Re-found material: Augmented Assaults

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Now that my home office has finally settled into a room where it might actually remain for several years, i've been slowly unpacking a lot of the stuff i'd left boxed up, including a lot of old RPG material (much of it hand-written).

I found something that seemed worth sharing, especially since there have recently been threads about how to start a campaign and scenario ideas.

A few notes:

1 - i tend to do "partial pregen" for my Campaigns. Meaning, i come up with a basic list of characters (usually 3-4x as many as i expect there to be actual players) that all have a reason to be together or, at least, nearby one another when the adventure kicks off (possibly forcing them together). I do a basic outline of a character, but leave the fine details to the players, and if they want to alter something, thats usually fine. Also, if the list of characters inspires a player to make a completely original character that fits the theme, then that's OK too in most cases. Having the list of basics tends to give people an idea of what kinds of characters might be acceptable or workable.

2 - I've updated this as i typed it in and added a few details (and removed some that no longer made sense) and even added at least one character and altered another in a large way (the Dragon Hatchling was originally very much a Great Horned Dragon, but i swapped it to the one of the new types).

3 - This is intended to lead into the Juicer Uprising as the first major "campaign event"; the PCs would spent the first few sessions doing small jobs with their boss ("Cherry"), before he meets his untimely demise. The party will end up being composed of the members of Company played by PCs, potentially with one or two of the others as NPCs if the PCs are missing a role completely (I.E. if no one picked a character that can repair their gear, Racecar will stay on as an NPC).

4 - Some details were changed to make Augmented Assaults usable as an entirely NPC force, so Cherry's info was updated to include how long he might live, etc, if you just want to use them as background. This isn't 100% accurate to how it would have appeared if this was going to be the kick off to a major campaign.

5 - I never came up with a good name for the D'norr LLW, so its just represented by "()". I was looking for a good D'norr-ey name, but the only NPC i could find had only a nickname given to him by others and didn't even mention his real name.

Im going to go ahead and post the whole thing here, but doing so will strip out all the Bolding, Underlines, Italicizing, etc, from the Google Doc, so i will be linking the actual Gdoc here (here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d2o ... sp=sharing) so that you can read it with proper emphasis.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Augmented Assaults - A Specialist Mercenary Company


Augmented Assaults is a small (less than 40 total personnel, including non-combatant support staff) company of mercenaries that specialize in close-in assaults on hardened positions and/or interior positions (Close-Quarters Battle).

They were founded about 3 years ago (sometime around 101-102 PA) by a Dwarven Merc named Cheswyn Reelandor, who has gone by the street name “Cherry” for most of his career. Prior to this, Cherry, a native of the Kingdom of Tolkeen, had operated as a general mercenary soldier for some time (over 20 years), prior to being diagnosed with a terminal hereditary neurological disease.

After his diagnosis, Cherry set about trying to find a way to stave off his death, but eventually determined that he could not cheat death entirely - even if he were to undergo complete Bionic conversion, the disease would eventually destroy his nervous system entirely and he’d still end up dying. In fact, doctors warned that conversion might hasten the problem.

Not long after, Cherry received word that technicians and doctors at Northern Gun had developed a new and experimental Juicer technology - what would become the Mega Juicer - that conferred supernatural levels of strength and bio-regeneration. They had largely perfected the process on humans, and were looking for volunteers of other races to see if it could be applied to others.

Cherry volunteered, but the process still has a long way to go on other races, and he was the only one of the 20 dwarven test subjects to survive the augmentation process. However, for whatever reason, the process worked perfectly - Cherry was a full-blown Mega Juicer, and the bio-regenerative powers granted by the psionic feedback seemed to have slowed the progress of his disease nearly completely - but he was now, of course, doomed to die as a Juicer. However, early tests also showed that for whatever reason, the process seemed to not be consuming his body as fast as the typical Juicer - the Docs estimated that Cherry might have as long as 10 years before the onset of Last Call. (If this is set before the Juicer Uprising, as intended, Cherry is already six years old as a Mega-Juicer, and has experienced no signs of Last Call; he will start experiencing last call after Year 8, and will live 2d4+2 months after this.)

Determined to provide for his family, Cherry set out to make as much money as he could as an augmented super soldier.

A few years later, due to a confluence of events, he wound up working with several other augmented soldiers on a mercenary job and saw the prospects of creating a highly skilled cadre of assault specialists of the augmented variety, and asked several of his (at the time, temporary) team-mates to join up with him.

Thus was born Augmented Assaults.

While they are perfectly capable of working as a typical small-force mercenary company (clearing out bandits, hunting down raiders, supernatural predators, etc, for small towns/groups), their primary source of income is to sub-contract to other mercenary companies who do not necessarily have a heavy assault unit of their own, or whose own units need reinforcement or are currently tied up.

They have worked for/with most of the large mercenary companies (like Larsens Brigade, Braddoc’s Bad Boys, et al) and are on good terms with them (and have an excellent reputation), but most of their work comes from smaller, Company-sized or smaller merc units who dont have their own assault specialists and need a hand on a particular job.

They have an excellent reputation for getting the job done, and are not cheap to hire (though they keep their rates reasonable, and because Cherry is a relatively good guy, they will often accept less money from small towns/settlements for smaller jobs).



Organization:



The Company is wholly owned by Cherry. Everything except the personal arms and armor of the soldiers are property of the Company (and sometimes, their personal vehicles). As part of their pay, any personal arms and armor damaged or destroyed in the line of work are covered; as is ammo, etc.

Cherry is the overall commander/leader of the Company, and a highly skilled tactician (though not a great Strategist; you wouldn’t want him in charge of a large battle, he gets a little too carried away with individual small fights) as well as being pretty charismatic (high MA) and a good leader. His men generally like him a great deal, and he looks out for their wellbeing (as much as you can, in this profession).

He has a pair of recognized “first officers” - one his second in command of the actual assault squad, and one who commands the second squad (made up of the non-augmented combatant forces) and oversees the non-combat support staff.

Below that, command structure is determined before each battle (I.E. Cherry will decide who should be in charge should he and his 2nd in command go down, etc), but there are not any official ranks. It hasn’t really been an issue, as the two squads are simply not that large and when Cherry makes a decision, everyone is willing to go along.

The Company has several million credits in cash assets (mostly in banks in NG and Merctown), as well as over a million credits in “cash on hand” (Black Market or NGMI credits).



Membership:



Cheswyn “Cherry” Reelandor - Dwarven Mega Juicer (8th level, Principled)
The owner and commander of Augmented Assaults. A rare survivor of early experiments to adapt the Mega-Juicer process to non-humans. Jovial, friendly, and charismatic, he is a natural leader. Enjoys the thrill of combat, and is trying to make as much money as he can so that he may leave his family a solid nest egg when he is gone. Cherry enters combat armed to teeth. He wears a custom-fitted set of Titan Juicer Plate Armor, rather than Mega-Juicer or other armor, due to it not slowing him down much (he’s quite strong, even for a Mega-Juicer) and providing him enough protection to take a copious amount of fire if he needs to. His personal weapons include: an NG-E4A Plasma Ejector, NG-45LP Particle Beam pistol, WI-GL4 Grenade Launcher, and a Triax TX-5 Pump Pistol. He typically carries the Plasma cannon when expecting to meet heavily-armored resistance, and carries the WI-GL4 when action is anticipated against regular troops, where, especially in-close, the frag grenades can clear out an entire room. For melee weapons, he carries a battle axe given to him by his family (Minor Magic weapon; inflicts 4D6 MD -or- adds 2D6 MD to the wielders’ punch damage, whichever is greater), and vibro short sword (carried on the back, more of a tool than anything) and a pair of vibro-knives (one on each boot).



