:00 every Thursday night, usually with fast food in hand.  They play until 11 or 12,  occasionally going as late as 1 if the game calls for it.

When Bic is on location, his schedule is completely dictated by the production needs, and often involves him getting up as early as 6 AM or working well into the night.  Food is catered on the set, and hotels are provided for crew.  He always brings his laptop along, as well as his FX gear and a portable combination TV/VCR.

Hacking - Computer games and movies take up much of his free time, as does general hacking for fun.  He's never destructive when he hacks, but he does tend to leave his calling card.  It's a bit of animation with his hacker name, Pyro, burning up into smoke.

Hangouts

Virtual Joe's - A computer / coffee bar a few blocks from his house.  He knows the owner (who knows he's a hacker).  When he's feeling social he sometimes comes down to have a coffee and hang out / surf.  Occasionally, when he doesn't want to try to hack from home, he goes there and does some poking around.  He figures if there's any problems, he can sign off and Joe (the owner) has plausible deniability.  Of course, he uses throw away online identities when he does this.

2d10 - A gaming/comic shop.  The street address is 1010, which leads to the name of the shop.  There is an ongoing, virtually unending miniatures game going on on one or more tables in the shop.  Bic doesn't hang here as much as he used to, but he still occasionally drops in to play for a few hours.  He also drops by to pick up new games.

Ridgeway Uniplex - A small, one-screen art-house theater which also shows older, classic movies.  When a movie comes in Bic likes, he has been known to see it 4 or 5 nights in a row.  They are right next door (run by the same people) to Play it Again - a video rental store specializing in classic movies.

Any museums in the Dallas area - Bic appreciates art, and when he's tired of feeling shut into his house, he can sometimes be found wandering through any of a number of Dallas museums.

His Family

Benedict is the only child of Vladimir and Antoinette Raker, who live in Toronto.  The family name was Rakov, but Vladimir changed it before Benedict was born, because he was trying to become more Western.  This was largely to distance himself from his mother, Mirabella,  who still stands by her Gypsy ways.  She runs a fortune teller / magic shop in Quebec, and currently has more contact with Benedict than she does with Vlad and Netti, as Benedict's parents are called.  This bothers Bic's parents, as they view Mirabella as a crazy, if not dangerous, influence on their son.  Bic is very fond of Mirabella, and the way he sees his parents treat her has put a strain on Bic's relationship with them.

Lifestyle

As for Bic's lifestyle, he lives alone in a good sized home studio, with a loft and plenty of storage space.  His collection of electronics and computer equipment is matched only by his selection of games and DVDs.  Although he has some like minded friends, especially his gaming group (The Conquistadors), he mostly hangs out online or sits around the studio tinkering with his computer or designing new special effects for movies that haven't even been proposed yet, never mind written.  He sees his new "job" with the Society as a chance to play out a game for real.  This attitude may change when he or someone he knows gets hurt, but for now he's overflowing with boyish exuberance at what he sees as the first really cool thing to happen to him in the last few years.

Special Effects Gear

Type of gear - This depends greatly on the project.  For some work, it will involve a lot of make-up and costumes, prosthetics, maybe even motorized puppet parts.  For some work it will involve pyrotechnic equipment.  Regardless, Bic has learned that you never bring just what you think you'll need.  You always bring extra stuff, in case you have to improvise on the spot.  [I'm not expecting to built a space shuttle from the spare equipment in my van, but I would like a little gadgeteering potential. :{)}]

At a production site - Bic will usually have about a studio van full of gear that he uses when on official work projects, and maybe when on unofficial projects as well.

Ubiquitous gear - He is never without some amount of electronics, including his cell phone and PDA.  He is very keen on current wireless technology.  When convenient, he carries his laptop with him.

At home - At home he has a LOT of electronics and computer gear, as well as a full studio for making monsters and the like.  He generally doesn't carry that sort of stuff around, but can get it easily if necessary.

