Titus

The bartender smirks as he takes the fifty nuyen bill from you. "Titus? Yeah, I heard of him. He's some kinda corp mage that thinks he's street. Another fraggin' poser, ya ask me, but I hear he knows his game if nothing else. When the bullets hit the flesh, that's all that really matters right? Mojo slingers need to know the mojo, we 'Mun-danes' can handle the rest, neh? He's not your typical combat mage type either. He's a lot less magical shitstorm and a lot more seeing through walls and peeking in people's brains. Useful drek, no doubt, but unless I gotta face mojo, I'd rather leave the fraggin' spell slingers out of the picture. You need one I bet. Well, no accounting for taste. Here's the number for his Fixer." He says, as he jots down an LTG number on a cocktail napkin.

Physical Description

A human guy. [Trying to goad the player into writing a description.]

Lifestyle

Medium paid through FEB2061

Current Stats

Character Progression

• Run 1, +3 + 1 (war story) = +4 [4/4]
• Run 2, +5 [9/9]
• Interim +1 (lifestyle) [10/10]
• Bought Night Vision 1, Levitate 1, Fix 1, Analyze Truth 1, Stealth 1, Improved Invisibility 4, -9 karma [1/10]
• Run 3, +5 [6/15]
• Joined group, -3 karma [3/15]
• Run 4, +6 [9/21]
• Initiation Rank 1 (Thesis), -9 [0/21]
• Run 5, +5 [5/26]
• (Spell) Increased Reflexes +2d6 1, -1 [4/26]
• (Spell) Heal raised from 4 to 6, -2 [2/26]
• Bonded a sustaining focus Force 1, [1/26]
• Run 6 - 5+1 [7/32]
• Warstory (retroactive) of Initiation in Crimson Circle +1 [8/33]
• Run 7 - 5 [13/38]
• Bonded power focus, -10 [3/38]
• Bonded Force 1 Sustaining Focus [2/38]
• Bought Evasion Maneuver [0/38]
• Run 8 - 5 [5/43]
• Cash to karma +1 (working towards a scholarship) [6/43]
• Bought Control Thoughts 3 [3/43]
• Detect Enemies 3 [0/43]
• Turned in 3 stories (Grade 1, Run 8, Run 9) [3/46]
• Run 9 +5 karma [8/51]
• Cash to karma +1 [9/51]
• Bought Clubs(Stun Baton) 1/3, Stunball 1, Lightning Bolt 1 [3.5/51]
• Run 10 +8 [11.5/59]
• Spend 10k for 2 karma [13.5/59]
• Etiquette (Magic) up to 3(4), -3 karma [10.5/59]
• Run 11, +4 karma [14.5/63]
• Grade 2 -10.5 [4/70]
• Run 12, +7 karma [11/70]
• Barrier (Physical ) 6, -6 karma [5/70]
• Run 13, +4 karma [9/74]
• Control Thoughts 3 to 4, -1 karma [8/74]
• Run 14, +5 [13/79]
• Grade 3, -12 [1/79]
• Cash to karma, +1 [2/79]
• Heal 6 to 7; Control Thoughts 4 to 5; -2 [0/79]

Contacts

Buddy: Brad Healey, a.k.a."Slipstream" (Street Mage, Human): A former student of Titus, he grew up on the streets of Seattle and went to MITT on scholarship, later returning to Seattle to work as a shadowrunner. He introduced Titus to the world of the shadows and set him up with the appropriate equipment and Simone. Knows some more mundane fixers. Though much more knowledgeable about the streets and shadowrunning, he still refers to Titus as Dr. Dawkins when they are alone. Tends to slip into cityspeak, but tries to speak "proper" English to Titus.

Buddy: Francis d'Lorian (Research Mage, Elf): Francis d'Lorian, elf mage, professor at University of Seattle, researcher working on theories of drain, makes trips into Tir Tairngire to visit family from time to time. Very knowledgeable and maintains a sophisticated lab and hermetic library. He and Titus have co-authored a few papers together.

Buddy: Steve Hanley (Wage Mage, Human): Works as a security mage for a Target Securities. Specifically works in magic security systems design, though does field work inspecting compromised systems. Consults with Titus from time to time on magic theory questions. Enjoys chess. Titus and he have an ongoing chess game via the Matrix.

Contact: Firugi Vespuci (Fixer - Magic, Elf)- Firugi Vespuci, elf fixer, he focuses on getting magical people and formulae, but knows who to talk to for magical goods. Meets folks in Firenze's Italian Bar and Restaurant (which strangely enough doesn't have any connections to the mafia). He dislikes the Mafia due to their prejudice against metahumans and magic (and for the bad name they give good Italians like himself). He is a xenophile and loves the strange.

