A couple more contacts. I'm almost done with the background. My goal is to have the final sheet/gear/background done by tomorrow. I've got my list of names narrowed down to two.
I notice nobody has selected Father Jim Mallory as a contact yet. My character needs a religious figure, so I have Pastor Paul, whom I designed to be of use if we find ourselves in a globe-trotting campaign. If it's preferable for someone to have Father Jim as a contact for the purposes of the story, I can swap him in for Pastor Paul.
Pastor Paul - Pastor (Human) - Connection 4
Pastor Paul was born in Minnesota, UCAS but now lives near Los Angeles, PCC. He is a large human who grew up playing full-contact sports. Pastor Paul is a charismatic and forceful presence, but much of his powerful oratory is due to the fact that he is a mystic adept following The Speaker's Way. He can whip a congregation in to a religious frenzy using Mob Mood, then use Commanding Voice when it reaches a crescendo.
Pastor Paul's life work has been to start new churches. He moves every 5 to 10 years, establishing new congregations before moving on. He first led a congregation in Billings (in the Sioux Nation) before moving to Salem, Tir Tairngire. (The elves, being ageless, weren't terribly interested in Paul's promise of eternal life, but the humans, orks, and trolls were more receptive, especially as the underclass in the Tir.) He then moved to Seattle, where re-established a congregation called Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which had be displaced from its original home by the Treaty of Denver in 2018. Pastor Paul was one of the principal drivers behind _____'s convesion.
Paul has since moved to Los Angeles area, PCC. He lives and works in Huntington Beach, very near the disputed area between the PCC and Aztlan. He is confident in God's ability to keep him safe from harm, a faith which he supplements with spirits of fire (materializing as angels) to defend himself and his church. In his free time, he loves swimming and surfing more than anything, although his fire spirits are less enthusiastic about it.
Pastor Paul has now moved but he still relies upon _____ to keep watch over the congregation in Seattle. Holy Trinity is still dependent on _____, both for his final contributions as well as the leadership he provides. _____ is called at least once a week to help with the soup kitchen, or to speak to the children at Sunday school, or provide cookies and soykaf for the social hour following services, or to donate money for emergency repairs.
Pastor Paul is a pragmatic man. While he won't help _____ do anything blatantly illegal, he is not above turning a blind eye or bending certain rules (Caesar's, not God's) in order to help _____. He is in constant contact with the members of his congregation - both current and former - and is well aware of the concerns in their lives.
Lola Lustytush - Stripper (ork) - Connection 2
Lola Lustytush is a human-looking ork who works as an exotic dancer at Torchie's, a notoriously rowdy strip club in a Loveland (western Puyallup), near Fort Lewis. She dances for drunk and violent members of the military and the Metroplex Guard, as well as the gangers and organized crime types that flock to her show. Her orkish curves coupled with her smooth, pleasing complexion would be enough to ensure her popularity, but her nearly-religious fan base is due to the fact that she is (unwittingly) a physical adept who channels her power into her enthralling performances.
In another life, Lola might have been a model or a giggling sorority girl, but she was born to the wrong parents on the wrong side of the city. Lola is enrolled in correspondence courses via the Matrix in an effort to obtain her Associate's Degree, but her ultimate goal would be to return to school full-time to get her Bachelor's degree. Eventually she would like to become a nurse or a early-childhood educator. Lola keeps these ambitions largely to herself, as they conflict with her mysterious, unobtainable stage personality. Lola is a bright girl and has a good understanding of psychology and marketing. She knows to stay distant, enigmatic, and to always leave her audiences wanting more.
____, prior to his conversion, was one of Lola's many dedicated fans. He even entered a contest to win a date with Lola. Unfortunately the contest was a single-elimination pit fighting tournament. Doubly unfortuante, there were no weight class divisions, so _____ was paired against Rusty, a manslaughtering troll, in one of the early rounds. Triply unfortunate, all the contestants were dosed with Fight Milk - an local delicacy designed to make the fights additionally entertaining for the audience. It starts with milk (for calcium) and an egg (for protein), to which the bartender adds vodka, Cram (the stimulant), Ripper (a potent mix of synthetic steroids, pseudolipids, sugars, and amphetamines), and a "secret ingredient" that evidently triggers frothing at the mouth and a desire to bite. Despite his exceptional ability to evade attacks, _____ didn't have a clue how to use his fists effectively, nor could he counteract Rusty's longer reach or dermal armor. ____ lost the fight badly, which left him rather broken but impressed Lola enough for her to learn his name and to even become friendly toward him. _____ no longer pursues her as a romantic interest, which intrigues Lola and makes her feel more comfortable around him.
Given her position, Lola is an excellent street contact. She has a good sense of the criminal underworld, especially among the organized crime types that frequent her shows, but also knows about the lives and concerns of her fellow dancers, bouncers, and bartenders at the club, along with what they hear from the loose-lipped patrons.
