Places to Go, People to See is a regular feature containing both Non-Player Characters and Locations, with an emphasis on background. Submissions to Places to Go, People to See should be made by following the submission guidelines at http://tss.dumpshock.com/guidelines.html.

This installment of Places to Go, People to See contains material from Kevin Casey [kecasey@cisco.com], Anson Delaware [silvajose1974@msn.com], Mike Freeman [mfreeman@screeningsystems.com], Susan “Reika” Sherman [ladyreika@yahoo.com], Backgammon, and MOTO42 [moto42@gower.net] with additions by Elissa Carey [elissa@dumpshock.com] and Adam Jury [adamj@dumpshock.com].

People

Argent Grant
Argent Grant works at Duke University as part of their Religious Studies program—the program has spawned some of the best modern theory on magical expression in a religious context. He's a Tendai Buddhist priest and a high-level shamanic initiate (following the Idol-like archetype within Tendai known as Kongosatta). A refined intellectual, he enjoys debating the true nature of magic and the metaplanes as much as drinking a glass of fine wine from Tir Tairngire. When not wearing the robes and Buddhist stole of his tradition, he is dressed in the best suits money can buy.

Argent buys those suits tailored because of his unusual proportions. He is a human midget, not to be confused with a dwarf. A human affected by a genetic defect, Argent is only 120 cm tall. More than a casual glance reveals that he is probably not a dwarf, although he has been mistaken for the gnome metavariant.

Aside from his affiliation with Duke, Argent is listed as CEO of BSI Corporation, a security consulting agency that operates in the Raleigh-Durham area. Although BSI has not expanded outside of this immediate area, Argent’s charisma and Lone Star contacts allowed him to procure a security license for the company (although they are not rated for military class gear). Some people are aware that BSI grew out of Argent’s previous “freelance security operations” of several years in the area. He does not discuss his murky past prior toi that, but his ties to both the Tendai monastery and the Yakuza oyabun in Atlanta may provide some clues.

Plot Hooks

1. Argent has a particular, deep hatred of vampirism in any form. He has had a running shadow battle with the vampire population in North Carolina for years, and has successfully destroyed several vampires, nosferatu and vampiric pawns in the area. He deeply believes that vampirism is a force which must be rooted out and destroyed at all costs, and his usual humanitarian Buddhist demeanor is not applicable to the infected in any form. The infected community has taken note of his campaign, and may hire shadowrunners as bodyguards or to try and find hard evidence of his anti-vampiric ways. Argent may also hire shadowrunners to help him in his crusade, possibly in the form of research about the nature of vampirism, locations of infected, and the plans and plots of vampiric cabals.
2. Argent is also a researcher of the “true nature of magic,” and privately finances research and retrieval missions regularly to discover new metamagics, metaplanes, or methods of manipulating mana. He does not often collect spell formulas, although very unusual material would get his attention. He does collect magical objects of exceptional significance—not so much in terms of raw power, but in terms of their unique role in a society, ritual, or method. Unique objects are of more value to him than powerful ones.

Illeanna “Foxy” Fox
Foxy is a high-tech electronics fixer based in Seattle, who specializes in top-of-the-line, high quality merchandise. She deals with clients in a far more personal way than most fixers prefer to, dropping the “professional” attitude in favor of knowing each client personally. This can be a double-edged sword, as she is more than willing to take advantage of her clients' weaknesses if she can benefit from them.
Unlike most underworld businesspeople, Foxy has managed to avoid accumulating major enemies, having only a few business rivals who play the game fairly (not that they’ve never tried to off her, but that is part of the game, after all). She credits this, with a shrug, to her irresistible personality. Shrewd personal relations skills probably also have something to do with it. She is fiercely independent, catering to her niche of clientele. Bottom line is that if you treat her right, she’ll give you access to the wiz toys most people can only dream about… for a price.