John Slaughter - Human Juicer (10th level, Aberrant)
A veteran mercenary who chose to “get Juiced” quite late in his career and life (He’s 47, and has been a juicer for 3 years), John Slaughter fought for years with a number of companies and as a freelancer, and put in 8 solid years in the IMCN. John decided to get juiced when he realized he was slowing down, and realized that he did not look forward to slowing down and eventually getting either taken out because he got too weak for the job, or getting drummed out of work for being too old. He was too used to, and addicted to, the action, and decided that going out at age 50 because of Last Call while still at the top of his game, sounded a whole lot better than drinking himself to death in NG or Merctown at age 55 while hating his “retirement”. So far, John hasn’t regretted his decision. He was fairly sure he’d never make it out of the mercenary life alive anyway, and now he’s at the top of his game and with almost three decades of experience to back it up. He hooked up with Cherry (whom he had met and known on and off professionally for years) and hitched his wagon to Augmented Assaults not long after Cherry started business. He’s gradually become the official second in command of the assault squad, and shares executive officer duties off the field with Thaddius, who commands the ‘backup’ squad. Rugged looking and handsome, he’s something of a ladies man, and generally well liked by everyone else in the company, though they also respect him and know better than to cross him, as he’s not just a juicer - he’s a 20+ year veteran and still kicking. John carries an NG-P7 Particle Beam rifle, a Wilks 227 Pulse Pistol, a Triax TX-27 Particle Beam Pistol, and Semi-automatic Shotgun with a 24 round drum (similar to the modern AA-12) for which he carries an even mix of Ramjets and explosive shells (mostly for dealing with energy-immune enemies). He wears modified CA-2 Light Armor (mostly made to look less like CS armor, and almost never buttons up), and wears the MDC armored coat that normally goes with the Branaghan armor (he likes the way it looks). For melee weapons he carries a Vibro Sword and a WIlk’s Laser Knife (which he loves, for how damaging it is and unexpected). [Note] This is the same NPC briefly discussed in Juicer Uprising as being an experienced Juicer who will end up serving as one of Julian the First’s seconds (he leads the assault on the Border Wall). This is intentional, as the original intent of writing up this Merc Company was for the players to be part of it and become involved in the Uprising, and knowing John gives them an in if they wish to speak at the Juicer Council. If the PCs cant figure out what they want to do, he will also ask them to accompany him on the Assault on the Border Wall, since he knows them from Augmented Assault.



Phillip Reitz - Human Cyborg Soldier (7th Level, Unprincipled [2nd Level])
A retired/former NGR Cyborg Soldier (mustered out at the end of his enlistment, and since he was going overseas to the Americas, was allowed to keep his cyborg chassis without modification) who left under…. Well, not a cloud, but with a bad taste in his mouth, after an operation he and his fellow troopers were involved in went bad and it wound up blamed on their Captain, whose fault it was definitely not. Grew disenfranchised with the NGR military after the vilification of his former C.O. and the white-washing of the person actually responsible, and after finishing up his then current tour, he was offered a chance to muster out - either to become a civilian with a civilian cybernetic body, or to keep his heavy chassis and leave for the Americas. He chose the latter, and has been in North America for 3 years. He was recommended to Cherry through the grapevine, and after tracking him down in Merctown, Cherry managed to convince him to join up with Augmented Assaults. He is the “pointman” when they wade in in a heavy assault - as an experienced Cyborg Soldier with the VX-500 Manhunter chassis, he can soak up a massive amount of damage. He is professional, cool, collected, and somewhat aloof, but is likable if you can get past his steely exterior (pun intended). He often keeps to himself, as he is somewhat uncomfortable in social situations, given that he’s an 8 foot tall metal behemoth. He’s actually something of a history buff and likes to learn new historical facts, and reads many books. He wears the heavy infantry armor into battle (420 MDC) and has half a dozen spares ready - he expects to take a lot of fire. He carries one of several loadouts depending on what kind of enemies they are expecting to face; his “typical” loadout is a TX-500 Rail Gun, a TX-24 Ion Pulse pistol (he’s still exceptionally loyal to Triax products), a TX-5 Pump Pistol, and a heavy VIbro Axe and a tough MDC shield (90MDC) with a firing cutout for a pistol. The shield and Axe are usually slung, and used when breaching a room or when fighting is expected to get into hand to hand. If they are expecting tougher enemies, he can swap out weapons and is partial to the WI-GL21 automatic grenade launcher when they are going into battle with a lot of infantry, and also may carry a shotgun like that used by John Slaughter as backup for his Railgun.


Jacob Brown - Human (Heroes Unlimited Earth) Mutant Vagabond or City Rat (5th Level, Anarchist [2nd Level])
Jacob was born on the Earth of Heroes Unlimited, in Century Station. Both of his parents were also Mutants. At a very young age (about age 6 or 7, he’s not entirely sure), during a scrap between an evil Wizard Supervillain and some heroes in his neighborhood, young Jacob was thrown through a Rift to Rifts Earth. He would wind up in the Burbs of one of the Fortress Cities near Chi-town. As a youngster, his Mutant abilities had not yet manifested, so he managed to gain entry to the city itself - but only because he was being used by a young couple to pose as their “son” because it would make getting into the city easier. Once inside, they threw him out onto the streets within weeks. He grew up hard, on the streets, and eventually joined a gang of fellow street rats, who ultimately served a more adult gang of actual “City Rats”. He eventually manifested his mutant powers, and his own gang threw him out - and ran him out of the city. Now a young teenager, and with his powers activated, an easy mark for Dog Boys and Psi Stalkers, young Jacob became something of a vagabond, wandering from ‘burb to ‘burb trying to make a living.

Eventually, his fortunes changed when John Slaughter witnessed the young man literally tear a car in half with his bare hands to save a trapped child. When the crowd looked to turn on the young man, John Stepped in and saved him from being attacked by the mob (which would have ended poorly for them, as the super-powered young man could likely have killed them all quite easily with his bare hands) - who quickly backed down when faced with an obviously experienced, heavily armed mercenary (this was about six months prior to John deciding to “Get Juiced”.

Jacob didn’t immediately join Augmented Assaults, as John thought he was a bit young, but John knew a place where his status as a mutant would at least be overlooked, if not outright ignored, and took the teenager to Merc Town. He got the kid a job as a loader, where his immense strength helped him be quite useful. It was a few years later that Jacob asked to go on the road with John. John discussed it with Cherry, and they decided that it was better that the young man learn from them then on his own, and started to teach him how to fight. He relies almost entirely on his mutant powers, which are quite potent, and doesn’t make frequent use of guns (he knows which end to point at the bad guys, he just prefers his own powers), has a decent collection of melee weapons (Kisentite Swords, Skorblade polearm, several vibro swords, and a TW Lightblade), and wears heavy MDC body armor, though he rarely wears a helmet and almost never buttons fully up. He likes the thrill of the fight, and looks up to John, and is somewhat sad knowing that in a few years John will die of Last Call, but he’s promised himself to be there at the end and help John go out in a blaze of glory.

One of the few good things about his mutant powers is that they aren’t physically obvious. By default he has Supernatural Strength (Major), Extraordinary PE (Minor, using the CB1 NON-revised rules, which turns him into an MDC being with a decent amount of MDC), Extraordinary PP (Minor) and Energy Expulsion: Light/Laser. As a Vagabond, he also has an additional Minor power (should be something that doesn’t make him obviously a mutant visually, and he does not gain this additional power if he chooses to be a City Rat OCC instead). Other powers can be chosen if they meet the criteria of making him into an MDC being with a decent amount of MDC and providing Supernatural Strength.




Sir Marius Arustrade - Human (Wormwood) Mystic Knight (6th Level, Aberrant [2nd Level])
The son of a dimensional Raider from Wormwood who got stuck on Rifts Earth during a raid-gone-bad in the Federation of Magic. Since she was already pregnant with him when the raid commenced (about six months along), he was born an MDC being like his mother. After she realized that Rifts Earth wasn’t so bad (no worse than Wormwood, and a lot better in a lot of aspects), she decided to settle in, and as a wizard, easily found a place in the Federation of Magic. Marius was born not long after his mother decided to settle on Rifts Earth and has never seen Wormwood, though his mother has told him stories. He has no particular desire to go there (it doesn’t sound any better than Earth), so other than it making him a bit harder to kill than a typical human, his background as a Wormwood descended human is largely irrelevant to his day to day life.