Contact: Sutter (Talismonger, Dwarf): a dwarf with an expertise for gathering magical materials (mainly mineral and metal), also trades in foci. Fantasy literature buff, plays up the stereotypical Tolkien dwarf image (even has an axe). Owns a small shop called The Dragon's Lair.

Weapons and Equipment

Weapons Knife Morissey Alta (HP, laser sight) - ammo (96 regular, 48 flechette) - concealed quickdraw holster, shoulder (C:8) - silencer (detachable) Steyr TMP (MP) - ammo (150 regular) - concealed quickdraw holster, shoulder (C:8) - suppressor (detachable) Walther PB-120 (LP, laser sight) - ammo (80 regular) - concealed quickdraw holster, back (C:9)	Explosives Grenades, IR Smoke (4)
Clothing & Armor Secure Long Coat (4/2) - Fire resist 6	Electronics Pocket Computer (w/Encr 3) Wristphone with flipscreen
Tools	Surveillance and Security Flashlight (pocket) Microtransceiver (Flux 3, Encr 1, ECCM 2) - subvocal microphone Camera Binoculars, optical
Surveillance Measures & Countermeasures	Security Devices UCAS SIN (free, legitimate ID) Fake SIN Lvl 4
Survival Gear Microflare launcher - Microflares (4)	Skillsofts and Chips
Cyberwear/Bioware	Biotech/Medical Medkit Antidote 6 Patches (4) Stimulant 4 patches (4) Trauma patches (2)
Magical Equipment Power Focus 1 [NOT BONDED] (medallion) - He wears it under his shirt so it's touching his skin. It is a silver-backed medallion with a mother-of-pearl field surrounding a star made of orichalcum, on a silver chain, worn under his shirt against his skin Poewr Focus 1 [NOT BONDED] (armband) - A celtic knot-work armband on intertwining bands of gold and orichalcum, worn around the upper arm (Titus wears it on his left arm). Sustaining Focus 2, Incr Will (Silk Scarf) - a silvery scarf with geometric designs, usually folded into a bandana and tied around the spell target, Titus used to wear it as a headband during heavy research	Vehicles

Starting Stats

Background

Basic Concept

Titus is an academic researcher who was on his way to a brilliant career as a magic researcher at MITT when corporations sabotaged his work and forced him to leave. With the help of some friends, he turned to the streets as a Shadowrunner to find a way to exact revenge on the corps that wronged him.

Childhood

Jeffrey grew up in a well-to-do family in Boston as an only child. His parents discovered early that Jeff was awakened and provided the best education for him to realize his talents. From magnet schools to tutors they tried to provide whatever was needed. Never a large boy and definitely not athletic, Jeff was picked on a bit by the older kids, and even beaten up once by a troll bully. To this day he still has an unconscious aversion to trolls, even though most he's met have been civil and he rationally knows he shouldn't be prejudiced. All of Jeff's hard work and talent paid off when he got accepted to MITT.

Academic Life

Once at MITT, Jeff knew he had found his place. His intellect and love of learning no longer made him stand out, but rather, made him fit in. Enrolled in the Hermetics program, he studied the discipline of magic fervently, putting in long nights to learn all he could (to this day he still uses the Fast and Nutrition spells he developed during this time to avoid eating when he's busy). His senior year, he even worked on an independent research project on the new Beta Strain bacteria that was recently developed. As graduation approached and his classmates were talking about the corporations they were going to work for, Jeff knew that research was his calling. Convinced MITT was the top university, he applied for the graduate program in Hermetics, being accepted and advised by Henry Greenwald, the renowned professor of magobiology (study of the interaction of biology and magic). Under Greenwald, he pursued his undergrad research project on Beta Strain bacteria, recently developed by the Fujitsu Corporation, eventually settling on a master's thesis, "Beta Strain bacteria: limitations and weaknesses", in which he studied the mechanics of the bacteria's interaction with astral space and suggested several avenues of research into circumventing the interaction. During this time he worked with some of the research mages of the corporation and learned some Japanese. However, weeks before presenting his thesis, his lab was ransacked and his thesis stolen. Whoever did was very professional and managed to destroy every backup copy of his work. Soon after this, a very nervous Greenwald told him that he couldn't advise him anymore "for personal reasons" and recommended he switch advisors. He also recommended that he try to pick a topic that wasn't "too…applied".

