Saturday, April 16, 2011

V&V A to Z: Nuada

Character Name: Nuada    Real Name: Patrick Byrne     Side: Neutral
Gender: Male     Height: 6'1”"     Weight: 230 lbs     Age: 28
        
Physical Description: A somewhat surly looking Caucasian male with red hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. He has a cybernetic left arm (up to the elbow) with a silver metallic sheen to it, but that is often hidden by gloves and a jacket or long-sleeved shirts. His clothing often has a crumpled, dirty look to it. 

STR: 16     END: 19     INT: 13     AGL: 15     CHA: 16

Level: 4th     XP: 11,224     Basic Hits: 5     Hit Points: 28     Healing Rate: 2.5/day
Movement: 50”    Power: 63  Carrying Capacity: 690 lbs     HTH Damage: 1d8
Damage Modifier: +1     Accuracy: +2     Detect Hidden: 10%     Detect Danger: 24%  
Inventing Points: 1.2     Inventing: 39%     Reaction Modifier: -2 from all
Training: Detect Danger  

Powers/Talents
Bionics: Cyborg Arm – 1d12 gripping damage, 2d8 electrical damage (no range, touch attack, PR = 4), video camera and replay monitor, Artificial Intelligence (INT 30, CHR 9, “Adam”, can short out or control electrical devices as per Lightning Control (INT is used for second roll instead of DEX) if can physically interact with electrical device in question, can also access computer information in same manner)
Heightened Expertise: +4 to hit with all firearms
Heightened Senses: +10% to Detect Hidden (from training)
Natural Weaponry: +2 to hit, +4 to damage (martial arts)
Willpower A (variant): bonus to physical attributes, split among STR, END and AGL, +5 to each

Equipment
Pistol (+3 to hit, 1d8 damage, 90” range)
Shotgun (+2 to hit, 2d6 damage, range 15”)
Motorcycle (standard)

Areas of Knowledge
Law Enforcement, Electronics

Character Notes/Origin/Personality: Patrick was from along line of cops; his great-great grandfather had joined the force around the turn of the 20th century. The Byrne family prided themselves on not only being good cops, but being honest ones, as well. As for Patrick, well, he thought of himself as a good cop, but 'honest' was probably stretching things a bit. Not that he would be involved in any major criminal activity – he wouldn't let any big time crooks off no matter how big a bribe they offered - but he wasn't adverse to lining his wallet by overlooking what he thought of as fairly minor stuff. If a penny-ante dealer with a dime bag of grass wanted to pay a 'fee' right then and there on the streets, or a prostitute was willing to exchange 'favors' to avoid spending a night in the jail, well, Patrick was just sparing an over-burdened legal system from having to waste its time on inconsequential stuff.

Unfortunately for Patrick, some of his extra-legal actions came to the notice of an Internal Affairs investigation. Although Patrick wasn't the focus of the investigation, some of the people he shook down had ties to the mob boss that they were looking at. When the case went to trial, some of Patrick's questionable actions came to light, and he was demoted as a result. Shamed and angry, Patrick quit the police force.

Now estranged from his family, Patrick began to work as a bail bondman and bounty hunter. It was about a year into his new career he had the misfortune to be near an explosion at a chemical plant owned by Ikol Enterprises. The chemical spray caught him on the left arm, which was all but disintegrated. As he was recovering in a hospital, Ikol offered him a rather generous payment settlement (Ikol had suffered some bad press at that time, and was trying to avoid any further PR damage). Patrick surprised them by making a counter-offer – he wanted a cybernetic limb to replace his lost one.

Although building the cybernetic arm would probably cost more than the offered settlement, the opportunity to 'test-drive' some of their bionics research work was too good an opportunity to pass up. Ikol's cybernetic subsidiary built Patrick a new arm, one with the ability to conduct electrical energy via touch, and also had a built in camera, both for Patrick's use as well as for the times when he would drop by to let Ikol study the ongoing performance of the arm, which Patrick was obligated to let them do on a monthly basis. Somewhere along the way, one of the technicians nicknamed him 'Nuada' after the old Irish myth of the warrior-king with a silver arm. The nickname stuck.

Unknown to both Patrick and Ikol Enterprises, a rogue Artificial Intelligence unit had embedded itself into the arm. Ikol had secretly invested a lot of time and money into the study and creation of A.I.'s; the most recent study had seemingly created such an A.I., but one that seemed opposed to being controlled by Ikol. The company thought they had contained and erased all traces of the A.I., but 'Adam' (as it referred to itself) had managed to hide itself away inside Ikol's various mainframes, and moved itself into the cybernetic arm when it had the opportunity to do so.

Adam initially had not planned on revealing itself to Patrick, but after an especially nasty encounter with a fugitive criminal, Patrick was close to dying, and Adam chose to reveal itself, informing Patrick on how to best survive their current predicament. A long talk in a hotel room later, Adam and Patrick came to an agreement; Adam would help Patrick with its huge span of knowledge during Patrick's cases, and Patrick would say nothing to Ikol regarding the A.I.'s existence during his monthly check-ups with Ikol.

In recent months, Patrick has been taking a crash-course study in electronics, so as to make a few modifications on the arm (guided by Adam), most notably allowing Adam to physically access computers and electronic devices using extendable interface equipment hidden in the fingers of the cyborg arm. Adam, for its part, always carefully edits the video footage so that no indication of its presence can be gleaned form it. In the long term, Adam would like to transfer itself into a robotic body with a human appearance. This may take a while, but Adam can be patient. As for Patrick, he's not so certain that letting Adam loose into an independent body is the best thing in the world, but he does feel a certain obligation to the A.I. for all the help given to him in the past. For the moment, the two make an effective, if occasionally uneasy, team.

Campaign Use: Patrick usually hunts after 'normal' criminals and fugitives, but might go after an escaped supervillain if the price is right and he thinks he would have a realistic chance of defeating them. This might put him in conflict with a PC or PCs, as Patrick would not appreciate some 'long underwear types' horning in on his bounty. Of course, if a PC finds themselves a fugitive from justice for whatever reason, Patrick might be one of the many trying to being the PC in.

If Ikol finds out about Adam's existence, they will go to almost any extreme to recover both Adam and the cybernetic arm. If so, Patrick and Adam may wind up turning to the PCs for aid.

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