He was taken as an initiate to the Mystic Knights as a teenager, when he displayed the aptitude. He excelled at his martial training, and is an expert Swordsman (must have Fencing and WP Sword). He’s also a magical prodigy - showing a stronger connection to the mystic arts than most Mystic Knights (he gains additional spells as a traditional Mystic, not a Mystic Knight, meaning that at higher levels he will have access to spells most Mystic Knights do not).

Unlike a lot of Mystic Knights, he’s not dedicated to the ‘cause’ of being a Mystic Knight, and is more mercenary and even a little “nicer” and more honorable than the average Mystic Knight. In particular, he has no particular grudge with the Order of the White Rose, as he personally sees that schism as ancient history and unproductive in the extreme. (Which does not mean he wont defend himself against a White Rose Knight who comes for him, as he’s done twice in the past). He has a strong, well developed code (thus the Aberrant alignment), and, generally speaking wont harm innocents or non-combatants. Of course, his definition of innocent and non-combatant might be a little twisted. While a farmer picking up a pitchfork is obviously no threat to him, in his eyes, taking up arms against him makes you fair game, and he’d gun that farmer down without blinking or it affecting his conscience at all. However, his strong sense of personal honor and code make him an excellent mercenary, and he fell in with Augmented Assaults when Cherry took on some “temps” for a larger contract. Impressed with his prowess (and ability to soak up energy weapon fire without blinking), Cherry offered him a permanent job afterwards.

On the field of battle, Marius offers no mercy and only a single chance at quarter. If an enemy hesitates to throw down their weapons when given a chance to surrender, hell cut them apart without as much as a second thought. If an enemy surrenders, though, he will allow them to live, and either quit the field or take them captive (depending on what the mission calls for).

For weaponry, Marius is armed with a TW Flaming Sword, a TW Conduit Sword (taken from the body of one of the White Rose Knights who attempted to kill him), several Vibro Swords of various sizes, a Skorblade short sword, and an enchanted fore-arm bracer (snaps on over his armor) built by Toolbox that has Magic Shield, Energy Field, and Blinding Flash (at 5th level). For ranged weapons, Marius prefers modern weapons, as he can usually scavenge e-clips from opponents (or simply take their weapons) and can still use his PPE to recharge them if needed. He’s not particularly partial to any one weapon, and usually carries an L-20 Pulse Rifle (he will adopt a CP-50 when they become available/he can pry one from the corpse of a CS soldier) and a Wilks Pulse Pistol as a sidearm. He doesn’t worry about carrying a slugthrower for dealing with energy-immune enemies, as he has melee weapons that are quite effective against them.

Marius revels in melee combat, preferring to close the distance and get in among his enemies. His ability to ignore energy weapon fire often makes this quite simple, as does the spell Superhuman Speed. Once in among his enemies, he will often strike out at their weapons first (if they are carrying guns), destroying them or disarming his foes, forcing them to fight him in melee, where they are a huge disadvantage (with his Conduit Sword, even at the lower 2nd Level, he inflicts 8D6 MD!) compared to him.


Aurespin no’Draco - Human Dragon Juicer (6th Level, Anarchist [2nd Level])
A Dragon Juicer who was “juiced” in Stormspire as a way to save his life. He was employed as a guard there (not augmented) and during an attempt on K’Zaa’s life, jumped between the Lizard Mage and the attackers. He was cut down, badly mangled by weapons fire, and was likely to not make it unless he could be saved somehow. The only two options that came to mind were full bionic conversion, which was not something that is available at all times in Stormspire (or at the drop of a hat), and turning him into a Dragon Juicer, whose supernatural regenerative abilities would save him.

K’zaa had the young man “juiced” by the Dragon Juicer progress, which did, indeed, save his life. Young Aurespin (not his real name) was grateful for the intervention, but rather worried about now being a Juicer with a limited life span (though it was still a lot better than just being dead!). He stayed on working as a guard in Stormpsire and for K’zaa for another year, before deciding to set off into the world. As a sign of gratitude, K’zaa allows Aurespin to purchase more of the needed, treated Dragon’s Blood at cost, and has offered to supply Ancient Dragon’s blood down the line - but not at cost, full market price; he’s merely offering to make sure its available! - if Aurespin needs it to extend his lifespan.

In terms of personality and outlook, Aurespin is a rather unpredictable person, who is basically out to live it up as best he can. He’s an excellent combatant but occasionally needs to be reminded to be a team player. He is free with his money and loves to drink, party, and dally with attractive people.

In combat, he wears a set of Mega-Juicer armor (its easier to get fixed than traditional Dragon Juicer Armor) but rarely buttons up entirely. For ranged weapons, he loves heavy weapons that a person his size normally couldn’t easily wield (or wield at all), typically carrying a TW Nova Rifle (the Stormspire version, with PPE clips, which Toolbox can recharge), a TW Firebolt Pistol (Queenston Harbor version), and an NG-45LP Long Pistol. For melee weapons, he’s got a Triple-blade forearm vibro blade built into his left arm (3D6 MD), carries a Kisentite short sword (mostly as a tool/machete), and, strapped to his back, a TW Chainsword (basically the TW Chainsaw from SoT1, only re-gripped like a sword instead of a chainsaw, made by Toolbox). He will sometimes swap his Nova Rifle for a WI-GL21 automatic grenade launcher if they are expecting to go up against a mass of infantry, but he prefers the Nova Rifle. He’s looking to acquire a TW Lightblade (Toolbox will probably create this for him) to better harm things that require magic to hurt them. He’s a capable, but indifferent swordsman.


Shrike - D-bee (near-human) Cyber Humanoid (4th Level, Unprincipled [2nd Level])
She’s the “stealth” specialist on the assault squad. Usually only participates in assaults in confined spaces, and hangs back with the second squad in large fights out in the open. Pretends to be a JAEP pseudo-juicer (an idea given to her by Phillip, only he and Cherry know the truth) to hide the fact that she’s a cyborg. She’s originally a near-human looking D-bee (no special powers or abilities, same stats as humans, but very noticeably not-human facial features, hair, and hands (3 fingers and two opposable digits). She became a Cyber-humanoid after being picked on for years and her Cyborg body looks totally human. Good with short guns (pistols, carbines, SMGs) and an excellent swordswoman (must have Fencing and W.P. Sword)

She typically wears heavy (normal) body armor indoors, never wearing Cyborg armor (it would give away her disguise as a JAEP Pseudo Juicer). She specializes in close-in action inside buildings - not necessarily melee range, but her small frame and mobility allow her to move through ducts and passageways most of the rest of the team cannot fit through, meaning she can often set up a deadly crossfire by shooting at the enemy from above, below, or even punch through a wall to enter a room unexpectedly. Her standard armor of choice is the Man-Killer EBA (JU) with the spikes removed (they get caught on things too easily), though once it becomes readily available in the North American market, she will probably switch to the Triax T-E02 Infiltrator Armor (Triax 2). For the instances where she accompanies the Assault Squad on an outdoors assault, she wears an NG-EX10 Gladius Exoskeleton, which had to be modified by Racecar and Toolbox because she’s already augmented; before it was modified she’d often over-power the armor’s exoskeleton on accident; it no longer provides the extra attack or initiative bonus, and only adds +2 to her effective P.S. (as her PS is already augmented). She typically carries a pair of sidearms (one clamped to each thigh) - a TX-5 Pistol, and a NG-45LP Particle Beam pistol; a bevy of grenades (a satchel with 24 grenades), a Vibro-sword and a pair of Vibro Claws (not worn until needed, takes a melee round to get them from where they are stored and attached), and an NG-IP7 Ion Pulse Rifle as her primary weapon. Out in the field, she will usually forgo the NG-IP7 and use an NG-E4A Plasma Cannon instead. Sometimes, if they are expecting to face supernatural opponents, she will carry an NG-11S “Sawed Off” and a double bandolier of shells (30, +2 in the gun) instead of the TX-5. The shotgun shells will be a mix of Silver Frag (made by Toolbox) - basically frag grenades where the shrapnel is silver-coated (only 1D4+2 MD to MD opponents, but inflicts 4D6 HP damage to anything vulnerable to silver caught in the blast - 10ft for one shell, or 20ft for a double blast (and 1D6+2 MD/6D6 HP) and regular frag shells (2D6/10ft; 3D6/20ft) to deal with potential energy-immune enemies. She would also love to get her hands on a “better” melee weapon than her Vibro-weapons, and is not against using magic weapons (but she cant use most TW weapons due to being a full conversion Borg), or off-world/alien weapons, as long as they are better than what she’s currently got. If she knew they existed, she’d love to get her hands on a Phase Sword.



