Yes as you can probably guess this character is special to me. Character I've had for a while now in his most recent incarnation. Just a heads up, the story will get wordy and probably a bit cheesy. Without going into a ton of detail this character has been revamped and tweaked every edition and is now a semi-NPC for when I run. This is a well used character distilled into his essence so he looks a bit wonky. I want to keep him built to the spirit of the character, but am more than open to suggestions. But yeah, please forgive the long and poorly written story.
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Mathan:History: Jacob Shea had been the luckiest guy on earth, before it all went to hell. Jacob comes from a normal lower-middle class UCAS family in the GR sprawl. The annoying kid in class who fixated on his gaming hobby and tended to spend more time reading and researching his own interests rather than what the teachers wished to impart. In his younger years this caused him to be sullen and withdrawn while other kids teased him and teachers largely gave up on him. For most people this would likely lead to a life stuck in some BTL den burning out. Jacob got lucky, he met Lizzy.
Elizabeth Moon-Song moved to GR when her parents separated and her father got transferred. The two shared a passion for gaming which manifested quickly when the socially inept Jacob and cripplingly shy Elizabeth got into a surprisingly heated argument about the merits of a possible VR remake of classic flatgame 'Chrono Trigger'. The result saw both kids sent to the principal's office. The pair remained adversarial, then slowly became more amiable before finally becoming fast friends.
By freshman year that friendship had budded into a relationship, and a partnership of sorts. WIth Lizzy easily passing every class and Jacob just not caring, the two were able to invest much of their energy into a hobby of creating retro indie games. Small things, most of them rather short and full of bugs or errors. They were, however, well liked by a small community who knew of them. Nothing groundbreaking, but more than enough to generate a bit of buzz.
This drew the attention of a young hotshot Ares exec named Henry Mercer. Mercer was looking to fix a sharp downturn in game sales for the company after a string of panned DRM policies and titles which always seemed behind the curve. By 2060 both Jacob and Elizabeth were offered a generous full-ride package. Corp citizenship, education and their own indie studio complete with a token staff of ambitious but inexperienced young devs. By making this public Henry hoped to rewrite the narrative about Ares Entertainment. The passionate and somewhat talented couple were peddled in streams and on boards as an example of Ares looking outside of what worked based on mere formula and putting their trust in the vision of Artists.
The next few years went rather smoothly the couple moved into a nice quiet home out in Lansing where they spent most of their days working on projects and building a small but considerable library of hits. Nothing that ever made great financial gains, but always well liked thanks in part to Mercer and his spin-doctoring. The Sheas had settled down, grown closer and even ended up tying the knot. Jacob learning a bit of jewelrycraft to make the moonstone pendant he used to propose to his wife. This continued on until 2064.
As with most manufactured or uplifted artists the fame soon dried up as media buzz passed on to someone or something else. The Sheas were no longer the critical darlings they once had been and Mercer was forced to resort to his plan B in order to continue the returns on his investment. Like with all Artists, the people love a tragic early death.
A small crew of four runners broke into the simple Lansing home on the relatively warm November night. Jacob was the first to see the lights flickering around in his sleep-addled state. He attempted to get the gun his father in law had insisted they keep for emergencies but was unable to open the drawer before the four heavily armed figures walked into the upstairs bedroom. Jacob watched in horror as the love of his life stood and took three bullets to the chest, collapsing instantly. He personally got a hard stick-n-shock to the chest and woke up bound and gagged in the trunk of a Sedan.
He listened to the four of them discussing how badly the run had gone. What the plans were, the leader seeming quite upset that the job had almost gone sideways. Apparently someone had hired this team to kill the couple and make it look like an extraction gone bad. Jacob knew there was no way he would live, but he also resolved that he wouldn’t go down lightly. The massive Orc who pulled him from the trunk got complacent as he hauled the desk jockey gamer up to the edge of the bridge. When Jacob finally fought back he managed to take the man down with him into the frigid river below.
He awoke later on the muddy bank. Freezing cold and near death but not quite gone yet. Jacob had been saved by the spirit of Bear. It seemed that he’d spent his youth engrossed in his hobbies and distractions as a way to block out his lingering awakening. The trauma and duress of that horrible night had apparently pushed him past those blocks.Bear promised him a chance at revenge, a chance to be someone that could fix the nightmare his life had become and perhaps keep others from the same fate. All he had to do was listen and learn.
The first few years in the shadows were the hardest. In hindsight less an attempt at real revenge and more suicide by corp. He did runs though dives and hovels to take out pesky gangers and the kinds of psychopaths who like to prey on SINless for fun. Dragging kids back home from BTL dens. Shutting down Yak weapons smugglers on behalf of the local Penose. Even a Johnson gone bad setting teams against each other to create some kind of reality TV program. Eventually it got to the point where Jacob had the power and resources to start picking and choosing his runs. He picked fights with Ares for the most part. A decision that led to places he could never have imagined.