Abraham “Jingo” Maltese
Few shadowrunners would disagree that the best kind of contact to have is the kind no one knows about. Enter Jingo Maltese.

Born the only son of a prominent Virginia businessman on June 14, 1991, it was assumed that Abraham would take over for his father as sole owner of Maltese Manufacturing. To this end, Abraham was schooled in the finer points of corporate politics and maneuvering, learning from both his father and practical experience. In 2009, Abraham was accepted to a prominent Ivy League college for what most considered nothing more than a technicality. After all, he already knew more about the ins and outs of business than most of the professors. It was at this point in his life that Abraham acquired the nickname Jingo, for the passionate interest he developed in politics. Although both interested and talented in the political arena, Jingo decided to take over for his father as he had been raised to do.

For a long time, Jingo did just that, shaping Maltese Manufacturing into an international corporation in its own right. He continued to show political savvy and made regular campaign contributions to candidates and politicians that he supported. All this ended in 2029. While fending off a hostile take-over attempt by NAN-based Freeman Amalgamated, the crash of 2029 hit Maltese Manufacturing like a sucker punch. Corporate databases were erased, personnel files were destroyed and financial records simply vanished. With almost all of the family assets tied up in the stocks and computer accounts, Abraham found himself instantly penniless. In the confused months that followed, old rivalries in the boardroom took a bloody turn. On May 19, 2029 a bomb set by Freeman Amalgamated’s few remaining agents destroyed the entire Maltese estate. Jingo was the only survivor. Deciding to lay low for a while, Jingo went underground, and never came back up.

Today, Jingo can be found living on the streets of Seattle. His fall from wealth and years on the street have left him bitter and not a little unhinged. He has survived by his wits alone—not an easy feat in the Sixth World. His edge is the ability to fade into or out of a scene without being noticed. Jingo uses this to his advantage, getting close to conversations and situations where he does not belong. Over the years, Jingo has been able to learn some very dark details about some very important people. His talent for business and politics has never left him, and he makes it a point to stay on top of things in these areas.
In appearance, Jingo is pretty much like any other squatter. He is dirty, smelly and rarely speaks. He has little cyberware—a datjack, cyberears w/ recorder, and a pair of cybereyes, although the left one has been burned out for years. His right leg is missing below the knee and has been replaced by a cheap cyberleg—it looks as if it's on the verge of collapsing on any given day.

The incident with his family’s death has left him with a deep loathing and distrust of Indians, and he will have nothing to do with anyone with Indian blood.

Places

BSI Corporation
Durham, North Carolina, CAS

BSI Corporation came into being in late 2060, and quickly rose to local prominence. Founded by a small team of three shadowrunners looking to retire, BSI Corporation would have been another flash in the pan if not for deep Lone Star contacts, a security license and a tough work ethic. By the end of 2061, BSI had grown to about 50 employees, servicing site patrol contracts, providing magical security consultation (wards, watchers, etc.) and performing security vehicle modification. Though the company is young, projected annual revenues are around 14 million nuyen if they stabilize at this level. The first year’s revenues were 2.2 million nuyen.

The company has three officers: Argent Grant is the listed CEO, Betty Sue Banghem is the Director of Acquisitions (Business Development) and Click Gordon is the Director of Security. BSI Corp has persisted thus far through careful customer service, marketing and financial planning. The “business-focused” approach has allowed them to prove themselves despite slander from competitors.

BSI Corp has expressed interest in expanding into the Charlotte and Wilmington areas of North Carolina and eventually throughout the CAS, but CEO Argent Grant has repeatedly stressed that they will stay within their current business plan to “focus on core competencies.” The company bought out one local competitor in mid-2061, and true to their business plan, liquidated the electronic security portion of that business instead of trying to expand into that area.