Samuel “The Dagger” Mendez - Human Juicer (3rd Level, Unprincipled)
One of the indirect causes of the Juicer Uprising itself. Sam “The Dagger” is a new-ish member of the Company (about a year) and a relatively “young” Juicer. He’s not the first Juicer to go by Sam “The Dagger” - and it is this confusion, when John Slaughter is introduced to the OTHER Sam, that kicks off the Devon Incident. Sam is a typical Juicer, competent, but nothing particularly special. He carries the standard armaments of the Company and doesn’t have any particular speciality.



Mellisra “Racecar” Grant - Human Operator (7th Level, Principled [2nd Level])
A down and dirty, grease-covered, stained-overalls stereotypical “Greasemonkey” mechanic Operator. Keeps the vehicles and robotic/power armor (what little there is) running, but is an indifferent Armorer (she can do it, but she’s not in love with it, whereas she loves being a greasemonkey). Typically leaves the Armorer duties to Toolbox, who loves guns and things that go boom. The Cherrypicker is her baby, and she chides the members of the company any time they bring it back shot up.



Reyea “Kickstart” - Human Hyperion Juicer (4th Level, Anarchist [2nd Level]). Demolitions/Sapper/Anti-Armor specialist. One of “the Twins.”
Rayea is an adrenaline junkie who likes to blow things up. She got juiced with the intent of making a ton of money and getting detoxed, but given how addicted she is to the adrenaline high, that’s not likely. Her original plan was to retire to a bio-system body and maybe join a police team somewhere like Lazlo, NG, MI, etc, as their demolitions expert, where her mostly-normal reflexes wouldn’t affect her performance… but she hasn’t seriously thought about that for months. In particular, Kickstart is both a demolitions placement expert (she can tell you exactly where you need to place a bomb to bring a building down after just looking around for a bit) and a disposal/removal expert.

She’s been training with Hopper to take out Robots and other heavily armored targets on the battlefield by using her Hyperion speed to run up and place specialized charges in the right places to cripple the bot or vehicle (something he’s better at than she is currently). Despite the fact that they dont look alike at all (Kickstart is petite to the point of anorexia thanks to the Hyperion process, and Hopper is tall and actually kind of runs to fat despite being a Hyperion) and one is male and the other is female, they are jokingly referred to as “The Twins”.

She wears the Triax T-42 Commando Scout armor (imported through Phillips Triax contacts), and for armaments carries a fairly light load - a Wilks 227 Pulse pistol as her Sidearm, a Vibro Sword, and WI-GL4 Revolving Grenade Launcher as her primary “gun”. Depending on what the GM considers the availability of weapons from Merc Ops to be, she could instead carry the WI-GL8 (easier to reload and slightly more versatile). Personally, i consider the stuff in Merc Ops to be post-CWC availability for, as new armaments rolled out partially in response to the CS “upping the game” as it were, but i’d let the WI-GL8 and WI-GL80 be available earlier because they aren’t really different than other weapons that were already on offer from WI. She also typically carries bespoke explosives into battle by the satchelful, to take out heavy armor and robots… and sometimes even infantry who are too slow to react when she speeds through their formation and drops a satchel and blows them sky high.


Jackson “Hopper” Farmer - Human Hyperion Juicer (4th Level, Anarchist w/evil leanings [2nd Level]). Demolitions and Anti-Armor specialist. The other “Twin”.
The second of the “twins”, one of the few things he shares with Kickstart is her love of adrenaline and making things go boom. Jackson never really had a plan when he got juiced. Hes just in it for the kicks and to watch the world burn. He’s borderline crazy, and has no compunctions about killing, especially in the heat of battle. He’s more of an anti-armor specialist than a sapper, and loves taking out giant robots and tanks in a David & Goliath battle, acrobatically dancing around the ‘bots, and even climbing on them to plant charges in the most damaging places possible. He’s got a special hate-on for GlitterBoys (its not rational, its not like someone in a GB did something to him or his family or anything). He loves destroying their Boom Gun and then slowly cutting them up (if he has time to do so, hes a little nuts, but he’s not stupid). Cherry mostly tolerates him because, despite his antics and his borderline personality, he’s extremely good at his job, with dozens of bot and tank kills to his credit.

Despite being a Hyperion Juicer, Hopper actually tends to run a little to fat, as he was an immense glutton even before he got juiced. His rapacious metabolism just allows him to indulge that vice without being grotesquely overweight. Despite the extra pounds, he’s got typical Hyperion’s speed and agility, and runs rings around his enemies.

For armament, he, like Kickstart, tends to be fairly lightly armed in terms of actual guns, carrying only a sidearm and the standard NG-P7 particle beam rifle. For a sidearm, he’s not particularly picky, carrying anything handy that has decent stopping power (anything that does 3D6 MD or more). Hes currently carrying a Triax TX-26 Particle Beam Pistol, but he’s not attached to it or anything. As a melee weapon, he carries a pair of Vibro Claws for ripping and tearing at weak spots (can snap them on to the back of either hand), and a large, 2-handed Vibro Sword (3D6 MD) for cutting at exposed weak spots where he needs more reach. Hes also usually armed with tons of explosives, either shaped and satchel charges for disabling vehicles, or “Tripnades” (his term, no one else uses it) - basically a custom-made hand grenade created using 3 typical hand grenades with their timing fuses rewired (Hopper is skilled enough that he can create these himself). He uses the NG hand grenades because they are cheaper. A “Tripnade” does 150% EXTRA damage and adds 50% to the typical blast radius (so, a Tripnade made of NG Frag grenades (normally 2D4MD) does 5D4 MD to a 30ft blast area). He’ll carry either Frag or Plasma (1D6x10 to an 18ft blast radius) in most cases, only carrying High-Ex (8D4 or 5D6 to a 10ft blast radius) when they are in tight quarters and the larger blast radii can cause issues for the team. (Normally, High Ex would be used against vehicles, but if they're going up against vehicles, hell carry large charges instead). Even if he uses “better” grenades, the results will never get better than 1D6x10 to a 30ft blast radius; short of taking all of the explosive material out and creating a new warhead, there’s only so much you can do strapping 3 grenades together). Like Kickstart, he wears the Triax T-42 Commando Scout Armor, though he almost never wears a full helmet or buttons up.


Franklin “Icebox” - Human Titan Juicer (6th Level, Abberrant).
Pigman. One of the few Juicers in the company who has a steady plan to retire rich and get detoxed, and probably the only one who may actually stick to it provided he doesn't get killed in combat. Has an iron will (M.E. 20 or higher, raise to 20 if you roll low), which helps with his chances to kick the drugs and stick to his original plan. Has an extensive savings at NG. If he lives for the 4 ½ years he plans to be active as a Juicer, hell have enough to detox, retire to a bio-system “fixed” body, and enough credits left over to live a comfortable life without having to work again.