Disgusted and more than a little frightened, he switched over to Merl Archimal, a researcher in the highly theoretical field of elemental theory. He decided to pick a topic that wasn't too applied and eventually finished work on his master's thesis, "On the Origins of Elemental Spirits: extraplanar travel or spontaneous creation?", in which he tried to add thought to the question of whether elemental spirits (not free spirits) are spontaneously created through the magic of the conjurer (from the local elements), or whether they're summoned whole from an extraplanar realm (the plane of fire, water, etc.). He concluded that the most likely explanation is spontaneous creation, due to the large amount of energy that would be needed to spontaneously transport a spirit from an extraplanar realm to the astral plane and the relative drain conjurers incur. This got him interested in the interaction of channeling magic energies and their effects on the physical body, leading to his doctoral work, "Mana/Self Interactions: theories of drain". During these studies he looked at the dynamics of channeling mana and the interaction of the body/soul with these energies, with special attention to the interactions that cause drain. He found that the physical body has very little to do with the interaction, except as a receptacle for uncontrolled energies (physical damage from a Force that's too high), but that the soul is much more important based on its resilience (Will) and presence (Charisma).

He successfully defended his thesis and graduated, and soon started working as a post-doc at MITT, with both teaching and research responsibilities. In teaching Introduction to Sorcery, Jeff found that he was a natural teacher, able to engage his students intellectually and emotionally, and able to convey his passion for the subject in his lectures. He developed close relationships with several of his students, often meeting with them outside of class and advising several of them on independent research projects. Continuing his work on his theories of drain, further research was put into methods of limiting drain through more efficient interaction (through foci, spell design, and medicine), but he reached a point that would necessitate Initiation (and thus tenure) to pursue many research paths. It was during this time that he began collaborating with Francis d'Lorian, a visiting professor from the Tirag area. They worked quite closely on drain interactions, taking turns using each other as an observation case. To facilitate the research, Francis taught Jeff some Sperethiel which was useful in describing certain concepts that were clumsy in English.

Fortunately, everything was lining up for him to be granted tenure. There was some competition for the limited tenure positions available, the chief of whom was Fernando Cheops, largely known to be a shill for Aztechnology. Luckily, Jeff was able to publish an article in the highly prestigious New England Journal of Thaumaturgy, clinching his chances of success. A week before his tenure hearing, however, one of his students claimed that she had been having a secret affair with Jeff and reported it to the administration. Despite his insistence of his innocence, the admin decided to avoid the potential controversy and refuse him tenure.

This crushed Jeffrey. He left the university and hung out in the Cambridge area, drinking to excess and trying to figure out what went wrong. He snuck on to campus several times to try to find out who had been screwing with him, as well as retrieve his libraries and foci to developed a few spells to aid in his investigations. He was finally able to find the student who had accused him of the affair and was able to probe her mind to find that she had been promised a full-ride scholarship from the Aztlan National College Fund (which was odd since she wasn't even a citizen of Aztlan) in exchange for the accusation. In tracing the person making the offer, he found him to be an operative of Aztechnology, making it all too clear. He tried to bring this to the MITT admin, but they would have none of it. Francis said that he could probably get him a position at the University of Seattle, so he left his old life in Cambridge behind and headed West.

There he got set up as an Assistant Professor at UofS and started settling into the relatively boring routine of professor at a second-rate college. Teaching the rich kids of Seattle didn't compare to the highly-selective MITT, but he was able to supplement his income with some consulting work. In particular, he worked a fair bit with Steve Hanley, a security mage at a contract security firm. Steve taught Jeff about magical security, and Jeff taught Steve about the finer points of magic theory and helped him on several cases. But through all this, the fires of revenge still burned in him, stoked whenever he drove by the Pyramid. He even considered trying to get a job at Aztechnology as a security mage so he could find out how to really screw them over, but decided that would probably fail. Luckily, his position at UofS required a minimum commitment of time (their publishing requirements are so light!), so he had plenty of time to make revenge fantasies.

A real opportunity presented itself, however, when he was following up on a lead from a case Steve was working on. He traced an astral signature from a potential security breach and ran right into one of his former students, Brad Healey, or "Slipstream" as he liked to be called. After some catching up, Brad revealed that he had returned to the streets of his youth and taken to the high-adventure life of shadowrunning after graduating from MITT (he had been scouting the defenses of the Ares Corp headquarters when he encountered the security). Curious at the notion of a profession that strikes at corporations, Jeff met with Brad repeatedly, asking more questions about running the shadows.

Transition

It wasn't long before Jeff decided that he wanted to try to get into the shadowrunning game. He picked a "street name", Titus, based on the roman story of Titus Andronicus, a story of revenge, bought an armored coat, did some research on Shadowrunners, and met up with Brad to find out how to start, figuring the ability to use magic would be enough. Brad looked him over and concluded he didn't have a clue what he was getting into. Returning the favor of his old teacher, Brad groomed "Dr. Dawkins" for several months, working him through self-defense lessons, pistol training, and the use of essential equipment like radios, fake SINs, patches, and smoke grenades. Finally satisfied that he wouldn't kill himself, Brad hooked Jeff up with a fixer and wished him the best of luck, offering further advice, should he need it.

Magic Stuff

• Titus's Magical Group is the Crimson Circle; his contact is Jonah.