His Car

Bic used to drive an old Subaru wagon, but last year he traded it in on a 1999 Ford Explorer.  He figured he could carry gear in it if he wanted, and that it would attract more women.  He was right on the first count.  It's usually littered with fast food wrappers and computer gaming magazines, under which can often be found a spare laptop, minor electronics projects he's playing with, a roadside emergency kit, and odds and ends he doesn't take time to clean out.

Tom Brandt (Inactive)

[Face] [Starting Stats] [Current Stats]

Team role(s): Martial Artist working on his Kinesiology degree at Collin County Community College between competitions.
Basic concept (in 10 words or less): Martial Arts bad ass.
Nationality: American.
Ethnicity: German and Belgian, Caucasian.
Hometown: McKinney, TX.
Profession: Morgue Attendant and Assistant Martial Arts Instructor.  Trying to break into the martial arts competition circuit.
Age: 20
Gender: Male.
Physical Description: Tall and heavily muscled, around 6'2 and 250 pounds.  Short dark hair and brown eyes with a very close cropped goatee and mustache.  He looks physically dangerous. 
Creed:
Motto:
Religion: Protestant, when he is forced to choose.
Date he joined The Society:
Why he joined The Society:

Background

Tom has lived and breathed martial arts since he was a child.  He has a mesomorph body type and finds it very easy to build muscle.  He is good enough to make a living on the martial arts competition circuit, but he wants to get a degree in Kinesiology.

Fears

Tom fears being permanently physically crippled more than anything.  His hearing is going, but he denies it and does not really care.

Relationships

Tom is usually casually involved with a few young women.

Prior History of Combat and Serious Injuries

Before becoming involved with the Society, he had plenty of bruises, broken bones, and other physical injuries.  He has not been involved in a gunfight, although he has disarmed a gun man once.  He has been thrust into more than one brawl as his size tends to draw drunk stupid overconfident morons out of the woodwork.

Vices

Tom has few vices.  He is not quite a health nut, but he does eat a healthy diet and drinks very lightly.  When he does drink it is only when the social environment demands it and even then usually jsut a beer.

Typical Week

M-F
 
0800-1200 Get up, eat, work out (martial arts, weights, running, biking, swimming, aerobics)
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1700 School (classes M-R, study F)
1700-1800 Dinner
1800-2000 Instructs martial arts at local dojos and privately
2000-2300 If not studying, then quite variable; usually either looking for a new girlfriend at a club, visiting a girlfriend, or reading (martial arts, philosophy, or medicine).

Weekend

Tom's weekends are a complete wildcard.  If there is a martial arts competition or tournament within a four hour drive, he will attend it.  Otherwise, he might make some money in private instruction or helping out at a dojo.  Occasionally, he may spend the weekend with a grilfriend.

Hangouts

Sou Lou's Martial Arts Academy
North Dallas Tae Kwon Do
Black Dragon Ken Po
Martial Arts Supply
Bally's Total Fitness
Library

His Family

Tom's parents live in McKinney, Texas.  He has one younger sister named Donna, who is 17 years old, three years younger than Tom.

Lifestyle

When Tom explains what he does generally, there is not much to say.  A great deal of his time is spent in physical training.  He is continuing on his path to being a better martial artist.  He lives in small one bedroom apartment that is spartanly furnished.  The dining are is taken up by a body bag, a weight set intrudes upon his living room, which has a loveseat and a small entertainment center.  His bed is large to accommodate his build and his frequent companions, but he has little furniture beyond that.  His home is usually very clean.  Tom has figured out where all of the healthiest places to eat in the local area are, but he still makes some food at home, generally sanwhiches which are heavy on the vegetables.

His Car

Beacuse of his brush with the Unknown, Tom's beat up old economy car had to be junked to reduce the trail to him.  The Society replaced it with a brand new Jeep, much to Tom's delight.  It stays somewhat clean.  the back seats are usually occupied by a large gym bag containing his martial arts pads and gear.