People often assume because he’s a Titan Juicer he loves to be in the melee, but this is not true - Icebox is the Pigman, carrying the heaviest weapons in the Company. He has a special system engineered by Racecar that straps to his hugely broad back and holds his modified railgun(s) on one side, a WI-GL21 on the other (magnetic clamps), and a large Vibro sword down the middle, under the ammo drums (just in case). Also carries an NG-45LP particle beam pistol on one leg and a sawed-off, 7-round pump shotgun on the other leg (Ramjets or explosives). In addition, he IS a Titan Juicer and his immense strength lets him tear people limb from limb if he has to. His special, heavy railgun is actually a backpack fed, dual-railgun setup built by Toolbox, and carried like a Mini-gun (from above, not like a rifle). It is a pair of NG-101’s mated side-by-side, a conversion that took Toolbox some time to figure out (the magnetic fields from each barrel kept interfering with one another if the barrels were too close, so Toolbox had to tweak them and the firing pattern to compensate). Each burst is 80 rounds (40 from each gun) and inflicts 1D4x10+20 MD, but range is reduced to 3000ft (a side-effect of the modifications to the magnetic fields). He carries a truly massive 4,000 round Drum to feed this weapon (50 bursts). When he’s carrying the drum, he’s at a slight penalty to dodge (-2) and cannot roll with punch/fall/impact. The WI-GL21 is fed from a similar (though much smaller!) drum mounted above the rail gun ammo (so as not to unbalance him on one side), that holds two of the 200-round grenade belts (linked together into one 400 round belt).



Germaine “Pigpen” Brackson - Human Juicer or Hyperion Juicer, Juicer Scout OCC (2nd Level, Unprincipled).
Company Scout. Young, “kid” is an appropriate moniker. Good at his job, though, and good with traps, mines, and a long gun. May also be a young, eager Wolfen Juicer (regular only) Scout, named Harrel, son of Grimgnaw. His nickname will still be “Pigpen”. For long range work (he often supports close-in assaults in open territory from afar, picking off stragglers or high priority targets like mages) he carries a WI-GL80 “Predator” super grenade launcher, and a JA-11 Juicer Assassin’s rifle. For close-in work he switches to the standard NG-P7 Particle Beam Rifle and a WI-GL8 Automatic Grenade Launcher/Shotgun. His sidearms are a Wilks 247 “Hero” Dual Pistol and a 10mm autopistol (SDC) that can use silver or other special rounds.



Sergeant Thaddius Lincoln, ret. - Human Gunslinger (7th Level, Aberrant [3rd level])
(supposedly) former CS Special Forces operative, “retired” for political reasons/disillusionment. (Or is he?) Runs the 2nd squad, and runs most of the non-combat personnel and takes care of most of the logistics. Often jokes that he was “a logistics officer” in the CS. Fast, deadly, and armed to the teeth. Major Psychic (must have Intuitive Combat). Has an entire war-chest of pistols available, mostly in pairs, including NE-4 Plasma Cartridge Pistols (carefully concealed to avoid CS scrutiny), TX-5 Pump Pistols (and will JUMP at the opportunity to get the TX-6 Revolver when it becomes available), NG-45LP Long Pistols, Wilks 237 “Backup”, Wilks 227 Pulse Pistols, a Wilks 330 “Sniper” Laser Pistol (only 1), a pair of vintage (Pre-Rifts!) Colt Model 1911 .45 pistols (used ONLY for SDC ammunition, he wont risk these with Ramjets or explosive rounds), a Wilks CFT “Auto Shooter” (one, trying it out), a pair of MP-10 Caseless pistols (with Ramjets and Explosive rounds), and a .50 cal Semi-automatic pistol (similar to a modern Desert Eagle .50) with Ramjets, a TW-45 (1), a TW-38 Endless Revolver (1), and a Tolkeen manufactured TW Shard Pistol (no PPE clip, must be charged). Also has a store of silver, wooden, and other specialist rounds for dealing with supernatural threats. Isn’t a slouch with a long gun, but much prefers his pistols and close-in work. He sometimes works with the first squad in indoor/close quarter battle assaults where his lack of augmentation is more than offset by his deadly aim and heavy hitting pistols. Doesnt carry much in the way of melee weaponry - just a Vibro Knife and a Kisentite Short Sword (that he mostly carries since it doesnt require a power source). Also collects classic fire-arms that he doesn’t use - just collects - as a hobby. His armor (CA-2 Light Deadboy Armor) is TW modified with Armor of Ithan (5th Level), Impervious To Energy (5th Level) and Superhuman Speed (5th Level), built for him by Toolbox.

Thaddius’ origin is deliberately vague; he could be exactly what he appears to be - an Ex-CS soldier now working as a merc, or he could be a deep-cover intel officer working with mercs because of the access it brings him, though this is less likely given that while a deep cover agent might associate with magic users and mutants, he’d likely not actively use magic items (and he does). People are often taken in by his aw-shucks, i was just a supply clerk act, and dont realize until far too late that they are in close quarters with a viper. He’s charismatic, and can go on about logistics for hours, and has tons of anecdotes - wether they are all made up or not is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure, he’s not to be underestimated.


Rickar “Toolbox” Samuelson - Technowizard (Race TBD, 5th Level, Principled [2nd Level]).
Armorer, often fills in for Racecar in the field (she doesn't like to fight and often stays behind in a local town or where the basecamp is) if the vehicles need repair (which he’s totally qualified to do, but otherwise leaves to Racecar because she loves being a greasemonkey, and Toolbox is more in love with things that shoot and go boom). He has a wide selection of spells (200,000-300,000cr worth of spells from 1-7th level, in addition to his starting spells) plus six more spells from levels 8-10. GM’s discretion if he has Talisman if selected as a PC, but he does have it as an NPC. Most of these were paid for by Cherry, and he produces TW items for the company (particularly consumable ones like TW Grenades and deployable force-field (Energy Field) to cover downed team-mates.), in addition to his duties as a more mundane armorer. (He loves tinkering with guns and explosives; he’s built several bespoke guns for the members of the Company).

He’s personally well-armed with TW items; he carries a TW Lightblade (activated by PPE, not HP), a TW Flaming Sword, several different TW pistols (including an Endless Revolver), but never the Stormspire versions (because they are harder for him to recharge), a TW Stealth Cloak (a cloak empowered with Invisibility: Simple, Stealthwalk, Shadow Meld, and Camouflage), a TW Shard Rifle, and a TK Machinegun. He’s also got access to plenty of mundane firearms, though he doesn’t typically carry them, including a TX-5 Pump Pistol, NG-P7 Particle Beam rifle, and SDC pistols and SMGs. His armor is NG Huntsman, empowered with Impervious to Energy, Armor of Ithan, Superhuman Strength, and Energy Field.



Ekean - Human Tattooed Maxi Man (6th Level, Abberrant, leaning towards becoming Good)[3rd Level])
Born and raised as a slave to the Splugorth, to be a Maxi-man. Was purchased by a client who was unlikely to be able to return regularly to Atlantis, so the buyer paid for Ekean to receive extra Tattoos ahead of time (he has an extra 9 Tattoos). Ekean was fairly loyal - he was raised to be, after all, as a Maxi-Man. His owner was killed (somewhat ironically) in battle by Augmented Assaults, but he was not. Unsure of what to do with his newfound freedom (he’s never been free his entire life), Cherry felt that he owed the young man a chance to figure out what he wanted to do and took him along when the Company finished the contract. He has stuck with Augmented Assaults ever since, as he is a skilled combatant and his powerful magic Tattoos make him a fierce close-combatant. He looks up to Cherry and John Slaughter, and soaks up whatever they will teach him. He’s somewhat shy, but if he can overcome this, might be a good leader. He’s still not terribly comfortable with his freedom - when the Company has down time, he’s usually to be found sitting at their lodgings unless one of the others notices and tries to encourage him to go along. He has shown some interest in learning to cook and gardening, which (of all people) John Slaughter has tried to encourage (he downplays this as pure self interest “hey, well all eat better at least!”). In combat, he follows orders extremely well and is a potent close combatant. He and Jacob Brown are friends, both having had screwed up childhoods and still being relatively young. Jacob is often the one who tries to get him to come out with the others on the town. In combat, he is often paired with Sir Marius, who is also a powerful, magic-using close-in combatant. For ranged weapons, Ekean only carries a few - a TW Shard Pistol (tolkeen manufacture, no PPE clips) and a TW Firebolt Musket (from Queenston Harbor), both of which he can power with his large PPE reserves, and he also has an MD Bow and Arrow tattoo. Close-in, Ekean relies on Supernatural Strength (granted by the Tattoo), Weapon Tattoos, and also owns a TW Lightblade and TW Flaming Sword (two-handed, inflicting an extra 1D6 MD). He’s very skilled with swords (W.P. Sword and Fencing required). He doesn’t wear MDC armor - he’s got so many Tattoos there’s not really much of his upper body that doesn’t have one - but hes got both the Knight In Armor (Magic Armor) and Invulnerability Tattoos that make him quite tough. Has amassed a sizeable stash of cash as he rarely goes out and spends his pay or share of the profits.


