Counter-Intel Turned Warden

The Counter-Intel Turned Warden is a potential recruit for the mercenary squad.

Backstory

Having operated for years as a spy, mole, and counter-intel operative for McKellen, you were accustomed to rooting out corruption. But when your boss ordered you to kill an innocent to cover his own corruption, you balked. Knowing both your lives were on the line, you disappeared into the underworld with your new charge and have been trying to stay hidden since.

+6 Reaction, +4 Tech, -1 Move Detection Radius, +0.1 Action Points, +0.1 Move Points and +10% Stress Res

Source

This Vanguard can be recruited through the Underworld Hub. The name is randomly generated.

Starting Attributes

These Attributes come from the character Backstory and may be modified by the Starting Traits during the recruitment process.

• Reaction: 6
• Strength: 0
• Will: 0
• Tech: 4

Starting Traits

The Vanguard will start with the following Trait:

• Stubborn 1: +3 Will, +4% Legwork Success, +25% Stress Res and 25% chance that if you gain Stress, you cause +10% Stress to another merc

Recruitment Dialog allows the player to choose another Trait from the following:

• Synth Weaver 1: When Hacking gain +40/qpbs IO Speed and +5% Matrix Dmg
• Cyber Adept 1: +2 Will, +2% Built-in Armor and Reduce Cybernetic Surgery Stress and Recovery Time by 33% (round down)
• Corp Cushion 1: -1 Reaction, -1 Strength, +1 Will, +2 Tech, -20 Hit Points and +3% XP Gained

Tags

The Vanguard will start with the following Tags:

• Faction Barred: Due to bad blood and history, you are incapable of executing Legwork inside McKellen Heavy Industries territory without drawing the wrong kind of attention.
• Wanted by Faction: Is hunted by McKellen Heavy Industries.
• Honorable: You hold on to convictions of honor even through your current choices as a shadow merc.
• Megacorp Protocols: Well-informed and practiced at the rules and channels used for megacorporate security and military operations.
• Dreams of Gleam: Dreams of escaping Earth to a new life on a space station 'gleamer' or even to another planet.
• Trusts: Has established a lasting trust with <Introducing Contact>.
• Protective: Is protective of <Netwraith Contact>. <Vanguard> has saved <Netwraith Contact> once and would go to great lengths to protect <him/her> now.
• Incriminating Evidence: Holds incriminating evidence that could damage or destroy <McKellen Contact>. <Vanguard>'s final covert operation revealed <McKellen Contact>'s deep-seated corruption and abuses as an Internal Affairs Officer.

Recruitment Dialog allows the player to choose an additional option from the following:

• Cybernetic Implant: has a powerful Active Cybernetic implant, multi-classing as Wireghost.
• Indebted Contact: <Netwraith Contact> gains Indebted 1 trait, +1 Favor per Month.
• Trusts: Has established a lasting trust with <Hover Operator>.

Starting Cybernetic

The Vanguard will start with the following Cybernetic:

• Chameleon Sheathe: grants Vanguard class, +20% Stealth Crit Bonus Dmg, stealth or light armor only

The Vanguard may start with the following Cybernetic if the corresponding Recruitment Dialog option is selected:

• MEK-Cortical Wetgate: grants Wireghost class, +2 Tech, -10% Stress Res, +80 IO Boost and -2% less Connection Burn Dmg

Starting Appearance

To return this recruit to their default appearance, copy this text to the clipboard and select "import" from their appearance tab:

---BEGIN CYBER KNIGHTS APPEARANCE--- CNa+b2vknDU2Dyz0kn9ak1DnD37zMtz4Ha/qyKNkCpR/Q2/5+iWxklJAoa95YjYVJClW9vi9fDbmISHb0HdIqIbn7cerHA69sL1aa7X246poazh4jXvieWvulan36p6W4s7Ez5lPRqozKFWrUZwa0u8ttoyFOnEKY4w8kqh79J19f3XQqOVofiwWOyrnhDRoWy7UMi52RUMKO/IhF9aiRmbHt7pTzpe5BbvxMj9PAJ/30kLgHu6xRLKPD+6l/iHhhQHP+FLSbGcOwyUBvQFXvwe1L8Xdz/jwhLuTrXQpPq+2CpCaVgo41Ks8K3wJGyZuTI+QxdLDdcS0SsVvrTefJPjn5WIVa8sN9iE379iE+6Nm7IZPAbl2fzoQHLdzJUxkGQbbxhsAHkGA4NECV4Q7UuZ3GKCPMEN5K1iwyWZsPq2UHXsvB/KYcq+2pSRH/V7rHD/xPlHnJl5Zt5ZSyZYDqBMSgMH1C8ODrsUB4W8T5nEPWKwVbpCaUCAoSaftZV8Xr2aZ34jRUBXg4Kbsw+MLH7em5kxiayrxrZI19Llou6m+GE/p/p4esMdgM/1/2bteZ2y7x+HrhkRHKEVkcpxcHY+oEN0PZOQtCV4PhU1K1FSk6y0YZ0S0qY3l0nLChptl9nm7F2CARjMZDkhb5FcJkIULuRrK9SHJjPul+N5nc0WCRFInCHOPxX06+gn/cmbgRmQOiZoGufu0ZeEEY+Ewq6mkW/XZPRR7IyXt7VGn+bbaW3lX6pdEjvm7ooWYkBOjUrfeM4p5SBLI6ULlV/kLCMd6JHWsRo3xTSLqAg7TO7XClGUY13x/fFTLZGFH6RKGD2dy5JlfRA6SfADfBhX/w5VjgaKzwzYTffgEPgFPsgVgE5MY/QpT+hen9NIfh0HaWbQ1yerAWzQx8ZL3agMkJCbHz7TxIwnU+wUPcmk8Wz3/MHLQnn4EKdf8END8BJCqV3LsXO32hs0bLGn4jDOPmcg8zQcgf1p3hBc13YF8IqXj+3DtnkvogrHIgChQt/twLo+dM4JHfyETOdL6fCPPCw== ---END CYBER KNIGHTS APPEARANCE---