On a particular smash and grab run Matt was shocked to find a young girl trapped in a tiny observation room hidden among what was supposed to be an Ares weapons research facility. Mathan being Mathan, he quickly sliced his way though the one way mirror and grabbed the kid, forcing him and his crew to flee the scene in a harrowing firefight.
He tried to figure out who the girl was, who she belonged to, just what had gone on in the place. The paydata unfortunately yielding no real results. She claimed to not have a name, so he gave her one. Ione. A name he and Lizzy had talked about as they considered kids. Over time he grew to love the girl like a daughter. Between that and his connection with bear the crazed and borderline suicidal vengeance-seeker became a loving if overprotective caretaker. This also forced him to be more cautious since he couldn’t very well provide for his kid if he were dead.
For a while Jacob got them by on relatively simple runs or babysitting newer teams. Aside from looking into Iones past he was content to simply get them by and slowly build a nest egg in the hopes that one day she could live a normal life. The discovery of what Ione was and why she was in that lab ruined those dreams. She is a drake. A member of the first viable test-clutch created in an Ares program. Project Reaver. Supposedly created as a way to combat the bugs and hidden from all but a few higher ups. For a time the two hoped that she was inert. That proved a false hope after her Dracomorphisis.
The news and what it means for the two are still settling in. For most of his running career Jacob has put away part of each run to help pay off people in the hopes of finding the men who killed his wife. Now along with that he seeks to find more signs of this project and perhaps help any of the unfortunate kids who were a part of it as well. For now that means doing quite a few lower end runs babysitting new crews. He tries to hold himself back as much as he can on these runs and rarely displays his full power or experience. It’s best in his mind to let newbies build their own skills and confidence. If he were to take runs on his own pay grade it’d likely pay far better. Jacob, however, is saving those headaches for when he finally tracks down some viable lead.
Personality: Once upon a time the runner known as Mathan was a somewhat different person. During his first few years in the Shadows he spent most of his time slipping between hovels and boarding houses looking for runs that would let him do damage to Ares or give him direct leads on the team he hunted. He hasn't given up his search or even his grudge against Ares given recent revelations. But he has changed.
As a Runner Matt is somehow both grating and unremarkable. He tends to push a linear thought process when in the heat of the moment. Focusing on protecting teammates and confronting those foes he can match up with in reasonable close combat are his prime goals. Not that his skill set lends itself to versatility. This can often turn new teammates off to him even faster than the bad puns and headstrong attitude. Most runners who only ever see him on a milk run may wonder just why the big dork with the huge sword is tagging along. It's not until the mage gets pinned down and Matt does something crazy to distract or suppress the enemy that people being to realize there is more to him than first appears.
Unsurprisingly his talents work very well with many forms of sabotage or bodyguard work. A level companies in the GR sprawl are especially eager to hire him on as extra protection for those times when Knight Errant wouldn't be welcomed. Mathan has also been known to take on sabotage and even extraction work should the targets not conflict too badly with his own moral compass. It's an annoying line to walk but his Fixer knows him well enough by now that the work isn't terribly difficult to find.
Outside of his life running the shadows Jacob is a very different person. His priority is to be a dad first and he's done all he knows how in that regard. He's worked to teach his daughter everything he could and provide the best homeschooling programs his decker buddies could manage as a way of ensuring her continued development. He also got her a dog though struggles with her on chores like feeding him or going outside to play fetch. Something ironic considering his own past as a shut-in.
Appearance: Matt is looking a bit worse for wear these days. The pudge that his early running career trimmed from him has turned back into a bit of a dad belly and the grey is starting to show at his temples. He’s still rather thick, even if the muscles are smoothed over a bit making him appear softer than he is. Mathan stands at an average height with light brown hair and blue eyes. He wears his rather long hair back in a ponytail usually tied with a leather thong or just whatever rubber bands were in the junk drawer depending on the day. He has a slightly chubby and oddly happy face complete with thick eyebrows and occasional stubble. This expression can change drastically when he is enraged or forced to take charge. Growing stony and grim, especially when teammates are in danger.
The basic attire hasn’t really changed since he was a teenager. Boots, jeans and any one of countless graphic Tees. Few of which fully fit right and Tees for his old studio making it rather heavily in the rotation. He also keeps his fingerless AR gloves and his blue-armed, copper trimmed glasses on at almost all times. On his neck is a cheap lapis celtic knot necklace and his left arm has a small biotattoo sleeve mixed with the blue Qi focus to give it some flare.
His running gear almost always includes his trademark jacket. A long tailed, hooded armored jacket with slightly flared, pointed sleeves and a hood of the same material sewn onto the back. It is electrochromic and usually appears blue with metallic copper trim and a metallic bear silhouette on the back. This jacket has the scabbard for Clotchcrag along with a tag eraser in one sleeve and hidden pockets for his backup dirk and roomsweeper. A pair of black and copper bracers along with matching PPP shinguards.