(Name Not In) - D’norr Devilman Ley Line Walker (5th Level, Principled [2nd Level])
() operates as the Company infiltrator/Battlefield Intelligence. As a D’norr, he doesn’t really like killing people (though unlike a lot of his people, he’s not a pacifist, he just prefers not to have to kill people himself, and, if possible, take prisoners or allow the enemy to flee), so he instead specializes his magic on obfuscation, detection, divination, intelligence gathering, and supporting his allies. He often flies over the battlefield while invisible, reporting back to Thaddius, who will then impart any needed intei to the assault squad. He will often use spells to support his allies, like handing out Armor of Ithan spells or other buffs before battle, or paralyzing or scaring enemy troops with spells like Fear or Carpet of Adhesion. If he is cornered or put in a position where he MUST kill someone, he will do so without hesitating (as a prior experience, where he hesitated, got someone killed) but it always tends to make him melancholy afterwards. He likes working with the Company because it provides him with an opportunity to see the continent and meet new people and see new societies and people. He’s often a voice of compassion or restraint in the Company meetings, and was successful in getting Cherry to implement a policy of accepting surrender from enemies (within reason) and allowing the enemy to flee and not gunning them down as they run (which Cherry might have done in the past a matter of pragmatism). He also helps out Longshot with her free clinics, a cause that appeals to his D’norr sensibilities.

() has all the spells typical of a Ley Line Walker of his level (from level gains, communing with a Ley Line, etc), as well as the following spells: Invisibility (Superior), Invisibility (Lesser), Shadow Meld, Cloud of Smoke, See the Invisible, Sense Magic, Chameleon, Fear, Heavy Breathing, Levitation, Manipulate Objects, Telekinesis, Carpet of Adhesion, Magic Net, Distant Voice, Escape, Horror, Frequency Jamming, Tongues, Fly as the Eagle, and Globe of Silence. Select an additional 5 spells from levels 1-7 (in addition to his starting spells and those gained from leveling). He also knows the Combat Magic spells Farseeing, Eavesdrop, Stealthwalk, Invisibility to Sensors, and Blast Shield.

For arms and armor, he goes fairly light, as his job is not to fight so much as it is to gather intelligence and support those who do fight. He wears a TW modified suit of “Heavy” Dog Boy armor (50MDC) - since its not a full suit, it doesn’t impair his spellcasting or affect his movement. It has Invisibility (Simple), Armor of Ithan, Camouflage, and Fly as the Eagle, all at 5th level. For armament, he carries a TW Firebolt Pistol (Queenston Harbor), a TW Flame Blade, and a Kisentite Short Sword. He often carries several TW Grenades (usually the kind that impair or weaken enemies). He is also interested in learning to use a bow or crossbow, in order to employ TW arrowheads instead of grenades (since he can do so from much further away), but hasn’t yet learned the W.P.’s required.


Cletus A. - Human Phaeton Juicer (5th Level, Anarchist, with Miscreant leanings [2nd Level])
No one - not even Cletus, is sure what the “A” stands for. It was on his paperwork at the orphanage that raised him. Cletus is a Phaeton Juicer, but unlike a lot of Phaeton Juicers he’s not addicted to small vehicles or jets - he likes quick moving power armor and robot vehicles. He’s also a near completely insane pyromaniac. Only his job as a merc keeps him from torching houses for the fun of it. If he couldn’t fight and burn things, he’d almost certainly be a serial arsonist and probably murderer, as he’s not terribly concerned about anyone getting caught in the fires he sets.

So far, he’s kept it under control - or, at least, contained to the battlefield. He hasn’t lit any civilian fires since joining up with Cherry, and Cherry, well aware of his predilections, often assigns/asks another member of the Company to stick with Cletus when they are in a town or on leave somewhere during a campaign. He’s not as worried when they are in NG or Merctown during downtime, as Cletus isn’t stupid enough to try starting fires in places like that since he’d almost assuredly get caught eventually (especially since if any fires started up, Cherry would almost certainly point the cops straight at him) and places like Merctown or NG would just gun him down. He might not have those constraints in a small town out in the back beyond. Part of the reason he got Juiced in the first place was because he figured it would give him a chance to indulge his pyromania without hurting (innocent) others, and shortening his life span was probably for the best. The way he figures it, the world will probably be a better place when he’s gone.

In combat, Cletus pilots a Triax T-C20 Terrain Hopper (the military combat version) imported from Germany through some of Phillip’s contacts. It has been modified - the two arm laser blasters have been replaced with flamethrowers - the right Arm has a WI-FT1 Plasma Flamethrower (see Juicer Uprising) that has been cabled into the power supply of the armor (the power runs were already there, for the standard lasers) so it has an unlimited payload. The left arm carries the WI-NFT-1 Napalm-P flame thrower. A double-tank of Napalm-P (200 shots) is mounted on the back, above the flight pack, and the feed runs under the armor where the power run for the laser did before.

He doesn’t carry a lot of other weapons - a Virbo Sword (2D6 MD) clamped to the back (sheath is under/integrated into the mount for the flight pack), a sidearm (typically the TX-26 Particle Beam Pistol, with two spare FSE clips) strapped/clamped to the right thigh, and, if they are expecting to run into heavily armored targets, a WI-GL4 Revolving Grenade Launcher (AP grenades, usually; if he’s up against massed infantry, he’d rather set them on fire with his flamethrowers). Indoors, he might instead carry a semi-automatic drum fed shotgun with Plasma explosive shells, but never both the grenade launcher and shotgun at the same time. In either case, hell carry 2 spare drums.

He also really likes fast, air-mobile power armor, but there isn’t a lot of call for it in most of their jobs so he doesn’t own a suit. He’d like to convince Cherry to get him an attack “chopper” - either the Iron Eagle (still available despite the troubles IHA is having/is about to have), or an up-armored GAW design, or possibly a TW Helo from Arzno. That way he could hover and provide close combat support without sacrificing mobility (air mobile power armor and/or the Icarus flight pack being somewhat less agile when moving at low speeds). Cherry is considering this. When they need it, he also drives their Tank; in typical Hyperion fashion, he makes it do things no other pilot could do, spinning and swinging at full speed around the battlefield.



Delia “Longshot” Morgan - Human Body Fixer* (Unprincipled, 7th Level [2nd Level])
Uncharacteristically, the Company medic is not nicknamed “Doc”. In fact, because of her competence with a long gun, her nickname is “Longshot”. Delia grew up in the northern outskirts of Lazlo’s territory in Canada - the child of ranchers. It is here she developed her skill with a long gun. (Receives W.P. Energy Rifle and Sniper for free; her W.P. Energy Rifle skill counts as 3 levels higher than her actual level when using a gun designed for marksmanship that fires only single shots; no bonus if the gun can fire bursts or pulses, or is not called out in its name or description as a marksman's weapon).

She learned her love of medicine from a retired Cyber-Doc who lived on the ranch as the local doctor, and assisted him frequently, even going on rounds of the surrounding farmsteads that were not prosperous enough to have their own doctor. When she came of age, her parents sent her to Lazlo itself to learn to be a Doctor. Rather than return to her parents’ ranch, she decided to take up a life as a wandering Body Fixer (she did not leave her parents hanging, though - one of her classmates, who had no desire of any kind to travel and be in danger, was more than happy to move into a ready-to-go, safe practice). Despite her love of medicine, she does not subscribe to the “do no harm” philosophy outside of medicine - if someone takes a shot at her, she will gladly shoot back, and shoot to kill. Of course, if the person survives, shell also probably try to keep them alive if she can.