Recruitment Dialog

Contact: I've been helping <recruit> stay hidden for a while in return for him doing intel jobs for me. I can say, he is very good at what he does. But I can't hide him much longer - big trouble will come looking. <recruit> needs to go deeper into the underground, and maybe you are his ticket.

Contact: Let me introduce <recruit>.

CK: So you were part of the internal affairs group at McKellen, in intelligence gathering and espionage?

Recruit: I like to say that my group found the rotten wood in the tree. Sometimes we cut it out, sometimes we turned it over to corp sec. If I have to kill, I will do it ... But that is the reason I am down here, on the streets.

Face: You refused to kill a target?

Recruit: I worked loyally for years for my boss, Joachim Stevens. I climbed the ranks, and we were a very successful unit within IA. It is a nasty business, competing with your peers to expose and murder your own corporate citizens. But I can say I did it with pride. We were doing good, helping the real citizens by finding and cutting out the rotten wood.

Face: Something upset that balance

Recruit: We got assigned a new case and I could tell right away something was different. My boss, Joachim, was all over it, a bit frantic, involved in every file, clue and decision. We all knew something wasn't right. As usual, I was undercover, spearheading the intel gathering. So Joachim couldn't keep me from discovering the truth - We were pulling a thread that led to his own corruption scandal. And worse we're covering it up by framing a young family, hanging it all around the SVP's neck and taking them all down. We were pulling a thread that led to his own corruption scandal. And worse ... we're covering it up by framing a young family, hanging it all around the SVP's neck and taking them all down. I got the order to execute the twenty-year-old daughter. By the time I had received it, Joachim had personally executed her father, the 'guilty' SVP. Joachim realized I knew the truth and flipped it all on me, accusing me of trying to cover my own corruption and years of graft.

CK: Betrayed, turned into the scapegoat - you fled?

Recruit: I did and I took the daughter, Lynn Verdieux, with me. What else could I do? Her family had already been murdered.

CK: So you have a ward to look after and a McKellen Internal Affairs Officer hunting you?

Recruit: I have set Lynn up - she is safe and hidden for now - she is using her corporate skills to make a little money as a Netwraith. Lynn is an uneasy charge, she doesn't know if she should thank me or hate me for what happened. I know I have a lot of baggage, but I'm damn good at what I do.

CK: <Contact> promised as much. What makes you worth all the trouble?

Make your choice and continue:

• While I ended up in meatspace covert ops, my brain was always wired for matrix diving. My old boss used to say I was a Synth Weaver. (+40/qpbs 10 Speed and +5% Matrix Dmg)
• Cyber has always just gone easy for me, like I'm half machine. My old boss used to say I was Cyber Adept. (+2 Will, +2% Built-in Armor and Reduce Cybernetic Surgery Stress and Recovery Time by 33% (round down))
• My internal affairs intel jobs were always inside the corp luxury, a lot of skyrise work. My old boss used to say I sit too much on a Corp Cushion. (-1 Reaction, -1 Strength, +1 Will, +2 Tech, -20 Hit Points and +3% XP Gained)

Recruit: Cyber has always just gone easy for me, like I'm half machine. My old boss used to say I was Cyber Adept. My work with internal affairs kept me mostly cyber-clean but I am ready to go under the knife for you.

CK: In our line of work, that can be the difference between a score and a disaster. What do you think, <face>?

Face: I've got one more question - I want to know about your ex-boss, Joachim Stevens. You disappeared below the level in New Boston but he is still hunting you.

Recruit: Absolutely, I've dodged a few dragnets already. <Contact> has been keeping me under wraps in return for work, but it won't last. I need to dodge out on my own and a Cyber Knight's crew is the perfect spot for me.

Face: So Joachim's hunters will be coming eventually. That's a lot of risk. What else can you bring to the table to make it worth the trade offs?

CK: And before you answer, let me be clear - if you want in this company, trust is our baseline. So, even if you don't like your own answer, it better be the truth.

Make your choice and continue:

• McKellen spliced in a proprietary MEK-Cortical Wetgate to infiltrate my target's matrix systems (still active, immediately multi-class into Wireghost with extra 10 Boost).
• Uneasy or not, Lynn Verdieux does have a respect for the fact that I saved her life and knows she is Indebted and owes me - or us - Favors.
• I have another connection you might find useful - an old friend who is a Hovertruck Operator and could help provide high-risk transport across the NBZ.

Recruit: I have another connection you might find useful - an old friend who is a Hovertruck Operator and could help provide high-risk transport across the NBZ.

Face: Your friends are our friends.

Recruit: The New Boston Zone is big and extremely vertical - having trusted transporter has its advantages. and I go way back. We were tight as kids but when we were 15, his family lost their citizenship.

CK: Glad to hear he landed on his feet and that he can help us now. A private word, <face>? What do you think?