Plot Hooks

1. BSI Corp is a legitimate security consulting company, and struggles constantly with its shadowy history. Therefore, although the founding members were all experienced runners, they are unwilling to use their own assets for “shadowrun” type operations. They are quick to recognize when a shadowrun could tip the balance of the business, however, and they will hire through a fixer intermediary. BSI Corp is also a major target—the local security corporations find them a tough competitor, and would like to see BSI lose some luster. The megacorp divisions, such as Knight Errant and Lone Star, are generally not concerned about BSI as a business threat, but may move to “put them in their place” when important contracts are on the line (such as the airport security at Raleigh Durham International). Besides direct strikes, companies could damage BSI effectively by turning up evidence of the officers’ past crimes, since they were all runners at one point, or by hiring runners to commit crimes in BSI’s name, thus re-associating them with that unsavory element.

Carl’s Specialty Ammunition
Downtown Seattle, Seattle, UCAS

Located downtown, Carl’s Specialty Ammunition is probably the only business around that makes and sells only ammunition and ammunition accessories. Carl and his staff will gladly aid you in finding the correct ammunition for your firearm and its intended use. CSA can also manufacture custom bullets if you require something that they do not carry.

> Carl is more than willing to make special bullets for you. But the price for that varies a lot with what materials you want used. Also, for a significant price hike, he will get you what you need on the sly. Why all the custom work? Well, Carl is a mage—and he's obsessed with finding a way to enchant a bullet. So far, his luck has run dry.
> PopRock

Cold Blooded Food Storage
Tacoma, Seattle, UCAS

Located on the Seattle docks, CB Food Storage is the local leader in cold storage. Their refrigerated warehouse has eight different climate-control zones and backup generators in case of power failure. If your product loses value while in their care, they will refund your storage fees and repay you for your lost product.

> They aren't so kind if you miss some of your payments. If you're more than a week late on any payment they sell your product and ship it away ASAP.
> Chi

> That warehouse also has a small basement where they will let you store bodies; you pay by the hour though. Ask Herbert about the 'Super deep' cold storage.
> PopRock

Digital Horizons Matrix Design
Renton, Seattle, UCAS

DHMD is a typical Matrix Service Provider, with a slight bend towards providing service to "clueful" users and businesses only. Data hosting plans start at 100¥ per month, and unlimited Matrix access starts at only 20¥ per month.

> If you pay up front, in cash, they won’t even ask for ID. With a little false information, you can have a slick Matrix node for whatever use you like. Just don't abuse the "unlimited" features too much and you'll be fine...
> The Jugular

Sierra Travel Agency
Downtown Seattle, Seattle, UCAS

Located in a two-story building (and a basement for storage) on the corner and displaying a small neon advertisement (“One Week In One Day!”), this company could be easily overlooked. Because it proclaims itself to be a ‘travel agency,’ runners might not normally associate themselves with this business. But there is more here than meets the eye.

Sierra is not the type of travel agency you might be thinking of. This company specializes in implanting false memories of vacations using Programmable ASIST Biofeedback. Sierra has developed a SOTA method for implanting memories in clients—vacation memories, specifically—in only a fraction of the time the process would take with older, outdated machines. While the implications of this reach far and wide, the community seems to have embraced it and the company actually receives donations and backing from several large corporations.

STA retains the services of three dozen board-certified psychiatrists and technicians to make your vacationing experience the best possible.

> Currently, there is a one month waiting period for consultation. What does one of these vacations cost? Right around five grand. Not bad for a no frills, danger-free vacation. Many corps have jumped at the chance to send their suits here for some ‘recreational conditioning’ - make their employees happy and satisfied and, therefore, in top form at their jobs.
> Skinny

> Here’s some juicy info that the PR seems to exclude: the implantation technique with these ‘SOTA’ machines is very experimental. It combines various amounts of psychotropic and BTL-level simsense, all customized to the individual. No wonder they keep going back for more.
> Roper