Though she is not a Cyber Doc, she does have an MD in Cybernetics as well (and should have the Mechanical Bioware skill), so while she is not an expert at installing or modifying bionics or cybernetics, she is adept at keeping the systems running smoothly and doing minor repairs, which is her primary job in Augmented Assaults (given the nature of their job, “wounded” is not a state most of the team falls into - its either “fine/ill regenerate” or “dead”) - keeping everyone’s Bio-Comps working right and/or making sure their cybernetics and bionics are not malfunctioning.

She’s also a softie for helping out the poor and indigent and is very skilled at helping D-bees as well as Humans. Cherry doesn’t mind, as long as her helping out the locals or poor doesnt interfere with her work; he even gives her money to buy supplies (something of a softie himself) for this purpose. A few of the other members also donate their time or some money to helping her run her free clinic when they set up a camp.

As a crack marksman, she sometimes will assist the Assault squad with long-range fire support - in fact, Racecar has installed some hard points on the hull of the Cherrypicker for Longshot to connect to, so she can lay on the hull and be braced for precision shooting. She’s not (unlike a lot of Doctors) worried about killing enemies, though as a matter of practicality, her fire tends to be focused on less-lethal areas like power cords, sensors, and weapons, as those are often quite a bit easier to destroy than trying to shoot through a well armored helmet or other body part.

She doesn’t go around heavily armed - only carrying her rifle when she is expecting combat - and even then, she’s not heavily armed by the standards of the rest of the squad. She has a set of NG A8 Scout Armor that she wears “around town” or when not expecting actual/full combat (if this isn’t available in your timeline yet - NG2 isn’t clear on when this armor was made available - then this is Huntsman instead), and Cherry recently got her a set of Triax T-12 Field Medic armor, and Racecar added the exoskeleton from a T-11 armor to it (so it has the stats of the T-12 Field Medic + the exoskeleton bonuses from the T-11) so she can more easily move the big guys around when she needs to. Her weapons include a JA-11 rifle (and she often hunts for the table with the 7.62mm bolt-action; she has silver, wooden, and explosive rounds for this part of the weapon as well), a Wilks 227 Pulse Pistol, a 10mm Auto pistol (with silver and explosive rounds), and a Vibro Knife (in addition to her medkit’s vibro scalpels). She is also skilled at manning weapon systems in vehicles (Weapon Systems skill req) and is a pretty good hand with a hovercycle; she has a specially modified NG-220 Rocket Hovercycle to carry a casualty away from the fight (has a weighted runner on one side that has some directional thrusters to help keep the bike stable, and the other side is a stretcher). It has no weapons other than the standard concealed ion blasters, but she never uses them - if she’s on the bike, its to pull someone out of the fight. Longshot might be psychic (standard roll) and if she is, Toolbox will have built a shield into her bike - an activatable Energy Field (60 MDC) that protects both her and the passenger.
The asterisk above denotes that, if the PC wanted, they could instead create her as any OCC that can take all of the required skills to fit the character, the most likely being Rogue Scientist, the NGR Medical Officer, or a Technical Officer (equivalent to the CS Technical Officer). No matter the OCC choice, she gets the W.P. Energy RIfle and Sniper skills for free, due to her background. She should probably NOT be a Cyber-Doc, though (as she’s not supposed to be an expert at Cybernetics/Bionics, like a true Cyber-Doc), but if the GM doesn’t mind, this is a viable option as well.



Shakisnathar “Shellshock” - Dragon Hatchling (Great Horned or Royal Frilled Dragon; Anarchist, 6th Level [2nd Level]).
The “Canon” option is Royal Frilled Dragon, but the option is there for Great Horned if someone wants to be a -little- less powerful. Shellshock is (technically) one of the Dragon Princes of Freehold, as that is where he was hatched (nearby, at least) and where he “resides” when he isn’t wandering the world. Shellshock has known Cherry for quite a long time - almost all of Cherry’s life, really. He would sometimes accompany Cherry on mercenary jobs before Cherry “got juiced”. He continues to adventure with his old friend, but he comes and goes as he pleases and isnt there for every job (but he doesn’t bug out in the middle of a job). In combat, Shellshock likes to get up close and personal, using his natural toughness (if he’s a PC, roll percentile, 1-50% means he has the max roll for MDC, 51-100% means he’s got the max roll, -100 MDC), great strength, and magic and psionic powers to bring down his enemies. He also makes frequent use of Shapeshifting to get into range or make opponents underestimate him.

When he is travelling with the Company, he is prepared to turn invisible (spell magic) and fly away if they get stopped in territory where his kind aren’t tolerated (CS territory, mostly). If necessary, he can also carry other magic users away on his back.

Personality wise, he’s a bit erratic, but makes firm friendships and will always be there to support his friends. He sometimes has a little trouble staying on-task in combat (hell get carried away easily and take risk that arent needed, strictly speaking). Like many hatchlings, he has a natural curiosity, but since he is “older” for a Hatchling (over 100), this is not the fresh-faced, rush-in-without-thinking curiosity a lot of Hatchlings possess when they are freshly hatched.

He doesnt typically carry any weapons or wear armor, but he can use a sword fairly well (W.P. Sword) and owns a TW Flame Sword, and a TW fore-earm bracer/talisman that is empowered with Impervious to Energy and Blinding Flash, though he doesnt always have it on him in combat because he tends to shapeshift a lot to move around unseen or suprise foes. If selected as a PC, he has 7 spells each from levels 1-4, 3 spells each from levels 5-8, and 100,000cr worth of other spells (market value) from levels 1-9.

He takes the majority of his earnings in “liquid” assets like gold and gems, and has them stashed near Freehold. He’s not really with the Company for the money (though he likes the shinies), but rather for the fun/adrenaline of it all, and he really likes Cherry, and sees him as one of his earliest and best friends. He actually doesn’t mind that Aurespin is a Dragon Juicer, as he fully realizes that not all of his kind are the best people, but he also doesn’t trust him much, and keeps his eye open just in case his addiction causes him to attack Shellshock. If it came down to a fight between the two, Shellshock is quite confident in his ability to kill the Dragon Juicer. (And he’s probably right).



Other Personnel



In addition to the above personnel, the Company at any given time employs another 5-10 combatant personnel, usually Juicers and the occasional Headhunter or Borg, but these tend to be temporary contractors who work with them for a few jobs and then move on, though Cherry tends to be keep to a pool of men and women of good reputation in the business. Also employed by the Company are four drivers (Vagabonds, 3rd or 4th level) who drive the supply trucks and transports when the entire Company needs to move with all of its equipment or even extra equipment. These guys are only in the field part time, but Cherry keeps them employed full time (they keep the Company trucks running, and are allowed to use them to haul freight locally to make money) so he doesn’t have to find new, reliable drivers. The drivers aren’t combat personnel, though they know which end of a gun to point at the bad guys and can and will help defend the convoy if it comes under attack, but no one expects them to be heroes.


Assets:


The Company owns a heavily modified de-militarized and then re-militarized Mark V APC (stats below), an Iron Heart Medium Tank, several trucks (not all in use at all times, stored at NG or Merctown when not needed), and a hovercycle or motorcycle (all from NG/MI) for each member to use when off-duty or during travel from place to place (these are Company-owned), though some members also have and use their personal vehicles.

The Company maintains a stockpile of basic arms to supplement the personal choices of its soldiers, to fall back on or equip new recruits; given that their speciality lies in close-in action, range is often sacrificed for damage:

NG-P7 Particle Beam Rifle (standard issue “long arm” of Augmented Assaults)

Wlks 247 “Hero” Dual Pistol (standard side-arm of Augmented Assaults)

MP-10 Caseless (standard “off-duty”/SDC sidearm); often with at least one spare mag with explosive rounds.