> And Roper isn’t kidding about the ‘customized to the individual,’ either. These folks do full psychiatric profiles of their ‘clients’ prior to the actual implantation of the memories, and then burn all of the information onto optical chips that get fed into the machines. It takes anywhere from a few days to a week to compile a full profile for an individual client. For the record, all of the profiles from all of the clients that Sierra has ever had are stored on their host and, yes, all of the Personality Profile chips are kept in-house.
> Mistral

> Unfortunately, it isn’t just a simple matter of sneaking in to get those PP chips either. The coding system is intricate, and there are thousands of storage bins in that basement. The keys can be found on the host, but that isn’t easy to crack either; for a small company, Sierra’s host sure has a lot of Black IC.
> Ray Sting

> It isn’t only corps that are backing Sierra. The Mafia and the Yakuza both have a vested interest in this company, but Alicia, the owner, won’t commit to either of them. This seems to cause some problems with the management, but Alicia wants to maintain a ‘respectable’ business.
> Pontoon

> I was on this run one time, a grab-job, and we’re spposed to deliver to this really odd location. To make a short story even shorter, we found ourselves in the old sewer systems beneath the streets—not Ork Underground territory, mind you—and traveling to this place mapped out on a chip the Johnson gave us. We got there and moved the package into a secret room that has all these drains all over the floor and what looked like holding cells along the walls. As I was wondering what the place is, a group of black-clad chummers came from frag-knows-where and we handed off the package. Job over, right?

Wrong. I was feeling a little unprofessional that night so, after leaving the room, I stayed behind while my chummers vacated. I peeked through the secret door leading back to that room—big mistake. These chummers were fragging ghouls and they had their dinner right there while I watched. I didn’t stick around much longer after the first coupla bites. But, I recorded the trip back in my brainware, correlated the information with a nifty little map chip, and found that the room was actually a secret basement level beneath the Sierra building. You chummers make of that what you like, but I’m here to tell you that Alicia is not on the up and up with this biz.
> Anonymous

Organizations

The Returned

“Death? It is not the end. It is merely the end of the beginning.”
- Darren Scott, founder of The Returned

Type: Dedicated
Members: 25
Strictures: Belief (see customs), Exclusive Membership, Fraternity, Limited Membership (see customs)
Resources/Dues: Middle. Dues are 200 nuyen a month, and the group possesses several Rating 6 hermetic libraries and a Rating 6 shamanic lodge. It operates out of the basement of the combination clothing shop/cafe “Risen Shades,” which caters exclusively to those who are into the goth subculture. Only open at night to the public, any member of the group can come in whenever they care to. The shop is owned by the founder, Darren Scott, and is run by some of the members of the group.
Customs: Darren Scott started the group when he and three friends were horribly attacked by a group of gangers—no motive, just boredom. Scott was resuscitated successfully, but his three friends weren’t, and that filled him with a bitter hate and burning rage. His near death experiences did bring to light a previously unknown fact: Darren was Awakened; a mage. After some rough training in his new abilities, Scott tracked down and killed the gangers. The death of the gangers did nothing to help him overcome his issues, so he started an informal group for those who’d been in similar circumstances, realizing that in the violent society of the 2060s, he couldn’t have been the only one to suffer.

The informal group soon evolved into a magical group, which Darren named The Returned. The only exceptional requirement is that a member must have died a deliberately violent death at the hands of another and to have been resuscitated. Being a goth isn’t a formal requirement, but those who aren’t into the goth culture generally don’t find themselves welcomed. Any member of the group who sees someone that could be innocent about to be harmed must act (i.e. a brutal rape about to occur, a group of runners shooting into a crowd of bystanders) in some manner to help prevent that act.

The experiences that have brought the members of The Returned together are fairly profound and have made them a very tightly knit group. Those who’ve made the mistake of harassing one of the members of this group tend not to live long to regret it.

> "We've survived near-death experiences, so we have the right to kill other people!" - The Returned are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.It's no wonder that they are persona non grata at many goth establishments in the city, despite how they like to portray themselves.
> Selkie