NG-A10 Soldier Body Armor (if recruits have worse armor, or dont have their own, or need a temporary replacement, they are given this).

NG Grenades are standard (Mercs, page 100), and members can carry as many as they like.

A vibro-sword (2D6 MD) is standard issue, though members can take a pair of knives in addition or instead.

In addition, the Company maintains a stockpile of ammunition for the weapons used by its members (Mini Missiles, Launched Grenades, Plasma Cartridges, lots of spare E-clips, Ramjets, Explosive Rounds, etc). Generally, ammunition is supplied by the Company unless it is too hard to come by.


Vehicles


The Cherrypicker - Company Headquarters Vehicle and APC Transport

The Cherrypicker is a retired (sold as surplus/decommissioned) Coalition Mark V APC, bought at auction after it was demilitarized and sold as surplus. After he acquired it, Cherry had it re-militarized, though the armaments are different (some only slightly, some quite a bit).

When the CS de-milled the Mark V, they removed almost all of the weapon systems - only the door guns (the C-2T Laser turrets) and the Mini Missile system were left intact, to serve as a defensive battery.

The forward Auto-Cannons, Dual-C40R railguns, and CR-4T laser turrets were removed, as well as the Hatch Laser Guns.

The new systems include:

> The dual C-40R Railguns in the turret were replaced with a dual-mounted conversion of the Triax TX-250 Rail Guns, fed by a pair of drums (one for each gun) with 3000 rounds each. Toolbox put in an innovative computer-controlled balancing system that allows the guns to slightly re-orient their point of aim slightly from side to side, so that both guns can hit smaller (or closer) targets. Normally, they would be spaced far enough apart that both guns could only hit larger targets - at least 6 feet across - but with this system (uses a laser range finder), the point of aim of the guns is adjusted so they both hit the target, as long as it is man-sized. Damage is 1D4x10+10 MD per full dual burst, 5D6 MD per dual short burst, or 2D4 MD per dual single shot. Damage is unchanged (from the base stats) if only one gun is engaged or working. If the turret takes heavy damage (over 65% of its MDC) the computer aided aim system will go offline. Range is unchanged at 6000ft, which is actually a pretty big upgrade over the C-40Rs.

> The CR-4T turret was removed completely and not replaced. Instead, there is a hatch here that has a mounted WI-GL20 Automatic Grenade launcher. It has to be manned by a crew member to fire. (Despite the description saying there are two of these, there is clearly only one in the art). It is fed by a 400 round belt (plenty of room for ammo storage in the mount), and the double-belt can be reloaded in two melee rounds (the APC carries at least 2 full reloads - 1200 grenades)


> The 3 “hatch guns” were replaced with modular mounting gimbals, so that they can be equipped with one of a variety of weapons (and mixed and matched in any variety):

A modified JA-11 laser rifle (basically the guts of the laser portion turned into an emplaced weapon) that is plugged into the vehicles power supply. Still only fires single shots - 4D6 MD to a range of 4000ft. The Ion blaster and 7.62mm parts of the weapon are discarded.

NG-101 rail guns, pretty much unmodified, and can be fed by the 1200 round belt-fed box, or (if Racecar and Toolbox have time to set them up and lock them down inside) 3000 round drums. Doesn’t usually use the drum, as it makes swapping to one of the other weapons if needed a LOT more difficult.

An NG-E12 Plasma Cannon - unmodified. Uses the NG power packs (42 shots each), and if mounted, has two of them (one loaded and one spare) at hand in the mounting area. Plenty of spare E-clips onboard, as well, if needed.

WI-23 Missile Launcher - modified only in that the box of missiles is twice as large, since the weapon is mounted and doesn’t need to be carried. Takes twice as long to reload, though (one entire melee to swap a box, IF it is even close enough at hand).

The two most common weapons on the hatch mounts are the NG-101 railguns or the WI-23 missile launcher, which keep the APC’s long-range advantage.

The over-the-door C-2T turrets are unchanged, as is the Mini-missile system.

Additionally, the APC has been up-armored by Racecar, adding about 20% MDC to most external locations and an extra 125 MDC (475 total) to the Main Body, but loses 10% of its max speed.

There are tie-down points at various points on the hull so that [Doc] can strap herself to the hull and provide sniper support.

The Cherrypicker is not typically used as an actual assault vehicle - it is used more in a Command and Control role, with Thaddius coordinating the radios and intel feeds, and the APC providing long range fire support (if neeeded), and acting as the Company Headquarters during non-combat times. It can (though cramped) fit all of the combatant forces inside it for travel, though it rarely does so, as a decent number of the warriors (particularly the regulars above) have their own vehicles and will ride those. When needed (in dangerous territory), the entire complement can sleep inside, though its quite cramped (foldable bunk system built by Racecar), with at least 5 people sleeping in their chairs in the cockpit or turret.


The Wrecking Ball - Iron Fist Medium Tank
In most cases, the Cherrypicker is accompanied by at least one of the Company’s trucks (to haul cargo and extra ammo and such) and the Company’s Iron Fist Medium Tank (nicknamed “Wrecking Ball”, which is emblazoned on the side, badly, in spraypaint).

The Wrecking Ball is not modified, but does have a nuclear power supply. They tend to carry High Explosive and APSD in a 2:1 mix, as the usual use for the main gun is to fire into the enemy as the assault squad advances, effectively providing them cover, and then to use the APSD to pick off any high-value targets that are exposed. The tank actually FOLLOWS the Assault squad in, firing over/past them, to cover their rush, and rarely gets up deep into the fight.

The Wrecking Ball may be left behind in NG or Merctown if the job doesn’t call for its presence (if they are primarily doing CQB/indoor/tight quarters work).



Supply Trucks
The company owns 4 large supply trucks powered by electric engines (which can be recharged easily enough from the camp TW Generator, or, if needs be, rigged up hastily to charge off the power plant of the Cherrypicker, though this is temperamental. These are rough, rugged trucks, similar to the old US Army Deuce and a Half. They are not armed or heavily armored, though they are built from MDC materials - 75 MDC each.



Hover Vehicles, Motorcycles, and Hovercycles
The Company owns enough Motorcycles, Hovercycles and Hover vehicles that ALL of the combatants can have their own vehicle. At any given time, the Company usually only has ⅓ to ½ of these along on any given job, as everyone else is riding in the Cherrypicker or one of the Trucks (or the Wrecking Ball). These are all basic NG/MI models - nothing fancy. Wastelanders, Highwaymen, Speedster Hovercycles, and MI-3000 Firefly Hovercycles. A few of the men have their own, private vehicles and may bring those along (will be noted above).


Other Resources
In addition, the Company maintains a full set of supplies for setting up camp (NG mobile field tents, field rations, etc). They dont employ their own cook, but will often hire a local to cook for them if possible, and Jacob and Ekean are actually passable cooks. They tend to buy fresh supplies wherever they end up, rather than trying to carry them across country. Regardless, they always pack enough MRE/field rations to cover their entire (anticipiated) deployment anyway, just in case.

Power for their camp is provided by a TW Generator (can be powered by ISP or PPE, or if on a Ley Line or Nexus, has power automatically), and Toolbox has built or acquired TW devices to purify and create water, provide light (separate from whatever is powered electrically) and provide heat.

Thaddius is trying to convince Cherry to buy a Triax Dynabot to man the sensors at night and act as a Sentry, but so far he’s been unconvinced. (It wouldn’t need a combat program, though Thaddius would prefer it had one, just be alert and able to wake up the soldiers).

If necessary, the company can also build field fortifications (Racecar, Toolbox, and Hopper are adept at Field Fortification), but that is not typically their type of job, but they have done so when necessary and when they are employed in a more traditional manner by a small town or for a small conflict.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Tidbit:

The nicknames are inspired by a former Shadowrun group i used to play with, where you would describe your character to everyone else at Session 0 and the group would give you your street name. Even if it didnt make sense, you were stuck with it.